*** I don't own anything relating to Harry Potter. All recognizable characters belong to the original author, JK Rowling.***

Conversation 1: Petunia's truth.

As he sat there, Harry wondered how he would begin to explain to his best friends why all of this was necessary. They sat there in silence listening to him begin to tell his tale.

"What's this about Harry, you've had us worried. When you said you wanted to talk we got worried," immediately shot off Hermione, with worry evident in her features.

"I think it's time. Time for you guys to know everything. I know we haven't spoken of this often but it's something I'm ready to do," was how Harry began his explanation.

"What's this about mate?" Ron chimed in, hoping to get to the point.

"I want to share everything that happened back then. You guys are probably the only two people who know the most, but even so, there's many things I held back. You see, throughout all these years I've spoken to some people in hopes of finally plugging all the gaps." As he Harry looked upon the features of his life-long friends he could still see confusion in their gazes. He needed to lay it all out.

"After the war when trying to deal with everything afterwards I realized there were many things I never got answers to, mostly because I wasn't sure I'd be alive long enough to seek them out. So when I suddenly had my whole life before me, it felt like I couldn't go on without first filling those gaps. I went to see my Aunt Petunia. Actually not just her, I spoke to Dudley, to Professor McGonagall, and to Draco Malfoy. I needed my aunt to explain her side, my mom's family. The things I couldn't find out from anybody else. I saw McGonagall because she's the only living person who could tell me about my parents, who they were, who she knew them as. Everything I heard from them was always in passing, I never actually had time to figure out who they were and anybody else who could have told me passed away in the final battle."

"So why'd you need to speak to Malfoy? I see why you'd want to talk to the others," Ron input finding it difficult to overcome old and new prejudices against the Slytherin.

"I thought that would have been easy to see why. We were school enemies but when the time came, we were on the same side. I wanted to understand him, since I once heard it said that we're both the same only different sides to the same coin. I always thought there'd be more to him. I went to find answers to my questions. What happened afterwards, I had no way of predicting," Harry finished looking pointedly at Hermione who'd been quiet during this last part of the conversation.

"So what did you want to tell us," Hermione sidetracked, hoping to change the direction of the conversation.

"I will be telling you everything I learned from these conversations. I'm ready to. My therapist said I should share but really it's something I want to share."

So as Harry began recounting what transpired so many years ago, he was brought back to that time. He could feel himself relive the emotions of that time as he recounted his previous conversation. It was a horrible place to be in his head. His emotional state was in shock but this is where the whole initiative began for Harry. This was the once conversation he needed before he could move on with his life. This was the one that he got to first, the one he needed after having done what he did at the age of 17.

Harry had spent the past year in almost complete solitude. He needed to get away to find a purpose to his life outside Voldemort's destiny. Ginny was forgiving in this aspect and understood that this was something he needed. His best friends understood this too and so as soon as he help the Hermione find her parents they agreed to part ways for a while. He knew he couldn't be completely away since he was needed to testify for different Ministry officials and trials but for the most part his time was his own. Even so, he told no one of his exact whereabouts and only allowed certain people to reach him via floo or owls.

He didn't spend it on a sunny beach like he imagined he would. He simply rented a small but comfortable home in a small village in the Italian country and lived amongst people who had no idea who he was. He even went completely muggle. He took that time to wrap his head around all that had transpired, to grieve, to mourn, to cry, to laugh to celebrate. It was a spiritual cleansing he needed and took his time with it knowing it was important for his future that he get it right. After nearly nine months of working through his issues he realized there was a large source of anger still undealt with.

His formative years, there was still so much he didn't understand, his childhood. There was too much anger. He needed to address that part of himself before that anger would consume him and eventually define him. So it was at that point that he left his self-imposed extended seclusion. He sought out his aunt Petunia. He didn't really worry much after the war in wondering what became of his relatives. He hadn't given them a moment's thought until that very moment. He assumed the Ministry had dealt with them but now he needed to find them. He briefly thought of contacting the ministry but he didn't want to answer the questions that would follow.

So he went to the place he once called home. Where he spend 10 years of his life ignorant of this true heritage. He didn't expect them to be there but the signs were all there. The car wasn't in the drive, but that was to be expected during a weekday. The plants, however, were recently pruned. The house looked alive. Being there at the door he thought he might have maybe asked, maybe called ahead instead of dropping by. Luckily it was mid morning and if they kept to old routine, his Aunt should be home alone, and for a while too.

The hardest step was knocking on the door, the rest just followed. Two quick raps and he waited. Not before long he heard the tell tell signs of someone approaching. Before he knew it the door was ajar and he was face to face with his Aunt. With no one around to buffer their conversation, he wondered how she'd react to having him at her doorstep. Her face didn't exactly scream 'welcome'.

"You're alive," she neither asked nor stated, the sentiment getting stuck in between.

"Yeah, I guess, so." An awkward silence.

"I hope I'm not disturbing you, I wondered if we could have a chat." He truly wondered if she'd agreed. Social norms dictated her to allow it but maybe there was just enough resentment to deny his request. After some time, she responded.

"Come inside, I'll get us some tea," and after years in the same roof that was about as welcoming to him as he'd ever known her to be.

He looked around at the eerily similar place. Showing no evidence of ever having been disturbed. It was as it had always been, you'd never tell from the place that Harry had ever lived amongst them then again, this wasn't different from when he'd lived there a few months back. This hurt more than he cared to acknowledge. He decided to go for easier topics.

"I'm glad you made it out alright. How's everyone?" that seemed easy enough.

"You call placing the whole family under danger alright? We changed our lives, for what? For whose sake, for your kind?" at least he thought he'd started out easy, she immediately grew to screeching decibels. It was never going to be easy.

"I didn't come here to fight aunt Petunia. I came here to understand." That seemed to give her pause. At least enough for Harry to get out the rest of his planned out introduction.

"I know you've never held my kind in any regard but you are the only family I have left. For the longest time all I had was questions about who my parents were. I never got them. You were her sister, I know you didn't get on well but you were her sister." His voice was already beginning to break. He didn't realize the emotions would get to him this early on.

"Is there anything you can tell me about her. I never knew her, I don't remember her voice, just the scream before she died, I don't know how her eyes were but people say they see them in mine. Is that true?" Harry didn't manage to say these words without tears brimming over, this was pain he never tapped into and he was doing it willingly knowing she could rebuff him at any moment. He stayed quite allowing her time to consider it.

He still didn't dare look up but could hear her get up. He feared the worst. Just a few words and she was gone. "Wait here."

After a few minutes she returned with a small wooden keepsake box in her hands. He'd never seen it and must have realized this.

"I've had this locked away in a bank safety deposit box, I took it out knowing it wouldn't be long before you arrived on my door again asking questions."

Harry could only look on at the small box atop the table. His aunt slowly pushed it across and motioned for him to open it. Harry took slow calculated moments unsure about what would soon be revealed to him.

Inside where momentos of his mother. There were pictures, small notes, weird trinkets that must have held some emotional significance to his mother. He could only look on. Before when he stared at his, he never saw the family connection to his mother but in these pictures of their youth he could just make out the subtle similarities. There were so many questions and he couldn't hold back. He asked about his grandparents, their names, who they were, what happened. He had a thirst for knowing where he came from. His aunt at first reluctantly answered his questions but nonetheless aquesed. The mood changed when she revealed what had become of them.

"They died shortly before Lily's death. The police said it was a robbery gone bad but the sign were there, I knew it was your kind's doing. That's part of the reason we became estranged. I blamed her their passing. She never denied it and the resentment grew. Then a mere three months later we awake to find you on our doorstep with only a letter to your name." Harry saw his aunt's emotions grow as she let this all out. These were the words he needed to hear and so he let her continue uninterrupted.

"There you were, her only son, with that same look I remember your mother having the last time I saw her, that last argument. The last words I spoke to her, I'll never forget. 'when I buried them, I buried the last remaining part of my family, I don't ever want to see you again Lily.'" Harry was stunned into silence. These were the answers he wanted to hear but they were hard to take in.

"They were harsh words but at that moment I meant them, I could have easily gone the rest of my life without wanting to see her again. I know why you came here." His aunt said the last part suddenly. Looking at him as if noticing him for the first time.

"You want to know why? why I treated you the way I did? Why did I only treat you with disdain?" She didn't wait for him to confirm the truth and moved on to answer the question.

"The truth is I don't have the answers you want to hear. There is no why. Your mothers and my relationship had gone sour and very recently when you arrived. That anger was fresh. I was angry for at her for letting our parents get caught in this. I was angry at her for getting herself killed, I was angry she left you without a family, I was mostly angry Harry. Having you there completely dependent on us was difficult, not financially, that we could take, the greater burden was the emotional burden you placed on me. Seeing you always brought back that anger that grief so I distanced myself. We swore when we took you in that we'd do better than them, we would take that world away from you, from us. We'd lost enough people to that world. Hard as is it to see, we did want to protect you. I can see your not satisfied. Well no, some of our behavior can't be excused. There's nothing I can say for that. I fell pray to my emotions and lashed out, the cupboard, the lack of affection. I didn't want you and that was my way of rebelling against a situation I had no choice but to accept."

Harry looked on to his aunt, trying to fit these answer in his perspective. They still weren't good enough. She had said her peace but he still wanted more. So he began, "I don't think I'll ever truly understand why you did what you did but I just want to get somethings out too. When I think back I remember being angry, being envious of Dudley. I was angry that I was treated like crap, that everyone looked down on me, that I had no friends. Then I just became resigned, still angry but resigned that this was to be my life, insignificance. Then the letters began and although the anger was there it was a relief that I finally had an escape, one I sought out so many times. The anger was less, and for the first time I had true friends although still I had to call this place my home. If I was ever grateful is that you held on as long as you did and that I didn't completely starve. I know you had your reasons but you don't know how hard you made everything else. So unnecessarily hard. I was so unprepared from the world you hid from me and yet so much was expected from me. It was hard enough but I didn't need that baggage. It wasn't that I couldn't take it but the pity from some people was too much, poor Harry, an orphan, poor Harry has to be raised by cruel muggles, poor Harry never had any friends. If my life was anything is was anything but easy."

"What happened after we left? Those people that brought us back came to us in May and said it was over but for precaution we couldn't go back until August." Harry's aunt broke into his wreck of emotions. Her features were school but at the fringes he could see hints of regret and maybe at this point in life, that was enough.

"Is that all you heard?" Harry asked trying to gauge how much she knew.

"The one with the funny coat said that you had won and that Voldemort had died. He said that things were going to be rough to get everything in order but it would work out eventually."

"He was right. We fought, I lived, he died. Many people I knew died. There are still some bad people who got away but they are top priority." Was all that Harry felt himself able to reveal. He couldn't necessarily get into the details since she lacked so much background knowledge on magic.

He stared across to his aunt realizing that she'd never really understand how much it took for those words to become true. How much he had sacrificed, his life even for that short sentence. I lived, he died. She would never know it was almost his undoing. She would never know of the pain, the sorrow accompanied in those words, but now was a good time to hear them.

"I wasn't easy," he began wanting her for once realize what it took to accomplish that. "I didn't think I'd come out alive, from the beginning I was destined to die. It's hard to keep walking once you know how the story ends." But Harry stopped, he didn't want to reveal anymore. He didn't want those precious details to fall under her scrutiny. It was enough for her to know that it almost killed him, in fact it did. It was enough for her to see how his face transformed at the mere memory. The scars were still fresh, the pain across his face evident.

Petunia looked onto the boy, no the young man sitting across from her. As soon as he had began talking about what transpired his whole expression changed. On his face where the signs of somebody who had lived things beyond his years. His features were of youth but that stare and that depth in his eyes were of a much much older man. She could only begin to comprehend what it took for her nephew to come across the most evil person in the magical world and come out victor. There was part of her who wished she knew him enough for him to confide to her the demons that still seem to haunt him. In all these years she again felt the tug of maternal instincts seeing Harry across from her, in desperate need of the very same thing. He needed family. He might have come out with his life, but a deeper look revealed an injured soul.

Harry could feel her stare upon him and after checking the time he saw his departure upon him. He didn't mind seeing his uncle again but not today. He wasn't prepared for that. He moved to get up and she mirrored his movements and walked him to the door. Just as he was about to turn back to say goodbye a whiff of air and sudden movement caught him by surprise. His aunt had surprised him and threw her arms in an embrace. At first he didn't respond but soon his stance melted. She hugged him in a tight embrace and his semblance deflated. For once in his life he was feeling what a mother's hug was, because in that moment that's what he imagined it would feel like. He had no guard against it and all the years of sorrow and pain appeared as tears as he cried in his aunt's embrace. They stood there for who knows how long, Harry being comforted by the woman's embrace unlike any other he'd had.

Finally when he as able put himself together and as he looked down at his aunt he saw a small smile and tears in her eyes. He easily returned it and he walked away down the street into an alley where he could safely apparate. As he walked he thought back at what had just transpired. He hadn't gotten all the answers he sought and not all the answers were easy to take in but for now it was enough. He didn't know what he expected coming into this conversation but he didn't regret the exchange. His aunt would always reserve some aloofness towards him. He didn't expect things to change overnight but something had definitely changed between them. Things between him and his estranged family might never be completely fixed but in that last moment he knew there had been a change. He didn't know if it was the answers he was looking for but at that moment it was enough. He might never be able to heal that wound but it was starting point. So he left, went back knowing the next time, and he was sure he'd want there to be a next time, he saw them, it would be under better circumstances.

As he finished retelling his story he noticed the serious masks on his friends faces. He didn't know what their reactions would be but now wasn't the time to reflect. He wanted to get it all out before anything could be said. This was only the beginning and there was still much to come.