When Harry awoke next, he didn't remember why he'd even fallen asleep -aside from being tired that is-, until he spotted the curled piles of parchment on either side of him. Then, he'd remembered everything. At first glance, one would believe that Harry was calm and collected, puzzled even. But on the inside, Harry was a chaotic mess of panic and fear.
He'd ran his fingers through his long hair -having pulled it over his shoulder upon waking- so much that any knots that were accumulated during his sleep, were long gone and his hair was tangle and knot free.
Harry had sat on the edge of his bed and puzzled through the conundrum he'd found himself in for over five minutes now. So far he was still stuck on the fact that he had creature blood, on either side of his family. However he honestly didn't care about that, it was just the shock of having something highly important revealed -not quite so politely, as well- to him.
Did this mean that he was still a wizard? Or was he something different now? Like some hybrid of sorts?
Harry inhaled deeply, counting to ten in his head. The first thing he should do is go and see what changes were made, he couldn't very well let his aunt or any relative of his see him first. He already knew that his hair was long now, longer than Cho Chang's or Ginny Weasley's, but what else is different?
He stopped running his fingers through his hair and brought his hands up to examine them closely. Yes, his fingers were longer and slimmer, paler. They reminded him of Sirius or Draco Malfoy's fingers; elegant, made for playing the ivory keys on a piano or wrapped around a flute of champagne. He was curious for what the rest of him looked like, though he was a little apprehensive too. What if no one recognized him?
But then, Harry thought, that doesn't sound so bad.
Firming himself, Harry stood swiftly from his bed and strode out of the room, making his way quietly to the bathroom down the hall. He shut the door soundlessly behind him and turned to examine himself curiously in the mirror, bracing himself.
His jaw dropped and he stiffened in shock at the person standing opposite him in the mirror. Large green eyes surrounded by long sooty lashes blinked owlishly back at him in surprise, his raised eyebrows were more arched and graceful above the two, appearing elegant and somehow condescending. The lightning bolt scar atop his forehead seemed to almost sneer down at him, if that were possible.
His nose was straighter and positioned perfectly above pouty pale pink lips, which were slack in shock. His previously round boyish features had matured and shifted; his cheekbones higher and more prominent, and his jawline was more square now, though not overly so, it merely accented and complimented his other features.
He eyed his face a moment longer, before shifting his gaze down the length of the mirror to peer approvingly at his torso. He was still thin, but he now had lithe muscles, defining and accenting his pale skin, bringing dimension to his usually flat body -though don't get him wrong, he was fit, he had to be to play Quidditch-, but there were some more definite and subtle changes that he could spot easily. The scars from the dragon on his shoulder, Pettigrew and the circular scar from where the Basilisks' fang had punctured on his forearms, were all still there, only slightly darker and slightly more imposing, like they were warnings, for lack of a better word. But Harry hardly dwelled on those, he focused more on his waist, which had been pulled in under his rib cage a little, giving him a svelte waist that he ran his fingers over curiously.
In a way, he looked a little feminine -aside from those certain scars-, but he could deal with that, he honestly didn't mind if he had slightly feminine curves. In his mind, it made him look all that much more interesting and -dare he say it without seeming arrogant?- beautiful. At least he could feel more confident in his skin now ... Speaking of, his eyes roamed a little lower and he shifted to the side. He mouthed wordlessly at his bottom half. His bum was … pert and rolled quite well into the curve of his back. He blinked. There was no doubt about it, no question in his mind; he had gotten -more than slightly- feminine curves. But again, he didn't mind.
Harry let his hair swish back into place on his back, suddenly wanting to see just how long it was, only knowing that it touch the top of his bum when he turned his head abruptly. It rested on the curve on the top of his bum, the longest of the hair curling out slightly at the end.
Harry eyed the waterfall of black hair cascading down his back and pondered. Could he cut all of it off and get away with that? He couldn't keep it, he didn't need any more questions than he already had about why he did whatever he did. He didn't need anymore gawking in his life.
Without thinking about it, Harry went into the medicine cabinet beside the mirror and pulled out a pair of scissors. He grabbed all of his hair into one handful and leveled the blades until it reached the top of his shoulders. He hesitated only slightly before placing the hair in between the sharp blades. It was too late now, he was already snipping, he could feel every strand that was cut fall limply against his hand. He reckoned that if he did chicken out, he'd look highly odd with only half of his hair long and the rest short. He clenched his hand around the scissors and shut his eyes, and in one loud snip, the long hair fell limply into his hand. He had to tilt his head forward to stop himself from falling backwards from the sudden loss of weight but he didn't mind. He liked the feeling of his hair swishing around his neck.
Though apparently, not as much as feeling his hair tumbling around on his back. Looking down at the handful of long hair drooped sadly in his fist, he felt a little odd.
His head felt too light and odd, like some odd pressure was forming in the front of his mind. A large drop of liquid landed on his outstretched wrist and he peered down at it. It was blood. Harry looked up into the mirror as the weird pressure in his head shifted and he began to feel slightly dizzy. He focused enough to notice that his nose was dripping blood like a faucet. He gulped and quickly tilted his head forward, the feeling of blood inching its way down the back of his throat unnerving him.
Hastily dropping the large bundle of hair into the waste basket beside the cabinet, Harry rushed forward to lean his hands against the sink, allowing the blood building on his upper lip to lazily bead and fall in large droplets. The odd pressure in his head increased when he looked up from the steadily growing puddle in the sink to look at himself in the mirror. His now short hair hung limply around his face, framing its steadily paling pallor and giving Harry the feeling that he was steadily growing sicker. But how could that be? He looked and felt positively glowing just seconds before!
Harry gulped noisily around the slight itchiness forming in the back of his throat. Whatever the reason, he needed help and he needed it now.
"H - he- lp -" Harry sputtered, unable to form the words correctly because of the itchiness in his throat. He coughed violently into the sink, feeling air bubbling up from his coiling stomach. He retched into the sink and groaned, bringing up nothing but a disgusting yellow substance, his stomach bile. He spat. I didn't eat last night, he remembered hazily. Another painful movement in his stomach nearly brought him to his knees, but he managed to keep himself up by sheer willpower. Though that didn't stop the retching that followed.
"H- help -" Harry wheezed, coughing violently once more into the sink. And no sooner had he finally formed that word, that a tingling sensation erupted across his scalp. Liquid relief flowed through him at the feeling of his stomach calming and his head no longer pounding in that odd way. He even felt the blood stop its flow from his nose.
Harry looked up into the mirror and blinked in shock. His hair was back to the length it was before, long and beautiful, cascading down his back in thick and slightly waved tresses that looked too soft to touch. It was like he'd never cut it before. Harry wiped the blood off of his face with the back of his hand, and glanced into the waste basket beside the cabinet. It was empty of any and all hair.
"This is freaky," Harry said to himself, moving away from the sink to begin a small path in the bathroom to pace, "Ooh this is very, very freaky."
What was he going to do? He couldn't cut his hair off, the reaction he just had had proved that. He didn't want to live in a bathroom for the rest of his life, constantly keeping his head over a sink and putting up with a headache so bad that it caused instant vomit! Yet he couldn't go out into the Wizarding world now that he wasn't a part of it, he'd be an outcast.
"Remus ..." Harry whispered to himself, rubbing his chin thoughtfully, "Remus will know what to do." And he would, Remus was a werewolf and had to deal with being ostracized in public twenty-four seven, maybe he could give Harry some tips or advice on how to deal with all that. Though Harry did have to admit that he had to deal with a lot of attention, but only half -maybe even less- of that were negative comments. Negative comments twenty-four seven? No thanks.
Mind made up, Harry stormed out of the bathroom and ran to his room, hurrying to pull on a fresh pair of pants and a shirt. It wouldn't do to walk into the kitchen in dirty pants, half naked and looking like a different person.
"Harry? Are you awake?" called aunt Petunia warily from downstairs just as Harry had pulled on his pants. From the way she sounded, Harry figured that she was nervous or anxious about something.
Harry turned to the door as if aunt Petunia were standing there, before shaking his head and hurriedly throwing on one of Dudley's old sweatshirts. He didn't bother reaching for his wand, but instead grabbed the parchment on his bed. He cradled them protectively and carefully to his chest and made his way downstairs, hollering, "Yes aunt Petunia!" on the way.
The smell of tea and sweets wafted to Harry's nose as he descended the stairs, and he knew that aunt Petunia had brought out the big guns. She would have had to have been far out of reach of her comfort zone to offer someone sweets, especially as the sight of said sweets tempted Dudley to abandon his diet. What she didn't know was that Harry had shared some of his secret sweets with Dudley one day for helping him with a particularly nasty chore. Thankfully Dudley was not here now, or his cover would have been blown to bits.
As soon as Harry entered the kitchen, he felt the tension in the air, it was so thick he'd felt like he'd just walked into a wall.
Aunt Petunia was sat at the head of the table where uncle Vernon usually sat, smiling tensely at her guests and offering more tea. She looked visibly relieved when she noticed Harry standing in the kitchen. That was something Harry pretended not to notice, instead he smiled happily at seeing Remus, but was pleasantly surprised to see Sirius and Nymphadora 'Tonks' Lupin sitting on the opposite side of the table. He blushed when their eyes widened upon seeing him, but they still grinned happily in greeting, providing Harry a major relief.
He didn't know what he would do if they didn't recognize him or accept him, especially as he hardly accepted himself. However, though strong his inner turmoil might be, Harry couldn't help but laugh at the shirt that Tonks had chosen to wear.
Tonks was dressed in a pink t-shirt with the words 'I heart London' printed across the front and a black duster coat that had large loose flaps covering the extra pockets Harry knew contained emergency potions. Her hair was a pleasant brown color today and was pulled back into a high pony tail, though when she turned her head abruptly to the side to whisper something to Sirius, Harry could see that the tips of her pony tail were bright red. Good old Tonks.
Sirius on the other hand, wore a familiar black duster coat that Harry recognized as Sirius' favorite. He looked stylish, with his wavy mane of hair pulled back in a small pony tail that rested at the base of his neck. He had recently shaved too, Harry noticed with faint amusement. Word must have reached Sirius of Harry's lack of facial hair, and complaints about it.
"Wotcher Harry!" Tonks greeted happily, standing abruptly from the table and coming around to hug him tightly. They both ignored aunt Petunia's small noise of complaint and flinch at the movements, as Harry hugged Tonks back. Harry was surprised to see that she was slightly shorter than him, though he was nonetheless happy about it. "Happy sixteenth birthday!" She said excitedly, pulling away slightly from the hug while keeping her hands on his upper arms, examining him with her light blue eyes.
"Thanks Tonks," said Harry, smiling softly down at her exuberant personality, "how've you been? How's Teddy?" he asked with a small grin, shifting uncomfortably under the weight of her scrutiny.
Tonks blinked up at him with a faint look of surprise on her face, "You've really changed, Harry," she breathed, taking in the handsome face of the boy she considered a brother. The eyes she once saw as fiery emerald, were eyes that now looked almost ethereal in their beauty, they burned bright against the darkness of the many long eyelashes that surrounded them. Everything about him seemed to have changed over the few weeks that he'd stayed here; his jaw was squarer and more masculine, his cheek bones were higher and more prominent, his lips were prettier and plumper under the small straight nose, he was taller and well muscled and he had - he had curves! She blinked again, "You're beautiful."
Blood flooded Harry's cheeks, "I - uh - thanks," he sputtered, clearing his throat and stepping away from her, "you can blame the inheritance."
"Inheritance?" Sirius questioned behind them.
Harry turned to smile at him, but stopped short when something red flashed out of the corner of his eye, something in Sirius' direction. He paused, "Yeah, inheritance," he said absently, turning his head in every direction to try and catch the blob of red. Something blue flashed out of the corner of his eye this time, and he stopped on Tonks, who was watching him warily.
"Harry?" asked Sirius.
"Yes?" asked Harry, turning to Sirius hesitantly. He wanted to find those bloody colors, he wanted to know what they meant.
Sirius was frowning at him, his dark eyes watching him warily, "I said, are you okay?" he said.
Harry gave a small hesitant smile, shoving the idea of colors aside for the moment, "I'm fine, just a little confused."
Sirius arched an eyebrow and opened his mouth to say something, but Remus interrupted him before Sirius could say something damaging, "What have you got there, Harry?" he asked warmly, gesturing towards the parchment gripped tightly in Harry's hands.
"It lists the places and things I inherited from my family, including their creature blood." said Harry, slowly making his way to the seat in between Sirius and aunt Petunia. He sat down hesitantly and put the stack of enchanted parchment onto the table top.
"Your parents didn't have creature blood, Harry," said Sirius, frowning down at the neat scrawl on the parchment, "at least, none that we knew of. May I?" he asked, holding his hand out to ask to see the parchment. At Harry's nod, he picked up the first letter and began to read through it.
"Are you alright, Harry?" asked Remus softly into the silence, holding his wife's hand and watching Harry in concern, "I know that this all must be so confusing -"
"You have no idea," said Harry, gloomily staring down at one of the tea cups in front of him, "one second I'm having another nightmare, the next I'm told that I'm about to receive an inheritance that'll change everything I believe in, and the next second I'm in absolute pain and agony and then the next bloody second I WAKE UP LOOKING LIKE THIS!" He boomed, bringing his hands down on the table harshly. He was upset, and rightfully so in his mind.
It all just happened so fast, it was all too much for one day, just yesterday he was sitting in his room awaiting his birthday and the moment where he could return to Grimmauld, and then he's told that he's about to go through an inheritance that would change him physically, magically and mentally?
No, it was definitely too much for one day.
It was silent for a while, Remus looking like he didn't know what to say or do, Tonks and aunt Petunia watching Harry sadly and Sirius still reading the letters like nothing had happened. At last, Remus spoke, "I'm sorry that this had to happen to you, Harry," he said softly, "but I'm certain that this has happened for a reason."
"A reason," said Harry flatly. Aunt Petunia flinched slightly at the tone, surprised that her nephew could actually sound like that. "I suppose that there's also a reason why I can't even cut my hair too." continued Harry bitterly, chest heaving in anger, "I've had enough of bloody reasons, Remus, I'm sick and tired of asking questions only to have the bloody answers dance in circles around me!" he shouted.
Remus watched him heave in calming breaths and exhale the stress with pitiful eyes, while Tonks was watching him in amazement, noting the subtle changes to his skin that the others didn't notice, but any Auror would. The skin around his eyes darkened slightly, as if someone had contoured his eye sockets in a slightly darker shade of make-up, and the skin that she could see on his hands had lightened, as if he'd dipped his hands in something translucent. She'd have to watch him when he became angry in the future. She cleared her throat in an effort to gain Harry's attention, and smiled comfortingly at his slightly bemused expression, "You can't cut your hair?" she asked softly. She eyed the long flowing tresses in interest and fascination, her movements beginning to take on an Auror style. She itched to take out her notepad and Quick Quotes Quill.
Harry shook his head with a small exasperated sigh, "My nose started to bleed and I vomited almost as soon as I cut the last strand," he said. Just the remembered feeling of the odd pressure in his head was enough to make him wince.
"This says nothing on what you could be," declared Sirius loudly and exasperatedly, oblivious to the slowly mounting tension around him, smacking the last parchment sheet down on the table firmly. He turned to Harry with a nasty gleam in his eye and a wolfish grin, "I promise I'll escort you to Gringott's Harry, I'll get those bastards to talk!"
"Padfoot!" warned Remus, staring at him pointedly. Sirius opened his mouth to argue, but abruptly closed it and sat back in his seat looking cowed, muttering something about 'blasted professors'. Remus turned to Harry then and looked at him fiercely, "Harry, I promise that we'll all help you regardless of what we need to do and what you are. Even if you were a vampire I'd help you." promised Remus, staring so warmly at Harry that Harry swore he could feel the sun on his face.
Remus' declaration warmed Harry to the core. Werewolves and vampires had an ancient rivalry with each other, just the sight of one another set them on edge, and to know that even if he were a vampire that Remus would still help him utterly warmed him. Harry smiled softly and fondly at the shabby looking ex-professor and sighed in relief. He had no doubts in his mind that they accepted him now.
"So," said Tonks happily, "now that we're off the heavy stuff, can we get onto the lighter stuff?" She gave Remus a pointed look, one that he began to look sheepish at. Sirius enjoyed that, and gave Tonks a secret thumbs up, to which she smiled at. Harry could see aunt Petunia silently shift about in her seat from the corner of his eye, and wished that she'd just leave and spare them the awkward atmosphere.
Harry rolled his eyes at them, but stopped abruptly as just then, the colors made a return appearance, darting in and out of his sight. The red to his right and the blue right in front of him. In front of Tonks ... it seemed.
Something in the way Tonks and Remus looked at each other gave Harry an odd feeling. It danced in an out of reach when he tried to think about it, but he found that the more he looked at Tonks, the more clearer it got. However, not wanting to look like a creep was his first thought, so he changed from looking at Tonks to Remus every twelve seconds.
On the fifth look at Tonks, something changed and he peered closer at her, ignoring how silent the room went when they all noticed him staring at her. Tonks had begun to ... well, there was no other word for it, other than glow. She was blue, a blue of every shade, and as he looked -he could actually see through the table!- the shades of blue began lightening and lightening around her stomach, where a small and very, very light green color was nestled at the bottom of her stomach. It seemed to throb slightly, as if it was slowly growing and expanding.
Harry blinked and held his breath, seeing everything in the room go black aside from the four other people around him. If he concentrated hard enough, he could forget that he was in the Dursley's kitchen and was instead in a black void. The only sources of color were the people in the room. Tonks was mainly a royal blue, Remus was a slightly yellow sand color, Sirius was a Gryffindor red -the red that had escaped him before, he realized- and aunt Petunia who was pale lavender. Each of them had varying shades of their individual color, though they matched in the way that all of their colors lightened until they were almost white in their stomachs.
"What? What is it?" asked Sirius hurriedly from his side, watching as his godson paled and looked at each of them intently in turn. "Are you in pain? Are you hurting? Is it the inheritance?"
Harry shook his head and blinked harshly at Tonks. He wondered if what he was seeing was their aura's, he also wondered, if the room always became black when he saw them. He blinked furiously as the Dursley's kitchen suddenly came back into focus and their 'aura's' faded until it was almost gone. "You're -" he swallowed noisily, hunching forward slightly as if to get closer to Tonks and see that vivid blue and light green again, "you're pregnant again, aren't you?" he asked, eyeing her stomach intently.
The look of astonishment on Tonks' face answered his question, and he slumped back in his chair, aware of the stares he was getting from his aunt, Sirius, Remus and Tonks.
"How did you know?" asked Tonks, leaning forward slightly -and against the hand Remus had laid protectively against her abdomen- and leaning on her elbows comfortably, still staring at Harry in astonishment. No one had uttered a word about her new-found pregnancy, and no one had been in contact with Harry. Could it be something to do with his creature inheritance? She pondered, watching as Harry paled further and slumped forward in his seat with a pained expression. Sirius began to look panicked and began nattering at Harry, asking furiously what was wrong, over and over.
It was like an iron cast had clamped around his heart and squeezed. He sucked in deep breaths and exhaled slowly, like he had done when he was mentally attacked by Voldemort. The room darkened again, however, instead of becoming the pitch black from before, it was now morphing into a scenic view of a beach, a family of four were standing on a grassy knoll all holding hands. He spotted Remus easily, seeing his kind smile even from this distance, and Tonks, with her long bubble-gum pink hair. There were two children standing by their sides, Harry saw Teddy standing by his mothers side, his hair a raven black color and his eyes green. He absolutely loved Harry and looked up to him as one of his heroes, he was intelligent and kind, modest to a point. He took on his mothers clumsiness.
Harry gasped suddenly at seeing the little girl by Remus' side, her little hand held gently in his own giant one. She was absolutely adorable with brilliant amber eyes and long sandy blond hair, she was also a Metamorphmagi like her mother and brother, but she favored her father in such a way that she would not change for anything and would always hold his hand over Tonks'. She was smart and sweet, but incredibly sneaky. Harry saw the family of four living in comfort, in a lavish home with what looked to be a large family crest, but it seemed to be too far away or blurry to make it out properly.
Harry jumped when a hand squeezed his shoulder and looked over his shoulder to see aunt Petunia standing beside him, a concerned frown pursing her thin lips, "Are you alright Harry?" she asked, pressing a thin cold hand against his forehead now that she knew he wouldn't reject her.
Harry swallowed heavily and nodded at her, before turning back to Tonks, Remus and Sirius and smiling reassuringly, "I'm absolutely fine, just a little bit shocked is all." He said, reaching out to prepare himself a cup of tea. His heart -no longer being squeezed to death- leapt at the vision of Tonks and Remus' future and he so desperately wanted it for the young couple.
"How did you know that I'm pregnant?" asked Tonks immediately yet kindly, muttering a small thank you when Harry began to prepare her tea as well.
"I saw the baby." said Harry, wincing at how odd and crazy it sounded to his own ears. He almost regretted telling them, but he was grateful for their silence.
"Is it because of the inheritance?" asked aunt Petunia, staring down into her plate with an air of shame. She was finally going to get what she deserved, and she knew it. That was why she'd all but ordered her son and husband out of the house, because she didn't want them to see her on her knees grovelling to her nephew.
"I don't blame you aunt Petunia," said Harry instead, frowning lightly into his tea cup and swirling the dark liquid around with a small sigh, "I think that you were well within your rights to leave, and I don't blame you for it. It took me some time to remember what happened, but I can remember seeing your face clearly; you looked so deathly afraid, you were shocked, scared and horrified by what was happening. But I don't blame you, because I was too."
He knew what she was doing, he knew she was trying to get him to be mad at her, to 'right the wrongdoings' of their past as aunt and nephew and slice her back to ribbons. Well he wouldn't do it, she didn't deserve it.
"I left you," said aunt Petunia sharply, allowing tears to fill her eyes, "I left you in such a - in such a state! No mother, related or not, would ever leave someone like that. Lily knew what she was doing when she - when she threw herself at that creep, she knew what would happen and she didn't care because she was a fantastic mother," tears were now falling freely from aunt Petunia's eyes as she stared at Harry, who was steadily gaining color in his cheeks. "all these years that you've been fighting for your life, you've been fighting just as hard to survive here. And I'm the one that did that, I made you feel like a freak when I knew that you were the most natural thing in the world," sobbed Petunia.
"I was just so - so jealous!" she shouted, shaking her head at herself and looking down to glare at the table. "Lily had the perfect house, the perfect husband, the perfect son and magic all to herself! And I had nothing," she said through gritted teeth, face flushing a dull red. "The last time I ever saw her, was in the hospital when you were born," she sniffled, "and all I did when I saw her, with you in her arms and James' arms around her, was scoff and call you all f - FREAKS!" she cried woefully, breaking out into a fresh round of tears.
Tonks silently handed her a plain white handkerchief, and tightened her lips when aunt Petunia almost snatched it from her hand. Tonks' hair turned an angry red at that, but she let it go and sat back in her seat, allowing Remus' hand to go back to rubbing her abdomen steadily through her shirt, which seemed to calm her.
Harry was dumbstruck at what his aunt was saying, and wondered quite briefly, if someone had managed to sneak his aunt veritaserum, as unlikely as that might be. He didn't know what to say to her, he didn't know if he should forgive her for his parents or not, so he just sat there, staring at his aunt as she cried. He was definitely not someone a woman should go to if they were crying or looking for reassurance. Harry almost sighed in relief when his aunt began to sniffle, signaling what was sure to be the end of her waterworks.
But it seemed that his aunt wasn't finished quite yet, because she sat the now spotted handkerchief down on the table and began crying again, "I'm so sorry Harry! I know I don't deserve forgiveness, but I beg of you, please don't do anything to my darling Vernon and baby angel! Please don't blow them up into balloons like aunt Marge!" begged aunt Petunia.
Harry's face was now bright red in embarrassment, "I - I wouldn't hurt them, or you!" he sputtered.
Aunt Petunia wailed again, shoving her face into the handkerchief and blowing her nose loudly. Hesitantly, Tonks took in a deep breath and reached over to awkwardly pat aunt Petunia's arm. She was shocked when Petunia all but threw herself into her arms and cried pathetically on her shoulder like a child seeking comfort from their mother. Tonks looked down at Petunia warily. "It's - it's alright Petunia," said Tonks slowly, looking down at the shaking woman disbelievingly. "just let it all out."
That was apparently the wrong thing to say, as Petunia's cries suddenly became louder and more violent.
Harry looked to Remus and Sirius desperately for help, but saw that the both of them had the same lost look about them as he did. He didn't know what to do with an emotion-riddled aunt Petunia! Where was uncle Vernon or Dudley when you needed them!
At last, aunt Petunia began to settle down, and signaled the end of her hysterical sobbing with one large final sniff, and sat back in her chair, dabbing at her cheeks with the dirty handkerchief. "I apologize for that outburst, that was uncalled for." she rasped, before clearing her throat and moving to make another cup of tea.
"Are you alright?" asked Harry cautiously, moving on his seat as if to make a run for it.
Aunt Petunia looked at him sadly and sighed, "Harry, I honestly am sorry for everything that I've done to harm you, for making you do the house chores when you were injured and - and for making you sleep in a cupboard for ten years. I don't deserve any forgiveness from you." she said.
Ignoring the sputtering of shock that came from the other three people in the room, Harry smiled politely at aunt Petunia, "I should actually be thanking you for making me sleep there, if it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been as small as I was and it would've been harder for me to get away from Voldemort almost every year. I owe my life to you, really." he said. Which was the truth, he had to admit. If it weren't for his uncle and aunt's cruelty, Harry wouldn't have made it very far in life. Sometimes it paid to be quiet, observant and tiny.
Aunt Petunia looked at him weirdly for a moment, "I really did raise the hero of a Wizarding world, didn't I?" she asked no one in general.
Remus smiled politely at her and nodded, "I did tell you that Harry is a very kind person, did I not?"
Aunt Petunia smiled back at Remus for a moment, before clearing her throat and shifting back into the professional host she was, "I suppose you've already packed, Harry?" she asked sternly.
Harry nodded slowly, feeling out of sorts, "My school trunk, upstairs." he said absently, mulling over what had happened in his head.
First he discovered what he looks like -which is wholly different to what he used to look like-, and then he discovered the effects of cutting off all of his hair -which basically made him incredibly ill-, and then he discovered that Remus and aunt Petunia weren't the only ones in the kitchen -as Sirius and Tonks had joined him-, then he discovered the secret to Tonks' happiness -that being her pregnancy-, then he had this vision of sorts and saw their auras -including the babes, in Tonks' stomach-, and then his aunt completely breaks down and retells her last dealing with his parents and begs him not to her family!
It's official, he thought, this is literally the weirdest day of my life.
"You coming Harry?" asked Tonks suddenly, smiling down at him. Remus, Sirius and aunt Petunia were gone, he realized with a jolt. I must have been thinking too much, he thought.
"Well, I don't really wanna miss out on surprising the twins, do I?" said Harry teasingly, standing swiftly from his seat and striding out of the room, unknowing of the graceful and poised way that he walked.
That boy, thought Tonks fondly, shaking her head and following him after a moment of snacking on some of Petunia's delicious scones. She ended up conjuring a container to take a few of them with her, even though Molly was already cooking dinner at Grimmauld Place. But oh well, it's my body and the grub needs to eat, she thought happily, already fighting temptation to take another scone. She lost and ended up eating another two before finally leaving the kitchen for good, but that was only because her hunger for sweets was sated. For a little while.
But no matter what happened that night, she was still going to ask Harry how he knew that she was pregnant. Even if they were in a crowded room with hundreds of strangers watching and listening.
She couldn't wait.