Disclaimer: Don't own anything you recognize as JK's. I just play with her creations... That sounds bad... I just use them for my own pleasure... I'm just going to stop...

A.N: I've been feeling bad about going so long between chapters, so I decided a quicker update was in order. That, and it's better than cleaning my room... Especially since I got a new laptop for school. :)

Last time:

"Hi honey. I'm so sorry Harry." Lily says as she starts to cry.

"Don't cry Mum. You protected me as well as you could. If you wouldn't have pushed that dresser in front of you, you and I could both be dead. But we're not. We're here. So don't cry." He reaches up to wipe away her tears. "You have me now Mum. I'm here. I'm not going anywhere, except Hogwarts." They both chuckle as Petunia slips out of the room, only after taking a quick picture of the duo.

Chapter 5: New Beginnings

Ten days later, exactly one week before Harry's birthday, the Healers decide that Lily is ready to go home, temporarily to the Dursley residence as the cottage in Godric's Hollow is beyond repair... It's hard to tell who is more excited, Harry or Dudley. Here's the scene in their room the night before.

The boys are both lying in their beds, on separate sides of the room. "Harry?" Dudley asks.

"Yeah?"

"What's it like having an aunt that cares for you and loves you?"

"It's second only to having a mum that cares for you, loves you, and sacrifices her life for you." Harry smiles, remembering the past almost two weeks. Weeks in which he hardly left his mum's side as she started taking short walks around the halls to gather her strength. "It's like you know that your aunt will always be there for you, as will your mum, but your aunt will let you get away with all sorts of things that your mum won't, like candy before supper or watching telly after ten."

"I can't wait to meet your mum, Harry."

"I think you'll like her." He smiles. "She's so similar to your mum. It's obvious they're sisters. They have the same nose and ears. My mum's eyes are a bit wider and rounder and emerald, while your mum's eyes are a bit narrower and hazel. Then mum's hair is fiery red, while Petunia's is more of an earthy brown. They share the same laugh, which they both say they get from their mum." Harry sighs.

"Is something wrong?" Dudley asks worriedly.

"I just wish I would have known her longer. She gets to come home tomorrow, and then five weeks later I have to go off to school."

"You can always write letters to her. She'll be here at Christmas and Easter. Maybe you can even come visit on the weekends."

"Maybe. I'll ask the headmaster when I get there." Petunia, heartbroken at keeping Lily's life a secret for so long, knocks on the door.

"Lights out boys." She says gently. She hears click of the switch and the strip of light under the door disappears. She returns to her room after she hears the deep sleepy breaths of the two boys. "What are we going to do Vernon? Lily's been alive but in a coma for ten years! Minutes after Harry meets her for the first time that he remembers, she wakes up! Now she's coming to stay with us until she can find a place of her own. Then she's going to move out and take Harry with her. I don't know if I'll be able to live with myself knowing that only Dudley is here, and not Harry too!" She starts to sob into Vernon's shoulder.

"Oh Tuney. It will be okay, I promise. I've heard that the neighbors across the street are going to move to the States once their youngest starts university there this fall. I know James would have made sure to leave Lily enough money to take care of herself and Harry. She can move in there. Then she'll just be a two-minute walk away. Besides, the doctor said she has to stay with us for at least two months."

"Thank you Vernon." She says, her sobs lessening.

"Anything to make you happy 'Tuney. I love you too."