Much to Harry's surprise, when he made it back to King's Cross the Dursleys were surprisingly open to a discussion after he'd greeted them politely and asked to talk seriously with them. He wasn't sure if it was because they were genuinely open to such things, or because he was asking while they were still in sight of - what was to them - an unknown number of powerful magicals, but they did seem far less hostile towards him than they had when he'd left at the end of summer.

Once gathered around the dinner table at Number 4, Harry had explained everything Dumbledore had told him about why he was there with them. The war against Voldemort, the Dursleys being targets because his mom was fighting, the protections his parents put up at his mother's insistence, her dying to protect him... He'd had to pause as he'd gotten to that part, and much to his surprise Petunia had let him. Vernon had seemed upset and impatient, but a glare from Petunia had made him wait. Once he'd gathered himself, Harry continued by explaining the love protection and how Dumbledore had used that to anchor both the protections on the house and the spells that kept them all hidden from the magical world...

"...and that's why I need to live here for at least part of the year each year until I turn 17," Harry concluded his explanation. "That's also why I was placed with you in the first place. I...I wanted to clear the air, make sure we were all on the same page about all this." He looked down, not sure how they would take it...and hoping things could get better from this.

"Poppycock!" Vernon snapped irritably.

"Vernon!" Petunia almost snarled.

"It is, Pet!" Vernon countered defensively. "It all seems like a very convenient explanation and reasoning, but where's the evidence? Where's the proof? Why should we believe those...people care at all about us regular folks? And after what happened when we attended your sister's wedding, you expect me to believe she cared that much about us?" He suddenly quailed at the intense air around his wife as she gripped the table.

"I'm honestly not surprised at all that she'd do something like that," Petunia stated firmly. "And the falling out at the wedding is probably why she didn't bother telling us." She took a calming breath. "Remember me telling you about that greasy boy she was friends with when we were kids?"

Vernon harrumphed as he tried to regain his equanimity. "Think so...what was his name...Snively Snake?"

"Something like that," Petunia allowed. "The reason I bring it up...he was involved in Lily's first use of what those folk call 'accidental magic'. She saw his father beating him, her expression tightened...every bone in the man's arm he was using to hit his son shattered. The doctors were baffled how he could have been injured like that and yet none of them broke the skin. Once Lily considered someone hers, you caused them trouble at your own peril, magic or no magic."

Harry's eyes widened in surprise at that story. The name sounded somewhat familiar, but he wasn't certain if he should pursue it or not. Maybe he would ask Professor Dumbledore about it if he got the chance?

"So maybe she put protections on the house," Vernon allowed somewhat reluctantly. "It's not like we needed them, right?"

"And how many times did I wake you up while pregnant with Dudley thinking I'd heard something outside?" Petunia reminded him gently.

"At least three times a week, but that was just kids throwing water balloons in the middle of the night," Vernon pointed out. "That's why there was always...a wet spot..." His eyes narrowed as he recalled what Harry had said about what the protections did to attackers. He grit his teeth in frustration before rounding on Harry. "Well if this was so important, why didn't that old fool tell us in that letter when he dropped you off?"

"He said it was because you wanted as little to do with magic as possible, and he hoped you'd give me a more normal childhood without the burden of all that," Harry allowed, his tone already showing his own disapproval of that idea.

Vernon and Petunia both stared at Harry, flabbergasted. "Does magic make people lose common sense?" Vernon demanded in disbelief.

"Umm...maybe?" Harry allowed uncertainly as he thought about the way most adult magicals he'd met acted. Seeing Aunt Petunia also looking uncertain made that even worse.

Vernon buried his face in his hands, grumbling under his breath. Eventually, he turned back to Harry. "So...why are you really telling us all this? What do you hope to accomplish with this?"

Harry took a calming breath. He did have a reason for this...but he genuinely didn't know if he would express it well, or if they would accept. "The protections are all based in my mother's sacrifice...in love, and family. I want us all to be as safe as possible...but that doesn't just mean me staying here for a bit each year and trying to get better at magic quickly. If love and family are what make the magic work...we are family, even if we've never really acted like it." He winced as he said that, expecting shouting, maybe even a cuff around the ears...only to be surprised when Petunia started to reach for him in the way Penny's mother reached for her, only to pull back. "I...I want us to change that. I want us...to actually be a family. Not just for the magic...but in mum's memory..." He swallowed convulsively as his throat closed on the words, taking his glasses off to wipe his eyes.

Petunia said nothing in response, looking down at her hands on the table. Dudley glanced back and forth between his parents and Harry, looking as though he wanted to be belligerent, but either seeing how serious the situation was or still hesitant from what happened with Hagrid last summer. Vernon's expression was unreadable. Eventually, however, he spoke up.

"A good sentiment," he began carefully. "And it certainly fits the tale you've spun here...but there's one problem." He looked Harry right in the eyes. "Family has to be built on trust...and how can we trust anything about magic - about you - when we are all but defenseless to it? When any idiot with a wand can waltz into our lives, do whatever they want, and we can't do anything about it? How can we be family...if we can't trust you?"

Harry blinked in surprise. He honestly hadn't expected that point of view, but it made a lot of sense. He'd overheard a few of the other students talking about how the Wizarding World preserved its secrecy - he genuinely didn't want to know what was involved with the Obliviators - and Vernon's concerns were genuinely valid. There was no real way he could reassure his Uncle about the rest of the Wizarding World...but...

"So my magic gives me too much potential power over you, which means you can't trust me?" Harry asked carefully. "Let me fix that." Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his wand, making sure not to point it at anyone. "This is my wand, my magical focus. Without it, the only magic I can do is uncontrolled defensive surges...and you've seen the limits of those over the past ten years. Without it, my future as a wizard is nonexistent. Without it...I'm just as helpless as you are against any trained magic user...or anyone else." Rotating the wand so it laid across his palm, he held it out to his Aunt. "And during the parts of the year I am living here, I leave it in your care, Aunt Petunia."

Vernon's eyes nearly popped out of his head at that. Petunia gasped in surprise. Dudley stared in confusion. Harry remained still, waiting. Eventually, Petunia reached over carefully, slowly moving...until she finally picked the wand up from Harry's hand. As Harry pulled his hand back, she looked over the wand. "...Lily only ever let me look at her wand..." she murmured thoughtfully. "As much as she tried to share, as much as I envied what she got to explore...she never even let me touch her wand..."

Silence reigned over the table, weighing heavily on everyone. Eventually, it was Vernon who spoke up. "It's getting late," he said finally. "We should see about getting ready for dinner."

"I'll help," Harry volunteered. He'd helped cook for as long as he'd been able to reach the counter, so it seemed natural to volunteer.

"Take your things up to your room first, Harry," Vernon stated firmly. "We'll...we'll discuss the rules regarding it after dinner."

Harry blinked in surprise before managing a smile. He'd called him by name, and hadn't insisted on confiscating anything magical. He'd called it his room. "I'll be right down, Uncle!" he declared happily as he ran over to grab his trunk and Hedwig's cage. It seemed like things were going to be better after all.