Trigger Warning: abuse, for the last half of this chapter

Chapter 6

The next morning, Harry's eyes flick open at the soft sound of Petunia walking down the stairs. Slightly confused about what he's feeling, he opens his arms and is surprised when his fox falls into his lap. Remembering what auntie said about not taking the fox out, Harry panics and quickly wraps it up in his blanket.

As Petunia reaches the bottom of the stairs, Harry crawls out of his cupboard with his blanket wrapped bundle, and hurries to the stairs. Just before he passes his auntie, he pauses, and impulsively gives her a quick hug, before softly running upstairs.

Petunia smiles at Harry's retreating back, and pretends not to notice the tail of the fox hanging out of the blanket.

Shaking her head she walks into the kitchen muttering, "When am I going to stop pretending not to notice? When am I going to be the mother both boys need?"

Petunia is just moving the clean clothes from the washing machine to the tumble dryer when she hears the toilet flush, and Harry comes back downstairs.

As Harry walks into the kitchen, Petunia looks up, "Harry, could you dust and polish the pictures and furniture, and I'll mop the floor in here. He won't wake up till around nine, as it's Saturday."

Harry nods silently, and grabs a couple of dusters and the jar of polish.

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Harry is perched, nervously, on the edge of the sofa next to Petunia as they both enjoy a cup of tea in the living room. He can't help himself, as he turns to look at the stairs and front door when another car drives past, as prior to his birthday, he's never been allowed to sit on the living room furniture unless it was absolutely unavoidable because they had 'guests' round. When the toilet flushes upstairs, Harry jumps from the sofa and quickly takes his cup into the kitchen.

Behind him, Petunia looks into her teacup and sniffs sadly, once, before pushing herself off of the sofa and joining Harry to begin breakfast.

Once she enters the kitchen, Petunia glances up at the clock with a frown, Vernon should still be asleep after last night.

The two of them are almost done with breakfast, when the reason for Vernon's early rising becomes apparent with the sound of multiple letters being pushed through the front door.

While Harry is laying out the crockery and cutlery for breakfast, Vernon storms through the dining room with a bundle of letters at thick as one of Vernon's wrists.

As he passes, Vernon takes a swing at Harry, "Out of the way you, stupid freak, it's your fault there are so many letters."

Harry shies away from the fist, and it only clips the top of his hair, rather than sending him, and the bowls his holding, flying. While Vernon is burning the letters, Harry quickly places the rest of the crockery before retreating to the Kitchen.

As Harry looks at her with pleading eyes, Petunia steps away from the frying pan, and allows Harry to take over while she gets the cereal and milk from the fridge.

As the smell of smoke wafts into the house, Dudley comes thundering down the stairs and takes his seat at the table. Putting on her Aunt Petunia persona, Petunia takes her seat opposite Dudley, and sits patiently for Vernon to come in.

Almost as if he timed it, Harry pauses in the door to the kitchen, holding the plates of bacon and eggs, as Vernon stalks past with a dirty look. Once Vernon's sat down, Harry puts the plates on the table, and Petunia's sharp eye spots a single burnt corner of bacon.

While Harry is fetching the toast, Petunia spears the bacon and holds it up, "Boy! What have I said about burning the bacon?"

Harry quails as he brings the toast in, "I'm sorry aunt Petunia, it won't happen again."

Petunia frowns, "That's not good enough, no breakfast for you. Now get into the back garden and start weeding. Maybe that will teach you not to burn the food."

As Harry scarpers for the garden, Petunia places the bacon on her plate, along with a single slice of toast, and an egg. Across the table, Dudley looks at Harry's retreating back with a sneer.

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Despite taking her time, Petunia has finished the washing up and cleaning up after breakfast well before Dudley and Vernon leave for Guildford. All the while she's holding onto her haughty expression while her heart breaks as she watches Harry through the kitchen window.

Half an hour after Vernon and Dudley have left, Petunia makes a cheese and pickle sandwich, before taking it into the garden with one of the cans of coke that are usually reserved for Dudley.

"Harry," she calls softly, "you can stop now, they've gone."

When Harry doesn't seem to hear her, Petunia calls out louder, "Harry, you can stop now, they've gone. I've brought you a sandwich and a drink."

Harry leans back on his heels and looks at Petunia, tear tracks visible down his face. With the slightest hint of anger in his voice, he asks, "Why? Why me?"

Petunia shakes her head, "I don't know. I wish I did, but if I ever did, I don't remember it now. Here, you can eat it out here, or you can wash up and eat inside."

Harry looks torn at both options, before saying, "Could I have half now please?"

Petunia smiles, "Of course. Would you like the other half while we're watching the videos from the library?"

Harry's eyes widen comically, "But the sofa?"

Petunia smiles, "You can't be messier than Dudley, and his mess comes off the leather easily enough."

As Petunia holds the plate out towards Harry, he has to fight not to snatch the sandwich and gobble it down. Instead, it's merely eaten quickly.

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A few hours later, Harry is sat comfortably on the sofa cuddling one of the cushions while the credits of the second video roll to the sound of Indian music and a view of a temple. Thoughts of how comfortable the chair is along with the videos they've just watched are running through his head. Even if there was only a small segment in the second video that spoke about the different ways Buddhists meditate.

In her own chair, Petunia looks over at Harry, "Would you like to practice meditating with me in the mornings, before the other two get up I mean."

When Harry doesn't answer, she speaks a little louder, "Harry." And a bit more loudly, and sharper, "Harry!?"

Harry throws the cushion on the sofa as he throws himself off the sofa in surprise as Petunia calling his name pulls him out of his thoughts. Looking around wildly, his eyes settle on Petunia's face as he tries to work out if she's upset with him.

Instead, Petunia asks, "Are you ok?"

Reflexively Harry answers, "I'm fine."

Petunia nods, "Ok. I was just wondering if you'd like to practice meditating with me in the mornings? Before the other two wake up."

Harry shakes his head, "It's ok, I don't want to bother you. I can do it in my room."

Petunia hides her disappointment, and instead explains, "I'm asking because it's something I'd like to do with you. I couldn't share it with your mum, so I'd like to share it with you."

Harry looks at her with a confused expression, and he answers, "Uh, ok?" Though his tone of voice suggests he doesn't understand why she'd want to.

Petunia starts to cry at another reminder of how badly she's failed Harry. After a couple of sniffs, she squares her shoulders, "Right, we still have the chores to do. Harry, could you get the sheets from the bed and I'll put them on to wash while you're getting the clean bedding out. Then I'll help you put the clean sheets back on the bed. After that, we can work on the front garden together."

Harry sighs as he trudges upstairs and brings the first lot of sheets down, before going up and getting the rest of the sheets. He's half way through making Dudley's bed when Petunia comes into Dudley's room, and takes other side of the top sheet, and helps him lay it out evenly.

As he starts to tuck the corners in at the bottom of the bed, Petunia says, "Wait, watch me."

Harry watches in surprise as Petunia goes step by step through how to fold the corners the way she wants them. As he tries to fold them the same way, she nods, "Close, you need to get the side pulled tighter around the end before you tuck it in, that way it's harder for it to be pulled untucked, meaning it will stay made longer."

As Harry tries it again he asks, "Should I do this with the bottom sheet too?"

Petunia nods, "Not for yours and Dudley's sheets, as they're fitted sheets, but for the guest room and our room you should."

"Auntie, why are you helping me?"

Petunia smiles at him,

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It's mid-afternoon when the whole day comes crashing down around their ears. Petunia and Harry are both kneeling in the front garden weeding the flower beds together as they quietly chat about their favourite plants, and share gardening tips.

Another car goes past the house, and even though the sound of the engine slows down, and stops Petunia pays it no mind as it seems like all of their neighbours have decided to go out today.

As the door to Vernon's car slams shut, Petunia immediately starts to berate Harry for making her come out to make sure he's doing the weeding properly. However, she knows, and by the set of Harry's shoulder, he knows too, that it's far too late for this. As she stands up and walks into the house, leaving Harry to do the weeding himself, Vernon shouts at Harry.

"Boy, grab the bags from the boot, and make sure you don't get any dirt on them."

Numbly, Harry gets up and wipes his hands off on his t-shirt. Almost robotically, he walks to the boot of the car, not even noticing as Dudley leans in and sneers, "You're in for it now freak."

Once he's wiped his feet off, and carried the bags inside, Vernon closes the front door behind him, "Boy! Put the bags down, and wait in the back garden." In a reasonable voice he then says, "Dudley, take your school stuff up to your room, and bring your stick back down."

Head down, Harry trudges into the garden, and stares at the sky while he tries to bury his feelings again. When Vernon and Dudley come out, Harry is still struggling to achieve this.

"Now Dudley, you need to be very careful with a stick like this. If you use too much force, you could break bones or even kill someone. That's something that will get the police involved, and at that point there's nothing I could do to help you. Instead, you need to learn how to strike to incapacitate your opponent. If you strike the back of the knee like this, it doesn't matter how large they are, they'll collapses to the floor just like that."

As Harry collapses to the floor as his knee gives way, his jaw clenches, and he's back in that mindset from before his birthday, and he seems to float outside his body while Vernon shows Dudley how to work someone over without leaving a mark.

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At dinner time, Petunia takes a mouthful of the mash she made, and makes a face, and dashes Harry's fork from his hand. "Boy! My mash is lumpy, what have I told you about undercooking the potatoes! For that, you'll get no dinner. Now off to your room, and don't let me hear a peep out of you."

Her heart sinks as she watches Harry limp from the table out of the dining room. It sinks even further as she hears his footsteps climbing the stairs.

Vernon doesn't seem to notice, or care, as he chats amiably with Dudley about their day out together.

After dinner Vernon sits on the sofa with Dudley, instead while the three of them watch the Saturday evening film on ITV, even though it doesn't finish till after 9pm, well after Dudley's bedtime.

When the film ends, Vernon sends Dudley up to bed with a playful swat, "Come on you, it's past your bedtime."

Petunia and Vernon both stay in their respective seats while the news is read out. As the News finishes, and the next film starts, Vernon pats the sofa beside him, "Come on pet, come and sit next to me."

Petunia's eyes widen in fear, and she shakes her head mutely.

Vernon's eyes narrow, and he growls, "I said, come and sit next to me!"

Meekly, Petunia stands up and shuffles over to sit on the sofa. As she sits down, she buries her hands in her skirts to hide how much they're shaking.

Vernon leers at Petunia before hooking one arm around her waist and pulling her to sit right next to him. There they sit, the picture of a romantic couple until the first advert break.

Once she's stopped shivering, Vernon lifts his arm over her head, and places his hand on her knee. As she tries to shuffle over, his hand tightens on her knee and he growls, "I thought we agreed that we wanted nothing to do with the freak. And that we would only do what we needed to do to prevent social services from stopping by."

Mutely, Petunia shakes her head.

Vernon squeezes the joint harder, "Didn't we."

Petunia squeals, "Vernon, you're hurting me."

Vernon squeezes even harder, "Didn't we!"

Petunia squeezes her eyes shut as the words are forced from her mouth by the pain, "Yes Vernon."

Vernon lets up on the pressure, though he doesn't let go of her knee, "See, it doesn't look like you remembered. I think I need to give you another lesson tonight, and I'll show you why, 'It's not muggle baiting when you're defending your family' doesn't wash. Do you understand?"

Petunia nods desperately, "Yes Vernon. I understand."

Vernon shakes his head, "No, I don't think you do." Leaning forward, he grabs the remote and turns the TV off, "I think it's time that I showed you."

Swiftly, he lets go of Petunia's knee, and grabs her hair in a strong grip. Then he pushes himself to his feet, and drags her upstairs, heedless of her screams and cries.

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In his bedroom, Harry wakes up when Vernon comes upstairs, and shivers in his bed when his aunt starts to scream. Softly climbing out of bed, he walks to his clothes drawer, and pulls the fox out as a shield before curling up under his blanket, and eventually falling into a nightmare filled sleep.