Chapter 36: Packed In - Summer 1994
After all of the surprises on the train platform, Harry was ready for some time to himself. That wasn't to be.
The moment that Harry arrived at 12 Grimmauld Place, Sirius whisked him away for a chat.
"So… The plan was for Remus to stay here. However, I should tell you: he's a werewolf. He—."
"I already knew that," Harry cut in. "He, uh, never teaches the day after a full moon."
"Oh. Well, I was going to say, if you're uncomfortable with him staying here, everyone in the house thinks that you come first—."
Harry was kind but firm. "It's not a problem, but I appreciate that you checked. He can stay here behind a locked door on full moons. I, er," Harry transformed into a dove. He fell to the ground when he turned back a moment later. "I just learned a month or so ago."
Sirius' eyes were bright. "Very impressive. And a dignified form, too."
"I'm glad I can fly. It's my favorite thing to do."
Sirius frowned slightly, "I think it's now illegal to do the transformation underage." This was an unexpected downside of his and Pettigrew's court cases.
"I know. I'll register when I'm old enough." Harry had debated reminding Sirius that Voldemort wasn't dead yet and that Harry wanted the element of surprise. However, he also didn't want Sirius to be overly concerned. Ideally, Voldemort would be dead in the next 6 to 12 months.
"Okay, but be very careful who knows and where you transform."
Harry was a little exasperated by his guardian's hypocrisy but didn't show it.
However, Harry did allow Sirius to parent him in some ways. Sirius helped Harry with his summer homework and made sure he had things like soap and clean clothes. He also planned activities for the two of them as well as the household.
The only other (admittedly minor) irritation Harry had with Sirius is that he kept referring to Harry's aunt as "Tuney", which Harry despised. No one else commented on it despite arguing for fun. Harry tried to let it go.
The green-eyed teen was happy that he got along well with Sirius because his… eclectic set of roommates had many other little bumps to smooth over.
Petunia disapproved of Remus' admittedly excessive sweet consumption ("Don't you want people to say 'Oh, what nice teeth you have!'"). He disapproved of her idea of breakfast. ("Werewolves don't eat fruit before noon.")
Acturus wouldn't let Sirius force out a ghoul that Petunia hated. ("It doesn't improve the bathroom's ambiance!")
Petunia and Dobby argued ferociously about ideal carrot cut (matchstick vs. julienne) and where to store the kitchen knives. Harry grew concerned about the mix of cutlery and raised voices until it became clear that they enjoyed making a racket. Harry supposed that neither felt like they could shout for fun before.
Sirius enlisted Harry's help in decorating a parlor, "We can do mostly whatever you want, but I'm going to say that we should stay away from both my family's terrible taste and your aunt's. It's remarkable how similar they are. Blech," he stuck out his tongue in her direction.
Petunia turned up her nose. "This is our home, where we might receive guests. Not a washroom at a pub."
Sirius shot back, "Well, I would know what those looked like if we ever went out for a drink like I proposed. Between a werewolf and an ex-convict, no magical being will tangle with the three of us."
They bickered happily for a while before settling into an arrangement. Remus, Sirius, and Petunia's weekly pub night was thus established.
Harry got some much needed quiet when those three went out. He used the opportunity to write to his friends and classmates. Hedwig was kept fairly busy, and the owl seemed happier for it.
Sirius and Remus got along fairly well in front of Harry, but there was a complicated undercurrent between them that Harry didn't understand. Petunia's (jarring) encouragements of the two to spend time together further complicated the picture.
Mostly, Harry focused on his own goals and problems.
Despite the recent improvement to their relationship, Petunia still set Harry on edge. What's more, Remus picked up on it.
In private, the werewolf asked Harry, "Why do you look like she's going to throw things at you?"
"Er, because at one point, she might have thrown things at me." Harry tried to correct for his honesty, "She knew I was quick enough to dodge. Seeker reflexes, and all."
"Hmm." Remus' mouth twisted. "Your mother would have had a lot to say to your aunt about that."
Harry winced at the reminder of Lily Potter. The last time Harry saw Lily, she implied that she killed Peter Pettigrew on Voldemort's orders. She also might have implied that she set up Dumbledore's impending demise via curse.
He hadn't had a chance to tell Hermione or Ron about either of those things, so he'd had to imagine their reactions. Hermione would have probably done worse than Lily, given the chance.
As if that weren't enough frustration for Harry, his mother was now serving Voldemort directly and wouldn't be teaching at Hogwarts next term. Harry was greatly disturbed by the idea of Lily Potter waiting on horrible baby Voldemort hand and foot and doing the evil wizard's bidding.
Harry would still like to know more about Lily-as-Snape, but his curiosity had been dampened by fatigue and despair that they might never have any sort of healthy relationship. But even though he was hurting, Harry still wanted to know the real her.
Remus misinterpreted Harry's conflicted face. "I'm sure that your aunt would be tough enough to take some criticism from her. Lily told us about the screaming rows they would get into as teenagers."
Stuck in his thoughts, Harry mumbled neutrally.
He shouldn't have been, but Harry was surprised that Remus had also talked to Petunia about Harry. He was also surprised that she listened to Remus.
About a week after school let out for the summer, Petunia said, "Harry, would you come sit with me?"
He followed her to the small drawing room that she favored. It was cleaner than when Harry owned the house in the other timeline. Petunia had kept most of the existing furnishings, but had added plants, more lighting, and various odds and ends. The decorations were a mix of his aunt's taste and Grimmauld, which were surprisingly harmonious in their serious opulence. Hmm maybe Sirius had a point.
His aunt gestured to the other end of the couch from where she sat.
Harry asked, "Er, what would you like to talk about?"
"How's your schoolwork going?"
"Good. Sirius helps. I could probably ask Remus, too."
With an uncharacteristic amount of casualness, she asked, "Were you happy with your marks from last term?"
Harry tried to match her tone. "Yeah, last year was my best yet. My favorite class was Defense, which is what Remus taught," he added.
Petunia picked at her nails for a moment, then said, "Remus thinks I should talk to you more, particularly to tell you about your mother."
"Er, only if you want to." Harry couldn't help his reflex to immediately placate his aunt, but now he also felt shame for his reaction. Remus was probably right that his aunt could handle some criticism.
"When I wrack my brain for the sorts of things you tell a dead woman's son, I can only think of one. She clearly loved her husband. I never saw her with you, but I imagine it was the same."
Harry enjoyed the small comfort.
Petunia's eyes watered, "It's so unfair that you never got to know her. Maybe then, you'd be able to appreciate why I hate her guts. The grime doesn't stick as well when someone is dead. Or when they're like a storybook character that you never saw live and breathe and make mistakes."
Harry said, "I can appreciate that you had a different relationship with Lily than I would've."
"If she were alive right now, I'd tell her three things. One, she was right about Vernon. Two, that I hate her for everything, especially dying. I'd like to think we could have connected later, once we had both grown up a bit. We had kids the same age… " Petunia trailed off.
"What was the third thing?"
"I'd tell her that I was sorry for insulting her friend Sev. He came over the day after she died and actually told me what happened. Otherwise, I would have been devastated by that note Dumbledore left me the day after that. Can you imagine, leaving news like that in a letter on a baby? What a jerk."
Harry smothered a laugh.
Petunia sighed. "Your mother was the golden child of our family. Special. Allowed to dream. Whereas I," her tone hardened, "could only succeed if I acted according to the script. Marry well, have kids, keep house."
"That sounds frustrating." Harry hesitated, then added, "I feel like… I had a similar experience. Dudley could do no wrong, and I could never do anything right."
Petunia looked Harry in the eyes. "I'm very, very sorry for how you were treated in my home. I've been trying to show you that, rather than say empty words. But I'll say the words as many times as you like, if they help you forgive me."
"I appreciate that." Harry's brow furrowed as he tried to find words. "I haven't quite forgiven you yet, but you're doing okay by me now."
"I'm glad to hear it." Her words had the ring of truth.
Hermione settled in to her home life a bit less comfortably than she had in previous summers. Her parents wanted her to keep up with muggle current affairs, but the witch suspected that her parents' views differed from her own enough that they wouldn't make for effective teachers.
Hermione proposed learning more about current pop culture and technology instead, which her mother and father reluctantly agreed to. The family developed a regular routine of crossword puzzles, seeing movies, and home science experiments.
But her parents subtly worked in ideas about the "big picture" of society, like the importance of voting, the courts, and economic policy.
They also pushed Hermione to consider what she wanted to do after Hogwarts.
Her father said, "I bet you could still attend a non-magical university, if you took the GCSEs. Summer is a great time to start studying for those exams."
Her mother also offered advice. "Remember that your job will be a big part of your life, so you should pick something you can do day in and day out."
In the past timeline, Hermione had taken a job in a new Ministry department formed after the war. Home video recording had caught a Death Eater attack, which had sent the wizarding world into a state of shock.
In response, Minister Shacklebolt had created a new department dedicated to modernizing muggle relations and adapting to new technologies.
Although Hermione only worked there two short years before they time-traveled back, she saw both how important and how challenging that sort of work is.
Magicals lacked a fundamental understanding of muggle culture, politics, and daily life as well as the sheer magnitude of how many more muggles their were than magical beings. International standards would save them a lot of trouble, but Magical England was isolationist.
Hermione had drafted and revised a number of policies, including those specifying incident-response protocols. To aid that work, she had gotten to participate in some covert operations, which she had loved of course. They reminded her of her adventures with her friends, which she missed greatly. She couldn't quite say why they'd stopped adventuring for a time, but she was glad that they were back at it now.
But on the topic of her work at the Ministry, the curly-haired witch had found the work meaningful but exhausting. The stakes were high, yet the day-to-day was a slog of reports and meetings. Someone had to do the work, but Hermione wasn't sure it was something she could do long-term.
She asked her father, "Do you think I need to do something, er, important?"
"If I may respond to a question with a question," he said, "do you think you can live with yourself, if you don't do something that you think is important?"
"Probably not," Hermione sunk into her chair.
While the trio's soul piece list was now very short, Ron felt increasing stress about the trio's capabilities as well as their tendency to do not-strategic things.
In talking with Harry about Kreacher, Ron learned that he let the house-elf take the now horcrux-free locket with him to Malfoy Manor. In the other timeline, Voldemort lived there for years. Ron could have screamed with frustration.
But he didn't, because Ron also saw this entire re-do as a chance to re-write his abandonment of Harry and Hermione in the winter of their horcrux-hunt camping trip of the previous timeline.
So, the redhead focused on the facts, objectives, and things that were within his power.
To that end, Ron did a little solo snooping once summer started.
The first place he investigated was Riddle Manor. He wanted to see if Voldemort was still using that as his base. Ron considered using his new animagus form to sneak around, but Polyjuice Potion and a disillusionment spell was much less distinctive.
Ron snuck away from the Burrow for several hours each night. As expected, there weren't the sort of snake trails he saw the last time he was there. There were no flickers of light in the windows, nor people coming and going. I suppose if Snape's here, he would be better at hiding activity than Pettigrew.
Harry had been a bit cagey about his last meeting with Snape, but Ron knew that Pettigrew was dead and that Snape was serving Voldemort more directly.
Ron wasn't brave enough to attempt to enter the property, so as a last-ditch attempt to glean if Voldemort had found a new operational base, he cast a hominem revelio. Once he had the result of three humans, he quickly departed.
Seems like Voldemort and two followers are there. I bet one is Snape, but who is the third person?
Later Ron got a heavily coded message from Harry about what Kreacher knew. The elf reported that neither Snape nor Voldemort had been to Malfoy Manor in the past year.
However, Mr. Malfoy's friends were spending many hours there, possibly plotting something. Ron's thoughts went to the Quidditch World Cup next month. Are they going to attack the muggle campsite manager's family again? The redhead suspected that any muggle-baiting would be done for both twisted amusement and political reasons.
Ron felt a chill at that, mixed with disgust. What can I do?
Since it worked so well on Crouch Junior and Senior, Ron decided to write another letter.
