Disclaimer: Nope.
Author's Note: Thank you so, so much for the wonderful reviews! I'm really glad you enjoyed the last chapter with Matthew and the Slytherins. It was a very interesting one to write.
Yes, it's true that the Statute of Secrecy isn't actually being violated, because the parents already know about the magical world. What people are concerned about, and what the Voldemort supporters are using as cover, is that they're concerned that once those parents see Hogwarts, they simply won't be able to keep it a secret from people who shouldn't know. To know about the magical world is one thing. To see one of its most prestigious schools is quite another, and that's what the concern is.
I am so happy about this news that I wanted to let everyone know about. Yellow 14 has put up two more spin-offs! One is entitled "Tears in Victory", which is about a sweet conversation between Matthew and Rebecca after their meeting with the school governors. The other one is entitled "Love (Rivals) Square", and it's about four girls, each from a different Hogwarts House, who are crushing hard on Professor Philand, and how they all have a different plan of how to seduce him. It's absolutely hilarious, and I love it so much. Both stories produce very different emotions, but I think they're equally wonderful. I'd highly recommend everyone to check them out. Thank you again, Yellow 14, for creating these fantastic spin-offs!
Anyway, I really hope you enjoy this chapter. We haven't seen these characters yet in this fic - we've only seen glimpses of them in Harry's flashbacks. They certainly deserve some comeuppance.
xxxxxxxxxx
It was a quiet, serene Tuesday morning as Petunia Dursley sat in her kitchen, nursing her normal cup of tea. Outside, it was raining, but since she lived in Britain, this was nothing out of the ordinary. As a matter of fact, she rather liked the rain, because she could be sure that the plants in her garden would only grow stronger because of it. To be gratified at such a thing was perfectly normal, in her opinion.
Normal. Perfectly normal. Nothing made Petunia Dursley more grateful than to describe her current day in these terms, because for so long, she'd been surrounded by the unnatural and the strange. And she, her husband, and their darling son deserved some peace and quiet, and not to have to deal with those ... those ... those freaks.
This July and August had shaped up to be an amazing treat that Petunia and her normal family had cherished. After all, he had never come back from King's Cross Station with them. Several days before his scheduled arrival, some woman named Minerva McGonagall (she was undoubtedly one of those weirdos, because only people like them had names like that) had written to tell her that he wouldn't be staying with them this summer.
She had given out an address, just in case Petunia wanted more details. Muggle post will reach me there, she had written. Muggle. Of course. As if those abnormal hoodlums bothered to use ordinary words. They just had to be insulting all the time, didn't they?
And it sounded like some kind of test. It was like this Minerva busybody was waiting for Petunia to drop everything, get down on bended knee, and take time out of her day to ask about the well-being of the brat. Obviously, the woman couldn't just tell her. Perhaps she wanted a gushing note with tearstains on it, lamenting the fact that the boy wasn't coming this summer. No doubt Minerva thought Petunia should consider him the center of her universe and never mind her darling, Dudley, who had just come home from his own year away at Smeltings. Minerva wouldn't care that Petunia wanted to lavish him with love and affection. It was always that Potter whelp who deserved it.
Potter. Yes, if Petunia thought of the boy with any title, it was always "Potter" or "him". The name "Harry" only passed her lips if they were in company and Petunia needed to put on appearances. Just the sight of that vile, messy hair, and those eyes ...
Stop it, Petunia, she thought viciously as she sipped at her tea almost frantically. He's not in your house now, and hasn't been for over a year. Why let him invade your thoughts?
But that was what those freaks did. They always found some way to insert themselves into a regular person's normal day. Petunia had sworn once, when she'd slammed the door on an enraged James and a sobbing Lily after Mr. and Mrs. Evans had been brutally murdered in cold blood by monsters who thought people like Petunia didn't deserve to exist, that she and her family would never let themselves get mixed up in this nonsense again.
There had been more to the letter that Minerva had written, and at the beginning of the missive, she'd said it was very important. But upon reading that the brat wouldn't be with them this summer, she'd known all she needed to. After the condescending remark about "Muggle post will find me", when referring to the address Petunia could send letters to, she'd promptly torn the thing up into tiny shreds and thrown it in the wastepaper basket. Good riddance to bad rubbish, indeed.
She, Vernon, and Dudley had gone to a restaurant that evening for dinner, and Petunia let Dudley feast on everything he wanted. Who cared about his stupid diet? She and her family were free this summer. Free from haunting emerald eyes. Free from talk of ... that unnaturalness. Free from the looks her nephew always gave her, those betrayed and hurt looks that asked without speaking, "Why? What did I ever do to you, for you to treat me like that?"
And for once, she was free from the bouts of guilt that plagued her. Free from memories of a sister whom she had once loved. Free from the echoes of laughter, of innocent smiles, of squeals of "Tuney! Tuney! Tuney!"
It had been amazing. There had been no talk of freaks or abnormality the entire summer. Petunia had spent long, lazy days with her friend Yvonne as they gossiped about the latest goings-on in the town, or went shopping to buy new clothes. Dudley spent time in the park with his buddies as they did what teenage boys always did. And Vernon was the most relaxed that she'd seen him in a very long time. He had been anticipating having to look over his shoulder in order to prepare for the next freaky thing the boy was about to do, but now, he didn't have to worry. He and Petunia watched TV together in the evenings while Dudley spent time in his room, playing the latest game on his computer, or over at one of his friends' houses.
There had been no more contact from ... those people. They somehow found the common decency, usually very much lacking in people like them, to leave the Dursleys alone. Petunia could only count her blessings as the days passed and there were no more letters from them. That Minerva woman never harassed them again.
At the beginning of September, Dudley had returned to Smeltings. It was always difficult for Petunia and Vernon to let him go after the summer, although they both kept a stiff upper lip about it in public. Being at home without him never felt right, though, especially in those first few days after he left. Gradually, Petunia got used to the house being empty while Vernon was at work, but she never stopped missing her sweet Diddydumkins. If she got one more letter home about her baby boy's weight ...
But everything was fine. It was a serene, quiet Tuesday morning and everything was the way it should be. Her mind slowly cleared as the tea warmed her body, the sheer beauty of the taste removing any more thoughts of ... unwanted rubbish.
And it was at that precise moment that there was a very loud knock on her door.
Startled, Petunia almost spilled her precious tea as she hurriedly put her mug down on the kitchen table. Who could possibly be at her door at 9:00 AM? Was she expecting anyone? She was supposed to be getting together with Yvonne again tomorrow, right? Unless Petunia had gotten the date wrong ... but she didn't think so.
She suddenly felt disconcerted. If there was one thing Petunia Dursley absolutely despised, it was the unexpected. She didn't like when people turned up without any warning. She didn't like anything happening without advanced notice. And so, this occurrence had turned her serene, quiet Tuesday morning into a very uncomfortable, strange Tuesday morning, and she thoroughly hated it.
She didn't want to open the door. Maybe, if it was someone selling something, they'd just go away if they thought no one was home. Maybe they'd just go and bother someone else, right? Right?
Knock, knock.
Whoever it was was harassing her a second time, making Petunia's anxiety rise anew. Dread mounting with every step she took, she reached the front door, and against her better judgement, she opened it.
It was ... them.
She knew it from the instant she opened the door. There were ... FOUR ... of them standing on her doorstep. With their insane hats and their unnatural robes, there they stood in her doorway, uncaring of what the neighbors might think, selfishly thinking that they could just barge in on Petunia when she was minding her own business.
"Petunia Dursley?"
A chill coursed down Petunia's spine as she realized she recognized the man who had spoken. He'd been at James and Lily's wedding. Petunia remembered that smile, the cadence of his voice, the way he'd gazed at Lily and James with the deepest caring and affection ... but most of all, she remembered his strange, abnormal, unnatural amber eyes.
"Ah, you remember me." The man smiled pleasantly at her, but there was something behind it that set off alarm bells in Petunia's head. "I remember you, as well. My name is Remus Lupin."
Remus Lupin. She'd forgotten his name, but now it came roaring back. She remembered Lily talking about a very kind boy named Remus who went to Hogwarts. She remembered Mr. and Mrs. Evans with fond smiles on their faces as she harped on and on about how Remus was lovely, but how he got on her nerves because he never stopped James Potter and his other idiot friends from acting like morons.
"What are you doing here?" Petunia's voice was shrill as she glared at the wizards standing in her doorway. "I don't want you freaks anywhere near my house."
She should have thought twice about riling any of these ... people ... up. After all, they could do things with their powers that terrified her. There had been so many nights when she'd woken up in a cold sweat, thinking she'd heard Dudley scream in fear and horror, only to go and check on him and find him peacefully sleeping. But she'd never forgotten, and the nightmares had only increased in intensity the longer that ... that boy lived with them.
But none of the wizards standing in her doorway raised their wands at her. "I'm afraid you're going to have to put up with us freaks for a while, Petunia."
The man who spoke this time looked very put-together. Although he, too, was wearing a wizard's robe and a wizard's hat, it was obvious he cared about his appearance. The ease in which he'd used "freak" to describe himself caught Petunia off-guard. He did not seem at all insulted by the term, and seemed to wear it as a badge of honor.
"My name is Sturgis Podmore," the man said affably, putting out his hand. "I am very pleased to make your acquaintance."
But something in his eyes shifted when he said those words, and instinctively, Petunia shied away from it. She cringed away from his handshake, but his facial expression remained the same. "I'm sorry you don't feel the same," was the only thing he said in response.
"I'm Kingsley Shacklebolt," a third man said as he smiled at Petunia. "I'm the best friend of this freak here," he said, grinning at Sturgis, who returned it.
Once again, Petunia was disconcerted by the way they were treating her insult like it was a compliment. Unwillingly, she remembered the many times that she, Vernon, and Dudley had thrown that at Harry. She recalled the sadness, defeat, and loneliness that seemed to radiate from the small, skinny, unwanted boy at the epithet. An unddesired emotion crept up in Petunia, one which she viciously shoved away.
The last wizard was a man who truly terrified the life out of Petunia. He was wearing a patch over one eye, and the other contained something fierce in its depths. He was grizzled and old, and looked like he had seen a thousand years of war. Maybe he has, Petunia thought faintly as the man spoke in a low, gravelly growl. "Hello, Dursley," he said, and even his greeting sounded threatening. "I'm Alastor Moody. We would like to come in."
"I ..." The urge to slam the door in their faces was all-consuming. "I don't want you in my home."
"We could do this the easy way or the hard way, Dursley." Moody's glower sent shivers crawling down Petunia's spine.
"Alastor." Lupin's voice was gentle. "We need to do this calmly."
Moody was about to retort when Sturgis spoke up. "We promise that we're not going to hurt you, Petunia." His tone was very calming, but it still didn't reassure her. "I promise."
Promises, promises. Petunia scoffed - promises had done her a fat lot of good. After all, Lily had promised, when she was five years old, that nothing would ever come between her and Petunia. Petunia was her big sister and she loved her.
I promise. Out of all the words in the English language, those were the ones Petunia despised the most. Because Lily had broken her promise. She'd gone off to that school without Petunia, hadn't she? She'd gone off and had adventures and babbled on about stupid boys. Then, she'd gone and fallen in love with one of those stupid boys and gotten married and had a baby and ... and ... and died, leaving Petunia to clean up her mess. As always. As bloody always.
"Please, Petunia." Remus's amber eyes fell upon her. "Please, let us in."
"You don't want the neighbors staring, do you?"
Petunia was paralyzed with horror. How in God's name had that just fallen out of Moody's mouth? He was looking directly at her, his grizzled appearance fraying her nerves as a slight smirk tugged at his lips.
And it was terror that forced Petunia to open the door and allow them inside, even though no wand had been raised at her. She saw Kingsley give Moody a look of slight annoyance, but the other man shrugged it off and paid it no heed.
This was how Petunia Dursley's serene, quiet, normal Tuesday morning turned into a nightmare, and she found herself in the company of four fully-grown wizards. She collapsed onto her sofa in the living room, but there was no way in hell that she was going to offer them seats. Moody conjured one for himself, a trick Petunia had seen Lily use after she had turned seventeen and could do magic in front of lowly Muggles. Neither Kingsley, Sturgis, nor Remus did this, however - they seemed to be okay standing.
"Now," Sturgis said in a businesslike tone. "I'm sure you're wondering why we're here, and it's obvious you'd like us gone as soon as possible."
"You've done enough to my life." Petunia's voice was filled with years of bitterness. "What do you want?"
Alastor Moody couldn't hold back. Rising from his chair, he stood very close to Petunia and growled, "We've done enough to your life? Really?"
"Alastor." Kingsley's tone was one of warning. "Not now."
Moody glared at Kingsley, but sat back down in his conjured chair. The atmosphere in the room was exceedingly strained and tense.
"We are here to inform you that on August 21 of this year, Sirius Black was cleared of all charges," Remus Lupin said quietly. "As you no doubt remember, he is Harry Potter's godfather."
Oh, did she remember. Petunia remembered Sirius Black all too well. She remembered how he'd danced in such a juvenile manner on Lily and James's wedding day, his grin so ridiculous. She remembered him teasing James that even though he was now married to her, he was being utterly selfish for not allowing him to have at least one dance with her. James had flipped Sirius off but was grinning as he did so, as the crowd realized it was all in fun. Lily mock-glared at Sirius but allowed him to sweep her onto the dance floor, Lily barely being able to keep up with his insane dance moves. But they were laughing and smiling and so, so happy. Just ... so happy.
Petunia's wedding day had been ... well, it had been nice. She and Vernon's first dance had been very pleasant, but then he'd had too much wine and had spent most of his time with his guy friends. Petunia thought the songs that were being played were childish, so instead she'd hung out with her girlfriends while they exclaimed over her dress. While Lily and James had thrown wedding cake on each other and exchanged mock insults about how completely horrible the other one looked, Petunia ate her cake daintily while Vernon ate it so quickly that one would think it was going out of style.
So happy. So, so happy. Lily and James had been so full of life and vitality and so much love. As Petunia had watched them, envy had swallowed her, the bitterness transforming her expression into an ugly mask. "Why so down in the dumps, Petunia?" Sirius's grin had been taunting. "Fancy a dance?"
"Get away from me, freak." Petunia sneered at him.
"Suit yourself. Enjoy being miserable." Sirius had turned away in disgust, but then suddenly turned back. "Lily deserves better than to have a spiteful harpy like you for a sister." The words were venomous.
Moments later, he'd gone back to his happy, charming, laughing self as he continued to look like a fool on the dance floor. But all the other wedding guests were loving every minute of it.
"I remember." The two simple words were spat out at Remus as Petunia's mind landed back in the present. "And this concerns me, how?"
"Because," Remus replied calmly, "this means that from now on, Sirius can have custody of Harry. You and your family no longer need to care for him."
For a moment, the words didn't register with Petunia. She simply sat on the sofa, the entire world seeming to go very quiet.
"We have some papers that we brought with us," Sturgis said, reaching into his robes and pulling them out. "All we need from you is your signature."
"You will not need to do anything else," Kingsley explained. "Your presence will not be needed, as we have connections that can make sure that custody is transferred as soon as possible."
Petunia was up and off the couch in a flash because suddenly, her feet couldn't move fast enough. She dashed into the kitchen, where she retrieved a pen from the junk drawer. Her mind was racing as she did so.
No more Harry. No more freaks. No more unnaturalness or abnormality. She no longer had to fear that she and her family were in danger because Harry would bring all the masked, hooded monsters to her home. She could lay her ghosts to rest. She could sleep without nightmares, and stop thinking about wild hair and green eyes.
She returned to the living room promptly, and Sturgis held out the papers for her. Petunia didn't read them - why should she care what they had to say? That abnormal freak was being taken off her hands. The sooner she signed the papers, the sooner she could be free.
And she did it. She wrote her signature, somehow being able to do it without her hand shaking. She handed the papers back to Sturgis, who returned them to his robes. "Thank you," she said pointedly, ready to lead the wizards out the front door.
"I see that you are in a hurry for us to leave," Kingsley said, his voice low and measured. "I'm afraid, Petunia, that we will have to disappoint you."
Petunia opened her mouth in complete indignation. These ... these people were so ... so rude and uncouth!
"You have just shown us something very telling," said Sturgis, and there was something intensely frightening about his eyes now. That something that Petunia had seen before was growing. "You have just displayed to us your complete and utter disregard for another human being."
"You didn't even read those papers, Petunia." Remus sounded absolutely devastated. "You did not care what they said. All you cared about was that Harry Potter would no longer concern you. Those papers could have said we were selling him into slavery, or performing other nefarious acts, and you wouldn't have cared less."
"Because all you want is for us "abnormal freaks" to get out of your house, after all," Alastor Moody said, removing the patch that covered his eye. "And you don't even realize ... you're the freak here."
When Petunia saw what the patch had been covering, she opened her mouth in indescribable horror. She was moments away from shrieking in utter terror when Moody spoke again. "Oh, be quiet, you stupid woman," he snarled. "After all ... you don't want the neighbors to hear what's going on, do you?"
Petunia was speechless. She struggled to comprehend the madly spinning eye in Moody's eye socket. It was one of the most horrifying things she'd ever seen in her life.
"You do not even pretend to care about that child." Sturgis sounded truly enraged now - his voice was actually shaking with it. "You did not ask one question as to how Sirius was cleared or whether he is looking after him correctly. As Harry's guardian, I would think that would be your first priority, hmm?"
"I'm sure you saw his name on the Muggle news, too?" Kingsley asked, and Petunia cringed at the word "Muggle". "Sirius Black - escaped mass murderer."
"And you knew exactly who he was," Remus said quietly.
Petunia finally got some words out. Any emotion that resembled guilt in any form went right out the window as she stared down these ... these ... these self-righteous abominations in front of her. "Why should I have cared about that child?" Her diatribe began as a whisper, but it slowly gained in momentum. "Why should I care about him at all, when your lot dumped him on our doorstep like he was a bottle of milk? You magic folk didn't give a damn about our finances, did you? That old man, Dumbledore ... he couldn't have cared less that we had a child already. We Muggles are here to clean up your messes, is that right? And it obviously doesn't matter a bit that Harry's mere presence here puts me and my entire family in danger! Those monsters who murdered my sister would certainly take us the same way!"
Remus had the nerve to make direct eye contact with Petunia. "We are perfectly aware you are lying about the financial aspect of things," he said softly. "Dumbledore explained that he supplied you with plenty of money to care for Harry. Don't think we don't know about that."
Petunia felt a cold chill sweep through her, but continued glaring. So they knew about the money. So what?
"Am I right that you spent it all on your vile son and none of it on Harry?" Moody snarled, his disgusting eye making Petunia feel weak and frightened, like the little girl she had once been after waking up from terrifying nightmares of green-skinned monsters under her bed. Yet those monsters hadn't been so scary when she'd once had a little sister to laugh at them with, had they?
But Petunia batted those memories away. That little sister was gone, and had been, emotionally speaking, for years before she lost her life to a real monster.
"Don't you dare insult my son!" Petunia shrieked, because as terrified as she was, she couldn't let that pass. "He hasn't done anything to you!"
Moody's glower went up a notch, and though he said nothing, Petunia could see something ... violent ... in his eyes. Had the boy blabbed to him about how he'd been treated? Of course he had. Lazy, good-for-nothing, selfish freak.
"As for Albus Dumbledore leaving Harry on your doorstep with only a note, and assuming that you would take care of him ..." Remus sighed. "There are many decisions the Headmaster has made that have been thoroughly questionable, and it is something I didn't realize for a very long time," he whispered.
Petunia pounced on that as though it were prey. "Not so enamored by that old fool?" she spat bitterly.
Remus didn't react to her insult - he only sighed again, the sound extremely sad. "And yes," he said, his voice surprisingly gentle, "we are aware of the danger that Harry posed to you and your family, but, obviously, he never wanted to put you at risk. But I am sure you know all about the wards that were placed on this house. Truly, there was no safer place for your family and Harry to be. I know that it is very difficult to believe, since the wards leave no visible mark, but your safety was Dumbledore's top priority."
"So self-righteous. You freaks are all the same," Petunia said venomously. "So was my sister. Selfish, greedy, uncaring. And then she got herself blown up, leaving me to clean up her mess. And you think he's the paragon of perfection, don't you? It's a shame Vernon and I weren't able to stamp the magic right out of him!" she burst out.
In the next moment, she was filled with horror - had she really just admitted such a thing? She knew she was in deep trouble when Sturgis who, even though he was enraged, had managed to maintain his calm, pointed his wand at her.
"I would not speak another word, if I were you." His voice was low, and his blue eyes were flashing in a way that sent a spike of fear through Petunia's gut. "I don't think you would like the results."
"Sturgis." Kingsley's tone held a warning, yet his eyes were soft as he gazed at the other man. "Breathe."
Several intensely painful seconds passed, and the room seemed to hold its breath before Sturgis lowered his wand. His face had lost all of its color, yet in that moment, his eyes were even scarier than Moody's.
As for Moody, he was looking at Petunia with such disgust, like she was nothing more than a speck of filth on the bottom of his shoe. "Your nephew is one of the bravest, most compassionate people that I have met in a very long time." His voice was honestly gentle when he spoke of Harry, something that Petunia hadn't thought was possible to come out of the man. "He never deserved the likes of you as family." He spat the last word with a bitter venom that froze the blood in her veins.
Remus nodded. "Exactly." He looked Petunia directly in the eye. "I will admit that, yes, the way you were asked to take care of Harry left ... much to be desired," he said quietly. "There was a lot that was done wrong, and yes, none of it should have happened in that manner. And I, too, have made terrible, unforgivable mistakes. I was best friends with James and Lily and, when I heard of their murders, I hid myself away, too grief-stricken and too bitter at the direction my life had gone to care about much of anything. Instead of checking up on a little boy I had grown to care about deeply, I wallowed in self-pity and wasted so much time.
"But Harry has forgiven me." Remus sounded choked up then. "He's forgiven me, because that's the kind of person he is. And if you and your husband had shown him any ounce of compassion, you would have had yourselves a nephew who loved you dearly."
Petunia scoffed. "Hardly," she said, the word poisonous on her tongue. "He'd have been just like his mother. The instant Lily got herself mixed up in your affairs, she didn't care about me anymore."
Why was she laying her soul bare for these freaks? She should just shut up now - they were already seeing fit to judge her for her every action. Why was she suddenly ripping open old wounds again? These abnormal hoodlums were hardly the ones to ...
"That's where you're wrong." Remus's quiet words interrupted her thoughts. "It was you who stopped caring about her. Do you not think she told me everything? How you used to treat her with scorn? How you used to look down your nose at her? How you used to call her a freak, and how you told her that you were glad she was at that school because it meant she'd be staying away from normal people?"
The other man seemed to be forgetting that he and Petunia weren't the only ones in the room. Yet the others stood patiently, none of them seeming to mind. Remus obviously felt like he had to be having this conversation.
Petunia scoffed again. "Too mixed up in her magic nonsense to care about ordinary people," she sniped, memories of those days coming back to her.
"You were jealous. Plain and simple." Remus's voice was still quiet. "Jealous of her abilities, of her talents. To be honest, if I had a sibling who was magical and I wasn't ... I must confess, I don't know if I'd have been able to resist that temptation, either."
His face had been almost ... sympathetic in that moment, but his expression suddenly hardened, his amber eyes flinty.
"But that's the thing about love." The intensity in his voice shook Petunia. "It is meant to surpass jealousy, to rise above bitterness and resentment. And most people," he went on, each word seeming to bludgeon Petunia, "grow out of their teenage years."
He didn't say anything more right then, but the condemnation in his tone alone was enough to make a sudden flood of shame submerge Petunia. Memories of Lily's hugs, of the pure love she had once shown her big sister, came back to her. They were memories she had never let herself think about as she stared into Harry's green eyes and hated him, despised him, loathed him.
"But let's say, hypothetically, that Lily was truly the awful, selfish monster that you portray her as. Let's pretend, for a single second, that that is all true." Remus gazed at Petunia meaningfully. "What, precisely, does any of that have to do with Harry? What gave you the right to treat a CHILD the way you did?"
Cold trickles of fear wormed their way down Petunia's spine as all four men stared her down with hard, unforgiving gazes.
"We will take our leave now," Remus said, his voice very quiet. "We are not going to hurt you."
"Only for one reason, however," Moody growled, his terrifying eye boring into her soul. "Because Harry, your nephew, a young boy who you reveled in hurting simply to soothe your old resentment - Harry asked us to leave you in peace."
"If he had asked us to hurt you, we would have had no problem doing so." Remus's tone had suddenly become exceedingly hostile. "We would hardly have blamed him if he had given us permission."
"But he asked me, specifically, not to touch you, and for no one else to either. We will do nothing more to you, nor disrupt your shallow, pathetic life any further." Moody continued to gaze at her with his judgmental stare. "I want nothing more than for Harry to change his mind, but he will not do so. And we, unlike you, care about that child, and we will respect his wishes."
"You will never hear from us again." Sturgis's voice was barely audible, but it held an endless amount of rage. "Petunia, the day may come when you want our protection. If you read the entirety of the letter Minerva McGonagall sent you in June ..." He left the sentence hanging.
"What?" Petunia whispered, fear of a different sort making her skin prickle.
"There are very scary things out there, Petunia." Remus spoke again as all four wizards walked towards the door. "Much scarier than us. Have a nice life, Petunia."
And with that, they all finally left through the front door, leaving Petunia a terrified, shaking mess on the sofa.