Chapter 31: Moving Forward
Many of Umbridge's followers had, unfortunately, gotten away. But without the great Lord Voldemort around to organize them, Harry hoped that they would disband and move on with their lives. Still, there was always the possibility of a new Dark Lord to rise up and take her place. But if that happened, Harry just hoped that the new dark wizard in charge wouldn't have a personal vendetta against him.
Those who had been petrified had been rounded up by the Ministry forces to be taken to St. Mungos, Britain's largest magical hospital, until they could be unpetrified, at which point they would likely be transferred to Azkaban. Harry was looking forward to these people going to trial, anticipating that it would result in many more of Umbridge's crimes coming to light. Her initial arrest had only covered the tip of the iceberg when it came to her evil deeds, and she deserved to be remembered for the full extent of them. History would judge her for her actions forever.
Harry's first order of business as the battle came to a close was to return the basilisk to his home, and thus found himself back in the second floor girls' lavatory. The basilisk took up almost the entire room, much to Myrtle's apparent disdain.
"Those horrible eyes," Myrtle said with a shudder. "Must you keep your beast in here?"
"He'll be going back underground in a moment, Myrtle. Where he's always been," Harry said calmly, trying to be patient with her.
"And just how am I supposed to haunt my bathroom knowing that this… thing is beneath me?" Myrtle demanded.
Harry sighed. "He's under my command, Myrtle. He won't hurt you." In fact Harry was pretty sure that the basilisk couldn't hurt Myrtle if it tried, considering that she was already dead, but he refrained from saying so. "Feel free to tell people that, if you like. If anyone is mean to you, let them know that I'll set the basilisk on them if they don't stop."
Myrtle's scowl turned into a dreamy grin. "You would do that for me, Harry?" She batted her eyelashes.
"Um… sure," Harry said, though he was starting to regret the offer. Not that he would ever follow through on that threat, anyway. He hoped to never need to wield the basilisk as a weapon ever again.
"Oh, thank you, Harry," Myrtle said dreamily. "You're not like other boys your age. You're kind, and brave, and know how to treat a woman."
"Thanks, Myrtle. You're a… really nice girl."
Myrtle giggled. "You're welcome in my bathroom any time," she said before flying down the nearest sink drain and out of sight. Harry let out a sigh of relief once she was gone.
"No wonder it took so long for someone to find you," Harry said, turning his attention back to the basilisk. "She's been scaring everyone away from the chamber entrance."
"Good. I enjoy the sssolitude," the basilisk hissed.
Harry smiled. "You've earned your peace today. Thank you for all your help."
"It wasss my pleasssure, young massster. It'sss good to feel ussseful."
"Useful is an understatement," Harry said as he affectionately patted the side of the basilisk's massive head. "You may have just saved the world."
"No, young massster. It isss you who sssaved everyone," the basilisk insisted.
"I had a lot of help," said Harry.
"Few could inssspire asss much bravery asss you did. Few could convince othersss to climb on the back of a giant beassst with no explanation."
Harry grinned modestly. "I'd have done the same for them. It's a mutual trust."
"Then, you are very fortunate, young massster, to have so many wonderful friendsss."
Harry nodded. "I know I am." And so, he reopened the Chamber of Secrets, and the basilisk returned to its depths.
The Great Hall erupted into cheers when Harry entered, Ron and Hermione flanking him on either side. Following the battle, everyone had gone to get some rest. They'd been awakened in the middle of the night, after all, and were quickly thrust into a stressful environment as Umbridge's army attempted to infiltrate the castle. But hours later, everyone was gathered in the Great Hall for a big party, celebrating Umbridge's downfall and, by consequence, her defeat at Harry's hands. Seeing their greatest enemy being devoured by the basilisk was something none of them would soon forget.
Harry grinned widely as he worked his way into the throng of his fellow students, many of whom rushed to pat him on the back or shake his hand as he passed.
"I'll grab us some drinks," Hermione said as she disappeared to find the punch bowl. The usual long tables had been removed for the occasion, replaced by a few smaller circular tables and chairs set up off to one side and some thin rectangular tables for food and drinks, with a lot of empty space left for mingling. Lively music could be heard pumping through the hall, the source of which was unclear. It seemed that Hogwarts had a plan in place to throw a party at a moment's notice, a fact for which Harry was very grateful. They all needed this celebration.
"I hate to interrupt the merriment," Dumbledore said, his voice coming in over the crowd. He stood at his usual spot, his podium and the staff table being the only pieces of furniture that had been left in place. It took a few moments, but everyone quieted down to listen. "I would just like to say a few words, if I could. I understand that this has been a troubling day for us all. We have all come to know Hogwarts as one of the safest places on Earth, and in the early hours of the morning, this notion was put to the test by one of the most evil dark witches in known history. But despite this, each and every one of you acted in bravery beyond your years. I truly could not ask for a better group of students. The future of the Wizarding World is very bright indeed." Applause broke out among both students and teachers. "And so it is with great pride that I award 500 points to Gryffindor!"
"What?" multiple students blurted out.
"This again?" said an exasperated Slytherin.
"Having Harry Potter in your house is cheating," declared a Hufflepuff.
Similar sentiments were shared by many students around the room until Dumbledore began to chuckle before saying, "And 500 points to Ravenclaw!" This added to the general confusion, but succeeded in getting everyone to stop talking. "And 500 points to Hufflepuff! And to Slytherin too! Because today you all did your houses, and your school, very proud. Congratulations to all of you. Because of the hard work of your fellow students, and your teachers, Hogwarts still stands, and Lord Voldemort is no longer at large. So, let's party!" Everyone cheered.
"For the record, I would like to award 15 additional house points to Mr. Harry Potter," Professor McGonagall cut in with an amused grin. "For creative use of basilisk."
"Well, who am I to argue with his head of house?" Dumbledore said with a wink.
As the festivities commenced, it seemed that just about everyone wanted to personally offer Harry their congratulations. He felt that he'd never been so popular. But soon enough he found himself surrounded by friends, swapping stories from the day. Evidently, after he and his friends left for the Chamber of Secrets, the remaining members of Dumbledore's Army had grown restless. And by the time news had broken that Umbridge's followers had reached school property, there was no way they were going to wait behind in their common rooms just waiting while the adults fought to defend the school. The teachers had initially protested, but they seemed proud to see their students' bravery.
At everyone's insistence, Harry, Ron, and Hermione told the story of their adventures in the chamber. Everyone was fascinated to hear that a place like that had been hiding unnoticed beneath the castle for over a thousand years, and that the basilisk had been down there just as long, waiting for one of Slytherin's heirs to come along.
"Here's what I don't understand about the whole thing," said Fred. "If the basilisk can kill just as easily as it can petrify a person, why bother with petrifying?"
"Not that we condone killing generally," George cut in. "But, I mean, this is war. This is Umbridge and her followers we're talking about here, they've been killing people for years."
Harry nodded. "They deserved death, I know they did. But I needed Umbridge to believe, truly believe, that I would give her the Elder Wand if she showed up. I was relying on her thinking that I would do just about anything she asked if it meant that the people I care about most would be safe. And it makes sense that she would think that, considering I've been proving that to her all year, you said so yourself, Fred."
"Look, Harry, I was out of line-" Fred started to say.
"No, you were right," Harry insisted. "I put a lot of people in danger because I wanted to handle everything myself. And I needed Umbridge to believe that I hadn't learned my lesson. I thought maybe if she knew that I hadn't even been willing to kill her followers, she might be more willing to believe I wanted a non-lethal method to stop the fighting. Plus, it helped that you all believed it, too."
"Well, I did feel a little stupid after you revealed that you hadn't really given her the Elder Wand," Fred admitted. "I should have known you wouldn't be willing to go that far."
"Well, technically he did give her the real Elder Wand," Hermione pointed out. "It just wasn't in a usable form."
"It's a shame you had to petrify it like that," George commented. "How cool would it have been to wield the most powerful wand in the world?"
"I actually did use it a couple times," Harry admitted. "It was scary, holding that much power in your hands. I felt like I could cause insane amounts of damage without even meaning to."
"Plus, it apparently could have been unpetrified if we'd wanted," said Ron. "But Harry had Professor Snape destroy it properly while it was in a weakened state."
Ginny's eyes went wide. "So, if Umbridge had managed to escape with the petrified wand…?"
"She may have been able to reverse the petrification and use it for real," Harry said with a nod. "I was so nervous about that. I knew she wouldn't be able to apparate away while on school grounds, so she couldn't escape easily, but still. It was a big risk."
"I think war in general is a pretty risky business," Luna said wisely. "But what you did was very clever." Harry smiled and nodded to her in thanks.
"Umbridge never saw it coming," Neville said with a grin. "It was really satisfying seeing her be the one who was scared and helpless for once." Everyone was inclined to agree. They'd all been on the lower end of the power imbalance during encounters with Umbridge, and it was nice to see the tables turned, all because she was used to getting everything she wanted, and was convinced that Harry would give it to her. But Harry had learned his lesson. His friends were his strongest asset, and he'd rather go into battle with them than the Elder Wand any day.
And so Umbridge had been defeated, but Harry was already facing down his next challenge; preparing for his OWL exams. He'd initially expected that it would feel strange to simply go back to class like everything was normal after having defeated the evil witch who'd been hunting him his entire life, but was surprised to find that the confidence boost he'd gotten from his triumph over Lord Voldemort made him a better student than he'd ever been. Suddenly he had the guts to be a more active participant in his lessons, when he'd previously shied away from answering questions due to a fear of sounding dumb in front of his classmates. But he'd defeated a dark witch at age 15. No one could tell him he was inadequate or incapable.
Harry found himself visiting his uncle a lot more often as well, which often involved him observing his potion making skills in action. And he was paying significantly more attention to his uncle during these moments than he had in all his years of classroom instruction, unsurprisingly leading to a much deeper understanding of proper technique.
But despite all of this, Harry still felt butterflies in his stomach as he, Ron, and Hermione entered the Great Hall with their fellow fifth years to take their OWL exams. The long house tables had been removed once again, but this time they were replaced by evenly spaced rows of desks. It wasn't exactly the party vibe that they had all enjoyed weeks earlier.
"Wait, did I go over my notes for chapter 4? Now I can't remember," said Hermione, who seemed to be freaking out the most out of all of them. She'd studied herself to death trying to prepare for these exams, but no amount of studying was ever going to make her feel fully prepared.
"You definitely did," said Ron, who had no idea which class Hermione was even talking about.
"I'm pretty sure you know this stuff better than our teachers at this point," said Harry.
"What if I left it off the study schedule completely? I mean I double checked that the schedule had covered everything, but I didn't triple check. I can't believe I didn't think to triple check!" Hermione continued, barely seeming to hear Harry and Ron.
Harry and Ron exchanged glances. "We've got to snap her out of it, we can't let her go into her exams like this," said Harry.
"Oh, bloody hell," Ron muttered. He grabbed her by the shoulders and gave her a quick peck on the cheek, shutting her up instantly. Hermione's eyes went wide as Ron turned red behind the ears.
"What?" Hermione asked.
"You were spiraling," said Ron.
"Oh. Thank you."
Harry hid his grin as his friends took their seats, seemingly unable to look each other in the eyes. And soon enough, the testing began. The OWLs were a massive exam covering everything they had learned in the first five years of their magical education. It spanned several hours with scheduled breaks, but they weren't sufficient to stop Harry's brain from feeling like it had been turned to jelly. Still, he found that he knew more of the answers than he'd expected he would. It seemed that the work he'd put into the past couple weeks of exam prep had really paid off and he was fairly confident that he was going to be receiving some pretty respectable marks when he got his results back.
As Harry and his friends wandered out of the Great Hall feeling like zombies after having taken the longest exam ever, he was surprised to see Uncle Severus waiting in the Entrance Hall. The exams had been overseen by Professor McGonagall, as part of her responsibilities as Deputy Headmistress, but none of the other teachers' presence was required.
"What are you doing here, Unc- I mean Professor Snape?" Harry asked.
"Am I late for class?" Hermione blurted out reflexively, clearly disoriented after pouring every ounce of brain power into her exams.
"You need a nap," Ron informed her.
"Hello to you, as well," said Uncle Severus with a smirk. And McGonagall had claimed that he doesn't kid. "I'm actually here in an 'uncle' capacity. I just wanted to see how my nephew did on his exams."
"Oh," Harry said simply, his fried brain leaving him in a state where he wasn't much for conversation. "I think I did okay. I'm pretty sure I at least did well enough on the Potions portion that I won't embarrass my Potion Master uncle too badly."
Uncle Severus smiled. "I'll be sure to hang your results on the fridge when they come in, then."
"I'll hold you to that."
With the school year finally over, it was time for students to take the train back home. The teachers, however, still had a week of finalizing grades and wrapping up administrative duties ahead of them, which meant that Uncle Severus wasn't able to head home just yet. And so it had been decided that Harry would go home with the Weasleys, spending his first week of the Summer holiday at the Burrow.
"Harry Dear!" Mrs. Weasley said as she wrapped Harry into a hug. She'd come to platform 9 to pick him up, along with Fred, George, Ron, and Ginny, of course.
"Thank you for letting me stay, Mrs. Weasley," said Harry. "My uncle had them pack up some leftovers from the end of term feast to bring back as thanks." Uncle Severus knew that the Weasleys would never accept money from him in appreciation for taking his nephew for the week, so he did the next best thing.
"Oh, you don't need to thank me, you know you're welcome any time," Mrs. Weasley said, waving a hand dismissively. "But I appreciate your uncle's kindness, I'll be sure to write him up and thank him."
After saying goodbye to Hermione, promising to write often and that they would hang out soon, Harry followed the Weasleys off the platform and to their unusually vertical, magical home, all the while imagining that this might be how it would feel to be a part of a big family with lots of siblings. He'd envied Ron for his family life for years, and while he still loved the way the Weasleys had made him an honorary member of their family, his heart was full when he thought of the small family he'd been building with his uncle over the past year. He hadn't realized how important it was for him to be accepted by his own blood, having tried to convince himself for years that he didn't need his family's validation, all to protect his own heart. But now, he found that he had all the loving family he needed, both found and blood.
The first night at the Burrow, Harry and the Weasleys enjoyed the leftovers that Uncle Severus had sent along with his nephew. But the following evening was a special occasion as they celebrated Fred and George, who were officially Hogwarts graduates. Mrs. Weasley had prepared all of their favorite foods and baked them a cake from scratch, and Harry had spent much of the afternoon helping the Weasley children to decorate. Their current order of business was to create a banner in Fred and George's honor, using a large piece of paper and a bunch of paints. And so Harry, Ron, and Ginny found themselves outside in the grass, getting in touch with their creative sides.
"Why don't you let me draw out the letters, Ron?" Ginny suggested as she took the paintbrush from her brother's hand.
"What makes you think yours would look better than mine?" Ron protested.
"Oh, please," Ginny said as she rested one hand on her hip. "Your penmanship is barely legible."
Ron rolled his eyes and looked at Harry. "Can you believe her?" he demanded.
"You're asking the wrong person to stand up for you on this one," Harry said with a shrug. "I sit next to you in every class, I know what your notes look like."
"You know full well that I barely take notes in class, Harry."
"No surprise there," Ginny teased. "No wonder your handwriting's so bad, you're out of practice."
"We've got a lot of letters to write out," Harry pointed out. "Ginny's the best at writing, even if you don't want to admit it, Ron. So how about we let her write out the 'congratulations' and then you and I can split up the 'Fred and George.'"
"Ron should take Fred's name, it's shorter," said Ginny.
"I could write George's name just fine!" Ron insisted.
Harry shook his head. "I believe in you, Ron. You can take George."
"Thank you, Harry. At least someone has some confidence in me."
And so, they completed their banner, with Ginny doing the 'Congratulations,' Harry doing 'Fred and,' and Ron doing the 'George,' all without Ron noticing that he was actually the one painting the fewest letters. They all got way more paint on themselves than they meant to, but they cleaned themselves up and put the good tablecloth on the table, picked some flowers to put in a vase as the centerpiece, and arranged the table settings. And soon afterward, Mr. Weasley returned home from work, dinner was on the table, and they were ready to begin the festivities.
"Ladies and gentleman of the Burrow," Mr. Weasley said in his best announcer voice. Allow me the pleasure of introducing the latest graduates of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; Fred and George Weasley!"
Harry, Ron, Ginny, and the Weasley parents applauded. And that's when Fred and George made their appearance. They opted to fly down from the top floor on their broomsticks, riding them down like they were surfboards before gracefully dismounting once they reached the bottom floor and struck a dramatic pose.
"Let the party begin!" the twins exclaimed in unison.
Harry, Ron, Ginny, and Mr. Weasley clapped harder at their dramatic entrance, Ginny even letting out a cheer. Mrs. Weasley, on the other hand, wasn't as amused.
"You two are going to give me gray hairs!" Mrs. Weasley exclaimed.
"If we haven't yet, Mum, nothing will," said Fred.
"Where did you learn to fly like that?" Ron demanded as the family finally sat down to dinner.
"Well, we were on the quidditch team for six years," said George. "We're pretty comfortable on a broom."
"I'm going to miss having you guys on the team next year," Harry said as Mrs. Weasley piled way too much food on his plate before setting it before him.
"We'll miss it, too," said Fred. "But we definitely have to play a few games later this week."
"But we've got an uneven number of players," Ginny pointed out. "Unless you thought I wasn't going to want to play."
"We'd kick Ron out before we'd dream of excluding you, little sister," George teased.
"Hey!" Ron said through a mouthful of potatoes.
"Chew, Ronald," said Mrs. Weasley.
"As it happens, the two of us are more than willing to take on the three of you by ourselves," Fred insisted.
"It honestly wouldn't be fair otherwise. We are the more experienced players, after all," said George.
"You're on," said Harry.
With quidditch talk out of the way, Mrs. Weasley quickly took over the conversation by recounting stories about the twins growing up and talking about how life goes by too fast. And Harry supposed that was true, but after the year he'd had, he also knew it was never too late for even the worst of circumstances to completely change, leaving you exactly where you're supposed to be.
"Uncle?" Harry called out as he entered his home through the fireplace. He'd gotten word that his uncle was back home at last, and he was free to return home at his leisure. So, he'd packed up his things, said goodbye to the Weasleys, and traveled back home via the Floo Network. "Are you here?"
"Upstairs," Uncle Severus called from somewhere on the second floor.
This was slightly puzzling to Harry, who would have expected his uncle to be either in the sitting room or his office, but he followed the sound of his voice up the stairs. The position in which he found Uncle Severus only served to confuse him more. He stood in front of Harry's bedroom, the door closed behind him, and he had a mysterious grin on his face.
"Did I… come at a bad time?" Harry asked.
"There's not really a bad time to enter your own home," Uncle Severus said matter of factly. "And for your information, I'm standing here because I have a surprise for you."
"A surprise?" Harry asked, his brow raised. "But my birthday isn't until-"
"July, I know," Uncle Severus cut in. "This isn't a birthday present, it's something I should have done when you first moved in."
"Oh, well… What is it?"
"Come and see," Uncle Severus said cryptically as he stepped aside.
Harry took one last puzzled glance toward his uncle, who nodded. And so, Harry opened his bedroom door.
Somehow, in the short amount of time in which Uncle Severus had been home from another full year of teaching, he'd given Harry's bedroom a makeover. A Chudley Cannons quilt covered the bed, the plush rug on the floor and the long, flowing curtains on the windows matching it in the black and orange color scheme. A Chudley Cannons poster hung on one wall, while another had a display cabinet for his collection of Chocolate Frog Cards, and another had a display mount for his broomstick. But Harry's eyes fell on the desk, upon which sat a bird cage with a beautiful snowy owl.
Harry had never had his own owl before. He knew that the Dursleys would never allow him to keep one. This had made keeping in touch with his friends more difficult than it needed to be. He either had to quickly write a response to his friends' letters and give it to the delivery owl before it left, or send it via muggle mail to a magical post office where they would send it off with one of their owls. But he'd always wanted to have an owl of his own, so he wouldn't feel so isolated from the magical world when he wasn't at school. Of course, he now lived with a fellow wizard, but that didn't mean he wasn't delighted to have easier access to his best friends.
"You did all of this for me?" Harry asked as he turned back to Uncle Severus, who stood smiling in the doorway.
"Well, of course. It's not my room," he said with a smirk. "You deserve to have a space that properly reflects you. This is your home, after all. I really hope you'll come to see it that way, if you haven't already."
"I have," Harry assured him. "Is the owl for me too?" He cautiously stuck a finger into the cage and lightly stroked one of the owl's speckled feathers.
"I noticed you didn't have one. Am I correct in thinking your aunt is part of the reason why not?"
"You saw how she reacted to the owl Professor Dumbledore sent when we were over at their house," Harry said with a grin. "But you didn't have to do this, you've done plenty for me already."
"Do you like it?" Uncle Severus asked.
"I love it," Harry confirmed. And he really did. It was his first time having his own bedroom that wasn't just a former guest room that he was allowed to sleep in.
Uncle Severus smiled. "Good."
"What's the owl's name?"
"Her name's Hedwig. I'll leave the two of you to get acquainted shall I?" Uncle Severus said as he turned to go.
Harry opened the bird cage and held out his arm. Hedwig spread her wings and eagerly jumped to the new perch, allowing Harry to stroke her head. He'd only been away from Hermione for a week, and Ron less than an hour, but suddenly he couldn't wait to write a letter.
In stark contrast to his Summers with the Dursleys, Harry soon found that he and Uncle Severus had a lot of plans laid out for how to spend their time away from school. There were talks of travel, something Harry had never had the opportunity to do. They had plans to visit Tom's home to see what Harry's late father had left behind, and to honor his memory. But on this day, their plans had come as quite a surprise to Uncle Severus.
"You're sure that Dudley wanted this?" Uncle Severus asked as he looked out the window, waiting for Uncle Vernon's car to come by to drop Dudley off for a sleepover.
"Well, someone did, and it wasn't Aunt Petunia," Harry pointed out. Aunt Petunia had seemed just as confused as Uncle Severus when she'd called to arrange the visit on Dudley's behalf, but it seemed as though her son had been insistent and she hadn't been unable to talk him out of it. She hadn't mentioned that last part, but Harry read between the lines.
"I hadn't thought that he liked me very much," Uncle Severus said with a frown.
Harry grinned. "Haven't you heard? You're the cool uncle now."
"I'm Dudley's only uncle. And as far as you're concerned, my only competition is Vernon Dursley."
"I don't make the rules, Uncle," Harry said with a shrug. "You're just going to have to put up with your newfound popularity. Everyone at school thinks you're the cool teacher now, by the way, so you'll have to put up with it there, too."
"You go on one adventure with Harry Potter and suddenly you're the cool teacher," Uncle Severus said, shaking his head. At this point Uncle Vernon's car came into view, making its way up the hill toward the house. "Last chance to change your mind about letting Dudley sleep in your room. We do have the spare room, you know." At Harry's insistence, they'd set up a mattress for Dudley on the floor of his room.
"No, it's fine," Harry said. Dudley had been quite insistent about Harry sleeping in his room a few months back, after all. If they were going to continue to heal their previously strained familial relationship, they were going to need all the bonding moments they could get.
Harry and Uncle Severus stepped out onto the front porch to greet their guest. Uncle Vernon pulled up in front of them, and he, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley all got out of the car. Dudley slung a backpack over his shoulder and eagerly ran up to his uncle and cousin without a backward glance toward his parents, a fact that seemed to leave Aunt Petunia quite perturbed.
"Careful up the stairs, darling!" Aunt Petunia called after her son. "There's no telling whether your uncle has kept up with repairs."
"Hello, Dudley," said Uncle Severus, ignoring his sister's comment.
"Hey, Dud," said Harry.
"I haven't been to your house in ages, Uncle Severus," said Dudley.
"Yes, well… we're glad to have you," Uncle Severus said, a bit awkwardly. Harry had no doubt that his uncle cared for Dudley, despite his relationship with the boy's mother, but they certainly hadn't had a chance to form much of a bond with each other. Hopefully this sleepover would serve as a start to change that.
"I assume I can trust you with my son, Severus?" Aunt Petunia asked.
"Funny how you had no problem entrusting me with our nephew," Uncle Severus replied. Harry cleared his throat. There was no need for his aunt and uncle to start up another argument. It would only delay the Dursley parents' departure. Uncle Severus took the hint, taking a deep breath before saying, "Yes, Petunia, I will protect both of my nephews with my life, though I don't anticipate that that will be necessary."
Aunt Petunia pressed her lips together thoughtfully, but nodded. "Very well. And… this woman who killed Lily?"
"Dead."
"Good," Aunt Petunia said with a nod. "But make sure Dudley has a fan in his room, sometimes he gets hot at night, and he does get tummy aches from time to time but I've made sure he packed his-"
"He'll be fine, Petunia," Uncle Vernon cut in. "The boy's nearly 16."
"I understand that, Vernon, but he's never stayed with Severus before, and-"
"We've got it covered, Petunia," Uncle Severus insisted. "And if we need anything, I have your number."
"See? He's got it under control," said Uncle Vernon, who seemed to be looking forward to an evening without his son in the house.
"I suppose…" Aunt Petunia muttered, still seeming unconvinced. Harry was worried that she was going to spend the whole night calling them on the phone to check on Dudley.
"Say goodbye to your parents, Dudley," said Uncle Severus.
"Oh. Bye!" Dudley said, briefly turning to wave before turning his attention back to the house.
"Goodbye, Diddykinz! Have… fun," said Aunt Petunia.
"We'll swing by tomorrow to pick you up," Uncle Vernon promised.
"Goodbye, Harry," Aunt Petunia said before walking back to the car.
Harry was surprised that she'd bothered to address him at all, and even more surprised that she'd actually addressed him by name for once, but he lifted a hand in farewell. "Goodbye, Aunt Petunia," he said.
With the Dursely parents gone, Harry and Uncle Severus showed their guest into the house. Dudley seemed to be looking around expectantly.
"You know for a… magic person," Dudley said. "You have a pretty normal house."
"We use the term 'wizard,'" Uncle Severus explained. "But, I do use magic for a lot of the things I do around here."
"Really?" Dudley asked, seeming more interested in this particular subject than Harry could recall him being about anything else. "Like what?"
Uncle Severus glanced at Harry, who smiled and nodded. "You should do a demonstration for him, Uncle," Harry said. He turned to Dudley and explained, "I'm technically not allowed to do magic outside of school until I'm 17, but Uncle Severus does magic all the time." Then he turned back to his uncle, noting, "Dudley's never seen anyone doing magic before."
"That's not true," Dudley insisted.
Harry looked at him with a puzzled expression on his face. "When did you…?"
"When you saved me from those… whatever they were," Dudley said with a shudder.
Harry smiled, recalling that first dementor attack from nearly a year prior. He'd almost forgotten that his actions that day were what had served to change his cousin's opinion of him.
"Harry likes to be a hero," Uncle Severus teased. Harry rolled his eyes.
"I'd love to see some magic though, Uncle," Dudley said enthusiastically. "If you're… up for it, I guess."
"I suppose that could be arranged," Uncle Severus said, encouraged by having one of his muggle relatives actually be interested in magic for once. He took out his wand and casted a simple levitation charm on one of the throw pillows, causing it to float a couple feet in the air.
Dudley's eyes went wide. "Woah!" he said, moving closer to the pillow. He waved his hands around it, as if verifying that it was truly suspended by pure magic. "What else can you do?"
And so this began an evening of Harry and Uncle Severus introducing Dudley to the magical world. They showed him spells, including the ones used to cook their dinner. They showed him potions, all taking a sip of a laughing potion that Uncle Severus whipped up and laughed themselves silly. Harry showed Dudley his new broomstick that their uncle had given him for Christmas, giving a demonstration of his flying skills. It was the beginning of a new era of peace in the Snape family, where the magical family members could share their culture with muggle family members and have it be celebrated instead of feared. And though Petunia and Vernon Dursley might have been a lost cause where magic was concerned, the fact that Dudley didn't share their feelings foretold happier times for the days ahead.
Harry had made it through the most stressful and emotionally taxing year of his entire life. And on the other side, he found that things were better than ever. He was happier than he'd ever been.