Summer 8:   Part A

     

Harry wished that there were some way he could have seen it coming.  There had to have been something there, something in the way Snape had been acting, or the way he’d said things.  Only there hadn’t been.  There hadn’t been a single clue as to what Snape had been planning and so Harry had been taken completely by surprise.

The last few weeks of summer, Snape had been almost bearable to live with.  He’d spent a great deal of time avoiding Harry, going so far as to not even take meals with him, but Harry had assumed that had to do with what had happened just before he’d left.   He hadn’t thought…

Even during the school year Snape hadn’t really gone out of his way to torment Harry.  Of course, when there were other people around he was as nasty as ever, but during Harry’s detentions, Snape had said hardly a word to him, paying little to no attention.  It had been somewhat nice, but also disturbing.  While Harry had never liked the way Snape singled him out in order to tease and ridicule him, he found that he liked being virtually ignored even less.

Snape hadn’t been the only thing on his mind, however, because Draco had become very secretive, sneaking off for hours at a time and refusing to tell Harry where he was going.  It made it even worse that every time Harry tried to follow him, he found him with different girls and somehow, when he finally figured out that those girls were Crabbe and Goyle, that hadn’t made it any better.  There had also been the attacks, first on Katy Bell and then Ron.   There had been Slughorn and the memory and Dumbledore’s lessons and the more Harry thought about it, the more he realized that there really hadn’t been any way he could have predicted the events that happened that night.

The worst of it wasn’t even that, though.  The worst of it was the promise that Harry had made Dumbledore, the one he didn’t think he’d have to keep.

“If anything should happen to me, Harry, I want you to promise me something.”

“Do you think something will happen?”

“No, my dear boy, nothing of the sort.  Think of it as a precautionary measure, to keep my mind at ease.”

“Anything, sir.”

“If something should happen to me, I ask that you return to your aunt and uncle until you come of age.”

“But…”

“I know and I deeply regret having to ask this of you, but without my presence, I fear that Hogwarts will not be safe enough for you.”

“I don’t…”

“My only concern is for your safety, Harry.”

“All right.  I promise.”

He really hadn’t thought he’d have to keep it.   Dumbledore had always been there and Harry couldn’t imagine that anything could hurt him, let alone kill him, but he’d been proven wrong, hadn’t he?  Snape had turned his wand against Dumbledore and now the Headmaster was dead and Harry was standing at the train station, flanked by two Aurors, waiting for his Uncle Vernon.

He’d had nightmares about this sort of thing.  Nightmares where Uncle Vernon had come to get him, because he still thought he could stamp the freakishness out of Harry; nightmares where he was back in the cupboard, hungry and lonely, with only the spiders and the growling of his stomach to keep him company; nightmares that only Draco knew about.  He felt his chest tighten at the thought of Draco.

“Boy!”

He started, his breath catching as he instantly recognized his uncles voice, even seperated by so many years, using that all too familiar epithet.   Tonks stiffened beside him and Kingsley pulled himself up to his full height.  If he had been able to breathe, he might have smiled at the show of defensiveness on his behalf.

Grabbing his trunk, he picked up Hedwig’s cage,  “Coming, Uncle Vernon!”  He turned to the Aurors and nodded.  “You’ll come to get me, then, on my birthday?”

Tonks grabbed him in a hug and he started a little, surprised by the display of affection, but then she had become much more affectionate since that night in the hospital wing.  “Of course, you just take care of yourself until then.”

Kingsley nodded at him,  “He gives you any trouble, you contact us and we’ll see to him.”

With a shaky smile, Harry nodded back and turned around, feeling like a man walking to his own execution.  Uncle Vernon already had the trunk open,  “Hurry up, boy.”  His uncles hand twitched and Harry paled as he remembered several occasions when Vernon had hit him upside the back of his head for not being quick enough.

Taking a deep breath, he steadied himself as he heaved his luggage into the car.  He could do this.   It was only four weeks, right?  In one month Tonks and the others would come and get him, he’d go to Bill’s wedding and then he, Ron and Hermione would set off to find the rest of the Horcrux’s and he'd never have to see the Dursley's again.  He could do this.

He slipped into the back seat and Uncle Vernon slammed the door hard, making Harry jump slightly, though he quickly recovered himself.  They drove in absolute silence, Harry watching the sight of London slipping past his window with desperation.  He hadn’t left Hogwarts in years.  The closest he had come was the few times that Dumbledore had made Hagrid take him to Platform 9¾ so that he could ride the train with the other students or when he'd been escorted to Diagon Alley for his school supplies, but even then he had never left the safety of the wizarding world.

The radio turned on and the music that played grated at Harry’s ears.  Professor McGonagall had bought him a radio for his room when he was eleven, but Harry had preferred the quiet and had rarely bothered to turn it on.  The only music he listened to on a regular basis was the classical music that McGonagall sometimes put on while she was grading papers.

“Ruddy, teenage shite.”  Uncle Vernon turned it off and Harry sighed in relief, only to stop himself when he saw his Uncle glaring at him from the rear view.  “I’ll bet you like that kind of music, eh?  Filthy trash, just like your parents.”

Harry felt his face heating up, but managed to get himself under control with a few deep breaths.  Gritting his teeth, he forced out, “Yes, Uncle Vernon,” before turning to look out the window again.

It was just like dealing with Snape, really, he only had to go along with it and let Uncle Vernon talk and then he’d leave him alone.

“They’ve been teaching you that freakish nonsense, then, have they?”

“Yes, Uncle Vernon.”

“Well, I’ll have none of that in my home, do you understand me?”

“Yes, Uncle Vernon.”

“You’re to stay away from my family, as well, I’ll not have to contaminating them.”

“Yes, Uncle Vernon.”

There was a long pause and Harry started to relax, assuming that the barrage of insults was finally over, but Vernon spoke again.  “And that ruddy owl has to go, I’ll not have it smelling up the house.”

“I’m not sending Hedwig away!”

He nearly bit his tongue as Vernon slammed on the breaks.  The car behind them honked, but Vernon ignored it, turning around to face Harry.  “What did you say?”

Harry felt himself shaking slightly and clenched his fists.   “I said I’m not sending Hedwig away.   She won’t be any trouble, I’ll only let her out at night…”

“You’ll not let her out at all!”

He jumped, hating himself for the show of weakness.  He was almost seventeen, why was he letting his Uncle get to him?  “Yes, Uncle Vernon.”

The car behind them was pressing on the horn continuously and Vernon finally turned back around, pulling the car off to the side of the road and flicking on his emergency lights.  Harry felt his stomach clenching painfully.  This couldn’t be good.  He may have been seventeen, but Vernon had at least a foot in height on him and he was larger, much larger.

“You listen here, boy, the only reason I agreed to let you in my home was because that Headmaster of yours threatened my family if I didn’t.   So until you leave, you will do as I say without question.  You will not speak unless we ask you to, you will not leave your room unless we tell you that you can, and you will get rid of that bird. Do I make myself clear?”

Harry wanted to take out his wand and show Vernon exactly what was clear between them, but he couldn’t.   Professor McGonagall had made it very clear that it was illegal to use his magic outside of the school until his birthday.  Harry looked at Hedwig sitting on the seat next to him.  She was his only link to the wizarding world, without her he was cut off entirely.  He wondered if Vernon knew that.

With a heavy heart, he looked back at his uncle,  “Yes, Uncle Vernon.”

 

____________________

 

The house was exactly as Harry remembered it, from its neatly trimmed yard, to the wallpaper in the entrance hall.  Somehow, Harry had expected that.  The Dursleys had always liked things to stay the same, normal, which was why they had always hated Harry.

Before letting Harry out of the car, Vernon had given him further instructions.  As he’d outgrown the cupboard, he would be staying in Dudley’s second bedroom (first door on the left at the top of the stairs, in case Harry had forgotten), his trunk however, was staying in the cupboard, locked and secured and if Vernon caught Harry trying to sneak into it, he’d switch those arrangements.  As much as he wanted to protest, Harry couldn’t bring himself to say anything and instead, fingered his wand, which was tucked safely in his back pocket, under his shirt.  As long as he had that, he’d be okay, even if he couldn’t use it just now.

It had taken him several minutes to get his trunk out.  Seeing as he’d never really had to pack everything that he owned, he’d never realized exactly how much that was.  Thank Merlin for triple layered trunks or he never would have fit it all.   Uncle Vernon kept dodging glances around the neighborhood to see if anyone had noticed them.

The moment they were in the door, Vernon grabbed Harry’s arm and yanked him, making him drop his trunk loudly on the tiled entry way.  He barely managed to hold onto Hedwig.   “Ow!”

His small protest was ignored as his Uncle hauled him up the stairs.  They’d just made it to the top when Harry saw something standing at the end of the hall.  At first, he really wasn’t sure what it was because his glasses had skewed, he just knew it was very large - massive actually, it took up the entire width of the hall.

He reached up and shoved his glasses back on and his mouth fell open in shock.  It was Dudley!  He’d always been at least twice Harry’s size, but this was ridiculous.  He looked like a small whale standing there in his gigantic trousers and button up shirt.  Before Harry could stop himself, he blurted out,  “You’re huge!”

Dudley’s eyes hardened and Harry had a vivid recollection that Vernon wasn’t the only who had enjoyed hitting him.  Oh, hell, why couldn’t he have kept his bloody mouth shut?   Vernon threw open the door and thrust Harry inside, glaring at him.   Harry noted that his neck was turning purple, which was never a good thing with Vernon.  In fact, purple generally meant Harry should start dodging.

Instead of swinging at him, however, Vernon pointed a finger and spoke in a stern voice, enunciating each word as if to make sure that Harry heard it.  “You will stay here until I come to let you out.  Am I understood?”

Harry nodded and was relieved when the door shut and a lock clicked into place.  Another lock followed it and another after that and Harry would have had to bite back a laugh if he hadn’t just realized that he had to pee.

Welcome home.

-tbc-