Hello, I'm Foria and I've been asked by a few of my reviewers on ff.net to share my story here. It's an AU of the entire Harry Potter series but don't worry, it's not your average redoing cannon fic. A big thank you goes to zephy my beta for all her hard work.
My disclaimer: I own nothing. Seriously, there is nothing of value that would interest the amazing JK Rowling that I posses. All Harry Potter related elements are obviously JK Rowling, the storyline and original characters, such as Lexi, are the product of my imagination.
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The Strength of Family | ||||
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Category: Alternate Universe Characters:Albus Dumbledore, All, All, Draco Malfoy, Harry/Ginny, Hermione Granger, James Potter, Lily Potter, Luna Lovegood, Minerva McGonagall, Neville Longbottom, Oliver Wood, Remus Lupin, Ron Weasley, Severus Snape, Sirius Black Genres: Action/Adventure, Drama, General, Humor Warnings: Disturbing Imagery, Mental Abuse, Mild Language, Violence, Violence/Physical Abuse Rating: PG-13 Reviews: 3 Summary: Harry Potter was always a lonely child who received no love from his family. What if, instead of being an only child he had a younger sister to take care of and love? How different would the Potter-verse be from that one little change? Hitcount: Story Total: 2975 Disclaimer: Harry Potter Publishing Rights © J.K.R. Note the opinions in this story are my own and in no way represent the owners of this site. This story subject to copyright law under transformative use. No compensation is made for this work. Author's Notes: |
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Chapter 1: The Forgotten Charm Lily Potter had a slight smile on her face as she walked into the living room. Her husband of nearly three years was there, playing with their eight month old son, Harry. She wasn’t sure how her husband James would respond, but watching James play “racing broom” with Harry, she couldn’t help but grow excited and giddy at the prospect of sharing her news with him. Parenthood really became the two of them! When James finally took a break from flying their son around the room in his arms, he noticed her presence. His smile instantly increased the way it always did when he was smiling at her. Lily loved her husband deeply and knew he would always love her. She just wasn’t sure how he would react to another change in their lives. They hadn’t planned on having any more additions to their family at the present time; it just wasn’t safe with Voldemort targeting families like them, who were dedicated to the light. “Lily-love,” James said with joy in his voice. “It appears that our strapping young son Harry is a natural flyer.” “James,” Lily admonished. “He’s only eight months! You shouldn’t be placing him on your forearm imitating flying on a broom.” “But Lily-love,” James whined. “Harry loves playing racing broom with Daddy. Just look at him.” James was right. Their son Harry was delirious with joy over playing “racing boom” with his Daddy. Lily knew that if she gave James an inch, he would try to take a mile. They may be just playing “racing broom” today but it was very likely James would try taking Harry with him on a real broom tomorrow. Schooling her face to hide her smile, Lily countered her husband’s claims. “And when Harry gets motion sickness from all this running around, you’ll be willing to clean it up and calm him down all on your own?” Lily was sorely tempted to break down laughing at the ashen look that covered her husband’s face. One thing James never liked to do was clean up the messy parts of being a parent. “Maybe your right, Lils,” James conceded. “Perhaps I should wait till Harry is a little older before playing that game with him again.” Lily truly loved that her husband ended up agreeing with her side of an argument most of the time. While one side of her was content to simply join her husband and son as they continued to play, she was ready to burst with excitement over her news. Lily just couldn’t believe how blessed her family was. “James,” began Lily, the excitement ringing through her voice. “I’ve got some interesting news for you.” James looked up from where he was now stacking blocks with Harry on the floor. “What’s the news dear? Is Padfoot dropping by for dinner?” While she loved her husband there was more than a few times that she just wanted to smack him upside the head. “Really, James,” huffed Lily, “Padfoot coming over for dinner is not exciting news.” When James cracked her a smile, Lily realized he was just making fun with her. “Lily-love, what’s your interesting news?” A sly smile crossed Lily’s face, “James, darling, remember that night we had Padfoot and Mooney watch little Harry for us?” “Of course,” a wide goofy smile spread across James' face. “Well, remember what we did while we were child-free for a few hours.” The intense look that crossed James’s face at the barest mentions of what they did made Lily’s blood boil. “Yes,” James eventually choked out. It was quite obvious to her that he was scheming someway to convince his Marauder friends to watch their son for them again for a few hours. So James could steal her away somewhere private and child-free. “Do you know what we forgot?” Lily decided to let burst his planning session before it got too far off the ground. The puzzled look on James’s face told her he had no clue as to what she realized the next day. “No, Lils, I haven’t the foggiest idea.” “It was a certain charm,” hinted Lily, attempting to let her husband piece it all together. Unfortunately for her, he seemed rather clueless as he racked his brain to figure out what she was trying to tell him. Sighing, Lily determined she would need to use the blunt direct approach if she ever hoped to tell him during the first trimester. “The contraceptive charm,” Lily blurted out. Lily didn’t possibly believe her husband’s smile could get any larger than it currently was. After the initial shock wore off, James jumped off the floor, knocked over Harry’s tower, grabbed her arms, and started swinging her around the room. If anything, James appeared to be giddier than she was about the news. When he was through swinging her around the room, he pulled her tightly to him and kissed her soundly. After an eternity they broke apart, both slightly panting. Lily loved this man more than anything, and she was thrilled to be carrying his second child. A thoughtful look crossed James' face, and Lily couldn’t help but wonder what placed it there. Yet she need not ask James what he was concerned with when she heard him mutter. “Now how am I to convince Padfoot and Moony to watch Harry again after what he put them through the last time?” Turning towards Lily, James winked before saying, “we need to properly celebrate the good news.” ~*~ The changes that occurred for the Potter family over the past several months still had James’s head spinning. It did not seem like five months had passed since Lily told him they forgot the charm. He still snickered at the memory. James may never know why his wife just didn’t tell him they were expecting. Though he supposed making him figure things out for himself seemed to be one of Lily’s favorite things to do. Shortly after that wonderful piece of news, their world began crashing in all around them. First they had to endure his parents murdered by the hands of Death Eaters. Then less than three weeks later Lily’s parents died in a car crash caused by drunk driver. The loss of both sets of their parents was extremely hard on them. As an only child, his entire world before Hogwarts had centered on his mum and dad. Now, they were gone, never to be with him again. The loss of their parents made the next tragedy harder for James and Lily to take. One night Professor Dumbledore asked James and Lily to wait to speak with him after an Order meeting. While it was not unusual for the Headmaster to ask to speak with various members after a meeting, a feeling of dread came over him. Once the room cleared out, James realized he and Lily were not the only couple to stay behind. Frank and Alice Longbottom were also asked to stay. The feeling of dread became more pronounced. James didn’t know why, but he just knew nothing would ever be the same after this meeting. When Dumbledore explained to both couples about the prophecy concerning one of the children, James instantly knew it was his son. Potters had always been starch supporters of the light it was their family way, the family destiny. His son, his Harry, was going to be the one to defeat Voldemort, or die trying. Knowing now the pain of losing his parent, he never wanted to experience the pain of losing his child. If Voldemort was going to try to kill his son, he was going to have to get though both him and Lily first. Whatever it took, they would protect their son at all cost. This is why James’s world was slipping out of his control. The Potter family had been moving from safe house to safe house with no clear place to hide. Every time they settled in a new location, they would be ambushed by Voldemort and his Death Eaters. They had nowhere safe to go. Now they were faced with a horrible realization. Due to the increasing number of times that the Death Eaters had found their location, it became apparent that they were being betrayed by a member of the Order. The Longbottoms had yet to be discovered in their first hiding location, while his family was currently hiding in the sixth safe house. The previous evening, Dumbledore shared with James his belief that it was a member of the Order, one particularly close to the Potter family who was giving away their hiding location. James could not accept this belief. The only Order members that he and Lily were close to were the Marauders. His brothers would never sell his wife and children out to Voldemort. Yet, someone was telling Voldemort were to find them. It was all so confusing, it was just too much to take in and process. There was only one thing left for James to do. He needed to talk things over with his wife. James never pretended that he saw himself as the supreme head of his household. He always knew his wife was more than capable of taking care of herself, as well as taking charge in most situations. The simple fact was that Lily was a natural leader, who also happened to be very intelligent. No matter what was to be, they would come to the decision together. Walking around the small living area of the safe house, it wasn’t too difficult to run into Lily. He found her coloring with Harry at the kitchen table. Their son, while still very young, was quite the artist. At least that was what Lily claimed. Truthfully, Harry was very skilled at making different colored shapes and lines. Detesting himself for doing so, James needed to breakup this happy time to have a serious conversation with his wife. “Having fun, Lils?” Lily’s smile could light the room. “Of course, love. Harry and I were making some lovely new artwork for Daddy.” James hesitated; this was not a conversation he ever wanted to have with his wife. “Lily, there is something we really need to talk about.” Her smile slipped. “What’s wrong?” was Lily’s simple question. Taking a deep breath James related his recent conversation with Dumbledore to his wife. When he stated that it was someone close to them sharing their location to Voldemort, Lily began shaking her head in protest. “He has to be wrong.” Lily said with conviction. “Our friends would never do this to us. Not Sirius, Remus and Peter!” “But Lily,” James began. “They were the only ones who knew our location each time. No one else knew all five times where we were hiding.” “James,” Lily admonished. “Several members of the Order knew of our location.” But James knew he had to tell Lily why Dumbledore suspected a Marauder. “While Order members knew where we were Lily, it was different Order members at different locations. Sometimes they repeated, but for the most part they were different.” “What is that supposed to mean?” Lily asked an edge to her tone of voice. “The only people who knew our hiding places all five times were Dumbledore, Mad-Eye, Sirius, Remus and Peter. Do you believe that Dumbledore or Mad-Eye is the leak?” James hated putting it to Lily like that but he couldn’t think of any other way to make her see reason. But Lily wouldn’t accept it. “What if Dumbledore told someone else? We have no clue as to who else he would confide it. We both know he trusts Hagrid completely but the man can’t keep a secret. What if…” But Lily’s rant died on her lips. Merlin, James loved his wife’s intelligence, but watching it at work was rather scary. “There’s more that you haven’t told me, isn’t there?” Lily asked, her voice was barely a whisper. “Dumbledore has a theory.” James didn’t know if he wanted to tell her more. “Voldemort is recruiting werewolves and it is possible…” “No,” Lily cried interrupting his recount, Harry began to cry at this mother’s distressed tone. “There is no way Remus is capable of doing anything like that, so get it out of your mind, James.” Lily picked Harry up and held him to her chest, rocking him gently. “I know it sounds wrong Lily, but it is a real possibility.” James sighed before continuing. “I do not want Dumbledore’s theory to be correct. But there is no other explanation I can think of.” Lily didn’t immediately respond. Her face reflected her internal compilation. “It’s only us.” Lily’s voice was little more than a whisper. “Why hasn’t Voldemort found the Longbottoms? All of our friends know where they are hiding, and if they are the traitor they could give them the Longbottoms’ location as well.” At once the realization hit James. Voldemort was most likely only looking for their son. Lily had tears in her eyes as she stared at their Harry. This wasn’t right, this wasn’t fair. It was one thing to think your child would be the one to stop the Dark Lord. It was another thing to see the evidence, plan as day, pointing you to that conclusion. “James, what should we do?” Lily’s voice quivered as she spoke. James took off his glasses to rub his eyes. What could they do? Should they trust the Headmaster’s judgment, or go their own way? “I think,” James finally concluded, “that we follow the Headmaster’s advice for the time being. At least until we know more.” “What about the baby?” James shuddered. They still had not told anyone of Lily’s pregnancy. At first they were keeping the pregnancy to themselves, and then there just was never the right time to bring it up. “I think it should stay between us for now.” James stated slowly and deliberately, “at least until we have a better idea about what is going on.” Lily nodded her head; the tears were still fresh in her eyes. James was powerless to do anything other than just hope they were doing the right thing for their family. ~*~ One of the smallest rooms in the muggle hospital was designed for its smallest patients to reside in. This was where Lily Potter found herself trying to control her anger and rage. Lily couldn’t stop raging against how unfair life was for her tiny daughter who had only just been born. On October 10th, 1981 Lily and James Potter welcomed their daughter Alexa Lily Potter to the world. It should have been a happy occasion for the family, yet it wasn’t. Their daughter had been born seven weeks early, and was fighting for her tiny life. Tears had been freely flowing down Lily’s face for several days now, ever since their daughter had been rushed away from them to save her life. Little Lexi should have the best magic money could buy working on her to save her life, not these muggle techniques. While Lily was muggleborn, and understood the muggle way of life more than the average witch, She also knew that magic was far more affective in situations such as the one she found her daughter in. But they couldn’t go to St. Mungo’s. They had to rely on the muggle means to keep Lexi into this world. Voldemort was actively looking for them. The day after Lexi was born James was forced to hide the family under the Fidelius charm, to keep Harry safe. If Lexi were born in a magical setting, it would only be too easy for spies of Voldemort to find her and expose the rest of the family. As Lily continued to silently cry, the door to the hospital room opened and a man slipped in. The only reason Lily was aware of this was she heard the silent spell he cast. “Where is Harry?” Lily asked the concern evident in her voice, yet she never turned away from her daughter. “Sirius came over to watch him.” Her husband answered as he wrapped his arms around her shoulders. Lily was about to protest, but James stopped her with a simple glance. “You need to come home, love. Harry and I miss you. All Harry has been doing for the past two days is wander around the house looking for ‘mum’. Please come home for just a little while.” The pleading tone in James’s voice was heart breaking. “I can’t leave her here alone.” Lily whispered so low James barely heard her. “Lily-love, there is nothing we can do now but pray.” The anguish was evident in James’s voice. “Lexi is in good hands here. You could come home for a few hours and see Harry. Perhaps you could even get some rest.” “No,” Lily began, “she can’t be here alone. Lexi needs her family with her.” “Yes,” agreed James. “Lexi needs her family. But she also needs her family to be well. You need to rest, Lils. Sirius and I can take turns being here with her. That way you can get some rest.” Lily began to sob again. This situation was just heart breaking to her. She never thought her daughter would be born prematurely. The fact that the doctors had no idea why this would happen made Lily believe it was because she was a bad mother. She was so concerned with Harry; she neglected the child she carried in her womb. Now that little girl was fighting for her life. “This is all my fault.” Lily began. James made to interrupt her, but Lily would not let him. “James, it is! I neglected her! I need to be here with her. I need to protect her. I’ve been a terrible mother to her!” Lily hadn’t even realized she had been yelling. But Lexi’s little cries stopped Lily’s rant immediately. Lily was torn; she wanted to hold her daughter to comfort her but Lily could barely touch her due to all the tubes connected to her. Instead of doing what came natural to her, Lily began to sing to Lexi. The song Lily sang was a simple muggle nursery song she would sing to Harry to calm him down. Stroking her daughter’s arm and singing was the only way she knew how to ease her daughter’s wailing. “Lily-love,” James began when Lexi once again fell asleep. “You are a wonderful mother. There are some things that are simply out of our control.” The tears however, were once again flowing freely. Lily understood what James was telling her but it was almost as though her mind couldn’t process the meaning of it all. James came and stood behind Lily, wrapping his arms around her waist as he rested his chin on top of her head. After standing together in silence for a few moments, James once again spoke. “Lexi is a Potter, and Potters are fighters. I believe in my soul she will overcome this just as she will overcome every obstacle that she will have to face in her life.” “I’m just so worried, James.” “As are we all,” James replied in a defeated tone. “But hasn’t the doctor stated that Lexi is making excellent improvement?” Lily could only nod her head in agreement. Lily knew how hard these past few months had been on her family. She also knew that James didn’t have a very positive outlook on the prospects that they were all going to live though this. Seeing their daughter like this must be eating him up inside as well. “We should tell Dumbledore.” Lily said not for the first time. “No,” James immediately disagreed. “We can’t Lils. The only people in the wizarding world that know of Lexi are us and Sirius. That’s the way it’s got to be. If we tell Dumbledore then it is likely that he will share that information with someone he ‘trusts’. People that Dumbledore trusts may not have our best interest in mind.” “You’re just angry that he has begun to trust Severus.” Lily countered her husband’s opinion. “Snape will never change, Lils. Dumbledore may trust him, but he will never actively do something solely because it is the best interest of a Potter.” James displaced himself from Lily and began pacing around the little room. “Just think if Dumbledore told Snape about Lexi. What if he needed to tell Voldemort something to get him to trust his information from Dumbledore?” James waited a few moments to let the thought sink in before he continued. “Snape would sell us out to Voldemort to save his own skin. Then Voldemort would begin raiding muggle hospitals for evidence of us being there. He would find Lexi!” Lily hated it when James was right like that, but as much as she wanted to she could not find fault in his logic. While Lexi was in the hospital, they could not tell anyone else. But that did remind her that she needed to discuss a certain decision he made on his own without her consent or approval. “Earlier today a nurse asked me a question about some of the paper work you filled out with the hospital when I was admitted.” “Oh, really?” James tried to sound confused but he was not meeting her eyes. A classic sign that he knew he was guilty of something. “Yes, it appears that you did not know the telephone number of my sister when you listed her as Lexi’s next of kin.” Lily attempted to stare her husband down, but it was proving quite difficult when he was looking at everything but her. “Well, um, yeah…” James sounded hopelessly guilty. “Why is my sister listed as our next of kin?” Pausing only momentarily Lily rephrased her question, “actually, why do you think we need to list a next of kin?” “Voldemort,” was all James said staring Lily finally in the eyes. “But why Petunia,” Lily asked not quite getting her mind around her husband’s motives. “If something were to happen to us, Sirius would take custody of both of our children.” James began to explain. “It’s not like there is a way the hospital could contact him, if something had indeed happened to us. The two of us decided that if the worst were to happen and we were to die, he could take Lexi from Petunia.” Lily contemplated this for a moment before deciding their idea did have merit. It’s not like Sirius owned a muggle telephone or anything. “Okay, I agree.” Lily couldn’t help but giggle at the stunned expression on James face. “But why didn’t you just tell me this?” “I know you hate bringing you sister into magical affairs.” James said the reluctance evident in his mannerism. “But, we figured it was safe since this was just a worst case scenario. There is no reason to suspect that anything may happen.” “Is this part of the reason why you and Sirius wanted us to use Peter as the secret keeper?” Lily asked against her better judgment. Nothing good ever came from trying to understand something her husband and Sirius schemed of. “Yes, that’s part of it,” James reluctantly admitted. “We figure Peter is the least likely person to be a spy since he’s so twitchy. It’s not like he could actually be sneaky enough to pull it off without giving himself up. We thought it was best not to use Sirius since it was so obvious, and if he was captured and tortured for the information on where to find us, well then he’d likely have the same fate as the rest of us.” “You really thought this through well.” Lily commented, trying to keep the awe out of her tone. Who knew the Marauder scheming nature was actually good for something? “You’ve been so worried, Lils,” James stated as though it explained everything, which really it did. “You’ve done well, James.” Lily said her pride reflected in her voice. “I just wish that Remus was the secret keeper instead of Peter.” A dark look crossed James face. “You know what Dumbledore suspects.” “I know,” Lily admitted. “But, I think Dumbledore is wrong. I’d just feel safer if it were him instead of Peter.” “I hope Dumbledore is wrong too.” James readily agreed. “However, just in case he is right Sirius and I thought Peter was the best choice. I won’t risk my family on my personal hopes about my friends.” “I know James. You’re just wonderful like that.” Lily lightly teased her husband before kissing him on the cheek. “I’m glad you’re acting more like yourself.” James said before kissing her hard on the mouth. Even though James claimed she was beginning to act like herself, she knew James wasn’t acting like his self. He hadn’t acted like himself since they learned of the prophecy. His normal positive outlook on life had shifted to a pessimistic approach. It almost seemed like he was planning for their deaths. An ominous feeling always passed though Lily when she thought about the future as well. The fact that James had planned on how Sirius would retrieve Lexi if, Merlin forbid, anything happened to them was clear evidence of that. It almost made her wish she had a way to contribute to the protection of her children in the same manner. Suddenly the idea hit her with the force of the Hogwarts Express. Pulling away from her husband’s embrace Lily walked over to her sleeping daughter, pulling her wand out of her sleeve, Lily pointed it at Lexi. James quietly watched from afar, the expression on his face was unreadable, yet he did not make to stop her. “Alexa, may you draw from the strength of your family,” Lily began, the words simply flowing through her like magic. “May your brother, Harry have the strength and ability to protect you from harm. May you likewise be able to help protect him from those who wish to undo him. May love always protect you both from the will of hatred. So I speak, so I intend, so let it be done!” With Lily’s final word, a golden aura surrounded the small child in the hospital crib, at the same time one also appeared around her brother over a hundred miles away much to his godfather’s surprise. Lily’s spell had taken hold on her children. “What have I done?” Lily whispered when the aura finally dissipated from around her child. James walked over and pulled her tightly to him. “You gave her a wonderful gift. I have no idea what that gift necessarily was, but it had to be good due to that beautiful aura.” Lily nodded weakly, suddenly she felt exhausted. Before she could vocalize her tiredness, James began kissing her with intense passion. When they broke apart, James continued. “Do you think you can go home and rest for a little while?” Hesitantly, Lily agreed. James was just worried about her after all, and now she suddenly felt more at peace then she had for the past several months. Tired and at peace, was a lot better than restless and worried. “Good,” James said with a large smile on his face. “I’ll stay here with Lexi and you go rest with our darling Harry.” Lily couldn’t stop the groan from escaping her lips. “Do I want to know what our darling son has been getting up to while Mum isn’t home?” The smile on James face was infectious. “Nope, leave it to be a surprise.” After sharing a last kiss goodbye, Lily walked out of the small hospital room for the first time in days. Planning on getting started on a little project James had been nagging her to start for almost a month. With one last look at her husband and daughter Lily wished that perhaps their daughter would be home to celebrate her first Halloween with her big brother in two weeks. ~*~ Petunia Dursley despised her ‘perfect’ sister Lily. Lily had been the pride and joy of her late parents, God rests their souls. While Lily could never do any wrong in their eyes, Petunia could never seem to do anything right. Yet, Petunia was the one who was alive and well while ‘perfect’ Lily got herself blown up. If only their parents could see them now, they would know how imperfect Lily really was. Lily and her deadbeat husband were a shame on their family. They recklessly lost their lives and now she was stuck with their son, who was abandoned on her door step like the rubbish that he was. Petunia was shaken out of her thoughts with a knock at the door. Hurrying to the door before the knocking woke her son or her freakish nephew, Petunia hastily opened the door. What she saw on the front porch nearly killed her with fright. A child services representative stood in front of her. How could they possibly know where they kept the freak? He had barely been with them two weeks! “Mrs. Petunia Dursley?” the man in front of her asked. “Yes,” Petunia replied in a shaky voice. “I’m Matthew Donaldson with the Surry Child Services Department,” the man said while flashing a badge at her. “I’m here in regards to your late sister’s child…” “The boy is currently napping,” Petunia cut the man off. “The boy,” Mr. Donaldson said the confusion evident in his voice. “Yes,” Petunia continued stepping out on the porch, “Lily’s son Harry.” “Could you excuse me for a second, ma’am?” With the short nod of Petunia’s head, Mr. Donaldson went to his car. He didn’t return for nearly ten minutes. “I’m sorry ma’am. It seems the information regarding the boy, Harry, was not presented to me.” The man explained, “I was able to find information about him in the hospital’s information, filled out by the late Mr. Potter.” “Hospital information?” Petunia was wary as to where this was going. “Yes, ma’am. From the registration information regarding the Potters’ daughter, Alexa,” the child services representative continued. “They had a daughter?” Petunia could only see red. ‘Perfect’ Lily had struck again. “Yes, ma’am,” the man was looking at Petunia in confusion again. “You must have known that your sister was pregnant again?” Petunia reeled back; she was drawing too much attention to her family with her actions. She quickly schooled her face in her ‘pleasant and happy’ mask, before she attempted to explain herself. “Of course I knew my poor sister Lily was expecting!” Petunia was grasping for straws. “I just was unaware the blessed event had occurred, I thought her due date wasn’t till mid-November.” “Yes, it appears your sister give birth at the beginning of October, several weeks early.” Mr. Donaldson explained, “the hospital staff said your sister rarely left her daughter’s side.” “Oh darling Lily,” Petunia exclaimed. She knew she was laying it a bit thick but she needed to get rid of this guy quickly before the freak woke up. “She must have been so distraught. I wish she had called me, but she knew my Dudders wasn’t well at the end of September.” The man was clearly eating up every word she said as though it was gospel now. Lady luck was on Petunia’s side today. “Is your son better?” the man inquired. “Yes,” Petunia was glad she could change the conversation to a topic she was comfortable with. “It was just a viral illness but it was his first and it took a lot out of him.” “Good,” the gentleman exclaimed. “Then you should be able to take custody of your niece as soon as this afternoon.” Petunia felt like the floor was dropping out from under her. Petunia searched her mind for an excuse or a reason for her to reject her niece’s presence from her home. But then that freaky man’s letter came to her mind. Was he referring to both the boy and this girl in it? For the first time Petunia regretted burning the letter immediately after she read it. “Excellent,” the words were flying out of her mouth with no control on her part. “When can I expect the dear?” “A representative from the hospital will stop by later this evening. Due to her premature status there will be some additional care needs for the child.” At Petunia’s stricken look, the man attempted to ease her fears. “The government will of course cover all of the child’s medical expenses, as well as provide funds for the care of both Alexa and Harry.” After pausing a moment Mr. Donaldson asked, “How did Harry come to your care?” “He was with a family friend when my sister and her husband died,” Petunia easily lied. “That friend brought Harry over immediately when they learned of the news.” The man was satisfied with this explanation. But he had one more difficult question for Petunia, “May I see Harry now?” “I’m sorry he’s napping right now,” Petunia said. “Would it be possible for you to see him at a later date? He has had such a hard time adjusting to the loss of his parents.” “I completely understand,” Mr. Donaldson stated. “I’ll ring you once I get back to my office so we can discuss when I can visit to see the children, as well as discuss the financial aid your family will receive towards the welfare of the children. “Naturally,” Petunia said, before saying her goodbyes to the man who would become the bane of her existence. After Mr. Donaldson departed, Petunia entered her home and immediately telephoned her husband. Vernon was going to be furious to learn they were saddled with another freak. Now that they were stuck with two of her sister’s brats, at least they were going to be monetarily compensated for it. ~*~ Coming soon: Chapter 2: Life With the Dursleys |
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