Chapter 4
Friendships, News, and Observations…Oh my!
A/N Ms. Rowling owns everything. Why couldn’t I have thought of it first??
Harry knew that Dumbledore wanted to speak to him. He watched quietly as the headmaster asked for a bit of privacy with Harry, Mrs. Weasley, Remus Lupin, and Tonks.
“Ron and Ginny, please show Dudley to one of the empty rooms. Show him to one of the ones that has been cleaned and made ready. Make sure another empty one is next door to it for Petunia. And children, BE NICE!!!” Molly said, trying to stress her point to her two youngest children.
Ron rolled his eyes at the last part of his mother’s command, while Ginny just grinned mischievously. They led Dudley from the room acting very proper, until they got upstairs. As they were getting Dudley settled in his room, Ginny suddenly turned on Dudley.
“Harry may be ready to forgive all the terrible and cruel things your family has done to him in the past, but I’m not sure my brother nor I am ready to just forgive and forget. I will tell you this once, and only once. If I see you step one toe out of line where Harry is concerned I will hex you into next month. Underage Restriction on Magic or not, you will rue the day that you ever thought to mess with him. Am I making myself perfectly clear?” Ginny said, her eyes blazing and her hair gently swaying as if caught by a breeze.
“I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes mate. That’s not an idle threat. Believe me, with six brothers, this girl can definitely take care of herself,” Ron said with a slight chuckle.
Dudley looked at both the Weasleys and told them, “I know I have a lot of work to do, and a lot to make up for. I give you my promise that I will be on my best behavior.”
Ron walked away first, deciding to leave Ginny to her staring contest if that was what she wanted. When Ron was out of earshot Dudley asked Ginny, “Does he know you love him?”
“Who? What?” Ginny asked, very perplexed. She was looking down the hall to make sure Ron had not heard. She knew good and well who Dudley meant.
“Harry, does he know you love him?” said Dudley without batting an eye.
Ginny blushed all the way to her ears turned on her heel and started to walk off. She suddenly turned back around, her russet eyes almost pleading with Dudley and said, “Please don’t say anything to him about that. He thinks I’ve gotten over him.”
“Despite all he’s got working against him, he’s a lucky guy to have your attention like this Ginny. I wonder if he will ever figure that out?” Dudley said, shocking Ginny and causing her to blush again.
“Don’t think that just because you are being nice I will forget my threat, I mean it Dudley.”
“Yes ma’am,” Dudley said with all seriousness.
Ginny walked away hoping to herself that Dudley would not tell Harry his observations. She suddenly stopped in her tracks, wondering if her brother had figured it out as well. No, she thought, Ron’s a bit too thick to figure out something like that. Just look at how he had ignored all the signs that Hermione was in love with him. Her secret should be safe for now.
Ron barely got to the door of his room, got it opened, inside and closed again before the laughter bubbled out of him. He knew that Ginny was full of it last year when she said she was over Harry, and tonight proved it! Now to get in touch with Hermione and see what they could do about getting Harry and Ginny together. Harry was the only one he would trust with Ginny.
He rubbed his hands together and wondered if he should get the twins in on this as well.
Downstairs in the dining room Dumbledore was very solemn. He knew that Harry was nowhere near the end of the healing process, but there were legal matters to be handled.
“Harry, I know the timing on this could not be much worse. But I have news for you that cannot wait,” said Professor Dumbledore said softly.
Harry just looked at him expectantly, not trusting himself to speak at the moment.
“The day after tomorrow, at 1:00 p.m., we will need to head to Gringotts for the reading of Sirius’ will. I am very sorry to be putting this on you right now. But we cannot delay the appointment any longer.”
“It’s okay Professor, I can handle it,” said Harry, not entirely sure how much more he COULD handle, especially in one evening.
Professor Dumbledore looked at Molly Weasley, Tonks, and Remus Lupin, “You three will need to be there as well. Molly, can you notify the twins, Ginny, and Ron? Arthur might want to see if he can get time off for this as well.”
Molly was confused, and more than a bit worried about Harry, but she nodded all the same.
“Is there anything else you need of me tonight Professor? If not, I think I would like to go on to bed. It has been a very long evening,” Harry said, not quite meeting Dumbledore’s eyes.
“Not tonight Harry. But I will need a few minutes of your time tomorrow if you don’t mind. Say, in the afternoon?”
“That’s fine Professor. Goodnight everyone,” Harry said in almost a monotone voice.
As he walked away Molly turned to Professor Dumbledore and whispered, “I’m really afraid for him Albus. How much more can he take? It’s all so much at once.”
“I know dear lady, believe me, I know. We’ll just have to do our best to support him, even if he tries to push us all away,” the kindly headmaster said knowingly.
Tonks walked away leaving the professor to speak to Molly and Remus. She quietly walked into the kitchen where she discovered Petunia washing the dishes and trying to figure out where to put them.
“I guess we should have had someone show you to your room as well. I’m sorry if it seems as if we just forgot about you. It has been a very strange evening,” Tonks said trying to strike up a conversation with the still somewhat shaky other woman.
“Its no problem, it gave me the chance to wash the dishes. Now if I can figure out where they go,” Petunia said with a bit of a forced laugh.
“Petunia, just stop a moment. Sit down and relax before you fall over. I know that was not easy for you earlier. But I wanted to let you know that you did the right thing by letting the rest of us in on the conversation. We’ve become like a second family to Harry, and we care for him a great deal. I knew something had to be a bit wonky at Privet Drive. He’s a good kid, and very hard not to like,” Tonks said with a grin.
“He’s got so much of his parents in him; so much of Lily. I’m just afraid that after all these years, he won’t be able to forgive me, no matter what the circumstances were,” Petunia said quietly, her eyes tearing up for the hundredth time that evening.
“You listen to me right now Petunia. That’s a very special boy we’ve got there. He has a heart as big as a continent. Now that he knows the truth, he will make the room in that heart for you and your son. As for your husband, it might be better if he stayed far away for a while. He’s liable to be blown to smithereens and not just by Harry. There are very few in our world or yours that tolerate violence against a woman and children,” Tonks said. She could be very convincing when she wanted to be. “But Harry has been through an awful lot in the past few weeks. He just needs some time to process it all. My cousin meant a lot to him, I don’t think he was over that loss before we put all of this on him tonight. With the reading of the will being the day after tomorrow, we are going to have to watch Harry carefully.”
“Sirius was your cousin?” Petunia asked, genuinely curious.
“Second cousin actually. Did you know him?”
“I met him at Lily’s wedding. He was a wild one, but such a heartbreaker,” Petunia said blushing.
“He would have loved to hear that. He always prided himself on being a ladies man,” Tonks said, chuckling.
The two women sat at the kitchen table beginning a friendship. Molly walked in on them laughing together a little later. She led Petunia to her room and said goodnight. Tomorrow would be soon enough to find out the information that her mind was itching to know.