chapter:25 Petunia - HARRY POTTER: After the chamber-lord

> 🚨 Want to read more?

The next 10+ chapters are already available on my Patreon!

By joining, you'll get:

📖 Early access to future chapters

🗳️ Polls to shape the story

🎁 Exclusive content for Patrons

🔥 Bonus adult-themed pictures & scenes you won't find anywhere else(adult only 😉)

Don't fall behind—others are already ahead! 👀

👉 Patreon.com/c/Your_fiction)please search this link on Google Chrome or safari)

-------------

Quite the contrary. You had the choice eleven years ago to treat Harry like your own flesh and blood. You simply chose to let your own sense of inadequacy, jealousy and pig-headed stubbornness rule you rather than any sense of common decency." Dumbledore replied as he stood, "I will only be a few minutes in Harry's room, then I shall trouble you with my presence no further until the day after Harry's birthday, barring any emergencies." "Now see here, you promised us minimal contact!" Vernon protested. "By taking Harry in, you promised in return to treat him well." Dumbledore returned pleasantly, "I am afraid the previous arrangement is on a slight hiatus until we are certain you will keep your word." Vernon swelled up like a balloon about to burst before whirling on Dudley, "Dudders, we're going out for a drive. By the time we get back, this…gentleman…will be gone. Petunia dear, please stay to make sure he doesn't do any unnaturalness outside of The Boy's room." "Of course dear." Petunia replied, "Dinky Duddykins, you have a nice time with your father, you hear? I'll make your favourite meal for dinner, so look forward to it." "Thanks mum." Dudley grunted before he waddled out after his father, the door slamming shut after him. Dumbledore shook his head sadly. Petunia was spoiling that boy beyond all possible hope of recovery. He had been an educator for well over ninety years and had long since memorised the signs of overly spoilt children, the Malfoy scions being prime examples, especially young Draco. He made his way up the stairs with Petunia in tow and into Harry's room. Tsking at the poor excuses for furniture in the room, the aged Headmaster closed the curtains with one of his rare uses of wandless and silent spells. Drawing his wand from his robe pocket, Dumbledore eyed the furniture with scarce regard. Even if he transfigured what little furniture in the room, it would not last very long, as one of the facts of magic that had been established quite early on was that a transfigured item was limited by the initial condition of the original item, and these were far beyond fixing with a simple 'Reparo'. "No, no, no. Starting over is far better." Dumbledore muttered and, with a wide sweep of his wand, Vanished the entirety of the contents of the room, even the carpet and wallpaper. He then proceeded to conjure a plush red carpet, red and gold wallpaper with lion rampant decals, a bed that bore remarkable similarity to Harry's own bed at Hogwarts, albeit a single bed rather than a four poster, a desk and chair, as well as a perch for Hedwig. "There, that ought to last a couple of months." Dumbledore said in satisfaction as he re-pocketed his wand, "By that time I can acquire a set identical to this and simply swap them after Harry goes to Hogwarts." "Is…is this the sort of furniture he has at that…school?" Petunia asked, eying the furniture in mistrust. "Indeed." Dumbledore replied, "Hogwarts has had similarly designed beds, desks and chairs ever since its founding over a thousand years ago. On the rare occasion we have had to replace something completely, we employ a family of craftsmen to make them, a family who have done so ever since being asked to by the Founders." "I…see…" Petunia looked uncomfortable, and then blurted out, "I tried to stop him, you know." "Oh?" Dumbledore said neutrally. "It's just, when Vernon gets that angry, he's nearly impossible to dissuade!" the sister of Lily Evans continued, "It was all I could do to persuade him that The Boy -Harry- should be fed, or there would be questions." "Why did you not treat him better, Petunia?" Dumbledore asked, turning to face the woman slowly, "Why did you let Vernon run roughshod over your own nephew?" "His eyes are exactly like Lily's." Petunia whispered, "We were so close once, then Magic took her from me…Magic and that Snape boy! Then she married Potter. Vernon was jealous of him, I could tell. Good looks, an easy manner and wealthy to boot…there was no way Vernon could compete with him. That combined with his -our- aversion to everything not normal, made him…volatile…with Lily and James. When you left Harry with us…he saw it as a chance to make a freak normal and did everything he could to try and stamp out any trace of magic from him, possibly also as a way of taking revenge on James Potter for beating him at everything Vernon valued without even trying." Dumbledore felt sick at this description of events that brought his poor sister Ariana sharply to the forefront of his mind, and the events that had destroyed his family all those years ago. "Surely you managed to mitigate things somewhat?" he asked softly. "Sometimes." Petunia confessed, "It was a promise Lily and I had, that if anything happened to one of us, we would look out for our family. Sometimes, I managed to manipulate the circumstances into a treat for Harry, like on Dudley's eleventh birthday. Other times…other times, I let my own selfish jealously for Lily get the better of me. His eyes…it's almost like Lily is looking out at me sometimes and that sets my jealousy off." You are fairly perceptive, Petunia." Dumbledore said quietly, "In a very real sense, she is always with Harry. Lily stood in front of the most evil wizard in fifty years and refused to let him get at her son unless he went through her first. Her willing sacrifice cast a protective charm on Harry that ultimately destroyed Voldemort's body when he attacked Harry. That protection lingers in Harry to this day, imbued into his skin, his very blood. As long as Harry lives, Lily Marie Evans Potter is not truly dead. She lives on within her son, protecting him even now." Petunia began to sob as she listened, her memory of Lily as she had last seen her at her wedding to that Potter man coming to the forefront of her mind. Smiling, happy, exuberant and hopeful for the future. She had truly been radiant that day.