Among Other Things

Disclaimer: I do not own HP!

A/N: Wow! Thanks for all the reviews so far! Keep reviewing please! I promise most of your questions will be answered in the next few chapters!

Chapter 13

Petunia could not believe it. Not only had she dies in her sleep at a very healthy age, but she had done so after a very expensive visit to both the spa and the plastic surgeon. Over the course of her marriage her husband had grown more selective in his tastes, seeming to prefer the boy over her.

Petunia sneered and crossed her arms. What a disgusting freak. She still could not believe that Vernon had preferred that over her. So, she had decided to do the sensible thing and improve herself.

She had gone to a series of lucrative places before finally finding one that would do exactly what she wanted without any unneeded questions or advice. Two tummy tucks, a series of botox injections, and a butt lift later and she was set.

The night before her death had been the final injection. And it had all been for nothing.

Petunia stared at the smooth wall, as she had been for hours, waiting for something to happen. She had been escorted here by an odd freak who had said nothing to her, even when she had screeched at him to bring her back to life. The prat had merely stuck its’ nose up in the air and ignored her.

He must not have known exactly who she was. That was all right, she supposed, she would make sure that he understood later. Petunia shivered as a cold wind whipped through the tiny window way above her head in the cell.

She had arrived here in the clothes se had died in, namely a very flimsy, see-through nightgown she had worn in order to entice Vernon. Not that it had done any good, since he had spent a portion of the evening locked up in the freak’s room.

A sudden muted click caught Petunia’s ears, and she turned her head toward the side wall. This morning it had been entirely blank, but now she could see a crack making its way along the smooth rock. She stared at it a few moments before determining that it had taken on the outline of a door.

Petunia blinked. Well, this was rather odd. As soon as the crack ended its slow progressive journey another click was heard, followed by the creaking of the stone door as it slowly opened.

“Petunia Dursley, please stand and make your way to the door,” an imperious voice barked, causing Petunia to jump in fright as the voice resonated within her bones. Slightly shaking, she did as told, her previous bravery deserting her at the sound of such a voice.

Upon reaching the entryway, she was grabbed by two strong pairs of hands down the dark hallway and into a brightly lit room that made her squint as her eyes adjusted to the strong light.

The room went on forever, as far as she could tell, and it felt like hours passed before she was finally dropped at the bottom of what looked to be a throne. Petunia blanched as she gazed at it.

The throne looked hideous. From a distance, it might have looked beautiful, all snow white stone, but up close she could see that it was made of bones. How utterly…barbaric. Petunia moved her gaze even higher and almost cried out in shock. For there, sitting on the throne was her dead sister, green eyes blazing in anger.

“But, you’re dead,” she whispered, forgetting for a moment that she was in the same position. Lily rolled her eyes.

“Duh, I swear; I’ve been dead for years! You could at least have the courtesy to remember that, ‘Tunia!”

Petunia gazed at her sister’s face, still young, glowing with beauty, and felt envy. She had never looked like that when she was young.

“But why are you here? Aren’t you supposed to be with your husband of yours, Perfect Potter?” Petunia snapped.

Lily shook her head. “They thought it would be easier if I came down and explained everything to you, since we’re sisters. Once you’ve been sorted out, I’m to go back.”

Petunia frowned. “Came down from where? What’s going on?”

Taking a deep breath, Lily absently ran her hand through her auburn hair, before focusing on her sister. “You are in limbo. I’m here to determine if you deserve to go to hell, or if you have repented.”

Petunia sniffed and crossed her arms. “Obviously, I am not going to hell. So, let’s go. Take me to heaven,” she said imperiously.

“It doesn’t work that way.”

“Why not?” Petunia demanded, feeling a spark of annoyance that her perfect sister didn’t do what she wanted. Lily should, after all, since she had raised her worthless son. “You’re a freak, you can do whatever you want!”

Lily’s face darkened in anger. “And that is the problem,” she hissed, anger darkening her eyes a vivid shade Petunia was all too familiar with.


“What’s the problem?”

“You’re hatred of anything to do with magic, including my son.”

Petunia glared at the infuriating form of her sister, and huffed in annoyance. It was always the same. Petunia did something or made an innocent remark, and Lily turned it completely around.

“I do not!”

“Yes, you do. And it’s all based on your fear of contracting my disease,” Lily spat, fingers clutching the throne. “And your jealously of the power.”

It was Petunia’s turn to glare, and she did so heatedly. “I am not.”

Lily rolled her eyes. “Whatever. It’s obvious you won’t admit it. You haven’t since I was eleven, and you treated my son like garbage because of your feelings.”

Abruptly, Lily stood up and began pacing in front of the throne, heels clicking against the stone as she moved back and forth. “So, I think I’ll let you in on a little secret,” she said, stopping in front of Petunia to stare deeply into her eyes.

“I wasn’t even sister. I wasn’t even a relative of any kind. I was adopted by your parents, after being dumped in an orphanage when I was only a day old.”

Petunia blinked in shock. Well, this was entirely unexpected. Then the shock turned to anger. “You mean I’ve been watching your bloody brat for no reason!”

Lily smirked. “Yes, you always did hate being charitable, didn’t you?”

“Well, why did I get the brat then? Shouldn’t he have gone to his real family?” Petunia asked haughtily.

“No one else knew. Great pains were taking to hide my true family, and I only found out a few years before my death. My greatest regret is that Harry didn’t get to know his grandfather.”

Petunia sniffed. “As if I care. At least I don’t have to deal with the brat anymore. So, can we just get on with it?”

Lily deeply sighed. “Every time I think you’ve reached the bottom of the pit, you somehow find a way to sink deeper. Alright then, it is my pleasure to inform you that you have not repented of your crimes, and shall be sentenced to Hell.”

Petunia gaped in shock as Lily snapped her fingers once, the echo bouncing in the spacious area. “You can’t do that!” she screeched, rushing forward to take hold of Lily’s arm.

Lily abruptly backed away, a small smirk on her lips. “I believe I can and I did. Though I never have believed in vengeance, I think I will enjoy what you have coming to you.”

Suddenly, a portal appeared in the space between them, and before Petunia could do more than gasp, a tall aristocratic man with long black and white hair with blue eyes stepped out and into the room.

“’Tunia, meet Orion Black. You might remember his son, Sirius, who attended my wedding.”

Oh, Petunia remembered Sirius all right. He’d been extremely charming at the wedding, and she had been more than attracted to the man until he’d revealed that he was a wizard. She’d publicly humiliated him, and he had retaliated by vanishing her hair and leaving her as bald as an egg for the remainder of the day.

“Well, I can see the family resemblance,” Petunia sneered. “What does he have to do with me?”

Lily rolled her eyes, but said nothing, even as the man moved forward and harshly gripped her arm, and dragged her into the portal. They emerged into a dimly lit hallway, and Petunia immediately tried to tug herself out of his grip.

“Wait! Where are you taking me?” she screeched, panicking now that any sense of familiarity had been ripped away from her.

“Oh, they didn’t tell you?” Orion asked innocently. “You’re in Hell, and I’m your tormentor.”

Seconds later the information finally sunk in and Petunia’s screams echoed down the hallway.

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Department of Mysteries…

Benjamin sighed as he slowly transcribed the prophecy onto paper. Surprisingly, this prophecy had been more difficult to interpret than others since it had been recorded in some strange dialect that he had only partially translated.

It was slow going, but Benjamin refused to seek out one of his colleagues to get their opinion on the strange language. There were too many people in the department in Dumbledore’s pocket. He didn’t want anyone else to know of the prophecy.

Laboriously, he scratched out the previous word and replaced it with another, more obscure meaning. This would positively take forever.

Although he really shouldn’t have been surprised. The prophecy was extremely old, probably recorded before the founding of Hogwarts. In fact, if he didn’t know better, Benjamin would say that it came from the time of Merlin.

Now that would be a thought. Merlin had been a powerful seer, seeing events that were far into the future. This far, however, would be a record. The last prophecy from Merlin had gone into effect in the late 1700s when the French Muggles decapitated the king and queen.

With another heartfelt sigh, Benjamin got back to work, wondering how many hidden meanings the next word would have.

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Sirius sighed in contentment as he leaned his head on Remus’ shoulders. It was night and supposedly the kids had gone to bed a little over an hour ago. Sirius wasn’t fooled. They were most likely still awake, causing quiet mayhem in their rooms.

Reclining against one of the many pillows on their bed, they both liked their comforts, Remus was contentedly reading a Muggle fiction novel. Sirius, on the other hand, was enjoying a Muggle comic book. And a rare edition at that.

With a brief sigh, Remus marked the page and closed his book. He glanced at his lover, who was currently smirking at one of the pictures. It was good to see him looking so happy for once.

“Did you finish the potion for Harry?” he asked quietly.

“What potion?” Sirius asked, shutting the comic book with a soft snap. Remus smacked him. “Ow, what was that for?” he whined, rubbing his arm.

Remus rolled his eyes in exasperation. “You know what for!”

“Oh, all right,” Sirius consented. “I think I’ve got it right. Harry’s testing it out tonight.”

Remus sat up straight in shock, amber eyes wide. “You’re giving him an untested potion!? Are you bloody insane? What if something’s wrong with it? What if he get’s poisoned? What if…?”

Sirius kissed him, silencing Remus’ hysterical protests. Remus replied with a soft moan, leaning back even further into the soft pillows as Sirius shifted his weight to lie partially on top of him.

The feeling of his lover’s wet warm tongue mapping out the inside of his mouth made Remus shiver in anticipation and arousal. Eagerly, he responded, hands moving up to Sirius’ shoulders.

Eventually, Sirius broke away from the passionate kiss to look Remus squarely in the eye. Gently, he put a hand to Remus’ cheek, cupping it carefully. “Harry will be fine,” he said finally. “Because I know it works. I tested it on Snape myself,” he said proudly.

Remus gaped at his lover. “You what? How!?”

Sirius smirked, his blue eyes glinting in pride. “Slipped it in his pumpkin juice yesterday evening before supper. He was too distracted by Harry to even notice, and he looked fine this morning, so it must have worked.”

“You really are a master of your art,” Remus breathed, awe shining in his eyes. It reminded Sirius of Remus’ prankster side, which hardly ever showed, but was just as vicious as his own.

“Have to be,” Sirius said smugly. “To trick that git’s large nose. I figured that capitalizing on his crush for my godson would work perfectly.” Sirius frowned deeply. “Not that he’ll ever get close enough to do anything to my godson. Now, where were we?”

Remus could only reply with another soft moan as he found himself being kissed once again.

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Next Day-Attic

Fred coughed as he climbed up the rickety ladder into the dusty old attic. Well, not so dusty anymore. They had been cleaning for several days, and if finally looked as if they were making a dent in the gigantic mess that was the attic.

Beforehand, boxes had been piled everywhere in a precarious heap while dust coated every object at least a centimeter or two thick.

Now, half the boxes had been repacked, reorganized, and moved to sit against the walls, so as to clear out a space in the middle for them to work Still there was a lot to do.

“Where to today?” George asked as he clambered up the ladder behind his twin. Fred wrinkled his nose and tapped his chin thoughtfully. “I say we should tackle the corner by the window.”

Hermione nodded in agreement, as she tossed her backpack full of parchment and quills to the floor. “That’s a good idea,” she said briskly, surveying the area. “I really don’t want to spend another day in constant darkness.”

Harry nodded, then pulled up the ladder behind him and shut the trapdoor. Together the group made their way to the next part of the attic, determined to get at least a decent part of it done today.

They set to it with a will, sending up a flurry of dust as they moved the boxes, swept the floor, and then, one by one, moved the reorganized boxes next to the window.

It was an hour and a half later when Hermione opened a box and abruptly squeaked in shock. “Harry! Harry! Come see this!”

Bemused, Harry hurried over, absently smoothing down his hair as he went. “What did you find?”

Hermione gestured at the open box. “I found this box. It’s full of your parents’ things.”

Harry gaped at her speechless. In all the excitement of the summer, he had not realized that he might come across his parents’ stuff. Logically, he knew it had to make sense since Remus and Sirius had been his parents’ best friends, but really…

“Wow, I guess I didn’t think that kind of stuff would be up here,” he said quietly, shocked beyond all belief. Hermione looked at him with a mixture of pity and happiness. Abruptly, she stood and brushed the dust off her jeans.

“Fred, George!” she called, taking their attention from the boxes they were halfway through. “Let’s take a break for a few minutes!”

Within seconds, all three of them were clambering down the ladder, Fred and George only pausing briefly to give him questioning looks, before vanishing.

Left alone, Harry opened the box with a sigh, wondering what he would find. He dug through old textbooks, which were hilarious since his father had decided to draw amusing caricatures of other people. There was one of Sirius he could not stop laughing at.

He found old pictures of both his parents with other people, and watched as they each paused in the pictures to wave enthusiastically at him. He smiled briefly before setting them aside to take downstairs.

Harry dug through other old memorabilia before coming across a small dusty book bound tightly with an emerald green velvet ribbon. Untying it carefully, he gasped in shock when he opened it.

It was his mother’s diary, dated shortly after she left Hogwarts. Harry read the first few pages bemusedly before coming across an entry that looked as if had been written in haste. Wet splotches dotted the page, and suddenly Harry realized that it was tears. His mother’s tears.

31 October

Tonight was horrible. I cannot even find words to describe the events of this night. James went out with Siri on a late night pub crawl, eager to wash away the feeling of a long day at the office.

I couldn’t begrudge him that. Head Auror Moody had been particularly hard on them lately, what with their tendency to get into constant trouble.

I chose to stay at home and relax. The past few weeks had been difficult, with the Headmaster pressuring us to join his secret efforts to thwart the new Dark Lord.

I am completely against getting involved in the war, what with my husband on one side and my father on the other. I was all for staying in the house and not leaving.

I was only alone for a few hours when I felt someone enter the wards. I remember grabbing my wand and racing to the window. I relaxed when I saw that it was Albus.

I welcomed him in, expecting that he, once again, wanted to talk about his secret order. However, he only looked at me with a strange expression that I have never seen before.

I cannot describe what followed, it was too horrifying. I remember him hurting me when he knocked me to the floor. I remember when he violated me, reveling in my screams.

And I remember when he laughed afterwards and tried to Obliviate me before leaving. Thankfully, he didn’t realize that the spell was ineffective. I had always been able to throw off those kinds of spells.

I don’t know how long I sat on the floor in shock. I couldn’t believe that a man I had trusted with my life had done something so despicable.

Why? Why did he do it? What did I do to him?

I have decided that I will never tell James. He wouldn’t be able to deal with the complete reversal of all his beliefs.

I wish I could safely contact my father. After all, as the Dark Lord himself, he would be able to protect me.

Lily

Harry gazed at the entry, face wet with tears. He could not believe that Dumbledore had done something so vile. He had probably used a charm on himself to do the act, Harry joked darkly to himself.

The part about Voldemort being his grandfather was surprising. If he wasn’t in shock, Harry probably would have fainted. As it was, he wondered whether the man knew about their relation. And if he did, all those years ago, why did he kill his mother?

Hand shaking, Harry turned the page. He needed to know what happened. He bent his head and continued to read. There were several pages where his mother recounted her horrors and her determination to not let his father know.

In several entries, she discussed the discovery of her parentage. Harry smiled when she said that an ancient charm had been used to track her lineage. Of course his mother would use a charm. As everyone had always told him, that had been her best subject.

It was with some small relief that Harry discovered that his aunt and uncle weren’t really his relatives at all.

He read as his mother spoke of her decision to not let anyone near her, including his father, which resulted in fights and days spent in stony silence. It was not until Harry read a journal entry dated the end of January that he felt his entire world stop. He could not believe it…

End of Chapter 13! Please review!