Itoshii Sune-ku

Itoshii Sune-Ku.

Chapter 23: Shoujutsu

\'I have never seen her so nervous.\' Remus chuckled, quietly, trying not to draw Petunia\'s attention to him. She had already bit Severus\' head off, and he didn\'t want to be next.

\"Mrs. Dursley, could you please sit down and talk to us? We really need to understand what has happened.\"

\'Dumbledore really shouldn\'t have done that.\' Remus thought, with some amusement, as Petunia glared venomously at the white haired headmaster. Petunia calmed herself, and delicately sat down at the end of the table. Then she resumed her glaring.

\"You are looking for my nephew, correct?\" Everyone nodded.

\"Well, you won\'t find the poor boy here.\" She huffed.

\"We know that! We want to know what happened to him. Where is he? Who took him away? Did the boy run away?\" Severus questioned, irritably.

\"Harry left of his own accord. I packed his clothes, and anything he would\'ve wanted to keep. I gave him enough money for several weeks\' worth of food, and let him go. He should already be settled in his new home by now.\" Remus stared at her, hard.

\"You\'re happy he\'s gone, aren\'t you?\" Petunia gave him a look that clearly stated she was.

\"I am extremely happy Harry is no longer here. If you only knew--\"

\"Potter was safe here. There are--well, there were wards placed around your home to keep him, you and your family safe. Now that he\'s gone, those wards are failing. Still happy now?\" Petunia glared at Snape, she still didn\'t like him, even if her sister was on friendly terms with the man.

\"Yes. I am still glad he\'s gone. He would\'ve been dead within a few more years of living here. Like I told him, I may not have liked my sister all that much, but I\'m not so cruel as to not help one of her children. Key word being, children. And another thing!\" She got up, and started to pace, alternately glaring at Dumbledore and fiddling with different objects on the counters.

\"How could you leave a baby--A MAGICAL baby, no less, in a house that is so anti-magic it\'s unbelievable!\" She rounded on Remus.

\"And you! I\'ve seen you playing with Harry in the park! Now, I never said anything, because I was hoping you would notice something and decide to maybe kidnap him--but NO! You were just as clueless as Dumble-whatsit over there!\" She pointed to Dumbledore, who had a bemused look on his face.

Petunia collapsed back into her chair and grabbed her tea cup, taking a delicate sip, and sighing. Everyone stared at her incredulously. She glanced at each of them, staring longer than necessary at Dumbledore, before sniffing disdainfully.

\"I am disappointed in you.\" She stated clearly, looking pointedly at the headmaster.

\"You said you would send someone to check up on him, on his living conditions, his health, and all those things. You did nothing. No one came to check up on his living conditions. Well, you know where he slept? In that cupboard, under the stairs. No one came to check up on his health. Well, you what? My husband was trying to beat the magic out of him. I told the girl he left with that to be wary of the people at that school of yours. I don\'t trust you, and I don\'t want him to trust you, either.\"

Everyone but one stared at her, dumb-struck, while Petunia and Minerva glared at Dumbledore murderously.

\"I told you we shouldn\'t have left him here. Do you listen to me? No, I\'m just your employee, you don\'t need to take my advice. Hmph! See if I ever talk to you again!\" Minerva smacked him on the back of the head as she stood and stormed out the kitchen door to the back garden. Petunia stood up, and glared one last time at Dumbledore before following Minerva.

The other three sat there, trying to process what they\'d heard. After a while, Remus stood and walked through a door that lead to the hallway. Severus just glimpsed him opening a white cupboard door before the one he opened swung shut. Severus looked back at the headmaster, and stood slowly.

\"I\'ll wait till the muggle gets home before I curse it. And remember, you basically gave me permission to curse it, so I\'m not going to go easy on it.\" the old professor didn\'t miss Severus\' use of the word \'it\' to describe Vernon Dursley. Severus walked toward the door Remus went through, pulled it open, and stepped out into the hall with Remus.

Dumbledore just sat there, staring into his tea cup. He was wrong. He had made a mistake, and it had cost him a lot. Albus Dumbledore wouldn\'t blame Harry if he decided to never forgive him.

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Do you want to read the letter Rhapsody sent me just last night?\" Petunia asked Minerva, who was standing a few steps away in front of Harry\'s favourite patch of flowers. Minerva spun around and stared hopefully at Petunia. She watched as Harry\'s aunt pulled a folded parchment envelope that looked as if it had been folded and unfolded several times.

Petunia handed it over, and watched as Minerva carefully unfolded it and pulled the letter free. Written in a cute curling script was:

Dear, Mrs. Harry\'s Aunt.

I just wanted to send you a short (or not-so-short) letter to let you know that your nephew is perfectly fine. He\'s been having a good time in the library. The owner of the home we\'ve been allowed to stay in has a very large library, and Harry\'s having fun reading late into the night.

Three times in as many nights I\'ve had to threaten him with no more new recipes to get him to go to bed. He\'s found himself a new dog. The dog\'s name is Coran and she\'s really sweet. They met when she started chasing Harry home whenever he went grocery shopping. I bought him three snakes for his birthday, and he absolutely adores them. He even lets them sleep on his pillows. (Shocking, isn\'t?) He\'s been trying to \'subtly\' convince me to let Coran live with us, and I\'m just about to give in.

Harry started to have nightmares a couple nights ago, and the only thing that seems to let him get any more sleep after one of them is apple caramel spice tea. My sister\'s mother taught her how to make that and Harry loves the stuff. At meal times he\'s always drinking it. Even if most of the time he nearly burns his tongue. Harry\'s been having a nice time exploring the neighbourhood and he \'says\' he\'s almost ready to explore further down. I\'m not so sure.

Harry\'s been fine, he even met a little girl, about a year younger than him, named Ginny. She\'s a lovely girl and they\'ve started sending letters back and forth, talking about Hogwarts and going to school together. I believe he\'s going to have a lot of fun having her as a friend. He\'s been getting along good with my sisters and I.

At first Harry seemed quite uneasy around my youngest sibling, my only brother, but they seem to be getting alone somewhat now. Then again, I think that may be because he always brings home some type of glass figurine for Harry.

He seems to really enjoy them. They\'re scattered about his room in different places. We\'re about to start Harry in school work, since he\'s been reading through the library, I figured we should start that soon. If you like, I\'ll send you a letter once every month to let you know how things are going. I\'ll end this letter here, it\'s getting late and I still need to fix breakfast.

Take care. Till the next letter.

Rhapsody R.

Minerva smiled at the thought that Remus was right, and that Harry really did like reading that much.

\"He\'ll be coming to your school, you know.\" Minerva jumped slightly, and placed a hand against her rapidly beating heart.

\"Pardon?\" She asked, refolding the letter, placing it back in its envelope, and handing it back over to Petunia.

\"He\'ll be going to your school. That\'s what she was talking about when she said Hogwarts, and school work. They\'re going to teach him about magic. I think he\'ll do quite well with them. There\'s four girls, and one boy. They\'re all siblings. From what I read of Harry\'s note, they seem to like showing affection. And a lot of it. It seems that whenever he makes them smile, or he \'seemingly\' does something \'cute\' they\'ll kiss him. I personally think it\'s adorable. Harry doesn\'t like being kissed by girls.\" Petunia smiled fondly.

\"He\'s with a wizarding family?\" Petunia nodded, noting the shocked look.

\"They came one day. Cute little girl she was, not much older than Harry, if I\'m not mistaken. I asked if she was one of you, a witch, and asked if she could take Harry away from here. She did. She even healed him slightly before they left.\"

\"Do you know where they were going?\" Minerva asked, slightly frantic. Petunia didn\'t really want them to find Harry, so all she said was.

\"Out of the country. Don\'t know where, exactly. Just out of the country.\" Not totally a lie, but not exactly the truth either. Oh well.

\"Professor McGonagall. The headmaster says we should get going. Thank you for talking to us Mrs. Dursley. It\'s been...Enlightening.\" Remus said, peering out at the two women. Petunia sniffed, and said, mockingly.

\"Quite.\"

\'She could give Severus a run for his money.\' Both Minerva and Remus thought, before Minerva nodded to Remus and followed Petunia back inside.

Ten minutes later they were out of reach of what was left of Dumbledore\'s wards and each were getting ready to go their own way.

\"If you don\'t mind, Headmaster, I\'ll search for Harry on my own. But, for some reason, at the moment I don\'t think he needs to be found. Thank you for letting me come with you today, sir.\" Remus said right before he disappeared out of thin air.

\"I don\'t think Harry needs to be found, either, Albus. Petunia Dursley allowed me to read a letter from Harry\'s new guardian. It sounded as if Harry was doing quite fine. Other than staying up too late in the library, and a not getting quite enough sleep, he\'s doing all right. I don\'t know about you, Albus, but I don\'t care if he\'s safe,so long as he\'s happy.\" With that, she too disappeared. Albus looked to Severus, to see if he had anything to say before he disappeared. Severus didn\'t say much, though. Just raised an eyebrow, and quietly stated.

\"Her cooking smelled delightful. Now, I\'m hungry. Call me if you need anything, Albus. If I\'m right, I won\'t be able to make my annual trip to Japan this summer. So, if you need me, you know where to find me.\" Albus watched as Severus got ready to disappear himself, while muttering to himself something about getting cheesecake and squid.