Silver, Green, and Gold

Disclaimer: I own nothing HP or cast.

Warning: Same as before. You have been warned. This chapter doesn’t really have sex other than little snippets of memories.

Helpful Hints: Italics are memories.

Thanks going out to Yaoigurl06. I’m sorry I didn’t mention your name last time. I meant to really. And thank you for reviewing again. Keep reading it will get better for our boys.

Thanks Angelkitty, I think in order to honor and thank you I’m going to make my character’s real name Hotaru.

Thank you thrnbrooke for your review and enthusiasm.

I’m not sure what creature I’m going to make her yet though I have been given good ideas.

Keep reading and Enjoy.

Chapter Three: Black Memories




Though the train ride was smooth and went off without a hitch for most of the passengers three of the occupants were deep within their own painful memories. Two of the said passengers were asleep with the haunting thoughts while the other had awoken not long after she had first dozed off.

Sol looked at her Draco. She couldn’t help the small smile that graced her face nor could she stop the memories from swamping her.

Crying that was all she did. She didn’t know where she was or even why she was there.

All she remembered was that there had been a loud bang and then men in black robes were everywhere. They had gathered up all the adults and had separated them from the mostly bawling children. The masked were shouting at the adults, throwing questions at them one after another.

“Where is it?” that was the most popular question. They were questioned and threatened and tortured for what seemed like hours. And she was frozen through the entire thing. The adults never answered the questions but in the end, they had no need to, the answer came right to them.

One of the masked men drew out a long stick thing. Having seen what the other sticks had done she was terrified. But the man didn’t use it on the adults no he turned it onto the other children.

Words were said and screaming ensued. But still she was frozen. It wasn’t until she heard two words that seemed to strike a deep cord in her did she react. The man had pointed it towards a boy that she definitely did not like but it didn’t matter. She knew. She knew what those words would do.

They were death. And no matter what she couldn’t let that happen to anyone. From her hiding spot she ran towards the boy. Just as the spell was about to hit him she pushed him out of the way and it hit her instead. There was more screaming then. But this time it was screaming her name.

“Hotaru!!! NO NO NO!!!” The voice kept on screaming but she wasn’t listening. She was having an internal fight. The words were telling her to let go and sleep but her body, heart, mind, and soul were saying no. She refused t let anything tell her what to do. Even this young she was to head strong for her own good.

Finally she was able to push that voice away. Her body hurt. It took her a second but she realized that those words had caused her to be slammed against the wall behind the group of children.

A hand was shaking her shoulder begging for her to be alright. Praying that she wasn’t going to die. Her voice though soft seemed to carry throughout the entire room cause everyone heard it.

“Of course I’m not going to die. Why would I do that?”

They were all staring at her, some in happiness, some in shock, but the masked men just radiated triumph and awe.

She had thrown off the killing curse. She didn’t die and she was just a child barely five. That’s when they took a closer look at her.

She had dark hair but a quick lumos proved it to be a deep purple rather than brown or black. Her eyes were gold and had a look of intelligence in them. But most importantly was that she radiated off a power that was incomprehensible for any child to have.

She was what they had been looking for. The source of the major power surge that they had been feeling at different intervals for the last five years.

Suddenly one of the adults broke free from their group and ran to her. Enveloping her in a tight hug and thanking the gods that she was alright. But then both of their gazes refocused onto the intruders. One of them had taken off his mask.

Kneeling down in front of the small child, who was now tightly in the woman’s hold, he looked into her eyes. Bright gold eyes for the first time met with gray blue ones. Staring into him she saw nothing but hunger for power, coldness, hatred, and anger.

She was shocked was there nothing good in this human? No there wasn’t. He held out his hand to here though and told her to come with him. He promised that no one else would be hurt and that they would leave quietly if she just listened to him.

She looked around the room the adults were all shaking their heads at her while the other children were just quivering in fear. Then her eyes met once again with the man’s and she knew. He wouldn’t leave them alone, no, he was lying.

She stood up slowly and put herself between the now sobbing woman and lifted her head proudly. “You’re lying”

It wasn’t a question or even a wavering statement. She said it in a voice that gave no room for any argument. His response was instant. He was on his feet and glaring down at her.

“You insolent child. How dare you disobey me.” His voice was ice and demanded obedience. But she refused.

Her anger was mounting steadily. How dare these people come into her home and hurt the others. How dare he try and order her around. She refused. She would not listen, she would not back down, and most importantly she would not be scared of him.

She didn’t notice that power was quickly gathering around her or that the other masked men had taken a step away. No all she knew was that they dared to hurt innocent people. They were bad people. But even greater than her anger at the moment was the feeling that she needed to get the others away. They needed to be safe.

Her power swirled around her as it reached its pinnacle. She turned slightly and gave a small smile to the woman and whispered, “Be safe.” In the next instant everything was gone. The small house, the children, and the adults were no where to be seen. But the nasty men were still there and so was she.

The intruders were now muttering under their breaths. They were in awe that one so young had such power. It was impossible wasn’t it? They were contemplating what to do with her when a loud crack was heard. They looked over to where the leader of the small group was standing over the now unconscious child.

Sprawled on her back the others could clearly see the large bruise in the shape of a handprint starting to form. Lucius Malfoy had smacked her so hard that she had fallen into darkness.

She woke up in a dark cell. She was alone for the first time in her life. So she did the one thing any child in this position would do. She cried. She couldn’t stop and she didn’t want to. She cried even harder though when she realized that she was missing something. She didn’t understand what it was but she felt cold on the inside. She didn’t like it.

It wasn’t until later in her time there that she learned that she had magic and the coldness that she felt was the fact that hers was now being repressed by magical charms on the cell. But since that was impractical she was told that she would be given things that would suppress it and that she had no choice in the matter.

When she was given those things at first she hadn’t known how she was meant to wear them. But she soon found out that getting them on required a lot of pain. She didn’t like them what so ever.

Sol continued to watch her sleeping friend as her memories tried progress. But it was here in her thoughts that she stopped them. She would not think about how her life just got worse and went to hell in a hand basket after that.

But what she would do was plan. She was going to plan out her future for when she escaped her binds. A life where her magic and soul could be free. A life that no matter what she would decide her own fate and meaning in life.

She still didn’t know why they had been looking for her and she doubted that she would ever find out. But it didn’t matter and it never would, she had stopped caring the moment she realized what kind of life she was expected to live.

She tightened her arms around her friend wondering what it was that he was obviously dreaming about.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Draco could feel the warmth radiating off of the body underneath him. Subconsciously he knew it to be his best friend but in his dream it was quite different.

He was in his bed. He was in his room at the manor for the time being. It was almost time for breakfast, his growling stomach told him. He stretched lazily as he tried to convince his mind that his body did indeed need food.

Getting up he moved towards his bathroom. When he opened the all he expected to see was his usual large and impeccably clean bathroom, he did not expect to see his best friend curled up on the floor covered in blood from numerous cuts and slashes. Her clothes were basically non existent so it was extremely easy to see that her wounds were still bleeding profusely.

Gasping he rushed forward and kneeled next down to her. He was about to ask her if she was ok but then he realized that that was probably the stupidest question that he could have asked at the time. Reaching a hand out he was hurt when she flinched away from him. She had never done that before but he had never seen her this bad or bloody before either.

He had no idea what his father had done to her nor was he about to ask either. That was something that he had no need to know. Trying to think for a moment he realized that he hadn’t said a single word to her. She was probably a little disoriented from the loss of blood.

“Sol…Sol it’s just me… It’s just Draco. I’m not going to hurt you…” his voice trailed off as he tried not to cry for his friend. She was the strongest person he knew. She went through hell and never broke. There was nothing that could break her. He knew this and so he told her this as well.

Slowly his familiar voice and gentle tone brought her out of her shell. Even slower though was the time it took to get her eyes to meet his. When their eyes finally met what he saw shocked him. There were tears in her eyes and she looked almost defeated.

Not caring in the least about the blood that would get over him he put his arms around her and drew her close to him. After a moment of hesitation he felt her hands grip onto his pajama top and cling there. He said nothing and just let her cry. She would get better she had to.

It was no less than a half hour later that her tears finally stopped and her sobs quieted down, but her grip didn’t lessen. Her voice soft and raw from her sobs broke through the recent silence.

“Thank you Dray. I’m sorry I didn’t mean to bother you. I don’t think I even realized where I was going.” She stopped for a moment drawing in a deep breath before she continued on. “He found them. The ones that I had protected before. The ones that I thought were safe. He found them. Everyone there died. He killed them. The other children had to have been different though cause people would adopt them, wouldn’t they?” Her voice was getting softer but still she continued on. “He brought Miss Dana back though. Not her entirely. Just her head and he showed it to me.

“He had found them. I was angry that I didn’t hide them better, I was angry that he had looked for them. I was angry that he had dared to even go near them.

“He threw the head at me and it rolled near my feet. I couldn’t help but look into its eyes. I saw red Dray. I wanted noting more than to kill him. I still do. I’ll never forgive him.

“I think my bonds are getting weak cause some of my magic broke through. I couldn’t help it though. He was thrown against the wall and my magic was going wild but I didn’t care.”

She was gasping for breath by now but now it was from her anger returning to her. “He did something though. And my magic stopped. Then it got worse. I don’t care that he hurt my body, you know that doesn’t bother me anymore, what hurts even more was that he said it was my fault that they were dead.” Her eyes quickly sought out his and she questioned him. “Is it my fault that their dead, Draco? Am I really the reason that they died in such a horrible way?”

Draco was angry. Not at the girl in his arms, no never at her. He was angry at the world. He was angry at his family. He was angry at the life and torture that she was forced to endure. He was especially angry at his father. How dare he tell her such lies. How dare he make her feel so much guilt.

He gave a low growl and forced her to look at him once again. “No. It is not your fault…never your fault. It was all Lucius. None of this could even be considered your fault and you shouldn’t think of it that way. He had no right to do that. No order to do it either. He did it to try and break you. Don’t let him. Fight Sol. Fight with everything you have. One day we’ll be free from this and then you won’t ever have to worry again.”

He hugged her tighter trying to convey his anger, hope, and understanding in one embrace. They stayed the floor for a few more minutes before his mind seemed to catch up to what was going on. Standing up slowly and bringing her with him. Carefully so as not to let her drop he magicked the water on and it instantly warmed to just the right temperature. Holding her softly he began to undress her, her rags were incinerated even as he started to undress himself to get in as well.

The shower was slow and gentle. He washed all of her cuts and lashes. Every bruise was brushed lightly in a silent apology. The water ran red with her blood for at least five excruciating long minutes. Soon though they stopped mostly and he got to washing her hair with scentless shampoo. He used that so he wasn’t caught being nice to her that would be dangerous.

After he finished washing her he quickly washed his own body and hair with his own specialized shampoo and soap. He stepped out and quickly dried himself before he helped her out and drying her softly. Even though most of her wounds had stopped bleeding the towel still came away with pink stains all over it. Seeing the blood made the young blonde growl softly in anger.

Going to his dresser he got out a huge old dingy shirt. And gave it to her to put over her naked body. He had been hiding them for a while now in case she ever needed an extra piece of clothing. She slipped it on and gently sat on the edge of his bed waiting for him to finish his own clothing.

Finished with his clothing, he tried to put his mask into place. He needed to make his father believe the story he was about to spin. Having closed his eyes to try to calm down they opened again when he felt soft strong arms circle him and give him a brief hug of support.

He walked over to his door and paused talking one more deep breath before opening the door and walking out with Sol following him. When they arrived outside of the dining halls doors he grabbed her arm and made it look like he was almost forcefully dragging her along. And of course Sol played her role of being grudgingly obedient very well.

They entered in the hall. Lucius looked up briefly and froze for a moment before recovering. “Draconis, what is the meaning of this?”

Looking his father in the eye he hid his anger and hate for the man and replied haughtily, “I was leaving the library when I saw wandering down the hall. I figured she must have gotten herself out somehow. I thought it would be better to bring her to you before she lost herself in the manor.”

Lucius nodded at his son’s reasoning of course that made sense. Draco was often in the library before breakfast and sometimes even through it like today. He had no reason to suspect otherwise. “Yes that was a good choice. But do tell why she is not in her normal clothing?”

“When I found her she was covered and dripping blood. I cast a quick cleansing charm on her and on the hallway. I didn’t want blood getting on my clothing. Then her outfit just fell apart so I just incinerated it and replaced it with a rag that I got Dobby to change for me.” Again Lucius believed his son. The way it was said gave nothing away and there was no prior suspicion present for him to question.

Draco really was a master of lying and wearing a mask. He had to be.

He watched, his emotions carefully concealed, as his father stood up and grabbed his Sol’s shoulder. He watched his father drag away a struggling Sol. But he knew she would be alright her eyes told him so when they connected that last time before she was out of sight.

She would still fight.
He had healed her as much as he could.
She was not broken yet.
Nor would she ever be.

Draco awoke from his dream. No it wasn’t a dream it was a memory that he knew would never leave him. It haunted him every time he saw his father near HIS Sol.

His father had put another binding charmed item on her that day. He hadn’t healed it, so she had been unable to swallow, eat, or even talk for the next few days as her body adjusted to the newest piece of metal. A piece of metal that could have killed her if it was done wrong. He had given her a tongue ring.

Draco had not been shocked that it was a new piercing that was her binding since that was what all the others had been. What shocked him was that this kind of piercing had been given to an eight year old.

That memory haunted him not only for its content but also for the fact that they had both been so young. He would never forgive his father for making her go through that.

Draco looked up at his human pillow and was greeted with a smile. He could not help the fact that he just had to return it. It was only with him that she smiled. It was only with him that she laughed. But most importantly it was only with him that she felt safe enough to be who she really was.

Their silence was broken by a loud banging noise coming from the door.

“WHAT?!?!?!” Draco’s voice was instantly filled with annoyance and anger.

“You need to get ready and let us get ready we’re going to be there in ten minutes.” Came that shrill voice that could only belong to Pansy Parkinson.

Draco groaned lightly as he realized that he must have slept through the rest of the train ride. And his meeting. Damn.

His human pillow though decided it though that it was time to shake. He was about to ask what was wrong when his ears picked up her light laugher. He couldn’t help but join in softly.

Just as the train stopped he opened the door to find three very unhappy people waiting to get in. He just sneered at them walked past them. Sol followed him just as haughtily while still trying to control her laughter. Damn only Draco could make her laugh this much.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harry had not slept well on the ride to Hogwarts. His dreams were all filled with the cold laughter, pain and faces that haunted him. Seeing the blonde death eater must have triggered them cause he had not had a nightmare about it in a little over a week.

Weakly he pulled his robes out of where he had packed them. He literally had to force himself to put them on. They felt to heavy and seemed to suffocate him. He couldn’t wait to get to his dorm and take them off. The headmaster had guaranteed him that he would be getting a separate room so that the others would not have to deal with his nightmares.

He wasn’t stupid though. He figured that there would be listening and watching spells all over that room. Over the summer he had read a lot of books so he now knew how to remove and protect himself from the most powerful of those spells. If Dumbledore didn’t like it then so what he could take care of himself.

After that night he had doubted himself and his own power but he had his confidence back now all thanks to his aunt.

It had shocked him when she had first started to shown signs of concern but he brushed them off easily before the big one happened when he had gotten back from his capture. His mind going back to the last part of his summer he was barely aware of anything or anyone else. He was on autopilot.

He hadn’t known at first where he was but he kept on moving anyway. Any place was better than what he left behind him. Anything was better than that cell, that laughter. He came to the edge of this thick forest, or maybe just an over grown grove of trees, and gave a sigh of relief. There at the bottom of this slope was a town or maybe a small city.

He quickened his pace as he set out towards his saving grace. It was farther then what it looked like it was but that was ok he knew that he would get there eventually and then he would be free. Finally he was there! He walked towards the city of the small city and looked for a taxi. He didn’t have any money on him but he did have some at the Dursley’s hidden in his room. It took him a good ten minutes to catch an unoccupied cab. He told him where to go.

The driver stared at him. “Hey son you know that’s bout three hours away right? That would be quite costly.”

Hiding his shock at the distance he nodded. “I realize this but please understand my friends accidentally left me here thinking that I was already on a bus.” The driver bought his story. And then they were off.

The ride was silent besides the radio that the driver played after he made sure it was okay with him. Harry didn’t care. He was to lost in his own guilt and pain. Though he wasn’t bleeding as much as he should have been he was still extremely sore. He felt every bump in the road and it took all of his will not to show it physically. About three and a half hours later the ride was over.

Vernon was at work. That wasn’t any great feat. But Harry was shocked to see that his aunt had left the house to stand in the middle of the yard when the cab had shown up. Seeing that it was her nephew she walked forward. Going to the driver she asked how much was owed. Feeling sorry for the boy the driver cut the total in half. Petunia smiled at the driver and paid it without hesitation.

After getting paid the driver went back to his city to overcharge a few people to make up for the loss.

Petunia looked at her nephew then turned without saying a word to go back into the house. Harry followed her extremely confused by her actions and lack of verbal lashing. Being gone as long as he had been, had to have caused some disturbance. He had been gone a week. It had been a week of humiliating torture and pain.

Entering the house he saw his aunt waiting for him with a frown on her face. He was expecting a verbal lashing then a long list of chores that he had to make up for. What he wasn’t expecting was her voice to be quiet but firm. “Stay there and don’t move. I’ll be right back..”

He listened to her. He had never heard that voice from her before so he wasn’t sure what it meant. Maybe he was in deeper trouble than ever before. His mind whirled with the possibilities. What he didn’t expect was for her to come back with her arms holding what looked to be new clothing. “Follow me” was the only command given and he did. He didn’t know what was up with his aunt but he hurt to much to really want to risk this calm.

Petunia led him into the living room where she dropped the pile of clothing onto the sofa before going to the windows and shutting all the drapes. The interior light was already on so it didn’t make much of a difference. Returning back to the sofa she stood there for a moment before shocking him once again.

“Strip”

He had definitely not been expecting that and it showed on his face. “Wh....What?!?...Wh…Why?!?”

Sighing softly his aunt nodded and spoke in a very hushed voice, “You’ve been gone a week and when you come back you are in a taxi cab, from an area a long way away, and in the same clothes I last saw you in. Not to mention the fact that when you got out and started to walk you were limping in pain and not in the slight stiffness kind. You’re hurt and in really old and dirty clothes. So as I just said, strip.”

Harry just stared at her. She had never cared before so why was she acting like she did now? Taking a step back he looked at her warily.

And she had the nerve to sigh impatiently at him. That was it.

“You expect me to believe that after almost fifteen years of hating and ignoring me that you are actually concerned about where I have been and why I look like crap? Why the hell do you care?!?” His voice was raised and had a panicked edge to it.

She had not expected him to react like that and it showed. Her thoughts whirled in her head. ‘Does he not like me that much? I’m just trying help why doesn’t he trust me?’

Heaving a small sigh she looked at him sadly and nodded. She looked at the clothes on the sofa and then back to him. “These are some new clothes for you. I bought them in hopes of they being more comfortable for you. The way you were limping it was like your clothing was rubbing on open wounds. These clothes will feel better they’re really soft on the inside.” She left at that.

He was left alone in the living room with the new clothes laying there folded neatly on the sofa. Sighing he picked them up and went to the bathroom. He turned the shower on and waited for it to warm up. Waiting he took a better look at the clothing he was given.

They were pajamas. The bottoms were soft and loose. He laughed slightly though when he looked at the design on them. There was a lion looking proud and strong on the left hip area even as the pants were black. Looking at the shirt he saw a note laying on it delicately. Lifting the note up he saw his aunt’s handwriting. There was only one word ‘Sorry’. Setting it down he looked at the shirt. It was a little big for him but not the usual Dudley size too big. No this was the tried-to-guess-the-right-size too big thing. It was extremely soft, fleece or even like silk. It too was black but it was just a solid black that had no design on it. The two were obviously a set, a good one at that.

Steam started to fill the air quickly fogging up his glasses. He put down his new clothing and almost laughed there were socks and boxers as well. They were new as well and the boxers looked to be his size too. His mind then returned to his shower.

He stripped quickly even as he tried to avoid his wounds. But they were bleeding again so his clothing was covered lightly in blood. With out testing the steaming water he stepped straight in. His sore body complained but it didn’t matter he needed the heat t take away the feeling of those hands and voices. He needed this shower to rid him of the feeling of their merciless fucking and rape.

Then he was crying. He had not let himself cry during the whole ordeal or even after he escaped. But now he needed to. Sinking to the floor of the shower he covered his face and just cried. He didn’t hear the faint knock or even the door opening. But he felt the cool breeze. He looked up sharply to see his aunt taking his dirty clothing away Hopefully to burn it. If she heard his crying she didn’t say anything about nor did she say anything about his wounds if she saw those. She took the clothing while giving him his privacy as best as she could.

Her entrance didn’t even stop his tears and neither did her departure. After about thirty minutes of crying he stood up out of tears and began his frenzied washing. He washed everywhere until the skin that had no wounds on it was just as pink as those parts that did. He didn’t miss a single part even taking his time to clean his most abused area. His shower continued until all of the hot water was gone.

He didn’t care if he was yelled at later for doing it, he needed it. Stepping out he cursed slightly as he realized that he didn’t have one of his towels with him. But then he saw a towel sitting out. It was a good one too. Picking it up he read the note on it quickly ‘use this one’.

His aunt was actually letting him use one of her good towels. Maybe she was trying to actually be nice. Biting his lip gently he thought about her strange behavior as he dried off and got dressed in his new pajamas. They were really soft on his abused and hot skin. Bringing the slightly bloody towel with him he went to his room and directly to his trunk. Opening it he instantly found a healing cream he usually made before the end of school. He often got cuts and bruises from his chores and this stuff help immensely.

He took it out and locked his trunk back up tightly before heading down the steps. The fire place was lit and he could make out the remnants of his clothing. There was no sadness at losing that outfit.

His aunt was in the kitchen fixing up diner when he came in. She must have heard him because she looked up at him and looked him over slowly from head to toe. She noticed the towel and jar in his hands. Raising an eyebrow she questioned silently.

Biting his lip again he hesitated slightly before he went for it. “I need some help putting this stuff on my back.” He kept his head down waiting for the yells and sarcastic remarks that he was sure were going to come flying out at him.

What he didn’t expect was her voice, once again soft, to reply to him, “Of course. Let me finish this and put it in the oven it will only be a minute. Why don’t you wait at the table.”

Nodding Harry went and sat at the table silently watching his aunt finish up the prep work for dinner and stick it into the oven.

He was pulled from his memories when a shadow fell across his face as another person or two were getting into his carriage. He flicked his eyes open and bit back a groan of despair as he saw who it was. It was Draco Bloody Malfoy and his female companion. They sat on the seat opposite of him as he was sprawled out on his back keeping the other whole seat to himself.

To his surprise Malfoy just glanced over him and then leaned back and closed his eyes without a single word. His companion gave him a secret smile and then she too closed her eyes but her head was rested on Malfoy’s shoulder instead of the back of the seat. Staring for only a moment longer he returned to his memories happy to just ignore his carriage companions.

When she finished she quietly moved to a chair in front of him with an obvious question in her eyes. Harry had set his jar of medicine on the table along with the towel he had used not to long ago.

She spoke first. “What would you like me to do? And what am I going to be using?” Petunia saw her nephew try to find the right words to explain and answer these questions.

“It’s a healing cream used for cuts and bruising. I make it before the end of school to help with some of the cuts I get accidentally over the summers.” He hoped he had not just made her offer disappear with his admission that it was a magical cream. Looking up at her he saw shock on her face and then acceptance. She wasn’t afraid or revolted like he expected to find.

“Is that all this cream does, just heal the wound? It won’t take care of the pain or at the very least numb it?”

He most definitely had not been expecting that question from his aunt that HATED magic. And furthermore how did she know that there were creams that could do that? He just stared at her for a moment before nodding. “It eases the pain a little bit not quite numbing but close to it.”

She seemed to like this answer before she held out her hand for the jar. Harry put it into her palm and watched as she opened the lid to look and then surprisingly sniff at it. Shockingly her face lit up slightly at the smell that he had added to it.

After much research he had found that adding an essence for smell had no ill affect on it at all so he had searched and had found a smell that he liked a lot. It smelled like earth and caves. It was musky and yet subtle at the same time.

She motioned for him to turn around and remove his shirt. He did so. Slowly. When his shirt was fully off he heard her soft gasp at the deep lacerations on his back. He could tell that she wanted to question him as to what happened but after a strained moment she seemed to think better of it and just went to work, applying the cream gently all over his cuts and bruising.

She used the towel to wipe her hands free of the cream every now and then so that she kept the small amount of blood out of the remedy. “If I remember correctly this type of cream used t smell really bad, what did you do to it?” Her voice cut through the silence easily.

Harry tensed. He had not expected any comment like that from her and he didn’t know how to respond to it at all.

He was now in the Great Hall staring absently at a wall as he paid no attention what so ever to Dumbledore’s speech, the sorting, and even dinner itself he ignored. He was too caught up in recalling that day that he had really seen his aunt for the first time.

But he hadn’t needed to respond because she just as quietly continued. “Lily used to come home with this stuff all the time. When I had first seen it she told me cause it was for the cuts she got when she fell out of trees. And she was doing that often enough I never thought anything else about it. I helped her put it on a lot. She got cuts on her back sometimes from falling and she just didn’t want them getting infected. I know you probably won’t believe me but that was the for the most part a complete lie as to why she really had it.”

Petunia had to pause. She had always loved her sister. She taught her all the stuff she had learned at Hogwarts to her during the summer letting her read the books and everything. They even quizzed each other. To find out that her sister had lied to her had hurt like anything. But because she had loved he so much she tried to help her as much as she could.

“I caught her when she was about fourteen. I just came into her room to look for a book to read when I saw her doing it. She had a knife and she was cutting her own arms and watching the blood flow. It scared me but I couldn’t move. I refused to leave her like that. Without thinking I actually rushed to her and took the knife from her cutting my hand in the process. I shouted and screamed at her. To me this felt like a betrayal. I told her so. I didn’t know how to help her but I was determined to. She was too beautiful and such a good person to do something like that. So I forced her to talk to me. At first she didn’t want to but from then on I never let her out of my sight. And finally she did talk. She spilled everything.”

Harry was shocked. His mother had been a cutter? He wanted to believe that his aunt was lying but the way she was talking he knew that she wasn’t. He remained absolutely silent as she continued her story.

“I learned so much about her that I hadn’t known before. How insecure she was. How much she was scared to let our parents down and so on. She told me it had been an accident the first time she had just got her arm caught of a sharp piece of rock and it had cut her. It felt like a relief she said. Almost like a get away from the real world. So she tried it again when she was alone and feeling stressed. It worked again. So she continued.

“I was scared when I heard this. Any number of those times and I could have lost my sister. The only one I felt I could talk to. It hurt that she didn’t think about how I would feel if one day she couldn’t stop the bleeding.

“It terrified me. I made her swear to me that she would not do it again. That if she ever needed me that she would fire call me no matter the time of day. Our fire place was hooked up to the floo network then. After she promised me that we talked a lot. Even when she was at school we talked just about every night. She never brought home another jar of this stuff ever again. After you were born she called me.

“The first thing she said was ‘Thank you for saving me when no one else could see I needed it. Thank you for stopping what would have changed everything for the worse. Thank you for being my sister’. I actually cried. I saved her. Me the one that had no magic saved a very smart and powerful witch. I realized then that no matter whether a person had magic or not they were a human being and they had feelings that needed to be understood too.

“It didn’t matter that I had no magic I had saved her by making her talk to me. I had helped her by being her sister.”

Harry turned towards his aunt now and saw that tears were running down her face.

“But I failed her right after she told me that I saved her. I failed her by not being a true sister and defending her to Vernon. I allowed myself to start mimicking his views. And then that day that you came I started to believe them. That world had taken my sister from me. I couldn’t stand it. It made me so angry. Why her? Why? So I let Vernon act the way he believed would stomp any magic out. I was still numb from Lily’s death so I barely noticed anything even though I should have. It took me years to get over her death and then I looked at you for the first time without Lily on my mind. You were probably about six. I almost screamed. I had let Vernon go to long. But I knew no other way of acting by then so I continued.

“When you got your letter I was frightened. What if you were taken away as well. I didn’t want you to go because what if I never saw you again. You were my only link to Lily one I promised myself that I wouldn’t let go of. But you left anyway and throughout the entire year I was worried bout you. I prayed every night that you would stay safe. I did. Then when I saw you again I saw how upset you were to be back. I tried changing I did but it took so long that you were gone again and again and again. Each year you come back not wanting to be here and each time you leave I want to grab you and make you stay. It took me until you went missing to finally break through everything that I blocked out after my sister’s death.

“I really thought that I would not see you again. And I swore that if and when you did come back that I was going to try and make it up to you. All those years that I didn’t protect you from Vernon. All those years that I never explained to you why things happened or even what had truly happened to your parents. The first thing I did was go out to a clothing store and start looking for some decent clothing. I was in the middle of grabbing at a nice shirt when I realized that I didn’t know what size you were or what your tastes were or anything. I know next to nothing about you. I almost cried in the store then.

“Finally I decided that I was going to get you a good pair or pajamas that you could take to school and be warm in. Lily told me it could get a little chilly wandering around at night. I assume that you’re like her in that aspect. And one can’t go wrong with pajamas really. I tried to remember if I knew what house you were in. I figured it was probably the same house as you’re father. So I tried to get something that might go with that theme and I found those. I hope they fit alright. I hope you like them.”

Petunia went silent as she let her nephew digest all this new information. They just stared at each other for what seemed like hours. Slowly Harry stood up and put his new shirt back on. He then picked up his jar and closed the lid. He was about to pick up the towel but his aunt shook her head slightly so he left it.

Finally opening his mouth he found that his answer wasn’t as hard to say as he though it would be, “You’re right I am in Gryffindor, but the sorting hat also wanted me to be put in Slytherin. So good guess. And yes they’re wonderful a bit big but wonderful.” He had a small smile across his lips as he once again met his aunt’s eyes.

“Oh and if you don’t mind I’m going to need some help with this for a few days until they fully heal.” A large smile lit up his aunt’s face at his offer and she nodded as two tears made it down her finally happy face.

Harry looked down at his hand that held the note that had directions and the password to his new room. He smiled as he saw it was still near the Gryffindors. Going to the portrait he spoke the password making a mental note to change it in the morning and stepped into his room.

‘First things first.’ He thought as he set about getting rid of all the unnecessary listening, watching and other stalkerish ward that had been put up only to replace them with his own more powerful ones. Ones that needed to be cast in parseltongue and that needed that language in order to take them down as well.

Satisfied he decided to not wait till morning to change his password. Stepping out into the hall he looked at the portrait and asked to change his password. Once that was done and he was guaranteed that no one not even the headmaster would be able to get in without his express permission even with the password, which was also in parseltongue, he went back in and got ready for bed. Climbing into his soft bed he sent up his now usual silent thanks and goodnight to his aunt and then he fell asleep to dreams of absolutely nothing.









A/N: hey thanks for reading so far. I hope everyone is enjoying it. Yea I’m making Petunia a nice person in this story. And for any of you that didn’t pick it up this is set in 6th year. This kinda warps everything though so I’m not sure how much this falls back to the actual series. If anything it follows years 1-4 and nothing else really. Mostly cause I refuse to read those and have my pretty world disappear on me. Please review. And I hope to get chapter four out soon. Ja ne.