New Beginings

Chapter 3
" I think they're trying to kill us." Draco groaned as he lowered himself gingerly into the water. " Stupid lake water. I'm cold now." Hermione rolled her eyes and cast a quick spell that turned the lake into a hot spring." Oh 'Mione I love you." Draco breathed earning glares from Harry and Blaise. " Not that way you idiots!" Hermione laughed and swam over to them knowing that they couldn't see anything except steam.

" You know guys I have to say this but we are seriously out of shape." Blaise commented.

" Speak for yourself Zanbini. Harry and I are in great shape thanks to Quidditch. The only problem we have is those damn clothes." Draco growled.

" But he's right Draco. Compared to our new professors we're nothing. I don't know about you but I'm gonna do my damnedest to be able to run a thousand miles in those things. Well ok not a thousand but you get the picture." Harry said sinking lower into the warm water. Draco mumbled something about Gryffindors and there damn determination.

" Speaking of Gryffindors, that was a very Gryffindorish thing you did Malfoy. Protecting me and Blaise." Hermione teased.

" Like I'd let some tiger eat my friends." Draco sniffed. The others chuckled. " What?!"

" Nothing Drake." Blaise said still laughing.

" Hey you four! This isn't leisure hour! You've still got a long way to go today." Artimas called. They all groaned in pain but got out and after a few drying spells got dressed and limped over to the cushions on the ground that Artimas had set up. " Ok. I'll be teaching you how to control your new powers so what I want all of you to do is close your eyes and concentrate on your magic. I want to VERY carefully go into your magical core and start to bring in your magic so that it is contained into one single sphere inside of you."

Harry closed his eyes and imagined his magical core. He'd seen it once before when he was trying to meditate to clear his mind after Sirius' death. He was greatly surprised to find that the color of his magic had changed from red to a shimmering white that was almost silver. Shrugging it off he finished pulling all his magic back into it and then opened his eyes.

" Er.. Professor?" he started.

" Please Harry, it's Artimas."

" Right. Um.. well I think I have a problem with my magic. You see last year I accidentally found my magical core while meditating and my magic was red but now its white. Almost silver."

" Harry did you say white?!" Hermione demanded opening her eyes and staring at him.

" Er..yeah. Almost silver. Why?"

" Harry only really powerful mages have a whitish silver magic. It's not very common. Even Dumbledore's magic is only red. The next highest level." Hermione explained. " There hasn't been a mage that powerful since Godric Gryffindor himself. In fact it's said that only his heir would be as strong as he once was." Harry was speechless.

" So are you saying-"

" That you are the great-great-great-grandson of Godric Gryffindor!" Hermione exclaimed. " And you're a prince!"

" WHAT?!" Everyone else yelled. " A prince?! How is that even possible?! You told me last year that there was no such thing a wizard prince."

" Er.. well yes I did say that but it wasn't true. I only said it because I knew that the Half-blood Prince wasn't related to Godric."

" And how do you know that Snape isn't related to him?"

" Snape? What does he have to do with this?" Draco asked.

" I'll tell you later. Well Hermione?"

" Because I know for a fact that the Potter's are the decedents of Gryffindor." Harry stared at her dumbfounded.

" How do you know that?" he whispered

" Harry, I'm sorry but I heard it from Sirius. He was talking to Remus about it Christmas before last.They were saying how your dad had mentioned it once and were wondering if you would be the one to inherit Godric's powers. And it looks like you did."

" Wow." Blaise said and the other's nodded.

" Er.. right well I think that since all of you have managed to control your magic we can start having you try to use it." Artimas said and Harry smiled gratefully at her for the distraction. " Harry, since you have already used your elemental powers why not try and become and animal?" Harry closed his eyes and within seconds he became a very large black dragon with green eyes. The dragon looked at himself and beard his teeth in what could only be assumed as a smile. Harry closed his eyes again and returned to his original self. " Excellent Harry! Mr. Malfoy you're up next. I want you to create a cyclone in the lake if you please." Draco nodded and stretched a hand out towards the lake. First it was only a gentle breeze but soon there was a full watery tornado making its way around the lake. After a few minutes Draco called the wind back to his hand and everything was still again. " Very nice. Now your animal." Draco closed his eyes and transformed into a beautiful owl that looked remarkably like Hedwig. Artimas nodded her approval and then without warning drew a knife and sliced the palm of her hand very deeply. " Mr. Malfoy your healing powers." Draco the owl turned back into Draco the person and with just a slight touch healed Artimas' hand.

" Ms. Granger if you would please transform for us." Hermione nodded and with a swirl of her cloak turned into a slightly larger than normal bat. After she turned back Artimas once again drew the knife and this time made a large gash in her left thigh. Hermione waved her hand over the wound and it healed instantly. " Mr. Zanbini, a mountain please." Blaise nodded and held out his hand and slowly brought it higher until a large mountain had formed. Artimas nodded her approval and Blaise raised his hand high then lowered it and the ground once again returned to normal. Finally he too transformed into a bat and Artimas smiled widely at her students. " Excellent! Now for today we are finished. Tomorrow Athena will begin teaching you battle tactics and since all of you have wonderful control of your powers I will teach you how to use a bow and arrows. Be back here tomorrow at seven am sharp. Dismissed." Harry and the others gathered their things and went to their classes. Soon lunch rolled around and all four greedily gobbled their food at the Gryffindor table.

" Mr. Potter, may I see you in my office?" Dumbledore's voice suddenly spoke from behind Harry.

" Er.. sure Professor." Harry got up and shrugged at his friends questioning gazes before following the Headmaster to his office. Dumbledore stopped outside the door and turned to Harry.

" Harry before we go in I want you to promise that whatever you you see and hear behind this door you will keep and open mind and listen to what I have to say." Harry nodded nervously.

" I promise Sir." Dumbledore smiled and then opened the door. Harry followed cautiously on hand clutching his wand tightly in his pocket. He stopped dead however when he saw his Aunt Petunia siting in front of Dumbledore's desk.

" Hello Harry." She said smiling warmly. Harry managed to squeak out a hello before he sank into the chair opposite his aunt.

" Harry I know that this is a bit of a surprise for you but your aunt will be now teaching here at Hogwarts. She has ever so kindly agreed to take over O.W.L and N.EW.T. level Muggle Studies." Harry gaped at Dumbledore open mouthed and then turned to his aunt. She was smiling at him in a nice way but he could tell that she was nervous.

" Perhaps I should explain this to him Albus." Petunia said quietly.

" I agree. Harry you are excused from the rest of today's lessons. I'm sure that Ms. Granger would be happy to take notes for you. I suggest you hurry down to the Great Hall and inform your friends that you will be unable to attend class and then I suggest a nice stroll around the lake with your aunt." Harry nodded silently before leaving. Once down the stairs Harry broke into a dead run.

" Merlin Harry you look like you've just seen a ghost!" draco exclaimed when Harry found his friends.

" Harry, is everything all right?" Hermione asked worried.

" My Aunt Petunia has come to teach here."

" What?!" Hermione asked sharply. " Harry for a second there I thought you said-"

" I did 'Mione. She's going to teach O.W.L and N.E.W.T level Muggle Studies. Listen I don't have much time. Dumbledore said I don't have to go to the rest of my classes today and he wants you guys to take notes for me."

" Harry, what are you going to do?" Blaise asked.

" Dumbledore wants me and my aunt to spend time together this afternoon. She said that she would explain everything." Just then Harry's aunt came down the stairs to the Great Hall.

" Harry?" she called softly. Hermione, Draco, and Blaise all stiffened and Hermione stepped in front of Harry slightly.

" Professor Dursley." she said cooly.

" Evens. My last name is Evens not Dursley." Petunia responded. " Harry? Are you going to introduce me to your very protective friends?" she asked with a smile in her voice.

" Er.. sure. Aunt Petunia this is Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zanbini. Guys this is my Aunt Petunia."

" It's a pleasure to meet all of you." Hermione nodded her head slightly and the boys said "Likewise."

" And we're Fred and George Weasley." Fred said a little coldly.

" We've met before." George said. Petunia looked confused for a moment then smiled.

" Yes, before Harry's fourth year. That was an interesting trick you played on Vernon's son."

" But Dudley is your son too." Harry said surprised. Petunia's eyes narrowed.

" That boy is no son of mine. He's Vernon's child from another marriage." Harry stared at his aunt in shock until the bell rang for next class. Hermione jumped and turned to Harry.

" Go. I'll be fine." Hermione looked reluctant and Draco arched a brow. " I mean it." he smiled at his friends. The Twins and the others looked reluctant. " Hey,it's me. If I can handle Voldemort, I can handle my aunt." he whispered. Reluctantly his friends turned and left to classes. Hermione turned around once.

" If you hurt Harry again then I swear that I will curse you into a million pieces." she said cooly then ran to catch the others. Harry smiled.

" Did she mean it?"

" Of course she meant it. And she could do it too. Hermione is the brightest witch of her age. She is a walking textbook." Harry said turning to his aunt. She smiled sadly.

" I remember when they called your mother that. Come Harry, there is so much that I need to explain to you." Harry followed his mother's sister outside. When they reached the lake Petunia sat down and Harry remained standing. " You can sit down Harry. I don't bite." she chuckled. Harry sat and stared at the lake. His aunt sighed deeply. " Well I suppose I should get started. First off I want to tell you that I have divorced Vernon Dursley and have taken back my maiden name of Evens. I never wanted to marry the man really but he was nice in the beginning and he was "normal". You see Harry even though my parents were very proud to have a witch in the family they were affriad that both their daughter's would be considered "abnormal" if I did not marry someone who came from a nice respectable non-magical family. So I married Vernon. Not long before you came to us Harry, Vernon's first wife, who his parents had forced him to leave, died in a car crash. They think that she committed suicide not long after she gave birth to Dudley, their son. So when Vernon found out he took the boy. We moved to Privet Drive where no one knew us and the boy was passed off as my own. I was more than happy to raise him as my own but then Vernon and I started having problems. He never wanted Lily and James and you to visit us. He knew what they were. But I loved my sister and wanted to see her. So many times I would go to their house to visit instead. Vernon seemed to accept this until the night you came to us. After I read the letter from Albus saying that my sister was de-dead," she paused and sniffed rather loudly and Harry realized that she was crying. She sniffed again.

" After I read the letter I knew that there was no way that I would turn you away. Of course Vernon was furious. He wanted nothing to do with a " freak child" he said. We fought and in the end I told him that if he would let you stay then I would continue to be mother to Dudley. He agree reluctantly and we began to take care of you. It was around the time that you were three that you showed signs of magic. I was very proud of you but Vernon was furious. He threatened to toss you out and I told him that I would leave him if he tried. He was very angry that I would defy him so he began to hit me. I think he just might have killed me if you hadn't crawled into the room. Seeing me in danger your magic reacted and put a barrier between me and him. This made him more mad but sensing that you were next I agreed to stay with him and try to drive the magic out of you. I was no fool. I knew that no such thing could be done but it was the only thing that I could think of to save you. Over the years I stood by and watched as you were tormented and I unfortunately took part in that. I had no choice but little by little I took money from Vernon and put it into an account in Switzerland. I planed on taking you away when I had saved enough money. But before I could you turned eleven and came here. I thought that maybe now you would get a chance at a decent life. So I stopped taking money and stayed where I was. I was happy that you found Sirius and that you knew who he was. Until the end of your fourth year. When you came home I knew something was wrong. So I watched the news and soon figured out that Voldemort had returned. When I found the note saying that you had gone to Sirius' house for the remainder of the summer I was happy for you. Finally you would be able to be with your Godfather, who loved you as his own." She paused again and took a deep breath.

" But when you came back the next summer I was horrified to find out that he had been killed. I wanted desperately to comfort you. But I couldn't. When Dumbledore came for you after only a few weeks I knew that you would be going to people who loved you. And then you came back after almost losing not only one of your friends but also Dumbledore I was so proud of you for being so strong. I knew that you would get your inheritance this summer and I wanted to be there for you when it happened because I knew that it would be difficult but you left before it happened. Not long after you left I also decided to leave. I divorced Vernon Dursley and got a place of my own. Then Albus came to me with an offer to teach here and become closer to you and I snapped it up in an instant."

Harry stared at his aunt who was now openly crying and after a few moments hugged her. Petunia jumped when Harry did this but then hugged him back.

" I understand Aunt Petunia and I forgive you. I'm not mad. All I ever wanted was a family to love me."

" Oh Harry! I do love you! I love you like my own son. There were so many times I wanted to say that to you but couldn't." Harry hugged his aunt tighter. " Harry? Will you tell me about your adventures here? Dumbledore has told me that you were quite the trouble maker." Harry laughed.

" Sure Aunt Petunia." she winced.

" Harry could you please not call me Petunia? It's not my real name. My real name is Angela. Vernon," she stuck out her tongue, " made me change it because his favorite grandmother was named Petunia. I changed it back when I took back my maiden name."

" Aunt Angela it is then." Harry said smiling. Harry then proceeded to tell his aunt about the last six years at Hogwarts. " And so that's my life in a nutshell." he said when he finished.

" Harry, I'm terribly sorry that you lost Sirius and that you have to kill someone but I promise you this I will be here for you for the rest of your life."

" Thank you Aunt Angela."

" You don't have to call me aunt all the time Harry." She giggled." I'd much prefer you call me Angie. Your mother called me that." Harry nodded and dried the tears from his eyes. " Well should we go in? I think dinner is starting." Harry stood and helped his aunt." I hope they have lots of food. I'm starving!" Harry's laughter could be heard all over the school.

A/N: Ok so I couldn't accept that fact that Harry's aunt didn't love him. Oh and I changed her name to Angela because I didn't like Petunia and this is my version of the story. No offense J.K.