The Potter Manor Chronicles

Chapter Six

Secrets

"Remus Lupin, you're insane!" said Annie as she leaned against the wall near the door of Remus' bedroom with her arms folded across her chest huffily.

"You're one to talk," Remus replied dryly with a lop-sided grin. "Besides, laying around in a bed all day gets rather insipid after awhile. I promised Mum I wouldn't leave this bed unless it's to use the bathroom, so I can't exactly go looking for entertainment. Who am I to deny it when it walks right up to me?"

Annie threw her arms up in exasperation. "Very well," she said. "Remember, this is Fred and George Weasley we're talking about. Just don't over-exert yourself."

"I use to have to deal with Sirius and James trying to cheer me up after full moons. I think I can deal with Fred and George."

Annie rolled her eyes and left the room. Remus slipped on a jumper just before his visitors entered the room. Fred and George wore identical mischievous grins. Angelina and Alicia looked as though they were trying very hard not to show their amusement at the antics of their boyfriends; Harry, Ron, and Neville looked quite eager to see whatever Fred and George had up their sleeves; and Hermione and Ginny looked slightly anxious. Sirius winked at Remus who grinned back.

"Mr. Moony," said Fred shaking Remus' hand carefully yet heartily. "We are both honoured and humbled to be in your presence!"

"As you, Mr. Padfoot here, and Mr. Prongs have given us so much through your efforts we feel it is out duty to pay you back for your toils!" said George. The room erupted with laughter as Dudley peeked in, gave a frightened squeal, and started down the hall.

"Hey, Duddykins, wait! We've got a very special surprise for you!" Fred called. Harry and Ron grinned at each other, both remembering the ton-tongue toffee incident. Fred returned a moment later with his wand pointed at a whimpering, bottom-clutching Dudley.

"Relax, Duddy," said George. "We just know that you're on a strict diet and thought you might like some chocolate." George pulled a large bar of Honeydukes best out of his bag and held it out for Dudley, who looked at him suspiciously.

"We haven't poisoned it," said Fred. Dudley still didn't move.

"Here, Harry," said George breaking off a piece. "Show your cousin that there's nothing wrong with this." Harry hesitated for a moment, but took the chocolate and ate it as George winked at him. Harry was quite certain that Fred and George wouldn't try any jokes on him with Ginny in the room. As he watched Harry swallow the chocolate, Dudley snatched the rest of the bar out of George's hand. It disappeared in about two seconds and gave Harry the familiar smug look that said: Ha, I got more than you! Harry rolled his eyes.

"I'm afraid you'll have to do some extra sit-ups tomorrow to work that off," said Sirius wiping the smug look from Dudley's face.

"Oh dear, we've disrupted your work-out program," said Fred.

"Can't imagine your parents will be too happy to hear about that," said George. Dudley's eyes widened in horror.

"Of course we could be persuaded to keep quiet," said Fred.

"If you would be so kind as to help us with a little demonstration," said George.

"W-what sort of demonstration?" asked Dudley.

"Because you're such a great bullying git, you are the perfect-er-man to help us out here. Eat this," said George holding up a violet tart. Dudley looked imploringly at Harry.

"Harry, please!" he begged. Harry looked at his cousin thoughtfully. The frightened expression on his face almost made him pity Dudley...almost. Memories from a time before Harry knew he was a wizard flooded his mind, when Dudley would use Harry as a punching bag. Now Dudley was in Harry's home surrounded by Harry's friends.

"Eat the tart, Dudley," he said flatly.

"But Harry..."

"Whatever you're going to say, you should have thought about it when you were punching me in the stomach while Piers Polkiss held my arms behind my back. It's payback time, Duds!"

"He did that?" asked Ginny. Harry nodded. Ginny put her hands on her hips and swelled up like an angry bullfrog in a manner that strongly reminded Harry of Mrs. Weasley. "Eat the tart, Dudley!"

"Yes, eat the tart," said Hermione. "It's time you saw what it feels like to be on the other end of the bullying." Ron and Harry exchanged shocked looks mixed with grins. That was the second time in one day that Hermione had approved of something that Fred and George were doing.

Dudley finally took the tart and ate it. He immediately swelled up like a balloon and his skin erupted into purple spots as he floated to the ceiling. The room burst into applause as Fred and George bowed to everyone.

"Quite impressive, don't you think, Padfoot?" asked Remus.

"Quite!" said Sirius.

"Um, are you guys going to get him down?" asked Angelina pointing up at Dudley.

"Do not fear, my love," said Fred. "We'll get him down when we're ready."

"How did the two of you come up with that one?" asked Sirius as he watched Dudley float on the ceiling with a boyish amazement on his face.

"That's nothing," said George. "What I want to know is how Moony, Padfoot, and Prongs came up with the Marauder's map." Harry noticed that George left out Wormtail's name.

Sirius and Remus exchanged impish grins.

"Pity it was destroyed," said Fred.

"Dumbledore couldn't risk it falling into the wrong hands," said Remus. Harry felt a twinge of guilt. Ginny seemed to notice something on his face.

"What is it?" she whispered.
"Nothing," Harry lied.

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That night, Harry was lying in bed staring at the ceiling. Ron and Neville were fast asleep in the neighbouring beds. Everyone except for him thought that the Marauder's map had been destroyed. It pained Harry to have a secret he couldn't tell Ron, Hermione, or Ginny. Perhaps he should have just destroyed the map. What if it did fall into the wrong hands? But it was a connection to his father. Harry couldn't destroy that.

Harry thought that it was ironic that James Potter and his friends had used the exact same charm to preserve their sixteen-year-old selves in the Marauders Map as Tom Riddle had used to preserve his sixteen-year-old self in the diary. The charm itself wasn't Dark Magic, but Riddle had modified it a bit in order to take possession of Ginny. James, Sirius, and Remus had merely wanted to insult people like Snape.

Harry got up out of bed and tip toed over to his trunk. He opened it slowly so not to wake Ron and Neville. He rummaged through his things, found his wand and the map, and crept into the bathroom.

"It's me, Dad," Harry whispered tapping his wand against the map. It was as though the invisible sixteen-year-old hand of James Potter was writing on the map.

Hello again, Harry. How has your head been feeling today?

Harry pulled out a quill to reply. It hurt earlier today. I had a Vision of Voldemort torturing Lucius Malfoy for failing to get any information out of Remus. He escaped this morning. Harry had decided not to mention Wormtail's involvement with Voldemort to the echo of his father.

Speaking of Remus, 'James' wrote. Is he any better? Those burns sounded serious.

He does seem to feel better. Fred and George Weasley visited today. Their joke shop had a really good opening and they wanted to show Remus and Sirius some of their products. They demonstrated on Dudley.

That must have cheered both Remus and Sirius up.

It did. I really think Sirius needed some cheering up. He won't admit it, but he really blames himself for me getting attacked a few weeks ago and for Remus getting attacked yesterday.

Sirius has always been very protective of the people he cares about. He somehow thinks he has the power to prevent terrible things happening to them.

Tell me about it. He lived off rats for a year because he had suspicions about Death Eater activities.

You still haven't told me why Sirius was on the run.

I have to go, Dad. I'll talk to you later.

"Mischief managed," Harry muttered and the writing on the map disappeared. He wiped some tears from his eyes with the back of his hand.

Harry was wide-awake. He didn't want to wake either Ron or Neville when they seemed to be sleeping so peacefully, so he decided to roam the house a bit. It was a liberating feeling to be able to roam about at night when he didn't have to worry about getting into a spot with Filch or Uncle Vernon.

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Ginny tossed and turned in her bed. Part of her was worried about Harry, his recent nightmares and his odd behavior at the mention of the Marauder's Map; but the other part of her was eager to read Lucy's article. It was about time for Fudge to take an active role in the fight against Voldemort. Ginny was tired of her father being one of the few people in the Ministry putting his life on the line.

It would certainly be nice to sneak into Harry's room to see him, Ginny thought as a smirk spread across her face. I just wish Ron and Neville weren't in their as well.

Ginny never seemed to get as much time alone with Harry as she would have liked, but given the situation with Voldemort, she really couldn't complain. At school, Ron and Hermione always insisted on escorting Harry everywhere when he left the Gryffindor common room.

Ginny lifted the sleeve of her nightgown to look at her own lightening bolt scar that matched Harry's in every way. It was a souvenir of the time Tom Riddle's echo had tried to kill her in order to leave the pages of his diary. Harry had saved her by nearly getting himself killed. Ginny felt very fortunate that Riddle had been unable to perform the Avada Kedavra curse.

Ginny, sat up, slid her feet into her slippers, threw on her bathrobe, and tiptoed to the door taking care not to wake Hermione. What she intended to do once she left the room, she had no idea. All Ginny knew was that she couldn't sleep.

"Harry?" Ginny hissed as she saw him passing.

"Ginny? You couldn't sleep, could you?" asked Harry with a slight grin.

"I have a lot on my mind."

"Me too."

"I don't know about you, but I can't wait to see Lucy's article in the morning," said Ginny as she stepped out into the hall and closed the door behind her.

"I can't wait either. It'll finally feel like I've done something other than sitting around like a good boy and letting other people protect me."

"How can you think you haven't done anything?" asked Ginny with her arms folded across her chest. "You've done a hell of a lot more than most of the stupid gits Dad works with. And don't give me that same old line about how if it weren't for you, Voldemort would never have returned, Harry Potter! Voldemort would have found a way. If it weren't for you, he might have gotten the Philosopher's Stone and would be immortal. At least now, he's mortal."

"Alright, I won't complain anymore," said Harry holding up his hands in submission as Ginny stopped to catch her breath.

"Good. That's all I wanted to hear," said Ginny as she reached over to straighten the collar of Harry's night shirt.

"I could use a nice, long stroll. How 'bout you?" Harry asked as he slid his arm around Ginny's neck.

"Definitely!" Ginny put her head on Harry's shoulder and they proceeded down the corridor.

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Annie sat in the study going over the latest letter from Arabella. There hadn't been any Death Eater activity since Lucius and Peter had escaped from the Ministry. This was making the Order of the Phoenix extremely nervous. What was Voldemort planning?

Annie felt anxious for her friends on the outside. The new protective wards people were using seemed to be working, but Annie and the others had to wonder if the Death Eaters were working on a way to get around the wards and to hoodwink foe glasses and Sneakoscopes.

Annie yawned and rubbed her eyes. She looked up to see that the box that Rose Evans had given her to keep for Harry had been moved. Annie stood up, walked over to the box, and picked it up to examine it. The box had not been magically opened. It looked as though someone had attempted to unlock it the Muggle way.

"What is in my mother's box?" asked someone from behind Annie causing her to jump.

"Petunia," said Annie as she clutched the stitch of her bathrobe. "You gave me a fright."

"What is in my mother's box?" Petunia repeated in a more demanding tone.

Annie turned the box around and pointed to the piece of paper with Harry's name on it. "I don't believe that's any of your damn business!"

"She was my mother," spat Petunia. "Anything that concerned her is very much my business! So why did she leave a box for Harry and not Dudley?"

"This has to do with magic," said Annie holding up the box. "I don't think you want to know what this is all about."

"My mother never had anything to do with that rubbish!"

"It isn't rubbish, and she had a lot more to do with it than you think."

"What are you talking about?"

Shit! Annie thought. "Nothing."

"Nothing, my foot!" Petunia shrieked.

"Bloody hell, Petunia! Keep it down. People are trying to sleep in this place."

"Don't try to change the subject. You know something, now tell me what it is."

"Alright, you win. I do know something, but I'm quite certain you won't want to hear it."

"I don't care what you're quite certain about. I want to know why my mother favoured Lily over me and the freak over my Duddy so much."

"Because the way you treated Lily and other reminded her of the way she was treated as a child. And stop calling Harry a freak." said Annie vehemently.

"What are you talking about? My mother's adoptive parents treated her quite well."

"So you admit that you treated Lily and Harry poorly?"

"I never said that. They got what they deserved for trying to ruin my life."

"Excuse me," said Annie no longer about to keep her voice down. "Lily and Harry ruin your life? What did they ever do to you?"

"Lily was a constant embarrassment when we were children. Then she gets herself blown up and I get landed with her abnormal son. Vernon and I have our own child to raise without Harry being a burden to us!" Petunia shrieked.

"Harry didn't ask Voldemort to kill his parents. And I believe he wants more out of life than to be a burden on you and your hard working family."

Petunia's mouth opened and closed several times. She was uncertain of how she should respond to the angry expression on Annie's face.

"You still haven't answered my question," she said. "What's in the box?"

"I told you, you don't want to know."

"Yes I do. And what were you talking about when you said that the way I treated Lily reminded my mother of the way she was treated as a child?"

Annie sighed and slumped into a large armchair. She looked thoughtfully from the box to Petunia remembering her promise to Rose. Use your own judgement, Rose had told her. I'm not sure Petunia can handle the truth about my family the way she feels about magic. Harry will have to be told some day of course. But if you feel it's necessary, tell Petunia as well.

"You may want to sit down," said Annie. Petunia seemed taken aback at Annie's sudden change in attitude, but sat down after staring at her drop-jawed for a few moments.

"Your mother's birth family was called Flannery," Annie began.

"She told me she didn't know who her birth family was," Petunia interrupted.

"She didn't think you could handle the truth. They were a wizard family." Annie waited for the explosion from Petunia.

"WHAT!?" Petunia shrieked. "THAT'S A LIE! LILY WAS THE ONLY FREAK IN MY FAMILY!"

Annie's knuckles turned white as she clutched the arms on the chair. "Lily wasn't a freak," she said though gritted teeth. "Don't you see? Your mother was given up for adoption because her father saw her as a disgrace. He didn't want a squib in the family."

"What the hell's a squib?"

"A person that is born into a wizard family with no magic power of her own. That was your mother. There was nothing wrong with her, but her own father treated her as though there was. Her mother never wanted to give her up so she started to visit Rose when she was ten and explained everything to her."

"It can't be, it just can't be," said Petunia shaking her head in disbelief as her eyes filled with tears. "I can't have that freak blood running through my veins, though Dudley's."

"You do," said Annie coolly. "It's who your mother was. She knew how much you despised magic. That's why she never told you. I'm quite certain she would have been disgusted with the way you treated Harry after she died."

"It's all rubbish," said Petunia. "It never did any of us any good. Mother was better off because she had nothing to do with it. Look at what happened to Lily and that husband of hers. Look at what happened to your friend. We were trying to do Harry a favour."

"A favour? It's cruel to lock a three year old child in a cupboard. You're lucky I didn't call the police on you for that one. If it weren't for the blood protection magic, I wouldn't have hesitated. What do you think your neighbours would have said about you then? Quite a few of them were already gossiping about the way you treated Harry."

Petunia froze.

"You look so shocked. You didn't really think your behaviour would go unnoticed, did you?"

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Harry slumped against the wall. Ginny grabbed his arm to support him.

"Are you alright, Harry?" she asked as Annie and Petunia's voices continued to drift into the corridor. Harry slumped all the way to the floor and buried his face in his hands for a few moments. Ginny sat down next to him and began stroking his untidy hair. He finally looked up.

"Sure, I'm fine," he said. "It's just one more secret I'm learning about my past. It's actually becoming quite routine now."

"Are you angry with Annie?"

Harry shook his head. "No, she was in a really difficult position. I guess I'll just never get used to Aunt Petunia speaking ill of my Mum and Dad. I know it's silly, but I just can't help it."

"It's not silly at all," Ginny whispered as she wrapped her arms around Harry's neck, pulled him close and began caressing his hair again. Ginny always enjoyed these moments with Harry. In retrospect, it was Harry's vulnerability that had initially attracted her to him. Ginny had grown up hearing the stories about the Boy Who Lived. She had expected someone who radiated with confidence, but was pleasantly surprised to find that he was somewhat shy and awkward. He was mistreated his entire life by the Muggles who raised him, yet he didn't hate all Muggles or set out to murder them in masses as Voldemort had done. She was also quite fond of Harry's determination. That determination had saved her life when Tom Riddle held her prisoner in the Chamber of Secrets.

The Chamber of Secrets. Harry was able to get in there, Ginny thought. I thought that only Slytherin's heir could do that. Sure, he can speak Parseltongue, but I always thought it took more than that. Maybe Riddle set it up so he could get in. Harry was his target after all.

"My behaviour?" Petunia's voice sounded through the corridor. " What about your behaviour. You and all your friends. Always bringing home your little joke products. Lily doing her homework where people could see her. Always wearing those same freak robes your lot wears. And then there was James Potter's parents always showing up in our neighbourhood in those very same robes. They never had the decency to try to behave like normal people. Nobody forced Lily to get involved in all of that. You always talk about her like she was a hero. Well she and that husband of hers got themselves killed and now my family has been dragged into all of this rubbish."

Harry tensed up in Ginny's arms. She kissed the back of his neck and tried to rock him, but it was no use. He shot up and ran into the study. Ginny sat there for a minute then followed. She found him staring his aunt in the face.

"SHUT UP, AUNT PETUNIA. JUST SHUT UP!" Harry shouted. Petunia, Annie, and Ginny stood there in shock. "If you say one more bad thing about my parents..." Harry trailed off too angry to finish his sentence. His fists were clenched at his sides. He took a few deep breaths. Tears began streaming down his cheeks. "My mum died for me, Aunt Petunia, she died for me."

Ginny walked up to Harry and took his arm. "C'mon, Harry, sit down." She led him to one of the armchairs and sat him down, once again cradling his head.

"I'm sorry, Harry," said Annie. "This isn't the way your grandmother wanted you to find out. I should have told you sooner."

"What's in the box?" asked Harry.

"I don't know. Rose left a letter for you that explained everything." Annie picked up the box and handed it to Harry. "There's a locking charm on it right now. I can lift it for you."

Harry looked thoughtfully from the box to Annie.

"Well?" said Petunia impatiently.

"Not yet," said Harry. "I'm tired now and I want to get some sleep."

"What?!" Petunia shrieked.

"If I'm not awake when Lucy's article gets here, can you wake me?" Harry asked Annie completely ignoring his aunt.

"Certainly," said Annie with a smile. Harry stood up, took the box in one arm, put his other arm around Ginny, and left the study. "Goodnight, Petunia," said Annie with a false pleasantness before she left the study.

I have wizard blood in my veins! Petunia thought and fainted.