Harry Potter and the Horcrux Quest

Chapter 6: Goodbye to the Dursleys

The next week and a half passed mostly without incident. The day after the Minister visited Hedwig returned with a message from Hermione. She apologized for not being with them at the Dursleys, but explained the agreement she had reached with her parents for the summer. The first two weeks would be spent with her parents while working on a secret project. Friday before the wedding she would take them back to her parent's house to spend the night. The following morning all three Grangers, with Ron and Harry, would travel to the Burrow. After the wedding her parents would be leaving for a month's vacation. Hermione would contact them before the vacation was out, and update them on the state of the war.

She had one more thing to tell them that she felt was quite unusual. Luna had owled her, asking to meet. Hermione had agreed, but she wasn't sure what it meant.

Ron and Harry kept Hedwig very busy the rest of the week, carrying notes between the sextet, since they didn't have any other way to contact each other. Ginny was happy to hear from them, and wrote them all about the preparations for the wedding. She thanked Harry for filling her in. She didn't mention that it was Luna who gave her the information. Hermione wrote about Luna's visit, and how they had talked all afternoon, though she gave no indication of what they discussed. Neville also sent a note telling of a visit he received from Luna. She asked about Harry's adventures at Hogwarts, especially what Neville could tell about the Triwizard Tournament and Harry's nightmares during the fifth year. Harry and Ron couldn't figure out what Luna was doing. She had always been so laid back, now she was contacting and visiting people? And asking questions about Harry? What was going on?

Charlie showed up on Saturday with a check for the Dursleys for a week's worth of Ron. His mother came along with him. They ran the bell while Vernon was having breakfast. Petunia answered the door.

"Hello, Mrs. Dursley. I'm Molly Weasley, and this is my son, Charlie. Charlie has some business to discuss with your husband, and I would like to see my son, please."

Charlie turned to his mother and said, quietly, "I'm perfectly able to speak for myself."

"Of course you are, dear. You go have a nice chat with Mr. Dursley, and I'll speak to Ron."

Petunia let them in and told Molly, "He's upstairs, first bedroom on the right."

She went up the stairs, noticing how clean everything was. No dust anywhere. Nothing was out of place. She felt a little guilty about her own housekeeping. Of course the house was tidy, but with seven children, who had time to Scourgify every surface to get rid of dust and dirt? She knocked on the door.

"Come in," Ron answered.

Molly entered the bedroom. She could see that it had been expanded. There were two large beds, a desk with a sturdy chair, and a plush comfortable chair with a foot rest. Everything was in Chudley Cannon orange. Ron had found that his conjured furniture lasted longer when it was orange. Harry hated it, but gave in to the necessity. The lounge chair was currently occupied by Ron, who was reading Harry's Obscuring the Mind - An Introduction to Occlumancy. Harry had read it, and was practicing every night and morning, and sometimes in the middle of the day. Ron, bored during those times, had decided to join him. He looked up, and was startled to see his mother.

"Mum!" he began, jumping out of the chair.

"Don't you 'mum' me, young man. How could you just go off without telling me? Before Bill told me what you were up to, I thought all sorts of things that could have happened to you! How could you do this to me?"

Ron guessed that some of those thoughts of his mother's were about to happen to him. He took a breath. It was one of the tricks the book talked about - taking a calming breath, and organizing your thoughts. He remembered the talk with Percy. He had to keep calm.

"Mum, let me ask you something, and I want an honest answer. If I had asked for permission to take this job, would you have given it?"

"Maybe."

"Honestly, Mum. You know you didn't want me to come just the day before."

"But that was because you were just going to impose yourself."

"When Bill told you I had this job, did you object?"

Molly looked around the room. She tried to think of a way to avoid answering. There was some good magic work here, she thought.

"Mum, I know you're worried about me, and you want me near. But you just want me. Harry needs me. I love you, but this is something that has to be done. If you're really worried, just remember that there are Order members outside watching us too."

Molly gave a sigh, and sat down on the chair by the desk. "Tell me about your week, Ron." With that, Ron knew he had won.

Charlie gave Mr. Dursley the check. It was accepted without a word. Charlie took Harry aside, while he joked about it being a small price to pay to get rid of Ron. Once they were alone, they discussed Harry's joining the Order of the Phoenix. To Charlie's surprise, Harry didn't jump at the chance to join. He said he would have to think about it, and would give his answer at the wedding. He explained that while he trusted most of the people in the Order, Snape had been part of it, too. What if he wasn't the only spy in the Order? Soon after, Charley and his mother left.

Ron understood when Harry told him about the offer to join the Order. He knew they couldn't let Voldemort find out that they knew his secret. The last thing they needed was the Dark Lord hiding the remaining Horcruxes better, or even creating more.

The only other event of note was when Uncle Vernon wanted to go see Harry's vault. He had noticed Harry's new clothes, and thought Harry might have paid for them from his own money. Harry told him that the Order had bought him the clothes, and pointed out Ron's new clothes as supporting evidence. He also showed Vernon some Sickles and Knuts.

"What about those golden galley coins?" Dursley asked.

"I don't have any with me. Do you, Ron?" Ron shook his head. "But there's something that was pointed out to me. Do you know why under age wizards aren't allowed to do magic?"

"Don't you say that word in my house!"

"Very well, I'm sorry. But do you know why?"

"I don't care why."

"You should. It's because there is a," he paused, and decided not to use the word magical, "a secrecy act, to hide our kind from your kind. Until a child is old enough to understand that, they're not supposed to do you-know-what. That's the purpose of our government - to enforce that law, and fix the instances when it is broken. So, if you were to try to sell those coins to a collector, once the Ministry found out about it, they'd track you down and fix the problem."

"What do you mean, 'fix?'"

"They'd use a memory charm to make it so you'd never do it again."

"Are you threatening me, boy?"

"No, Uncle Vernon, I'm warning you. The memory charms don't always work exactly like they're supposed to. The people who do it wouldn't care if you lost something important, like your memory of home, or how to do your job. It happens, and I don't want it to happen to you."

Harry wasn't sure if it was the tone of sincerity in his voice or the thought of getting his memory erased that made his uncle back off. Harry worried a little about the Sorting Hat wanting to put him in Slytherin after he had fooled his uncle like that.

The rest of the time at the Dursleys' was fairly quiet. Ron and Harry walked to restaurants a few times for lunch. They made sure they were in the house each night well before it got dark.

One day, when Harry introduced Ron to pizza, Tonks joined them. She was dressed as a Muggle in tight jeans and tight T-shirt, with electric blue hair. Ron's eyes tried to leave his head as he saw her.

"You better not take him to a swimming pool or beach. He'd have a heart attack," she advised Harry.

Harry was only a little surprised that the Order still guarded him. He found out that his guard duty was assigned as a relaxing job after a battle as there had been no reported activity around Harry since the incident with the Dementors two summers before. Amidst the small talk, Harry used the opportunity to fill in the Order on his immediate plans. He still wasn't saying anything about what he would do after the wedding.

The final Friday finally came. Harry and Ron packed. Harry made sure he had everything - he was never coming back. By ten in the morning they had their trunks packed and waiting by the front door. They had undone all the magic from the bedroom, leaving the cot, dresser, desk, and folding chair the way they found them. Harry walked around the back yard one more time, pulling a few weeds because he couldn't bear to let them grow. While he was doing this his aunt came out.

"Well, boy, now what happens?"

"We wait for our other friend to join us, and we go."

"I thought you said you had something for us?"

"I do. I'll give it to you when we leave. I do have a question, Aunt Petunia. Did my mother, your sister Lily, hate you as much as you hated her?"

She looked like she had been slapped. Ron looked at Harry with surprise. Harry didn't even look at his aunt, but instead kept looking at the garden for more weeds. Petunia retreated into the house.

"Wow, Harry, that was kind of harsh. Can't say she doesn't deserve it."

"Well, we should go back inside, and make sure neither she nor Dudley touch our stuff."

It was almost 11:30 when the doorbell rang. Ron answered it, and was captured in one of Hermione's patented hugs. Ron's had a deep kiss with it. Harry braced himself, and received his hug. His only included a kiss on his cheek. Hermione took both boys by an arm, and brought them outside. There, in the driveway, was a new sedan.

"That's what I've been doing for most of the last two weeks -- learning to drive and getting my drivers' license. The car is a gift from my parents."

They admired it for a few minutes, and went back into the Dursleys' house.

Harry talked with them for a few minutes, and Ron and Hermione carried the trunks out to the car and put them in the boot. Harry asked his aunt if she could get her husband home for lunch for his good bye gift. She called the drill company, and fifteen minutes later his aunt and uncle were in the living room. Dudley left the house, scared away by Hermione when he got too close to her car. Harry thought he heard her say something about hexing Dudley's walls off, but he wasn't very close, and as long as Dudley wasn't around to make trouble, Harry didn't care.

Once again, Mr. and Mrs. Dursley were sitting on the couch, and Harry sat, tense, in the chair across the room from them. Ron and Hermione flanked him.

"Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon. Before I go, I want to say it didn't have to be like this. We could have been a family."

"Now see here!" Vernon began, but Harry pulled his wand out and pointed it at his uncle. Ron and Hermione did too.

"NO! You see here! We could have been a family, but instead you dressed me in cast offs that didn't fit, fed me the absolute minimum, let Dudley beat me up, punished me for things he did, locked me in the cupboard -- or in the room -- lied about my parents, and did everything except physically abuse me, and I don't doubt you would have done that if you could have got away with it!" Several times Vernon or Petunia had acted like they were going to say something, but the look on Harry's face -- and the aim of his wand -- quieted them. "You were well off, but didn't see fit to be generous with me. Now, I can tell you, that my parents left me well off, and I will be as generous to you."

"We gave you a home!" Vernon exclaimed.

"NO! You let me stay in your house. You never gave me a home. The word home has some connotation of caring. But in one way this was my home -- legally. In case you forgot what Professor Dumbledore said, as long as I considered this my home, the magical protection continued. If we had been a real family, I would have considered this home, and even my reaching adulthood in the Wizarding society wouldn't have changed that. But you made sure I was never welcome here.

"So here's my gift to you. A warning. In two weeks I reach my seventeenth birthday. At that time I'm an adult in my world, and the protection ends. I'm also number one on the hit list of a powerful wizard. This wizard was prevented from attacking this house because of the spells. The spells will be gone in two weeks. My warning to you is to not be in this house when that happens. I'm sure you," he pointed at his uncle, "would be killed instantly. Dudley and you," he pointed at his aunt, "would be captured and used as bait to lure and capture me. I have no incentive to try to rescue you, and you'd be tortured and killed eventually. I don't particularly want that, but this is war, and I have a lot of people I care about who I expect to be busy saving.

"So, again, my advice is to be gone from this house within two weeks. Goodbye."

Vernon tried to say something, but Harry just yelled, "Shut up!" and caused some sparks to shoot from the end of his wand, which did the trick. Harry took his invisibility cloak, wrapped it around himself, and disappeared. The Dursleys never saw him again.

Ron and Hermione moved to the door of the house carefully, keeping their wands trained on the Harry's relatives. They put away their wands as they left, and carefully got in the car, and drove away. Ron and Hermione were quiet, giving Harry time to calm down, or at least they hoped. Unable to see his face, they couldn't judge his emotions. Once they were out of Little Whinging, Harry reappeared, lying in the back seat, and sat up.

"That went well. Comfortable car, Hermione."

They talked about unimportant things for a while. But when the topic turned to serious matters, Harry found he still didn't want to talk about it. He explained it as these two weeks being his vacation, and come Monday he'd be back at work on the problem of Voldemort. Hermione said that she hadn't done much research during their time apart; she'd been too busy learning to drive, and spending time with her family. Then she brought up her visit with Luna.

"Harry, Luna has an idea for finding out how to defeat Voldemort."

"Does it involve snorkle-rats?" Ron asked with a laugh.

"No, it doesn't involve anything like that," Hermione answered in an annoyed tone. "It involves the fact that Harry's escaped Voldemort three or more times, and somewhere in those fights he may have been helped by this power. So, she's been trying to find out everything she can about those encounters looking for clues. I think it's a brilliant idea. It may not find anything, but it certainly can't hurt."

"Well, no one else has given me any practical way to fight Voldemort. Even Dumbledore didn't give me a way to fight the traps that will be around the Horcruxes, let alone the encounter with Voldemort."

Ron looked a little abashed. "Well, she does have a lot of strange ideas," he said, defending himself.

"She has a lot of strange beliefs. So far, her ideas have been pretty brilliant," Harry answered.

"She is in Ravenclaw," Hermione added. "The Sorting Hat must have seen something to put her there. I'm glad you like her idea, since she'll want to talk to you, Harry. And you too, Ron. And I expect you to be nice to her. She's our friend too."

"I know, I know. And I'll be nice."

They stopped for lunch (Ron insisting they get more pizza), and reached the Grangers' house in the early afternoon. Hermione lived in a beautiful two story, white house, in an affluent neighborhood. The lawn and flower bed around the house were meticulously maintained (Harry later learned that they hired a gardening crew to do that). There were a few children playing at a house a block away, but no one seemed to be around near the Granger's house.

It turned out that Hermione had her father's hair, even to the bushiness (although it didn't seem as bushy on him, as he had a lot less hair). Her mother, a slight woman just a little shorter than Hermione, had sandy blond hair, almost the color of Luna's. The Granger's welcomed them to their home. They were happy to meet their daughter's best friends. They had heard (edited) versions of some of their exploits, and the two quiet boys made good impressions. Harry was his naturally quiet self. Ron was nervously quiet, trying to make a good impression with his girlfriend's parents. Dinner, thus, was a rather quiet affair. Afterwards, they sat in the parlor drinking tea, and the light discussion turned serious.

"So, Harry, can you tell me why my daughter insists that we get out of the country, but she's not coming?" Mr. Granger asked.

The sudden change of topics caught Harry off guard. They had been talking about the various professors, which included a long list of Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers. Harry glanced at Hermione, and she looked startled, too. He took a breath, and composed himself.

"I assume you know about Voldemort and the war?"

"Hermione's told us. From what she's said, you are in the thick of it, for some reason, and she feels compelled to help you."

"Dad, I'm helping Harry because it's right, and because he's my friend. No one compels me!"

"Sorry, darling, just a phrase. How about duty-bound?"

"How about raising me to act on my convictions? To do the right thing, no matter what anyone else does? To protect my family?"

"Uh, we didn't teach you that."

"Yes, you did, by your lives. You'd do anything for Mum and me. Mum, you'd do anything for Dad or me. Well, I can do this for you two, but you can't do it."

Her father sighed, and nodded. He looked at Harry again, and asked, "So how dangerous will this be?"

"I don't truly know. I was next to your daughter at the Ministry of Magic when that spell hit her. I don't think I could have lived with myself if it had killed her. I don't want to put anyone in danger. But your daughter, and Ron, and a few others insist that I can't do this alone, and are coming with me whether I want it or not." He smiled a little at that, but then turned serious again. "But I'll try my best to keep them as safe as possible. I've lost too many people I care about.

"And besides, if I listen to your daughter I'll stay out of unnecessary danger. She's the smartest witch I've met, and there have been too many times that I should have listened to her, but didn't. I'll try to do better."

The rest of the night was much less serious. The Grangers were impressed by Harry, and realized that what he had gone through had matured him beyond his years. Their pride in their daughter was reinforced by the stories of her brilliance and magical prowess that the boys related to them.

Ron, for his part, didn't get over his nervousness completely. He did relax a little during their discussion of "times I should have listened to Hermione." Harry was grateful that Ron could add so many stories that weren't about life-threatening events. They went to bed early.

Very early the next morning Severus Snape was drinking a cup of coffee when a very tired and shaky Draco Malfoy showed up at his door.

"I can't wait until tonight. I can't stand much more of those Dementors! But they're within striking distance of the blood traitors. Merlin! I can't imagine what it'll be like if they were coming after me!"

"It would not be pleasant. But it probably wouldn't last long. I assume Potter will be at the wedding. After everything the master had said about wanting to kill Potter himself, it seems strange that he's so unconcerned that he'll be eliminated by the Dementors."

"I just wish I could see it."

"Be careful what you wish for," Snape said quietly.

"What?"

"Nothing, just go to bed. You will be back at work on the Dementors at six tonight. They may be restless during those last few hours, waiting for dark."

Malfoy opened the way to the staircase, passing Pettigrew. He gave the older man a contemptuous look, and went up the stairs to bed.