Harry's Aunt
It was the week before Harry’s third year when he was invited to the Weasley’s house to get ready for the upcoming school year. Unbeknown to Harry. There were multiple reasons as to why this was happening. Famed Sirius Black had escaped from Azkaban, the first, but uniformly not the last. Because he was with his relatives the whole summer, he had no idea about the news. Let alone how impacting it would be on his life.
Arthur had picked him up in the flying car he had designed, yet at that moment it was a simple car like any other one. In the car with his father was Ron, who was chatting away to Harry about his summer and his annoying siblings. Harry just nodded along, staring out the window, happy to be out of his relative's home for the first time all summer.
It was only a short time later before they got to the Burrow. Harry could feel the joy in his chest as he caught sight of the lopsided building. This is the place he called home, the place he felt the safest. “- and Charlie isn’t home so we can camp out in his room instead of sharing with boring Percy!” Harry caught the end of Ron’s sentence as he turned his attention back to his friend.
Harry felt slightly saddened by the news Ron shared. He loved Charlie, there was just something connecting him to Charlie he never understood. He always loved to hear his dragon stories and adventures. Harry also loved to look at Charlie’s tattoos, his favorite being the dragon on his chest that he tends to cover. Harry had only seen it once when he bumped into Charlie coming out of the bathroom with just a towel around his waist. Harry realized he had never been to the Burrow without Charlie there, something he was getting ready to experience.
Lost in his thoughts, Harry didn’t realize they had pulled up to the house and Ron was staring at him waiting for him to get out of the car. Harry shook his head and headed into the house with Ron where the twins greeted him at the door.
After putting his stuff, the little amount he had, in Charlie’s room, Harry headed outside with Ron and the twins for a round or two of Quidditch.
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After the game, the boys headed upstairs to get cleaned off when Harry noticed a magical photo on the wall he had not seen before. Harry had thought he’d seen all of the photos in the Weasley house as he would often look at them with longing during his visits. However, he does not recall seeing this picture, if he remembered correctly, that picture was supposed to be Molly and Arthur in a field. In its place was a photo of a dark-haired women laying back in a field of flowers with her eyes closed and
“Who is that in this photo?” Harry asked. He was not expecting the silence that followed his question. He turned to look at the Weasley boys and their matching somber expressions. “That’s our Aunt Thena, she died during the first war” George began to say, before Percy, who came out of his room unannounced to any of them, cut him off. “She didn’t die, she’s just missing! They never found her body, therefore she is NOT DEAD!” Percy began to say and then began to yell. “Percy, you heard Charlie screaming that night! There’s no way she is still alive. Look at the facts, this isn’t like you Percy” Fred said back. This led to a discussion, or argument, about the women in the photo whom Harry cannot look away from.
“She’s really pretty..” Harry mumbled under his breath as he continued to stare at the photo. His comment made the boys quit their argument and turn to look at him.
“You’ve never seen her before?” questioned Ron who looked confused by Harry’s curiosity about the women. “No? Why would I have seen your Aunt Ron?” Harry answered back. “Well, because she’s your Aunt, I reckon!” Ron exclaimed. Harry froze looking at Ron, unsure of what the youngest boy had said.
“What do you mean? I’ve never seen her and my only relatives are the Dursleys.” Harry answered firmly. “Yeah, on your Mother’s side. Aunt Thena was your father’s older sister. You are telling me you have never heard of her? Surely you have some sort of memory or have seen her before! You were only 2 years old when she went missing!” Percy questioned.
Harry looked close to tears. He is no stranger to death. Knowing his parents had died and all, but Harry had always known that. But with this new knowledge, he had an Aunt he didn’t know about who was most likely dead, or at least missing.
“What is going on here?” questioned Molly as she made her way up the stairs after hearing the raised voices of her middle children. She stopped in her tracks when she took in the look on Harry’s face with tears in his eyes. He turned to look at her.
“I have an Aunt I didn’t know about?”