Memento Vivere

Harriet Potter came to with a choked gasp. She breathed raggedly as she took stock and realized she was standing in Limbo, which still looked like King's Cross. She remembered coming here when she was killed by Voldemort in the battle of Hogwarts, though this time Dumbledore wasn't standing there.

She stifled a giggle, remembering just how pissed Death had been when they found out Dumbledore had snuck out to talk to her. They had been especially angry because it happened right under their nose.

She frowned almost immediately after, she was only 23. She thought for a moment, trying to recall how she had gotten here. She had been on a mission, tracking down a couple of run away Death Eaters.

She had finally cornered one when all of a sudden there was a flash of light. She must have been hit by a curse of some kind, though she couldn't remember the color so she had no idea which one. She was snapped from her thinking when she noticed a chilling presence.

Death approached as a giant writhing mass of black smoke, though they were quick to rectify that by turning into a broad man with pure black hair, somehow darker than hers, with black eyes that absorbed the light.

Harriet smiled and greeted him. “Hullo Death. How are you?” Death did not answer for a moment, merely looking upset. Well, as much as a faceless entity made of smoke could look upset. “Greetings, Mistress,” Death still looked upset. “What's wrong?” queried Harriet, “You look like that time Dumbledore snuck past you to talk to me. Did he try something again?”

Death simply sighed, clearly not going to answer, and Harriet frowned, knowing that she wasn't going to like hearing what he had to say. “Mistress… If you truly wish to, I can bring you back, or you can be reborn elsewhere.”

Harriet looked surprised as she said, “You're giving me a choice?”

“You collected my Hallows and greeted me as Ignotus Peverell did, though you did it not because you wished to control me,” Death replied. “I do as you command.”

Harriet's mind whirled at that implication. Then- it stopped. “C-Can I go back? Can I fix it? Everything?” stammered Harriet, afraid Death would refuse.

“If that is what you please,” Death responded, softening ever so slightly at his teary Mistress. “You may go back to His birth, before, after, anywhere you want. Just say the word, my Mistress, and I shall obey.”

Harriet sucked in a breath at that. She could go back, she could change everything, she could fix what had been broken, save her friends and family. The only question is, when? Too soon could result in everyone she ever knew never existing, but too late and she'd fail. Besides, there was so much that Dumbledore did, how would she ever fix everything without ruining it?

Death spoke up from where he stood watching Harriet pace, “Perhaps, Mistress, you should make a list?” Harriet froze, then quickly summoned a pen, notepad, and chair. She remembered how quickly everything went to hell after defeating Voldemort.

The Ministry had become even worse somehow, magical creatures - light and dark - were prosecuted and started going extinct in all magical regions, the Death Eaters went out of control with their master dead, Dementors Kissed everyone regardless of how small their crime was, and wizards and witches had started to die out. And that was just the first year! It got so much worse.

—
Things to do

Inheritance test at Gringotts
Reestablish the DA
Deal with the basilisk
Find the horcruxes - 1/7
Deal with Vernon
Create a safe place for the DA
Befriend Draco
Study for every subject that is lacking
Teach purebloods about the muggle world
Teach muggleborns about the magic world
Get Sirius out of Azkaban
Grimmauld place?
Get rid of Umbridge
Aberforth Dumbledore???
Hallows
LOTS of Felix Felicis
Spread repertoire of spells
—

“There,” muttered Harriet. “A list of what I have to do.” Death peered over her shoulder. “Mistress, won't you have to add to it as you go on?”

Harriet smiled, “Yup! But that's all I can think of for right now. I'll add to it as I continue.” Death looked down at her and asked, “Are you ready to go back?” Harriet nodded confidently and smiled. “Yes, send me back to Dudley's eleventh birthday. That should give me more than enough time to prepare. Should I get a trunk like Newt Scamanders when I go to buy my things?”

Death, always a little awkward but kind, smiled and said, “You should do whatever you think is best, Mistress. Though I would suggest getting a permit for dangerous magical creatures and a trunk. Also, it might be in your best interest to send Newt Scamander a letter. You can never have too many allies.”

Harriet giggled, “That's true. It'll certainly help, that's for sure.” She noticed Death had a shifty look on his face and narrowed her eyes at him. “What're you planning?” Death jolted in surprise. “Nothing, Mistress! Absolutely nothing at all! Now what were you saying?”

Harriet narrowed her eyes in suspicion and hummed disbelievingly. Death whistled as he looked away from her. Well. That's totally not suspicious.

Harriet hummed, deciding to ignore Death's weirdness, and summoned some treacle tart. Death raised an eyebrow and Harriet shot him a look. Just because they were in Limbo and therefore didn't need food, doesn't mean she couldn't enjoy her precious treacle tart. Besides, she wouldn't be able to have any until Hogwarts.

They talked and planned for a few more minutes, but Harriet couldn't help but think that Death was plotting something.

Once finished with her treacle tart, she stood up, stretched, and turned to Death. “Alright. I'm ready to go back. Send me to Dudley's eleventh birthday.” Death nodded. “Yes Mistress. Good luck.”

Harriet's eyes closed, and she could feel herself being thrown back. Everything went dark.

— — —

“Up! Get up! Now!”

Harriet snapped awake and a flood of memories rushed into her head. She felt a weight fall into her lap as she sat up. Harriet's head shot down and she relaxed as she saw that it was just her notebook. She hummed curiously as she remembered Death speedily jotting something down in his own notebook just as everything went dark.

“Up!” Harriet sighed as she waited for her aunt to return to the kitchen before rolling out of her bed to get dressed, brushing a spider off one of her socks. She quickly tucked her notebook under her bed and climbed out of her cupboard.

“About time,” huffed Aunt Petunia. Harry struggled to hide her sigh. While she had long since realized that her life would have gone far worse if her aunt didn't step in for certain chores, she was still a pain to deal with when she was younger.

“Get a move on, you’re to look after the bacon. It's Duddy’s birthday, everything has to be perfect.” Aunt Petunia looked haughtily at her, though Harry knew that her aunt had made enough food for her to have at least one bite.

Right. Death had sent Harry back to Dudley’s birthday. That should be enough time for her to start planning. For example, she had no intention of letting Hagrid pick her up to go to Diagon Alley. Don’t get her wrong, she adored the man, but if she was to execute her plans discreetly, she’d have to avoid getting picked up by Hagrid.

Harry glanced at the pile of Dudley’s presents as she walked into the kitchen. The kitchen table was covered in the presents, and she could barely see them under them all. Like last time, Dudley was getting a new computer, yet another television, and a racing bike among all thirty-seven presents.

Harry frowned in annoyance when Vernon entered the kitchen. “Comb your hair, girl!” he shouted as a way of saying ‘morning’. Vernon did this about once a week, though Harry wasn’t bothered by it.

Harry was so lost in thought as she fried eggs that she didn’t notice Dudley waddled into the kitchen. The boy had only started to mature as they aged, so Harry wasn’t too thrilled to see him. He’d be much more bearable when they were older. Hopefully.

Harry quickly set the table, though she had quite a bit of difficulty considering the table could barely be seen. She began to scarf her food, knowing that a tantrum might happen even with it being averted by Aunt Petunia. She absentmindedly listened to the conversation going on between her relatives.

“Thirty-six..” whined Dudley, looking upset. “That’s two less than last year.”

“Darling, you haven’t counted Auntie Marge’s present, see, it’s here under this big one from Mummy and Daddy.” Petunia smiled.

So far the conversation was going exactly as Harry remembered, though she barely remembered it in the first place, it was so long ago for her. She slowed her eating, afraid to choke from eating so fast. She watched with interest, curious to see if it would continue as she remembered. So far, that was a yes since she had yet to change anything.

“Alright, thirty-seven then,” Dudley said, turning red in a way that was similar to his father. It was very clear that Aunt Petunia could tell a tantrum was coming by the way she, like she remembered from the past, quickly said, “And we’ll buy you another two presents while we’re out today. How’s that, popkin? Two more presents. Is that all right?”

Dudley scrunched his face, thinking. He said slowly, “So I’ll have thirty… thirty…”

“Thirty-nine, sweetums,” Aunt Petunia said, smiling gently.

“Oh. Alright then.” Dudley sat like a great heaving baby whale, grabbing a present to unwrap. Thank Merlin Dudley will lose weight in the future. Harry would certainly be making certain that that stayed the same.

Uncle Vernon chuckled, completely unaware of Harry’s thoughts. “Little tyke wants his money’s worth, just like his father. ‘Atta boy, Dudley!” the overly obese man said, ruffling Dudley’s blond hair.

At that exact moment, the telephone rang. Harry jumped startled, before remembering that this was when they found out that Mrs. Figg broke her leg. He ignored Dudley unwrapping his presents to focus on his aunt.

Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Uncle Vernon watching Dudley unwrap the racing bike, a VCR, a remote control airplane, a video camera, and sixteen new computer games. Dudley had just started to rip the wrapping off of a golden wristwatch, when Aunt Petunia reappeared looking upset.

“Bad news, Vernon,” she said. “Mrs. Figg’s broken her leg. She can’t take her.” Petunia said with a frown as she jerked her head in Harry’s direction. Dudley looked upset, but Harry was neutral. On one hand, she was bitter that Mrs. Figg had been a spy, but on the other hand, she was actually nice to her. On the bright side, she’d get to see the snake from the zoo again.

Honestly, Harry had enjoyed the zoo. It was better than going to Mrs. Figg’s house, which smelled of cabbage, and being forced to look at all the cats, which she now suspected to be half-kneazle like Crookshanks, that she had ever owned.

Harry felt a little bad, but at the same time, she couldn’t care less about her breaking her leg. She completely ignored the furiously whispered (though it really wasn’t all that quiet) conversation about her. She was more focused on planning what to do when she got her letter.

“We could phone Marge?” asked Vernon.

Dudley paused in unwrapping his presents and frowned. Dudley hated his aunt with a passion, something he shared wholeheartedly with his mother and cousin. Vernon was the only one who actually liked Marge.

“Don’t be silly, Vernon, she hates the girl.” Petunia shot him down immediately, which made sense because she cared for Harry as discreetly as possible.

“What about what’s-her-name, your friend– Yvonne?”

“On vacation in Majorca,” Petunia said, sounding angrier by the second. Harry wasn’t even going to suggest being left alone. Though it would give her privacy, she also really wanted to see the snake. She had plans to rescue it, after all.

“I suppose we could take her to the zoo…and leave her in the car…” Aunt Petunia suggested slowly, likely knowing that Vernon wouldn’t agree.

“That car’s new, she’s not sitting in it alone…”

That was Dudley's que to interrupt. Harry didn't know this just yet, but her cousin actually liked her. Even so, Dudley knew what he had to do to make sure his father didn't hurt his cousin.

Dudley began to cry, though it was fake. It was easy to tell he was faking because, one, Harry had already lived through this , and two, Dudley had learned early on that if he scrunched his face and wailed, he would get anything he wanted from his parents.

(Harry doesn't know that Dudley is actually fine with her coming with them to the zoo.)

It worked like a charm. Petunia immediately wrapped her arms around her son.

“Dinky Duddydums, don’t cry, Mummy won’t let her spoil your special day!”

“I… don’t… want… her… t-t-to come!” Dudley wailed, pretending to sob. Harry raised an eyebrow. While Dudley had always seemed to love ‘Harry Hunting’, really it was the only physical activity he liked, he had also distracted his parents whenever Harry did something bad. Harry wasn’t sure if it was intentional, but she appreciated it nonetheless.

“She always sp-spoils everything!” At that exact moment, the doorbell rang and Aunt Petunia whirled around, releasing Dudley. He immediately stopped fake crying and rushed to greet his friend, Piers Polkiss. Piers was Dudley’s right hand man, and the exact opposite of Dudley in every way but his attitude.

While her relatives rushed around to finish getting ready for the zoo, Harry stood looking at the pictures on the mantel. From what she remembered, around 28 years ago, when he had just been given to his relatives, the mantelpiece had had a lot of pictures of what looked to be a large pink beach ball wearing a variety of bonnets. Though Dudley had grown, so now he looked more like a bright pink baby whale.

About half an hour after Piers arrived, they all stuffed themselves into the car and started the drive to the zoo. Since her aunt and uncle couldn’t think of anything to do with her, they had just brought her along. Harry hadn’t really listened to Vernon’s warning. “I’m warning you, I’m warning you now girl- any funny business, anything at all- and you’ll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas.”

This time, Harry didn’t even try to fight it. While she wasn’t too angry at Dudley and Petunia, Dudley because he was only acting the way he was raised to and eventually grew out of it, Petunia because Harry had seen just how much her mother’s death broke her and she had told her about her, she despised Vernon with a passion. Dudley and Petunia had redeemed themselves in her eyes, but Vernon was a piece of trash just for the sake of being a piece of trash.

Harry ignored Vernon complaining to Petunia, knowing what would happen if she spoke about the flying motorcycle, though she now knew it belonged to Sirius. Speaking about Sirius, she couldn’t wait to see him again, even if she wouldn’t be able to see her dogfather until third year. Despite how much she missed Siri, if she got him out now, things would change and Harry wouldn’t be able to save anybody if the future changed too much.

Harry couldn’t risk changing too much. She’d have no idea what’d happen next and then her loved ones could get hurt. No, she refused to risk it. She had already been forced through a war, and the damage it had done to everyone… The people who had been lost… She couldn’t risk something worse somehow happening.

The car pulled into the parking lot of the crowded zoo and everyone shuffled out. At the entrance, Dudley and Piers got large chocolate ice creams while Harry got a lemon pop. It was actually rather good, so Harry wasn’t too upset by this outcome.

After walking over a large amount of the zoo and eating in a restaurant, they finally, finally reached the reptile house. Dudley and Piers immediately honed in on the boa constrictor. When the snake didn’t do anything, the two boys moved on, with Petunia and Vernons attention on the boys fading.

Harry looked around to make sure no one was watching and leaned closer to the glass. She looked around one more time, unknowingly catching Dudley’s attention, and hesitantly hissed to the massive snake. “𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦?”

The snake seemed to flinch in shock, but didn’t react to her question. Harry’s puzzlement at this action was quickly chased away by Dudley sidling up beside her and causing her to jump in surprise.

“What’re you doing?” questioned Dudley in a whisper. Harry bit her lip, wondering if she should answer her cousin. She finally whispered back to him, “Don’t you see the sign? The snake was bred in captivity.”

“Yeah, so? Wait… Are you going to try to break it out!?” Dudley whisper-shouted, being as discreet as possible so as not to alert his parents to what was happening. Suddenly Piers appeared on the other side of Harry. “Whatcha talkin’ about?”

Harry jumped again. “Will you stop doing that?” she hissed at them, trying to keep her voice down. “Harry’s going to try to break out the boa constrictor! Also, be quiet!” Dudley informed Piers.

“Really!? How would you get it out of here without being seen?” Piers mumbled, now knowing to be silent. She pursed her lips, wondering if she was really about to tell. “...Promise not to react badly?” Piers and Dudley shared a look before nodding resolutely. “Promise.” The two boys chorused.

“I have magic. I’m planning to remove the glass and shrink it.” She winced, expecting some sort of drawback. It was obvious she wasn’t expecting them to look excited at the prospect of her having magic.

Piers opened his mouth to bombard her with questions, but was stopped by a harsh elbow to his ribcage, courtesy of Dudley. Before Piers could say anything, Dudley motioned to his parents. “My mum and dad are looking this way. Quick, we’ll distract them, you do what you need to do.” This last part was directed to a surprised Harry.

She quickly nodded and turned her attention to the snake in front of her. Her cousin and his friend headed off to distract her aunt and uncle. “𝘐 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯.” She said dryly.

The snake perked up, somehow looking…hopeful. “𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴, 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘳. 𝘋𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘭𝘺 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘪𝘵? 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘢𝘨𝘦?”

Harry nodded. “𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭, 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯. 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘥, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐'𝘮 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦.”

The snake nodded in agreement and curled up, patient. Harry cast a Notice-Me-Not on the area to ensure nobody would notice. She vanished the glass and the absolutely massive snake slithered out of its tank and onto the floor in front of her.

She gulped, not worried for herself but for the snake because if she botched this, the poor thing would die slowly and painfully. She ever so gently ran her hand over its scales and shrunk it, fingers crossed that she had done the spell correctly.

The snake shrank and shrank and shrank until it was the size of a shoelace. She briefly wondered how it could possibly shrink to be that small, but brushed it off. Magic was weird.

She put the glass back up and dismissed the Notice-me-Not, quickly walking away with the snake now hidden in her pocket so as not to be a suspect in the boa constrictor disappearing. She ambled on over to her relatives and Piers, nodding at the boys who were now her accomplices to show that she had done it.

Dudley turned to his father and said in a whiny tone, “Daaaad, I want to go hooooome. I’m bored of the zoo now.” Vernon nodded, eager as always to coddle his son. “Right! Well then, it’s time to go.” He shot a nasty glare at Harry, but the group of five meandered their way out of the zoo and back to the car.

The entire time, the shrunken boa constrictor lay curled with docility in her pocket. Once home, Harry, Dudley, and Piers gathered in the shed, away from the watchful eyes of the adult Dursleys.

“It’s so tiny!” exclaimed Piers with wide eyes. “Yeah,” Dudley nodded with similarly wide eyes, “It was so large before… So, what do we do now?” Harry sighed. “Well, we’re going to have to keep it- hang on. 𝘋𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦? 𝘈𝘭𝘴𝘰, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳?”

The snake hissed and lifted its head. “𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘴𝘬. 𝘐 𝘢𝘮 𝘢 𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘯𝘰 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦.” Harry looked up, about to speak, only to freeze when she saw the gaping mouths of the boys.

“I can speak to snakes,” she blurted before the stupefied boys could say anything. “Wicked,” they breathed at the same time. Harry blushed and looked back down at the snake, desperate to change the topic. “A-Anyways, he’s a boy, and he doesn’t have a name.”

“Well then,” said Dudley with a sigh, “We’d better get brainstorming.” “R-Really?” Stammered the slightly too petite girl with tears in her eyes. Piers nodded firmly, “Of course! We helped you save him, so we’re in this together whether you like it or not!”

Harry sniffled before she could stop herself, and the dam broke. She burst into tears, ecstatic that things were already changing for the better. “Why are you crying!?” Shrieked Piers, clearly unsure of what to do. She couldn’t help the giggle that escaped her lips at the quite honestly hilarious scene of her cousin and his friend panicking at the sight of her tears.

“𝘚𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘤𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘳, 𝘺𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘵!” Snapped the tiny shoelace sized boa constrictor, clearly also unsure of how to soothe her. She giggled again, louder this time. “I’m fine, guys, really. Just… Overwhelmed.”

The boys shared a worried look but didn’t argue further. With Harry’s tears dried, the three humans turned their collective attention to the topic of a name for the snake in her hands. “How about… Archie?” suggested Dudley.

The snake reared up in offense at the name, and they didn’t need Harry to translate to tell that he did not like the name at all. Piers snickered at the disapproval practically radiating off of the snake.

The snake sent a baleful glare at him before turning its gaze on the only witch of the group. “𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘰𝘯𝘦! 𝘗𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳!” Piers snickered again and suggested a name, “What about Jörmungandr? It’s a snake that is so large that it encircles the whole earth. Plus, we can call him Jor for short.”

The snake whipped around to face him and hissed its approval. “𝘠𝘦𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘯𝘢𝘮𝘦. 𝘑𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘳.” Harry smiled and spoke. “He likes that name.” Piers pumped a fist in victory as Dudley wailed about his loss.

Before the group of children could do anything else, Piers’ mother called for them. “Ope! That’s my mum! She’s here to pick me up! Bye Dudley, bye Harry!” He waved and rushed out of the shed. The cousins chorused their goodbye’s and waved back at their friend.

Harry turned to look at Dudley, only to freeze when she saw him staring at her with a contemplative look on his face. “Is something wrong?” she asked nervously, cradling Jor in her hands.

This was probably the first time in this lifetime that Dudley had seemed so serious or smart.

“...Jor probably won’t want to stay with me. It’s pretty clear he’s more comfortable with you than he is me, especially since you’re the only one who can understand him. I’m going to talk to mum and dad to get you my second bedroom.” Dudley said suddenly, frowning. Harry frowned back, but Dudley had a distant look in his eye so she could tell he wasn’t frowning because of her.

Harry nodded, startled by what he had said. “Are you sure? It’s your bedroom.” Dudley smiled softly at that. “It’s my second bedroom. It’s literally only used for my old junk, and you need a room that isn’t a cupboard.”

She smiled gratefully at the obese boy who was certainly proving to be much more different than she had originally thought. Dudley smiled back, albeit rather awkwardly. The sweet moment was suddenly interrupted by Petunia calling Dudley inside.

Dudley hurried inside to his mother, Harry on his heels with Joe tucked under her large shirt and around her neck. “Yeah mum? What do you need?”

Petunia stood inside the kitchen, a gentle smile appearing at the sight of her son. She paused when her eyes landed on her niece and there was a flash of… something… in her eyes. “Duddy, Daddy was called into work so it’s just us for tonight. Alright?”

“Alright. Hey mum, can Harry have my spare room?” Dudley asked, not even trying to ease his mother into the question. Petunia froze, then turned slowly to stare at her son with a strange look in her eyes. “Of course she can, darling,” she choked out, the strange look in her eyes growing stronger.

(It’ll be a while until Harriet realizes just what that look was. She doesn’t know it yet, but Petunia was holding back tears at seeing her only child stand in front of his cousin the way she had stood in front of her little sister when someone bullied her.)

That night, Harry went to bed in Dudley’s second bedroom with a smile and a full stomach. So much had already changed for the better, and she couldn’t contain her smile.

— — —

Moonlight shined down through a window, where a strange figure stood. The first breath in a long time was taken as fur bristled, and eyes shot open. The strange figure smiled and said in an other worldy voice, "𝑊𝑒𝑙𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘, 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑟."