To Take a Chance
“Take chances, make mistakes. That’s how you grow. Pain nourishes your courage. You have to fail in order to practice being brave.” Mary Tyler Moore
Petunia started cautiously walking to a chair in front of Ms. Honey. Thoughts flooded her mind, just what was she going to do now? She took a calming breath and decided now would be her chance. Ms. Honey obviously had some sort of magic, so she knew, somewhat of what Petunia would be facing. After spending the last couple of months re-reading her journals she had discovered so many things. First, she discovered that while she may not be able to use a wand that didn’t mean she didn’t have magic. Second, that throughout her first year, her sister had changed, and not for the better, whether that was due to her husband or not, she didn’t know. Third, that it is entirely possible for people to be wolves in sheep’s skin. There were others, but first there were things that needed to be dealt with immediately. Taking a solidifying breath as she sat, she looked into the eyes of the person in front of her. Can I trust you? flickered through her mind, once more she saw Ms. Honey’s comforting smile.
“I don’t know where to begin. There are several things we need to discuss, some of which are important. So, first things first, you obviously know about magic or you’d be absolutely floundering about right now”, Petunia stated.
A knowing look flashed across Ms. Honey’s face, “You would be correct in that statement,” she said.
”Oh that’s a relief. Listen, before we dive into the unending depths of the magic issue, I need to discuss something else.” taking a breath and muscling up her courage, “My husband is abusive, emotionally manipulating me and worse yet physically abusing Harry. Before anything else happens, we need to talk about that and we need to talk about Dudley. I love my son, but I think there is something mentally unstable about him. I fear he is a sociopath. The signs are there, the lack of caring about others, the lack of caring about the wrong s he is doing, the manipulations, the list goes on, but the signs are there. My husband is no better and is even encouraging his behavior. I need help. I need to do something. Can you, no, will you help me? Will you help Harry?” Petunia stated in a rush.
Silently, Ms. Honey sat and observed Petunia. Mentally, she ticked through her observations of Petunia, Dudley and Harry and their interactions. The signs were all there. And if what had just been stated is true, steps needed to be taken immediately. She had contacts in both the mundane world, she refused that disgusting British term muggle for people with no magic, but societal terms were a problem for a different day. She also had contacts in the wixen world, it was figuring out who to contact that was the issue.
Taking a breath, “I can absolutely help you. I have contacts in the mundane world and the wixen one as well. I can get in touch with my wixen contacts immediately, exactly how fast do want things to take place?” she asked.
Looking over at Harry, Petunia made a decision, “Immediately, if it is at all possible. Knowing Dudley he has forced his way home and will tell Vernon upon his arrival what took place and twisting it to his wishes. It will not be safe to return. I know someone, in the what did you call it, wixen world, who can help me get our things tomorrow. Right now we need to leave quickly before anything else happens.”
”Thank the Goddess you said that. Let’s go. Right now, to my house, I’m connected to the floo, and can get ahold of my contact there. I can get a snack for Harry and we can get to work on what all we need to do. He will know more on who to contact and what to do.”
A wave of relief swept through Petunia, before she could be swept up in her emotions, she stood up and walked over to Harry. She had to tell him something. Knowing his routine had changed so drastically, without an explanation would cause a breakdown of epic proportions. And taking into account he had actually apparated, he is likely going to be exhausted as well. That was not a combination she wanted to deal with.
”Harry,” Aunt Petunia said softly as she knelt in front of Harry, “I know things happened today, and that something outside of your control happened. You’re not in any trouble. Ms. Honey knows someone who can explain things and help you understand what happened better than we can.” Aunt Petunia took a second to make sure Harry was looking at her and listening to what she was saying. Seeing his emerald eyes looking at her, his hands still in his lap, waiting for her to continue, she pressed on, “there are a lot of things that we need to discuss and some things we need to do as quickly as possible. You know your Uncle Vernon and Dudley and how they are about certain things. We are going to Ms. Honey’s place and getting away from them and we will figure things out when we get there. Do you trust me enough to come with and help change things?”
Several minutes ticked by while Harry sat and thought. He watched Aunt Petunia and Ms. Honey both, trying to see if he could figure out what was going on and if they were being deceptive. Not seeing any of that he slowly lifted his hands and signed, “ok, if you think that’s what we need to do let’s do it.”
With a smile, Aunt Petunia cautiously offered Harry her hand giving him the option to take it or not. She knew she made the right choice today when she felt Harry’s hand softly taking hers.
Nodding to Ms. Honey they made to follow her out of the classroom. They took an exit towards the side of the building, away from the offices, and quickly got into Ms. Honey’s car. As soon as seat belts were in place they took off.
Gazing at her passengers in the rear view mirror, she smiled and stated, “Since we are no longer at school I feel that it is appropriate for you both to call me by my name. I am Summer Honey. You may call me Summer.”
Aunt Petunia sat next to Harry while he gazed out the window for the drive to Ms. no, Summer’s home. Seeing the soft smile on his face as he watched the scenery go by she knew she made the right choice.