Secrets Unravelled - Part 8

"Uncle Vernon doesn't know his son is a wizard?" Harry asked, secretly appreciating the humor in that statement.

"Of course he doesn't know. And Dudley is NOT one of you. Your headmaster did something to control it, and I want you to do the same thing now," Aunt Petunia said, crossing her bony arms across her chest.

"I don't even know how he could have done such a thing, never mind how do it," Harry said, aghast.

"Well, if you want to stay here, you'd better think of something," she snapped.

Harry's mind clicked on a way to make this work to his advantage. "All right. I'll try and find something. I'm going to need some help with it, though," he said, rapidly changing gears.

"What do you mean, help?" she asked suspiciously.

"My friends, Ron and Hermione – they're brilliant with stuff like this. I'll ask them to come and help me put it together. They'll have to stay here for a while, though – while we research the correct spells to use. I'm certain it's very complicated magic if Professor Dumbledore did it," Harry said, his mind already plotting.

Aunt Petunia frowned with disapproval. "I don't know."

"All right, well…I can't do it alone, so I suppose I'll just be going," he said, going so far as to turn around, rising and taking a step towards the door.

"No!" Aunt Petunia screeched. "All right… Your friend can bunk in with you, and the girl can stay in the guestroom. I won't have any funny business under my roof."

Harry smirked, envisioning the color Ron's ears would have turned had he heard that remark. This was turning out better than he could have hoped. "All right, then."

"You have to promise me you'll all stay out of Vernon and Dudley's way. When Vernon is home, you must stay up in your room, and I want this done as quickly as possible."

"We're agreed on that, then," Harry mumbled.

"Oh, and another thing. Your friends will have to provide their own food. I'm not feeding any extra of your freaky friends. Vernon would never have it. They can bring their own, or you can share your portion, but I won't be responsible for them," Aunt Petunia said, her haughty demeanor returning.

Harry had no choice but to agree. He hadn't really thought about how they would eat. He could only hope that Hermione would be better prepared. She was certainly familiar enough with the Dursleys' penchant for withholding nourishment. They'd just have to figure something out. Maybe if Mrs. Weasley wasn't too upset with them she'd send something, or maybe Ginny would help…

Ginny...

On second thought, Harry decided that she couldn't be involved with this in any way. It wasn't fair to her, and he didn't think he could stand to have her so close and yet so far. They'd have to come up with something else.

But her presence here would certainly be a nice contrast to Aunt Petunia, his mind said, betraying him.

Stop it, he told himself firmly. Ginny would not be involved.

"I'm going to send an owl. I'm certain they'll be able to arrive shortly – they're both of age," Harry said, watching the panic fill Aunt Petunia's eyes once again.

"What does that mean? They're able to do…to…to use their things? I won't have it in this house. You said they were coming here for research," she said, a whine in her voice.

"Aunt Petunia, they're coming here to work out how to do a spell that you asked me to do. Are you telling me that they can't use magic to do it?" Harry asked, thoroughly enjoying his aunt's conundrum.