Harry Potter and the Manipulator of Destiny (Completed)

Chapter 21: New Teachers and New Relationships

Petunia Dursley paced the kitchen in their new home. Although they had lived there almost a year, she felt the same flush of new excitement each time she stepped through the door. The house was more than Vernon and she had ever dreamed of, and as the effects of the hexed vase slowly drained from their systems, it was steadily replaced with guilt. Crushing guilt. They had done nothing to deserve this generosity from their nephew.

The guilt manifested itself in various ways. For Vernon, he was growing short tempered and angry at everyone and everything. At first he looked for even more ways to hate Harry and the magical world, but when he could not find enough to excuse his fury, he turned on his family. The plus side was that his eyes were finally opened to Dudley's goings on, and he had forced their boy into drug rehab and counseling.

Petunia's guilt came out through constant nightmares. Every night she re-lived every act of cruelty she had foisted on her sister's child. And when she had lived through eleven years and 5 summers of that, she started in on memories of her jealously and pettiness toward her sister Lily. Yes, it was impossible to fight the hexed vase they once owned, but the vase couldn't create the feelings from nothing – it merely amplified the cruelty that was already inside of the family. Petunia and Vernon needed help, and they knew only one person could provide it. She just hated to ask him for anything else.

With stiff and determined spine, Petunia kneeled in front of the parlor fireplace. She looked up the chimney to see if she could see anything. With a shrug, she hesitantly called out "Harry? Can you hear me Harry?" Waiting a few moments and feeling more than a little silly, she turned and started to walk away when she heard the unmistakable voice of her nephew from the fireplace in back of her.

"Aunt Petunia? Is everything all right?"

She spun around and saw Harry's face formed out of green flames looking at her with concern. With palatable unease and relief, she gasped out "Yes, no… could I please talk with you?"

The green face glanced around the room, nodded, and her nephew stepped out, now much taller and stronger then she last saw. The boy now radiated strength and confidence, and was missing the beaten, sickly pallor they had forced upon him. "What's wrong?" he asked kindly, with none of the hate or scorn she deserved.

She stared at the young man, guilt crushing her now. "P-please, have a seat" she stuttered uncomfortably. She sat down across from him, nervously folding and unfolding a tea towel in her lap, looking at the floor with suspiciously shining eyes.

"Is everything ok, Aunt Petunia?" Harry looked at her questioningly, taking the offered chair. "Do you like the house?"

"Harry, we are a wreck. We love this house. We just can't get over how horribly we treated you. Vernon is dealing with his guilt by lashing out at everything and everyone."

Harry interrupted his aunt. "He's not hurting you, is he?" The boy wore a frown that conveyed concern born of bad memories.

"No – nothing like that. He's angry at himself, and takes it out on those around him. He's drinking, he's spiteful. I can't sleep – horrible nightmares every night reliving how I treated you and my sister." A couple of tears now escaped from her down-cast eyes.

"Have you tried counseling?" Harry asked gently.

"We want to, but where would we go? I can't very well look up a counselor in the phone book and explain we feel awful for abusing our nephew who was entrusted to our care, and has turned out to be the hero of the wizarding world. They wouldn't know whether to lock us up in jail or an institution." His aunt looked at him with hope and desperation.