Harry Potter: Inheritance

Prologue.

Authors Note: Due to obvious reasons Dobby will not be causing Harry and Ron issues with getting to school. He is to be incorporated another way later in the book. Also I wanted to build a proper relationship with one of his relatives and I doubted that Vernon and Dudley would ever really change their ways so I decided it was Petunia who was to be nice.
---

In a neat little suburb, on a neat little street, nestled in a neat little guarden was a neat little house, consisting of a neat little woman and her neat large husband and her neat large son. Living in the spare room was her messy, scrawny, freaky little nephew. Though right now he was in the next room sweeping the floor. As Petunia busily tidied the living room he was sweeping and mopping the kitchen floor just as she'd asked. If there was anything nice to be said about him by her it was that when he was told to do something he almost always did it, especially housework. She'd never admit it but she was thankful he was doing so today after all Vernon had a very important guest arriving that night. She hurried into the Kitchen, pleased to see it spotless, and saw Harry wiping a smudge of a cupboard door, not something she'd asked him to do but she was glad he'd done it anyway. Perhaps the boy wasn't so bad, if she looked past the fact he was an intrusion to their happy little life and a freak like his mother she could perhaps have liked the boy. His eyes suddenly locked onto hers and she felt suddenly nostalgic, remembering the years before Lily was revealed as a witch, the hours they'd spend playing dolls and pretending to be princesses. The staring contests, oh she and Lily had loved those. Petunia was very good at it, she recalled staring almost endlessly into Lily's green eyes, the green that the boy now had. "Aunt Petunia? Are you okay? Did I do something wrong?" Her nephew Harry Potter asked. Even after years of neglect he still sounded as though he was concerned. She snapped out of her reminiscing and looked around the kitchen before shaking her head.

"No. Everything in here is fine." She announced stiffly. It wasn't often, but that hadn't been the first time she'd missed Lily, that she'd been caught staring at Harry. "Clean the window on the front door and then you can go... I don't know, do some homework if you want. No magic but I'm sure there's some writing tasks, you can do those."

"Really?" Harry tilted his head, those memory sparking green eyes filled with surprise. "But Uncle Vernon-"

"Won't be checking on you tonight, that'll be my job. I won't tell him. I have more than enough time to finish cleaning and cook dinner because of you." She said. She'd been just short of actually verbally thanking the child. And though she hadn't he seemed happier than she'd seen him in a while. "Go on shoo, clean the window and after I check it I'll get the key for your school things and you can pick out a few things to do as long as they're quiet."

The skinny boy bobbed his head up and down and scurried off to complete his given task. She lingered for a moment and touched the chain around her neck that had a little metal flower, a petunia. It had been given to her by her parents, Lily had gotten one that was the same save for a lily replacing the petunia as the metal flower. During an argument Petunia had broken Lily's and that had really been the last time they'd properly spoken. Petunia still had Lily's necklace in a draw by her bed. She kept it for sentimental reasons, she really did regret being so distant to her little sister now. She'd been so bitter, so jealous of Lily's talent. Still she couldn't be too lenient on Harry, Vernon had grown too fond of being cruel to the child and if she interfered she would be at the brunt of his rage. And Dudley, her darling baby boy, he was growing up to be such a bully, just like Vernon. She began to wonder why she'd married the walrus of a man. In her mind she began to scold herself, Vernon had been very good to her, he'd given her a son, a home, money and any gift she asked for. She was sure he loved her. Yes, she was getting much too into it. Give the boy some leeway when she could but do not dwell on matters in the past. That was her new rule. Harry came in a little later, looking nervous. He must have thought she'd changed her mind when he softly mumbled that he'd finished cleaning the window. Petunia finished chopping up some butter for the cake and followed him down the hall to check the window, he'd indeed cleaned it well, paying mind to get the accumulated dust from the corners, it looked like he'd even given the actual door a wipe down. "Very well." She said. "I'll get the key." Harry followed her to the cupboard and gathered three books, a jar of ink, some parchment and two quills before withdrawing his top half from the small area. Petunia's eyes quickly read over the books. A Beginners Guid to Transfiguration. Book of Potions. A History of Magic. "Take those upstairs and then come back down here for a moment." She said a tiny bit curious as to what transfiguration was about. She recalled her sister happily telling their parents that it was her favourite subject. When Harry returned she gave him some food. "You can have that now. I'll bring up some for dinner later. And here." She handed him a key that wasn't for the cupboard. "That bird is making an awful racket, let her out now so she'll be settled later. Now off with you, I've got work to do."

She expected him to hurry off like usual so she didn't look up from the mixing bowl, but when she sensed he was still there she looked up to see him wiping his eyes. Had he been crying? "Thank you Auntie." He sniffed. She bit her lip and sighed grabbing Harry's shoulder as he turned to leave.

"Harry, I realise the way we've been treating you hasn't been fair. Now I can't get Vernon and Dudley to change but I can treat you a little more fairly, especially when it's just us." She said ignoring the fact his jaw almost hit the ground. "I'm still not comfortable with the whole magic thing. I don't think I ever will be. But I let it get in the way of my relationship with my parents, with my sister. And I've decided I won't let it get in the way of our relationship anymore. You are my nephew. Nothing will change that." Harry was properly crying now and even Petunia was a little soggy eyed. He caught her off guard by hugging her and sobbing several thank you's and she realised just how badly her actions, how their actions, had damaged the boy. She was about to say something more when the front door began to jiggle. "That'll be Dudley, quickly now, upstairs before he spots you with that key." She ushered him out of the kitchen and up the stairs and he disappeared from sight just as Dudley appeared through the door.

"Hello Diddikins, how was your day, darling?" She said as if she hadn't just had an emotional breakthrough with her neglected nephew.

"Absolutely rubbish. Alvin wouldn't give me the ball so I had to kick him in the shins..."
---

Albus looked up at the small sphere of light pulsating by his desk. It signified the strength of the blood wards around the Dursley's home and for the first time in its existence the sphere pulsed brighter than it ever had before. It was a signal of love strengthening the ward. He frowned for a moment, confused since Harry had made it clear the year before that the Dursley's didn't care for Harry. The sphere wasn't mistaken though, it couldn't be, magic didn't make mistakes, humans did. So there was someone under that roof that loved Harry and judging from the increase in brightness Dumbledore felt he could accurately guess who. He sat and smiled for a while, happy that maybe Harry's home life would be that little bit easier now.