Chapter Six
Aunt Petunia's POV:
"I didn't think we actually had a cat. And I locked the girl freak in here last night. Where is she?" My husband bellowed. I looked farther into the room and saw only the cat.
"A long time ago, I heard a story from my sister," I began.
"You mean the freak? I don't want to hear any of their stories." Vernon was mad. His face was going from its usual blotchy red to a deep purple the longer we stood there.
"You're going to want to hear this. It might answer some of your questions." Vernon looked at me with unbelief, as though he couldn't imagine anything that would explain the replacement of the girl with the cat.
"Well, get on with it then!"
"Lily used to tell me stories of her friends at school. They could do the strangest things. Things that not all fr-freaks could do. She said they could turn into animals. I can't quite recall what she called them, but they could make themselves transform. I think that is what happened here, with the girl."
"Well, make her come back! The cat won't do us any good!" My husband's anger startled Ivory (if that is who the cat was), and she hid under the covers on the cot. I reached down and picked up the small shaking body, holding it close.
"Ivory, can you transform back? The strange man is gone." I hoped my words would comfort her, the cat was just so cute.
Just as the cat was changing back into Ivory, the front door flew open to reveal the strange, greasy man from before. In that instant, I recognized him as one of Lily's friends. "You." My eyes narrowed as he reached to take the weak girl from my arms.
"Petunia," he snipped with a nod of the head. "She is over-exerted, and if she doesn't come with me, she will die."
Vernon stepped between Ivory and Snape. "You aren't taking her away. Taking one of the freaks was enough, you don't get this one, too!"
With a wave of his wand, Snape moved both of us away from the girl. "Who is this? Why is she here?" Without another word, he and the girl spun away.
The stairs creaked and I looked up to see Dudley stepping down them. "They took her away. I thought they didn't know she was real." Vernon's face turned red at the words.
"Don't worry Dudley, the freak will be ours again soon enough."
I had never been so afraid of my husband as I was at the look in his eyes.
