Always and Forever - A Harry Potter Fanfiction

Chapter Five

We landed on a road. A familiar street lay out in front of me. I didn't have to look at the signpost on the grass beside us.

"Privet Drive?" I asked Alice. She nodded grimly. Alice knew who lived here and the problems I've had with them.

Petunia was my sister and we had been extremely close when we were young. That was until I got my Hogwarts letter when I was eleven years old and Petunia didn't get hers. I started to grow quite close to a boy who lived near to us because he got a letter too. Petunia grew quite jealous and spiteful as a result and she was never quite the same with me. She would pick on me when I came home for the holidays and my parents never picked up on it so eventually I only started coming home during the summer holidays when Hogwarts was closed. I left school and married James soon after. I invited her to my wedding but she never came. She never invited me to her wedding so I only found out she was married a day later when my mother called, demanding to know why I hadn't been there. She had wept over the phone when she realised that Petunia and I had never made up after all this time. We never really had.

She had moved to Privet Drive with her husband after their honeymoon. Number 4 Privet Drive.

Alice and I walked that way now. A car was parked in the driveway, a smart business car. We walked past that and to the window next to the door. The living room window. I peered in.

The T.V was on and I could hear the five 'o' clock news blaring. Sat opposite the set was Petunia on the sofa. Her permed hair was falling out in wisps and she was biting her nails, a habit she hadn't done in a while. Her eyes were red and puffy and as I looked, I saw a tear slide down her cheek.

Behind her, next to the dining room were two highchairs. A child was sat in each. I recognised Harry straight away and looked at him for a long time. His hair was the jet black of James' and his eyes were mine, my green eyes. He looked okay. Happy. He had a thin slither of pink iced cake whereas the other child, my nephew clearly, had a much bigger chunk. I looked at Harry for a long time, never wanting to move from where I was. I loved Harry to pieces and I couldn't bear to part from him again... However, Alice moved her hand to me, finding my elbow through the Cloak and disapparated before I could feel like I had my fill of seeing my son.

This time we apparated onto a pathway. The sun was setting fast and the bitter cold wind was biting at bare skin. However, the cold of the wind was nothing compared to the chill of realising where we were. Godric's Hollow, the village where Harry, James and I fled in the hope of keeping Harry safe from Voldemort. Where we were currently was facing the church with our backs to my home. I swallowed as I looked over to where the graveyard would be behind the church. Where James was soon to be buried.

However, we went through the gate and up the pathway leading to the church doors. The lights were on and Remus Lupin, Severus Snape and Frank Longbottom stood outside, looking anxious. Moony and Frank stood a little distance away from Severus. Frank relaxed the second that he saw Alice and was by her side in a second, hugging her tight. I touched Moony's arm and Severus' hand to let them know I was here too.

"Okay, Lil?" Moony whispered. He looked even more tired than he had previously.

"Yes." I whispered back. Severus just cast a glance of despair in my direction and walked into the church. He sat in the pew at the very back, far away from the other mourners. I walked in with Moony behind me.

The church was lit by candles and lanterns which made it look spooky and homey. Moony and I walked down the red carpeted aisle between the pews where towards the front, more people congregated. I recognised nearly everyone and felt so happy that so many had come to pay their respects. There was Bathilda Bagshot, the author of the book A History of Magic who had visited us many times at our home and admired Harry, showing him the affection that his grandparents couldn't now they were all dead. There were the other members of the Order of the Phoenix, Dedalus Diggle, Elphias Doge, Sturgis Podmore, Dorcas Meadowes, Caradoc Dearborn, Emmeline Vance. Hagrid was on a specially enlarged chair by the far end of the pews. He was already sobbing.