The Past Meets the Future at Hogwarts: Part 3

Chapter 3: Victoria

 To say the next morning was bad was an understatement. I woke up and headed downstairs like normal to cook breakfast only to find Aunt Petunia slightly more dressed up than usual.

"Is there some special occasion today?" I asked, knowing they wouldn't say anything about Harry's birthday.

I regretted the question immediately as Aunt Petunia turned on me with a small glare. "Finish cooking then go get yourself dressed up. Aunt Marge is coming in today, and you are going to look and play the part. We have told her nothing of your true self and to her you go to Bruton school for girls where they train you to be a proper young lady."

My eyes widened slightly, but I did as Aunt Petunia said. An image of Aunt Marge flew into my mind along with a few other incidents when she had come. "Also, Harry will be staying in Dudley's room and you will be taking Harry's room for the week. Aunt Marge would throw a fit if you and Harry stayed in the same room."

I nodded and set the food out before sprinting back up the stairs. I took anything magic or me related and moved it into Harry's room as he headed down for breakfast. I called after him Happy Birthday. He smiled at that as I headed back into my room.

Sitting on the desk was five outfits for me to wear for the week along with a little jewelry and a bag of makeup. I started with makeup only putting on powder, lip gloss, and a little mascara. I hated makeup anyways and putting it on always made me feel weird.

Next I slipped on a white dress with purple floral design on it. The sleeves were off the shoulder and exposed my collarbones to the public, not that I cared. I threw on a pair of brown sandals before brushing my hair out and leaving it down.

Once I deemed myself as done, I headed downstairs into the kitchen. Harry took one look at me and gaped. I smirked a little at that as I moved to sit down next to Harry. The TV was playing the morning news. It was a brand new TV, and I found it funny that the boys didn't just eat in the living room if they liked watching TV that much.

It was currently going on about some prisoner who had escaped. It sounded interesting, but it obviously didn't pertain to me, so I zoned out of that. Harry tapped me on the shoulder, and I turned toward him, "What?" I hissed.

"You look pretty," He stuttered out.

I smiled at that and thanked him. Before I could tell him why though, Uncle Vernon told him.

Harry did not look happy about Aunt Marge coming, but something seemed to click in his mind because he went racing out after Uncle Vernon when he left.

"Girl, to look the part you can't slouch. Don't yawn so much either. You really are a disgrace," Aunt Petunia huffed as she went off to help Dudley get dressed.

I had to bite back a nasty comment about how if I was a disgrace then I didn't want to know what she thought about Dudley. That boy could barely sit in the dining room chair without it breaking.

I rushed upstairs to Harry's room and spotted Harry shoving stuff under a floorboard. "Busted," I said with a smile as he turned around.

"Jeez, you scared me there. Can you let Hedwig and Errol out? There's a note on the desk for you to send them with."

I nodded as he turned back to what he was doing. I quickly pulled out some parchment and wrote quick replies to my friends and family before tying those to Pip and letting him fly home to Zagan. Then I set Errol and Hedwig off with Harry's note. I helped him fit both bird cages into the wardrobe before we both left for downstairs.

The sound of a car on the gravel driveway signified the end to a decent summer. Marge spent the entire first day messing with Harry. That seemed to be her favorite task. I tried to stay out of her way and stay silent. They seemed to like that. I only did it because maybe if I played my cards right, I could ask them to take me to London and leave me with my friends.

The second day started her torment on me. Aunt Petunia had convinced me to set up tea in the garden after lunch for Aunt Marge, her, and I to spend a girls afternoon. It was not my idea of a fun afternoon, but both older women showed up.

"So, what school do you have this little brat at?" Aunt Marge boomed. I could only think that by the end of the week I would most definitely be hard of hearing.

"Burton's school for girls," Aunt Petunia said through a fake smile.

"Ahh. They don't seem to be doing their job don't you think. I mean, this girl is just as bad as she was if she had been in public school. You should just put her back there in my opinion."

I faked a smile through the rest of the meal as she started pointing out flaws she had found. My nose was too small. I should wear more makeup to hide the blemishes on my face. I was way too skinny to be pretty.

As much as I didn't want them to, the words had their intended effect. That night before bed, when I looked in the mirror, all I could see were the flaws she had pointed out. I didn't know how much more of this I could take. I had never thought I was ugly, but somehow this woman was definitely tugging on the insecurities that I had buried.

After a much longer week than necessary, it was finally Marge's last night. She spent the entire first half of the meal bashing on my looks and finally threw in the final blow of no wonder my parents left me.

I felt shaky enough as it was, but then she started on Harry. Theories about his parents that weren't at all flattering. Harry snapped. Marge started blowing up like a balloon. I don't know what got into me either, but all the brandy, wine, and coffee around exploded in their owners' faces.

I had to stumble after Harry, seeing spots dancing in my eyes. I didn't think that was healthy, but oh well. Harry pulled all of our stuff out of the cupboard as I raced up the stairs rather like a drunk person would and grabbed all of our stuff.

"You okay?" Harry asked as we started to drag our stuff out.

"Yeah," I lied. Uncle Vernon yelled at us to fix this mess, but it wasn't as scary as usual when his entire nice evening attire was covered in red and brown stains.

Harry said we were leaving and together we stormed out of the house. The last thought I had was how was I supposed to explain this to my family. They were going to kill the Dursleys and Aunt Marge. On top of that, sitting in my bookbag was the makeup Aunt Petunia had gotten me. Hey, maybe I could cover up the acne and other things. Maybe I could be pretty.