Professor Potter

Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Harry sat in his favorite chair in the library, decompressing after the stressful afternoon visit of his aunt, uncle and cousin plus Dudley's new wife. The stress stemmed mostly from Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia. Dudley said almost nothing and his wife, Mary, was actually a fairly pleasant person. Harry wondered what the story was there but no details on how they met were offered and he didn't ask. They left around five that afternoon and the Potters had a simple, and quiet, dinner. Ginny was soon off to bed, pleading fatigue and a slight headache. Harry was wondering if this pregnancy was going to be a difficult one. The evening was wearing on when Abagail appeared in the doorway, attracting Harry's attention by knocking on the door frame.

"May I?"

"Of course, little one. Did you get James put to bed alright?" he asked.

"Yes, he was a little angel, as always," she replied.

"Hmm, I wonder how long that's going to last," Harry said with a small smile.

Abagail didn't return the smile. She stood looking at Harry with a somber expression. Then she slowly walked until she was standing in front of him as he sat. He looked up at her with his brilliant green eyes questioning. Hers began to fill a bit and she reached down to take his book and drop it on the chair nearby. Then she sat down on his lap and put her head alongside his, her face half buried in his shoulder.

"Whatever is the matter, little one?" he asked.

Whatever it was she said in response was unintelligible due to the soft, choking voice being muffled by his shoulder. He rubbed her back a bit and whispered a few soothing words. After a few minutes of this she shifted position so that her knees were drawn up and the side of her head rested on his shoulder. To Harry it was as if she was that frightened eleven year old once more.

"What's wrong, Abagail?"

"I had no idea, Harry. I thought I did but it was so much worse."

"What was worse?" he asked quietly.

"Your childhood, Harry. I thought from how I used to look at you I knew what your time with the Dursleys was like but..." she trailed off.

"But what?" he prodded.

"I looked at them, your aunt, your uncle, your cousin. I saw how they felt about you then, and now. Why they did what they did, the vile, vicious things. Good lord, Harry, how did you bear it?" she said, her voice brittle and bitter.

Now it might have occurred to someone else to tell Abagail that he really didn't want to talk about this painful time of his life, but not Harry. He new that Abagail was in real pain at the moment and needed to talk this through, so he took a deep breath, let it out slowly and said in a low tone,

"I don't know, little one. I suppose I didn't know any other way. Perhaps if I had been older when my parents died and I knew what it was like to be loved it would have been harder."

Abagail sat up a bit and looked at Harry, her cheeks and eyes wet. His eyes were dry but bleak.

"Do you have any idea how much your aunt despised you, Harry? Her only sister's only child and she could barely tolerate your being in her house. She hated the idea of magic so much she took it out on you, a helpless child. And she encouraged the others to treat you the same way."

"She never made any secret of how she felt about magic," Harry said. "I remember when she called my mother a freak that night when Hagrid came to the cabin on that tiny island."

"Then you can add hypocrite to her list of sins. She was so jealous of her sister being a witch. Did you know she wrote to Dumbledore to ask if she could go to school with her? She wanted to be special and be a witch, too," Abagail said, the anger tingeing her voice.