Categories > Books > Harry Potter > Harry Potter and the east wing of Hogwarts
No 4, Privet Drive at about 11:00 a.m., July 20th
Harry was quite surprised that he didn’t find himself on the receiving end of a screaming match, like the one a few days ago when Dumbledore had to establish new blood wards.
No, Aunt Petunia opened the door, sighed and just called to Vernon, “It’s the boy.”
Vernon just grunted in reply.
Harry’s eyebrows couldn’t raise higher. That was it? Petunia made way by turning to the kitchen. Only the tiniest bit of self-control made Harry keep his mouth up. Then he went inside the house.
He went upstairs to his room and flopped down on the bed. He was severely confused. And angry. And confused about being angry. What happened to him. Why did he snap at Brigitta like that. He never snapped at people older than him. The Dursleys had made sure of that. Did that come from his newfound sense of self-worth? He needed to make sense of it all. His emotions ran all over the place. And there was only one place in this house where his emotions calmed down; the garden.
Maybe he could convince Petunia of his idea from a few days ago. He wanted to do something like this. So he walked down the stairs again.
“Aunt Petunia, do you want a really beautiful garden?”
Paper rustled. Newspaper and Magazine fell down.
“What?!?” both Vernon and Petunia called.
“You heard me. I want to do something for you. I have an idea for the garden, that will make you the envy of all Privet Drive and around."
The adults conversed silently.
Vernon’s suspicion came through, “Why would you want to do so, boy?”
“Because it would calm me. You’d agree, that me being calm would be a good thing, right Vernon?”
Vernon nodded.
“And how would you do it?” Petunia snapped, “With M-“
Harry smiled tiredly as he raised his hand and shook his head, “No Aunt Petunia. I’d use no magic at all.”
And he went on to describe the idea he had in mind. With the waterfall in one corner, the raised flowerbeds, the pathway leading from the front yard to the backyard with a mosaic pattern, and lastly the small channel encased with stones, combed like in a Japanese stone garden. And not to forget the flowers, all in different colours, weaving another pattern of color. The best of all worlds so to speak.
Petunia walked out of the room, leaving Harry baffled. Did she not like it? His bafflement evaporated, when she came back with 200 pounds in her hand, pushing them into Harry’s.
“Get to work. I want that garden.”
“If it’s not enough?” Harry asked, “I’m not sure, how much-“
“Did I tell you that I want that garden or didn’t I?” Petunia snarled.
Harry took that as an encouragement to ask for more money if needed. Now he had to find a landscaping firm for the pipe sustaining the waterfall. He took the Telephone book to search for such a company. He found twelve.
Looking around, Harry found only Vernon in the house. Petunia was out in the garden, gossiping with No 2. They conversed shortly about the company Harry was to call, which Harry promptly did. They’d be delivering the pipe by Monday, so Harry had to get going. He went upstairs, shrunk some of his older clothes so they fit and went out into the garden, to clean the area of the old flowers that had to be displaced anyway. He fetched the shovel and started to slave away digging the trench for the Pipe, losing himself in the process.
He caught the sniff, though. So Remus was to spy on him today.
A few hours later he was physically finished for the day. Vernon had surprised him by getting him a crate of water bottles. He was even allowed to take a lavish shower. That was – nice.
He called out to his relatives that he’d be going out to look for the stones for his mosaic pathway. Petunia just called back, he’d need to be back by sun down. Which was later than anything Harry had planned.
As he exited the door he found himself unable to move due to a hand on his chest.
A whispered “Harry, no,” accompanied his being pushed back into the house. The door closed seemingly of its own accord and a swish of an Invisibility Cloak revealed Remus Lupin.
A pretty annoyed Remus Lupin.
“Harry, you can’t go out of this house. It is dangerous out there. Who knows what could happen. Molly would have my hide, if anything – anything happened to you. Please don’t make it so hard on us.”
Harry snorted.
“Remus, you old worry-wart. Nothing will happen to me. The Dementors were sent by a witch in the Ministry. No Death Eater there. They don’t dare to touch me, cause they’re afraid of what Voldemort might do to them. I’m his priority and no one else’s. Apart from them, I can deal with things.”
“Harry, that’s what you might think, but I assure you…”
“And now you sound just like Fumble-more. Remus, the last time Dementors attacked me, not only I saved mine and Dudley’s life, but I walked away scot free, I got a permission to do underage magic, I cleared Sirius’s name, as well as giving the wizarding world a competent leader. So don’t even talk like I have no idea. Cause I got one or two floating around in my head. Thing is: I am going to build a garden for my relatives. I’m doing this so they don’t judge all wizards by the big manipulating Dumbledore’s example. I need to choose Stones and Flowers of different colour, size, and texture for it. I’ve got nothing better to do right now, so I’m doing this right now. And if you are so afraid of me alone in the big bad world out there, you can walk behind me silently and invisibly and protect me from all the dangers of having some semblance of a normal life, if not – Merlin forbid – fun. Cause these are the only dangers Stumble-more’s afraid of. So: Deal?”
Remus sighed. Teenagers and their rebellious phase.
“Deal.”
“Good. Come on. The gardening shop isn’t too far away.”
Remus donned the invisibility cloak and followed silently.
On the way to the shop, Harry calculated the probable amount of potting soil and earth he’d need, as well as the amount and size of the stones for the raised bed. When he reached the shop, he talked to one of the more experienced assistants about his plan. The assistant agreed with his calculations though he was trying to convince Harry to buy some more of each, in case it wouldn’t be enough. But why did he blink with one eye while saying that? Harry declined none the less. He knew what he needed and already rounded up the amounts. He didn’t want to jeopardize the tentative détente with the Dursleys for such a foolish prank.
The assistant understood that pretty quickly and moved back to the original discussion about the stones Harry needed and the date, at which they were to be delivered. After finalizing the details and paying the 200 £ as an advance, both Wizards walked back to Privet Drive with Harry deep in thought.
Now that he had calmed quite a bit – there’s nothing like work to do that – he started to think again about his Situation with Brigitta. He was still quite confused about his behaviour but it started to become a bit clearer. His expectations were always quashed or walked over. It was always what the others thought and did that mattered but not what he thought and did. It was always the other peoples plans and wishes he had to obey, and not his own. He felt quite stupid. He had plans too and wanted to see them become reality.
Brigittas kiss was another of these instances. Sure, she had asked for allowance, but not for what that allowance was. Sure, the kiss was nice but if he said he wasn’t ready, did that count for nothing? His words, his thoughts and feelings mattered, damn it. The ferociousness of the emotions surprised Harry. His fuse became shorter. He didn’t want to be trampled on anymore. She’d have some grovelling to do. He didn’t want to complicate matters by calling Susan and pulling her into this episode.
So when he entered Privet Drive he only greeted the Dursleys in passing before walking upstairs and calling Sirius. Maybe he’d know something about that. He had helped before.
“Sirius?”
“Harry! Are you alright? Has something happened?”
“Don’t worry, everything physically is fine. I need your help with Brigitta again.”
“What happened? Did she hug you again?” Sirius smiled.
Harry sighed, “No. This time she kissed me…”
Sirius cheered.
“... and I’m angry about it.”
“What? Why are you angry when such a hot woman kisses you?”
“That’s my problem. I don’t know. Well, I know that she trampled all over me in doing so.”
Sirius sobered up immediately, “Oh Harry.”
Both of them fell silent.
After a while, Sirius spoke up, “Welcome to becoming an adult. It’s a fight to make them take you seriously, let me tell you.”
“Yeah, I know. Today even Remus tried to Molly-coddle me.”
“What?!?”
“Yeah. I want to build a garden for the Dursleys which I like too. Dursleys agree, Remus doesn’t. Well, Remus agreed to chaperone me on the walk of unspeakable Dangers to the Garden shop and back.”
“Ooh, that … when he comes home to Papa, I’ll have some words with him, you mark my word.”
“Your choice, Sirius, but I think it’s useless. He’s firmly in Dumbledore’s and Molly’s ‘Harry has to be protected’-pocket,” Harry leered the last bit.
“Still. If he wants to be an honorary uncle, he’d better improve,” Sirius said.
“Yeah, Remus the voice of reason. I’ve had so much reason in my life that I have it up to here,” Harry held his hand to his chin, enraged.
Sirius rocked back, eyebrows raised, “Harry?”
“Yeah, this confuses me too. All this rage inside of me. Is this normal, Sirius?”
After rocking his head to and fro, Sirius answered, “Yeah this is about normal. You’re getting to notice the bigger things and the emotional stakes are becoming higher and higher. The thing is, rage gets exploited. This is something my father said, ‘Reason can stand better against evil, if it is guided by anger,’ and what he means is not blind rage but the cool, calculated anger – though his ‘evil’ were muggle-born. So you might want to take it with a grain of salt, or two.”
Harry nodded. That sounded reasonable.
“Still, don’t hold on to it,” Sirius continued, “Being angry is one thing, being continually angry is completely another. You do know a continuously angry man.”
“Snape.”
“Yes. He’s the negative example. Let go of your anger, then summon it when you need it.”
“Key word angry, Sirius. I’ve seen Susan in my dreams and I see her doing … things. Is that my imagination or would that be a side effect of my bond with her?”
“That could be a side effect. I didn’t ask James about these things, as they were quite personal, but the way he phrased it, now that I think back, could mean that he experienced these things with Lily.”
“Good. Could you then explain, how my bond with Narcissa Malfoy of all people came into existence?”
Sirius mouth fell to the floor, “What?!?”
“Yes, she’s in that dreamscape too, which I think means I have a bond with her too. But every time I have encountered her I’m always so angry like I can barely control myself.”
“Damn, Harry, you don’t do things by half, don’t you? How did that happen?” Sirius concern nearly overwhelmed Harry.
“As if I’d know, Sirius. Hang on, I got to secure the area,” Harry waved his wand around, securing the room against eavesdroppers.
“Well it was like this. Yesterday, I went to visit Susan and a House Elf motions to me to come in. Narcissa was there and threatening Brigitta, holding Susan hostage. My magic exploded out of my wand and the Malfoy-bitch flew through the air and landed in a crumpled heap on the floor. Suddenly I’m in so much pain until something inside me gave way and vanished. Susan ran to me and held me before I lost consciousness. This morning I see Susan in my dream like I told you and quite a bit away Narcissa kneeled. When I saw her there, I was like … I dunno, I’ve never felt anything like it. It was hate, anger, rage … everything bad and passionate was there and then I woke up.”
“Harry, that sounds like a bond, but I’m not sure… James spoke only of Submission when he fancied someone, but never when he hated someone. Or else our dear old Snivellus here were in quite some danger.”
“Could it have happened? Maybe that’s one reason why Snape hates my guts.”
“Again, I’m not sure. But that bond wouldn’t transfer or you’d see Snape in your dreamscape too.”
“Eeeew. I soo did not need that image. Still, I wish I could’ve asked my dad about that.”
“Yes Harry, I agree.”
Harry started, “I’m sorry Sirius, I didn’t mean that. You’re helping me in such a great way. You still mean the world to me.”
Sirius’s eyes misted over, “Thank you, Harry. That means the world to me.”
Both smiled at each other.
“One more thing, Sirius. In your book is a passage to meditate with the target of a library. How do I do that?”
“I don’t know, Harry, but I’ll look into it, o.k.?”
“O.k. Thank you Sirius.”
__--^^°°^^--__
No 4, Privet Drive in the afternoon, July 22nd
Harry stood in the garden and admired his handiwork. The garden was coming together exactly like he envisioned it and even Petunia liked it so far. The waterfall was already flowing into the channel like planned, not a drop of it vanished – Harry had been painstakingly exact with the instructions and the execution – and the high bed had the flowers already planted. He only needed to place the stones separating the different layers and he’d be finished with the back yard. Dudley even offered to help that day and Harry was baffled again – he’d never experienced helpfulness on these grounds.
So they worked away, though Harry wished, he’d have Big D’s help 2 days ago, when the earth moved – or rather was moved by Harry, and uncounted amounts of pushing the wheelbarrow towards the backyard. But now, they were almost done with the work and everything seemingly fell into place – if only because both kids had worked nearly until exhaustion and nearly couldn’t hold the stones anymore. But then it was done, Harry and Dudley both panted heavily from the strain.
“Thanks, Dudley.”
“You’re welcome, Harry. This is quite the garden.”
“Yeah, thanks again. Hope your family appreciates the effort, if not the result.”
Dudley wanted to answer but a shriek interrupted him. Petunia stood in the doorway and looked at the finished garden.
“It’s … it’s … it’s so … beautiful…” Petunia’s voice was laced with wonder. It was a possibility that she never had such a beautiful garden before.
“And you really wanted to do this? By hand?” She shook her head, “Thank you, Harry.”
Harry nodded, “Don’t mention it.”
When Vernon returned from his afternoon tour, he gasped after seeing the garden. He couldn’t say much, but there was the tiniest bit of gratitude in his eyes.
At which Harry tiredly smiled and nodded. They understood each other.
Harry was quite surprised that he didn’t find himself on the receiving end of a screaming match, like the one a few days ago when Dumbledore had to establish new blood wards.
No, Aunt Petunia opened the door, sighed and just called to Vernon, “It’s the boy.”
Vernon just grunted in reply.
Harry’s eyebrows couldn’t raise higher. That was it? Petunia made way by turning to the kitchen. Only the tiniest bit of self-control made Harry keep his mouth up. Then he went inside the house.
He went upstairs to his room and flopped down on the bed. He was severely confused. And angry. And confused about being angry. What happened to him. Why did he snap at Brigitta like that. He never snapped at people older than him. The Dursleys had made sure of that. Did that come from his newfound sense of self-worth? He needed to make sense of it all. His emotions ran all over the place. And there was only one place in this house where his emotions calmed down; the garden.
Maybe he could convince Petunia of his idea from a few days ago. He wanted to do something like this. So he walked down the stairs again.
“Aunt Petunia, do you want a really beautiful garden?”
Paper rustled. Newspaper and Magazine fell down.
“What?!?” both Vernon and Petunia called.
“You heard me. I want to do something for you. I have an idea for the garden, that will make you the envy of all Privet Drive and around."
The adults conversed silently.
Vernon’s suspicion came through, “Why would you want to do so, boy?”
“Because it would calm me. You’d agree, that me being calm would be a good thing, right Vernon?”
Vernon nodded.
“And how would you do it?” Petunia snapped, “With M-“
Harry smiled tiredly as he raised his hand and shook his head, “No Aunt Petunia. I’d use no magic at all.”
And he went on to describe the idea he had in mind. With the waterfall in one corner, the raised flowerbeds, the pathway leading from the front yard to the backyard with a mosaic pattern, and lastly the small channel encased with stones, combed like in a Japanese stone garden. And not to forget the flowers, all in different colours, weaving another pattern of color. The best of all worlds so to speak.
Petunia walked out of the room, leaving Harry baffled. Did she not like it? His bafflement evaporated, when she came back with 200 pounds in her hand, pushing them into Harry’s.
“Get to work. I want that garden.”
“If it’s not enough?” Harry asked, “I’m not sure, how much-“
“Did I tell you that I want that garden or didn’t I?” Petunia snarled.
Harry took that as an encouragement to ask for more money if needed. Now he had to find a landscaping firm for the pipe sustaining the waterfall. He took the Telephone book to search for such a company. He found twelve.
Looking around, Harry found only Vernon in the house. Petunia was out in the garden, gossiping with No 2. They conversed shortly about the company Harry was to call, which Harry promptly did. They’d be delivering the pipe by Monday, so Harry had to get going. He went upstairs, shrunk some of his older clothes so they fit and went out into the garden, to clean the area of the old flowers that had to be displaced anyway. He fetched the shovel and started to slave away digging the trench for the Pipe, losing himself in the process.
He caught the sniff, though. So Remus was to spy on him today.
A few hours later he was physically finished for the day. Vernon had surprised him by getting him a crate of water bottles. He was even allowed to take a lavish shower. That was – nice.
He called out to his relatives that he’d be going out to look for the stones for his mosaic pathway. Petunia just called back, he’d need to be back by sun down. Which was later than anything Harry had planned.
As he exited the door he found himself unable to move due to a hand on his chest.
A whispered “Harry, no,” accompanied his being pushed back into the house. The door closed seemingly of its own accord and a swish of an Invisibility Cloak revealed Remus Lupin.
A pretty annoyed Remus Lupin.
“Harry, you can’t go out of this house. It is dangerous out there. Who knows what could happen. Molly would have my hide, if anything – anything happened to you. Please don’t make it so hard on us.”
Harry snorted.
“Remus, you old worry-wart. Nothing will happen to me. The Dementors were sent by a witch in the Ministry. No Death Eater there. They don’t dare to touch me, cause they’re afraid of what Voldemort might do to them. I’m his priority and no one else’s. Apart from them, I can deal with things.”
“Harry, that’s what you might think, but I assure you…”
“And now you sound just like Fumble-more. Remus, the last time Dementors attacked me, not only I saved mine and Dudley’s life, but I walked away scot free, I got a permission to do underage magic, I cleared Sirius’s name, as well as giving the wizarding world a competent leader. So don’t even talk like I have no idea. Cause I got one or two floating around in my head. Thing is: I am going to build a garden for my relatives. I’m doing this so they don’t judge all wizards by the big manipulating Dumbledore’s example. I need to choose Stones and Flowers of different colour, size, and texture for it. I’ve got nothing better to do right now, so I’m doing this right now. And if you are so afraid of me alone in the big bad world out there, you can walk behind me silently and invisibly and protect me from all the dangers of having some semblance of a normal life, if not – Merlin forbid – fun. Cause these are the only dangers Stumble-more’s afraid of. So: Deal?”
Remus sighed. Teenagers and their rebellious phase.
“Deal.”
“Good. Come on. The gardening shop isn’t too far away.”
Remus donned the invisibility cloak and followed silently.
On the way to the shop, Harry calculated the probable amount of potting soil and earth he’d need, as well as the amount and size of the stones for the raised bed. When he reached the shop, he talked to one of the more experienced assistants about his plan. The assistant agreed with his calculations though he was trying to convince Harry to buy some more of each, in case it wouldn’t be enough. But why did he blink with one eye while saying that? Harry declined none the less. He knew what he needed and already rounded up the amounts. He didn’t want to jeopardize the tentative détente with the Dursleys for such a foolish prank.
The assistant understood that pretty quickly and moved back to the original discussion about the stones Harry needed and the date, at which they were to be delivered. After finalizing the details and paying the 200 £ as an advance, both Wizards walked back to Privet Drive with Harry deep in thought.
Now that he had calmed quite a bit – there’s nothing like work to do that – he started to think again about his Situation with Brigitta. He was still quite confused about his behaviour but it started to become a bit clearer. His expectations were always quashed or walked over. It was always what the others thought and did that mattered but not what he thought and did. It was always the other peoples plans and wishes he had to obey, and not his own. He felt quite stupid. He had plans too and wanted to see them become reality.
Brigittas kiss was another of these instances. Sure, she had asked for allowance, but not for what that allowance was. Sure, the kiss was nice but if he said he wasn’t ready, did that count for nothing? His words, his thoughts and feelings mattered, damn it. The ferociousness of the emotions surprised Harry. His fuse became shorter. He didn’t want to be trampled on anymore. She’d have some grovelling to do. He didn’t want to complicate matters by calling Susan and pulling her into this episode.
So when he entered Privet Drive he only greeted the Dursleys in passing before walking upstairs and calling Sirius. Maybe he’d know something about that. He had helped before.
“Sirius?”
“Harry! Are you alright? Has something happened?”
“Don’t worry, everything physically is fine. I need your help with Brigitta again.”
“What happened? Did she hug you again?” Sirius smiled.
Harry sighed, “No. This time she kissed me…”
Sirius cheered.
“... and I’m angry about it.”
“What? Why are you angry when such a hot woman kisses you?”
“That’s my problem. I don’t know. Well, I know that she trampled all over me in doing so.”
Sirius sobered up immediately, “Oh Harry.”
Both of them fell silent.
After a while, Sirius spoke up, “Welcome to becoming an adult. It’s a fight to make them take you seriously, let me tell you.”
“Yeah, I know. Today even Remus tried to Molly-coddle me.”
“What?!?”
“Yeah. I want to build a garden for the Dursleys which I like too. Dursleys agree, Remus doesn’t. Well, Remus agreed to chaperone me on the walk of unspeakable Dangers to the Garden shop and back.”
“Ooh, that … when he comes home to Papa, I’ll have some words with him, you mark my word.”
“Your choice, Sirius, but I think it’s useless. He’s firmly in Dumbledore’s and Molly’s ‘Harry has to be protected’-pocket,” Harry leered the last bit.
“Still. If he wants to be an honorary uncle, he’d better improve,” Sirius said.
“Yeah, Remus the voice of reason. I’ve had so much reason in my life that I have it up to here,” Harry held his hand to his chin, enraged.
Sirius rocked back, eyebrows raised, “Harry?”
“Yeah, this confuses me too. All this rage inside of me. Is this normal, Sirius?”
After rocking his head to and fro, Sirius answered, “Yeah this is about normal. You’re getting to notice the bigger things and the emotional stakes are becoming higher and higher. The thing is, rage gets exploited. This is something my father said, ‘Reason can stand better against evil, if it is guided by anger,’ and what he means is not blind rage but the cool, calculated anger – though his ‘evil’ were muggle-born. So you might want to take it with a grain of salt, or two.”
Harry nodded. That sounded reasonable.
“Still, don’t hold on to it,” Sirius continued, “Being angry is one thing, being continually angry is completely another. You do know a continuously angry man.”
“Snape.”
“Yes. He’s the negative example. Let go of your anger, then summon it when you need it.”
“Key word angry, Sirius. I’ve seen Susan in my dreams and I see her doing … things. Is that my imagination or would that be a side effect of my bond with her?”
“That could be a side effect. I didn’t ask James about these things, as they were quite personal, but the way he phrased it, now that I think back, could mean that he experienced these things with Lily.”
“Good. Could you then explain, how my bond with Narcissa Malfoy of all people came into existence?”
Sirius mouth fell to the floor, “What?!?”
“Yes, she’s in that dreamscape too, which I think means I have a bond with her too. But every time I have encountered her I’m always so angry like I can barely control myself.”
“Damn, Harry, you don’t do things by half, don’t you? How did that happen?” Sirius concern nearly overwhelmed Harry.
“As if I’d know, Sirius. Hang on, I got to secure the area,” Harry waved his wand around, securing the room against eavesdroppers.
“Well it was like this. Yesterday, I went to visit Susan and a House Elf motions to me to come in. Narcissa was there and threatening Brigitta, holding Susan hostage. My magic exploded out of my wand and the Malfoy-bitch flew through the air and landed in a crumpled heap on the floor. Suddenly I’m in so much pain until something inside me gave way and vanished. Susan ran to me and held me before I lost consciousness. This morning I see Susan in my dream like I told you and quite a bit away Narcissa kneeled. When I saw her there, I was like … I dunno, I’ve never felt anything like it. It was hate, anger, rage … everything bad and passionate was there and then I woke up.”
“Harry, that sounds like a bond, but I’m not sure… James spoke only of Submission when he fancied someone, but never when he hated someone. Or else our dear old Snivellus here were in quite some danger.”
“Could it have happened? Maybe that’s one reason why Snape hates my guts.”
“Again, I’m not sure. But that bond wouldn’t transfer or you’d see Snape in your dreamscape too.”
“Eeeew. I soo did not need that image. Still, I wish I could’ve asked my dad about that.”
“Yes Harry, I agree.”
Harry started, “I’m sorry Sirius, I didn’t mean that. You’re helping me in such a great way. You still mean the world to me.”
Sirius’s eyes misted over, “Thank you, Harry. That means the world to me.”
Both smiled at each other.
“One more thing, Sirius. In your book is a passage to meditate with the target of a library. How do I do that?”
“I don’t know, Harry, but I’ll look into it, o.k.?”
“O.k. Thank you Sirius.”
__--^^°°^^--__
No 4, Privet Drive in the afternoon, July 22nd
Harry stood in the garden and admired his handiwork. The garden was coming together exactly like he envisioned it and even Petunia liked it so far. The waterfall was already flowing into the channel like planned, not a drop of it vanished – Harry had been painstakingly exact with the instructions and the execution – and the high bed had the flowers already planted. He only needed to place the stones separating the different layers and he’d be finished with the back yard. Dudley even offered to help that day and Harry was baffled again – he’d never experienced helpfulness on these grounds.
So they worked away, though Harry wished, he’d have Big D’s help 2 days ago, when the earth moved – or rather was moved by Harry, and uncounted amounts of pushing the wheelbarrow towards the backyard. But now, they were almost done with the work and everything seemingly fell into place – if only because both kids had worked nearly until exhaustion and nearly couldn’t hold the stones anymore. But then it was done, Harry and Dudley both panted heavily from the strain.
“Thanks, Dudley.”
“You’re welcome, Harry. This is quite the garden.”
“Yeah, thanks again. Hope your family appreciates the effort, if not the result.”
Dudley wanted to answer but a shriek interrupted him. Petunia stood in the doorway and looked at the finished garden.
“It’s … it’s … it’s so … beautiful…” Petunia’s voice was laced with wonder. It was a possibility that she never had such a beautiful garden before.
“And you really wanted to do this? By hand?” She shook her head, “Thank you, Harry.”
Harry nodded, “Don’t mention it.”
When Vernon returned from his afternoon tour, he gasped after seeing the garden. He couldn’t say much, but there was the tiniest bit of gratitude in his eyes.
At which Harry tiredly smiled and nodded. They understood each other.
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