Chapter Text
On Harry’s tenth birthday, he woke up with memories that didn’t make sense. He remembers having to sleep in a cupboard under the stairs, but that’s the entrance to the basement. He remembers being hit whenever he used magic, but Aunt Marge also had magic. He remembers being bullied by Dudley, but they’re brothers. He remembers going to Hogwarts, but he isn’t eleven yet. Or twelve, or any older! He was ni- ten ! He just turned ten.
He remembered dying . He was killed by the Dark Lord - the killing curse. How can he remember these things? And they are memories; they’re too real to be anything else.
Harry walked down the hall to his aunt and uncle’s room and knocked. Petunia opened the door and seeing something in Harry’s face, ushered him inside and woke up Vernon. She then left to check on Dudley.
“What happened that you woke me up at-” Vernon looked at the clock on the nightstand, “- three in the morning?”
“I remember things that never happened and haven’t happened yet. I remember you all being abusive and I remember going to Hogwarts, and I don’t know what’s going on!” Harry rushed out, tears starting to pool in his eyes.
It took a moment for Vernon to respond, but when he did, he was serious - more serious than Harry’s ever seen him. “When we got you, you were left on our doorstep in the middle of the night with just a letter as explanation. And all it said was that Lils and Jamie were dead, and you were to be in our care until you came of age to be without a guardian. Marge was with us that night and noticed that the letter had compulsions that attached to me and Tunie, along with the wards around the house. They were to hate you and anything magical. I have not seen it in person, but there are articles of people remembering their own deaths and the events that led up to it. Do you remember dying?”
“Yeah. It was the killing curse. I also remember getting flung back into the Veil of Death in the Ministry. After that I was laying in my bed here.”
“No one knows how, exactly, people end up in this situation - honestly, it’s seen as fake stories to gain attention - but that seems to be what has happened. We won’t let you die like that again, even if it means that we have to send in a spy or something.”
Harry gave a watery smile. “Thanks, Uncle Vernon.”
Petunia cleared her throat, drawing attention to herself and Dudley next to her. “Dudders and I have set up a blanket fort in the living room along with the air mattresses. Come on, let’s watch something. Duds even managed to charm it bigger on the inside.”
“Good job, Duds! That’s really cool! Thank you, all of you.” Harry got up off the bed - he had no idea when he sat on it - and dragged Dudley to the living room. “I didn’t know you had magic too.”
“Well,” Petunia started after entering the fort, “we weren’t sure when you were little, but as you grew into your magic, we had our suspicions.” She started telly on an action movie “But since you two are rarely apart, we decided to just wait until one or both of you got a letter from Hogwarts. Which will happen on your-”
“Eleventh birthday, we know. You’ve been talking about it since we were tiny.” Dudley pulled a small tote out from under the couch - which it shouldn’t have fit under - and handed Harry a homemade chocolate bar made of a swirl of light, dark, and white chocolate. “Do you two want anything?”
“Do you have any gummies?” asked Petunia. Dudley handed her a fairly large bag of a mix of gummy worms and bears.
“Some crisps?” Vernon intoned. Dudley handed over a variety of small bags.
The family fell asleep in the blanket fort cuddled together and didn’t wake up until late in the morning.