Julie Anne Dursley

Aftermath Part 1

Monday, July 6, 1998

"I'm home!" Harry called as he entered The Burrow's living room through the open back door.

"Hello dear, you're right on time for dinner," Mrs Weasley answered him, and sure enough a very pleasant smell drifted towards him from the kitchen. Harry had just finished another day of work as an Auror. He enjoyed his career tremendously, but with the war still fresh in his mind the thought of coming home to an empty house every day was not at all appealing to him. Therefore, the Weasleys had so kindly allowed him to live with them for the foreseeable future, an offer he had been very happy to accept.

"How was work today?" Mrs Weasley asked, offering him a bowl of soup.

"Quiet, but that's all right, just how I always liked it in my life," Harry said with a slightly cynical smile. Mrs Weasley returned his smile and then called the others. Mr Weasley was still at work, but Ron, Hermione and Ginny were more than happy to enjoy dinner. Ron was an Auror too, while Hermione and Ginny would go back to Hogwarts in September to finish their last year. Hermione could not bear the thought of not finishing her education, while Harry and Ron had not really seen the point of it now that they already got their desired jobs. Immediately after the war, Hermione had gone to Australia to restore her parents' memories and bring them home. They resumed their lives as dentists and Hermione lived with them, but this week she was staying at her boyfriend's place. Everyone felt very happy, but Harry still had something to do, something that he had put off for a while. He had decided to finally get it out of the way, though.

"I'm going to Privet Drive tomorrow afternoon, to pick up my last belongings," he said, after gulping down his pumpkin juice. It was true, he had not taken everything with him when he left last year.

"Do you want us to come with you? You know, for support," Ron asked, referring to himself and Hermione.

"It should only take a few minutes," Harry said.

"You don't need to do that by yourself," Hermione said kindly.

"All right," Harry said. He was still a little reluctant to accept help, that was a character trait of his that would probably never change, but he really did appreciate it. He was feeling so happy right now he really did not want the Dursleys to ruin his mood and they would probably be nicer, or at least less rude, to him when he brought his friends.

"Are you ready?" Hermione asked Harry quietly. They were standing in front of four Privet Drive. It was a sunny afternoon, but Harry did not pay any attention to that. It was actually amazing how unpleasant memories could so fiercely come back to haunt a person just by seeing something, in this case the Dursley residence.

Harry sighed, then nodded. "Let's go."

He stepped forward and rang the doorbell. There was no response for a bit and for a few seconds Harry did not know whether he should feel relieved or not, until he realised that he had better just get this out of the way. "The television's on," Hermione said, carefully peeking through the living room window and then someone opened the door.

For about three seconds Harry and Julie just stared at each other, but then a wide smile spread across the latter's face. "Harry! Oh my goodness! What an extremely pleasant surprise!" Julie said happily.

"Hi, Julie," Harry said calmly.

"Hi! And you must be Ron and Hermione," she said, smiling at Harry's friends.

"That's right," Ron said.

"I've come to retrieve my remaining belongings," Harry said, while Julie shook hands with Ron and Hermione.

"Of course, by all means, come on in!" she said, stepping aside. "I'm home alone, by the way," she told them as she made to close the door.

"That's all right," Harry said, actually quite happy with that. He had nothing to say to his uncle and aunt; he did not at all feel the need to try and tell them exactly what they had done to him, because he preferred to live in the now. For a few seconds they were all standing a bit awkwardly in the hallway, but then Julie spoke.

"Would you maybe like a drink?" she asked them politely.

"Sure, thank you," Harry said. He could not help but feel a little impressed with her friendly reception, and while she went into the kitchen to make them some tea, his eyes were inadvertently drawn to the cupboard. Without really thinking about it he opened it and peered inside.

"Wow, I didn't remember just how small it was," he said softly. Hermione gently touched his arm, while Ron looked a bit angry.

"How could those people do that to you..." he said quietly, so that Julie would not hear him. Harry got on his knees, reached out and grabbed two toy knights.

"These little guys and the spiders were my only company in there," he told his friends.

"The tea's ready, guys," Julie said, appearing in the hallway. "Oh..." she said, when she saw what was going on, and she quickly went back into the kitchen, feeling guilty and embarrassed. When the trio stepped into the kitchen as well about a minute later, she was glad that Ron asked a completely unrelated question.

"What's that delicious smell?"

"Ah, I had just finished making brownies," Julie said with a warm smile, "would you like to try some?"

"Are you sure that's okay, we wouldn't want to..." Hermione started, but Julie reassured her immediately.

"I'd be sad if you didn't! Oh, let me turn this off." Julie turned off the television, then looked back at the trio. "You can sit down if you like, anywhere's fine." They sat down while Julie brought them the tea and brownies on a tray. She was extremely happy to see Harry and would go to great lengths to make him feel as comfortable as possible.

"Er, Julie?" Hermione asked.

"Yes?" Julie responded curiously.

"How did you know our names?"

Julie sat down before answering. "Ah, yeah. Well, when I was in hiding, I learned a lot about the wizarding world and associated with magic folk. I heard that you were like the brain of the group," Julie told Hermione with a smile. Hermione returned the gesture, while Harry suddenly realised Julie had said words like 'wizarding' and 'magic' without wincing.

"You learned a lot about the wizarding world?" he asked her, feeling impressed with her again.

"Oh, yes, sometimes I'd spend entire days in the library, just absorbing as much information as I could. It's truly a fascinating world you live in, Harry. Then Justin and Colin would fill me in on what happened at Hogwarts. I know about the Philosopher's Stone and the Chamber of Secrets for example, and Dumbledore's Army of course."

They all looked at her in awe. "Julie, that's amazing," Harry finally said, actually smiling.

"Yeah, pretty cool, huh? I really wanted to make the most out of my stay at the safe house, and went the extra mile to understand your world better. We listened to Potterwatch a lot, and I was so mighty proud of you when you won the war," Julie said.

"Thanks, Julie," Harry said. He felt a bit stupid, but he did not know what else to say. He had not expected this at all and could barely believe what he was hearing. "What about your parents?" he asked finally, more to keep the conversation going than anything.

Julie shrugged. "My mother has some cleaning jobs now, at people's houses. After being in hiding for almost a year she really wanted to do something rather than sitting at home. She's working right now, in fact. My father's got his old job back, which is good. We had to get new furniture after all, since Death Eaters don't really contribute to your property value."

"I'm sorry about that," Harry said.

"Don't be silly, Harry, you never asked for this to happen. The most important thing is that we're all okay, you included. My father, however, does blame you for it, unfortunately." Those last words earned her angry looks from Ron and Hermione, and Julie sighed before continuing. "Well, Harry, you know how he is. He'll never change. For most people, wisdom comes with age, but unfortunately he is not most people."

Harry nodded. "Right. Well, I guess we'll go to my room now."

"All right. I'm afraid it's still a mess. My father never cared, but my mother and I didn't want to go there. We felt that would be intruding."