Sometimes, Harry wonders if he got off easy with the Dursleys. (He didn't, of course, but trauma does things to a person he realized after the war, and he's never quite sure what's supposed to be "normal" or not.)
When he and the Dursleys separated, he couldn't say he missed them. Even Dudley, who's gotten to be tolerable, wasn't someone Harry ever felt the need to drop in on and talk over a cuppa.
Still, when Ron winces at a ringing phone, when Percy ducks out of a room to avoid a fireplace chat, when Ginny cries at yet another howler, Harry wonders if the Dursleys' cruelty was at least honest, easy to cut free from. Late at night, when he has to hold Ginny's hand and promise her that she's not going to be like her mother, that she's not a bad person to ignore another pointed barb, Harry wonders about how love and malice can sit next to each other so close that you can't tell which is which.
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When he and the Dursleys separated, he couldn't say he missed them. Even Dudley, who's gotten to be tolerable, wasn't someone Harry ever felt the need to drop in on and talk over a cuppa.
Still, when Ron winces at a ringing phone, when Percy ducks out of a room to avoid a fireplace chat, when Ginny cries at yet another howler, Harry wonders if the Dursleys' cruelty was at least honest, easy to cut free from. Late at night, when he has to hold Ginny's hand and promise her that she's not going to be like her mother, that she's not a bad person to ignore another pointed barb, Harry wonders about how love and malice can sit next to each other so close that you can't tell which is which.