Petunia seemed to pull herself together a bit. "I... I had a sister, and I couldn't remember her. There was another child here, but he kept being hidden from me. Little Lily is... she... I never got to say goodbye!"
As she broke back into tears, Vernon turned to the young man and pleaded with him. "Look, I think you have done enough for today. Please don't tell anyone about whatever you know, just go home."
The boy stared for a moment and gave a dry chuckle. "Sorry Uncle Vernon, but this IS my home."
The silence seemed deafening. Petunia shakily stood, pulling herself from the slackened grip of her husband. She turned to the lad, and looked deeply into his eyes. He shifted a bit, but tried not to look away. Eventually she touched his arm, as if to see if he was solid. "Are... was Lily your mother?"
The boy nodded, "Yes, I am Harry Potter." Before he could move Petunia wrapped him into a hug, talking almost continuously, "I am so sorry Harry, the darkness, I kept forgetting you. Every time I tried to help you I would begin forgetting. Every night I had dreams, terrible dreams, and... When we first got you, I thought everything would be ok, but there was something WRONG inside you."
He had tensed at her touch, but after a few minutes had awkwardly hugged her back. Looking at Vernon, stunned and half sitting on the couch, Harry took a deep breath. "As messed up as it sounds, you were right. Both of you. There was something truly dark and evil inside of me."
Vernon actually seemed slightly relieved. While he could not connect the twisted evil thing under the stairs with this tall lad, he had always wondered if that monster was ACTUALLY bad... or if he had just enjoyed causing pain and secretly used it as an outlet. Having someone actually TELL him he was right, that it wasn't just in his head seemed to lift a weight on his soul.
Harry pushed Petunia back towards Vernon and resettled himself. "Tell me, what were you told about the death of my mother and father?"
Vernon shook his head. "Nothing really. We got a letter on the basket we found you in saying Lily had passed and that you needed a home." His head felt a bit fuzzy but he tried to push through to the old memories. "I think Petunia was the one who decided we should take you in."
Harry nodded. "Well, during their murder the bastard who killed them left something inside of me." He pointed at his forehead. "That scar I had contained something dark, a daemon like thing. Killing it is what helped me free this house from its influence."
Vernon froze slightly. "Boy... I mean, Harry... Do red eyes mean anything to you?"
Harry scowled, his face so fierce that both Petunia and Vernon jerked back a bit. "Yes, that bastard Voldemort and the evil thing he left in me both had red eyes. Creepy ones too."
Vernon shook a little. "Whenever I had a blackout, I would see red eyes." Petunia quickly hugged her shacking husband as he talked. "I also heard laughter. The blackouts got longer and longer, and I kept hurting that thi... uh. I guess you."
Harry seemed startled. "I... well, it had been a theory I was working on honestly. I saw the blackness from the creature infesting the house, and I assumed it was encouraging evil actions." He leaned forward. "I had no clue it was actually POSSESSING other people. That is probably why it was so weak when I found it in my head, since it had used up most of its energy forcing you to break my arm."
Petunia gasped and glared at Vernon. Before she could say anything, Harry spoke up. "Don't blame him, that creature in me was stronger than almost everyone. Heck, I didn't even know it was there until I had an accident trying to heal myself. From what I gathered, Voldemort had been doing evil things for over 40 years."
Vernon still looked off, and felt dirty. Some scar daemon had been in his body. Looking at the boy, he felt so many questions. "Harry, how do you know so much about him? You were only a baby when you met, right?"
Harry shrugged. "Killing the thing released a lot of memories of his old life. That is how I found out my name, how I saw the death of my parents. I honestly can't stand his other memories, he had done such terrible things." Petunia seemed hesitant. "Harry... whenever I could remember her, I wanted to know how Lily died. Could you tell me?"
Harry thought for a second. "I... uh. I might be able to show you. But you have to promise not to freak out, ok?" He caught their odd looks and sighed. "The night I healed my arm, I had found out I had these green threads. I use them for many things now, even attacked the daemon baby thing. But they are not NORMAL, and I know how you two feel about abnormality."
Vernon could almost feel the desire to know more radiating from his beloved. Taking a deep shakey breath, he focused tightly on the young man. "Harry, can you promise whatever you do won't hurt us?" After receiving a quick nod, he tried to build up his resolve. "Do what you need to do then."
Harry nodded, then held his right arm up. As green threads leaped from his palm he heard a gasp. Pausing he looked at Petunia who had a stunned look. "Harry... that is magic. How can you do that without a wand?"
His mind raced. Magic? Well, that seemed as reasonable as 'green light threads'. Frankly more reasonable, now that he thought about it. "A wand? Do they look like sticks? Dad and Voldemort had those."
Petunia seemed even more startled. "You didn't know you had magic? I could have sworn... Didn't I tell you as a... but..." She trailed off, her damaged memories trying to heal from the years of manipulation by the black daemon.
Harry shrugged and focused back on his palm. As more and more green threads wove into a sheet he reached into himself. 'Hey Jim, can you open the doors to the Red Room? I need to create a connection to a memory down there.'
After a short 'Quack', Harry reached into his world with a rope and connected it to the tombstone memorial. Grasping the other end in his left hand, he began forcing it into the sheet of green threads.
Vernon was honestly at a loss now. As he watched, a green sheet was floating over Harry's right hand, and he seemed to be squishing his left hand into it. As he and Petunia watched, the sheet started flashing colors. Red, blue, some black.
Like a camera focusing, suddenly he could see the outside of a house.
Harry watched grim faced as a dark memory began to play.
As the screen flashed with killer green, Harry relaxed back into his chair. Vernon and Petunia kept staring at the screen, Vernon shivering from hearing the voice of Voldemort, Petunia crying over seeing her sisters death. Harry had noticed Dudley heading up the stairs, he had apparently thought they were watching tv and had better things to do. After a few minutes of silence, Harry spoke. "I would like to propose a deal."
Vernon blinked, eyes finally focusing on the now instead of the horrors they had just witnessed. He honestly had no idea of what to do next, so any plan seemed good enough at the moment.
Harry absently ran fingers through his hair. "I have spent the last few days healing, improving myself, and gathering supplies. Originally I was just going to force you both to leave me alone so I could continue, but I didn't know how badly the evil baby was messing with this house. I have new skills now, and I would be willing to trade services and items."
Petunia moved forward and hugged the boy, ignoring his tension. "Harry, you are family. You shouldn't have to treat us like strangers."
Vernon nodded absently. "Now that the... THING is dead, I have no problem with you." He looked shamed-face, "Honestly I would feel better if you would let us try and make up for our treatment of you. Regardless of WHY we were so evil, we did hurt you." His eye caught on the cupboard door. "Case in point, we can at least get you a real bedroom."
Petunia seemed confused before horror dawned on her face, "Oh GOD, we shoved him under the STAIRS?!"
Laughter interrupted both of them. They watched a bit stunned as Harry giggled back in his chair. "Oh, I think I will be fine down there. In fact, I insist. Here, let me show you something."
The lad led the way to the locked door. Pressing his hand against it, Vernon watched the tiny entrance swell into a full sized door, the lock warping into a solid metal door knob. He probably should be shocked, but at this point he was just too overloaded. As the door opened, he heard Petunia gasp.