The summer holidays are nearly upon us once more.

Harry rushed home from school. His aunt wanted him to weed the garden so he had to be quick. Despite the chore waiting for him, he felt happy. Summer holidays were two days away, and next week he would go back to the farm and Aunt Susan. This time he was allowed to stay until after his seventh birthday, nearly four weeks! Harry could hardly wait; especially after the wonderful Christmas holiday he had had a few months ago.

Upon arriving at Privet Drive he walked up to the back door and softly opened the door. His aunt didn’t like him making much noise when he came home from school. Of course, it was different if Dudley came home. He was allowed to make as much noise as he could. Walking into the hallway Harry put his backpack inside his cupboard. When he turned around to go outside however his aunt was suddenly behind him. She looked strange. Almost as if she couldn’t decide to be very happy or very angry.

“Boy” she started saying “I have just received a phone call from this man called Johnson.”

Harry paled slightly. Johnson? That was the last name of Peter and Emma.

“It seems Susan Evans died last night. We are supposed to show up at the funeral and for the reading of the will. Apparantly you are to come as well. I have contacted the school, at least my dear Duddikins can start his holidays earlier, and you can start working. You had better pack our bags. I expect to be staying at my new house tomorrow.” It seemed that her greed got the upper hand, for although she detested the farm the thought of now owning it nearly made her smile.

Harry stared at her in shock. Aunt Susan was dead? No, he didn’t believe it, he wouldn’t. Aunt Petunia had lied before after all, he was sure she did it again this time. She just wanted him miserable.

“Get on with it boy! Don’t look so stupid standing there. I told you to pack our bags, and you had better get to it. We will have to leave early tomorrow, and the funeral is the next day. The will reading is the same afternoon. Make sure you pack my black clothes, the fancy ones.”

She then left to go in the living room, where she turned on the television. Harry was left looking pale and confused in the hallway. Eventually he made his way up the stairs into the attic, where he retrieved the suitcases the Dursleys always used. Up there in the attic the reality set in. His aunt would never go up to the farm if there was a chance Aunt Susan was still alive. Which meant Susan must really be dead. Finally, the tears started dripping down from his eyes, and trying to keep quiet so aunt Petunia wouldn’t hear, he let himself cry.

Even though he was crying and feeling very alone and sad, he managed to pack most things into the suitcases. Then he went outside and did the gardening, worried that aunt Petunia would be upset with him if he didn’t. After dinner that evening he curled up inside his cupboard and cried even more.

The next day

After having driven for several hours Harry saw the outlines of Windermere. Apparently the Dursleys could not stay in the farm as it was locked up until after the reading of the will, so they had to book rooms in a hotel. Harry was not looking forward to staying there, and was therefore very relieved to see Peter and Emma waiting outside the hotel when they arrived.

Aunt Petunia sniffed upon seeing them. “Honestly, those two are just waiting to get their hands on some of the inheritance, I am sure of it.” She muttered to Vernon, who only grunted slightly in agreement.

“Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, thank you for coming over.” Peter said formally, but Harry detected the tone of irony behind it. “We wanted to ask if Harry could come and stay at our place tonight. We have missed him these last few months, and know you would like to spend some time together as a family instead of with your nephew.”

Before Petunia could reply, Vernon did so. “Yes, yes, just take the ruddy boy. We will see him at the funeral tomorrow. It was in the local parish church in Troutbeck was it?”

“Yes, it is. It starts at ten o’clock, but family is allowed to be there a little bit earlier of course.” Peter nearly frowned at the careless way Vernon gave up time spent with his nephew. It was a good thing he had been counting on this.

Harry meanwhile had taken out his little backpack, and went to stand next to Emma. She gently took his hand and gave it a squeeze. The Dursleys then went inside the hotel to check in, not even saying goodbye to Harry.

When they were out of sight Emma and Peter gave Harry a big hug. “We are so sorry Harry. It all happened so suddenly, she was fine a few days ago.”

Held by these people who liked him, and who had cared a great deal about his aunt, Harry felt it was okay to cry again. They bundled him into their car and took him home.

He was allowed to see Aunt Susan at the funeral home that day. She looked different lying there, he decided. As if she wasn’t there anymore, as if her body was just an empty shell. He touched her hand, and it felt a bit cold. Not totally unpleasant, but he’d rather remember her hands when she was alive. After standing for a bit and having told her about what happened the last few months, he left.

The day of the funeral

Peter, Emma and Harry had been up early to have a light breakfast (Harry didn’t feel like eating anything at first) and to get dressed in their nice clothes. Emma had anticipated Harry not having any nice clothes, and had gone and bought them. So now he too was wearing dark pants, a white blouse and a blazer. They had gone to the church early, and as Harry had never been in a church before, Peter and Emma explained what would happen. Harry did like the large glazed windows that were in the church, especially because the sun shone through them in a very pretty way.

The minister, who had known Susan very well, was pleased to meet the young child, having heard quite a lot about him and having seen some photos too. He also knew about the Dursleys never having visited before, but how they were there now. The man didn’t say it, but Harry realized the Dursleys were not well liked here in this community. It also showed in the fact that everyone came to offer their condolences to Harry, Peter and Emma, but once the Dursleys arrived (at five minutes before ten) nobody went up to them to do the same.

Harry had been placed quite upfront and sat with the Johnsons. Also close to them were the families that worked on the farm. Behind them the entire village of Troutbeck sat, and on the other side of the aisle were the Dursleys and some friends and other people who knew Susan but hadn’t seen her very frequently. Unbeknownst to most people, Severus Snape had also entered and sat in the back. He had only just received the news in time, as he had still been at Hogwarts. He had been shocked to receive the news, but glad that he could make it to the funeral and the reading of the will.

Harry felt the service was very nice, although he didn’t have any experience in this sort of thing. He cried a little more during it, always making sure the Dursleys did not see. At the end they all lined up outside so the coffin could be taken outside into the graveyard. There, only a small group of people waited for the coffin to be lowered and some final words to be said. Everyone else waited at the edge of the cemetery. The Dursleys, having decided the service had taken up enough of their time (and Dudley starting to complain about being hungry) left to go back to the hotel. They were unaware about the angry mutterings and disapproving frowns on everybody’s faces.

Eventually Harry too had to leave. They were to have some lunch and rest for a bit, before the will was read. Normally it wouldn’t be done so quickly, but due to the circumstances an exception had been made. Severus had quietly approached Peter and had then made his way to the farm for a quick change of clothes. Although the farm was closed up, he could still get inside using magic, and he had some more appropriate clothes in there.

Several hours later everyone who was to be at the reading of the will, gathered at the office of the solicitor who would handle it. As a beneficiary Peter couldn’t handle this himself, so his colleague did.

The Dursleys seated themselves at the front in the office, with Harry, Peter and Emma taking up seats just behind them. Then they waited for a little while. Eventually, just when Petunia was going to ask how long it was going to take, the door opened one more time. Everybody looked up to see who was also joining them and the look on Petunia’s face was quite a sight.

“You! What are you doing here Snape?!” she nearly shrieked.

Severus calmly took a seat. “I too have been invited to the reading of the will. Especially because I have kept in touch all those years. I am not sure the same could be said about you, was it dear Petunia?”

Harry looked at the scene with wide eyes. So this was the Severus Snape that couldn’t make it for Christmas, the one who used to be best friends with his mother and who had given him such a lovely book for Christmas. The man didn’t look the way Harry had imagined him, he was much taller, looked a bit scary, had longer black hair and very dark eyes. Still, there was something about him… Not least the fact that Aunt Susan had liked him a lot.

The solicitor cleared his throat, wanting to begin. He had been warned there might be trouble brewing, and just wanted this to be over.

“As you are all gathered here I will read to you the last will and testament of Susan Evans.”

The man then proceeded to read the first, rather standard bits of it. However when he came to the part of who was inheriting the farm the tension seemed to raise.

“I leave Evans Farm, all the belongings and holdings that come with it, to my grandnephew Harry Potter. The Farm is to be held in trust, and as trustees I appoint Peter and Emma Johnson as well as Severus Snape. I know I can fully trust these three to manage the farm properly until Harry can take over as soon as he turns eighteen. There is a stipulation to this however. Harry is to spend at least four weeks every year at the farm.”

“What?!” Petunia shrieked. “How dare that woman give away my inheritance to that stupid boy! How dare she, the farm was to be mine, and mine alone.”

Everybody looked at her as if she was insane, even her own son and husband.

“Ma’am will you at least let me finish reading the will before you start yelling?” the solicitor asked rather gruntled. My goodness, that woman really was a harpy.

He continued with the will “To my niece Petunia, who didn’t want anything to do with me or the farm, I leave a sum of 25.000. The stipulation to her receiving this is that she will allow Harry Potter to spend four weeks a year on the farm. In return she will receive part of the money each year.”

It looked as if Petunia was ready to yell again, but Vernon clamped down on her arm and kept her quiet. 25.00 pounds was a nice amount of money after all, and he didn’t want to ruin his chances on getting it.

“To Severus Snape, I leave some of the books from my collection. They are marked and you will recognize them. To Peter and Emma, I also leave the small cottage on the edge of Windermere lake. I know you have always wanted to improve it and make it a home.”

This the three persons hadn’t known and they were touched and surprised Susan left them this.

The will reading concluded the solicitor closed the papers. “I hope this was clear to everyone, and that there will be no more shouting in my office?” he gave a pointed look to Petunia.

“I hand the keys of the farm over to you three, and trust you will look after it properly. Mr. Potter, I wish you the best of luck, and my condolences on the loss of your great aunt.”

Harry didn’t really know what to do other than to just nod.

They left the office, standing outside a little dazed. Severus decided to take charge.

“As we are all here now anyway, I suggest Mr. Potter will start his stay at the farm for this year straight away. It doesn’t make much sense to have him go back home only to return later this summer. I believe you will not have any issues with this?” he addressed Vernon.

The man was so stunned he could only agree, and then he was dragged away by his wife.

Severus turned to look down on young Harry Potter. The boy looked a little lost standing between Peter and Emma. “Come along then Harry. We will go to the farm and see what we can do these next four weeks.”

With that they walked towards the car, got in and drove off to the Evans Farm.