Night fell softly over Privet Drive.
Both boys were sleeping — Dudley in his cot, Harry curled against Petunia's heartbeat like he had discovered the one safe place in the world.
Petunia stayed awake longer, smoothing Harry's unruly hair, tracing the curve of his impossibly small fist. She felt calmer — steadier — though an undercurrent of tension hummed through her like a plucked wire.
Not fear.
Awareness.
The bond had changed her. And the System had changed everything.
But something else had changed, too.
Something she hadn't yet noticed.
Not consciously.
Not until it stirred.
---
Inside Harry —
The soul fragment drifted like a forgotten ember, half-asleep, half-unmade.
It was not sentient.
Not fully.
Not yet.
But it felt.
And tonight… something in the boy pulsed differently.
Warm. Bright. Stabilized.
Not the wild magic of infancy — but something guided, shaped by a new presence.
Her.
The fragment brushed against the faint gold-threaded signature woven around the boy's core — Petunia's stabilizing emotional field, born from the bond and reinforced by her declarations.
It remembered warmth like this.
Echo: Wool blankets in Wool's Orphanage.
Echo: A matron humming, rare and soft.
Echo: A gentle hand brushing fevered hair.
Echo: A cruel hand, later, ruining the memory.
Echo: Cold years. Locked rooms. Locked heart.**
The fragment quivered.
It moved closer to the emotional resonance, drawn like a starving thing to a hearth.
The woman's presence—this Petunia—did not feel like Harry's mother. No. Wrong feeling. Wrong scent.
But she felt like something a younger version of him once wanted.
Before he learned not to want.
Before he learned wanting led to loss.
A possessive instinct flickered.
Curiosity. Hunger. Jealousy, faint like the first curl of smoke.
---
Back with Petunia,
Harry stirred in her arms.
Just once.
But Petunia felt the change like a chill under the floorboards — a ripple through the Guardian bond, something foreign brushing against its edge.
She froze.
"…Harry?"
His breathing stayed soft.
But another sensation pulsed against her awareness — not from the bond, but from the System's deeper magical interface. A ping. A red thread of alert.
A crystalline tone snapped into her mind:
-[ALERT]
[External Magical Entity Attempting Observation]
[Classification: DARK SOUL FRAGMENT]
[Source: Latent Horcrux Resonance — Stage 1]
[Warning: Resonance Potential Detected — Soulmate Tier]
Petunia felt the air leave her lungs.
Soulmate with a piece of Voldemort??
"Absolutely not," she whispered fiercely.
Harry shifted, seeking her warmth.
The System chimed again—calm, as always:
[Soul Fragment Status: Observational
No active influence detected.
Primary emotions: Curiosity. Envy. Attachment-seed]
[Recommended action: Maintain Guardian bond stability.]
[Avoid negative magical spikes.]
[Monitor for further resonance attempts.]
A soul fragment.
Watching her.
Watching Harry.
Feeling through him.
Her skin prickled.
But beneath the fear… something harder ignited.
Protectiveness, sharp enough to cut.
She tightened her hold on Harry, shielding him instinctively with her body though she knew the threat wasn't physical.
"You don't get him," she whispered into the dark. "You don't get to touch him. Not anymore."
A pulse of heat answered her—Harry's magic, warm and trusting.
And from deeper within…
A faint, cold flicker.
The fragment recoiled.
It did not understand the warning—but it felt denied.
Rejected.
Pushed out.
Emotions it had no words for twisted inside it.
Again?
Left out. Left outside. A warmth not mine.
The jealousy sharpened.
Just a seed.
Just the beginning.
---
Petunia rocked Harry gently, calming him and herself alike.
The bond throbbed in quiet reassurance:
'You're doing well. You're here. Keep him safe.'
Petunia exhaled.
Her eyes drifted toward the corner of the room, where the shadows seemed a little too heavy.
"I know you're in there," she murmured. "And I will be watching too."
The System chimed—soft, approving:
[Guardian Stance Acknowledged]
[Anchor Bond Reinforcement: +4%]
[Stage 4 Approaching]
The shadows settled.
The fragment retreated.
For now.