Vernon snorted. "I can. I used to buy all kinds of food, because I couldn't drink. I didn't dare risk losing my focus with that... uh. I couldn't get drunk, I mean."
Harry picked up the bag. "Things changed a lot, didn't they?" He glossed over the earlier statement. Apparently stabbing the thing responsible had been pretty cathartic. Sorting and storing all memories and emotions about the daemon baby hadn't hurt Harry find peace either. "Still, you will probably save a lot of money not having to buy that junk again."
The older man's eyes almost glossed over. "I can drink again. Haven't had a beer in years." Petunia smacked his shoulder with a small smile and picked up one of the bags. She turned to the boy. "Harry, grab the other bag. You won't be sneaking food around. Lily would have us be your family, and a family eats together."
Harry grinned as he picked up the bag. He had been prepared to live alone, building and learning even without anyone to help. Now he had a real chance at something he had never expected, a real home. Hearing Petunia talk about being a family had pushed his ability to stay calm. He opened his new bedroom door and dragged his emergency rations to the kitchen.
Hearing Petunia behind him, he grinned and waved his hands. Thousands of threads filled the closet, and he had to close his eyes from the unexpected light from them rubbing and passing through each other. As his eyes cleared he heard Petunia gasp. His mouth hung open a little too.
Petunia had just reached the kitchen before a bright white light flashed, almost blinding her. As she blinked her eyes clear, she saw little Harry with his hand outstretched toward the pantry.
Well, it HAD been her pantry. Now it was a deep closet with shelves on each side. Every shelf was organized, food grouped and presented label forward. She turned to Harry, who seemed as stunned as she was. "Uh... I just wanted it organized. It seemed like a funny idea at the time." He seemed slightly out of it as he wandered into the room. "This is neat, but unexpected. It feels strange too."
She cleared her throat. "Good strange or bad strange? It isn't dangerous, is it?" She hesitantly reached a hand out, touching a bag of crisps. It felt normal.
Harry tilted his head. "Not sure. A lot of threads are still here. They seem connected with the floor." He reached into the bag he dragged and pulled out a small package of jerky. Dropping it on the floor, a dimmer flash made them both blink. Petunia gave a small 'Eep!' and backed out of the closet. "Harry, get out of there right now! Who knows what it is doing!"
Harry turned with a grin, pointing at the Jerky shelf. "I think it's sorting! The original 'sort' threads apparently stayed here after I lost focus when that flash happened." Before she could say anything, he dumped his sack onto the floor. A glow filled the room and a soft rustling was the only sound as the shelves filled slightly. "SEE! I love stuff like this, wish I knew how I did it."
Petunia hesitantly grabbed an energy bar and tossed it into the closet, watching the shelf where it should show up. As she blinked her eyes clear, she saw one extra bar on the stack. She gave a hesitant smile. "Well, I don't like throwing food on the ground but at least it doesn't seem dangerous."
Harry rolled his eyes and pulled her into the room. She seemed to freeze as her foot hit the floor... nothing. She cautiously opened one eye hearing a young giggle. She absently pushed the young boy. "That... not funny, goodness my heart."
His smile broke most of her fear as she calmed down. "Oh no, the magic food sorter of doom!" She smiled a bit, embarrassed that after all the surprises she had gone through today, THIS would be the thing to nearly give her a heart attack. "Well, it's not like I grew up with magic either you know. Lily wasn't allowed to use it when not at school, said that us 'muggles' might find out." Petunia hesitantly poured the wrapped food into the room watching the shelves automatically expand and move to keep from overcrowding each other. If she didn't know better, she would say the room itself had gotten slightly larger when the new food was added.
"What is a muggle?" Harry picked up both empty bags and led her back to his room. He saw Vernon coming down the stairs holding a cardboard box.
"Anyone without magic is a muggle." Petunia held the door for Vernon as he sweatily placed the box down on the green carpet. He seemed too winded to talk right now anyway, apparently those books were heavy. "That is part of the reason I couldn't tell Dudley or Vernon about the magical world, because until you came here there was no one magically connected to that world, so they were not allowed to know."
Harry absently nodded as he began moving the pure white cloth and plastic and metal blocks he had recycled from earlier into his room. "I suppose it would not be much of a secret society if everyone knew about it. Still sorry about the pantry."
Vernon looked up. "Pantry?" Petunia gave a shushing noise and turned back. "Don't worry Harry, the changes are great. I will save loads of time if I don't have to sort everything when I finish shopping."
Harry bit back a small grin seeing Vernon's confused expression. He really appreciated how much his Uncle was trying to help, but he had clearly been out of his comfort zone for a while now. He hesitantly took a deep breath. "Uncle, for my birthday... could we go to the Zoo?"
Vernon felt like cool water had washed over him. FINALLY, something he knew about. No hocus-pocus or whatever, he knew how to handle kids wanting to go out for a birthday. "Of course! Saturday, us and Dudleykins can head over to the one closer to London. Heck, we can make a day of it. Petunia apparently found quite an amount when cleaning Dudley's room."