p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.15; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"span style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 12pt;"The sun was rising from the the face of the earth, sending warm rays glowing onto house Number Four, Privet Drive. On the doorstep rested a tiny bundle of blankets, a small face barely peeking out. The baby was soundly sleeping, his fist crumpled around an envelope. His hair was jet black, a small lightning shaped scar hiding underneath his fringe./span/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.15; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"span style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 12pt;" One by one, the inhabitants of the house slowly started to stir, with shouting and yelling by the little boy inside, piercing the quiet and calm air that had surrounded them. The clattering of pots and pans were heard in the kitchen, a tv blaring in the living room. A refrigerator was opened, then shut, and someone was clomping down the hallway, getting closer and closer to the door until - "Oh my!" shrieked Petunia. /span/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.15; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"span style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 12pt;"As she bent down to inspect the still sleeping baby, she caught glimpse of the piece of paper clutched in his hand. "Vernon! Come quickly!" An overweight man with blond hair, blue eyes, and a short neck waddled to the door, accompanied by a small look alike clinging to his chest. "What the hell is this?" he asked. With one arm, Vernon snatched the envelope, not bothering to see if he had awakened the boy. Screams came from the small, whiny voice that belonged to the fat and chubby child, squirming and flailing his arms about, trying to get the letter. Petunia sighed. "Dudykins! Let your father open it, honey." Harrumphing out loud, Dudley proceeded to force his father to let him go. Toddling on unsteady, chubby legs, he made his way over to the lump on the ground. Once on the doorstep, he poked and prodded the bundle, hoping the awaken the small boy. This action immediately went into effect. The child opened his eyes, green meeting blue. At once, the jet-haired boy started to whimper, scared of his surroundings. Petunia, hearing this, told Vernon to pick up the boy, picked up Dudley, and herded them all into the living room, where they would be free of prying eyes from neighbors. /span/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.15; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"span style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 12pt;"After settling Dudley carefully on her lap, making sure he was comfortable, she told Vernon to give her the letter. The child had been dumped onto the floor by Vernon, and was now curiously looking around. After sliding the letter out from to rip Vernon had made, she began to scan over the neat handwriting. The letter read:/span/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.15; orphans: 2; widows: 2; text-align: right;"span style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 13pt; font-family: Corsiva;"November 1st, 1981 /span/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.15; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"span style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 13pt; font-family: Corsiva;"Dear Petunia Dursley,/span/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.15; orphans: 2; widows: 2; height: 11pt;" /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.15; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"span style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 13pt; font-family: Corsiva;"I hope this letter finds you in good health. As you have found, a small boy was left on your doorstep, by me. This is your nephew, Harry James Potter. Unfortunately, I regret to inform you that your sister, Lily, and her husband James were killed last night by a dark wizard called Voldemort. I am asking that you and your family care for him. I must warn you, though, if you don't, certain consequences will be placed on you. A spell has been placed on your house, ensuring the protection of Harry until he turns seventeen. If Harry were to leave this house before that age, the spell would be broken, and he would be defenseless against the dark arts that Voldemort would use. That being so, this would also harm you and your family, so I ask that you think thoroughly before doing such things. By taking in Harry, you are therefore saving the wizarding world as well, and might I add, leaving your sister to rest in peace. I hope you do this for your sister's sake./span/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.15; orphans: 2; widows: 2; height: 11pt;" /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.15; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"span style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 13pt; font-family: Corsiva;"Sincerely,/span/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.15; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"span style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 13pt; font-family: Corsiva;"Albus Percival Wolfric Brian Dumbledore/span/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.15; orphans: 2; widows: 2; height: 11pt;" /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.15; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"span style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 12pt;"Petunia gasped, her free hand held to her heart. Her mind started swirling with thoughts and memories, too overwhelmed with the overload of news she had just read. All the noises made by Dudley, Vernon, and Harry faded into the background until just a steady buzzing sound was heard. Lily was dead. Harry had to stay with them. She would never see Lily again. Harry would grow up without a mother or a father. At once, her heart seemed to tighten, as if someone had squeezed it twice. Why was she sad? Lily was a freak, an accident, and monster. It was her own fault that she was dead, decided Petunia. She would take care of Harry, but just. /span/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.15; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"span style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 12pt;"Snapping back to reality, she ordered Vernon to bring down Dudley's old rusty crib and place it in the cupboard underneath the stairs. After all, Harry didn't deserve to have his own room if he was a freak like his mother. Picking her nephew up gingerly, and holding him away from herself as if he was a disease, Petunia made her way to the cupboard, cooing at Dudley to stay put in the living room for a moment. As she waited for Vernon to put the bed in the cupboard, she noticed how small the space was, barely enough to put the crib in. Did Harry deserve this? Pushing away the thought, she told Vernon to tend to Dudley while she put Harry in the crib. Glancing just once at him to make sure he was settled, she involuntarily looked into his eyes. Gasping, and rather frightened, she backed away from the cupboard, and shut the door. She could've sworn she saw Lily in those eyes. /span/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.15; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"span style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 12pt;"Shaking her head, she turned to walk to the living room, only to hear faint whimpers coming from Harry. On instinct, she went towards the sound, but stopped herself. She didn't want this, but yet her sister had once again made her her victim. Anger that had once laid dormant was rising up in her again, and she had to swallow the lump that had started forming at the base of her throat. /span/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.15; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"span style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 12pt;"Forcing herself to go to the living room, she ignored Harry's steadily growing cries, and instead picked Dudley up, placing him on her lap, sat on the couch, and started talking quietly to Vernon about the letter. "What?!" was the only sound made by Vernon, as he worked himself up into a storm, pulling on his mustache. Petunia put a soothing hand on his arm, and he calmed down slowly. "Fine. However, he must not be treated as a member of this family. He is nothing but a freak." agreed Vernon. With that, they all moved into the kitchen, and Petunia placed Dudley in his high chair. Petunia started where she left off before they found Harry, placing the bacon into the pan and cracking eggs for omelets. Soon, loud wails were emancipating from the cupboard, but only Dudley seemed to hear the sound. Petunia began to hum, although stiffly, while sliding the bacon off onto plates, and Vernon turned his newspaper with more rigor than before. At last, the cries began to get so loud that they could not be ignored any longer. Petunia slammed down the pan, and marched over to the cupboard. She wrenched the door open so abruptly that Harry stopped his tantrum, his green eyes widening in surprise./span/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.15; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"span style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 12pt;"Satisfied that he was quiet now, she huffed and turned back to the kitchen where Vernon and Dudley sat silently, her outburst having shocked them quite a bit. She forced a smile, and said "well, let's have breakfast, shall we?". But even as they sat down to breakfast, a nagging though still remained in Petunia's head. No matter how hard she tried to push it away and focus on eating, she couldn't. Excusing herself to go to the bathroom, she slumped on the bathroom floor. How could she take care of Harry without thinking about Lily? How Lily had wronged her, how Lily abandoned her? How Lily had decided to leave her for something better? But Harry was so small, so innocent, and he didn't know what Lily had done. She clenched her fists and decided her resolve. She would treat Harry the same way Lily had done to her./span/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.15; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"span style="font-size: 12pt;"When she left the bathroom, though, that tiny thought remained in her head. /spanspan style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic;"Lily is still your sister no matter what, and sisters care and love for each other./span/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.15; text-indent: 36pt; font-family: Arial; orphans: 2; widows: 2; height: 11pt;" /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.15; text-indent: 36pt; font-family: Arial; orphans: 2; widows: 2; height: 11pt;" /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.15; text-indent: 36pt; font-family: Arial; orphans: 2; widows: 2; height: 11pt;" /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.15; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"span style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic;"Would Lily have done the same thing to Dudley?/span/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.15; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"span style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 12pt;" One by one, the inhabitants of the house slowly started to stir, with shouting and yelling by the little boy inside, piercing the quiet and calm air that had surrounded them. The clattering of pots and pans were heard in the kitchen, a tv blaring in the living room. A refrigerator was opened, then shut, and someone was clomping down the hallway, getting closer and closer to the door until - "Oh my!" shrieked Petunia. /span/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.15; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"span style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 12pt;"As she bent down to inspect the still sleeping baby, she caught glimpse of the piece of paper clutched in his hand. "Vernon! Come quickly!" An overweight man with blond hair, blue eyes, and a short neck waddled to the door, accompanied by a small look alike clinging to his chest. "What the hell is this?" he asked. With one arm, Vernon snatched the envelope, not bothering to see if he had awakened the boy. Screams came from the small, whiny voice that belonged to the fat and chubby child, squirming and flailing his arms about, trying to get the letter. Petunia sighed. "Dudykins! Let your father open it, honey." Harrumphing out loud, Dudley proceeded to force his father to let him go. Toddling on unsteady, chubby legs, he made his way over to the lump on the ground. Once on the doorstep, he poked and prodded the bundle, hoping the awaken the small boy. This action immediately went into effect. The child opened his eyes, green meeting blue. At once, the jet-haired boy started to whimper, scared of his surroundings. Petunia, hearing this, told Vernon to pick up the boy, picked up Dudley, and herded them all into the living room, where they would be free of prying eyes from neighbors. /span/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.15; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"span style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 12pt;"After settling Dudley carefully on her lap, making sure he was comfortable, she told Vernon to give her the letter. The child had been dumped onto the floor by Vernon, and was now curiously looking around. After sliding the letter out from to rip Vernon had made, she began to scan over the neat handwriting. The letter read:/span/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.15; orphans: 2; widows: 2; text-align: right;"span style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 13pt; font-family: Corsiva;"November 1st, 1981 /span/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.15; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"span style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 13pt; font-family: Corsiva;"Dear Petunia Dursley,/span/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.15; orphans: 2; widows: 2; height: 11pt;" /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.15; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"span style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 13pt; font-family: Corsiva;"I hope this letter finds you in good health. As you have found, a small boy was left on your doorstep, by me. This is your nephew, Harry James Potter. Unfortunately, I regret to inform you that your sister, Lily, and her husband James were killed last night by a dark wizard called Voldemort. I am asking that you and your family care for him. I must warn you, though, if you don't, certain consequences will be placed on you. A spell has been placed on your house, ensuring the protection of Harry until he turns seventeen. If Harry were to leave this house before that age, the spell would be broken, and he would be defenseless against the dark arts that Voldemort would use. That being so, this would also harm you and your family, so I ask that you think thoroughly before doing such things. By taking in Harry, you are therefore saving the wizarding world as well, and might I add, leaving your sister to rest in peace. I hope you do this for your sister's sake./span/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.15; orphans: 2; widows: 2; height: 11pt;" /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.15; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"span style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 13pt; font-family: Corsiva;"Sincerely,/span/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.15; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"span style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 13pt; font-family: Corsiva;"Albus Percival Wolfric Brian Dumbledore/span/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.15; orphans: 2; widows: 2; height: 11pt;" /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.15; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"span style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 12pt;"Petunia gasped, her free hand held to her heart. Her mind started swirling with thoughts and memories, too overwhelmed with the overload of news she had just read. All the noises made by Dudley, Vernon, and Harry faded into the background until just a steady buzzing sound was heard. Lily was dead. Harry had to stay with them. She would never see Lily again. Harry would grow up without a mother or a father. At once, her heart seemed to tighten, as if someone had squeezed it twice. Why was she sad? Lily was a freak, an accident, and monster. It was her own fault that she was dead, decided Petunia. She would take care of Harry, but just. /span/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.15; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"span style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 12pt;"Snapping back to reality, she ordered Vernon to bring down Dudley's old rusty crib and place it in the cupboard underneath the stairs. After all, Harry didn't deserve to have his own room if he was a freak like his mother. Picking her nephew up gingerly, and holding him away from herself as if he was a disease, Petunia made her way to the cupboard, cooing at Dudley to stay put in the living room for a moment. As she waited for Vernon to put the bed in the cupboard, she noticed how small the space was, barely enough to put the crib in. Did Harry deserve this? Pushing away the thought, she told Vernon to tend to Dudley while she put Harry in the crib. Glancing just once at him to make sure he was settled, she involuntarily looked into his eyes. Gasping, and rather frightened, she backed away from the cupboard, and shut the door. She could've sworn she saw Lily in those eyes. /span/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.15; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"span style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 12pt;"Shaking her head, she turned to walk to the living room, only to hear faint whimpers coming from Harry. On instinct, she went towards the sound, but stopped herself. She didn't want this, but yet her sister had once again made her her victim. Anger that had once laid dormant was rising up in her again, and she had to swallow the lump that had started forming at the base of her throat. /span/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.15; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"span style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 12pt;"Forcing herself to go to the living room, she ignored Harry's steadily growing cries, and instead picked Dudley up, placing him on her lap, sat on the couch, and started talking quietly to Vernon about the letter. "What?!" was the only sound made by Vernon, as he worked himself up into a storm, pulling on his mustache. Petunia put a soothing hand on his arm, and he calmed down slowly. "Fine. However, he must not be treated as a member of this family. He is nothing but a freak." agreed Vernon. With that, they all moved into the kitchen, and Petunia placed Dudley in his high chair. Petunia started where she left off before they found Harry, placing the bacon into the pan and cracking eggs for omelets. Soon, loud wails were emancipating from the cupboard, but only Dudley seemed to hear the sound. Petunia began to hum, although stiffly, while sliding the bacon off onto plates, and Vernon turned his newspaper with more rigor than before. At last, the cries began to get so loud that they could not be ignored any longer. Petunia slammed down the pan, and marched over to the cupboard. She wrenched the door open so abruptly that Harry stopped his tantrum, his green eyes widening in surprise./span/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.15; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"span style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 12pt;"Satisfied that he was quiet now, she huffed and turned back to the kitchen where Vernon and Dudley sat silently, her outburst having shocked them quite a bit. She forced a smile, and said "well, let's have breakfast, shall we?". But even as they sat down to breakfast, a nagging though still remained in Petunia's head. No matter how hard she tried to push it away and focus on eating, she couldn't. Excusing herself to go to the bathroom, she slumped on the bathroom floor. How could she take care of Harry without thinking about Lily? How Lily had wronged her, how Lily abandoned her? How Lily had decided to leave her for something better? But Harry was so small, so innocent, and he didn't know what Lily had done. She clenched her fists and decided her resolve. She would treat Harry the same way Lily had done to her./span/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.15; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"span style="font-size: 12pt;"When she left the bathroom, though, that tiny thought remained in her head. /spanspan style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic;"Lily is still your sister no matter what, and sisters care and love for each other./span/p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.15; text-indent: 36pt; font-family: Arial; orphans: 2; widows: 2; height: 11pt;" /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.15; text-indent: 36pt; font-family: Arial; orphans: 2; widows: 2; height: 11pt;" /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; font-size: 11pt; line-height: 1.15; text-indent: 36pt; font-family: Arial; orphans: 2; widows: 2; height: 11pt;" /p
p style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; padding: 0px; margin: 0px; text-indent: 36pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Arial; line-height: 1.15; orphans: 2; widows: 2;"span style="vertical-align: baseline; font-size: 12pt; font-style: italic;"Would Lily have done the same thing to Dudley?/span/p
