Advent Gift Fic for: Lin
Prompt: Petunia. Mythology AU
Word Count: 2823
Breaking Bonds
Petunia pulled at the chain that kept her bound to the wall. She had been trapped in the Underworld for a long time now, and knew her efforts to release herself from her bonds would be fruitless but that didn't stop her from trying every so often; however they were few and far between.
She tensed as she heard the footsteps of her husband walking towards her cage. She knew what was about to happen. Every day, like clockwork, he would come to her and attempt to conceive an heir for himself before leaving her sobbing, feeling violated and broken from his unwanted actions.
Her life hadn't always been like this, in fact she could remember a time when she had been happy with her husband; however all that had changed when he had discovered he was the son of Hades. All his notions of magic and anything associated with it being evil and unnatural went out of the window, and he had become obsessed with taking his father's seat of power.
He quickly became distant, spending all his time researching his father's weaknesses. A year later, he had dragged her away from all she had known to her new home and began his rule of the Underworld.
To begin with, she had accepted her fate and found it somewhat entertaining to watch her husband taking up his father's mantle and ruling the dead. However, the novelty soon wore off when he became dissatisfied by simply ruling them and concluded that the souls trapped there deserved punishment after her brother-in-law, James, had arrived there. Even though Petunia had never warmed to him, she knew that he did not deserve the torture her husband inflicted on him, personally and through his 'minions'. When she had voiced her opinion on this matter, Vernon had been most dissatisfied and flung her into her current prison where she had been ever since.
"Ahh, Petunia," her husband said as he unlocked her cell door. "I hope you will be a more willing participant today. I am a very busy God and the last thing I need today is for my wife to be nothing more than a petulant child."
Petunia narrowed her eyes at Vernon, shrinking away from him as he approached her with hunger in his eyes.
"Perhaps I wouldn't be if you didn't keep me chained up in here like a dog," Petunia retorted.
"And have you try to escape again," Vernon whispered, unzipping his trousers. "I think not. Now spread your legs before I have to do it for you."
Petunia held back the response that formed in her mind, and did as she was instructed. The sooner it was over, the sooner he would leave and she could return to wondering how her life had come to this.
~o~o~o~
A quiet bang snapped Petunia out of her slumber. She lifted her head to see a cloud of purple smoke surrounding a figure. She scrambled to her feet and backed away from this mysterious man or woman, or worse: something else entirely.
"Whoa!" a masculine voice exclaimed. "I can't believe that worked."
"Who-who are you?" Petunia asked, trying in vain to portray an air of confidence as she straightened up and moved closer to the unexpected arrival.
The purple cloud around the figure disappeared, revealing a rather rugged man who was perhaps a few years younger than herself.
"Forgive me, ma'am, for the interruption," the man said softly. "My name is Regulus Black."
"And how did you get here, Mr Black?" Petunia questioned, not trusting the stranger. To the best of her knowledge, no man or woman had ever been able to freely travel to the Underworld without dying. Sure there were rumours about the former Queen of the Underworld and her special visitors but Petunia hardly believed a word of it.
"Persephone, of course," Regulus answered. "She gave me these magic pebbles and told me to use them to visit her, but I can see I have the wrong place."
"Persephone hasn't been here in over ten years," Petunia informed him in a matter of fact tone. "In fact, if my husband had his way, she's dead."
"That cannot be right," Regulus answered, looking down at the light purple pebbles in the palm of his hand. "She only gave me the pebbles a few days ago."
"Well she's not here so you can go now," Petunia answered, dismissing her visitor.
"And what if I don't want to leave?" Regulus asked. "What if I want to spend more time in your company?"
"You'd be wasting your time," Petunia told him. "Rumour has it, I'm not the best company these days."
"I can't imagine why when you are such a hospitable host," Regulus laughed. "Do you want to talk about it?"
Petunia couldn't say why, perhaps it was because he was the first human she had come into contact with since she came to the Underworld, or maybe it was just because he was willing to listen to, but she started to vent out her resentment for everything her life had become.
Regulus sat next to her and listened. He nodded and shook his head in the right places, and even made inappropriate comments about her husband when she paused. For the first time in a decade, Petunia found herself smiling and laughing, and though she would never admit to him, she quite liked Regulus' company.
Soon the familiar footsteps of her husband sounded.
"Quick!" Petunia hissed, pushing him lightly on the shoulder. "You have to go."
"Why?"
"My husband is coming," Petunia told him. "If he finds you here, who knows what he will do to you."
"Come with me then," Regulus offered, standing up and offering her his hand.
"I can't," she said softly. "Please, just go."
"Okay, but I will return tomorrow," Regulus informed her. "I promise."
Petunia nodded her head and gave him a gentle push. "Go."
Regulus pulled one of the pebbles out of his pocket and threw it to the ground, muttering a few foreign words as he did so, and disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke.
~o~o~o~
Time passed by for Petunia, and Regulus didn't return. For the first several days, she found that she was sad and disappointed by this, but as days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months, Petunia slowly got over this.
One day, she heard footsteps heading towards her cell. Whoever it was, they were too light on their feet to be Vernon or one of his underlings.
Curious Petunia stood up and walked as far as her chain would allow, and walking towards her she saw Regulus Black… the man who had visited her a few months earlier.
"What are you doing here?" Petunia hissed as he approached her, trying to cover her resurfacing resentment over the fact that he hadn't visited when he said he would.
"I told you I'd be back," Regulus laughed quietly. "Although I had hoped these pebbles would bring me straight to you again."
"That was months ago, Regulus," Petunia told him.
"No," Regulus whispered, frowning slightly. "I was here yesterday."
"Time must move differently here," Petunia said. "It explains why you expected to find Persephone when you were last here."
Regulus sighed and agreed. He couldn't believe how much time had passed by for Petunia. How much more had she endured at the hands of her husband, Vernon? Had he been good to her? Or had he continued to treat her as nothing more than an animal? If Regulus was a betting man, he would say the latter but he had to hear it from Petunia.
"Tuney, how has your husband been treating you?" Regulus asked, hoping that his assumption was incorrect.
Unfortunately Regulus got the answer he had been expecting.
"He's been worse, Reg," Petunia sighed, fear evident in her voice. "He comes three times daily now. He's obsessed with getting an heir."
"Why do you stay with him?" Regulus questioned, unable to comprehend Petunia stayed. "Why don't you leave him and come back to earth?"
"I couldn't even if I wanted to," Petunia told him. "In case you haven't noticed he keeps me locked up in magical chains."
"I could help you escape them," Regulus informed her. "So what's the real reason?"
Petunia looked at the ground, wanting to avoid any and all eye contact with him. It was one thing to open up to Regulus and vent about how much she despised her husband, but it was quite another to admit why she stayed. She didn't want to show just how weak and easily controlled she was.
"Tuney, why do you stay?" Regulus asked again. "What could possibly be a good enough reason for you to stay?"
Petunia took a deep breath and looked into Regulus' concerned grey eyes; her resolve breaking almost instantaneously.
"My sister," she admitted. "He has my sister locked up somewhere. And whenever I've tried to leave in the past, he inflicted pain upon her and me watch. It's easier all round if I just do as I am told and behave."
"And if your sister was safe?" Regulus asked, a plan forming in his mind. "If someone rescued her… would you leave then?"
"That's never going to happen though," Petunia lamented.
"Hypothetically, would you?"
"Hypothetically, yes," Petunia answered. "Vernon would have no emotional hold over me."
"Consider it done," Regulus told her.
"What do you mean by that? Petunia asked, confusion clear on her face.
"I mean, I will find you sister and take her to safety," Regulus explained. "And then I will come for you."
"How could you do that?" Petunia questioned. "Wherever Lily is, she is heavily guarded. And you can count on Vernon to have some form of magic protecting her cell like he does mine. He has professed to hate it since he first met my sister and her husband, James, but when it benefits him he doesn't seem to care."
"Wait, your sister is Lily? As in Lily Potter?" Regulus asked.
"Yes, do you know her?"
"We went to school together. My brother was James' best man at their wedding," Regulus told her. "But I don't understand, everyone says that they are dead."
"They're not," Petunia informed him. "Well, Lily isn't. I'm not too clear on James. Someone came not long after we arrived here and made a deal with Vernon. Something about needing them out of the way. I don't know why though."
"I do," Regulus whispered. "Lily and James have a son. My former boss wants him dead and will stop at nothing to achieve that goal. He attacked their home several days ago and destroyed the house. Harry, their boy, wasn't there at the time though since someone managed to warn them about the impending attack; however they stayed, hoping to fight him off again. When the aurors went to investigate, even though there were no bodies, they pronounced them dead. But them being in the Underworld explains a lot."
Petunia swiped the tears that had formed in her eyes to one side.
"So my nephew is safe?"
"He is; the last I heard he was at a safe location with my brother," he told her. "Now, tell me everything you know about the layout of this place so I can form a plan to get all of you safely out of here."
Petunia took a moment to compose herself before revealing all she could recall about the Underworld, and the enchantments that protected the cells. As she spoke, she allowed herself to feel a little bit of hope for the first time in years, and when Regulus left she felt confident that he would follow through on his vow to save Lily and her husband, James, if as she now believed he wasn't simply a trapped soul.
~o~o~o~
Petunia heaved in corner of her cells. She had been feeling awful for the last few weeks, ever since Vernon had come to her cell in a fit of rage and forced himself upon her. She hadn't heard anything about why he had been so furious, but given that it was the same day Regulus had visited she figured that he had managed to fulfil his promise.
She placed her hand gently on her stomach, wondering if Vernon had succeeded in getting her pregnant. It would explain her sickness, something she rarely experienced, and hadn't in all the time she had been in the Underworld.
When she finally stopped heaving, she sat down and leant against the wall. The uncertainty of not knowing was driving her mad. Petunia wasn't sure if she wanted to be pregnant or not. On one hand, it would give her more motivation to leave when Regulus returned, but on the other hand, the child would be Vernon's and the heir to the Underworld. If Vernon ever found out, she would never be safe. She knew her husband would stop at nothing to get his son or daughter back.
If she was pregnant, she needed to know sooner rather than later so that she could hide her sickness and growing belly. Petunia knew it could be a couple of months for her before Regulus returned, and if Vernon found out he would have round the clock guards on her and she never be able to leave.
~o~o~o~
Pregnant.
She was pregnant.
She was going to have a baby.
The only question running around in her mind now was: how on earth was she going to keep this a secret from Vernon?
Regulus, please hurry.
~o~o~o~
It was two months before Regulus returned. Two long and exhausting months. Petunia didn't know how, but somehow she had managed to hide her pregnancy during that time. Unfortunately, Vernon had still been visiting her several times daily but she knew she had to grin and bear it for the sake of her unborn child.
"Petunia," Regulus said, appearing at her cell door jingling a set of keys. "I told you I'd be back and I am."
"Lily?" she asked, needing to know she was safe before she left.
"Alive and well in a safe house with baby Harry," Regulus answered, smiling broadly as he recalled his achievement.
"And James?"
"He is with them," Regulus told her. "A little worse for wear, but all things considered he is doing well."
Petunia smiled. She was happy they were all together and safe, especially after everything her husband had put them through.
"That's great," Petunia answered.
"So are you ready to leave?"
"Absolutely," Petunia said, feeling relieved that she would finally be released from the chains she had been bound in for far too long.
Regulus fiddled around with the keys in his hand, trying to find the one that would fit the lock. He knew it would be a risk to use magic in the Underworld. His last visit had revealed that Vernon had an alarm system in place to detect unapproved magic. Fortunately, he did not know about the pebbles that brought him there.
Finally finding the right one, he placed the key into the lock and opened the cell door, and walked over to Petunia.
"It smells really bad in here," he commented as he fiddled around with the keys to release Petunia from her chains. "Almost as though someone has been sick."
Petunia blushed realising it was her sick he could smell. How embarrassing!
"Sorry," she muttered.
"What are you sorry for?" Regulus asked, slotting a key into the lock and turning it. "It's not your… oh, are you? Did he…? Your pregnant."
Petunia nodded as he removed the chain from around her neck, and sighed with relief. She took a walk around her cell, thankful for the small action she realised she had taken for granted whilst she had it.
"PETUNIA!" a voice yelled, followed by loud, thundering footsteps along the floor which were quickly heading in her direction.
"He's coming," she whispered as Regulus rushed to her side. "We need to leave now."
Regulus rooted around in his pocket, pushing Petunia gently behind him as he searched for his pebble.
As he pulled it out of his pocket, the angry form of Vernon Dursley, his face purple with fury, appeared at the cell door.
"Move away from my wife, Sir," he instructed. "Now!"
"I don't think so, mate," Regulus said, drawing his wand and pointing it at him. "Stupefy."
From the power of the spell, Vernon was thrown backwards and his head against the wall as he was knocked unconscious.
"What did you do?" Petunia asked as the alarms started going off.
"I just stunned him," Regulus answered, putting his wand away. "He should wake up in an hour or two. Ready to go before we get more company?"
"Absolutely."
Regulus took Petunia's hand in his own and threw the pebble to the ground, and the pair disappeared in a cloud of purple smoke, never to return to the Underworld again.