Disclaimer: I don't own Petunia Dursley or anything else you recognize from the Harry Potter books and no profit is being made from this piece. I do own all original prose and interpretations, so no stealing.
Story Summary: There's nothing magical about the way parchment burns. It curls and blackens just like normal paper and the unusual, bright green curls of ink don't set off sparks or turn the gray smoke purple. Magic is dangerous and she won't let it touch her child. Petunia Gen.
Burning Parchment
"All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy." –Oscar Wilde
She already knows that there's nothing magical about the way parchment burns. It curls and blackens just like normal paper and the unusual, bright green curls of ink don't set off sparks or turn the gray smoke purple. Magic is dangerous and she won't let it touch her child.
With a twist of her hand, the edges of the letter begin to smolder and she watches as the parchment burns. Petunia will grow up to be safe in the Muggle world away from all the chaos and pain and war that she knows from her childhood. She'll be perfectly normal, just like her mother pretends to be.
When her Dudley's letter comes, as she knew it would, Petunia watches it burn. She doesn't tell Dudley or Vernon or even allow herself to remember the way the green ink of her son's name blackened in her sight, the familiar smell of burning parchment swirling in the smoke around her.
It's for the best. She doesn't want him to know of broomsticks and dragons and Death Eaters and Dark Marks. She wants him to be normal and safe in her world, in their world.
But she knows that the diabolical Headmaster won't let Lily's son go as easily, so she allows Dudley, Vernon and the boy find the letters, understanding with every frantic effort Vernon made that it wouldn't work, that they'd still get the child in the end and twist him into something built for war and heroism, like the Potter boy her parents had liked more than her boring, normal Vernon, like her bright, brilliant little sister. She knew that they would get the boy and she knew that it would kill him, but she won't let them have her son.
So, she watches the parchment burn and twist into ashes and she lets them believe that Dudley is normal, that all the 'accidents' are the boy's fault, not Dudley's, too. She lets them believe that he's boring and dull and normal, just like her.
Author's Note: I know this is completely AU, seeing as neither Petunia nor Dudley had magic, but I liked the imagery, so enjoy. Please review if you read it.