A/N – This little story came to me during the past week, whilst I looked after my nephew, a little boy I love more than life itself. I just couldn't think what I'd be like if something happened to him, and thought, what about somebody like Petunia, that DOESN'T like their nephew, how would they deal. And so this was formed. Please let me know what you think!
Disclaimer – I don't look like JKR, I don't act like JKR, I don't think like JKR, and I most definitely don't have as much money as JKR, so please, please, please – DON'T Sue!
Moments in Time
It's been fifteen years since I opened the front door to reveal the little brat lying there, staring at me with my sisters' eyes. Those eyes that showed so much more than a child barely a year olds' eyes should have ever shown. Fifteen years since my life could have been classified as normal, and wasn't that what I've always strived for… Normalcy?
It's been fourteen and a half years since I've last called him by his name. Vernon started it; I enforced it. Brat… Freak… BOY! But never Harry - Just Harry… There's no forgiveness for that…
It's been fourteen years since we threw him in that cupboard for the first time. It was supposed to be punishment for summoning a toy from the other side of the room; I never did realize why we didn't let him go back to his room after that.
It's been twelve years since I turned my back on him when Dudley beat him up. I couldn't stand up against my son, my Duddikins, how is it that my son turned into the bully and HERS into the sweet little angel that could do no wrong?
I now know just what that one moment had cost me. Dudley realized he could get away with murder, Harry thought he would never be loved. How had things gone so wrong, so fast?
It's been eleven years since I first told him that lie. That one lie that could have cost us everything, that has cost us so much… How could I tell him an evil wizard bent on his destruction murdered his parents? Now there's a conversation you want to have with a six year old! Not to mention that we did everything in our power to keep such abnormalities from ever being spoken about in our home.
Abnormalities, freaks… How could I have been so blind?
It's been fifteen years since that boy had ever been shown love from any family member, FIFTEEN YEARS! Can you be under a curse for that long, a curse that would make you treat an innocent child the way I treated him, because that's the only way I could live with myself…
It's been six years since he was told the truth. The whole truth and nothing but the truth. But that truth didn't come from me! Never from me…
It's been almost three years since he saved Dudley, we never did thank him for that. We never thanked him for anything, how much did that boy do for us, and we never had the decency to say two little words, two little words that could have changed so much…
It's been ten days since the accident. Since Dudley was incarcerated for drunk driving, negligent homicide, fifteen years to life, that's what he's facing. All because we didn't stop him from bullying his cousin when they were five. Yes, I realize when we went wrong with him. But that won't bring back the little girl, that won't keep my son from spending most of his adult life in hack. One little moment that could have changed so much…
It's been seven days since he left the message on our answering machine. Seven days… That one message that said so much, but yet we refused to listen to what was actually being said. Now I know that message better than I know my Psalms, and believe me I KNOW my Psalms!
"Uhmm Hi Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, Dudley. I just thought I'd phone and just say, uhmm, Merlin this is difficult. Just thanks for taking care of me, I know you never wanted to do it, you never wanted to love me, but you didn't throw me out on the streets and uhmm, you never physically abused me, well except for you Dudley, but that was just us being kids, uhmm yeah, so I wanted to say thank you, and don't worry about me. I probably won't see you again, so you don't have to care about me anymore. O and I forgive you for the cupboard, if you want to be forgiven that is, uhmm, yeah, don't really know what else to say, so I'll go now…"
I didn't quite know what to make of it at first. Thought maybe he'd drunk a bit too much of those Wizarding beers his dad used to drink, If only I had known…
It's been four days since we received the letter, four days since the last part of my life left standing was ripped from under my feet. It was a letter of condolences. A letter that said so much, yet so little…
"Dear Petunia and Vernon Dursley,
We regret to inform you of the passing of your nephew, one Harold James Potter.
Please know this, he had died heroically, saving his friends and professors, whilst defeating the man that has been terrorizing our world for the past three years, the same man that had killed his parents fifteen years ago.
Please contact us that we may discuss the necessary funeral arrangements.
On a personal note, I would like to add that your nephew was the kindest and bravest person I ever had the privilege of knowing. We will all mourn him, but we will never forget him. Thank you for even the smallest part you had in shaping him into the human being he had become.
Yours sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall
Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."
She thanked me; she had the gall to thank us for how we raised the boy. If only they knew, if only they realized that this was a prime example of a boy growing up into a good man IN SPITE of his relatives influences, and not BECAUSE of it.
A young man, I never had the privilege of actually knowing. For if I had known him, things could have turned out so differently. For him; for Dudley; for every one of us. But because of one moment in time, fifteen years ago, and every subsequent moment after that, two boys lives have been taken from them because of me. All because of me.
It's been two days since I've shed a tear. Since I've realized I don't have the right to mourn him. I don't have the right at all…
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