This is one of four ideas that are diving Mothers Love. The entire premise was Q: what would a mother do for child? A: Anything.

The courtroom was packed, everyone and their mother wanted to be at the child abuse scandal of the century. At sixteen Harry Potter had finally opened up to his two best friends about the horrifying abuse that happened at the hands of his relatives, but with the war heating up prosecution had to wait. Now at twenty one the boy-who-lived became the man-who-defeated, his best friends became lovers and his relatives would finally see justice for their actions against him. He sat supported by friends and family in the front rows, a requirement of the trial. From where he sat he could see the Dursley's sitting at the defendants table, no representation in sight; the two had been offered a lawyer but had… refused when they found out that the lawyer would be magical.

Dudley sat embarrassed, but also curious, slumped slightly in his seat. The intervening years had been better to him than his parents he had lost nearly half his former body weight putting him solidly at high normal. His thinning down also seemed to improve his temperament; He had never had the opportunity to apologize to his cousin for his actions and hoped that the trial would allow him to do that. Vernon was currently beetroot in color and was under a silencing spell and three calming spells to keep him from spewing obscenities at the entire court. He had not aged well at all and was in fact bigger than before; he looked like he was one good shock away from a major coronary. Petunia was the surprise, her face was pale and drawn, and she was still stick thin wasting away. However her eyes held signs of triumph.

"Order" The new head of the Wizegmot, Griselda Marchbanks called into the packed courtroom. There was immediate silence since no one would want to miss a moment of this. "On the charge of Child Abuse in the First Degree how do the defendants plead?"

The silencing spell was lifted just so that Vernon could enter their plea. Petunia had not said a word during the entire proceeding. "Not Guilty." With that the trial truly got under way.

The first witness called to the stand was Petunia herself. Vernon looked surprised that she was testifying, especially for the prosecution.

"Please state your name for the court"

"Petunia Helen Dursley nee Evans"

"Did you deliberately and with full knowledge of what you were doing cause harm to your nephew Harry James Potter?"

"Yes" There was murmuring in the crowd. She glared into the crowd, "And just where were any of you when it was happening." She snapped, "I spent 10 years doing my best to get you people to notice something was wrong, 10 years trying to get someone to remove him from our home. I did my best to protect him!"

"How were you protecting him, Mrs. Dursley?" The prosecutor asked when the angry noises died down.

"I made sure he was visibly bruised, I starved him so he would look far too small for his age. I did my level best to get someone to look closer; I knew someone from your world would be watching would get him away. Why didn't you come get him?" The last was a wail.

"What were you protecting him from?" The prosecutor was calm, though he was clearly revising his strategy.

Petunia, now driven beyond her fear out right growled at the wizard before her. "Who do you think I was protecting him from? I knew what my husband was, what he would do to my nephew; what he could do to our son. I found magazines before we had children, it showed kids…I knew when Dudley was born that we would have to get away. I was going leave him two days after Halloween 1981, then Harry showed up."

"Why didn't you leave? It sounded like you were already planning to." The murmurs had taken on a distinctly different tone. From the Gallery she could see Harry being held close by a red headed boy and a brown haired girl. His emerald eyes burned with the need to see this done. If nothing else she could give him some closure.

"I tried" Her rancor was gone now, weariness replaced. She was so ready for this to be done; for the boy in the gallery and her son in the front row to know the truth. "Four times I tried to get away. Then I would go to sleep and wake up back on Privet Drive. No one but Vernon even realized we were gone. The last time I stayed awake for four days. We were in America when I finally collapsed. When I woke up again Vernon told me very clearly that we belonged to him and if I tried to leave again he would kill Harry. That was when I knew I had to make a choice. I would destroy my son and my sister child to try and save them. I would make it so obvious that both were being abused in very different ways that they would be taken away from us and put where they would be safe. It wouldn't take long, I thought, the Headmaster's letter said there would be someone watching. Surely they would notice the bruises, the malnutrition. They would notice…why didn't anyone notice?" She asked again plaintively.

There was no answer to that…Not yet at least.