Lily and James Potter stared at their son as he wiped his tiny little fist across his tiny little

button nose. Their lives were as perfect as could be. They had a wonderful loving marriage, they

were well-to-do, and now they had a baby to share it all with.

" He looks just like you, James," Lily said staring through the glass.

"But he's got your eyes. Let's just hope he's got your good sense too,"James said.
.
Petunia and Vernon came with Lily's parents. Lily's mother held Dudley up to the nursery win-

dow and said, "Dudley, meet your cousin Harry."

"How are you , dear?" Mrs. Evans asked.

"Hello ,all," Mr. Evans said.

"Hello, Lily and James," Petunia said eyeing her precious little boy all the while.

" Hi, Petunia," Lily said coming to hug her sister." I'm glad you decided to come. It feels

good to see you after all of this time."

"Hello, James and congratulations," Vernon said.

"Mum, he doesn't like to be held like that," Petunia complained.

" Oh, rubbish. My little 'Dudders' is a strong little gent, and he knows when he feels

uncomfortable, and when he doesn't, don't you Diddy?" she cooed now tickling his chubby little

chin playfully as he laughed.

" May I hold him, Petunia?" Lily asked.

After looking at Vernon she said, "yes, I guess it's okay."

"What do you mean, you guess it's okay?" Mrs. Evans asked belligerently looking from

Petunia to Vernon who cowered as he met her firy gaze.

" P-Petunia's very protective of him,you know being a new mother and all," Vernon said

shyly.

" And why, might I ask, does he need protection from his own family?" Mrs. Evans

asked threateningly.

" Oh.... it's just that Petunia loves him so. She never lets him out of her sight," Vernon

answered tremulously.

"Well, that's just ridiculous. What do you two plan to do, follow him around everywhere

he goes?" she asked sarcastically.

" Uh-no," he said, looking and feeling embarassed.

"Well then," she said.

Dudley grabbed Lily's hair playfully and gave it a tug. She mouthed the word 'ouch', and he

touched her mouth trying to see what was happening . He seemed to take to Lily at the first

encounter. In fact, when Petunia thought that the moment was right to get her son back, she

reached for him, but he started to cry when he saw that he was leaving Lily.

" Oh, look. They've already bonded,"Mr. Evans said.

The family shared a lovely visit until Peter Pettigrew walked in, greeted eveyrbody, and

asked to speak to the Potters in private about a brief 'professional' matter. Petunia pretended to

go to the bathroom all the while listening through the wall to what James, Lily, and this Peter

person were saying.

" Sirius came to tell me that you wanted to make me your secret keeper," peter said.

" Yes, but listen, Peter, right now is a very bad time to bring this up with Lily's parents

being here and all." James said.

" Don't worry, James, I can do the spell right here. I've brought my wand with me, and

this ward is a private one,"Lily said informatively.

" Okay," James said.

Petunia listened to the rest of the conversation and put together the idea that her sister

and her family were in some sort of danger from someone who was looking for them. She found

the idea ludicrous that Lily would actually confide in someone during such a crisis, especially

someone who looked shifty like that Peter Pettigrew. She kept quiet about all she heard and

emerged from the bathroom primping her hair.

A week passed since that day. Petunia looked at the charmed bracelet that her sister gave

her to use as a portkey. She'd had the worst feeling about that 'Peter', she didn't know what

made her distrust him. She knew that 'goody-two-shoes' Lily always trusted people at their

word, but she had always found suspicion and analysis of potential associates a most useful tool,

even if it did make her seem less kind to people than her popular sister did.

The phone rang, and she heard Lily crying at the other end.

"What's wrong, Lily?" Petunia inquired fearfully.

" It's so awful; it's mum and dad. They're dead!!!!!!!" she said crying uproariously.

" Oh Lord!!!! I'm on my way!!!!" she shouted. Dudley was with his Grandma Dursley,

and Vernon was away on a business trip.

Petunia arrived at her parents' house and saw them both lying motionless on the floor

wearing looks of terror on their faces like masks. She looked around the house to see what else

had happened; she still couldn't believe it. Her parents were both dead. She felt her shoe almost

crush something. She looked down and saw that it was a ring. She picked it up with a handker-

chief that sat in her pocket, then she wandered over to the phone and attempted to call the police,

but Lily stopped her and said, "the ministry is on its way. There's no need to involve the muggle

authorities."

"You mean to tell me that this had to do with that magic nonsense?!!!!" she asked enraged

enough to slap Lily for being so reckless.

" It's a part of your life too, despite the fact that you pretend to be normal for that

husband of yours!!!"

"Yes; because, it's very dangerous !!!! Just look at our parents, Lil, can you honestly sit here and tell me

that living with magic isn't dangerous?!!!!!!"

"Yes, but when James and I went into hiding, this wasn't supposed to happen to mum

and dad," she said crying.

" How did you find out that this happened ?" she asked.

"I popped in to see mum and dad to get a break from the baby, and when I knocked nob-

ody answered the door. I saw a green flash of light so I apparated inside and I found them like

this,"Lily answered.

"Does anyone know where I live?" Petunia asked.

"Of course not; I know what Vernon thinks of our crowd," she said.

" Listen, I want you to keep me abreast of the proceedings. I'm going home. I can't stand

to be here right now. It's just too upsetting," she said.

"Don't you think that I'm upset too?!!!!!!!!!!!!" Lily roared at Petunia's callousness.

" Don't yell at me!!!!!!!!!! This is all your fault, Mrs. 'James Bond'!!!!!!!! You had to go

looking for trouble with that husband of yours. I swear on their graves that I'll never forgive you

for this for as long as I live!!!!!!!!!" Petunia said crying to the point that she trembled uncontrol-

lably.

" I- I'm so sorry, Pet!!!!!!!None of this would have happened if it weren't for me. All James and I wanted to...."

" Oh.....yes.......James.......... I should have known it!!!! Lily never thinks of doing

anything without 'James'. Let me ask you 'this', does 'Peter Gunn' know about what's

happened here tonight?!" Petunia asked sharply. " Well, does he?!!!!!!" she pressed.

" No," Lily answered quietly.

"You know what makes me sicker about this than anything? It's the fact that all our lives

I've had to pick up your slack. Everybody swore that you were some kind of angel. Remember

when we were young and the Carroll brothers picked on you and your friends? I had to come and

fight for you; because, they threatened to feed you to Mr. Halliday's pit bull 'Tatters' for

cheeking the eldest, Andrew. Oh.... no-no, that's not a good enough example. I have a better one

for you. It's the time that you decided to rescue Mrs. Ellis' cat 'Poppins' by sliding across the

powerline using dad's good Sunday belt. You and Poppins would've been fried to a crisp if I

hadn't pulled the trampoline beneath you. Those times frustrate me when I think on them, but

this.......this is just too much,Lily," she said sounding fed up.

" I know , Petunia. Please, listen to me. The man that we're fighting is very dangerous. He

tortures people like your husband Vernon. If nobody tries to stop him, then we're all doomed,"

Lily said.

" I am not entering this fight if that's what you're asking me to do," Petunia told Lily.

" Oh-no, not you, 'Miss perfectly sensible witch of the year', 'Miss straight- A-I-ride-

my-broom-side-saddled-top-of-the-graduating-class bloody coward!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Lily screamed

back at her. " I wonder what Miss Cackle would say right now if she saw her best little pupil

shirking her civic duty," Lily said laughing viciously at the end of her sentence.

Petunia lost control and slapped Lily hard across the face. Before either became aware of

it, they were in a knock-down wrestling fight. It took eight of the apparating aurors to pry

them both apart as each shouted at the other.

" Let me go!!!I don't give the first damn in hell whether I see you ever again!!!!!!," Petu-

nia said and then folded her arms disapparating more smoothly and less noisily than her fellow

living room occupants.

" 'Pet'....pleeeease.....don't go," Lily begged before breaking down into hysterics.

Petunia realized that she broke her creed, her sacred vow that she would never use magic

ever again. 'How could she have let Lily get her so angry that she broke her vow to herself ?'Oh,

it didn't matter now. Vernon didn't see her do it. Her parents were dead, and that was most

important. She shoved one of her plates onto her immaculate kitchen floor and screamed swear

words as it broke. Lily and her selfish ideas broke her whole world to pieces. Why didn't people

like her and that James ever consider anyone but themselves? Never did any of their actions have

consequences, that is to say, consequences that affected them personally. As she cleaned the

kitchen floor, the ring that she picked up as evidence slipped out of her pocket . She grabbed it

and looked at it to try and remember where she'd seen it before, pondering the ring consumed her

the next few hours of her lonely night. 'Why am I obsessing over this ring?,' she thought. She felt

that she should backslide and use magic one more time to divine the origins of this ring.

She drew a saucer full of water and got a few black, mother-of pearl pebbles from her garden and

formed a Celtic Cross around the ring. She let the dish and the articles gather rays from the moon-

light. She timed it and went to retrieve the saucer after five minutes. She pulled the ring from the

saucer and felt her body stiffen suddenly. She saw a grotesque looking Peter Pettigrew talking to

someone. It was someone who had a horrific face. She screamed and broke her charged link. She

swore. She knew that she wasn't supposed to act out else risk breaking the psychic connection

with the earth and the moon. 'Damn!' 'It was only a half-moon.' Were it full, she could have

recharged the link. It weren't as if she couldn't recharge it at the present time. It's just that any

moon less than full usually brought interference from other sources. She slipped the ring back

into her pocket and went to bed . She felt her body stiffen violently as she dreamt. Her astral self

got pulled into a dark room where she saw Peter and the monster talking again. She listened in as

he promised to deliver James , Lily, and worse that poor little defenseless baby to him to be

killed. ' What the devil did Lily get herself into dealing with this monster?' Petunia felt her

corporeal body jump. She had to get that baby! It wasn't its poor little fault that it had foolish

and imprudently foolhardy parents. She got the charmed portkey bracelet that Lily gave her and

popped into the living room. She saw that shiftless James lounging on the sofa sleeeping as Lily

leaned into him doing the same. She saw a cup on the floor that contained some sort of solution

and Lily's household items looking helter-skelter.'How messy can you get?' she thought. Then

she reminded herself that she was here to get the baby and to stay focused. She crept up the

stairs and found herself debating whether or not she should use a cleaning spell on this pigsty or

not. She bit her lip and saw Lily stir. 'Oh,no! I should get moving!' She went into the nursery and grabbed Harry. He started to squirm,

and she waved her hand and said, ' Conscientus dormiatum.' He fell right back to sleep. She left them a note and

disapparated with the baby.