PREFACE
Title:"Perfectly normal"
Genre: "What if"
Timeline: Pre-Canon and first chapters of Book One.
Characters: Harry & the Dursleys
Summary: One would have to agree that if Dumbledore was indeed consciously aiming to shape Harry into self-sacrificing hero, he took a huge gamble. The risks involved have been thoughtfully explored in fanfiction. I have read countless "Harry saved from the Dursleys and raised by insert name" fics. There are also quite a few "Harry goes dark" ones, and even some where Harry's muggle family (or at least Petunia) redeem themselves by embracing magic. One of the latter was actually really, really good, so don't get me wrong, but… keeping a child in a cupboard makes one a bad guardian, – and shielding your ward from what had orphaned him in the first place is only reasonable. What I mean is so far I failed to find a story following what in my opinion should be the most probable scenario: WHAT IF THE DURSLEYS, being decent people, RAISED HARRY LIKE THEIR OWN – THAT IS, "PERFECTLY NORMAL" AND WARE OF MAGIC? So, for all it's worth, I decided to write such story myself. Hope you'll enjoy at least the idea.
Warning: Obviously AU, but just twisting, not contradicting canon so far.
Disclaimer: Everything belongs to JKR, direct quotes especially so. I don't even particularly want any of it ;-).
NB. I have to admit I was more interested in the situation itself than in the entourage, so there are a few details that I picked up from movies or even my own experience. Forgive me, if they seem out of place in early 1990s' Britain.