Petunia Dursley was in a very good mood. Her husband had recently gotten a promotion, her baby boy was thriving and had just learned his first word ('no', he's a very assertive child, just like his father), and the autumn had been mild enough that her flowers and garden were still the envy of the neighborhood. Life was going very well indeed.

She had awoken early so she could cook a full breakfast for her family. She had just started to crack the eggs into a bowl when there was a knock on the door. Petunia glanced toward the entry hall in confusion. She wasn't expecting anyone, especially at this hour. The knocking came again, louder and more insistent. Petunia quickly wiped her hands on a dishtowel and hurried to answer the door before the noise woke her son.

She opened the door to see the milkman. She frowned, furious. She had left the empty bottles on the doorstep the previous evening; there was no reason for him to cause such a commotion.

"Well? What is it? If you wake my son I'll be calling your supervisor!"

"My apologies ma'am, please s'cuse the interruption, but I found a baby on yer doorstep."

"I'm sorry?" Petunia stared at him blankly. He found a what? "A baby? Why on earth would a baby be on my doorstep?"

"I dunno, ma'am, but it's righ'ere, inna basket."

Petunia glanced down and, sure enough, there laid an infant in a basket. The child had dark hair and bright green eyes that stared up at her with an eerie quiet.

Her sister's child.

"Thank you for letting me know. I'll call the police and have this figured out."

The milkman nodded in satisfaction and left, taking the empty milk bottles with him. Petunia hurriedly scooped up the basket and the fresh milk and went inside before any of the neighbors could see. She set the basket on the table and busied herself with putting away the milk while she took a few calming breaths. Once she felt sufficiently calm, she walked over to the basket and stared at her nephew for a long while.

He was a beautiful child. He was perfectly proportioned, neither to thin nor too thick. He had Lily's porcelain complexion and pink rosy cheeks. His eyes were a magnificent shade of green that glowed against his pale skin and dark hair. It figured that her sister would beat her even at this.

An envelope tucked in to the blanket caught her eye. She quickly ripped it open and read the contents twice. Her sister and her good for nothing husband were dead, and the child had been left in her care. Petunia's mind whirled. She had not gotten along with her sister for the past several years, but she was still her little sister. They had been extremely close as children. It was only when magic came in to their lives that everything changed. When everything fell apart. Magic had done this, killed her family's relationship as much as it had killed her sister. She would tolerate it no more, the child had to go.

With that decision made, Petunia calmly made the child a bottle. She would discuss the details with her husband over breakfast.

Vernon came thundering down the stairs a few minutes after the smell of sizzling bacon managed to waft its way up the stairs. He carried a fussy Dudley with him, and deposited the child in to his high chair before sitting down himself and opened up the morning paper. Petunia finished up the cooking and carried over a heaping plate of bacon, eggs, and toast over to her husband

He grunted his thanks and started to stuff his face. When he had guzzled a little more than half the contents of his plate, he gestured to the basket that was still on the table. "What's in there, Pet?"

Petunia looked up from where she was sitting, scooping spoonful after spoonful of sugared oatmeal in to her large child's mouth. "My sister and her husband were murdered last night, and someone thought it would be a good idea to leave their baby on our doorstep. He's one of them, so we can't call the police. I've been trying to think of a way to get rid of him all morning, but I don't want to burden a perfectly normal family with a little freak."

Vernon stroked one of his fat chins, deep in thought. Suddenly he smiled, inspired by an ad he had glanced over in the morning paper. "Well Pet, then we won't leave him with normal folk. We'll give him to some freaks."

"How are we supposed to find more of them?"

Vernon grinned toothily through his mustache. "There's a circus in London this week. I can take today off and we can take Duddy to see the show and leave the basket with the boy next to the freak tent. No one will be able to trace it back to us, and he won't be a burden to any normal people."

Petunia smiled adoringly at her husband. She had married a genius. "Okay Diddykins, let's get you cleaned up. We're going to the circus!"

Lila Valeska sighed, irritated. She had come to London to get away from Cicero and his nagging about her kid, but she was starting to regret it. The circus she had joined was second rate at best, and the locals didn't appreciate her talents.

And the men were ugly.

She took a long swig from a bottle of swill the perverted clown in trailer four made and wished it were stronger. Jerome was screaming his head off again and it was starting to grate on her nerves.

"Oi! Lila!" The ringmaster pounded on the side of her trailer, "Git yer kid ta shut 'is trap! Yer on next!"

"Alright, alright already!" She snapped and grabbed Jerome by his scrawny shoulders and gave him a rough shake. "Why don't you ever shut up you little brat? Is a moment of silence too much to ask?" Lila snarled at the one-year-old, whose head was whipping back in forth sickeningly. Lila finally lost all her breath and released her child. Jerome slumped, boneless, into his cardboard box.

It wasn't until she had returned from her last performance and finished her booze that Lila realized Jerome was being oddly silent. She peeked into the cardboard box and reeled back in shock, and then crouched down to get a closer look at her boy. He was staring ahead with glassy eyes, and his skin was starting to take on a blue tinge. Lila hesitantly pressed a finger against her child's throat. There was no movement, and the skin was cold to the touch.

For a moment, Lila was filled with shame and grief. But then her selfishness took hold of her and she worried about what would happen when the others found out. And what they would do to her when they discovered she had killed her child. They might not have liked Jerome very much, but it was an unspoken law that you don't hurt children. (Well, at least nothing permanent.)

Lila covered Jerome's body with his blanket and exited her trailer. She could pass it off as an accident. She had shaken Jerome before to get him to shut up, nothing about this time was any different... but she could say he suffocated on his blanket in his sleep, which might go over easier. She huffed in annoyance and started walking towards the prop tent. The clowns usually hid the good booze there.

Right before she entered the tent, a soft whimper caught her attention. Lila was drawn towards a patch of tall grass next to a fold in the tent. There, nestled in the grass and obscured by the tent, lay a basket with a baby inside. Lila picked him up and looked at the small face. It was a boy, judging by the pajamas with little trucks as a design, and he was about the same age as Jerome. He even had a passing resemblance to Jerome, with the thick black hair and green eyes. No one who had recently seen Jerome would be fooled, but if she went back to Haly's Circus then …

Lila blinked in shock and almost returned the baby to the basket, but she hesitated. Was it such a bad idea? She hated it here, and she had made it very well known. It wouldn't be a surprise if she up and left. And she had several lovers that were very fond of her at Haly's; it would be easy to go back. Besides, Cicero's blind, so it's not like he'd notice if she had a different child with her. And this way, she could avoid all the…unpleasantness…that a dead child tends to bring.

Decision made, Lila put the child back in the basket and cautiously covered him up with his blanket. She made her way back to her trailer, staying in the shadows to avoid suspicion. Once inside she immediately began packing her meager belongings. Her last act was to wrap the body of her dead baby in the blanket from the basket. She'd throw it and the basket she found with her new Jerome into the Thames on her way to the airport.

"Are you ready to go to America, Jerome?" Lila cooed. The newly dubbed Jerome made a soft hiccupping sound and stared up sleepily at his new mother.