Twelve-year old Alexandra Dursley sighed as she rolled out of bed. It was the third time this week that she had been woken up before her likings by the bright glare of the sun shining through her broken blinds. She looked at her clock. It was only seven thirty. She knew she would never get back to sleep, though, so she slipped on her dressing gown and headed into the kitchen.

"Morning," she yawned to her father, who was sitting at the table eating cold cereal.

"Morning. You're up early."

"Stupid sun woke me up again," she muttered, placing two slices of bread into the toaster. "It keeps shining in through the blinds."

"I'll try to remember to fix them this weekend," Dudley told her. "Do you have any plans today?"

"Yes, I'm going to spend the whole afternoon with my many friends," she replied sarcastically, grinning at her father. "No, dad. I don't. Why?"

"I thought maybe we could drive into the city to the cinema and grab a bite to eat," he replied. "Seeing as this is my first day off of work in months."

"That sounds fun," Alexandra nodded.

"Good. We'll go right after I send my report to my boss."

"But you just said you didn't have to work," Alexandra frowned.

"I meant that I just didn't have to go into the office," he said, smiling weakly.

The office Dudley worked at had been going under for a long time. We worked there making computer presentations for a once booming company. Now, however, the company was millions of dollars in debt, and though he worked nearly seventy hours a week, he barely made enough to make ends meet. Of course, their financial situation was not helped by the fact that he was a single parent. Alexandra's mother had been out of the picture since she was three, choosing to devout her life to her career, rather than her family, according to Dudley.

Just then, there was a knock at the door.

"Can you get that?" Dudley asked, washing his bowl at the sink.

Alexandra obeyed, and walked to the front door and opened it. There was a thin, bony woman on the step, with a especially long neck. Her eyes were watery and she clutched her handbag tightly in her hands. She looked vaguely familiar to Alexandra, but she couldn't place the face…

"Hello," she said to this strange woman. "Can I help you?"

"Look at you," the woman said softly, staring at Alexandra with such an expression of remorse and joy. "You've gotten so tall."

Alexandra didn't know how to respond to this. But then it hit her. "Grandma?"

"Who's at the door?" Dudley called, coming from the kitchen. He stopped in his tracks, though, when he was who was at the door. "Mum?"

"Oh, Dudley!" she said, beginning to sob. "It's been so long!"

"What are you doing here?" Dudley asked, clearly confused. "Do-do you want to come in?"

"Yes, yes. Thank you," Petunia said, stepping into the small house.

"Is everything alright?" Dudley asked as he sat down next to his mother on the sofa.

"No," she said heavily. "I'm-I'm sorry to say, darling, but your-your father died two nights ago."

Dudley blinked. "Oh. I'm-I-how?"

"He had a heart attack," she said, fresh tears falling from her eyes.

"Wow," Dudley sighed. "I don't-"

"I know you two have, well, had your differences over the past years," she continued softly. "But it would mean a lot to me if you would come to his funeral. It's this Saturday."

"Of course," Dudley said, not knowing how to react to such news. While it was true that he hadn't spoken to his father in over seven years, it still felt like someone had punched him in the gut. "Do you need anything mum? You can stay here if you need or-"

"No, no, but thank you," she said earnestly. "But, well, I trust you've kept in touch with-with Harry?"

"Yes," Dudley nodded.

"Well, I don't know if he would want to, I certainly wouldn't blame him if he didn't, but would you ask him if he would want to come as well?"

"Sure, mum," Dudley said.

Alexandra watched the scene from the front hall. She didn't know how she felt about her grandfather's passing. She knew that he thought of her a freak simply because she was a witch, but all the same, he was her grandfather.

Petunia stayed for a couple more hours, catching up as much as she could in that time with her only son and granddaughter. But then she had to leave to continue making funeral arrangements.

"Rough way to start out your morning, huh?" Dudley said softly once his mum left.

"I'm really sorry, dad," Alexandra said sincerely.

"Thanks, sweetie," Dudley sighed. "Well, I guess I'll tell Harry tonight. I don't think he'll be up for the funeral, though. Dad was dead awful to him while he lived with us."

Alexandra retreated back to her room. The sun was shining even worse through the blinds now than before. Alexandra sat down on her bed, and pulled a book from her school trunk. It was The Era's Darkest Wizards and their Downfall. Over the last few weeks of the summer holiday, she had become accustom to glossing through the pages every night before she went to sleep. It scared her how fascinated she was by the book. Each page told of the inhumane crimes that each witch or wizard had commited. Alexandra flipped to a particular page, and stared down at it: Claridina Wretermoust. Alexandra was truly terrified of this woman. Not only because of her apperance, which was frightening enough in and of itself, but because of the monsterous son she had risen. Yes, Rolwat Wretermoust was only twelve, and yet seemed capable of magic of someone nearly four years his senior. Despite the fear that was created every time she looked at this page, though, she kept finding herself drawn back to it.

….

AN- Kind of a slow start, yes, but things will escalate in time!