(minor rewording of story in a couple of places and Author Notes expanded slightly 13th January, 2015)

Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling. I do not own Harry Potter.

Note: The following piece is set in an alternate universe for which the principle point of departure was that Petunia Evans was a muggle-born witch, whereas Lily Evans was a muggle – this has to some extent caused divergence in terms of characters on the part of the Evans sisters from those of their canon versions. The piece actually takes place in a house in Spinner's End in early November, 1981. The opening and closing sections are by way of general overviews, whereas the middle section is from the perspective of Lily. This piece is a one-shot.

Further Note: On account of some 'adult' references in places, this piece is rated as 'M'.

The atmosphere in the small sitting-room of the house in Spinner's End was cramped and uneasy – not helped by the current large number of adult occupants (five in total), one of whom had giant blood.

"How," asked Severus Snape, "are we supposed to manage this?"

Severus had been informed by the headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore, that he had a 'family emergency' and been practically dragged out of the school. Minerva and Hagrid had gone on ahead and already arrived, a particularly severe look of displeasure at these proceedings occupying Minerva's face. The reason for this gathering in this room at this hour of the night was asleep in a crib in the corner.

"I mean," Severus continued, "you are confident, headmaster, that he will return again, some day, unless you can in the interim work out what steps he may have taken to imbue himself with immortality and somehow forestall his return, and I assume that you will wish me to attempt to resume my role as your spy in his inner circle? It will be difficult for me to explain away that I have had the boy who everyone is claiming defeated him under my roof for however long it should have been by then."

"Nonetheless, I am convinced that for young Dudley's safety, it is best that he dwell with his mother's sister, muggle though she may be. Despite her lack of magical ability, she is Petunia's closest blood-kin, and there are old magics I can work to ensure Dudley's best prospects for the future if she takes him in before a week has passed since Petunia's demise."

Severus' wife, Lily, looked uncomfortable at the reminder that she was the only person completely lacking magical powers in the room. Even her nephew, Dudley, infant though he was, almost certainly had more magic in his little finger than she normally did in her entire body.

And it was on account of Dudley that this furtive gathering was taking place at this time and place; for somehow young Dudley Potter, scarcely three nights earlier, had been responsible for the destruction of the dreaded dark wizard known as 'Lord Voldemort' – or at least it was assumed that he had been, given that he had been the sole survivor found in the smoking ruins following the dark wizard's attack on the house where the Potter family had been in hiding. Albus Dumbledore was trying now to make young Dudley disappear, to a place somewhere well away from the attention and doings of the majority of the magical world, and to ensure Dudley Potter's safety for the future.

"It's not as if anyone knows that yeh married a muggle, Severus." Hagrid commented, apparently believing that he was making a valuable contribution to proceedings. "I mean, I didn't know, until the headmaster here tol' me the other evenin', and my eyes fair popped out of my head, I can…"

"Headmaster. Would you please put the oaf under an unbreakable vow not to disclose anything about my family affairs if you have not already done so, or otherwise please obliviate him of the facts, if you wish him to remain intact?" Severus requested in a long-suffering tone.

Minerva looked enraged at this idea and opened her mouth to say something, but Albus cut in, and his tone was conciliatory.

"My apologies, Severus. I must confess that I did not think to mention to Hagrid that this is in fact highly confidential information, being somewhat distracted at the time by a multitude of other matters of the moment. I shall see to something suitable as soon as we're done here."

"And how many has he already indiscreetly mouthed off to, whom someone competent such as you or I are going to have to hunt down and deal with one way or another?" Severus asked.

"Not many, I would think." Albus replied. "I only mentioned it a couple of evenings ago and Hagrid seldom has visitors – nor has he had any occasion to go into Hogsmeade or further afield since it came up in conversation."

"Please see to it that matters remain that way. I absolutely refuse to compromise Lily's safety, and the fact that the greater part of my witch and wizard colleagues have no idea that she exists I consider one of the very best possible protections."

"Still:" Hagrid ploughed on, though looking moderately crestfallen at the lack of faith being openly displayed in his ability to keep a secret. "It's not as if takin' young Dudley here into yer home will in any way somehow threaten to disclose that…"

"Hagrid: I assume that Dudley will go to school some day, and that his parents will have made arrangements – unless I miss my guess – for that school to be Hogwarts." Severus riposted. "And do you know what children do about their families, at school, Hagrid? They talk about them – sometimes even boast – unless they have grown up in such peculiarly unpleasant environments as to promote in them an overriding desire never to speak – not even to grumble – about them."

Severus was clearly warming up for another 'go' at the big man…

The room was full of unpleasant bickering, it was late at night, and Lily Snape was concerned that if any arguing got much louder, that it would wake the baby and toddler upstairs. To say nothing of… her nephew… she supposed, in this very room.

The news of her so-often-smug sister's demise had left Lily with mixed feelings. Petunia, the overbearing golden child of the Evans family, whom fortune had smiled upon and rained down such gifts in such abundance was gone. Magic, the opportunity to go to an exotic boarding school, exciting adventures and attention both at school and from her parents as 'the special child' – and ultimately ending up marrying some member of the magical nobility, or at least of the super-rich… Yes, Petunia had had it all, or at least she had had it all except for looks (and that latter situation had only lasted until she had mastered magic that could make her appear as a sultry temptress if she so required). And meanwhile, Lily had languished for much of her life in her elder sister's shadow, jealous of the attention and success and abilities that Petunia had had. Lily was by nature to a certain extent 'pretty' to look at (and that being without any of that wand-waving stuff needing to be involved) and her teachers at the tiresomely 'normal' schools which she had gone to, for dull, boring, 'normal' people, had told Lily that she was intelligent (for a girl), and that perhaps someday, if she worked really hard, she might end up as a secretary to a really important man – which prospect had hardly inspired Lily when her sister was going to be running around the world warping the very fabric of reality with a couple of twiddles of her magical stick.

But then there had also been in Lily's world one Severus Snape: whilst initially politely interested – in the days before Hogwarts – in Petunia, simply because she was a (child) witch and he was a (child) wizard, the manner in which Petunia had sneered at Severus and the family that he came from hadn't endeared Lily's sister to him very much; and he had been very much interested in Lily, too, desperately eager in those early days to persuade some hithertofore unknown mote of magical ability of Lily's to reveal itself. There had been many long afternoons, in the days before Hogwarts, spent in a derelict shed on some local wasteland where Lily had tried and failed to repeatedly get any reactions from the small cauldron that Severus had scrounged from his home, whilst Severus could concoct minor miracles from out of it.

And then Severus had of course gone away to Hogwarts, but he occasionally wrote to Lily, and every summer he had come back – as the years went past filled with increasingly bitter tales about the school's 'Gryffindors' (of which Petunia was one) and about the way that the school was run and the way in which most in his own 'house' seemed to look down on him because his mother had married beneath her social class, or something like that…

Although, on that latter complaint of Severus', it had been more a case of the way in which his own Hogwarts house looked down upon him until some people with brains in his house had noticed that Severus was actually quite skilful and clever – and said people had started making mysterious promises about possible future rewards, and getting the rest of the house to lay off on Severus a bit.

And in the summer of 1976, Severus had come back to Cokeworth, his mind apparently made up about something, and he had given Lily instructions that: 'If anyone you don't know who seems to be a witch or wizard comes around, asking, tell them that you're a squib. They may sneer at you a bit, but it could be worse.'

And he'd spent a lot of that summer teaching her an awful lot of things which he thought a squib would probably know. Apparently some of the contacts he was starting to make now, to help him get on in the world, might have a problem (due to some absolutely ridiculous ideas, Severus emphasised, with which he did not agree) with people who were completely non-magical, but they would tolerate squibs. And Severus didn't think that these people would ever find out about or bother to come checking on Lily, but it was best to be prepared, just in case.

It was the very obvious concern which he had about her, which he showed that summer, that decided Lily.

She clearly wasn't ever going to be magical, in and of herself, but if she couldn't be then the next best thing would be to sort-of-attach herself to the fringes of magical society by acquiring for herself a wizard, and there was one practically on her doorstep, all-but-throwing himself at her.

So the next year, in the summer of 1977, she seduced Severus Snape.

That had been her greatest triumph – and her greatest mistake. She hadn't realised the extent of the treacherous world that she was getting into, by tangling herself up quite so much with Severus – or thought that she'd fall pregnant that summer, costing her any hope of A-levels and the option of what notional 'independence' such things afforded women in the non-magical world.

On the way in which she'd gotten pregnant that first time, all that needed to be said was that Lily had been relying on the fact that everyone 'knew' that a woman couldn't get pregnant if 'it' was done with the woman's upper-body in an upright position during the act and no lying-down was done by the woman for at least an hour afterwards – she'd been so stupid and so naïve back then. Now…

Now she was married to a Death Eater – or former Death Eater or something – who had, at least at one point, been wholeheartedly working for the extermination or conquest of most non-magicals, and yet who was ridiculously devoted to her. She was married to a man who, for all his cleverness, exhibited some stupidly idealistic tendencies at times – such as those evidenced on the occasion when, upon discovering that his then master intended to hunt down and exterminate Lily's nephew, he'd gone immediately to Albus Dumbledore, without even bothering to consult with Lily first, and offered to become a double-agent, because he thought that Lily actually must care about her sister, Petunia, and her nephew. Never mind that it in theory that put him (and Lily by association) in greater danger than they might otherwise have been; never mind that if he'd actually asked Lily her opinion, at the time, Lily would have said that she wouldn't have cared one jot if one of the darkest British wizards of several generations hunted down and exterminated her sister or her nephew with extreme prejudice. (Once she had found about the double-agent piece of idiocy on her husband's part, after-the-fact, Lily had of course bitten her lip and tried to look pleased about it, knowing better than to mention to him that actually it was something that he needn't have done at all…)

Only now Petunia was dead: in despite of all Petunia's cleverness and talents and good-fortune, and in despite of all her fancy, clever, powerful friends, the dark wizard had hunted her down and killed her in the end anyway. And, Petunia being dead, Lily was surprised to discover that some slight, small, corner of herself did actually – for some reason completely inexplicable to herself – feel sad about it.

She squished that feeling, ruthlessly, and told herself that what she was going to do next she was going to do to get back at her so-perfect, so-very-dead, sister. To spite her, by taking in the brat, though Lily (so she told herself) wanted nothing to do with him; Lily wanted (so she told herself) just to be able to go and dance on her sister's grave, and to think that it served her sister right for having had such a wonderful life up until the moment that the lunatic throwing killing curses had, according to what accounts Lily had by now heard, burst in upon the final refuge…

…"We'll take him." Lily said, closing her eyes, and forestalling any further argument. "I don't know how we'll do it, but we'll take him. It's the least that I can do for my sister." She opened her eyes again and there was a hard, determined look in them, which brooked no argument.

"Very well then." Severus said, all intentions of argument disappearing from his countenance in a trice. "Since that is settled, we need to now address the practicalities of how it is to be done?"

Author Notes:

In this universe Petunia ended up being the Evans sister who got magic (and attention) and became (on some counts) somewhat 'nicer' than in canon for it, and Lily had no magic and got the opportunity to be the increasingly jealous sister – although Severus maintained his canon fascination for Lily since she was the Evans sister closest to his own age, and Petunia had her canon counterpart's 'looking down on the Snapes' attitude (plus Lily was unquestionably the prettier-looking sister, at the time that Severus was first getting to know the girls). For the sake of convenience, I assumed that Petunia ended up being sorted into Gryffindor at Hogwarts and (although being a year or two above him) ending up becoming the subject of attention of one James Potter. I suspect that Petunia (being a year or two above James) had an attitude of 'James who?' to James Potter which fascinated him (how could a muggle-born be like this?) no end – and which eventually resulted in James becoming very determined to chase and win her. At least to start off with, James didn't have anything in particular against Severus Snape at Hogwarts in this universe – he was just one of the Slytherins that it was good for a certain four Gryffindors to make fun of, although given that Severus Snape was something of a loner in Slytherin House, he was often considered a relatively 'safe' target to select for Marauder attentions. (That and they enjoyed seeing him get wound-up.) Although once James found out that Petunia didn't think much of Severus, James thought he could impress her by routinely humiliating him...

As in canon Severus joined the Death Eaters. In this universe, as of early November 1981, Severus has always seen Lily as some sort of ideal, with dozens of virtues, and very few flaws. He went to Albus Dumbledore and turned double-agent in this universe because he was so sure that it was something that Lily (as how he saw her) would want him to do, to protect her sister and her nephew... By November 1981, Severus Snape is teaching potions at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. For now, Lily and the children stay back home in Spinner's End.

Severus married Lily because it was the 'proper' thing to do given the first child (although he needed some encouragement from Lily to accept the idea that yes, he actually was 'good' enough for her). At some point Severus is liable to recognise that Lily isn't anywhere near as perfect as he thinks that she is. At that point the Snape marriage is likely to come under some pressure. If the children involved are lucky, by that time it will be clear that Voldemort is moving abroad in the world, giving Severus and Lily a more pressing concern than bickering about and scoring points off of one another.

Lily's first child was accidental (she genuinely believed that she wouldn't get pregnant); the second one (and subsequent ones - as of the time of this piece she is pregnant again) is/are very much intentional on her part. She likes the feeling of 'something magical' growing inside her, and she is highly ambitious for her children, projecting onto them all sorts of aims and ambitions for things that she would like to do in the magical world if only she were a witch... (The Snape children, by the way, tend to end up having names picked for them by Lily on the basis of being names of powerful historical kings/queens/generals; so girls' names such as Isabella, Catherine and (maybe) Maria Theresa and boys' names such as Peter, Frederick, and Arthur.)

I'm not quite clear on the arcane mechanics of how Dudley ended up as the Boy-Who-Lived in this universe. Severus didn't ask Lord Voldemort to spare anyone in this universe, going straight to Albus Dumbledore as soon as he heard about what the Dark Lord intended. Possibly it was a case of Lord Voldemort offering to spare James (the last member of an old pure-blood family that maybe he was reluctant to rub out) or maybe the Deathly Hallow which is the Potter heirloom invisibility cloak got involved.

At the time of these notes I have no ideas for what Severus and Albus would cook up with regard to Dudley living with Lily. Albus has decided it has to happen and – more importantly from Severus' point of view – Lily has decided that it must happen, thus clearly a way to do things in despite of any apparent impossibilities involved must be found as far as Severus is concerned.

Minerva doesn't really do much in this piece, other than play witness to the scene. I only included her presence since it's possible that she has the same sort of vague interest in the fate of Dudley Potter that it seems to me that she may have had of Harry's fate in canon, when Albus saw Harry dropped off in November 1981 in Privet Drive.

This is a one-shot.

Update: (13th January, 2015)

To respond to a comment by one early reviewer, any efforts to 'magically disguise' Dudley would highly likely be complicated by the fact that within months of November 1981 it will be apparent to Lily just what a big thing 'The Boy Who Lived' is in the magical world, and she'll want to be able to get a piece of that – either for herself, by being 'famous' as his carer, or for her children by their being known as his cousins. And to that end she's going to quite badly want Dudley to know who/what he is and to be known/recognised as that once he goes to Hogwarts. Any attempt to hide his identity would almost certainly run very strongly contrary to that agenda.