AN 11/18/2017
This will be a series of mostly unconnected one-shots of the Harry Potter universe, mostly from the books.
The title 'Castles Made of Silver Sand' is from one of my favorite songs, 'Vinyl Memories' by SHEL.
Castles Made of Silver Sand
Quiet Moments
-Written by R.B. Lynn-
Petunia does some thinking after being forced to move in book seven.
Petunia Dursley loved to have control. She loved patterns, routines, normalcy, she loved her house. And now all of that had just been thrown out the window.
She had thought that her life had turned completely on its head when her sister was declared a witch. She had thought the same when she had been informed through a letter of all things that Lily and her husband were dead and now Petunia would be responsible for raising Lily's son, and when Harry had begun attending the same freak school her sister had gone to.
But now Petunia and her family were stuck in the middle of a war she only vaguely remembered was even happening, yet had somehow uprooted her entire life. This was the war that had killed her sister. The war that had now forced her entire family to move.
She lay in her unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar house, wide awake. Her husband's rumbling snores filled the room.
Petunia slipped out of bed silently as to not disturb her husband, though she doubted much could disturb him now. She went downstairs, where she sat on the couch and stared at the blank television screen.
She hated magic. She had ever since she knew it was real. It had separated her from her sister, had led to her sister's death, and had consumed her life and thrown it to chaos. And yet…
And yet it was during these quiet moments that she felt something like regret. She would wonder if could have turned out differently, better, if she had not been so opposed to magic. If she had not distanced herself from her sister. If she had treated her nephew more like a son and less like a servant.
But these were fleeting thoughts, not lasting even a full moment before she pushed them out of her head. Magic was unnatural. Those who used it were nothing more than occasionally dangerous freaks. She had built the better part of her life on those beliefs, where would she be left if she questioned herself now?
And here she was, sitting in an unfamiliar house running from a war she had no place in, protected by layers of the very thing she had despised for so long.
She glanced out the window and she swore that if she looked closely enough she could see the faintly shimmering outline of the enchantments that protected her family.
Everything else in her life had been turned upside down, perhaps it was time for a change in thinking.
AN 11/19/2017
I made Petunia more than a bit OOC. It's very unlikely that after the Deathly Hallows Petunia would have a change of heart when it comes to magic. Still, this was interesting to write. I've always liked the challenge of seeing the Harry Potter world through the Petunia's eyes. She is, we'll all admit it, a horrible person throughout the series. Yet we see that she has motive behind her attitude towards magic, her feelings of envy and isolation from her sister. Not to say that the way she treats Harry is justified, far from it. It's just interesting to think of things from her point of view.
