Author's Note: This is my first fanfiction story , where I tried to go all the way back at the beginning of the story with slight changes. Things will be more interesting in the next chapters (I promise) , only if you bear with my slow writing. Looking forward to read all of your reviews & criticism (feel free to be brutally honest).
Note: English is not my first language , so probably there may be any grammar mistakes, punctuation errors, or misuse of words.
Disclaimer: characters belong to J.K Rowling
Enjoy !
Chapter 1: Bizarre Fauna
Insecurities are easily found if one digs deep enough to break the shell that we ourselves create. It would be miserable to live a life seeking for your stolen so-called spotlight whose thief might even be a close person. A person that it would be painful to ignore or permanently forget.
Petunia Dursley, a woman in her mid 20's filled with pride inside of a thin body that was always covered by vintage and yet fashionable clothes characterized with dark hair and a pale skin with an attitude which most of the time had been judged as impolite , linked with a strange behavior often perceived as annoying , pathetic, envious and so on , was so pleased with herself as she thought that she finally fulfilled her only life ambition which was having a family of her own, one that she really loved and would support by any means necessary.
The main reason she felt this way at this era of her life was probably because she was the mother of this newborn baby boy whose name was Dudley.
Alongside with her husband Vernon who could only be described as a chubby man with a large mustache , fair hair that most of the time were oily , resulting as a side effect of his overweightness and also a terrible sense of humor , they were staring with admiration at their infant next to the fireplace in their living room inside of a little , cozy house in Privet Drive, Little Whinging , Surrey .
A suburb that most of the time was in absolute silence , where the only noise heard there was usually caused by pigeons and little kid's bikes during the afternoons. In the evenings you would usually see old folks coming back from the walk in the park or listen at the laughter in their backyards while having tea. The last thing you would expect from this community is their involvement in anything strange , mysterious or even illegal.
On a Monday morning Mr. Dursley was getting ready for work fixing his tie up and it was a special occasion that he was late for work even though he was a well-known workaholic by his firm colleagues.
"Vernon don't forget your presentation papers" shouted Mrs. Dursley from the depth of the kitchen wearing her apron and holding a spoon in her hand.
"Yes my dear" replied Mr. Dursley with a rushed tone, grabbing his yellow folder and then walked straight at the door, followed by Mrs. Dursley . Once the door was opened the unnatural happened.
This grey owl was standing above Mr. Dursley's Ford Fiesta right in front of their house carrying an envelope with his beak.
"Petunia , is this what I think It is" whispered Vernon with a low-pitched voice that sounded more like a cringe full of anger and disgrace. He glanced at his wife whose face had turned red , looking like she had dived her face in a bowl full of pomegranate juice .
"Oh dear god, I truly hope I'm wrong" she replied
"I really have a bad feeling about this" she continued , walking slowly towards the blue car.
"Shushhh . Get out of here you freaky animal " she screamed while making this gesture with her hand trying to scare the poor animal away .
The owl quickly spread his wings and flew away , throwing the letter from above right in front of Petunia's feet. She stared for a minute or two at the letter in front of her and finally realized that this was really happening and none of these actions were details of her terrible nightmares she used to have. Suddenly Mrs. Dursley was in a state of shock after she read the cover of the letter in her head.
Petunia Dursley No.4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey
"Sweetheart , let's get inside " Mr. Dursley approached grabbing his wife by her arm returning in their home's corridor right back to the comfort zone.
"Petunia I really have to get going, I am already late and I have this important presentation today. I have been planning on it for weeks. " he murmured quietly trying to cheer up his despaired wife.
Mrs. Dursley did not say a single word , she only kept staring at the envelope with the letter inside of it , laying in her lap.
"You don't have to read this nonsense darling, I thought we have already been through this. Just take a break from all the housework and call me if you need anything" Mr. Dursley advised as he got up hoping that he had wiped away this atmosphere full of grief surrounding his wife.
"Yes . Er... I am fine , I promise . Off you go now. I don't want to cause you any trouble at work . If I hadn't cause you enough" Mrs. Dursley spoke quietly rubbing her forehead trying not to burst into tears.
"Please Petunia , don't say that. In good and bad . Remember? " said Mr. Dursley heading at the door when all of the sudden he turned around smirked at his wife giving her a big wink. Two minutes later you could clearly hear the tires of the car sliding in the paved road. Mrs. Dursley was left all alone with a 4 month old baby sleeping in the room upstairs. Obviously Mrs. Dursley didn't have to guess who the sender of the letter was.
It was her. The only thing that related this non superstitious woman with another realm, another universe, another world. Her sister Lily . The only sister that she had but didn't speak or see in years. The sister she was always ashamed of , the one and only that made her feel less important.
"After all these years ?! " she sighed right before she ended up talking to herself
" What could she possibly want from me? I wonder! As far as I can remember I was the one who was not special or gifted." she said out loud as her voice resounded in the empty living room where she was staying.
Later that evening Mr. Dursley had come back from work and Dudley finished his baby food and by the time dinner was ready he was catching z's . Mrs. Dursley was preparing the table settling the plates in a beautiful pattern surrounding this delicious tomato soup.
This was probably the most restrained evening they spent together. There were no chats on how they spent their day or no stupid jokes of Mr. Dursley where Petunia would always fake a laugh pretending she was immensely amused. Silence was all around them. Until it came a point where Mr. Dursley made the first move.
" Petunia, have you ...Em..I mean did you...? " he rumbled.
Mrs. Dursley moved her head in a sign of denial.
"Darling it might be important. What if there is any health issue?. What if ...something is wrong?." he said with a nervous look on his face.
"What could be wrong?! . What could possibly be wrong for my perfect sister and this flawless husband of her's ?" she yelled.
Mr. Dursley realized there was no point on arguing about this topic anymore. It looked like his wife had made up her mind.
Instead of convincing her to do the right thing he decided to change the subject.
"The presentation went well , I think i might get the raise I've been waiting for. I mean, who knows ? Maybe we can go to the Canary Islands next summer ?" he said , with massive confidence.
"That's great. Brilliant !" Mrs. Dursley replied with a discreet tone.
Two weeks have passed since Mrs. Dursley's confrontation with her past. Days were passing by quite rapidly and finally it seemed that this short period of time had faded the negative impact on this family due to the latest event.
On a sunny Sunday afternoon Mr. Dursley decided to take his family out for a picnic in the park. He was thrilled to bits that he was spending some quality time with them since he doesn't get to do that often because of his law firm that he works for which sometimes make him work even during weekends. But this time he decided to neglect the pile of papers that were patiently waiting for him at his desk
. There they were. The "The Little Whinging Park" was crowded during weekends. The sun was shinning, the beautiful meadows were covered in green, greener than any other place, the playground was crammed with children whose laughter made it impossible to hear the beautiful sound of the birds. The refreshing breeze that fondled the bushes made it clear that summer was coming to an end. Mrs. Dursley was taking pictures of her baby boy next to the daises with her Olympus camera in her hand while Mr. Dursley was invading the sandwich basket.
"What a fun day, Vernon" she said with the biggest smile on her face. "This is exactly what I needed. THANK YOU! "
"Your welcome deary, anything for my lovely wife" he replied with his mouth full. Both of them were finding this day pretty enjoyable .
Mr. Dursley was delighted observing his wife's facial expressions making it clear that her mood had been drastically enhanced. Unexpectedly it became too chilly to sit in the mowed lawn . Mrs. Dursley looked up and by what she saw , she sensed a storm coming.
"We'd better get going! I suppose those grey clouds are about to burst any second now" suggested Mrs. Dursley .
Wishing this day would last longer she started packing things up . On their way home they were hurrying to get inside as fast as they could. As they were getting close to their house at No.4 at the Privet Drive the sky turned into this greyish tone , and all of a sudden an unexpected rain drop fell over Mr. Dursley's messy hair.
"Petunia lets hurry up. I can see our house at the end of the road" he said.
As they got closer they saw an old lady standing in front of their house wearing a yellow raincoat. It seemed like she was expecting them to come back any minute now.
"Oh Mrs. Figg what a pleasant surprise." said Mrs. Dursley while Vernon was carrying the basket and pushing Dudley's pushchair inside.
"Hello Petunia. " said Mrs. Figg quite politely.
"Come on let's get inside, fancy a drink? " said Mrs. Dursley as she was about to close her umbrella.
" No darling, thank you . I don't feel like a cup of tea. I usually take a nap at this time of the day. But I had to pay you a visit because there is something that concerns me." said Mrs. Figg in a utterly serious tone.
"Concern ? " replied Mrs. Dursley looking surprised.
"Yes dear. I only came to ask if you recently have owned a dog. " said Mrs. Figg.
"A Dog?" cringed Mrs. Dursley.
"Why on earth would we buy a dog" she continued.
"Yes Petunia I thought so . But no earlier than this afternoon, this black dog was standing in your veranda barking his throat out. My poor cats got quite disturbed. " said Mrs. Figg
"Well I can assure you that this disturbing dog is no property of ours" said Mrs. Dursley with annyoance.
"Mrs. Figg? Have you been taking the medications regularly?" she continued to ask politely
"Are you suggesting something. Petunia" Mrs. Figg answers aggresively
"No it's just that..." she began to answer but soon interrupted by Mrs. Figg
"You know Petunia I might be old, but I haven't yet turned loopy"
"I know, I know um... No we didn't see nor heard a dog...I'm sorry" she replied to Mrs. Figg feeling bad for her assumption.
"Oh if that's the case I'd better get going. My cats are all alone and they hate that. They can't stomach the thought of me not being there. " said Mrs. Figg without saying goodbye as she ran across the road towards her house.
The rain had stopped later that day. Mrs. Dursley had just finished doing the dishes. The Privet Drive was all peaceful drowned in this thick white fog. Due to the weather circumstances that night the fireplace at the Dursley's was on. The heat that was unleashed from the burning woods that would end up as ash in the marble floor of the chimney was tremendously satisfying. Mr. Dursley was staring at the television with a high concentration watching the news, on the other side of the room Mrs. Dursley was sitting , flicking the pages.
Suddenly the bell rang. Both of them looked up at each other. As far as they knew none of them were expecting any company. Mrs. Dursley hurried to open the door and at the same time wondering as if who could possibly visit them at this hour. Neither she or her husband were barely friendly. She opened the door and no-one was standing in front of her.
Staring at the road she couldn't see much , even the neighbor's house . Most of the alley was smoke-like making her sight sense useless. Even though she couldn't see much , she did hear a distant animal howl which made her body shiver. The first thing that came across her mind was that probably the little kids of the neighborhood were just messing around , just like that time when they messed with Mrs. Dursley's plants , extracting her lily's from their roots making her gloomy. As she was about to close the door and get inside , instantly she noticed this object she was treading on. Picking it up and after a second of two she realized it was a dog collar.
"Petunia who is it ? " shouted Mr. Dursley from the inside of the living room where he was sitting.
"Nobody ! " she replied, closing the door and returning back to the sofa where she was reading that book that she had recently bought. Immediately she reminded what Mrs. Figg had told her earlier that day. Her complains about this dog. Once she turned the other side of the collar she saw a name and a surname carved in the back.
"Sirius Black" she read out loud absentmindedly.
"Did you say something" said Mr. Dursley, a little annoyed as he didn't like to be talked to while watching television.
"No, I just read this name...It is written here... Sirius Black" she said , running all her acquaintances in her head and finding no Sirius Black in the list.