Chapter 1

The Dursleys Departing

Dudley wasn't sure what to think of the tiny wizard jammed between him and his mother. Between his purple top hat and the watch that shrieked "About time!" as they pulled out of the driveway, he was sure his father wouldn't be able to take too much of this man. Dudley felt that if he had to choose between a talking timepiece and another encounter with those…dementors, the decision was easy.

"Where are we going, anyway?" Mr. Dursley spat, agitated to be so out of control in this situation. Dedalus addressed the quivering bush of a moustache reflected in the rearview mirror.

"Oh, it doesn't matter, really, good man," he squeaked. "Just as long as we get a fair distance away from your house."

Grumbling and twitching, Mr. Dursley stepped on the gas a little. Hestia Jones was looking out the passenger seat window, watching the manicured lawns and normal suburban households zip by with mild interest. Petunia seemed a little lost in thought for a few minutes, then snapped back to earth with a jolt as she spotted a neighbor she recognized.

"Vernon," she said warningly, with a look at the strangers in the car.

"Right," said Mr. Dursley, and he accelerated to a speed a little higher than was strictly necessary for a neighborhood drive at sunset. He hunched over the steering wheel and narrowed his eyes, the better to spot anyone who might see him in such abnormal company.

Dedalus reached over Dudley's hulk and began to play with the buttons on the door, delighted when the window whirred down to let summery air whip inside. In his excitement, his top hat fell on Petunia's lap, who flinched and batted it away.

"Exactly how far do we need to go?" Mr. Dursley bellowed.

"Oh, farther than this, to be sure! No one must suspect where we are headed!" Dedalus said.

Driving on with no particular destination in mind, Mr. Dursley did not enjoy the beauty of the dusky night falling around them. He merely mumbled through his bushy moustache, muttering about swerves and, "Shake 'em off." It was all the rest of them could do to keep him from pulling into a parking lot to spin donuts. Indeed, he was on the brink of insanity when a commotion in the sky halted his attempts at evasive maneuvers.

Dudley craned his neck out the window to look at the fireworks of green and red lighting up the dark sky. He strained to think what they could be for this time of year. Hestia and Dedalus exchanged dark glances and a few whispered words. Mr. Dursley opened his mouth to bark out another question.

But the demand did not make it out. There was a loud crash and the car lurched. Brakes squealed and the passengers felt the car lose control, spinning and swerving off the road. Dudley couldn't understand what was going on. His seatbelt clutched him hard and he heard his mother scream as a hand shot out of the darkness to grab his arm.

Darkness squeezed them. For a moment, Dudley flashed back to the fateful day when he had met those two dementors…pitch blackness, cold nothingness, and tight bands constricting him on all sides like the terrible, invisible hands of the creature who wanted his soul….

Then it lifted.

As Dudley and Petunia gulped the welcome country air, Dedalus brushed himself off and looked around.

"Oh, we've made it!

They were at the strangest house Dudley had ever seen. It appeared to be surrounded by blank country, windswept and dotted with trees, severed by a long, thin country lane winding into the distance. The house itself was white and tall, with so many stories neatly stacked up high and supported with stately columns that Dudley could hardly count them all. Curtained windows colored each floor, and the curly-eaves on the shingled roof gave the impression of gingerbread on top of a many-tiered wedding cake.

Unaffected by the overwhelming structure above her, Petunia rounded on Dedalus.

"Where's Vernon? Where's my husband?" she shouted shrilly at the little man.

He looked uncertain. Hesitantly, he opened his mouth to say something, but before he had to come up with an explanation, there was a loud crack beside them for the fourth time that evening.

Dudley flinched, expecting another brick wall to materialize from the sky, but it was only Hestia and his father, appearing from thin air with a pile of bags.

"We've lost him," said Hestia dispassionately as Mr. Dursley fell to his knees and clutched the grass, gasping and trying to understand that he had just disappeared from one place and popped back into existence in an entirely new spot. Petunia threw herself to the ground to help her husband. "I doubt he'll be waking up anytime soon. That was quite a blow," she said, looking at Dudley. "At least I managed to get the luggage." She gestured to the pile of bags that had appeared with her.

"That's wonderful, and we're all safe now," said Dedalus, removing his top hat and wiping his brow in relief. "Didn't expect a Death Eater to find us right of the mark like that."

"They weren't looking for us," said Hestia, heaving two of the bags into her arms and starting for the house. The Dursleys waited for a moment before realizing they were supposed to follow with the rest. Hestia raised her voice over Mr. Dursley's grumblings, "They were there for Potter. It looks like they ambushed him as soon as they left. I hope they're okay," she said with a frown. "I'll be writing to Mad-Eye tonight to make sure."

If the Dursleys understood a single word of this, they didn't bother to show it. They all stared at Hestia in a stupor after entering the house and dropping their sacks all over the threshold.

"Do you mean to say," said Mr. Dursley, "that those fireworks were actually some of…some of your lot messing about?"

Hestia slowly turned to Mr. Dursley, finally realizing exactly how thick the man was.

"Yes," she said slowly and loudly, as though trying to make an overlarge sausage see sense. "It means that You-Know-Who's followers caught up to your nephew as he and his guard flew away. Those fireworks were spells, and by the look of it, there were a lot of curses flying above us tonight." She looked at Dedalus. "I don't think this was an accident. It may have been chance that one of them fell and recognized us, but they knew to be there to attack Harry tonight."

"Quite right," said Dedalus gravely. "We'll get to the bottom of this."

There was a somber silence for a moment as the Dursleys looked at them, still confused but afraid to ask any more questions. Then Hestia shook her head and looked around the house.

"Well, anyway, we got you lot here safely. Welcome to my home."

***Keep reading to discover a sneak peek of my next chapter, soon to be uploaded.***