Evolution of the Dursleys
I'M BACK! And with a new story too. So this story was inspired the never-ending question "What if?" that results from open-ended plot holes? As JK Rowling never actually said what happened to the Dursleys, I decided to ask myself that very question and this is the results. Enjoy!
Petunia Dursley liked to pretend that her family was completely, totally normal. To an extent, it was. Her husband, Vernon Dursley, had a respectable job selling drills and received a decent salary. Her son, Dudley Dursley, attended a prestigious school and boxed quite well, in her opinion. They lived in an average house in a respectable suburban neighborhood. They lived perfectly normal lives, in this regard. In truth, they would be exactly what Petunia pretended they were, if it hadn't been for one vital drtail. Petunia's sister Lily was a witch.
Well, she had been until she and her husband were murdered. This wouldn't have caused such a disturbance in the Dursley household, had Lily not left her son for the Dursleys to raise. Harry Potter was the one thing that made it impossible for the Dursleys t ever be considered normal. Ever since he had received that blasted letter and went off to the school for freaks that welcomed him with open arms, Petunia had abandoned her hope for a normal life.
It wasn't as if Harry himself caused much of a problem. Despite the rumors that raged rampant around Privet Drive, Harry was not a delinquent. He did the chores, didn't eat much, and kept to himself most of the time. No, Harry wasn't the problem. It was her family's response to Harry that was the problem. As the years passed, Vernon became even more intolerant of freakishness, Dudley became became more of a bully, and Petunia was reminded daily of her sister by the boy's very existence. Petunia resented the boy just as she had resented her sister, until Harry had saved her precious Dudders from those terrible, soul-sucking monsters, the Dementors. Yes, Petunia knew all too well what they were. As children, Lily had spun tales of how they guarded the wizarding prison and how prisoners were subjected to them. She remembered how Lily had told her how many prisoners went mad because the Dementors had stolen away all the happiness and amplified every fear. Petunia remembered, and she was grateful to Harry for saving her son from that fate, even though she didn't show it outwardly. Petunia, while acutely aware of what could have happened, was secretly pleased by the changes in dudley caused by the experience. Whatever it was that the creatures showed him had made him distance himself from the awful hooligans he called his friends and he threw himself wholeheartedly into his boxing. It had improved his attitude tremendously.
On the other hand, the experience made Vernon even more intolerant of magic than he already was. Harry faced the brunt of his anger, even though he was not physically present. Vernon raged almost daily about the boy and the wizarding world in general. Soon even Petunia could see her husband was becoming more and more unhinged.
When Harry's 17th birthday finally rolled around and they were forced into hiding, Vernon fumed at the nerve of the wizards. But Petunia knew it was for their own safety. She also knew until whatever Harry faced was gone and they could finally return home, Vernon would be impossible to live with,
She was right.