The Dursleys' Tale
A/N: As much as I loved Deathly Hallows, I did feel that JKR left quite a bit of mystery around the fate of the Dursleys. This is their story, both during and post DH. Reviews are always welcome and appreciated.
Disclaimer: As much as I love the idea of JKR creating a fanfiction account to post more Harry Potter adventures, I am not her and these characters are not mine.
Chapter One: Evacuating
Aunt Petunia, whose face had been buried in her handkerchief, looked around at the sound. She did not seem to have expected to find herself alone with Harry. Hastily stowing her wet handkerchief into her pocket, she said, "Well- goodbye," and marched toward the door without looking at him.
"Goodbye," said Harry.
She stopped and looked back. For a brief moment, she considered wishing the boy she had begrudgingly raised good luck on his journey. Before the words could pass her lips, she was again struck by how precisely his eyes matched Lily's.
Regardless of Petunia's feelings about her sister's strange world, she was Lily's only sister. Petunia could vividly recall the November morning so many years ago when she had discovered her nephew on her doorstep. Lily was dead. She had died never knowing how much her sister missed her, not understanding how deeply Petunia cursed the day the Hogwarts letter had arrived. And yet Petunia was full of bitterness at her sister's death as well. Where was her beloved magic when she was struck dead by her infant's crib? Where were Lily's spell books and potions and that damned frog spawn when she needed them? Now Petunia was stuck with an infant she had no desire to lay eyes on, stuck with the burden of raising another small child. Although Harry had never been abused, his basic needs for food, clothing, and shelter always met, Petunia knew that she had never raised him as her son. If Lily really cared for him, Petunia reasoned, she wouldn't have gone and gotten herself killed.
Petunia decided against any final words to her nephew, and turned to leave. No use presenting him with a glimmer of the affection she had never felt for him. She glanced around at the gleaming surfaces of her home one last time, and closed the door of Number 4, Privet Drive, behind her, pained by the knowledge her diligent housekeeping would not be enough to protect her family any longer. Instead, she was forced to turn to her sister's filthy world for safety. Truth be told, if it weren't for her young son, Petunia thought she would take her chances against this supposed "Lord Voldemort." After all, Lily's untimely death proved that Petunia had upper hand in intelligence after all!
Parked in the driveway and clearly anxious was Vernon Dursley. He gestured frantically to the passenger seat, which had been saved for Petunia. In the back of the car, Dudley was sandwiched by a witch and wizard clearly struggling to make casual conversation. Petunia climbed into the car, and prepared herself for what was sure to be an unpleasant journey.
"Well then," growled Mr. Dursley, the veins of his neck bulging menacingly, "now that we've established that I can drive a bloody car, where the hell are you lot taking us?"
"It matters not," replied Dedalus Diggle, his voice clearly dripping with forced cheerfulness, "We just need to be far enough from here that we can disapparate safely."
Dudley, who was mentally relieving some of the highlights of his experiences with magic (a pig's tail and a dementor attack, to name a few), piped up fearfully, "You keep saying disapparate. That isn't even a real word!"
Hestia Jones smiled, mildly amused at how little Muggles understand, and replied, "I assure you dear, apparating is as real as you and me, although I admit it is a little difficult to explain to Muggles. Truthfully, it doesn't much matter whether you can fathom the concept of apparating. The plan is to leave the car, and…"
But here Mr. Dursley interrupted. "ARE YOU MAD?" he bellowed in a tone which suggested he believed this to be the case, "I will be doing no such thing. This is a company car. Just because your lot has no respect for property! Being as I am not such a git as to be unable to drive, surely this car can take us wherever we're going!"
Diggle smiled slightly. "I'm sorry Mr. Dursley, but I am afraid that is not an option. Apparation will be no trouble at all for you, just a matter of closing your eyes and appearing at our destination. In fact, this seems like the perfect place to leave the car." He gestured to an abandoned field by the side of the road.
Mr. Dursley obliged, clearly fearing the consequences for doing otherwise, and slowly craned his head around to face the occupants of the back seat. "You mean to say that if we…we…disaffernate…"
"Disapparate," interrupted Hestia helpfully, although she was becoming quite impatient.
"Disapparate, then," said Mr. Dursley with exasperation. "We're just going to magically appear somewhere else? YOU ARE MAD!!"
"But Mr. Dursley, you must understand that magic is the center of it all!" said Dedalus, glancing nervously at his watch.
Even as Mr. Dursley continued to protest, Hestia and Dedalus were pulling luggage from the car's trunk and bewitching it to follow them. Petunia and Dudley exited the car, and Vernon followed, practically shaking with rage at the thought of abandoning his care for this foolish Hocus Pocus. Dudley was terrified and himself visibly shaking, but the normally doting Petunia seemed not even to notice. Unbeknownst to her family, she was thinking, for the first time in many years, of her only sister. She was soon snapped back to the present though, when Hestia gently grabbed her arm and said, "Let's go then dears- hold on tightly, and we shall be there in but a moment!"
With that the world went black, and the Dursleys' fears multiplied with the sudden feeling of intense compression.
A/N: I have a lot of great ideas for this story- look for new chapters up soon!