disclaimer in first chapter
interlude i
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When Dumbledore saw fit to leave the tiny waste of space that Harry was on Petunia's door step, the man hadn't even had the courage to explain the situation to her face. He left a letter with the baby, and that was that. Petunia Dursley's problem now.
But the letter had revealed some rather disturbing things, beyond the fact that the boy was like her sister. For one, the boy apparently had an insane megalomaniac after his blood. Some man named Voldemort. As far as Petunia was concerned, he could have Harry. She certainly didn't want the boy. However, she continued reading, and nearly dropped the letter in surprise. Not only did Harry seem to have more than one psycho after him…the second of the band of two was Sirius Black.
Sirius Black.
Of all the friends that her sister had ever brought home for visits, Sirius had been the most normal. He had even worn human clothes. Though his style had been a bit too roguish for Petunia's tastes, she had to admit, that of all the witches and wizards her sister had ever brought home, she saw Sirius as the best. If she hadn't been so disgusted with his abnormalities, she probably could have stood being in his presence for more than five minutes at a time.
Still, considering the fact that he was a wizard, what the loopy cursive spelt out next didn't come as a surprise to her. '…incarcerated for the murder of Peter Pettigrew (ah, that little rat of a boy) and thirteen people in the middle of a busy street. Sirius Black was found guilty of all charges, sentenced to a lifetime in Azkaban, and diagnosed as criminally insane by the whole of St. Mungo's psychiatric staff. It was revealed through his murmurings that his murdering of Mr. Pettigrew was tied in with the deaths of James and Lily Potter and the survival of little Harry. We can only assume that he was unleashing his anger at the failure of Harry's death on Mr. Pettigrew. However, I have no reason to believe Sirius will be any threat to you. It is, of course, impossible to escape Azkaban jail. I only thought it prudent that you know of what Sirius has become; I have heard that you two got along rather well. …' Petunia snorted.
Well, then. Her eyes skimmed over the rest of the writing and she looked down at the baby in its basket on the table beside her. From what she could discern of the rest of Dumbledore's letter, she had no choice in the matter. She and her husband would have to care for the child. She wondered how she would explain it to Vernon when he woke up. She wondered how she would explain it to Dudley.
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