The Evans Heritage: Part One
Petunia's Dilemma
Petunia Evans Dursley sat quietly in her perfectly normal chair situated in the living room of her perfectly normal house which was located at the very center of her perfectly normal neighborhood. She was gazing across the room at the perfectly normal portable crib which held the sleeping form of her completely abnormal nephew Harry Potter. Young Harry, an orphan at only 15 months of age, was a wizard. That, of course, was the crux of Petunia's dilemma.
Petunia came from a family that had a long and infamous history that everyone in the wizarding world believed to have sunken into ruin and it's members killed. Muggle society never even realized they existed at all. She would do anything to ensure it stayed that way, because if anyone found out the truth about her heritage…. Well, that just didn't bare thinking about.
The world wasn't ready to learn what had really happened to the Ancient & Noble House of Ivanov, nor was she ready to allow anyone to discover the fate of her father and grandfather. It was bad enough that she knew truth of the Ivanov family and the legacy of those who called themselves 'Evans' and she had hoped that the truth would die with her. Little Harry Potter being left on her doorstep like a newspaper changed everything and made her life twice as dangerous.
Nerves stretched taunt, Petunia stood up and walked out of the living room into the hall at the base of the stairs. She gazed up them with her head tilted as she strained to hear any sound that might be coming from the second floor. Her own sweet little Dudley was upstairs sleeping in his crib and she had to be on the alert for any sign that he was waking. Although, to be perfectly honest, she hoped that for once he napped for longer than an hour since she really did need the time to try and calm her swirling thoughts.
When nothing but the ticking of the clock and the gentle sounds of Harry's breathing reached her sensitive ears, Petunia walked away from the stairs and into the kitchen. Quickly filling the kettle with water and putting it on the stove to heat, she went about gathering the things she would need for a cup of tea. Hopefully it would soothe her and allow her thoughts to drift back to the present instead of whirling madly with memories from the past.
It was, perhaps, her own fault since she had tried for years to ignore Lily and to deny anything that had to do with her. She had nearly had herself convinced that she was just a normal person from a normal family. The only real contact she had with her distant relatives was through her now deceased parents. Their death had left her more than a little cut off and only Edward seemed to keep in touch with her, though rarely.
Truthfully, she preferred it that way. Even Vernon only knew of the existence of Lily, everyone else was a secret Petunia wasn't willing to share. And if she'd had her way, she wouldn't have knowledge of them either. Pain, anger, resentment and fear did that to a person.
The whistle of the kettle startled her and she flinched briefly before snatching it off of the stove. Trying to still her shaking hand, Petunia quickly poured her tea and set the metal tea ball into the pot so that it could properly steep. Once that was done, she made sure everything was arranged on the tray and carried it back out to the living room. She fussed for a few minutes getting everything in place before sitting back down on her chair and pouring herself a cup. Then, holding the warmth of it between her chilled hands, she went back to staring at her nephew, lost in thoughts of the past once more.
She had been far too young herself to really understand the truth when her older brother Edward had gone off to boarding school somewhere in Eastern Europe. All she knew was that her beloved brother came home each summer a little more distant and a little bit harsher. His spoken English had never been very good and he spoke it only broken up with a mix of German and Russian. Petunia had taken lessons in both languages as a young girl just so she could talk to him when he visited from school.
She remembered how he announced at his 15th birthday party that he no longer wanted to use the name Evans, but instead to use the family's real name: Ivanov. She remembered how that simple statement had filled her mother with a mix of pride & terror. At the time, his reasons for doing so hadn't been explained to her and she was admonished to tell none of her friends. She had agreed without understanding why it had to be that way, but it was her first indication that she and her family were not exactly what they pretended to be.
It wasn't until her younger sister Lily had received her invitation to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardy that the entire story had come out. Neither she nor Lily had been spared any of the grizzly details, although Lily really had been too little and naive to comprehend the scope of what their parents were confessing.
Finished her tea, Petunia put it down. The rattle of tea cup against saucer betrayed just how disturbed and upset she truly was. No longer able to sit and merely stare that the reason for the tides of fear and despair that were washing over her, Petunia stood up and turned away from Harry. Walking over to the front window, she gently pushed aside the lacy curtains and looked out over the sleepy residential village of Little Whining, a small speck of humanity in the middle of Surrey that, but for certain events, would never have existed at all. It was to her eternal shame that it was only because of her family's greatest enemy that she was able to live here. If her own family had had its way, this peaceful suburban area would most likely be a… a… well, her imagination couldn't even begin to fill in the horror that might-have-been.
Her father was Gregory Evans and her mother was Valerie Evans. Her father's parents were Michael Evans and Kate Evans. At least, that was what everyone believed. It was what she had told Vernon and what she allowed the neighbors to believe. It was also what Lily had told to her teachers and friends when she went to Hogwarts. It was what she was expected to tell her sweet Dudley and her nephew Harry.
The truth was that her parents and grandparents were magical; witches and wizards living under a curse in payment for their crimes against humanity. They had escaped from Nurmengard Prison, assumed false names and were living in hiding amongst the non-magical muggles of England.
The truth was that her father Gregory Evans was really the Dark Wizard Grigori Ivanov and her mother was Valencia Ivanova nee' Krum. Her grandfather Michael Evans' real name was Mikhail Ivanov and he had been a high ranking member of the infamous Black Guard. Her grandmother Kate Evans was really Katerina Ivanova nee' Grindelwald, sister to the famed mass murderer who was believed to be the true power behind Hitler and the Third Reich.
That was the reality of the Evans family. That was the truth she had spent her entire life hiding from the people and friends that surrounded her. That was the truth she tried so hard to deny to herself. It was her shame.
Emotions of anger and fear and long repressed horror swirled up from deep inside to nearly strangle her. Letting the curtain drop back into place, Petunia pivoted away from the window only to have her gaze fall upon the sleeping form of her infant nephew. For a brief irrational moment all of her anger and hate found a convenient and helpless target and she wanted to just pick him up and shake him hard. This was his fault! If he hadn't come here than she wouldn't have to think about any of her twisted family's horrifying past. She wouldn't be drowning in fear that the neighbor's would find out the truth about her. That Lily's friends; whom her sister abandoned the family for, would track her down and… do things to her.
The normally quiet voice of logic that lived in the back of her mind whispered to her that it wasn't Harry's fault at all. He was just as much a victim of recent events as she was, maybe even more so. As the adult, it was her job to protect him from further harm, not the other way around. Of course, that was easier said than done, what with her not being magical while all of their enemies were.
Taking a deep breath to calm herself so that she could back away from the edge of panic that she was in danger of slipping into, Petunia busied herself with cleaning up her cup of tea. She fussed about getting everything back onto the tray and then carried it back out into the kitchen. She turned the faucet over the sink on and picked up the dish cloth to begin the soothing and utterly normal task of washing her dishes.
Magic, and by extension the Magical World, had been denied to her. At a young age she had devoted herself to the muggle world and to all things muggle. It was part spite, a way of rejecting what had already rejected her and it was part pride, a way of saying that she wouldn't let such a thing as lack of magic hold her back or keep her down. Her family understood and respected that in their own way.
Usually, when immersed in a domestic task of a muggle nature, she would be able to reach a state of emotional contentment without past or future where she merely existed in a gentle and peaceful bubble of 'now'. Today, when she needed that skill the most, it failed her and her mind was pulled once more into the dark and terrifying past of her family as well as the consequences of actions she had no defense against.
When her great-uncle Gellert Grindelwald was defeated in battle and his power structure broken, the most fervent of his family, allies and followers had received the harshest punishment the Wizarding World could devise; they had been striped of their magic and sentenced to Nurmengard Prison to live out the rest of their lives.
Her mother had been pregnant at the time with Petunia herself. The spell had striped the magic out of both of them and they had both nearly died. Petunia would never forgive the Wizarding World for that. Even if they had decided that Valencia Ivanova was too dangerous to keep her magic, Petunia had never committed a crime. She hadn't even been born yet. They could have kept her mother in an enchanted sleep until Petunia was born and then cast their ghastly spell. Because they didn't care for an innocent unborn baby, Petunia was cursed to be a squib just as her parents and grandparents were.
Her mother had used the event of going into labor and needing to give birth for the opportunity it was and escaped Nurmengard. She returned two years later with the entire Krum family and the remnants of the Ivanov family at her back and helped to break Petunia's father and grandparents out. Great-uncle Gellert had been far too closely guarded to free.
Less than a year later, Grigori and Valencia Ivanov became Gregory and Valerie Evans. They then moved to London to start a new life hiding in plain sight amongst the muggles. No one was shocked when Petunia failed to show any signs of magic, although the family was heartbroken over it. Lily, on the other hand, was a complete surprise. Even her birth had been a shock as everyone thought the spell that had pulled the magic out of Valencia while pregnant had ruined any chance of her having children again. That Lily was a witch was a further surprise and highly celebrated.
Petunia turned the water off and put up the dish washing cloth to dry. Grabbing a soft drying towel, she began to methodically dry her dishes and put them away. She took heart from the fact that all of her porcelain, stoneware and silver were simple, plain, ordinary muggle pieces with not a magical object in sight. It very easily could have been just the opposite.
Lily's show of magic had not only been a source of joy for her family in regards to Lily herself, but for Petunia as well. They believed that Lily's magic was proof that Petunia could give birth to magical children even if magic was denied to her personally. While that thought may have comforted her parents and grandparents, it had angered Petunia nearly into a rage. She had long since turned her back on the Magical World and had just started dating Vernon. Despite her parents offer to contract a marriage to a strong and sympathetic Wizard that was not offended by her own lack of magic, Petunia refused.
The very idea of being nothing more than a brood mare to some Dark Wizard who wanted her for nothing more than to produce children that would bind him to the Ivanov and Grindelwald family lines infuriated her. She didn't want to be the pitied object of ridicule in her own home. She wanted a nice normal muggle life with Vernon and that's just what she got.
Finished putting away her dishes, Petunia walked back down the hall to the bottom of the stairs and listened for a moment. Silence was the only thing to meet her ears so that meant that Dudley was still sleeping. A quick glance at the clock informed her that she still had several hours before Vernon would be home from work. Thinking of Vernon made her wince slightly.
Her husband was a hard working and utterly normal muggle. A bit narrow minded at times and occasionally heavy handed when subtlety would be more appropriate, but Petunia had learned to live with his little quirks. His views on magic were a bit… extreme, however. Not that Petunia really disagreed, but it was the reasons behind it that differed. Petunia knew exactly where her anger and resentment with the Magical World came from and she realized that her almost obsessive nature with the muggle world was born out of that anger and resentment.
Vernon hated magic because he thought it evil and unnatural. Petunia didn't agree, but had never argued against him and even went so far as to allow both him and her family to believe she agreed. It had worked to keep her from becoming a living baby factory for some strange wizard that charmed her parents into believing he would care for her.
Of course, Vernon's introduction to magic hadn't been all that great. Lily had used accidental magic to turn Vernon upside down and hang him from the ceiling when he'd startled her walking around the corner in the hallway. Lily had been mortified and apologized profusely, but Vernon had always believed that she had done it on purpose. He had also been angered when her parents hadn't punished Lily, but praised her instead. He never knew, nor would he understand, that they saw any evidence of Lily having magic as a good thing no matter what she did with it simply because they never believed that she could have magic in the first place. They, like everyone else, had always assumed that Lily would end up a squib like her sister and parents.
Stepping back into the living room and looking over at Harry, Petunia frowned. She considered it an extreme shame that he looked so much like his oaf of a father instead of like his mother. That he should resemble the line of Potter instead of the line of Ivanov or Grindelwald was only another reminder of Lily's final betrayal. Her sweet Dudley was a mix of Grindelwald and Dursley. Dudley being half muggle made Petunia believe that the Dursley half of his heritage would win out in the end. She could only hope that Harry's strong resemblance to the Potter line would fade with time. Lily herself had closely resembled her Ivanov heritage while Petunia took strongly after her grandmother Katerina.
Of course, thinking of Lily reminded Petunia of the whirlwind of problems and convoluted lies that her burgeoning magic created. The same problems that Petunia would no doubt one day face over Harry. Lily being magical might have been a source of relief and joy, but it also left her parents with a bit of a dilemma. Should Lily claim her heritage as an Ivanova she would enjoy all the benefits of being a pureblood. She would also suffer the stigma of being from a Dark family and being the great-niece of the infamous Grindelwald. Should Lily pretend to be a muggleborn of the purely made-up Evans family, she would legally be a second-class citizen and have her rights curtailed sharply.
Their father wanted Lily to go to one of the older and more respected Witches day schools in Europe, but Lily wanted the full boarding school experience and was crushed when she found out that the school Edward went to, Durmstrang, was only for boys. Beauxbatons had been strongly considered when Lily found out the truth about Albus Dumbledore. The fact that her great-uncle's dearest and most trusted friend had turned on him and betrayed him in such horrifying ways had ignited a passion in her. She insisted on going to Hogwarts as a muggleborn. Her goal was to find a way to steal back the Elder Wand that was rightfully Edwards' inheritance.
That never came to pass. Instead, Lily fell in love with a boy who was pledged to serve Dumbledore and got caught up in the relatively small war with the so called Dark Lord Voldemort. As much as Petunia resented the Wizarding World for what they had done to her, she knew her history. The Death Eaters were amateurs compared to the Dark Witches and Wizards of the Ivanov family and the Black Guard. Gellert Grindelwald had torn the entire world, both muggle and magical, asunder with his power and his minions. Voldemort barely terrorized all of Great Britain. That Lily would abandon her quest to restore her family's honor in order to take up the standard of the enemy Dumbledore was another thing that Petunia would never forgive.
Now here she was with the orphaned son of her betraying sister and being watched from afar by the very people that had destroyed her family and stolen her own magic. The whole situation was ludicrous and dangerous. She was being forced to assist the greatest enemy of her family and was surrounded by muggles that couldn't help even if they wanted to. She had no way to contact her family for help and wasn't sure if that was the way to go even if she could.
In truth, Petunia was terrified. If the truth of her family's past came to light then she was ruined. Vernon would leave and probably take her own son Dudley with him. The neighbors would shun her for her nebulous connection to Hitler; no matter how distant. The Wizarding World would most likely want to study her in some creepy magical lab and who knows what would end up happening to little Harry.
A soft 'pop' of sound from directly behind her caused her to give a little squeal of fear and whirl around in a minor panic. Her older brother Edward stood there silently frowning at her, concern swirling in his eyes. Petunia raised one shaky hand up to her mouth and tried to bite back the hysterical giggles that wanted out. She knew if she broke down and let them out that they would swiftly turn to tears and she would end up spending the rest of the night lost in a rage of anger, fear and grief.
Instead, she stared silently at the Dark Wizard before her, half grateful for his presence with his deep auburn red hair and his glittering and brilliant green eyes. Oh yes, Edward was like Lily in that he wore his Ivanov heritage proud on his face. That little voice in the back of her mind whispered that he could help with Harry, with Dumbledore and with all of the thousands of dangers that she would soon be facing. Her fear and anger and resentment wanted to just scream at him. To wail and punch and hurt him with her words, to chase him from her life.
Then Edward turned his head to look past her towards the sleeping dark haired infant in the portable crib behind her. A myriad of emotions flickered across his face; anger, fear, and then hope.
"Please, little flower," his voice was deep and musical despite the harsh Eastern European accent and that one little phrase instantly reminded her of the many times he'd called her by that silly nickname. "Please tell me that child is your son, Dudley. Please tell me that the rumors of the firebrand…"
His words were choked off, strangled by grief even as his eyes burned with a sort of forlorn hope. Petunia could only shake her head.
"Fire-…", she couldn't bring herself to use the nickname that Edward had given to Lily. Despite her anger at Lily's betrayal, the grief was still too great, too fresh. "Lily is dead. Dudley is upstairs. This is Harry…, Lily's son."
Edward sucked in a deep breath as the hope in his eyes died and his face crumbled in a wave of grief. Silently he turned to face her fully and simply opened his arms wide to her. For the briefest of heartbeats she hesitated and then she took two quick steps and threw herself into his embrace. His arms wrapped tightly around her and finally she could begin to let out all of the fear and anger as she started to sob against his strong shoulder. He just held her and petted her hair while whispering soothing murmurs in her ear.
"It will all be alright, little flower. I am here now and I will take care of everything."