The last chapter! Wow - this is the first time I've ever finished a chapter story. Maybe because it was short. XD

Shout out to fanHPTW for following the story and another to Arrowkid21 for being a sweety pie and reviewing and giving me encouragement. Such a good person!

One last final shout out to all of you who've read this! It makes me happy!

Also, final note - Regina's father took her mother's maiden name as his own, not the traditional wife-takes-husband name.

Disclaimer: I only own my own copies of the Harry Potter books.

- The Second Life

Petunia stepped inside the decent-sized bare apartment and breathed in deeply. Apparently Thomas Prince, Regina's father, had done a bit of deep cleaning a few days ago because it smelled faintly of chemicals.

Three years had passed since that fateful day – the day when she and Dudley said goodbye to their old house and moved in with Regina. Since the woman herself was absent so much due to work, the apartment had quickly become home for her and her son.

It had been a hard journey to be able to get where they were now. Petunia didn't have any work experience and Dudley didn't have a good record, so potential employers shied away from them. After a couple of weeks, Regina decided to set Petunia up as floor associate at Thomas's business while Thomas referred Dudley to a friend of his at the grocer's down the street. They were low end jobs, but jobs nonetheless and in time, they worked their way up the ladder and onto better things.

Now, Dudley was a senior boxing instructor at a local gym as well as a part-time management position at a local printing firm. Petunia, on the other hand, became the assistant to a rather high-ranked employee at a drilling company, a fact she found a bit ironic.

As Regina predicted, the Dursleys' house on Privet Drive did fetch for a pretty good price. The funeral for Vernon happened within the next two weeks. It was a quiet funeral with all of his friends and family. Even Regina and Harry attended, just to be respectful.

Petunia and Dudley continued to live at Regina's place for a year, keeping the rest of the money from the house in savings as insurance. Then Dudley, upon receiving a job at the printing firm, he moved out to a small studio apartment to be closer to his job. It took Petunia longer to move out, purely because she wanted to make sure her son was well-supported before she thought about herself. In all honesty, it was quite bizarre, the thought of living by herself.

"Here you are, Mrs. Dursley."

There was a jingling noise behind her and she turned to greet Thomas.

"Keys to your new place," he said.

"Thank you so much for giving me this place, Thomas," she beamed, accepting them.

"No problem," he responded with a smile. "Happy to do it, actually. Those other guys were nutters, I tell you. From what Reg tells me, you're loads better."

"I'm flattered she thinks that way!" she laughed.

"Mum, where do you want the TV?"

Dudley appeared in the doorway, his arms loaded with a large box.

"Dudley!" Petunia and Thomas quickly jumped out of the way. "Next to the fireplace, please. On an angle if you will."

"'Kay," he grunted, shuffling over. "If you want it moved, call me."

"Of course."

"Would you like more assistance with other things, Mrs. Dursley?" Thomas offered.

"Oh, thank you for the offer, but you shouldn't, Thomas," she told him. "I don't want you hurting yourself – you're not getting any younger, you know!"

"Oh, nonsense! I'm not that old! I can still move stuff around fine!"

"I'll have to kindly remind you that you are not allowed to use magic around Muggles, Thomas!"

"Bah! I can move things fine without magic too! 'Sides, good old Tim's just around the corner! I can have home come over and haul some stuff for you too."

"Please, don't bother – my son and I can handle things on our own. Right, Dudley?"

"You mind helping me with the sofa, Thomas?" he asked.

"Dudley!" Petunia scolded.

"I'm not going to make you move something that heavy, Mum," Dudley told her firmly. "If Thomas says he can help, then I'll ask for help." He turned to Thomas. "And if it's too heavy for you too, send me up with something else and you can use magic behind my back."

Thomas laughed. "Now there's a smart lad!"

Petunia also laughed, watching as the pair left the building for the car that Harry so graciously offered for the day. The cars from the Ministry of Magic often fit a lot more things in them than regular ones.

Deciding she would join them in a minute, she took a walk around the apartment. The pictures would obviously go on the mantelpiece of the fireplace… There wasn't much cupboard space in the kitchen, so she should only keep one set of her chinaware – not that she needed all of them anyway. She'd keep maybe two or three and give or sell the rest away… Not much storage space in the apartment itself – better store the unneeded items in the closet downstairs… The spare bedroom should be kept as a spare bedroom in case she had friends who wanted to stay the night…

Yeah, it was definitely bizarre she was living by herself now.

"Hey, Mum!" Dudley called from the living room, his voice slightly strained. "Regina and Harry are here!"

"They are?!" Petunia hurried back out.

And sure enough, they were in the living room, putting down a couple of boxes.

"Regina! Harry!" she half-shrieked. "What in the blazes are you doing?!"

Harry blinked, more amused than anything. "Helping you out, Aunt Petunia."

Over the course of the last three years, their relationship had improved greatly. It was still at the point where some of their conversations were awkward and Petunia hadn't forgiven herself (let's face it though – she would never forgive herself. Never. Not unless Lily did), but they were working on it. At least he was comfortable enough to not take her shrieking seriously anymore.

"Ruddy hell you are!" Petunia admonished. "You're supposed to be at work! What are you doing here?!"

"Just seeing how well you're getting along, mostly," Regina said with a grin.

Regina was a bit of a different case. She and Petunia got along fairly well, as if there was no animosity between them (Harry explained Regina had that kind of effect on everyone). She was even gracious enough to put up with her for three years. Sometimes Petunia thought Snape was right – Regina was too nice.

"Mostly?" she repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"We're supposed to be out chasing some Death Eater we missed three years ago," Harry confessed. "Since we don't know when we'd get back, we thought we should stop by before we head out and give you this."

From behind his back, he pulled out a long, rectangular box. It was fairly thin, about half an inch thick, and was fourteen inches long and five inches tall; wrapped and adorned with a pale pink ribbon.

"A housewarming gift," Regina said to her questioning look. "From Harry and I."

"Oh, you didn't!" she gasped.

Harry grinned and motioned to it. "Take a look."

Petunia tore off the wrapping and gasped. The box wasn't a box – it was a plaque stained beautifully in the shade of deep cherry mahogany. On the top right and bottom left corners were floral borders – magenta petunias. The vines from the calyxes spanned the bottom and the top, completing the borders. And at the center, in fancy letters, was the phrase:

Farewell and here's to a new life.

I confess I'm not very good at writing endings. I hope that turned out okay!

Thanks for sticking around, everyone! I really do appreciate it!

Reviews and Favorites are always welcome!

Now time to get back to my other project and hopefully I can get that one done too!

Until next time!