Chapter 10
Her curiosity mounting by the second, Natasha rang off with Petunia and hurried up the stairs to the nursery, where she was unsurprised to find her daughter already awake. She bent down and picked her up, much to Hermione's giggling and dressed her quickly. Whoever said espionage work was difficult obviously had never been shackled with the task of dressing a wriggling baby. But Natasha found she was getting pretty good at it, and within five minutes, Hermione was dressed and wrapped in her coat.
Natasha put on her coat and shoes and locked the door before hurrying next door to Petunia's, her mind racing with a million possibilities of why on earth a package delivered to Petunia would cause her to have such an emotional response.
She rapped on the door and within five seconds, it was flung open to reveal a teary Petunia in her silken house robe Dudley in her arms.
"Petunia, what's going on?" Natasha asked in alarm as she stepped inside. Petunia shut the door. "Just come follow me."
She led the confused Natasha into the living room and there, sitting on the couch in a basket wrapped in a blanket, was a baby boy who was fast asleep.
Natasha blinked and stumbled back a step, completely surprised for the umpteenth time since coming to Great Britain. "Petunia…..whose baby is that?" She had visions of her friend saying it was Dudley's twin or a baby she had had with a lover who she had left behind at birth, the stuff out of soap operas.
Petunia sniffed and took a deep breath. "This is Harry, Emma. He's my nephew."
Ω
It took a cup of coffee and about fifteen minutes of story time for Natasha to get the story straight.
Harry was Petunia's sister Lily's son who had been estranged from the blonde for about four years. He had been deposited on their doorstep in the middle of the night because Lily and her husband had mysteriously died the night before. When Natasha inquired as to the meaning of the word mysterious in this context, Petunia fidgeted and looked down at her hands.
"I'm not sure if you'll believe me," she said finally and Natasha smiled. "Petunia, you would be surprised at how much I'm willing to believe. Just tell me."
Petunia seemed to wrestle with herself for a moment, but then her desire for the truth won out and she sighed. "My sister was a witch. And no, not in the sense of name calling. Like an honest to goodness, bona fide, able to perform magic witch."
Truthfully, that wasn't as bad as Natasha had been expecting it to be. She had expected Petunia to tell her that her sister had been the wife of a Mafia boss and they had been killed in a deal gone wrong and now their son had been placed on their doorstep as a means of saying: we're watching you.
Because that would be alarming enough.
"Oh," she said. "I see."
Petunia frowned. "You believe me?"
Natasha smiled and dropped her head. "Petunia, there's something I should probably tell you," she said and then took a deep breath as she prepared to tell the secret only one other person alive knew, and they weren't even on the planet at the moment.
"Petunia….I'm a witch too. Granted, a non-practicing one," she said when she saw the blonde's eyes go big. "But I am still a witch. I haven't picked up a wand a lot in the last few years, but the ability to do magic just doesn't go away. I've learned to control it, but it's still there. And because of that," She glanced down at Hermione who was still asleep in her arms. "Hermione's going to be one too."
There was a long moment of silence where Natasha feared she had broken her neighbor. Petunia's eyes had grown wide and her mouth was opening and closing like a fish. It began to be so comical that Natasha couldn't help but laugh.
"I'm sorry," Petunia said when she had regained control of herself. "I just never would have thought that you….."
"Could live like a Muggle?" Natasha asked. "Trust me, I've had enough practice. I've been doing it since I was nine years old after my parents and sister died in a fire. I've only picked up a wand a few times since then."
Petunia's face immediately grew apologetic. "Oh dear, I'm sorry Emma. Losing your parents at that age has to be very hard. Mine died a few years ago in a fire too and I'm still not completely over it."
Natasha gave her a sad smile. "It's not something that you really get over Petunia," she glanced down at the little boy still asleep in the basket. "And now your nephew's going to have to deal with it."
Petunia sighed and gently brushed Harry's forehead in her sleep. "He's such a sweet boy, and I'm sorry that this is the way that I had to meet him."
"So what was all the yelling about this morning?" Natasha asked. "I heard the wal – Vernon yelling something about freaks and how he wouldn't have them under his roof."
Petunia sighed and the teary look came back into her eyes. "Vernon's always believed in normalcy, and he believes in it so much that anyone who does not adhere to that principle shouldn't be a part of society in his mind. People like my sister and Harry."
Natasha was outraged. It amazed her how deep her disgust for the walrus was becoming, but it had now reached a new low. She hated Vernon Dursley with a passion.
"So what are you going to do Tuney?" she asked, the calm question betraying nothing of the rage she was feeling.
Petunia glanced down at the little boy. "I want to keep him Emma. I wasn't the greatest sister to Lily when we were together, and I want to do right by her little boy. I love him already. It's going to be great for Dudley to have another play mate and I really think we could learn a lot from him. Plus, if my sister's husband was a wizard as well, so Harry is going to be able to use magic. That's the only thing I'm worried about…..well….that and Vernon."
She glanced up at her friend. "Emma, what do you think I should do?"
The red head glanced down at the beautiful little boy. He looked so angelic fast asleep in his basket. She looked back up at her friend. "What do you want?"
"I just told you, I want him, almost more than I've ever wanted anything. I knew I never wanted just one child, but you see who I'm married to, so I was afraid to ask. But now it looks like I won't have to. I'll tell him about his parents, but in a way he will be my son. And I can't tell you how happy that makes me."
Natasha smiled at her. Petunia was already a great mother, and she had more than enough love in her heart for two children. She would be good for Harry. She would raise him, teach him and look after him as if he were her own son. And even though he was going to be a wizard, Petunia now knew that Natasha was a witch and that Hermione would be one as well, so she would be able to help in that aspect.
But then her smile faltered. "What about Vernon? What will he say when he finds out you want to keep little Harry?"
For a moment, Petunia's smile faltered and she adopted a deer in the head lights expression. But then her eyes hardened and she set her mouth in a firm line. "Well then he's just going to have to deal with it. I want Harry, and there's nothing that's going to stop me from keeping him. He's not the one whose home all day taking care of Dudley. I should be the one to decide whether or not this is something I can handle. If I believe I can do it, then who is he to tell me otherwise?"
For a second, Natasha was surprised at the vehemence in her voice. But then she smiled. "You know Tuney, even though we didn't really get to take that karate class, you're confidence level is going up and I like it."
In her mind, she resolved to stand by and keep an eye on the situation if Vernon didn't like the way she was going about this. As far as Natasha was concerned, all the man was good for was bringing home a paycheck.
She glanced at the clock. "I should go soon Petunia, I need to get to work in an hour and a half."
Petunia nodded absently, but her eyes had this glazed over look and suddenly Natasha remembered something that she needed to ask now that she knew Petunia's family relations.
"Now that I know that your sister was a witch Tuney," she said slowly and with many pauses. "There's something I need to ask you."
"What's that?"
"Seeing as how your nephew and my daughter are going to be developing magical abilities, would you happen to know how to reach the magical society in Great Britain to figure out what we're going to do from here on out?"
Petunia paused. "There was one time when I went shopping with my sister and family to a place where a student could purchase all their school supplies. I knew that the school was called Hogwarts, and the place where we went to get them was….." She tilted her face to the ceiling and closed her eyes, trying to remember. And then her eyes popped open again. "Diagon Alley! That was the place! We got all of her school supplies there."
Natasha smiled, "Thank you Petunia. I will be sure to go and see if I can find the place. My father wanted to send me and my sister there when we were younger as it was a good school, but he never got the chance."
Petunia smiled in understanding. "Don't worry Emma, we both have magical children now, we'll just go through this together. It'll be a learning process, but we'll figure it out."
Ω
An hour after Natasha left, Petunia made sure to feed Harry change him and then set him on one of the blankets in the living room with a few toys to play with Dudley. They seemed to get on right away, and for that she was grateful. Dudley seemed to take on the role of big brother type since he was a few months older then Harry and a little bigger too. If a toy was too heavy he would crawl over to Harry and help him pull it. And when Harry got tired and lay down on the blanket and fell asleep, Dudley would tug a section of the blanket over him as best as he was able to and then patted and went back to play, always keeping an eye on his cousin.
The whole thing made Petunia want to sob with happiness when she saw it. When she had made the decision to take Harry in that morning with Emma, despite what Vernon had said, her greatest wish was more then hoping that they would just get along as cousins or even friends. It was that they would become brothers in time, and it kind of looked as if they were on their way there, even at this early stage.
Later in the afternoon at around three when both boys went down for their nap, Petunia was doing some reading, when suddenly there was a knock on the door.
Surprised, because she wasn't expecting anyone, and because she couldn't handle any more surprises after the shock of this morning, Petunia walked cautiously to the peep hole and looked through to make sure that no more babies were there.
She blinked in surprise and then opened the door when she saw a large trunk sitting on the step. And after a moment, she recognized it.
It was Lily's school trunk.
Petunia threw open the door and stood there in shock as she looked down at the enormous chest. She would know that thing anywhere. Lily had had it open for the last two weeks of August every year so she could dump all of her school books and school robes as well as her potions kits and dress wear into it at one time and then not have to open it until she got to Hogwarts.
Petunia hadn't seen the thing in years, so what on earth was it doing on her door step?
She stepped out and took a careful look around before grasping one of the side handles and slowly dragging it into the house. It was heavy, but she managed.
When she had shut the door, Petunia stood and looked at the trunk, wave after wave of nostalgia rolling over her. She had always hated the time of year when her dad would drag the monstrosity up from the basement. She would always have to walk past Lily's open door on her way to her room and see the thing perched open at the foot of her sister's bed…..mocking her, reminding her that her sister was going to a place where she would learn to do things that Petunia couldn't.
But now it just reminded her of how much unfinished business there had been between her and Lily and how she would never get another chance to tell Lily how sorry she was about the way she had treated her.
That age old adage was true, you never know what you have until it's gone.
Petunia sighed. She hated having regrets and she knew this was something she would carry with her for the rest of her life. Lily had deserved better then what she given her and while Petunia had wished with all of her heart that she could do magic like her sister, it hadn't been an excuse for the way she had treated Lily.
Pulling herself from the past, the pretty blonde knelt down and opened the lock on the trunk. Lily had shown her the combination one day when things were calmer between them and she had remembered it ever since.
When she pulled the lid open, Petunia became aware of the fact that there was a thick layer of dust covering everything. There were half a dozen books stacked neatly off to the left side of the trunk and in the bottom of the right, there was Lily's old potions kit as well as several letters tied together with a red ribbon
Petunia smiled sadly as she looked at Lily's old school books. She had been the top of her year and took great pride in studying and getting the best grades possible. Their parents had been so proud of her, and instead of bucking up and doing well herself in school, she had grown bitter and jealous and did everything she could to make trouble for Lily.
Enough, she thought. Stop beating yourself up, it's over. Lily would have forgiven you. She would forgive anybody anything.
She happened to glance at the clock and flinched. Vernon was going to be home in under two hours and she hadn't even started supper yet. She had no idea what he was going to say when he found out that she wanted to keep Harry. But at the moment, she didn't care.
With a great effort, Petunia hauled the trunk upstairs to the attic, locked it again and tucked it away in a dark corner before throwing an old blanket over it. Vernon never went up to the attic, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
Who cares what that fat lump of lard thinks? She thought vehemently, surprising herself as she went to check on the boys. These are my kids and I'll be the one to decide whether I want to take Harry in or not!
He was just going to have to deal with it.
Suddenly she glanced down at the pile of letters and frowned when she saw that the one on the top was addressed to her.
With shaking fingers, she reached down and picked it up. Petunia slowly broke the seal and tipped the envelope up so its contents spilled out before smoothing out the parchment inside and looking at her sister's familiar handwriting.
Dear Tuney
If you're reading this, it means that things have gone south and I have unfortunately passed from this world. I wanted this to reach you no matter what happened but I had so hoped that I would be able to come in person.
I know we had our difference growing up, but you were still my big sister. You would still beat up anyone who looked at me the wrong way when we were younger. No matter what happened, nothing ever changed that. You are hugely protective and fiercely loyal and the man who marries you is going to be lucky to have that.
I want you to know that I forgave you for everything that was said and done when we were still at home. I know you didn't mean any of it and if we could go back and do it again, I know I would in a heartbeat and if I could change things then I would ask that you would be there at Hogwarts with me Tuney. You are so special, don't settle because you deserve the very best.
If I don't make it out of this war alive, I just wanted you to know that. It is my greatest wish that we will someday meet again and have a good laugh about all of this. You are an exceptional person Tuney and don't let anyone ever tell you differently.
Take care of yourself and be the best in whatever you do.
All My Love
Lily.
Petunia was having a hard time reading the words by the time she was done, her eyes were so full of tears. It was like a dream had come true. Lily had forgiven her, Lily still loved her and there was now closure between them.
"Thank you Lily," she whispered as she clutched the letter. "I won't let you down. I will raise Harry as if he was mine and anyone who tries to take him away from me can go to hell. I will make you proud and I will make you proud of him too."
Ω
Natasha picked up Hermione from the sitter and made it home around four. Vernon wouldn't be home for another hour, but she made sure to be there before he did, so she would be an extra support for Petunia.
It must have been an enormous shock to be asked to take in her deceased sister's nephew. But she was doing the right thing. Petunia was genuinely trying to change from the person she had been before, but it would be difficult with the tub of lard ordering her around.
She glanced down at her daughter as she carried her into the house. "I think we need to help Petunia and Dudley out a bit more, don't you think. After all he's your best friend and you're a close one of mine."
Hermione looked up at her with her big blue eyes as if to say, whatever you say mummy.
After changing back to jeans and a sweatshirt, she fed Hermione and then decided she would go over a moment and see how Petunia and the two boys were doing.
A delicious smell was permeating the air when she walked over to the house and in an instant, Natasha's stomach growled. That was the one thing she had never been able to master in the one year she had lived as a domestic.
Cooking.
It was the bane of her existence, she just didn't have the patience for it. Some people had talents and hers was cutting other people down to size. Petunia's was obviously cooking.
The pretty blonde opened the door before Natasha even tapped it. "Emma! Hermione, come in. It's too cold to be wandering around outside. I was just getting supper ready before Vernon came home. Would you guys like to stay for dinner?"
Part of Natasha wanted to say no. She had made Thor a promise that she wouldn't go near Vernon, but she had also promised herself that she would keep an eye on Petunia and now that she had Harry she needed to fulfill that promise.
"Sure," she said, pasting a smile on her face and stepping inside. It's just for a few hours, she said to herself. Vernon's an idiot, but he's not so stupid that he would cause a scene during dinner and in front of a guest would he?
She decided she wasn't going to try and answer that because if she did, then she would try and talk herself out of it, and she knew she couldn't do that.
So Natasha walked into the kitchen and smiled at the two high chairs that had been set up and Harry and Dudley were already sitting in them. Natasha leaned over and kissed both Harry and Dudley on the forehead who giggled and laughed.
"How was the day with two babies?" she asked. Petunia smiled. "I was worried about how tired I might be by the end of it, but it was a breeze. Harry is so well behaved and I was amazed at how well he and Dudley got along. I think they're going to be great friends and I couldn't be happier."
Natasha's smile widened. Petunia was practically glowing. She really was a good mother and Natasha could see that she had wanted more than just one child. Harry was going to be a great addition to the family.
That is, if the walrus didn't stuff it up first.
And speaking of which, there came a sudden bang as the door was thrown open and a loud voice came from the entryway.
"That smells good Pet. It was a great day at work, wait until I tell you –" He stopped when he came into the kitchen and saw Harry in the high chair. Immediately the smile dropped and his piggy eyes narrowed. "Is that freak still here? I thought we agreed that we would be dropping him off at an orphanage! I don't want him and his freakishness around Dudley!"
Petunia, you better say something or I sure as hell am going to use my fists, Natasha growled to herself. If Vernon ever so much as came near her daughter because of her "freakishness" as well, Natasha would do more then take his tongue out of his mouth.
"Vernon," Petunia said through her teeth. "We have a guest for dinner. I invited Emma and Hermione Granger to stop by."
Vernon turned to fact the red head and her strawberry blonde blue eyed little girl. Immediately the sickly sweet smile came back onto his face when he saw Natasha's narrowed eyes.
"Of course," he said gruffly. "Petunia we will discuss this later. Let me just go and wash up and we can eat."
He stumped out of the kitchen and Natasha unconsciously blew out a breath of air. Petunia pressed a hand to her forehead. She didn't seem afraid, more annoyed than anything else. At least that was a good sign. As soon as he walked up the stairs and they heard one of the doors close, Petunia got this apologetic look on her face and turned to her friend.
"I'm sorry about that Emma, I need to work with Vernon on his manners."
You need to work with him on a whole hell of a lot more than that, Natasha thought. What kind of person calls their own nephew a freak?
Petunia seemed to be following the same line because as she looked at Harry, she frowned. "He's my nephew and Vernon has no right to treat him poorly."
Natasha simply nodded and kept her mouth shut. She resolved to do that for the rest of the dinner as she didn't want to make trouble for Petunia, but being around the walrus was grating. Vernon seemed to have a weakness for pretty women and it wouldn't surprise her to find out that her husband was cheating.
Although at this point, she didn't think that Petunia would care, which made her wonder why on earth she didn't leave him.
It's not as easy as all that Romanov, she reminded herself. Petunia told you why she couldn't do that. All of her living family are dead. Where would she go and if Vernon's sister does have friends in power, then trying to leave might get both Harry and Dudley taken away from her. Just be patient, all will be set to rights eventually.
Ω
It was by far the most awkward dinner that Natasha had ever experienced. Vernon didn't say much to his wife throughout it, but he bristled every time Harry made a noise or when Petunia leaned over to put a spoonful of baby food in her nephew's mouth.
"He's going to be such a beautiful boy," Natasha commented, partly because it was true and partly because she wanted to rattle Vernon. The fat tub of lard needed to know that this was for the long haul and he would just have to deal with it.
Petunia, realizing what she was doing, smiled at her friend. "That he is, and he already has Lily's beautiful green eyes. He has his father's hair, but Lily's eyes. You know I was always jealous of her eyes. They were as big and as green as emeralds. I'm going to have to keep him away from all the girls when he grows up, because he's going to be quite the heartbreaker."
By this point, Vernon was sputtering like a tea kettle, his face almost purple with rage. Natasha wanted to laugh. He looked like a cartoon character, she could practically see the steam rushing out of his ears.
He had almost finished with his meal at that point, but he threw down his napkin on his plate, scraped the chair back and stomped out of the kitchen, muttering something about needing some fresh air.
Natasha turned to her friend to apologise for her comments, she hadn't wanted to make trouble, but paused when she saw that Petunia was giggling madly, and had a hand pressed to her mouth to try and hide them.
"What on earth is so funny?" she asked in mock amusement.
Petunia coughed and took a deep breath, getting her laughter under control. "Did you see his face? He looked like he was about to explode!"
"And you're not worried?" Natasha asked in surprise.
Petunia waved off her concerns. "What's he going to do now? Someone else has seen that we have the baby and now that I've made it clear we're going to keep him to a neighbor and friend, he can't do anything about it. He'll bluster and make a fuss, but I'm keeping Harry and that's final."
Natasha grinned, seeing her friend in a new light. "I like this new Petunia," she said taking a sip of water from her glass. "I hope she sticks around."
The evening didn't turn out to be a total loss then. Vernon disappeared into the den and set the television to blaring so he wouldn't have to come into the kitchen and see the woman talking and thus Harry.
At least now Vernon knew where things stood and he wouldn't be causing any kind of trouble. He had been put in his place for now, but Natasha knew he would be making trouble before long again. She would need to keep an eye on the situation, and talk to Ivan.
He was coming by the house to see Hermione tomorrow anyway. Maybe he would know what to do. At least tomorrow was a Saturday. Petunia had already told her that Vernon had some kind of conference to go to and he was leaving early Saturday morning and wouldn't be back until Monday evening.
Three days where she wouldn't have to worry that he would say or do something that would hurt Harry.
When Natasha went home that night, she put it in her mind that she wouldn't let Petunia stay in that situation forever. She deserved better than that and so did Harry and Dudley. They deserved a father figure that was honest, strong, and reliable and who would care about them.
Every child needed that, which was why it sometimes made her sad when she thought of the situation with Thor. He wasn't going to be around every day for Hermione. She knew it wasn't his fault, it was no one's fault, it was just the way things were.
Didn't mean she had to like it though.
Ω
Thor stormed out of the throne room, slamming the door behind him. Would there be no peace?
The Nine Realms had been in a chaos of rebellion for the past three months and it didn't look to be letting up any time soon. At this rate he wouldn't make it back to Midgard for another year and that wasn't acceptable. Hermione was just over a year old as it was. She was probably already walking and he had missed her first steps. He didn't even want to know if she was talking yet because it would mean another milestone that he had missed.
He sighed and ran a hand through his long hair. Being a father from a different dimension was hard. He hadn't seen his daughter in what felt like ages and he wanted to check up on Natasha as well, make sure she was alright. He didn't like being away from her for too long, but he didn't know if that feeling was more for his daughter or more for Natasha.
Everything was just peaceful when he was with them. There were no other rebellions to quell, there wasn't a kingdom to rule or prisoners to make sure didn't escape. There was just Hermione and her beautiful mother who presence somehow seemed to make everything more peaceful.
Am I losing my mind? He thought. Loki fell into step alongside him as he left and gave him a knowing look. "You miss them don't you?" he asked and his brother simply nodded.
"I didn't think it would be this difficult, being away from her," he said honestly. "Does it ever truly get easier?"
Loki paused. "As long as the All-father never finds out…..then yes. But you need to continue to pretend no matter how long it takes. If you believe she's worth it…then act like it."
Ω
The following morning, Natasha didn't hear any yelling coming from number 4 so she assumed everything had calmed down for now. Vernon had left on his conference trip and she was amazed at how quiet it was.
At ten in the morning on the dot, the doorbell rang and Natasha hurried to get it, already knowing who it was.
When she opened the door to see Ivan standing there, Natasha smiled and asked him in before giving him a hug and transferring Hermione over to her grandfather. He had been as helpless against her magic the first time he saw her as everyone else had and now tried to make it out to Surrey as often as he was able to see her and her mother.
"There was something that I wanted to ask you," Natasha began tentatively as they sat in the backyard and watched Hermione play with her toys. Natasha hoped she wouldn't do any accidental magic around Ivan because he didn't know about her family history. And she didn't really want him to know, it would only complicate things.
"And what's that?" Ivan asked.
"My next door neighbor, she's a very sweet woman but her husband is a drinker, at least he was when she was pregnant, and he can be verbally abusive. There was one time when she came to my door in the middle of the night because her husband had come home drunk, he was breaking things and there was glass all over the kitchen. When she tried to stop him and get him to come to bed, he swung at her and she ducked, but as she scrambled to get out of the kitchen, she felt and cut herself. Thankfully she didn't land on her stomach and hurt the baby, but it was a close call. I wanted to take her to the hospital but she wouldn't let me because she was afraid of her husband. She seems fine now, but she had recently been asked to take in her deceased sister's son. And while she wants to, Vernon is against it. I don't want her to have to be in a situation like that where she is going to be abused."
Ivan was silent for a moment, having taken in everything she had said. "Does she want to leave him?" he asked.
"I think she will eventually. She already considers Harry like a son even though she's only had him for a few days. I know she loves him and that she wants him and her son Dudley to grow up together in a safe and healthy environment, but given the man she married, I don't know if that will be possible. She doesn't have the means to leave him right now because of the two babies. I'm not sure if she would have the education it takes to get anything better that an administration job and I don't know if it would be enough to support herself and the two boys."
"So what is it exactly that you're asking me Tasha? If she doesn't have the means to leave her husband right now then it appears that she's in a fixed position," Ivan said calmly.
"I'm asking what her options are. As someone who works in global policing, you have more experience that I do about dealing with things like this. Are there any such things in England as safe houses for victims of domestic abuse?"
Ivan thought for a moment. "I don't really know," he said after a while. "That would be something that I would need to check on. I know we have them for witnesses in international cases who have blown the whistle, but I don't know."
They talked some more about it and Natasha did feel a little bit better that Petunia may have some more options then what she did now.
"Now there was something that I wanted to ask you," Ivan said. "There is an opening in our operatives division, espionage sector. Is that still something you want to do?"
"It is, but I wanted to wait until Hermione was a little bit older before I do it. She's only fourteen months right now and I don't want to be halfway around the world and leave her in the care of someone I don't know."
"It's understandable, I just know that being a complete domestic for the rest of your life is not going to satisfy you Natasha. I know you, international work is in your blood."
Natasha laughed. "I know, but Hermione is there also, and work and she are all I care about. I need to know that she will be old enough to know what's going on when I do embark on a job like this again."
The rest of the weekend was peaceful. Natasha spent some time with Petunia and the boys and the three of them seemed to get on wonderfully. Dudley and Hermione already knew each other, but throwing Harry into the mix was changing the dynamic of things. They were now all walking and in the beginning stages of talking. Harry had been a year old when he had been dropped off so he was in the middle when it came to ages with Hermione as the youngest.
Natasha had a feeling that the three of them were going to be thick as thieves when they were older and she was eager to see it. Hermione needed to have some friends and Harry and Dudley would be the perfect fit for her.
Petunia and Natasha were still contemplating the merits of a trip to Diagon Alley to hear more about options for Harry and Hermione. The idea was an intriguing one because they both had some experience in dealing with magic, but not enough that they would know how to handle it completely.
"I keep wondering about the person who dropped Harry off," Petunia said on Sunday afternoon. They were sitting in the back garden with glasses of lemonade in their hands watching as the children played together.
"Did the letter say who it was?" Natasha asked
"It did, it turned out to be Lily's former headmaster Albus Dumbledore," Petunia explained. "I had no idea he was still teaching at Hogwarts."
Natasha frowned. What an odd name. "What kind of person leaves a one year old on the step of a door in the middle of November, in the middle of the night no less and just leave him there to be found in the morning? It would make far more sense to simply knock on the door, despite the time of night, or better yet, wait until the morning!"
Petunia nodded. "He definitely was a strange old bird when Lily was going to school there. I remember he had a lot of names and titles as well as a lot of power but somewhere along the line. I think it all went to his head."
Natasha wholeheartedly agreed. "Anyone who drops off a child on an unfamiliar stoop in the middle of the night is someone needs to have their head examined."
"I agree. But it matters not. I have Harry now and no one is going to take him away from me, not her old headmaster and especially not my oaf of a husband."
Natasha grinned and was about to say something when suddenly she saw something that made her stop cold.
Alongside of Hermione, Harry had been displaying some accidental magic as well. He had been levitating some blocks in the air and Hermione and Dudley were both clapping and giggling as he did it.
And then somehow, Dudley had gotten it into his mind that he wanted to try it. And so he had picked up a block and tossed it into the air. Only it didn't come right away and stood hovering a few inches above his palm. He did it again and the same thing happened and Hermione and Harry toddled over to see what he was doing. Dudley giggled and grabbed two more blocks before tossing them into the air and laughing loudly when the exact same thing happened and all three of the blocks were hovering in the air.
"Petunia?" Natasha whispered, startling her friend. "You might want to have a look at this."
The blonde looked and nearly upset the glass of lemonade in surprise as she stared at what her son was doing.
"That's not possible," she whispered. "I'm not a witch, no one in our family was."
"Except for your sister," Natasha pointed out quietly. "You may not have magic, but she did, and odd as it is, it's not impossible for it to skip a generation. Dudley may be a wizard. Actually no, if he is displaying magic at that young an age, he is a wizard."
Petunia rested her elbows on her knees and buried her face in her hands, speechless with shock while Natasha laughed in delight.
"Well Tuney, I think we've just added on more magical child to the mix."
And there we have it ladies and gentlemen, Dudley Dursley has magic too! Wouldn't it be awesome if all three of them went to Hogwarts? ;) I hope you guys liked Petunia's portrayal in the chapter because this was how I honestly believe she should have been. Anyway, let me know what you think. See you next time!