When Petunia Found Harry

The 1st of November 1981 dawned to be just another day in England for the vast majority of its inhabitants. The transitioning autumn weather had left its crisp sheen on the grass in gardens, which sent out wafts of dewiness as it was melted by the rising sun.

However, for a small and war-weathered community within the United Kingdom, it wasn't a normal day – not at all. For as the sun rose, so did the voices which screamed up the stairs the news of their inconceivable victory. Each and everyone one of them spoke with such disbelief and excitement that the Wizarding children who had scrambled out of their beds could only make out one name. Harry Potter. Before they could ask for more information, the distributor of the news had already raced away to send their owl soaring across the blue skies, clutching the glorious words in their talons.

The inhabitants of Number 4 Privet Drive didn't, however, wake up to anybody hollering up their stairs. Petunia Dursley's eyelids flickered open as her husband's alarm sounded, and she felt a wave of gratitude sweep over her at the fact that her young son had slept soundly through the night. She leaned over him and searched clumsily for the 'Snooze' button with her spindly fingers. Her husband began to stir beneath her and as she retreated back to her side of the bed, she pressed a kiss to his lips and his eyes opened groggily, before deepening it.

It seemed too soon when the snooze went off and Petunia reluctantly pushed herself up. She smiled tiredly, 'Time for work.'

'Uh, Petunia – aren't Owls nocturnal?' Vernon asked, as he opened the blinds a few minutes later, stretching.

'Well observed,' she teased. 'Why'd you ask?'

'It's just- well, those are Owls, aren't they?'

Petunia glanced over at the window as she pulled on her stockings and was surprised to find that several owls – yep, definitely owls – were stretching their wings in various directions. She shrugged in response before peering into her sons cot. As though alerted by her presence he started to wail and she picked him up, cooing as she headed downstairs to warm him up some milk.

She handed him a rattle to keep the little tyke busy but a few seconds later, after pushing the buttons to their microwave, she felt a soft pang on her shoulder blade.

'Cookie!' Dudley demanded.

'Milk first,' She replied softly, pushing a teddy into his hands, but he immediately threw it away – this time it landed in the sink. Again he demanded a cookie, just as the microwave timer went off. 'You need milk first – the doctor said that lots of cookies are bad for you.'

She settled the bottle of milk on his high chair tray as he liked to feed himself, but before she could even move to grab some bacon from the fridge for Vernon, the bottle crashed to the ground. Petunia shrieked as the teat popped off and the milk spread out over the tiled floor, but it wasn't heard over her child screaming his desire for a cookie.

She sighed, pulled the lid off the jar and placed three into his eager hands.

Petunia thought about it as she mopped up the milk and set about making her husband's breakfast. Sure, some may suggest that she spoiled Dudley but that wasn't true, not really. She just indulged him a little – there's nothing bad about the fact that she wanted her son to be happy, was there now? On top of that, she just couldn't help it! Not after her childhood. Not after she had been thrust aside time after time to Lovely Little Lily.

She explained why Dudley had needed another cup of milk when Vernon had inquired about the lack of it to wash down his English breakfast with.

He roared with laughter in response. 'Good lad – knows what he wants! Why don't you go and see if the milkman's been today?'

She smiled and stood up. It was only a little thing – going to get the milk. And yet Petunia simply couldn't wipe the smile from her face. She loved this. She loved the normality of what her life with Vernon meant. She loved normal. She craved normal. After all, whenever anything abnormal had made itself known in her life, it had only resulted in pain, broken families and uncertainty.

Pulling open the door, her smile fell.

I'm thinking about making this a two-shot on my account, where it carries on to Petunia reading the letter that was left for her and Vernon and Dudley's reaction, but I thought the ending was quite effective as it was, so let me know if you'd like to read it if I did :) It seems that quite a few of you are wanting a Remus/Tonks one-shot and I love that pairing so feel free to drop me any ideas on what Missing Moments I could write about!

Please let me know what you thought and also, if there's any other pairings/one-shots that you'd like me to include. :)

Also I'm currently writing a new romance/mystery next-generation multi-chapter fiction, so if you're interested in that then you can find it on my profile.

Thanks for reading!