September 3, 2014

Petunia was having a wonderful time. She and her friend, Angela, were in London for the day. Angela had procured tickets to Jersey Boys. The two women were lip-synching along with the actors on stage when Petunia felt her purse move. She had her cell phone on vibrate for the play. She shook her head and sighed. Angela looked over, "Everything alright?"

Petunia smiled at her and whispered back. "My phone's ringing. I told him I'd be in the theater. I'll call him back after the play is over." She took the purse off her lap and put it between her feet so she wouldn't be tempted to check the phone to find out what Vernon wanted. This was her time away from caregiving. She and Angela had planned this trip for two months. She wasn 't about to let her husband ruin the first bit of real adult fun she'd had in quite a while.

She concentrated on the play and let the music wash over her, taking away her stresses and worries for a few hours. After the play was over, she found herself humming "Walk Like a Man" while Angela retrieved their jackets from the cloakroom attendants. She pulled the cell phone out of her bag and looked at the call log. It had been Vernon. Angela walked up to her and handed her the cream-colored fall jacket.

"Was it him?" she asked as she put her own jacket on. She had a tendency to go for bright colors. Today's jacket was a particularly bright green, only a few shades away from neon. Somehow it managed not to clash with her mysteriously red hair.

"Yes, it was Vernon." Petunia put the phone back in her bag. "But he didn't leave a message, so it must not have been important." She put her own jacket on and the two women left the theater.

"Are we still on for dinner, then, or did you want to get back home?"

Petunia grinned. "Are you joking? We have reservations. We're both incredibly dressed up and I haven't gone out to dinner with less than three children in tow in months."

Angela laughed, "Well, then, let's go. The restaurant is only a few streets down. If we walk now, we can eat huge desserts later."

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Petunia was still humming "Walk Like a Man" as she waved to Angela when she got through her front door. She took her jacket off and hung it up, still humming. She left the shopping bags on the table by the door and dug through her purse a bit as she walked to the living room. She wanted to charge her phone. "Vernon? I'm home."

She saw him sitting facing away from her in his favorite chair. She smiled as she leaned over the back to give him a quick peck on the top of his head. "I had a lovely time with Angela today. You might even have enjoyed the play. The songs were wonderful. They sang "Oh, What a Night". There was even a French rap version of it that you would have hated but it was interesting." Petunia finished plugging her cell phone in the charging station in the corner and came around the chair.

She sat down on the couch and picked up the mail on the table. She looked over at Vernon, smiling. She had expected him to be grumpy that she had gone out that day so she wasn't surprised that he wasn't answering her.

Vernon sat there, the cell phone still clutched in his hand, a look of shock on his face.

"Vernon?" Petunia dropped the mail on the floor and lurched over to her husband's side. She took his hand and winced at how cool his skin was. "Oh, sweetheart." Petunia knelt on the floor in front of his chair and held his cold hand to her cheek. She felt the tears start to run down her cheeks as she stood back up and retrieved the house phone. She dialed emergency, even though she knew there was nothing they could do at this point.

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September 6, 2014

The funeral service for Vernon Dursley was short and small. He hadn't been a particularly devout member of the C of E, nor had he been particularly well-liked by very many people. A number of Grunnings employees and administration showed up to say their farewells and to give Petunia and Dudley their sympathies. One or two of them may have shown up to see for themselves that the bombastic, abusive jackass of a boss they couldn't stand was well and truly planted in the ground. Since his sister had recently been admitted to a personal care facility, she was unable to attend. Her doctors felt the knowledge of her beloved brother's death would be devastating to her.

A few neighbors appeared, mostly out of sympathy for Petunia. Dudley got a surprise when he saw Piers Polkiss. He hadn't thought of Piers in a long while. Piers was accompanying his mother, who gave Petunia a long hug. "Piers," Dudley held out his hand. "I haven't seen you in ages."

"Yeah, well. You went off on your trip to Canada and we sort of lost touch, I guess." Piers hadn't aged well. He looked much older than his thirty-four years. Still on the scrawny side with a heavily lined face, he stood nervously in front of Dudley and Petunia. "Mrs. Dursley," he said to Petunia, "I'm really sorry about your husband. He was a good bloke."

Petunia smiled at him, "Thank you, Piers. Your mum told me you've been licensed." Piers nodded. "Well, congratulations. I know your mum is very proud of you."

Piers and his mother both nodded. Mrs. Polkiss gave Petunia another hug and a brief one to Dudley. They moved on to let the next person give their sympathies. At the next break in the line, Dudley asked, "What has Piers been licensed for?"

Petunia's eyes crinkled in a smile. "Turf accountant."

Dudley snorted a bit, keeping his smile in check. "At least he won't get arrested for bookmaking now."

"Why do you think his mother was so pleased?" Petunia turned away from Dudley to welcome the next person and sighed when she saw it was Harry.

"I'm really sorry for you, Aunt Petunia." He hugged her while Ginny gave Dudley a hug.

"Thank you, Harry, Ginny, for coming," Petunia said. "I can honestly say Vernon wouldn't have wanted it," she smiled as she said that, "But I do."

Harry snorted a small laugh. "Yeah."

Petunia hugged Ginny. "You didn't bring the children?"

"We left them with my Mum," Ginny said. "It seemed better. We asked Annie and she said she was staying home with the kids."

Petunia and Dudley nodded. "Good idea," he said. "You could've brought them to my house."

Petunia and Ginny turned to him. Petunia was the one to ask him, "Six children between the ages of three and ten? Four of them with, shall we say, special talents? Are you mad? And here I thought you were actually fond of your wife."

"Erm." Dudley cleared his throat as the other three adults just stared at him. "Forget I said anything. And don't tell Annie."

And, so goes Vernon.