Privet Drive in Surrey was, for the most part, a normal suburban street. All the houses were similar with only the smallest of differences, all of the gardens full of flowers (some better-taken care of than others), if you didn't know better you'd assume there was nothing miraculous about any of them. However, you'd be wrong.
At the end of the dead-end of the street stood Number 4. At first glance, it seemed like every other house on the street. The family that lived within this house, the Dursley's, made up of Petunia, Vernon, and their son Dudley, prided themselves on being completely and utterly normal. They abhorred anything they deemed "freakish" and did their absolute best to keep the reputation of an upstanding family.
In this house is where you would find the most miraculous thing in the entire neighborhood. Her name was Rosemary Sage Potter, not that her relatives told her that. The only reason she knew was because it was embroidered onto her one toy, a stuffed black dog that was left with her on the doorstep on that fated Halloween night.
Rosemary was never truly taken care of. She was kept in the grubby cupboard under the stairs that was full of critters, dressed in her whale of a cousin's hand-me-downs and used as a maid. They'd lock her up for days at a time, refuse to feed her or give her water, scream at her, and beat her bloody in an attempt to "rid her of her freakish tendencies". She was never taught anything in an effort to make her seem lesser than her idiot cousin, and her jealous aunt would do everything in her power to make her look like a homeless little boy. Unfortunately for the Dursleys, none of this ever worked.
Rosemary Sage was a brilliant and beautiful little girl. She had dark black hair that had hidden streaks of auburn, creamy skin that had a slight tan from working in the garden all day, and gorgeous green eyes that seemed to shift through different shades constantly. No matter the clothes she wore, she looked adorable and no matter how short Petunia cut her hair, it always grew right back in its long curls. She had practiced her reading and speaking by talking to herself quietly in the garden, and by reading the labels off of all the food and cleaning supplies. She practiced counting in her head to make sure she knew her numbers and moved on to actual math rather quickly. The biggest boon for Rosemary was that not a single person in her so-called family ever read and always threw the books into Dudley's spare bedroom, never to be touched again. When Rosemary discovered this she read every single one, from Dudley's practice and storybooks to Vernon's manuals from work.
The Dursley's biggest failure, however, lay in their hopes of breaking her. Small she may be, but Rosemary Sage never once broke from their treatment. She refused to cry or scream or beg. And for every time they caused her pain, she made sure to get them back. Every interaction with her relatives was a battle in her eyes, and she refused to lose.
Rosemary had been with the Dursley's for almost 5 years when she finally caught a lucky break. The Dursley's had been planning on going to California to visit some family and then heading to the San Diego Zoo for Dudley's birthday while they were there. Originally, they had planned on having Rosemary Sage stay with Mrs. Figg but she had canceled due to a death in the family and having to attend the funeral. After running through a list they had found that no one was available to watch her. And that's how Rosemary found herself boarding a plane to America.