Petunia stood with a chubby Dudley on her arm as they waved goodbye to Vernon just as he was pulling out of the driveway. "Say goodbye to Dada" she said to Dudley as she waved and pointed to the car which Vernon was driving to work. She felt a cool breeze of the early November chill as Vernon drove away. "It sure is getting colder now that we've entered November" she thought to herself as she and Dudley headed inside.
Back inside the house, Petunia put Dudley down on the living room floor as she went in to the kitchen to clear away the family's breakfast. As she put the plates into the sink, she looked at the calendar on the wall remembering that she had yet to pull off yesterday's page. As she did so, the page for Monday, November 1st, 1982 was revealed.
She turned to check up on the boy she had just put down on the floor… oh wait, boys. That's right, she thought. There were still two of them. Her own beautiful, chubby, mostly bald, blue-eyed little angel who was now pulling the newspapers from yesterday off the coffee table, she couldn't help but feel so proud of him. And then there was her sister and her good-for-nothing husband's boy in the playpen, with a whole head full of chaotic, black hair. How could she be so unlucky as to be landed with this good-for-nothing boy, the son of his good-for-nothing father? It wasn't that Petunia didn't love her sister, no up until Lily had turned 11 years old, they were best friends, her sister was just a…. well, a freak! As was her good-for-nothing husband!
As she looked at the boy in the playpen, she couldn't help but feel that he too, would become a freak one day! And she had no intention of letting him bully her little Dudder-boy around when that happened. As much as this boy looked like his good-for-nothing father, Petunia couldn't help but feel disgusted with him. This good-for-nothing boy. A freak!
Petunia spent her morning tidying up the house after Dudley had pulling everything to the floor that was within his reach. And not that it did much good at all, because Dudley just continued pulling everything down that his mother had just cleaned up. Suddenly, it was as if Dudley became tired of this game and sat down and started screaming.
"WAAAAAAAAH!" Dudley screamed.
Petunia rushed to the playpen and took a toy train out of the good-for-nothing boy's hand and rushed to Dudley's side to give him the toy train.
"WAAAAAAAAAH!" Dudley tried screaming even higher yet.
Again, Petunia rushed to the playpen and grabbed the plastic elephant that the good-for-nothing boy had just picked up. "Do not take your cousin's toys!" She told him in a very stern, almost angry voice. "No wonder Dudders is so upset, when his good-for-nothing cousin takes all his toys!" Petunia hurried towards Dudley to give him the elephant. As Petunia gave Dudley the elephant, Dudley stopped screaming.
At 11 o'clock am, there was a knock on the front door. How weird, Petunia thought, Dudley's playgroup wasn't today. Or was it? No, it was definitely not until tomorrow. It was very important to Petunia to keep track of these playgroups. She couldn't have the other moms, seeing her little Dudders in the company of his good-for-nothing cousin. She therefore always stored the playpen away upstairs in Dudley's second bedroom whenever the playgroup came over.
Knock kno-
As Petunia opened the front door, she interrupted the second knock. Outside the door stood two men. She didn't recognize any of them, but she couldn't help wondering what they were selling and were getting ready to tell them, that she wouldn't buy anything.
"Yes?" She asked sternly.
"Ma'am, are you Petunia Dursley?" One of the men asked?
"Yes, I am. What can I help you with?" She almost regretted asking the very polite question as she hated salesmen who came knocking.
"And do you, by any chance, have a boy living her by the name of Harry Potter?" The man asked.
What did he say? But? Wait? How? What was going on? If there was one thing, Petunia and her husband Vernon were very proud of it was how perfectly normal they were, thank you very much. And as such, they had tried with all their might to not let anyone know that there was a good-for-nothing freak living under their roof. And here were two strange men, asking if he was living there. She was totally taken aback. She didn't know what to say.
"Bu…" She started to say until she changed it to "Who are you?"
"Ma'am, we are here to lift you of this burden and take him off your hands." The same man said. "Immediately."
Petunia couldn't believe what he was saying. First, he knew that Harry was in their house? Second, he wanted to take Harry with him? What was happening?
"Sir, I'm sorry, but you have the wrong house." She found herself saying. After she said it, she didn't even know why she said it. It was all very odd. Here was a chance to be rid of her good-for-nothing nephew, perhaps for always.
Always. It was such a strong word. She came to think of those green eyes that hid under all that hideous, good-for-nothing, black hair of his. It was his mother's eyes. Lily's eyes.
"Tuney, I have something for you!" Lily came running with a package in her hand. What was she up to now! Petunia had learned to live with the crazy ideas her younger sister always had. It was a part of Lily's charm. That she was so weird.
"What is it Lily?" Petunia thought she might as well ask. After living with Lily for ten years, she had learned that Lily got her way. Besides, if Lily had something for Petunia in the package, she was getting a little excited as well to see what it was.
"Open up!" Lily nearly screamed as she handed Petunia the package.
Petunia opened up the package. Very slowly though. Not because she didn't care what was inside, but she knew that her sister was way too excited for her to see what the package contained so she knew that by dragging out the time, it would the same as teasing her sister. Which she loved. It was like a birthright as the older sister. And she had no intention of letting go of that birthright.
Inside was a bracelet. A beautiful silver charm bracelet that read "Best sisters forever, Petunia and Lily". Petunia was lost for words. Her birthday was months from now and how did her ten-year old sister afford this?
As if reading Petunias thoughts, Lily said "Don't worry about it. Mom and Dad helped pay for it. I just wanted to surprise you with something nice because you are the best sister anyone could ever ask for."
Lily not only was Petunia's sister but truly was Petunia's best friend.
Before Lily became a freak, she and Petunia had been best friends. Even though, Lily's son was a good-for-nothing brat who looked like his good-for-nothing father and would one day also become a good-for-nothing freak, Petunia knew she had to keep him here.
"Ma'am, please step aside and let us inside to take the boy!"
"No, sir. Harry Potter doesn't live here!" Petunia lied.
"Ma'am, please! We don't want to hurt you, but if we have to, we will." The man said.
Petunia looked towards the other man, who hadn't said anything yet, wondering who he was. "I'm sorry, sirs, he isn't here. Now please leave." She hoped that if she kept telling them off, they would eventually go away.
The other man, who hadn't said anything, pulled out a… a wooden stick? Oh no, she thought! These men were freaks too! Couldn't she ever be free of these freaks!
"STUPEFY!" The man yelled. A jet of scarlet light erupted from the end of his wand and Petunia fell to the floor and was knocked unconscious.
"WAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
What had happened? Petunia raised her head from the hallway floor. Wait, there had been these two men. Strangers. DUDLEY! Petunia got to her feet and scrambled in to the living room as Dudley's screams pierced through the house. She picked him up, clutched him in her arms as if she'd never let go. She looked to the playpen, as she remembered the two strange men… the two strange freaks, asking about Harry. The playpen was empty.
Still clutching Dudley in her arms, she ran to the telephone to call Vernon. She was shaking as she dialed his office number. "Hallo? Vernon? Come home immediately!"
Half an hour later, Vernon rushed through the front door. Petunia was sitting on the couch, with a screaming Dudley in her arms and still shaking. What had happened here?
"Petunia dear?! Are you alright? What happened here?" Vernon asked as he ran through the house.
"Harry's gone, Vernon!" Petunia started crying as she said those words. "I don't quite know what exactly happened." Petunia started telling Vernon everything that had happened here since that first knock on the door this morning.
Vernon was in shock and Dudley was still screaming. Naturally, Vernon didn't have the same feelings about his good-for-nothing family-in-law as Petunia did. On one hand, he was glad to be rid of his good-for-nothing, freak-to-be nephew but on the other hand, this had affected Petunia in a way he had not expected.
Knock knock.
What was that? Vernon and Petunia looked at each other. Petunia remembered clearly the last time she opened the front door. Vernon showed his wife back to the couch, gesturing that he would open the door and that she and Dudley would stay inside the house.
Outside the door stood a man and a woman. By the looks of them, he just knew that they were freaks. Today, they had had enough of those freaks. Better yet, they had had enough of those freaks for the rest of their lives and the rest of Dudley's life. Before the strangers outside had had a chance to say anything, he shut the door and locked it.
"Mr. Dursley?" Said a female voice through the door. "Mr. Dursley, please open the door. We need to speak to you about your nephew. We are here to pick him up."
What was this? Was there a parade of freaks coming by today to pick up his good-for-nothing nephew? Didn't they know that someone already came? Was there really so little control in that… that world, that these freaks didn't know that Harry really wasn't here?
"Mr. Dursley?" The female voice said again. "We know that Harry Potter is here. I was here when he was delivered to you a year ago. Please open the door."
Vernon opened the door. He looked the woman straight in the eye and said "Harry Potter isn't here! Someone already came to pick him up and they assaulted my wife and son in the process!" The man looked shocked as if he couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Someo… But who?" He turned to the woman. "Professor, who else knows Harry was here?"
As if a strange force was deciding what he should do, Vernon stepped aside. He couldn't explain it, but he had agreed to let the two strangers in.
"Mr. Dursley, I don't understand? Who came to pick him up?" The woman turned to the man. "Remus, nobody knows. Not if Dumbledore's protection actually had worked."
"See for yourselves in the playpen! Then GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!" Vernon roared.
Remus looked around the house. First at Vernon Dursley, who was almost purple in the face from rage. Second at Petunia, still clutching a screaming Dudley in her arms, who also knew that something was wrong. Third at Professor McGonagall, who gave him a very worried look.
Remus couldn't but stutter "B.. b… bu… but… w… wh… wh… where is Harry Potter then?"