25 September 1986—Little Whinging, Surrey

"Wake up, freak!" Petunia yelled, rapping at the cupboard door. "You're late and you're cooking breakfast."

No sound came from the cupboard under the stairs.

"GET UP! GET UP OR I'LL SMASH YOUR FACE WITH THE FRYING PAN AGAIN!"

No sound came from the cupboard under the stairs.

"That's it!" She went into the kitchen, grabbed a rolling pin, returned, and ripped the door open.

"Up!" she said, bashing the boy in the arm with the pin. Then she looked at the body. The eyes were open but lifeless. The body was limp. There were bruises all over his face and neck and trails of blood running down from his skull and along his arms. There was no pulse.

Realizing the truth, Petunia screamed louder than she had ever screamed in her life. The screams were heard by most of the nearby neighbors—as well as a small group of goblins hiding nearby, waiting for what was to come.

Creating golems was Gutpuncher's specialty, but even he was impressed with the Harry Potter golem. Not only was it identical to the young boy, right down to the scrape on his elbow and the grass and dirt stains on his trousers, but it included additional evidence that would leave no doubt who murdered this child.

When the goblin team had gone in to alter the Dursleys' memories, they also took blood, tissue, and fingerprint samples. The blood and tissue samples were saved for future use (Gutpuncher was not privy to what that use would be), but Vernon Dursley's fingerprints are all over the boy's injuries in the neck and head, and Petunia's and Dudley's fingerprints could be found all over his upper arms.

When the muggle police inspected the body, the Dursleys would go to prison for a long time.

Sadly, that probably wouldn't happen right away. Once Gutpuncher and the invasion team planted the golem in the cupboard under the stairs, they retreated to a safely hidden spot down the street and waited.

Hours later, they heard the first scream, followed by two more, followed by a great deal of shouting and banging and crying. Goblin hearing is far superior to human hearing, but these sounds were loud enough to wake the entire neighborhood. Still, no one came out to investigate.

Two hours later, long after the time Vernon Dursley usually leaves for work and Dudley and Harry leave for school, Vernon emerged outside dragging a large suitcase behind him and holding a shovel in one hand. For a moment, Petunia and Dudley could be seen at the door, but as soon as the suitcase had passed the threshold, Petunia shut the door quickly.

Vernon struggled to get the suitcase into the car's boot, but eventually he succeeded.

"He brought out the body and the shovel at the same time? Is he planning to bury it in broad daylight?" Gutpuncher's assistant, Jowrl, asked.

"Never underestimate the stupidity of humans," Gutpuncher said.

As Vernon was pulling out of his driveway, Nightdrop noticed an older woman not far from their location watching Vernon carefully, an anxious look on her face.

"That one there," he said, pointing to the woman. "She's not a muggle."

They all looked at her, sensing her weak magical core.

"Squib," Gutpuncher said. "Probably one of Dumbledore's."

"What do we do?" Jowrl asked.

"Okay, Nightdrop, you and your people follow Dursley. Go." Three goblins, including Nighdrop, vanished. "Jowrl, you stay and keep an eye on that squib. I'm heading to headquarters. Skullpiercer needs to know about this." With that, Gutpuncher vanished.

Jowrl moved positions to get closer to the old woman. He watched her stand in the same general area for much of the day, only returning to her home to eat or use the facilities, but always returning, pacing back and forth as if waiting for something to happen. Eventually, it did.

Meanwhile, Nightdrop and the others spent most of the day following Dursley as he wandered through nearby towns and headed into the countryside. On several occasions, he slowed his car down and looked around, only to keep going.

Eventually, he reached a forested area that was only a mile from a housing development, but in Vernon's mind, it was as close to "the middle of nowhere" as he was willing to go.

It took the better part of three hours for the large man to dig a hole big enough for the suitcase, but the hole was so shallow that the suitcase itself stuck up out of the ground. Vernon apparently didn't care. He just piled more dirt on top, put the shovel in the car, and drove away—job well done.

Sadly, Vernon didn't notice the three hikers who had wandered by and realized quite quickly that a man digging a hole in the middle of the woods is never a good thing. They wrote down the license plate number, the vehicle type, and a general description of the man and the suitcase and then hurried home to call the police.

CHILD MURDERED IN LITTLE WHINGING

The body of a 6-year-old child has been found dead inside a shallow grave near the parish of Elstead in Surrey.

Three hikers—two men and one woman—stumbled upon a large man digging the grave and attempting to bury a suitcase. The grave itself was too shallow for the suitcase to properly fit, so the man simply added dirt to hide the top of the suitcase before he drove away. The three wisely did not approach the man but gathered the necessary information and rang the police.

The three provided the police with license plate, vehicle information, and a physical description of the man in question. Their information helped the police to quickly identify the man as Mr Vernon Dursley of Little Whinging, a Director at the Grunnings drill manufacturing company.

Police were waiting at Mr Dursley's home when he returned from the scene of the crime and was immediately apprehended. Apparently, the man was covered from head-to-toe in mud and dirt. The Police were confident that the dirt on Mr Dursley's clothing matched the dirt found in and around Elstead parish.

Also taken into custody was the suspect's wife, Mrs Petunia Dursley. The Dursleys' only child, a seven-year-old boy, was taken to Child Protective Services. Initially, the Police feared that Mr Dursley's young son was the victim of this crime, but instead the victim appears to have been a six-year-old boy who was living with the Dursleys. The authorities released no further details on the victim.

A representative for Grunnings, where Mr Dursley worked, stated that the company was shocked and appalled at the tragedy that unfolded in Little Whinging and Elstead. They also announced that they had terminated Mr Dursley's contract with the company.

The three hikers are being celebrated today by people across Surrey as heroes, but their leader, Mr. Bradford Hoke, said that they were simply in the right place at the right time and were fulfilling their civic responsibilities.

Hoke went on to praise the police for their swift and decisive action in bringing these criminals to justice.

Not long after the police arrived and began blocking off the neighborhood in anticipation of Vernon Dursley's return home, a crack sounded just behind Jowrl, startling him, though he forced himself not to show it. Two goblins and one scrawny wizard who seemed to be just out of Hogwarts were standing next to him.

"Gutpuncher and Skullpiercer want to see you," the first goblin said. "We got this."

"Do you need any…"

"No. Get out. It's our job now."

With that Jowrl returned to Gringotts, the old woman no longer his concern.

Arabelle Figg was staring at her now-cold cup of tea, her mind a mixture of anger, shock, and absolute panic. As a squib, Arabelle knew that her ability to help the Order defeat the Dark Lord was limited, so when Albus Dumbledore himself asked her to keep an eye on Harry Potter, she was elated.

"Just make sure he doesn't die" were Dumbledore's final words to her back on that fateful day in 1981.

Now, five years later and hours after the police had taken the Dursley family away, she realized the ugly truth—she had completely and utterly failed.

She knew Vernon Dursley was a bad man. She knew Harry suffered. But her job was to keep watch over Harry Potter and never to interfere. It was painful at times, but Dumbledore was a great man, and if he told her to simply watch, then that is exactly what she would do.

Now that passivity has backfired spectacularly, and Dumbledore will be furious. It won't matter that she was following his orders. It won't matter that she was still recovering from her gall bladder surgery. No excuse will be big enough to warrant Dumbledore's forgiveness.

No reason to hurry the inevitable, then. Tomorrow—I'll tell him tomorrow.

Just then, there was a knock on her front door. Confused, since she had few friends and even fewer visitors, she anxiously grabbed the doorknob, opened the door, and—

"Attention, British Airways Flight 4349 non-stop service from Heathrow to Miami, Florida, is ready for boarding."

Arabelle smiled. Finally, after all these years, she was going to visit her sister in Pompano Beach, and she couldn't remember ever being more excited for a trip. White sandy beaches, warm weather, all-you-can-eat buffet restaurants—the next month was going to be a dream!