PETUNIA: CHAPTER 9: BUNDLE OF MEMORIES

Vernon Dursley had just sat down in his immaculately clean kitchen eagerly anticipating his breakfast. He had just taken a hold of his newspaper when something made him jump. His wife had just screamed.

He dropped the paper and stood up quickly, sending his chair clattering to the floor and hurried towards the parlor where the scream had come from. He rounded the corner to find her looking stunned and holding a bundle that wriggled. It appeared she was holding a baby…but Dudley was upstairs and besides the bundle wasn't nearly big enough to possibly be his massive son.

He merely gawped at her. "Petunia…why did you scream?"

"Hold this." she said. She shoved the baby into his arms and pulled open an envelope. He did not see how her eyes widened as she recognized the seal on the envelope. He waited impatiently for her to finish reading.

"Well…?"

"It's…you know James and Lily.." Vernon began to turn purple "had a son about Dudley's age. Well that's him." She pointed to the tiny piece of humanity he held in his arms.

"Can you tell me what he is doing HERE?" he said looking disgustedly at the baby, as if it was some foul thing.

"My sister is dead. And so is her husband." Vernon showed no sign of emotion.

"Well this…foundling can't stay here. It's simply out of the question."

"But Vernon we're his only family!" Petunia cried.

"Oh no! I know what THEY were like and I'll have none of that in my house to influence MY son!"

"We'll…we'll squish it out of him! He needn't know the truth about his parents! We'll tell him they…they died in a car crash! Oh Vernon PLEASE!"

He eyed his wife "Why do you want this so much?"

She didn't tell him…instead. "Please Vernon…for me? Aren't I good wife? Do I ever ask for anything? Please give me this one thing. PLEASE!" He looked into her eyes…she had never seemed to have wanted anything so much as this…though he couldn't imagine why.

"Fine!" he relented. "But I wash my hands of it! If he turns out to be another freak it's through no fault of mine!"

"Oh thankyou! Thankyou Vernon!" she took her nephew from her husbands arms. She put him to bed in the crib that Dudley had very quickly out grown and after Vernon was gone and she was all alone she took her own son in her arms and wept bitterly.

She hadn't seen her sister since her own wedding day. Naturally she had had to tell Vernon the truth about Lily after that incident. It was hard to come up with a cover story to tell his family but they had managed it. But Vernon had declared that "those weirdoes" would never set foot in HIS home and when the invitation to Lily and James' wedding had come Vernon made the executive decision that they wouldn't go. After that Lily had made no attempt to contact her sister. Petunia could guess why.

And now she would never see her sister again! All she had to remember her by was Harry. The babies eyes was one of the first things she had noticed. Her sister's eyes staring up at her out of an unfamiliar little face with a scar on its forehead.

She had not told Vernon the full contents of the letter. She knew that if she had he would have never let her keep Harry. He would have felt it far too risky and the outside of enough. But she didn't care about the danger. She would protect her sister's baby from the man that had killed his parents.