Chapter 1 - Prologue

Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were not perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything plain or ordinary, because they didn't hold with such boredom. Their neighbours were the exact opposite in almost every way, and disapproved of the Dursleys, but they couldn't do anything about them.

Where the other residents of Privet Drive had immaculate lawns surrounded by flowerbeds in their back gardens, with perhaps the occasional tasteful garden ornament, the Dursleys had a rabbit hutch, a smartly painted yellow dovecote, and a large shed with thick concrete walls. These things were there because when he was seventeen, Mr Dursley had walked out on his family, to pursue his dream of becoming a magician. The hutch was home to Bobbins the Sixth – the latest in a line of large white rabbits – and the dovecote, naturally, housed doves, that Mr Dursley used in his performances. The shed, with its thick walls, was where Mr Dursley kept the things needed for magic tricks involving fireworks, fire, very sharp knives, and other dangerous things.

Mrs Dursley, however, was known for something quite different. She was known not just on Privet Drive, not just in the town of Little Whinging, but over the whole country, as a children's writer. She wrote stories about a secret world of witches and wizards living alongside ordinary people, and they sold well enough that the Dursleys could live comfortably on the money they made. There was a chance, Mrs Dursley's publisher had told her, of her stories being turned into films one day.

The Dursleys had a young son called Dudley, and it was one of their great hopes that he would grow up to be as unusual as they were. But the Dursleys also had two great secrets, that were the reason for Mrs Dursley's books being so successful. The first secret was that the world in the books was real. The Dursleys knew it was real because of their second secret, which was that they were related to the Potters.

Mrs Potter was Mrs Dursley's sister. When they were growing up, before they were married, everyone knew them as Lily and Petunia Evans. Unusual things tended to happen around Lily, especially when she got particularly scared, upset, or angry. In the summer of 1971, when Lily was eleven, the Evans family got an explanation for the unusual things – Lily was a witch. In September, instead of going to Cokeworth Secondary School like her sister, she would start at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This initially made Petunia upset, and extremely jealous. She and Lily had done everything together, and now because Lily could do magic, she got to be part of this secret world? It wasn't fair! Petunia knew the name of the school and its headmaster – Professor Albus Dumbledore - from Lily's letter, and from the woman who had delivered it who said she was the Deputy Headmistress, she knew it was in Scotland. So she wrote a letter of her own. She didn't know if she would get a reply, or if it would even get there – putting "Professor A. Dumbledore, Hogwarts School, Scotland" on the envelope would have to be enough, as witches and wizards apparently used owls to deliver their post. How the owls knew where the intended recipient lived, she had no idea.

Petunia was surprised a couple of weeks later to receive a reply.

Dear Miss Evans,

I was surprised to receive your letter. Pleas from Muggle – nonmagical – siblings of students wishing to attend Hogwarts are rare, but we do occasionally receive them. Yours is the third to occur during my tenure as Headmaster. However, it is my duty to kindly inform you that it will not be possible for you to become a Hogwarts student.

There are two reasons for this. The first is simply one of legality and health. Our highest law, the International Statute of Secrecy, decrees that magic is to be hidden from Muggles. Some Muggles, such as immediate blood relatives or spouses, are permitted to know of magic, and can be given Anti-Anti-Muggle Charms – enchanted bracelets that allow Muggles to see and enter magical areas and buildings. Without wearing one of these, you would perceive Hogwarts as a crumbling, ruined castle.

You are now, naturally, asking "Why can't I just wear one, then?" This leads me to the health aspect. Magical people and Muggles have somewhat different physiologies, due to the presence or absence of magic. While you could indeed wear an Anti-Anti-Muggle Charm, they can only be worn for short periods at a time. To wear one constantly for nine months a year, for seven years, in one of the most magical places in Britain would have considerable negative effects on your health, comparable to those suffered by survivors of the blasts of the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan during the Second World War.

The second is one of education. Even if it were possible for you to complete the full seven years at Hogwarts with no deleterious effects on your health, your career prospects would be almost non-existent, due to your inability to use magic. While Hogwarts does teach subjects of a purely academic nature, they are used in conjunction with subjects with a practical component in the real world.

I do not intend to be harsh in explaining this to you, but it may seem to you that I am. Nevertheless, instead of becoming jealous of your sister, might I suggest that you participate in her life as much as you can? Jealousy and anger can drive families apart, and I do not imagine that you or your sister wishes to see that happen.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Albus Dumbledore

Petunia followed Professor Dumbledore's advice. Just because she couldn't share in all of Lily's new world didn't mean she had to be cut her sister out of her own life, after all. So the Evans sisters grew up, sharing what they could. Petunia found she had a talent for fiction writing, and used the information in Lily's textbooks as the basis for her stories. She was a bridesmaid at Lily's wedding to James Potter, and Lily did the same at Petunia's wedding to Vernon Dursley, who she had met in a busy bookshop. He had been doing magic tricks to entertain children waiting in the queue for the till. When Vernon was introduced in private to his sister-in-law's husband and friends, he was over the moon at seeing real magic.

When Petunia and Lily gave birth to sons (Dudley and Harry) in 1980, they were determined that their babies would grow up together as much as possible. Petunia broke down in happy tears one day when Lily called by to say that Harry's first word hadn't been "Mama" or "Dada", but "Dud-dud".

But in October 1981, everything changed…