A new chapter, earlier than I had planned thanks to everyone's overwhelming support! Thank you!

In 1978, a young woman with sharp features and slightly shaking hands walked into Grunnings drill company for her first day of work. The woman at the front desk gestured for her to take a seat in the waiting area and the young woman couldn't help but tug down her maroon jacket over her matching skirt. For the next fifteen minutes, she continuously alternated between adjusting her jacket or skirt, shuffling her feat and checking that her hair still looked perfectly pinned.

At long last, her name was called 'A Petunia Evans?', causing her to jump to her feet and clutch her small work bag. She followed the man into the building's hallways as he pointed out various offices and explained who and what was on each floor, an air of boredom colouring his voice. He passed her over to another woman, waiting and smiling at them, introducing herself as Jannnis – 'but you can call me Jan' – before explaining that Petunia would be taking over her old job as secretary for the 3rd floor, as she Jannis had just been promoted.

It was a good job. It paid well, Petunia was seldom bored and she felt useful and independent for one of the first times in her life.

It was there, after nearly two weeks, that she met Vernon Dursely. The young intern had been on coffee runs for a few of the company's managers when he saw Miss Evans behind the desk. He couldn't help but stare at her as she answered a call. She was beautiful. Perhaps not in the way that most would consider beautiful, as her face was just a bit to sharp and a bit too long. But he saw her wide, glittery eyes and high cheeks bones that were dusted a rosy colour. He saw the small way she smiled shyly as she noticed his staring, stuttering slightly into the phone as she remembered she was on a call and stubbornly refused to look back up as more of her face began to glow redder.

Vernon had to chuckle to himself as he went on his way to deliver the coffee and take notes during the meeting for his boss. A week later he asked her out for lunch.

Petunia noticed Vernon Dursley. All the secretaries would gossip about anyone of note in the company and he was noted for being a very hard working and particularly dedicated employee. This fact had not gone unnoticed by his superiors and the secretaries speculated he'd be offered a higher position very soon. Although, they amended, he isn't the most attractive man, the giggled amongst themselves. Petunia had to disagree. Why would a girl only look at the appearances of people and make a judgment? She had plenty of experience of seeing fair people often be the most horrendous and manipulative people, not to mention dangerous. In fact, the larger build of Vernon Dursley was part of what drew her to him. So when he asked her out for lunch, she accepted happily and readily.

Soon, lunch became dinner, dinner became most evenings and fresh flowers (mostly petunias and never lilies) were on her desk every other day. It was just over a year later that Petunia and Vernon were happily married. Soon after that, Petunia became pregnant and she quit her job, while Vernon worked his way up through the company. He wanted to provide for his family as well as possible, giving them almost anything they'd ever want or need.

Vernon's family had been practical dirt poor growing up and his father never failed to blame it upon him and his brothers. Especially during his alcohol fuelled rages and just when the fancy took him. After that, Vernon vowed he'd never let his family feel the way he had; unsafe, scared, constantly hungry, broke and in pain.

When Dudley Dursley was born on the 23rd of June, 1980, Petunia and Vernon couldn't be happier. They loved their son and had named him after Vernon's older brother, who had died at 17 at the hands of his father while trying to protect Vernon and his two younger brothers, 8 year old twins, when Vernon was only 13. No matter what, Vernon and Petunia would always love and support Dudley and it was Vernon's greatest wish that his son learn how to defend himself and be able to fight back if he had to.

Petunia knew of Vernon's past and the younger brothers he hadn't seen since the night he lost his older brother and was placed into foster care, the twins being separated from him, and Vernon was also told about the world of magic and about Petunia's sister Lilly and all of the other freaks she knew. He told Petunia that he didn't care that she was related to one, she couldn't choose her relatives anymore than he could have, he loved her and that's all that mattered. You can choose your family and he chose her. Petunia loved him all the more.

Yes, life for the Dursleys was just about perfect. Like all couples and families they had a few small ups and downs, but in the end, the were blissfully content.

Then everything changed.

If you asked any of the residents of Privet Drive what they thought of the Dursleys, they'd look up at you wide-eyed, a sound of surprise escaping their lips, as they wondered why you'd ask such a question. They would then proceed to tell you how the Durlsleys were a delightful bunch, a family with their priorities in order as they looked out for one-another and their neighbours. They weren't odd or queer, in any sense of the word. Sure, the men of the house were a bit on the hefty side, but they always ate healthily and it showed the accomplishment of Mr. Vernon Dursley in his position as director of Grunnings, a drill making company.

Their boy, Dudley, was playful and popular, though quite boisterous at times – but what young men weren't these days? They'd ask with a laugh. In fact, since he was old enough to go to the park, there were less fights, just by him being there! What a clever young lad.

Mrs. Petunia Durlsey was a wonderful cook and the best kind of mother. Compared to husband and son, she was much thinner, but all good wives prided themselves on their appearance and Mrs. Dursely always made sure she was in fine enough shape. She also presented herself immaculately, whether she was having people over for tea, going to the grocers or going to church, Mrs. Dursley always had her hair curled and styled, dress freshly pressed and make up and jewelry simple and flattering.

Oh! The residents of Privet Drive would then stop dramatically, eyes shifting from side to side as they made sure that no one else was around to listen. They'd then lean forwards as if sharing some filthy secret. For you see, it was the Dursley's greatest secret and greatest shame. Mr. and Mrs. Dursley have a niece. Dreadful thing, she is. Always causing trouble for the nice family.

First of all, she was placed on their doorstep with no warning at all, after her sister just left her there. She and her husband were drunks! With no money, living off of the government as they hopped from job to job, place to place. They couldn't afford a child, so Lilly Potter just left her on their doorstep one cold November morning. Petunia had been awake though and the wicked sister threatened poor Petunia at knife point! Cut both Petunia and the baby, giving them both a horrible disease! Oh!

Unfortunately, this was a stage where the Dursleys were not as well off as they now were and they were afraid of Lilly or James (Lilly Potter's frightful husband) returning and threatening their family again! So, as any sensible couple would do, they decided it was best for them and the child to go to an orphanage. At least there they could properly support the girl and protect her from her parents, maybe she would even be adopted by a nice, loving couple.

It was not to be though, as the knife wound gave both the baby and Petunia a horrible infection! It made them both deathly ill! Oh, Mr. Dursley was beside himself! Then, the police came informed the family that the Potters had both been found dead in their home, a few days later. Obviously they had been squatting there for a while. In all the mix up with the illness, the deaths and the legal issues, the Dursleys decided to keep the child.

What was the girl's name? Halo! Can you believe such a name? What irony, I must say. Such a holy name for such a rotten girl! It's nearly blasphemous, in my opinion.

From there, the neighbours would go onto tell you all about the child. Stories as she grew up, between isolating herself from just about everyone, to upsetting the children all around. She's even broken bones before!

The poor Dursleys, the neighbours would then sigh. Even as a babe, she'd cry all day and all night. As she grew up, she refused to be potty trained and refused to eat properly. She was more likely to throw her food on the floor and eat it than in a chair at the dining table! Petunia could never get her to wear decent clothes, the small dresses she had given her ending up stained and torn deliberately. Instead, she preferred waltzing around in Dudley's clothes – his older and smaller ones, mind.

She would pick fights with other kids and then try to blame them when she provoked them and got hurt. Thankfully she learnt that lying wasn't going to get her anywhere fairly quickly. Once, even, on the first ever day of school for Dudley and Halo, the girl had stolen Piers Polkiss's pencil case and run down the street with it. She then hid in the playground of the school. When Piers and Dudley, best friends even then, were looking for her, Halo pushed Piers off of the climbing set, causing him to break his arm!

The girl was disruptive, she was rude, never saying a word to just about anyone, she was filthy and the Dursleys were all but tearing their hair out. She had reduced Mrs. Dursley to tears on more than one occasion while having tea with her friends.

The residents of Privet Drive would then tsk sadly, shaking their heads as they would walk away and resume whatever activity they'd been doing before you interrupted them with your questioning. What a nosy one, they'd think of you.

Things on Privet Drive could hardly be more different than they'd thought, though.

Not having understood the ramifications of the blood ritual that Peter had cast upon Petunia and Halo, the Dursleys decided to take Halo to an orphanage. Partially it was because that, while Vernon has being promoted and comfortably providing for his family, it would put some sort of strain upon their finances to have to support another mouth to feed at the moment. Mostly, however, they decided to give the girl to an orphanage, as no one from the magical world would know and they wouldn't to know how to or be able to keep track of her in the system, as normal folk could hardly do it themselves! This would keep both the girl and the Dursleys safe.

However, after a few days, they realized that Petunia was becoming sick. They visited the doctor but he could find nothing wrong with Petunia despite her obvious dizziness, nausea and fatigue. As the days went by, it became worse and Petunia was admitted to hospital as she developed a dangerously-high fever and had become nearly delirious. The doctors theorized that the illness must have come from an infection from the knife wound given to her by Peter Pettigrew and had to find the girl in order to see if she had also contracted the infection.

In fact, she had. Halo was in intensive care in a children's hospital and was moved to be with Petunia.

Finally, the doctors told Vernon that they had no idea what was going wrong and could only guess that it an infection reacting to certain genes within the body and asked what he'd like to be done.

Vernon had both Petunia and Halo moved back to Privet Drive and, miraculously, within three days, they had almost completely recovered! When Petunia finally came down from her delirium, she explained in between sobs that it was probably the side affect of the ritual the wizard had cast. Vernon was enraged.

They told had to tell the neighbours what had happened and why they had to keep the girl. They also told the neighbours that the infection left Petunia weak and so she wasn't sure how far away from home she could go at any one time before she began to feel ill. The neighbours were all very sympathetic, of course and Petunia hardly had to lift a finger for months! Even when serving tea within her own home!

If there was one thing that Vernon couldn't stand the site of, it was his family being upset.

This child had been forced upon them, placing them all at risk and stopping Petunia from ever going too far from her house. Suddenly, all their dreams of holidays on island beaches and skiing in the rest of Europe, even visiting Edinburgh Castle, had all been dashed!

In the beginning, they could only travel a mile or two from home, but as the years went by, they could travel further and further without the side affects! It took years of trial and error, but the Dursleys found that Petunia and Halo could travel about 80 to 90 miles in any direction away from 4 Privet Drive. They also found that if one travelled too far, it didn't make the other too sick, they'd only get headaches or migraines.

In order to make up for it, Vernon was determined that the girl would learn to do many of the household chores so that Petunia wasn't burdened and could enjoy herself as much as possible, despite the restriction on how far she could travel.

As Halo grew up, she quickly decided that hope was one of the cruelest and most wonderful things in the world.

She had been taught her place within the home from an early age, knowing that she didn't belong with the Dursleys as they made it clear that they certainly didn't want her! Still, when she would hear them talk about her as their niece, explaining their situation to people who didn't know, she could help but feel hopeful that maybe they'd started thinking of her more as family? So she would tentatively call them 'aunt' and 'uncle', instead of just 'Petunia' and 'Vernon' when they were at home. The few times she had done this, she had come to regret it immediately as they pinned her with looks of utter revulsion, as if she dared to connect them to a thing like her as family!

They were so repulsed by her that they wouldn't even touch her! For as long as she could remember, Halo had never been given a hug. She'd never been held as she cried, not even a comforting hand upon her should or head. In fact, the only times they did touch her…. Well, Halo had to learn how to hide the sounds of her crying and any pain she felt from a young age. The Dursleys didn't like being disturbed from their quiet life. Otherwise they wouldn't risk being possibly contaminated by her… freakiness.

She had hoped that if she did the ridiculous amount of chores (some of them disgusting – like cleaning the bathroom and Dudley's room), that they would come to appreciate her more. Maybe if she proved herself to be good enough, they'd start to see she was worth something more than a small, live-in maid. Unfortunately, her efforts just seemed to set a kind of expectation amongst her relatives, meaning she ran herself ragged most of the time. If she didn't complete her chores on time, she'd also be withheld food. In fact, if anything went wrong, her punishments were generally being withheld food and isolation in her cupboard…

Funnily enough, however, cooking was one of the only chores that she didn't mind doing. On good days, she even loved it, for if there was one thing that the Dursleys appreciated, it was good food. Whenever Halo managed to make something that tasted particularly good, she would hear the appreciative hums, moans and comments (not directed to her, of course) and the Dursleys would all be more lenient on her for a couple of hours. If she was lucky, she may even get any scraps or leftovers from dinner along with her slice of bread, butter and single sausage, potato and broccoli.

Her role as essentially the house cook meant that she could have Sunday mornings, while the rest of the family went to church, to read through cooking magazines. She would write down tips and tricks in one notebook, use a notepad to write down the week's meal plan and the shopping list that would need to be completed and would rip out pages of the magazines and put them in a folder kept in the kitchen for the recipes. Pages with her scribbles all over them covered the folder, along with small slips of paper showing how many times she's cooked the dish for the family. Then Petunia and Vernon would approve her list for the week and sometimes would tell her to change things.

Halo had never been allowed out of the house much, until she was 6 and started year 1 at the local school. She had hoped that she would find a friend and someone who accepted her while at school, but was proved horribly wrong.

Halo only knows some of the rumours that the Dursleys spread about her, turning the neighbourhood against her. Any chance she had with the children was ruined by the horrible things Dudley told everyone in preschool and the local gossip circles spread what Petunia and Vernon said, like wildfire around the adults of the community.

Once, Halo remembered a task her class had to do, where the teacher told the students to try and remember their very first memory and write it down. All she could think of was waking up in the cupboard or staring at, more than through, rays of light that timidly shone through her door's air vent from the hallway, or standing in the side of the kitchen was the Dursleys ate their food, while Halo waited to clear their plates.

Halo wasn't allowed to talk about what happened at home though, so instead she wrote about a dream that she often has; it's kind of dark and there are loud noises everywhere confusing her. Suddenly, there is face in front of her and it is surrounded by lots of bright red. She thinks it is hair, because all she wants to do is wrap her hands in it. The mouth on the face is moving and instantly Halo feels calmer, though she can't hear or understand any words. Then there is a flash of green and the face disappears. A moment later there is another flash of green and the world explodes.

When Halo handed in her work for that day, the teacher, Mrs. Parker, frowns and looks at her.

"Is this really form the first memory you can remember, child?" She always called her child or dear, but never Halo. Halo looked at the floor, at her dirty, too big sneakers, shrugging her shoulders. Mrs. Parker hums with a frown on her face and puts a stamp on the top corner of the page. It is a big red 'X' in the middle of a red circle. "What we did today was writing about our first memory, not about a dream we had. Please redo the task for homework."

The teacher didn't tell Halo, though she did tell all the other teachers, about how disturbed she was by Halo's response to the exercise. 'That child has problems' she told her colleagues as they hummed in sympathy.

Halo never did get to redo the task for homework, as by the time she walked home (Dudley got to ride in the car), she had to get straight to work in cleaning up the trash around the house, before beginning dinner.

It also didn't help that on Halo's first day of school, Piers and Dudley had decided to chase her to school, threatening to shave her head again, when Piers tripped after pushing Halo over on the school's play set and broke his arm. Both boys blamed Halo, making up some lie!

Halo also couldn't help it that weird things happened around her sometimes! Especially when she's really angry or really scared. 'Angel Hunting' became a popular game with Dudley's friends pretty quickly, as they'd chase her around the school, or to the park, or through the shops. Once, Halo was being chased across the road and didn't see the car coming towards her. She heard the car horn and curled in on herself, expecting to be hit, but instead found herself on the roof of the dentist. She sat there, curled up on her side, trembling, listening to people yelling on the street bellow. She didn't dare to look though. The sun was setting when she made her way down from the roof, having to focus to climb out of a few windows when the doors were locked. When she got home late in the evening, Vernon yelled at her and grabbed her by the hair, shaking her around before throwing her in her cupboard and locking her in there all night. Apparently she had caused quite the scene, a crane having to be called in because the driver had believed that Halo must have been pinned under the car, causing the police to get involved.

As Halo got older, she began to learn to expect less and less from the Dursleys, but could never quite let go of the childish hope that maybe, if she was good enough, they would come to love her.

Instead, she learnt to expect that she would be invisible to the world, only called upon when they needed something. She hated the hope that would rise in her whenever she'd think things could change, because it was always bitterly disappointing and sent pains through her chest when things didn't get better.

Yes, hope was a brutal thing. It lifted her up in the beginning, making the world seem lighter, then sent her crashing back to earth when that hope was shattered and reality would sit in.

She should have known better.

So she cursed herself when the same thing happened again the day she got her Hogwarts letter.

I just wanted to begin by saying, thank you all so much! Thank you for following, putting this story under favourites and especially reviewing! Between the three stories I have put up in the last few days, I have received nearly 80, reviews, favourites and followers in total and it has completely blown me away!

Thank you to:
- austinsmom
- judgemnet (that name vaguely worries me)
- waitinggamer
- ThunderClaw03
- Lunar202
- Coho
- Elfin69 (A big thanks for the review!)
- Moki Mischief
- Ameliara
- kanae1865
- bookaddict19
- preppygoth13
- SamiTheWerewolf

If anyone feels like shooting me a message about what they'd think, I'd appreciate it. Especially concerning the last section. I found that part more difficult to write. I'm also planning on expanding more on her childhood throughout the series, instead of dumping it all now.

This chapter was especially focused on the back-story of the Dursleys. For anyone who will read my other stories, they will come to learn that I am big fans of unique backstories. It's not a universal back story, meaning my other fem. Harry story will not have the same backstories, but is unique for this story. I just feel these back stories add another dimension for the characters, adding more depth. I'll be really interested in hearing what you all think of Vernon's backstory hear and Peter's that will be further revealed in the future.

Thanks for reading and your support!