Petunia and Vernon Dursley were very confused. They woke up on a perfectly normal Monday and planned to have a perfectly normal week, but none of that worked out for them. It started slow and then seemed to escalate. Petunia went to the grocers to pick up some bread, milk, and a few vegetables. She was wandering the aisles when she bumped into one of the women, Maggie, from her book club.
"Hello, Petunia. Nice weather we're having this morning. Picking up some groceries for the week?"
Petunia didn't know why Maggie bothered asking questions that had obvious answers. Annoyed, she tried to escape the conversation with, "Ah yes, just a few things that I must have forgotten."
"Oh, that's not like you to forget such a thing. Don't you usually send Harry for the little things?"
That name caused her to stop, "Harry?"
"Yeah, Harry. Your nephew? I always think how noble you must be for taking in such a troubled boy."
"I think you must be confused, I don't have a nephew. Now I am running behind schedule so I will talk to you later. Good day." Petunia felt like she couldn't run out of there faster and she doesn't care if she came off rude. A nephew named Harry? She only had one nephew and she doesn't know the last time that she had thought of him.
Petunia tried putting it out of her mind, but it just kept happening. People kept asking her about her nephew and the more she denied knowing such a person, the more they kept asking! She was digging through her photo albums and even thought about going up to the attic to see if there were any pictures of Harry. She doesn't remember the last time that she had heard from Lily but her son could be the only one that people kept asking her about.
After multiple days of questioning her sanity, she sat in the living room with five different photo albums and two boxes scattered on the floor of her living room. She was sitting in the middle of the mess when Vernon came home.
"What are you doing Petunia?" Vernon thought to himself that she was looking a bit mad sitting in the mess.
"The past few days people have been asking about my nephew Harry! I don't know why they keep asking, I don't remember the last time I heard from my sister let alone from my nephew."
Vernon felt his eyebrows go up, "That's who Harry is? People have also been asking me how Harry is and I don't know any Harrys."
"Well someone said Harry was my nephew and I do have a nephew named Harry, but I've never met him. I don't know what to do, Vernon. What do we tell all these people and why do they seem so certain that we would know how he is doing?"
"That's easy. We don't know any Harry and we keep telling people that until they finally get the message! Someone is surely telling tales and we won't let them get away with it."
Decision made, the Dursleys continue denying any knowledge of Harry and thus sealed their fate.
Susan Polkiss was more observant than many people gave her credit for. So when she knocked on the door to the Dursley's house to have tea with Petunia and let Piers play with Dudley, she knew something was out of place. It wasn't obvious, but it was there.
"Hello, Susan. Do you want to have some tea or do you have some place to be?"
"Tea sounds amazing, but I want to run to the grocery store while I still have the chance. Thank you for letting Piers come over," Having exchanged pleasantries, Susa left the house. It was a bit odd that she hadn't seen Harry, he was usually helping Petunia out.
The grocery was rather close which was a blessing. She grabbed a basket and began loading up on the items that she needed. There were only a few items that she needed, but all of them were essential. There was predictability in living in Surrey and so she saw the usual customers. She managed to escape the store without being forced into conversation but got intercepted in the parking lot.
"Hey, Susan! Getting groceries?" It was Maggie. She was a total nightmare in Susan's opinion.
Susan hated small talk and felt a small temptation to say no, she wasn't getting groceries. Pushing the urge down, she instead said, "Yep! Trying to make the most of my morning."
"Oh I hear you, time always flies by and I find myself wondering where the day has gone."
"Mmm, I am sure that you do. So anything I can help you with?"
"I was just wondering if you knew what's up with Petunia. Your sons are friends with each other so I thought if anyone knew, it would be you."
Susan stopped trying to flee the conversation by looking preoccupied with her bags. "Oh? What do you mean?"
"Why she's been acting odd all week! She gives these rather odd looks whenever we ask about Harry and just the other day, she said that she didn't know who we were talking about! I only ask because I haven't seen the boy all week so I was concerned that he was ill or something."
Susan didn't believe her words of concern at all, but Maggie had no reason to lie about not seeing Harry. "Wait, did you say that she said that she didn't know who Harry was? That IS rather odd. No, I don't know what is wrong with Petunia, but I'll be sure to check in on her."
She turned around and ignored Maggie trying to catch her attention. Maggie just wanted gossip to share with her friends, but her concerns were still valid. Petunia had been avoiding the topic of Harry more than usual and Susan hadn't seen Harry in more than a week.
Now that Susan thought about the strange lack of Harry, she couldn't stop. She rushed home to put away her food and think about the best way to confront Petunia about her missing nephew. Susan was about to walk up to 4 Privet Drive and confront Petunia when she had a new thought. Perhaps a direct confrontation was not a good idea. It would just make them aware of her concerns and give them the opportunity to cover up anything nefarious. Having made her decision, Susan decided to not directly address Petunia about Harry. Perhaps she'll ask around.
Susan spent the next couple of days asking around about Harry and soon the entire neighborhood was on the lookout for Harry. It was Susan asking around that drew the attention of one, Arabella Figg. Miss Figg was not like the rest of the neighborhood. She had a vested interest in the whereabouts of Harry Potter. She was in the neighborhood to watch Harry Potter and to ensure that the boy was exactly where he was supposed to be. When Susan asked her when was the last time she had seen Harry, she knew trouble was brewing.
Albus Dumbledore gave Miss Figg the task of watching Harry and she was not doing a very good job. Most days she paid little attention to anything outside of her cats and that was just fine. Unfortunately, it was not fine anymore. After being asked about Harry's whereabouts, Miss Figg found her coat and decided that it was time for her to do some investigating herself. She wasn't too sure, but she thought that the last time that she had seen Harry may have been four or five days ago. He was in the garden taking care of the bushes. Of course that answer would not be satisfactory to Albus Dumbledore so Miss Figg needed to gather more information before sending a letter to him.
It was as the two women were tracking the boy's last known location that another person's interest was piqued. Violet didn't make it a habit to involve herself in other's business but she couldn't always help herself. When both Miss Figg and Susan approached her about when was the last time that she had seen Harry Potter, she couldn't ignore it.
It was summer so there were many people coming in and out of the library every day. Some visitors stood out more than others. One of which was Susan Polkiss and her son Piers who had visited the park at least once a week. Often with Dudley Dursley tagging along. Recently, Susan brought along a third boy. The third boy was familiar to Violet, as a polite boy who sat in her library a few times. She didn't know his parents and it was only recently that she found out why. Harry Potter and Dudley Dursley were cousins. She didn't think that she would have pieced it together were it not for Susan. The two boys were just too different to think of them as family.
Unfortunately, Violet couldn't help Susan since the last time that she had seen Harry was when he was with her. Susan said thank you and then left. Violet probably should have left it alone, but her thoughts were now on the disappearance of Harry Potter. Violet decided to stop by at the end of the day to see if Susan had any progress on finding Harry Potter. She could never forgive herself if she had the knowledge to help someone and chose not to use it because of a misplaced sense of politeness. Susan's house was rather close to the library and it gave her some time to think. She wanted to figure out how she was going to bring up the topic without being a nosey busybody. She walked up to the door and knocked.
Susan opened the door with an unusual quickness and at the sight of Violet, her shoulders seemed to relax. She had just picked up Piers from Petunia's house and she wanted to talk to someone about her suspicions.
"Perfect! Just the person I wanted to talk to." She held the door open wider to encourage Violet to come inside. "Come join me for tea and you can help me figure out whether the Dursleys did something to make Harry disappear."
Violet was already past the doorway when she took in Susan's words. Shocked, she stumbled over her feet and if it wasn't for Susan reaching out she would have fallen.
"WHAT! If you think that they've done something so awful then you should go to the police?"
"Don't be silly Violet. I can't go to the police with nothing but suspicion! There are some strange things going on, but nothing so obviously criminal. Until I get something damning, I can't do anything. So I need someone to keep digging with me. Two sets of eyes are better than one!"
"What makes you think that they did something to Harry?"
"Technically there is nothing, but I still feel like something is off. Maggie told me that Petunia denies knowing Harry and Miss Figg told me that she hadn't seen Harry since he was outside pruning Petunia's roses. That alone is unusual because he is always taking care of the roses and they look like they haven't been pruned in over a week!"
"...I am inclined to agree with you. That is very suspicious. Your son Piers is friends with Dudley. What has he said?"
"Nothing to me but I was listening to him and Piers and Dudley have no clue where his cousin has gone. When I asked him, he denied having a cousin, but he told Piers that he had no clue why his parents were lying. It's all very odd."
"What do you think they did to him?"
"I don't know and I don't think I want to think about it. I know he's missing and that's all that matters. I have been asking around all day and I think Harry has been missing for at least a week, but it's been nearly two since I have last seen him. Now I have a class picture with Harry in it and I was thinking about taking it to the police, but I also wanted to wait until I had some proof or some evidence. What do you think?"
Violet paused to think over Susan's words.
"How about this: we take the picture and confront the Dursleys. You have already spent the day asking around and you aren't the only one who has noticed his absence so I am sure that the local gossip made sure that everyone is thinking the worst about the Dursleys. Once the Dursleys publicly deny his existence, we'll have a reason to go to the police."
Susan paused to prepare the tea and think about the proposed plan. It was an unusual solution, but the power of gossip was not to be underestimated. It could get witnesses to Dursley's behavior and encourage the police to take action. Otherwise, it might be difficult with two lone women raising concerns.
"Alright. We'll follow your plan. I watched this true crime documentary the other day and they say that the longer you wait to find someone who is missing, the less likely it is to find them."
"I think that's just for kidnapping, but that's really good advice anyway."
Violet wasn't sure what she was expecting from Susan but she was glad that she wasn't alone. The two women sat together sipping their tea. Their thoughts drifted to ways to sabotage the Dursleys and hopefully find Harry.