Petunia had just finished doing the dishes before walking to the front door to check the mail, which was right on schedule. She knew that it was Easter holidays over at Hogwarts, and was glad that her nephew had decided to stay there. The less she had to see of him, the better. Even if it did mean that she had to do his chores. No matter, he would make up for them during the summer.

She was looking at her mail, glad for any new magazines that she subscribed to. Her husband got to read the news in the morning, her Dudders got to watch the telly, aside from talking to the neighbors and taking care of her garden she liked to read the magazines. Well, that and fill out the sweepstake forms that came in them.

However today she was surprised that she had received a letter from her nephew's school. Upon opening it she saw that it was an invitation to the… school, her nephew attended. She had begged the headmaster when she was a girl if she could go there with her sister, even went so far as to ask if she could just come visit once, and every time she was denied. Now, she was a grown woman, her sister was deceased, and she had a letter inviting her to the school she had always wanted to go to herself… not that she would ever tell Vernon that. It was bad enough telling him about her sister.

Dear Petunia Dursley and family,

Your nephew Harry James Potter, of whom you are guardian and last of kin, has been entered into the TriWizard Tournament. If you have been keeping up with the news from The Daily Prophet you would know that this year the Triwizard Tournament has been revived with restrictions to stop potential deaths. One of which being that all applicants are to be of the Wizarding Age of Majority (17). Somehow Harry Potter has passed the restrictions, although he claims to not have entered the Triwizard Tournament, must compete due to the binding contract of the Goblet of Fire. Harry Potter has survived and overcome the first two extremely dangerous tasks.

Harry astoundingly retrieved his golden egg from the Hungarian Horntail Dragon. After decoding the clue that was left to him from the golden egg, he was able to save the one he would miss the most, his best friend, Ronald Weasley. However Harry Potter also bravely and heroically went back to save Beauxbaton Academy of Magic's Champion (Fleur Delacour)'s loved one, Gabrielle Delacour in a stunning feat, as she was unable to complete her task. Due to the nature of the final task, the innermost family of the Champions are invited and encouraged to come see their family member for what could be the last time. Transportation and accommodations will be provided with no cost to the family round trip. We are hoping Harry Potter the best and hope that he survives and wins. Winning the tournament will bring Harry Potter eternal honor and glory for the Triwizard Cup and the winnings of 1000 galleons.

We will expect a response as soon as possible, but no later than June 20th as the task will take place on June 24th.

Sincerely,

Deputy Headmistress,

Minerva McGonagall

Petunia's hands shook as she finished reading the letter. Despite popular belief Petunia was not ignorant of the wizarding world. She learned what she could as her sister learned. She read her school books and Hogwarts, A History. She bleakly remembered reading about the dangerous tournament and how it was discontinued in nearly two centuries ago due to the high death toll.

The thin woman bit her lips together as her nose started to burn alerting her that she was about to cry.

They tried to keep the boy from going to Hogwarts for various reasons. One so he wouldn't learn magic and be a danger to himself or others, afraid that he would turn out to be a dark wizard like the one who killed her sister. Another was because she knew that people would be after him, to kill him, it was because of her blood and the blood wards that Lily had cast in her last moments that protected him. They tried to keep him normal, but even as a toddler he performed accidental magic, which they tried to beat out of him. Overall however it was so the boy would be safe, even living his life out as a muggle. She knew deep down though that they couldn't keep him from being a wizard, no matter how hard they tried.

They went so far as to even try to tell him that there was no such thing as magic. Even the word was forbidden in their household.

They tried to protect him by keeping him as hidden as possible. There were no pictures of him, they had no physical proof that Harry Potter lived there. He extremely rarely went out on trips that they took Dudley on, so no magical person would see him, even by accident. They told lies that he was an awful, terribly behaved boy, that explained why he was beat and kept at home. When they had company they made him stay quiet and pretend that he didn't exist, if only on the off chance that someone else knew about the magical world.

After a while they got used to beating the boy, making him scared to perform magic at first. Then it was to keep up pretenses, so he would think that it was normal for him. Vernon often took it too far, venting his frustrations out on the boy physically. He stopped as much after the boy started attending the school. He still did so when he returned from his… school to remind him of his place. Dudley was simply rough housing with him, but she never allowed Harry to hit him back. Dudley was playing, if the boy hit back, he would not. At least that's how she rationalized it. She loved her husband and refused to believe that he would actually abuse a young boy if it were not for the extenuating circumstances that surrounded her nephew.

Now however it was too much, her nephew was too far gone…

She decided she would go to Hogwarts for the first time in her life, even if it was to say good-bye to her nephew. If need be she would bully her husband into going with her, but regardless she would bring her son. He would some of his sick days or some of his vacation time to do so, she would see to it.

Petunia moved into her living room, sat down, and for the first time since her nephew had been found on her stairs, cried for him.

An hour later she was suffering from a headache and went to grab a glass of water. After drinking the whole glass, which eased her headache, she heard the phone ring.

The thin woman quickly splashed her face with water and patted it dry before answering the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hello, may I speak with Petunia Dursley?" the voice was deep and smooth.

"This is her speaking, may I ask who is calling?"

"… it's Severus Snape."

Petunia's face heated up at anger hearing that name again. "What do you want?"

"I teach at the boy's school. I take it you received the letter?"

The woman was quiet for a few moments as she was making quick decisions, "… Yes."

"I know there was no return address on the letter. I asked for the Deputy Headmistress to mail it instead of sending an owl."

"… that was considerate of you… thank you," it almost pained her to bite out those last words.

"If you choose to accept I will personally come get you. The boy wanted nothing to do with this farce of a tournament, someone else entered him without his knowledge. I thought you would like to know."

She took a calming breath, "Why are you telling me this?"

There was a pause on the other line, "The war will be starting back up again. I know what you have been allowing to happen to him while under your roof, Petunia. If it were not for the Headmaster I would have seen to it that he was quickly removed from your care. If you want him to survive the war, provided that he survive the next task, you need to change the way that you… care for him," she could practically hear the sneer that was common on his face when they were kids.

"I accept the invitation," she said primly.

"The meeting place would be at the abandoned mill. The front door will be open. Be there at 1 o'clock in the afternoon on the 23rd of June. Do. Not. Be Late," he enunciated.

The phone was silent and then the tone sounded letting her know that he hung up.

The woman walked and sank onto her couch down feeling defeated. Moments later she heard her husband enter the door.

He walked in, bustling about before he came and saw his wife sitting in a manner he was not familiar with.

"Petunia?" he asked gently.

"Vernon, we need to talk. It's about the boy," she said morosely.

Severus hung up the phone with the snarky thought, 'You hear the tone; now you're alone.'

After Minerva was chattering about in his lab while he worked on his personal potions, she mentioned her worry about the letter she had to send to Potter's family. She wanted his opinion considering that for a while he actually knew his aunt personally, if disdainfully. She wanted to know how to go about sending the letter and what they should do should they agree. Normally she would have went to Albus about such things, but she had a gut feeling that it would be the wrong course of action.

He would have suggested that she send twenty owls to the wretched woman, remembering that she hated owls. Especially since Lily's would always bite her. However he knew that times were about to change and as poorly as she treated Potter, she was the last of kin. It would probably mean something to him being that he was a sentimental Gryffindor, he rolled his eyes at the thought, glad that Minerva was sitting behind him in a corner.

He recommended that she send the letter the muggle way and offered to go get her, explaining that she might be a bit more at ease seeing a familiar face. Minerva agreed with him that it would probably be for the best as someone else might ramble on about the "greatness" of the boy and leave the family feeling more uncomfortable than they might already be. More so since Minerva did watch them before they left the boy on their steps and learned quite a bit about them in a day than she would have talking to them.

They both agreed not to tell Albus as he was more than likely to stick his nose where it did not belong. Each Champion's family was sent this letter and Albus simply said that it was of no matter to alert the boy's family. They hadn't even sent them a letter letting them know that he was entered to begin with; which was a priority considering that they were his guardians. It was their duty to let them know considering he was a minor, but the Headmaster claimed that he was the boy's magical guardian and since he knew about it, they didn't need to alert the Dursley's about the incident.

Severus may greatly dislike Petunia Dursley nee Evans even he agreed that she had a right to know… if barely.

Elsewhere Abagail Granger was meeting with the lawyers who would be taking her case. She had spoken with Thimi privately, and after getting what she felt was necessary information from the house-elf, she decided to proceed. She asked the proper questions and received a wealth of information.

Thankfully the people who would be taking her case were aware of the magical community and even handled small cases there. Chalice Burming and her father Talbot Burming were aware of who Harry Potter was, and were surprised and excited to take on the case, but pulled back their personal interest and remained professional. They had asked Abagail many questions to make sure that she wasn't just trying to gain guardianship to hurt the boy, knowing that many people wanted him dead even now.

Chalice was a half-blood and Talbot was a second generation squib, his mother marrying a muggle. Chalice's mother was Bernice Burming, was also a half-blood. Due to their blood status and unknown last names, it left them less footing in obtaining jobs and did better finding work in the muggle world.

However they agreed that Harry Potter's case would be one of their top priorities and acquiesced to meeting Abagail in France at a high end hotel.

They arrived an hour early via portkey to check in and set up in the room. They had brought the proper paperwork with them and were setting up, Chalice using her wand to alter some of the room for their purpose. The part that was supposed to be a small living room was now a small meeting room.

15 minutes before the agreed time, there was a knock on the door. They were just finishing making a choice of refreshments, namely tea and coffee which were complimentary, before looking at each other. Clients who arrived early usually meant business, which in this case, was an excellent sign.

Chalice went to open the door, "Abagail Granger?"

"Chalice Burming, a pleasure. Thank you for meeting me on such short notice."

The lawyer nodded before she opened the door and noticed the man standing next to her.

"Leeroy Granger," he said, holding his hand out to the woman.

They shook hands firmly. Before she allowed the petite muggle and her tall husband in.

"Shall we?" she asked as she walked over to the make-shift office.

"We shall," Abagail replied, her voice was firm and determined.

She sat down confidently before opening her purse and pulling out her binder.

"I have plenty of evidence that I gathered myself in hopes to make this case as smooth as possible."

"We will hit some bumps concerning his magical guardian though," Chalice said.

"Of that we have no doubt; but with all the negligence and abuse, it shouldn't be too hard to convince the judges that both guardians did poor jobs caring for Harry," she said smoothly.

Talbot raised an eyebrow at her statement. From what the wizarding world knew of Harry Potter, they were sure that he was well treated and cared for. However the muggles seemed to know different, and were extremely confident. It lead to question how well the wizarding world was actually keeping up with Potter's life and how much was hopeful fiction.