The tall thin blond woman with blue eyes stared at the short petite woman with rich brown eyes sitting across from the table. She had done what she had thought was best for the boy. However it would appear that the woman across from her knew more than she did. Petunia thought she knew enough having grown up with her sister being a witch. However just having the petite woman across from her, with a daughter who was one of them, tell her different was nothing short from shocking.
Having grown up with a witch and then raising a wizard were two totally different things.
"From your reaction I can tell you didn't do your research, dear," the duchess said calmly, even though her eyes were frosty.
"I thought we would be able to protect him better if he just didn't do those things," the thin woman whispered frantically.
"Well you thought wrong!" Abagail hissed.
"How was I supposed to know!?" Petunia finally shouted at the well-dressed woman.
"By doing your research and looking into it! Like a good mother should," she glared at the blue eyed woman.
Petunia recoiled like she had been slapped. She was a wonderful mother, but she never considered herself to be anything more to the boy than his aunt. It completely slipped her mind through all these years that she was technically the boy's mother figure.
"Well I am not his mother, I am his aunt. I will never be like my sister. I will never be like Lily," she said the name with a strange mix of poison and reverence.
Abagail looked at the woman shrewdly, "You're right, you won't ever be like your sister. Just because you're not a witch doesn't mean you couldn't have been a mother. Did your mother treat your sister as less than a person?"
"No, she didn't. She loved Lily. Both of my parents loved her! They were so proud to have a witch in the family!" she shot at the other woman, "Well, being a witch got pretty perfect Lily killed!"
The petite woman noticed she hit a sore spot and was filled with a small warmth of satisfaction.
"No," her voice was firm, "Your sister was murdered because a madman wanted to kill her son. Your sister gave her life to save her son. It had nothing to do with magic," she said calmly.
"There was a war going on in their world!" Petunia shouted, as though that detail mattered.
"Yes. There was a war going on, but it was not secluded to 'their' world as you call it. Do you not remember those missing persons? Those random 'gas' explosions? Those were because of 'their' war. There were terrorists and they were killing and terrorizing citizens in both worlds," the duchess clarified.
Petunia was shaking in her seat. She did remember those missing persons and the gas explosions; she remembered her sister telling her to be safe. Her and Vernon had watched the news together and shook their head every time there was news of a gas explosion or a missing person. It was no one they knew, but she remembered that they blamed the neighborhood those people lived in. It always went right over their heads, and Lily tried to tell her.
"… He didn't just lose his parents that night…," Petunia's eyes were shiny, "I lost a sister. I planned their funeral. I picked their grave plot. I had to bury my little sister," she wiped a tear that escaped her eyes, "I picked a magical," she spat the word, "cemetery, because I knew it's what she would have wanted."
Abagail took a deep breath, knowing that it was probably the first time since she buried her sister that she cried about it. She knew the other woman had denied her sister's existence for quite some time, and even lied to her nephew about how she died. While she was sympathetic to the woman across the table from her, it still gave her no excuse to treat the boy the way she had.
"Do you think she would have wanted Harry to be abused? Neglected? Locked away?" she asked instead.
"Of course not! We only did what we thought was best!" the woman snapped at the well-dressed duchess.
"Locking a boy in a cupboard under the stairs for eleven years is best?" Abagail sneered.
Petunia looked down at the manila folder, refusing to meet the brown eyes glaring at her, "… no," she answered meekly.
"I am doing all within legal rights to take Harry away from your custody," Abagail said firmly.
"He's safe here. There are ancient blood wards here that keep him safe!" Petunia tried to explain.
"No. You sister didn't die here. The blood wards make this house safe because you live here. As long as you are near for a certain amount of time, he's safe. However there is another way for him to remain safe," Abagail's voice was now clinical.
"What would you have me do?" Petunia fretted.
"As much as I greatly dislike you, we would be able to perform a blood bond. It would make you my blood sister, and I would have the blood necessary to protect him."
"B-but you said your daughter was a muggleborn," the thin woman stuttered.
"She is. We would need a bonder, but I know someone who will be willing," truthfully Abagail hadn't asked anyone, but she did know a few witches and wizards who would be willing.
Petunia sat quietly, letting the new information and her thoughts bounce around in her head.
"In the end Petunia, Harry will be part of my family. He will be well taken care of and loved. You will be invited to family events if only so you and your son may see him a few times a year. You are currently his only family and it would be best to keep that bridge open, even if only tentatively," the duchess looked unconcerned at her nails.
The thin woman's lip quivered. She never thought in all the time that she was guardian of her nephew that someone would want to take him from her. He was what was left of her sister. As much as she hated magic, she still loved her little sister. She would always love her sister, and she was miserable every Halloween. All she had to do was say sorry and she would have had her sister in her life. Vernon tried to console her by reminding her that she sent her sister that vase for Christmas, even if it was ugly. She tried.
Yet the woman sitting across from her was right. She didn't have to treat the boy the way she did. They had always had that second bedroom, Dudley didn't need two bedrooms, but they gave it to him anyways. She didn't have to make the boy cook all their meals and then give him scraps, they could have fed him… Vernon didn't have to hit the boy so hard, she knew that he at least cracked a few ribs. She always assumed that the boy would fix them as easily as he fixed his hair when she gave him haircuts.
Petunia never thought for a moment that her actions would have consequences when it came to her nephew. He wasn't even part of their world anymore, not really; but here was a woman who just served her papers that were very much real in their world. She would have to go to court for the boy.
Just then the front door opened.
"Petunia, I'm home. Today was a fine day you wouldn't believe –" the large man that was her husband had just walked into the kitchen and noticed their well-dressed guest.
"Petunia?" he questioned his wife gently, he could see that she had been crying, but he didn't know who the woman was.
"Vernon, t-this is Duchess Abagail Granger, she's come t-to…" the blond woman was surprised to find how hard it was to tell her husband that they would be losing the boy.
"I've come to serve you papers letting you both know that I'm going to fight for legal custody of your nephew Harry Potter," Abagail finished calmly.
Vernon's face turned an awful shade of red, "What do you want with the boy!? He's away at school –"
"She knows, Vernon," Petunia said meekly, "She's normal, but her daughter is like my sister."
The large man paled considerably, but continued to bluster about, "What lie has the boy said this time?!"
"Mr. Dursley, I have not spoken with Harry. I have done my own research and would like you to not insult my intelligence. Not that it is any of your business but I happen to have a doctrine, so you put two and two together," her frosty brown eyes froze the man where he stood.
Petunia and Vernon could see they were outclassed on every side in this situation. The woman was certainly from a higher class, had a obtained a higher education, and had more information about the wizarding world than they did. Knowledge was power, and this pretty petite woman, she had it.
Vernon couldn't help himself and reached for the seat next to his wife and plopped down.
"What do you want?" he asked.
"I want Harry Potter to be safe. Even with the blood wards, he is obviously not safe here," she answered plainly.
Petunia's shoulders shook whether from sobbing or laughter Abagail wasn't sure.
"He won't be safe, the war will be starting back up again," Petunia admitted softly.
"I know, but I will do the best I can to keep him safe," Abagail replied with a deep sigh.
"Then why do you want him? He'll be a target, won't he?" Petunia needled.
"He will be a target, but my daughter is already a target for being a muggleborn. Do you not remember people calling your sister that disgusting slur?" The shorter woman responded.
"What slur? They have a slur for certain freaks?" Vernon asked loudly, unaware of most of what went on in the wizarding world.
"Mudblood," the thin woman whispered, her voice was so soft it was almost missed.
"Mudblood?" the large man asked nervously.
"It means dirty blood; because they are born to muggles. Us. Some wizards and witches believe in the propaganda that they're only magical because they stole magic," the petite woman scoffed.
"There are many medical books that explain how that's untrue. A witch or wizard is born with a magical core. Of course not all people are smart," she murmured the last part.
"We are normal people we don't go about messing with freakish thing," Vernon scorned.
"Knowing about and messing with are two entirely different things, Mr. Dursley. You can ask your wife later how you almost killed your nephew with your willful ignorance," the duchess snapped.
"NOW SEE HERE –" Vernon bellowed, his face starting to turn puce as he balled his hands on the table.
"NO! YOU SEE HERE VERNON DURSLEY! Harry Potter is an orphan who you've abused and neglected, and you expect people to just ignore that!? He may be a wizard, but he's still just a kid! I will be gaining custody of Harry and he will be a respectable member of my family! You're lucky I have not called the authorities on you! If he were not a wizard I would have brought the full force of the authorities upon your heads and seen to it that both boys were removed from your care!" her voice was waspish and it terrified the Dursleys into silence how serious her face was as she pointed her finger at him.
"W-w-we are going to see the b-boy in June at H-Hog–"
The brown eyed woman cut the thin woman off, "Hogwarts, for the TriWizard Tournament."
The tall woman nodded her head whimpering.
"When you see Harry don't tell him a thing about this. It'll be bad enough that he has to focus on his task, he doesn't need to think about this until after. I will leave my number here with you, do stay in contact with me," Abagail's tone was firm as she grabbed the pen and paper that was next to the blond woman's magazines.
"Was there anything else?" the dentist asked lightly.
Dudley took that moment to come in through the back door.
"Hello mum, dad, Miss," the large boy said.
"Dudley, isn't it?" Abagail made sure to sound interested.
"Yeah," he said with a large smile, he was used to playing it up for his mum, the woman made him out to be an angel.
Petunia bit her lip, unsure of what the woman wanted with her son.
"It's lovely to meet your acquaintance. We'll be seeing each other more around the year, isn't that right, Petunia?" she looked over at the thin woman who nodded, "Please call me Aunt Abby," she flashed a perfect smile at the boy, who blushed and nodded.
"I'll be seeing you soon. Do be sure to appear at the appointed time. I made sure it was when term was out in case they wanted to see him themselves. I'll see myself out. Petunia, call me about that bonding thing okay dear?" She called as she walked herself out of the Dursley household with a large grin.
A few days later was quite startling for Hermione. While she was in Arithmancy class and Harry was in Divination (such a worthless class in her opinion), she felt her brother need her. She wanted to get up and run to him, but decided to keep her calm and think rationally. He was in class, if anything seriously wrong happened, he would either go to the Hospital Wing and she would find him or he would tell her later. She was in class and their relationship was supposed to be secret.
It wasn't long after though when she felt her brother calm down and the feeling of him needing her wasn't there at all. She would still question him about what happened and hoped he would tell her… she was not disappointed, but felt he was keeping something from her. She didn't fight it since she had her own secrets, so she would leave him alone with his.
The 24th of June was coming quicker than she anticipated, but that's how time seemed to work.
That morning after reading the latest trash article Skeeter wrote, they had bantered on the possibilities of how that horrible woman could have known about that.
It wasn't until Harry had snipped at her that she was the one who was supposed to be researching magical methods of bugging that it clicked. Her mind was working so quickly that her body started to slow down to compensate.
'Bugging… bug. There was a bug in my hair when Viktor asked me to go to Bulgaria. My hair is so large that I wouldn't feel a bug in it. It'd be perfect for a bug… but could she be a bug? Sirius gets around undetected being a dog. Can an animagus be a bug? You wouldn't think with the name, but it's possible…'
She touched her hair, and brought her hand to her mouth to see if it would be within hearing range for someone else. She had sensitive hearing so she didn't always think about other people's hearing ranges. But even for small sounds…
"Are you alright?" said Ron, frowning at her.
"Yes," said Hermione breathlessly. She ran her fingers through her hair again, and then held her hand up to her mouth, as though speaking into an invisible walkie-talkie. Harry and Ron stared at each other.
"I have an idea," Hermione said, gazing into space. "I think I know… because then no one would see… even Moody… and she'd had been able to get onto the window ledge… but she's not allowed… she's definitely not allowed… I think we've got her! Just give me two seconds in the library – just to make sure!"
With that she grabbed her school bag and dashed out of the Great Hall.
She left her brother and his friend, knowing that if she got there in enough time she'd barely be late for her exam. She simply had to be sure! She would have that bitch, or rather that pest right where she wanted her!