1
"Don't do it, my love.", Vernon told her. "You promised me.
A look had come over her that he hadn't seen in many years. Before Dudley. Before he had even realized. "I promised a lot of people a lot of things. Most of all, if what just happened, happened. I promised.", Petunia replied.
The man shook. "But there will be consequences."
She nodded. "There are rules and consequences. I obeyed the rules.
"Now there's consequences."
Vernon moved his girth to block the door to the cabin. "You promised me. I won't let you."
The look she gave him would have been comical.
"I won't let you go back.", he corrected.
His wife put her hand to his chin and laid the other on the lapel to his bathrobe. "I'm not going back. I am out.
"But look what they've done to our son."
Dudley still sported the pig's tail that Hagrid had inflicted upon him with otherworldly power.
"I promised you and they did this."
Vernon huffed. "So just him? Just the big man, just now."
"Hagrid?", she scoffed. "It's never just Hagrid.
"But don't worry. This will be the last time."
She softly moved Vernon aside. The door collapsed inward as she walked out into the rain.
"What's happening?", Dudley demanded. He sensed that this was some terrible thing. He wanted to feel all the things having been made to sprout a tail would make him feel. But all he could feel was a cold dread. "Where's mom going?"
"That wasn't your mother boy.", Vernon warned. "That was the Flower of Death."
2
Finally, dripping wet but finally, Petunia was in her own house. She went to a certain cupboard under the stairs. The things Harry had slept on were flung aside. Floorboards were ripped up. She lifted out the trays and brought them into the kitchen.
3
Petunia Dursley walked up to the front desk.
The concierge greeted her, perfectly politely as demanded of his profession. "Welcome to the London Continental. How may I assist, Ms. Evans?"
She slid an ornate gold coin across his desk. "It's Mrs. now. Mrs. Dursley."
The concierge was taken aback. "I had of course heard. But since you're back/"
"I am not back.", she stated very tersely.
"So you will not be requiring a room, madam?", the concierge accepted. He slid the coin back across the table.
"No, I won't.", she agreed. "But what I will be requiring is a fitting, and a tasting."
4
"Good morning, madam. I will be performing your fitting.", the tailor greeted her.
Petunia nodded once her eyes stopped glancing around the room.
"Might I ask if this dress is for a formal or social occasion?"
"Social. I expect a large number of guests. No invitations.", she surmised.
"White tie or black tie?"
"Day.", she answered.
The woman turned and held out her arms. Immediately, the tailor started measuring. Soon enough he was draping sheets of amarid and nomex across her and marking them off.
A coin appeared in her hand, the same style as the golden crafted one that was handed to the concierge. "Make it a rush job."
5
A woman stood behind a thick granite counter, arranging pipe cleaner brushes. "Welcome, madam. I take it from your attire that you would like the full dinner service."
Petunia strode into the armory in a black and grey dress that would have made Chanel herself proud, no matter how understated. She slid another copy of the gold coin across the table. "Yes, I will be having the full meal."
The woman nodded. "Appetizer?"
"Plentiful, fast, light."
The armorer grunted to herself. "Let me recommend the FN P90. Fire rates of up to eleven hundred rounds per minute, fifty round loads, exceptional piercing ability through the use of 5.7mm rounds.
"And for the main course?"
Petunia's gaze wandered around the room with an inhumane slight squint. "Something heavy, filling. Surprising would be worth the additional effort."
Another nod from the armorer. "The SRM 1216. Semiautomatic 12 guage shotgun with 4 rotating tubes for a 16+1 maximum load, detachable magazine for quick reloading. Top mounted picatiny rail system for laser or optical sighting.
"Dessert?"
Petunia shook her head. "A palate cleanser first."
The armorer frowned. "Clear Out Extraction grenade, tear gas?"
Petunia did not seem moved.
"Blue Guns M84 stun grenade?
"Wescom Defense thermite incindiary?
"M67 shrapnel grenade?
"Israeli white phosphorus?"
Petunia nodded. "Perhaps a variety for circumstance."
"And for desert. I remember you being partial to the Klingon hallmarks. D'k tahg, open blood letter, spring loaded secondaries, freshly stoned and coiled."
6
The boot of the car popped open. Petunia let Professor Bathilda Bagshot's eyes adjust. "Petunia Evans?"
"I know that you aren't really considering catching up on old times. Just like you're not considering the make and model of the car you're in the boot of or the exact field that we managed to be extremely alone in. All you really want to know is how you're going to make it back home."
Petunia paused for effect. "What you should be wondering is whether."
The elderly woman held very still. She licked her lips.
Petunia held up the woman's wand in a fist. She pressed her thumb against it, ready to snap.
"What do want?", the old lady asked.
"I need an owl."
7
Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft and Chief Warlock sat behind his desk in his office. He considered the man in front of him.
"Severus, my boy.", he began. "Hagrid informs me that you struck him in front of the students."
"He took Petunia Dursley nee Evan's nephew in front of her and spell cast upon her son, despite their muggle status and the Secrecy."
Dumbledore shrugged with his eyebrows. "Never mind then."
Just then, an owl flapped through a window into the room and held out its leg. The headmaster read the note and then handed it to Severus.
You have my nephew.
Snape read the note and looked up into expecting eyes. He clenched his own shut in sheer exhaustion. "I will try.", he offered.
"Perhaps, you misread my intent. Severus/"
"I said.", Severus cut him off. "I would try. If you have better, then make use of it." His black robes billowed out behind him as he left the office.
Dumbledore clapped his hands. "I believe I shall, Severus.", he said out loud to no one in particular.