Four Weeks Later:
A date. Something that should put a little pitter-patter in any woman's heart, just made Gwen's want to stop. Dating was not high on her list of things to do at this point in her life, not when there were other things that could be happening. She should be focusing on the investigation that she'd started a month earlier, but she'd not realized how difficult learning to bake for the shop would be. Gwen spent the whole month training with Sally, baking hundreds of cookies, scones, muffins and anything else one could imagine. Often times, when she got home she was too exhausted to read, much less run around and search for things that were likely made up.
"It couldn't have been that bad" Sally said, she and her daughter, a woman a few years older than Gwen, were sitting in her living room "He seemed so nice"
"He was nice" Gwen said around a laugh "Just super boring, he talked about the law firm he works for, then about his mom, his sister, his dog...I ended up almost falling asleep at the table"
"How is your sleep going?" Sally asked, concern showing in her eyes "I know that you said you were exhausted most work weeks"
"It's evening out" Gwen explained "It just has to become routine, I'm getting used to the ten hour shifts, love the three days off and I'm starting to make my naps shorter"
"How short?" Gabby, her daughter asked "How long were they?"
"When I was first working the regular eight hours I was napping for three to four hours and then on my two days off I'd sleep all day and wouldn't get anything done" She laughed a little and shook her head "That's why I asked to change my schedule, four ten-hour days, three days off, my naps are now an hour and a half long and I actually started doing things on my days off other than sleep" Sally and Gabby visited for a while longer talking about the fun things that they were going to be doing in London that weekend and of course inviting Gwen, but she told them that she had things to do.
"Well, you have a great weekend" Sally said, giving her a quick hug and added that she was see her on Monday at work.
"Sally" Gwen said "Have you ever heard of something called 'Privet' or maybe someone named 'Harry' that lives there?"
"Privet?" She thought about it "No, I don't think so. If someone lives there, then it could be the name of a manor home or street...that's all I've got, sorry"
"Thanks" Gwen smiled and watched them walk across the road and to their house.
Gwen sat down on the couch in her living room and put the television on, but wasn't really paying attention to it. She pulled the diary from her purse and looked at it, willing it to give her something to go on. So far, she'd looked up 'wizarding world' on the internet and found all sorts of online interactive games, one she was kind of addicted to at this point, and books that talked about wizards, but nothing about what she was looking for. She'd looked up 'Mad-Eye' and only found interesting and disturbing pictures about medical conditions and paintings from disturbed Emo's. She had looked up 'death eaters' found nothing, 'Snake-faced bastard' with no results and looked up the war of 1997, but there wasn't one, just like she'd assumed. She closed her eyes and thought about her mother, what would her mother do in a time like this? Her mom had always been good with investigations, figuring out things that seemed impossible easily by looking at it from a different angle.
"Oh, my little Gwenny-dear" Her mother would say "You're making things too difficult. Even if things are just a 'myth' or 'legend' there is always a little truth, you just need to find something real and start there"
With renewed vigor, Gwen jumped off the couch and took the stairs two at a time until she was standing in the bedroom where she found the diary. Without caring about taking care of things in there, she upended everything, opened drawers, tore the closet apart and looked for loose floorboards. Sitting on the closet floor and tipping her head back against the wall, she kept her eyes closed for a moment. Opening them and getting ready to admit defeat for the day, Gwen's green eyes locked onto a little square door in the corner of the roof, she tilted her head to the side and considered it. An attic or at the very least, attic space. Pulling a wooden chair from the floor of the bedroom and stood on it, pressing her finger tips to the tile and pressed gently. The tile slid easily to the side, Gwen was sure that it hit something, but she didn't reach for that, just moved her hand around the edge. Her fingertips slid across a small wooden stick, smooth to the touch but with something carved into it, wrapping her hand around it she pulled it down. Gwen pulled the tile back into place and stepped down back into the light of the bedroom and looked at her found treasure. It was a stick, a long, polished, smooth stick with vines and flowers engraved along what appeared to be the handle.
"What the hell is this?" Gwen whispered to the empty room "Is it a weapon?"
Gwen used her cell phone to take a picture and posted it on her gaming profile, asking if anyone knew what it was. Going into the kitchen with the stick in her hand, she put it on the table, made a sandwich and pulled the diary out. She ate a few bites and then opened the book to a random page and started to reading it. The same neat scroll greeted her but the whole vibe of the entry felt off, scary but not rushed just...completely off somehow.
December...I don't know.
I'm not sure if it's December it could only be November or January...maybe it's 1998 and I don't know. It's cold, icy and snowy, Ron is gone and Harry and I are considering on going to the nearest town, whatever that is, and peeking in windows until we find a calendar. We want...no, that's the wrong word, we NEED to know what month this is, its hell not knowing, the amulet blackens Harry's mood so badly sometimes he scares me and it makes me want to run away. When I wear it, I have horrible thoughts about hurting him, hurting myself and of course finding and killing Ronald. I'm angry with Ron but I don't want to cause him harm, when the amulet is around my neck my thoughts are not my own. Last night, neither of us wore it, it was nice, we talked about Christmas, in case its around the corner or something. I told Harry about my favorite presents, meals and things I did with my parents, all his good memories are from his time at Hogwarts (Gwen wrote that down) the few times he would bring up Privet Drive, he'd get sad. I can't tell if its because they are bad memories or because even though they were terrible to him, the Dursleys are still his family. Harry's a good man, I don't think I tell him that much, I don't know if he knows that. In times like these, I feel like we need to tell everyone exactly what we think and how we feel because we may not get another chance.
Sandwich left forgotten and half eaten, Gwen stood up from the table and ran to her computer in the bedroom. She opened her search engine and typed in the name 'Dursley' she sifted through a bunch of things before finding something interesting. A picture of a fat man with no neck, he had a huge mustache, greying hair and beady, mean little eyes that was glaring at her from the picture. Standing next to him was a tall and thin woman with greying blonde hair, a very long neck and eyes cold as ice and a small, icy smirk on her face. They looked mean.
Vernon and Petunia Dursley of Privet Drive in Surrey
She scanned the article and learned that they were being photographed in front of their 'immaculate' home and their 'prize winning' flower garden. They were chumps and she could tell that, but they may have some ideas about what it was she was looking for. Writing down their address on a piece of paper and looking it up on her phone, she nodded and headed out to get in her car. It was an hours drive and it was only noon, she would be there after lunch and before tea time so they shouldn't be cross about that. Judging from what she'd learned from Hermione's diary and the look on these people's faces, it wouldn't take much for these people to be angry about something. A diary entry she'd read the night before talked about how Harry had told her that his aunt and uncle were very prejudice against 'his kind' or the 'freaks' as they called him and his friends. What they had to be prejudice against she was unsure, but maybe they'd be able to tell her that as well. With the stick safely in her purse, Gwen drove as fast as she dared to Privet Drive, she was still getting used to these roads and driving on the opposite side of the road and feared that she would get too comfortable driving and would forget that she wasn't in America anymore and end up driving on the wrong side and killing herself or someone else.
Privet drive was filled with two story houses with dark green lawns, white picket fences and cars that surely these people couldn't really afford. If a town had a quote to live by, Gwen was sure this towns would be "Keep Up With The Joneses" because it appeared that was what everyone was desperately trying to do. Gwen looked at the picture she'd taken of the picture on her computer and found the house that the couple had stood in front of. Number 4 Privet Drive, the grass was actually greener here, well kept, the fence was newly painted, the house had no cracks in it, even the doorbell had been polished within an inch of its life. The car she parked next to was shining in the afternoon sunlight and Gwen was happy that she'd changed at the last moment, out of her jeans, t-shirt and sneakers and chose a pair of black slacks with a matching black sleeveless blouse and decided to brush out her hair. She did a quick make-up check in the rearview mirror and let out a long sigh before smiling at herself to make sure that she didn't look insane and got out.
The front door was opened by the woman in the picture. She was taller than Gwen expected, she stood only at 5'5" tall and this woman was likely 5'7", very skinny and wearing a powder blue summer dress that flowed prettily around her knees and matching shoes with kitten heels. The woman had very thin lips set under and very pointy nose and her cold grey eyes were sizing up Gwen's expensive (actually inexpensive) outfit before her thin lips pulled into a suspicious, tight, little smile and she raised an eyebrow, clearly waiting for her to speak. The thought of speaking to the woman made all thoughts leave her head, her throat became dry and she was unable to utter a word to her, so she stood and looked at her stupidly.
"Yes?" She finally snapped "I am making a pudding for dessert, are you going to tell me what it is you want or are selling or should I close the door right now?"
"I'm sorry" Gwen said a little too loudly, the woman brought her finger tips to her ear and shook her head slightly "My name is Gwendolyn Johnson, I had some questions for you and your husband"
"Are you a reporter?" She asked, her eyes had lit up a bit so Gwen smiled and nodded a little.
"I am a writer, yes" She answered "Your name?"
"Petunia!" The name was all but shouted from the very fat man from the picture in the paper "Who is it?"
"A writer" Petunia answered "She was just asking my name"
"If she knew to come here for whatever reason than how come she doesn't know our names?" He asked, he was taller than she was but he looked a hell of a lot meaner.
"I'm sorry, Mr. Dursley" Gwen said quickly "I just had some questions for what I was writing, can I come in?"
"Absolutely not" The man spoke, glaring at her.
"You don't want people thinking that you were being rude" Gwen looked to the side at the neighbors house and the woman with her nose pressed against the glass. He sighed and motioned her in, Gwen took the opportunity to look around, there were many pictures of a fat baby, a fat blonde haired boy, fat teenager and muscular man. This must be Harry.
"I am Vernon Dursley" The man spoke "This is my wife, Petunia. What is it that you are writing..." He led off. Not knowing her name.
"Gwendolyn Johnson" She answered "I wanted to know if you knew a Harry, he used to live here..."
"We don't know any Harry Potter!" Vernon yelled at her, the vein in his forehead was throbbing dangerously and she worried about his health, and her own safety.
"Look!" Gwen gasped as he moved to push her toward the front door "I found a diary"
"That's nice" He snapped.
"It's from a woman named Hermione Granger" She went on, avoiding his grasp and looking at Petunia, who had gone rather white in the face and was staring at her with wide eyes.
"Ridiculous name" The man muttered as he started for her again.
"She talked about Privet drive" Gwen jumped out of the way again making him mutter and have to turn around, an act that took a solid five seconds as he was about as wide as the hallway "About Harry, her best friend. A man named Ronald, a snake-faced bastard as she called him...she claims to be my aunt and uncles kid but they didn't have any children!"
"A memory charm" Petunia muttered, more to herself than the younger woman. However, her answering made Gwen stop moving and made it possible for the whale of a man to grab her arm and shove her towards the front door.
"We don't know any freaks anymore!" He yelled in her face before opening the front door and shoving her out it, slamming the door in her face. Gwen stood there wide-eyed and open-mouthed, just staring at the door still working the answer through her mind. Had the woman said it was a charm? What does that even mean? With a shake of her head, Gwen walked back to her car, what was she really supposed to do other than to leave? As she started the engine and was getting ready to back out of the driveway, tapping on her window had her looking straight into the cold grey eyes of Petunia.
"I'm leaving, don't worry" She said as she rolled the window down.
"In London" Petunia said, looking over her shoulder "At this address" She shoved a piece of paper into Gwen's hands "Ask for Dudley Dursley, he's my son. He married a witch, my husband doesn't talk to him, if I hadn't yelled at him and caused a scene he wouldn't have allowed me to keep the pictures of him up in the house...he can help you"
Just as quickly as Petunia had come out of the house with her message, she was gone. Gwen backed out of the driveway and made her way back home, it was getting too late to drive to London and look for someone. She didn't want to bother anyone, especially if he was anything like his father, that man was terrifying. She laughed to herself when she thought back to him having to go into a doorway in order to turn around because he was too fat to turn in the middle of the hallway. As she thought about what the woman had said "he married a witch" were the British still against Wiccans? Did they still burn them at the stake? How the hell did they keep that quiet from the world? By the time she got home she had a massive headache and a shit ton more questions than when she'd left it earlier in the day. Tomorrow, she promised herself that she'd get some answers for once and put to rest the mystery of this insane woman.
A/N: Second installment. I hope you like this one. I'm trying to make it interesting but also keep her from gathering all the information right away, that would be a very short story. Please Review.