FIC: Abandoned!Harry WIP PG
Aug. 19th, 2006 02:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sparkysparkyTitle: Abandoned!Harry (Title to change)
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sparkysparky
Rating: PG (for now, rating might go higher later on)
Chapter: 1a/?
Warnings: Mentions of child abuse in early chapters (very mild), excessive Harry!cuteness.
Summary: Just before Harry turns 6 years old, Vernon is transferred to America. Instead of bringing Harry with them, Petunia abandons Harry in a park. He is found by some unlikely people and the wizarding world is in an uproar.
Author's Notes: I've wanted to read some good fics where Harry is adopted by someone other than Snape (Sirius, Remus, Dumbledore, Malfoys,etc) but haven't found any, so I chose to write one myself. I know this premise is somewhat over used, but I hope this will be orginal enough to spark interest. If I acutally finish the first story, I may decide to write more fics in this universe, but we'll see where this story goes. Updates will be fairly regular, but with Fate's Follies and Seven Year Itch currently in progress, this fic will be more sporadic in updates.
Disclaimer: Any recognizable characters obviously don't belong to me *sob* but there will be several OCs along the way that do.
Author's Note the Second: I broke this chapter in two because it was fairly long (over 6,000 words). Link to the second part will be at the end of this entry.
Prologue: June 24th, 1986
Harry Potter was having the best day of his life. His aunt had woken him early, which was usual, but hadn’t made him cook breakfast, or take out the garbage or sweep or anything! Uncle Vernon had taken Dudley on their yearly father-son hunting trip, so Harry figured that was why Aunt Petunia was being so nice, but he didn’t say anything because he didn’t want to make her angry, or to have her think he didn’t appreciate the favors.
Every year, for as long as Harry could remember, Uncle Vernon had taken Dudley on a special father-son trip for Dudley’s birthday and Harry would get to stay home with Aunt Petunia. Usually, Aunt Petunia would just ignore Harry and let him watch the television and sleep late and wouldn’t hit him all week. But this year was different. Better.
She’d even let him eat some of Dudley’s sugared cereal, and even though he’d had to do without milk, it was still much better than toast that tasted funny and no jam! And after breakfast, Aunt Petunia had even let him take a bath—with bubbles, and he got to play with Dudley’s toy boat and the men and the water monster. He’d never had such fun, and made sure to thank her every chance he got.
After his bath, his aunt had dried him gently, and helped him dress in a pair of jeans and jumper. Even though Harry was almost six, and could dress himself, he liked having Aunt Petunia help him. She was even gentle when she brushed his hair, not like usual, when she was rough and angry and made his head hurt with her hard strokes.
“Harry, how would you like to go to the park?” Aunt Petunia asked.
Harry turned his attention from the cartoons he was happily watching, and smiled brightly. “Oh, can we? I’ve never been to the park, and Dudley is always saying how it’s so much fun, and that the slides are the best and that swings are for babies. I think I’d rather like the swings though, I’ve seen other children go way up high, like they were flying. Do you think I can fly like they do, Auntie?”
Aunt Petunia smiled at him. Harry thought he saw a flash of something like disgust in her eyes, but decided to ignore it. It was such a wonderful day already, and he wanted to go to the park.
“Come on then, Harry. Let’s get your coat and head out.”
“Can we bring a picnic lunch?” Harry asked excitedly, as he let Aunt Petunia help him button up his threadbare coat.
“Not today, Harry.” Aunt Petunia took his hand as they crossed the street to head to the park.
“Okay,” Harry said happily. It was enough that they were outside and the sun was shining, and he saw birdies and squirrels and even a bunny as they walked and walked and walked to the park.
“Where are we going?” Harry asked. They had passed quite a few parks already, but Aunt Petunia kept walking. Harry’s legs were getting tired, and he was hungry again, but he didn’t complain. He didn’t want Aunt Petunia to get angry with him.
“We’re going to the best park. It’s only a bit further, Harry. But we have to go on the Underground to get there.”
“Can’t we just play in one of the parks we passed already? There were swings and slides and other children in them all!”
“No,” Aunt Petunia snapped, causing to Harry to recoil a bit. She visibly calmed herself and said in a softer voice, “I want this to be your special day, Harry, and to do that we need to go the best park in the city. Don’t you want to go to the best park? They have a merry go round, and hot fudge sundaes. Don’t you want a hot fudge sundae?”
Harry nodded happily, the other parks forgotten. Spontaneously, he hugged his aunt around her middle and said, “Thank you, thank you, thank you! I love you Aunt Petunia!”
“Come on, then, the Underground station is just over here.”
Harry had only been on the Underground a few times, and each time he was as amazed as he’d been before at the people and the noise and activity. His wide green eyes tried to take everything in at once as Aunt Petunia paid for their tickets, and he giggled when he saw a little man in a green suit tip his hat at him. Harry waved happily, but didn’t get a chance to see more of the little man before he had to run to keep up with Aunt Petunia’s longer stride.
Soon, Aunt Petunia and Harry were crowded into a car with lots of other people, and Harry had to hold tight to Aunt Petunia’s hand to avoid getting smushed against the other passengers. Harry wanted to listen to the announcer who was telling people what stop they were at, but the man spoke too quickly for Harry to understand what he was saying.
Finally, Aunt Petunia shoved her way to the door of the car, dragging Harry behind her. And then they were out of the Underground station and walking briskly along the street until finally—finally—they reached a large, sprawling park.
Harry clapped his hands in excitement and it was his turn to drag Aunt Petunia forward. He could just make out the merry-go-round in the distance, and he wanted to get there as fast as possible.
“Harry, slow yourself, please. I don’t want you to tire out too quickly,” Aunt Petunia said. “Why don’t we get the ice cream before we go on the merry-go-round? Would that be alright?”
“Okay!” Harry yelled. “Ice cream! Yay!”
Aunt Petunia led Harry to an outdoor ice-cream vendor and ordered two ice cream cones. Harry got chocolate, and he licked around the cone before the ice cream could melt, but he was too slow and the ice cream dripped down and Harry giggled when as he licked his hand clean.
This was wonderful! He’d never had chocolate ice cream before, and it was much better than the sugar cereal he’d had for breakfast. Before he knew it, his cone was gone, and Harry was pouting at his sticky hands. Then he remembered the merry go round and smiled.
“Can we go now, Aunt Petunia? Please? I want to see the merry go round!”
“Yes, yes, alright. Let me see your hands,” Aunt Petunia said.
Harry held his hands up and giggled when Aunt Petunia gently wiped them clean.
“And you’ve got chocolate all over your face. Let me wipe it off.”
Harry stood patiently as Aunt Petunia made him clean again, and then took her hand as she led him toward the merry go round.
“Will you come too?” Harry asked.
Aunt Petunia shook her head. “No, the merry go round is only for little boys and girls,” she said.
Harry looked and saw she was right. There were no grown ups on it, just other boys and girls his age, laughing as their painted ponies when around and around and up and down.
Harry got in line, and soon he’d picked out a white pony with a purple saddle and gold reins. “Look at me!” he called to Aunt Petunia and waved wildly in her direction.
She waved back, a pinched smile on her face. And then Harry forgot to look for her as the horses went around and around and up and down. “Whee!” he cried gleefully, sharing a happy grin with the little black boy on the pony next to his.
“Let’s be in a race,” the little boy said, and Harry nodded. Playing race sounded like fun.
“Giddyup!” Harry cried and pretended he was on the fastest horse in the world. “I’m winning!”
The other little boy laughed and said, “Okay. But my horse had to go potty, and that’s why you won, okay?”
Harry giggled at the thought of the horse going potty and smiled. “Okay!”
When the ride was done, Aunt Petunia was right there to collect Harry, and he launched himself at her. “Did you, see, Auntie? Did you? I was going around and around and I was in a race with the little boy next to me, and I won! Did you see?”
“Yes, I certainly did, Harry. Did you enjoy yourself?”
“Oh yes, but can we go on the swings now? I want to see if I can fly!”
Aunt Petunia nodded, and Harry took off running in the direction of the swings he’d seen on his trip around the merry go round. He didn’t even have to wait a turn, because there were two empty swings on the end. Harry jumped on the last swing and waited, but the swing didn’t go anywhere. He looked around and saw the other children going higher and higher, but he didn’t go anywhere. Maybe his swing was broken.
“You have to push with your legs, see?” asked the same little black boy who’d had the race with him on the merry go round. He pushed his legs out, and then back, and kept repeating it over and over until he was flying like the other kids.
Harry tried and tried, and soon he was flying! “Aunt Petunia!” he cried. “Look at me! I’m flying!”
Aunt Petunia waved and moved to sit on the bench facing the swings.
“My name’s Dean,” the little boy next to Harry said. “What’s your name?”
“I’m Harry. Let’s pretend we’re astronauts, and we’re going to land on the moon!”
“I’m the captain, okay? And you’re my first mate.”
“To get on the moon, we have to jump out of our space ship!”
“Let’s count to three, and jump, okay?”
“Okay,” Harry agreed. “One,” he shouted.
“Two!” Dean cried.
“Three!” they screamed together, and jumped off the swings.
Harry laughed wildly as he felt the wind lift him up, and then he was on the ground and rolling to a stop. Dean had landed right next to him, and they giggled madly together.
“That was fun!” Harry exclaimed.
“Yeah! Let’s play tag!” Dean suggested. He tapped Harry on the shoulder and shouted, “You’re it! Come get me!” And took off racing.
Harry paused a moment, then raced after his new friend, giggling. Dean was fast, but Harry was faster, having learned at an early age that speed was all that would keep Dudley from hitting him. He easily caught up with Dean and tagged him on the back, shouting, “You’re it!” and took off running in the other direction.
Soon, other children had joined, but they lost interest when it was clear that Dean and Harry only wanted to tag each other.
After what seemed like hours, Dean and Harry collapsed next to each other on the grass, huge smiles on their faces.
“Thanks for playing tag with me, Dean,” Harry said shyly.
Dean giggled and said, “Thanks for playing with me! My brother and sister are just babies and don’t know how to play tag.”
Harry smiled happily, his breathing slowly returning to normal. “Do you want to get an ice cream? I bet my Aunt Petunia will buy us one!”
“I don’t know. I need to ask my mom.” Dean looked in the other direction, where a pretty lady stood, two littler kids clutching at her hands. Dean sighed. “My mom’s waving to me. I guess I haveta go. My baby brother looks tired, and my sister is crying.” He heaved a huge sigh. “Maybe we can play again sometime! We come here everyday! If it’s not raining.”
“Yeah, maybe,” Harry said, knowing that as soon as his uncle got home, he’d never get to go to the park again.
“Well, see ya!” Dean said and ran off, waving over his shoulder at Harry.
Harry waved sadly as he watched his new friend race towards his mother and gives her a big hug. “Bye!” he called after the nice family.
Harry looked around for Aunt Petunia, a little confused when he didn’t immediately see her. She’d been sitting on the bench near the swings just a little while ago.
It was getting dark now, and Harry was hungry again. The ice cream cone seemed ages ago. “Aunt Petunia?” Harry called, but there was no answer. “Maybe she went to get ice cream,” he said to himself.
But Aunt Petunia wasn’t anywhere near the ice cream stand. In fact, the stand was closed and Harry saw that most people were leaving the park as the sun disappeared and the clouds grew heavy and dark with rain.
Harry didn’t notice the first drop of rain; he was too busy retracing his steps around the park, calling for Aunt Petunia. Finally, exhausted, and cold and scared, Harry sat down on the bench near the swings, and started to cry. Shivering with cold, the chilly rain having soaked his coat ages ago, with tears leaving tracks on his dirty cheeks, Harry came to the only conclusion.
Aunt Petunia had left him.
***
Petunia sat on the bed she shared with her husband, suitcase at her feet and a pinched expression on her face. She couldn’t get the image of Harry innocently eating ice cream out of her mind. But, she’d done what had to be done. That boy couldn’t be around her family any longer, his freakishness was starting to affect Vernon, and more importantly Dudley, negatively.
Petunia loved her husband, but she wasn’t blind to his faults. Vernon was a hard, cold man with violent tendencies. She knew he would never raise a hand against their son, and if he ever hit her, she would make him pay for it. But Harry. He was another matter. Vernon had always been rough with Harry, slapped him around occasionally, and Petunia knew the situation would continue growing worse with each passing year. She didn’t want her husband to kill the brat one day and find himself in prison for murdering a child.
And Petunia also knew her own faults. She was not a loving or generous woman, nor a natural mother. She had just enough in her to love her son and husband, and there was nothing left for her sister’s scrawny child. Harry was a nuisance to her, a responsibility she neither wanted nor had asked for.
So, when the opportunity came for Vernon to transfer to the newly opened Grunnings factory in America, she had urged him to take the position as the director of the new facility. Vernon had agreed, but made it clear that Harry was not welcome to move with them.
Vernon had taken Dudley ahead with him to America, and Petunia was scheduled to leave that night on the red eye flight to New York. Vernon’s sister Marge had agreed to box up their personal effects and send them at a later date, and she would take care of selling the larger pieces of furniture.
And Petunia had gotten rid of Harry. He would be found, she was sure, by Those People, and would soon forget all about his time with her family. It was really the only solution available to any of them. It was what was best for Harry, and for her family.
And she wouldn’t let herself feel guilty for doing what needed to be done to protect her son and husband. Harry would survive. He had that much of her sister in him. Lily had been a survivor too. Up until that good for nothing Potter had gotten them both killed.
The horn of the taxi cab sounded from outside, letting Petunia know that it was time to stop thinking and get on with her life.
After making sure the lights were all shut off, and the doors were all locked, Petunia went outside and climbed in the cab.
She didn’t spare a second glance for Number 4 Privet Drive, and wouldn’t think of Harry again for years.
Onto Chapter 1B
Author:
sparkysparkyRating: PG (for now, rating might go higher later on)
Chapter: 1a/?
Warnings: Mentions of child abuse in early chapters (very mild), excessive Harry!cuteness.
Summary: Just before Harry turns 6 years old, Vernon is transferred to America. Instead of bringing Harry with them, Petunia abandons Harry in a park. He is found by some unlikely people and the wizarding world is in an uproar.
Author's Notes: I've wanted to read some good fics where Harry is adopted by someone other than Snape (Sirius, Remus, Dumbledore, Malfoys,etc) but haven't found any, so I chose to write one myself. I know this premise is somewhat over used, but I hope this will be orginal enough to spark interest. If I acutally finish the first story, I may decide to write more fics in this universe, but we'll see where this story goes. Updates will be fairly regular, but with Fate's Follies and Seven Year Itch currently in progress, this fic will be more sporadic in updates.
Disclaimer: Any recognizable characters obviously don't belong to me *sob* but there will be several OCs along the way that do.
Author's Note the Second: I broke this chapter in two because it was fairly long (over 6,000 words). Link to the second part will be at the end of this entry.
Prologue: June 24th, 1986
Harry Potter was having the best day of his life. His aunt had woken him early, which was usual, but hadn’t made him cook breakfast, or take out the garbage or sweep or anything! Uncle Vernon had taken Dudley on their yearly father-son hunting trip, so Harry figured that was why Aunt Petunia was being so nice, but he didn’t say anything because he didn’t want to make her angry, or to have her think he didn’t appreciate the favors.
Every year, for as long as Harry could remember, Uncle Vernon had taken Dudley on a special father-son trip for Dudley’s birthday and Harry would get to stay home with Aunt Petunia. Usually, Aunt Petunia would just ignore Harry and let him watch the television and sleep late and wouldn’t hit him all week. But this year was different. Better.
She’d even let him eat some of Dudley’s sugared cereal, and even though he’d had to do without milk, it was still much better than toast that tasted funny and no jam! And after breakfast, Aunt Petunia had even let him take a bath—with bubbles, and he got to play with Dudley’s toy boat and the men and the water monster. He’d never had such fun, and made sure to thank her every chance he got.
After his bath, his aunt had dried him gently, and helped him dress in a pair of jeans and jumper. Even though Harry was almost six, and could dress himself, he liked having Aunt Petunia help him. She was even gentle when she brushed his hair, not like usual, when she was rough and angry and made his head hurt with her hard strokes.
“Harry, how would you like to go to the park?” Aunt Petunia asked.
Harry turned his attention from the cartoons he was happily watching, and smiled brightly. “Oh, can we? I’ve never been to the park, and Dudley is always saying how it’s so much fun, and that the slides are the best and that swings are for babies. I think I’d rather like the swings though, I’ve seen other children go way up high, like they were flying. Do you think I can fly like they do, Auntie?”
Aunt Petunia smiled at him. Harry thought he saw a flash of something like disgust in her eyes, but decided to ignore it. It was such a wonderful day already, and he wanted to go to the park.
“Come on then, Harry. Let’s get your coat and head out.”
“Can we bring a picnic lunch?” Harry asked excitedly, as he let Aunt Petunia help him button up his threadbare coat.
“Not today, Harry.” Aunt Petunia took his hand as they crossed the street to head to the park.
“Okay,” Harry said happily. It was enough that they were outside and the sun was shining, and he saw birdies and squirrels and even a bunny as they walked and walked and walked to the park.
“Where are we going?” Harry asked. They had passed quite a few parks already, but Aunt Petunia kept walking. Harry’s legs were getting tired, and he was hungry again, but he didn’t complain. He didn’t want Aunt Petunia to get angry with him.
“We’re going to the best park. It’s only a bit further, Harry. But we have to go on the Underground to get there.”
“Can’t we just play in one of the parks we passed already? There were swings and slides and other children in them all!”
“No,” Aunt Petunia snapped, causing to Harry to recoil a bit. She visibly calmed herself and said in a softer voice, “I want this to be your special day, Harry, and to do that we need to go the best park in the city. Don’t you want to go to the best park? They have a merry go round, and hot fudge sundaes. Don’t you want a hot fudge sundae?”
Harry nodded happily, the other parks forgotten. Spontaneously, he hugged his aunt around her middle and said, “Thank you, thank you, thank you! I love you Aunt Petunia!”
“Come on, then, the Underground station is just over here.”
Harry had only been on the Underground a few times, and each time he was as amazed as he’d been before at the people and the noise and activity. His wide green eyes tried to take everything in at once as Aunt Petunia paid for their tickets, and he giggled when he saw a little man in a green suit tip his hat at him. Harry waved happily, but didn’t get a chance to see more of the little man before he had to run to keep up with Aunt Petunia’s longer stride.
Soon, Aunt Petunia and Harry were crowded into a car with lots of other people, and Harry had to hold tight to Aunt Petunia’s hand to avoid getting smushed against the other passengers. Harry wanted to listen to the announcer who was telling people what stop they were at, but the man spoke too quickly for Harry to understand what he was saying.
Finally, Aunt Petunia shoved her way to the door of the car, dragging Harry behind her. And then they were out of the Underground station and walking briskly along the street until finally—finally—they reached a large, sprawling park.
Harry clapped his hands in excitement and it was his turn to drag Aunt Petunia forward. He could just make out the merry-go-round in the distance, and he wanted to get there as fast as possible.
“Harry, slow yourself, please. I don’t want you to tire out too quickly,” Aunt Petunia said. “Why don’t we get the ice cream before we go on the merry-go-round? Would that be alright?”
“Okay!” Harry yelled. “Ice cream! Yay!”
Aunt Petunia led Harry to an outdoor ice-cream vendor and ordered two ice cream cones. Harry got chocolate, and he licked around the cone before the ice cream could melt, but he was too slow and the ice cream dripped down and Harry giggled when as he licked his hand clean.
This was wonderful! He’d never had chocolate ice cream before, and it was much better than the sugar cereal he’d had for breakfast. Before he knew it, his cone was gone, and Harry was pouting at his sticky hands. Then he remembered the merry go round and smiled.
“Can we go now, Aunt Petunia? Please? I want to see the merry go round!”
“Yes, yes, alright. Let me see your hands,” Aunt Petunia said.
Harry held his hands up and giggled when Aunt Petunia gently wiped them clean.
“And you’ve got chocolate all over your face. Let me wipe it off.”
Harry stood patiently as Aunt Petunia made him clean again, and then took her hand as she led him toward the merry go round.
“Will you come too?” Harry asked.
Aunt Petunia shook her head. “No, the merry go round is only for little boys and girls,” she said.
Harry looked and saw she was right. There were no grown ups on it, just other boys and girls his age, laughing as their painted ponies when around and around and up and down.
Harry got in line, and soon he’d picked out a white pony with a purple saddle and gold reins. “Look at me!” he called to Aunt Petunia and waved wildly in her direction.
She waved back, a pinched smile on her face. And then Harry forgot to look for her as the horses went around and around and up and down. “Whee!” he cried gleefully, sharing a happy grin with the little black boy on the pony next to his.
“Let’s be in a race,” the little boy said, and Harry nodded. Playing race sounded like fun.
“Giddyup!” Harry cried and pretended he was on the fastest horse in the world. “I’m winning!”
The other little boy laughed and said, “Okay. But my horse had to go potty, and that’s why you won, okay?”
Harry giggled at the thought of the horse going potty and smiled. “Okay!”
When the ride was done, Aunt Petunia was right there to collect Harry, and he launched himself at her. “Did you, see, Auntie? Did you? I was going around and around and I was in a race with the little boy next to me, and I won! Did you see?”
“Yes, I certainly did, Harry. Did you enjoy yourself?”
“Oh yes, but can we go on the swings now? I want to see if I can fly!”
Aunt Petunia nodded, and Harry took off running in the direction of the swings he’d seen on his trip around the merry go round. He didn’t even have to wait a turn, because there were two empty swings on the end. Harry jumped on the last swing and waited, but the swing didn’t go anywhere. He looked around and saw the other children going higher and higher, but he didn’t go anywhere. Maybe his swing was broken.
“You have to push with your legs, see?” asked the same little black boy who’d had the race with him on the merry go round. He pushed his legs out, and then back, and kept repeating it over and over until he was flying like the other kids.
Harry tried and tried, and soon he was flying! “Aunt Petunia!” he cried. “Look at me! I’m flying!”
Aunt Petunia waved and moved to sit on the bench facing the swings.
“My name’s Dean,” the little boy next to Harry said. “What’s your name?”
“I’m Harry. Let’s pretend we’re astronauts, and we’re going to land on the moon!”
“I’m the captain, okay? And you’re my first mate.”
“To get on the moon, we have to jump out of our space ship!”
“Let’s count to three, and jump, okay?”
“Okay,” Harry agreed. “One,” he shouted.
“Two!” Dean cried.
“Three!” they screamed together, and jumped off the swings.
Harry laughed wildly as he felt the wind lift him up, and then he was on the ground and rolling to a stop. Dean had landed right next to him, and they giggled madly together.
“That was fun!” Harry exclaimed.
“Yeah! Let’s play tag!” Dean suggested. He tapped Harry on the shoulder and shouted, “You’re it! Come get me!” And took off racing.
Harry paused a moment, then raced after his new friend, giggling. Dean was fast, but Harry was faster, having learned at an early age that speed was all that would keep Dudley from hitting him. He easily caught up with Dean and tagged him on the back, shouting, “You’re it!” and took off running in the other direction.
Soon, other children had joined, but they lost interest when it was clear that Dean and Harry only wanted to tag each other.
After what seemed like hours, Dean and Harry collapsed next to each other on the grass, huge smiles on their faces.
“Thanks for playing tag with me, Dean,” Harry said shyly.
Dean giggled and said, “Thanks for playing with me! My brother and sister are just babies and don’t know how to play tag.”
Harry smiled happily, his breathing slowly returning to normal. “Do you want to get an ice cream? I bet my Aunt Petunia will buy us one!”
“I don’t know. I need to ask my mom.” Dean looked in the other direction, where a pretty lady stood, two littler kids clutching at her hands. Dean sighed. “My mom’s waving to me. I guess I haveta go. My baby brother looks tired, and my sister is crying.” He heaved a huge sigh. “Maybe we can play again sometime! We come here everyday! If it’s not raining.”
“Yeah, maybe,” Harry said, knowing that as soon as his uncle got home, he’d never get to go to the park again.
“Well, see ya!” Dean said and ran off, waving over his shoulder at Harry.
Harry waved sadly as he watched his new friend race towards his mother and gives her a big hug. “Bye!” he called after the nice family.
Harry looked around for Aunt Petunia, a little confused when he didn’t immediately see her. She’d been sitting on the bench near the swings just a little while ago.
It was getting dark now, and Harry was hungry again. The ice cream cone seemed ages ago. “Aunt Petunia?” Harry called, but there was no answer. “Maybe she went to get ice cream,” he said to himself.
But Aunt Petunia wasn’t anywhere near the ice cream stand. In fact, the stand was closed and Harry saw that most people were leaving the park as the sun disappeared and the clouds grew heavy and dark with rain.
Harry didn’t notice the first drop of rain; he was too busy retracing his steps around the park, calling for Aunt Petunia. Finally, exhausted, and cold and scared, Harry sat down on the bench near the swings, and started to cry. Shivering with cold, the chilly rain having soaked his coat ages ago, with tears leaving tracks on his dirty cheeks, Harry came to the only conclusion.
Aunt Petunia had left him.
Petunia sat on the bed she shared with her husband, suitcase at her feet and a pinched expression on her face. She couldn’t get the image of Harry innocently eating ice cream out of her mind. But, she’d done what had to be done. That boy couldn’t be around her family any longer, his freakishness was starting to affect Vernon, and more importantly Dudley, negatively.
Petunia loved her husband, but she wasn’t blind to his faults. Vernon was a hard, cold man with violent tendencies. She knew he would never raise a hand against their son, and if he ever hit her, she would make him pay for it. But Harry. He was another matter. Vernon had always been rough with Harry, slapped him around occasionally, and Petunia knew the situation would continue growing worse with each passing year. She didn’t want her husband to kill the brat one day and find himself in prison for murdering a child.
And Petunia also knew her own faults. She was not a loving or generous woman, nor a natural mother. She had just enough in her to love her son and husband, and there was nothing left for her sister’s scrawny child. Harry was a nuisance to her, a responsibility she neither wanted nor had asked for.
So, when the opportunity came for Vernon to transfer to the newly opened Grunnings factory in America, she had urged him to take the position as the director of the new facility. Vernon had agreed, but made it clear that Harry was not welcome to move with them.
Vernon had taken Dudley ahead with him to America, and Petunia was scheduled to leave that night on the red eye flight to New York. Vernon’s sister Marge had agreed to box up their personal effects and send them at a later date, and she would take care of selling the larger pieces of furniture.
And Petunia had gotten rid of Harry. He would be found, she was sure, by Those People, and would soon forget all about his time with her family. It was really the only solution available to any of them. It was what was best for Harry, and for her family.
And she wouldn’t let herself feel guilty for doing what needed to be done to protect her son and husband. Harry would survive. He had that much of her sister in him. Lily had been a survivor too. Up until that good for nothing Potter had gotten them both killed.
The horn of the taxi cab sounded from outside, letting Petunia know that it was time to stop thinking and get on with her life.
After making sure the lights were all shut off, and the doors were all locked, Petunia went outside and climbed in the cab.
She didn’t spare a second glance for Number 4 Privet Drive, and wouldn’t think of Harry again for years.
Onto Chapter 1B
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Date: 2006-08-19 07:53 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-20 12:33 am (UTC)