Chapter Text
Petunia’s mouth was dry and hanging open like she was trying to catch flies when she found the letters. One addressed to the boy and the other addressed to her Duddykins. She didn’t understand. She’d been expecting Harry’s letter, but her Dudley? Never had she expected that he might be mag—like her sister. Like Lily.
Vernon was raving on and on about beating it out of the both of them. Petunia couldn’t have that. Couldn’t he see, this changed things. This was their darling Dudley they were talking about.
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In the end, she left Vernon. He took the house; she took the boys.
“It was you who said it was unnatural, Petunia!” He’d screamed after them as their cab drove away, uncaring about the stares of the neighbors. She couldn’t begin to imagine what they thought about the commotion. It made her a little ill to think about.
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The little family of three moved into a hotel while Petunia worked on what needed to be done.
Things were so busy and stressful that Petunia completely forgot about the letters until a terse knock sounded at their door and she opened it to that boy from her youth. Still as dark and broody as ever.
It was abundantly clear that Severus Snape did not want to be there.
Not that Petunia wanted him to be there either.
But this wasn’t about them or Lily or anything like that. This was about her boys. Harry and her Dudley.
So, she is cordial with him as he takes them by train and then by cab over to the entrance to Diagon Alley. It’s as magnificent as Petunia remembers from when she and Lily were girls. There are sparks and spells going off all around them with the sounds of haggling and the smell of herbs drifting through the air. The boys look equally mystified by it all and Petunia feels her heart clench at the sight.
Petunia openly stares at the massive amount of gold in Harry’s vaults and blushes profusely when he gives her enough to pay for Dudley’s supplies.
Child support was still being negotiated and she was beginning to run low on funds.
They bought robes and books and cauldrons and wands. And the whole time Harry held tight to his new things like they’d be taken in an instant. Just what had they been thinking, Petunia wondered, doing what they’d done to that boy? What had she been doing, letting it go on under her roof?
Petunia made sure to buy the boys ice cream at Fortescue’s before they left for the day, burdened by their day’s purchases.
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Snape jammed his boot into the door before Petunia could close it after he’d escorted them back to the hotel.
“Before I go,” he said in that stupid low voice of his, “I thought I should tell you that there’s an opening at the Leaky Cauldron as a bartender and waitress . . . and that it’s cheaper than this hotel you’re living in.”
“Anything else?” Petunia asked testily.
“Yes, it also has a floo and owls available. It’ll be easier to contact your son and nephew from there without raising suspicion.”
He finally extracted his foot from the door and walked away, allowing Petunia to slam it shut.
Damn him for being right.
The next day Petunia drags herself over to the Leaky Cauldron with the boys in tow to apply and is quickly given the job. They move in the day after with the help of Tom, the barman.
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With all the stress of moving and starting a new job and preparing to be parted with her son and the blasted owl screeches Petunia almost doesn’t have the time or patience to deal with straightening out her son’s behavior towards his cousin.
But she does, day after day. Undoing what she allowed to be done for years.
She dealt with the screaming temper tantrums that rose up in response too. Because she has to. She has to make things right.
And eventually things get easier.
Dudley and Harry sit together going over their schoolbooks with wide eyes while Petunia gets ready for her nightly shift in the bar. And the workload gets easier as she settles into her position.
And slowly, bit by bit, she gets used to the magic all around her.