Petunia was having another great morning. After a successful day of cleaning, she had enough time to cook all three meals for her family and even tuck Dudleykins into bed. It had been months since she had enough energy for that.
She hummed as she carefully added another pancake to the pile she was making. She should probably get some more fruit, now that she had time to cook and didn't have to worry about shelf life as much. The unhealthy stuff lasted longer, so she didn't have to waste money as often.
She called her hubbie and son downstairs while setting up the plates. She frowned a little though. Why had she placed four plates? Had she thought Aunt Marge was dropping by? Petunia put the last plate away again. This had happened several times yesterday as well.
Vernon walked down to the amazing smell of his darling's famous pancakes. It had been so long since she had made these, and his mouth was watering before he even entered the room. He gave her a quick kiss as he sat down, her smile lighting the room. It almost seemed out of place, the whole world seemed happier than they were used to.
Dudley on the other hand just entered, sat at his chair, and began making a bit of a mess.
Petunia frowned a little. "Don't slouch dear. And keep both elbows off the table."
His face was a bit shocked, even full of pancakes. "Baur far afu?"
Petunia wiped his chin, "Swallow first, dear."
Dudley just grumbled and went back to eating. Why were they bothering him now, he never had to mess with how he ate before. Still, these pancakes were amazing.
As they finished their meal, they heard the doorbell go off. Vernon sighed, "Petunia, could you get that? If it is a solicitor or something tell them we are quite good as we are, thank you VERY much." He pulled the paper closer and began looking through it. "Honestly, on a Sunday no less."
Petunia moved her plate to the sink and headed to the door. It seemed a tad early for salespeople, maybe it was one of the neighborhood watch girls. She always enjoyed gossiping about random things with them, but she had never really had time before with all the cleaning she had to do.
She opened the door, and just stared.
Standing almost as tall as her shoulder was a young man. Extremely young. He had a deep red shirt, black pants and shoes, and almost hauntingly familiar green eyes. He also was clearly into exercise. She smiled, "Um... hello there. Are you here to visit Dudely?"
Those deep green eyes seemed to sparkle with laughter for a second. "No mam, I am actually here to meet with a Mr. Vernon Dursley. Is this the correct home?"
Petunia suddenly realized that she was standing with an open mouth, small amounts of flour on her apron, and felt more than a little embarrassed to be caught in such a state. Opening the door more widely, she smiled. "Why don't you take a seat in the living room, Vernon is just finishing his breakfast."
She closed the door behind him and moved to the kitchen, quickly removing the apron after wiping her hands clean. Entering the kitchen she hesitated a moment. "Darling, there was a visitor for you."
Unlike she expected, he didn't start turning red with anger that someone had entered his domain. "Oh? Who was it?"
She felt relieved. Normally anyone or anything entering the house would cause an awful row, and her relief that he didn't blame her for letting some person stroll in made her smile a bit. "It was a young man. Very polite. I don't think he is one of the neighbors sons, so I thought he may be one the children of your coworkers."
Vernon grunted as he thought through the people he knew. "Those fellows? Maybe, some of the guys try and get the kids to do more now. 'Training the new crew', they call it." Standing, he placed his dish into the sink and moved toward the living room.
It was a strapping tall lad, currently sitting on one of the guest chairs. He seemed to radiate a type of calm, as if he had lived in that chair his whole life and just now bothered to realize it. Vernon walked over and held out his hand, "Good to meet you lad, name's Vernon. What can I do for you?"
The boy looked up and he almost had a heart attack. His eyes were almost exactly like that THING under the... no, they were not. Looking deeper in the green depths, he could feel a calmness, as if each eye was an old well filled with moss. Still, he found that he was now staring at the child.
Shaking himself a bit, he straightened his arm. "Sorry about that, you just reminded me of someone."
The boy stood, gripping his hand firmly. "No problem Mr. Dursley, I have been told that my appearance is a bit shocking. I actually need to speak to both you and the Mrs., actually."
Vernon moved over and sat in his throne. "Petunia? What about?"
Young eyes seemed to dim a bit as the young man resumed his seat. "It concerns her family."
Petunia had been listening in from the hall, and walked in at this. Her eyes searched the boys face, her own in a frown. "My family young man, has passed away." His young head nodded. "Most of it has, yes. This may seem a bit off topic, but may I ask a personal question of you both?"
Strongly hesitant, Petunia turned and looked Vernon in the eyes. after a moment, Vernon nodded and turned to the young man. "Normally I am quite a private person, young man. You can ask what you wish as long as you do it respectfully, but don't expect we will just answer anything."
The boy seemed surprised at the response, but smiled a bit. "That is more than I expected, and I thank you both for the opportunity." Turning more serious, his eyes seemed to flash for a moment. "Now for the vital question. Did either of you notice anything unusual a couple of days ago?"
They were both shocked. Vernon was not going to talk about ANYTHING involving the "freak", and his mind was starting to run out of ideas of what to do. Standing swiftly, he motioned toward the door. "Thank you for your time young man, but I think you should go now."
The boy seemed to tense, but his posture didn't change. If anything, his skin seemed to turn slightly gray. "A couple of days ago, did the world seem cleaner?"
Petunia gasped, but quickly covered her mouth and tried to look calm. Vernon had enough and decided someone needed to visit the doormat right now. Leaning forward, he gripped the lads arm above the elbow and stood up.
Or tried to. He almost wrenched his arm trying to budge the child!
Said boy looked into his eyes. "Only a couple of nights ago, I killed a daemon in your house."
Vernon's eyes widened and turned back to the cupboard almost without thought. He thoughtlessly murmured, "The boy is dead?" Petunia's eyes shot wide. Suddenly memories seemed to be moving quickly, memories that used to have a black veil pushing them back. A young girl... no, her SISTER. Some beach. A park. Letters. Boy? What b... THE CHILD. A basket, on the... LILY WAS DEAD!?
Petunia fell onto the near couch, eyes flowing with tears. Vernon heard her, and seeing her state shoved the rest of the world away and quickly hugged her close as she cried. Not knowing what was wrong, he whispered quiet words. "Everything is ok, you are ok, nothing is wrong."
The young man seemed lost at what to do. He ran a hand through his black hair. "I... look, I didn't mean to make her cry, I thought you two would be glad to know the creature was dead. You always seemed happy to attack it and stuff."