The morning of November second 1981 stood out in the mind of Petunia Dursley for one reason it was the day that Albus Dumbledore ruined her life. She had been forced to re-plan her life three times before but being forced to do so never made her happy.
As a child Petunia had planned that she would grow up to be a prima ballerina and that she and her three years younger sister would grow up and marry lords and be rich. That plan hadn't worked so well. They were born into a lower middle class family and, well, ballet and lords didn't abound in their neighborhood. Then when Lily was eleven and Petunia fourteen she got a mysterious letter and everything changed. That creepy little boy from Spinner's End proved to be correct, Lily was a witch. Albus Dumbledore took her sister from her. There was one benefit however, her parents had finally thought her old enough that she was allowed to take a bus to the far side of town and take ballet with a woman who had danced for the Royal Ballet and to pay for it she was allowed to go to high school in a public school instead of parochial school. At high school Petunia found out that her dreams of being one of the beautiful people in this world weren't going to come true. Her bone structure could never take her from the description of somewhat stately and handsome if she worked at it, into the realm of the truly beautiful. But one thing Petunia did have was brains. She quickly learned that by being a tutor she could earn money of her own and get in with the crowd of people that she wished to associate with. Then she finally hit her teenage growth spurt. And grew and grew, when she finally finished growing she was 5' 11 ½" her dreams of prima ballerina were gone. Petunia polished her manners and despaired about her looks.
Then she met Vernon Dursley. Vernon was a Rugby Player. He was from a solidly middle class family and he had potential. He wasn't the sort of handsome that would make him a target of the prettier girls nor was he very bright, but he was trainable. She tutored him to get his grades high enough that he could get into college on a rugby scholarship. She also got an academic scholarship to the same college. She figured out that Vernon had a talent to listen and be persuasive, she helped him choose a marketing and business degree and tutored him all through college. Vernon had proposed calling her the willowy queen of his heart, after winning the rugby championship their second year of college. She accepted and they had a Christmas wedding their third year. A wedding that was nearly ruined by the wizard that her sister was engaged to. Lily had fixed things but Petunia still wanted to kill that annoying man who claimed he was only trying to have some fun. Vernon had been shocked that this strange young man, who was supposed to become a member of his extended family, would be so immature and crass at his wedding. On their brief honeymoon to Paris they agreed to have as little to do with Petunia's sister and her soon to be husband as humanly possible. Vernon graduated with his marketing degree and got a sales job at Grunnings Drill Co. Petunia graduated and found out just how useless a design degree could be when one didn't have connections and so started back to school to get a teaching credential.
Then she got pregnant. When she was five months along, her and Lily's parents died in a strange automobile accident. Her plans of a large close family were destroyed. Her parents dead, her sister married to, well he may have been a lord but he was also a freak, and her sister in law was a lush living off the inheritance that by rights should have been split between Vernon and Marge. Vernon, with his soft spot for his sister, instead let her keep it all claiming that since he had his queen and was capable of providing for himself he would do as his parents would have wanted and given it to his sister. Hardly the sort of family that would help them in their quest to move up the ladder of social success.
Petunia and Vernon were saddened by the loss of their only decent relatives, but were pleased that Petunia's parents had left her the house and Lilly the life insurance money because it helped them trim their expenses and save more. The only drawback was it was an hour commute from Grunnings, longer if traffic was bad. Dudley was born and they had a year and a half of bliss.
Then the morning of November 2, 1981 Petunia stepped out to get the milk and found a baby and a letter. A letter that read:
To Petunia Dursley,
I regret to inform you that late Halloween night your sister and her husband were killed, by an evil wizard. Your sister died protecting her son, because of this she invoked a very rare but very powerful protective magic. Your nephew is the subject of a prophecy, and he has temporarily banished the evil wizard. However the evil wizard has many followers and I'm afraid the boy's godfather is under suspicion of having something to do with the deaths of the boy's parents. In the interests of prolonging the protection from his mother, and in protecting him from the backlash these events are sure to cause, I have brought him to you to be raised and cared for. The wards I have placed about your home will protect both him and your family from any in the magical world who wish to find and possibly harm you. I know that you were hurt when I didn't allow you to come to Hogwarts with Lily, Petunia, but for the sake of the love you have for your sister please take her son into your home and raise him as if he was your own. I will be in touch. My condolences on your loss. Sincerely,
Albus Dumbledore
P.S. It's important that you never leave the wards for longer than two weeks. One more request don't tell Harry about the magical world until he is older. It would come with far too many burdens for such a young child.