BLANKET DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING YOU RECOGNISE

Petunia Dursley woke up suddenly, not knowing why she felt the need to do so. Blinking blearily, she noticed the sensation of having something sticky on her face; sticky and warm with the disturbing scent of copper. She sat up, her body screaming in pain and she noticed that she was laid awkwardly on the floor. Confused, she cradled her throbbing head and winced as she felt the bruise on her jaw.

She stood up shakily, her body in too much pain and leaned against the bedside table. The table lamp thrown halfway across the room and then there was the unmistakable sound of something gurgling and the wet sound of squelching of something being pulled out and put back in with force. Petunia looked and her brown eyes widened at the sight of Vernon, her whale of a husband, staring at her with nearly lifeless eyes. On top of his wide body was her small nephew Harry Potter, not that the three nearly four years old know his own name.

He was holding a large knife in his small hands, both covered completely in the copper scented viscous liquid. Vernon gurgle, the open straight gape on his throat hindering his breathing and voice. His front bloomed with roses; wet, crimson roses. Harry was naked, his body painfully starved to the point of skeletal-like that his spines and joints seemed awkwardly large underneath his skin. One final thrust of the blade and he looked up as Vernon gurgle his final. The light left his eyes and Petunia stared dumbly, her insides numb and her mind blank.

She then looked at Harry; or Alice as he called himself shyly that evening she last gave him a piece of dried bread. She had to sneak to give him food as the small boy was too weak to come out of the cage he was kept in inside the cupboard under the stair. She remembered that evening when Harry had whimpered from his constantly starved stomach throbbed with pain and Petunia was worried of what would happen. Whether she likes it or not, Lily had entrusted her with her son. True that he was left on her front step in the wee hour of morning by the Headmaster of her sister's school, but letter disguised within by the envelope written with the Headmaster's handwriting was undoubtedly her sister.

Then Dudley had come to the kitchen saw for the first time his father's 'pet', as Vernon had called Harry when Dudley asked him what he was keeping in the cupboard under the stair, the one that made the whining noise. He was so angry that evening and had injured her nephew's neck badly enough that the boy can never speak without pain in his voice. He has been silent since and Dudley never knew what was kept under the stair since Vernon locked it with nine different locks so that Dudley won't ever found out the truth of his father's 'pet'.

So she knew that he must be in terrible pain when he made enough noise that she can hear him. Unable to take it anymore, her being a mother herself, she took him out, washed his face and gave him a bowl of chicken soup. Then Dudley comes in and Petunia was hard pressed to explain to him about Harry. Dudley was his father's son and Petunia feared that he would pull a terrible tantrum, a habit his father only encourages. She was lucky that he still loves his mother with that trusting heart of a child and she explained that he must never tell about the boy in the kitchen to his father.

She should have known that Vernon would pry Dudley with toys and treats.

She should have known that little Dudley who thinks his father was a hero will want his father's acknowledgement, not knowing what his desire will lead to.

She didn't blame her son; he was only a boy who was blinded by his father's attention. Vernon has always kept Dudley to himself and Petunia was only a presence that he noticed when his father was away. She has no say to his growth, no influence from her. Any interaction between her and Dudley were distant and watched over by Vernon.

Ever since she insisted to take her nephew in, knowing both the benefit and terror waiting her family from her choice, he has branded her unworthy of his attention and even worse, an unworthy mother to his son.

So yes, she didn't blame Dudley at all… Petunia could only blame her own weakness…

Yet of all the things, terrible things done by Vernon to her nephew, he kept the most malicious quiet from her. He 'indulged' in Harry only when she was away for grocery. So when she came home with the unmistakable sounds of thumping in the house, she had feared that he had brought a woman home and so came up with righteous anger but what she found was even worse; to see her vulnerable nephew being raped by her husband.

She didn't know what happened to Dudley and when she tried to pull him off of Harry, he threw her off and told her he should have known that she would corrupt Dudley behind his back. Apparently he found Dudley working some candy under the cupboard's door; somehow the boy had found out where the little boy he saw in the kitchen that day was kept. Dudley has a bright mind; there was no doubt about that as long as Vernon did not corrupt him further.

He saw his father and he had tried futilely to stay silent as to how he found out about the Boy, as Petunia called Harry in case Dudley let his name slip. Vernon enticed him with treats and when the boy tried to stay silent, he baited with toys. Dudley crack when his father played the 'angel' to him. He spilled everything, telling his father he was glad that he has a little brother to play with and would his father please let Boy out and let them share room like other kids?

Vernon had hit Dudley so hard the boy had flung across the room like a ragdoll. He then proceeded to lock Dudley in the closet in their room, telling him that he would show him what happened to little boys who don't listen to their father. From behind the closet, he proceeded to trash Harry before finally raping the boy. Dudley was crying out in fear at first, telling he'll be good to begging to let Boy go to finally fell silent in utter horror.

Petunia lost conscious to the sound of her son screaming Mum…

Only to wake up to the sight of Harry stabbing her husband with a knife too large in his hands. She watched as he started to laugh a silent laughter. She watched as he cried and laughed at the same time. She understood that Harry had experienced something that no children should and she blamed herself for being unable to give him more, to protect him more…to protect both her children more. And because of her weakness, Dudley will never be the same and Harry…Harry was broken. His mind utterly shattered beyond repair.

Outside, the sun was sinking low in the horizon as Petunia took out Dudley from her closet, the inside ruined by vomit and the acrid smell of urine and waste. Dudley was pale and shaking, eyes wide with terror and crying silently, his tongue bitten so hard it was purple and bleeding badly.

Petunia packed with a robot-like mind, as if she was in another world. But inside she was a mess of emotions. Her husband dead, murdered. Her son scarred for life and Harry…well Harry was asleep in one of her larger trunk, being small enough to be kept in a trunk. She cleaned both boys in the car and drove off.

She loved watching crime and investigation drama on the television and so what comes next was perhaps something she had watched or perhaps her mind has always thought of it but it was kept deep in the darkest corner of her tortured soul.

She was miles away from Surrey when the gas leaking in the kitchen met with the broken lamp in the master bedroom which was on and emitting sparks once in a while. Vernon was instantly turned into a human torch due to the oil splattered all over him and then the rest of the house by yours truly. In less than an hour, the house was beyond help and burned to cinders, leaving nothing but a charred ground and blackened frames and supports.

As for Vernon Dursley…he was less of a skeleton and more of ashes…

The next day, Petunia was called and she claimed that she had a fight with her husband for disciplining Dudley too hard and had decided to leave that night. It was an open and closed case for the police…