Disclaimer: NOT Blonde, Not rich, not living in Britain, initials are not JKR therefore don't own. Love the characters and the setting so am just playing, I get nothing but the reviews my readers give me.

A/N: Happy New Year! This fiction like many of my others is co authored with Darkshadowedrose. Many characters will be OOC from the books. Harry will be grey and Slytherin. I hope to stay mostly true to the Dumbledore of the books. But with a different Harry it might be hard. There will be no pairings before sixth year at the earliest so don't ask. Petunia is a bit of major player in this story especially at first and very OOC from the books. I hope you all like. Postings will be once a week on Sundays. Enjoy!

Trust is a Relative Thing

Chapter 1 A Boy on a Doorstep

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.

It was hard suddenly having two babies in the house, Petunia was thankful that at least Harry was smaller than Dudley because it meant they only had to buy a crib, nappies and food. As it was, the sudden increase in their expenses was unwelcome. Harry frightened her several times early on because he had a fear of open spaces and liked to hide in the cupboard under the stairs. He was in general an easy going child, he didn't get angry and cry if Dudley took a toy he was playing with and despite being younger and smaller he was very steady on his feet which meant she seldom had to carry him. He was only difficult at night, being prone to night terrors as well as nightmares. Vernon resented the frequent disturbances during the night but agreed Harry was only a baby. He ignored Harry's presence as much as possible. Petunia kept quiet about the times when Harry used accidental magic to entertain Dudley and himself during the day. Things went on smoothly until one morning when Harry was impatient for his turn in the high chair. He summoned the food from Petunia's hand to the floor where he was sitting, and accidentally broke the dish. Vernon on seeing this scooped the boy from the floor and smacked his bottom five times. Harry wailing, retreated to the cupboard under the stairs. But Petunia always wondered how much of the conversation that followed Harry had heard and understood. Petunia's shock at Vernon's actions lasted until Harry had left the room.

"Vernon Dursley how dare you!"

"Pet. I won't have that freakish boy using it, to take Dudley's food and destroying things we've worked hard to pay for. From now on if he uses it, I say we punish him."

"I don't like him using it either, but he can't help it and he's a child. I'm sure he was just hungry and impatient. Breaking the dish was an accident, but it happens. Dudley has broken dishes too."

"The boy is a burden!"

"The boy is our nephew!"

"Control him or I will. I resent every penny we pay providing that freak with food and nappies. He could at least help you around here instead of taking advantage of us."

"He's only two and a half years old."

"We never asked for him, hell those bloody freaks left him on our doorstep because they didn't want the burden of caring for him either. I say again, control him Pet or I will."

After that day Harry always waited his turn and he did his best to be helpful to Petunia. He started toilet training a week later and mastered it within a month. She taught him how to dust low shelves for her and he helped put groceries away in the low cabinets and unloaded the silverware from the dishwasher. He also helped her sort and fold laundry.

When Harry was three things had mostly settled down. Although Harry still had bad dreams they were no longer a nightly occurrence. Vernon got a promotion to general sales manager and they had decided it was time to move to a larger home and to try for another baby. Petunia had managed to break Dudley of his habits of hitting everyone while trying and get his own way and of destroying everything he touched. But she couldn't get him to be considerate of Harry. She suspected it had more to do with the disdain Vernon held Harry in than anything else, and the fact it quietly pleased Vernon when Dudley was unkind to the smaller dark haired boy.

Everything was packed and they were waiting for the movers when there was a knock on the door. When they opened it, there stood an old man with a long ponytail and a longer beard, that was wearing a purple suit. "Hello Petunia, Vernon, boys."

Dudley said, "Are you the mover?"

"No I'm afraid not. In fact the movers aren't coming. I've had to cancel those arrangements."

"By what right! Who are you to say we can't move!" Vernon blustered.

The old man waved a stick. And Vernon seemed frozen. He waved it a little more then Vernon floated over to the sofa. "Petunia, I'm afraid you can't move away from Privet Drive. This is where the wards protecting Harry are; you move away from here and you move him and the rest of you into danger."

"But the contract on the new house, the-"

"I've canceled those as well, here is the earnest money back. The memories of you, all have been removed from all parties. No, no, it was no trouble. After all the most important thing is that you all stay safe."

"But we want to move, Vernon got a promotion. We need a larger house that is closer so we can entertain appropriately-"

"Petunia, I'm very sorry but for Harry to stay safe, you all have to stay here. It's only until he's seventeen."

"You! You're Albus Dumbledore!"

"That's right and you're doing marvelous at raising Harry." He waved his wand a few more times and then got back to his feet pointed his wand at Vernon and said oblivate then did the same to Dudley. "You've done a marvelous job packing your belongings so you can now repaint the house."

"What have you done to my husband?" Petunia snarled at the old man.

"I've given him a reason for having packed the house up. And I've set a mild compulsion spell into the ward structure so he will no longer desire to move. Good day, Petunia." He said with a smile before exiting the back door and after looking around to ensure no one was watching he disappeared.

Petunia almost cried as Vernon and Dudley insisted that they go shopping and refurbish Privet Drive. That evening Vernon said to her "Pet, I've been thinking. The boy still likes the cupboard under the stairs what if we cleaned it out, put what's there out in the shed, and made that his room. We could use the mattress from his crib, give him some hooks for his clothes. That way the smallest bedroom would be free to be a nursery."

A year later they were still trying for the baby they all wanted. The fertility specialists they had consulted couldn't find a thing wrong with either her or Vernon, and she was left wondering why they couldn't get pregnant. They had gotten Dudley despite birth control. Harry had been moved to the cupboard but was happy enough with the change. Additionally his night terrors had all but disappeared with the move. Harry now helped even more around the house and aside from an incident when he turned the preschool substitute teacher's wig blue there hadn't been much magic.

Vernon had had an angina attack and Petunia used it as an excuse to feed the whole family a much healthier diet and enforce an exercise regime on both Dudley and Vernon. Sweet talking Vernon, "I couldn't possibly be happy if anything happened to you and don't you want to see our fine strong son grow up? Besides if you exercise more you could maintain your handsome physique. I know I would love that and don't I take care of myself for you?" Wrapped around Petunia's finger Vernon had of course agreed.

In April of 1984, things changed. Harry had been completely focused on his painting at preschool when the teacher and Dudley and two other boys interrupted his attention and spoiled his painting and he got angry. A moment later they were stuck to the ceiling. The assistant teacher frantically called Petunia.

Elsewhere alarms were going off at the Ministry of Magic. The Accidental Magic Reversal Squad came along with Albus Dumbldore. Many things happened. The magic Harry did was reversed and the memories of those involved, but not Petunia, were modified. Albus decided that Harry's magic was strong enough to be a problem, so without even asking Petunia's permission he placed a binding on Harry's magic that would slowly disintegrate when he was ten so he would be able to access his magic when he was eleven and heading to Hogwarts.

"How are things going Petunia?" Albus Dumbledore asked.

"Mrs. Dursley, if you please. Life here at Privet Drive is rubbing along acceptably, it would be better if Vernon and I weren't experiencing difficulties getting pregnant."

The old man's blue eyes twinkled even as his voice took on an apologetic note. "I'm sorry I must have forgotten to mention the wards have a side effect. You will be unable to have more children until after the wards fall when Harry is seventeen. It's probably just as well, this way you have plenty of resources for Harry and Donnie is it?"

Petunia was stunned silent.

"Good day Petunia." He said then apparated away. Harry standing beside her, somehow knew that what the old man said was very bad and that it somehow related to him. He knew he was supposed to not remember but somehow he had blocked it, before the strange old man made him feels so strange and kind of sick.

The months that followed were the worst of Harry's life. When his uncle was told of Harry's escapade with magic that day he was spanked and locked in his cupboard without supper for the first time. His aunt let him out to use the bathroom at bedtime but otherwise didn't acknowledge him in any way. The next morning his uncle let him out and said, "Your freakishness has cost this family a lot, boy. So you'd better start to contribute more to this household and lighten the burden on your aunt, understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"Oh and after what you did at pre-school yesterday no more pre-school for you. Bad enough we have to move Dudley to a new school. Learn to control it boy, and we'll let you go to school next year. Got it?"

Terrified because he was sure he couldn't learn to control the strange things that happened around him, Harry gave the only answer he knew would satisfy his uncle "Yes, sir."

Petunia went numb and ignored her nephew, and the unkind things her husband and son did to him for months until Harry's fifth birthday. On that day, Dudley pushed him down the stairs and put Harry in the hospital. Once she was reassured that Harry wasn't in any danger, she came home and gave Dudley the first and what she hoped would be the last spanking she ever had to give him. She told Dudley that as long as Harry was recovering he would have to do everything around the house to help that Harry did and sleep in Harry's room, because Harry would need the space of his room while he recovered. Also that he was grounded and would have no TV, no computer and no toys. Vernon tried to protest but Petunia shut him up by saying, "I saw him deliberately push Harry down the stairs Vernon. I may not like the boy, but I will not allow our son to get away with attempting to murder his own cousin! Do you want Dudley to be the sort of person who grows up and gets sent to prison?"

"Of course not!"

"Then let me discipline him!"

Vernon left it to her, he loved his wife. She was far more intelligent than he, and she could be quite terrifying when angered. Most of the time she was submissive, sweet, passionate and everything he'd ever wanted in a wife. He knew without a doubt, she was the reason he was as successful as he was. But when angered the last place he wanted to be was between her and whatever she was angry at, even if what she was angry at was his own son.

Petunia felt shaken. She had lost herself in mourning the children she was denied, and had failed to notice what her husband and son were doing. But that would change, she would no longer allow herself or her family to take the anger they felt at the magicals, who had put them in this situation, out on Harry. He was after all a child, he had no more choice in the matter than they did. She didn't love him. He was now a constant reminder of their stolen dreams as well as a reminder of her dead sister, but he wasn't to blame for it either. No Petunia blamed the man her sister had followed and obeyed. She blamed the man who placed Harry in their home under those thrice damned wards. She blamed Albus Dumbledore.