Disclaimer #1: I do not own Harry Potter. I'm just a writer wannabe and I have too much fun doing this to stop now. ILY, J.K. Rowling! Thanks for this amazing world you created and for letting us play with it.

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She woke up startled.

It took a few moments to recognize the room she was in, but she let out a breath when snippets of the day before started coming back to her. Gathering the boys' things. Packing. Writing a note to Vernon. Calling the old taxi driver from Wisteria Lane. Getting on the cab with the toddlers and never once looking back at Number Four, Privet Drive. Arriving at their new flat in Kent. Soothing her boys and cuddling with them until they fell asleep. Going to bed, feeling exhausted but somewhat happy.

Petunia Dursley (or Rose Evans, from now on), sighed. She had left behind an abusive husband, and currently had little money and absolutely no idea of what her next move regarding her nephew should be. For little Harry Potter, not yet two years old, was a very special boy. Very special indeed, as the child was already capable of performing small feats of magic to keep himself and his cousin entertained. She didn't quite remember how old her sister Lily was when the first bout of accidental magic happened, but she had overheard a number of conversations Lily had with their parents along the years.

Petunia never really participated in any aspect of Lily's magical life; for years she had envied and despised her little sister, but she always wanted (no, needed, she thought) to know everything that was going on, even if it was just to shout at the redhead's face how unnatural she was, and how Petunia herself preferred to be just as normal as their beloved parents. She recalled those memories with a burning sense of shame, and once again prayed that the youngest Evans would forgive her when the time came. In any case, she had indeed heard when Lily had talked about magical prowess, and how children could show signs of being magical at the tender age of one or even only when they were close to eleven, the age required to start magical schooling. Her sister had also said that the earliest tended to be the more powerful, although that was not a rule. Petunia kept thinking about that. She never knew James Potter, Lily's husband, but she knew that the girl would never fall (or worse, marry) a buffoon. He had to be at least very intelligent, on the same league as the redhead. She wondered if Harry's parents were the reason he was already showing signs of being a powerful wizard. It most likely was.

Once again, she felt shame. Shame for having refused to attend their wedding, dumped her letters, and for always shunning the Potter family from her own until one day they were no longer on this earth to be shunned. Shaking the thoughts out of her head, she decided to get up and get ready for the day.

It promised to be a long one.

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"Mummy! Harry's makin' the toy's fly 'gain! Look, mummy, look!" Dudley, a.k.a. Jake, was feeling very happy. He didn't know why they were not at home anymore, but his mummy wasn't crying, his cousin was giggling and the toys were flying! All he wanted now was his brekkie, and then all would be right in his world.

"I see it love, it's very nice. Harry, you're such a good boy! But please, stop now so I can make your breakfast, okay? You can play with your cousin later." She gave the boys a little smile and ruffled their hairs on the way to the kitchen. As the flat wasn't very big, and the two toddlers were currently crawling on the floor near the table, she had to ask him to stop, else nothing would get done in time.

"Mummy, I wan' do that too! Can I make 'em fly like a balloooooon? Pleeeeease?"

She froze.

She had dreaded this moment.

Calming herself, she turned to look at her boys.

"Oh, baby, I'm sorry. Harry is a little different than us, that is why he can make the toys fly, or make your books come to you when I'm not around. It's nothing to be afraid of, we're just different. I promise you'll understand when you grow up, and I'm sure Harry will always be here to do these things for you. Isn't that right, Harry?" She had kneeled in front of the children, and tried her best calming voice on Dudley. He had turned to eye his cousin, with a frown on his face, but looking like he was expecting something.

"Yeah! I do that loads and loads for you, Dud! Fun!" and he giggled a little more. Dudley seemed upset for a minute, but then looked at his mother and decided that he could accept that answer for now.

"S'okay. Different not bad, huh? But we're hungry, mummy!" He pointed his chubby little fingers to himself, and then to the black haired boy. They both started laughing and she smiled; it would be all right in the end.

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"Thank you so much for looking after Jake, Dr. Granger, it would be really hard to take him to London with us. And I had this appointment for Harry scheduled ages ago, we really can't miss it!" She was fussing over her boy, who was currently sleeping in a cot placed in the middle of the Granger's playroom.

Petunia had decided to wait a few days before going to the alley, because she had to make sure the boys would understand the need for Dudley to become Jake. At first they were confused, but she had explained it as if it were a game: they had moved and now had new, and better, names! Harry had asked why they couldn't change his too, but the blonde mother had explained that as his last name was changed, she didn't see the need. They had thought it was super fun, and so Dudley became Jake, she became Rose, and the Evans family was born.

"Oh, Rose, think nothing of it! And how many times must I tell you to call me Sarah? I understand perfectly, after all our little Hermione is always going to the toddler and baby clinic for her check-ups. I'll be sure to keep Jake entertained until she wakes up, and then they can play together. It really is best to do this now, seeing that you'll have little time when you start working with us. But I'm sure we can arrange to take all three of them together the next time." The woman smiled, and once again Petunia thanked the Heavens for meeting her.

The Grangers were a very nice middle-aged couple, who had only one child. Sarah called Hermione their 'miracle girl', as she'd had several miscarriages before the girl was born. David was just happy they got the chance to be parents, and was very pleased when he learned that Petunia had two boys. Because of complications, Sarah was no longer able to have children, and the couple thought it would be very nice indeed if they could arrange playdates between the three toddlers. After all, there's nothing more precious than a child's laugh.

"Yes, that would be very nice! Thank you for the thinking about that. Well, we must be going now, else we'll miss the train. I expect to be back in a few hours, but please call me if anything happens." She said, and when Sarah nodded, she made her way back to the door, where Harry was peacefully sleeping in his buggy.

Saying goodbye one last time, Petunia and Harry made their way to the nearest train station, with one destination in mind: Charing Cross Road.

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"Now, Harry, where might this pub be? I don't quite remember, as I was only here for one time. You see, it was your mum's first trip to the wizarding world…" She was talking quietly to the toddler, while looking for any sign that this was the right place. The only problem was that she had been walking this street up and down for about twenty minutes and wasn't having any luck. Sighing, Petunia picked up her nephew as she had noticed he was becoming a little agitated.

As soon as their flesh touched, a building materialized out of thin air. Or so it seemed.

"Oh! So you have to be with a wizard or a witch to be able to see this Leaky Cauldron. Well, shall we get this over with? I hope we can discover something about your parents' friends, little one. I really, really, do…" She gave the boy a kiss on the cheek and put him back on his buggy as she made her way to the strange looking building.

As soon as Petunia entered the pub, though, all eyes seemed to focus on her. There were even a few snide remarks as she walked until the counter, where a short and bizarre (no, different) looking man was cleaning a set of glasses.

"Can I help you, ma'am? I'm Tom, I own the place. I don't think I've ever seen you here before…"

"Oh, that's quite alright, seeing I'm not from around here. I mean, I am British, of course, but my family moved to Australia when I was eleven. I just recently moved back, and decided to check the Alley. It has been many years…" She tried to use her best commanding voice, and also talked a little loud. The reaction was immediate: most of the people lost interest in the conversation, but a few continued looking at her. Oh well, Petunia thought, at least I had the foresight to cover Harry's head with a hat, nobody seemed to recognize us. It was probably the buggy that almost gave us away. For she was dressed in a long black trench coat, that seemed more like a cape, and was a passable copy of a wizarding robe.

"Ah, miss, welcome back, then! May I get you something to drink? Water, butterbeer, pumpkin juice?"

"Some pumpkin juice would be nice, thank you. I'll just sit with my boy on that corner over there."

And so she spent the next two hours pretending to be waiting for someone, eating some weird things, and doing what she did best: listening to others' conversations.

"The Potter boy will be two in a few weeks, you know that?

"Alas, it was my greatest wish to see the Boy-Who-Lived on his birthday, but nobody knows where he is…"

"You saw the latest Dumbledore article on the Prophet? I don't believe for a second he has Harry Potter tucked away somewhere. The child is dead, I know it! If not, why were we never allowed to see our savior?"

"Such a shame, such a shame. I'll always remember the Potters, though, they were good people."

"What I can't figure out is why the hell they would be friends with Sirius Black!"

"Yes, well, we can all make mistakes…"

A name! Finally! When she noticed a young couple walking to the back of the pub, she quickly followed. Petunia knew this was the entrance to Diagon Alley, but as she wasn't a witch, she had to wait for someone to "open it" for her.

She tried not to look out of place, doing her best to look as this was a sight so common to her as the sun up in the sky. Fortunately, Harry had gone back to sleep once he had eaten his lunch, so there was no noise coming out of the buggy. She quickly made her way to the bookstore, Flourish and Blotts. It was indeed fortunate that Petunia had chosen this day to visit the alley, as there were very few people circulating.

"Excuse me", she said, approaching the nearest salesman, "I'm looking for books about… about the Potters." That last bit was said with a whisper, as she was trying to avoid anyone listening in on the conversation.

"Erm… we have a few books that cover the last war, miss, if that's what you're interested about. I have to ask, though, how come you don't know about them?" The man asked, curious.

WAR?! THERE HAD BEEN A WAR?! HOW COME NOT ONE NORMAL (OKAY, NON-MAGICAL) PEOPLE HAD BEEN INFORMED OF THIS?

Trying to calm down, and offering the man a reassuring smile, she told him the same tale Tom from The Leaky Cauldron had heard. The salesman face softened a bit, as he said "Ah!" in a muffled tone, and moved back to retrieve her books.

"There you are, miss, these three are the best we have. It will cost you a galleon each, but he have a sitting area for our customers to read…" He said, looking at the toddler currently sleeping next to them.

"Ah yes, that would be most appreciated. I just want to have a quick look, as this little one needs to get home in a few moments." She replied, already moving to the area he had pointed.

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She sat there for what seemed like an eternity. There had actually been a war fought because of blood prejudice, and the magical world had almost lost! If not for Harry, according to the books, these wizards and witches would have been doomed! How could this be? Where had the police been? The government? How could the fate of an entire society rest on an infant?

And then she found the passage she had truly been seeking, about Lily's friends.

"The Potters were known for being very popular at their time in Hogwarts, as they were excellent students and eventually became Head Boy and Girl. Close friends, however, were equally skilled. Frank and Alice Longbottom (née Frasier) of Ravenclaw, Peter Pettigrew, Remus Lupin and Sirius Black of Gryffindor, and Marlene McKinnon and Dorcas Meadowes of Hufflepuff were all friends of the couple.

Unfortunately, tragedy happens. And in a time of war, it happens way more often than it should. The Longbottoms were tortured into insanity a few days after the events of Halloween, 1981. Marlene and Dorcas, along with their entire families, were killed in the early days of the war, soon after they left Hogwarts. Remus Lupin's whereabouts are unknown. Sirius Black is incarcerated in Azkaban for life, for it was him that led You-Know-Who to the Potter. He also is responsible for the murder of Peter Pettigrew and 12 muggles."

Petunia was horrified. It seemed that almost all of Lily's friends were lost to her, but to know that it was actually one of them that facilitated her sister's murder shocked her to the core.

"I hope that he rots in that hell", she mutered to herself as the tears started falling on her cheeks. Quickly wiping them off, and shutting the book, she contemplated her next move.

The only one I might be able to find is this Lupin person. Maybe they have something like the post around here, and I can send him a letter.

It would be almost an hour later that a very worn out young woman and a toddler would walk out of The Leaky Cauldron. But she had made contact. All that was left to do now was wait.

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A/N: First of all: I'M SO SORRY FOR TAKING THIS LONG TO UPDATE! Life is pretty crazy right now, as this is my final year at University and I'm doing my final project etc etc. And there's my internship… Still, I hope you liked this chapter!

A couple of things:

In Book 1, Hermione mentions that she has read about Harry in a few books before coming to Hogwarts. So, I think it's okay to assume that these same books would cover a little bit of his parents' life, including who were their friends, what became of them, etc. Also, I just put them in random houses because it's more interesting that way. xD

I know that there isn't a lot of action in this chapter, but as we are still quite in the beginning, that's to be expected. And thank you for all your lovely reviews! They make my day, seriously. To answer some questions: Dudley is non-magical. I will not bash Dumbledore (much). I'm still not sure about having Harry call Petunia 'mum', we'll see how that goes.

A/N 2: This fic is un-betaed and English is not my first language. Feel free to point out any mistakes to me! As always, I have to be honest and say that I don't have a clue when will the next update be (hopefully soon), and I am making this up as I go along.

Next chapter: What became of Vernon, Dumbledore makes another appearance, and much more…

xx Bee