Petunia Dursley was not having a good day. In fact, she was not having a good month. Her troubles had started when her poor son Dudley was, in her opinion, unfairly expelled from his school for bullying. To compound this, her husband, Vernon, had had a massive heart attack when he heard the news. He had only just gotten out of the hospital that morning, and was on bed rest. The doctors had said that he was to be under no stress whatsoever. Unfortunately her good-for-nothing nephew was due to arrive at the end of the week from his boarding school. Vernon always gets so mad when that boy is here, she thought. He better not cause Vernon to have a relapse.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the arrival of the mail. Petunia quickly made her way from the kitchen to the front of the house. "Bill...bill...letter from Marge; I'll save that for Vernon. Sale at the grocer's...What's this?" she asked herself. The letter was addressed to a Ms. Petunia Evans. She could not think of anyone who did not know that she was married to Vernon. After all, she thought, we've been married for almost twenty years now. Not only did the sender not know her married name, but the letter wasn't even from England. She opened the letter.

Dear Ms. Evans,

I apologize for using your maiden name, but I fear that in my old age I have forgotten your married name. I hope you can forgive an old man. I am writing you because I can think of no other way to find out what has happened to my nephew. It has been many years since I last tried to contact him, and it appears that his address is no longer good; I sent a letter a few weeks ago, but it was returned along with a note saying that no one by that named lived there. It was not until I came across an old correspondence with his wife that I realized that you, her sister, might know of some way of contacting him. If you know where he is now living, or if you know of someone else who would, please either send me a letter at my return address, or call me at the enclosed phone number.

Yours Sincerely,

Col. Sherman Potter (ret.)

Petunia couldn't believe her luck. This is the perfect way to get rid of that boy, she thought. I had better call him straight away, so arrangements can be made as soon as possible. She rushed over to the phone and began to dial.

***

It was early morning at the Potter house, and Mildred Potter had just gotten up. Her husband, Sherman Potter, had been up for well over an hour, feeding the horses. He was just coming in the kitchen door when the phone rang. He grabbed it before Mildred could even get up from her seat at the kitchen table.

"Hello, Potter residence," he said, wondering who would be calling at this hour of the morning.

"I-Is this Sherman Potter?" came a hesitant voice.

"Yes..." he said.

"This is Petunia Dursley, Lily's sister. You sent me a letter."

"Dursley, that's right. You married Vernon Dursley, works for Grunnings, making drills."

"Yes, that's right," she said. "You said that you wanted to know about your nephew?"

"Do you know how I can contact him?" he asked.

"I'm sorry to say that won't be possible," she said. "He and my sister were killed almost sixteen years ago." Something about the way she said it

made him think that she wasn't really very sorry at all. "Their son is still alive though." She paused. "That's actually the main reason I called. You see, my poor Vernon just got out of the hospital and is still recovering from his heart attack."

"I'm sorry to hear that," said Colonel Potter. She definitely wants something from me, he thought. The question is, what is it.

"When they released him from the hospital, the doctors said to make sure that my Vernon was under the least amount of stress possible," she said. "And, well, the boy and Vernon have never really gotten on together, and the boy's due to get back from his boarding school at the end of the week. I'd really prefer it if Vernon didn't have to deal with the boy's disruptive behaviour at all. Is there any way you could take the boy for the summer?"

Colonel Potter took the phone from his ear and stared at it. Did she really just as me that? This woman doesn't know me from Adam's house-cat, and she's asking me to take care of her nephew that's lived with her for almost his whole life. He gave himself a shake, and put the phone back to his ear, realizing that she was still waiting for an answer.

"Sorry, you caught me by surprise. We would be glad to have him; just let me know when he'll get here so I can arrange to pick him up from the airport."

"I'll call you later this week with the details," Petunia said in a brusk manner, before hanging up the phone. Colonel Potter slowly hung up the phone, with a bemused look on his face.

"What was that all about, Sherman?" asked Mildred, who was unable to contain her curiosity any longer.

"Well, it looks like we're going to have a guest for the summer," he replied.