Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter book series or any character from them.

Removing Dudley From the Equation

Prologue

It was a tragic day for the Dursleys. When Petunia Dursley née Evans became pregnant, she and her husband Vernon Dursley were so happy they had even thought about names: Dudley if a boy and Violet if a girl. (The girl's name was based on the flower pattern Petunia's parents seemed to be fond – they named her sister Lily) However, that joy became complete sadness when Petunia not only suffered a miscarriage but it also resulted in her being unable to become pregnant ever again. News of this caused their neighbors and Vernon's coworkers to feel sorry for the couple.

Family, however, was a completely different affair. Vernon's sister Marge sent him a letter telling him she always knew Petunia was too skinny for bear children and he should get a new wife. Vernon sent a reply stating his sister should either apologize or never talk to them ever again. Petunia's sister, on the other hand, was pregnant with a child of her own and the Dursleys decided not to tell the bad news out of fear the shock would cause the tragedy to repeat. Lily and Petunia might have grown distant ever since Lily was accepted into a school that didn't accept Petunia but there were limits to hatred. Once Lily's baby (a boy Lily and her husband James Potter named Harry) was born, the Dursleys sent a letter sharing the bad news and explaining their reasons to withhold them. The Potters showed sympathy and appreciated the Dursleys' consideration towards them. The tragedy served to reconcile the Evans sisters. However, Lily and Petunia didn't have time to chat since the Potters were hiding from an evil wizard. You read it right, wizard. Magic is real but wizards and witches have long passed laws requiring this fact to be hidden from muggles (that's how wizards and witches called people who couldn't do magic).

Wondering what the Potters had to do with magic, aren't you? Well, James Potter came from a long line of wizards and witches and Lily Potter was what the Wizarding World called a 'muggleborn' – wizards and witches born to muggle parents. In fact, the estrangement between Lily and Petunia came from that. The school Lily was accepted in but Petunia wasn't was a school of magic where wizards and witches learned how to keep their magic properly controlled as well as history of the Wizarding World (if the history professor didn't bore you into sleep, that is).

A little more than one year later, the Dursleys found a baby at their doorstep. Thanks to a photograph sent to them by the Potters last Christmas and the stuff Vernon heard the previous night from wizards and witches in so much of a celebratory mood they ignored their own secrecy laws, the Dursleys had a pretty good idea of who that baby was.

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