Just till yesterday, his life had been - well, if not perfect, at least good and likely to be always getting better. Work was a hassle, but then, what wasn't?
And he had Petunia, and Dudley. Petunia, who always so upright and straight-thinking and family-loving, and always made him feel like the top of the world (Ha ha ha ha Fengerson, my wife doesn't go play around and gamble and get debts that eat you alive, nyaah! No pretty face can compete with my Petunia!) and Dudley - such a big, strapping baby! It was a shame he'd given Petunia such a hard time getting born, but still, what man didn't like seeing his son was almost twice the size of the other babies his age?
But then.
...Then...
Vernon Dursley sighed, then. It wasn't like Petunia could do anything about being related to screaming brats who could quite possibly burn the house down yelling for his bloody damn mother. Or freeze it. Or just blow the roof off. Or turn Petunia and Dudley into legos, who the hell knew what the damn brat was capable of.
Damn freaks, why the hell couldn't they find one of their own to take the bloody brat in, anyhow!
Instead of Petunia. Poor, poor Petunia. She'd had a hard time even taking care of just Dudley, and now...
...Well, had to think on the positive side, as all the salespeople were regularly told. Maybe...
Maybe the brat had managed to float off into the sunset, or something?
...Probably not. Damn.
Vernon shook himself miserably, then. He'd spent enough time dithering around, finding any little excuse to put off going home.
Come on, now, Vernon. It's just the door. It wouldn't bite you.
...At least the brat didn't seem to be screaming any more, right now.
"Petunia! I'm home...."
Oh.
"Do we have guests?"
30 minutes later, Vernon Dursley was biting his lips, thinking furiously.
"So I - I mean me and my wife - each get this sum here, monthly. This is just for us, correct?"
"Yes. Most of the other expenses that would be needed for Harry Potter - see here - will be billed over here. There is a limit to the expenses, but as you see here - "
"...And...what's this about adjusted by the number of children? Do you mean..."
"Oh, that means any other children you and Mrs Dursley might have or adopt, Mr Dursley. Here - "
"Oh. Hmmmm..."
It wasn't like it was going to be a very large sum of money, but considering it was going to be coming in every month...
"And this is till Harry is what, 18?"
"Actually 17, but...Hmmm. In his case, we could probably extend it a little..."
Hmmmmm.
No wonder Petunia looked happy. With this additional income, they could probably pay off the mortgage more then 10 years before they'd planned to up to now.
And the "no more freaky explosions" bracelet was a godsend. Even if it made him vaguely queasy that he couldn't really seem to focus on it all that well, even though he knew it was there...
He would have liked it better if they could do away with the boy's freakishness once and for all, of course, but since the nice ladies said that would be a Very Bad Idea and Petunia seemed to agree with that, if grudgingly... Oh, well.
Vernon Dursley looked at his wife and dosing son, then, and smiled. Life did seem to be looking up.
"Oh, but one other thing, Mr Dursley...About Harry's sleeping arrangements?"
"...Mmmmmmm?"
"Actually...putting him in the cupboard for the night may not have been such a bad idea, you see. "
Haruka blinked. ("Setsuna?")
"It's right smack in the middle of the entire house, right under the stairs, and very easy to set up basic shieldings and such. The only problem is that it's a bit on the small side..."
("Oh. ....Right.)
"Sussanna Makepiece" bubbled on. Haruka sighed. OK, did this house even have a basement...?...
There is what appears to be a cupboard under the stairs, in the Dursley house.
Scribbled on, with crayons.
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(Posted Sun, 12 Mar 2006 13:34)
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