The Meaning of Being Saved

Chp 5. New Pain, New Life

Ever since The Boy vanished from their backyard over the weekend, the Dursley household had fallen into a downward spiral. The place still appeared to be a loving home, too an outsider looking in at least. But on the fringe the next door neighbors began to whisper that the shouting was getting worse. Petunia ceased to come out of her own home in broad daylight, and even if she did she often wore a pair of her husband’s sunglasses. That or a hat that shaded her entire face but even these ventures outside were exceedingly rare.

There is no mistake Vernon blamed Petunia for Harry’s disappearance. With the boy out of their grasp there was no way for them to know if the bobby was going to come and arrest them, or one day he would return and do his freak magic and hurt them all. Their eminent deaths could be blamed easily on the horse-faced woman’s shoulders. He hadn’t even wanted the brat in his house to begin with.

For the moment everything was calm. Dudley was up in his room where it was safe, taking a nap. Vernon was last seen in the living room reading the newspaper. Petunia hid in her kitchen, minding her own business as she scrubbed down any surface she could reach.

Disgusted with the newspaper and its inability to tell him if the boy had been found dead somewhere, Vernon stood up and flung the poor paper down onto the couch angrily. Unsatisfied with the unanimated paper, the large blob-of-a-man turned and walked straight into the kitchen. The night Vernon had tortured Harry, something within the man had snapped. At one point he had been loving and affectionate to his wife and son. But now, with the boy gone and no outlet for his rage he began to find more and more reasons to punish Petunia and Dudley. He loved watching them scream and flinch when he entered a room. It made him feel… powerful.

Petunia hadn’t seen him enter her kitchen, and Vernon almost immediately noticed this. His fat, wet lips turned down in a sneer; his moustache bristling. Walking over slowly, he watched her. At one time he had found her rather attractive. It was before she began to become skinnier, just to fit into the dress she said that she just had to have for their wedding. Then he noticed her neck. Her ugly giraffe-like neck that seemed to never end. And it had enough skin for s second one, should she choose to grow another.

At the thought of his wife having a second neck, Vernon could not stop the rage that began to build. She was probably a freak like her sister, Lily. She must know magic, and probably had attended that freaks school. Hell, her blood made his son a half freak. He began to seethe with rage. Petunia turned to grab the other sponge from the sink and nearly shrieked at the sight of her purple-faced husband. That was much better. She was much more attractive frightened anyway.

He stepped forward and cornered Petunia against the counter, reaching out and causing the horse-faced woman to flinch.

“You think it’s funny, do you freak? Tricking to me, lying to me about what you really are? You are no better than your whore of a sister, and our son… He’s no better than The Boy. Are you proud of yourself, freak? Well, are you?!” He reached out and grabbed her skinny neck with his large, fat hands.

“V-Vernon what are you talking about?” She gasped when his hands got tighter, unable to stop him from jerking her forward.

“You ruddy well know what I am talking about!” He brought his hand up and slammed it into the side of her face, loosening a few teeth and causing her lip to bust open.