The week that followed the Dursley shake-up went fairly smoothly. Vernon awakened every morning, having thought of new reasons that the freak should go back in his cupboard and try to persuade Dudley that he didn't want to share with freaks, and urge him to ‘eat up boy, you're wasting away!' After a week of healthy eating and daily laps at the pool for Dudley and Harry, and the pair had been giving each other high-fives - Dudley had lost five pounds and Harry had gained two.

After Vernon would stomp off to work in frustration Petunia and the boys would sort through Lily's box - there had been more books, some were clearly over the boy's heads, but some were ‘first year books', according to the inscription on the inside covers.

The boys always took a couple of the books to the pool with them. The pad of paper had a lot of questions on it after a few days. Petunia spent mornings shopping for new clothing and healthy food for the two boys - at least that was the excuse she gave Vernon.

She was slowly taking chunks of money from the account, under the cover of buying presents for Dudley's birthday that was in the first week of July - next week. She had found an ad with a ‘home gym for sale - new - cheap'. Indeed - it was still in the box and the man still had the receipt. She paid only ¼ what it was worth and the man delivered it. She pocketed the difference and split the money between the boy's duffle bags - they now had several hundred pounds with each of them, for an emergency.

The boys were thrilled with the equipment, and set it up immediately. Even Vernon looked at it with mixed feelings - pleasure that Dudley was doing something manly, and displeasure that Harry got to share it.

Harry now had a new wardrobe of clothing. She was careful to buy Dudley things as well, and had done it slowly, over several days. The boys had come with her the first day, so she could size them - and to get new swimsuits. She had winced at Harry's thinness and Dudley's clear need to tone down. Once she had their measurements, she had dropped them at the pool with money to buy the summer passes for all three of them.

Then she had hit as many sales as possible, if the clothing was half - off, Vernon only turned slightly purple at new clothing for Harry. Her best deal had been finding a store with expensive trainers that were buy one - get one free. Harry's eye had lit up at the sight of them. His delight had made her a bit tearful.

Afternoons for the boys had been spent going through Dudley's room and closets. Dudley had found several boxes worth of clothing that had never been worn - mostly gifts from Marge who seemed to think he was still five years old, - and they still had tags on them. They had handed these to Petunia with glee, and she had returned them to the store with a grin. Getting a good sized packet of money from Marge without Marge knowing it made her day.

Dudley had gone through the rest of the clothing ruthlessly - Discarding anything that was too small for him to ever get back into and things that he simply would never want to wear (usually bought by Marge). This left just clothing he could and would wear, and some clothes he hoped to be able to wear again soon. This had taken 3 afternoons to accomplish.

Then they tackled the belongings. There were soon boxes of toys that were broken to discard, and boxes of toys to donate that he no longer played with. His room was so organized that he and Harry found it a bit creepy. "It just doesn't look like my room, Harry." Dudley whispered.

"Don't worry - we'll get out a board game with a lot of pieces, later, and it'll look messy enough again." Harry consoled him. Dudley looked oddly relieved at the thought.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Harry sat in his room quietly just before turning out the light. The past week had been amazing. The new clothes and plenty of food were great, but the real upside had been knowing that his Aunt and cousin liked him and no longer thought him a freak. Hearing about his parents had been wonderful - sometimes he had wondered if he and Aunt Petunia were really related, the way he was treated. The pictures had made it all real.

Aunt Petunia had smiled as she gave the two of them the trainers. "I'll try to have a nice party this year for you, Harry. I hope to find you both good presents tomorrow. I have a surprise for you - I finally found the Leaky Cauldron, in London."

"But how will we do that, it's Saturday - dad will expect is to be home." Dudley was excited at the thought of visiting the magical world, but didn't see how they could.

"I knew we would want to make this trip for this weekend. I bought overnight guest tickets to that golf resort in Bristol Vernon likes. I got them under someone else's name, and said they were for a fundraiser. I'll tell Vernon I won them at a bazaar. He's sure to take that Jensen fellow from work he wants to impress." Petunia explained all this with a smug smile. She was enjoying outwitting Vernon. She had sold a necklace to fund this, but it was worth it, and she sensed time was running out.

Harry had looked at her shrewdly. He knew a desperate move when he saw one. As he sat there on the bed, he wondered what was prompting such a ploy. He knew that the dark cloud of ‘what will Vernon do when he finds out' was hanging over all their heads. But he found comfort in the fact that it was now the three of them together, instead of him feeling alone against difficult odds.

Harry settled down and shut off the light. He would worm it out of Aunt Petunia tomorrow.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Petunia was sitting in the almost dark kitchen staring at a letter, later that night. She had never written anything half as difficult as this. She had not spared herself in the writing of it. She had wept a bit at times; thank God Vernon had trotted off to bed after jabbering on the phone to Jensen about the tickets. They would be off before dawn so they could golf all day. She could not have born questions from anyone at this point.

The letter was to Severus, she had ruthlessly told him everything that had occurred since Harry's arrival on her doorstep. She had excused nothing, and revealed every slap, every neglect and most of all everything Albus had not done when he became aware of it.

She had then begged, literally for his help for Harry and Dudley. She had told him that Albus had bound her son's magic; she knew that would appall any wizard. In the end she had even invoked Lily's memory, told him that Harry was not nearly as much James' son as he was Lily's and pleaded for him to take guardianship of them both.

She knew that with Vernon and Marge's huge network of friends she could never hide from Vernon, but the boys wouldn't be found in the wizarding world by them. She explained the abuse she also faced, knowing he likely would wince at the reminder of what his mother had endured. She had finally closed the letter with a last plea for help.

Writing all this down had made her relive it all, and she felt drained - but strangely free.

She knew that Lily's Severus would not fail to help.

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Petunia had been too wound up to sleep well, and she had awakened even before Vernon. Vernon had been almost pleasant with only a token sneer that she would have all day to coddle her freaky nephew. That had given her pause. Harry was now ‘her' nephew, she expected he would soon totally turn on her, as well. Marge would not be far behind. Likely she would suggest throwing both her and Harry out, and he would comply. He would likely boast about when Marge would be arriving - that would be when they would need to leave. Hopefully Severus would have received her letter before then.

Vernon had said he would not be back until very late on Sunday night. She made a breakfast for the boys and called them down. They ate quickly and got ready, and then they loaded up some of Lily's books and got in the car. They had their pad of questions and topics. Petunia had said there was a bookstore in Diagonalley, and they intended to find a few books to answer some of their questions - particularly books on the founders, and the four houses.

Petunia drove as fast as she dared into London, and parked near the Leakey Cauldron. She got out a big scarf, and large tinted glasses. She covered her hair, disguising herself as best she could without making it too obvious. She got out a floppy hat for Harry to wear that would cover most of the messy hair, and cover the scar. This gave him enough of a different appearance that anyone that had known James Potter wouldn't immediately know who he was.

They entered the ancient pub and conversation immediately ceased. She strode as confidently as she could to the bar where Tom stood, eyeing them. Petunia greeted him and smiled as warmly as she could.

"Good Day. My son and nephew will be attending Hogwarts when they turn eleven. We were hoping to do some shopping in Diagonalley today for books and things, to prepare of course. I have no magic, myself, would you be so kind as to open the door for us?" Petunia was relieved when Tom immediately agreed with a kindly smile. She was even more relieved when he barely glanced at the boys.''

Tom led them out the back door into an alley hidden from the London Street. He tapped on the stones and the boys gaped in awed astonishment at the arched opening to wizarding world. Tom smiled and said, "Have one of the boys say open when you need to leave. The door will respond to anyone with magic from the other side."

Petunia nodded her thanks and they entered Diagonalley.