4
Petunia was a little nervous, and she would probably tell Vernon as soon as he got home.
Rose would think of a way to keep her from telling Vernon before the next morning, since there was no way in hell she could resist a man as big as a sick woman.
But what is important now is that it succeeded.
She could take the boy, and they could live together somewhere away from the Dursleys.
Then finally, you won't have to sleep every day feeling guilty about Lily or her dysfunctional family.
Rose has everything ready.
She already had a rented house, a two-hour drive from the Dursley's house but enough of a break for some time.
Her luggage was already packed, she packed them this morning to make sure she wouldn't fall back no matter what.
All that remains, is the boy himself.
When Vernon came home after work, Petunia decided to talk to her while they were washing the dishes after dinner.
"I'll tell Vernon about that before bed."
Rose froze, and she skillfully hid it with a smile: “That's good! But don't you think it would be bad if Vernon was so happy that he couldn't sleep?”
"Huh?" Petunia looked at Rose in confusion. "Then what should I do?"
"In the morning it will be good, preferably at breakfast time. He will be very happy and go to work actively. Isn't that better?" Rose smiled and went back to her work.
"right..." Petunia's voice trailed off as they worked in silence.
Rose smiled faintly, her plan had been a complete success.
____
Perhaps the only flaw in her plan was that she did not know exactly where the boy was.
She knew he lived inside the house, because she was watching the door whenever she heard the door creak every day.
The boy was not one of the departures.
After checking all the places in the house that were hidden yesterday, there were two possibilities that she could not go to.
The attic, arguably the only place in the house she hadn't inspected that could make a fairly decent room, even though it would need major renovation and a pretty major cleaning since the last time she'd seen it.
The kitchen was the second option, there was a room behind the kitchen that Rose couldn't enter, since Petunia hadn't allowed her to cook much over the past few days.
Rose feels happy because she had more than one possibility, but did all the possibilities have to be this bad?
After Rose made sure that none of the house's residents were awake, since she had been monitoring their sleep schedules during her few days in this house, she crept out on her toes with her suitcase.
She checked the attic before changing her clothes, when she was wearing her pajamas.
To avoid suspicion, she had brought a portable flashlight with her, given that the attic was completely dark.
The result was that the attic was empty with no sign of life in it, in fact, no one from the Dursley family had probably entered the attic in years.
Rose held her heeled shoes in one hand and her bag in her other hand as she descended the stairs.
She placed her bag by the door and returned to the kitchen, hoping to discover the boy's whereabouts.
Unfortunately, her search in the kitchen room, which she discovered was some kind of safe, ended in another failure.
"Where could he be?" Rose muttered in a low voice, and searched in vain in the darkness of the living room after deciding to put her lamp back in her bag.
A voice caught Rose's attention, her shoulders tensed until she realized someone was coming.
Rose exhaled in relief when the person was shorter than her. It was easier to convince Dudley to return to his bed than to anger Petunia or Vernon.
"Are you awake? Go back to sleep, du-" Rose smiled and walked over to Dudley.
Only, it turns out that Dudley wasn't actually Dudley.
Dudley clearly wasn't wearing glasses, clearly didn't have unruly black hair, and glowing green eyes.
Rose realized with great joy that this was Lily's son.
"hi." She spoke cautiously, watching the child even though she was unable to look at his expression due to the distance and darkness.
Rose moved forward in an attempt to approach the boy, but noticed that the boy took a step away as a result.
“Okay, I won't come forward.” Rose smiled, but she remembered that the room was dark and the boy would not see her smile, so she took one step away.
Minutes passed, and Rose was tense.
The boy did not move, but that did not mean that time was not passing. The Dursleys would wake up soon.
“You are Lily's son, aren't you?” she asked, her voice tense with a hint of excitement.
The boy hesitated, but finally said: “...Who is Lily?”
Rose's breath stopped for a second, but she mustered the energy to speak. Why didn't the child know his mother's name?
"Lily Evans, don't you know her?" Rose's voice was hesitant, a hidden hope that the boy was really Lily's son.
Petunia couldn't hide such a thing from the boy, could she?
It took a minute for the boy to answer: "No..."
Rose's thoughts were confused, thinking of every possible reason why the boy wouldn't even know about his mother.
"So, who are your parents?" Rose spoke unconsciously.
Silence settled between them, and Rose immediately regretted her words.
It was clear that he was not Lily's son. Why was she even asking him about his parents?
Another part of her objected, saying that Petunia couldn't have a second child, nor was he Lily's son, so who was he?
On the other hand, Rose thought that maybe the boy was Lily's son, and not only did he know his mother's name, Rose wished in moments like this that she knew the name of the boy's father.
Rose had some guesses. Lily had once been talking to her, when their relationship wasn't that bad.
She talked about a boy who bothered her and kept asking her out, and another boy who was her friend.
Sadly, Rose didn't remember the first boy's name, but she did remember the second boy's last name.
"Do-?" Rose's words were interrupted by a yawn and footsteps from the stairs.
Rose's eyes widened, and she quickly decided what to do, as she grabbed the boy's wrist and pulled him to sit on the carpet in front of the sofa.
Vernon was clearly sleepy, and did not notice their shapes in the complete darkness, so he muttered a few words and went into the kitchen, perhaps to drink a glass of water.
'This is my chance.' Rose quickly pulled the boy as calmly as possible to the door and quickly put on her shoes, motioning for the boy to do the same.
Rose noticed that the boy was silent and did not move, but she could not ask about that because she heard Vernon's loud steps towards them.
Rose picked up her bag and opened the door, not caring about the noise anymore, as she pulled the boy to escape from the Dursley house.
_____