Sleepy relaxing times
Harry sits groggy-eyed beside an equally tired Dudley as Petunia flits about the kitchen doing something that neither of them have the energy to pay attention to.
Vernon had woken everyone in the middle of the night, so now Harry and Dudley are just curled up on the couch with a blanket.
Leo purrs loudly in Harry’s lap while Dudley struggles to stay awake. His head droops before snapping up, then droops again.
It’s a vicious cycle.
Harry stifles a giggle as Dudley's head droops and stays down. If he doesn't move soon, he's going to wake up with a crick in his neck.
Leo purrs louder in Harry's lap, responding to her emotions.
She smiled and settled back on the couch, nearly going limp as she closed her eyes and took in the sounds around her.
Aunt Petunia bustling around the kitchen, Leo purring in her lap, Dudley breathing softly next to her.
Never in her life would she believe that she would be on good terms with her extended family, and yet here they were.
Harry pulled Leo up as she slumped against the arm of the couch, now sideways, adjusting the blanket Petunia had draped over her and Dudley as she buried her face in Leo’s fur.
The cat in question began to silently lick her hair, grooming her as if he was her parent.
She giggled and ran her hand down his back, scratching behind his ears and making him purr louder.
A quick look at Dudley proved that he had yet to move and, in fact, his chin was now resting on his chest as he snored softly.
She yawned and settled fully on the couch, allowing herself to slip into a doze as the sounds of breathing, purring, and clanking in the kitchen soothed her nerves.
— — —
Petunia glanced into the kitchen, softening when she saw her kids on the couch.
Dudley had settled into a position that he would surely regret when he woke up, while Harry was sideways on the couch, feet across her cousin’s lap and a purring cat on her chest.
She really couldn’t blame them for falling asleep. Vernon had woken everyone in the neighborhood when he came racing up the stairs.
Quite a few of the neighbors had come over to see what the fuss was about, and to maybe scowl at Petunia, until they saw she was just as confused and angry as they.
Though, her neighbors also knew, thanks to Vernon bragging about Dudley, that her kids were leaving for over half the year to their respective schools.
In all honesty, she wasn't very excited about them going to school. They left in two days, and she felt like her heart was tearing apart every time she thought about it.
Don’t get her wrong, she was excited. Dudley and Harry would be going to magical school! All the friends they'll make, the things they’ll learn!
Truly, she was ecstatic for them, especially because she had some adjustments of her own to make.
Not that she’d tell them just yet of course. There was so much for her to do, so much for her to plan.
Besides, Petunia knew for a fact that the kids would be quite pleased when they found out just what she was planning.
She had heard more than enough of their grumpy murmurings together to know that Harry and Dudley would be more than happy about what she was doing.
Petunia sighed and turned her attention back to the pans on the stove. She was in the middle of making breakfast. Vernon had, surprisingly, been too unnerved to eat that morning.
Because he hadn’t eaten that morning, he had just told her not to make anything that morning, completely disregarding her and Dudley.
It was for that very reason that she was only now making breakfast, more brunch really, at 10 in the morning.
Another look into the living room soothed her nerves. The war had taken its toll on everyone, magical or not.
After what had happened to Lily and her husbands and the war in general, she often had to remind herself that Harry and Dudley were alive.
She had never had a role in the war, had actually stayed on the downlow, but when she found out about her sister…
She had caused more than one storm from anger and grief when she found her baby niece at the doorstep.
The sheer amount of flooding caused by her grief had caused so much damage that the neighborhood had to be evacuated.
Nevertheless, she had mourned. Half of the storming had been caused by her grief, but the other half had been caused by rage.
Rage that she had to find out her sister was dead by finding her niece on her doorstep after a freezing night, one where Harry could have frozen to death.
Petunia had very nearly stormed straight to Hogwarts to give Dumbledore a piece of her mind, only stopped by the fact that she didn’t trust Vernon with the kids.
The entire week she had grieved, she had laid curled up in bed, with only Mrs. Polkiss allowed in. Vernon had been more than a little cross about it, but was too scared to face his wife’s wrath.
Petunia pinched the bridge of her nose, interrupted from her thoughts by Dudley’s snoring being cut off as he fell over.
She snickered silently as she watched Dudley snort and curl up on the couch, no longer in the uncomfortable position he had been in.
With one more look at her kids, she returned her attention to the food, not wanting it to burn. She began to hum softly, feeling warm.
Everything was good in the world, and nothing could ruin it. Not even the knowledge that the kids she raised, her kids, were leaving.
She couldn’t bring herself to be upset at them for being excited. She remembered being just as excited when she learned she was going to Beauxbatons.
She could only be happy that her kids wouldn’t be a repeat of her and Lily. When she tried to tell Lily that she had magic, Lily had just slammed the door in her face.
It was because of that denial that Lily never learned of Petunia's magic.
Petunia focused on the sizzling of the bacon, determined to ignore her thoughts. She didn’t want to remember the pain.
She had far too much to do, too many plans to enact. People to protect. She didn’t have the time to wallow in her pain.
A soft meow snaps her away from her pain. She turned to see Leo standing in the doorway. He meows again and jumps up onto the counter, purring.
She turns off the stove and leans against the counter, allowing Leo to nuzzle into her hands as she breathes shakily.
Pure panic envelops her brain and she sinks to her knees, Leo hopping down into her lap. She gulps against his fur, focussing on his purring.
A few more moments of Leo wiping away the sweat on her brow, shaking heavily as he rumbles in her lap, before she stands and puts him on the counter.
She makes quick work of the bacon and eggs on the stove, deciding to simply package them and put them in the fridge.
She found herself without an appetite as she placed the food in the fridge and picked up Leo. Gently, she carried him to the couch and sat, lifting Dudley’s head up to rest in her lap.
Leo settled back onto Harry’s chest, purring just as loudly as he had been before. Petunia relaxed, listening to the breathing of the children with relief.
She didn’t know how she’d possibly survive if something happened to them. She doesn’t know what she’d do.
She just knows it wouldn’t be pretty.
Petunia reaches over to the side table, picking up her book. She sighed, relaxed by the safety of her children.
It was hard to be so tense, so worried about them, when they were right there, next to her.
— — —
Purring filled the air, as silver eyes observed the sleeping children and the newly calm matriarch. It had been a surprise to find her panicked in the kitchen, but an easy fix.
— — —
Death smiled as she watched the sleeping figure. Beeping filled the void, the only sound besides breathing.
“Soon,” she whispered, disappearing in a wave of shadows as if she was never there.
— — —
Harry, watching Dudley practically ask for a crick in his neck: I’d do something, but it’s funny.
Leo, side eyeing her: Meow (Your cruel)
— — —
Petunia: Panik
Leo: Meow
Petunia: Calm
— — —
Vernon: AHHHHHH
Neighbors, waking up from the noise and now unhappy: What on earth!?
Neighbors, storming over to the Dursleys house: Explain yourselves, knaves-
Petunia, visibly pissed: Leave
Neighbors, a little bit scared now: Okbyewe’resorry!