Chapter 1
Petunia shivered at the emptiness around her. She hated this house. It was perfectly normal, it was what she thought she had always wanted, a perfect house in a line of perfect houses, all exactly the same. The yards were all kept at exactly the same length. The flower beds are filled with the same colors of different varieties of flowers. Each driveway was kept clear with near-identical cars parked in them. It was all perfectly normal, and she hated it because it was also perfectly boring.
Her husband worked a normal, if well paying, job. She had a normal daily routine: clean the house, tend the garden, shop, cook, run, and gossip with the other women. Her dresses were always the latest fashion, she had a standing hair appointment at the best salon, and a brunch wasn’t held that she wasn’t invited to. She was active in her community, never missed an HOA meeting, smiled at the baby showers, and shared in the gossip. Anything to keep her out of that empty, desolate house.
Gossip only lasted so long as a distraction, and she knew she was the subject of more than her share of it. Barren. She could feel it hissed in the wind and spoken in hushed voices at the store. Petunia Dursley had the perfectly normal life she had always wanted and she hated it because of course, she couldn’t be normal. She couldn’t have a child like everyone said she should. She had tried, her and Vernon had been married because of an unexpected pregnancy, but it just wasn’t meant to be. The worst part was, that she wasn’t upset about not having a child, the miscarriages hurt sure, but she had never really liked babies. They cried, and pooped, and made messes she would have to clean up after, much as she did with her husband. Of course, no one but her knew this secret. She continued to half-heartedly ‘try’ with her husband, several failed attempts, him still not realizing it was never going to happen.
She shivered again as she passed through the door into the house and she shook her head, she hated this house. It felt empty, it felt like something important was missing every time she walked through the door, and a part of her expected to feel something that wasn’t there.
At some point in their marriage, Vernon started pulling longer shifts at work, going on more work trips, or just not coming home without a word on why. She knew it should bother her, as should the extra charges on his credit cards, the bills that she sorted through showing more expenses than there should be. She had been handling their married finances since the beginning, and Vernon, while not good with numbers, was not a stupid man and had to know she would notice. She didn’t bring it up when he came home, and he didn’t ask her about the new floor in the kitchen, or the new color of paint in the living room. They just didn’t talk, and the silence while deafening was small in comparison to the feeling of lack the house had as a whole. Redoing the kitchen made her feel better; it felt like more than the rest of the house did.
Vernon continued to not comment on the changes to the house and Petunia continued to ignore the bills coming in for jewelry she never saw. The entire house was redone and while it still felt like less than it should it didn't give her chills to walk through the door anymore. She had nothing left to do, and boredom began to creep back in, something was just wrong and missing. She had ignored the clear signs of infidelity Vernon showed because she had never really expected their relationship to be a romance for the ages. She thought when she had married him that she could be happy with him. That having someone who would financially provide for her would be enough. She had everything she asked for, it should be enough she argued in her mind. But it wasn’t.
Vernon hadn’t touched her in months, she rarely saw him as it was, always on a business trip or coming home so late she had already fallen asleep. The house still felt nothing like the house she grew up in which always felt happy and settled. He had stopped asking about her, and Petunia knew what was coming. So she set aside her allowance each month in a private bank account, saved the extra bills and receipts that showed his infidelity, and waited. Vernon had always wanted the picture-perfect house and family. Petunia gave him the house, but couldn’t give him the family he wanted.
It was a rather nice summer evening when Vernon came home in the middle of a workday to give her a large envelope. The terms of the divorce were rather generous which caused her suspicion. After reading through the terms carefully she signed the document ending her rather lackluster marriage and agreeing to be out of the house by the end of the summer. It wasn’t hard in the end, even with the many hundreds of hours she had poured into it, the house had always felt a bit too empty even after the renovations and a part of her was relieved to be leaving it. She left the folder showing his infidelity on the counter, his insistent and pregnant mistress made it unnecessary.