And she didn’t. She boarded that plane with Dud and Ursula and she didn’t once look back. She didn’t consider the consequences of meeting Severus, of him seeing her in Diagon Alley with things of magic. Those thoughts left her as soon as Dud gurgled his fat little face and reached for Petunia.
Sweeping him up, Petunia bounced him twice, letting his head. She did not smile as she did so, as a mother might, but she did ask Ursula how he’d fared in the Isles while she was gone.
Ursula, with her thick accent and death glare, simply grunted and said, “Half a day did him no harm, ma’am.”
At that, Petunia shifted in her seat and held out the baby at arms length, “You’d best grow strong quick now, we’ve got a lot to do.”
And then Dud was tucked into his own first class seat a row back from Petunia, with Ursula sat next to him the whole way to make sure he was as comfortable as a child could be in the sky.
Perhaps, Petunia thought, Dud would wind up higher class this time round.
Fall in New York City found Petunia lounging in expensive cafes around Upper East Side and Manhattan, reading books with false covers as she learned about the magic of this world anew.
Yes, Petunia could flick a wand and say Wingardium Leviosa, but that did not mean she knew how to cast a notice-me-not or the intricacies of wizarding culture. Fortunately, one of the books she’d found was a book on American wizards —with a contact for magical immigration to the States. She didn’t immediately do anything quite so drastic as reaching out.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
No, Petunia went through all twenty seven books.
The first of which was The Standard Book of Spells: The Complete Collection by Miranda Goshawk. The entirety of the first half was all background —Chapters One through Four consisted of what a charm actually is, a brief history of magic, wand woods and their meanings, and basic wand movements. Petunia slimed all but the wand wood and the wand movement sections. She found her Aspen wand is deft at charm work.
As it ought to be if it’s hers.
Petunia stared at the very first charm in the book.
Caerulus Ignis. Bluebell flames. Cold fire that is safe to carry but can singe clothes and plants. She had thought it would be the levitation charm —which was actually several pages farther back.
Then, double checking Ursula was still out with Dud, she held out her wand and practiced speaking the incantation without the wand movement.
“Kae-ru-lus Ig-nis.”
She repeated it several times until she was confident she had it correct. Then she practiced holding her wand straight out in front of her and waving her wand in an anticlockwise twirl motion. She practiced that several times as well.
Worried she would singe her very expensive table, she grabbed several glasses —or rather, stemless wine glasses. If she was going to do this then it would at least be in style.
So she attempted her first intentional charm.
“Caerulus Ignis.”
It didn't work. Petunia sighed and tried again, emphasizing the hard c of Caerulus once more.
“Caerulus Ignis.”
This time a small blue flame sprung into existence. On her table.
“Shit.”