Fic Rec Fridays 2019 - part 17

the family evans (3529 words) by dirgewithoutmusic
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Relationships: Petunia Evans Dursley & Harry Potter, Petunia Evans Dursley & Lily Evans Potter, Petuna Evans Dursley & Remus Lupin, Dudley Dursley & Harry Potter
Characters: Petunia Evans Dursley, Harry Potter, Dudley Dursley
Additional Tags: What-If, Family
Series: Part 4 of boy with a scar

Summary:

What if, when Petunia Dursley found a little boy on her front doorstep, she took him in? Not into the cupboard under the stairs, not into a twisted childhood of tarnished worth and neglect—what if she took him in?

Petunia was jealous, selfish and vicious. We will not pretend she wasn’t. She looked at that boy on her doorstep and thought about her Dudders, barely a month older than this boy. She looked at his eyes and her stomach turned over and over. (Severus Snape saved Harry’s life for his eyes. Let’s have Petunia save it despite them).

Let’s tell a story where Petunia Dursley found a baby boy on her doorstep and hated his eyes—she hated them. She took him in and fed him and changed him and got him his shots, and she hated his eyes up until the day she looked at the boy and saw her nephew, not her sister’s shadow. When Harry was two and Vernon Dursley bought Dudley a toy car and Harry a fast food meal with a toy with parts he could choke on Petunia packed her things and got a divorce.

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Not an underappreciated story, but a classic of what-if tales for a reason.

Or several reasons, actually. One: Petunia Evans written as a three-dimensional character; not flawless, but not simplistically awful and petty either. Here, she makes one different choice, and it doesn’t change everything, but many things do turn out for the better.

Most importantly, my recommendation reason number two: the Evans boys. And not only Harry; I firmly believe Dudley deserved better than the parents canon gave him. In this ‘verse he has a chance to grow up into a decent person.

And if this one leaves you craving for more -- as it will do, if you haven’t had a chance to sample it before -- it's part of a series of similar short-ish what-if AUs. They will suck you in and give you all the feels and take up all your weekend and then some; I take no responsibility, but you're very welcome ;)