"See you tomorrow, Vernon," Henry Shepard, one of his favorite coworkers, called as Vernon passed by his desk.

Sending a brief smile Henry's way, he nodded. "Bright and early," he said.

Laughing, the other man turned away, returning to his previous activity of stapling papers together. Vernon couldn't be sure, but he thought they might be for tomorrow's meeting on the quarter budget. Henry must be planning to propose something noteworthy, Vernon thought. He usually brought little to budget meetings–like most of them. Budget Meetings usually didn't have much discussion, they were more often than not held just to inform employees if they were meeting expectations or if they were going to need to make cuts in the coming months.

Still wondering just what Henry would be sharing tomorrow as he stepped out into the evening's cool air, Vernon paid little attention to his surroundings as he headed for his car. However, that didn't last long. From the corner of his eye he couldn't help but notice not one, not two, but three shadowed figures flitting in and out of his peripheral vision. It only took him a few more seconds to realize that these figures were following him. Tightening his hold on his briefcase, Vernon felt a cold sweat break out on the back of his neck.

Who were these people following him? Thugs? Or… He stamped down the urge to shiver. If they knew he knew they were there, he was sure he'd be a dead man in less than a minute from now. As his car came into view, Vernon began to debate walking past it and walking out of the parking lot altogether. Perhaps he could go around the corner to the relatively busy commercial street he knew to lay there. It had a pub that was fairly popular with the businesses in the area and it was quite likely there would be a few blokes hanging out around the front of the establishment smoking.

However, Vernon squashed down that thought as soon as it was finished. He didn't want to risk getting innocents mixed up in whatever this was. Reaching his car, Vernon held his shoulders tensely as his hand dived into his pocket for his keys. Not even having to pretend to fumble with them moments later, Vernon let them fall from his fingers as he dropped to the asphalt and rolled beneath his car. He bit back a hiss at the pinching pain his too-large body went through as he wormed his way toward the middle of the undercarriage. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw lights of all hues flash in his direction. Then, he watched the lights stop and over the pounding of blood in his ears, he heard people start shouting.

Giving a startled cry as his car was levitated off him, he wasted no time in rolling up on to his knees, then to his feet, and running. Vernon knew, from letters with Harry, that wizard wands were more than just tools for them, but weapons too. Beginning to run in a weaving pattern, he prayed and prayed that none of the green lights zooming past him would hit his open back.

Another parked car coming up, Vernon made the split-second decision to jump behind it. It wouldn't save him, Vernon was sure, but it would give him a second to look back through the car's windows as he changed his path.

Looking back through the glass, he was surprised to see that the shadow people shooting the lights weren't aiming at him anymore, but at other people shooting lights.

Afraid that there could be more shadow-people looking for him, he glanced to around before making what he hoped wouldn't be a deadly decision when he could see no people beyond the ones fighting a few yards away. Crouching down, Vernon watched the battle.

A few more lights shot from the non-shadow people's wands and by luck or, perhaps, skill, they ended up hitting two of the four shadow-people. The other two hurried in gathering up their fallen comrades before vanishing. Now standing up straight, Vernon almost made the daft decision to step out from behind the safety of the car. But, then, he realized just because the non-shadow wizards chased the ones shooting at him off didn't mean they were safe to reveal himself to.

Keeping his feet planted where they were, Vernon watched as the non-shadow people re-grouped and finally, separated. Eyes bulging when he realized that one was coming his way, Vernon ducked back down and began to crawl away from the car as quickly as he could. However, he ended up not being fast enough as a vaguely amused voice called, "Excuse me? Vernon Dursley?"

Freezing, Vernon did not move for a full minute. Finally, though, he pushed himself to his feet and turned around. A mousey man in worn-out wizard robes smiled at him. "Are you okay?" he asked.

Wearily, Vernon nodded. "I'm alive," he said.

This made the man's lips lilt in amusement. "I can see that," he said. "But are you injured?"

He shrugged. "Nothing too bad," he said. "I'll be fine."

Shaking his head, the man remarked in a vaguely amused lilt, "Now I see where Harry gets his avoidance tactics from. You have to badger a straight answer out of him as well."

Vernon raised an eyebrow. "You know Harry?"

The mousey man nodded. "I was a professor of his for a year and I was a friend of his parents," he told Vernon.

Wracking his brain for names of adults Harry spoke about at length in his letters he said, "You're… You're that Professor Lupin he wrote home about now and again during his third year, aren't you?"

Lupin's faint smile grew into a grin. "Yes, I'm Remus Lupin."

Nodding, Vernon asked, "Why were those shadow-people waiting for me?"

Smile running away from his face, Lupin told Vernon, "I think they were looking for a way to get to Harry. Dumbledore has died, you see, and now Harry is Enemy Number One of our world."

Vernon's heart gave a frightened thud. Harry's trouble in his world only seemed to grow worse with time. It'd started with that incident with the stone in his first year, escalated to rescuing a convict, reached a crescendo with the deaths of a fellow student and that same convict and now he'd gone and taken the cake by becoming the magic world's Most Wanted.

Upset, he snapped, "Enemy Number One? How can that be? Harry's not even seventeen!"

Lupin gave a helpless shrug. "I'm sorry," he said, sounding truly sympathetic, but at a loss as what to say to make it better.

"You should be," Vernon grumbled. Feeling his face heat up in his anger, he growled, "Your people should have said Harry's life was going to end up at risk again and again when you came to tell us about that damn magic school of yours!"

Lupin's lips thinned. "I don't know if it's fair to blame Dumbledore and the professors of Hogwarts for all of what has transpired over the past six years, even if they made some mistakes in hindsight, they aren't seers," he argued. "Even so, I understand where you're coming from. I don't like what's happened to Harry anymore than you do."

"Hmph, well, I'm glad someone of your kind is willing to admit they messed things up with my nephew," Vernon replied, feeling he could say no more. Lupin certainly knew how to be diplomatic while disagreeing with someone, he thought.

Seeing that Vernon had no more to say about Harry, he looked down and reached into his pocket. Lupin then pulled out several letters and a little pouch. "These are for you and your family. The one on top is yours. There are a couple of letters for your son, and one for, ah, someone called D? The pouch is D's too."

Taking the items, Vernon flipped through them and nodded. "Thank you, I know who D is." Pocketing the letters and pouch, he promised, "I'll make sure Dudley and D get them."

Dipping his chin in acknowledgement, Lupin asked, "Do you still live on Privet Drive?"

Eyeing him sharply, Vernon said, "We moved away from there years ago."

"Does anyone live there now?"

Shaking his head, Vernon told Lupin, "Not currently. We were renting it out for a time, but after the last tenant moved out a year and a half ago, we've let it sit empty. My wife and I agreed it wasn't a good idea to find new people because… Well, I guess, because we always thought if the wizards who were after Harry came to find us, that they might go there." Looking mournfully to his office, Vernon remarked, "I guess I have to quit my job, aye? I can't go back if this will happen again. I have Loraine and the kids to think about."

Lupin offered a contrite smile. "I hate to agree, but, yes, that would be a good idea," he replied. "Why don't I escort you home, Mister Dursely? For your safety."

Vernon sighed. "If it's for my safety…" Gesturing toward his car, he said, "Let's go. We'll take my car back to my flat."

●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●

Stepping into his home, he turned around and gave Lupin his hand. "Thank you," he said.

The man's eyes brightened as he took it. "You're welcome, Mister Dursley. It's the least I could do, after all you've done for Harry," he replied.

Vernon nodded. "Talks about me, does he?" he asked, a little surprised that Harry told people about himself (in a favorable light, for that matter).

"Yes," Lupin said. "He says you've always been very supportive of his decisions."

"Really?" Vernon murmured. He knew he'd rarely argued with the choices Harry made since he went off to Hogwarts, but to call Vernon not dissenting his decisions supportive seemed a bit of a leap. Perhaps Harry simply chose to put a positive spin on Vernon's lack of input by calling it so? Yes, that had to be the case. Harry did have a way of twisting things into a more favorable light when he didn't want to upset anyone. "Well, that's nice of him to say."

Lupin raised an eyebrow. "It's not true?" he questioned.

Vernon shrugged. "Sometimes, I think Harry sugar-coats the truth."

Lupin's eyes lost some of their kind glow and flickered gold. He said, quietly, almost hostilely, "Harry's not one to lie."

Resisting the urge to back down, Vernon only raised his chin higher in defiance. "I didn't say he did," Vernon countered.

The mousey man, who no longer seemed so mousey, looked as if he was about to argue, when, from behind, Loraine called, "Vernon? Why are you still at the door?"

"That's my wife," he told Lupin. Putting out his hand for one last shake, he told him, "Once again, thank you and goodbye."

Taking it, he gave it a firm squeeze. "Goodbye, Mister Dursley," he said.

Shutting the door, Vernon looked behind himself to see Loraine watching with tired eyes. "Was that a wizard?" she asked.

He knew he couldn't lie to her, even if it he wanted to. "Yes," Vernon replied.

Crossing her arms, she sighed. "Do we have to move again?"

Vernon was about to say no, but, then, nodded. "To be safe," he told her. "They knew where I worked, I don't think it'd be hard for them to find us here."

"I'm getting really tired of this, Vernon," she groused.

Walking over, Vernon tried to take her into his arms, but she stepped out of his reach. "I'm sorry," he pleaded. "You know I never knew any of this was going to happen. I didn't even know Harry was magic until he was eleven."

Loraine rubbed the heal of her hand across her forehead. "I know," she said. "I know, I know!"

"What do you want me to do, Loraine? Do you want a divorce? I'll do anything that will make you happy, but even if we go separate ways, you and Samantha will likely be no safer than you are now."

"I just want this to be over," she warbled, covering her mouth to stifle a whimper.

Resisting the urge to hug her, Vernon stuffed his hands in his pocket and said, "I do too, Loraine. I do too."

Tears in her eyes, she looked at him; expression not just upset, but utterly distraught. "Sometimes, I regret marrying you. It's awful of me to say that, I know, but I can't hold it in any longer. Sometimes, Vernon Dursley, I regret marrying you."

Vernon laughed. He should be angry, offended. He ought to yell, "Well, then, you can just leave, you ungrateful bint!" But he doesn't. Instead, he reaches out for her once more. This time, Loraine doesn't reject his hands on her arms and even lets her pull her close. In little more than a whisper, he tells her, "It's no more awful than me wishing I listened to my sister and dumped Harry off at some hospital all those years ago."

Her eyes were watery, but searching as she stared at him. Suddenly, she canted forward and buried her face into his shoulder, sobbing as she clung to him. Swaying with her, Vernon thought of the boys. He used to do this with them, he remembered. After Pet died, he used to stand and rock Dudley when he would wake up in the night and scream for his mum. Vernon hadn't been able to give Dudley Petunia, but he'd been able to give him his shoulder to sob his little heart out on.

When Harry came into his life, he'd done the same for him. He let the boy cry for his mummy and daddy, beg and plead for them to come, while moving to and fro with him. While letting the toddler get snot all over his front. It was all he could give the boy at the time. It had never felt like it was enough.

Nothing Vernon did ever felt like enough. Not for Pet, Not for Dudley, Samantha or Loraine and especially not for Harry. He always seemed to be failing those closest to him one way or another.

When finished with her crying, Loraine pulled away a little and laid her head sideways on his shoulder. "We're horrible people, aren't we?" she asked.

Vernon felt his heart constrict. Maybe he was, but Loraine was wonderful. She was supportive and accepting almost to a fault and the amount of patience she had! It would put any saint to shame. Kissing the crown of her head, he mumbled, "Shh… You can't think that, okay? Loraine, you're brilliant. You've given me so much and taught me so much more. When I said for better, for worse when I married you, I meant it. I'm invested in this marriage as long as you are."

Slipping out of his arms, she reached up and took his face in her hands. The expression she wore was one of determination and resolve. "One more move," she whispered. "I'll give us one more move."

Vernon could read between the lines, he knew what she was promising wasn't just another move, but another attempt to make this situation work. To make them work.

Bringing Loraine's hand to his mouth, Vernon kissed her knuckles. "Thank you," he said. Using her hand to bring her even closer, he kissed her chapped lips and repeated, softer, gratefully, "Thank you."

●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●○●

Two days later, when Vernon was in the middle of moving the books from their bookshelf into boxes, a knock came at the front door. Throwing down the paperbacks he'd been trying to fit between a few hardbacks down, he grumbled, "Who could that be?"

Opening the door, he was confronted by a brunet, who, at first glance, was a stranger. But, then, the young man pushed back his bangs and revealed far too familiar green eyes. Gasping, Vernon wasted no time in dragging the young man in. Slamming the door shut behind them, he hissed, "What are you doing here!"

"Sorry, but Remus tipped me off that you looked to be moving."

Vernon's brow furrowed. "He's watching our flat?" he asked.

"Sort of. The Order's keeping an eye on your home for now," Harry explained as he took a seat on the couch still waiting to be moved into a truck in the living room.

"I wish they'd tell us they're watching. Maybe then I wouldn't have had to tell Loraine we needed to move. She's not happy about another one in such a short amount of time, you know."

Harry gave an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, Uncle Vernon. They're watching you guys as a favor to me and probably just haven't felt it was important to say anything. Order members might be more progressive and accepting as a whole, but a lot of them do think of you all as just Muggles."

"What's that supposed to mean? Do they think we're all idiots?"

"No! They just… Look, that's not why I'm here. Have you sent D and Dudley their letters yet?" Harry demanded.

Vernon scowled, wanting to chide Harry for speaking so disrespectfully. But he doesn't. Harry's at war and probably doesn't have time for a scolding on manners. "I sent them in the post yesterday," he told his nephew.

Harry relaxed, nodding. "Thank you, Uncle Vernon."

"Hmph, it wasn't any trouble," he replied. "Say, where are you staying right now, Harry? Are you with the Weasleys again? Dudley and D should be home from visiting their friend just in time to finish with the move this weekend. Perhaps we could all come visit you, or myself and the boys could, anyway. Loraine and Samantha are a little leery of your people's traveling methods."

The boy shook his head. "I wish they could come visit, Uncle Vernon," he said. "But I'm a little busy. Hermione, Ron, and I are going on a hunt for these things Dumbledore asked us to look for before he died. We need to destroy them so we can defeat Voldemort."

Vernon frowned. "Is it safe for you three to be running around like that? Lupin told me you're Enemy Number One of your world."

Harry took his glasses off and rubbed at them with the edge of his shirt. "Not terribly safe," he admitted. "But what else can we do?"

"What indeed," Vernon muttered. "Is this something you have to do, like that Tournament a few years back?"

His nephew shook his head. "Not quite, but I'm not about to trust just about anyone with doing what Hermione, Ron, and I are about to."

"Why not?" Vernon demanded. "Is your world so far gone that no one else is safe to trust?"

Harry's jaw clenched. "You don't get it," he said. "You never get anything. This is my job, okay? I'm not just going to hand it over to someone else because I'm now called Enemy Number One."

"You're so reckless!"

His nephew shot up from the couch. "And you pretend you care about me!" he shouted.

Vernon stilled, staring up at the angry, heaving young man. "I do care about you," he whispered. "You're Pet's nephew and Dudley's cousin."

Harry deflated a little. "Maybe, but not as much as you care about Dudley. I'm not a son to you."

"I've tried to love you like a son," Vernon argued. "I know I've missed the mark time and again, but surely you realize it wasn't because of lack of trying?"

"I don't know, Uncle Vernon, when should I have? When I was six and you took Dudley to the zoo for his birthday and for mine, you just had Nanny Whitmore take me to the pet shop for a fish? Or, when I was ten, and you sent me to bed without dinner because I pushed Dudley off his bike when, only a month later, Dudley pushed me down the stairs and all he had to suffer was no pudding that day? How about when you suggested maybe I should stay at Hogwarts that Christmas, after I burnt off Samantha's hand, because I make her nervous? It wasn't like she didn't have a father who would have loved to have her for the few days I wanted to be home and see Dudley!" Harry ranted, hands waving and face flushed.

Vernon winced. He was at a loss as what to say.

"Well, Uncle Vernon? Answer me!" the young man roared.

Once again, Vernon could only stare at his nephew, pleading for him to understand how sorry he was for making Harry feel like a lesser while also trying to impress upon him how Vernon hadn't always realized just how unfair he was.

Making a derisive noise, as if he'd expected no less, Harry sneered, "I thought so."

Then, reaching into his pocket, Harry pulled out a pocket watch. Popping it open, he showed Vernon a clock with only one hand. On the hand was a picture of Harry. Where numbers should have been on the clock's face were what looked to be destinations. Currently, Harry's face pointed at one that read "Home".

"What's this?" he asked.

Harry said, "It's a clock that will tell you where I am. If, by chance, I die, I'll fall off."

Taking it, Vernon pocketed it. "Thank you," he whispered.

"Uncle Vernon, if I do die, I think you, Dudley, Loraine, Samantha and D should leave England as fast as you can. It still might not save you in the end, but at least you'll have better odds of surviving Voldemort's world-wide take over outside of Britain," Harry explained.

Carefully clipping the chain to the belt-loop of his pants, Vernon slipped the magic watch in his pocket. "I'll check it often," he promised. "And Harry? Good luck with your hunt."

A faint smile came to his nephew's lips. "Thanks, Uncle Vernon."

Leaning over, Vernon wrapped his arms around his nephew and whispered, "Stay safe and I hope this war your world's having will finish soon."

Hugging him back, Harry mumbled into his shoulder, "So do I."

A/N: Thanks for reading and please vote and comment!

So, we saw Harry again! How'd you like his inclusion this chapter? Do you think it fit in time-wise with everything?