Vernon had his face pressed against the window, watching for Death Eaters in the street, convinced they would come and kidnap the whole family while Dedalus and Hestia were away. He had formed a habit of muttering under his breath as he stood watching the street below, complaining incoherently about Death Eaters, Dedalus, Harry, and magic in general.
“Do you see anything?” Dudley asked conversationally, for one would have thought the tension in the room enough to break even the strongest Patronus.
“No, not yet,” he said gravely, as though he was more distressed while he was not in danger, “but I assure you, they will be here one day.”
“Don’t scare him,” Petunia snapped, glaring coldly at her husband.
“Hestia and Dedalus said we are fine. They can’t get to us here.”
“I don’t believe it. If we can get to this floor, so can they,” said Vernon, adamantly denying magic.
After a pause, Dudley decided to test his father’s trust of magic. “What if they see you standing in the window before you see them?”
“They can’t see me,” said Vernon defensively, for the first time turning away from the window. “Hestia and Dedalus told us that weeks ago.”
Dudley smirked at his father’s selective belief in magic before taking the game a step further. “I heard Hestia and Dedalus talking about a cloak that makes you invisible.”
The color of Vernon’s face deepened, but he dismissed the idea quickly. “That is ridiculous.”
It had been three weeks since the Death Eaters had arrived in front of the apartment in Paris. Though they had left only a few days after arriving, the grim air that took their place made everyone nervous.
Hestia and Dedalus had become very busy attending Order Meetings more often and it suddenly became necessary for both of them to attend, leaving the Dursleys alone and Vernon in a fitful state.
“What if the Death Eaters come to get us and neither of you are here to protect us?” he would complain each time they left, working himself into an awful tantrum.
But Hestia simply repeated, “they cannot get to you here,” before finding sanctuary by closing the door in his face. And this always left Vernon to wait by the window until they came home.
Vernon jumped as the lock clicked on the hall door. “It’s about ruddy time you came home!” he barked when he saw that it was Hestia and Dedalus.
“Good afternoon to you, too,” Hestia said sarcastically, dropping into the nearest armchair.
“Do you realize how long you left us here alone for?” Vernon accused.
“An hour, at most?”
“Sixty seven minutes!” Vernon stormed, working himself into a rage. “We were alone for sixty seven minutes! Do you know what can happen in sixty seven minutes?”
“I could make myself a sandwich and watch an hour program on the tele,” Dudley whispered to Dedalus, who had strategically moved out of Vernon’s line of vision.
“You two should be protecting us, not gallivanting around Who-Knows Where!”
“We had other business,” Hestia said coolly. “We’re back now, and, as far as I can tell, you’ve come to no harm.”
“Yes!” Vernon shouted, making them jump, “this time!”
“I think I’m going to miss McGonagall’s lecture on the importance of not saying the taboo,” Hestia said dryly, so only Dudley and Dedalus could hear. Vernon ranted for several more minutes as his face gradually changed from a bright red to a deep purple and he was paid no attention by anyone.
When Vernon was pleased that he had shouted enough, he announced, with heavy footfalls, that he was going to make lunch. Petunia followed him into the other room, allowing Dudley to ask about the meeting.
When Kingsley had let slip Voldemort’s name, he was nearly captured by the death eaters who apparated to him immediately afterward. Dudley knew of Kingsley’s reputation for being a great wizard, and was fascinated as Dedalus described in great detail how he was blind sighted and valiantly fought off a dozen Death Eaters before escaping into the woods.
He didn’t fail to notice Hestia chuckling at the story, though; he had learned that Dedalus’ stories were greatly exaggerated, but enjoyed them nonetheless.
When the story ended, Dudley noticed the kitchen door was cracked, and quickly shut as soon as he looked up. Knowing that if it had been his father, everyone would have known, Dudley determined to be more careful around his mum.
***
The weeks passed extremely slowly at the apartment. On September 1st, Dudley had grudgingly resolved that it was time he began his schoolwork, especially seeing as there was not much else to do. He was surprised to find that his schoolwork was much easier to concentrate on than at Smeltings, surrounded by the distractions of his friends. In a month, he was actually ahead in his schoolwork.
Hestia and Vernon had established a system of dealing with each other, which mostly involved ignoring each other, though the occasional argument was inevitable.
An especially bad one had ended in Vernon being bound by ropes for half a day, to prevent him from trying to rid the house of all of Hestia’s and Dedalus’ magical trinkets. He complained about their wands and daily use of magic and claimed it was unnatural that Hestia’s coffee cup refilled itself and Dedalus’ pocket watch spoke. When Petunia accidentally tried to sweep with Hestia’s broomstick but it flew off in the opposite direction and dragged her to the floor, he had worked himself into a formidable rage. But when Hestia had brought out her potions kit to the kitchen counter and begun brewing more Polyjuice Potion supply for the Order, Vernon had had enough.
Walking into the kitchen one day to find Hestia surrounded by a steaming cauldron, a potions book, bunches of bottles of odd-looking materials and substances, and his father fuming, Dudley stepped quietly into a corner, trying to make himself invisible.
“”could be poisoned by this madness! We”we eat in here! Unsanitary”!” Vernon stuttered, his face turning a deep purple, as he seemed to be trying to comprehend his thoughts.
“It’s just a potion I’m brewing. This will all be put away by lunchtime and then it will just need to brew. I only needed””
“What do you mean it needs to brew?” he cut her off.
“It isn’t ready yet,” Hestia explained, a bit irritated. “It needs to brew for a month before””
“You expect me to let all of this sit around here for a month! Well, let me tell you, there is no way””
“That is not your decision,” she said tersely, stirring the pot on more time with an air of finality. “This is a matter for the Order.”
Unfortunately, Vernon did not let it go, and two hours later, Dudley walked in on him peeking under the lid of the cauldron, scrunching his nose as if there was a foul smell. Noticing Dudley, he slammed the lid back down and straightened up, looking incredibly guilty, though Dudley feigned ignorance.
Several days later, Dudley had thought it had blown over, though he occasionally saw his father glancing at the cauldron resentfully, as if it had done him a personal wrong. But one morning at breakfast, just as Hestia’s coffee mug had refilled itself, Vernon leaped out of his seat and lunged across the table for the mug. Hestia, sliding her chair back to avoid the spilled coffee, yelled “Oi! What do you think you’re doing?” as Vernon ran from the room with the dripping cup, flung open the living room window, and threw it aggressively into the empty street.
“What was that for?”
“Ruddy cup”” Vernon panted, almost comically. “Always refilling… It can’t do that anymore!” he proclaimed wildly, as Hestia and Dudley stared at him with equal measures of disbelief and amusement and Petunia seemed utterly bewildered. Dedalus, doubled-over and hugging the sofa for support, seemed to be restraining himself from laughing.
Then Vernon, his face set with new determination, set off, with thundering footsteps, to the corner of the room, where stood Hestia’s and Dedalus’s broomsticks. He grabbed them violently by the handles and, seeming to think that the window would not do, strode toward the fireplace.
“Accio Brooms!” shouted Dedalus, and the brooms soared out of Vernon’s arms before he could fling them into the fiery inferno. Dedalus and Hestia each caught them in their outstretched arms.
“Are you bloody mad?” Hestia shouted. “You can’t go around throwing things in the fire! Never mind how much a broom is worth, but you couldn’t even begin to comprehend how important it is in times like these”hey, where are you going to?” she asked, following him as he turned in the hall, ignoring her angry remonstrances. “They are an invaluable means of transportation now that You-Know-Who’s taken over and just because you’re afraid of magic doesn’t mean””
Hestia stopped short as the group reached the alarming scene which met them in the kitchen. Vernon held the cauldron, as large as his stomach, between two potholders, struggling with its weight over the kitchen sink. It looked as if he were trying to pour the potion down the drain.
“Wingardium Leviosa!” shouted Hestia hastily, relieving Vernon of the weight and narrowly preventing the cauldron from dropping and spilling bubbling potion all over the kitchen floor, allowing it to land gently on the countertop. Then, when Vernon still seemed intent on trying to spoon the potion down the drain, Hestia, whose face had lost any trace of amusement, shouted, “Incarcerous!” and thick ropes shot from her wand and wound themselves around Vernon. With another flick of her wand, she directed a chair beneath Vernon, who slumped heavily into it like a tightly wrapped mummy.
“What are you thinking?” Hestia started on Vernon at once. “You must be mad, trying to throw away things that we use to fight You-Know-Who!”
“Let me go! LET ME GO!” Vernon bellowed, struggling against the ropes holding him.
“We need those brooms! Members of the Order can’t just walk into Diagon Alley and buy a broomstick these days!” Hestia barreled on, failing to notice Vernon’s utter confusion at the mention of Diagon Alley.
“And that potion is going to be used by the Order to disguise themselves against You-Know-Who!”
“But it was”” Vernon started, his face purple and swollen.
“Yes, I know,” Hestia said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. “You’re worried about it getting into your dinner! What about Paris’ ruddy sewer system?” she shouted.
Vernon and Hestia went back and forth, but in the end Hestia had made it very clear that Vernon was not to attempt to throw, burn, wash down the drain, or destroy her and Dedalus’ magical objects in any other way. Then, because Vernon had tossed hers out of the window, she had added refilling charms to every one of the coffee mugs in the kitchen. From then on, Vernon never completely emptied his coffee mug.
Petunia spent her days scrubbing, bleaching, waxing, sewing, and organizing the apartment, until it began to resemble number 4 Privet Drive. She even sent Dedalus on an errand to the Muggle Hardware store, despite his protests that he had no idea what to buy. He returned several hours later boasting about the enormity of the store, having bought half of it.
He eagerly showed Petunia paintbrushes, rollers, three extremely bright paint colors, spackle, a new vacuum cleaner, an electric drill, and nails. Vernon, of course, pointed out that he needed screws and boasted that no one at Grunnings would have made that mistake. Petunia, not sure what to say, thanked him and only argued briefly when Dedalus insisted on demonstrating the proper use of a vacuum cleaner.
After spending five minutes looking for an outlet, Dedalus triumphantly turned the power switch, pointing it out to Petunia. “See here,” Dedalus instructed, as he pulled the vacuum back and forth across the dusty carpet. “It’s very simple! Look at how well it is cleaning!”
Petunia didn’t try to hide her pleasure; she had lived far too long in filth and was excited for the new clean carpets. “You can also use this long, windy thing to pick up small things,” Dedalus said after seeing how pleased she was, bending over and picking up the extension hose. “Just flip this switch here and””
Dedalus spluttered and coughed as a cloud of dust shot from the end of the hose, covering his face and forearms in the dirt they had just cleaned. Petunia instinctively ran to him with rag in hand and began cleaning his eyes, nose, and mouth, while Dedalus mumbled something like, “maybe that wasn’t the right switch”.
After Petunia had sent Dedalus to the washroom, she turned to find Vernon staring at her in disbelief.
“What?” she snapped.
“What are you two so chummy for?” he asked indignantly.
“Chums? No,” she shot back. “Do you really think I was going to let him walk through the house like that?”
***
On a dreadfully rainy morning in November, Dudley, Dedalus, and Hestia were once again seated around the breakfast table. With so many exciting and unbelievable stories swimming around in his head, Dudley had all but forgotten the Muggle world and his British History class was becoming more boring each day.
“Why is it called the Forbidden Forest?”
“Because it’s Forbidden, of course!” Dedalus said dramatically.
Dudley rolled his eyes. “I figured that much on my own. But what’s so bad about it?”
“There are a lot of stories about what is in the forest,” Hestia replied. “Things like werewolves, centaurs, Acromantulas.”
“What’s an acromantula?”
“A giant flesh-eating, talking spider,” said Hestia calmly, watching Dudley curiously out of the corner of her eye. Dudley wondered whether Hestia was trying to scare him, for she often described dangerous wizards and creatures as though she was testing Dudley.
“How can anyone be sure what’s in the forest?”
“I’ll tell you one person who knows,” Hestia started, “Hagrid knows that forest like it’s his own backyard. It is his backyard, really. He’s one of the few who can handle himself there.”
Awful memories of trying to hide a curly pig’s tail beneath his trousers came back at the mention of Hagrid’s name. Though Hestia and Dedalus were very fond of Hagrid and said that he and Harry were good friends, Dudley wasn’t able to get past the way in which they met.
“I can handle myself in there,” said Dedalus confidently.
“Really?” asked Hestia sarcastically. “This is going to be good.”
“I was only in my fourth year the first time I went in the forest; now that I have had much more magical training I would have no problem.”
“Why were you in the forest?” asked Dudley curiously. What he had learned of Dedalus’ stories is that, while highly exaggerated, they always seemed to have some basis in the truth, so it was likely that Dedalus did go into the forest but he probably wasn’t as brave or valiant as he was about to let on.
“It was on a dare,” Dedalus said, and Dudley saw that he was getting into his story-telling mode. “My friends dared me to walk into the forest until I couldn’t see the edge anymore. It doesn’t sound hard, does it? But when you are completely alone, but you hear noises all around, and as you walk further and further into the forest your wandlight seems to become dimmer, each step takes a lot longer than expected.
“I kept looking over my shoulder, hoping to see that I was far enough into the forest so that I could get back out, but it seemed like I was barely making any progress. But as I was coming up on a clearing, and I felt like I was coming close to where I could turn back, a strange darkness overwhelmed my wandlight so that it was only a small flicker. I said the charm, lumos, over and over again, hoping to get the light back, but I remained in almost complete darkness, when I heard someone behind me.”
“I’ll never know who, or what, it was that night in the forest, because just as I saw him he fired a curse straight at me and””
“What the bloody hell are you telling my son?” Vernon shouted, his large, angry figure taking up the entire doorframe.
Dudley jumped in his seat as he realized what his father had just heard, and Dedalus started making excuses and explanations to Vernon Dursley, who wasn’t hearing a single word of it.
“Petunia!”
“We were just… just telling him a story,” Dedalus said cautiously, looking for the right words.
“A story! He’ll go mad after hearing stories from you two! Telling him stories about your world and your people. My son will not be hearing that!”
Petunia walked in just as Hestia voiced in. “Your son needs to hear it. And you as well.”
Vernon was incredulous. “Why would we want to be a part of that?”
“You may not want to be a part of it,” said Hestia smartly, “but you are. You’re not in hiding for no reason. And the more you know about the situation, the safer you are, especially if anything were to go wrong.”
“You two are here for one reason: to protect us! Not for story time!”
“But Dad””
Everyone turned to Dudley, and at the intense look on his father’s face, he almost decided not to disagree at the moment.
“Hestia is right! Everything they’ve been telling me is important to know. Now I understand””
“Everything they’ve been telling you?” Vernon asked, as his face turned a deep shade of purple. Dudley had seen his dad that color many times before, but never directed towards him. “And just how much have they told you?”
“Well,” Dudley started, looking from Hestia to Dedalus, who both seemed surprised by his sudden confidence to stand up to his father. “We’ve been talking since we moved here, and they tell me stories about the war and Harry and””
“I knew there was something up with you three!” Vernon proclaimed, as if it was a major offense. “Always catching you sitting around the table, acting like it was just a coincidence!”
“We were just””
“I don’t want to know!” Vernon shouted, cutting him off. “Dudley, you’re not allowed to be alone with these two anymore”no, I want you by my side at all times!”
“Dad! That isn’t fair!”
“Well, you’ll just have to live with not fair!” Vernon shouted, before he marched off to his bedroom.
“Mum, Daddy’s being completely unreasonable,” whined Dudley, who was not used to being punished, shouted at, or disagreed with by his parents.
She didn’t answer for a moment; she seemed as if she were in some very deep thoughts. Then, she said simply, “I think you should start your homework, Duddy.”
***
Dudley went to bed upset that night, after his father watched him like a hawk all day long. He tossed and turned in bed, trying to think of ways he could convince his father that understanding magic was important, but he thought of none. He tried to think of ways to get around his father’s watchful eye, but in the small apartment, there wasn’t much else for Vernon Dursley to do but watch Dudley’s every move.
After he had been lying in bed for an hour, he heard a light knock on the door, and the creak as it opened.
“Are you awake, Dudders?” called his mum softly.
After momentarily debating whether to feign sleep, as he was in no mood to talk to either of his parents, he answered, “Yes.”
She walked over to the side of his bed and took a seat beside him. Dudley was curious about her late night visit, as this behaviour was not like her. Then, she asked, “have Dedalus and Hestia told you anything about your Aunt Lily?”
The question caught Dudley completely off-guard; this was possibly the last thing he was expecting to hear from his mum. She had also never been referred to as Aunt Lily; if she was referred to at all, it was as Harry’s mum, and always in a derogatory tone. But his mum asked about her kindly now, seeming genuinely interested.
“Not very much,” Dudley answered honestly. “They just told me how she died, protecting Harry, and that she was a very good,” Dudley halted, as the words ‘magic’, ‘witch’, and ‘wizard’ were never allowed by his parents, “witch.”
“Yes. She was,” Petunia reflected, seemingly to herself. “When we were kids,” she said, redirecting her attention to Dudley, “Lily and I were best friends. I know, it’s surprising,” she said, laughing humorlessly as Dudley’s mouth dropped.
“We weren’t very far apart in age and we got along so well. I was older than her, but I was always the one that looked up to her. She was so adventurous and free-spirited. I had to keep her in check anytime she tried to do anything too crazy.”
Dudley listened intently to everything his mum said. After Harry had begged for years about his parents and gotten no answer, he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“When she was little she realized that she could do things other kids couldn’t. You probably remember Harry doing strange things before he went to Hogwarts. I told her it wasn’t right and that she shouldn’t let anyone know; truthfully it intimidated me.
“It wasn’t long before we learned that it was magic. A really dreadful neighborhood boy told her she was a witch, and even though I said she shouldn’t be around him, she started meeting him to hear stories about magic.
“I was jealous of her, because this was just another thing that Lily was better at than me. I wrote to the headmaster of the school, Professor Dumbledore, that strange man who came to our house last summer, and asked to be accepted, but he explained that I didn’t have the magical power that Lily was born with.”
“You mean, you wanted to be a witch, too?” Dudley asked, dumbfounded.
Petunia nodded. “For the rest of that summer, I wouldn’t talk to Lily, no matter how much she tried to reason with me. So, Lily went to Hogwarts, leaving me at home, growing bitterer every year. As much as I’ve tried to deny it, it was my jealousy that made me hate magic and tore Lily and I apart,” Petunia said, pulling a handkerchief out and wiping the tears that were quietly running down her face.
“It was bad enough that it destroyed mine and Lily’s relationship, but when I couldn’t accept Harry, I passed that on to you. You and Harry never had what Lily and I had, at least while we were young, because I taught you to treat Harry badly.” Petunia took Dudley’s hand, becoming very serious. “Dudley, I don’t want what your father and I have taught you about magic to influence how you think about it. If you have a chance of fixing your relationship with Harry, don’t let what we’ve taught you stop you.”
Dudley, thoroughly amazed by his mother’s words, could only nod his assent.
“And don’t let your father scare you away from the Wizarding World now. I only wish I could have changed things with Lily before it was too late.”
Dursleys, Meet The Wizarding World by Ghoul In Pajamas
Chapter Notes: I can't believe how long it's been since I've updated this story! I feel awful about that, but real life got a bit crazy and I didn't have much time for mugglenet. To make up for it, this chapter is extra long (almost twice as long as usual)! Enjoy! Many thanks to wonderful beta, Emily (AmberO_o), and everyone who helped out in my Excerpts of Murtlap Thread!
Chapter Endnotes: Were you expecting that? Thanks so much for reading! Let me know what you think of this chapter, or what's in store for upcoming ones! *points to comment box* -Kristen