Chapter 12
Waking up from a very long nap is a good thing. Waking up to your mother asking a million questions to a random goblin? Dudley wasn't sure. He was sure that he was very hungry and missed his brother. Sitting up, Duds noticed the tray of earlier food had been updated at some point in his sleep. There was now a pink liquid pitcher that looked molten at different angles, and more sandwiches. There was also some light finger foods scattered throughout the display. Helping himself to a couple sandwiches and a small glass of the mystery drink, he noticed his mother had gone quiet. Glancing up to meet her eyes, he asked what was wrong.
"Nothing dearest…you just remind me a lot of my father. He had the same slightly oval shaped face and you definitely have his nose…you eyes though? Those are all my mother. Beautiful watery blue. Now that I think about it…you don't really look like Vernon at all."
Dudley was ecstatic to hear that. His grandparents had passed away before he was born so he never got to meet them. Knowing he looked like a mixture of his grandparents instead of his father, was something he held dear. He never wanted to look like the thing that tormented his brother for the entirety of his life. He had been worried about that for a lot longer than he'd like to admit. His father never noticed, but Dudley had begun to box at a small recreational arena after school and on weekends. He had lost a lot of his baby fat that way. He knew he would always be bigger boned, thanks to his whale of a sperm donor. However, he hoped he'd end up more on the muscular side of the spectrum rather than the potbelly that was his father and Aunt Marge.
Petunia looked at the happy smile her precious baby had plastered across his face and she hoped he would never have to lose that beautiful smile. The same way she hoped Hadrien would someday smile at her, like he did Mrs. Norris's cats, and the small garden snake that took refuge in their former garden shed back at Privet Drive. Her sister's smile. Teeth and dimples, or the small smirks she remembers James to have sported. She never met Regulas, as much as she would have loved to meet her other brother-in-law, not that she knew he existed in the first place. That added another question to her long list. Why had her son's inheritance test said 'in stasis'? What did that even mean? What did that mean for her son and her custody of him…she loved Hadrien more than life itself. She wanted to know what had happened to his other father, and she wanted to know if he could come back. She wanted what was best for her son. If that meant finding this random man and getting to know him as part of her family, then so be it. Make no mistake, if he is dangerous or causes any harm to either of her sons… let's just say Dudley isn't the only one who has started new hobbies. Only her's consisted of targets, accuracy, and silencers. She may not be magical, but everyone, even wizards, goes down with a gun. Petunia figured that with her son being a prince of a wixen nation, she would soon start an intimate relationship with the idea of protection despite morals.
Hadrien walked into the room at the same time his aunt had, the most dangerous glint he'd ever seen in her eyes. Stopping abruptly in the doorway, he cleared his throat.
"A-Aunt Petunia? Are you…okay?" He was trying his best to keep an even tone of voice, he was still trying to get used to the slightly higher octave it was now. That pool washed away more than just the evil magical residue that was in his veins.
"...Hadrien?...is that you?" Dudley was the first to speak up. His baby brother looked so different now. He looked…delicate, pretty even, for a boy at least.
"Haha, yeah, it's me. Weird, I know. I was under something called a glamour. It was anchored with the gross magic that was in my forehead. Both are gone now. So are all the compulsions and whatever else wasn't supposed to be in my body."
"That's wonderful news, Hadrien…" Petunia's voice sounded distant. All she could focus on was the vibrant, ruby red hair her son now had. It was slightly darker than Lil's had been…but had that same eternal glow. The one that made it shimmer like it reflected the light. Before, it had come just past his ears, and was a mess of unruly, unkept curls that made it more like a rats' nest than hair. His hair was much longer now. It fell just above the small of his back, forming into soft waterfall curls. His skin had darkened to a noticeable tan colour…although, not that she thought about it, it looked very similar to how it looked when she had taken him in as a baby. Perhaps all the abuse, malnutrition, and lack of sunlight had made him ghostly pale in comparison and she hadn't noticed. She was seeing many things that weren't there when he came to her.
Stopping her train of thought before she had the chance to think about it, her eyes returned to her son's new appearance. He was taller than he had been. He looked slightly healthier too, healing from all the trauma he's had to endure in his short life. His face was less gaunt-looking, and he didn't have the weary bags under his eyes. The shape his face had taken was more delicate, not quite like Lilly's but not like James's had been either. Perhaps this was an influence of her other brother-in-law. Regulus, that could be where his face and eye shape came from. His nose was the same, much like her mother's had been. And there were other features that she couldn't quite place. Like his height, Lilly and James were taller; James stood six feet, if not more, and Lilly was close behind him at 5'9. Harry couldn't be more than 4'2 at the most. Yes, he was taller than before but still alarmingly short. Dudley stood short too, but that was most likely due to Vernon's influence, he was still much taller than Hadrien though. 4'5. Both boys were under the national average…for non magic people that is. She wasn't sure about witches and wizards. She noticed they tended to be on the taller side, if she remembered correctly from her childhood and her brief stint through Diagon Alley with her boys.
Glancing back at Hadrien once more, Petunia let herself look over her son and stopped at his eyes. Those once piercing, glowing green eyes were now a much calmer shade. The colour was more of a bright sage green than a glowing emerald. Perhaps his most striking feature would be his scar. It no longer looked painful, and angry. It looked how it should, white and like it had happened too long ago to be fresh. It was almost alarming not to see the bright pink flesh. Always too close to reopening and bleeding for her taste. She was sure it would never heal. Hadriewn had always had trouble seeing, but the eye his scar cut across always gave him the worst problem. However, that never stopped him from reading and learning things at an alarming rate. The glasses he usually wore were formerly his father's.
James had eyesight problems too, and his glasses, along with a small box of things, were left on her doorstep much like her son was. The box showed up on the anniversary of her sister's death. It contained the glasses, a picture of her graduation with her friends. Lilly had treasured a small necklace, and a small book with pressed flowers. That small book was Lilly's emotion diary. Every day, she would press one flower for how she felt in the morning, and one at night. Petunia had watched her do this for years; it was a tradition started by their late grandmother before either of the girls was born. Their mother taught them. Petunia still pressed her flowers into the pages of her favorite books. The front of the book was labelled for the year Hadrien had been born. Petunia never looked past the front page. She couldn't bring herself to know all the feelings her baby sister had in the year before she died.
Hadrien watched as his mom took in his appearance. He knew he looked much different than he did before. All his features had changed and he was taller. His hair was long and he looked a lot like a girl. Thinking that…he didn't find all that much. When he had first emerged from the bath, and the water settled as he dried himself off, he looked at his reflection through the water's glassy surface. He could hardly believe his eyes. He looked…beautiful. He never thought he would ever look this nice. He always thought he would look shabby, and awkward, and underdeveloped. He knew how a person should have grown, had they been appropriately fed, cared for, and loved. He had seen it countless times with his former classmates—the kids on the street.
Even the animals in the zoo, which they went to once for Dudley's ninth birthday, were much better looking than Harry had been. In his opinion, he looked nothing like he did before. He felt much different too. His body weighed less, and he felt light on his feet. His skin was soft, and unblemished. That was a drastic difference to the rough, overworked, dry skin he used to sport, and the scars that riddled every inch of his body. He stayed staring at the boy in the reflection of the water for a long time. He felt like a new person. A new name, a new face…maybe this could be a new start too.