The Funeral
An insane man with a gun, chaos in mall center, two casualties. A young woman, the man’s ex-wife, and a middle aged lady, a victim of poor aim.
Did they have to die? Was their death start of something great? Even if it was, did their had to be used as a stepping stone for it? Holly wondered as she parked her car in front of the small, basic looking house.
She was a fresh out the academy police officer. She wanted to help people, to fight crime, to restore hope!
Instead she was stuck with… this.
Having to inform the victims families was never pretty, in the best case they cried their eyes out, emotions and tears all over the place. In some more… intense scenarios however, there was violence involved.
The family trying to take their anger, their grief, out of the police. Holly didn’t fully blame them, it must be hard having to deal with something like that. Still, she made sure her shock-gun was present and reachable in her belt as she made her way to the door.
She knocked once, twice and there were rustling on the other side, the door opening a second later.
Holly took in the little boy, he was overweight, had full cheeks, and neat clothes.
She crouched down at his level, “Hello, little citizen! Anyone home?”
“Daddy!” The boy called, not phased by her playful approach.
“Yes?!” There was rustling once more, a big man appearing, not unlike his son.
The man made his way to the door, looking slightly panicked. “Good day officer! May I help you..?” He asked.
“Good day to you too Mr… Dursley, correct?” She asked with a raised brow.
“Yes, yes, that would be me…” the man nodded forcefully.
“Mr. Dursley… Can we speak outside?” The man looked like he would rather do anything else, but agreed, telling his son to wait in the living room.
As soon as the door shut, Holly didn’t waste time and got straight to it. “Mr. Dursley… It’s your wife… she…”
[…]
When his Daddy came back, his face was weird. He told Dudley to get ready quickly, and ten minutes later they were in a police car, driving to… the police’s… lair?
Dudley wasn’t sure, but he couldn’t wait to boost about riding in a police car to his friends.
When they got to their destination, his Daddy followed the police lady, and Dudley followed behind, taking in everything he saw so his tale would be more believable. He didn’t want his friends calling him a liar!
His Daddy told him to wait outside and lead him to a chair, an uncomfortable one, as he himself made his way into a room with the police lady.
This was the second time Dudley was told to wait today, and he wasn’t liking it! He waited for a whole hour before his Daddy finally got out, his face looked pale, his expressions dull, he looked ugly.
He wasn’t the only one, right behind him was- Harry?! What was that Freak doing here?! He got to go to a police station and got to stay in the room as the adults spoke?! No way, that was just unfair! Dudley hoped Harry wouldn’t go around telling his own story at the park, he didn’t want to get overshadowed by some Freak.
The police lady from before lead them to the same car they drove here, and said she would take them home.
So Dudley got to ride in a police car twice! In your face, Harry!
[…]
Harry was scared, that wasn’t an uncommon feeling when living with the Dursleys but this was different. This was straight up torture.
When he closed his eyes, images of his Aunt Petunia would pop up in his mind, laying on the ground, her eyes lacking life, her mouth slack open. And when he opened them, he would be left facing the same ceiling of his cupboard, every, single, time.
Vernon had locked him in right after the officer had dropped them off. Not saying a word, just shoving him inside with more force than necessary, and leaving with the same silence after locking the door.
It had been a day and a half since then, Harry was starving to say the least.
It was the next morning when Vernon slammed his door open, “Get ready.” He ordered, his words lacked the usual snide comments but his tone and body language was enough.
His face was redder then ever, his eyes had bags under them, when he spoke, he forced his words out through gritted teeth.
Harry was ready in a matter of seconds, since he didn’t have much clothes to choose from. He was wearing old cargo pants, an old black shirt, and a hand me down flannel from Dudley.
Despite being ready, he only got out of the cupboard when Vernon called for him. As he made his way to the front door, he felt extremely under-dressed, his eyes scanned both his Uncle and Cousin.
They were both wearing all black suits and fancy shoes, their hair was slicked back with gel, Harry thought it looked funny, but he wasn’t about to voice that thought.
Vernon held Dudley’s hand and lead them to the car not checking if Harry was following or not, but of course Harry did, he hopped on the back seat and started watching the roads out the window as the Dursley’s house got smaller and smaller.
It was an hour drive to the cemetery, Harry had understood where they were going, connecting the dots when Uncle Vernon told Dudley to shut the radio down, that it wasn’t appropriate to listen to music on this day.
Vernon parked the car and got out of the drivers seat, struggling to fit through the car door a little. Dudley followed suit and Harry was about to do so as well when Vernon gave him a nasty glare. “Stay.” He said, and so Harry did.
He stayed in the car and watched as more cars pulled over, people dressed in black making their way in, getting out of Harry’s vision once they got through the entrance, shielded by the bush walls surrounding the cemetery.
It had been about two hours, the heat making its impact on Harry ten times stronger as he sat, locked inside the car. He had took his flannel off in hopes of cooling down a little, but he found it didn’t help much as the leather seats burning like metal under the sun were now sticking to his exposed skin.
He had to wait for five minutes more or so when people started making their way out, he could see Uncle Vernon standing in front of the exist, bidding farewell to the guests as they made their way back to their cars one by one, Dudley was standing right next to him looking confused but mostly bored.
After forty minutes of that, and the last guest got in their car, after giving his condolences.
Harry was almost relieved he didn’t have to
burn to his death in this car that wasn’t unlike an oven at this moment when Vernon turned his head at him, the welcoming expression shown to the guests was long gone. He made eye contact with Harry through the car window, his face soured up, and he started walking towards Harry.
Harry was scared, he felt trapped. He was trapped. He couldn’t think about anything as Vernon threw the car door open, pulling Harry out by his arm. He let out a sound of pain and was shut down by Vernon giving him a nasty glare.
“Daddy?” Dudley called out, looking scared as well but mostly confused.
Vernon ignored him in favor of dragging Harry all the way to a gravestone, it didn’t have a name craved on it yet, Harry knew who it belonged to, he knew he wasn’t brought here to give his prayers.
He was shoved down on his knees, his hands hitting the rough ground in an effort to balance himself. He didn’t dare look up, staring at his hands instead. His head was unceremoniously pulled up, fat fingers gripping his hair.
“Look at her, boy!” Vernon yelled. “Look at her- Look at what you’ve done to her!” He let go of Harry’s hair, backing up a little, and threw his arms in the air forcefully, “…What did you want from us..? We were everything there was to be- We were the perfect fucking family!”
He was silent for a while, when he spoke his words were quiet, he didn’t yell, he didn’t need to, his words were loud and clear in the empty graveyard.
“Go… Go and never come back…” Harry could swear he heard him whisper out a ‘please’ but his Uncle didn’t repeat himself.
Vernon took Dudley by his hand, who tried to protest with tears in his eyes, “Daddy?! What’s going on?” He was full on crying now, trying to turn his head back to look at Harry as Vernon dragged him away. “What about Harry? Is he not coming with us?”
Harry got up on his feet, he didn’t want to spend a minute longer at Petunia’s grave, and started walking the other way. His pace quickened until he was full on running, he didn’t think he’d ever go back.