Tragedy avoided

“I’m the only person here who hasn’t read yet, so I guess I will,”   Zacharias Smith said as he floated the book from Fleur, a slight flush on his cheeks.

Harri was moved to sit between the twins. She did so reluctantly, as she willed herself not to blush. This would be the closest she had been to Fred in days. Fred, the utter bastard, looked utterly unfazed as he slung an arm around her shoulders as if he had not snogged her days ago and sent her mind whirling with his mere presence now. It wasn’t fair. Why was she the only one so affected?

By twelve o’clock the next day, Harri’s school trunk was packed with her school things and all her most prized possessions - the Invisibility Cloak she had inherited from her father, the broomstick she had gotten from Sirius, the enchanted map of Hogwarts she had been given by Fred and George Weasley last year.

That’s all she really owned, Harri thought, put off. She didn’t care about material things, but after seeing Ron’s room at the Burrow, and even Ginny’s, she felt cheated. Cheated that she had to take what little she did own every year to Hogwarts or knew she’d come home to it destroyed. She wondered if she would ever have a room full of silly little knickknacks to go home to. She knew she would have to share with Ginny at the Burrow. But when Sirius was ready for her to live with him, would her room actually feel like it was just hers? Would he care if she left her things scattered about and decorated it to her heart’s content? She felt herself get excited at the thought.

She had emptied her hiding place under the loose floorboard of all food

George pressed his thigh against Harri’s as his blood boiled at the reminder she had to hide food in her own home. He couldn’t even fathom ever having to hide food so he could eat. His family may not have had much, but his parents had always kept them fed. He knew his parents would starve themselves before their children ever went hungry. Hearing how Harri’s relatives treated her made him appreciate his parents in a way he never had before. Despite his issues with what his mother thought was a proper job, he knew she loved him and would sacrifice everything for him. Knew his mother would open her heart for Harri that way too. He honestly couldn’t wait to have Harri living with them. What was one more sibling? He could picture all the mayhem he and Fred could talk her into this summer. They had done their best to give Harri a fun summer during her second year, but they would go all out this year. They had plans to make Harri forget she had ever known what it was like to live anywhere but the Burrow. George could honestly say he hoped Harri never left. She fit into their family as if she belonged there from the start. George felt as if Harri was always supposed to be a part of their band of misfits and when Harri had failed to make an appearance last summer, her lack of presence left the Burrow feeling as if it was missing something… someone.

Fred tightened his arms around Harri’s shoulder, pulling the girl into his side, fighting off a smug smirk at how red Harri went at the simple action. He was sure if she saw his mouth so much as twitch, she’d elbow him. He had meant it; nothing had to change between them. He wanted to show her that even though he had professed his feelings for her, he was her friend first and foremost. She was always going to matter to him.

The atmosphere inside number four, Privet Drive was extremely tense. The imminent arrival at their house of an assortment of wizards was making the Dursleys uptight and irritable. Uncle Vernon had looked downright alarmed when Harri informed him that the Weasleys would be arriving at five o’clock the very next day.

“Good,” Ginny snapped, her hard gaze on the Dursleys. She was glad her family had made them so uncomfortable. Happy they had felt even a fraction of the fear Harri must have felt living with them. She wanted them to suffer for what they had done to Harri. Wanted to curse them for all eternity for what Harri missed out on growing up with those monsters.

“I hope you told them to dress properly, these people,” he snarled at once. “I’ve seen the sort of stuff your lot wear. They’d better have the decency to put on normal clothes, that’s all.”

“I hope they don’t,” Harri stated loudly as she met her uncle’s glare with one of his own.

“I think a stroll down Privet Drive in our finest robes sounds lovely, doesn’t Gred?”

“That sound’s absolutely delightful, Forge. We’ll have to remember to tell everyone we meet we’re looking for the Dursleys to make it any real fun.”

“Don’t you dare! If you set foot there, I’ll,” Vernon snarled, his eyes wide with fear and furry.

Harri had to reluctantly admire Vernon’s nerve. Even sitting amongst wizards and witches who would gladly take their wands out and curse him to dust, he still wouldn’t stop spewing his bigotry. Of course, her uncle knew that the Room wouldn’t allow any harm to come to him and his family, yet if anyone knew how to make someone… er, uncomfortable, without magic, it was Fred and George.

“Or you’ll what?” Fred asked, eyebrow raised in a challenge. “You going to threaten to kick the stuffing out of me too? Go for it, then. See where it gets you. Make my day.”

Harri watched in horror as her uncle’s face turned almost purple in his fury, and he came to a stand, seemingly intent on making his way toward them. She braced herself for the bellow that never came. She watched in fascination as chains materialised out of nothing, wrapping themselves around her uncle and gagging him as they pressed him tightly to the couch he shared with the rest of her relatives.

“You won’t touch a hair on his head,” Molly spat in motherly rage, her wand out. “If you threaten any of my children again,and that includes Harri, I’ll see you live the rest of your miserable life as a toad.”

Molly turned her frosty gaze to Fred and George, and it warmed considerably as she took in their raised chins and defiant eyes. Both of them had moved when Vernon Dursley stood, so their bodies blocked his access to Harri.

“That’s enough out of the two of you. There will be no visits to muggles street to torment them.”

Harri put a calming hand on both their shoulders and gently squeezed them. She knew what they had been doing by taunting her uncle, and she appreciated it, but she could fight her own battles.

Harri wasn’t bothered about what the neighbours would think, but she was anxious about how rude the Dursleys might be to the Weasleys if they turned up looking like their worst idea of wizards.

“I’m sure we could handle whatever they would do or say,” Molly assured gently, touched Harri had worried about them. She would never understand how anyone could hate such a sweet, kind young lady like Harri. She really did hope something became of Fred’s crush on Harri, and by the flush that had fixed itself on Harri’s cheeks since she had sat next to Fred had yet to leave, her hopes were high the crush was mutual.

“I’m sure you could,” Harri said quickly. She had never doubted the Weasleys’ ability to stand up for themselves, and she was sure her book counterpart didn’t either. “But that doesn’t make it right, and I still don’t want them to be rude to any of you.”

Uncle Vernon had put on his best suit. To some people, this might have looked like a gesture of welcome, but Harri knew it was because Uncle Vernon wanted to look impressive and intimidating.

Ron snorted loudly as he eyed Harri’s uncle in disgust. He could see how Vernon Dursley would look intimidating to Harri, who was so much smaller than he was and without access to her wand, but he doubted the suit would impress or intimidate any one of them.

Dudley, on the other hand, looked somehow diminished. This was not because the diet was at last taking effect, but due to fright. Dudley had emerged from his last encounter with a fully grown wizard with a curly pig’s tail poking out of the seat of his trousers, and Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had had to pay for its removal at a private hospital in London.

“I still think it’s a pity they didn’t leave the tail,” George sighed as he nudged Harri with his shoulder and added lowly, “Want me to give him another?”

Harri swatted George on the arm and rolled her eyes at him. As funny as she would find it, she wouldn’t let any of them attack or prank Dudley unprovoked. He was currently on a different path than how this book portrayed him. Harri didn’t know if the change would stick, but she wasn’t going to discourage it either. And she meant what she had told Dudley; she didn’t want revenge. She just wanted them to leave her alone. Wanted freedom.

“They’re late!” he snarled at Harri.

“I know,” said Harri. “Maybe - er - the traffic’s bad, or something.”

Ten past five...then a quarter past five...Harri was starting to feel anxious herself now. At half past, she heard Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia conversing in terse mutters in the living room.

“Oops,” Arthur grinned apologetically. They hadn’t meant to make Harri anxious, but with a family as big as his, going anywhere took time, and they were often late or arriving at the last second. He was sure they would show up any second now. Had he known more about Harri’s relatives, he would have been early. That is if he and Molly had let Harri go home. What was one more child when you had seven?

Narcissa curled her lip up in distaste. Being late was unsightly. While she knew the Weasleys did not uphold pureblood values when she had basically given them Draco for the foreseeable future she hoped this unclothed behavior did not rub off on her son. She would have to pound the importance of being punctual into young Harriet’s head if she was to live with the Weasleys too. She ideally wondered how they had broken the news to their children and Harriet. Draco had done his utmost to stay as far from the Weasleys as he could, despite Severus' best efforts. If Draco wanted to prolong his punishment that was his choice, she had hoped he had been smarter than that.

“Maybe they think they’ll get invited to dinner if they’re late.”

“Pass,” the Weasley children said as one. Why would they want anyone’s cooking when their mother’s homemade meals were an option?

Loud bangings and scrapings were coming from behind the Dursleys’ boarded-up fireplace, which had a fake coal fire plugged in front of it.

Harri laughed freely at the mental image the book painted. They must have tried to floo. She could only imagine the horror on her relatives' faces.

“I’ll explain how that works later,” Hermione cut in as she took in Arthurs’s excitement at the mention of an electric fireplace.

“Ouch! Fred, no - go back, go back, there’s been some kind of mistake - tell George not to - OUCH! George, no, there’s no room, go back quickly and tell Ron -”

“Sounds cosy,” Harri teased, a little disappointed this wouldn’t happen this time around. She thought it would be rather amusing to see the twins and their father trapped in her relative’s fireplace.

George leaned into her hard, squishing her against him and Fred as he agreed, “You’re right. This is cosy.”

“Get off me,” Harri protested as she seriously considered crawling over Fred’s lap to escape.

George ignored her as he pressed further into her, laughing.

“What are we doing here? Has something gone wrong?”

“No, we meant to get stuck in Harri’s fireplace. Why would we want to be anywhere else?” George answered sarcastically.

“Oh no, Ron,” came Fred’s voice, very sarcastically. “No, this is exactly where we wanted to end up.”

“Yeah, we’re having the time of our lives here,” said George, whose voice sounded muffled, as though he was squashed against the wall.

“Your sarcasm really helped,” Ron sniffed. How was he supposed to know they had gotten stuck? He thought it was a perfectly logical question to ask.

“We aim to please.”

“Boys!”

“Boys, boys...” said Mr. Weasley vaguely. “I’m trying to think what to do...Yes...only way...Stand back, Harri.”

“Arthur Weasley,” Molly scolded. “I know you aren’t about to break their fireplace and possibly harm Harri.”

“I told her to stand back,” Arthur placated. “Besides, it’s not like it’s actually happened. Nor will it happen now.”

George finally leaned away from Harri, giving her her personal space as he held his hand expectantly toward his father, a wide grin stretched across his mouth.

Arthur sighed but delivered a knut into Geogre’s waiting hand, a smile ticking up the corner of his mouth.

Tall, thin, and balding, he moved toward Uncle Vernon, his hand outstretched, but Uncle Vernon backed away several paces, dragging Aunt Petunia. Words utterly failed Uncle Vernon. His best suit was covered in white dust, which had settled in his hair and moustache and made him look as though he had just aged thirty years.

“Ah, my bad,” Arthur apologised, not looking apologetic at all. While it was bad manners to ruin someone’s property, Arthur couldn’t bring himself to care in this case. It wasn’t like he couldn’t fix any damage he may have caused, not that he particularly wanted to now.

“We’ll get it,” said Fred at once.

“You never offer to carry my trunk,” Ginny grumbled, shooting annoyed looks at her brothers.

“You’ve got legs,” George retorted unconcerned. The only time they had helped Harri with her trunk was when they met her on the train. It wasn’t like they made it a habit, though he supposed if Harri asked, Fred would probably carry her trunk for her. Not that he ever saw Harri actually asking for help if it’s not offered first.

“Pig.”

“Children!”

 Winking at Harri, he and George left the room. They knew where Harri’s bedroom was, having once rescued her from it in the dead of night. Harri suspected that Fred and George were hoping for a glimpse of Dudley; they had heard a lot about him from Harri.

Fred and George shared a vicious look, wondering what their book counterparts would do. There was no way they would ever pass up a chance to mess with Harri’s relatives, especially her cousin.

As the usually spotless living room was now covered in dust and bits of brick, this remark didn’t go down too well with the Dursleys. Uncle Vernon’s face purpled once more, and Aunt Petunia started chewing her tongue again. However, they seemed too scared to actually say anything.

Harri let out a sigh of relief. Even if none of this happened, she did not want to hear her relative’s thoughts on the Weasleys. The Weasleys were more of a family to Harri than they ever had been, and Harri never wanted them to be at the end of the verbal assault she was usually at the end of.

Dudley suddenly reappeared in the room. Harri could hear the clunk of her trunk on the stairs, and knew that the sounds had scared Dudley out of the kitchen. Dudley edged along the wall, gazing at Mr. Weasley with terrified eyes, and attempted to conceal himself behind his mother and father.

Dudley looked over at the man that he would have been terrified of in just a couple months’ time. He felt no fear now. He knew Mr. Weasley wasn’t particularly fond of him or his family, but he knew the man would not hurt him. Magic or no magic, Mr. Weasley just didn’t seem the type. Dudley’s gaze cut over to his cousin, who was doing her best to ignore his existence. He supposed he had to change his judgment of Mr. Weasley slightly because Dudley was sure, had Harri asked, or if he had tried to harm Harri, Mr. Weasley might, in fact, get violent or at least curse them a little.

“Having a good holiday, Dudley?” he said kindly.

Dudley whimpered. Harri saw his hands tighten still harder over his massive backside.

Dudley flushed as snickers broke out across the room. He was still afraid of getting a pigtail. It had not been a pleasant experience.

Fred and George came back into the room carrying Harri’s school trunk. They glanced around as they entered and spotted Dudley. Their faces cracked into identical evil grins.

Harri could only assume they wore the same grins now. They were practically vibrating next to her, eager to hear what they had done to her cousin. Harri could admit she wanted to know too. While Dudley was changing in these books, he was still the same bully he had always been, and she couldn’t bring herself to care if the twins pranked him. She also wanted to know if Fred really would be cruel on her behalf. She didn’t think so.

“Coming,” said Fred. “Oh no - hang on -”

A bag of sweets had spilled out of Fred’s pocket and the contents were now rolling in every direction - big, fat toffees in brightly coloured wrappers.

Fred and George shared knowing looks over Harri’s head. They really did it, then. Even though they didn’t care what happened to Harri’s cousin, there wasn’t any way they would have used the toffees unless they worked as intended. If they were going to bother to do something, they would do it right.

“Well... ’bye then,” Harri said to the Dursleys.

“Don’t know why I even bothered,” Harri muttered bitterly. She doubted any of them told her goodbye in return. She wasn’t sure why she kept trying.

“Harri said goodbye to you,” he said. “Didn’t you hear her?”

Harri sent a grateful smile to Arthur. She appreciated that the man had tried. She doubted she expected anything from them, but still. It would be nice if they cared even a little bit.

“It doesn’t matter,” Harri muttered to Mr. Weasley. “Honestly, I don’t care.”

“Still don’t,” Harri agreed.

“That is not the point,” Molly said gently, her stern gaze on the Dursleys. They could have told the girl goodbye, at the very least. Harri could say she did not care all she wanted, but she had bothered to tell her relatives goodbye, and Molly had seen Harri’s face fall as their silence was read out loud. Harri might not want to care, but she did, even if it wasn’t a significant amount.

Cassandra Diggory’s gaze flickered between Harri and her relatives. She genuinely wondered what Harri would do when given the freedom to choose. Would she cut them out of her life entirely, or would she force a relationship to hold onto a piece of her mother even if Harri didn’t want anything to do with them? Would a part of Harri always want their acceptance, or had she entirely given up on that front?

“You aren’t going to see your niece till next summer,” he said to Uncle Vernon in mild indignation. “Surely you’re going to say goodbye?”

Uncle Vernon’s face worked furiously. The idea of being taught consideration by a man who had just blasted away half his living room wall seemed to be causing him intense suffering. But Mr. Weasley’s wand was still in his hand, and Uncle Vernon’s tiny eyes darted to it once, before he said, very resentfully, “Good-bye, then.”

Harri leaned into Fred accepting the comfort he offered. It was ridiculous it even bothered her they had to be forced to say goodbye to her. She shouldn’t care. She was used to it.

Harri wheeled around. Dudley was no longer standing behind his parents. He was kneeling beside the coffee table, and he was gagging and sputtering on a foot-long, purple, slimy thing that was protruding from his mouth. One bewildered second later, Harri realised that the foot-long thing was Dudley’s tongue - and that a brightly coloured toffee wrapper lay on the floor before him.

“YES!” the twins cheered beside her while laughter filled the room.

“BOYS!” Molly shrieked. “THAT’S MUGGLE BAITING. YOU COULD HAVE BEEN ARRESTED FOR THAT ENGORGEMENT CHARM. I TAUGHT YOU BETTER THAN THAT.”

“They already knew about magic.”

“We’re not going to apologise for it.”

“Dudley’s a massive bully-”

“He makes Harri’s life miserable for the hell of it-”

“Besides, it’s not like we forced him to eat it.”

Molly looked ready to continue her rant, and Harri was sure she would have if not for her husband. Thank Merlin for Arthur. Harri thought it was rather funny, to be honest. It wasn’t like they had caused any actual harm. Nor had they humiliated Dudley publicly. Fred had claimed he would do far worse but had used a harmless prank to get back at Dudley for his treatment of her. And they were right. They didn’t force Dudley to put a strange candy into his mouth. That had been all Dudley. If Engorgement charms were Fred’s idea of cruel, Harri could definitely deal with that. She let herself relax against Fred as relief filled her.

Madam Bones pressed her lips together. It wasn’t technically illegal, but she didn’t like it.

Charlie flicked his wrist, silencing Harri’s uncle. He met her Aunt’s gaze, ready to silence her too if need be, but the woman merely sent him a nasty look as she held her child protectively against her side.

Dudley looked down at the ground. He wanted to be mad at the nasty prank the twins had played on him, but couldn’t muster the anger. He had deserved it and far worse. They were right, they hadn’t made him eat the candy. He could have just thrown the stupid thing away. As far as he was concerned an enlarged tongue was mild compared to what he knew they could have done to him. He was aware the redheads cared about Harri deeply that much was obvious. He honestly expected them to do much worse when given the chance to have a go at him. 

“No, really!” said Mr. Weasley desperately. “It’s a simple process it was the toffee - my son Fred - real practical joker - but it’s only an Engorgement Charm - at least, I think it is - please, I can correct it -”

Sirius eyed the twins curiously. While harmless, the toffee had been a grand idea. He was sure he and his friends would have had a field day with sweets like that. He remembered them saying they wanted to open their own joke shop, and well, he had money to spare. He hoped these books revealed more about this joke ship of theirs.

Harri didn’t want to miss the fun, but Uncle Vernon’s second ornament narrowly missed her left ear, and on balance, she thought it best to leave the situation to Mr. Weasley.

“Hey!”

“That was uncalled for!”

The Grangers could understand where Vernon Dursley was coming from. While the room laughed or got upset, the man had nearly hit Harri with the ornament; they understood him. While they disagreed with him throwing things, they could see why he did. From his eyes, his child was just attacked by wizards, for a second time. They would be furious, too.

Her last fleeting glimpse of the living room was of Mr. Weasley blasting a third ornament out of Uncle Vernon’s hand with his wand, Aunt Petunia screaming and lying on top of Dudley, and Dudley’s tongue lolling around like a great slimy python. But the next moment Harri had begun to spin very fast, and the Dursleys’ living room was whipped out of sight in a rush of emerald-green flames.

“That’s the end.”