Chapter 2
When the weekend arrived, Dudley decided to visit his parents. He had discussed it with his wife at length. Their behaviour should be brought to attention. He didn’t want to cut them completely out of his or his children’s life, but he wouldn’t stand for abuse.
His wife wished him luck when he left, and would keep the children busy. He was lucky that she was prepared to give his parents a second chance.
He couldn’t help but feel nervous. Dudley was a normally very abrasive person, and he normally never had an issue with asking anything from his parents.
His wife had always been surprised how easily he had asked for money to help with the down payment of the house or the purchase of a new car.
But he also remembered, back when Harry got his school letter how manic his father and mother had become, the first time in his life that he had been scared of his parents. He could still remember how Harry hadn’t really protested any of it.
He now understood that he just didn’t dare backtalk because of the consequences.
“Dudley, what a pleasant surprise, come in.” his mother said when he showed up. She quickly let him in sit on the sofa, where his dad already was.
“I’ll make some tea and bring some biscuits,” she said and Dudley nodded, looking around the room. He saw the pictures on the side table and noticed that Freddy seemed awfully absent from most frames, just like harry.
His mother quickly gave him a cup with a flower pattern and passed him the tin of biscuits, from which he took two. He wasn’t as fat as he was when he was small, but he still couldn’t resist a tin of biscuits.
“So, what brings you here son?” his father asked good naturedly, “some questions about work?”
“No, it’s not about work actually,” he said, taking a quick sip from his cup, “it’s about Georgie and Freddy,” he said, and he could feel the atmosphere in the room change. He saw his parents exchange glances.
“What about Georgie?” his mother said, letting Freddy out of her question.
“You told him it’s okay to hit Freddy.” He said, looking his parents hard in the eye, “and you let Freddy sleep in the cupboard under the stairs,”
“Dudley, is Freddy telling lies? I don’t know what’s wrong with that child,…” his mother started to say, but he harshly interrupted her.
“Georgie says the same. Why mom?” he asked. Again his parents exchanged looks.
“We saw Freddy doing freakish stuff, just like the Boy,” his father said. Dudley could hear the disgust in his voice when he called Harry the boy.
He nearly dropped his teacup though when he heard it.
“Freddy can do magic?” he asked, and his mother tersely nodded, a disapproving frown on her face.
“Yes. Don’t worry Dudley, we won’t let him. Every time we saw, we made sure to correct him,” his father said, and he felt as if someone just poured ice water on his back.
“Correct him?” he asked.
“Yes, that’s why we had him do chores, and sleep underneath the stairs. Normal kids get good things, Freakish ones bad,” his parents started to speak more animatedly.
“No,” he interrupted them, “if that’s how you feel, you’ll never see my kids again,” he said. He felt as if someone had squeezed the breath from his lungs. His son could do magic, like Harry. Harry had used magic to save his life. He didn’t understand why his parents saw it as something bad.
“Dudley, don’t be unreasonable,” his dad began, starting to sound angry. He put his cup on the table in front of him.
“I’m not. Mom, dad, I love you, but if you aren’t going to treat my children like normal people, you won’t get a place in their lives.” He said, “I have to go. If you decide to be grown-ups about it, we can talk later.”
And then he left, leaving his parents behind with looks of surprise on their face.