Chapter 18
“Dudley? Dud, are you still there?” Edith asked when the silence lasted.
“Yes, I am,” Dudley said trying to think, “I’ll call the school, to make sure they won’t get the children, and I’m coming now. You make sure they don’t have them too, okay?”
“I will, you can count on me,” Edith said, and Dudley was forever grateful to have such a good neighbour.
Calling the school, he barely needed to explain before they understood. They all had seen Edith’s movie when they had been arrested and it seemed like the woman made a few more additions with the help from her daughter.
“We’ll hold them at the secretary until you come,” the school said, and Dudley was relieved to know his parents wouldn’t get his precious children.
His call with Livia was a bit less peaceful, the woman full of righteous fury, saying that she would be coming too, but Dudley was closer to school. Once he was in his car, he took out the parchment Harry had given him, quickly writing down what happened and hoping his cousin would check the corresponding piece.
And when this is solved, he would get Harry a cell phone. At least that way he could call and get an immediate response.
“See, magic doesn’t solve everything,” Dudley muttered, trying to keep to the traffic rules while he wished to be closer to school a lot faster.
“No, but it does help,” Harry suddenly said, having apparated to the backseat of his car. Dudley gave a startled shout, and nearly served into the car next to him, earning himself some honking.
“God, Harry, wear a bell would you,” Dudley said, gasping while he tried his heart to slow down.
“Sorry about that,” Harry said, “I read your message. Your parents are at the school?”
“Yeah, but the school would keep the children behind, so they won’t get them,” Dudley said, and Harry nodded, sitting back.
“Okay, we don’t need to hurry than. Otherwise I would have apparated us,” Harry said, and Dudley shuddered, not thinking the sensation would be very pleasant.
“No, this is going to be fine. Could you just do your seatbelt though?” Dudley asked, getting himself a raised eyebrow, but Harry complied.
“Thanks for the concern,” Harry said, and it barely sounded mocking at all.
“Yeah, well, it’s a good habit,” Dudley said flushing.
They pulled in the parking nearby the school, where they saw Edith standing next to her car, her children hovering besides her.
“They are still at the gates. They couldn’t find the kids there, and I think they started an argument with one of the teachers,” Edith said when she saw Dudley, who nodded.
“Thanks for the heads-up. We’ll take it from here,” Dudley said, marching quickly to the school gates, Harry following him.
It still had something surreal about it, following Dudley around and helping him with his kids. But Harry had to admit, if there was something wrong with his kids, he would have wanted all the help he could get as well, even if it was from his cousin.
Mentally prepared, it still felt weird the moment he spotted his aunt and uncle, both having aged in the years he hadn’t seen them.
They were talking to a teacher, who was looking flustered while Vernon’s face was red, and Petunia looked very sour.
“Mom, dad, what the hell are you two doing here?” Dudley asked, swelling up in anger, taller and more buff than both his parents.
“Dudley, we always take the children on Wednesday,” Petunia said, looking startled to see her son, and desperately trying to pretend that there hadn’t been anything wrong going on. Her eyes widened when she saw Harry behind him, “what is that freak doing here?”
“I don’t care what we usually did on Wednesday, the fact that you think *both* my children are freaks should give enough reason to not bring them in contact with the likes of you,” Dudley sneered, feeling anger.
He had ignored his mother’s question about Harry, but the way she called him freak made him realise that this was what she thought about his children.
“What do you mean, both?” Vernon asked, his eyes wide, “it’s only Freddy who is …”
“No, it’s both,” Dudley said, glaring at him, “and it doesn’t matter. They are what they are, and that’s okay. And as long as you two don’t see that, you can’t see them,”
“But Dudley, they’re our grandchildren,” Petunia said, feeling tears gather in her eyes, “we just want what’s best for them,”
“What’s best for them is not by treating the same way you treated Harry,” Dudley said, “you abused him, mom,”
“That wasn’t abuse. That was discipline,” Vernon said.
“No it wasn’t,” Dudley snapped, “and now I want you two gone before we call the police for attempted kidnapping,”
“But…,” Petunia said, looking at her son in despair, but Vernon put a hand on her arm. The man looked at Dudley, studying his son, and ignoring the presence of Harry behind him.
“Dudley…” Vernon said, swallowing sourly and then looking at Harry, “we apologize,”
“What?” Harry asked, his eyes widening at the unsuspected words.
“We apologize,” Vernon forced out, “for what we’ve done. We just wanted you to be normal,”
“I am normal,” Harry said, glaring at the man, who winced.
“Yes, well, different definitions,” Vernon said, glancing at Petunia, who looked at him in shock, and then back to Dudley, “we meant to do good, Dudley. We didn’t want them to turn out wrong,”
“Well, you didn’t,” Dudley said, frowning a little at the turn of events, “you nearly made me lose my children,”
“That was Marge,” Vernon said, looking pained, Petunia nodding in agreement, “Dudley we want to see Freddy and Georgie again,”
“Please, Dudley,” Petunia begged, and Dudley nearly broke at the sight of his mother so sad, but it wasn’t about him.
“Not yet. You have to earn that right again,” Dudley said, “so, please leave now,”
The two stood looking at their son for a few moments, before nodding.
“We will leave, Dudley. I’ll call you this weekend. Just to talk?” Vernon said, and Dudley shrugged, unsure if he was willing to pick up the phone. He would first need to discuss this with Livia before he dared to make a decision about this.
The silence grew again, the answer not wanting to come out of Dudley, and Petunia and Vernon deflated. Glancing at Harry, Petunia gave a sigh, and looked at the boy, trying to not think of her sister she so disliked.
“I guess you won?” Petunia said, trying to sound civil.
“We did,” Harry said dryly, his guard up.
“Good,” Petunia said, licking her lips, and looking as if what she was going to say would pain her, “protect our boys in that world. It’s dangerous and it killed your parents,”
“Mom,” Dudley gasped out, but the woman stared hard at Harry.
“Apparently we can’t keep them away, but I won’t let them be fodder for another inane war,” Petunia snarled, Vernon putting his arm around her, “so don’t let them be,”
“They’ll probably be safer in our world than with you,” Harry sneered and for a moment it looked as if Petunia would say something else, but she shook her head and stepped away, trying to keep her head high, Vernon following her.
“That could have gone worse,” Dudley said, biting his lip in nervousness.
“It could have been,” Harry said, feeling perturbed by the whole conversation, “come on, let’s go get your kids,”