Harry was becoming increasingly worried as every minute passed. He had to know if his uncle and cousin where okay. Granted he didn’t like them much, but no one deserved that kind of fate. Guilt and fear coursed through him. He should have known something like this would happen.
“Harry, will you please sit down. You’re pacing a hole in the floor.” Hermione told him.
“I can’t, Hermione. I should be at Privet Drive, not here.”
“I know you think that, but Moody was right. You’re safer here for the moment.”
“No. I should be out there with them. Why did I let them talk me into coming here?”
“Mate, listen to Hermione. Please don’t do anything stupid. You should stay here until the Order members figure out what’s going on,” Ron said looking worried.
Harry stopped pacing and faced his friend, “What’s going on? I’ll tell you what’s going on. Voldemort attacked my family to get to me, and to draw me out. He intentionally had his Death Eaters put my aunt’s body where he knew I’d find it. I can’t just to sit here while my uncle and cousin might be in danger.”
“And that is exactly why you should stay. You said it yourself, Harry, Voldemort is trying to draw you out. What if he is waiting there for you to show up? You’re not ready to face him yet and you know it,” Hermione tried to reason with her friend.
Harry knew Hermione was right, but it didn’t mean he had to like it. He sighed heavily and resumed his pacing, “I should have known this was going to happen.”
The kitchen door opened suddenly, causing Harry to stop in his tracks. Moody and Arthur stepped into the room with grim looks on their faces.
Harry cringed knowing what had happened, but he asked anyways, “What happened? Are they okay?”
Mr. Weasley was the one to answer him, “Your cousin Dudley was unhurt, thankfully. He happened to be somewhere else when they attacked, but I’m afraid that your uncle was not so fortunate. I’m sorry, Harry.”
Mr. Weasley moved aside and revealed Harry’s large cousin standing in the hall way beyond, looking unharmed. Shock and curiosity was evident in his wide face, as he peered into the room. Harry locked eyes with his cousin.
Before anyone realized what was happening, Dudley had lurched at Harry screaming, “It’s all you’re fault!”
Harry was taken back by his cousin’s sudden reaction, but was able to move out of his grasp just in time. Dudley missed Harry by inches and his fist slammed into a wall instead. A loud crack could be heard, as contact was made.
“Coward!” Dudley bellowed furiously, as his whole body shook in silent rage.
“Dudley, I’m sorry,” Harry said trying to calm his cousin down, but he knew Dudley wasn’t listening.
“My parents should have never taken you in. Y-Y-You ungrateful…” Dudley started to say, but was unable to finish. Instead his massive body clasped to the floor where he was standing and his shoulders shook as tears streamed down his face.
Harry stood by not saying a word. He knew the pain his cousin was feeling and he wanted to console him, but Harry knew Dudley would never allow that. As far as Dudley was concerned, his parents death was his fault, and he was right. His aunt and uncle’s death were his fault. If Harry had not stayed with them, this wouldn’t have happened. Guilt engulfed him once more.
No one said a word in the room, mostly because no one knew what to say. Minutes passed by as Dudley remained on the floor not moving. Finally, Mrs. Weasley went to the young man.
“There, there Dudley. Let’s get you upstairs and into bed. You look like you could use some rest,” she pulled Dudley up with the help of her husband and escorted him out of the room.
Harry had not moved from his spot, as his cousin was led out. Dudley and his parents had been yet another victim of Voldemort and his tyranny. He had to be stopped. Deep in the pit of his stomach Harry could feel the anger building, and started to feel rage taking him over. Harry knew what he had to do. He had wasted enough time as it was.
“Harry,” he felt someone touching on his shoulder, “are you going to be alright?” Hermione asked.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine once this war is over. We have to go.”
“And where exactly do you think your going?” Moody asked, as he stepped in front of Harry.
“Somewhere I’ve been putting off too long,” he turned and looked at Ron and Hermione. “Are you two coming or what?”
Ron and Hermione quickly exchanged glances. They knew where Harry wanted to go.
“Sure, mate. We’re with you,” Ron said getting up from his seat at the table.
“Harry, are you sure you want to do this now? Maybe we should wait until the morning?” Hermione asked, uncertainty in her voice.
“No, we’ve put it off too long. We go tonight.” Harry quickly side stepped Moody and walked out of the kitchen before anyone could stop him.
Ron and Hermione hurried after him, not wanting to be left behind.
Dudley woke up from a troubled sleep with a pounding headache. His whole body ached in fact. He tried to open his eyes, but found it difficult. Slowly he managed to open them and adjust to the bright light in the room. His blurred vision finally came into focus and he was able to get a look at his surroundings.
A jolt of fear went through Dudley as he quickly sat up. He didn’t recognize the room he was in. His heart beat rapidly in his chest as he started to panic. Where was he? How did he get here? Why was he in this strange place? Dudley rubbed his aching head trying to remember. Suddenly a flood of memories hit him like a ton of bricks and he remembered.
Someone had attacked his home and killed his parents, leaving him all alone. His world as he knew it had been drastically turned upside down within minutes. A part of him wished he had died with his parents, but he hadn’t. In fact, he had been at his friend Jeff’s house down the street, without a care in the world, when it had happened. Dudley laid his aching head back down on his pillow, as let the memories of the day before wash over him.
It was a Saturday afternoon, and Dudley had had a big argument with his dad about him coming to work with him. His dad had been pushing Dudley for a while to learn the business, so that he could one day take over, but Dudley didn’t want to. He wanted to pursue wrestling, which he was really good at. His mom had tried to intervene and calm the two men down, but Dudley had left the house in anger and had gone over to his friend Jeff’s house to cool down for a while.
He and Jeff had spent most of the afternoon holed up in Jeff’s room playing a new video game his friend had recently purchased. Dudley had just won his fifth round when there a soft knock at the bedroom door. The door burst open and in came Jeff’s ten year old sister Tilly.
“Jeff, come see, quick. There are some cool fireworks outside. I’ve never seen anything like them before.”
“Go away, brat, and you’re suppose to knock,” Jeff yelled at his sister.
“I did knock. Jeff, come see the fireworks, pleeeease,” she said jumping up and down.
“What fireworks? It’s not a holiday that I know of.” Jeff asked absently, as he continued to play the game.
Tilly grabbed Jeff’s shoulder and tried pulling him off the floor, “Come see. Come see.”
Jeff sighed as he threw his controller onto the floor. Tilly had distracted him and caused his character to die. “Look at what you made me do!” he yelled at her.
Tilly’s face screwed up as she started to cry.
“Alright, alright, we’ll go see your stupid fireworks, but this better be worth it. I just passed the sixth level. Are you coming, Dudley?” he asked.
Dudley shrugged, “Sure, I love explosives. Hey, maybe we can get some firecrackers and scare Mrs. Emerson’s dog.”
“Nah. We did that last week,” Jeff said as he walked across the hall to his sister’s room.
Dudley paused the game and followed. Jeff was already at the window when Dudley walked in.
“Whoa, check this out, Dudley. You won’t believe this,” Jeff said, as he stuck his nose to the glass.
Dudley moved to his friend’s side and looked out. High up in the sky a large green snake was moving around and was coming out of an even larger skull. It let off an eerie green cast that was becoming brighter and brighter, as the sun slowly dropped behind the horizon. It was the most bizarre thing Dudley had ever seen. Well, maybe not ever. He did see some weird stuff happen when his no good cousin Potter was around, but Harry had left a few days ago. So what was causing the weird fireworks?
“Hey, Dudley, aren’t those fireworks right over your house?” Jeff asked pointing out the window.
Dudley notice his friend was right, “Yeah they are. Maybe we should go check it out?”
“Let’s go,” Jeff said as they both headed for the door.
Once on the street the two young men walked toward Dudley’s house. Other people were already coming out of their homes to get a better look at the green sky. As Dudley got closer to his house, he could see a crowd of people gathering near it. Dudley got an uneasy feeling and started to run towards it.
“Hey wait up!” Jeff yelled.
Dudley ignored his friend and pushed the people out of his way, as he tried to move toward the front door of his house. He finally managed to get to the door he had stormed out of earlier, or what was left of it. It looked like it had been blasted off its hinges by something. The edges of the door frame were still smoking slightly.
Dudley stopped. The uneasy feeling growing inside him became stronger. A warning bell was going off somewhere in his head. It told him to run. Normally he would, but something unseen pulled him inside. Maybe he shouldn’t go in, but he couldn’t help himself. He had to know if his parents were alright. Dudley tentatively put a step forward and entered the hallway. He slowly picked his way through the mess the blasted door had caused.
“Mum! Dad!” he called out.
No one answered. The house was silent. Dudley moved into the living room and froze at the grisly scene before him. Dudley was riveted to his spot too appalled to comprehend what he was seeing. The living room was in worse condition than the front hall. Furniture was broken and over turned. There were black scorch marks all over the walls. His mother’s good china tea set was smashed into pieces on the floor. Among the scattered china pieces, laid his father sprawled out on his back. Lifeless eyes gazed up at the ceiling and his face was distorted in a strange expression. Dudley quickly regained his senses and ran to his father’s side.
“Dad,” Dudley said as he knelt by his father. “Dad,” he said again, as tears threatened to spill down his cheeks.
Dudley’s hands shook violently as he touched his father’s shoulder, “Please be alright.” But Dudley knew deep in his heart that it was too late for him. He was gone.
Dudley didn’t remember much after that. He was in too much in shock at what had happened. Though Dudley was unsure of what exactly had happened or who would do such a thing.
He vaguely remembered strangely clad people that looked suspiciously like those “freaks” his cousin hung around with, come and pulled him from his father’s lifeless body. A couple of them stood around asking him questions, while others waved little sticks around cleaning up the mess in the room. Dudley thought about running and hiding in a corner, but was too frightened to move or speak.
A familiar red headed man came up to Dudley and put his hand on his shoulder. He told Dudley something about his parents being a victim of someone called Death Feeders, or was it Death Eaters. Dudley was too stunned to respond. His mother was gone too. How could this have happened?
The red headed man patted his shoulder and handed him an old dirty sock and before Dudley knew what was happening he felt a funny feeling pull at his navel. The world swirled around him and he felt sick to his stomach. When the swirling finally stopped, he landed on his hands and knees. His head was still swimming violently. Dudley remained on the ground hurling up his lunch. After he was done, a gentle hand pulled him to his feet.
“Come on. We have to get inside before anyone sees us,” a gruff voice said.
Dudley looked up and saw to his amazement that he was no longer in his parents house. He was in some dirty neighborhood he had never seen before.
“Where… where are we?” Dudley managed, curiosity getting the better of him.
The gruff man who had spoken before pushed a piece of rough paper into his hand, “Here read this.”
The headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London.
“Who is the Order of the Phoenix?” Dudley asked.
“Later,” the man snarled, as he took the paper back and limped up the steps of a house, which Dudley was sure hadn’t there just a few moments ago.
Dudley followed, still not sure of what was going on. The thought had occurred to him, that he was a sleep and was dreaming. If he was dreaming, he wished he’d hurry up and wake, because this dream was turning into a terrible nightmare.
Dudley entered the house and followed the two men into a room. Once Dudley entered the room, he looked around and saw it was a kitchen full of people. He didn’t recognize anyone at first. Until his gaze fell on some he knew very well. Suddenly it all clicked.
Dudley stood still for only a second, as red hot anger shot through him. Everything finally made sense. He knew why his mother and father were dead. He knew who was responsible for everything. Someway, somehow, Harry Potter was behind what had happened. He just knew it. Dudley clenched his fist. He wanted Potter to pay for what he had done to him and his family.
Dudley sprung forward towards his cousin, “It’s all you’re fault!”
Dudley struck his fist at Harry, but he cousin was too fast and moved out of the way. Dudley tried to follow, but his fist hit the wall.
“Coward!” Dudley screamed. He now was twice as angry, because he had missed and now his hand throbbed with pain.
“Dudley, I’m sorry,” Harry said.
Dudley shut his cousin words out. He didn’t care if he was sorry. He wanted his cousin to hurt as much as he was hurting now. “My parents should have never taken you in. Y-Y-You ungrateful…” Dudley couldn’t finish because of the sobs choking him. He clasped to the floor no longer able to control himself.
After what seemed like a lifetime, a red headed woman knelt beside him and pulled him gently to his feet, “There, there, Dudley. Let’s get you upstairs and into bed. You look like you could use some rest.” Dudley wondered how the women knew his name, but was too exhausted to ask.
He dimly remembered being helped upstairs and being put to bed. Once in bed, it didn’t take him long to drift off to sleep. The stress from everything had worn him out and sleep was a nice escape from reality. Maybe it was all a dream and when he woke up the next morning all would be as it once was.
But it wasn’t a dream. He knew that now. It was all real. Every single bit of it. His world had been turned upside down and it was all Potter’s fault. He didn’t know how or why, but he’d find out and then Potter would pay.
Dudley was jolted out of his reverie by a soft knock on the door. His rage dissipated, as a startled Dudley sat up in bed.
“Yes?” he asked tentatively.
“Dudley, if your hungry breakfast is on the table,” a woman’s voice said from the other side of the door.
Dudley’s stomach growled, reminding him he had not had anything to eat since yesterday at lunch. “Breakfast?” he asked.
“Yes, if you like I could bring it up here?” the woman said.
“Okay,” he replied.
Dudley settled back down on his pillow. He wasn’t sure if he could or even should eat. After all, his parents had just died. Dudley shuttered and pulled the blankets up to his meaty chin. They were gone. They were really gone and now he was all alone. What was he going to do? He had never been alone before. He had always had his parents. They had always done everything for him. He didn’t think he could survive without them.
Brimming tears began to fall unchecked down his cheeks. No. This can’t be happening. It just can’t. Dudley scrunched himself into a tight ball pulling the blankets over top himself. He would just lie here forever. Yes, that’s what he’d do. Who cared what happened next. His world was gone. There was no point to living anymore. Time passed and he dimly heard someone come in the room.
“Dudley dear, your food is here by your bed if you want it,” a voice said from the other side of the blankets. “Oh you poor boy, the pain you must be going through. If there is anything I can do for you let me know. I’ll be downstairs.”
Dudley heard a door open and then close. He remained where he was for a few more minutes, listening to his pounding heart beating in his chest. His very breath was slowly suffocating him beneath the sheets. He finally lifted the bed linen to get some fresh air. An assault of delicious foods rushed at him. His empty stomach growled in greeting.
Dudley sat up and looked over at a tray that contained every assortment of breakfast foods that he loved, but had been denied for so long because of his diet. Dudley greedily snatched up the tray and dug in with gusto, despite his diet and grief.
It only took minutes for him to finish everything on the plate. He ate like a man who hadn’t had a meal in weeks. By the time he was done the tray was clean, but not him. He ended up wearing a good portion of his food. Dudley licked his lips and slipped down onto the bed with eyes closed and a satisfied look on his face. He wished his mum would let him eat food like that instead of the healthy garbage she was always fixing him.
Dudley’s eyes snapped open. He had briefly forgotten about them. How could he forget about them? How could he enjoy such a wonder meal and wish his mother would stop forcing him to eat things he didn’t like? And how could he argue with his father like that? He should have told them how much he appreciated them, and now it was too late. Dudley felt an emotion that was totally alien to him creeping into his chest. He couldn’t put a name on this new emotion. It scared him. Was it guilt?
Dudley suddenly felt sick to his stomach. Maybe it was because he ate too fast, or the realization of what he had done. He wasn’t sure and it didn’t matter. He had to find a bathroom and fast. Dudley jumped up from the bed and rushed over to the bedroom door yanking it open. He ran into the hall, frantically looking for anything that might look like it led to a bathroom. He had to open several doors before he found the correct one. He barely made it in time. After several long painful moments of bringing up everything he had eaten mere minutes before, Dudley was finally able to rest against the bathroom wall panting. His stomach felt better, but his heart did not.
After sitting for what seemed like an eternity, Dudley finally pulled himself up off the floor. He flushed the toilet and turned on the sink leaning over it. He cupped both of his hands beneath the water and splashed in onto his face. He did this several more time before turning the water off. He stood there leaning on the porcelain sink, his two hands gripping the sides tightly. His knuckles turned white, he was holding so hard. The argument he had with his father the day before kept playing over and over in his head.
He looked up into the mirror hanging above the sink. His face was completely drenched. His blond hair was wet and wildly sticking up in all directions. His white shirt was wet in spots from him splashing his face and food stains covered a large portion. His chin had a two day old shadow. His eyes had a haggard look about them. Dudley had never seen himself look this bad before. Why should he? He had always had everything he ever wanted handed to him. His parents had always seen that he always got the best of everything, and the one time his dad ever asked him to do something he threw it in his face. Dudley eventually pulled himself from his ghastly appearance in the mirror and swaggered out into the hall.
He wandered around aimlessly down the hall, not paying attention to where he was going. He didn’t really care where he ended up. He just wanted to find something or someway to end his pain. It was too much for him to handle. His senses became dead and dull in his overload of emotions. So much, that he didn’t even notice when he walked straight into a wall. Dudley vaguely felt his head ache from the encounter, but did not stop. He merely made a ninety degree turn and continued to walk, until he was stopped by a familiar voice.
“Oh my, Dudley, you don’t look good at all. Here take a seat before you drop,” a familiar looking red headed woman said, as she rushed over to him and made a chair appear from thin air.
Dudley snorted as he took a seat in the chair that the woman offered. He would normally be frightened by the use of magic. There’s that “M” word. He couldn’t believe he had thought the word let alone tolerate it being used around him. But all of that didn’t matter now. Nothing mattered at all.
“Do you want anything to drink, dear?” the woman asked him.
Dudley licked his lips and uttered a soft, “Yeah, sure.” He felt the desire to be polite to the woman. After all, she was the only one who had gone out of their way to try to make him feel better.
The matronly woman again flicked her wand and a glass filled with a clear liquid appeared in her hand. And again Dudley did not even flinch.
She handed him the glass, “Here you go. Drink up.”
Dudley reached out to take it. His hands shook slightly, as he put the glass to his lips and took a sip. The water felt refreshing going down his sore throat. It felt like it had given him a spark of life, or maybe it the kindness he was receiving from a complete stranger.
Dudley looked up at the woman. “I don’t even know your name?” he asked her.
The woman smiled warmly at him, “I’m Molly Weasley, but please, call me Molly.”