Disclaimer: I do not claim to own any material contained herein, save the plot.
1. Dudley's Arrival at Smeltings
Dudley woke up one early September morning to the sound of his mother's voice. That sickly-sweet, highly-irritating voice that nevertheless always managed to make him feel loved.
"Good morning, my little Duddykins! I've made you an extra special breakfast this morning! So up and up, Dudders!" She smiled happily and bustled down to the kitchen.
Dudley rolled his eyes and smiled happily. She was a strange mother, but she always gave him everything he wanted, and bucketloads of affection besides! Dudley swung himself out of bed with a loud thump and trundled down to the kitchen.
The table was decked out with all the food one could imagine. Sausages, bacon, fired eggs, boiled eggs, poached eggs, fried tomatoes, ketchup, pancakes, waffles, maple syrup, toast, raspberry jam – the works! His mother had really gone to town on this meal.
"Thanks mum!" he said thickly through a mouthful of waffle and maple syrup, holding a sausage in one hand and half a waffle in the other.
"Nothing's too good for my little Duddykins!"
"Yes, eat up Dudley-me-boy! You'll need your strength for your first day at Smeltings!" It was only then that Dudley realised that his father was also sitting at the table, smiling at him proudly from across the pancakes.
Dudley managed to eat most of the food on the table before he was full. When he took the last bite of his fried tomato and smiled contentedly, his mother bustled around him.
"Now Duddykins! You must go put your uniform on!" her eyes brimmed with tears, "my little boy – all grown up!" she said chokingly.
Dudley smiled and walked loudly up the stairs, into his room where his mother had thoughtfully laid out his Smeltings uniform on his bed for him. Dudley affectionately picked up his Smeltings stick and whacked it around his head, pretending to hit people. Then he took off his large blue pyjamas with trucks on them and donned his uniform.
Standing in front of the mirror, brandishing the Smeltings stick, Dudley admired himself. The maroon tailcoats really brought out the blue in his eyes, and the orange knickerbockers accented his legs. The little hat (which his mother had told him was called a boater) was the only thing that looked really wrong. It was so dinky and girly. Sitting there so small on his head, it made him look…. Fat! People at school had called him fat before. His mother had just cried indignantly, told him that he "just had big bones," and had given him a big hug, his father had said that it was muscle, and people were only jealous of how strong he looked, Dudley and his friends had bashed the living daylights out of them.
And Harry… Harry would have been one of those "jealous" kids who'd call him a fat tub of lard, and then run like hell. Dudley and his friends had beaten up Harry quite frequently for such misdemeanours. But no! Dudley was not going to think about his unwelcome cousin on his special day. His first day at Smeltings.
Still, as he walked out his bedroom door, his hands crept quietly around to his backside, touching the small scar where his… - he would not say tail – ..had been removed. Oh how his mother had cried when she'd seen it, and how angry his father had been! For Dudley it had been the most traumatic experience of his life. The scar still ached if he sat down too long, and he would simply DIE if the students at Smeltings found out!
He pushed the painful memory from his mind and went into the kitchen. His mother gave a joyful cry and hugged Dudley as hard as she could, telling him again how incredibly proud she was.
The car trip down was exciting enough. Dudley played his game-boy while his father gave him advice on various aspects of school life, from making the "right" kind of friends to standing up for yourself and putting younger students in their place. Dudley was only half-listening though, as he had to concentrate hard on getting past a particularly difficult level in the new game his parents had bought him for a first-day-of-school present.
When they eventually arrived at Smeltings, Petunia was a mess of nerves, and kissed Dudley several hundred times before he got out of the car. As much as he loved his mother, Dudley wasn't about to let her kiss him in front of everyone on his first day. She sat in the car while Dudley and his father clambered out. Vernon took Dudley's things from the car and put them on the sidewalk.
"Good man," Vernon said gruffly, as Dudley put his school bag on his back and picked up his luggage, "you'll make us proud."
Dudley smiled back at his father, looked through the window and smiled at his mother, who was now in tears, then turned around and walked into the courtyard of Smeltings.
A/N That's the first chapter, I hope you enjoyed it! After reading about a hundred fanfics last night I decided that there aren't enough about the "bad guys." I'm not talking about Draco and Lucius, 'cos there's heaps about them (and I'm NOT complaining!), but Crabbe, Goyle and good ol' Dudley just don't get the credit they deserve! This story is the way I see Dudley being, if he was a truly developed character (instead of just the token villain, mean cousin, used to show how bad Harry's home life is "character" – and I use the term loosely.) Please review, always thrilled to hear from you! Please, do give me advice, especially on my story-writing style. Say anything you like to this story, it's the only way I'll learn. Thanks guys, and the next chapter will be in, hopefully within the week.
