House: Gryffindor
Position: Prefect
Category: Bonus 1
Prompt 1: Lord of the Rings
Prompt 2: Dudley
Prompt 3: penny
WordCount:2956 words, excluding header, author notes, and title.
Beta: CK and Tiggs
A/N: This was written for The Houses Competition, Y3R4 I did my best to stay true
to characters and with what limited knowledge I know of LOTR, hopefully, you
enjoy it.
Bullying to Bound
Dudley stared out the window. He could almost see the heat from the beating sun. He sighed heavily and turned back to the television. He would prefer to be outside with his friends instead of being cooped up indoors, but it was too hot.
Dudley's father murmured under his breath at whatever the news anchor had said and Dudley shifted uncomfortably before getting up with a huff. He was bored, but sitting and watching the news wasn't going to help. He made his way up the stairs, deep in thought about which computer game he should play, when he noticed Harry's door was slightly ajar. He glanced over his shoulder before hurrying into Harry's room and locking the door behind him.
He normally had no interest in what Harry did, but today was the exception; it was like the room had beckoned to him to come and explore. He knew Harry wouldn't be back until after the sun had set, despite how hot it was outside.
Dudley looked around curiously. He hadn't been in this room since he had been forced to give it to Harry. There were clothes scattered around the room and a cage for Harry's owl. Dudley thought he saw movement and made his way towards the bedside table, where a picture was moving. A woman with long red hair was smiling at the camera and a man with disheveled hair was laughing. They must've been Harry's parents. He gave a cruel laugh before throwing the picture on the ground, breaking the frame.
He rummaged through the rest of the things on Harry's nightstand but didn't find anything of interest. For a wizard, Harry sure was boring. He let his eyes slowly scan the room, looking for his next target, when they landed on a trunk. He quickly rushed over; it must be where Harry kept his things. He quickly opened the lid and was disappointed when it looked like the trunk contained nothing but books.
He began to sift through the books in the trunk, determined to find something more interesting. He threw books onto the floor and spilled an ink pot before he spotted it. The wooden wand was shoved into a pocket of the trunk. Dudley could only see the handle of it, but he knew what it was. Harry had drawn it on him too many times for him not to recognize it. He stared at it, mesmerized, before a cruel smile broke out on his face. What would Harry do without his wand? He wouldn't be able to threaten Dudley anymore; the wand was the only power that Harry had over him. He was weak and small and Dudley could easily beat him up but this wand, this wand had stopped him on several occasions, which only made Harry grow bolder. It was about time Harry remembered his place.
The moment his fingers touched the smooth wood, he felt a jolt of electricity. It almost scared him enough to drop it and forget about his whole plan, but then he remembered how Harry had embarrassed him in front of his best mates. He examined the wand; it didn't feel like anything special. The wood was worn and smooth; it looked like a fancy stick. Maybe that's all it was and Harry had been making an even bigger fool of him this whole time. He gave a giant flourishing sweep with the wand and muttered abracadabra under his breath. He almost could have laughed when nothing happened. Harry was going to pay.
He laughed and flicked the wand again, a wide grin adorning his face until the room started getting hazy. He quickly panicked and began to run towards the door. He could feel himself being pulled towards the center of the room. He held onto the door handle trying to escape the room. He was lifted off the floor by the force of the wind in the room. He could feel it swirling around him, like a tornado. The center of the room was a vortex trying to swallow him.
He closed his eyes and gripped the door handle tighter. He could feel the wind getting stronger and stronger. He could feel his palms getting sweatier and his fingers losing their grip. He screamed when he couldn't hold on anymore and was swept into the vortex. He didn't open his eyes but it felt like he was on a roller coaster, with constant twists and turns. He hit the hard ground and quickly turned over onto all fours and vomited.
Once his retching, stopped he looked around. It was dark and damp; each breath he took felt heavy and musky. He slowly got to his feet, using the wall behind his back as leverage. He quickly realized the wall was not a wall but rocks. It looked like he was underground or in a cave. He could hear the dripping of water as it echoed through the cavern and carefully made his way through the rocky terrain.
His eyes slowly began to adjust to the darkness and he could see the mouths of two tunnels. He examined each opening carefully trying to determine the route that would take him out of there when he began to hear a murmuring of two voices.
Dudley quickly hid behind a pile of rocks and tried to slow his breathing. He could hear the pounding of his heart in his ears and he felt sick to his stomach. He didn't know who or what was coming; he couldn't imagine it was anything good though and was scared for his life. He slowly peered out from around the rock but didn't notice anyone there and the murmuring had stopped. His palms started to sweat in panic, and he could feel the dryness in his throat. He slowly began to stand up, his knees cracking loudly in the silence, and began to scan the cavern.
His heart gradually slowed back to normal the longer he didn't see anyone. He began to relax and slowly make his way towards the tunnel entrance again when he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned quickly and saw the glow of two enormous eyes staring at him from atop the rock he had been hiding behind. He could barely make out the creature's features, but it wasn't human and he could see two long ears, erect and alert. He threw his hands out in front of him and squeezed his eyes shut.
The creature sniffed the air.
"Oh yes," the creature murmured in a nasally voice, "Something smells tasty."
The creature lifted its head in the air and sniffed again and took a step towards Dudley. With each sniff, the creature drew closer to Dudley. Dudley debated between whether he should run or stay where he was. It didn't look very big and Dudley doubted he could outrun him so he froze.
When the creature sniffed and stepped closer to Dudley, his instincts took over and he kicked it away, sending him sailing over the rock he had started in. He heard the creature shriek in alarm and quickly began running down one of the tunnels. He tripped over rocks, and jagged points cut into his hands each time he fell, but he didn't dare stop. He could hear the creature calling after him, begging him to stop and soon he could hear it scurrying after him. It quickly caught up to Dudley and blocked his path.
"Please, master, you do not want to go this way! There be evil things lurking this way."
Dudley stopped in his tracks and examined the small creature standing in front of him. He couldn't be more than two feet tall and his face was smooth but slimy, almost amphibian like. His hair was practically nonexistent and his teeth were sharp points. His large ears were drooping and he was bent in a half bow, glancing from the floor to Dudley's face.
'Well then," Dudley straightened up. "Tell me how to get out of this place."
He cracked his knuckles and the creature flinched. He knew how to handle frightened creatures; maybe he would make it out of here just fine.
The creature grabbed at his pants but he kicked him off.
"Don't touch me, you disgusting creature."
The creature whimpered away from him and scurried ahead. It waited for Dudley to catch up to him and then he would scurry away further and wait for him to catch up. This continued for what felt like days.
Dudley could feel his limbs grow heavy and each step seemed to take more effort before he began to see light at the entrance of the tunnel. He sank to his knees the moment his foot touched the plush grass. He leaned his back against the mouth of the cave and just enjoyed the sight of the moonlight. He felt his eyes grow heavy and soon fell asleep, exhausted from the day.
He woke with a start, the feeling of heavy breathing making the hairs rise on his neck. He woke to large pinchers and a fuzzy face of black eyeballs directly above his face.
"You've done well, Gollum, this can feed me for a week," the ominous voice said.
Dudley tried to quickly scurry away but found he was pinned to his spot; one of eight legs pierced his pant leg. He tried to look past the giant mouth in front of his face and realized that the monster on top of him was a giant spider. He shuddered and covered his face with his hands.
"Please don't eat me," he begged. "Please!"
The spider laughed and forced his arms down at his side and began to wrap him with her web. He whimpered but couldn't move or stop her from wrapping him up. Once she was finished, she trailed him behind her deeper in the forest.
He could see the ugly creature trailing them and could hear him arguing with himself on whether or not he should save him. He tried to call out to the creature and beg for his help, but he normally only got vicious laughter in response. The spider grew tired of his cries and eventually bound his mouth.
Now, with his ability to scream and beg for help taken away he had no idea what to do. He could only stare up at the sky, feeling every bump in the path as he was dragged behind her. He was sure that if she didn't eat him soon, the trek to wherever she was taking him would kill him. His could feel the blood running down his face as he hit another sharp rock in the pathway and tried to call out. He struggled with his bindings but barely managed to loosen them at all, only enough for his hands to move slightly. He drove his hands into his pocket, desperate for a tool that could help him, but found nothing; nothing except for one small penny. He palmed it but let out a frustrated groan. A penny wasn't going to help him.
Two days had passed and he rubbed his fingers viciously over the penny, trying to stay awake. He caught himself hallucinating more than once and rubbed the penny to return to the present. He kept running his fingers over the ridges of the penny, his mind repeating a mantra in his head that he was going to be fine—even though in his heart he knew that wasn't true.
Each night the creature timidly poured water through the web and down his throat, bowing and asking him for his face would turn into a cruel smile and he would tell him he deserved to be eaten for disturbing his home. He would then scurry off, a cruel gleam in his eye. Dudley almost wished the creature wasn't keeping him alive with water so he could just die before the spider had a chance to inflict a painful death on him.
On the third day, the creature stopped and strung Dudley up to a tree. Dudley could feel the sharp pinchers engulf his body and he squeezed his eyes shut thinking this was it. His head pounded trying to tell him to run but he couldn't move. He fisted his hands around the penny, the rough ridges of the coin cutting into his hand. His heart was pounding in his ears and the spider cackled.
"I do love it when my food is scared. It gets the heart pounding and the blood flowing."
She pinched him and he felt the pinchers cut through the webbing. He could smell her putrid breath and almost passed out from the smell of death that engulfed him.
"Arania Exumai!"
Dudley could see the bright light from behind his closed eyes. He felt the weight of the spider and the pressure from the pinchers disappear and he began to fall from where the spider held him. He saw himself race towards the ground and was bracing himself for impact, as much as he could in his limited mobility. He could see the ground drawing closer and closer before he bounced back up again like he was on a bungee cord. The web bounced him up and down before losing momentum and causing Dudley to spin around slowly. He could see Harry fighting off the spider, a blue light shooting from the tip of his wand and hitting the spider, over and over again.
Dudley heard shouts but couldn't see what was going on anymore. He was facing the tree. He would hear something running up to him and screamed when he felt something touch his back.
"It's just me!" His cousin breathed heavily at him.
Harry ripped at the webbing holding him hostage and then raised his wand. Dudley fell to the ground and Harry quickly hauled him to his feet.
"Come on!" he said, running away from the spider's lair.
Dudley tried to run after him but his knees locked up and he fell flat on his face again. Harry let out a frustrated groan but helped him to his feet and threw one of Dudley's arms around his neck, trying to support him.
They quickly hobbled through the forest, Harry casting nervous glances around them before they came into a clearing. Harry gently helped Dudley down to the ground, using a rock to support his back and prevent him from falling over. Dudley could feel himself shaking from adrenaline and lack of energy. He felt as if he could fall asleep but he knew they weren't safe yet. He began to turn the penny over and over in his hands, the light it caught soothing to Dudley.
Harry was resting on a nearby rock when Gollum burst into the clearing.
"My precious!" he cried, lunging at Dudley.
Harry was on his feet and his wand was drawn but a moment later another similar creature entered the clearing. He wasn't as slimy and his teeth didn't seem pointed. Harry instantly relaxed. The new creature tackled the other to the ground.
"Smeagol is sorry sir. Smeagol didn't mean to give up your friend." The creature bowed his head, his large ears sweeping the ground.
The creature stilled at this creature's words and turned his face towards him.
"Oh Dobby, cousin, many thanks. Gollum wants the precious," the creature cried and shuddered. He pointed to Dudley's hands, his eyes large with fear.
Dobby nodded and let the trembling creature fall in a heap on the ground.
"Master," the elf bowed low again, "Might Smeagol have the precious?"
"No!" he shouted. "That thing tried to kill me!"
The creature on the ground began to sob incoherently.
"Just give him the penny, Dudley. Once Smeagol is calm again, Dobby can get us home."
Dudley turned wide eyes to his cousin. "How can we trust him? The other one Smeagol, Gollum, whatever his name is, tried to kill me!"
"Dobby is a friend of mine and I trust him; if you don't want to, you can stay here." Harry shrugged. "Smeagol has split personalities after he was cursed by his old master. He has been in exile here for so long that he doesn't know how to control Gollum, but he was the one that went and got Dobby so we could save you."
Dudley eyed the creature before nodding and offering out his hand. Smeagol scurried over to him, tears still wetting his face, and snatched the penny from his hand. He turned it over in his hand and watched as the light sparkled off of the surface.
"My precious!" he murmured.
Dobby turned to Smeagol and gave him a large hug with promises that he would be back soon and telling him how good he did. He then extended a hand towards Harry and Dudley. The moment the creature held his hand, he heard a large crack and felt the rush of wind in his face. He felt his stomach turn but before he knew it they were back in Harry's bedroom.
Harry thanked Dobby before the creature disappeared with another crack. He turned to Dudley.
"Don't touch my wand again."
Dudley nodded and made his way towards his room in a daze, too exhausted to think about the events of the last few days.