Easy like Sunday morning

by quillnineandthreequarters

The Potters and the Dursleys wake up to a beautiful Sunday morning each content in their lives. Until Dudley's daughter's hair turns blue that is. This is a short story on what happens the day Dudley finds out his daughter is magical.

Dursley's Surprise

It was October the 7th when Harry's phone rang. This murky Sunday at Godric's Hollow promised to have been a day just like any other. The sun had risen, the same birds had been chirping and Mrs Haggleston's cat from number 183 had been roaming around their garden in search for bluebells. Harry had woken up next to a snoring Ginny and smiled. He made the breakfast in their kitchen by first attempting to use magic and giving up instead opting to fry the bacon the good old fashioned muggle way, and sat ready to enjoy his morning with his wonderful food and wonderful wife. Harry Potter, by all accounts, was happy.

Dudley Dursley however, was far from happy. This particular Sunday morning his wife Elsie had been feeding their bounding toddler, Alice. Dudley too had woken up to a hearty breakfast and a peck on the cheek from his plump, toothy wife, (Whom Petunia adored as she was perfectly ordinary thank you very much.) He had stared lovingly over his eggs at his lovely, perfectly ordinary family. Alice had been feeling particularly stubborn that morning and was once again fighting Elsie's efforts at feeding her some cereal.

"Oh do behave darling," Elsie gasped as her fat arms dodged around her daughters flailing hands, "Here comes the choo choo train!" Dudley chuckled to himself as Alice squirmed letting out a full belly bellow followed by a swift kick that sent her bowl flying into her mothers hair. There was a slight pause followed by Dudley's roar. Wiping a joyful tear from his eye he stated, "I don't think she likes the choo choo train darling."

A rather flustered Elsie flounced across the kitchen to the sink in a desperate attempt to remove the cereal from her permed blonde hair. Darling little Alice let out a high pitched squeal of delight at the state of her mother. The young girl was so happy that she now had her own way, she had not noticed that her Father's laughing had stopped. Dudley's smile had vanished and threatened never to return. Dudley in that split second, felt like his entire world had imploded in on itself. For you see, when his precious daughter had started to squeal, her soft, wispy baby hair had changed from blonde to blue.

Elsie screamed.

Ginny Weasley still jumped whenever Harry's mobile phone rang. The vibration was unnecessary and she was still upset he wouldn't let her change the ringtone to a Celestina Warbeck song. "I wish you wouldn't use that thing at the breakfast table, Potter. You know I hate those muggle contraptions."

Harry quickly shut off the sound, "Well it's a damnsight quicker than teaching the Dursley's how to use Owls I can tell you that. Hello?"

"HARRY, HARRY IT'S HAPPENING." Dudley's voice was so loud and urgent, Harry almost dropped his phone.

"Dudley, Dudley calm down! What's happening?" Harry could hear Elsie screaming in the background, "MY BABY, MY POOR BABY! HOW DO YOU CHANGE IT BACK?!"

Dudley took a deep breath and then burst into a fresh wave of sobs. "W..we were j…ju..ust eating… breakfast, you know she's s…s…stubborn, and the bowl, and Elsie, and now she's…." He struggled to get the last word out.

Harry was confused, "She's what? Who are you talking about? Dudley, what's going on?"

Dudley was a broken man. "She's BLUE!" He had such an ugly, wailing cry.

Harry couldn't make sense of what Dudley was stammering on about. "Blue? Dudley, who's blue?" Ginny all of a sudden looked very interested and looked up from her breakfast.

"Alice's hair. Harry…. I think…. I think Alice is magic."

There was a slight pause as Harry had to look away from Ginny who had burst into a silent fit of giggles that was making her eyes stream and her bacon jam in her throat.

Harry didn't know what to do. He knew there was a possibility of magic blood in the family but he was convinced Vernon's gene pool had seen to it that that magic nonsense was stomped out. "Dudley calm down, we'll come round as soon as we can and everything will be alright. You just calm down Elsie, it's bound to be a shock for her."

Dudley seemed torn between relieved and horrified that his freak cousin and his freak friends were coming to visit his perfectly-normal-thank-you-very-much family. He hung up the phone just as he saw Elsie rummaging through the kitchen drawer on a seemingly relentless quest for scissors.

Harry put down the phone and stared at it for a second in complete disbelief. It was only when Ginny broke the silence with a deafening shriek did it bring him back to life.

When Ginny had calmed down she turned stern. Girls are scary when they do that, Harry thought. Hermione does it too. "Well," she said tartly, "I can't say it isn't exactly what he deserves. Think of all those times he tortured you, now he's going to have to face his parents." Her eyes lit up, "Ooh I wonder what they'll say about having a witch in the family." Harry stayed silent. Ginny knew better than to push the issue, Harry hated talking about those people. Instead she simply stated, "I'll get Ron and Hermione. They'll want to see this." She apparated away and left Harry alone with his breakfast.

Harry thought back to Dudley's words as they left their home. "I don't think you're a waste of space, you saved my life." When Harry was in muggle school they learned about Nature vs Nurture. If Dudley hadn't been raised by the Dursley's, would he have been a nice person? Or was it simply his nature to be an insolent, rotten child? Either way, blood was blood and right now Harry had a magical niece with clueless muggle parents. They needed help. Harry looked down at his plate and realised he had all of a sudden lost his appetite.

Harry slumped up the stairs wondering how he should feel. It was a little bit funny after all. He got dressed and gathered a few essentials into a rucksack wondering what exactly counted as essential for this sort of trip. In a stroke of what he considered genius, Harry dug out his old text books from the loft. Dudley may be as thick as two short planks but he was almost sure Elsie could at least pretend to read. Just as he was skipping down the stairs, a little less numb now he had the image of Dudley trying to wash out the blue in his daughters hair, he heard familiar voices in his living room. The voices of his best friends always warmed his heart especially when those voices included his wife.

Hermione's voice danced through the hallway, "I don't know why on earth you've brought that thing Ronald, you never use it properly."

Ron responded, "Hermione I would be doing the wizarding world an injustice if I didn't grab the opportunity to take pictures."

Harry stepped into the living room continuing with, "I reckon we'll be able to sell them to the Daily Prophet. Fill up the gag section."

Hermione embraced him and Ron shook his hand. Harry said, "Thanks for coming, I have no idea how to handle this!"

Ron smirked, "Like I'd miss this!"

Hermione nudged him warningly, "Honestly Ronald poor Dudley and Elsie are probably scared out of their wits."

Ginny scoffed, "Hermione, you just used the words "poor" and "Dudley" in the same sentence,"

Hermione huffed and crossed her arms. "I can relate to them, that's all."

Harry silently agreed that Hermione was probably the best person for this job. Ginny and Ron's dad worked for the Ministry of Magic. The Weasleys house growing up had a clock that told you where everyone was at exactly what time. They had a fireplace stocked with endless amounts of floo powder so they could go wherever they wanted. Their dishes washed themselves with a simple charm. Hermione's parents were dentists. They drove an Audi. It was black.

Ginny hurried off to get dressed and Harry told the others, "Right, plan of action. We'll take the car so I'll drive the first hour, Ron you drive…"

Ron looked offended, "Car?! You're taking a car? But that'll take ages! Can we not apparate?"

Harry pointed out, "Ron correct me if I'm wrong but I have a feeling Oxford has seen a little less magic than Godrics Hollow."

Hermione pointed out, "Yes and the Dursley's have probably had enough excitement for one day without us popping into their living room. I think the car's a good Idea, Harry." Ron sulked.

Back at the Dursley's house, Dudley had managed to prise the scissors out of his wife's hands. Alice was playing on the living room floor, the blue starting to fade. Alice was having a blast with her pop up jack in the box. She would press a button and a tune would tinkle away and right at the end, the demonic clown toy that babies seem to love would pop out of the box. Elsie sat on the sofa with a wild look on her face, flinching whenever her daughter made a sudden movement or sound. She wanted the murder that clown toy.

Dudley was pacing the floor trying to rationalise what had happened. He wasn't doing well. "Right… OK… right…. Alice is magical… OK, we can deal with that. Oh god, what am I going to tell my parents?!"

Elsie sprang to life, "YOUR parents? YOUR PARENTS?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN WHAT ARE WE GOING TO TELL YOUR PARENTS? YOU HAVE THIS IN YOUR FAMILY APPARENTLY, THEY'RE USED TO THIS KIND OF NONSENSE. When were you going to tell me that by the way? A little warning would have been preferable Dudley! My parents are going to have a FIT!"

Dudley was stammering. He never thought even for a second that this would ever happen. It was Potter's mum that was the witch not his. "I didn't, I mean, I didn't think I would have to…"

Elise was incandescent with rage. "You didn't THINK Dursley, that's what didn't happen! You didn't think to warn me that she might have magical bloody powers, you didn't think to mention, NOT ONCE, that my baby might be anything but completely ordinary, you didn't THINK, DUDLEY and now… (she began hitting him with a scatter cushion at this point,) my… daughter…. is BLUE!"

Dudley looked towards Alice, "She's alright now! I mean there's a slight tinge but,"

"A SLIGHT TINGE?" Just as Elsie was about to spontaneously combust, there was a knocking on the door.

Dudley could have fainted, "This'll be Potter!" He ducked away from his tomato red wife and answered the door.

The four of them filed into Dudley's home. Elsie hadn't even seen a photo of her husband's cousin so had no idea what they looked like. She didn't know what to expect.

Hermione was the first to introduce herself to Elsie, followed by Ginny then Ron. Elsie didn't know who's hand to shake first. "Urm, yes hello, Hello Hermknee, Hello Ron."

Hermione interrupted apologetically, "It's Her-mi-o-ne actually, sorry."

Elsie flapped, "Of course of course, how silly of me. And you," she turned to Harry and her expression soured, "You must be Harry Potter."

Harry looked awkward, "Hello, yes I am. Lovely to meet you Elsie." He held out his hand but Elsie just looked at it with disgust. Great, he thought, now I'm at fault for wizards existing. She made Harry nervous, he reminded her too much of Aunt Marge.

"Sit," Elsie demanded as she smoothed down her daisy dress.

Harry, Ginny, Hermione, and Ron sat on the Dursley's couch awkwardly. They had one of those, shoes off at the door, coats on the rack, belongings at your feet kind of houses. Ron was scared. He was already upset that Hermione had completely forbade any photography so as to not upset the Dursley's further so the camera had been banished to the car boot. Alice seemed drawn to him the most, crawling over and holding out her arms for a cuddle. Ron picked her up and held her awkwardly. Ginny and Hermione smirked at each other. "Babies love me," He stated with a nervous grin as Alice babbled away.

Elsie turned to see Alice in Ron's arms and looked at him as if he had just dropped her from a great height. She swiftly removed Alice from his clutches and clung on to her daughter, kissing her forehead. "She doesn't like strangers," she explained with half a smile that nobody believed.

"She's not the only one," Ron muttered under his breath.

Harry, being overly familiar with this sort of clean-freak environment, spoke first. "So," He clapped his hands together, "Alice is a witch. That's great!" Elsie burst into tears, "Oh, I mean, urm sorry, It's great that she's special and she has these talents and…" Nothing was helping. Elsie wailed and ran into the kitchen leaving Alice sat on the sofa next to her Father. Hermione and Ginny followed her.

In the kitchen, Elsie dabbed her tears and reapplied her mascara. Without looking at either Ginny or Hermione she asked, "So I take it you're all magical then? How come Alice is magic when I'm normal? Dudley is normal as well!"

Hermione spoke first, "We are all wizards and witches but my parents are normal too. They're dentists. They thought my letter was a practical joke for three weeks! Our old Headmaster, Professor Dumbledore had to come to the house himself before they believed him."

Ginny realised that Hermione had never told anyone that. It made sense though, she never really considered how strange it would look to someone without any magic just learning about Hogwarts. They would probably look how Elsie looked right now.

Elsie finally made eye contact with Hermione and yet still managed to not really give her full attention. As if looking at a witch would turn her into a toad. "Your parents, the dentists, they were alright about all of this?"

Hermione tried to be calm and patient with Elsie. She needed reassurance, they had essentially turned up into her living room and completely messed up her world. "They were shocked, VERY shocked. My mum almost called the police on Dumbledore. To prove that he was magic they asked him to find a coin from behind my dad's ear, poor Dumbledore was so confused. Instead, he took out this little lighter he had, flicked it a couple of times, and all the lights in the house went off. With another flick, they all came back on again."

Elsie looked unimpressed. "So he came to your house and pratted around with the electrics?"

Ginny rolled her eyes and snapped, "Dumbledore was a great man." Hermione shot her a warning glance that softened her up a bit. "My mother's favourite spell is that one that keeps the gnomes from running around the garden."

"Oh, I have gnomes," Elsie was suddenly a little too excited. They had seen the parade of little men in red hats and fishing rods that led up the pathway to the Dursley's home.

Ginny continued, "Oh no, these ones are NOT nice at all! They creep around the garden, they steal my mother's flowers, they eat my father's vegetables and they do unspeakable things to my brothers headstone!"

Elsie said with great sympathy, "Oh my, your brother?"

Ginny scratched her head. "Yeah, there was a wizarding war and…"

"What do you mean there was a WAR?" Elsie's sympathy was gone.

Hermione jumped in. "Let's not talk about anything too horrible, we don't want to scare Elsie now do we?"

Ginny had a great deal that she wanted to say to Elsie but bit her lip. "Yes of course, sorry."

Dudley let out a huge sigh. "Harry, just tell me. I can't stop this, can I?"

Harry gave a soft knowing smile to his cousin. "No Dudley. No you can't."

Alice, free from her mother, climbed down off the sofa and crawled along the floor until she found a television remote to chew on.

Dudley smiled. "Mum and Dad are going to hate this." Harry and Dudley shared a special moment as they both knew exactly how the Dursley's would react to their Dudders having a baby witch. They both knew how they had tried to squash Harry's abilities out of him. How they nailed the letterbox just so he wouldn't get his letter. Dudley, once the shock had worn off, seemed to have accepted the news quite quickly. Alice was his flesh and blood. It didn't matter what she turned out to be. Dudley looked sideways at Harry and said, "I suppose I'll have to get used to her doing tricks like you did aye? Remember the vanishing glass?"

Harry smiled at the memory. At the time, Dudley's face in a snake enclosure seemed like the funniest thing in the world. That was, until Vernon got a hold of him. He didn't get any meals for a while after that.

Rons eye twinkled, "Mate, vanishing glass is nothing. Wait until she hits puberty, that's when you're REALLY in for it."

Dudley suddenly looked very worried again. Very quietly he asked, "What happens when she hits puberty?"

Ron, with a deadly serious look on his face; ignoring Harry's attempts at stopping him from talking; leaned in and whispered, "Where do you think werewolves come from? I mean, they don't call it time of the month for nothing…"

"RONALD WEASLEY GET IN THIS KITCHEN NOW." Hermione's voice had suddenly turned into Molly's and Ron jumped up to obey, his ears pink.

The colour had vanished from Dudley's face.

Harry could have kicked Ron. Hurriedly he pointed out, "He's joking! Please, don't listen to him!"

Dudley just nodded. He was wrong. It did in fact matter what she turned out to be. A witch? Fine. A werewolf? That would just about kill Elsie.

Elsie and the others returned from the kitchen, Ron on an invisible leash controlled by Hermione. Elsie's face was as red as the wine in her hand. Tears stained her cheeks and her eyes were puffy.

Dudley tried to take it away from her, "Sweet pea, it's not even midday yet." Elsie shot a fearsome glare at Dudley that shut him up instantly. He could have sworn he heard her growl. Maybe Elsie was a werewolf.

Hermione was sat gingerly next to her. "I have just explained Hogwarts to Elsie. I've told her that we're friends with Professor Longbottom the Herbology teacher, and how Headmistress McGonnagall will always be looking out for you so Alice will be perfectly safe there. Hogwarts is wonderful." Hermione seemed to have gone off into a dream land, Elsie thought she was barmy. "I was a muggle too once," She saw the offense on Elsie's face and stopped just before Elsie began to speak, "Oh it isn't a bad word, it just means people without any magical powers. You know, normal people."

The word "normal" seemed to have eased Elsie but she still shifted nervously. "So you're telling me that when Alice is eleven, I have to ship her off to a boarding school that I'm not allowed to visit, so she can do magic tricks that she isn't allowed to do at home, so she can enter a world I'm not supposed to be allowed to know about."

Harry, Hermione, and Ron glanced at each other at a loss for words.

Ginny said, "Pretty much."

Elsie laughed. "Brilliant." The sound was almost unnerving to the ears of those around her, not least of all her husband.

Harry pulled out his large bag and took out the contents. "I have some of my old text books. You and Elsie can look through them and learn about the wizarding world. You have a lot to prepare for but I promise you it's wonderful."

Elsie took a swig to finish off her wine as she picked up one of the books with extreme caution. "Well I suppose we'll have to won't we Dudley?" The book had a picture of a witch on it stirring a cauldron. The title read, "Advanced potion making." She felt sick.

Dudley smiled at her and then at his cousin, "Thank you, Harry."

Ron laughed, "Remember all those adventures we had? It was never a dull moment at Hogwarts."

Harry laughed along with him, "Yeah the adventures that nearly got us kicked out you mean? Like arriving by flying car and crashing into a tree."

Elsie said, "Sorry, what?"

Ron looked at her and said, "Oh it was nothing really. We missed the train so we flew my dad's Ford Anglia to school, only there's this mental tree that moves and…"

"Flying car?" Elsie asked, "A tree that moves?"

Hermione tried to recover control, "Oh but there are lots of exciting things about Hogwarts too, In our fourth year, we had the other wizarding schools from around the world come to join us. We had a glittering ball at Christmas and there was a band and everyone looked so wonderful." Hermione sighed.

Ginny laughed at the memory, "Neville drank so much pumpkin punch that night he got up on stage with the Weird Sisters and started dancing! They didn't want to grab him in case he injured himself."

Ron joined in, "Blimey, do you remember Malfoy? Must have fallen out with his date. I saw her talking to one of the Durmstrang lot. When Malfoy went to go get her she slapped him across the face and walked off with whats-his-face."

Ginny butted in, "Malfoy definitely deserved a slap or two, and Hermione certainly gave him what for. Oh! Those Quidditch try-outs where Hermione used the Confundus charm on Cormac McLaggen!"

Hermione's cheeks went bright red.

Elsie asked them, "What's Quidditch?"

Ginny told her, "It's the Wizard's sport. Like football, but on broomsticks. I play professionally and Harry was always brilliant, We both played for our house at school. Ron, well, he wasn't so brilliant. He did so badly during the try-outs Hermione here cursed the other boys broomstick so he wouldn't win. I'm surprised we won a single match that year!"

Hermione had to defend herself, "Cormac was a ghastly boy! I couldn't let him have all the glory, could I?"

Ginny smiled at her, "Sure, that's why you did it, we believe you, Granger-Weasley."

Hermione smiled and twiddled her wedding ring. She still wasn't used to being called that.

Alice seemed oblivious to all that was going on around her. With all the commotion, nobody had noticed that she had chewed her teddy bears ear off or that, instead of crying that it was broken, she had simply put it back on his head and willed it into place. The ear looked good as new within seconds.

Harry jumped in with his favourite memory. "I will always remember Hagrid walking me around Diagon Alley for the first time. I remember thinking I was in a dream and that I was going to wake up any minute and I'd be back in the cupboard under the stairs. Then Hagrid appeared with Hedwig and that bloody owl kept pecking me for mice. Hurt so much I knew I couldn't possibly be dreaming. I had scars on my hands for ages."

Dudley looked at Harry with a sad look in his eyes, "I didn't realise you had so much fun there. It must have been horrible for you to come home." He finished quietly, "I just never knew."

Harry patted him on the back, "Water under the bridge, Dudley. The past is the past."

Elsie whispered to Dudley, "Hang on, they kept him in a cupboard?" He ignored her.

Dudley looked as though he wasn't done apologising so Ginny stood up and announced, "Hey, I have an idea! Why don't we take you to Diagon Alley?"

Elsie stammered, "Sorry, Dia-what now?"

Hermione agreed, "Oh that's a wonderful idea! There's no better way to experience the life than going and seeing it for yourself!"

Elsie wore an expression that resembled a woman who had been volunteered to have all her teeth pulled out. "Yay."

Ginny and Hermione pulled her up. "Come on," insisted Hermione, "Let's get your coat!"

Ron sighed and followed the girls, Harry looked at Dudley. "Are you coming?"

Dudley picked up the wine bottle that Elsie had abandoned. "Honestly Harry, I think I'll pass. I have a phone call to make."

Harry nodded. "I wish I could help you with that one but I honestly think they'd find a way to make this MY fault."

Dudley waited until the others were in the car and with a soft voice told Harry earnestly, "She did love you, you know. Your mum, too. She had a photograph of them together as children that she kept in a drawer. I wasn't supposed to know about it but I saw her looking at it sometimes and crying. She looked pretty, my Aunt Lily. You have her eyes."

Harry could do nothing but smile. In his heart of hearts he would have truly loved to have believed that there was some good in the Dursleys but he just couldn't picture it. Instead he said weakly, "I believe you, Dudley."

They shook hands as equals and Harry followed the others.

Dudley found he was more at ease now that Harry Potter and his not-so-freakish friends had come to visit. He knew that himself and Elsie would cope with Alice being a witch. I mean, it wasn't that bad was it? Dudley thought as he stood up and walked into the hallway. She would certainly never be boring. Oh what exciting adventures awaited her! He wondered if she would ever play Quidditch. Now Dudley had to face the crippling fear that was Petunia and Vernon. He took a deep breathe that let his fat gut spill out of the bottom of his shirt and picked up the phone.

"Mother? Hello, Hi it's Dudley! Yes I'm fine. Listen, I need to talk to you about Alice….."