The End of Luck
Perhaps the strangest change after that summer in all the changes with the Dursleys was with Dudley. It wasn't the awe, it wasn't the fear – those were to be expected, after all, he HAD met a dementor. No, the biggest change was that he had a sudden desire to write. This alone was surprising, as Dudley hated anything that required effort, aside from eating and fighting, though that was also questionable. No, indeed, it was what he was writing and even more so, who he was writing to.
Harry had not even been gone a whole week when the first letter had arrived. You can, no doubt, imagine the shock that Harry had when post arrived by muggle means for the first time ever, and he was even more so when he discovered it was for him. Even so, to see that it was Dudley – well, he believed it was perfectly reasonable to pass out and live in denial for a few days. It wasn't until after the trial that he actually read the letter.
It was really more of a note, and all it really said was thank you for the dementors thing and a request for more information on the subject. Harry grudgingly obliged, including a little venting about the trial. Dudley promptly responded, asking more questions and briefly speaking about the goings on at Privet Drive. The most shocking thing about the entire situation, Harry found, was how quickly he found himself looking forward to Dudley's letters. Dudley, it turned out, was actually a quick pupil – provided, of course, that the knowledge was forbidden by his parents. Harry found himself readily agreeing to loan out old school books and studying Wizarding politics to better explain things to Dudley.
As the year progressed, Harry began confiding more and more of his frustrations about Umbridge and the war with his cousin, and Dudley responded by confiding his frustrations about wrestling, his parents' ban on magical knowledge, and even more surprisingly, the difficulties in their marriage. Neither boy was truly surprised to hear that Vernon had left Petunia, choosing to live closer to London for the sake of his work. What did surprise Harry to read was that shortly after Vernon had left her, Petunia had found herself a new interest, who, according to Dudley, she was even more smitten with than with her own son.
This concerned both of the boys, given how doting a mother she was, especially has she had written an entire 15 page letter to Dudley going on and on about Mr. Victor VanDelay. Dudley copied the letter for Harry's benefit, and it was positively nauseating, full of flowery words about the sheer normalcy of the man. Apparently he was better off than Vernon Dursley had ever hoped of being and had made her the envy of the neighborhood. Both boys dreaded the summer, and as bad as things got at school, both refused to return home. By summer time, Dudley knew the basics of everything that had happened at school, and was completely enraptured with Harry's world, and neither boy had any desire to meet Petunia's newly acquired fiancé.
(Stop deleting my page breaks, ffnet!)
I know I said I would stop posting things until they were completed, but this one isn't yet. I'm curious as to what people think about it. A girl in my neighborhood gave me the idea, I'm not joking, three hours ago. Since then, I have fixed and eaten dinner in addition to writing this. Hope you all like it, please tell me what you think.
Until later,
Layelleswen