Title: A Birthday to Remember
Author: Ambereyedwolfchild
Genre: Family / Humour
Summary: It's Poppy Dursley's eleventh birthday. Will she be getting a letter that will make this year a birthday to remember? Second fic in Lord Potter Verse.
Characters: Harry P. / Dudley D.
Pairing(s): HP/GW, DD/OC
Status: Complete
Universe: Lord Potter Verse
Story Length: 1,544 words.
Disclaimer: I, sadly, do NOT own Harry Potter.
A/N: I came back to after a sinfully long hiatus and had a look through what I had published. I was reading my reviews and a few people suggested that they would be interested in reading a sequel to Lord Potter. I wasn't planning on writing anymore and then this sort of leapt into my head so here it is. I hope you enjoy it :D
Second story in the Lord Potter Verse.
A Birthday to Remember
It was Poppy Dursley's eleventh birthday and Dudley was pacing anxiously. His wife, Veronica, watched him for a few minutes before stepping in front of him, laying her hands flat against his chest.
"Stop Dudley." He halted and looked at her beseechingly, his eyes searching for reassurances. ""Why are you so stressed?"
He ran a hand through his short blonde hair, "I was so worried about how everyone would take the chance that she might be a witch that I never thought about what might happen if she isn't! She's so excited about going to school with Jamie this year; she'll be heartbroken if she doesn't get in. What if that was just a one off? What if she doesn't have enough magic to be accepted? I'll have got her hopes up for nothing!"
"Yes, she would be upset but you can't really think she doesn't have magic? She's been doing accidental magic since she was a baby. Now sit down and shut up. The kids will be down any minute and I don't want you upsetting Poppy on her birthday." Dudley immediately sat, knowing better than to face the wrath of his wife.
Poppy ran down the stairs missing a few on the way down in her excitement. Timmy followed, only a few steps behind, and both children skidded into the kitchen big smiles on their faces. Poppy had a pirate hat made out of folded paper on her head with 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY' written in Timmy's large shaky handwriting. Veronica smiled at the sight, Timmy had come to her a few days ago, he'd made the hat as a surprise but needed help with his spellings.
"Has the post come yet?" Poppy's voice had reached a pitch only possible for excited eleven year old girls and only audible to dogs. Dudley stood and directed her to a seat at the dining table as Veronica put a plate of eggy bread, Poppy's favourite breakfast, down in front of her.
"Not yet darling but its only seven. Give the poor postman a chance." He smiled as the blonde girl huffed and started eating her scrambled eggs as quickly as she could; trying to finish so she could open presents. Just as she finished there was a bang like a gunshot and five people suddenly appeared in the kitchen, two adults and three children. The woman shook out her long red hair and fussed over her children for a moment, checking they were okay after the side along apparation.
The whole family grinned at Poppy then, as one, yelled "HAPPY BIRTHDAY POPPY!" The kids all ran into the living room and seated themselves in a circle on the floor, Timmy abandoning his half eaten breakfast in favour of joining his sister and his third cousins. Dudley and Veronica left their breakfast, knowing they'd be ambushed by the kids if they made Poppy wait any longer. Harry leaned over and snagged a piece of toast off the table and munched on it as he wandered after the children. He paused as Ginny and Veronica sent him twin glares at the crumbs he was getting on the carpet and waved his hand idly making the crumbs disappear. Dudley shoved him good naturedly, "That's so not fair freak. I would've had to spend 20 minutes on my hands and knees picking up every last crumb!"
Harry grinned, "Sucks for you then doesn't it Diddykins?" The two bantered back and forth for a few minutes until Poppy pouted and frowned at them.
"Daddy! Uncle Harry!" The little girl crossed her arms until she got an apology out of both men and then immediately turned to her pile of presents. She selected the biggest one first and ripped into it with glee scattering scraps of paper everywhere. When she realised what it was, the dollhouse she'd been begging for since Christmas, she squealed with joy and leapt up throwing herself at her parents for a hug. A quarter of an hour later she was nearly finished opening her presents when there was the familiar clunk of letters falling onto the doormat through the flap. Everything froze. There wasn't a single sound in the entire room as Poppy stood up and walked to the front door, she moved slowly as if scared of what she might find. There was a small pile of letters on the mat and she picked them up rifling through them.
Everyone's eyes were fixed on the open door as Poppy came back through. She held the pile of letters against her chest and her face was downtrodden. Her eyes were downcast and Dudley's eyes went wide as he took in her sad demeanour. She spoke in a soft voice, "Daddy…" He glanced at the other three adults quickly before returning his gaze to her. Suddenly her whole attitude changed. "I'M GOING TO HOGWARTS!" She waved the letter in the air and the other kids were the first to react. James jumped on her tackling her into a hug and the others soon followed turning it into a massive pile up.
Dudley grinned at Veronica, whispering so that only the adults would hear, "Our little girl's a witch!" The two of them pulled Poppy out of the pile to give her a hug of their own and after a moment Timmy wormed his way in making it a family hug. Harry quickly pulled his wand out and waved it in a square in front of him framing the family. The air shimmered and turned white. The square fell into Harry's outstretched hand and colours began to pool on the surface, moving and shimmering until it formed a perfect representation of the scene in front of them. He waved his wand once more and the photo replicated itself and Harry tucked one into his pocket and tucked the other into a frame that he quickly conjured. He placed the framed photo straight onto the mantelpiece, smiling as the group shifted slightly and the Hogwarts acceptance letter in Poppy's hand became visible.
The family separated and Poppy bounced over to Harry and Ginny waving the letter in their faces, "Wow look at that," Ginny smiled at Poppy as she spoke, "You'll be going to school with Jamie this year." Poppy grinned at James for a second before bouncing around the room excitedly. "I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! I'M GOING TO HOGWARTS!" Everyone smiled at her as she finally settled down and continued opening her presents.
-ABtr- ABtr- ABtr-
Dudley, Veronica, Ginny and Harry sat around the Dursley's dining table each holding a glass of wine. "I don't know how to explain it to them," Dudley sighed, "they can't tell mum and dad, at least not until we can tell them. But how do you tell an eleven year old and a nine year old that they can't tell their grandparents something this important?"
Harry swirled his wine around the glass, "Just tell them, if you hide this then Poppy could think you're ashamed and that is the last thing you want. You're just gunna have to get this over and done with."
Ginny nodded in agreement and Veronica took a sip of her wine before speaking, "I won't hide it. She's proud of this and I'm proud of this. We've made sure they never mention magic around your parents but I won't allow their bigotry to force Poppy to hide her achievements." Her voice was firm but soft and Harry smiled to himself. Veronica was good for his cousin. She wasn't overbearing but at the same time wouldn't let Dudley push her around like his parents used to. She'd changed Dudley for the better.
The silence that followed Veronica's little speech was broken by the ringing of the phone. Dudley answered it and immediately caught his wife's eye as he greeted the speaker. "Hi mum. Actually while you're on the phone I have some news, it's really important."
A pause. "Oh right. Well you go first, after all, you rang me."
An expression of pure disbelief. "What? Really?"
Another pause. "Seriously? Six months? So you'll be back when? January?"
"Okay, no it can wait. I love you too mum."
He hung up and just stared at the phone until Veronica spoke again, "Dudley? What happened?"
Dudley spoke without looking away from the phone. "They won the lottery. They're going to Barbados until January… I don't even…"
Harry froze, an incredulous expression on his face, then he caught Dudley's eye and the pair collapsed into laughter as their wives shushed them fondly. "You'll wake the kids." Ginny whisper yelled, a skill she inherited from her mother.
"Sorry," Harry muttered, "I just can't believe it. The lottery? Did they say how much?" Dudley shook his head. "It's just… they're the last kind of people I'd expect to win the lottery… Well at least there's one positive for you Duddykins."
"What's that, freak?" Dudley asked, tacking on the nickname that he'd once used to torment his cousin but now used as more of a pet name for his 'baby' cousin.
"Vernon and Petunia won't find out about Poppy's magic until January so you can work out how to tell them." He grinned.
If only he knew how wrong he was.