Dudley sat in the back of the car, contemplating life as well as a narrow-minded 12-year-old can. It was raining and the droplets left streaks down the windows like eyes overflowing and tears streaking down a face.

He didn't tell his parents but he wanted to go too. Instead he tried to laugh with them as they left his cousin at a train station looking for platform that existed as much as unicorns did.

Vernon was still chuckling and Petunias smile was plastered over her face like a clowns make up. Dudley wasn't smiling. He wanted to go too.

Harry said he as going to a magic school. Dudley was going to hospital to get his pigs tail removed. Harry had an owl and Dudley had wanted to pet it but dad told him not to and mum said it was full of germs and Harry was going to get very sick "so best not to touch it Diddikins." Dudley wanted an owl. If he had an owl he would have called it Bug because bugs have big eyes and so do owls.

Dudley dug his hand into a bag of sherbet lemons. The broken and almost powdered ones stuck to his hand as he pulled it out and regarded the sweet. They were Dudley's favourite and he had never let Harry try them. Dudley, for the first time in his life, wondered if Harry would have liked them. Into his mouth went the sweet and he crunched on it, savoring the sweetness of the lemon shards. He had wanted to go too.

"Well, even if the boy does find the right train, we won't be seeing him for a while." Dudley could hear his dad chuckle to his mother.

"Mmm hmm." Petunia agreed, but somewhere along the car ride she had stopped smiling too. Vernon pulled the car into the hospital car park and turned to smile at Dudley.

"I bet you're glad to be rid of him, eh?"

"Yeah dad!" Dudley hastened to agree and plastered a grin on his pudgy face. "But you said there was no train?"

Vernon just grunted and muttered something before heaving himself out of the car. Dudley got out too and licked the residue lemon sherbet bits off his finger before running to the front door as fast as his fat little legs could carry him to get out of the rain.

He pushed Harry and his magic school out of his mind and instead thought about normal things, like the cake his mother was baking later this evening. His tail was soon removed although they left many puzzled doctors behind them wondering just how a 12 year old ends up with a tail.

Dudley went to his new school and forgot that it wasn't magical. He got a new tortoise and called it Snail because it had a shell and so do snails. After a while he could see men with massive beards and not panic. After a while he forgot that he had wanted to go too.

Besides, the Dursley's were proud to say they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.

Maybe that's why Dudley never liked Harry. Because he wasn't and Dudley never wanted to be either.

Petunia sat in the front of the car and forced herself to laugh with her husband. It was raining and her hoped that it didn't rain enough to disturb her flower garden. All the flowers were roses or hydrangeas. They were the only flowering plants she liked these days.

She had never told anyone that she had wanted to go either. Well, except for- nope. No one. She had told no one. Her smile died on her lips and she pursed them and focused on the raindrops racing each other down her window. She knew the funny platform existed. She had even tried to get through. But she never did. Because I am not a freak, she thought sternly. But she had wanted to go too, years ago.

Vernon was still laughing, but for the first time in their marriage she wished he would stop. Imagine if he knew what she had wanted…

Her sister had gone to Hogwarts, and now her nephew. She had longed to go with Lily. But she couldn't, no, never, not ever. Her sister, her precious sister had gone. Brilliant Lily, bright Lily, the best daughter. She had gone and Petunia had longed to join her.

But Harry had gone. Harry, whose very presence was like an open wound. Harry, who had disappeared and then returned with a wand, with spell books, with an owl… Harry who had her sisters eyes. Harry who was going to Hogwarts and she had wanted to go too…

Petunia didn't eat sweets. She watched what she ate and watched what she didn't. She could still remember the sweets her sister had brought back from her freak school and how they had tasted and the funny things they did. She had never liked normal sweets since then and Petunia hated her sister for that. Hated her for ruining her life, for showing her a glimpse of what she had always wanted and then slamming the door in her face. She had wanted to go so badly it had hurt.

"Well, even if the boy does find the right train, we won't be seeing him for a while." Vernon chuckled.

"Mmm hmm." Petunia agreed. But she wasn't thinking about Harry. In truth she never did. When she saw him she saw his eyes, her sisters eyes, staring at her from the grave. Her sister had almost always come home from the holiday, and during her stay Petunia would lose her parents until she left again. She always had the best of both worlds. Petunia only ever had one, and had almost made it perfect until that boy landed on her doorstep. No, she very much doubted they'd see him until the summer holidays.

Vernon turned to Dudley, but Petunia stopped listening. They were at the hospital so Dudleys ridiculous tail could be removed. Snip and the reminder would be gone. Petunia would go back to her almost-perfect life and try to forget. She wouldn't succeed. She never did.

But the Dursley's were proud to say they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. So she would pretend anyway.

Vernon drove the car. The rain irritated him. Because of it he had to turn on the windscreen wipers and they made a stupid noise, bloody things.

He wasn't really thinking and to be honest he never really was. But he was laughing. He wouldn't have to see that boy again for almost a year.

Vernon didn't really believe in magic. It had happened in front of his eyes and the tail on his sons behind was physical evidence of it, but dense people often reject the truth even when it dances naked in their face as Dudley had on that mentally scarring night a few weeks ago.

Vernon didn't care where that boy went so long as it was nowhere near himself or his family. He could join the bloody circus so long as he never told anyone that he and the Dursleys were related. That boy could ruin their reputation.

He grinned to Petunia

"Well, even if the boy does find the right train, we won't be seeing him for a while." He chuckled nastily. But he did hope he'd find the right train. Otherwise the boy would have to come back and live with them.

"Mmm hmm." Petunia half smiled back at him but Vernon knew she was just as happy about the boys departure as he was.

Vernon drove into the hospitals car park and parked the car in a disabled spot near the door. Damn it, the rain hasn't stopped…

He peered into the backseat, at Dudley who was happily munching on sweets, the good lad. Thank God he wasn't a freak.

"I bet you're glad to be rid of him, eh?"

"Yeah dad!" Dudley grinned at him but then frowned slightly

"But you said there was no train?"

Vernon grunted and muttered that even so, it would be good to have him out of their house for a few days even if he did get onto the wrong train…

Soon Dudley was tail-free and they were heading home. The rain had stopped and Vernon had never been in a better mood. He hummed tunelessly as he drove.

After all, the Dursley's were proud to say they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. And not even his nephew "the freak" would ruin that.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed this oneshot :) if you would like me to write a particular oneshot, etc, just leave a comment and I'll get onto it (if i know the fandom of which it's from). Please review!