Scoleciphobia.
Written for pippi55's Phobias challenge on HPFC. Now that Harry's of age, he can finally get back at Dudley for all those years. And that involves poor Dudley's greatest fear… Warning: Slightly OOC.
Ever since Dudley Dursley had been little, he had always been terrified of worms. One day, Harry had been digging around in the garden and found a worm, which he promptly showed off to Dudley. The then-small boy had then run back into the house and emptied the contents of his stomach on the kitchen floor, much to the horror of his mother, Petunia. That was where Dudley's torment of his younger cousin had begun.
Now the two boys were not so young anymore- they were both approaching eighteen. And now that the big wizarding war was over, Harry was coming back to visit the Dursleys one more time to settle them back into their previous home on the quaint Privet Drive. As much as Dudley hated, and refused, to admit it, Harry had always frightened him after the seemingly innocent incident with the worm so many years ago. Harry had grown up to be a powerful wizard, which only scared Dudley more. During the summers when Harry had come home from his magic school- Pigfarts, or whatever it was called- Dudley had lay awake imagining all the horrible things Harry could now do to worms. Levitate them at Dudley's head, force them to slither down his throat, cause them to swell in size like his tongue once had after eating the magical trick candy, or cause them to appear in his room.
Harry remembered every single time that his cousin had been mean to him. And now that he had defeated Voldemort, he was coming back to have a little fun with his favorite- and only- cousin once more. And what better way to get back at Dudley than by tormenting him with the single thing he feared most in the world? The very thing that had caused him to start beating on Harry when they were much younger- worms.
The doorbell rang. Much as Dudley was tempted to run and hide under his bed until Harry went away, he forced himself to move to the door and let his cousin in. It wouldn't do any good to try and keep him out- Harry could probably unlock the door with magic. And, Dudley mused, he really couldn't fit under his bed anymore.
Harry watched Dudley's face as the door opened ever-so-slowly, and took in the sight of his cousin and the beautiful blonde haired girl beside him on the doorstep.
"Come on in," Dudley said, fighting to stay calm. Truthfully, his skin was crawling at the thought of what Harry could do to him. Positively crawling- like…. worms! He made to slap at his arms, but stopped abruptly as Harry eyed him amusedly. Determined not to let anything slip, Dudley covered his discomfort.
"Thanks, Dudley," Harry nodded, "By the way, this is Luna," he motioned to the blonde, "a friend of mine from school. Luna, my cousin Dudley."
"It's a pleasure to meet you," she said, leaning forward to grasp his hand. As she did, her hair fell away from her ears, revealing dangling earrings that looked suspiciously like… worms! Dudley flinched, but shook her hand anyway, still refusing to let Harry get the better of him. Still, were there actually worms hanging from her ears, or was Dudley's paranoia simply getting the better of him?
"Dudley, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like some tea," Harry said slowly, already planning out the next stage in his worm-related revenge plan. Fortunately for him, Dudley didn't dare to stop and consider Harry's ulterior motives because he was so frightened as to what could have been done to him if he should not comply.
As Dudley got the tea, Harry flicked his wand at the sugar bowl. When he lifted the lid, Dudley could no longer contain his horror. There must have been at least fifty small wriggling worms in the bowl that had previously only held sugar cubes. If Petunia Dursley had been home, she would have bust an artery at the mere thought of what was now contained in her precious china.
Luna calmly took out a bag of sweets that Harry had given her from her bag, since it didn't seem like there was going to be any tea to be had. At the sight of the ordinary muggle gummy worms, Dudley threw up and passed out, slumping to the floor. Harry turned to Luna and smiled widely.
She smiled back at him, her big eyes amused as she munched on the chewy snack. "Feel better now, Harry?"
"Much. Thanks for coming with me, Luna. I would have brought Ginny, but she would have just been too cruel. He'd have passed out a lot sooner, and what fun would that be? By the way, the earrings were a nice touch."
"You like them?"She asked. "Daddy brought them back from when he was searching for Wrinkle-Eared Gorelaxes."
Harry choked back a laugh, and set to cleaning up all evidence of his revenge. He then turned his wand on his cousin, saying, "Obliviate."
"Now that that's out of the way, we can have a… nice visit."
When Harry and Luna left the Dursley's house an hour later and arrived at the Burrow, they realized that the tea had been completely forgotten about.
Meanwhile, Dudley Dursley was lying on the floor in number four, Privet Drive, the sugar bowl smashed and worms scattered all over.
AN: So… that was a lot different than anything I've ever written before. Still, I'd appreciate some feedback about how well you all think it turned out.
-Fiori ^_^
