August 2, 2011

Dudley Dursley sat in the overstuffed chair by the empty fireplace, the tumbler of whiskey almost forgotten in his hand. It was The Anniversary. Hell, it was the anniversary of The Anniversary. He had started marking August 2nd ten years ago. It had been a way to remind himself that he was a different person than he was growing up. He was a man who would take responsibility for his words and deeds.

He had gotten his job at the local primary school the month previous and although he was just doing the prep work and class planning at the time, he had already seen enough children during his student teaching to know, beyond a doubt, that he had made the right decision. His father may not have been able to understand why Dudley passed up a chance to work at Grunnings to help "a bunch of scrawny idiots", but Dudley had become his own man. Partly thanks to the attack by creatures he couldn't see, but he could feel. So on August 2, 2001, he had cracked open a cheap beer and toasted his cousin and thanked him, wherever he was, for saving his life and, in a way, helping Dudley try to help other kids like Harry and himself.

As he was remembering that night, he shivered and almost wished he could light the fireplace. Annie poked her head around the doorway and smiled at him, "Dudley, dear, you'd better drink that before Bea decides she wants to help you with it."

Dudley looked up at his beautiful wife and smiled, all thoughts of Dementors gone. "Are they on the loose, then?"

Annie walked fully into the parlor and smiled. "I heard the pitter-patter of a herd of tiny elephants upstairs a few minutes ago. I think there might be an invasion soon." Annie walked over to Dudley's chair and plucked the full glass of whiskey from his hand. "Do you ever even drink any of it?"

Dudley's smile grew wistful, "Not really. I tend to end up chucking it down the drain."

"What a waste of the good stuff." She put the tumbler on the table and sat in Dudley's lap, weaving her arms around him as she settled herself against his broad chest. "You were deeper in thought this year than you usually seem to be. Are you ever going to tell me what you're commemorating?"

Dudley pressed his lips against her hair and closed his eyes, "Probably not." When Annie sighed he asked her, "You don't really have a problem with that, do you?"

She snorted a little laugh, "Darling, we both have our little secrets, remember?"

He smiled again and held his wife a little tighter. "I love you, Annie. You and the kids are the best thing that ever happened to me. Maybe when we're old and grey I'll tell you what's so important to me about this date."

Annie grinned wickedly, "I'll hold you to that, Duddy-kins."

He groaned, "Annie!" She just laughed at him and squeezed him harder. They sat like that, just holding each other for a few minutes. Soon enough, they heard the sound of their two oldest children coming down the stairs. Beatrice and Melissa were on their way down. They were coming slowly enough that their parents realized Bea must be holding her three-year old sister's hand.

They looked at each other and grinned, then just waited for the girls to pop into the parlor. And they waited. And waited a minute more before they realized what the true aim of the girls' venture downstairs was. Together, they said, "The cookies."

Dudley and Annie looked at the door for a long moment before he asked, "So, do we surprise them or let them get away with it this time?"

Annie chewed her lip, "Depends on if they break something in there." The parents heard the scrape of one of the chairs as the girls, or at least Bea, pulled it over to where the cookie jar was stashed on the counter. They listened to their daughters giggle as they raided the jar filled with jammie dodgers, the vworp-vworp sound clear even from here.

Dudley's shoulders shook with stifled laughter at their giggles. Annie turned around and glared at him. "Be quiet, you idiot. They'll hear you," she hissed.

The chair was pulled back to the table and the parents heard the scampering of little feet coming closer to the parlor and the stairs. They smiled at each other and relaxed back into each other's arms, content to let the little cookie thieves get away with their adventures this time. As they were relaxing again, Dudley felt a little hand on his arm and Annie felt one on her leg. They opened their eyes and saw two little girls beaming up at them, both bearing cookies and huge grins.

"Mummy, Daddy, we got you some cookies!"

Yay! The story is finally finished! However, to make it all work, I had to revise most of the chapters, just a little bit. So I'm re-uploading each chapter. Some of the chapter edits were tiny, just some tweaking, but some of the edits were bigger.