This is in Dudley's perspective. Change of perspectives will be mentioned. Sorry for the smallish chapter. Will make a big one real soon. Also, JC RH, you've been one hell of a good reviewer. THANK YOU, for the reviews. As usual, start on..!
After all the pell mell that the Great hall saw due to the Gryffindors, Dudley decided that they were a bunch of idiots. How he wanted peace!
It was the talk of the school as they led the young first years to the common room. The prefect Adora Tonks, a seventh year explained the common room's password technique.
"Silly way to get in." he thought, but nevertheless memorized the rhythm. It wouldn't do good to get doused by Stink Sap.
The Hufflepuff common room was a delight to see, though Dudley would never admit it to be true.
Chattering second years, and boisterous third years caught up the news. The first years were walking timidly.
"What's your name?" a boy asked, and Dudley grunted out his name unenthusiastically.
"My name is Justin. Pleased to meet you." He said and gave his hand, Dudley looked at him blankly.
"Something wrong with you?" Justin asked as the hand was still hanging.
"Nothing." Dudley grunted.
"Then, give a handshake." Justin said and grabbed his large paw, and shook it
"Where are you from? I am from London's Kensington Gardens. I was supposed to go to Eton. but Professor McGonagall came and explained. Me mam was real surprised, I betcha."
"So, you are one of the normal people here." Dudley said, after hearing the term Eton. Even Dudley wasn't stupid enough not to know what Eton was. His father used to mention it. Thinking about Vernon Dursley brought back a strangled sob, which he managed to grunt off. Showing emotion in public was only for sissies. He shouldn't have showed his emotions to the red haired kid.
"Well, I guess I would say so." Justin said, a little bit hesitantly. Dudley smiled for once in his life, a real genuine smile.
"I am Dudley Dursley." But immediately corrected himself and winced. "Dudley Evans."
"Did your parents' divorce or something?" Justin asked, and he nodded. "Must be messy." He mused.
"What a chatterbox!" Dudley thought to himself. "Why do people need to speak so much? It would be far more convenient if people dealt matters with their fists rather than words."
Of course, Dudley never thought this much. He would have been in Ravenclaw, if he managed to think this much. But this was the essence. But he shuddered, thinking of fists….. It had been a worst experience.
He didn't notice that he had his faced crunched up, but another boy came up and said pompously. "You look like Martin the Mad Muggle, whenever his tools fail to work. I am Ernie Macmillan." He took Dudley's hand and shook it enthusiastically.
Dudley grunted out his name. Just when he thought he was done with the night, the Prefects came up and made it far worse. He tuned them out, but he could hear words like "helping each other in need, Hufflepuffs rock" and other things
He went to bed, and immediately took the bed at the corner of the window overlooking the greenhouses. He heard a soft grinding noise, which was humming gently in his ear. He felt like as if he was grounded safely in the confines of his home. A strange feeling considering the fact that he had been homeless for a month now.
"Do you hear that noise?" he asked.
Ernie replied, "That is the noise which you must be hearing from the kitchen. After all, we are very close to the kitchens. We have an advantage over all the other houses, after all!"
Another tousle haired boy asked the follow up.
Dudley zoned out, and went to sleep. But not before wondering a few things. Why did he become so "sissy" (As he called it) in front of those three? Why did he say everything to them? It was like as if the girl had looked into his soul and had made him pour out his life.
Resolving to be himself. He went to bed and was assaulted by a dream.
It was a blustery day, and Dudley found himself all alone at the station. His mother had suffered a coma, and his father had disowned him. He was all alone.
The representative, Professor Pomona Sprout was exceedingly kind to him, and had explained to the Dursleys what the letter had meant to them. Petunia had stiffly nodded, while Vernon was lazily watching the TV. Both of them seemed quite happy to send Dudley away with Professor Sprout. Petunia proclaiming them to be freaks who deserved one another
The Journey to Diagon Alley was a tiring one for Professor Sprout. Dudley was not an easy person to hang out with. Being used to getting his own way, Dudley made quite a mess of things when he started talking loudly, about "freaky wizards" and how his mother had sent him away from his home
"Now listen up, young man!" Professor Sprout had finally lost her legendary patience which she was known for. "Wizards are NOT freaks. Your mother is the sister of Lily Potter, the mother of Harry Potter.
"Harry who?" Dudley interrupted her, "Who's he?"
"Your cousin" She said, and the normally affable Professor Sprout had looked ready to burst. She rolled her eyes.
"Sweet Morgana, why am I stuck with him? Another Gryffindor this one." She thought.
How wrong would she be!
"Welcome, Pomona!" Ollivander had greeted her, "12 inches, Rosewood and Dragon Heartstring, right?"
"Yes, Garrick." She said, "I have a muggleborn here, Dudley Dursley is the name. His aunt is Lily."
"Oh, is that so? Your mother came here once, and she had no talent at all. Now, Lily on the other hand." He started.
"Shut up, Old man." Dudley growled, "She is my mother, and you have no right to speak about her like this."
"Hmm." He hummed, apparently unconcerned over the fact that he had just been insulted.
"Are you a loser?" Dudley taunted him, "Unable to say anything, old man?"
"Mister Dursley!" Pomona Sprout said. "That is ENOUGH!" She said, and pointed her wand towards him and murmured something. He opened his mouth, but was unable to retort.
He wanted to run away! The unfairness of it! How dare they treat him like that! At Home, he was never ever treated like anything what Sprout did.
Thinking of Home made him realize that his mum would be waiting.
After an endless search, Dudley had gotten only the second best: a misshapen wand, which only partially matched him. Ollivander was stunned, and he said, that at best Dudley would be a failure, and Professor's eyes were not looking at him.
"If you may," he said, "I don't want to go there. I want to go back to my life. Before the oddity." he said, after the silencing wore after. He didn't want to antagonize her anymore, so he tried to be polite. But oddity was the nicest word he could come up for those freaks
"Well." She said, "You can owl post me, and say about your decision. The Ministry will ensure that you go back to your life, should you deny the chance that was given to you."
Too happy to care whatever she meant, Dudley nodded and he went home.
It wasn't a home any longer.
His mother was lying unconscious on the floor, and his dad was laughing maniacally.
"Freak!" Vernon bellowed, and grabbed Dudley's neck."See your mother. She fainted because of your deceit and traitorous behaviour. You made me lose out my wife, BOY."
"Mister Dursley." Sprout cried appalled, "Let him go!"
When Vernon shown no sign to stop of the torture, Sprout had took her wand and slammed him across the floor.
Dudley fainted. When he woke up, he was informed of the sorry story.
His "Dad" was not Vernon Dursley, but it was someone else. Vernon did not know who it was. When he had tried to whinge it out of Petunia, she had refused and in his rage, he had knocked her over. She was now in a coma. Furious that he had lost out on an excellent servant and a submissive wife, who bought him money through pleasurable acts, he had disowned Dudley then and there. Vernon was arrested and had to face quite some time in jail. He was also told the news that the Potters visited him when he was still unconscious, and his Aunt Lily had rejected him then and there, because she did not want to take any scum of Petunia and that man.
He was shunted to an orphanage, and then the real tortures began. Of course, he tried to fightback. But within a month, his complete personality underwent a change. From a bully, he became the bullied victim. He wanted to fight back, but he did not have the strength to do.
At this point Dudley woke up and started sweating profusely. This nightmare still haunted him particularly, for quite some time.
"How I wish everything was back to normal again, like how it was." He bitterly wished. Now he understood his mother properly and having missed her, it was terrible to see her lying in a coma because she had defended him.
He hardly slept a wink that night. However, the humming sound that he was hearing continued to soothe him.
Next morning, he went down to the Great hall and had a sedentary breakfast. He piled in food after such a long time, and ate slowly.
The prefect gave him his time table, and he saw that the first class was with Ron. The third was with Neville. The ones in the afternoon were with the girl Lunala, or whatever her name was.
Transfiguration came on, and Ron was the first one to come. Dudley saw him and sat next to him. However, neither talked. Neither had their wands shown, nor got it right. But it was a companionable silence.
"Let's meet up afterwards. Tell Luna and Neville." He said and was about to pack, when he heard McGonagall's voice. "Mister Weasley, stay behind."
"You go." Ron hissed at him. Stoutly refusing him, Dudley stayed back
"Mister Evans" she frowned through her spectacles. "Do you need anything?"
"No, but I was waiting for Ron." He said
"He would come soon, now run along." She said and he was dismissed.
Dudley went for the next class, Herbology.
"Dudley." Professor Sprout had called him, before the class. "I know of your situation, and I am sorry about that. I will try to help you as much as I can. Please don't hesitate to approach me." She said, and he just nodded. It wouldn't do any good to yell at her.
Herbology was a real treat, as he somehow felt that he was home with the subject. The earth was calling out to him, and the plants were responding to each his touches. Professor Sprout had mentioned that he was quite a natural, and had gotten himself 10 House points…
Meanwhile at McGonagall's Office, Ron and his points of view.
"Mister Weasley." She said, "We had a talk with your parents, and they were quite insistent that you should be placed in Gryffindor. They came last night to talk with Professor Dumbledore. But the sorting hat was quite firm in its decision and refused to tell us why it had placed you, a Weasley into Slytherin. Can you elaborate on that?"
"Well," he mumbled, "The hat realized that I might have had the qualities what Slytherin wanted."
"Oh!" She said. "I see. I had looked forward to the entire Weasley family in my house, but it can't be helped. Very well, then. Off you go!" She dismissed him.
Only much, much later in that day did it ever occur to her that the boy never asked about his parents, nor them about him. Strange indeed.
It was charms, and he went into the class. Thank goodness, there weren't any signs of Fred and George. As usual, he came in far too early. But this time, he had competition.
Luna Lovegood was sitting in the class, looking lost.
She had bruise marks on her arm and face.
A/N: Why do you think Luna is injured? Dudley's back story will be made real interesting
Although I had said that all four will be given preference, Reviews (THANK YOU, I feel very grateful for all those who follow this story, and a big Thank you once again, for those who have this in their favourite list.) indicate that Ron is quickly becoming the star
I do intend all the four to play a role, but now, Ron will be in the side of every chapter in which his POV is not the dominant one, and Ron dedicated chapters will have Ron in full.
Harry will talk to Ron, soon, and Neville too. Prof Snape and Samhain will talk to Ron soon, and the story will soon start to pick up steam.
A sincere request. If you find the story nice, please review. Constructive criticism is accepted wholeheartedly. More reviews would mean more enthusiasm to write.
Yours truly : Shadow