Authors Note: All right kids, listen up. Since the holidays are coming closer every hour that is another hour that I will not be able to write. I'm going to be out of town tomorrow and won't be back until late, also the next day being Christmas Day I will be opening my presents and so will you. And then I will be going to my other side of the family's Christmas dinner/exchange thing. Thusly do not expect any updates until after said Holiday. MERRY CHRISTMAS! And to those of you who review I hope that you have a very extra special Christmas and get what you wanted. The end of this chapter is terrible I know, but that is just something for you to mull over during Christmas dinner while your cousins are running around pulling your hair. I'm out. -Crouchingbunny.
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"Come on Dudley!" Suzannah said from the ice. They had been waiting for the last ten minutes for the man that was in charge of the shoes to get back from the store room. Apparently they didn't carry but three pairs of size sixteen skates, and all were in the storage building.
"Go ahead and skate," he said as the shoe manager came back with a box of skates in his hands.
"But we came here to skate together," she argued and latched onto his arm. The man pulled out a pair of white and blue skates and handed them over to Dudley. Dudley took them and headed over to the benches.
"All right lets go," she said as she grabbed Dudley's arm and stepped onto the ice. Despite Dudley's muscular physique he was actually graceful on the ice. The last two years of hard dieting had transformed the somewhat pig like features into something that could be considered a sort of a hunk. Of course training in the gym during all of his free time hadn't hurt him either.
After falling only a few times Suzannah began to get the hang of staying upright while holding onto Dudley's arm. Of course she had never been the best skater, and holding onto someone's arm seemed to put her slightly off balance. After a while Dudley got hungry, (surprise) and went to go get some nachos at the concession stand. Leaving Suzannah to make circles around the rink by herself.
A particularly nasty trip nearly sent her flying headfirst into the side of the rink. A hand caught her wrist and pulled her upright as her knees connected with the ice. She turned around expecting to see Dudley, but was sadly disappointed by a boy about her age with his brown hair slicked out of his face by gel.
"Don't trip," he said grinning, not letting go of her wrist. Suzannah plastered a smile on her face.
"Thanks," she said dusting her knees off with her free hand.
"No problem, I was just-" he began.
"Suzannah?" Dudley said from behind them. They both turned around.
"Who's this?" said the other boy.
"Suzannah what's going on?" Dudley asked nachos in one of his hands, clearly ignoring the 'NO FOOD ON THE ICE' sign that was nailed to the wall. Suzannah jerked her wrist out of the boy's hand.
"This is my boyfriend Dudley, Dudley this is…" she trailed off not knowing the guys name.
"Nick," he said, "she fell and I caught before she plowed into the wall," Nick being half a head shorter than Dudley, and not nearly as broad seemed a little intimidated by Dudley's girth.
"Well thanks for saving me, let's go Dudley," she said latching onto Dudley's arm and speeding off across the ice.
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"Well if you would have been there instead of getting nachos at the concession stand I wouldn't have even looked at him!" Suzannah shouted at Dudley as they got out of the car.
"Not that you were holding up much resistance! I saw you jerk your hand away just when you realized I was standing there!" Dudley shouted back at her. Suzannah made a sputtered sound of resignation.
"Yeah, because I so wanted him!" she said sarcastically.
"So you admit it," Dudley said as they approached the door and stopped to face each other on the patio.
"Dudley you are such a PIG!" She shouted at him flinging her arms in the air.
"Well if I'm such a pig why do you even bother with me?" he asked.
"You know what, I don't know! Maybe I should just go home!" she said reaching for the door.
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Petunia heard the sound of Dudley's car coming up the driveway. She peeked out the blinds at the car to see them yelling at each other as they crossed the lawn. She couldn't suppress a smile as she walked to the front door.
"Music to my ears," she said quietly to herself as she opened the door. Suzannah had her hand outstretched as if about to grab the door handle. They were both glaring into each others faces as if seeing who would break contact first.
"Well you're back," Petunia said brightly opening the door for them to come in.
"Thank you Mrs. Dursley," said Suzannah as she stormed passed Petunia and up the stairs.
"Well what was that all about?" Petunia said as she closed the door and practically skipped after Dudley.
"Nothing Mum," said Dudley storming up the stairs. Petunia scowled and stalked into the kitchen to clean. Well at least they were fighting, maybe they would actually break up and she could be rid of that horrid girl. Sitting at the table she froze, just as soon as Suzannah was gone how far away would the next girl be? Or the next? Or the next? She wanted her Dudley to be happy… but she had always been able to keep Dudley happy. She would find him a nice respectable girl to date. Right after she got rid of this one.
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Suzannah flopped on her bed and began to cry. Dudley was such a pig! Why did she even bother with him? Why? She could do better, she knew that. She could definitely do better than him. "Stupid Dudley," she muttered burying her face in her fluffy pink pillow. "STUPID STUPID STUPID!" She screamed, the pillow muttering the sound. There was a tap on the door and she sat up on the bed and put the pillow down. Who was that? If it was Dudley…
"Suzie dear, are you all right?" Petunia said sounding for all the sympathetic mother. Suzannah cringed and looked into the large mirror that sat on the dresser in front of the bed. Her mascara and eyeliner had smudged and ran down her face, for all the world she looked very much like a blonde raccoon. Her hair had come undone and it had begun to frizz and crackle with static electricity from the pillow.
"Yes, I'm fine," she said wiping her nose with the back of her hand.
"Do you want to talk dear?" Petunia asked from outside. Suzannah wiped a hand through her hair in an attempt to pat it down.
"No," she said, not trying to sound rude but succeeding anyway. Petunia narrowed her eyes and cleared her throat.
"Would you like me to get you anything?" she asked needing an excuse to get into that room and see the little harlot.
"No, I'm fine… really, Mrs. Dursley I'm fine," she said wishing that Petunia would go away and leave her alone.
"All right dear, if you need anything just let me know," said Petunia going down the stairs. She had to call into the Doctors office and make an appointment for Vernon, who's… condition had not yet improved.
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Harry looked lazily out the window, absently listening to the crickets chirping from the lawn below. Hedwig had gone hunting and was not yet back. It was around midnight and all was clearly not well in the Dursley household. (If ever it was.) He had heard Dudley and his girlfriend having a row downstairs a few hours earlier and Aunt Petunia come up and down the stairs asking Dudley's girlfriend if she 'wanted to talk', or 'needed anything'. Besides the fact that his Uncle Vernon was in the bathroom sick again. Honestly if he was this sick why didn't he just go to the doctor already? Then at least Harry could get a decent nights sleep. Something he hadn't had in a while.
"Dudley, are you sure you don't want anything to eat popkin?" Petunia said to Dudley a few feet down the hall.
"Yes mum," he heard Dudley's sulky tone.
"All right, well Mummy's going to go to bed now, remember if you get hungry just go down into the kitchen and warm up some steak, I left some in the refrigerator just in case," he heard his Aunt say before her slipper clad feet scooted down the hallway to the bathroom that was currently occupied by Vernon.
"Vernon honey," Petunia's voice was muffled by the walls but Harry could still make it out. "I made you an appointment at Dr. Mullet's office tomorrow morning at ten," she said. Vernon said something inaudible and Harry heard the door shut and Aunt Petunia's bony feet walk into her own bed room and shut the door. Harry sighed and flopped over on his back drifting almost immediately to sleep.
At one thirty Harry woke up to the sound of Vernon retching in the bathroom toilet. He went back to sleep having to go to the loo but not wanting to walk in on Vernon with his pants down. He'd done it before... notpleasant.
He decided to hold it until he got up in the morning. Harry went back to sleep and was again woken up at three o' seven. He got up and walked across the cold floorboard and opened his door. The hallway was so dark as to have almost no light except for the meager amount that filtered through Harry's open window.
No light came from under the bathroom door so he opened the door and turned on the light. Sitting slumped over the bathtub was Dudley's girlfriend. Small snores were issuing from her folded arms. Her messy blonde hair was hanging over the sides of her face. She was wearing light purple hello kitty pajama bottoms and a turquoise morning robe. Harry fought the urge to jump up and down in frustration. He had waited hours to go to the bathroom and now Dudley's girlfriend was in the same room slumped over the bathtub sleeping. He should have nknown that no girlfriend of Dudley's would be normal.
He stopped and counted to ten, he then tapped her on the shoulder. She merely continued to snore. Harry sighed and leaned back on his heels before tapping her on the shoulder again. Suzannah stirred a little. Harry exhaled loudly as the call of nature stronger than his usual niceness caused him to grab her by the shoulder and shake her.
Many things happened at once, the first one being Suzannah sat up very fast opened her mouth and let loose a blood curdling scream that made Harry's ears vibrate. The second was there were several crashing noises and the sound of doors opening. Harry grabbed Suzannah by the back of the turquoise robe pulled her next to him, and put a hand over her mouth.
At that point Dudley came bursting into the bathroom, for one terrible second they stood there staring straight at each other. Harry seeing a furious Dudley in blue pajamas his blonde hair might have been comical except for the obvious fury on his face. Dudley seeing his girlfriend in the arms of his cousin Harry, his contemptible skinny cousin Harry. Who had been asking for it for the past five years. The only thing that had really kept Dudley from reducing Harry to a pile of ash had been the fear of that dreaded wand that he always carried around. Now that fear was gone replaced with a rage not unlike that of a raging bull. Dudley's nostrils flared as he lunged at Harry.
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DA DA DA! Ooh cliffie.
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