Chapter 4
To Change the Future
Petunia looked out the dining room window as her two boys tussled together. A year after Vernon's unfortunate accident saw her son slimming down a good deal. The doctor said that Dudley was fine. His metabolism had simply increased, most likely in preparation for a growth spurt.
The boys had begun to, over the last year or so, get along together much better than before. Dudley had even offered his second room to his cousin as a Christmas gift. Which had come as a slight shock to Petunia, but it wasn't unreasonable. Her nephew deserved to have his own room with all of the work he did around the house.
Why he'd been kept in the cupboard under the stairs eluded her. For whatever reason she simply couldn't continue her appalling behavior toward her nephew. Her father would… She hadn't though about her parents in years. Not since before she'd married Vernon had she considered even contacting them.
Then again she'd never been contacted by either mother or father since… She couldn't remember when. Brushing it off as unimportant for the moment she went back to reading the business section of the London Times.
She'd invested what little extra money they could spare into a company that seemed to be making interesting advancements into the fields of mobile communications.
Cell phones apparently were beginning to become popular.
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In the yard Dudley chased his cousin in what could be considered tag. If Dudley, still a large boy, had managed to tag his cousin at any point since they'd begun. At this point it was more like chase the incredibly fast and agile monkey boy.
Harry was literally full of energy. Being fed in equal amounts as his cousin had really helped the boy-who-lived. Energy was literally flowing from the boy into the blood wards surrounding the property. They'd even passed the point in the previous timeline that Harry's vision had begun to deteriorate.
The food was providing energy, and that energy was freeing his magic from the burden of keeping his body reasonably healthy. Dudley had even noticed that a few of the strange occurrences from the previous timeline hadn't happened. No wigs turned blue, and no terrible haircuts were re-grown over night.
Dudley was simply happy to have lost some of the blubber that had been weighing him down. Having become used to being in good shape, after years of hard work, being fat was uncomfortable.
Panting and sweating, more Dudley than Harry, the boys entered the house through the back door to get a drink from the ice box. Grabbing two juice boxes, the boys cooled off before completing their homework before Monday.
Harry was happy because his Aunt had even reassigned the various household chores that he'd previously shouldered alone.
Neither boy was allowed to do certain jobs. Any task that involved flammable liquids, sharp objects, or power tools was Petunia's domain. Especially after Dudley decided that anything Harry did he could do too. It had taken some time for the garage to be repaired after Dudley's 'accident'.
Harry considered the changes that had taken place after his Uncle had gotten hurt and shrugged off any sympathy for the broken man. If uncle Vernon came back everything that had changed in the past year might change back. Feeling bad but hoping Vernon never recovered Harry went back to working on his math.
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Meanwhile at Hillside Home for Hopeless Illnesses
Marge Dursely was sitting on a chair near her brother's bed. She'd had to leave Ripper at a kennel for the night to come here to meet with her Great Grandfather. It had taken time but she had finally managed to contact him. Her brother's condition had to be fixable.
What was the use of having a powerful relative if he couldn't fix the dire problems when such problems occurred?
Hearing the door to the room open she turned to find her older relative walking in and demanded he fix her younger brother.
"This is most perplexing my dear, but I assure you I will do all in my power to see Vernon restored to his proper state. I'm sure his family is dearly missing him." Moving to examine the man, Albus Dumbledore considered his squib relative.
'What has happened to you, my boy? More importantly, what has been happening with your family?' The old wizard asked mentally.
To be continued…