Ominous
By Angelfirenze
Disclaimer: Dick Wolf and J.K. Rowling own damned near everything and everyone. It is pointless to attempt to sue me. You will get nothing, as I am merely a L&O:CI and HP loving college student. Anyone you don't recognize belongs to me. There are always lyrics somewhere in all of my stories. They probably will come from Incubus, Radiohead, Straylight Run, Thursday, and My Chemical Romance, just to name a few. Also, I should say that Beka's fic, 'The Art of Being a Kept Woman,' inspired the title. It's my most favorite of hers. Includes quotes and partial quotes from chapter one of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, chapter one, 'Dudley Demented.'
Summary: "Did you ever notice that your already traumatized nephew was being abused at the hands of your husband and—formerly—your son? Did you ever notice that your son, who you claim to care so much about, hasn't eaten or slept properly in almost a year?"
Pairings: Bobby/Alex, of course, and since there are going to be students at the school now I have to include other pairings; but those won't be revealed just yet. However, I will give you a clue: One won't be a pairing, actually, but rather an OT3. That's practically a dead giveaway, actually...
Timeline: Post-'Collective,' pre-'Stress Position,' since I don't feel like dealing with Logan just yet. And I know 'Collective', etc. probably takes place during a winter month, but let's pretend it didn't, okay? Also, I'd like to add parts one through six of my fic, 'Fighting Oblivion,' but have to omit part seven because obviously Nikki Dearest isn't dead. sighs and wishes the vote hadn't been so obviously rigged...those cockups...
Rating: R for...stuff. It'll probably start climbing to medium to hard R in the coming chapters. Nothing overtly NC-17, but those underage should govern themselves accordingly. Anyone who's underage and wants to archive this at their website should let me know so I can take all the R and up stuff out. Thanks!
Archive: At Amorous Intent, of course, though I realized I forgot to put it in the other five chapters. hides head in shame
Inspiration: Water Mage's story 'Stars Not in Heaven,' specifically the fact that Buffy and Harry were given their own quarters for the summer.
A/N: I know that J.K. said that Dudley was just a Muggle, but damn it, I just don't think that's fair. And, anyway, this is my fic and it's AU, so oh freaking well. sticks out tongue with accompanying mutinous glare
Part VI: New Beginnings and Old Endings (a)
My name is Wepeel
I gotta box full of your toys
They're fresh out of batteries
But they're still makin' noise (makin' noise)
Tell me what to do
Now the tank is dry
Now this wheel is flat
And you know what else?
Guess what I received
In the mail today
Words of deep concern
From my little brother
Bobby felt his feet slam into the ground for the third time that day and found himself very close to falling over. If he could help it he was never taking a Portkey ever again. It occurred to him that he could already Apparate, from what Professors McGonagall and Dumbledore had told him and what he'd already read on the subject. Bobby sighed, feeling the last vestiges of dizziness fading away at last. Well, at least he didn't have to deal with that. Now he had to do some research on Legilmency and Occlumency to find out exactly what that was. It sounded like fun.
He looked around Dumbledore's office and then glanced at Harry to be certain that his nephew wasn't harmed or injured. The dark haired boy seemed fine other than a slight green tinge to his face, but Bobby wanted to check him over anyway to make sure he wasn't in shock. However, he was interrupted by Dumbledore's appearance with Hedwig sitting placidly on his shoulder. As soon as the white owl saw Harry, she took off and flew across the room before she landed gently on Harry's outstretched arm. Stroking her with his finger, Harry glanced at the headmaster.
"Hello, Professor," he said quietly, his nausea calmed somewhat by Dumbledore's presence. It was odd, but he found it rather difficult to be very put out with the headmaster right now. His euphoria at meeting his other uncle hadn't abated just yet.
"Hello, Harry," Dumbledore's deep, aged voice said as he walked over to where the large group of people stood. "I trust you received my letter as well as an explanation as to Bobby's sudden appearance in your life?"
"Yes, sir," Harry said, letting Hedwig fly out the window and back to the owlery. "Thanks for letting me come back."
"It's nothing at all. I feel I owe both of you as much." He looked at Bobby, who frowned momentarily before walking over to Snape and taking the handcuffed Vernon Dursley from the Potions master's grasp. Alex, still slightly green herself, stepped forward and strode back over to Dumbledore with Bobby.
"My partner and I have placed Vernon and Petunia Dursley under arrest for child abuse and being an accessory to child abuse," Alex said, gesturing to an unhandcuffed Petunia, who was still wiping tears from her pale face. Her son was gaping at the ornate instruments sitting all around the office, as well as the paintings on the wall, who were sitting quietly, paying absolute attention to the proceedings. "We're not planning on asking our district attorney or the one in London for any sort of deal. We want to see jail time for Mr. Dursley; preferably a lot of it."
Bobby turned suddenly and strode, hands in his pockets, over to the window Hedwig had flown out of. The sky outside was shining brightly with summer sunlight; it wouldn't be getting dark for several more hours yet. Noting his uncle's straight backed walk, Harry sighed and walked over to join him.
Alex frowned and walked up to Dumbledore, motioning for Petunia, her husband, and the current bane of her existence to follow her. Snape frowned as well, but did as he was asked.
"Did you find a way to transfer Harry's protection?" she asked quietly, glancing over at Harry and Bobby, both standing silently in their black and blue clothing. Before they'd gone back to Privet Drive, Bobby had all but forced Harry to take them to clothing stores so that they could buy him new ones. The old clothes he'd had previously had been bundled up and given to the British version of Goodwill. His shoes, though, had been falling apart so Bobby had insisted Harry throw them away. He was now wearing a new and very sturdy black and medium dark blue pair that he'd seen in a Muggle skateboarding magazine. It seemed that Harry had been interested in skateboarding for a long time, but as there was no skateboarding in the wizarding world and because he played Quidditch, he hadn't seen any reason to pursue that particular interest. Bobby and Alex, of course, had disagreed and went out and bought him one. The skateboard was sitting in his trunk with all his other possessions.
Dumbledore looked solemnly at both the elder Dursleys and their son before answering. "I did."
"So you're going to be all stoic telling us?" Alex said in an excited whisper. "This is great..." Then she thought for a moment. "What's the catch?"
Dumbledore sighed, "It involves blood."
Alex sighed and glanced at both Bobby and his nephew. "Then you know you might have a bit of a problem."
"Why would there be a problem?" Snape queried, his voice low and thick with irritation. "This is what Potter and Goren both want isn't it? Can't they make up their bloody minds?"
Alex gave him a withering look. "Shut. Up. I'm only going to say that once more." Her tone of warning was enough to make Snape's breath hitch slightly. He paled.
"That's better," she said, turning back to Dumbledore. "And speaking of bloody, Harry told us about what that Darth Vader wannabe's minion did to him. He even showed us the scar Wormtail's knife left in his arm. And Bobby..." she trailed off unhappily.
"What about Goren?" Snape asked, barely managing to keep the malice out of his voice.
Alex smiled wanly. "Sev, that's for me to know and you never to find out."
"I would prefer you called me Professor or, at the very least, Severus," Snape responded, wishing he could just curse her and be done with it.
"Now, Sev, why would I do something like that? That might make people think I respect you and we can't have that." Alex patted Snape on the shoulder and turned to face Harry and Bobby.
"Hey, Harry, come tell the headmaster whether or not you want your friends to come back here to join our merry little party."
She distinctly saw Bobby grin and instantly felt a million times better. The boy in question walked over, now dressed in a crisp dark blue t-shirt with a grey trim and dark blue cargo shorts, with Bobby and grinned brightly. "Of course, I do."
Alex grinned and turned back to Dumbledore, who smiled back. "I guess you've got more letters to write."
Bobby turned and looked at Harry, pointing with his left index out of the window down toward the lake. "That's the Whomping Willow, right?"
Harry hurried back over to see what he was talking about. Sighing, he said, "Yeah. It leads to the Shrieking Shack."
Beside Alex, Professor Snape frowned. "Not that you should know that, Potter," he groused, inwardly relieved that they were back at the school and he was now able to address Potter however he pleased...however, secretly he was quite glad they'd been able to get the boy away from his horrible relatives, who were clearly the worst sort of Muggles and had no business having any children at all, let alone one like Harry Potter. "You wouldn't if it weren't for your insatiable appetite for breaking rules. And I can already tell that I'm going to thoroughly dislike teaching Goren, as well."
"If you think I'm going to enjoy being taught by you, you can forget that," Bobby responded without turning around. Then he thought of something and turned to face the headmaster like everyone else.
"Er, Professor Dumbledore. I know I've been sleeping in the hospital wing for the last three days, but I'm not going to stay there, am I?"
And that led to Harry thinking of something, as well, "And am I going to sleep in the dormitory with Ron and Neville while I'm here? Is Uncle Bobby?"
"I thought about that while you were in Surrey. I surmised it would be best if you and your partner were given your own quarters, apart from the main Houses. And Harry will stay there, as well, for the summer if that is his wish."
Smiling brightly, Harry pumped his fist. "Yes! This is brilliant! I get my own room here!" Behind him, Bobby chuckled at his nephew's exuberance, now cheered back up. He looked at Alex, who seemed very amused by how excited Harry was. She looked pointedly at Bobby and pointed from Harry to him, mouthing the words, 'You're exactly the same way.' Bobby grinned.
Then Harry looked at the Dursleys, who were all cowering off to the side. Uncle Vernon's handcuffs were starting to rub his wrists raw, Harry noticed, but he seemed uncharacteristically inclined to complain.
"In fact," Professor Dumbledore said cheerfully. "We should go now if I am to show you where these quarters are located. Wouldn't you agree, Professor Snape?"
Snape looked as though he wanted to tell the headmaster otherwise, but nodded stiffly and walked out of the room, his robes billowing behind him.
"I swear," Alex said, rolling her eyes. "A fashion model walks with less attitude."
Harry and Bobby both snorted.
Open the past and present
Now and we are there
Story to tell and I am listening
Open the past and present
And the future too
It's all I've got and I'm giving it up to you
Their new quarters, as it turned out, were located halfway between the location of Gryffindor Tower and the library. The rooms were concealed behind an ornate tapestry of a cityscape somewhere in what looked like downtown Manhattan, complete with taxis and angry drivers, honking silent horns and yelling wordlessly in what were surely many different languages. It stood out drastically from the décor around it and Bobby loved it. Alex bit her lip to contain her laughter.
"I think you're being spoiled," she told Bobby, who grinned and asked the headmaster how to get behind it.
"You simply have to say the password," Dumbledore told them, handing Bobby, Alex, and Harry identical slips of parchment bearing the word, misdemeanor. "I daresay it will be easy for you to remember?"
Bobby realized that his mouth was starting to hurt from all the smiling he was doing, but he couldn't stop.
Together, the occupants of the rooms looked at the tapestry and said, "Misdemeanor."
The tapestry shivered and revealed a transparent gateway for them to step through. Once inside, they looked around. It was like a mixture of both Bobby's and Alex's apartments, with books in nearly every room and a large, spacious kitchen for cooking. In Harry's bedroom, he found a large featherbed with medium dark blue sheets with a black trim and a black bedspread. Harry found himself wondering how they'd figured out what his favorite colors were. All the furniture was varnished and shiny, despite its blackish color. On the fully stocked desk was...
"I have a laptop computer?" Harry asked, hurrying over to it and sitting down. He'd wanted one for years, ever since before Dudley had gotten his desktop. Whenever he'd been able to, back when he was in primary school, he'd stay after as long as he dared, working on the computers in the library. He'd known the Dursleys never would've bought him one of his own so he used the school's computers instead. He'd gotten rather proficient at using html and other programs, but then he came to Hogwarts and hadn't had regular access to one since then.
"Thank your uncle," Dumbledore told him, smiling genially at Bobby. "And Professor Flitwick, as well, seeing as it runs on magic instead of electricity."
Grinning brightly, Harry almost sat down to try it out. But he remembered that they still hadn't seen the other rooms, particularly Bobby's and Alex's.
"Glad to see you appreciate it," Bobby chuckled, clapping his hand on Harry's shoulder.
Sighing wistfully, Harry followed the others into Bobby's temporary bedroom. Immediately, Alex burst into laughter. There were no windows, the entire room being almost certainly bathed in darkness as soon as one closed the door. In addition, there was another laptop that matched Harry's sitting at a desk very similar to Harry's on the far side of the room. Smiling, Bobby sat down on the bed, removed his shoes, and lay down, his hands folded across his stomach. Waving vaguely, he muttered for Alex to close the door behind them, please, on their way out. The detective in question smacked her partner on the shoulder.
"Get up, now. You look like you're at your own funeral. And you've never cared about sleeping before, so why start now? Your bedroom at home is almost exactly the same. I don't know why you can't sleep normally like everyone else. Oddball." But she was smiling all the same.
Bobby's eyes popped open, his mouth turning up into a white-toothed grin. "I may be an oddball, but you love me anyway." He rolled onto his stomach, getting up on all fours.
"I really should give you a swift kick right now while I have the chance."
"Alex," he started, before finishing the sentence in rapidly spoken Spanish. Alex's eyes widened and she walked forward and grabbed Bobby by the collar.
"Very funny. Get up, you sick bastard. Now." But she was grinning.
Pouting, Bobby stood up again, making a face at Alex before striding out of the room, dragging his feet on the carpet. Rolling her eyes again, Alex followed him out into the living room where she found him examining the bookcase.
"So you're not talking to me anymore?" She asked, smiling at him.
"No...and that response doesn't count. Nor did that one."
"Uh-huh. Yeah, yeah, Sherlock. All I ask is that you behave for once. Deakins asked the same thing, remember? Behave."
"Is that an order?"
"Yes, sir, it is—about face."
Unconsciously, Bobby turned around to face her before realizing what he did.
"Damned Army training," he complained, frowning as Harry snickered. "And that was a low blow. Do I go getting leopard print miniskirts and tube tops for you to wear like when you were undercover in Vice?"
"No, you just mock and tease me with Bishop," Alex countered, looking at him pointedly.
"I did not mock you. Just tease. And anyway, look who's talking; who the hell is supposed to know what sorts of prices strip clubs charge? That's unhealthy."
"What's unhealthy is being able to easily calculate the inflation charges per year for a kilo of heroin, Detective 'I-Worked-In-Narcotics-For-Two-Years.' You were around all kinds of drugs and whatnot. Who's to say the pungent aroma all that crap didn't go to your brain?"
"Touché," Bobby accepted, looking at Harry, who was staring at the both of them, wide-eyed.
"What?"
"I guess I never thought about what kinds of terribly dangerous things the police do," he answered, swallowing. "I mean, drugs and prostitutes...and you guys probably get shot at. Being surrounded by death all the time can't be terribly exciting. And I'm guessing for you guys to work in Major Case, you've got to be around some really bad people and you've seen...depravity. I can't describe it any other way."
Alex stared at Harry before looking at Bobby, "Okay, I'm starting to see more familial resemblance than I'd like to. I swear this kid is sixteen going on thirty-five. But, then again..."
"No, I'm not," Harry said, smiling reluctantly. "Just ask Snape, I'm nothing but a spoiled, whiny little brat in his eyes."
"He didn't mean that," Alex said with certainty, eyeing Snape darkly. "Especially not with the way he knows Vernon Dursley treated you. He's going to be a lot different from now on to you and your friends."
Inhaling sharply, Snape said nothing. He only glared at Vernon Dursley, who was now a pale, porridge color in his handcuffs.
Harry watched Snape glaring at Uncle Vernon, a little perplexed as to what he saw on the professor's face. Certainly he'd've been dancing with glee after seeing the Great Harry Potter get what he deserved. Instead, Snape was eyeing Uncle Vernon angrily. He would have to put some more thought into it—
Then his stomach growled.
But not before he ate dinner.
His dreams are like commercials
But her dreams are picture perfect and
Our dreams are so related though they're often underestimated
"So you actually went into a hostage situation with no backup and no bulletproof vest?" Harry was staring at Bobby with a forkful of corned beef suspended halfway between his mouth and his plate. He'd forgotten all about it. Alex laughed and reminded Harry about his food, which the young wizard ate quickly, his eyes still glued to his uncle's face.
"Yes, he did," she assured Harry, whose mouth started to drop open before he caught himself and finished chewing.
Upon swallowing, Harry took a quick gulp of butterbeer before asking, "Did you get into trouble with your captain?"
"He got lectured," Alex said, rolling her eyes. "Like that's new. I told him that he needed a swift kick in the ass—"
"Which started a long tradition," Bobby finished Alex's sentence, drawing a smile from her. "Of Alex threatening to kick me swiftly in a certain part of my backside for some reason or other."
"If you would stop throwing yourself into dangerous situations, then I wouldn't have to worry, would I?"
"Aw, Eames, you worry about me? I'm touched."
"Shut up, Goren, and eat. Your imported New York Style pizza and buffalo wings are getting cold."
Bobby flashed her one final white-toothed grin before finally digging into his food. Harry laughed again and took a bite of his pepperoni and sausage pizza, amused at the way the cheese seemed to stretch on and on. Down the table, Aunt Petunia was watching him forlornly, her face now dry and her eyes bright with unshed tears.
Uncle Vernon had been Portkeyed to London an hour earlier and was quickly processed. He was currently in a holding cell until his arraignment the next morning on one count each of first degree child abuse and endangering a minor. Bobby had wanted to stay in London to make sure everything went smoothly, but Deakins—having talked to both Carver (giving him a much-watered down version of the truth) and Dumbledore—had objected, saying that the safest place for Bobby and Harry at the moment was as far away from Vernon Dursley as possible.
Bobby had frowned deeply as he listened to Deakins warning him not to do anything that would lose him his job. The Major Case Squad captain had been shocked to find out that Bobby had a nephew in England that he hadn't known about, but he seemed to be hiding it well. "It won't do you or Harry any good to go off to London on a vengeance spree. Tell Alex, that, too. I won't have you two getting suspended or fired over this prick. It's enough that you two got Harry out of there. Enjoy your vacation because when you get home there'll be all the cases you want waiting for you."
"Stop trying to cheer Bobby up, Captain," Alex had said, taking Bobby's cell phone and putting it up to her ear. "If you give him enough reason, he'd probably Apparate back there and get in trouble with the Ministry of Magic."
Deakins had chuckled at the absolutely absurd turn his life had taken in the last ninety-six hours and sighed, saying goodbye and hanging up. And now they were sequestered, along with Harry, the headmaster and deputy headmistress, teachers, Hagrid, and two of the three Dursleys at one brown table, the House tables having been vanished in favor of a smaller one.
"I have sent letters to your friends, Mr. Potter," Professor McGonagall told him primly before tucking into a bowl of stew. Bobby and Alex had opted for pizza and bread sticks with sauce for themselves and Harry, who was gratefully digging into his third slice. Surprisingly, Dudley was still nibbling at the first serving of his own meal. Normally, he'd be on a second helping by now. The larger boy kept glancing at Bobby who, upon noticing, halted chewing his garlic breadstick and swallowed before replying, "I'm not going to shoot you, you know."
Snape snorted and Alex licked the sauce from her lips with the tip of her tongue before adding, "Just because we constantly threaten you with bodily harm doesn't mean we treat everyone that way. If Dudley promises not to harm a hair on Harry's head from now on, we won't do anything to him."
"I promise," Dudley said immediately, and the detective looked at him for a while before returning to her food. Dudley picked at his still, remembering the way the detectives had come into his house and flashed their guns at his parents, telling them that they were under arrest and telling them a list of things they had rights to. How they'd explained that the larger man had been Harry's father's brother and that they were guilty of child abuse. The woman had been shorter than his mother, but the way she had glared at Dudley scared him. She looked as though she was a really good shot and would've hurt him if necessary. She'd asked him if he'd ever hurt Harry and all the while he'd known that she already knew the answer. He hadn't been afraid of anyone besides Harry in a long time. And never anyone normal at all. He still had nightmares about what had happened last summer in the alley between Wisteria Walk and Magnolia Crescent, when Harry had saved him from those Demender things. No, they're called Dementors. Shaking ever so slightly, he corrected himself, remembering that Harry had said it correctly that night. It was a fitting title, really, considering what they had done to him. He was Demented, indeed. He'd never told anyone that he had seen them. Not even Harry. He didn't want to think about it, but the memory of it haunted him like a ghost.
The memory of what the Dementors had made him see...he'd teased Harry about his nightmares just before it happened. He didn't do that anymore. In fact, he rarely spoke aloud anymore. As a result, his parents had considered taking him to some sort of doctor or psychiatrist because of the way he wouldn't eat and the weight he was losing so quickly as a result. It was odd, really, that just three years ago his school nurse had written home about how overweight he was and now he was almost as small as Harry. The adults at his school had begun to watch him all the time. And the other students had stared. They had whispered about the dark circles under his eyes and the way he sometimes 'spaced out' as his cousin had been known to do. They gossiped about the way he stopped talking to Piers and the other boys in his gang. He'd stopped bullying the other students which, his teachers had supposed, was the only good result of his recent change in behavior. His school nurse and the headmaster had written to his parents about his grades, already below standard, plummeting to near rock bottom. He'd been kicked out of Smeltings at the end of the year. And now American police officers had arrested his parents. Just last year, he'd been Junior Inter-school Boxing Champion and now he wasn't anyone. It was a new feeling for Dudley, but one he reckoned his cousin knew well. After all, most of Harry's foul treatment, particularly when they'd been in primary school, had been because of Dudley. He never thought he'd feel so bad.
Bobby watched the Dursley boy, Dudley, as he picked at his baked chicken and mashed potatoes. The blond was withdrawn and quiet; obviously a very recent change, he decided, because his mother kept watching him worriedly. The boy was clearly depressed.
Getting up silently, he picked up his buffalo wings and ranch sauce before he gestured for Harry to follow him as he walked to the other side of the immense hall. Walking to the other side of the table, he stopped next to Dudley, who started violently.
"Don't worry, Dudley," Bobby said, reassuring him and offering him a buffalo wing. "I just need to talk to you and Harry for a little bit. Then you can come back over here. I'm not going to hurt you, I promise."
Sighing, Dudley ignored the terrified expression dawning on his mother's face and the stares of all the others—Bobby and Harry, is seemed, were long used to being stared at for one reason or another—and followed the two wizards to the other side of the hall. Dumbledore and Alex watched them go, but said nothing. Professor McGonagall issued Snape a sharp look for continuing to stare and he went back to his chicken noodle soup.
Once they were a safe distance away, Bobby looked Dudley over more thoroughly. The boy watched him, apprehension flooding his body. Harry instead watched Bobby, curious as to what was going to happen.
"You're very depressed about something," Bobby said quietly, watching as Dudley sank back against the wall, his eyes closing. "Something that happened last summer. With Dementors."
Uncle Bobby's speech was decidedly strange, Harry noticed. It was soft, so unlike Uncle Vernon's, and peppered with odd pauses. And then, of course, there was the way he tilted his head and watched you when he talked. He didn't even seem to notice he did it half the time. Harry looked at Dudley to gauge his cousin's reaction and was astonished to see the other boy starting to shake.
"You haven't been eating very much for months now and have lost a lot of weight. You haven't been sleeping. Your grades have dropped off the scale, just about. Whenever you do manage to sleep, you have terrible nightmares about that night in the alley last summer. When Harry saved your life. He used magic to protect you and got into a lot of trouble for it...you thought he'd used it on you at first, but then he explained about the Dementors. You can't stop thinking about what they did to you. They haunt you just like they haunt Harry. What you saw is killing you..."
Harry was staring at Uncle Bobby now in shock. Dudley was depressed and haunted? The Dementors were terrorizing him? "He's dying?"
Bobby looked at his nephew and gestured vaguely at Dudley, who flinched slightly. "When the human body goes too long without the proper nutrients, it starts to cannibalize itself—in a way. It strips itself of calcium in the bones and the muscles become emaciated and the skin becomes taut and hardens. The liver and pancreas eventually swell, causing that 'full belly' that you'll find in people—p-particularly small children—who are severely malnourished. You see this sort of thing with anorexic teenagers. Their bodies are destroyed from the inside out. We have to get him to the hospital wing so he can have a decent meal and some of the dreamless sleep potion that's worked so very well for you and me."
"Dreamless sleep?" Dudley asked, his rather glassy eyes coming to meet Bobby's. "You can have something that'll keep you from having nightmares?"
Bobby and Harry both nodded, frowning somberly.
"You and H-Harry take that?" Dudley's face registered a small amount of fear.
"Took," Harry clarified. "After my fourth year when I was...kidnapped a-and tortured by Voldemort. He tried to kill me, too. That's what my nightmares were about."
"I dream about the voices in my mother's head," Bobby explained, his voice becoming still softer. "M-my mother is schizophrenic and I've always had nightmares about the voices coming to get me...one day. Ever since I was around seven, w-when my dad left."
"Your dad left you?" Dudley asked, his white face registering shock. "You mean he just...left and didn't come back? When you were seven?"
Bobby nodded curtly, his equally pale face hardening at the memory. "Yeah, look...you haven't eaten properly in months. I don't know why you're not in a hospital yet. Or why your parents didn't notice until now."
"I didn't want them to notice," Dudley sighed. "My dad...he's always so proud of me and...my mum...she loves me."
"And, meanwhile, they treat Harry like crap," Bobby said in a low voice that made Dudley flinch again. He turned to Harry.
"I've wanted to apologize to you for a long time, b-but you were away at—were here and I didn't know how to reach you. And then, of course, Mum and Dad would've wanted to know why on earth I would've wanted to talk to you and then..."
"It's alright," Harry reassured his cousin. "I get it. Look, we should take you to the hospital wing. You can tell your mum that you're still nauseous from the Portkey."
"The what?" Dudley asked, confused.
"The Portkey. When a wizard turns an object into a Portkey, they can use it to travel somewhere. Stuff that Muggles won't pick up or touch. Rubbish. That's how we got back here. Anyway, you can tell your mum that you don't feel well and we can take you upstairs. Madam Pomfrey'll have a fit, though. She's..." Harry trailed off, looking at Bobby. "Did she nag you or anything about your not sleeping?"
"No, that was Professor McGonagall, like I said. You should have seen the way she kept glaring at me and Alex earlier. I made the mistake of telling her that I hadn't eaten since Wednesday at breakfast, New York time. I think I prefer Alex threatening to give me a swift kick. She's like my old drill sergeant, really."
Harry snickered. "What'd you join the army for?"
"The discipline," Bobby answered simply. "I needed it."
Harry was inclined to ask his uncle why on earth he thought he needed discipline, but Dudley's situation was more important at the moment, so they followed their plan. Bobby and Harry went back to the table and Bobby sat down, resuming his meal. Harry waited as Dudley told his mother that he didn't feel well and that Harry would take him upstairs to see the school nurse, Madam Pomfrey. Petunia Dursley looked frightened at the prospect of her 'Ickle Dinky Diddydums' being in the clutches of a witch, but upon seeing that Professors Dumbledore, McGonagall, and Snape, as well as the two detectives examining her son with various stages of worry, she reluctantly agreed.
"I'm coming, as well," she said, however. "There's no way I'm leaving you alone up there for that woman to—"
"No!" Dudley objected a bit too quickly. His mother looked at him in alarm. "I-I mean, it'll be alright, Mum. I'm sure it's just a stomach ache or something." Dudley hated lying to his mother. He wondered why his parents never caught him when he did it. He would give anything to be found out.
Grudginly, Petunia turned back to her food, which sat mostly untouched as her son's had. Looking at her nephew, she almost growled, "You look after Dudley—"
Then she remembered that Detective Goren was watching her, along with his partner and everyone else. "Just...look after him, Harry," she said wearily, her eyes becoming tired. "Please?"
Harry stared at his aunt, momentarily, before doing as she asked. On the way up to the hospital wing, Dudley again stared at all the paintings on the wall.
"Do they always move?" he asked faintly, distracted by a painting of grazing horses beside a stream.
"Yeah," Harry replied, looking up at the paintings. Having been in the magical world for five years, he was thoroughly used to them by now. "I don't even think anything of it anymore."
"Your uncle and his partner..." he ventured, plainly uneasy. "They're rather...well, scary. Especially him. He's intense."
Harry grinned. "I like Uncle Bobby. He's really, really smart. And weird—and funny, too. Plus, he and Alex hate Snape, as well, so—you know, bonus."
"You're starting to talk like he does. With all those odd pauses and things."
"Am I?" Harry grinned as they arrived at the hospital wing. That didn't take long at all, he noticed. Madam Pomfrey was already at the door.
"Mr. Potter," she said, clicking her tongue and looking him over with disapproval. "Honestly, between you and Detective Goren—"
"We're not here for me or my uncle," Harry said hesitantly. "I'm here to drop off my cousin. He's in a bad state."
That was when Madam Pomfrey noticed Dudley standing beside Harry, his shoulders—which she could see were unnaturally thin, moreso than his cousin's—slumped forward in exhaustion. Immediately, she took gentle hold of the boy and steered him toward a bed.
"Good heavens, child—when is the last time you had a proper meal?"
"I've tried to eat," Dudley said quietly. "I haven't—" He stopped short as Madam Pomfrey began undoing his shoelaces. "What're you doing?"
"You need rest, young man. Mr. Potter," she glanced at Harry before going back to removing Dudley's shoes and pushing him gently back onto the bed. "Go get the headmaster and headmistress, as well as your aunt and the detectives, please."
"Yes, Madam Pomfrey," Harry said, nodding before racing back downstairs. What was wrong? He wondered, taking the stairs down to the Great Hall two and three at a time. Was Dudley's condition even worse than Uncle Bobby had thought?
Was Dudley going to die or something?
Walking steadily back into the Great Hall, Harry went up to each of those asked for and told them what happened quietly. Instantly, they all got up and started walking toward the doors, eventually convening in the hospital wing.
"I gave him some Dreamless Sleep potion," Madam Pomfrey said sadly as she turned to look at Aunt Petunia. "Do you know that your son hasn't eaten a proper meal in months?"
"Y-yes," Aunt Petunia trembled, watching her son lying sedated on the bed in a pair of light blue pajamas. "Vernon and I were looking for a psychiatrist to talk to him about whatever seems to be bothering him. We—"
"Never noticed that he's well on his way to starving to death," Madam Pomfrey interjected darkly and Aunt Petunia gasped as fresh tears fell down her face.
"He's depressed," Bobby added, coming over to stand by Dudley's bedside. "It started with the incident last summer in the alleyway between Magnolia Cresent and Wisteria Walk. Harry saved his life that night, but those Dementors are still haunting him. It's what they do, to wizards in—"
"Azkaban," Harry said, coming to a realization. He'd read something last year while researching hexes and curses for the D.A. He needed to go to the library, quickly. "Ah, Uncle Bobby, could you come with me to the library? I-I need to find something."
Alex suppressed an amused snort as Bobby agreed and the two wizards hurried down to the cavernous school library for some book or other—maybe more. Sighing in a resigned fashion, she looked down at the bed and watched Harry's cousin sleep for a bit. Then she turned to Petunia, her expression incredulous. "So, let's just take a not-so-big leap and say that you and your husband are quite possibly the most oblivious caregivers on the face of the earth and there's no way either of you should have been allowed to breed, let alone adopt a child. Particularly you."
Affronted, Petunia wanted to respond, but Alex cut her off, her eyebrows raised in astonishment. "Did you ever notice that your already traumatized nephew was being abused at the hands of your husband and—formerly—your son? Did you ever notice that your son, who you claim to care so much about, hasn't eaten or slept properly in almost a year?"
Petunia opened her mouth, but no words came out. She closed it and bit her lip.
"That's what I thought, which is where the accessory charge comes from. Observation won't kill you, you know. If it did, my partner would've died at birth." After which she turned to Snape. "If you make one snide comment..."
"I won't!" Snape snapped back, irritated. "I don't want Potter and Goren dead; when will you get that through your bloody skull!"
"When you kneel and politely kiss my ass," Alex shot back, earning a sharp glare from Professor McGonagall.
"If you two are done acting like foulmouthed children, I believe the situation at hand is of far more importance."
Alex sighed and nodded, shooting Snape one last glare for good measure.
Lately I've been wishing I had one desire
Something that would make me never want another
Something that would make it so that nothing matters
All would be clear then
...tbc...
A/N: I've decided to split this into two parts because what I'm trying to do is taking forever and I figured I made you guys wait long enough. sigh Enjoy!