June 23, 2013
Annie called up the stairs, "Bea, hurry it up. The rest of us are waiting!"
"Mummy, I can't find my other shoe! I've looked everywhere!"
"Oh, for crying out loud." Annie shoved the diaper bag at Dudley and stalked up the stairs, muttering under her breath, "That child is going to be the death of me." As she stomped up the stairs she yelled back, "Young lady, if I find that shoe right away, you are going to be in big trouble."
Dudley looked down at Melissa and Evan. Melissa had her little hand in front of her mouth and was snickering. Evan just looked up at him while holding his hand. He shook his head and suggested, "Shall we wait in the car, you two?"
They sat in the car for a good fifteen minutes before Annie and Bea finally came out. Bea hopped in the car while Annie locked up the house. Bea gave her sister a glare that could have curdled milk.
Annie leaned around her seat once she got in and gave Melissa the same glare, "You aren't going to be doing a thing you like for a few days, Melissa Dursley."
Melissa tried, and failed miserably, to look sorry as Dudley asked, "What did I miss?"
"Melissa decided it would be funny to hide her sister's shoe in her bedroom. Bea, fasten your seatbelt, please." Annie did the same as Dudley pulled out of the driveway. "It was displayed quite prominently on her bed pillow in the arms of her teddy bear, but we didn't look in her room for a bit."
"Alright." Dudley tried to control the smile he knew would be completely inappropriate at this moment. "Interesting prank."
"Yeah, you'd think they didn't want to see their grandparents or something."
Dudley and Annie looked at each other from the corner of their eyes, trying not to grin.
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Vernon Dursley was a large man. He always had been. He saw no reason to go along with the diet his namby-pamby doctor had bullied his wife into following for him. His grey mustache quivered at the thought of the cake his wife, Petunia, had made for his son's birthday. It was the first time she had made one in months. He had found himself missing his wife's homemade desserts but no amount of yelling had changed her mind. The sweets were banned from the house except for special occasions. If it hadn't been for his assistant getting them from the donut shop across the street from Grunnings each day Vernon wouldn't have had so much as a sticky bun since that idiot doctor had said his heart was bad.
He watched avidly as his wife of nearly thirty-five years put the finishing touches on Dudley's cake. He reached for the bowl of icing before she put it and its sweet temptation in the sink but she rapped him on the knuckles. "No, Vernon. You get a piece when everyone else does."
"Woman, this is my house!" he snapped.
"Mine as well, Vernon, and besides, you never bothered to learn how to cook. So if you want to eat anything other than take-away for the rest of your likely very short life, you'll be a little more polite." Petunia rinsed the bowl out before he could try to grab it again and added, "And please be nice to Annie, dear."
"Hmph! Why should I be nice to that little trollop? She captured my son and turned him against me, she did."
Petunia just sighed. "Vernon, darling, Dudley met her after he'd already become a teacher. You know that." She put the cake in the refrigerator and took her apron off. She kissed her grumpy husband on his whiskered cheek and pushed him gently toward the living room. "And you'll be nice to her because she's given us three beautiful grandchildren and Duddy-kins loves her."
"Two."
"Hmm?" Petunia merely made a noise when Vernon responded as she tidied up the already-pristine living room, brushing away imaginary specks of dust.
"Two grandchildren." Vernon clarified. "You may think of that little bastard as your granddaughter, but I don't and I won't." Vernon crossed his arms petulantly over his ample chest from the comfort of the very large chair he always sat in.
Petunia sighed, giving up the battle with the non-existent motes and perched on the edge of the love seat. "Then at least do me the kindness of not mentioning that, please. We see Dudley so little as it is."
"I-" Whatever Vernon was going to say was cut off as a car pulled into the driveway. Petunia jumped up and hurried to the window.
"Oh, Vernon. They're here!" She rushed to the front door and took a moment to smooth her greying hair and her bright red skirt before she opened the door.
Dudley looked up from the walkway where he had been talking seriously to both girls and grinned at his mother. "Hi, mum." He gave her a hug as he met her at the door.
"Oh, my baby! Let me look at you." She held him out at arm's reach and inspected him carefully while he laughed.
"Mum, we just saw each other a few weeks ago. I haven't changed."
She smiled at her son, "But it's your birthday. You'll understand when these little monkeys start moving out and having lives of their own." She let go of him and crouched down to give both girls hugs.
"Never happening, mum. I plan on locking them both in a tower when they turn fifteen and never letting them out." Dudley grunted as Annie whapped him on the back of the head at the old threat.
"Try it, Dudley," she said darkly.
Petunia laughed and let Dudley and the girls pass as she gave Annie a hug and stole Evan from her arms in one smooth motion. "My father used to say the same about me and-" she paused. "Well, I think all fathers are the same about their daughters."
Annie sighed, "God, help me."
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The evening progressed about as Dudley and Annie had expected it to. Vernon doted on little Evan and Dudley, was less affectionate but as loving as he could be with Melissa and virtually ignored Bea and Annie. Bea couldn't care less because her Grandma Petunia had taken her into the kitchen to help get the cake ready for her father. She was used to her grandfather's antipathy.
They all had cake and ice cream, with the vast majority of it going down Vernon's gullet. When Petunia started to clean up she sent Vernon, Annie and the girls out to the living room but asked Dudley to stay back for a moment. He smiled and booted Evan out the door with a quick, "Go climb on your grandfather." Eight years of living on his own had taught him his way around a kitchen, so he grabbed dishes and started helping his mother clean up.
"What do you need, Mum?" he asked as scraped Evan's left-over cake into the trash.
Petunia loaded plates into the dishwasher she'd asked for when her arthritis had finally gotten bad enough. "I liked having Bea help me today." She smiled.
"I'm glad, Mum. I wish dad would pay her some attention. She only has you two for grands, after all."
"I know, Dudley, but why did you never tell me Annie's a witch?" Petunia turned to a shocked Dudley and crossed her arms.
"But, but, but," Dudley stammered. "But, she's not!"
Petunia narrowed her eyes at Dudley. "Don't lie to me, Dudley Dursley. Bea saved your cake from falling on the floor tonight. The only way she could do that is-" Petunia put her hand over her mouth. "She's Muggle-born! Like Lily!"
Dudley looked at the door to the living room to make sure his dad hadn't heard his mother cry out. He held out his hand. "Mum, we think her biological father was a wizard. Either that or, yes, she's Muggle-born. Draco and Tori think it's through the father, though. They had some reason but I didn't really care to listen."
"Oh, Dudley. He won't come back and try to take her now, will he? He can't! We won't let him!"
Dudley was so surprised to hear what had his mother riled up he could only walk over to her and hold her. After a minute he was able to answer, "No, mum. He has no claim on her. Even Hermione says so."
"Hermione?" Petunia's brow furrowed. "I know that name. How?"
"Harry's friend from school. Well, she's his sister-in-law now, as well as being a crack lawyer." Dudley smiled at his mother's reaction. She had gasped and pulled away from her son's broad shoulders.
"Harry? You've spoken to him?" Her eyes were wide with shock. "But, how?"
"I think I'd like to know why you've spoken to that little freak, Dudley. After all he put this family through-" Vernon had entered the kitchen at some point without mother and son noticing.
Dudley braced himself as he turned, "Because he's my only living relative but for you two and Aunt Marge. I want our children to grow up knowing each other."
"I'll not have that freak and his spawn befouling my grandson! I simply won't have it! You're never to speak to him again, do you hear me?" Vernon shouted and pointed a beefy finger at his son.
"I hear you, Dad, but I have no intention of obeying you," Dudley replied calmly. "Harry's a good man. He's a Wizarding police officer, for crying out loud." Dudley continued as his father spluttered. "I like him and he's even forgiven me for all the shit I put him through as a kid. I want my children to learn that sort of kindness. I certainly didn't."
Vernon breathed heavily, too enraged to speak, his face as red as a beet.
Dudley hugged his silent mother. "Mum, you'd better get Dad to lie down. He looks bad. I'll ring you tomorrow." He kissed her wet cheek before leaving the kitchen to gather his family and go home as Petunia directed her angry husband to a kitchen chair to recover from the realization that his son truly was no longer under his direct control and felt no desire to appease his father in everything.