The school day had ended, Dudley had told his mother that he was going to go over to Piers house and he had told Piers that he was told that he had to go straight home. This gave him about 2-3 hours that he would be able to go off and have a think for himself. It was March almost April, Harry would be returning by the 3rd week of June, before he goes off to school again September 1st. Dudley would have about 3 weeks without school before Harry comes back to live with them for that short Summer period.
As Dudley had been thinking he walked to the public park, were they had a small little canal with a nice bridge overlooking the water. He sat himself down and just starred at the water, sometimes the fish coming up to see what was going on.
Dudley if anyone had ever asked was a hulking brute of a boy. He towered over other children and was able to easily intimidate the smaller kids to give him whatever he wanted without having to lift a finger.
If one were just to look at his grades people would think that he was as dumb as a post. He was terrible at reading and writing, but then he was hardly ever able to make out words on the board or in his book. He only really understood lessons if they were read out loud during school hours. He did manage to apply himself somewhat then. However, nowadays he had some of the other students paid off to do his work for him so that he wouldn't get himself in trouble later. At least not with his parents, it was an excellent arrangement. He wasn't suddenly doing "well" in class, he was now just not failing and that made it passable and not look too much like cheating.
He knew he could never admit to anyone that he could not read the chalkboard nor that he could hardly write his letters. Even when he did, the already blurry letters and numbers moved about on the page making it impossible, even when he was the one to place them on the page in the first place. It's not that the letters were moved by magic, it just seemed like his brain didn't want to read them.
Regardless of these difficulties, Dudley was able to manage, the school year and his parents by finding his way around things. He wasn't stupid, he just wasn't book smart like some of the other children. One thing he could not do was admit to his parents that he may need help. He actually suspected that he needed both glasses and was dyslexic, or something. However, if he told his parents he knew that they would just do something stupid, like blame his cousin Harry for cursing him, because they would never be able to admit to themselves that their little Duddikins was not perfect.
Dudley sighed heavily. After a year without his cousin, he could see that the way his parents treated his cousin was not right. Dudley started to go see the school psychologist in secret. He spoke to the man about everything, well except magic. The only reason that it was allowed to remain secret was that Harry was not in immediate danger by being away at boarding school and Dudley was not being injured or in immediate danger himself.
It had been a hard road throughout the year for him to see everything more clearly. That Harry his cousin was being abused by both his parents, physically, emotionally and predominantly by neglect was obvious for anyone with half a brain to see. For himself, he had taken some time to realize that he too was abusing his cousin, "Harry Hunting". As well as making any task Harry had to do that much harder. Dudley swore to himself that he would do what he could to protect Harry from now on while he was living for that short time with them during the summer.
He had also realized with the help of the school psychologist that he too was being abused by his parents. Just the fact that he couldn't safely go to them and admit that he was not their perfect little Duddikins and that he needed help too, showed that he too was a victim of his parent's abuse. He wasn't exactly sure what that abuse would be called, but he hadn't really discussed it fully with the psychologist on the last discussion. Instead, he had stormed out in anger at the thought of it. That was over a month ago and he had yet to go back. Not because he didn't believe now and accept what the school psychologist had been daying, but because he did.
This then led him to his current issue. Now, without Harry being the one blamed for everything, things were still happening. Little things, like when he stormed out of the room, a cup in the next room had just broken as if a rock had hit it. It was a cheap ceramic cup and luckily the outer room had been empty at the time. So, likely people will think that it fell when he stomped out. Another time, Piers the friend he was ditching today was fooling about and nearly walked into traffic before Dudley could stop him or even give a shout. A piece of paper materialized out of nowhere and hit his friend in the face, hard enough to knock in a bit back into the curb, and keep him from being hit by the passing lorry. The last one and the one that was most definitely not someone else is that he was able to see sprites, undine and air sprites. Whatever, they were called he saw more and more of them as the school year progressed and he had been thinking that it might be a sign that they could sense his change of heart and that they were now allowing him to see them due to this.
It was a scary prospect if Harry couldn't see them. Did that make Dudley crazy instead of magical? Was he going crazy because he was jealous that his cousin? God he hoped not, even if he did go crazy, it was more likely his parent's fault than anything Harry would have done. Them and their never-ending, insane pursuit of "normal".
Dudley went down to sit on a large rock on the water instead of being just on the bridge and he looked out at the fish previously nipping at the top of the water. Only to do a double-take when he noticed that the "fish", sometimes looked like humanoid figures and sometimes looked like fish with scales, forever changing forms, barely visible in the water.
He peered closer at the water and said a soft, "Hello?"
Dudley could almost swear he heard a soft giggle, then a slap on the water, after which he was doused with a small amount of water across his face.
"Well, if it's going to be like that," Dudley bent down to the water and did a small flick of water with his thumb and middle finger back at the little humanoid-fish creatures. He heard a small giggle in the water, and then a faint giggle behind him.
He turned around to see a large Ash Tree behind him that he had not paid any heed to before coming down to the water. Resting in the bows of the tree was a lady, wearing a fine dress that looked as if it could have been one with the bark of the tree and yet not quite as it still seemed to move in the breeze like fabric. The lady's skin was a light brown with green highlights. If one were to describe her she could almost be recognizable as what a muggle would think an elf would look like, only she looks as if she could any minute become one with the tree again. 'If that's where she came from in the first place.'
"Hello, my lady?" Dudley queried. The last thing he wanted to do was end up with a pig's tale again.
"Oh, my lady? I like that, we don't find many magicals are that polite usually." 'Well that may have either answered my question of if I have powers, or confirm my jealousy and insanity.'
Dudley paused a moment before speaking, "If I may ask, how do you know I have magic?"
"Oh, you are a silly child. Of course, you have magic, you can see us can you not? I am a Dryad and those down in the water are Undine. Granted, not many magicals are able to see the purely magical world. It takes both the raw talent to see us, as well as an open and kind heart."
Dudley faltered at the Dryad's words, flooded with guilt, "I am sure no one would accuse me of a kind heart. I have been nothing but a bully." He stated, looking down.
The Dryad smiled softly at Dudley, "Child, do you think we have only just seen you. We have known about you in this area for a long time. We have watched you, we know you and can feel your emotions. If you had not changed over the past year, you would have not started to see us this year. You have gained much Wisdom in a short space of time for one so young."
Dudley felt himself blushing slightly at the Dryad's praise. Dudley looked up at the Dryad again, "So then I do have magic? Like my cousin, Harry/"
"Yes, Child you have magic like young Harrison. However, your magic is different from his, in some areas weaker, and in other areas stronger. Like any human or being, one must discover their own strengths and weaknesses."
The Dryad had been lounging slightly in the tree as she had watched young Dudley. She suddenly came to a decision. "Come child, my fellows and I will teach you what we can for now." She lifted a humanoid arm towards him and beckoned him to come to her bow and sit next to her and there they sat for the next hour or so, as she explained the ways of the otherworld until he had to return home or be noticed.
After that, he kept finding excuses to be out of the house for an hour or two each day or morning and Naiad, Dryad or other large elementals would come to visit him, to impart some more stories of habits and traits of creatures not seen or known to many muggle or magical. Although, they did teach Dudley some of the theories of what they knew of wizard magic. Strangely when they started to teach Dudley runes, while still out of focus, like everything else. They were enough like pictures that they did not move about on the page and by the time Harry was due to arrive at the Dursley house, Dudley could read them quickly.
The fateful day did indeed arrive and Dudley saw Harry get off the train with a large trunk and owl. He thought of the fate of the bird if Harry brought her inside and decided to 'act' like a git to help Harry, since he couldn't help with the trunk or… he mentally rolled his eyes… his parents would think that Harry had put a spell on him. When Harry managed to drag his bird and trunk almost to the car Dudley grabbed the cage and in one swift movement, he opened the door of the cage and jostled it enough to startle the snowy owl into flight outside of the cage.
"Hey," Harry shouted in dismay.
Dudley sneered at Harry, "We don't need a loud, smelly bird to be locked in the house. With any luck, she won't know where to find us." Dudley looked at Harry's dismayed face and he glanced to make sure neither Petunia who was in the care nor Vernon who had turned away to open the boot of the car could see and gave Harry a wink.
Vernon clapped Dudley on the shoulder, "Good thinking Dudley."
"Boy, get into the car now." Harry, was so startled by what Dudley just did that he allowed himself to be manhandled into the car without a whimper of complaint after his trunk was locked into the car boot.
Harry spent the whole ride looking out the car window hoping to see a sign of Hedwig, while clutching the empty cage with nervous fingers. Hoping that his cousin was wrong and that Hedwig would find them in Surrey.
Dudley sighed quietly to himself as he looked out his own window during the ride. He needed to talk to Harry privately, this was going to be tricky, not to let his parents know, what he was about.