DAR Close Encounters of the Dursley Kind 2

DISCLAIMER: I am neither the creator nor the owner of Daria. Daria belongs to MTV Viacom. I am neither the creator nor the owner of Harry Potter, its characters, and its situations. They belong to JK Rowling, Wizarding World, and Warner Brothers. The Fink-Nottles are not meant to be any of PG Wodehouse's characters (Who should have long gone to their eternal rewards by 1991).

Daria Ravenclaw: The Year of the Owl*Daria Ravenclaw: The Year of the Owl*Daria Ravenclaw: The Year of the Owl

Petunia's POV:

"You! What are you doing here?" I said. The little freak turned away from my precious Duddikins and frowned at me. It was the first time I'd ever seen her face-to-face. She was shorter than I thought she would be: under five feet. She was also red-haired, although hers was a darker shade than Lilly's. I saw that she wore eyeglasses. She might almost look normal, except for her disturbingly gray eyes.

"I was playing video games, then I turned and saw your kid shoving my friends," the girl replied.

"What?" I said.

"Didn't you teach your kid to wait his turn in line?" said the freak.

"My precious Duddikins would never!" I said.

"Codswallop," the little freak replied. "He could and did." She continued to stare at me.

My gallant Duddikins then spoke up and said "Leave my Mum alone!" He then stepped forward to defend me, then backed away, as if he'd run into a wall.

"Dudley, precious," I said. "Back away. That girl is one of those-people." I managed to stop myself before I said "freaks" out loud.

"Excuse me, what is going on here?" said another woman.

"This girl is threatening my son," I replied.

The woman looked at me, looked at the freak, then looked at a boy who looked much like her. The freak had the gall to look at the woman and shake her head.

"This guy was shoving people out of the way at the game consoles," she said, nodding her head towards my Dudley. "Apparently he never learned to wait his turn."

I remembered that a good lie at the right time could throw people off-balance. "She threatened my son," I said.

"Like I'm going to pick a fight with a kid twice my size and three times my weight," the freak scoffed.

"I believe her," said the new woman. "She's my house guest."

"Do you have any idea as to what sort of freak you're harboring under your roof?" I said.

The woman glared at me dangerously. "She is what she is," she said. "So is my son."

"And so is mine," said another woman. I didn't know about the first one, but the second woman was clearly one of—them, and my worst suspicions were confirmed when I saw her free hand move towards her hand-bag.

-(((O-O)))-

Daria's POV:

I could see that things were heading towards the boiling point. I turned to another kid, a bystander. He looked like he might panic at the way things were going. I sidled closer and said "Could you get someone from Security over here? They might shut down the arcade and kick everybody out if things got out of hand." He nodded, and off he went. I didn't know what motivated him; I don't think I'm that scary.

I turned back to the confrontation where Mrs. Fink-Nottle and Mrs. MacLaurie were having it out with this Petunia woman.

"Ma'am," I said. "Why don't you take some deep breaths and chill? This arcade's got enough room for all of us if we all play nice."

Petunia gave me a dirty look. She then looked at Mrs. Fink-Nottle, Mrs. MacLaurie, and then at me, Cuthbert and Rodrick, weighing the odds. I could see that she didn't like them very much.

I sighed with relief. Things were settling down. Good.

Just when I thought things might be calming down when there was a commotion over to the side and an overweight man with a large moustache pushed his way forward.

"Petunia, what's going on?" he said.

"These people are freaks," hissed Petunia.

The man turned away from his wife and looked us over. I glared back at him. I was no Gryffindor, but I wasn't going to back down. Besides, this was Britain, not Highland: I doubted he was packing a pistol and if the temperature got too high, Mrs. MacLaurie might have her wand on her. The man glowered back; I suspected that he might have tried to smack me if we were in private, but this was very public.

-(((O-O)))—

Vernon:

Vernon looked down at the clutch of children and their Mummies glowering at him and Petunia and started weighing the odds. After a moment, he decided that they didn't look very dangerous, although one of the Mums was reaching into their handbag for something. He decided that this wasn't America and that she wasn't reaching for a pistol

He decided to play Copper. "What's this about?" he said.

"As I was saying, there's enough room and time for all of us to play if we all wait and take our turns," the little red-headed girl replied. She didn't look very dangerous. For a moment, Vernon found her nerve amusing: the boy would never try it.

"Now look here," he began.

He was probably going to say more when a man who had "Manager" written all over his face and a couple of people wearing windbreakers with the word SECURITY printed on them in large, bold letters walked up and said "Sir, Madam, we need to talk."

"Now see here," he began.

"Now, or you'll all have to leave, " said the manager.

He decided to bluff. "This trio of children were threatening my son," he said.

The Manager suppressed a chuckle. "That's not what I heard," he said. "I've gotten two reports that a large blond boy was bullying the other children, and the only kid that comes close to filling that description is yours."

"Now see here," said Vernon. "This is an outrage. How dare you accuse my boy of misbehaving! I paid good money to come here and you are threatening me."

"I'm doing nothing of the sort," the manager replied. "I'm restoring order." He put up a finger before Vernon could respond.

"I'll have you know that I am a director of Grunnings Drills," said Vernon.

"That makes no difference," said the manager. "We use Craftmasters."

Craftmasters! Those were Grunnings' leading competitor, Vernon thought angrily.

"This can go either of two ways," said the manager. "We can either wait for the Coppers and they can make you leave or we can give you this gift coupon and you can leave quietly. I suggest that you take it."

"What's so special about your ruddy gift coupon?" asked Vernon.

"It's good for three free admissions at our Adventure Park near Surrey," the manager replied.

Vernon reached for the coupon but the manager pulled it away. "It's only good if you leave," he said. "My boys will escort you to the exit, then it to you."

Vernon paused, weighing the odds. Clearly the Manager had taken the freaks' side. This was not good. He and his family were being put upon and the bloody Manager had just contacted the Coppers.

"We'll take it," said Vernon, the words sticking in his craw.

The Manager smiled like an evil idol of the sort he remembered from adventure movies he'd seen as a tyke, then gestured to one of his Security people.

"This way, please, sir," said one of the Berks wearing a Security jacket. Vernon wondered what sort of poof a place like this would hire, then found that the Security lad had taken his upper arm in an iron grip.

He looked at his wife and his son. "Let's leave," he said. "This place is starting to stink."

"Dad!" Dudley protested.

"No back chat!" Vernon replied. "We got free tickets to their place in Surrey."

-(((O-O)))—

"Well that was interesting," said Mrs. Fink-Nottle, as the Security team lead the Dursleys away.

"Well played, Camille, Daria," said Mrs. MacLaurie. "You both kept calm and kept your wits about you."

"Can I ask you what house you're in, Daria?"

"Ravenclaw," Daria replied.

"Well, you played this situation like a Slytherin," said Mrs. MacLaurie. "Well done." She looked thoughtful. "What should we do now?" The three children looked at each other.

"Well, it's warmer than it was this morning," said Cuthbert.

"It's not raining," said Rodrick.

"Let's try some of the rides outside if they're open," said Daria.