Family Matters.
"So what makes you think
that you're, you know," asked Harry when he got Dudley back to the bus shelter
to talk.
"I met this guy at
school. I like him. He likes me. That's it really. Dad's found out. I'm
homeless." Dudley looked devastated.
Harry put his arm around
Dudley; for all his faults, he was still family.
"I think mum's known a
while," confessed Dudley. "I was going to wait for a while to sort of tell
everyone. You know how it is."
"No not really. Sorry,"
sighed Harry.
"Oh yeah, right. Well
Harry becomes a wizard and everyone just accepts it. Ignores it even. Dudley
turns out to be a poof and he gets smacked."
"Oh come on! I never
asked to be a wizard!"
"Oh, and fancying blokes
was something I wanted to do was it? Like I had a choice?"
The two cousins sat quietly
and thoughtfully for a bit, listening to the rain beat down. "I wish I didn't
have to hide my true nature, you know?" said Dudley after a while.
"Me two. You know I'm
not allowed to reveal my magical side in public," said Harry. "Not that it
matters. All of my stuff has gone. I think I've been kicked out or something."
"Well, that can't be
right. You're meant to be this big shot wizard right?" said Dudley.
"How – where did you
hear that?"
"Oh, well, I've read one
or two of the newspapers you brought back. The ones with your name on the
cover." Harry blushed. He had not wanted fame and attention, but had kept some
clippings of himself – who would not have? These were for his Quidditch victories,
and those days seemed a long time ago now.
"Yeah, well…"
"'The famous Harry
Potter', sneered Dudley, 'born to greatness' and all that. And what about me?
The last of the Dursleys trying hard to make something of himself and letting
everybody down."
"Well, it cost me my
parents. I would give anything to have them back."
"Well, after tonight, I
guess were both orphans!" snapped Dudley.
"Oi! This isn't a joke!
You don't know what it's like to live in someone else's house, obey someone
else's rues and never be acknowledged, not even once, that I was family too!
Dudley, you are the one who has everything I want – a house, loving parents…"
"…disappointed parents…"
sulked Dudley.
"… and anything you
want, bought for you. What do I have?"
"Respect. An amazing
ability to use spells. Friends who would die for you." Dudley stared mournfully
into Harry's eyes.
"Yeah. That I've got I
admit. But it's not the same as family."
"And family's not the
same if it's too much of it either! Ok, so you get ignored and I get pampered.
I realise that! But Harry, you get to leave. You get to go out and succeed on
your own. Me? I'll be little Dudders the rest of my life."
"Come on," said Harry
standing up to leave, "let's go home."
"Why are you trying to
save Harry?" purred the dragon chasing Hedwig. It had ceased trying to burn her
incessantly, and instead had decided to allow it to wear itself out before he
would devour it.
Hedwig swooped up and
flopped down on the dragon's nose. "Please, let me reach Harry. He must know
what you are trying to do."
"I'll ask again," sighed
the dragon, flicking the exhausted owl from it's snout and forcing it to fly
ever onwards. "Why are you trying to save Harry?"
"I - I'm his owl. I
serve him. He's my master, as he is yours," she gasped.
The dragon stopped
smirking and coughed an iridescent circle of dull orange flame around Hedwig,
engulfing her in searing heat. It watched her flap in furious agony as it fell
choking from the sky into the blackness of woodland far below.
As the dragon flew on,
he bemoaned "Like a ship's surgeon, I may not be in charge, but sometimes the
captain must be declared too sick to lead. This is my power yet I never asked for
it to be so."
Draco and Ginny were
giving chase at full speed and were slowly gaining hope that they could catch
Hedwig and save her until they saw the dull orange blast and the dragon veer
away into the night as the small white dot far ahead fell and fell. Wordlessly,
they dived down. Draco kicked in his heels and shot forward. His honed
Quidditch skills came into being and he swooped and snatched the falling Hedwig
feet from the cold hard ground.
The fall and the rain
had doused the flames on Hedwig, but her feathers were stripped away and she
was unconscious. Ginny caught him up as he cradled Hedwig in his arms.
"Oh my. Is she dead?" asked
Ginny timidly.
"No, she's okay, but won't
be able to lead us to Harry for a while. We should go back. Heal her up," said
Draco, scanning the skies to ensure the dragon had left.
"Ok. Are you sure you
won't trick me again Malfoy?" she sneered. Draco appeared to ignore her words
even though each one hurt him dearly. They slowly turned back and headed for
Draco's mansion.
Jasmine had waited for
the knock at the window. Hovering outside her window was the dragon again. Her
eyes flashed a dull purple and suddenly her world was bathed in warm purple
light.
"Hello again?" she
asked, opening the window.
"Hello," purred the
dragon.
"I did not think you
would return so soon. I have his stuff, as you asked." Jasmine's tone was flat
and lifeless. "Please can I see my brother now?"
"Not yet little one.
There has been a change in plan. We must destroy Harry's things tonight."
Jasmine cocked her head.
"Will Harry not mind?"
"No sweet child. Harry
wants this to happen."
"Oh, okay. Jasmine
slipped on her long overcoat and started to gather up Harry's things. A strange
silence fell around her, ensuring her parents did not hear her actions. Jasmine
did not mind, for she was too busy filling her school bags with Harry's school
books and scrolls."
"Poor Hedwig. She must
have been desperate to come to me for help!" smiled Draco, mocking himself.
Ginny resented being back here, but still felt some pity for Draco. Draco
continued "She even brought me Harry's cheap little wand. Total rubbish of
course."
"Let me have a look at
that?" said Ginny. Draco gave it too her, hoping she would look into his eyes
once more, but Ginny instead focussed on the broken fragments.
"I've known Harry a long
time, and this wand looks like a fake to me!" she gasped. "Why would Hedwig
bring a fake wand to us?"
Draco shrugged and
despite his curiosity, wished Ginny would stop mentioning Harry's name.
The rain had stopped and
Jasmine quickly threw everything of Harry's into a half-full builders skip at
the corner of her road. The dragon then realised that Harry and Dudley had left
the bus shelter and would be coming past shortly.
"Child, you are cold,"
it purred. Jasmine shivered. "Go fetch your warm winter clothes and I will take
you to see Daniel again.
"Okay," responded
Jasmine coldly and she immediately rushed indoors to get her things. Harry and
Dudley appeared at the far end of the street.
Harry froze. Ahead was
the dragon again.
"What's up Harry?" asked
Dudley.
"Can you see that dragon
at the end of the street?" whispered Harry. The dragon grinned and winked at
him.
Dudley shrugged. "No.
Come on. Let's go home."
So Harry walked on as
the dragon watched smugly. Dudley dragged him onwards.
"Evening Harry," purred
the dragon. "Enjoying being back home?" Harry ignored it, focussing on the
pavement ahead. The words held some disturbing truth for Harry.
Dudley and Harry walked
on. Dudley was fearing getting home. It was quite late but not too late. The
skies above were the dull greyish blue of twilight and the clouds above were
breaking up, allowing stars to shine in places. Harry stared up at the stars
and felt as remote as they were from him.
"Hey Harry!" cried
Dudley, breaking the spell. The dragon moaned nearby.
"What Dudley?" asked
Harry, looking at the Dragon.
"Aren't these your
things?" he said, pulling one of Harry's spellbooks out of the skip.
Harry numbly grabbed it
from Dudley and felt a smile creep across his face. He turned to look at the dragon,
but it was gone. Then Jasmine stepped out of her house, looking a little
bewildered.
"Harry? Dudley?" she
asked. Harry rushed up to greet her and cuddled her. He felt something hard in
her coat pocket. He looked at her and instinctively fished his real wand from
her coat.
"Wow! Cool trick Harry!"
she smiled.
"Where did you get this?"
barked Harry.
"I don't know. Stop
messing around!" she yelled. Suddenly Jasmine collapsed and was violently sick.
Harry looked at Dudley
in the confusion. Dudley took over "Come on, let's get her home."
Jasmine was bundled into
her house, waking her parents. They came down and shot Harry and Dudley
suspicious looks. Barry stood up as Kate guided Jasmine to bed.
"What on earth have you
been doing with our Jasmine? Have you taken her out or something? Clear off
Harry! We'll talk about this tomorrow!" And then Jasmine's door slammed on
Harry and Dudley.
They stood in silence
for a bit before Dudley turned to Harry and said "Strange folk. Still, you've
got your stuff back." Dudley tried to cheer up Harry, but Harry was devastated:
had Jasmine stolen all of his possessions? Had it been Jasmine who had summoned
that dragon?
"Get off me! Mum!"
Jasmine thrashed about and pushed her mother away. "I've got to see Harry!"
"Calm down! Calm down!"
wailed Kate, but Jasmine was becoming hysterical.
"Where's Daniel? Where's
Daniel? You promised me!" she screamed.
TO BE CONTINUED…