Dinner at Number Four
by Rainsong
A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed; Asteria, Black Sparkles, SiriusBPadfoot, majordomo, vmr, serenity, willow, PigwidgeonChick, Kit Cloudkicker, Vampire Child, arcee, Taracollowen, Mystical Witch, lala, starkitty, ArtGirl, venus4280, kellybee, Mihoshe, A Tye, PurplePhoenix, Moonie, Biohazard, and Arabwel! Thank you so much! PS..in response to SiriusBPadfoot's question, when I say 'soon', it usually means within the next 24 hours, unless stated otherwise. I personally hate it when authors take months to update, so I only write fiction when I know I can devote a good chunck of my time to it. Hope thats good for everyone!'
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The next few minutes went by without event. Uncle Vernon was prattling on about Grunnings, his drill company, and Harry couldn't tell whether Sirius was actually interested or if he was just very good at being attentive. But then again, Sirius owned a flying motorbike; he probably worked with drills every now and then.
"We've been doing quite well actually, sales have gone up. Especially in the summer. Thats when most folks would prefer to work outside and such." Uncle Vernon said, still looking calm and collected.
Sirius nodded, saying, "I used to work with a few nice power tools when I owned a motorcycle. They were Grunnings brand, and I can tell you honestly that I never had a problem with them." Sirius said as he scooped mashed potatoes onto his plate.
"Motorcycles? We have a few wild teenagers that drive through here on them. Noisy, barbaric things if you ask me." Aunt Marge said shortly, twirling a piece of celery.
Sirius didn't respond, but looked as though he was very curious as to why Aunt Marge was so intent on picking a fight with him.
"Well, would anyone like desert?" Aunt Petunia said, breaking an uncomfortable silence.
There was a mutual nod from the diners, and Aunt Petunia scuttled off into the kitchen.
"So, you work for the government?" Aunt Marge said, looking back to Sirius.
"Er..yeah. I work at the Min- I mean..Parliament." Sirius said, recovering quickly.
"And what do you do there?"
"Er..law enforcement. I..er...interrogate criminals." Sirius responded.
"Well, thats worthwhile, I suppose. Keeping those murderers off the streets. Speaking of which, I was asking Vernon about this earlier. Did they ever catch that fellow who murdered a dozen people or so a couple years back? Name was something Black." Aunt Marge said.
Sirius dropped his fork, startled. "Um..we're looking into it." Sirius said weakly, turning back to his food. Aunt Marge tsk-tsked. Uncle Vernon looked at Harry nervously.
"Harry, have you heard from Ron and Hermione this summer?" Sirius asked.
"Yeah. Hermione's been at home, studying for her O.W.Ls- I mean 'our', yeah, our exams at school. And Ron's visiting Percy. He's been on business in Canada." Harry said.
Sirius nodded. "Maybe I'll be able to come and see you off when you leave for Hogwarts." Sirius said, smiling. "I could bring Remus too."
Aunt Marge snorted with laughter at the mention of Remus. Sirius dropped his fork, looking exasperated.
"Stop it." he said shortly.
Aunt Marge continued to giggle. Sirius rolled his eyes and clenched his teeth angrily.
"Marge raises dogs for a living." Uncle Vernon said, trying to start a new conversation.
"Oh really? What breed?" Sirius asked.
"Bulldogs. Loyal dogs, really. I brought my Ripper with me. He's probably off in the yard, hunting." Aunt Marge said, glancing lazily out the window.
Aunt Petunia walked in, carrying a large bowl of chocolate pudding. She set it before Marge, instructing her to pass it around the table. As she scooped cup after cup of the pudding into her bowl, Aunt Marge continued to speak.
"Of course, like with any dog, you get the runts. You'd never find a decent person who would take one in. You see that with humans, too. Like that one." Aunt Marge said, pointing at Harry with her spoon. "Thats probably why he was dumped on these poor folks." Aunt Marge said, looking sympathetically at Vernon and Petunia.
"Excuse me, but Harry wasn't dumped. For your information, he had no other family." Sirius said, sounding quite irritated. And, as an afterthought, he added "And Harry isn't a 'runt'."
"No other family, eh? I suppose they were all lazy drunkards too. You know, I always thought that there might have been some hope for that Lily sister of yours, Petunia. Its just unfortunate that she ran into that Potter scoundrel." Aunt Marge said with great dislike in her voice.
Sirius leapt to his feet. "SCOUNDREL?" he shouted at Aunt Marge who stood up also.
"Yes, scoundrel. You heard me. Want some more words to describe those two lowlifes? Look in the thesaurus, and you'll find lazy, drunken, good-for-nothing, ne'er-do-wells, careless, cheating, scamps, tramps, and morons among others!" Aunt Marge said, her face growing purple.
Suddenly, the bowl of pudding that was on the table before Aunt Marge seemed to eject its contents into the air. Pudding flew all over Aunt Marge, covering her face and flowered dress.
Aunt Petunia screeched, but Aunt Marge appeared unperturbed.
"Its all right, Petunia. I have very strong fists, and some of the pudding probably bounced up when I pounded the table. No worries." Aunt Marge said. She was handed a towel, and she wiped the pudding off her face. Soon she was sitting back down in her chair, looking sternly at Sirius. She filled up her glass with sherry, looking determined to continue conversation with him.
Sirius had taken his seat also, but still looked outraged at Marge. Harry thought he had a very good idea of who had made the pudding fly now.
"So. Beg to differ, Mr. Black?" Aunt Marge said quietly, her beady eyes looking set.
Sirius didn't respond. He seemed to be trying his best to ignore her, which was probably for her own safety. Another pudding incident and.. well, Harry didn't like to think about what Aunt Marge would think.
~~~
A/N: Hope it was ok. Chapter 5 tomorrow! I'm trying to stretch out the events and through in some more humorous dialogue, so forgive me if I seem to be running out of ideas.
by Rainsong
A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed; Asteria, Black Sparkles, SiriusBPadfoot, majordomo, vmr, serenity, willow, PigwidgeonChick, Kit Cloudkicker, Vampire Child, arcee, Taracollowen, Mystical Witch, lala, starkitty, ArtGirl, venus4280, kellybee, Mihoshe, A Tye, PurplePhoenix, Moonie, Biohazard, and Arabwel! Thank you so much! PS..in response to SiriusBPadfoot's question, when I say 'soon', it usually means within the next 24 hours, unless stated otherwise. I personally hate it when authors take months to update, so I only write fiction when I know I can devote a good chunck of my time to it. Hope thats good for everyone!'
~~~~
The next few minutes went by without event. Uncle Vernon was prattling on about Grunnings, his drill company, and Harry couldn't tell whether Sirius was actually interested or if he was just very good at being attentive. But then again, Sirius owned a flying motorbike; he probably worked with drills every now and then.
"We've been doing quite well actually, sales have gone up. Especially in the summer. Thats when most folks would prefer to work outside and such." Uncle Vernon said, still looking calm and collected.
Sirius nodded, saying, "I used to work with a few nice power tools when I owned a motorcycle. They were Grunnings brand, and I can tell you honestly that I never had a problem with them." Sirius said as he scooped mashed potatoes onto his plate.
"Motorcycles? We have a few wild teenagers that drive through here on them. Noisy, barbaric things if you ask me." Aunt Marge said shortly, twirling a piece of celery.
Sirius didn't respond, but looked as though he was very curious as to why Aunt Marge was so intent on picking a fight with him.
"Well, would anyone like desert?" Aunt Petunia said, breaking an uncomfortable silence.
There was a mutual nod from the diners, and Aunt Petunia scuttled off into the kitchen.
"So, you work for the government?" Aunt Marge said, looking back to Sirius.
"Er..yeah. I work at the Min- I mean..Parliament." Sirius said, recovering quickly.
"And what do you do there?"
"Er..law enforcement. I..er...interrogate criminals." Sirius responded.
"Well, thats worthwhile, I suppose. Keeping those murderers off the streets. Speaking of which, I was asking Vernon about this earlier. Did they ever catch that fellow who murdered a dozen people or so a couple years back? Name was something Black." Aunt Marge said.
Sirius dropped his fork, startled. "Um..we're looking into it." Sirius said weakly, turning back to his food. Aunt Marge tsk-tsked. Uncle Vernon looked at Harry nervously.
"Harry, have you heard from Ron and Hermione this summer?" Sirius asked.
"Yeah. Hermione's been at home, studying for her O.W.Ls- I mean 'our', yeah, our exams at school. And Ron's visiting Percy. He's been on business in Canada." Harry said.
Sirius nodded. "Maybe I'll be able to come and see you off when you leave for Hogwarts." Sirius said, smiling. "I could bring Remus too."
Aunt Marge snorted with laughter at the mention of Remus. Sirius dropped his fork, looking exasperated.
"Stop it." he said shortly.
Aunt Marge continued to giggle. Sirius rolled his eyes and clenched his teeth angrily.
"Marge raises dogs for a living." Uncle Vernon said, trying to start a new conversation.
"Oh really? What breed?" Sirius asked.
"Bulldogs. Loyal dogs, really. I brought my Ripper with me. He's probably off in the yard, hunting." Aunt Marge said, glancing lazily out the window.
Aunt Petunia walked in, carrying a large bowl of chocolate pudding. She set it before Marge, instructing her to pass it around the table. As she scooped cup after cup of the pudding into her bowl, Aunt Marge continued to speak.
"Of course, like with any dog, you get the runts. You'd never find a decent person who would take one in. You see that with humans, too. Like that one." Aunt Marge said, pointing at Harry with her spoon. "Thats probably why he was dumped on these poor folks." Aunt Marge said, looking sympathetically at Vernon and Petunia.
"Excuse me, but Harry wasn't dumped. For your information, he had no other family." Sirius said, sounding quite irritated. And, as an afterthought, he added "And Harry isn't a 'runt'."
"No other family, eh? I suppose they were all lazy drunkards too. You know, I always thought that there might have been some hope for that Lily sister of yours, Petunia. Its just unfortunate that she ran into that Potter scoundrel." Aunt Marge said with great dislike in her voice.
Sirius leapt to his feet. "SCOUNDREL?" he shouted at Aunt Marge who stood up also.
"Yes, scoundrel. You heard me. Want some more words to describe those two lowlifes? Look in the thesaurus, and you'll find lazy, drunken, good-for-nothing, ne'er-do-wells, careless, cheating, scamps, tramps, and morons among others!" Aunt Marge said, her face growing purple.
Suddenly, the bowl of pudding that was on the table before Aunt Marge seemed to eject its contents into the air. Pudding flew all over Aunt Marge, covering her face and flowered dress.
Aunt Petunia screeched, but Aunt Marge appeared unperturbed.
"Its all right, Petunia. I have very strong fists, and some of the pudding probably bounced up when I pounded the table. No worries." Aunt Marge said. She was handed a towel, and she wiped the pudding off her face. Soon she was sitting back down in her chair, looking sternly at Sirius. She filled up her glass with sherry, looking determined to continue conversation with him.
Sirius had taken his seat also, but still looked outraged at Marge. Harry thought he had a very good idea of who had made the pudding fly now.
"So. Beg to differ, Mr. Black?" Aunt Marge said quietly, her beady eyes looking set.
Sirius didn't respond. He seemed to be trying his best to ignore her, which was probably for her own safety. Another pudding incident and.. well, Harry didn't like to think about what Aunt Marge would think.
~~~
A/N: Hope it was ok. Chapter 5 tomorrow! I'm trying to stretch out the events and through in some more humorous dialogue, so forgive me if I seem to be running out of ideas.