A/N: Thanks for the feedback, people! You can't say this time that I wasn't quick enough – yesterday I posted chapter 9, today I'm posting chapter 10.
Enjoy!
Chapter 10
The Millicent Menace
The following days were probably the best ones that Harry had ever spent at Privet Drive. Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and Dudley were ready to do anything for him – though he never asked for anything. (They even tolerated him strolling in the house wearing his school robes). He knew that the sudden kindness of the Dursley family had only one reason: their fear of him.
For three or four days he found the situation quite amusing. He even wrote to his friends, godfather and fiancee how well he was being treated by his relatives. Ron sent him a reply telling him to use every second of this 'new life' and pay back everything to Dudley – make him work as much as possible, and make him do things as nasty as possible. Ron even sent him a list of his best ideas (his twin brothers added their own thoughts on the list):
- first of all, make him clean the toilet – possibly with his bare hands
- after that tell him that he smells terrible and send him to wash the car – and himself
- make him trim the hedge so that it models the Hogwarts castle
- make him clean your room five times a day
- don't let him watch TV, but always tell him how terrific the latest episode of Pokemon was so that he becomes green with envy
- eat wonderful tarts in front of him but don't give him any
- finally, when he wants to go to bed tell him to stay awake and watch out for the possibly attacking Dementors and journalists
When Harry read the letter he couldn't help but laugh. He felt a great temptation to try the list on his cousin, but eventually his good heart took over the little imp in himself prodding him to annoy Dudley.
He also got a letter from Hermione, telling him not to listen to the Weasley boys, because they were so incredibly infantile. Harry smiled. Good ol' Herms, she always wanted people to be like her: absolutely perfect, and not at all childish. But she always seemed to forget something: that boys mature much later than girls.
His godfather wrote him about his job with Arthur Weasley (they finally managed to catch Lucius Malfoy -– they found a great deal of illegal objects of dark magic in his house). Sirius also presented Buckbeak's regards.
Harry received a mail from Ginny, too. The girl reassured him about her infinite love. She even reported about the new developments in the journalists' case. She wrote that Rita Skeeter was being worse than ever, bullying people and things like that. (If only Hermione had never set her free! And you know, Harry, I'm sure that it was Draco who first told her about our baby. She couldn't have got to know about it otherwise.)
*Well, of course… Draco. Who else?* Harry mused as he went downstairs for lunch. (Aunt Petunia cooked his favourite meal and made him treacle tart.)
The family was just about to sit down to the table – Harry still possessed the head of the table! – when the doorbell buzzed.
"Dudley, go and open the door!" his mother instructed him.
"Make Harry open it!"
"Don't talk back, Dudley!" Vernon scowled at his son.
"I'll gladly go." Harry interrupted and stood up.
"Thank you, dear. Such a polite little gentleman!" Petunia cooed as Harry left the kitchen and opened the front door.
"Millicent!" he yelled.
Yes, it was Millicent Bulstrode standing on the Welcome doormat. "Harry!" she shouted, pulling him into a firm embrace. "Oh, I missed you so much! Dumbledore said that you'd come back soon, but I couldn't wait so long, my beloved hero!" she kept squeezing him so tight that he almost choked.
"Thanks for…your visit… Millicent." he mumbled, struggling to peel the girl's arms off himself. It wasn't an easy task.
When he finally managed to get half a metre away from Millicent, a very curious Dudley entered the hall, peering over Harry's shoulders to see who came.
It was a girl… a girl, who… looked just liked him. He was rooted to the spot, his mouth agape, and couldn't utter a single word. He was mesmerised.
"Your cousin?" Millicent asked.
"Uh, yeah." Harry muttered. "Millicent, this is Dudley, Dudley, this is Millicent."
"Hi." the girl said with a wide smile.
"Pleased… pleased to meet you." Dudley stammered.
"Um, don't you want to invite me in, Harry?" Millicent asked.
"Oh, of course." Harry said.
"Feel yourself at home." Dudley added, finally finding his voice again.
"Thank you." Millicent smiled, not giving a glimpse to the fat boy – all her attention belonged to Harry – to Harry's and Dudley's greatest regret.
* * * * *
"So, you are our Harry's friend?" Petunia asked politely after dinner. (Millicent proved to have bigger appetite than Dudley.)
"Well, kind of." the girl grinned sheepishly. "To tell you the truth, Mrs. Dursley, Harry and I had never even cared for each other… until a week ago."
*Why don't you add that I still don't care about you? Why?* Harry sighed inwardly.
"I see." Petunia nodded. "Are you studying in the same class as Harry, Millicent?"
"Nay. He's a Gryffindor, I'm a Slytherin." the girl said matter-of-factly, as if it had been obvious for the Dursleys what the houses of Hogwarts were called.
"He's a what, and you're a what?" Dudley cut in.
"Hogwarts – the school, you know – has four houses." Harry explained. "Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Rawenclaw and Slytherin. There's a Sorting Hat that puts the students into the houses at the beginning of their first year."
"Exactly." Millicent nodded. "I wish you were also a Slytherin, Harry!" she sighed.
*You have no idea how close I was to becoming one.* Harry thought.
"Tell us more about the school!" Petunia pretended to be interested. "We are so curious, aren't we, Vernon?"
"Huh?" her husband asked. Petunia nudged him, not so gently. "Oh, sure." he replied eagerly.
"What do you want to know?" Harry asked. He wasn't used to the Dursleys ever asking him about the school. It had always been a taboo topic at 4. Privet Drive.
"Would you like to hear about Harry's exploits, Mrs. Dursley?" Millicent offered.
Uncle Vernon looked up, an interested expression on his face. "Exploits? What exploits?" he couldn't imagine his bag-of-bones nephew doing anything heroic. In fact the concept of heroism had a totally different meaning for Vernon Dursley than for the average people. He thought that real heroism meant being able to live together with an idiotic nephew who actually had wizard-blood running in his veins.
"What exploits?" Millicent laughed (she looked even uglier than usual). "Well, of course facing and defeating Lord You-Know-Who in first year, saving Ginny Weasley (when she uttered that name she made a disgusted look) from the King of Serpents, winning the Tri-Wizard Tournament as the youngest of the competitors, facing and duelling with Lord You-Know-Who once again and surviving it, helping Sirius Black to defeat He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named once more last year… well, what else?" she mused. "Er, of course he was the youngest Quidditch player of the last century, and the most talented in flying on broomsticks, too… and yeah, he fought and outwitted a Hungarian Horntail dragon, saved Ron and Fleur's sister from the merpeople risking his leading position in the tournament… and, er, yes, I guess, that's all."
Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and Dudley were looking at the girl for about four minutes without speaking, while Harry wished he could disapparate at that very moment. Shame that they hadn't learnt how to do it yet.
"Did you… did you really do these things, Harry?" his cousin was the first to recover his voice.
"Yeah… but I was never alone. My friends helped a lot."
"Ah, he's just being modest." Millicent grinned. "When he faced the Dark Lord in fourth year, he was alone… well, accompanied only by the dead Cedric Diggory. Right, Harry?"
"Right." the boy sighed. Being lionised by his so-called family was the last thing he needed. Well, the one before the last – because having Millicent Bulstrode flatter him was the VERY last thing he wanted.
"Yes, Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, your nephew is a real hero!" Millicent sighed, and sneaked an arm around poor Harry. "And he is soooo wonderful!"
*Oh, no!* Harry rolled his eyes.
"YOU are wonderful, Millicent!" Dudley blurted out.
For a second everyone's eyes focused on him. Did they hear it well? Did Dudders – their Dudders - call a girl wonderful? Impossible.
Petunia shook her head and persuaded herself that she misinterpreted her son's words. Dudley couldn't like a girl, who is one of those folks! She shuddered at the thought. Having one hocus-pocusing person in the house was enough… but two were just more than enough!
"Well, Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, I have to go now." Millicent stood up.
"Thanks God!" Harry sighed.
"Huh?" the girl turned to him.
"Uh, I said what a pity!" Harry corrected himself.
"I know that you wish I could stay, but I just dropped in to see how you were doing. If I stay any longer, my absence at the school will be discovered. I have to go back to Hogwarts."
Harry nodded, his eyes twinkling with glee.
"Um, and how are you going back?" he asked.
"The same way I came." the girl answered. "Through Mrs. Figg's fireplace." at that statement Vernon and Petunia exchanged bewildered looks. //is Mrs. Figg also one of them?//
"How do you know about Mrs. Figg?" Harry frowned.
"Oh, I just overheard a discussion between Ginny and Neville, and they mentioned that old hag."
"Don't call her that!" Harry scowled. "She deserves more respect."
"Yeah, yeah, she does." Millicent smiled. "Don't get mad at me, Precious, okay?"
"Wasn't Mrs. Figg surprised to see you come out her fireplace?"
"Just a bit. She said she expected some people wanting to visit you."
"I see. Come, I'll see you out." Harry said.
"And I'll accompany you to Mrs. Figg's house, okay?" Dudley offered.
"Dudley…" Vernon was about to tell him off.
"Let him go, Uncle." Harry smiled. He wanted to get rid of Millicent as soon as possible.
So Dudley and Millicent set off for old Arabella Figg's house, that was only three hundred metres away.
"Um, do you like Pokemon, Millicent?" the boy asked, having no idea what to talk about.
"What?" the girl raised an eyebrow. "Is it some Muggle thing?"
"Oh, never mind." Dudley pressed his lips together. *I screwed up, I screwed up!*
"Oh, well, here we are." Millicent said as they arrived at the gate of Mrs. Figg's garden. "Do you want to come in and watch as I leave? I presume you never have seen anything like that before."
"Well, actually I have." Dudley shrugged. "But why not?"
Before they entered the house, he reached out and took Millicent's hand. "Um, Milli, I have to tell you something…"
"Yeah? What?"
"I… I like you, I guess."
The girl tossed his hand away. "You foolish Muggle! Did you think I'd ever pay you any attention? Silly! There are many reasons why I wouldn't."
"And those are…?" Dudley muttered, turning red.
"First of all: you are ugly and fat! Number two: you can't hold a candle to Harry in any respect! He is slim, handsome, sexy, full of magic, brave, clever, potent…"
"Potent? Whad'ya mean by that?" Dudley made a donkey-like face.
"What?" the girl smirked. "You have no idea why he had to leave the school, do you?"
"No." Dudley shook his head. "Why?"
"Because he knocked up Ginny Weasley and got Hogwarts into a terrible scandal, that's why!"
"Knocked… knocked up?" the boy started to look more like a monkey than a donkey.
"Got her pregnant!" Millicent said. "Are you really so stupid, or just pretending to be?"
"Um… never mind." he tried to smile. "Let's go in, shall we?"
They entered Mrs. Figg's house. The old lady was knitting shoes for her kitties when they arrived. "Leaving so soon, Ms. Bulstrode?" she looked up.
"Yea. Have to." she said and reached out for a small bowl on the mantelpiece and took out a handful of glittering powder.
Dudley watched with greatest interest.
"Bye, Dudley." The girl threw the powder into the fire and said: "Hogwarts!"
In the next second she disappeared.
Mrs. Figg scrutinised Dudley's stupid expression. "Tricky way of travelling, isn't it?"
"What… what is that sparkling thing called?" the boy asked.
"Floo-powder." the old woman said. "You can travel through fireplaces with it. Five hundred years ago it got the first prize at the Trickiest Inventions Contest."
"I see." the boy sighed and was about to leave, when the elderly lady stopped him.
"You look extremely sad, my boy. What's the problem?"
"What?" Dudley turned back. "I guess I'm in love."
"Oh, a good reason to be sad." Mrs. Figg snickered. "Is this young lady who just left, the lucky one?"
"Lucky? No, Harry is lucky, because she loves him – though I have no idea, why." he shrugged. "Millicent will never like me… she said I was fat and ugly."
*The pot calling the kettle black.* Arabella thought with a smile. "Well, one thing is sure, my boy: Harry doesn't love this girl back. He loves another."
"That Ginny who is preggers with his little bastard?"
"Yes. A very nice girl she is. I hope they'll be very happy together."
Dudley didn't answer. He never hoped that Harry would be happy – and now he wished it even less than anytime before.
But HE intended to be happy. And for the first time in his life he didn't consider videos, mountain bikes and food, food, food as the source of happiness. No.
For the very first time in his life he thought that only love could make him happy. Millicent Bulstrode's love, to be exact.
* * * * *
Dudley didn't go home right away. He went outside, hid behind a tree and waited. He knew that old Mrs. Figg would leave for a short walk – she took a walk every day to stretch out her limbs a bit.
Now Dudley knew that the old crone was actually a witch. She had to be. It didn't occur to him to ask her about it, but he was positive that the crazy, cat-lover Arabella had to be one of them. Otherwise she wouldn't have Floo-powder, would she?
When he saw the elderly woman leave the house – alone, she didn't take any of her cats – Dudley sneaked to the door. To his greatest surprise it wasn't closed.
*Well, well, well, you old hag, you shouldn't trust the honesty of people that much!* he smirked and entered.
He made his way right to the fireplace. He didn't even see Barney and Fred chasing each other around his ankles.
The possibility to try what he wanted was open for him now. He only had to go to that school, tell Millicent that he wasn't such a blunderer as she believed him to be, and she'd fall into his inviting arms at once. He'd ask her to be his wife (not caring about his parents' opinion about this Muggle-Witch marriage), and come back with her to Privet Drive. It was so easy – in theory.
He took a pinch of sparkling powder, threw it into the flames (not putting out the fire before you leave is very imprudent, isn't it?) and said:
"Hogw… you damned cats!" he wanted to kick Barney for scratching his leg, but didn't have time for that.
He got sucked into the flames.
A/N2: REVIEW, PLEASE!!!