Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all these other great characters belong to J.K. Rowling. I just play with them!
2. The incident.
It had started as another uneventful day. Harry had spent the morning reading a Muggle fantasy book Hermione had sent him, and while it was completely wrong when it came to magic it was still quite enjoyable. And why not? Most Muggles believed magic didn't exist at all, and they could enjoy the story. Harry had gone straight back upstairs after lunch and now he was doing his homework, an essay about the advantages and disadvantages of using transfigured items instead of items conjured out of thin air. Uncle Vernon was at work, Dudley was watching television in the kitchen, and Aunt Petunia was having a lay-down, as she'd been doing regularly lately. Harry didn't think she had been sleeping too well.
As he finished a particularly difficult paragraph, Harry noticed how thirsty he was. Or actually, he'd been noticing it for the past half hour, and ignored it. Getting a drink meant going into the kitchen, and he preferred to avoid Dudley if at all possible. Of course he could just get a glass of water from the bathroom sink. But it was a hot day, and an ice cold coke sounded awfully good just now. Sighing, he wiped his quill, put it down, and went downstairs.
He walked into the kitchen and was relieved to find that Dudley was so wrapped up in the movie he was watching (some action flick, and judging by the sound of the music, nearing an especially tense moment) that he barely flinched when Harry came in. Harry quickly went over to the fridge, took out a can of coke, and made to leave. He had his hand on the doorknob when the sound from the TV suddenly stopped, and Dudley let out a scream of anger. Turning to look what had happened, Harry noticed the screen had gone black and a few white letters appeared. Ah, it was only a problem at the station that had interrupted the movie. Harry turned back to the door when a second scream of rage made him turn around yet again. Dudley had got up from his seat and was rising his balled fist in the air.
"No, dammit, I want to know what happens next!" he yelled, and punched the screen, hard. It shattered, and at the same instant Dudley yelled louder as he was shocked by the electricity. Then his yell cut off as he slumped to the floor.
Harry had frozen when he saw Dudley punch the telly. It'd gone too fast for him to do anything. Now he put his coke down on the counter without looking, knocking it over in the process.
"Dudley?!?" he called out. *Please, don't let him be dead* he thought as he started forward. He hated his cousin but he didn't want him to die right here in front of him! He reached out to check for a pulse, then remembered he could get shocked as well, and pulled the plug out first. He reached for Dudley again, but before he could touch him, the kitchen door flew open and Aunt Petunia burst in.
"What is going… Oh my God!" she screamed as she took in the scene. Then, instead of checking on Dudley, she turned on Harry. "You hurt him! You hurt my Dudleykins!"
Harry straightened. "I didn't," he replied. "Dudley…"
"Don't lie to me! Go up to your room, get away from him, get out of here, get out!" Aunt Petunia screamed hysterically.
Harry threw one more glance at her, then decided that arguing was useless. He dodged past her into the hall, still not knowing whether Dudley was alive or dead, and ran up the stairs. Aunt Petunia launched herself onto Dudley as soon as he was past her.
Halfway up the stairs, Harry stopped and went back down. He went into the living room and dialled 999, suspecting that Aunt Petunia wouldn't have the presence of mind to think of that. He quickly gave the dispatcher the address and explained what had happened, then hung up in spite of being told to stay on the line. He'd make sure he was out of the way when the ambulance came, or there would only be a bigger scene.