Disclaimer: If you think that I'm JK Rowling or for some strange reason I own Harry Potter, why would I be spending my time writing fanfiction for no money when I could be writing the sixth book so that I'll be able to make more money sooner after the fifth book is published????
Little Boxes
Chapter 1: The Twilight Zone: Privet Drive Style
Summer officially sucked, Harry thought to himself. He had only been home a few days, and he'd already decided. Well, he wasn't really "home", that title belonged to Hogwarts or the Burrow, but he was with his legal guardians.
The Dursleys seemed to have decided to ignore him, to an extent. He was still fed and he still had chores, but they were posted on the bulletin board every morning and they weren't as numerous as they used to be. Unfortunately, this gave him more time to wallow in misery and self guilt, so he had taken to doing things that hadn't been asked of him, but that needed doing, such as fixing the garden fence gate and taking out the rubbish when the barrels were full.
Things seemed different at Four Privet Drive and he wasn't sure why. Take yesterday, for example: Aunt Petunia actually thanked him when he helped her to make dinner. And earlier today, Dudley seemed to have been just about to ask him a question, when Uncle Vernon had entered the room. Dudley had immediately slammed his mouth shut and hurried away. It was then that Harry noticed that Dudley's considerable girth had lessened quite a bit. He was still overweight, but he was no longer the size of a young killer whale.
The Dursleys had changed while he was away at school and although Harry was curious as to why, he didn't need to know. Aunt Petunia and Dudley had seemed almost... nice. Uncle Vernon, on the other hand.... Come to think of it, Uncle Vernon seemed to be out of the house most of the day.
Harry was startled of his thoughts by a timid knock on the door. Astonished, he said slowly, "Come in," wondering who on earth it could be. The Dursleys never knocked softly....
The door opened and Dudley entered.
"Hello Harry." Dudley greeted.
"Dudley? What-why-who-?" Harry sputtered incoherently.
"All you need now is when and where and you've got the five w's." Dudley joked.
Harry just gaped.
"I-I've come to say I'm sorry."
"You- what?"
"I'm sorry, Harry."
"What for?"
"For all the things I've done to you over the years. For bullying you and calling you names and never sticking up for you when others people did too."
"Well, it's a bit late for that now, isn't it?" Harry snapped, thinking of the apologies he owed Cedric, ones he'd never get to say, and Cedric's reaction to the aforementioned apologies.
Dudley smiled sadly and replied, "Yes, well, I didn't expect you to forgive me, anyway. I don't deserve it, not after the horrible things I've done to you. I just want you to know, Harry, that if you ever do forgive me-"
Harry was startled at how close these words hit to home. If he had the chance to apologize to Cedric like this, wouldn't he? And wouldn't he want Cedric to forgive him, even if he didn't deserve it? "Wait Dudley- I forgive you."
"You can-you do?"
"Yes, I do. How about we just start over, you know, wipe the slate clean?" Harry offered.
Uncertainly, Dudley replied "Alright. Hello, my name is Dudley. I'm your cousin." He held out a hand.
Grinning, Harry played along. "Nice to meet you Dudley, I'm Harry." They shook hands solemnly and then started to laugh.
"Not to sound rude or anything, Dudley, but why did you apologize? I mean, what caused your change of heart?"
"Do you promise not to make fun of me or laugh?"
"Only if it doesn't have to do with you taking ballet lessons."
Dudley grinned. "Fortunately, it has nothing to do with ballet lessons. Well, the matron at school, you know, the nurse, she was worried about my health. After all, I was severely overweight, unhealthily so. She's the one who suggested the diet, year before last, remember?"
Harry nodded. "Go on."
"Well, when she realized that the diet hadn't worked very well, she sent me to see the school psychiatrist. At first, I refused to say anything and the sessions were spent in silence, with him just looking at me, waiting for me to talk. After that, though, the silence got to be unbearable. I couldn't take it anymore, so I just exploded and started screaming at him, venting my frustration until I lost my voice. All he said was 'Ah, at last we have contact.' And he smiled at me.
"I wanted to wipe that smile off of his face, but then I realized if he didn't get mad at me for screaming at him, he couldn't be all bad, could he? So I started to talk to him. He'd ask me normal questions, like 'What's you're favorite lesson?' and in the process of answering, I'd tell him everything. Eventually, I realized that I ate things when I got upset or bored. And I joined the football team on Mr. Goodheart's, that's his name, suggestion. I'm not very good, but I got exercise and that, combined with my new diet, helped me to lose weight.
"But I continued to go to see Mr. Goodheart because I knew I could tell him stuff. You see, Harry, I don't really have any friends. Piers was the only one of my old friends that goes to Smeltings and he made new friends in our first year because of his football talent. And I, well let's just say I'm not a people person." Dudley looked ashamed at this revelation, but Harry gave him a reassuring look.
"Anyway, I ended up telling Mr. Goodheart about everything at home. About you and Dad and Mum." At Harry's panicked look, he said quickly "Don't worry, I didn't tell him anything about the magic, just that your parents had been killed and we got custody of you. With Mr. Goodheart's help, I realized that I had been horrible to you. I also realized the reasons why. The first is that I was jealous of you."
"Jealous?" Harry squawked. "Why were you jealous of me?"
"When we were younger, it was because you were there and you took my parents attention away from me, even if it was because they were angry with you. But then, after you left for that school, what was it called again Hog-something-or-other, it was because you were special, you were magic, and I'm not. Then when you came home and you didn't get any letters, I was happy, because I thought it meant that you hadn't any friends either...but then your friends came in the middle of the night... I don't know what it's like to have real friends, Harry. You're lucky and I was jealous."
"Lucky? You call getting locked in a cupboard and starved lucky?" Harry cried, indignantly.
"Not anymore. Once I told Mr. G about it, I realized how petty and cruel I was being. What about you? You didn't have parents, you lived with people who didn't like you, and you had to sleep in a closet. And then there was me. I guess I didn't make it any easier on you. And once I realized that, I felt terrible. I asked Mr. G what I should do and he said I should try to be your friend, only I didn't understand why you would ever want that. After all, I was a spoiled brat and a jerk to you for years. Why would you want to be my friend. But Mr. G said I wouldn't know until I tried and the first thing I should do is apologize. Friends?" He looked at Harry hopefully.
"You're right. You didn't make it any easier for me." Dudley looked crushed and deflated. He started for the door. "But I've already forgiven you for that. And you're trying to change that now, so yes. We're friends. At least if that's what you want."
Harry didn't particularly want to be friends with someone he'd loathed for his entire life. But it had to have been hard for Dudley to take the first step and tell him all of this information. Besides, if he had really changed, Harry thought, it would be nice to have a friend around during the holidays.
Dudley smiled happily. "Thanks Harry. So, do you need any help with your chores?"
"Well, I've finished today's, but you can help me tomorrow, if you want. Dudley?"
"Yeah Harry?"
"Is it just me, or does it seem really...different around here?"
"It isn't just you. I think-I think my parents are having problems with their marriage. My mum and I keep in touch over the school year, you know, and I told her about my sessions with Mr. G. She thought it was wonderful and asked me if I thought she should go to see a psychiatrist, too. I thought maybe it was because she was lonely here during the day, so I told her to go for it. After all, I changed a lot because of my sessions and I feel a lot better about myself now. She started seeing a woman named Jane and she realized that she was bored sitting alone by herself at home. So she went back to school. She had a Bachelors Degree in Computer Science, but then she married my dad and became a house wife, so she's working towards a Master's in Computer Engineering. She's coming along great!" Dudley's voice filled with pride.
"She's also joined a cooking class and an art class. She's started feeling a lot better about herself, she told me. But I don't think my dad is too keen on her becoming her own person... I think-I think that he's been-" Dudley faltered.
His curiosity piqued, Harry asked softly, "You think he's been what, Dudley?"
Looking ashamed, he revealed, "I think he's been cheating on my mum."
Harry felt gobsmacked. "Do-do you have any reason to believe that?"
"He spends a lot more time out of the house, he's been taking more 'business' trips, and yesterday, I found this. It fell out of his pocket." Dudley handed Harry a piece of pretty stationary that seemed to have perfume sprayed on it.
Harry opened it.
"Dear Vernon,
I had a wonderful time last night. We should go out more often."
There was more, but Harry stopped reading. "Does-does Aunt Petunia know?" Harry whispered.
"I'm not sure, but-" Dudley bit his lip, then finished, "I think so. I think that she doesn't want to believe it, but... I think she knows."
The boys sat in silence for a little while, contemplating what had been said when Dudley spoke up. "Harry? How-how did your parents really die?"
***
A/N: Hello. I hope you like this so far. I have to go babysit now, but I'm hoping to get the next bit out tomorrow or Monday, so ttfn! REVIEW!!!!!
