Chapter 1- The Exchange
After months and months of waiting, it was finally happening. I was participating in a student exchange program. I had always loved to travel, and after going to England two years before, I had wanted to go back. The boy that I was exchanging with was a complete stranger to me. I knew nothing about what he liked to do, where he went to school, or what he looked like. I was in the dark. All I knew was that his name was Dudley Dursley and that he lived in Surrey, England. I actually didn't really mind my lack of knowledge; all I needed to know was that he lived in England. That fact alone was enough for me.
The way this program worked was simple. He came to America and spent two weeks at my house and then we flew to England and spent two weeks at his house. For the two weeks at my house, my mom and dad had gone full out. I, being out of school, had the joy of tidying up the house with them. We also made plans to show him the best of our humble town. The zoo, the museums, and anything else that screamed "AMERICA".
The day finally arrived and we headed down to the airport. We got to the gate just in time to see the plane pull in.
"Flight 504 direct from London pulling into gate 35" said a woman over the loudspeaker.
"This is it," Said my dad.
"Time to meet Dudley," said my mom, pulling out our handmade sign with his name on it. We watched as person after person walked out of the gate and passed us by. Then we heard a voice. A loud voice...
"What do you think you're blooding doing?" the voice wailed, "You cut me off! I was CLEARLY walking here!" We saw a very round boy push an older man out of the way and come storming through the crowd. "WHAT? It's four o'clock, I'm missing my tele shows! Where the devil is my host family?" he stopped suddenly to look for us, causing the unexpecting people behind him to trip. Then of course he started yelling at them.
"This is my exchange buddy?" I thought. He had finally seen us and came waddling over.
"There you are! About bloody time. If you didn't see, I was just mauled by a group of you crazy Americans." I glanced at my parents... this was going to be a long two weeks.
"Hi Dudley," I said, putting on my fake smile, "I'm Lindsey."
"Well!" He exclaimed, as he looked me over, "I was expecting a bit more from you Americans, but I guess my hopes were too high."
"Wha..." I had always been really quick to anger and was about to give him a piece of my mind when my mom interrupted me.
"How was your flight Dudley?" She asked nicely
"Horrible! American airlines are nothing compared to British ones." Every time he said American, he made it sound more and more evil.
My mom sighed. "Let's go get Dudley's bags."
As we walked, it was clear that my mom and I were both fuming mad. But my dad was still as pleasant as ever. He actually got in a conversation with him. I was amazed. We got to the bag area and found Dudley's bags. His two very big and extremely heavy bags.
"Large heavy bags for a large heavy kid," I muttered to my mom under my breath. She stiffled a laugh. My dad meanwhile was trying to lift the bags, but it wasn't going too well.
"Hey Dudley, could you help me with these bags?" He asked.
"No, I don't carry my own bags," he said and walked off towards the vending machines. All our jaws dropped and we glared at him. My thoughts, and probably those of my parents, were focused entirely on seriously injuring this monster
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The car ride home was horrible. There was not a radio station or CD that was good enough for him, so we had to sit in silence. When we arrived home, I showed Dudley to his room and ran to my room before he could begin complaining about it. In my room, I sat for a minute, trying to think of someway to vent my anger. Then the light bulb turned on and I picked up the phone.
"Hello?" said the voice on the other end.
"Jen? It's me. Do you mind listening to my ranting about my exchange buddy?"
"Um, sure, that's what best friends are for."
"Oh my god! He's horrible! Absolutely 100% horrible! He complains and he insults us and..."
"Woah, time out. You've only known him for a few hours, you shouldn't judge that quickly."
"Oh yes I should, you haven't met the kid!"
"Your temper is getting the best of you again."
"You're probably right, but ARGH! He's terrible!"
"Is he at least hot?" Only Jen.
"If only! He looks like a freaking pig!"
"Well think of the good side, you only have two weeks and then off to England!"
"Yeah, but with him!"
"Lins, breathe. You have been talking nonstop about going back for the longest time. Don't let one kid ruin it for you."
"I guess I can try." Just then I heard Dudley begin to yell. "I have to go, the monster calls." Jen laughed.
"See ya." I hung up the phone and walked to the family room where Dudley had moved. "What is your problem now?"
"Problem? Try more than one!" He yelled while glaring at me, "The tele is tiny and my favorite show isn't on!"
"Okay, first of all, the television isn't small at all. Second, you're in AMERICA, not England. We show AMERICAN shows. Third, this is your home for the next few days so stop complaining
"Well if I had known that this was where I was going to be staying. Then I wouldn't have come," he muttered
"What was that??" I yelled.
"You heard me, you stupid..."
CRACK! We both stopped yelling and stared at the television. There was smoke surrounding it and when it cleared, I saw that it had been cracked down the center of the screen. Dudley gasped, looked at me, then at the TV, and then ran away holding his bum.
"Wonderful," I thought. "Mean AND insane."
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The rest of the night passed rather calmly, probably due to the fact that Dudley had locked himself in his room and refused to come out. The following day he did come out of his room but didn't speak to me at all. He also would not be in a room alone with me. I was so confused by his actions until I had a revelation. Dudley was afraid of me. But why? The television incident was a bit odd, but it wasn't anything I did. So when the fourth day of the silent treatment came along, I decided to ask him about it.
I found him in the kitchen, eating a sandwich (go figure).
"Um, Dudley?" He jumped up with a shriek and ran to the far wall, dropping his sandwich to the floor. "Wow, calm down. What's up?"
"Oh you don't think I know?" he asked angrily.
"Um, know what?"
"About YOUR people. And I know how you get joy from using your... powers on defenseless normal people like me."
"What powers?"
"The ones you learn at that school."
"School?"
"Stop playing dumb! I already know about it. My cousin goes to one of those freak schools." I sighed.
"Dudley, I have no idea what you are talking about. I have no powers and the only school that I go to is a public normal high school."
"Really?" He said, as he walked towards me with a suspicious glance.
"Yeah, really really."
"So you mean to tell me that I wasted four days being afraid of YOU?"
"I guess so. Now what were you talking about? Some school and powers?"
"That's none of your business."
"Okay, can you tell me about your cousin?"
"No! He's an embarrassment." He said, rolling his eyes, "But I suppose you'll have to meet him eventually." With that, Dudley left the room.
"10 more days, 10 more days." I thought.
(a/n)Okay people, in this story everything that is found in the Harry Potter books doesn't belong to me. It belongs to JK Rowling and whoever else. However I do own some things. These things include Lindsey, her family, her friends, and all other new characters. So don't steal my ideas or I'll beat u up. muhaha!!!! REVIEW!!
After months and months of waiting, it was finally happening. I was participating in a student exchange program. I had always loved to travel, and after going to England two years before, I had wanted to go back. The boy that I was exchanging with was a complete stranger to me. I knew nothing about what he liked to do, where he went to school, or what he looked like. I was in the dark. All I knew was that his name was Dudley Dursley and that he lived in Surrey, England. I actually didn't really mind my lack of knowledge; all I needed to know was that he lived in England. That fact alone was enough for me.
The way this program worked was simple. He came to America and spent two weeks at my house and then we flew to England and spent two weeks at his house. For the two weeks at my house, my mom and dad had gone full out. I, being out of school, had the joy of tidying up the house with them. We also made plans to show him the best of our humble town. The zoo, the museums, and anything else that screamed "AMERICA".
The day finally arrived and we headed down to the airport. We got to the gate just in time to see the plane pull in.
"Flight 504 direct from London pulling into gate 35" said a woman over the loudspeaker.
"This is it," Said my dad.
"Time to meet Dudley," said my mom, pulling out our handmade sign with his name on it. We watched as person after person walked out of the gate and passed us by. Then we heard a voice. A loud voice...
"What do you think you're blooding doing?" the voice wailed, "You cut me off! I was CLEARLY walking here!" We saw a very round boy push an older man out of the way and come storming through the crowd. "WHAT? It's four o'clock, I'm missing my tele shows! Where the devil is my host family?" he stopped suddenly to look for us, causing the unexpecting people behind him to trip. Then of course he started yelling at them.
"This is my exchange buddy?" I thought. He had finally seen us and came waddling over.
"There you are! About bloody time. If you didn't see, I was just mauled by a group of you crazy Americans." I glanced at my parents... this was going to be a long two weeks.
"Hi Dudley," I said, putting on my fake smile, "I'm Lindsey."
"Well!" He exclaimed, as he looked me over, "I was expecting a bit more from you Americans, but I guess my hopes were too high."
"Wha..." I had always been really quick to anger and was about to give him a piece of my mind when my mom interrupted me.
"How was your flight Dudley?" She asked nicely
"Horrible! American airlines are nothing compared to British ones." Every time he said American, he made it sound more and more evil.
My mom sighed. "Let's go get Dudley's bags."
As we walked, it was clear that my mom and I were both fuming mad. But my dad was still as pleasant as ever. He actually got in a conversation with him. I was amazed. We got to the bag area and found Dudley's bags. His two very big and extremely heavy bags.
"Large heavy bags for a large heavy kid," I muttered to my mom under my breath. She stiffled a laugh. My dad meanwhile was trying to lift the bags, but it wasn't going too well.
"Hey Dudley, could you help me with these bags?" He asked.
"No, I don't carry my own bags," he said and walked off towards the vending machines. All our jaws dropped and we glared at him. My thoughts, and probably those of my parents, were focused entirely on seriously injuring this monster
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The car ride home was horrible. There was not a radio station or CD that was good enough for him, so we had to sit in silence. When we arrived home, I showed Dudley to his room and ran to my room before he could begin complaining about it. In my room, I sat for a minute, trying to think of someway to vent my anger. Then the light bulb turned on and I picked up the phone.
"Hello?" said the voice on the other end.
"Jen? It's me. Do you mind listening to my ranting about my exchange buddy?"
"Um, sure, that's what best friends are for."
"Oh my god! He's horrible! Absolutely 100% horrible! He complains and he insults us and..."
"Woah, time out. You've only known him for a few hours, you shouldn't judge that quickly."
"Oh yes I should, you haven't met the kid!"
"Your temper is getting the best of you again."
"You're probably right, but ARGH! He's terrible!"
"Is he at least hot?" Only Jen.
"If only! He looks like a freaking pig!"
"Well think of the good side, you only have two weeks and then off to England!"
"Yeah, but with him!"
"Lins, breathe. You have been talking nonstop about going back for the longest time. Don't let one kid ruin it for you."
"I guess I can try." Just then I heard Dudley begin to yell. "I have to go, the monster calls." Jen laughed.
"See ya." I hung up the phone and walked to the family room where Dudley had moved. "What is your problem now?"
"Problem? Try more than one!" He yelled while glaring at me, "The tele is tiny and my favorite show isn't on!"
"Okay, first of all, the television isn't small at all. Second, you're in AMERICA, not England. We show AMERICAN shows. Third, this is your home for the next few days so stop complaining
"Well if I had known that this was where I was going to be staying. Then I wouldn't have come," he muttered
"What was that??" I yelled.
"You heard me, you stupid..."
CRACK! We both stopped yelling and stared at the television. There was smoke surrounding it and when it cleared, I saw that it had been cracked down the center of the screen. Dudley gasped, looked at me, then at the TV, and then ran away holding his bum.
"Wonderful," I thought. "Mean AND insane."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The rest of the night passed rather calmly, probably due to the fact that Dudley had locked himself in his room and refused to come out. The following day he did come out of his room but didn't speak to me at all. He also would not be in a room alone with me. I was so confused by his actions until I had a revelation. Dudley was afraid of me. But why? The television incident was a bit odd, but it wasn't anything I did. So when the fourth day of the silent treatment came along, I decided to ask him about it.
I found him in the kitchen, eating a sandwich (go figure).
"Um, Dudley?" He jumped up with a shriek and ran to the far wall, dropping his sandwich to the floor. "Wow, calm down. What's up?"
"Oh you don't think I know?" he asked angrily.
"Um, know what?"
"About YOUR people. And I know how you get joy from using your... powers on defenseless normal people like me."
"What powers?"
"The ones you learn at that school."
"School?"
"Stop playing dumb! I already know about it. My cousin goes to one of those freak schools." I sighed.
"Dudley, I have no idea what you are talking about. I have no powers and the only school that I go to is a public normal high school."
"Really?" He said, as he walked towards me with a suspicious glance.
"Yeah, really really."
"So you mean to tell me that I wasted four days being afraid of YOU?"
"I guess so. Now what were you talking about? Some school and powers?"
"That's none of your business."
"Okay, can you tell me about your cousin?"
"No! He's an embarrassment." He said, rolling his eyes, "But I suppose you'll have to meet him eventually." With that, Dudley left the room.
"10 more days, 10 more days." I thought.
(a/n)Okay people, in this story everything that is found in the Harry Potter books doesn't belong to me. It belongs to JK Rowling and whoever else. However I do own some things. These things include Lindsey, her family, her friends, and all other new characters. So don't steal my ideas or I'll beat u up. muhaha!!!! REVIEW!!