CHAPTER 10 GETTING ADJUSTED
The house elves began unpacking the Dursley's trailer trying to put everything in its place. But when they came across some boxes that had a glass side and different buttons on them, the elves had no idea what they were or where they should go.
Ickus took one of the smaller ones and popped into the sitting room where Mrs. Dursley was going through some of her things, decorating the place to her liking. Petunia jumped when Ickus appeared but this time she at least managed to hold onto the figurine she was holding. Until now, every time one of the elves had popped in on her she had dropped whatever she was holding, causing it to smash on the floor. The elf that had frightened her would quickly repair it while apologizing. They were very thankful that she had at least stopped screaming.
"Mrs. Dursley, Ickus doesn't know what this box is or where it should go." the elf said.
"That's a television set. That one goes in the kitchen and the largest one to the sitting room. There's also one for Dudley's room and one for our room." said Petunia.
A little later, Ickus popped back in with the one for their room. "Mrs. Dursley, there's a white one of these with a box full of wires and another without the glass and there's a flat thing just covered with buttons."
"That would be Dudley's computer. Take it to his room. Vernon will have to hook it up later." replied Petunia.
Vernon was lying on the sofa with a cold rag over his eyes, trying to stay calm, and get his head to quit pounding. Ickus could have helped him but thought better of it. He really didn't like the large man.
The rest of the day was pretty quiet. Petunia and Vernon didn't venture out of their room until supper. Dudley mainly watched the rest of the group flying. Ron let Ginny take his spot for a while, mainly because he didn't liked her talking to Dudley, but he wasn't up to making any conversation with him either.
Everyone was quiet at supper, mainly for fear of starting an argument. Vernon and Petunia retired to their room and Dudley to his. Fred and George went to their new 'lab'. Harry, Ron, and Ginny went up to Harry's sitting room to talk.
Awhile later, there was a knock at Harry's door. "Come in." said Harry.
"Harry, can you help me with something in my room?" asked Dudley.
"Sure," said Harry. Then he and Dudley went back to Dudley's room.
In the hall, they could hear yelling coming from Petunia and Vernon's room.
"Where is it? I can't find out how to turn it off!" came his aunt's voice.
"I think they're having some kind of trouble," Harry grinned. Then he knocked on their door.
Petunia answered. "Harry! Where are the light switches?" she asked, panting. "I've looked everywhere and we can't figure out how to turn the lights on or off."
Harry laughed. "That's because there are no switches to turn the lights on or off. To turn them on say 'lumos', and to turn them off say 'nox'." he said loudly.
Petunia let out a little squeal when the lights came on and then went back out while Harry was talking.
"What was that again?" asked a confused Petunia.
"Lumos." he said, and the lights came on. "Nox." he said again, and the lights went out. "You want to try now?"
"Lumos" said Petunia in a small voice, and only the closet light came on.
"I guess the others didn't hear you." said Dudley, laughing.
"Are you okay now or do you need help with anything else?" Harry asked.
"I think that will be all for tonight." said Petunia.
"Well that solves one problem I've been having tonight." said Dudley, with a chuckle.
They were about to enter Dudley's room, when the twins came up the stairs.
"What's so funny?" asked Fred.
"Yes! Spill! We always like a good laugh." George added.
"Oh, Mum didn't know how to turn the lights on or off." said Dudley.
"Well you didn't know either." said Harry, looking at Dudley.
"Yeah, but at least I didn't have to ask anyone." replied Dudley, still smiling.
"Yeah. Okay, so what were you going to ask me about anyway?" asked Harry with a grin. This made the twins smile as they followed the two into Dudley's room.
"Okay! Okay! I wanted to know where I can plug in the T.V., and if you have cable?" said Dudley picking up the cord to the T.V.
"Is that was that is?" asked George.
"It runs on ekletrisity, doesn't it?" said Fred.
"Electricity. Yeah." returned Dudley.
"Well we don't have any." said Harry
"Really?" said Dudley. "Man this is going to be the worst summer, no T.V., no games, no computer, and no phone."
"Hey, can we take a try at getting your T.B. to work?" asked George.
"It's a T.V." corrected Dudley. "And what could you do?"
"Well, there are some wizards that have muggle things and get them to work. Like the car, it doesn't use anything except magic. None of that liquid stuff." said Fred.
"Petrol," said George, proudly.
"With a couple of tips from Dad, maybe we can get it to work." said Fred.
"What was that other thing you were asking about?" asked George.
"Cable?" replied Dudley.
"Yeah. What does that do?" asked Fred.
"Hey, if you guys are alright, I'm going to go back upstairs. You okay, Dud?" asked Harry.
"He'll be fine." said Fred. "Now tell us about this cable."
Harry went back upstairs to find that Ron and Ginny had gone to bed. Harry decided that was a good idea. He stripped out of his clothes, except for his boxers, and headed to the bathroom for a shower but he found the bathroom door was locked. He decided he must have forgotten to unlock it earlier since it opened to the hallway as well, and he probably went out that way. He tried the door to his changing room and found the other door to the bathroom was open. As he was about to drop his boxers to hop in the shower he heard a gasp and turned to see a redhead in his pool-like tub. Shocked, he just stood there and stared. The bubbles covered everything but there was something about the idea of having a naked girl in his tub that his mind had trouble grasping.
"Harry!" Ginny yelled.
"Oh, sorry!" he said and quickly turned his back.
"No. I'm sorry. You said I could use your bathroom anytime, but I should have asked first." apologized Ginny.
"No, I should have knocked when I found the first door locked." Harry said as he stood there with his eyes fixed on the wall.
Ginny reached the towel at the side of the tub, stood, and wrapped it around herself.
She grabbed the rest of her things, and in passing, leaned close to Harry's ear. "It's all yours now."
His chin dropped and he turned quickly, slipped on the wet floor, and fell in the tub.
"Oh! Harry, are you alright?" asked Ginny worriedly. "Here, let me help you."
"No! That's okay!" said Harry, quickly. The idea of Ginny, wearing just a towel, helping him out of the tub wearing nothing but soaking wet boxers was not a good one. "I think I'll just stay here. This feels nice."
"Okay," replied Ginny "Goodnight." And she turned and left the bathroom.
The following morning, Harry awoke early. As he was heading down the first flight of stairs when he heard a scream followed by a crash. It came from Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon's room.
He knocked on the door and called, "Aunt Petunia?" When he didn't receive an answer he opened the door and hollered, "Aunt Petunia, are you alright?"
"Come here, boy!" called his uncle. Harry entered to find his aunt sobbing in Vernon's arms.
"It said things to me." Petunia managed to choke out between sobs.
"What did?" asked Vernon.
"The mirror. It insulted me." she cried.
" What is this? Isn't there anything normal about this place? I can't believe I am stuck here with all these freaks!" bellowed Vernon.
Harry wondered what the mirror could have said to his aunt and tried to keep from grinning.
"We can get rid of that mirror if you'd like, and put in a muggle one for you." Harry replied.
Vernon just glared at Harry for his choice of words. "Yes, I don't want something that can talk watching us in the bathroom." Vernon yelled.
Dudley discovered his own mirror that morning as well, but decided not to mention it, because he didn't mind it as much. Of course it did startle him at first when it spoke. It said, "If you'd just lose a few pounds you'd be quite nice looking." Dudley was fortunate to get the one with a little piece missing, the one everyone knew was not all there, however, since it was one of more pleasant mirrors no one bothered to replace it.
Molly took it upon herself to help Dudley with his diet. At breakfast, she preparing his plate for him giving him a fair share of the eggs. She thought to herself," one does need one's strength to start off the day." She also gave him a slice of toast with jam, not butter, and his choice of some fruit. Little did anyone know, she added a secret ingredient to his juice. It was a potion that would speed the proccess of fat burning as long as one did exercises.
"Ginny dear," said Molly, "would you be nice and do a little running with Dudley this morning? If it gets too warm, you could all go for a swim in the pool afterwards."
"Alright," said Ginny, reluctantly. She knew when not to argue with her mother. "Harry, do you want to come along?"
"Yeah. Sure." Harry replied. He didn't want to miss this.
When everybody was ready they started running. They ran at a slower pace to start and worked up to a normal pace around the grounds. They followed the fence line and came to a stop by the side of the pool. Then Ginny taught Dudley some stretching exercises. Harry made sure Ginny didn't stretch in front of his cousin. When they were finished, Ginny reached for the bottom of her shirt and pulled it over her head.
"Ginny, what do you think you are doing?" yelled Ron as he walked toward the pool from the house.
"What? I'm going swimming!" she replied.
"Not in that!" He said, pointing to the top of her two-piece bathing suit.
"What, do you want me to take it off?" Ginny asked, grinning.
"No, I want you to cover it up. It's not decent." Ron returned.
"Oh really! You didn't seem to mind when Hermione wore it to the lake before school got out." she argued.
Ron's face turned as red as his hair and he looked at Harry for help before deciding to give up. "Oh! Close your mouth, Harry! You're starting to drool!"
At this, Harry blushed until his face was the same shade as Ron's.
"You're going to pay for that one, Weasley." Harry chased Ron to the edge of the pool and pushed him in. Ginny burst out laughing at the sight.
"You think that's funny, do you?" Harry ran and picked her up. "This is for last night." he whispered in her ear and dropped her off the side.
Ginny screamed and caught Harry's arm as she fell pulling him with her.
Dudley, laughing, decided to join in. "Cannon Ball!" he yelled, as he ran to the edge and plunged in the water.
"Nice splash," said Ron while wiping the fresh wave of water out of his eyes.
"Um Harry..." Dudley started, with a strange look on his face.
"What is it, Dud?" asked Harry.
"Something happened to my shorts." Dudley said, quietly so the others wouldn't hear.
"What?" asked Harry.
"They're gone. I lost them." replied Dudley.
Harry burst out laughing.
"Looking for these?" asked Ginny, holding up the pair of huge shorts, grinning wildly.
Ron joined the laughter.
"I don't know what happened to them. They were tight when I put them on this morning." shrugged Dudley. Ginny threw the shorts to Dudley and he slipped them back on underwater.
After splashing and swimming for awhile, they decided to go back to the house. Dudley now had to hold up his shorts, since they were just loose enough to slide down when he walked. Up at the house, Dudley went onto the kitchen to find Mrs. Weasley. The others followed.
"Mrs. Weasley?" questioned Dudley.
"Yes, Dudley." Molly returned.
"I was just wondering...do you know if someone enlarged my shorts, they're too big." asked Dudley, with a confused look on his face.
"We didn't do anything mum." stated Ginny.
"Of course we didn't. We can't do any magic outside of school, even if we wanted to." said Ron.
"It's your diet, dear. I put a little fat burning potion in your juice. I hope you don't mind." said Molly.
"Wow." said Dudley. Holding his shorts out to the side, he had a good couple inches of fabric to spare. Of course this wasn't saying much since the boy had been at least 300 pounds. A normal person wouldn't notice that much of a difference. "How much can I have? That stuff is great!"
"Slow down there, dear. It's only to get the process started. You can't lose too much weight all at once. It's not healthy. This will help you for awhile but only as long as you keep exercising." said Molly.
"Thanks Mrs. Weasley," said Dudley as he rushed off to his room to pose in front of the mirror, wanting to see what it would say now.
"Why did you help him, Mum?" asked Ron.
"Well, Ron, Dudley's parents have always told him that magic was bad. That it was only for freaks. We have the chance to show him that magic is not bad and that we're not freaks. I think he could turn out to be an okay person if he would quit listening to his parents and form his own opinion." answered Molly. "Oh, and Ron, you have letter from Hermione." She handed him the roll of parchment. Ron took it and read the letter quickly, grinning.
"So, what does Hermione have to say?" smiled Harry.
"Oh, that she may forgive you for not writing," said Ron. " She also says she can come at the end of the week, if that's alright.
"Is it okay, Molly?" Harry asked.
"Well of course it's alright!" Molly replied. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------AN: I want to give a big thanks to my new beta foxfur for taking up the job of finding errors that I miss.
The house elves began unpacking the Dursley's trailer trying to put everything in its place. But when they came across some boxes that had a glass side and different buttons on them, the elves had no idea what they were or where they should go.
Ickus took one of the smaller ones and popped into the sitting room where Mrs. Dursley was going through some of her things, decorating the place to her liking. Petunia jumped when Ickus appeared but this time she at least managed to hold onto the figurine she was holding. Until now, every time one of the elves had popped in on her she had dropped whatever she was holding, causing it to smash on the floor. The elf that had frightened her would quickly repair it while apologizing. They were very thankful that she had at least stopped screaming.
"Mrs. Dursley, Ickus doesn't know what this box is or where it should go." the elf said.
"That's a television set. That one goes in the kitchen and the largest one to the sitting room. There's also one for Dudley's room and one for our room." said Petunia.
A little later, Ickus popped back in with the one for their room. "Mrs. Dursley, there's a white one of these with a box full of wires and another without the glass and there's a flat thing just covered with buttons."
"That would be Dudley's computer. Take it to his room. Vernon will have to hook it up later." replied Petunia.
Vernon was lying on the sofa with a cold rag over his eyes, trying to stay calm, and get his head to quit pounding. Ickus could have helped him but thought better of it. He really didn't like the large man.
The rest of the day was pretty quiet. Petunia and Vernon didn't venture out of their room until supper. Dudley mainly watched the rest of the group flying. Ron let Ginny take his spot for a while, mainly because he didn't liked her talking to Dudley, but he wasn't up to making any conversation with him either.
Everyone was quiet at supper, mainly for fear of starting an argument. Vernon and Petunia retired to their room and Dudley to his. Fred and George went to their new 'lab'. Harry, Ron, and Ginny went up to Harry's sitting room to talk.
Awhile later, there was a knock at Harry's door. "Come in." said Harry.
"Harry, can you help me with something in my room?" asked Dudley.
"Sure," said Harry. Then he and Dudley went back to Dudley's room.
In the hall, they could hear yelling coming from Petunia and Vernon's room.
"Where is it? I can't find out how to turn it off!" came his aunt's voice.
"I think they're having some kind of trouble," Harry grinned. Then he knocked on their door.
Petunia answered. "Harry! Where are the light switches?" she asked, panting. "I've looked everywhere and we can't figure out how to turn the lights on or off."
Harry laughed. "That's because there are no switches to turn the lights on or off. To turn them on say 'lumos', and to turn them off say 'nox'." he said loudly.
Petunia let out a little squeal when the lights came on and then went back out while Harry was talking.
"What was that again?" asked a confused Petunia.
"Lumos." he said, and the lights came on. "Nox." he said again, and the lights went out. "You want to try now?"
"Lumos" said Petunia in a small voice, and only the closet light came on.
"I guess the others didn't hear you." said Dudley, laughing.
"Are you okay now or do you need help with anything else?" Harry asked.
"I think that will be all for tonight." said Petunia.
"Well that solves one problem I've been having tonight." said Dudley, with a chuckle.
They were about to enter Dudley's room, when the twins came up the stairs.
"What's so funny?" asked Fred.
"Yes! Spill! We always like a good laugh." George added.
"Oh, Mum didn't know how to turn the lights on or off." said Dudley.
"Well you didn't know either." said Harry, looking at Dudley.
"Yeah, but at least I didn't have to ask anyone." replied Dudley, still smiling.
"Yeah. Okay, so what were you going to ask me about anyway?" asked Harry with a grin. This made the twins smile as they followed the two into Dudley's room.
"Okay! Okay! I wanted to know where I can plug in the T.V., and if you have cable?" said Dudley picking up the cord to the T.V.
"Is that was that is?" asked George.
"It runs on ekletrisity, doesn't it?" said Fred.
"Electricity. Yeah." returned Dudley.
"Well we don't have any." said Harry
"Really?" said Dudley. "Man this is going to be the worst summer, no T.V., no games, no computer, and no phone."
"Hey, can we take a try at getting your T.B. to work?" asked George.
"It's a T.V." corrected Dudley. "And what could you do?"
"Well, there are some wizards that have muggle things and get them to work. Like the car, it doesn't use anything except magic. None of that liquid stuff." said Fred.
"Petrol," said George, proudly.
"With a couple of tips from Dad, maybe we can get it to work." said Fred.
"What was that other thing you were asking about?" asked George.
"Cable?" replied Dudley.
"Yeah. What does that do?" asked Fred.
"Hey, if you guys are alright, I'm going to go back upstairs. You okay, Dud?" asked Harry.
"He'll be fine." said Fred. "Now tell us about this cable."
Harry went back upstairs to find that Ron and Ginny had gone to bed. Harry decided that was a good idea. He stripped out of his clothes, except for his boxers, and headed to the bathroom for a shower but he found the bathroom door was locked. He decided he must have forgotten to unlock it earlier since it opened to the hallway as well, and he probably went out that way. He tried the door to his changing room and found the other door to the bathroom was open. As he was about to drop his boxers to hop in the shower he heard a gasp and turned to see a redhead in his pool-like tub. Shocked, he just stood there and stared. The bubbles covered everything but there was something about the idea of having a naked girl in his tub that his mind had trouble grasping.
"Harry!" Ginny yelled.
"Oh, sorry!" he said and quickly turned his back.
"No. I'm sorry. You said I could use your bathroom anytime, but I should have asked first." apologized Ginny.
"No, I should have knocked when I found the first door locked." Harry said as he stood there with his eyes fixed on the wall.
Ginny reached the towel at the side of the tub, stood, and wrapped it around herself.
She grabbed the rest of her things, and in passing, leaned close to Harry's ear. "It's all yours now."
His chin dropped and he turned quickly, slipped on the wet floor, and fell in the tub.
"Oh! Harry, are you alright?" asked Ginny worriedly. "Here, let me help you."
"No! That's okay!" said Harry, quickly. The idea of Ginny, wearing just a towel, helping him out of the tub wearing nothing but soaking wet boxers was not a good one. "I think I'll just stay here. This feels nice."
"Okay," replied Ginny "Goodnight." And she turned and left the bathroom.
The following morning, Harry awoke early. As he was heading down the first flight of stairs when he heard a scream followed by a crash. It came from Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon's room.
He knocked on the door and called, "Aunt Petunia?" When he didn't receive an answer he opened the door and hollered, "Aunt Petunia, are you alright?"
"Come here, boy!" called his uncle. Harry entered to find his aunt sobbing in Vernon's arms.
"It said things to me." Petunia managed to choke out between sobs.
"What did?" asked Vernon.
"The mirror. It insulted me." she cried.
" What is this? Isn't there anything normal about this place? I can't believe I am stuck here with all these freaks!" bellowed Vernon.
Harry wondered what the mirror could have said to his aunt and tried to keep from grinning.
"We can get rid of that mirror if you'd like, and put in a muggle one for you." Harry replied.
Vernon just glared at Harry for his choice of words. "Yes, I don't want something that can talk watching us in the bathroom." Vernon yelled.
Dudley discovered his own mirror that morning as well, but decided not to mention it, because he didn't mind it as much. Of course it did startle him at first when it spoke. It said, "If you'd just lose a few pounds you'd be quite nice looking." Dudley was fortunate to get the one with a little piece missing, the one everyone knew was not all there, however, since it was one of more pleasant mirrors no one bothered to replace it.
Molly took it upon herself to help Dudley with his diet. At breakfast, she preparing his plate for him giving him a fair share of the eggs. She thought to herself," one does need one's strength to start off the day." She also gave him a slice of toast with jam, not butter, and his choice of some fruit. Little did anyone know, she added a secret ingredient to his juice. It was a potion that would speed the proccess of fat burning as long as one did exercises.
"Ginny dear," said Molly, "would you be nice and do a little running with Dudley this morning? If it gets too warm, you could all go for a swim in the pool afterwards."
"Alright," said Ginny, reluctantly. She knew when not to argue with her mother. "Harry, do you want to come along?"
"Yeah. Sure." Harry replied. He didn't want to miss this.
When everybody was ready they started running. They ran at a slower pace to start and worked up to a normal pace around the grounds. They followed the fence line and came to a stop by the side of the pool. Then Ginny taught Dudley some stretching exercises. Harry made sure Ginny didn't stretch in front of his cousin. When they were finished, Ginny reached for the bottom of her shirt and pulled it over her head.
"Ginny, what do you think you are doing?" yelled Ron as he walked toward the pool from the house.
"What? I'm going swimming!" she replied.
"Not in that!" He said, pointing to the top of her two-piece bathing suit.
"What, do you want me to take it off?" Ginny asked, grinning.
"No, I want you to cover it up. It's not decent." Ron returned.
"Oh really! You didn't seem to mind when Hermione wore it to the lake before school got out." she argued.
Ron's face turned as red as his hair and he looked at Harry for help before deciding to give up. "Oh! Close your mouth, Harry! You're starting to drool!"
At this, Harry blushed until his face was the same shade as Ron's.
"You're going to pay for that one, Weasley." Harry chased Ron to the edge of the pool and pushed him in. Ginny burst out laughing at the sight.
"You think that's funny, do you?" Harry ran and picked her up. "This is for last night." he whispered in her ear and dropped her off the side.
Ginny screamed and caught Harry's arm as she fell pulling him with her.
Dudley, laughing, decided to join in. "Cannon Ball!" he yelled, as he ran to the edge and plunged in the water.
"Nice splash," said Ron while wiping the fresh wave of water out of his eyes.
"Um Harry..." Dudley started, with a strange look on his face.
"What is it, Dud?" asked Harry.
"Something happened to my shorts." Dudley said, quietly so the others wouldn't hear.
"What?" asked Harry.
"They're gone. I lost them." replied Dudley.
Harry burst out laughing.
"Looking for these?" asked Ginny, holding up the pair of huge shorts, grinning wildly.
Ron joined the laughter.
"I don't know what happened to them. They were tight when I put them on this morning." shrugged Dudley. Ginny threw the shorts to Dudley and he slipped them back on underwater.
After splashing and swimming for awhile, they decided to go back to the house. Dudley now had to hold up his shorts, since they were just loose enough to slide down when he walked. Up at the house, Dudley went onto the kitchen to find Mrs. Weasley. The others followed.
"Mrs. Weasley?" questioned Dudley.
"Yes, Dudley." Molly returned.
"I was just wondering...do you know if someone enlarged my shorts, they're too big." asked Dudley, with a confused look on his face.
"We didn't do anything mum." stated Ginny.
"Of course we didn't. We can't do any magic outside of school, even if we wanted to." said Ron.
"It's your diet, dear. I put a little fat burning potion in your juice. I hope you don't mind." said Molly.
"Wow." said Dudley. Holding his shorts out to the side, he had a good couple inches of fabric to spare. Of course this wasn't saying much since the boy had been at least 300 pounds. A normal person wouldn't notice that much of a difference. "How much can I have? That stuff is great!"
"Slow down there, dear. It's only to get the process started. You can't lose too much weight all at once. It's not healthy. This will help you for awhile but only as long as you keep exercising." said Molly.
"Thanks Mrs. Weasley," said Dudley as he rushed off to his room to pose in front of the mirror, wanting to see what it would say now.
"Why did you help him, Mum?" asked Ron.
"Well, Ron, Dudley's parents have always told him that magic was bad. That it was only for freaks. We have the chance to show him that magic is not bad and that we're not freaks. I think he could turn out to be an okay person if he would quit listening to his parents and form his own opinion." answered Molly. "Oh, and Ron, you have letter from Hermione." She handed him the roll of parchment. Ron took it and read the letter quickly, grinning.
"So, what does Hermione have to say?" smiled Harry.
"Oh, that she may forgive you for not writing," said Ron. " She also says she can come at the end of the week, if that's alright.
"Is it okay, Molly?" Harry asked.
"Well of course it's alright!" Molly replied. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------AN: I want to give a big thanks to my new beta foxfur for taking up the job of finding errors that I miss.