Lily stopped her car outside the neat little house. The garden was all trimmed and perfect and lovely and so Petunia! Lily shuddered, such tidiness should not be allowed. She was a fairly tidy person herself but not excessively tidy like her sister. Why was she doing this? Why was she looking after the son of the person she hated most in the world!
"Because she's your sister" Lily sighed to herself. She took out the keys and opened the door. She had travelled the five hours from her house and dreaded the five hours back. She would have preferred to apparate but as she had no way of getting Dudley back because he wasn't allowed to travel by Floo, portkey or any other way because he was a muggle, she had to use the car. She rarely used the car at all, probably only to drive around Godric's hollow, which had turned from a village into a small town. Lily got out of the car and swung the keys on her fingers as she went to the door. She knocked on the door and waited. She looked around. She saw the neighbour opposite glancing out of her window. Lily gave her a little wave and she disappeared.
"Nice little neighbourhood." Lily muttered to herself. She looked around again and saw a woman she'd seen a few times before. Mrs. Figg. Lovely little strange Mrs. Figg. The woman gave Lily a wave, which Lily returned. The door opened and Petunia threw a holdall into Lily. Lily stumbled back in surprise and held it.
"Remember, no funny stuff!" Petunia said. Lily rolled her eyes and went to her car and put the bag into the boot of the car. She was about to close it when Vernon gave Lily another larger suitcase. How much stuff did a nine year old need! Dudley waddled down towards the car reluctantly and wrenched open the car door so hard Lily winced. Her car! Dudley climbed in and the car dipped down at the front slightly. Lily slammed the boot shut and turned to come face to face with her sister.
"Remember, no funny stuff. You will do exactly as Dudley says, give him what he wants and not neglect Dudley in any way." Petunia said. Lily scowled slightly.
"And aren't you going to give me any money to pay for his upkeep at my house?" Lily asked.
"No, you're my sister, you should be willing to do this for free. If I hear any complaints from Dudley when he returns I'll never ever speak to you again." Petunia said.
"Oh, and that's a big loss." Lily said walking to the driver's door. She got out her wand and conjured some parchment with her home number on. Petunia stiffened slightly. "Here's my number." Lily said handing the parchment to Petunia. She still held her wand in her hand and Petunia eyed it suspiciously. Lily smirked and jerked it in Petunia's direction. Petunia jumped and Lily laughed. Petunia snatched the parchment from Lily's hand and went round to where Dudley was sitting. Vernon was obviously at work.
"You be a good boy ok, and if Aunt Freak is bad to you just phone mummy ok?" and so on and so on. Lily had started the engine and was on the verge of killing herself when Petunia finally shut the door. Lily pressed down on the accelerator and went down the road before Petunia could say anything.
"Music!" Dudley ordered. Lily glanced at Dudley and then put in a tape into the cassette player. It was some of the latest songs from the wizarding world that Lily had managed to transfer to tape.
"Different music, this music is rubbish." Dudley said. Lily stopped at a traffic light and looked at Dudley.
"Look Dudley. I'm your aunt and your mum left me in charge. While I look after you, you will do as I say ok? Because frankly I think you're no better then my sister." Lily said, "So you will listen to this music." Dudley looked at her blankly and Lily knew that he hadn't taken in anything that she'd just said. Lily tightened her grip on the steering wheel and shook slightly, this was going to be a long two weeks.
Emma and Harry were hunting in the kitchen for food. Their dad was out with Uncle Sirius to see Uncle Sirius' work. Their mum was upstairs putting a spare bed into Harry's room.
"Who's staying in your room?" Emma asked as Harry lifted her onto the kitchen work top.
"Our cousin." Harry said.
"We don't have a cousin." Emma said.
"We do" Harry said, Emma stood up on the worktop and opened up a cupboard. Baloo, her cat, jumped up onto the counter and followed Emma curiously.
"Go and find food Baloo" Emma said. Baloo mewed and prowled around the kitchen, looking into all the little boxes.
"I found biscuits!" Emma said. She picked up two packets of biscuits and a packet of crisps and threw them down to Harry. Harry caught them and put them in a plastic carrier bag.
"Anything else?" Harry asked. There was a sound of something being knocked over. Harry and Emma looked to see Baloo standing in the middle of split cereal from a box that he'd knocked over. Emma smiled and clicked her tongue and the cat returned to her. He managed to jump on top of the cupboards and watched Emma from above.
"Um, oh look," Emma said. She picked up a box of some red stuff. "Jelly cubes" She read off the label. She looked at Harry. He shrugged.
"Good enough." He held open the bag and Emma threw it down. "Get more crisps." He said. Emma nodded and took out a few more packets of crisps. She threw them at Harry, who picked them all up and then helped Emma to the floor. Emma looked in the bag and grinned.
"Come on, Simpsons is on soon." Harry said. Emma ran off into the living room, screamed and ran out. She clung to Harry.
"What?" Harry asked.
"There's something in there." Emma said. Harry pried off his sister and went to the door and peered in. Emma peered in as well. "Look, on the sofa!" Emma whispered, pointing to the sofa. Dudley sat on the sofa, stuffing his face with a packet of Malteasers. Baloo was hissing at him and looking rather alert.
"Oh, that's Dudley." Harry said. "Our fat cousin." He said. Emma held onto Harry's arm and braved a venture into the room. Dudley turned to look at them.
"Hi." Emma said fearfully. Dudley looked at her then turned back to the TV. Emma looked at Harry.
"Say hello!" Harry said, Dudley mumbled something. "Now, it's our turn to watch the telly, you've been watching it all day."
"No, the best show is on" Dudley said.
"But the Simpsons is on." Emma said with an angry frown. He bent over and picked up Baloo.
"So? I'm bigger then you." Dudley said, making Emma smirk and Harry laugh.
"Definitely." Harry said. Dudley looked at Harry sharply.
"I'm older then you as well, so I'm watching what I want, not you." Dudley said.
"It's my house!" Harry snapped at him.
"I'm your cousin." Dudley said. Harry snatched for the remote but Dudley snatched it away. Harry seethed and Emma looked at Dudley rather annoyed.
"The Simpsons is on" Harry said, "Now give me the remote!" Harry said. He snatched for the remote and received a hard fist in the side of the face. He fell backwards. Emma let out a scared shout and ran out of the room. Dudley stuck out his tongue and settled in his chair, happy with his victory. Harry shook his, he could see white dots floating around in front of his eyes, and his vision was funny, it wasn't as clear as usual. Lily came in followed by Emma.
"Harry!" Lily said shocked. She went to Harry and helped him up.
"He hit me!" Harry said pointing at Dudley. Dudley was ignoring them and laughing at the TV show. Lily's face was set with a hard expression. She went to the TV and pulled out the plug. Dudley let out a shout of annoyance.
"I was watching the TV!" Dudley said.
"I don't care Dudley." Lily said,
"I have to watch the TV! I'm missing the show!" Dudley said, he slid off the chair and went to Lily. Lily got out her wand. Yes, he was only nine but, god, did he already test her patience more then James ever had. Dudley stopped and laughed.
"Go outside and play Dudley," Lily said, "You to, Harry, Emma." Harry and Emma looked at her with annoyance and pleading.
"But the Simp-" Harry started.
"Outside!" Lily snapped. Harry and Emma picked up their bag of sweets and treats and dragged it outside, glaring at Dudley. Dudley stood defiantly in the living room. "Dudley!" Lily snapped. Dudley grumbled and went outside. He waddled over to where there was a wooden outdoor table with some wooden chairs that Harry and Emma were sitting on. Dudley squeezed himself into a chair muttering things like, "if mum was here" and "mum wouldn't treat me like this".
"You mum is an idiot then" Emma said after five minutes of his mumbling. Dudley glared at her. Emma shrank back slightly and looked at Harry. Harry ignored Dudley and continued his conversation with his sister about playing quidditch later with Bo, Cho, Ron and Rhia.
Harry and Emma sat outside grumbling. They weren't even allowed to play quidditch while Dudley was round. Their mum was being strange and their dad agreed. They were so annoying. Their friends were coming any minute and they couldn't play quidditch with them. Well, they could go to the lake, that would probably be where Emma and Rhia would go, to go and play with Pegasus. Bo and Cho came walking out of the house and ran over to the table that Harry and Emma were sitting at.
"Who's that boy?" Cho asked, "The one inside?"
"Oh, that's Dudley. My cousin." Harry mumbled.
"You have a cousin?" Bo asked. Harry nodded and sighed.
"So we can't play quidditch." Emma said "Because he's a muggle." She muttered angrily. "We can't watch TV, he hits Harry, he nearly hit me-" Bo and Cho looked at each other slightly worried.
"He doesn't sound nice." Cho said.
"He's not." Harry replied, "And he's fat!" Cho giggled and Bo smirked.
"Where's Ron and Rhia?" Bo asked.
"Here!" Ron said coming out of the house as well. Like Bo and Cho, he had a thin layer of soot covering him. "That boy isn't very nice is he? Oh, I had to bring Ginny, because she was complaining." He said nodding to the young red haired girl who was walking behind Ron. Harry didn't see Ginny often. He waved at her and Ginny waved back.
"So what are we doing?" Bo asked Harry.
"Lets go swimming." Emma said brightly.
"Where?" Ginny asked.
"At the lake" Emma said with a smile.
"But you can't swim." Ron said
"I can now." Emma said proudly. Ron nodded looking slightly impressed.
"Ok." Ron said.
"I'M HERE!" Rhia shouted as she came around the house. "Lets play quidditch." She said with a grin.
Bo didn't like the fact that Harry's cousin had to come with them. While they all had fun jumping around in the water of the lake he just sat there and grumbled at them. He really didn't seem to like the fact that there was a winged horse walking around. Every time Baloo went anywhere near him he tried to grab the cat's tail so Baloo tried to stay near Emma the whole time. When Emma was in the water the cat dipped a paw into the water before deciding that he didn't like water.
The children all splashed each other while James and Lily watched carefully. Lily sat on the fence of the paddock stroking Pegasus' neck.
"Are you sure it's ok to reveal Dudley to all this?" James asked.
"What? The magic?" Lily asked.
"No. Fun." James said. "I mean, I remember Petunia and Vernon..." James frowned, "They weren't any fun." James said. Lily grinned and put her arms around James' shoulders.
"I know, but might as well try and include Dudley, maybe we can change him." Lily said. James grinned and kissed Lily.
"I find that highly unlikely." He said against her lips. Lily closed her eyes and smiled. She kissed James as James put his arms around Lily. Then suddenly pulled her off the fence and held her in his arms. Lily jumped slightly and looked at James.
"What-" Lily started to say then realised where James was taking her. He was running to the small jetty that went into the lake. "James! Don't!" Lily shouted. The children turned to look to see what was happening. Lily tried to get out of James arms but he grinned and held her tightly so she couldn't get out of his arms.
"James!" Lily said, "Let me down." James grinned.
"THROW! THROW!" The children chanted from a little way off. They were laughing and grinning.
"Ok." He said. He threw Lily into the lake, but wasn't quick enough to get away so she pulled him in with her. The children all started laughing. Where Lily and James were was so deep they couldn't reach the floor. Lily came up and glared at James.
"You are so dead." Lily said. The water was cold compared to the air and Lily shivered slightly. James gave her a grin. His glasses were slipping off his face and his hair stuck to his head.
"You know you love me." James said. Lily rolled her eyes and swam to where the water was shallower. James followed and put his arms around Lily and stopped her from going much further.
"Let go of me James." Lily said trying to be angry but failing.
"No." James said with a grin. He pulled her closer and placed a kiss on her lips. Lilly smiled and closed her eyes. James kissed her again, a kiss that he returned.
"Aunt Lily! Uncle James! That's disgusting!" Bo shouted. James and Lily laughed and James gave Lily one last kiss before they put their heads together.
"Ok, you go around to the left, I'll go to the right, and we'll show the kids how to properly splash." James said with a grin. Lily laughed.
"Alright." She said. She kissed his cheek before swimming off to the left. She felt really heavy with all her clothes wet and slightly awkward, it was weird swimming in a skirt! Harry, Emma and their friends had gone back to splashing each other. James held up three fingers...two fingers...one finger. Lily and James got out their wands and used a spell that they knew to create rather large waves that covered the laughing and screaming children.
Dudley found this all rather boring. Who would want to play with water while there was a perfectly good TV in the house? Dudley just wanted to go in. His supposed Aunt was so horrible to him. Why wasn't he allowed to watch TV? And his cousins. They were weird, they were poofs. They were weak and boring. All they did was play with each other or play weird things around the house. Dudley hate it. He hated being outside. He hated that stupid cat that always hissed at him. Dudley hated animals, full stop! And that horse thing! That was not normal!
His relatives were really strange, they were weird, freaks. They did stuff with those thin wooden sticks. And making those weird waves! It was like Magic or something but his parents had always told him that there was no magic. There was no such thing. And why hadn't he heard of this aunt before? Aunt Marge was so much nicer then this aunt. Dudley sat and pulled up some grass and glaring at his cousins playing in the lake. He wanted to go home, play on his toys and his own friends. He wasn't in charge of everything here like he was at home. He heard something behind him and saw two young girls running around a hill, followed by a boy of about five.
"RHIA!!" Orion shouted. He seemed to bounce to the lake. Rhia turned and grinned as her younger brother went to the lake and jumped in.
"Orion!" April shouted but a bit to late. Orion emerged from the water with a grin and dripping wet. Lily and James laughed and turned to see April and Sirius.
"You care to join us?" James asked.
"Um, no it's fine." April said with an amused smile. Sirius grinned.
"Alright." Sirius said. He pulled off his shirt and ran to the lake and started wrestling James. To the children's amusement. Dudley watched with disdain, these people didn't know how to behave. The two girls approached Dudley curiously.
"No, he is a boy Jessie." Kaylee said. She looked at Jessie and Jessie gave her a who cares look. "We have to say hi." Jessie shook her head. Kaylee went up to Dudley.
"Hi." Said Kaylee, "Who are you?" Dudley looked at Kaylee with a look of disgust, he didn't like little children.
"Dudley." He said.
"I'm Kaylee and this is my sister Jessie." Kaylee said with a broad grin.
"I didn't ask for your name." Dudley sneered.
"Don't care." Kaylee sat down in front of Dudley. Jessie looked around nervously and sat down next to Kaylee and frowned. Jessie pulled on Kaylee's arm and Kaylee looked at her. She smiled and looked at Dudley, "Jessie want to know how old you are."
"Nine." Dudley said.
"Oh, same as Harry." Kaylee said. "Harry and Ron are nine. I'm three." Jessie pulled on Kaylee's arm again. Kaylee looked at Jessie again. She turned to Dudley. "Jessie wants to know why you so fat." Kaylee said with a grin. Jessie was grinning as well. Dudley seem to go slightly red and clenched his fists.
"I'm not fat!" Dudley said, "I'm big boned and I need to eat a lot because I'm growing." Kaylee nodded like she was truly interested. She crossed her legs and looked ready to tell a really long story. She flipped her blond hair behind her shoulders.
"Well Jessie and I eat lots and we still skinny as brats, as daddy says. I don't think me skinny. Orion is skinny. But daddy give us sweeties, lots of sweeties and we not allowed sweeties" Kaylee said. Dudley looked at her apprehensively. "Sweeties make us very strange and mummy says we not allowed them but daddy thinks we're funny when we have sweeties. Look, he just bought us more sweeties. Do you want some? You can had nine because you nine, I can only have three because I only three and I wont be four until next year." Kaylee held the bag of sweets for Dudley. Jessie took them and held them in her arms. Kaylee looked at her sister rather annoyed.
"Be nice Jessie." Kaylee said. Jessie glared at Kaylee. "I know you older but you being rude" Jessie held the sweets and ate on. Baloo ventured over and Jessie held a sweet out for the cat to attack. She laughed as Baloo tried to chew on it. Kaylee shrugged.
"Are you twins?" Dudley asked. Kaylee beamed and nodded eagerly. "Why doesn't she speak?"
"Because she's Jessie." Kaylee said. "Jessie never talk unless we try and confuddle mummy and daddy. Only daddy don't know who is who so he's funny. I would give you sweety but Jessie being horrible. She older then me by..." Kaylee stuck up three fingers "This many minutens." She said. Dudley nodded slowly. These girls were strange. He'd never met any twins. He watched Jessie smiling at the cat. What was so fascinating about the cat? She gave the packet of sweets to Kaylee and picked up the cat in a hug. Dudley frowned and pulled the cat's tail to pull the cat out of the way. The cat shrieked and Jessie let out a scream of surprise. The cat turned and scratched Dudley with his claws.
"AH!" Dudley shouted in annoyance. Jessie stood up and picked up the tense Baloo. She looked at Dudley with a quivering lip. Kaylee looked at Jessie in surprise.
"Jessie, Kaylee." April said, coming over. "What happened?" April looked at Kaylee, knowing that she wouldn't get anything out of Jessie. Kaylee looked at Jessie for a few minutes.
"Jessie say that fat boy pulled on Baloo's tail and Baloo scratched her and that the fat boy is a bully." Kaylee said. April turned to look at Dudley who was nursing a scratched hand. Lily came running up from the lake.
"What happened?" She asked anxiously.
"Your nephew is bullying my children." April said, looking at Lily. Lily frowned.
"Dudley, what have I told you about bullying the others?" Lily asked.
"It wasn't my fault. It was that silent brat that was being annoying." Dudley said. April crossed her arms so that she wouldn't do anything. Lily looked at Dudley sceptically.
"Dudley, we're taking you back to the house. If you're not going to try and get along with the others then you can just stay in your room" Lily said. "Come with me." Dudley grinned. He wouldn't have to stay outside. Maybe if he was horrid to these children he wouldn't have to spend so much time with them. Dudley looked at Jessie who held Baloo tightly and glared at him. Dudley now knew what to do to stay on his own.
Harry held a towel over his head. He was laughing at Emma who had her hair wrapped in a towel like a turban and had her hands together and was bobbing her head from side to side.
"Look, I'm an Egyptian princess." Emma said. "Harry your turn. You be an Egyptian person."
"No. Ask Bo." Harry said pointing to Bo. Emma turned to Bo.
"Bo!" Emma called. Bo looked at her. "Be an Egyptian person." Bo raised an eyebrow and looked at Harry. Harry shrugged.
"What do Egyptian people look like?" He asked.
"Put your towel around here." Emma said pointing at her waist. Bo hesitantly put the towel around his waist. Cho giggled slightly,
"You look strange." Cho said in English.
"So do you." Bo said to Cho. Cho gave him a smile and ruffled up Bo's hair. Bo pulled his head away and scowled at her. Cho laughed and went to Harry's side.
"You look good. You can be the prince." Emma said. "Now, Cho and Harry's turn."
"Um, no. I have...to...dad's calling me." Harry said, he really hated playing dress up with his sister.
"Um..." Cho looked as Harry left. She didn't really want to play either.
"You can be our servant." Bo said with a grin. Cho looked at Bo.
"No! I'm not being a servant." Cho said.
"Ok. You can be..." Emma stood in thought for a moment.
"What may I get you your royal highnesses?" Cho asked Bo and Emma in an VERY bored voice. Emma laughed, it was entertaining to see Cho pretending to be someone else.
"Bring me my...um...drink!" Bo said.
"Yes your royal highness." Cho said before dragging her feet behind her as she left the room. Harry laughed as he walked past.
"Having fun?" He asked Cho. Cho gave him a sarcastic smile then carried on to the kitchen. Harry went upstairs and left Bo and Emma on their own. Emma sat wiggling her toes and laughing as she did. Bo smiled.
"Emma." Bo said. Emma looked at Bo curiously.
"Yes." Emma said. Bo looked at her nervously and quickly leant forward and gave her a quick kiss. Emma started slightly and looked at Bo.
"Um...sorry." Bo said. Looking away, "I just wanted to see what it was like." Bo said, he was going red and Emma thought it as slightly cute. She looked at Bo slightly confused.
"Why don't you kiss someone else then?" She asked but she was starting to smile slightly. Bo shrugged.
"Um, I think you're prettier then Rhia or anyone else." Bo said quietly. Emma smiled. She jumped up and kissed Bo's cheek quickly then skipped upstairs to her room.
A/N:-Ok, That's this chapter up. JEssie, there's your teeny Emma/Bo bit. Starting next week i may not be able to update as often cause i have school, but i'll try and update at least once a week. Also, nearly finished writing this story. I'm on chapter 25 right now (well i've just finsihed writing it) And i think there isn't going to be more then 30 chapters in this story. I attempted to draw Orion and Rhia today....god the picture went really wierd and Orion looks asian but ah well. It's still cool tho. Just to clear up a few general things. Harry, HErmione and Ron DO become friends in Hogwarts. They DO become as close as they are in the books and the DO have all the adventures they've had int he book. And if you people don't choose a character for me to chove through the veil...I'll pick one myself. and at the moment Jenny and SIrius are at the top of my most likely to die list. I feel like replying to a few reviews that i feel that i should reply to. Obviously, i don't normally do this cause i have at lleast 10 regular reviewers and it'll take up too much space so this is only to a few people
Lilyflower: I've actually been sitting here thinking exactly that. I knew there was something wrong with the story but i try and write it how my youngest siblings talk (6 and 8) but i don't think it worked. And as for Lily...ah, i don't really care, i just wanted to get Dudley in and she's always been a bit weak against her sister.
Rhia: Don't worry about yourself, you feature quite a bit in the next storyline and i have some very interesting stuff for you wen you go to Hogwarts
Lillith Potter: I'll give ya a little spoiler now....you go to Hogwarts. So you kinda stay as Emma and Rhia's friend.