Three Seasons
An owl swooped toward the Dursley house in the middle of the afternoon. You wouldn't think this was unusual if you knew that this was the house where Harry Potter, the boy who lived, lived, and that he was a wizard. But, if you know that, then you'll think it's particularly strange that this owl was not headed for the smallest bedroom of number four, Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey. It was in fact headed for the second largest bedroom. The room where Dudley Dursley was currently lying, on his bed, playing his Playstation.
Dudley was terrified out of his wits when he realised that an owl had dropped a letter onto his outstretched arms and was now perched on the television, blinking at him owlishly. He thought about screaming but realised that might just provoke the bird into gouging his eyes out. Instead he looked at the envelope. It was addressed to him. His name was printed on the parchment envelope in a glittering purple script. Dudley had the presence of mind to pause the game before sitting up slowly and holding the envelope in his hands. He was afraid of what was inside it. Whatever it was, he was sure he didn't want to know. But the owl was still sitting there, staring at him, waiting. Why had he opened the window? Then he did the only thing he could think to do under the circumstances. He lifted the letter gingerly, left his room and went to see his cousin, not forgetting to save his game and shut off the system, of course.
Harry was very surprised to see Dudley walk into his room holding a letter at arm's length. He was even more surprised to see an owl follow him in before he could shut the door.
"Did you pick up my mail?" Harry asked.
Dudley said nothing.
"Well hand it over, then. And you can go back to - ouch!" As Harry was speaking, he had reached over to grab the letter from his cousin when the owl had bitten him. "Dudley, what?" Harry asked, sucking his injured digit.
"It's not yours," Dudley said, turning the letter so Harry could see who it was addressed to. "It's for me."
"Well have you opened it?"
Dudley shook his head.
"Well then, what are you waiting for?"
Dudley frowned. "What if the bird bites me, too?"
Harry sighed and sat on his bed. "It just didn't want me touching your mail. It's probably got orders to wait for a reply, so just open it."
Dudley was still staring at the owl. It was now perched on the end of Harry's bed, eyeing Harry. Harry sighed again. He found a box of Hedwig's owl treats on the windowsill and fed one to the owl. He then showed the bird where Hedwig's water was. Hedwig was currently out. Tomorrow was Harry's birthday and she usually went to get his present from Hermione.
"Look, he's not paying you any attention. Just open it. Dudley gave the foreign owl one last glance before carefully sliding his finger under the plain seal. Harry watched as all the colour that was in his cousin's face drained out of it. He dropped the letter and ran out of the room. The owl followed.
Harry picked up the letter.
Dear Mr. Dursley,
I would like to introduce myself. My name is Albus Dumbledore and I am the headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It has come to my attention that although you have the magical talent, you have never been offered a position at a school for wizards. I would therefore like to extend an invitation for you to begin your magical schooling at Hogwarts next term.
Please send your acceptance as soon as possible.
Hoping to see you on the thirty-first of August,
Professor Albus Dumbledore
Harry was dumbstruck. All this time, Dudley had been a wizard, too? After he thought to himself a moment, he took the letter and went to see Dudley.
"Dudley?" Harry called as he knocked and entered. Dudley was slumped into his armchair which faced the window. "I read the letter. It's alright. I'll just tell Dumbledore that you don't want to go, then we can just pretend that this never happened."
"No," Dudley croaked.
"What?" Harry asked, stunned. He stalked over to Dudley and stared him right in the eyes.
Dudley squirmed under his gaze.
"What did you mean by 'No', Big D?" Harry asked.
"I don't want you to send him a letter."
"But ever since you met Hagrid, you've always been so... afraid of magic," said Harry, logically.
Dudley trembled.
"See? You can't even hear the word without seizing up."
Dudley appeared to gather himself. "Maybe I don't want to grow up to be exactly like my father. Maybe I don't like wearing orange knickerbockers and a boater to school."
Harry stared at Dudley. They were slightly obscure reasons for wanting to got to Hogwarts. But, he'd never really known his cousin before. He reevaluated the person he'd thought of as two dimensional only minutes before.
"I don't want to be boring, Harry. And whatever it is you do, it's not boring. And after last summer..." he trailed off, re-gathered himself and started again. "What you do, it seems important. I don't always want to be the one that needs to be protected. And if I'm meant to be a part of that world, then that's where I want to be."
Harry leaned against the windowsill. Dudley was jealous of him, of this fantastic life he supposedly lead. Everyone seemed to think his life was so great. "It's not so great, you know," he said, staring at the ceiling. "I'm famous there because my parents died and I didn't. Half of them are afraid of me because they think I'm a murderer, or that I'm completely nuts. They don't understand how I've lived here, with you for so long. I don't know if I can let you into my world."
"But don't you see? It's my choice. It was my letter. It had my name on it. It was addressed to me. Last summer I saw... saw that you put us in danger."
Harry sighed and interrupted. "And I'm sorry. I don't mean to. It's like everyone I touch gets hurt. First my mum and dad. Then Cedric." He slumped onto the floor, burying his face in his knees. "And Sirius. Now he's gone and you're really all I have left, even if you weren't always so kind to me as you could have been... or should have been. I lost Sirius because I was stupid. I was foolish and I let Voldemort trick me."
"But I want to help. I can learn how to do magic and then I can protect my mum and dad myself. You won't have to do it. You won't be so alone."
"But if Voldemort-"
"Screw Voldemort!" Dudley announced vehemently. "Who is Voldemort, anyway?"
Harry laughed. "And there's so much you don't know. Voldemort is only the most evil, sinister Dark Wizard alive. Perhaps the most in history."
"You're not going to change my mind you know, Harry," Dudley said, squatting on the floor beside his cousin.
"I have to murder or be murdered, Dudley! It's not something I can take lightly. It's not something you should take lightly. I'm involved in something so big and so important that I really wish you'd change your mind."
"Are you sure it's not because you don't want to share? Because it seems like I'm stealing your special place from you by going to see it. I've always been jealous of you and your little worlds." He looked at his cousin. "You know, they pretend not to, but mum and dad think about you a lot more than they do me. That's why I was always such a brat, I guess. Jealousy. The only way I could get their attention was by throwing a tantrum. Or if I lied and you got locked up. But when you were in there, they were still thinking about you, wondering if you were going to use your magic to get yourself out."
Harry really observed Dudley and was surprised at just how different he was. "You've grown up, Dudley. Or maybe I just never knew who you were."
Dudley leant back. "Piers says I've changed. Those dementor things, they're so... I don't know. Fear inspiring. I want to be able to protect myself and my parents. You can't deny me that, Harry." Though he knew that he would get his way, it was still important to Dudley to impress upon Harry his reasons for wanting to become a wizard.
"No," Harry agreed, finally. "I can't deny you that power." He looked up at his cousin. "What are you going to tell your parents?"
Dudley looked terrified all of a sudden. "I can't tell them. They'll never let me go. They might even take me out of Smeltings and lock me up here for the rest of my life. What if they kick me out? They can't kick you out because of those people. But they could get rid of me. I don't even know any magic that could scare them into keeping me. Harry! You've got to tell me how you blew up Aunt Marge!" By now Dudley was babbling too fast for comprehension and shaking Harry hysterically.
"Dudley!" Harry attempted to get his cousin's attention. "Dudley, calm down. While I do think you're overreacting just a little, I do agree that we shouldn't tell your parents."
"So what are we going to do?"
"Let's start with the basics. We use that owl to send a reply to Dumbledore so that he knows you're coming. After that, we've got to make a decision. We can either tell Dumbledore or work it out ourselves. If we do tell Dumbledore, he might tell your parents, but he'd probably work out some way to protect you. Otherwise we have to work out how to tell Smeltings that you're not coming back so that they don't call your parents."
Dudley appeared to mull it over.
"Right," Harry stood. "I'll go get some parchment and a quill, and we can write that letter to Dumbledore."
While Harry was gone, Dudley reread his letter and shook his head.
Harry returned a moment later and sat at Dudley's desk. He'd brought an entire roll of parchment.
"Dear Professor Dumbledore," Harry read as he wrote. He turned to Dudley. "I would like to accept your offer for a placement at Hogwarts School." Dudley nodded. "Would you please send me more details and a list of supplies for next year. Thank you for your offer. Sincerely, Dudley Dursley." Harry looked up from the parchment. "You've got to sign your name."
Dudley stared at the quill in Harry's hand. "Uh, how?"
"It's a self-inking quill," Harry explained. "It's just like a feather shaped fountain pen."
Dudley nodded and reached for the quill. Harry moved, and Dudley signed his name. When he noticed this, the owl waddled over and raised a leg. Harry wrapped the parchment around and tied it. It ruffled its feathers and flew off through the still open window. Dudley shut it. The sun was finally setting and a chilly breeze had been blowing in. It wasn't the hot summer they'd had last year.
Aunt Petunia's voice rang through the house, summoning Dudley to dinner.
"Thanks," he said to Harry. "I'll try to eat a bit less so you can have a bit more."
Harry nodded and went back to his own room. He lay on his bed, thinking for some time before the Dursleys had finished their dinner and he could get some. This whole adventure was going to be interesting.