Chapter 77
After Dudley had squeezed his masses through the opening, he gasped at the sight of the squashy armchairs, tables and the crackling fireplace.
Most of the students sat down and started chatting animatedly. Dudley however stood undecidedly in the middle of the room with no idea what to do.
Hermione finally felt compassion for the boy and padded him on the shoulder, although she had wanted to focus on her studies.
"Come on, I show you where you sleep."
Dudley followed her up the staircase that led to the boys' dormitories.
The prefect opened a door and said "This is the 4th year's dormitory. You will find all your belongings next to your bed. When you are done unpacking, you might want to join us in the common room. Just ask if you have any ore questions"
"I don't have to sleep with other boys, do I?" Dudley flared up when he recognized 4 other beds in the room. "I want my own room§
Hermione glared at him coldly and replied "Excuse me? You're not in the position to demand anything. We all sleep in dormitories and so will you"
The boy stared after her when she left the room.
"I can't believe that they put your cousin in Gryffindor" Fred sat when he threw himself in an armchair next to Ron.
"Yes, He didn't look very courageous the last time we've seen him" George added as he sat down next to his twin brother.
"I still think he should have been placed into Hufflepuff "Harry said dully.
"My dear friend, see it from the positive side" Fred said mischievously. "We can give him such good advice now that he is in our house"
Harry just looked at them perplexed.
George heaved a pitiful sigh and explained.
"He definitely needs to know, how important it is to get cheeky with our Head of House. Everybody knows how cool she is" he said ironically and Harry's eyed widened in understanding.
While the others grinned maliciously, Hermione glared at them.
"It is not fair or noble to play such a prank on Dudley. He is still new and has no idea what is expected of him" she said firmly.
"No need to play Mother Theresa, Hermione. This is my evil cousin Dudley Dursley we're talking about." Harry said with a touch of anger edged into his voice.
But Hermione had already turned her attention to her transfiguration book and tuned her friends out.
The Weasley twins left and joined their classmates at another table just when Dudley descended the staircase.
He found a seat opposite of Harry and crossed his arms over his chest.
"No need to glare at me Dudley" Harry snapped. "I didn't want you in my house either. I wished the Sorting Hat would have put you in Hufflepuff"
His cousin distorted his face in disgust.
"PFFFF Hufflepuff, who wants to be in a house full of losers? I wanted to be in Slytherin" Dudley stated and earned appalled looks from everybody close enough to hear him.
"The Slytherins are really cool and much more on my level than you silly lot"
Ron's face was beet-red of anger and he was tempted to let his fist connect with Dudley's triple-chin.
His twin brothers had heard the little discussion and had stepped up behind Dudley's back.
"Toffee anyone?" George said cheekily and held his hand with a toffee right in front of Dudley's face.
The stout boy stretched his hand out to take the sweet when his head perked up and his eyes met the sparkling ones of the twins.
With a scream of horror, he bustled out of the common room in high speed.
Before he slammed the door of the portrait hole shut, Fred shouted after him "You're damn right, definitely no Gryffindor material. Look how the little coward is running"
Everybody was laughing now, but Hermione.
She looked at Fred and George and said "Honestly, you knew he would freak out after the Ton-Tongue Toffees last year."
"Exactly, this is why we did it in the first place. He needs to learn that we're not tolerating any Slytherin supporters in this tower" George said before they both returned to their seats.
Dudley kept running for quite a while until he was totally out of breath. He gasped for air on collapsed on the floor holding his sides.
When he had caught his breath, he looked around and realized in horror that he had no idea where he was.
They had passed so many hallways on their way to the tower that he could just be anywhere.
I wish I could have just stayed at home. Nothing can be worse than being here with all those freaks in a place where I don't want to be and now I'm lost to top it off, he thought angrily and turned around over and over again, trying to see something familiar.
Then he turned around and walked back the way he came from, which seemed to make most sense to him at the moment.
Unfortunately after a short distance he found himself in another corridor that led in two different directions.
From here he had absolutely no idea where to turn, so he decided to go back again and see if one way would lead him to the Great Hall or the teachers' quarters.
He went down several staircases, but nobody was in sight. Dudley had no idea that it was close to curfew so the students had already assembled in their common rooms.
The confused boy went down and further down, not knowing how far he was away from Gryffindor tower.
Then he heard a rustling noise behind him. Dudley swallowed hard and tried to still his shaking hands. The castle was at night even scarier as during the day and the soft whispering that came from all the different paintings gave him the impression that this place was truly haunted.
When he went down another staircase, the appearance of the corridor changed.
It was a lot colder here than in the upper parts of the castle and Dudley silently wished for his warm sweater.
He walked past the blank stone walls and the corridor was bathed in greenish torchlight, which flickered in a breeze, Dudley couldn't sense.
Then he heard someone giggle in the distance and the hair on his neck stood on end.
"Who- who is there?" he whispered in a high-pitched voice as he felt something brushing against the back of his head.
"Oh did I scare the wittle crumb-snatcher?"
Dudley spun around to see who the voice, which was an evil cackle, belonged to.
To his surprise, he spotted a little man floating in front of him wearing a bell-covered hat and an orange bow-tie.
Before Dudley could ask who he was, the little man was floating a big cheese cake in front of him.
"Hey give me that!" he yelled and the echo of his own voice rang through the empty corridor.
"Catch me if you can, you fat little bugger" the poltergeist answered cheekily and disappeared in the distance.
Dudley hurried down the hallway as fast as he could trying not to lose track of the tiny man.
He saw him floating into a room at the left and dashed into it, ready to grasp him.
The room looked like a deserted classroom. Tables and chairs were lined up, but everything was covered in cobwebs and was extremely filthy.
His eyes searched the room, which was just dimly lit by the torchlight in the corridor as all of a sudden the door hinges squealed and the door slammed shut.
Dudley darted towards the door and tried to pull it open, but no matter how hard he tried, it wouldn't move.
"Let me out!" he screamed before he heard the evil voice of the poltergeist right in front of the door.
"STUDENT OUT AFTER CURFEW" and then an awful giggle that then faded in the distance.
Dudley was scared out of his wits and had again no idea what to do.
After a minute, he started screaming again and banged his fists against the wooden door, desperately trying to get someone's attention.
"Bloody Peeves" he could hear another voice outside after a few minutes.
"HELP!" Dudley screamed on the top of his lungs. "HEEEEEEEEEEELP"
Then he heard the sound of heavy boots stomping quickly in his direction.
Heaving a sigh, he slid down the wall and sat on the floor. All that screaming and banging had exhausted him terribly and all he wanted now was to go home to 4 Privet Drive.
"Please let me out" he whimpered, as all of a sudden the door sprung open and he rolled out into the hallway.
"Look at that! Our new Gryffindor is out after curfew" he heard somebody snarl and lifted his head up.
"It was about time that someone showed up. This evil creature locked me up in this dirty room and didn't even give me the cake he promised me"
He then faced two men towering over him. One was wearing the heavy boots he had heard and his eyes had a malicious glitter. The other one was dressed all in black, with greasy black hair that covered parts of his face while he looked down on the boy.
"Who the hell are you and how do I get back into that common room?"
The man with the boots growled at him as he grabbed him by the collar "You better show some respect to Professor Snape"
Instantly Dudley chanced a glance at Snape and smiled submissively.
"And what would a new Gryffindor do outside of his common room after curfew?" the potion master growled with a dangerously low voice.
"The Weasel twins have scared me so I ran out of the common room and somehow I ended here. Then that thing with the bowtie promised me a cake and I tried to chase it but before I could get it, I was locked up in there"
"So they scared you? This is still no excuse to be out after curfew and to cause such havoc." Snape said sternly. "Mr Filch, I think we will have to make an example here. I will take him to Lupin but I will already give this young man here a detention. Scrubbing the bedpans in the hospital wing should suffice for now. I trust you will supervise him"
Filch nodded, even if he was slightly disappointed about the mild punishment.
Dudley's heart dropped. He still remembered his aunt's remark how horrible detentions with Filch, the caretaker, would be.
"Now follow me! I will take you to your Head of House. He will decide if there will be more punishment added to the one I already assigned. And if I see you out after curfew again, I will make sure personally that the punishment will be more severe next time" Snape growled as he pushed Dudley forward.
The boy just stared at the potion master who was now rushing down the corridor. He hurried to keep up with the teacher's quick pace.
Snape led him up several corridors, until he stopped in front of a door.
Dudley swallowed hard as he heard the cold voice of Snape calling "Lupin, open up"
A few moments later the door opened and Professor Lupin stood in front of them, dressed in black pyjamas.
"Severus, how can I help you?" Remus said friendly.
Snape grabbed Dudley, who had been trying to hide behind him and pushed him forward.
"I found your new student in the dungeons right now. Although he is new, in my point of view he needs to understand that such behaviour won't be tolerated in this school. Therefore I assigned detention with Filch for him tomorrow. Now it's up to you if you want to add more punishment. It is a member of your house after all." Snape sneered and was pleased to point out the outrageous behaviour of a Gryffindor once again to their Head of House.
"Thank you very much Severus for bringing him back. I will hear what Mr Dursley here has to say and will then make a decision."
Severus nodded curtly and swept down the hallway with billowing robes.
"Now Dudley, please come in and tell me exactly what happened" Lupin said and beckoned the boy inside.
Dudley however stared at the potion master who was disappearing in the distance and hoped that he wouldn't have to take to many lessons with the gloomy teacher.
His Head of House then urged him into his private chambers and Dudley stepped inside.
"Now please tell me what happened tonight" Lupin said as they sat down in the sitting room.
Dudley then recalled how the Weasley twins had scared him and how he ended in the dungeons.
Lupin had to stifle a chuckle when he heard how Peeves had tricked Dudley into the old classroom.
"It wasn't my fault then" the boy flared up. "Do I still have to do the detention?"
Lupin smiled friendly and said "I'm afraid you will have to. I could have done something if it would have just been the break of curfew, but you have been impolite to a teacher and this will not be tolerated. I won't add any more punishment but I trust you won't do this again. Now, I will take you to your common room. Tomorrow morning I want you to remain in the Great Hall after breakfast. I will pick you up and show you to the classroom where your tutors will await you."
"What classes will I have tomorrow?" Dudley asked with a bored voice.
"Oh we will start with Potions, DADA and charms." Lupin answered him and a mischievous twinkle appeared in his eyes.
Dudley rose from his chair and followed Professor Lupin out of the room. They stepped to a side door and through another one and to his surprise, Dudley found himself in front of the Fat Lady in her pink silk dress.
"How did we get here so fast?" he asked and his professor just chuckled.
"There is a shortcut from my quarters to Gryffindor Tower, for emergency cases."
Dudley nodded mutely and approached the portrait.
Just before he said the password, he turned around and asked "Who is going to tutor me?"
Lupin smiled "Professor Snape and your Aunt Lily will tutor you tomorrow"
Dudley's heart now dropped to the floor. "Oh my god" he whispered.
"Sorry my dear, but this is not the password" the Fat Lady cut in.
"Sorry... Caterpillar" he mumbled and the portrait swung aside.
He didn't expect that anybody had waited for him, so he just crossed the deserted common room and went upstairs to his dormitory.
Before he went to breakfast the next morning, he stuffed Shaka in the pocket of his robes.
In case someone would bother him today, maybe Shaka would bite him.
He found a seat as far away from Harry and the Weasleys as possible and started to eat.
Nobody tried to talk to him and it seemed that to his fellow Gryffindors he was non-existent.
Then his eyes fell on a boy at the Slytherin table, whose silver-blonde hair stuck out from the group of brown- and redheads.
He talked nonchalantly to the two boys next to him, which reminded Dudley very much of the gorillas he had seen in the zoo once.
Then the glare of the blonde bore into his eyes and a contemptuous smirk crept on his face.
Dudley dropped his gaze immediately and continued his lonely meal.
Every once in a while he put a piece of roll or bacon into his pocket for Shaka.
After breakfast, Professor Lupin led him to an empty classroom on the first floor and ordered him to wait for his aunt.
Professor Snape wouldn't teach him until the 3rd period so Dudley was thankful for the reprieve.
He sat down at the table, took out his wand and placed Shaka on the table.
Hoping his aunt would be upset about the rat, he watched his little friend playing with his tail while they waited.
Just a few moments later the door opened and Lily entered. She approached the teacher's desk and smiled at her nephew.
"First of all I want to make something clear, Dudley. I might be your aunt, but right now I'm, first of all, your teacher. You will show me the due respect, am I understood?
Dudley nodded and asked "Can Shaka stay here with me? "
"Please?" he added like an afterthought.
"Yes for today, but if I were you, I would bring him back to your dormitory before Professor Snape arrives. He won't tolerate it."
"Ok. So what are we going to do today?" Dudley asked.
"At first, we will go through the fist chapters of the textbook The Standard Book of Spells and later on we will try a simple levitation spell. This should keep you occupied until the first break."
Dudley then started his book and started to read.
Harry and the others sat in the dungeons, waiting for Snape to arrive.
"Have you seen Dudders coming back last night?" Ron whispered but Harry shook his head.
"Although I think that he would truly fit in better with the Slytherins, I think we need to teach him some house pride. And I intend to do that today after classes. He will get all of us in trouble when he starts prancing around again showing off his pro-slytherin attitude" Harry said angrily.
Just then, Snape entered the classroom and swept down the aisle of tables.
He pointed his wand at the blackboard and instructions appeared.
"That's your assignment for today. When you are able to do it correctly, it will be an antidote for almost every poison. Pay close attention to the different properties or it will end in a disaster"
He gave Neville a stern look before he rushed to the desk and sat down.
"Begin"
Harry looked in shock at the extremely complicated instructions. Hermione already had started putting ingredients into her cauldron as Harry's gaze fell on Malfoy.
"I heard your new addition isn't an example on Gryffindor bravery. But what can you expect from a mudblood" Malfoy all but spat the last word while his eyes were on Hermione.
Fortunately the prefect was too occupied with her potion that she didn't hear the low conversation.
"Sod off, Malfoy" Ron hissed.
Malfoy's attention then returned to his work. Snape had started pacing the aisles and inspected the different cauldrons, so the Slytherin didn't want to draw the teacher's anger on him for talking in class.
"No matter how much I hate it, but Malfoy is right this time. Dudley needs to learn what it means to be a Gryffindor. I won't allow him to give Malfoy even more reason to badmouth us" Harry whispered.
"As if he ever needed a reason" Ron answered dully.
Maybe it was a trifle too loud or something else caught Snape's attention, but suddenly the red-haired boy heard the dangerously low voice of the potion master next to his ear.
"I thought I had told you time and time again, that I do not tolerate talking in my class. Maybe I have to make myself clearer. 15 points from Gryffindor! Is this clear enough "
"Yes, sir" Ron barely whispered and chopped his mandrake root, imagining it was Snape's head.
"Honestly Ron, you have to chop your root more carefully, or your antidote won't work" Hermione said sternly while she sliced her caterpillar in commensurate pieces.
Ron glared daggers at her while he added the root to his potion, which turned from a full red to a pale green.
"You know it has to be acid green, Ron. I doubt that this is going to work!
"Then I test it on Malfoy. Who cares?" Ron replied unnerved.
"Tut tut" Hermione just said coolly and returned to her potion.
What else do I have to endure? Dudley, Malfoy and now the endless bickering of those two. Merlin, help me! , Harry thought while he tried to tune his friends out.