Dudley had to agree with his mother this time, that girl; Ashley Anton was a very pretty. She had long straight brown hair that was highlighted with different shades of blonde. She was tall and thin, the thin look that told you she was active and healthy. She had a pretty face, an easy smile, and beautiful brown eyes. Her skin was tan, from spending time out in the sun. All in all, Dudley knew he wanted her, and he was hoping he'd get the chance tonight, when she and her parents came over for dinner.
Dudley was jerked away from his thoughts, by the loud booming voice of his father, "Boy, get down here now!"
Harry came walking down the stairs, but stopped on the last step, and looked at Vernon and replied, "What do you want this time?"
Vernon began to turn red in the face, as he tried to calm his raging temper. "We are having the new neighbors over for dinner tonight, and we don't want you screwing things up. They know nothing about you, in fact they don't know you exist, and I want to keep it that way. Therefore, you will be staying in your room all night tonight, pretending you do not exist. Am I understood?" Vernon looked at Harry through narrowed eyes, as though he were trying to kill Harry with his stare.
"Perfectly" Harry finally replied, and began to walk up the stairs back to his bedroom, and his books.
Right before he shut the door to his room, Vernon had one last thing to say. "Remember this time no funny business I don't want another disaster like the Mason's."
"Alright" Harry said as he pulled his door shut.
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Ashley picked up the salad they were bringing over to the Dursley's and followed her parents out the door and down the street to their next-door neighbors front door. She was looking forward to meeting the other boy she had seen working in the Dursley's backyard that day. She had put on a pair of khaki capris, and wore a black t-shirt and flip-flops. She had straightened her hair, and had her ends slightly flipped out, so you could see all the layers in her hair, and her make-up was done, in her opinion, perfectly.
As they reached the door her father rang the doorbell, and almost immediately, it was opened by Dudley who ushered them in.
"Welcome to our home" Vernon said, as he made a sweeping gesture with his hand, indicating the small living room.
"Thanks for inviting us" Nathan replied.
"Yes, it was very kind of you" Judy added.
"It's our pleasure, it's so nice to have neighbors again, I'm sure we'll get to be such good friends." Vernon responded.
After Vernon's last line, things became very quiet and awkward. Ashley's parents had smiles on their faces, that looked very forced, and the smiles on the Dursley's faces looked very fake.
Finally Ashley came striding forward and said, "We brought a salad, where would you like me to put it Mrs. Dursley?"
"Oh, isn't this marvelous, you shouldn't have" Petunia said looking at Judy, then looking at Ashley she continued, "Dudley will take you to the kitchen, and show you where to put it, the rest of us will go into the dining room."
Ashley followed Dudley back to the kitchen where she set the salad down, and then followed him into the dining room.
As they were getting ready to eat, Ashley looked around and noticed that the boy she had seen earlier that day was missing. She turned to Vernon and said, "Isn't there another boy that lives in this house?"
Immediately Vernon's face began to turn purple as he said between gritted teeth "Why do you ask?"
"Oh, no reason really, I just saw a boy working in your backyard today, and assumed that you had another son."
If Vernon's face could have looked like a plum, then that's what his face would have looked like at that very moment, as he answered, "No, he's not our son, he's our nephew. We took him in when he was one, just after his parent's died. We tried to raise him just as we did Dudley, but he turned out bad anyway. He's very troubled."
"Oh" Ashley said, a little surprised. He had seemed perfectly normal to her when she was watching him. "Well, isn't he coming down for dinner?" She asked, noting just how uncomfortable this line of questioning was making the Dursley's, and enjoying every moment of it.
"He doesn't do well around strangers" Vernon replied hastily, "He'll eat later."
"We don't mind" Ashley responded.
"Yeah, let the boy come down and eat, we'll be fine" Nathan added in support of his daughter.
Vernon stood up and mumbled, "I'll go get him then, won't take but a minute" and left.
Authors Note: Okay, so I put up the second chapter even though I didn't get a single review. I did notice that I had about 20 people look at the story though. I have chapter 3 already written, and it could be put up by tomorrow, that is if I get at least 5 reviews. That shouldn't be very hard, seeing as there are 20 or so people who have looked at the story. It's not that hard, just click on the review button, and say "Hi, I'm reading the story, keep it up." Not so hard right! Ok, so review, and you may get a chapter tomorrow!
Sierra