Author's Notes: Thanks goes out to the reviewers of this story. Thank you for your reviews and now here is chapter two. Enjoy.
Chapter Two.
Petunia, Dudley and Harry visited Vernon daily, but he only woke up on the fifth day. When they got to the hospital, the doctor wanted to see the young man who saved Vernon's life. Dudley tried to take credit for it but Petunia spoke up and pulled Harry in front of them. The doctor told them that the heart attack was major, but thankfully, no major damage was done to his heart. Vernon however would need to rest for a week before they started therapy; he was to be on a heart healthy diet and also do some exercise.
Vernon immediately complained to the doctor, assuring the doctor that Vernon did eat a healthy did and did often exercise, but the doctor didn't agree. After all, he'd just had a massive heart attack, he was lucky he wasn't dead, and there had to be a reason.
"Now you will visit with a diet specialist and start an exercise program. If you don't do this, you will have another heart attack and that one may kill you," his doctor informed him.
Vernon was shocked as he knew the doctor was right. "Can I still eat meat?"
"Yes, but your limit is once a week, you can eat as much chicken and fish as you want," the doctor stated.
"Anything else?" asked Vernon.
"You can eat plenty of fruits and vegetables, but no butter or salt. There are herbs that you can use to flavor your dishes without the use of butter," the doctor said.
"Poppycock, fish is harmful to your health!" Vernon said.
"Actually, it's healthier than chicken is," the doctor stated. "Even if you remove the skin of the chicken,"
"But the skin of the chicken is the best!" Vernon exclaimed.
"Turkey is another meat that is also good for you," the doctor replied.
"But we have turkey only once a year?" Vernon moaned. He knew his wife's cooking was not that good, only Harry made the food better than she did. His mind went to Harry; did he do something to him? He would have to wait until the doctor was out of the room to ask him.
"Your nephew really did well for you acting as fast as he did. You owe him your life. Now I must be off, nurse Susan will be here with information about heart attacks," the doctor stated, before he shook Vernon's hand, Petunia's, smiled towards Harry and Dudley before he walked out of the room.
Vernon turned towards Harry and snapped, "What did you do, Boy?"
Harry closed the door and turned to Vernon. He said. "I just used magic to get your heart working again."
Petunia spoke, "Vernon, he saved you from dying. The Minister of Magic did come to the house and authorized Harry to use magic out of school only in the house; they have seen what we had done to Harry, abusing him using him as a servant in our home. They warned us if we don't shape up, they'll charge us with child abuse."
"Child abuse, hogwash, he lied to them!" Vernon snapped. "He didn't use magic to help me."
"Really, then read this chapter, Uncle Vernon. I'll be back; I need to use the bathroom." Harry said, as he handed him the book on Healing Magic. He headed for the door and opened it as a young brown haired woman wearing a nurse's clothes had started to open it. "Sorry."
"Don't worry about it," the nurse said, as she walked into the room. "Vernon Dursley, I'm Susan, I have here the list of food that you can and can not eat."
Vernon roared. "That's bloody rubbish! I won't follow it!"
"Then, I'm sorry Mrs. Dursley for the loss of your husband," Susan said, turning to Petunia.
"What? I'm still here?" roared Vernon.
"Well, if you do not follow what is on your diet, you will die, if you follow it, you will live. What would you rather have life or death?" asked Susan.
Vernon growled. "Life…"
Susan smiled, "You will need to follow the diet fully, Mr. Dursley?"
"Yes," Vernon gritted his teeth in anger; he was not very happy at all that he had to stop eating all his favorite meals because of his heart attack.
Dudley looked at Petunia and whined. "I'm hungry!"
"We'll be going home soon, pumpkin; then we eat," Petunia said, as she looked at the list of food that Vernon was not allowed to eat. It was most of the food in the house. She wondered if they could handle this type of food that now must come into the house. She now knew it would be a rare treat to get something sweet in her house; perhaps even only once a week. She might not want to tempt him so soon with a sweet treat, so she marked it in her mind that it would be once a month till he lost enough weight to where they could have a treat once every two weeks.
Harry returned to see Susan walking out of the room. "Did he accept the diet plan?"
"Yes, he did, but very reluctantly. I think he likes his steaks and sweets. He's lucky that he's not diabetic," Susan said, as she headed into another room.
Vernon turned to see who entered the room to find that it was Harry. "Well, 'Boy', you better behave for Petunia while I'm in the hospital."
"I hope you read the book, Uncle Vernon, it will show you what spell I used to save your life," Harry said.
"I'm not sure if I will read it, Boy." Vernon snapped, putting the book by his side.
"Well, we better go before they kick us out. I'll be back tomorrow, dear," Petunia said, as she kissed him, before they left the hospital for home.
It was late at night, there was nothing to watch on the telly, and so Vernon flipped on the light and picked up the book on Healing Magic. He flipped a few pages and started to read it. He looked around for a pen and papers but found none. He called the nurse.
"Yes, Mr. Dursley?" asked the nurse.
"Could I have some paper and a pen? I have something that I need to jot down before I lose it," Vernon said.
"I'll be right over," the nurse said.
A minute later, Vernon had a pen and paper in hand. Vernon wrote down several questions that the book created for him to ask Harry in the morning.
Soon, after an hour of reading the book, he grew sleepy and he put the book aside, before finally falling asleep.
The next morning, Petunia, Dudley and Harry went through the pantry removing anything that was not on the good list. They placed all the food that they were not going to have in the house in a paper sack to give to a local food pantry.
Dudley looked at the time. "Mum, time to go visit dad!"
"Vernon can wait a few more minutes, this is very important as he may be coming home later today and all this food must be gone," Petunia said.
Harry; using his magic to lift the paper sack to the table as Dudley opened another paper sack, it took them another fifteen minutes to clean out the pantry before they loaded it in the boot of the car and delivered it to the local food pantry. They were thanked for what they gave to the food pantry. They headed off to the hospital to visit with Vernon and hopefully hear the news that he's coming home today.
Susan was sitting on the bed with him as he was browsing the breakfast menu.
"I'll have the grapefruit with toast light on the toasting with jelly, and a small bowl of oatmeal and hot tea for my drink." Vernon said, as he looked at Susan who jotted everything down.
"And what do you want for lunch?" Susan asked.
"Turkey sandwich, cottage cheese and tea for lunch," Vernon stated. He scanned over it one more time. "Oh for dessert, I'll have a fruit cup."
"That's a good choice in desert, Vernon," Susan said, as she jotted it down. "I'll get this in and the food nurses will come by in about half an hour."
Once, Susan was out of the room. Vernon's eyes went to Dudley. "Dudley, close the door. I need to ask you some questions, Harry about the book you let me read last night?"
Dudley looked at his father before he waddled over to the door and closed it. In the back of his mind, he wondered what his father was going to say to Harry.
"Harry, I have some questions that I need answering," Vernon said.
Harry nodded. "Ask what you need, I'll answer them and if I can't I'll get someone who knows the answers."
Vernon asked his questions to Harry, who answered most of them but he didn't know about the others. "So who is this person who knows the answers?"
"Madame Pomfrey, she's Hogwarts school nurse. She's the best nurse at the school. She healed my disappeared bones in my right arm by a potion that I had to drink down and contend with having it re-grown during the night. Quite a painful event,"
"Can you call her to come in?" asked Vernon.
"I'll summon her with a fire call as she's working on restocking the hospital wing for this coming school year and you can ask your questions to her." Harry said, as he made a motion with his hand to put this conversation to bed till a later time.
A knock was heard as the door opened up to reveal a nurse carrying in a plate. "Good morning, Mr. Dursley, here's your breakfast."
Vernon said, "Thank you."
The nurse put the tray on the table and left the room. Vernon removed the lid of the tray and searched for the sugar packet for the grapefruit but realized that it was not on his diet. "Pet, be sure we have cantaloupes for breakfast. I like them."
Petunia said, "Sure what about grapefruit?"
Vernon nodded. "That too and also fruit cup as well please,"
"We'll add it to the food list," Petunia said. "Dudley got good news."
"I got a summer job doing a newspaper route, I figure it will help me lose weight and also get some money. I'll give some of my money that I earn into the family jar for treats like going out to dinner or going to see a movie." Dudley stated.
Vernon smiled at his son. "That is very thoughtful of you, son. Thank you, and we will do it maybe in a month or so all right?"
Dudley nodded as he smiled.
Vernon turned towards Harry and told him that he'll be splitting the chores between him, Dudley, Pet and himself.
Harry was shocked that Vernon's attitude was not mean towards him like it was twenty four hours ago. He didn't know why the change. "Vernon, why are you changing your attitude towards me?"
Vernon looked at him. "Well I bloody treated you wrongly for years and I want to make amends is that all right with you?"
"Alright," Harry said.
The doctor came in and listened to Vernon's heart and chest. "Vernon, do you smoke?"
"No, I don't," Vernon said.
"Were you around anyone who did?" asked the doctor.
"No…well there was an employee at Grunnings that smoked in the building for about three years before we finally got him to stop smoking inside but take it outside." Vernon said.
"Well, we want to make sure that you do not have lung cancer, Mr. Dursley," the doctor said.
Vernon nodded. "Well do what you have to do then,"
"Good, we'll be scanning your chest for any signs of lung cancer. It will be about 10am when they will get you," the doctor said.
Ten am came as the nurses came for Vernon and took him to the X-ray machine where they scanned him and then had his lungs CAT scanned as well.
It wasn't till about two in the afternoon did word come back negative on both scans. Vernon got lucky as he didn't have any signs of lung cancer.
Vernon was relieved that he didn't have lung cancer as he took hold of Petunia's hand. "When can I get out of here and back home?"
The doctor looked at his chart and then to Vernon. "Is tomorrow too soon? If you behave yourself, you can leave. If not, you will be stuck here for a while."
Vernon nodded. "I promise to behave myself, is it possible for me to leave tomorrow."
"Yes, if the beat of your heart is good and strong, you can," the doctor informed him.
Susan entered the room after she had spoken with the doctor. "I hear that someone is going home tomorrow?"
"Yes, I'm going home tomorrow and I am so thrilled in going home. I actually got worried that I was not going to return when the doctor told me that I had a heart attack. I guess my temper started my heart attack." Vernon said.
"Did you have any stress that day?" asked Susan.
"No….yes, I got fired that morning and I put the blame of my firing on my nephew who ended up saving me when he could have allowed me to die," Vernon admitted, looking at his nephew and then back to Susan.
"Well, you are family, Uncle Vernon," Harry replied.
Susan turned to Vernon as she handed him some pamphlets on anger managements and what to expect living after a heart attack with diet and exercise. "I would find a group close to your home for anger management and a support group for those people who have had heart attacks. There are several groups out there for heart attacks and your wife and son might want to join a support group for families of heart attack sufferers."
"Will that help?" asked Vernon.
"Yes, it will help your family cope and you with what had happened to you. I have set a stress test for you to do in six months to see how your heart is doing. Mind you, you will need to start an exercise program. Start off simple with a light walk around the neighborhood till you can do it without getting your heartbeat over a certain level. It will be written down on the release papers." Susan informed him.
TBC . . .