Hey everyone! This story was brought to you by Games and Sports: Quidditch Fouls assignment, Insane Prompt List, Ultimate Battle Competition, Gobstones, Game of Life, Geek Pride, Choose a Side, International Workers Day, Bingo, Elizabeth's Empire, Lizzy's Loft on Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Also for Link Maker on Monthly Challenges for All.
Games and Sports: Quidditch Fouls assignment: Task 4 - Write about a group (3 or more people) gathering for something.
Insane Prompt List: 311. (character) Dudley Dursley
Ultimate Battle Competition: Accessory Set 600 words (Era) Post-War
Gobstones: Orange Stone - Childhood Accuracy (genre) friendship Power (word) determined Technique (emotion) confused
Game of Life: Careers (occupation) Politician/Prime Minister
Geek Pride: My Little Pony Collectable Cutie Mark (genre) friendship
Choose a Side: (genre) family
International Workers Day: Ceasar Chavez (genre) family, and Shopkeeper (genre) friendship
Bingo: (trait) Determined
Elizabeth's Empire: 10. (genre) family
Lizzy's Loft: (character) Dudly Dursley
Link Maker: Harry Potter characters used, 2,538 words
Warning for mentions of divorce, and a slight bit out of character. Also a warning for a Parent Trap!AU. Word count is 2,538 words. I hope you all enjoy Operation Parent Trap.
Dudley Dursley, formerly of number 4 Privet Drive, now residing at Downing Street London looked about his office as he prepared for his long day. Today was a very special day, indeed. His daughter Ellenora, who preferred to be Ellie, was going one of the most prestigious summer camps in all of London. It kind of helped that he was Prime Minister but he didn't want her to think she could anything because she was the Prime Minister's daughter.
A slight knock was heard on the door. Dudley got up and rushed to open the door. He was happy to see that his daughter was promptly on time. Just the way he'd taught her to be. He smiled down on his blonde-haired, blue-eyed little girl, wondering where the time had gone. It seemed like yesterday she almost reached his knee and now she old enough to go away to summer camp. He was dreading the day she received her Hogwarts letter. He had been dreading it since the day she'd shown signs of magic altogether.
"Daddy," Ellie said, pulling him into a hug, "I won't be gone forever, you know? It's only going to be a few months."
A few months rang through Dudley's head as he watched his daughter drag her suitcase full of items she was taking to camp into his office. He was starting to have second thoughts about allowing her to go to the camp at all. What if she received her Hogwarts letter while she was away from home? What if she didn't receive one at all? She'd gotten her hopes up when she heard about how her cousin Harry had gotten his Hogwarts letter when he was ten years old. She vowed that she would get hers when she was ten too. He knew it would crush her if she didn't get the letter but he couldn't help but hope that she didn't.
"I know, Princess," he said, walking over and ruffling her hair in the way he'd done since she was a little girl. "It's just I'm going to miss you so much."
"I know you are. This is why I'm going to write you a letter every day and tell you everything that is going on at camp. Would you like that?"
Dudley felt his heart swell with pride. He taught her to take other people's feelings and thoughts into consideration when she did things. He didn't want her to turn out like...It was best not to think about those things in front of Ellie. If he did he'd just start to cry and then she'd feel guilty for making him cry, to begin with.
"I would like that very much, darling," he said, pointing to the seat she usually sat in when she visited his work office. "How would you like to help daddy solve some work problems?"
She smiled gleefully at this question and nodded. He wouldn't give her anything too hard to handle. She usually went over his speeches and proofread because his staff could be idiotic about doing that. Usually, after Ellie had looked over their work the page was practically filled with red scratch out marks or suggestions left in the column of the page.
"Good girl," he said, reaching towards the pile of papers for his latest speech he was supposed to give later on tonight. "See what you can make of this mess, please?"
He watched as Ellenora went to work reading the speech. Every now and then he could hear her murmur things like "where do find these people?" and "Did any of them go to college let alone graduate high school?" before scratching something out and writing something new over top of it.
Picking up the top piece of important work-related paper, he joined her in reading. This latest bill that was being set in front of him for his approval before it could be set in front of the Queen was a hot button topic. Something about the standardized test for entrance into primary school which was just ridiculous in Dudley's mind. If there was such a thing a younger him would never have gone to school at all.
He was just about to give up reading mid-afternoon and take lunch when the alarm on his phone rang for some reason. Picking it up he groaned. He had forgotten that Ellie was leaving for the camp today in his haze over reading the darned bill in front of him. Ellie was looking at him in panic.
Meanwhile, in a little town of Godric's Hollow, Cho Chang was helping her daughter Alicia, who preferred to be called Allie, prepare to go to some fancy Muggle summer camp. As she folded tee-shirts and shorts and helped put them in Allie's bag, she couldn't help the pride that she felt.
"Do you think they'll have anything academic at this camp to do, Mummy?" Allie asked as she put the final item of clothing into the suitcase. Closing the designer bag she zipped it up and turned smiling at her mother.
"I believe that they have a trivia night every week," Cho said, pride clear in her voice. She had made sure that her daughter wouldn't need to depend on anyone for help. He had taught her that much.
"You aren't thinking of Daddy again, are you?" Allie asked, sitting on the bed and patting the spot next to her.
"Of course, not," Cho told her daughter, sitting down next to the girl. "I was just thinking of how lonely this little flat is going to be without you here. That's all."
Allie raised a dark eyebrow but nodded none the less. It didn't take a genius to figure out when her mother was thinking about her father. She usually got this far away look on her face and teary-eyed.
"Do you want to go and get cocoa before we have to go and meet the bus that will take you to camp, Allie?" Cho asked. Cocoa was a favorite send of drink for both Cho and Allie.
Allie nodded. She could already taste the cinnamon that she and her mother usually added to their cocoas. Just like their favorite Once Upon a Time character, Emma Swan, and Snow White.
The mother/daughter duo walked down the street of Godric's Hollow to their favorite coffee place to get their coveted cocoa from. Potter's Place. It was run by Allie's cousin and Cho's ex-cousin Harry Potter and his wife Ginny.
As they walked into the coffee shop, Harry walked quickly around the counter and pulled Allie into a big bear hug. Putting her down, he stepped back and took a good look at her like she'd changed since the last time he'd seen her or something.
"Did I hear that a certain young lady may have gotten her Hogwarts letter recently?" Harry asked, smiling at Cho as she and Ginny talked by the counter.
Allie nodded proudly. "I did," she said, beaming from ear to ear. "It arrived a few days ago and Mum and I have been so excited about it."
"I'm sure you were," Ginny said, hugging Allie gently. "You are going to have so much fun at Hogwarts."
"I know," Allie said, rambling on about all the fun things she had heard Harry and his friends talk about and how she was going to do some fun stuff at Hogwarts too. "Do you think that maybe I'll be able to be on the Quidditch team my first year too, cousin Harry?" She'd wanted to be on the Quidditch team since she'd heard that her mother and cousin Harry were both Seekers for their respective house teams.
"Well, I can't say yes and I can't say no either," Harry said, his eyes shining with mirth. "All I can say is let's wait and see what happens when you get there." He clapped his hands together and walked back behind the counter. "But for now, I think I know what you are here for." He held out a mug of cocoa to both Cho and Allie.
"Thank you, cousin Harry," Allie said, picking up her spoon and eating the whipped cream off the top of her cocoa. The whipped cream was one of her favorite parts of cocoa.
"No problem, kiddo!" He then turned to Cho who was sipping quietly on her own cocoa. Lowering his voice to a whisper he asked, "Have you heard from Dudley? Did hear whether E…"
"Harry, I've heard from Dudley since I left taking Allie with me," Cho whispered back.
"Do you think she remembers that she has a twin sister?" Ginny asked, concern coloring her voice as she watched Allie drinking her cocoa.
"I don't know. She used to mention…" Cho stopped feeling the lump in her throat grow to a size she could speak past. It hadn't been her idea to separate their daughters from each other like this. Dudley had suggested for Merlin only knows why.
"I could reach out for you," Harry said. "Make sure that Ellie is alright. See if she's gotten her Hogwarts letter yet."
"You don't have to, Harry."
"I don't have to. You're right. I want to."
An alarm beeped from Allie's phone. Picking up her face turned panicked. The alarm had read leave to meet the bus to camp.
"We're going to be late," she exclaimed, quickly finishing off her cocoa and racing over and giving cousin Harry and Ginny both great big hugs. "Come on, Mummy!"
"We'll talk to you later then?" Ginny asked, smiling as Allie grabbed Cho's hand and began to pull her towards the door.
Cho nodded.
"Have fun camp, kiddo!" Harry called.
"I will!" Allie called out. "This is going to be the best summer ever!"
Dudley heard the sound of someone apparating behind him. He didn't bother to turn and look. It wasn't anyone he knew, after all. He was pretty sure that Harry and Ginny were expecting their first child and thus they didn't have any kids going to camp. He was also pretty sure that his ex wouldn't want his perfectly wizardly daughter to hang around with a bunch of non-wizard kids. Although he'd been pretty shocked when she'd written to him to tell him that Allie had received her Hogwarts letter before she'd even turned eleven.
"Daddy," Ellie said, breaking him from his thoughts, "don't be sad now. I'm going to be back in a few months, right?"
"Right," he said, forcing a smile. "I will just have to drink all of our cocoa without you until then, won't I?"
"Don't drink it all," she said, giggling. "I want to have a cup of cocoa with when I get back from summer camp, alright?"
Dudley nodded. "It's a date."
Cho walked Allie over to the school bus that the camp had rented to bring the children there and back again. She felt a certain sadness about putting her daughter on the bus to summer camp. She also knew that this would be good for Allie. She could make Muggle friends too and learn to get along with everyone. That was after all what every parent dreamed of for their child. To have friends and be able to make a better world for them.
"I don't think they'll allow you on the bus too, Mummy," Allie's voice said breaking Cho out of her thoughts.
"Sorry," Cho murmured, giving her daughter a quick hug before stepping back from the bus. She waved as Allie was told she'd be cabin 5 for the summer. "Have a good summer, sweetie."
"I will, Mummy," Allie called back. "We'll have cocoas when I get back from camp and talk about everything I've done."
Cho nodded. She waited until she was sure that Allie was in a seat until she walked away from the gathering group of campers and their parents. She walked until she was the only person in sight and then she apparated back to Godric's Hollow. There was no point in prolonging her day and the rest of the summer.
"Now do you have your sun spray?" Dudley asked, looking Ellie in the eyes. "You know how horribly you burn when you don't put on sun spray."
Ellie shuddered remembering the time last year she'd forgotten sun spray and went to the beach for the day. She'd been red as a lobster for weeks on end and the peeling part was horrible.
"I've got sun spray, Daddy," she said.
"Your flip flops? Pens and Paper? Your card game?"
"Check, check, and check," Ellie said, checking things off on an imaginary clipboard. She smiled. "Daddy, I'll be fine! I won't be gone that long. It's only…"
"A couple of months."
"Yes."
They approached the bus and Dudley gave Ellie one last hug before stepping back to watch his daughter board with the other campers. He heard a familiar voice apologizing but that couldn't be her. She wouldn't make her witch daughter interact with a bunch of Muggles like her father. She'd yelled as much when she left him.
The line moved slowly. It almost felt like they were drawing this thing out to Ellie. She looked at her watch and tapped her foot impatiently. This was going to be the summer of her life. She was going to camp for the first time ever. Most of all she would probably get her Hogwarts letter soon.
Then finally Ellie got to the front of the line. The head counselor of the camp did a double-take and then looked at her closer. Ellie was starting to get really confused by this lady's behavior until she spoke.
"Did I just put you in cabin 5?" she asked and looked again. "Also when did you get a chance to dye your hair between now and then?"
"Um...I don't think I've talked to you yet," Ellie said, holding out her hand to shake the woman's hand. "My name is Ellie Dursley."
The woman scanned the list and sure enough, there was an Ellie Dursley. But she wasn't in cabin 5 she was in cabin 10.
"You will be in cabin 10, Miss Dursley," the woman said, handing her direction to her cabin and doing another double-take. She could have sworn that she'd already checked that girl in with dark hair.
"Mom, you've been standing in the sun for too long," the head of cabin one said, motioning for the leader to get on the bus. "I'll take check-in from here. Okay?"
The older woman nodded climbing onto the bus. Maybe her daughter was right. She had spent too much time out in the sun. Maybe her mind was playing tricks on her? She scanned the seats finding the girl she'd just checked in chatting animated with two of the girls sitting near her. Not far behind them was...That was impossible! The girl was also sitting at the back of the bus with blonde hair and talking with a small group of girls.
Taking a seat near the front of the bus, Luna Lovegood, put her head against the glass of the school bus. Maybe everyone was right about her after all? Maybe she really was Looney Lovegood?
I hope you all enjoy Operation Parent Trap as much as I enjoyed writing it.
