"...and then he just up and left! Her reputation is going to be ruined when everyone finds out on Monday, after all, who would be friends with a woman who can't keep her man!" Mrs. Pemberton exclaims, looking a aunt Petunia; who was entranced with all the gossip she was receiving.
"Why I never, Mrs. Jones, or rather, soon-to-be Ms. Taylor, must have been a horrible wife. Shame on her." Petunia replies, shaking her head in disgust; reaching her thin hand for another piece of bread.
What if it wasn't the fault of Mrs. Jones? She seems rather nice, and isn't she Margaret's aunt? Hadrian ponders as he listens to the women gossip, keeping quiet as to not draw attention to himself. At least I know that the food I cook is good, maybe I could become a chef when I grow up! That would be fun. He is then pulled out of his thoughts by a loud, obnoxious, laugh from uncle Vernon.
"My boy is the toughest, and greatest, of them all, you know he's going to my old private school Smeltings, gonna be just like his father, aren't you Dudley?" Vernon said, laughing joyfully, and a bit smugly, as he looked toward his son Dudley, who was sitting across from Hadrian.
"Yes Da, I'm going to be just like you!" Dudley says as he brings his fork to his already full mouth.
"That's good, a boy should always follow in his father's footsteps, anything less than that is a disappointment, like my oldest son John, he decided, of all the ridiculous things, to be a tattoo artist!" Mr. Pemberton shakes his head in shame. "He has A's in all of his classes, I've tried to tell him that he would be a better Lawyer like his old man here, but he refuses to see reason."
A disappointment? Would my father be disappointed in my dreams, but, but I don't know what he did for a living. I don't even know his name, Hadrian looks down at his empty plate, tears growing in his eyes, threatening to fall. If I ever find out what my father was, maybe, maybe I should be what he was. So that he could be proud of me, even if just a little.
"An artist, John wants to be an artist?" Petunia interrupts from beside Mrs. Pemberton, leaning to the right, towards uncle Vernon.
"Yes, my poor little boy, those friends of his must have done something to him. It must be that thing… oh what's it called dear?
"Peer pressure?"
"Peer pressure, he would never have gone against our wishes before he made friends with those horrid people, you know, one of them is Mrs. Jones' niece. Goes to show, bad blood runs in the family." Mrs. Pemberton sighs, shaking her head.
Niece? They mean Margaret, she isn't bad! Just because she has a dream of being a fashion designer, she, what's so bad about that? John must be that new friend she was talking about a few weeks ago, the one who has molded by his parents to be their 'perfect puppet,' in that case, is it really so bad that he wants to be himself… that I want to be myself?
"Yes, bad blood does run in the family." Petunia replies, looking straight towards Hadrian. "This one here comes from a very bad family, his father a drunk, and his mother a whore."
Mrs. Pemberton gasps in horror, "Oh, you poor women, having such a stain in your household. You're a remarkable family for keeping, and caring, about a person from that background." She glances at the now red faced boy, shaking her head. "Yes, you can see that he's going to amount to nothing, I mean just look at him!"
Hadrian bites his bottom lip, looking down in shame and unexplainable, to him at least, rage. How dare they talk about my mother and father in such a way? I, I wish I could say something, anything, without fear. I can't though, not when uncle Vernon, and aunt Petunia are near, and the Pemberton's are known gossips, they can't keep anything hidden. He pauses, looking at the nodding woman called his aunt. What, what if she's right though, what if my father was a drunk and my mother a...a wh-whore. Hadrian just barely suppressed his whimper, he had learned very young what the word "whore" meant, in very detailed and graphic explanations by none other his uncle Vernon. Who had taken sadistic joy of destroying yet another spark of light from the young boy's eyes.
"Thank you for your sympathy, it's a struggle to raise such a delinquent child. I'm always so fearful that he'll influence my poor Duddykins!" Petunia sobs, fakely, Hadrian politely wishes to add, taking a handkerchief from her lap to dab at her, completely and utterly dry, eyes.
Mrs. Pemberton hums in sympathy, patting aunt Petunia's shoulder. "Yes, yes. It must be quite difficult. You're putting him to work though, so that means he can't get into any trouble."
Aunt Petunia nods, sniffling once, twice, then thrice. "The boy's put to work everyday, hopefully doing all his chores will work the bad blood out of him. His mother didn't have any chores when she was a little girl, so she got involved in some… dark friends. Then she went to the foolish school, with a idiotic name, and got even more trapped into the world. Then again, she was just like the boy here, she would have amounted to nothing, the only thing she had going for her was her beauty."
"Ah a woman's whose only good features is her looks will only be a trophy wife or mistress. That's just the way it is. My wonderful husband here fell for me because of my intelligence, isn't that right dear? Mre. Pembertons smiles tightly as she looks towards her husband who had frozen at her glance.
"That's right, your smarts and beauty drew me like… like a butterfly to light." You mean a moth to flame? Hadrian thought sarcastically, though sluggish with shock and happiness.
Mrs. Pemberton smiles smugly as she looks back towards aunt Petunia. "Why did your husband fall in love with you?"
"Well… because of my personality. I am also smart, if I do say so myself," Aunt Petunia says, discomfort evident to only those who know her very well. "Now, would you like some dessert?" She gets up at the rounds of yes comes from four at the table, the fifth silent. "I'll be right back." She hurries away, as if to run from something.
During the entire conversation Hadrian had stayed silent, because this is the first time he'd ever heard of anything at all about his mother besides that fact that she was apparently a… whore. It wasn't much information mind you, but it meant the world to him. My mother was beautiful. My mother was friends with someone 'dark,' and she went to a school with an 'idiotic' name… she's like, like me! Maybe she can do the things I can! He looks up at his aunt Petunia, who, to his surprise, was getting up from the table. Well, it's clear that my mother looked nothing like aunt Petunia then. He jerks in surprise as uncle Vernon calls out loudly to him.
"Boy! Gather up the plates and clean them up. You're not getting any of the desserts that my precious wife slaved over, because of the insolence you had this morning. Instead you will clean the kitchen before heading straight to bed. Do you understand!" Vernon all but screams to the, now cowering, boy.
"Y-yes uncle Vvv-ernon" Hadrian mumbles quietly, quickly getting up and gathering the dishes. Skittering around both cousin Dudley and uncle Vernon, before all but running from the dining room into the kitchen. Though not before he heard a comment from Mr. Pemberton about what a small lad he was.
I'm small for a reason! I'm not good enough to get the food I need, it's my life-long punishment of being bad. Hadrian thinks as he approaches the sink, where aunt Petunia is washing her hands. Exc-cuse mm-e aunt P-petunia, Uncle Vvv-ernon t-told mm-e washh th-ah d-dishes."
Petunia looks up at the boy, towered by the plates and bowls he's holding in is straining arms, humming softly as she moves out of the way, towards the desert. "Well get to it then, can't have you wasting time." she distractedly snaps.
"Y-yes aunt P-petunia." Hadrian begins to fill the sink with water and soap, only halfway though. Placing the dishes in the water after he sprays the majority of the grim off of them. "Aunt P-petunia?" He hesitantly speak up, pausing in his duty.
"What is it boy?" Petunia asks in exhaustion, looking towards the dining room as loud laughter echos out.
"May I g-go to th-ah libr-rary t-this Sss-atur-day?" During his request, Hadrian closes his eyes and hunches into himself, prepared for rejection. When no immediate reply comes from Petunia, and he slowly turns towards her in confusion. There, he sees something strange, Petunia is looking down at her hands, her eyes glazed and haunted, as if she wasn't here, but somewhere else.
He jerks slightly back when she looks up, peering into his bewildered ones. "You remind me so much of Lily," She shakes her head slightly, before pushing her shoulders back. "Very well, you are allowed to go to the library this Saturday, that means this Sunday you will have twice the chores, and in punishment you will not get the points you would have received had you done the chores on Saturday like you should have. Is that acceptable?" She asks, clearly not expecting a response as she quickly exits the room after her response. Not seeing the beaming smile, and nodding head of her nephew.
I get to go! I can't wait to see everyone, it's been so long! Not only that, but i'll get to read anything I want to, which means i'll get to read fantasy! He hums a lullaby as he turns back to the dishes, picking up the rag and a plate. Earlier today, Jaden said that this study session would be about maths, I wonder if it's for a test or project? Aunt Petunia was acting strange, I wonder why? He pauses, blinking a few times. Wait, didn't she say I reminded her 'so much of Lily,' did she mean mother? Does that mean mother's name was Lily? He perks up in joy, wiggling in happiness. Lily! Mother's name is Lily, Lily Potter! I learned so much about mother today! I need to write this down in my journal, so I won't ever forget this!
Hadrian, with a goal set in mind, sets upon the dishes, washing and setting them to air dry. When he's finished, Hadrian peeks into the dining room, taking care to not be spotted. There he sees Dudley stuffing his face with desert and uncle Vernon doing the same in pauses of the conversation. Mr. Pemberton gesturing wildly with his hands as he tells a story about a trip he took in his teenage years that may, or may not be true, laughing uproariously as he gets to the climax of the tale. Mrs. Pemberton, on the other hand is sitting primly in her seat as she eats small delicate bits of the pudding with her spoon, complimenting aunt Petunia, who is drink a cup of tea, on her amazing skills in cooking.
Why thank you Mrs. Pemberton, Hadrin thinks, rather sarcastically he has to admit. I do try. Then, in a feat made by the greatest of ninjas in times past, he sneaks past the dining room and to his cupboard. Opening the door he, quietly, pulls the sheet from his pile of belongings and reaches into he backpack, grabbing a flashlight and his journal which has a pen placed in it. Turning on the flashlight, he closes the door and places the plastic sheet against the opening at the bottom to keep and light from escaping.
Flipping to the page with the pen in he picks it up, and looks at the page which has yesterday's entry on the left side.
Tuesday 18th, 1991, June
Today I got 10 points taken away, which left me with 30 points. And didn't get any praise today. I have to make sure to spread those points. So i'll take a shower on sunday, which will leave me with 15 points, and eat a full meal, not at the table, which is another 5 points (eating at the table is 10 points) on friday, which'll leave me at 10 points.
I also need some more batteries for my flashlight, and that'll cost me 10 points, but since i don't need it yet, I think I'm okay with going another week or so, that way I won't have 0 points, which is bad cause what if I get punished and can't use my points to get bandages and stuff?!
Anyways, I got punished cause I ignored uncle vernon when he told me to do something, I didn't mean to, Honest! I wash outside watering the plants and there was a loud car driving by. But I got whipped with the belt, you know the one with the metal bits on it. It didn't break the skin, cause he only gave me 10, and took away a point for each hit, so I didn't have to spend any points on protect and other stuff. So I'm happy bout that, but I should get to sleep now, I don't want to be tired for tomorrow, if I do good enough maybe I can get a compliment!
Hadrian reaches up to tug on his fringe, reading the previous entry as he wonders what he should write about today. Biting his lips, he decides, putting the end of the flashlight in his mouth so he could write and see at the same time. Then, pulling the cap from the pen, and sticking it on the back, and puts the pen to paper.
Wendnesday 19th, 1991, June
When aunt Petunia told me what I was to do today, she told me that Mr and Mrs Pemberton were coming for dinner today, and I was to make it! I made breakfast and while that happened i went out and saw Jaden. Who told me about a meeting on saturday at the library.
I also, kinda lied to uncle vernon today, I told that i put his suit in the closet to dry so it wouldn't be wrinkled but that wasn't true cause I forgot to put it way. But he couldn't say anything so I didn't get points taken away. But cause of the guests coming today, I had to take a shower, which helped the rash from when dudley dragged me across the rug be clean, and eat at the table, so I lost 15 points for that. Aunt petunia put on some really pretty lipstick.
I finished the chores so I got 21 points instead of 15. I gotta wear the dress clothes today! They were so nice.
I made dinner, but she only gave me 2 hours and that was barely enough time! Dudley threw a coaster at me again, but it's been three day, a record! It hurt but that's okay.
And, and guess what? I got praised by aunt petunia! But that's not all, I learned a lot about mother today!
Her name is Lily, Lily Potter! Since, I overheard aunt petunia telling dudley that her maiden name was Evans, that means that her name was Lily Potter née (I learned that you add that from a book) Evans Isn't that the best? And aunt petunia said mother was beautiful, and that was the only thing she had going for her. But that can't be true, cause I bet mother was amazing! Anyway she was friends with someone dark and she went to a school with a silly name. But there's more, aunt petunia said the she was like me, and later said that I reminded her of Lily! That means she like me!
I also asked if I could go to the library and aunt Petunia said yes, I won't get any points for the chores I would have done on saturday, and I'll be doing them on sunday instead. But I get to go!
This is the best day ever!
Deciding that this will do, Hadrian takes the pen from the paper, nodding his head. This is really the best day ever, I didn't even get hurt that bad, and I learned so much! Capping the pen, he places it in it's previous position of resting on the pages, before he closes the journal.
Putting it back in his backpack, hiding it between some clothes and other objects, just in case. Zipping the backpack closed, he pushes in the back towards the wall, He carefully shuffles around, grabbing his plastic bag, before getting his nice clothes off, and folding them and handling them as if they were gifted to him by the gods, placing them in their special bag. Picking it up, and putting it into the back corner, away from any danger.
Left only in his underwear, Hadrian grabs his blankets and snuggles under them. Pulling the plastic sheet from the door, he curls up on the sheet, and using his bag as a pillow.
Hadrian turns off the flashlight, plunging the room into darkness. I hope tomorrow is good too, I don't want to… I don't want anything bad to happen. Maybe when I'm out at the library, I can get aunt Petunia a book. One of those romance novels, or I could ask around and get a new new lipstick or blush. Staying still, time passes, although he's not sure how long, before he can hear the Dursley family saying farewell to the Pemberton's and going to sleep themselves.
"G-good night." He whispers into the shadows, knowing that an answer won't come.