AUNT MARGE'S VISIT
Natasha went down to breakfast the next morning to find the three Dursleys already sitting around the kitchen table. They were watching a brand-new television, a welcome-home-for-the-summer present for Dudley, who had been complaining about how much he had to walk from the fridge to the living room. Natasha was getting really worried for her cousin's health, as he was getting more and more fat. She knew that, he was more than just obese, and will have an early death if it went like this. He had spent most of his summer in the kitchen and the living room. He went out only for an hour, and was mostly to bully the other kids in the neighbourhood. Natasha sat in a chair just near her uncle and her cousin. They both just ignored her and did not acknowledge the fact that it was her birthday, which was hardly surprising.
Natasha took a piece of toast, and saw that there was a reporter on the television who was talking about an escaped convict from a prison. "...the public is warned that Black is armed and extremely dangerous. A special hot line has been set up, and any sighting of Black should be reported immediately."
"No need to tell us he's no good," snorted Uncle Vernon, staring over the top of his newspaper at the prisoner. "Look at the state of him, the filthy layabout! Look at his hair! What use is that? Lunatic could be coming up the street right now!".
Natasha looked at the person and knew that her uncle was right. The man did look very filthy, and had a very untidy hair. But then Natasha could not think of the fact that, the man looked familiar but she just shrugged it off. Just then Aunt Petunia came from the kitchen, and looked at the screen for taking a look at the man. Natasha knew that, her aunt would be very happy to turn the person to the authorities.
"When will they learn," said Uncle Vernon, pounding the table with his large purple fist, "that hanging's the only way to deal with these people?"
"That is true Vernon. They all should be hanged without a trial!", her aunt said.
Uncle Vernon frank the whole tea in one gulp and turned to her aunt and said, "I had better go. Marge would come at ten by the train"
Natasha turned to her uncle with a shocked face. She was not sure that, she heard her uncle right. "Aunt Marge? Is she coming here?", Natasha blurted out. She knew that was a really bad thing for her and did not want it to be true. Aunt Marge was her uncle's older sister. Natasha was to call her aunt even though there was no direct relation between them. She was living in a county with a garden, and a bunch of dogs as pets. She never stayed at Privet Drive for a long time as, she did not want to leave her precious dogs alone. Aunt Marge did not actually hate Natasha very much, but on the contrary Natasha thinks that she might love her a bit. Aunt Marge always wanted girl children, and when the Dursleys did not have one she turned to Natasha. She wanted to turn Natasha into a perfect little woman, and that was what Natasha hated the most.
Aunt Marge whenever she came brought some old clothes of hers for Natasha, saying that girls should wear these clothes, as that is what a girl child should wear. She also enjoyed giving Natasha lectures about how a girl should be. She said that, a good and married woman always stays at home doing household work, and helping her husband. The clothes that she brings were always too girlish for Natasha's taste, and she refused to wear them after Aunt Marge left the home. Another thing she hated about Marge was that, she always spoke bad about her parents. She always called her mother drunkards, and that was the reason why she wanted to make Natasha perfect so as to not make her like her mother.
The last time she had visited Privet Drive was on Dudley's birthday. On that day, Aunt Marge had brought a small and old crown for Natasha. She said that, it was given to her by her mother, and will look good in it. When Natasha looked at the mirror, she saw that it looked very bad. When Aunt Marge made her wear the crown for the whole day, she was very frustrated and threw the crown after she went into the cupboard at night. But she had forgotten to close the door, and flew outside and hit the wall and broke. All this happened in front of Aunt Marge, and she became really angry with her after that.
After two days, Natasha accidentally stepped on top of Marge's dog ripper's tail. Ripper had chased Natasha out into the garden and up a tree, and Aunt Marge had refused to call him off until past midnight.
"She is here for a week.", uncle Vernon said to Natasha. "I expect you to behave with her properly. I don't want a repeat of what happened last time, understand? For that I have a certain set of rules."
Natasha knew that, this was going to be a really long week. Still she listened to her uncle. "Firstly, you will accept whatever she gives during the visit and keep it for the duration of her stay."
That was not a bad rule, Natasha thought. It was an easy one to follow. "The secondly, Marge does not know anything about your about your abnormality. I have told her that, you are attending stonewall high, while staying here. I did not say her that, you are in some boarding school as, she thinks that girls should not go to such school."
"That is alright.", said Natasha.
"And don't show any of your freakishness while she is here. If anything happens, you will never go back to that school, understand?", Uncle Vernon asked.
"Crystal clear.", Natasha said nodding.
"Well, Petunia," said Uncle Vernon, getting heavily to his feet, "I'll be off to the station, then. Want to come along for the ride, Dudders?"
"No!", Dudley shouted without even taking his eyes off the TV screen. "Duddy's got to make himself smart for his auntie," said Aunt Petunia, smoothing Dudley's thick blond hair. "Mummy's bought him a lovely new bow-tie."
"See you later.", Uncle Vernon said and headed towards the door.
Then Natasha remembered about her Hogsmeade slip. She knew that, she will not be able to get it signed when Aunt Marge was there, and she knew that the Grangers will come in the middle of her visit. So, she knew that, she had to get the slip signed immediately. She then went towards the door to uncle Vernon. "I'm not taking you," he snarled as he turned to see Natasha watching him.
"I want to ask you something.", Natasha said fast. Uncle Vernon eyed her suspiciously.
"Third years at Hog - at my school are allowed to visit the village sometimes," said Natasha.
"So?", Uncle Vernon asked in an angry voice, clearly impatient. But Natasha remained calm so as to, somehow not make her uncle angry. "I need you to sign the permission form now. As I am sure that, I can't do it in front of aunt Marge, and the Grangers will be here to pick me up on the last day of her visit I think, as she will be here for a week. After that I don't think you can sign it. So, if you could kindly— "
"Fine!", Uncle Vernon said. "Get the ruddy form here fast! I will sign it."
Natasha signed and nearly ran to her room, and got the form and handed it to her uncle. Her uncle nearly snatched it from her hand, and signed the form, and gave it back to Natasha. She then smiled and went back to her room, and she heard uncle Vernon's car starting. She then again went back to the living room, to drink water. Aunt Petunia was waiting for her downstairs, with a dress in her hand that looked like the clothes that Aunt Marge would give her. "Come here. You are to wear this dress when Marge is coming. This might impress her, when she comes. I don't think she will like you wearing anything else.", her aunt said in an ordering tone.
"OK aunt Petunia.", Natasha agreed and went back to her room to keep all the that was related to her school out of her room. If she was going to act like a real Muggle, she'd better start now. Slowly and sadly she gathered up all her presents and her birthday cards and hid them under the loose floorboard with his homework. Then she went to Hedwig's cage. Errol seemed to have recovered; she and Hedwig were both asleep, heads under their wings. Natasha sighed, then poked them both awake.
"Hedwig,", she said gloomily, "you're going to have to clear off for a week. Go with Errol. Ron'll look after you. I'll write him a note, explaining. And don't look at me like that" - Hedwig's large amber eyes were reproachful - "it's not my fault. I just have to do this."
Ten minutes later, Errol and Hedwig (who had a note to Ron bound to her leg) soared out of the window and out of sight. Natasha, now feeling thoroughly miserable, put the empty cage away inside the wardrobe. Natasha then knew that, she had to change into clothes that, aunt Petunia that had given her. She changed to the clothes quickly, and just after that she heard aunt Petunia calling her down to welcome the guest. Aunt Marge always criticized the way she looked, so as she went down she started to put her hair into a quick ponytail. But she was unsuccessful in that, so she had to keep it how it really was.
All too soon, there was a crunch of gravel outside as Uncle Vernon's car pulled back into the driveway, then the clunk of the car doors and footsteps on the garden path. "Get the door!" Aunt Petunia hissed at Natasha. A feeling of great gloom in her stomach, Natasha pulled the door open. On the threshold stood Aunt Marge. She was very like Uncle Vernon: large, beefy, and purple-faced, she even had a moustache, though not as bushy as his. The moustache was the irony in her face, as it made her look like a man. She had a big suitcase in one hand, and on her one side was the evil Bulldog of hers.
"Where's my Dudders?" roared Aunt Marge. "Where's my neffy poo?". Natasha struggled not to laugh as she closed the door. Dudley came waddling down the hall, his blond hair plastered flat to his fat head, a bow tie just visible under his many chins. Aunt Marge thrust the suitcase into Harry's stomach, knocking the wind out of him, seized Dudley in a tight one-armed hug, and planted a large kiss on his cheek. Natasha knew that, even Dudley did not like aunt Marge very much, and was doing all this only because he was being paid to do all that.
"Petunia!" shouted Aunt Marge, striding past Natasha as though he was a hat-stand. Aunt Marge and Aunt Petunia kissed, or rather, Aunt Marge bumped her large jaw against Aunt Petunias bony cheekbone. Uncle Vernon now came in, smiling jovially as he shut the door. Natasha just wanted to get away from all the madness, but she knew that she could not go anywhere.
"Tea, Marge?", her uncle asked. "And what will Ripper take?"
"He can drink tea out of saucer.", said aunt Marge and started going towards the kitchen. The three other Dursleys followed her, and aunt Petunia looked at her as if to say 'follow us!'.
By the time, she got back to the kitchen, Aunt Marge had been supplied with tea and fruitcake, and Ripper was lapping noisily in the corner. Natasha saw Aunt Petunia wince slightly as specks of tea and drool flecked her clean floor. Aunt Petunia hated animals. That was the reason that, the family did not have any pets. Pets were the only thing, that Dudley never got even though he wanted it. Aunt Petunia would always chase any dog or cat, that would come too close to the home. "Who's looking after the other dogs, Marge?" Uncle Vernon asked.
"Oh, I've got Colonel Fubster managing them," boomed Aunt Marge. "He's retired now, good for him to have something to do. But I couldn't leave poor old Ripper. He pines if he's away from me."
Just then Ripper turned and saw Natasha coming into the kitchen, and started growling at her. Aunt Marge then turned and looked at her. "So, the girl is still there here, I see.", she said with an unrecognizable tone. "I see that she has improved the way she dresses. Dressed perfectly like girl of that age should.", she continued.
Natasha forced a fake smile onto her face. She knew that, she had to bear a week of this nonsense. But she had no other choice. "Hello Aunt Marge.", she said as politely as she could.
"I see that, she has grown some politeness than the last time. Where are you making, her go to for education?", Aunt Marge asked her uncle.
"She is going to stonewall high. She is staying here, and going there every time.", her uncle said.
"That is how a girl should be. No girl according to me should stay in a boarding school. A good and obedient girl will go to school from her home, and help her mother or whoever is there in the house. You are doing a good job in raising her Petunia. I am sure that, this girl will become a perfect woman if she goes on like this. I hate the way others raise their girl child. It is just against the natural order.", Aunt Marge said.
As if wanting to stop Marge branting about the topic even more, Uncle Vernon changed the topic and said," Heard the news this morning, Marge? What about that escaped prisoner, eh?"
As the members of the house went to the living room, Natasha knew that the week was going to be a long one. She knew that, she will have to assist Aunt Petunia in whatever household work she does. She did not mind it much though, she was a bit lacking physical exercise after she had come here. Doing some work might help her, she thought.
As the days went by, Natasha was made to do many of the household work by both aunt Petunia and Aunt Marge. When Natasha was free Aunt Marge will call her near, and will give tips to how a woman should be according to her. Whenever she was working with her aunt, Aunt marge would pass on comments about suggestions for her improvement.
"I am very happy with how the girl has grown up. I never expected her to be like this. It's one of the basic rules of breeding," she said. "You see it all the time with dogs. If there's something wrong with the bitch, there'll be something wrong with the pup -"
Natasha now was getting really angry. Aunt Marge was now telling bad things about her mother. She was struggling already not to get angry, but now she was nearly getting to her boiling point. Aunt Petunia was also getting uncomfortable. She threw glances at Natasha so as to see, what she must be doing. Natasha felt that, her aunt could feel the rising anger inside her. At that moment, the wineglass Aunt Marge was holding exploded in her hand. Shards of glass flew in every direction and
"Marge!" squealed Aunt Petunia. "Marge, are you all right?". Natasha noticed from her tone that, there was only a little concern in her voice. "Not to worry," grunted Aunt Marge, mopping her face with her napkin. "Must have squeezed it too hard. Did the same thing at Colonel Fubster's the other day. No need to fuss, Petunia, I have a very firm grip..."
But Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon were both looking at Natasha suspiciously, so she decided she'd better skip dessert and escape from the table as soon as she could till everyone finished their dinner. She knew that, if she did anymore magic in there, she would be expelled from the home. She knew that she had to control her emotions from now on.
He heard the Dursleys leaving the table and hurried to the kitchen to help her aunt wash the dishes. Thankfully, aunt Marge had decided to go to the living room, so as to watch some TV. Natasha got through the next three days by forcing himself to think about his Handbook of Do-It-Yourself Broomcare whenever Aunt Marge started on him. This worked quite well, though she was getting looks from aunt Marge for ignoring all that.
At last, at long last, the final evening of Marge's stay arrived. Aunt Petunia and Natasha cooked a fancy dinner and Uncle Vernon uncorked several bottles of wine. They got all the way through the soup and the salmon without a single mention of Natasha; during the lemon meringue pie, Uncle Vernon bored them a with a long talk about Grunnings, his drill-making company; then Aunt Petunia made coffee and Uncle Vernon brought out a bottle of brandy. "Can I tempt you, Marge?"
Aunt Marge had already had quite a lot of wine. Her huge face was very red.
"Just a small one, then," she chuckled. "A bit more than that...and a bit more...that's the ticket.". Dudley was eating his fourth slice of pie. Aunt Petunia was sipping coffee with her little finger sticking out. Natasha really wanted to disappear into his bedroom, but he met Uncle Vernon's angry little eyes and knew he would have to sit it out.
"Aah," said Aunt Marge, smacking her lips and putting the empty brandy glass back down. "Excellent nosh, Petunia. It's normally just a fry-up for me of an evening, with twelve dogs to look after..." She burped richly and patted her great tweed stomach. "Pardon me. But I do like to see a healthy-sized boy," she went on, winking at Dudley. "and a well-mannered girl.", she continued with a glance to Natasha. "When I first saw her, I expected her to be very rude, and troublemaking girl when she grows up. But I don't think it is just her fault, all the things are on the breeding. You get that with dogs. I had Colonel Fubster drown one last year. Ratty little thing it was. Weak. Under bred.", she continued.
Natasha was trying to remember page twelve of one of her books: A Charm to Cure Reluctant Reversers.
"It all comes down to blood, as I was saying the other day. Bad blood will out. Now, I'm saying nothing against your family, Petunia" - she patted Aunt Petunia's bony hand with her shovel-like one "but your sister was a bad egg. They turn up in the best families. Then she ran off with a wastrel and here's the result right in front of us."
Natasha was staring at her plate, a funny ringing in her ears. Grasp your broom firmly by the tail, she thought. But she couldn't remember what came next. She was trying her best to keep calm. Doing that, she was very much close to tears. She didn't want to do anymore magic, she didn't want to anger neither her uncle nor her aunt. But Aunt Marge's voice seemed to be boring into him like one of Uncle Vernon's drills.
"This Potter," said Aunt Marge loudly, seizing the brandy bottle and splashing more into her glass and over the tablecloth, "you never told me what he did?"
Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia were looking extremely tense. Dudley had even looked up from his pie to gape at his parents.
"He - didn't work," said Uncle Vernon, with half a glance at Harry. "Unemployed.". Natasha nearly spat onto her plate. She just wanted to run out now.
"As I expected!" said Aunt Marge, taking a huge swig of brandy and wiping her chin on her sleeve. "A no-account, good-for-nothing, lazy scrounger who -"
"He was not," said Natasha suddenly. The table went very quiet. Natasha was shaking all over. He had never felt so angry in her life.
"MORE BRANDY!" yelled Uncle Vernon, who had gone very white. She emptied the bottle into Aunt Marge's glass. "You, girl," he snarled at Natasha. "Go to bed, go on – your aunt can handle this. "
"No, Vernon," hiccupped Aunt Marge, holding up a hand, her tiny bloodshot eyes fixed on Harry's. "Go on, girl, go on. Proud of your parents, are you? They go and get themselves killed in a car crash drunk mostly -"
Natasha knew that, if she stayed at the table she would be in trouble, as her emotions will go out of control and something might happen. She then did not heed to her aunt's orders and ran out of the dining table crying. She also barged out of the home crying. Then she hit the street. She just wanted some time alone. She then took some time to calm herself down. When she was perfectly calm, she realized that she was totally alone in an alleyway. There was near total darkness around her. She was now scared out of her wits. She felt as though she was being watched by someone. Then she took, a look at the alleyway which was poorly lit. In the near blackness od the place, she saw 2 glowing eyes. She also saw a form of a large black dog looking at her.
She knew that, she had to get out of there really fast. She knew that, if the dog attacked her, she will be seriously hurt. She then ran back towards number four, and found the door barely open. She then opened the door and went in. She was greeted by an angry looking aunt Petunia. "Go to your room fast! I don't want Marge to see you! She was really angry, and wanted to kick you out permanently, and closed the door. But I and Vernon somehow managed to keep it open. Don't come out of your room, till eleven in the morning. Marge goes after that time, and will not notice you. Now go!"
Natasha was entirely grateful to her aunt and uncle for taking her back. This calmed her completely down, and she went to her room and fell onto the bed. She knew she had to stay here till the hellish Aunt goes. She also turned off the lights so that Aunt Marge will not get the suspicion that she was there, and went to sleep.