Confronting the Dursleys

Harry quickly moved to stow his wand as the elderly neighbor ran towards them, her bag swinging and clanking with what was most likely cat food.

"Don't put away you're wands!" she shouted, "What if they come back?"

She stopped when she got to the young woman and the two teenagers and began ranting.

"Dementors in Little Whinging! Oh I'm going to kill that Mundungus Fletcher! He wanted to see about a batch of cauldrons that fell off a broomstick! I told him I'd flay him alive if he went, and now look what's happened! It's lucky I had Mr. Tibbles watching too. The trouble this is going to cause- I am going to kill him!"

"You're- You're a witch?"

"I'm a squib. And he knew full well. I wouldn't be able to help you, and Diana hasn't learned any defensive magic yet! He left you all completely defenseless!"

Harry looked confusedly at Diana when he heard this.

"You mean this man, Mundungus Fletcher, was supposed to keep an eye on Harry, and he just ran off?" Diana asked, her temper rising quickly at this new development.

"Wait, it was him that disapparated from my house this afternoon, wasn't it?"

"Yes, yes, yes, but I had Mr. Tibbles stationed under a car just in case, and he came and warned me," she walked over to Dudley, who was cowering on the ground, "Get up you useless lump. We have to get moving."

"Let me," said Harry, pulling one of Dudley's massive arms up and around his neck, helping Dudley to his feet.

They stood there rather wobbly for a moment until Diana said, "here, I just learned this spell today, thank goodness." She raised her wand, "Mobilicorpus!"

Dudley rose a few inches off the ground. His eyes widened in fright but he made no struggle.

"Thanks," said Harry, rubbing the aching shoulder that Dudley had been leaning on.

They began moving down the alley and into the street, headed back to Privet Drive. Harry was having trouble absorbing all of this new information. It was enough of a shock to learn that the woman staying just across the hall from him was the Wonder Woman, but he had gotten over that after a bit. But now to find out that she was a witch, and that Mrs. Figg was a squib and knows Dumbledore, it was all so overwhelming.

Halfway home, there came a loud crack and a strong smell of drink and stale tobacco filled the air as a squat, unshaven man in a tattered overcoat materialized right in front of them. He had short, bandy legs, long straggly ginger hair and bloodshot, baggy eyes that gave him the doleful look of a basset hound. He was also clutching a silvery bundle that Harry immediately recognized as an invisibility cloak.

"MUNDUNGUS FLETCHER, I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Mrs. Figg shouted as she ran up to the man.

"What's goin' on, Figgy?" the man asked, confused.

"I'll tell you what's going on. Dementors, that's what's going on!"

"Dementors?" he said worriedly.

"Yes, Dementors!" Mrs. Figg replied, raising her bag of cat food,"DIDN'T- I- TELL- YOU- NOT- TO- GO- AND- WHAT- DID- YOU- DO! LEFT- THEM- TO- THEM-SELVES- TO- BE- ATT-ACKED- BY- DEMENTORS!" With every syllable came a whack to the man's head.

"Geroff me! You old hag!" said the man, trying to defend himself by holding his arms over his head.

"Wait, Mrs. Figg- Stop!" said Diana, getting the older woman to cease her punishment. She then turned to the man, "You're the one that was assigned to watch over Harry and make sure that he was safe?"

"Yes, ma'am," he replied, holding out his hand, "Mundungus Fletcher's the name. Pleased to me-" he didn't finish his greeting as a fist collided with his jaw, sending him sprawled on the ground.

Harry looked at Diana, impressed, as she glared daggers at the man she sent to the ground, "What were you thinking?"

"I didn't know you lot would be attacked," the man said defensively.

"But there was always a possibility there; otherwise you wouldn't have been assigned to watch him in the first place!" Diana said angrily.

Fletcher cowered away as the two angry women advanced on him, "Shouldn't someone tell Dumbledore?"

"Yes! And it had better be you. And you can just tell him why you weren't there to help!" said Mrs. Figg, giving him a few more whacks with her bag. He disapparated with another crack, "I hope Dumbledore murders him. Dementors in Little Whinging. And you had to fight them off all by yourself! Dumbledore told us to keep you from doing magic at all costs.

"So Dumbledore's been having me followed?" asked Harry.

"Of course, boy, did you really think that he'd let you go off by yourself after what happened in June? They told me you were intelligent!"

Harry was none too happy to hear this. People from his world had been near him all this time, and hadn't bothered to speak to him. They couldn't even give him any news of the resistance against Voldemort. Did they really think that he was so much of a child that he couldn't handle it?

At long last they reached Privet Drive.

"I can walk you as far as the door, in case there are more of them,"

"That's very kind of you," said Diana, thought she quietly wondered what the elderly woman could do if they did come around again.

"Now get inside and whatever happens, don't leave the house. I expect someone will be in touch soon," she said, before looking around nervously and heading back to her own house.

Harry opened the door so that Diana could levitate Dudley into the house. Upon hearing the door open, Petunia came to inspect, "Diddydums, is that you?" she smiled when she saw Dudley, until she saw that he was floating above the ground. Dudley immediately leaned over and wretched all over the floor. "Vernon!"

Vernon came pounding into the room and took in the scene, "What have you done to him? Release him at once!"

"I'm only doing this because he was in too much shock to walk on his own. I suggest you get a cold rag ready, Petunia," said Diana. Petunia ran into the kitchen, followed by Diana leading Dudley to be sat at the table. As Vernon and Petunia were fussing over Dudley, and Diana was standing by in case her help was needed, Harry was about to head up to his bedroom for some well-deserved rest until,

"What happened, Duddy?" asked Petunia, mopping his forehead with a cold rag.

"Did Mrs. Polkiss give you something foreign for tea?" This caused Diana to roll her eyes, "Who did this to you, son?"

"H-him!" When Harry turned around, Dudley's finger, as well as his aunt and uncle's glares were all pointing directly at him.

"Get over here, boy!"

Both Diana and Harry began speaking at the same time.

"He's lying!" said Diana, angrily.

"I didn't do anything to him!"

"What did he do to you, Diddy? Was it you-know-what? Did he use his thing?" asked Aunt Petunia. Dudley nodded timidly in answer.

"See, you did do something to my boy!"

"I didn't do anything! It was…"

Suddenly a screech owl came in through the window, nearly hitting Uncle Vernon in the head and dropped a letter in Harry's hands. As Uncle Vernon began ranting about "OWLS IN MY HOUSE!", Harry began reading. By the time he was finished, his blood had turned cold. Seeing that Harry was upset, Diana came over and took the letter from him.

"How is this possible? You were defending us as well as yourself!" she exclaimed upon finishing the letter.

Harry didn't even hear her. He was about to leave the room and gather his things so that he could run away. The letter said that he was expelled and that ministry representatives would be coming by to destroy his wand. He couldn't let that happen.

"Where do you think you're going, boy?" he said, blocking Harry's path.

"Get out of my way" said Harry, dangerously.

"I'm not done with you yet, boy,"

"Well I'm done with you!" Harry finished by pulling out his wand and pointing it at Vernon.

"Harry, what are you doing?" asked Diana, stepping around to face Harry and possibly get between him and Vernon.

"You're not allowed to use it outside of that madhouse!"

"Well the madhouse has chucked me out, so it doesn't really matter, does it?"

Suddenly they heard a loud noise. Turning to the now closed window, Harry saw Errol, the Weasleys' old, confused barn owl, who had apparently collided with the window.

"Oh, poor thing," said Diana, opening the window and cradling the creature protectively in her arms as Harry took the letter. Vernon began another rant about "OWLS!" as Harry read.

"Oh!" said Diana, surprised, when the owl took off from her arms back out the window. Looking at Harry, she saw the hopeful look come over his face, "What does it say?" she asked quietly so that the Dursleys couldn't hear.

"It's from my best friend's dad. He says that Dumbledore is at the ministry working things out."

Diana smiled at him, "That's wonderful. Everything's going to be alright."

Harry next spoke loud enough for the Dursleys to hear, "I've changed my mind; I'm staying."

The Dursleys seemed surprised by his change of mind. Uncle Vernon was the first to recover, though.

"Who are all of those ruddy owls from?" he asked, the vein in his head throbbing.

"The first was from the Ministry of Magic expelling me."

"Ministry of Magic!" bellowed Uncle Vernon, "People like you in government? No wonder the country's gone to the dogs…"

"Actually, it makes a lot of sense, seeing as to keep some semblance of stability, a society must have some form of bureaucracy to pass laws and look after the wellbeing of the people. And I seriously doubt that the Ministry of Magic affects you in any way. So blame it on your own government," Diana stated, glaring at Vernon.

After the glaring match was done, he asked, "Why have you been expelled?"

"Because I did magic."

"Aha! So you admit it. What have you done to my son?"

"It wasn't me that did that to him!"

"Was," muttered Dudley unexpectedly.

"Diddy," Aunt Petunia said, kneeling down next to her son, "What did he do?"

"P-pointed his wand at me,"

"That I did, but I didn't…"

"SHUT UP!" roared Uncle Vernon.

Dudley went on to describe hearing things in his head, and how he ran down the alley and tripped. Then he described the cold and the feeling of complete misery that the dementors force on their prey.

"So. You put some crackpot spell on Dudley to make him hear voices and think that he was doomed to eternal misery, did you?"

"How many times do I have to tell you that it wasn't me!"

"Then who else could it have been?" snapped Aunt Petunia.

"There were these things there," said Diana, "They were horrible creatures," she said, barely suppressing a shudder.

"They're called dementors," said Harry.

"And what exactly are dementors?" asked Uncle Vernon sarcastically.

"They guard the wizard prison, Azkaban," said Aunt Petunia; then she clamped a hand over her mouth.

"How do you know that Petunia?" asked Uncle Vernon, confused.

"I heard- that awful boy- tell her - years ago,"

"If you're talking about my parents, you could just use their names."

Suddenly, another owl swooped in and dropped yet another letter in Harry's hands.

"OWLS! I've had enough effing owls in my house!"

"Oh, for goodness sake, calm down, Vernon!" Diana yelled at the walrus of a man, "Watch your blood pressure. I have no intention of giving you CPR after you keel over on the kitchen floor!" Then as Petunia was moving to close the window, "Might as well leave it open, or you're gonna end up with a dead owl or a busted window."

Harry wasn't listening to all of this though. He was reading the new letter, which was from the ministry. It said that his expulsion was suspended pending a hearing on the twelfth of August.

"Diana," he said, breathless.

She took the letter and smiled as she read, "See, I told you it'd be alright."

"Well, have they sentenced you to anything? Does your lot have the death penalty?" This last question caused Diana to look at him in anger and shock.

"I've got to go to a hearing."

"And they'll sentence you there?"

"I guess so,"

"Then I won't give up hope, then," said Vernon happily. Unfortunately this attitude involving Harry and a possible death penalty didn't sit too well with Diana as the back of her hand soared through the air and collided with the right side of the older man's face. She had thrown all of her weight into the blow, causing him to stumble backward slightly.

"How dare you talk that way about your nephew,"

Vernon looked as though he were going to charge at her, causing Harry to stand between them with his wand drawn.

"Don't worry, Harry, I can handle this. It wouldn't be worth it for you to get into more trouble," she nudged him out of the way and stood face to face with Vernon, though she was about two inches taller.

"I'll have you know that that boy has been nothing but trouble since the day he was dropped on out door step," he whispered dangerously to her.

"I'll have you know, Vernon, that if it weren't for Harry, your son wouldn't even be here. He saved Dudley's life as much as he saved mine."

"Dudley wouldn't have needed to be saved if it weren't for that freak, and you, too," Vernon's vein in his forehead was throbbing worse than ever, "it suit us well if you would both just leave!"

"You know what? That'd suit me just fine as well. I'm sure we'd both be happier on the streets rather than staying here."

Just then, another owl flew in with two last letters. One landed in front of Diana, and the other in front of not Harry, but Aunt Petunia.

Diana opened hers while the rest were contemplating who would send Petunia a letter.

Dear Ms. Prince,

I realize that it must be challenging to deal with the Dursley family, especially given recent events. But I must ask of you to please hold out just a little longer. We are currently working on other accommodations for you, but it will be just a bit longer before we can come to collect you. Until then the Dursley household remains the safest place for you.

I know that it is difficult, but I ask that you be patient for just a little while longer.

Sincerely,

Albus Dumbledore

Diana glared at the page as if she were trying to make it burst into flames. She had seriously been considering leaving with Harry, but she respected the old man enough to trust his word. But there was a limit. She was startled from her thoughts when the scarlet envelope that landed in front of Petunia exploded.

"REMEMBER MY LAST, PETUNIA!"

"What on Earth was that?" she asked, but no one answered.

"Petunia?" said Vernon.

"T-they will have to stay, Vernon," said Petunia, timidly.

"What?" Vernon snapped.

"They must stay," Petunia was gaining her voice back.

"Who was that from?"

"Don't ask questions," she snapped at him.

Harry was about to argue, but Diana touched his shoulder, and he calmed enough to turn and walk away.

"You've got an owl, right?" asked Diana.

"Yeah," Harry was just thinking of sending a letter to his friends to inquire about the dementor attack and find answers he'd been seeking all summer.

"Can I use it to send a letter?"

"Sure," with that, they both headed to their own rooms. Diana got out a pen and paper ad wrote a short letter.

Professor Dumbledore,

You have four days. If by that time you haven't arranged a different place for me and Harry to stay, then I am leaving for America, and taking Harry with me, until it's time to leave for Hogwarts.

Sincerely,

Diana Prince

**I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter. How'd everyone like Diana's characterization, and what she added to the story. Again, I tried to shorten the dialogue so that I conveyed the gist of the story without rewriting the book word for word, but there are still a few lines that are similar or exactly the same as in the book.