Chapter 3

"Hello," answered Petunia in the kitchen as Dudley wandered into the sitting room, nodding to his father.

"Dudley, for you," his mother said, poking her head around the corner. "It's Piers." She covered up the mouthpiece. "Is everything alright, he sounds upset?" she whispered. Dudley shrugged his shoulders and took the phone from his mum, who gave him a look like she expected to be filled in on everything when he finished.

"Hey," Dudley said, waiting until his mother was seated on the sofa, the latest celebrity rag in her lap. "What's up?"

"Can you meet me at the park, right now?" Piers replied darkly, his voice cracking as if he had just been crying. In the background he could hear Piers' mum shouting. "She's drunk again."

Dudley looked over at his parents, Petunia recapping the article she had just read to Vernon who was clicking on the remote, his eyes set firmly on the television, nodding every once in awhile when Petunia would mention something scandalous. It was a routine they perfected during the year Dudley spent all night out at the park with his mates smoking blunts and beating up little children.

Sometimes he missed that life, but ever since Dennis got picked up by the law for possession the gang kind of fell apart. At first it was a huge blow to Dudley, who missed being called Big D with reverence and fear. Unfortunately, it was completely out of his hands. Dennis was shipped up north to boarding school while Malcolm and Gordon got into heavy drugs and ran away to live in London. The last he'd heard they were crashing in some shit-hole hovel too strung out to care.

Now it was just Dudley and Piers and they weren't as hardcore as they used to be. Their idea of a good time was hanging out downtown at a record store all day sampling rap albums and making bets to see who could get the most phone numbers. Usually they didn't score any, but it was fun all the same. Dudley couldn't talk to women very well, which made Piers laugh until it was his turn and he scared them off by talking too much, giving Dudley a good chuckle.

Even with the two of them they were still a crew and Dudley was going to protect his own. He was always Big D, even when there was no one to call him that, and that made him the leader.

"Just come over here, I will just tell my mum that yours is working late and there isn't a lot of food in the house. You know how she loves to feed people."

"Right," Piers said as something shattered in the background.

"It's all gone! GOD DAMN IT, PIERS! Did you drink all my whiskey again," Mrs. Polkiss shouted. "Just like your father!"

"I'm going out, mum," Piers muttered, trying to keep the sadness out of his voice.

"Your father went out, look just like him you do. Never came back, did he? Are you going to leave me too, Piers?" The accusation in her voice was biting and Dudley felt a pang of pity for both his best mate and his mum, they had both gone through a lot after Piers' father left, only Piers handled the transition more smoothly.

"I'm on the phone, mum. Stop sounding so mental."

"Is that Dudley Dursley? Tell that fat ass that his mother is just as bad. With her coddling she screwed up as a mother way more than I did. Why do you think no one talks to her? She's a gossip and a bitch."

"Hey! Tell her to keep 'er mouth shut up me mum," Dudley told Piers defensively, wishing he was over there to give the drunken cow a piece of his mind.

"You shouldn't be talking, mum," Piers shouted, his voice barely reaching Dudley's ear through the now muffled mouthpiece. "What are you doing you crazy bitch?! Don't pull that…"

The other line went dead and Dudley was left to imagine the row that was raging between Piers and his mother. Hanging up the phone he wasn't sure if Piers would be coming over anymore, though he hoped he would, for the sake of his sanity.

Hearing the phone hang up, Petunia turned her head, a million questions building up on her tongue.

"Piers might come 'round later this evening," he informed her, cutting her off. Falling onto the sofa he set his eyes on the television, his father having settled on some game show.

"We have company, Dudley," Petunia said, though her tone of voice suggested that if she had more information to go on she could see the possibility of Piers coming over.

"I'm sure Aunt Marge won't mind," he replied, not walking into her trap; there were just some things Privet Drive didn't need to be talking about. She might've gone about it all wrong but Piers' mum was right about Petunia. Except for being a bitch, which was just the whiskey talking.

"She's been through a lot and I'm sure the last thing she wants is her peace to be disturbed by two rowdy teenagers."

The sad thing about all this was Dudley knew that next week when Harry returned she would go back to the loving mother. For an object or person to prove its worth it first has to make another object or person seem inferior. Dudley was the first one-up Petunia had on her sister, it just took Harry's presence to remind her of that.

"Piers is coming over, mum. His…" Dudley sighed; he was going to have to give her something. "His mother is ill." He grimaced as the words left his mouth, if there was anything he shouldn't have said it was probably something about Piers' mother, not after what she said on the phone.

Nevertheless, Petunia's expression softened, her attention turning back to the magazine. "He can stay for a few hours, but I want you guys downstairs so you don't annoy your aunt."

"And so you can pump Piers for more information," Dudley thought grimly, watching his mother innocently flip through the magazine like she didn't want to know what disease it was and if it was fatal. It was common knowledge that Piers wasn't able to lie under pressure, a fact Petunia found quite useful when she began to suspect that Dudley wasn't going out to tea every night. She never voiced her suspicions out loud, nor ever accused Dudley of anything, but after she had a little chat with Piers she was keener on Dudley staying home to keep her company.

"Didn't intend to annoy her." Of course, they could be screaming bloody murder and she would never hear it over her snoring, which sounded like a rockslide crashing down a hill made of glass. There was times that Dudley suspected Marge could give Vernon a run for his money.

&

Twenty minutes later there was a soft knock on the door. Piers had taken his sweet time to get over to Privet Drive, it worried Dudley, Piers wasn't exactly punctual but he wasn't one to linger, especially when leaving his house. Feeling the eyes of his mother on his back, Dudley disappeared into the foyer.

Swinging the door open Dudley jumped back as Piers stumbled into the house, blood dripping from his forehead and the corner of his mouth.

"Mum," Dudley shouted, dragging his mate to the kitchen and the safety of the linoleum floor. Present situation or not, Petunia would not appreciate a bloody carpet.

Petunia hurried into the kitchen, magazine clutched in her hands. "Oh," she gasped, her gaze taking in the mess that was Piers. "My poor dear." Pushing Dudley aside she grabbed a washcloth and ran it under the faucet, wringing the excess water out. Tenderly, she began to wipe up the blood, which was still streaming from a cut on his head. It wasn't deep, but head wounds always bled a lot.

Piers was beginning to pale considerably, wavering in the chair. His eyelids fluttered shut.

"Dudley, keep him still," Petunia ordered as she began to pour hydrogen peroxide over Piers wounds, the sharp sting causing his vacant eyes to open wide. "He's lost a lot of blood."

As Dudley kept a firm arm around Piers' scrawny shoulders Petunia administered bandages to all the open wounds, smoothing them out gently with her fingers. There was a subtlety to her actions that Dudley wasn't used to and he sure this was the real Petunia, not the caricature like facade that she wore from day to day for whatever reason she did. It wasn't only her though, all the Dursley's behaved in such a manner and it was only now that Dudley was realizing that they were capable of a whole lot more.

The two of them stayed with Piers in the kitchen until reality set once again within his being. Understanding returned to his gaze and he weakly thanked the two of them, touching his bandaged forehead unconsciously. Vernon poked his head around the corner to see what all the happening was but Petunia told him to hush, sending him right back to the tele.

Once Piers could sit up by himself Petunia handed him a glass of water and grabbed Dudley's arm, leading him out into the hallway.

"What is going on, Dudley?" Her voice didn't express morbid curiosity, there was no whiff of victory on her person, she was genuinely concerned about Piers. The boy had been Dudley's friend since grade school and Petunia was fond of him for whatever reasons she had.

Watching his friend through a crack in the kitchen door, looking pathetic as he sipped his water, Dudley sighed, turning to his mother. "It's his mum, ever since Piers' dad left them she has been drinking a lot. It never got this bad, but she's been really abusive to Piers."

Petunia nodded. "He will have to stay with us then. We won't get the authorities involved; they don't help much in these cases. They'll just take him away."

"What about his mum? She is going to come looking for him."

"Don't worry about that woman, Dudley. I will take care of her."

For a second Dudley imagined his mother decked out in the leather garb of Xena: Warrior Princess slicing Mrs. Polkiss into little bits, the horrid woman screaming in agony as her throat was slit open, blood raining from the wound.

"Watch yourself, mum. Wouldn't want her to do to you what she did to Piers."

"I'm tougher than I look, Dudley," she said, a warm smile spreading across her face at her son's worry. "I've beaten up a few people in my life."

Dudley was shocked. "You? Beat someone up? Who?"

"Just some boy," Petunia replied, suddenly less keen on the subject. "It doesn't really matter now, that was a long time ago."

He was still interested, but her lack of enthusiasm warned him not to push it. "I think I should come along."

"I will be fine, Diddykins." Petunia kissed him on the cheek. "Now, go keep Piers company, he needs some cheering up about now. I'm going to check on Marge then I will make us all a bite to eat."

Dudley returned to kitchen, leaving Petunia alone in the hall. She stared down at her fists, remembering the way they slammed into Severus' face.

&

She watched him from the bushes as he walked out of his house, heading in the direction of the river. He was stuffing jars into a bag and Petunia thought she caught sight of a bizarre creature looking right at her hiding spot. Shivers running down her spine, she waited until Snape was around the corner before following, determination set in her face.

As she neared the river she saw his back bent over the water, pouring the creatures into the slow current with a soft splash.

"What are you doing, freak?" she yelled, stopping a few yards from him.

He whipped around, his greasy black hair slapping against his pallid cheek. "What do you want, muggle?" Snape snapped, stuffing the empty jars back into the knapsack.

"You ruined her," Petunia breathed, silently cursing herself. She had meant to do this a lot more eloquently. "You turned her into a freak."

Snape sauntered closer, leering menacingly. "You are the freak, you can't do magic, what use are you?"

Her arm swung forward, fist connecting with his jaw. There was a loud crack and he fell to the ground, looking shocked. "I just want my sister back," she cried, turning away from him and climbing up the river bank, shaking like mad. "I don't want her to be like you."

&

"I really hate her, Dudley," Piers seethed. "Sometimes I just want to take a knife and slice her open."

It wasn't as funny to imagine Piers dressed up as Xena, that image was almost frightening to Dudley. There was nothing heroic in the imagining, just a dark, troubled young man dressed in a leather skirt.

They were sitting on Dudley's bed. Petunia shooed them out of the kitchen as soon as she returned, back to her normal motherly self.

"I know you do, mate. But remember, you are going to stay here now."

"And be just like my dad, which will thrill mum. I told her I would never leave her, but I never knew she was going to end up like this." Piers sounded sad as he said this, looking down at his hands. "Why does everyone have to be so fucked up?"

Dudley was at a loss for words. Piers was acting a bit mental, going from angry to sad to angry to sad within the span of minutes. There was nothing he could do but sit there as his best mate ranted and just nod his head every once in awhile to show that he was listening.

"I have to see her once last time, just to explain things."

"No, you really shouldn't. She could've killed you."

"But it's going to kill her if I don't at least say good-bye."

"Let the bitch die. You wanted to kill her a few minutes ago."

"I am not worried, she will get what she deserves in the end."