It was a few days after he was back in school, returning to his bed a bit late after a tiring workout when he noticed the feather laying across his pillow with a rather plump envelope.
Mr. Dudley Dursley was written on it in a rather untidy scrawl.
The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment, and the address was written in dark blue ink. There was no stamp. Dudley looked at it—the flap was tucked in. He opened it, blinking as a small bag of "Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans" fell out and turned his attention to the letter that fell out as well. It was a bit splotchy, like ink drops had fallen on the page, and the untidy scrawl from the front of the envelope was evident here too.
Dear Dudley,
Thank you for the sweets. I really missed Mars Bars. The sweets here are different than what we're used to, but they're rather good. I sent you some to try. But be careful—they really are every flavour, not just normal ones like chocolate and peppermint, but odd ones like dirt, grass, liver... it's very odd, quite an adventure while eating!
Hogwarts is really interesting. I can't believe it's November already! Like you, I'm in a sport—well, on the house team, but I really like my classes a lot too. Well, except potions but the teacher is a git. And history. The teacher puts everyone to sleep. And Defense is odd. But the other classes are amazing.
Let me know what you think about the sweets. And thanks for writing. I'm not used to getting mail. It was a pleasant surprise.
Sincerely,
Harry
PS: Sorry if it's a bit hard to read. I'm still getting used to writing with quills!
Dudley grinned and put the letter and candy into his trunk before trotting to the shower. When he returned, he could see Harry's pet owl waiting for him. Nobody else was around.
She hooted.
"You're a really smart bird," Dudley said, peering at her curiously.
The hoot seemed much more pleased this time.
Dudley sat down and opened the letter, taking out some paper and his pen to reply... after trying the sweets of course. His cousin was right—they were quite an adventure.
"Bleeeeh! Soap!" Dudley said, making a face at one bean and wrinkling his nose.
The owl, whom he had been sharing the sweets with, hooted in agreement and Dudley was quite sure she had wrinkled her feathers as she hopped away from the offending jellybean.
One little bag wouldn't hurt, he was sure, but he wouldn't eat it all in one go. He had a few, shared with the snowy owl of course, and put the rest back in his trunk before starting to write a reply.
Dear Harry,
The sweets were very interesting. I had chocolate, strawberry, coconut and one that I think was soap. Very disturbing.
My classes are pretty decent, but my favourite is history. Our teacher is amazing—the idea of falling asleep in his class is funny. But you can't have him! He's ours! And you have defense classes? Any specific kinds? I've started boxing but that's listed as a sport, not a class.
Your bird seems pretty smart. She seems to know when I'm by myself... and she was smart enough to make sure I had showered first! After a workout is not a good time to be around me. Very smelly.
You're in sports too? I'm in boxing, like I said, and swimming, but I'm in other non-sport things too, like chess and my friend is teaching me more about computers. We're trying to make a game. I never knew so much work went into making aliens to blast!
Thanks again for the sweets.
Sincerely,
Dudley
"Here you go," He said, putting it in an envelope and handing it to the bird, who hooted and took it. Dudley paused a moment, re-reading the letter. "Actually... would you mind waiting a moment?"
The bird hooted and made itself comfortable and Dudley checked his watch before making a run to the school's gift shop. Panting, because he had quite literally run to the shop before it closed, he looked around for the item he was going to purchase.
"Hey Dudley," Gawlinski's voice echoed from nearby him, making the panting boy turn towards his teacher, who gave him a smile. "Putting in another evening run? You don't want to overstress your muscles, you know."
"Hey Mr. Gawlinski," Dudley answered back, smiling as well. "No, it's not another evening run, I just wanted to get here before closing. My cousin goes to another boarding school and I have something left over from allowance, so I figured I'd get him something from here. He mentioned needing a new pen."
"That's nice of you," the man said, nodding. "How old is he?"
"My age," Dudley answered.
"Well, if you want to send something from Smeltings, perhaps the city desk set? It's rather practical for a student." The teacher indicated it, making Dudley take a look. It had two pens, a note pad, a photo frame, and desk tidy. He smiled; it was silver plated and engraved with the school's coat of arms.
"I think this will be good," Dudley said, nodding. "Thank you, sir." He paused. "Er... sir?"
"Yes?" His teacher peered at him.
"We know why I'm here. So... why are you in here?"
"Ah, well, that would be because I like the soap and aftershave that's sold here," Gawlinski confessed with a smile, holding up the boxes.
Dudley peered at it and shrugged, buying some soap for himself. He didn't need the aftershave just yet.
"Copycat!" Gawlinski teased, making the boy laugh as they both walked to the shopkeeper to pay for their things.
"Imitation is the highest form of flattery, sir," Dudley replied.
"Except in essays," said the man quite seriously.
"We know, sir. You've said it over and over and over again," Dudley said before he recited, "'A person's soul goes into their craft! Stealing someone's work is like stealing their soul! There's no reasoning with people who will sink so low as to steal souls! I will fail anyone who plagiarizes, no exceptions! There will be no soul stealing in my class!'"
Gawlinski blinked a few times and grumbled, "I have not said it that frequently... have I?"
"Well," Dudley said, grinning, "I did just say your plagerism speech word for word, sir."
"... Shush!" Gawlinski said, making Dudley laugh. "Well, I'll see you in class tomorrow, Dudley. Don't stay up too late. Don't want you sleeping in class." He gave a devious grin, "Well, not in my class, anyway."
"I won't," Dudley replied, smiling. "Have a good evening, sir."
"You too." The two separated and Dudley returned to his dorm where his cousin's owl was still patiently waiting. He put down his purchases and jotted on his letter.
PS: It's not a quill, but I hope it helps the writing issue a bit!
"There we go," he murmured, tying the city desk and letter together. He handed them to the owl, who looked suspiciously like she was sniffing Dudley's new soap.
She hooted and took the parcel from him before nipping him affectionately on the fingers... and then flew not to the window... but to his soap?!
"Hey! No!" Dudley yelped, but it was too late. The owl had taken the soap with one of her powerful talons and with a hoot that sounded suspiciously like a laugh, she had flown off into the night. "You soap thief!" He called through the window.
He pouted a moment before shrugging and reading more books about programming.
The next week passed relatively quickly, with Dudley focusing on classes and activities. Gawlinski had pointed out an error in their history game and so they were busy fixing dialogue and the like.
Plus he had finished his history project. The teacher in charge of the video department had been very helpful and Dudley had been surprised at how much work went into just a few minutes of a show. He had done a "Live from Hadrian's Wall" broadcast, getting some help from the people he knew in boxing and the chess club by having them act as the workers and Romans. It had been fun to do mock interviews and the like. He had earned one of the highest marks for it and everyone in the class had had a good laugh and actually paid attention to the project.
Add that to the fact that he had actually won a few games in chess club, and one could say that Dudley was very happy. It got even better at the end of the week, when he saw a certain snowy owl waiting for him once more with a heavy parcel.
"Hullo soap thief," Dudley said.
The owl hooted and Dudley smiled and took the package, reading the letter first.
Dear Dudley,
You are a life saver. The pens made my life so much easier for every class. A lot of my classmates want them now. I guess no one realized how much work went into dipping the quill until we stopped doing it! And the notebook helps with notes, even though they do get me slightly confused looks by the people from families that don't know anything about the Muggle world.
None of that matters for Potions, though. Snape is still an utter git. I swear, he won't be happy unless I type my essays or something, but electricity doesn't work here so I can't exactly use a computer to print them. He really seems to hate me specifically for some reason.
I'm also jealous you have a good teacher for history. Maybe you can help me out! I gave you a copy of our textbook, A History of Magic. I hope you like it!
Defense Against the Dark Arts is a class here. It teaches us about Dark creatures and wizards and spells and how to combat them. But Professor Quirrell is scared of his own subject (and shadow!) and stutters so much in the class that it's hard to learn anything.
Dudley blinked. Muggle? Well, if Harry was a wizard, it would make sense for them to have a name for people without no electricity? He would die! And why would a teacher hate only Harry when his cousin hadn't even known about magic until the summer? As for helping Harry, he didn't know how different magical history was, but history was history. The past was the past and history was for studying it, all of it. And he had the textbook... Dudley forced himself to finish the letter and not rip open the book and start comparing magical history to what he was learning.
And a teacher that was scared of his own subject was just weird. Dudley shrugged and continued reading the letter.
You're boxing now? I think I'll be staying out of arm's reach this summer then!
"Oh jeez..." Dudley muttered, blushing. He could quite clearly recall the 'Harry Hunting!' days and he felt ashamed now.
But why hadn't anyone stopped him? He must have looked like such a git to everyone! He sighed and didn't even realize he was absentmindedly petting the owl as he read.
My best friend Ron loves playing chess too. Wizard chess isn't like normal chess though. It's like conducting troops. You tell them where to go and they fight on the board. It's interesting to watch, but I'm not very good at playing.
Dudley could relate. He smiled a bit.
I'd really like to see the game you're making. But I am curious... why did you send me soap too? Not that I'm ungrateful, because I needed some, but how did you know?
He gave the owl a slight glare, "You took my soap because Harry needed some? Doesn't the school stock it?"
The owl hooted in a way that Dudley was sure meant 'I liked your soap better.'
"But it was mine!" Dudley protested.
Another hoot.
And then the boy realized he was trying to argue with an owl. He made a face and returned to the letter.
Let me know what you think of the book and thanks again! Hope to read more from you soon!
Sincerely,
Harry
More writing was under it but it wasn't Harry's.
Dear Dudley,
I'm Harry's friend Ron. It's nice to meet you. Well, through letters anyway. Is it possible for us to get more of those "pen" things you sent to Harry? They're great! And those Muggle sweets were delicious too! Especially the "Twix" ones.
Maybe one day we can play a game of chess. I think it'd be fun. Wish we had a chess club here. Wonder if anyone would join if we asked about starting one. Thanks for the idea!
Sincerely,
Ron Weasley
Dudley blinked in surprise and smiled. Pens were cheap in bulk, that wasn't a problem.
As for chess... He grinned and looked at his cousin's owl. "I have an idea," he said, swearing she knew what he was saying. "But I can't send it out until tomorrow. Will you be around?"
An affirmative hoot and a light nip of his fingers.
"Okay, thanks owl."
Another hoot and the bird flew off.
Dudley grinned and took out the book that Harry had sent him. It was massive and he spent most of the night devouring the fascinating information, so fixated on reading that he didn't even realize when he had finally gone to sleep until he woke up, his face in the book, and his alarm clock loudly ringing.
Classes flew by until lunch time. He headed to the school shop and bought a few pens in bulk; not fancy ones but they would be more than enough for a while. He also bought some Mars Bars for Harry and some Twix bars for Ron.
After the afternoon classes finished, he went to Gawlinski's office to ask him for two chess sets. He even offered to pay for them.
"You want to keep both?" The man asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Well, yes," Dudley admitted. "I want to play a long distance game with someone..."
"And they don't have one," Gawlinski said, nodding before he smiled. "I'm guessing this is for you and your cousin that you write to?"
Dudley nodded, figuring that it'd just be easier that way. And it wasn't a lie, he was sending the owl to Harry.
"Do you know how to play long distance chess?"
"You write the moves on your letter right?"
Gawlinski nodded. "And you move the pieces when you get the next move. It takes more time but I think it's a good cause. I'll give you two of our older sets, no charge. They're a bit worn down, but they're more than sufficient for your purpose."
"Thank you, sir!" Dudley said, grinning as the man handed over the chess sets.
"Thank you," Gawlinski said with an amused grin. "Now I can convince the Headmaster that we need more chess sets!"
Dudley laughed and, after paying a quick visit to Jake and playing a computer game for a bit, returned to his dorm to put the sweets, pens, and chess sets down. Then he went for a run and right to dinner, where he and Jake discussed the new dialogue set and graphics issues they were having. It was tiring to head to the gym after they worked on it for a bit, but it was a good workout.
Especially because, for once, the speed bag didn't hit him in the face.
After his workout, tired and sweaty despite it being the middle of November, the boy finally got around to writing his letter back to Harry after wrapping the chess set, pens and sweets up.
Dear Harry (and Ron if you're there),
I'll start this letter by saying "Pawn to E4." We'll play a long distance game. It isn't your wizard chess, but the pieces will stay in their spots until we get each other's answers, so it's actually a benefit in this case.
Magical history is fascinating. From the tiny amount I was able to read last night, some of it is actually tied in with a lot of our legends. It's amazing to realize legends were more accurate than our explanations now. It's really quite interesting to read and I'm really glad you sent it!
The man that came to get you this summer, Mr. Pig Tail Giver, said you were famous, Harry. Maybe this Professor Snape hates you because of that. If he keeps giving you a hard time and all of that, then lodge a formal complaint. You pay tuition to learn and if he's too busy being a git instead of a teacher, maybe he needs to be reminded about that fact.
It's weird that you have a teacher that's scared of his own subject, though. They're supposed to be professionals in it, aren't they? But I'm glad you enjoy the other classes.
As for the soap, your bird took it. I think she liked how it smelled. I'm telling you Harry, she's a very intelligent owl. It's almost disturbing. We argued and I think she might have won...
And don't worry about being out of arm's reach. Harry Hunting days are long over. I'm really sorry I was such a git. Hurting someone for amusement isn't funny. Took a while for the lesson to sink in, especially since nobody at home seems to think that way. I wonder why.
As for the game Jake and I are making, it's a history game. Are you really surprised? I'll let you try it out on my computer this summer. Ron too, if he's interested and pays a visit to the house.
Hope everything is going well for both of you, hope you like the sweets and pens and write back soon! We have a chess game to finish!
Sincerely,
Dudley
He put the letter with the package and turned as a hoot sounded.
"There you are," he said with a smile. "Thanks for waiting. It's a bit bulky, but not too heavy. Can you manage it?"
The owl hefted the package experimentally and gave an affirmative hoot.
"Well, off you go then. And thank you again."
Another hoot and the owl flew off. Dudley watched it fly before flopping onto his bed and pulling out the history book Harry had sent him and began reading.
This time, however, he made sure to force himself to close the book before going to sleep.