In the weeks that followed, Dudley had managed to complete his family tree and earn top marks on it due to having gone out of his way.
He had, with quite a bit of help from Jake and the school librarian, managed to track his mother's family a little bit and some of his uncle's family. It confused Dudley; the Potters weren't associated with anything resembling drunkards. In fact, from what Dudley had learned, it seemed they had been nobles. Lords or Counts or something… he wasn't quite clear since it wasn't very clear in any books.
But magic was a secret, wasn't it? So maybe the real things were in the magical world and they had just had to find the closest non-magical excuse to explain why people couldn't go on that land or anything. But Dudley had no idea what to think about the newspaper from a small village where the Potters had apparently lived called Godric's Hollow.
Apparently they had been killed in an explosion according to the paper; that a homegrown terrorist group had killed them.
Was that what they had called the wizard with all of those followers? It was so strange. His parents had always said that his aunt and uncle were no good, drunken freaks…
But every source he was looking at said that the Potters had been noble and not bad at all. And his aunt Lily… from what he had found of her, she had been well liked in the area…
And apparently liked crafting things. For the first time in his life, Dudley wondered if he would have gotten along at all with his aunt and uncle. For the first time… he wished he had been able to meet them.
It made no sense, though. Why would his parents say those things about the Potters? Was it to divert attention away from Harry? If his cousin was famous, maybe it was so people would think it was another Harry with them. That was the only reason that Dudley could imagine because it wouldn't make sense for his parents to have said all those things…
But why didn't they at least tell Harry and him the truth?
Needless to say, though he was glad he had gotten top marks on the assignment, it had raised quite a few uncomfortable questions in Dudley's mind about his and Harry's family. And there was another concern he had found too, one that really wasn't his business but it made him curious. He had seen it in Al's book so he had asked Al if he could borrow it for a bit longer.
The genealogy book had a lot of different tidbits and, due to the magic in it, was self updating and the like. Due to all of this, Dudley had noticed that the Potter family had been, in the magical world at least, extremely wealthy… and yet in the last decade, their wealth had really taken a nosedive.
It made Dudley wonder if anyone paid child support for Harry at all. Probably not, judging from how his father complained all the time. He figured he could ask about that later. But the most interesting about all this was how another family's wealth had skyrocketed in the same time; the Malfoy family. They had always been wealthy but this positively soared…
Positively happened to soar the same exact amount that the Potter family was losing.
Dudley had written to Al to ask how that was possible and was waiting for an answer. But with all of his activities and now these questions about his cousin… honestly, Dudley just wanted to have a day to relax.
Jake, however, had other plans. In fact, he had started going over all his notes and getting ready for exams… and was pressuring Dudley to do the same. Dudley didn't see the point.
"Jake, the exams are ages away."
"Ten weeks," Jake said patiently. "That's not ages, that's not even three months!"
Dudley shook his head, "But what are you worrying for? You already know everything."
"What am I worrying for? Are you mental? You realize we need to pass these exams to get into the second year? They're very important, I should have started studying months ago, I don't know what's gotten into me…"
Unfortunately, the teachers seemed to be thinking along the same lines as Jake. They piled so much homework on them that the upcoming Easter holidays didn't seem as if they would be nearly as much fun as the Christmas ones. At least Jake made reviewing more interesting, making much of the information like a trivia game and Dudley had found a few computer program games that had the information they were studying.
Being home for Easter was fun but Dudley was worried. Al still hadn't written back yet… and his old friends hadn't changed their opinion one bit.
Dudley fought back, of course, but his old friends were, to put it nicely, insane. They had really become hooligans. They were putting bleach on cars, slashing tires, graffiting the playground, breaking things… and though other children and the adults in the neighborhood knew it was them, no one could catch them.
And they enjoyed quite enjoyed getting into fights. Well, more like beating people up since they outnumbered people. And Dudley would be an obvious favorite target.
Well, if they could catch him.
Like the current chase. Dudley hopped a wall and ran. He had been training for months now, working out almost every day and eating better and it was obviously showing now that no snow was impeding him.
Mr. Turner, from Number Five Privet Drive, saw the chase and shouted at the group, getting people to look over in surprise.
Slowly Dudley stopped running and, thanks to so many witnesses, the gang backed off.
"Thanks," he panted to Mr. Turner.
"You're welcome," said Mr. Turner. "Honestly, what has gotten into those boys…"
"It's… It's my fault," muttered Dudley. "We used to be friends-"
"Key word there, young man," said Mr. Turner darkly. "Used to. Good thing you got out of that crowd. Nothing good out of them."
"That's the truth," said Mrs. Figg walking by and struggling with her heavy grocery bags.
Dudley stepped forward, remembering how the old lady had helped him over Christmas. "I can help you with those, Mrs. Figg."
"Oh thank you," said the elderly woman, looking grateful as Dudley took her heavy bags from her. How the little old lady had even managed to hold these, the boy had no idea.
As the two walked towards Wisteria Walk, Dudley took the time to look around the neighborhood.
Little Whinging was so very well-maintained. It was, truth be told, a bit boring compared to the area surrounding Smeltings. That area had lots of different types of shops and cafes and lots of trails for people to walk or run on the grounds.
Soon they were at Mrs. Figg's house, Dudley wondering what had happened to Mr. Figg, and he was greeted by tons of purring cats.
"Would you like help putting these away?" asked Dudley.
"Oh, that'd be wonderful. Thank you!"
The boy put everything away as instructed and fed the cats, who mewed at him and purred before eating. One cat twined around Dudley's legs and he recognized it as the cat that had saved him during Christmas break. "Hey you," he murmured, petting the cat and making it purr loudly.
Mrs. Figg watched with amusement. "It seems Tufty's taken quite a liking to you."
The cat seemed to purr in agreement and Dudley blushed slightly. He had never been very good with animals. He had once had a pet turtle but he had thrown it out a window during a temper tantrum. He had had a pet parrot too, but he had swapped it for a real air rifle that he had broken…
Actually, thinking about it, everything in Harry's room was his old stuff that was broken. Dudley made a mental note to clean out the room and see if anything could be fixed. If not, he was sure he could use the parts for something. He could already picture reshaping that air gun to be part of a robot in a competition…
Dudley sat with his neighbor for a bit before returning home, petting Tufty one last time before he left. It was an uneventful walk home, something he was rather glad for. He could smell something delicious in the kitchen and his mother was watching one of her soap operas so Dudley went as quietly as he could upstairs to not distract her.
His mother could be quite obsessive about her soap operas, after all.
He had just entered his room when the thought of the robot with an air gun arm returned to him. He went to Harry's room and looked around at all the broken things, wondering why his cousin had left everything. Had he been worried that he would be in trouble for tossing this stuff?
"Dudders?" His mother startled him and Dudley nearly jumped half a meter in the air. His mother wrinkled her nose as she looked around Harry's room, "What are you doing here?"
"I was thinking of all the old stuff I left in here," explained Dudley, indicating everything with a wave of his hand. "I was thinking that some of it would be really cool to use in robotics tournaments if we could fix some of it up…"
Petunia seemed very surprised at the statement and she smiled, ruffling Dudley's hair, "You're so creative. Are you sure that's what you want?"
"Yeah," said Dudley with a nod. "Is it all right if I move this stuff?"
"Of course," said Petunia and before she could continue, Dudley heard the commercial jingle ending and heard a masculine actor's voice.
"I love you but you should know… I love your sister too…"
"Oh no!" Dudley's mother gasped and ran out of the room to continue watching her soap opera. "Jeffrey, how could you tell her that?!"
Dudley chortled to himself and began to move the things to his room. He was on his fourth and last trip back to his room when he found a surprise sitting on his broken video camera, poking at it curiously with a long beak.
"Hey Fawkes," said Dudley easily, closing the door behind him. "It took Al ages to write back, is he okay?"
The usual phoenix song as Fawkes held out a letter towards Dudley before returning his attention to the video camera.
Dudley took the letter and read the usual narrow loopy handwriting, rather surprised; Al had written more than usual:
Dudley,
I found your observation to be quite interesting and made sure to bring the matter to the attention of the proper authorities.
To sum up the findings, it seems that the Malfoy family has been stealing funds from the Potter estate. This was because Narcissa Malfoy is related to Harry's godfather, Sirius Black. She runs things for the Black family and since Harry's father had ties to that family, according to magical law her taking small amounts would not be questioned.
Small amounts do add up over the years, though, and these withdraws had gone largely unnoticed due to the fact that the Potters had received a fair amount of funds and estates and the like due to Harry's fame. It seemed to have been covering up the fact that the older funds were going missing and no one else noticed. Very good catch.
Before you ask, they were indeed confronted. Well; Mrs. Malfoy was. Lucius Malfoy is still in Azkaban and due to his status as a very rich, very powerful man, he will most likely serve his term without disruption before he is released. In the meantime, evidence can be gathered and so, in a few months, hopefully he will not be out of prison for very long before being returned to it. Though truth be told, the Goblins, who run the bank (and much of the wizarding economy, since I am being honest), seem to have made up their minds about the Malfoy family already.
Let us simply state that I do not envy the Malfoy family. When Goblins have made a decision, they will ensure that it is followed. The Malfoys have stolen from a wealthy family that was a client of the bank. And the bank does have a warning stating to take heed of what awaits the sin of greed...
I am sorry for the delay in writing. There has been an inconceivable amount of work lately and due to other circumstances, I will admit at times I do feel a tad overwhelmed.
Dudley could hear the mental "Masterpiece Theater" music in his mind that played whenever Al sounded stuffy and fancy.
The moments tend to pass quickly, though. To move onto topics that are not as dire, have you begun to prepare for your exams?
The boy groaned. Great. Another Jake.
It is always good to be prepared. Cramming before the tests just add unnecessary stress. I have used mnemonics myself and always found them most useful. Perhaps they can assist you as well.
Do take care,
Al
Dudley sighed and looked at Fawkes, "He really needs to get out more. He can be so stuffy."
Fawkes sang a song of agreement and suddenly, to Dudley's horror, smashed his beak against the video camera.
"Hey-!" Dudley yelped before pausing in surprise. Fawkes had just managed to open the battery hatch… and there were no batteries. The boy furrowed his brow and rummaged around in his desk, taking out some batteries that fit into the camera. A few fumbles later, he was holding a working video camera. "Wow," said Dudley, grinning broadly. "Guess it wasn't broken after all, just needed batteries. Thanks."
The phoenix preened at this and Dudley turned on the video camera, looking at everything in the room before turning off the camera and looking at the other things he had. He had a feeling he was going to be rather busy.
Suddenly, Fawkes flamed away; before Dudley could react or wonder why the bird had done that, his door opened to reveal his mother.
"Dudders? Are you all right?" His mother looked concerned. "It sounded as if you were talking to someone…" Petunia's eyes flitted around as if trying to discern if someone was hiding in the room.
"Oh," Dudley rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Sorry, I was just talking to myself. I just realized that the camera wasn't working because it didn't have batteries all this time."
His mother looked relieved and smiled, "Well that's nice! Going to use it then?"
Dudley furrowed his brow and slowly smiled, thinking of how his old friends had been going around and misbehaving and how, over Christmas break, they had scratched his father's car…
"You know," he said slowly to his mother, "I think I am…"
Perhaps he could set up some kind of security system. With his robotics team's help, odds were it was definitely something he could put up the next time he was home…
Grinning, Dudley watched his mother leave and he began to sort through the many many broken or unused things he had taken from Harry's room. He was pleasantly surprised that some of the old clothes fit him now.
He moved the old parrot cage next to the air gun. He could see it as being part of a robot. He paused at the old turtle tank and wondered if the little thing could possibly still be alive somewhere in the greenhouse. Tortoises lived a long time, after all…
He wrote a note to remind himself to look in the greenhouse just in case before returning his attention to things. A few minutes of cleaning got the old small working tank he had once driven over the neighbor's dog…
In his defense, that had been an annoying little thing…
There was the broken television set that joined the tank, cage and smashed up air gun… it was a while going through the things. The books, Dudley put on the desk so that he could bring them to Smeltings. Even if he didn't want them, he could give them to the library.
Finally, he went out to the greenhouse. It was getting dark, so he made sure to bring a flashlight. He didn't have very much hope; it had been quite a long time, after all. But at the least he could bury the tortoise…
His mother joined him, sighing and looking at him. "Dudders, odds are he isn't alive…"
"I know," said Dudley. "But if he's not we can bury him."
"Well… if you insist…"
The two had looked for a fair while and were about to stop. Dudley wanted to just sweep the back one last time...
It was near his mother's prized hibiscus flowers, when Dudley saw a funny shaped rock.
A funny shaped rock that had a head.
A head that funnily enough seemed to be eating one of his mother's prized hibiscus flowers…
Wait.
"BOWSER!" Dudley grinned happily, picking up the tortoise.
"MY FLOWERS!" Petunia wailed.
Apparently she was not as pleased as Dudley at the discovery. "But Bowser's alive!"
"That-that monster was eating my plants!" Petunia wagged her finger at Bowser the Tortoise.
The tortoise did not react. Indeed it was just snuggling against Dudley. The boy supposed it wanted to be warm.
"I thought that boy was doing it with his freakiness! Messing up my prize winning plants! Oh Dudders, get him upstairs and keep him away from my hibiscuses!"
Pleasantly pleased at the happy surprise of Bowser the Tortoise managing to survive all these months, Dudley happily brought him up to his tank. "You're a beast," muttered Dudley, depositing the tortoise in his tank. "You survived being tossed out a window, breaking a glass roof and Mum's anger at her plants being eaten. You're the most awesome tortoise ever."
The tortoise did not reply because it was a tortoise but Dudley didn't mind. He would go get proper food for his newly found pet tomorrow morning and hope that it stayed small for a bit longer since carrying a huge tank to school would not be fun.
Dudley watched Bowser the Tortoise crawl around in his tank for a bit. It was still fully equipped which was a good thing; all he did was put fresh water in it.
Thinking about what his mother had said about thinking Harry had been messing up her plants made Dudley shake his head and take a pen and paper out to write a letter to Harry, as well as send him some sweets for Easter; Dudley had gotten a rather large assortment of sweets for the holiday and so he would pass the deliciousness on.
At times like this, he really wished that the magical world didn't use owls. It was annoying needing one to send things when he didn't own one.
Harry,
Hope you're having a good Easter holiday and in celebration, I give you… more sweets!
Just to let you know, I went into your room and took out all my old things that were in there, including my tortoise tank, which brings me to some very happy news.
I found Bowser! He was still alive in the greenhouse! I guess he survived by eating Mum's plants. She thought you were doing it for some reason so I guess it's a bit good that we found the true culprit. That would have been a very confusing accusation for you.
Jake's been making me study like mad, but I have had some excellent ideas for the robot we'll be making and we still play chess. Plus I might actually be in a few practice matches for boxing. I just hope Bowser doesn't mind my smell after workouts!
Take care,
Dudley
He looked around and, as if knowing he had penned a letter to Harry, there was a tapping at the window and there was Hedwig.
"Hey girl," said Dudley, putting the letter in an envelope and sealing it before seeing the snowy owl eyeing Bowser. "He's not food Hedwig!" Dudley said this indignantly, giving her a very serious look as he tied the sweets and letter together.
Hedwig gave a dignified hoot and lightly nipped Dudley's fingers affectionately before taking the small parcel and flying off. After watching her for a few minutes, Dudley went to his computer and began to look up things for tortoises. He didn't want to be mean to Bowser again, after all. And then, his friend's habits sticking with him, he studied a bit before bed.
The rest of his holiday seemed to fly by and soon he was back at Smeltings. The others in his dorm quite liked Bowser and for now, since he was still quite small, Dudley knew that the tank would be fine. When the tortoise was bigger though…
Well, that would be a worry for later.
However, on his second day back at school, that was now quite busy thanks to all the extra work. But it was also a time where a lot of events and tournaments were being scheduled, so loads of extra meetings and practice were being had.
Dudley quite liked the robotics meeting; they were just as excited as he was with all the stuff he had brought them and they were already making plans to use it.
As for the books, Dudley had no more. Between Jake, his dorm mates and the school library, they had all been given away.
It was a very good feeling, being able to actually have a use for things instead of cluttering up his house. After a particularly satisfying session of Chess club, where Dudley actually won a few games! He was in his dorm now, the lamp over Bowser's tank lighting up the History of Magic book that he was reading as the rest of his dormmates slept. A soft rustle made him look up and Hedwig flew in through the open window.
"Thanks girl," he said to her as he opened the letter from his cousin. She hooted and flew back out again, probably to go hunting. Dudley turned his attention to the letter.
Hey Dudley,
Thanks for the sweets! I shared them with Ron and Hermione. They say thanks too.
I'm glad you found Bowser. Good to know who the real culprit was in destroying Aunt Petunia's precious plants. Saves me a punishment!
It must be reptile week though; you found your tortoise and Hagrid found a dragon. You know-scaly thing that breathes fire?! And he lives in a wooden house!
Dudley frowned at the thought of the massive man and barely managed to repress a shudder. He didn't think that big man needed anything else that was dangerous.
Malfoy saw it too, the git. We're trying to convince Hagrid to get rid of the dragon because we think Malfoy might tell someone (it's illegal to have a pet dragon) but not having much luck. Wonder what it's like having a normal life.
-Harry
Illegal to have a pet dragon and this man still had one?! Dudley sighed, shaking his head. Great. Harry's school had criminals. Why didn't anyone do anything about this? There were tons of students there. What if that dragon got out and hurt someone?
The world of magic was a very strange place. And dragons were dangerous, even Dudley knew that. He leaned over, picked up his pen and wrote back immediately, closing the book he was reading and using it as a desk..
Harry,
Have you lost your mind?! That's a dragon! Report it to someone and have it removed! That man is insane, bringing something like that to a school with all those people! If that's illegal, then you're probably going to be in trouble too for helping him hide it! You couldn't even handle Ripper, now you're trying to handle a dragon?! Go. Get. Help!
Dudley mused for a few seconds and sighed, wondering about the staff at that school. Honestly… but he didn't want to end the letter on a sour note. He didn't want to risk messing up things with Harry, after all. Thinking, he put his pen to paper once more and finished the letter.
Just be careful. Let me know how things go. And I'm glad you liked the sweets.
Last thing, we have a chess tournament coming up. Wish me luck! My parents are busy that night though I suspect Dad just thinks it's going to be really boring and doesn't want to be mean about it. All that practice with Ron helped since I actually won a few games today! So I can't wait until the tournament, even though I'm nervous.
Remember what I said about being careful. Write soon.
-D
He stretched and looked towards the open window, walking towards it and looking around. A few moments later, Hedwig flew upwards and perched on the sill, hooting softly at him before taking the letter and allowing Dudley to pet her.
"Safe flight," he said. The owl blinked, as if acknowledging the words, and flew off. Dudley watched her fly until she was a speck in the dark and then he returned to his bed. It was a bit late but he wasn't very sleepy. He picked up the History of Magic book and almost groaned; he had lost his page!
Sighing, he thumbed through the pages, trying to find where he had been, but a photograph that was moving in the book made him stop and thumb towards the back of the book. For a moment he had thought he had seen Fawkes in a photo.
He wasn't wrong; it was Fawkes. But he was proudly perched on the shoulder of a man.
Dudley tilted his head, looking at the photograph of the man that seemed to be pacing the ground with Fawkes on his shoulder. He was tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes in the photo, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice.
The boy peered closely at the caption under the photograph.
Albus Dumbledore and his familiar, Fawkes the phoenix, just after giving a speech on the twelve uses of dragon's blood.
This couldn't be right. Fawkes was Al's pet…
Now he really couldn't sleep. Dudley got up and went to his trunk, pulling out the letters from his magical pen pals and went through them until he found one, the first one that he had received…
Albus D.
Dudley stared at the letter and brought it to the bed, staring at it with dawning horror as he stared at the photograph in the History of Magic book. As if something else possessed him, he flipped to the magical index and soon was reading the small entry.
Professor Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., D. Wiz., X.J.(sorc.), S. of Mag.Q.,[ 1881-present day) was the Transfiguration Professor, and is currently Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Professor Dumbledore also serves as Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards (1947-present day) and Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot (1950-present day) He is most famous for his defeat of Gellert Grindelwald, the discovery of the twelve uses of dragon's blood, and his work on alchemy with Nicolas Flamel.
Al wasn't a prefect.
Al was the bloody Headmaster.