Chapter 6

I spun round and found myself at eye level with someone's collar bone. I looked up at a very tall, very thin boy who looked about my age. He had a mop of blond, shaggy hair that fell into his eyes and the corners of his mouth were pulled upwards into an amused smile.

"Sorry 'bout the mess, mate," he said, "I don't see the point in tidying up. Better things to do in life, you know?"

"Well, you won't have a very long life, if you live like this. This room must be infested with bacteria."

The boy shrugged.

"I'm Hedgely," he told me, holding out his hand, "Hedgely Hodgekins."

"Dudley Dursley," I replied, shaking his hand hesitantly, unsure of when he had last washed it.

"So," said Hedgely, scuffing at a piece of hardened chewing gum with the tip of his shoe, "Flip said you would be staying here for a while."

"Yeah," I said, "Just for a while. Then I'll be going home."

He nodded and strolled over to his bed, flopping down on it with his shoes still on.

"I'll live here until the war is over and I can get a job and a place of my own. What are you here for?"

"I... well-"I faltered, unsure of how to explain why I was here in a world that did not belong to me, "I can see the invisibilis monstrum."

Hedgely blinked.

"Why wouldn't you be able to see them?"

"I- I'm a muggle." I didn't like referring to myself using this word that wasn't found in the dictionary nor that I had never heard of before today.

Hedgely rolled over to face me. "Wow, man, that's like, totally cool. I've never met a muggle before!"

"Really?" I asked, surprised. I had thought that wizards lived among normal people, as Harry had done.

Hedgely shook his head. "Like I said, when I was very young, I lived in Cheshire. I think I had muggle neighbours, but I didn't interact with them, and I never attended muggle school. I came here when I was five, and haven't left for more than a few hours at a time since."

"Don't you go to school?"

"My mother taught me how to read and write, and I've learned the rest from spells and potions from Professor Flip."

I nodded, guessing that wizards didn't learn ordinary things, like maths and geography.

"Where are your parents now, then?" I asked, hoping he would say they had been at a safe house that was, in fact, safe.

"Dad was killed by Death Eaters. Mum poisoned herself shortly afterwards. I was sent to live with Professor Flip, a close family friend."

"Oh," I mumbled, my face growing red, "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean-"

He waved away my apologies, seemingly unconcerned that I had asked about his deceased relatives.

"Never mind about my boring life! What about you? How did you end up here? I didn't think Muggles even knew about magic!"

"Well, my cousin, Harry, is a wizard. He was... orphaned," I chose my words carefully, understanding that Harry and Hedgely had this in common, but the other boy just nodded, encouraging me to talk on,

"He's important here, the Chosen One or something like that-"

Hedgley's jaw dropped, and he rolled off his bed, flicking his hair out of his eyes.

"Your cousin... is Harry Potter?"

"Why, yes," I said, startled that he knew Harry without me mentioning his full name, "Do you know him?"

Hedgely laughed and clapped his long, slender hands together with glee.

"Oh course I know Harry Potter!" he exclaimed, "He's only the most famous, most important, most talked about wizard that has ever lived! Without him, we would all be dead! No wonder you're here then, if you're related to him!"

I was shocked that Harry was so highly thought of. He was small, wimpy and, if you ask me, rather full of himself. I had known when we were sent into hiding for being associated with him, that he was somebody but not to this degree of fame.

"Well, my parents and I were sent to a safe house, to protect us from...?"

"Death Eaters," said Hedgely, "Followers of the Dark Lord, the most evil sorcerer in existence. Understandable that Harry Potter's family were put under protection; you would probably have been in their direct firing line. Carry on."

"Before we got to the safe house, I saw an invisible monster... so Dedalus and Hestia brought me here, to the so-called expert."

Hedgely nodded intently.

"I take it the Professor didn't have any answers for you?"

"No, that's why I'm staying here. To be experimented on, like a lab rat."

I had expected sympathy from a fellow inmate in Professor Flip's personal prison, but Hedgely didn't offer a word of comfort. Instead, he said,

"Professor Flip's not a bad guy, and this house is great and as safe a place as any! I'm sure we'll have a great time, roomie!"

He grinned at my expression, horrified at the thought of staying in such a filthy room with a guy who talked about my cousin as if he were a celebrity.

"Don't worry, I'll clean up!" Hedgely assured me, "So are your parents staying here too?"

I shook my head, the fact that I was without them for the first time, finally hitting home. How would I manage without Mum to look after me? I would end up as untidy as Hedgely. How was I going to survive without Dad to help me with my school work? I would end up being educated in magic, instead of English, maths and science, the things that mattered in real life.

"They're still at the safe house; I don't know when I'll see them again."

"Oh," said Hedgely, "would you like to talk to them?"

"How can I? Wizards don't use phones, do they?"

"What's a phone?"

"It has numbers on it, and everyone has their own number so you can-"

Hedgely held up a hand to silence me.

"That sounds ridiculously complicated. Come on, I'll show you how to talk to your parents in the simplest way possible."

He stood up and ambled out of the room. I followed him back downstairs and into a room with a large fireplace, that was piled high with coal but was unlit. An ornate vase decorated with an intricate swirl design sat on the mantelpiece above. Hedgely knelt down and pulled a wand out of his sweatshirt. He muttered something indecipherable and tapped the coal with the end of his wand. The flames leapt to life, jumping and hissing like a cat that had been trod on.

"What are you lighting a fire for? How does that help me talk to my parents?"

Hedgely dipped his hand into the vase and drew out a handful of powder.

"Here," he pressed it into my hand and pushed me towards the fireplace.

"Throw this into the fire, think about where you want to go and stick your head into the flames!"

"What?" I yelped, "Are you crazy?"

"No. Just do it."

"No way!"

"Don't you want to talk to your parents?"

"Of course I do, but I don't want to die in the process!"

"You won't!"

"Yes, I will!"

"Quick, look at that!"

"What!"

"Ahhh!"

While I turned to look at whatever he was pointing at, he grabbed me in a headlock, threw the powder into the fire and forced my head into the flames. I squeezed my eyes shut, and opened my mouth to scream before I realized that I was not getting burned.

"Diddy?"

I opened one eye to find Mum and Dad bending over me.

"Dudley?" Dad gasped, "W-what are you doing in the fire?"

"Dad- Mum- I'm alright, I-"

"Dudley!" Mum screeched, "Call an ambulance! Quick! Do something! Help!"

Before either Dad or I could say anything, she collapsed to the floor, unconscious.

"Petunia! Dudley!"

Dad looked between us, unsure of who to go to first.

"Dad," I said, "I'm okay. Don't worry about me. Everything is going to be fine. Help Mum."

"Dudley, what-"

"I can't talk for long, but I'm fine. Take care of Mum and tell her not to worry about me? Okay? Okay?"

Dad gave an exasperated nod.

"Good. I-I love you both."

Without waiting for a reply, I pulled my head back out of the fireplace and rolled backwards. I wasn't burned or hurt in anyway. I let out a sigh of relief.

"You okay?"

Hedgely was standing over me, looking concerned.

"Yes," I replied, "Everything is okay."

Hedgely smiled.

"Good. I'm sorry- for shoving your face into a fire."

After a moment, I smiled back.

"Don't be sorry, Hedgely," I told him, "Thank you, for shoving my face into a fire. That is the nicest thing anyone has ever done for me."