Chapter Two: Saving Dudley
'I see the boat Hagrid told me he left back at the dock has been returned to this hut,' thought Dumbledore to himself, Apparating next to the hut in question. Noticing the door to the hut standing open he walked over to it and called inside, "Is there anyone here?"
"Just me, the owner of this hut, gov'ner, and the lot I hired it out to," answered an elderly Muggle, standing next to the bedroom door. "Darndest thing, though, is how the lot of em got themselves locked in the bedroom when I know fer a fact there ain't no lock on it to start with. By the way, I don't see another boat outside and you ain't all wet, so how in the bloody hell did you get yerself on this rock in the first place?"
"Magic," answered Dumbledore, before quickly pointing his wand at the Muggle, saying "Obliviate."
"Daddy, make the man hurry up; I'm hungry and I've already missed three of my favorite shows," Dumbledore heard Dudley Dursley whine from the bedroom.
"If everyone will please step away from the door, by the time I count to five, I will have you straight away," shouted Dumbledore. After counting to five very loudly, he pointed wand at the door and shouted, "Reducto."
"Couldn't you have given more of a warning before you blasted the door in?" grumbled Vernon, stumbling from the bedroom with Petunia and Dudley stumbling out right behind him. Seeing Dumbledore and the rather eccentric way he was dressed, he barked, "Who the bloody hell are you, an escapee from the wacko room?"
"My name is Albus Dumbledore…" answered the aged wizard.
"You're the one that left the freak on our doorstep, get your bloody arse away from us," snarled Vernon waving his fist at Dumbledore.
"Harry James Potter is no freak, he is a wizard…" said Dumbledore.
"Diddy, go back into the bedroom and cover your ears," said Petunia. "I don't want you to hear a single thing this old freak has to say."
"I think not, and I command you to never call anyone outside of your own family a freak ever again," replied Dumbledore, pointing his wand at the door and silently repaired it and locked it shut. "I want your son to hear what I've come to say, as well. Now, tell me why you two saw fit to never send Harry Potter to school."
"Freaks like your lot don't deserve to be educated like normal people like us," answered Vernon.
"Did you not hear me?" said Dumbledore. "I commanded you to never again call anyone outside of your own family a freak again, and because you chose to ignore my command, the punishment I mete out to you this day shall be more severe."
"You can't do a thing to us, and you know it," argued Petunia. "My own freak of a sister went to that freak school of yours, and I know for a fact your own laws prohibit interference with us normal people."
"I do not know where received such information, but you are most erroneous in your belief," said Dumbledore. "A ruling agreed upon between the magical world's Minister of Magic and your government's Prime Minister in the year 1895 grants certain officials of my government the power to mete out punishment to those in your world who are aware of our world that neglect and abuse any suspected magical children. As I am one such individual it is my duty to see you are properly punished for your misdeeds. Additionally, should I discover you have abused young Harry, and rest assured I will, your punishment will then be even more severe."
"We just punished the weirdo brat for what he deserved for doing all of those weirdo things he did," spat Vernon.
"What you call weirdo things are called bouts of accidental magic, and I explained this to you in the letter I left with Harry when I placed him upon your doorstep," said Dumbledore.
"What gave you the right to leave the brat on our doorstep in the middle of the night without having the decency to ask us whether we wanted him or not?" asked Petunia. "He's been nothing but trouble ever since we took him, and so what if we never sent him to school?"
"To begin with, it is against the law to not send a child to school, and common decency says, all children should be educated," replied Dumbledore.
"Bullocks," Vernon stated with spittle flying out of his mouth. "Your lot doesn't have any rights in the normal world, and I don't believe a bloody thing you about your weirdo world having an agreement with our Prime Minister. If I had my way, we'd have taken the ungrateful brat and dropped him at some orphanage, or even better, chucked his arse into the Thames and let his worthless body go to Hades like all of your lot will."
"I must note, that your obviously loathing and hatred for young Harry Potter, was not enough to stop you from collecting the approximately £1500 monthly stipend you were paid by James and Lily's estate for the lack of care you provided for their son," said Dumbledore.
"The ungrateful brat nearly ate us out of house and home, and we deserved the pittance his parents' estate paid us each month," snapped Petunia.
"I had Harry given a complete medical check-up before leaving to visit you, and the healer who examined him told me you barely fed him enough to keep him alive, and from the looks of them, I'd say it was your husband and son that ate you out of house and home, not Harry," replied Dumbledore. "Because of this, Harry is at least forty pounds lighter and six to seven inches shorter than he should be, and if we didn't know better we would think he was but eight, not eleven. In private, our healer also told me Harry had so many scars, broken bones, and other injuries that were not healed properly, that he may never be completely healed."
"We treated him better than he deserved…" spat Vernon and Petunia.
"YOU DID NOT TREAT HIM BETTER THAN HE DESERVED, AND YOU TWO ARE NO BETTER THAN BARBARIANS!" shouted Dumbledore in a voice which caused all three Dursleys to cringe before his anger. "I am done discussing things with you and now pass down your punishments. Number one; every last penny paid to you for your lack of caring for Harry James Potter will be repaid along with a twenty percent penalty and any fees the bank I use to recover the stipend paid to you."
"You can't touch our money…" argued Vernon.
"You are most sadly mistaken, for the contract you signed to receive the monthly stipend for Harry's care had a clause in it giving the bank the Potters used the permission to assess your accounts should you not meet the criteria stated in the contract," interjected Albus.
"We didn't read any clauses like that when we signed the bloody contract, so we don't have to pay," argued Vernon.
"If my suspicions are correct, I would say, out of your own greed, you and your wife signed the contract without reading it in its entirety, and, you must now pay the consequences," said Dumbledore. "When you next access your accounts, you will find them considerably smaller. Now, for more of your possible punishments; as Harry is the actual owner of the house you live in and the company Mr. Dursley works for, it shall be up to him whether you continue to live and work where you do."
"You mean I could have been in charge of Grunnings from the day you left the brat on our doorstep," spat Vernon.
"No, you could not have been in charge," replied Dumbledore. "When Harry's grandfather purchased Grunnings at James's request, he only did so, so you could have a well-paying job. That's the only reason someone with your feeble mind and lack of education and experience could acquire the job you have. The reality is, that your job performance is so pitiful, that, had your employment not been requested by the owner of the parent company purchasing Grunnings, you would have been sacked years ago."
"So, you're just going to up and leave us destitute with no means of supporting ourselves," spat Vernon.
"Would you prefer that I turn you over to your own authorities with detailed information as to what crimes you committed against a minor child?" asked Dumbledore. "If I remember correctly, inmates in your own penal system look upon child abusers as the worst of the worst and quite often make such abusers sentences much more severe. So, it shall be you choice, either I will turn you over to your own law enforcement agencies or I shall do as I have already outlined."
"My parents gave us our house as wedding gift…" argued Petunia.
"No, they gave you the keys to the house at Number Four Privet Drive and allowed you to live there at the request of James and Lily," said Dumbledore. "James and Lily bought the house so you and your family would have a nice home, but told your parents not to reveal who actually owned the house. James asked his father to purchase the Grunnings Drill Company so Vernon would have a place to work and support his family. Otherwise, given his training and experience, the two of you would have most likely ended up on the dole and had to live in public housing."
"So, because of that brat, you're going to destitute us and chuck us out on the street," scoffed Vernon.
"I am being far more lenient with you than you deserve," replied Dumbledore.
"You mean you're even going to throw my son out of the only home he's ever known," said Petunia.
"No, I am going to make arrangements to send your son to one of your own military schools in order to save him from the deplorable way you've raised and spoiled him," said Albus. "What you've done to Harry was reprehensible, but the harm you've subjected your own son to was much, much worse. Without proper intervention, your son would turn out to be a scourge on society."
"My son is going Smeltings…" argued Vernon.
"No, he is not," interjected Dumbledore. "Using you as an example of what Smeltings produces, then I want him as far away from such a school as possible."
"But, I don't want to go to military school!" Dudley whined. "I heard they don't let you watch TV or eat whatever you want."
"That, young Mr. Dursley, is exactly why I'm sending you to military school," said Dumbledore.
"Will I still get to see him?" asked Petunia.
"That all depends on Dudley," answered Dumbledore. "The school Dudley will be attending considers family visits and weekends home as privileges that must be earned. Additionally, there will be no quitting this school by your son. If he cannot adjust to military school, then he will have his memory magically modified with no memory of his life with you and your husband.
"I don't want to go to military school," cried Dudley. "If you send me there I'm running away."
"Then, you leave me no choice but to modify your memory…" said Dumbledore, pointing his wand and Dudley.
"No, leave my son alone," shrieked Petunia, standing between Dumbledore and Dudley. Turning to face her son, she begged, with tears streaming down her face, "Please, do as he says, or we won't get to see you again."
"Okay, I'll go if I get to see you and Dad again," said Dudley, hugging his mother.
"As I said before, that young Mr. Dursley shall be up to you," said Dumbledore.
"Albus, I have made arrangement for the Weasleys, Lovegoods, and Grangers to meet us in the Leaky Cauldron at 1:00 pm this afternoon, and from there we can all floo to your office at Hogwarts," said a Silver Cheshire cat that only Dumbledore could see and hear after appearing next to the aged wizard.
"As it is now time for me to depart, I leave you with these parting warnings and instructions," said Dumbledore. "As today is Wednesday, I will allow you to return to your home and remain there until I come to visit you by this coming Saturday at the latest, at which time I will tell you Harry's decisions regarding the house at Number Four Privet Drive and Mr. Dursley's employment status. In the meantime, young Mr. Dursley will be visited by a representative of the military school he is to attend to assess his physical, mental, and academic readiness for the school. These assessments will be used to determine young Mr. Dursley's starting point in their school, which includes a remedial academic and physical period for students they assess to not be ready for their regular school. At this time I am going to revive the owner of this hut, and he can take you back to your car."