THE gift From Death Year 4

Chapter 9: Fourth year Part 2

15, August. 1998. 11.00am...

"It's starting from where we left off." Harry said as the memory started.

By the time Harry arrived in the kitchen, the three Dursleys were already seated around the table.

None of them looked up as he entered or sat down. Uncle Vernon's large red face was hidden behind the morning's Daily Mail, and Aunt Petunia was cutting a grapefruit into quarters, her lips pursed over her horselike teeth.

Dudley looked furious and sulky, and somehow seemed to be taking up even more space than usual. This was saying something, as he always took up an entire side of the square table by himself. When Aunt Petunia put a quarter of unsweetened grapefruit onto Dudley's plate with a tremulous "There you are, Diddy darling," Dudley glowered at her. His life had taken a most unpleasant turn since he had come home for the summer with his end-of-year report.

Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had managed to find excuses for his bad marks as usual: Aunt Petunia always insisted that Dudley was a very gifted boy whose teachers didn't understand him,

"Does 'gifted' mean the same thing as 'special'? Sirius asked, smiling.

"No. It means I was lazy." Dudley chuckled, "I knew a lot of the stuff, I just never showed it or acted like it."

while Uncle Vernon maintained that "he didn't want some swotty little nancy boy for a son anyway." They also skated over the accusations of bullying in the report - "He's a boisterous little boy, but he wouldn't hurt a fly!" Aunt Petunia had said tearfully.

However, at the bottom of the report there were a few well-chosen comments from the school nurse that not even Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia could explain away. No matter how much Aunt Petunia wailed that Dudley was big-boned,

"Not true Mum. I was fat." Dudley frowned.

Petunia blushed.

and that his poundage was really puppy fat, and that he was a growing boy who needed plenty of food, the fact remained that the school outfitters didn't stock knickerbockers big enough for him anymore. The school nurse had seen what Aunt Petunia's eyes - so sharp when it came to spotting fingerprints on her gleaming walls, and in observing the comings and goings of the neighbors - simply refused to see: that far from needing extra nourishment, Dudley had reached roughly the size and weight of a young killer whale.

"That big were you?" Sirius asked, looking shocked.

"I may have exaggerated." Harry shrugged when Dudley glared at him.

So - after many tantrums,

"Tantrums?" Lily asked, "Isn't that a bit..."

"Childish?" Percy said.

"It usually worked." Dudley blushed, "I didn't care what I looked like if it was just Mum, Dad and Harry in the house as long as I got what I wanted in the end. It's stupid now that I look back on my actions."

"I'm glad you changed." Amber smiled, "Or I would have refused to speak to you, let alone marry you and have a child."

"You're not the only one who's glad." he smiled at his daughter who was sleeping in Petunia's arms, "And you were one of the main reasons I stopped listening to my parents until I figured out who I wanted to be."