Dudley Dursley and the Letter to Hogwarts

Dudley Dursley walks out on his family the moment the letter arrives on his daughter's eleventh birthday.

Because yes, his little Ella is beautiful - petite and redheaded and sunny, with chocolatey eyes and a heart-shaped face that she must get from Susan's side of the family because she certainly didn't get it from the Dursleys - but beauty doesn't make up for being a freak, and he would rather start over new than admit to his friends that he's got a witch for a daughter.

"Dudley," Susan says on the phone that night. "Please come home."

"I can't." He's lying on the bed in his motel room, fully clothed because who knows when they last changed the moth-bitten sheets in this place, and in the background he can hear his Ella prattling about wands and owls. "Susan, there's something I've never told you."

His wife sighs into the phone. "What is it?"

He swallows. "Please don't be alarmed."

"Just tell me."

"I - I have some experience with this Hogwarts."

He can picture the expression on her face: eyebrows raised, lips pressed together. "You do?"

"Yes." He closes his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose. All kinds of visions are floating behind his eyes - he was holding his daughter in his arms for the first time, looking down at her sweet little face, telling everyone how smart she was, how alert her eyes were, as if she already knew what was going on around her, as if she were some kind of genius - and it makes sense now, all of it makes sense, he knows why Ella didn't break her arm falling from a second-story window and why bad things are always happening to that bully George Parker when he teases one of Ella's friends and why it rains whenever Ella gets angry.

"What kind of experience?" Susan asks through the phone.

Dudley takes a deep breath. "When I was a boy I had this cousin. Oddest child in the world, he was always sleeping under the stairs for some reason. But he got that letter on his eleventh birthday. Addressed right to his bedroom, same was Ella's was: Harry James Potter, Cupboard Under the Stairs, Little Wh - "

"Your cousin is Harry Potter?"

Dudley frowns. "Do you know him?"

Susan is quiet for a moment. "Ella," he hears her say with her head tilted away from the phone. "Honey, go play in your room."

"Susan?" Dudley asks. "How do you know Harry?"

A sigh. "There's something I never told you, either."

He sits up and wipes a clammy hand on his jeans. "What is it?"

(He already knows. He's praying he's wrong.)

"I . . . I, erm . . . I went to Hogwarts, actually."

Dudley can't breathe.

"I was in Harry's year," Susan continues. "Not the same house - I was a Hufflepuff, he was a Gryffindor - but we had lessons together, and I joined Dumbledore's Army in our fifth year."

"Stop," Dudley manages. "Stop."

A sniffle so quiet he might have imagined it. "I left that life behind, Dudley," she whispers. "The wizarding world is dangerous. My entire family was murdered - uncle, aunt, cousins. My auntie Amelia was tortured to death."

Dudley slams his fist down on the bedside table. "I won't send my daughter into a place that lets that happen," he says. "I won't let her endanger herself, and I won't let her endanger me."

"She got the letter, Dudley," Susan says miserably. "It's too late. She's going to have questions - "

"Then answer them!" Dudley roars. "She's not going."

"You can't change who she is!"

"No daughter of mine," Dudley says, pronouncing each word carefully, "is a God damned witch."

He hangs up.

He shuts off the light.

He lies back on the bed.

Silence.

(It doesn't last more than a minute before he's up again and heading out the door.)

Harry comes to the door after the second knock. "Dudley?" he says, eyes wide with surprise. "I wasn't expecting - how d'you know where I live?"

Dudley is standing awkwardly on the doorstep. "Your address is on the Christmas cards."

"Right." Harry looks just as uncomfortable as Dudley feels. "Erm. Well. Come in, I suppose."

"Thank you." He steps over the threshold and slides out of his jacket.

Harry closes the door. "You've gotten thinner," he says.

"Wife keeps me on a strict diet."

"Wife?" Harry repeats, taking Dudley's coat and hanging it on the hook by the door.

"Harry?" a woman calls from upstairs. "Who is it?"

"Just my cousin," Harry calls back. "No need to come down, Ginny." He turns to Dudley. "Unless you want to meet her?"

"No, no, it's fine." Dudley tries his best to smile. "I came here for you."

"Right." Harry still looks confused. "Well. Come sit, then."

Dudley follows his cousin into the living room and sinks into the sofa. "Nice house," he says. "Can't believe I've never come round here."

"Yeah." Harry sits in the armchair on the other side of the room.

"I've been busy," Dudley says, as if that excuses it.

"For twenty years," Harry says, raising his eyebrows. "That's extremely busy."

Dudley offers an awkward shrug.

"So you've got a wife," Harry says when the silence has stretched on for a moment too long. "Congratulations. Any kids?"

"One. Ella. She's eleven today."

"Well, happy birthday Ella."

"Middle name's Amelia," Dudley says. "After my wife's dead aunt."

Harry nods politely. "Nice name."

Dudley licks his lips. "My wife Susan. Susan Dursley."

Harry doesn't react. "Susan is also a nice - "

"Susan Bones Dursley."

The connection clicks. Harry jumps out of his chair. "You married Susan Bones?"

"She didn't tell me she was a bloody witch."

Harry begins to pace. "She didn't - hang on, are you only finding out about this now?"

Dudley nods, and Harry collapses back into his chair.

"So that's why you're here." Harry takes off his glasses and presses his palms against his eyes. "You need a place to stay while you finalize the divorce, is that it?"

"Divorce?" Dudley repeats. "I'm not leaving her."

"You aren't?"

"No." Dudley reaches into his pocket and fishes around. "I was going to, but - well. Here." He pulls out a crumpled envelope and hands it to his cousin.

Harry puts his glasses back on and scans the parchment. "Your daughter is a witch," he says softly. "Of course."

"Just got the letter today." Dudley motions for Harry to hand the envelope back. "Susan says Hogwarts is dangerous."

"It isn't so bad."

"She says her entire family died."

Harry waves his hand as if Susan's family is inconsequential. "That was Voldemort. That had nothing to do with Hogwarts."

"No?"

"Voldemort's gone, Dudley. He's never coming back. There is no reason for you to be afraid to send Ella to Hogwarts."

Dudley exhales. "She really wants to go," he says. "She was babbling about it all night. And I just . . . I love her so much. I just want her to be safe."

Harry looks thoughtful. "Wait here," he says, and he stands and goes upstairs.

Dudley looks at his cell phone and wonders whether he should call Susan.

"This," Harry says as he comes back into the living room, "is Lily Luna."

The little redhead offers Dudley a shy wave.

"She's my daughter," Harry says. "My youngest. She just turned eleven last month. And she's going to Hogwarts next year, aren't you, sweetie?"

Lily Luna nods.

"And who's going to look after you at Hogwarts?" Harry asks his daughter.

"James," Lily says, still eyeing the man on her sofa. "Albus."

"Her big brothers," Harry explains to Dudley. "And why are they going to look after you, Lily?"

She shrugs. "They're my family."

"Do you have any other family to look after you at Hogwarts?"

She looks up at her father as if he's gone insane. "Yes."

"Like who?"

She begins to tick them off on her fingers. "Dominique. Louis. Freddie. Rosie. Molly."

"And who are they?"

"They're my cousins, Daddy."

"That's a lot of people looking out for you."

"And Professor Neville," Lily adds. "But he's not family. He's just a friend."

"Right." Harry looks back to Dudley. "Lily's family is your family, too," he says to his cousin. "And Ella's family. And I will personally make sure that if your daughter goes to Hogwarts, she will have her entire family looking out for her."

"Who's Ella?" Lily asks.

"My daughter," Dudley says quietly, and then, after a moment of hesitation: "She's going to Hogwarts next year, too."

"Oh!" Lily looks excited. "Maybe we'll be in Gryffindor together!"

"Yeah," Dudley says, as if he knows what that means. "And maybe. Er." He looks at Harry. "Maybe I can bring her here someday, to play with you."

Harry is smiling.

"Okay!" Lily says. "Maybe she can come tomorrow."

"Maybe." Dudley tightens his grip on his cell phone. "If you two will excuse me," he says, standing up, "I have to make a phone call."

"What's a phone?" Lily asks, and Harry laughs at Dudley's horrified expression.

"You'll get used to it," he promises his cousin, and then he turns to his daughter. "A phone is a muggle contraption. . . ."

Dudley walks outside and presses his phone against his ear. "Susan?" he says when his wife answers. "I, er, I've changed my mind."

(In the background, he hears his daughter singing a song about hoggy warty Hogwarts at the top of her lungs, and for some reason he can't prevent a smile from spreading across his face.)

[Disney Character Competition: Bagheera - write about someone who disapproves of something]

[2015 New Year's Resolution Competition: Write about Dudley Dursley having a magical child]

[Build-A-Bear Challenge: Extra Stuffing - exceed 1,000 words]

[Greek Mythology Challenge: Cronus - write about a disappointed parent]