Chapter Twenty- Eight:

Dudley and Gianna slowly made their way up to Petunia and Vernon's house. Neither one of them was particularly looking forward to the afternoon before them. Gianna shuffled her boots along the paved pathway that cut through Petunias perfectly manicured lawn. "Would it be terrible if I came down with a massive migraine in about ten minutes so we'll have to leave?" She slid her arm through Dudley's, looking up at him with wide, hopeful eyes.

"Come on, Gee," he said. "It'll be all right. I don't think they'll harp on it for too long. They probably remembered that Hogwarts started on September first, so they might not where ask where Ev is. They probably will just ask how he's doing and they'll leave it at that."

"I hope so. Not that we know anything about how he's doing because we haven't heard from him yet." Gianna exhaled in a huff. "But if they say anything offensive about Evan, I'm going to—" She broke off and waved her free hand threateningly.

Dudley managed a small smile. "While I admire your protective instincts… they are my parents. And they've gone six years without mentioning 'the M word.' Why would they try to ruin that now?"

Gianna scowled. "They're ruined a lot of things."

All too soon, they reached the front door. Dudley and Gianna looked at each other, not ready to ring the doorbell yet and announce their presence. "We could leave now," Gianna suggested half-heartedly. "They'd never know we were here. We can call back and say the car won't start."

"As long as they invite us and are respectful, I'm going to show up… I don't want to go through what my mum went through. I don't want lose my family." Dudley's voice was determined. "You can leave now if you really want to. I'll tell Mum that you had to go to work."

Gianna shook her head, her jaw set. "Thanks, but no. I should be an adult about this. For better or worse, they're my family, too."

Just as Dudley was about to finally press the bell, the door swung open, revealing a blank faced Petunia. "There you are." Her voice was flat. "Come on in. Tea will be ready soon."

She stepped back so Dudley and Gianna could file in. "How was traffic?" Petunia asked, leading them across the foyer and into the sitting room.

"Fine," said Dudley as he and Gianna sank onto the sofa. Dudley drummed his fingers on the armrest of the sofa. She had to have noticed by now that Ev wasn't with them. Wasn't she going to inquire about him?

However, Petunia did not seem to think that anything was out of the ordinary at all. In fact, she offered a small friendly smile and then bustled off to the kitchen. Dudley and Gianna shared a look but didn't speak. They remained silent even as Vernon lumbered into the room and dropped heavily into his favorite armchair.

"Hullo," grumbled Vernon, grabbing his newspaper and burying his face in it. Apparently, he was unaware that it was upside down and began riffling through the pages as loudly as possible.

Gianna raised her eyebrows. Dudley clenched the armrest of the sofa as though it were in danger of floating away.

Before long, Petunia came tottering back into the sitting room, clutching a tea tray. Vernon finally sat his paper aside and took a cup, looking a little more like himself. Dudley and Gianna both grabbed cups as well and Dudley wondered if his parents were finally going to ask about Evan. But they did not. Petunia and Vernon instead turned to each other and began chattering away, debating on the destination for their next holiday. Apparently they couldn't decide between Saint Simons Island and Martha's Vineyard.

Dudley and Gianna sat in silence, their tea untouched. Gianna studied the contents of her cup, her fingers clenched around the handle. Dudley meanwhile, stared from his mother to his father. Weren't they concerned about their grandson's well-being? No, Dudley hadn't expected them to press him for details but he never imagined that they would ignore Ev's absence completely. Dudley wanted to confront them, but words failed him. He thought back to that fateful night all those years ago.

"Now, can we please focus on the problem at hand? Evan?"

"Problem? My son… is a problem?"

Trying to contain his rage, Dudley sat his now cold tea on the coffee table and stood up. He turned to Gianna and held out his hand wordlessly. Gianna understood at once and took his hand, looking relieved ad got to her feet as well. They walk back towards the door, Dudley half hoping that his parents would call him back. They didn't.

Once they were back in the car, Dudley started fuming. "Can you believe them? I thought they'd at least ask how he was getting on or if he heard from him yet. " He swallowed painfully. "I think I would have preferred it if they were talking about sending him to priest again. I didn't like that they ignored that part of him. But to pretend that he doesn't exist…!"

Gianna bit her lip and placed a hand on Dudley's forearm. "Maybe you shouldn't drive when you're this angry." She looked down at her lip and giggled. She saw that she was still holding her cup of tea. "I forgot to put this back."

Dudley held out his hand for the cup and Gianna handed it to him. He got out of the car; Gianna thought he would have to go back into the house to return it. Instead, he hurled the little cup as far from him as possible. It landed at the edge of the lawn, breaking into three pieces.

Gianna got out of the car, too. "Oh, that was mature."

Dudley threw up his hands and raised his voice. "I'm sick to hell of being mature. They're my parents and they're acting like— like…" He searched for a bad enough word. "I can't stand it anymore. That was the final straw. I always said I'd take whatever they dished out as long as they didn't try to make Ev feel any worse than he already did. But I can't take it anymore. I'm done." He crossed to the other side of the car and got in the passenger's seat. "Let's just go home."

However, things didn't get any easier once they reached their house. They drove into their driveway and saw a blonde boy around Evan's age sitting on the front steps. He looked dimly familiar but Dudley couldn't place him.

Gianna however, knew him right away. "Johnny! How are you? I haven't seen you in so long! You've grown up so much! What are you doing here?"

Johnny looked up at her, looking worried. "Where's Ev?"

A/N: Sorry it's been so freaking long. I hate leaving people hanging. Thank you for not being rude about it. School is awful and I had lost my outline for this story. But I've finally found it and can hopefully write more.