Title: Respect - Part 2
Author: BBoy_mn
E-mail: ----
Disclaimers:
All characters, terms, names, trademarks, and settings, whether implied or stated, are the sole property of J.K. Rowlings with distribution and marketing rights held by Warner Brothers, and Scholastic, Inc publishing.
Spoilers: Part 2 has some references to the Chess game in Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone.
Date: 7/21/2002
Summary: Part 1 -A chance meeting in a department store plants the seed for the Durley's gaining respect for Harry.
Part 2 - As a result of the meeting in the department store, the Dursley finally come face to face with the wizard world. It is a sweet treat indeed.
Warnings: None - probably not ideal for children under 12. Subtly and delicately mentions French kissing and uses the word 'hell' a couple of times.
Notes:
Part 1 - I envision that there will be a time when the Dursley will have to give Harry some respect. This is just one scenario that could plant the seed for that to happen.
Part 2 - Plus, I think another funny story, would be the Dursley's visiting the Leaky Cauldron.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Part 1 - EPILOG:
Six weeks later, on the first day of school, Harry and Ron were on their way back from breakfast. Harry was starting to regret having mentioned the Dursleys trip to Diagon Alley to Ron.
"No!"
"Yes!"
"NO!"
"Yeeeesss!"
"No way!"
"Ron! Will you stop doing that? I told you, if you don't believe me, ask Hermione; she was there with her parents." It was turning into a struggle trying to convince Ron that his Dursleys ice cream nightmare had really happened."
"You took the Dursley's to Diagon Alley for ice cream. Were you insane at the time?" Ron, just couldn't, not in his wildest imagination, picture the Dursleys at Diagon Alley.
"Ron! What was I suppose to do?" Harry demanded. How stupid did people think he was? If he could have thought of a way out of it, he would have used it. "What was I suppose to do? Curse them? Beat them up? Run away from home? Exactly, what was I suppose to do? Besides, Tom invited them for butterbeer. If anyone is to blame, it's him."
"Sorry Harry, but Dursley with wizards; it's just to hard to imagine." Ron look a little stunned as his brain tried to process what he was hearing. He believed Harry, but at the same time, it was all too unbelievable.
"Ask Draco" Harry added, "he was there."
"WHAT! You had ice cream with Draco AND the Dursleys!" Now that was a thought that Ron's mind absolutely refused to accept. "You must have been insane."
Harry stopped walking, squeezed his eye shut tight, and shook his head. This was turning into another nightmare. "No! I didn't have ice cream with Draco. He just came over to be his obnoxious self until some wizard came along and hit him on the head." Harry turned and continued walking down the hall.
OK, this was getting more confusing by the second. Ron wondered if maybe this wasn't one of Harry's sleeping nightmare. I certainly sounded like a nightmare. "The wizard hit him on the head?" Ron asked, as he hurried to catch up with Harry.
"And Dudley punch him in the gut." Harry added, although he wasn't sure why he was encouraging Ron to continue this conversation.
"Dudley punched the wizard?", This was just too strange. Ron was sure this had to be a sleeping nightmare; real life could never be this weird.
"No! Dudley punched Draco in the gut. Ask Draco if you don't believe me."
"Good morning boys." Professor Dumbledore suddenly appeared in the hallway in front of them. "Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, did you enjoy your summer holiday?"
"Yes sir." Ron and Harry mumbled together.
"All ready for a new school term then?"
"Yes sir." Ron and Harry muttered together, although they were less than convincing.
"So Mr. Potter, how was your summer? Anything interesting happen?" Dumbledore asked, sounding as if he already knew the answer.
"No sir", Harry answered. Ron was just about to say something about Harry's interesting summer, but before he could get a sound out, Harry elbowed him in the ribs.
Dumbledore decided to take a more direct approach. "So, how did the Dursleys like Diagon Alley?"
"You know?" Harry was stunned. He didn't want anyone finding out about this. He was sure he must have broken a dozen laws by bringing them there. "You know? How could you possibly know?"
"Well, of course I know, my dear boy, who do you think set it up?" Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he smiled at Harry.
"WHAT!" Harry felt like someone hit him in the face with a brick. Dumbledore's revelation almost knocked him over backwards. Now Harry was furious. "Are you insane? Don't I already have enough nightmares in my life? Voldemort trying to kill me, Dursley making my life miserable, Draco's driving me nuts, and now YOU are going around manufacturing more nightmare for me. I can't sleep the way it is. I don't need my friends creating more nightmares. Why don't you just kill me and get it over with?"
"A bit bold aren't you Mr. Potter?" Dumbledore asked in a very disapproving tone.
"NO! No! If I was a bit bold, I'd pull out my wand and curse you for doing this to me. It was a nightmare. I'm surprised I don't have an ulcer. I don't need people manufacturing more misery for me."
"Ah Harry, maybe ..aahh..." Ron was going to try and calm Harry down before he got them both kick out of school. Threatening the head master is usually not a wise thing to do. But before he could finish, Harry elbowed him again.
"So, tell me Mr. Potter", Dumbledore continued, as if he took no notice of Harry's anger. "How have things been on Privet Drive, since your visit to the ice cream shop?"
"OK, they're better, but that doesn't change the fact that it was a nightmare when it was happening." The last thing Harry needed was more nightmares.
"So how are they better? Do they treat you better?" Dumbledore inquired in a very confident tone.
"Yes"
"Food, how's the food?"
"I just eat whatever they're having."
"Living conditions, any changes?"
"Well, Dudley cleaned all of his old junk out of my room." Harry could see where this was going and he didn't like it.
"And?"
"They bought me a new bed."
"And?"
"A new rug for my bedroom."
"And?"
"Some new clothes."
Dumbledore tilted his head to the side and looked down at Harry's feet. "Aaaand?"
"New shoes! But it was still a nightmare!"
"How about work? Do they still work you hard?"
"Well, yes, but I don't mind the work. It helps take my mind off all the other misery in my life." Harry was still very defiant. "Although, Dudley helps me now."
Suddenly, Harry broke into a fit of giggles. "One time, Dudley and I were pulling weeds out of the garden and Dudley got this one weed that was really stubborn. Dudley tugged and tugged until the weed broke lose and Dudley went flying over backwards, and fat Dudley did the most perfect backward somersault, and landed flat on his stomach."
Harry was laughing so hard, he could barely get the words out. Laughing so hard, he thought he was going to fall over. "It was hilarious. Then when Dudley looked up his whole face was covered with dirt; completely black face. Dudley and I fell down in the garden and laugh hysterically. We laugh so hard we made ourselves sick. I laugh until I almost peed my pants. When he went over, it was so perfect, so effortless, I just couldn't help myself; it was hysterical."
"...uummmmm.... Sounds like a pretty harsh life there on Privet Drive; very harsh indeed."
The grin dropped from Harry's face very fast. "All right! So it's better now, but it was still a nightmare when it happened. I was scared to death. I didn't know what to do. I came so close to cursing the Dursleys so many times it's not even funny. I thought the world was going to end. I thought Uncle Vernon would get in there with all those wizards and lose his temper, and it would turn into a war zone. I thought people could get killed! It was a nightmare!"
"Not to worry Mr. Potter, we had people watching the whole time in case anything got out of hand. The only thing we hadn't counted on was Draco. That sort of caught us by surprise, but I think we handled it nicely."
Harry was suddenly distractd from his anger as he thought about the incident. "I knew it, I knew it." Harry knew there was something unusually about that wizard the minute he saw him. "That wizard in the red robes was an Auror wasn't he? I knew it the minute I saw the scars on his face. He was wasn't he?"
"Yes indeed Mr. Potter, just hit Draco with an apathy charm, so he would lose interest in whatever he was doing and follow the first distraction. I thought it worked quite well."
Harry remembered that, besides his scars, the wizard who hit Draco stood out because of his beautiful dark red robes. "Ron you should have seen this guy's robes. The deepest darkest red you every saw. They would have looked great on you."
"Well, if you ask him nicely, I'm sure he'll show them to you."
"What do you mean, ask him?" Harry could see how he could possibly find this wizard and ask him anything.
"Nathan; Nathaniel Hawthorne, our new Defense Against Dark Arts teacher. Very nice man, I'm sure he'll show you the robes. And now that you mention it, Mr. Weasley would look quite striking in that color. Well, I must be off. Have a good term."
Harry wasn't quite finished, as Dumbledore turned to walk away, Harry had a few last words. "It was still a nightmare. I should have had an ulcer."
Too late, Dumbledore was gone, although Harry kept mumbling even after he was gone. "My stomach hurt for two days."
"...aahhh.... Harry, that stomachache might have had something to do with eating five pounds of ice cream." Ron was just trying to keep things in perspective.
"Shut up Ron!" Harry turn on his heels and walked down the hallway, muttering as he went. "....and some guy wants your autograph."
Ron stood watching Harry walk away. This had been a very confusing morning. On top of everything else, now some guy wants his... "Autograph?.... Harry wait..... Harry.... stop!" Ron ran up to Harry. "What do you mean, some guy wants my autograph. Why would he want my autograph?"
Harry was pretty much at his limit of frustration and his nerves were getting a little raw. "Because you're a hero Ron. Didn't it ever occur to you that after everything you've done, all the times you've risked your life, after all the times you saved my life, that somebody out there might think you were a hero."
"But what did I do? Why does this guy think I'm a hero?" Ron was still bewildered by the idea of someone wanting his autograph.
"Ron, I'm a hero to the general wizard world, but to people who play chess, you're practically a saint. You played the chess game that saved the world. You play the most noble and heroic game of chess in the entire history of the world. And you sacrifices yourself to win. What could be more heroic than that?" Harry began poking Ron in the chest as he spoke. "Why shouldn't you be a hero, Ron? That's the question you should be asking yourself. After everything you've done, why shouldn't you be a hero?"
Harry turned and walked away from Ron again, muttering as he went. "Some guy is going to send you a owl post in two weeks. Just write him a nice letter and sign it, and it will all be over with." Harry rounded a corner, turning down another hallway.
Ron stood bewildered as Harry voice trailed off. Harry took the Dursleys to Diagon Alley, some guy wants Ron autograph; the year was off to a bad start. It was only the first day, and already nothing made sense. "....an autograph! ... .Harry! ...wait ... wait for me..... Harry.... an autograph, are you sure?.... Harry! ....Harry?"
....and so ends the tale of how Harry finally got some respect.
....and Ron gets a bit of well deserved respect too.
END.
Author: BBoy_mn
E-mail: ----
Disclaimers:
All characters, terms, names, trademarks, and settings, whether implied or stated, are the sole property of J.K. Rowlings with distribution and marketing rights held by Warner Brothers, and Scholastic, Inc publishing.
Spoilers: Part 2 has some references to the Chess game in Sorcerer's/Philosopher's Stone.
Date: 7/21/2002
Summary: Part 1 -A chance meeting in a department store plants the seed for the Durley's gaining respect for Harry.
Part 2 - As a result of the meeting in the department store, the Dursley finally come face to face with the wizard world. It is a sweet treat indeed.
Warnings: None - probably not ideal for children under 12. Subtly and delicately mentions French kissing and uses the word 'hell' a couple of times.
Notes:
Part 1 - I envision that there will be a time when the Dursley will have to give Harry some respect. This is just one scenario that could plant the seed for that to happen.
Part 2 - Plus, I think another funny story, would be the Dursley's visiting the Leaky Cauldron.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Part 1 - EPILOG:
Six weeks later, on the first day of school, Harry and Ron were on their way back from breakfast. Harry was starting to regret having mentioned the Dursleys trip to Diagon Alley to Ron.
"No!"
"Yes!"
"NO!"
"Yeeeesss!"
"No way!"
"Ron! Will you stop doing that? I told you, if you don't believe me, ask Hermione; she was there with her parents." It was turning into a struggle trying to convince Ron that his Dursleys ice cream nightmare had really happened."
"You took the Dursley's to Diagon Alley for ice cream. Were you insane at the time?" Ron, just couldn't, not in his wildest imagination, picture the Dursleys at Diagon Alley.
"Ron! What was I suppose to do?" Harry demanded. How stupid did people think he was? If he could have thought of a way out of it, he would have used it. "What was I suppose to do? Curse them? Beat them up? Run away from home? Exactly, what was I suppose to do? Besides, Tom invited them for butterbeer. If anyone is to blame, it's him."
"Sorry Harry, but Dursley with wizards; it's just to hard to imagine." Ron look a little stunned as his brain tried to process what he was hearing. He believed Harry, but at the same time, it was all too unbelievable.
"Ask Draco" Harry added, "he was there."
"WHAT! You had ice cream with Draco AND the Dursleys!" Now that was a thought that Ron's mind absolutely refused to accept. "You must have been insane."
Harry stopped walking, squeezed his eye shut tight, and shook his head. This was turning into another nightmare. "No! I didn't have ice cream with Draco. He just came over to be his obnoxious self until some wizard came along and hit him on the head." Harry turned and continued walking down the hall.
OK, this was getting more confusing by the second. Ron wondered if maybe this wasn't one of Harry's sleeping nightmare. I certainly sounded like a nightmare. "The wizard hit him on the head?" Ron asked, as he hurried to catch up with Harry.
"And Dudley punch him in the gut." Harry added, although he wasn't sure why he was encouraging Ron to continue this conversation.
"Dudley punched the wizard?", This was just too strange. Ron was sure this had to be a sleeping nightmare; real life could never be this weird.
"No! Dudley punched Draco in the gut. Ask Draco if you don't believe me."
"Good morning boys." Professor Dumbledore suddenly appeared in the hallway in front of them. "Mr. Potter, Mr. Weasley, did you enjoy your summer holiday?"
"Yes sir." Ron and Harry mumbled together.
"All ready for a new school term then?"
"Yes sir." Ron and Harry muttered together, although they were less than convincing.
"So Mr. Potter, how was your summer? Anything interesting happen?" Dumbledore asked, sounding as if he already knew the answer.
"No sir", Harry answered. Ron was just about to say something about Harry's interesting summer, but before he could get a sound out, Harry elbowed him in the ribs.
Dumbledore decided to take a more direct approach. "So, how did the Dursleys like Diagon Alley?"
"You know?" Harry was stunned. He didn't want anyone finding out about this. He was sure he must have broken a dozen laws by bringing them there. "You know? How could you possibly know?"
"Well, of course I know, my dear boy, who do you think set it up?" Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he smiled at Harry.
"WHAT!" Harry felt like someone hit him in the face with a brick. Dumbledore's revelation almost knocked him over backwards. Now Harry was furious. "Are you insane? Don't I already have enough nightmares in my life? Voldemort trying to kill me, Dursley making my life miserable, Draco's driving me nuts, and now YOU are going around manufacturing more nightmare for me. I can't sleep the way it is. I don't need my friends creating more nightmares. Why don't you just kill me and get it over with?"
"A bit bold aren't you Mr. Potter?" Dumbledore asked in a very disapproving tone.
"NO! No! If I was a bit bold, I'd pull out my wand and curse you for doing this to me. It was a nightmare. I'm surprised I don't have an ulcer. I don't need people manufacturing more misery for me."
"Ah Harry, maybe ..aahh..." Ron was going to try and calm Harry down before he got them both kick out of school. Threatening the head master is usually not a wise thing to do. But before he could finish, Harry elbowed him again.
"So, tell me Mr. Potter", Dumbledore continued, as if he took no notice of Harry's anger. "How have things been on Privet Drive, since your visit to the ice cream shop?"
"OK, they're better, but that doesn't change the fact that it was a nightmare when it was happening." The last thing Harry needed was more nightmares.
"So how are they better? Do they treat you better?" Dumbledore inquired in a very confident tone.
"Yes"
"Food, how's the food?"
"I just eat whatever they're having."
"Living conditions, any changes?"
"Well, Dudley cleaned all of his old junk out of my room." Harry could see where this was going and he didn't like it.
"And?"
"They bought me a new bed."
"And?"
"A new rug for my bedroom."
"And?"
"Some new clothes."
Dumbledore tilted his head to the side and looked down at Harry's feet. "Aaaand?"
"New shoes! But it was still a nightmare!"
"How about work? Do they still work you hard?"
"Well, yes, but I don't mind the work. It helps take my mind off all the other misery in my life." Harry was still very defiant. "Although, Dudley helps me now."
Suddenly, Harry broke into a fit of giggles. "One time, Dudley and I were pulling weeds out of the garden and Dudley got this one weed that was really stubborn. Dudley tugged and tugged until the weed broke lose and Dudley went flying over backwards, and fat Dudley did the most perfect backward somersault, and landed flat on his stomach."
Harry was laughing so hard, he could barely get the words out. Laughing so hard, he thought he was going to fall over. "It was hilarious. Then when Dudley looked up his whole face was covered with dirt; completely black face. Dudley and I fell down in the garden and laugh hysterically. We laugh so hard we made ourselves sick. I laugh until I almost peed my pants. When he went over, it was so perfect, so effortless, I just couldn't help myself; it was hysterical."
"...uummmmm.... Sounds like a pretty harsh life there on Privet Drive; very harsh indeed."
The grin dropped from Harry's face very fast. "All right! So it's better now, but it was still a nightmare when it happened. I was scared to death. I didn't know what to do. I came so close to cursing the Dursleys so many times it's not even funny. I thought the world was going to end. I thought Uncle Vernon would get in there with all those wizards and lose his temper, and it would turn into a war zone. I thought people could get killed! It was a nightmare!"
"Not to worry Mr. Potter, we had people watching the whole time in case anything got out of hand. The only thing we hadn't counted on was Draco. That sort of caught us by surprise, but I think we handled it nicely."
Harry was suddenly distractd from his anger as he thought about the incident. "I knew it, I knew it." Harry knew there was something unusually about that wizard the minute he saw him. "That wizard in the red robes was an Auror wasn't he? I knew it the minute I saw the scars on his face. He was wasn't he?"
"Yes indeed Mr. Potter, just hit Draco with an apathy charm, so he would lose interest in whatever he was doing and follow the first distraction. I thought it worked quite well."
Harry remembered that, besides his scars, the wizard who hit Draco stood out because of his beautiful dark red robes. "Ron you should have seen this guy's robes. The deepest darkest red you every saw. They would have looked great on you."
"Well, if you ask him nicely, I'm sure he'll show them to you."
"What do you mean, ask him?" Harry could see how he could possibly find this wizard and ask him anything.
"Nathan; Nathaniel Hawthorne, our new Defense Against Dark Arts teacher. Very nice man, I'm sure he'll show you the robes. And now that you mention it, Mr. Weasley would look quite striking in that color. Well, I must be off. Have a good term."
Harry wasn't quite finished, as Dumbledore turned to walk away, Harry had a few last words. "It was still a nightmare. I should have had an ulcer."
Too late, Dumbledore was gone, although Harry kept mumbling even after he was gone. "My stomach hurt for two days."
"...aahhh.... Harry, that stomachache might have had something to do with eating five pounds of ice cream." Ron was just trying to keep things in perspective.
"Shut up Ron!" Harry turn on his heels and walked down the hallway, muttering as he went. "....and some guy wants your autograph."
Ron stood watching Harry walk away. This had been a very confusing morning. On top of everything else, now some guy wants his... "Autograph?.... Harry wait..... Harry.... stop!" Ron ran up to Harry. "What do you mean, some guy wants my autograph. Why would he want my autograph?"
Harry was pretty much at his limit of frustration and his nerves were getting a little raw. "Because you're a hero Ron. Didn't it ever occur to you that after everything you've done, all the times you've risked your life, after all the times you saved my life, that somebody out there might think you were a hero."
"But what did I do? Why does this guy think I'm a hero?" Ron was still bewildered by the idea of someone wanting his autograph.
"Ron, I'm a hero to the general wizard world, but to people who play chess, you're practically a saint. You played the chess game that saved the world. You play the most noble and heroic game of chess in the entire history of the world. And you sacrifices yourself to win. What could be more heroic than that?" Harry began poking Ron in the chest as he spoke. "Why shouldn't you be a hero, Ron? That's the question you should be asking yourself. After everything you've done, why shouldn't you be a hero?"
Harry turned and walked away from Ron again, muttering as he went. "Some guy is going to send you a owl post in two weeks. Just write him a nice letter and sign it, and it will all be over with." Harry rounded a corner, turning down another hallway.
Ron stood bewildered as Harry voice trailed off. Harry took the Dursleys to Diagon Alley, some guy wants Ron autograph; the year was off to a bad start. It was only the first day, and already nothing made sense. "....an autograph! ... .Harry! ...wait ... wait for me..... Harry.... an autograph, are you sure?.... Harry! ....Harry?"
....and so ends the tale of how Harry finally got some respect.
....and Ron gets a bit of well deserved respect too.
END.