Chapter 14: I Would Have Gotten Away With It Too…
To say the party was a raucous affair was by anyone's estimation an understatement. Fred and George completely cut off the hook as they turned the remnants of the Gnomes contraptions and a workbench from Arthur's Workshop into a mystical DJ table. Arthur and Molly danced together to the music. Christine had to keep Garrett from running off into some dark corner of the house, away from the party. Percy had slunk off to his room to study, the silence spell he put around his room not working as well as he had desired. And Mafalda had set up a gnome bowling set, with captured gnomes from the garden tied up and set up. With Ginny at the ready with a bowling ball from Arthur's workshop.
"Not going to lie. This is cathartic." Harry said with a smile.
"Less talking, more bowling." Ron replied with a smirk.
"Didn't you call it Gnowling?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, gnome bowling." Ron replied with a chuckle.
"Can you two goblin brains shut up!? I'm lining up my shot!" Ginny snapped.
"Don't want to ruin the artistry." Mafalda answered with a smile.
With a wry smile, Ginny stepped forward and threw the ball. The first one went wide and nearly took out a cabinet and Scabbers. Nine of the gnomes were petrified by Fred and George after Mafalda caught them. One Gnome, tied up with twine, was in the middle of the stone triangle, quivering in fear.
"You missed on purpose, didn't you cousin?" Mafalda said with a smirk.
"Maybe…" Ginny said with a sardonic grin.
"Don't hit Scabbers! He did nothing wrong!" Ron called out in concern for his rat.
However, what caught them off guard was Harry bursting out into a fit of laughter. Once he calmed down, he addressed them.
"This is the best party I've ever been to. Then again, it's the only one I've ever been to." Harry said through some pants. "I mean, I was brought to Dudley's party because they had no choice but to take me to the zoo, but that was more like a punishment. Other than seeing Dudley get trapped behind some glass in the Reptile House…"
"Did he get eaten by a snake?" Mafalda asked, her eyes lighting up at the possibility.
"The snake didn't die from caloric intake, so no." Harry replied sadly.
"Is there literally anyone in your 'family' that's even tolerable?" Ron asked with exasperation.
"Damien." Harry and Ginny replied simply.
"Ginny, have you been stalking the boy again?" Mafalda asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Harry told me about him. And, for your information, cousin, I don't stalk. I research." Ginny replied indignantly.
Ron gave Harry a look. A look that Harry did not really think about at the time or process. A look that simply said, 'We will talk about this later.'
Privet Drive: Dursley Residence
The Dursleys' day had gone about as planned for any day of their little brood's could. Petunia was hard at work around the house doing chores, Vernon was reading a book, and Dudley and Damien were… brotherly bonding. Totally not plotting to usurp the other in the family hierarchy or anything. No, simply good, simple bonding between brothers. However, as all this went on, Vernon suddenly got a feeling. A feeling he just could not shake. A feeling he had one year ago.
"Petunia dear!" Vernon called out into the halls from the living room.
"Yes, dear?" Petunia asked from the kitchen.
"Has the boy come back yet?" Vernon asked, bemusement plastering his voice.
"No, Vernon. He's still at the house of that wizard friend of his. I think his name was Ronald-something…" Petunia replied, the boy's last name escaping her.
"He probably forgot something that he needs for that stupid school of his. I don't know dear. I just got a remarkably familiar feeling suddenly. Like I've had this before almost a year ago, in fact…" Vernon rambled, which caught Petunia's attention.
Petunia became nervous at that. "Vernon, dear… have you checked if anything has come in the post yet?" she asked, remembering this feeling all too well.
"You know there isn't any post on Sundays." Vernon stated firmly.
On cue, the house was rocked by an all-mighty crash. Plaster and wood splintered and rocketed through the room; glass crumbled to dust. The drapes were soon on the floor as if they were no better than soiled linens. From the gargantuan hole that had been punched into the wall came the boulder sized form of a man they had seen before. The unmistakable, all-encompassing form of Rubeus Hagrid, his large dog Fang in tow, walked through covered in the materials of its construction. Completely unphased by them now covering him.
"We just had that wall painted!" Vernon roared as he hopped to his feet while a terrified Dudley ran upstairs fast as his fat legs could carry him, looking like the boulder from Indiana Jones on rewind.
"How many bloody times do we have to do this, old man?" Hagrid gruffly said as he marched with purpose towards Vernon.
"What the bloody hell do you mean by that?! I sent the damn boy to the school as you asked!" Vernon shot back, trying to at least appear defiant.
"No, you didn't. He went off with his friends almost a month ago. The Wiselys." Damien said, pointing out his dad's blunt lie.
Hagrid turned and gave Vernon a dirty look at that. "Dursley…!" the giant of a man growled out dangerously.
"Before you cave my dad's skull in, why are you here… um… Hogrid?" Damien asked the towering man.
"Hagrid. Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of the Keys and Grounds of Hogwarts, at your service." Hagrid replied, reintroducing himself. "And I'm here for two reasons."
"You mean aside from destroying my wall?" Vernon asked with annoyance.
"One: To see why Harry hasn't been replying to my, Ron, Hermione, or Hogwarts' letters. And two: To give you this lad since you haven't been getting this for some reason." Hagrid replied before reaching into his coat pocket, pulling out an envelope and holding it out to Damien.
Damien looks at his parents "Really? Again? I mean, it was obvious I was gonna go there too, but seriously again?" He questions bluntly.
"We had nothing to do with this, dear. Nothing has been coming in the post for you or Harry." Petunia explained to her younger son.
"Wait… Petunia! What the bloody hell is everyone going on about with Damien?" Vernon snapped in shock.
"You seriously never noticed weird things around me last year while Harry was at school, dad? Or that, when I got excited, we had power surges?" Damien pointed out; glad he got his mom's brains.
"Have you seen how bad the power grid is, boy?" Vernon asked, raising an eyebrow.
"How you kept your job with your brain I don't know, old man. I have magic like Harry. I mean, it was obvious." Damien groaned.
"Don't you talk back to me, Damien!" Vernon roared.
"I believe that's called a conversation." Damien remarks.
"Right. So, if you lot didn't do this, then where did the letters go?" Hagrid asked in confusion.
From the shadows on top of the staircase, a small thin gray creature grimaced at the source of his trouble being such a massive and powerful creature. A normal wizard, maybe he could do something about him. But a half-giant? No potato sack was fitting over his head.
"Dobby would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn't for that meddling half-giant and his stupid dog…" The creature growled before slinking off further into the house, so not to be found.
"Well, since you're here, here you go boy." Hagrid said, handing the letter to Damien.
"Dear me, you have been invited to, blah, blah, blah…" Damien zoomed through the letter, remembering it from last year with his cousin.
"Wait… No. No, no, no, no, no! No!" Vernon yelled, his arms flailing about in rage.
"Vernon, calm down! Remember your blood pressure!" Petunia told him worriedly.
"Calm down!? CALM DOWN!? Our own boy! Our own boy is a freak!" Vernon roared, as if he were having a mental breakdown.
"On the inside, where it's safe. Unlike you and Duds, old man" Damien chided.
"Vernon, compose yourself. Take a deep breath. You're a calm little leaf, floating in a gentle stream…" Petunia calmly told her husband, trying to get her husband to relax before he gave himself a heart attack.
It was at that moment Vernon realized something and pointed at Petunia. "You've kept this from me." Vernon said, his voice getting eerily calm suddenly.
"Vernon, remember the stream! Remember the stream!" Petunia urged him, beginning to panic.
"Fuck the bloody stream! You have lied to me about my own son!!" Vernon roared, marching towards her.
"Only for eleven years, pops." Damien interjects.
"Shut up, boy!" Vernon snapped at him, looking like he was going to pop a vein.
"Vernon, I swear I thought that this wouldn't happen! With how normal you are, I thought that this would be avoided!" Petunia explained, trying to calm her husband's rage.
"Avoided!? How the hell did you possibly think you could avoid something that's in the boy's blood!?" Vernon asked with a fury, his face as red as a strawberry.
"With how normal you are, I thought that it wouldn't actually happen twice in the family! And, even if it did, I was going to tell you that he got accepted to a gifted school after seeing him off at the train station!" Petunia said in a panic. "But we never received any post for him, so I assumed he didn't get into that school!"
Vernon stood there looking at her. For a good while, there was only rage, no thoughts to be had. But then she saw a spark enter his eyes, and the jowls on his face contort into a deep glower. Then his thick lips began to move with purpose.
"You were going to lie to me. To continue to lie to me for the rest of my fucking life." Vernon coldly said.
"I didn't want you to hate our son like you hate our nephew…" Petunia replied surprisingly meekly.
"He's my son, too! I deserve to fucking know, regardless of what I'm going to think! I have done everything to provide for this family, and this is how I get thanked for it!?" Vernon shouted at her.
"Yeah, they're gonna be at this for a while. Wanna head out, big guy?" Damien asked Hagrid.
"Probably a good idea. Follow me, you can ride in the sidecar with Fang here." Hagrid told the boy.
"Fang, huh? Weird, he looks more like a Fluffy." Damien commented.
"Oh, just you wait until I show you Fluffy back home." Hagrid chuckled as he walked over towards the bike with Damien.
"Oh, the three headed dog? Harry talks in his sleep. Though, sometimes, he hisses. Can't figure that out." Damien remarks.
"I shouldn't have taught him to talk in his sleep." Hagrid grumbled as he got on the bike. "Hop in the sidecar, boy."
Damien happily did so with Fang grumbling at having to share his seat. He just got it the way he liked it. As Damien buckled up, he looked through the hole in the wall that was his front door. He could see his parents still arguing, his father furious, his mother afraid and on the verge of tears, and Dudley nowhere to be found. It made his heart ache to have to leave them in such a state… but what could he do? Scarily, it was the words of his father that went through his head. Sometimes, it is better to leave a situation than put yourself through more trouble…