Chapter Text
Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of number four Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, with a healthy young boy they had after their honeymoon to Greenland and a healthy amount of time passing.
Mr. Dursley made drills. He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache. Mrs. Dursley was thin and blonde and had twice the neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time spying on the neighbor’s.
A good balance, those two.
The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion there was no finer boy anywhere, as he took after his father on his height and size, and while he looked like his father, was a ball of non stop energy.
There was a fourth in the household, one barely seen by the residents of the house, and even the neighborhood. Too thin and too small for his age, that seemed to not know his name, but politely introduced himself as ‘Freak’.
For all their preaching of being normal, the two adults seem to not notice how they don’t get involved in neighborhood functions, or how many didn’t approach the family. How all of Petunia’s friends were from other neighborhoods in Surrey.
They were normal.
In a quiet little neighborhood, in a sleepy little town, in a quiet part of England… there were perfectly normal people with perfectly normal lives.
Perfectly normal children, with perfectly normal worries, and perfectly normal hobbies. Perfectly normal families with perfectly normal personal interests and perfectly normal happenings.
But normal is what one sees, and learns from.
On one such day, it was a Tuesday. The 7th of October to be exact, was a quiet day all things considered. The cool air was a welcome reprieve from the warmth that the summer had left lingering. People would be talking about the heat June left with scorn for a while yet.
They liked their cool and cloudy, as it was normal to them.
It was a rather cloudy day.
In the town of Surrey, on Private drive, there was a commotion at house number four as the peaceful early afternoon quiet was interrupted by a loud cacophony of screams and wails of the single resident currently there. The neighbors, watching out their windows in anticipation like perfectly normal people would do.
The neighborhood was greeted with a loud, blood curdling scream as she was dragged along the walk by the man whose leg she was clinging to. A few neighbors grabbed their phones thinking a crime was happening, while others were heading towards the sound.
The people of Wisteria Walk, interestingly, heard nothing. Even though they were the neighborhood next door. Ms.Figg quietly knitting as she watched her Kenezals play with the grass and the stray bug.
The proud Petunia Dursley was weeping openingly, and clinging to the man’s leg, who was doing his best at leaving. The man was tall, but lithe. Far from the image of her husband Vernon.
An affair, maybe. Or something else was clearly happening.
“MY BABY- y-you can’t take my little dudders away too.” The woman of the house openly sobbed, holding up an image of the slightly overweight child. “Maybe I should of treated that- Harry better but-“
“Mrs.Dursley, both children show clear signs of abuse. Not just young Harry. Your son was found passed out due to his untreated diabetes, and all his lunch bag was filled with was candy and chips. Harry didn’t even have a lunch. Between trying to starve one child, putting the other in the coma, and the clear demented parenting you and your husband do by keeping a child’s room in the Boot closet, you’ll be lucky if your child wishes to see you once they turn 18.” The social worker said, looking disgusted and speaking loud enough for the neighbors to hear.
“So tell me, would it have been love that put your son and your nephew into the grave. Would it have been love when you lowered his body into the ground?” The social worker said, looking at Petunia Cooly. “Would you son know love by watching his cousin be starved and shoved into a boot closet? Would it be love when he sees that he’s allowed to harm people he doesn’t like? Would it be love when he doesn’t like you and punches you?” They ask, not looking impressed.
Petunia’s sobs just got louder and louder. “But my Dudders-“
“Will be healthier and happier than if he was kept here. Good day Mrs.Dusrley.” They said, walking away back into their car.
It was a perfectly normal day in Surrey…
And For Once, On Such A Chilly October Day
The Sun Was Shining
Harry blinked as him and Dudley were being driven to London. Harry couldn’t quiet remember the name of the man taking them there, but Ms.Grey said it was okay. While Harry had been delighted to get a happy meal, his cousin was more quiet than usual as he sipped his diet soda. “How is it?”
“It’s sweeter than normal soda, but I really like it. I wanna know why we have to go to London though.” Dudley said, frowning a bit. “Mum said she was making pie today, and I really want to have some. Maybe you can have some if you show her the star sticker you got on your drawing.” He said, looking at Harry. “You don’t wanna be like Just William after all. Mum always tells me that you’re bad like him, but if you do good, then you’ll get rewards.”
“I feel like when I do good I get into even worse trouble.” Harry said, frowning. “Mr.Norris said it was because you fell down during gym. Maybe I’m coming because we live in the same house?” He hypothesized.
“Maybe, I wonder why he called you Harry though. I thought your name was Freak?”
“I thought it was too, but maybe it’s Harry. Ms.Grey said that Freak is a bad word and that I shouldn’t use it. She’s been making me write Harry on my art and work. Maybe if your name isn’t good your teacher gets to rename you?”
“But why is it bad? It’s your name! Mom and Dad always call you that after all.” He defended, frowning. “Mum and Dad always have good names for things. Wouldn’t they rename you?”
“Maybe they couldn’t. Like how only police can arrest people.”
“Ohhh! That’s right smart! I guess it makes sense then. Teachers are supposed to be really smart and that’s why they teach us. Maybe it’s a law?” Dudley said, wondering. “Maybe Freak could be your middle name. You haven’t got one of those.”
“I think Ms.Grey gave me one too. I have it written down on the paper she gave me, she said I could be Harry for now since my name was a little hard to say.” Harry said, digging into his backpack. It was grabbed at a boot sale last year, but it was green and Harry liked it. “H-hare-re-son? James Potter.” Harry said, squinting at the paper.
Dudley looked over at the paper, not looking impressed. “Harrison? That sounds like an old person’s name. Harry’s a lot better.” Dudley said, frowning. “That’s like… the name of Dad’s boss boss. Yuck.”
Harry’s nose wrinkles at that. If they were uncle’s boss boss, then they had to be at least 200 years old. He didn’t want to have an old man’s name. “Maybe if I ask nicely I can have a less icky name. It’s okay if you still call me Freak, but only when we’re alone though because you might get in trouble.” Harry offered, sharing a fry with Dudley.
“Oh! I guess that can work, and then if you know which one you like better we can ask really super nicely if they can change it to that for forever!” Dudley said, taking the fry and blinking a bit. “Why’s it pink? Dad always talked about how fries are supposed to be golden.”
“Pink? Isn’t that yellow?” Harry asked, frowning a bit. “It’s yellow like the rubber balls when we play kicky is.” He said, examining the fry. “Kinda creepy how yellow it is. It’s yummy though.” He said, eating another fry.
“But that’s pink too! Like mum’s favorite shirt.” Dudley said, holding the fry. Harry offered him a second one to eat, equal in color so they could compare the color still.
“Auntie’s favorite shirt is pink though! It’s why she cried when she got bleach on it and Uncle had to get her a new one. Bleach just makes yellow more yellow, but it makes pink all icky. The fries and the balls are yellow though!”
“Maybe your eyes are messed up- you’re squinting all the time after all!” Dudley said.
“Maybe it’s your eyes! Ms.Grey said I knew all my colors really well!” Harry shot back. “Clearly it’s your eyes that are messed up.”
“Nuh uh!”
“Uh huh!”
“Nuh uh!”
“Uh huh!”
“Nuh uh!”
“Boys.” The driver said calmly, their lip visibly twitching to stay straight and not grin. “We’ll get both of your eyes checked out, how about that. Both of you will get checkups, and I know you don’t like it, but you’re going to have to be called Harry. Freak is a derogatory term.”
“What’s that mean?” Dudley asked.
“It means it’s a bad word. Think of a swear word but worse because they hurt people’s feelings.” He said, seeing the boys freeze up at that.
“But… mum and dad-“ Dudley started, before being cut off.
“Love you, but are very very sick. We’re going to get you boys checked by a doctor, and then your guardians are also going to get checked.”
“But then what’s gonna happen to us if they’re sick?” Dudley asked, frowning.
“I can’t get into details, but you’ll be with another family that’ll be happy to take care of you. It may be temporary, or if your parents are really sick, it may be for forever while they get better. It doesn’t mean that they don’t care, it just means they’re not healthy enough to take care of you.”
“But… what’s it mean if they only wanted one of us?” Dudley asked, surprising Harry.
“You noticed?”
“Sorta… I heard mum once talking about how she wanted to send you to the orphanage, but how she wasn’t allowed to. I dunno what an orphanage is though.” Dudley admitted.
“… Have you two noticed how you’re treated differently in any other ways?”
“… kinda.” Harry admits, now surprising Dudley. “Dudley has two rooms… but I’m stuck in the boot closet… and he gets bedtime stories, and dessert, and he’s allowed to play outside.”
Dudley went to reply, but stopped, frowning. “Actually… I guess I never noticed that stuff, it was just-“
“Normal?” The driver offered, not looking angry at the boys. “That’s part of why your parents are sick. It’s not normal, it’s harmful to both of you. Now, can you tell me how you two are alike?” He said.
Harry nudged Dudley to speak. “I got to speak about the different stuff. It’d be rude to leave you out of the talk.”
“Oh, Oh! Okay ummm… we both have to eat our veggies and fruit, and we both have to get the mail… we both have to go to church on Easter, and practice our manners….” He said, taking a moment.
“Umm… we both can’t use the bathroom after nine! Mum said it’s to help us wake up in the morning… ummm… what else Harry?” He asked.
“We both have to practice our hand writing at the table. We also have to read aloud for ten minutes. We both have to have a cup of water to drink when we get home too. Auntie said she won’t have us getting sick in the heat and making a scene.” Harry adds.
”We’re also not allowed to mention the M word at all.” Harry said, making Dudley nod. “Even I get a whopping if I mention the M word.”
”…what’s the M word?” The man asked, trying to understand. “This is a special time when you can say it and not get in trouble.” He offered, causing Dudley to speak.
“Magic. That’s that bad word. Oh! We also live in the same house, so we have the same address! Umm… we both don’t know the number to call mum and dad? Dad is trying to get a new one and he didn’t want us to learn a number that wouldn’t work soon.” Dudley said. “Mum said it’s because someone gave out the old number as a restaurant number by accident.”
“Why’s that?” Harry asked, looking confused.
“Everyone kept trying to order oriental food I think?” Dudley said, unsure. “I’ve always wanted to try it, but mum said it was full of vegetables and I don’t like those too much.”
“I think Auntie just can’t cook it.” Harry said honestly. “It’s why she doesn’t like steak. She can’t cook it well so her and uncle always go out to have some.”
“Maybe, I know she tried to make a fruitcake last year… she said next year she’s ordering one so she can make a better impression.” Dudley said.
“I don’t get it, fruit cake is yucky because it’s too wet.”
“I think that’s because you had to eat Mum’s failed experiment. It looked like when ripper got into the Turkey at Easter dinner and threw up.”
“Ewww!”
And so the boys talked as they were driven to London, by the nice man from the police station who didn’t look like he was from the station. Officer O’Malley smiling as the boys, while not understanding what they had endured, talked to each other fairly civilly.
As much as two five year olds could at least.
The NSPCC would be happy to know that there wasn’t any animosity between the two kids at least. It would make finding a better home for them much easier.
He’d already heard what happened with his partner. Apparently Mr.Dursley came and things got physical. They’d both need a mental evaluation to see what’s going on.
He can’t imagine both of them thinking logically that what they were doing was right, and with how neurotic Mrs.Dursley seemed to be on being normal, there had so be something wrong there.
It was NHS’s problem now though, not his or his partners. They were just the delivery men.
“If you boys can take turns, can you tell me your favorite songs you’ve learned?” He asked, noticing the conversation start to get a bit tense.
Things would be fine, and they didn’t have to be scared.
The sun was shining for the first time since summer, after all, and neither boys seemed to be scared.