Finding out about the future - A Shadowhunters and Harry Potter crossover

Chapter Sixty Nine - The Invitation

By the time Harry and Rose arrived in the kitchen, the three Dursleys were already seated around thetable. None of them looked up as they entered or sat down. Uncle Vernon's large red face was hiddenbehind the morning's Daily Mail, and Aunt Petunia was cutting a grapefruit into quarters, her lipspursed over her horselike teeth. 

Dudley looked furious and sulky, and somehow seemed to be taking up even more space thanusual. This was saying something, as he always took up an entire side of the square table by himself.When Aunt Petunia put a fifth of unsweetened grapefruit 

"Yum" said Ginny.

onto Dudley's plate with a tremulous"There you are, Diddy darling," 

Many people chortled

Dudley glowered at her. His life had taken a most unpleasant turnsince he had come home for the summer with his end-of-year report.

Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had managed to find excuses for his bad marks as usual: AuntPetunia always insisted that Dudley was a very gifted boy whose teachers didn't understand him,while Uncle Vernon maintained that "he didn't want some swotty little nancy boy for a sonanyway."

"Wonderful parenting" said Maryse sarcastically.

Molly rolled her eyes

They also skated over the accusations of bullying in the report - "He's a boisterous littleboy, but he wouldn't hurt a fly!" Aunt Petunia had said tearfully. 

"Doesn't have the agility" snarked Rose, "But would hurt just about anything else"

However, at the bottom of the report there were a few well-chosen comments from the schoolnurse that not even Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia could explain away. No matter how muchAunt Petunia wailed that Dudley was big-boned, and that his poundage was really puppy fat, andthat he was a growing boy who needed plenty of food, the fact remained that the school outfittersdidn't stock knickerbockers big enough for him anymore.

"Knickerbockers?" questioned Jace through his laughter.

"They're baggy 3/4 jogging bottoms" explained Luke.

 The school nurse had seen what AuntPetunia's eyes - so sharp when it came to spotting fingerprints on her gleaming walls, and inobserving the comings and goings of the neighbors - simply refused to see: that far from needingextra nourishment, Dudley had reached roughly the size and weight of a young killer whale. 

"Damn" said Fred.

So - after many tantrums, after arguments that shook Harry's bedroom floor, and many tearsfrom Aunt Petunia - the new regime had begun. The diet sheet that had been sent by the Smeltingsschool nurse had been taped to the fridge, which had been emptied of all Dudley's favorite things -fizzy drinks and cakes, chocolate bars and burgers and filled instead with fruit and vegetables and thesorts of things that Uncle Vernon called "rabbit food."

"Really made the kid go cold turkey - didn't they?" said Luke disapprovingly.

"Should've eased him into it" agreed Remus.

 To make Dudley feel better about it all, AuntPetunia had insisted that the whole family follow the diet too. 

"You two don't need a diet" said Molly, "You need more food - not less"

She now passed two grapefruit fifths toHarry and Rose. He noticed that they were a lot smaller than Dudley's. Aunt Petunia seemed to feel that the bestway to keep up Dudley's morale was to make sure that he did, at least, get more to eat than the twins.