A matter of Law

10

Vernon and Petunia Dursley of number four Privet Drive used to be able to say they were perfectly normal. It was something they took great pride in. Then Petunia's sister, the one neither ever spoke about, was killed along with her wastrel of a husband, landing Vernon and Petunia with their son. They just knew the boy would be just as abnormal, just as freakish as his parents, so they needed to teach him to be normal and did their best to do just that by his chores and the occasional-at least in their eyes-mild discipline. They had taught the boy a schedule to keep so their meals were always on the table on time, and their house stayed clean.

That morning the schedule was put behind. When Petunia woke up, she took her usual time getting dressed for the day before going to the kitchen to have her customary cup of tea that the boy was supposed to have waiting for her as he cooked breakfast for Petunia, Vernon, and Dudley. As she entered the kitchen, she immediately saw something was wrong.

There was no cup of tea waiting on the table for her, and the boy wasn't cooking breakfast. Angry, she stormed over to the door of the cupboard under the stairs and knocked loudly.

"Get up! Your uncle will be down for breakfast soon and nothing is ready!"

Not hearing anything from inside the cupboard, Petunia yanked open the door, only to find it empty. Furious, she went into the kitchen to begin breakfast so Vernon wouldn't be behind schedule, all the while trying to decide what she would do when she found the boy. Although, she couldn't rightly remember seeing the boy the night before, either. Vernon had gotten a small raise at work, so had taken his family, which for him was Petunia and Dudley, out to dinner to celebrate, and she remembered locking the cupboard door before they left to make sure the boy didn't wander around the house bothering their things. She had assumed the boy was in the cupboard, and didn't bother to look.

She heard Vernon coming down the stairs and started to go to the door to bring in the daily paper-something else the boy should have done, lazy, worthless freak, she thought to herself-when she was startled by someone knocking. Opening the door, she saw an officer and someone in a suit. She sensed Vernon coming up behind her, and tried to smile in a slightly curious, but still friendly manner.

"Is there something I can help you gentlemen with? I'm afraid you've just come at breakfast, and my husband will need to leave for work soon."

"Yes ma'am, I am Constable Peter Jones and this is Stephan Carlisle with the DfE. We received a report yesterday about a child who had been harmed. May we come in?"

"Well I don't know who would have reported anything like that; Vernon and I would never hurt our little Dudley! Please come in," she said quickly, hoping to keep the neighbors from seeing.

After entering the house, the two men glanced around as Petunia hurriedly shut the door. Tugging on her skirt in a nervous gesture, she looked toward Vernon. A few moments later, Dudley clambered down the steps, stopping once to jump a couple of times on one of the steps before coming down the rest of the steps into the small foyer.

"This is our little Dudley, and as you can see, he's not harmed in any way!"

"Ma'am, I haven't even asked any questions as yet. You are Mr. and Mrs. Vernon and Petunia Dursley, correct?" Constable Jones asked.

"We are," Vernon blustered, face turning a slight red, "but as my wife just said, our son isn't harmed."

"We actually aren't here about your son, Mr. and Mrs. Dursley. It is in regard to another child. You have a nephew that lives with you, do you not?" Mr. Carlisle asked.

"Is the freak in trouble? Mummy and Daddy said that the next time he got in trouble, he wouldn't be allowed to eat for a month, since a week never worked. Is he in trouble?" Dudley asked hopefully.