When one door closes... - Part 7

Harry had started referring to them as The-Items-That-Can't-Be-Named, causing Ron to snort his fizzy soda. He'd been nicking it from Dudley's stash since he'd arrived on Privet Drive.

Harry had begun to wonder if maybe the library at Grimmuald Place would be a good place to find something on horcruxes – it had been full of Dark magic items – but he wasn't certain if it had been completely cleaned out or not. He still didn't have the heart to go there, so he pushed that thought to the back of his mind for the moment.

Ron's complete and utter cluelessness about normal Muggle life was comical, and Harry enjoyed having the shoe on the other foot. He remembered all too well the blunders he'd made when he'd first entered the wizarding world, and how Ron had enjoyed taking the mickey out of him for most of his mistakes. Payback was sweet.

For several days, their paths and Dudley's hadn't crossed, but on a sunny afternoon when the trio had abandoned Harry's room to sit in the back garden that all changed.

"What's this?" Ron asked, holding up a statue of a funny little man with a scrunched up face.

"It's a garden gnome," Harry answered absently as he scribbled in his notebook.

"No. It isn't," Ron said with disgust. "Don't be stupid."

"It's what Muggles call gnomes, Ron," Hermione answered patiently, giving his book a gentle shove back in his direction. Ron had grown increasingly bored with all their revising and constantly looked for diversions.

"Hey, Harry, think fast," Ron said, tossing the ugly gnome towards Harry, who managed to catch it before it splattered dirt all over his notes.

Harry tossed it back without comment, and it sailed over Ron's head, just missing his reach. "I can see you're out of practice. Good thing we're not going back to school, or I'd probably have to throw you off the team," Harry said, managing to keep a straight face. He, too, was feeling restless, and winding Ron up seemed like as good idea as any.

"Throw me off the team, is it now?" Ron asked, drawing himself up to his full height. "Then who exactly would warn you about all those Bludgers that seem to follow you around all the time,Chosen Boy?"

With that, Ron launched himself at Harry and pinned him to the ground. The two boys rolled on the ground, wrestling with each other for a few moments and ignoring Hermione's huffs until Ron finally had Harry pinned with his forearm across Harry's throat.

"Yeah, you've got it right. The little runt never could stand to have anyone's hands on his neck," Dudley's voice sounded from the corner of the garden. None of the three had noticed him standing there watching them.

Harry froze at the sound of Dudley's voice, his mouth forming a slight "O". Dudley had avoided them as if his life depended on it since their arrival, and he hadn't so much as spoken to Harry since the incident with the vase.

"What are you on about?" Ron asked, a hard edge to his voice.

"That's what he always used to hate the most when me and my mates used to chase him, too," Dudley said, nodding his approval.

Ron rolled off of Harry and stood up quickly, his ears growing redder by the minute. Harry raised himself up on his elbows, curious to see how Dudley and Ron interacted, yet ready to pounce if things got out of control.