When one door closes... - Part 9
Harry shivered. Dudley's reaction had eerily reminded him of the memories he'd seen of a young Tom Riddle. "Stop it. You'll never have the chance to go to Hogwarts now, so it's a moot point. Aunt Petunia saw to that."
"I don't need your stupid school, anyway. I can make this stuff happen just by getting angry. Things always happen when I'm angry…and you can't do anything about it. She said it herself. You're not allowed to use magic against Mubbles," Dudley said, pointing at Hermione with a victorious glint in his eye.
"Just one problem with that, Duds," Harry replied. "You're not a Muggle; you're a wizard."
"Enough of this," Aunt Petunia hissed, entering the back garden in a towering rage. "You were warned not to upset him and to stay away from him. I won't have you corrupting him with your vile ways." As she spoke, Aunt Petunia stood in front of Harry, with one hand on her hip and the other flicking a dishtowel at him.
Dudley smirked as he stood behind his mother. He always enjoyed seeing Harry get told off. "He said I was one of them, Mummy…that I could do….mag-"
"Don't say it!" Aunt Petunia yelped, whipping around and slamming her hand over Dudley's mouth. "Don't even listen to them, popkin."
"But Mummy, if you'd have allowed me to go to that school, I could have got a thing, too. I would have been able to keep him in line around here," Dudley whined.
"Don't speak of such things. I won't have it. I'm not going through all that again. You are normal, Dudley. Never forget that," Aunt Petunia said fervently. She'd grown increasingly paler as he spoke, and now appeared ready to faint away on the spot.
"But that was my decision to make, not yours," Dudley said, surprising Harry so much his jaw fell open. He'd never seen Dudley openly defy Aunt Petunia before; he usually only did it behind her back. Aunt Petunia was just as stunned, and she glared at Harry as if it were entirely his fault.
"I won't speak of it again, Dudley. You're to have nothing to do with that hellhole of a school," Aunt Petunia said, with that no-nonsense demeanor that Harry remembered so well.
A sick, nauseous feeling arose within him as he fully realized the extent of Aunt Petunia's hatred of the magical world – and everyone it. "You really hated her, didn't you?" he asked quietly.
He hadn't expected her to answer; she never did when it pertained to his mother. He was shocked when she turned to face him, her eyes blazing. "I never hated her; I hated what she became. I thought when she was done with that devil of a school that she'd come to her senses and return to her family, but no. Your cretin of a father had her by then, and look how they ended up. Then you arrived on our doorstep, looking just like him. I had to look into her eyes and see his face.
"I won't have my Dudley meet the same end; I won't have it."
Harry was stunned. He opened and closed his mouth several times but couldn't form the words.
"But, Mum…I could be powerful," Dudley said.
Harry couldn't contain his disbelief any longer. "Powerful? You've already had them jumping through hoops since you were born. What more did you want?" Harry's mind was racing. Had magic played a part in the dominance that Dudley had always appeared to hold over his parents? Had he somehow influenced their decisions? Had he unintentionally been prodding them along to buy just one more gift all this time?