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Author: Bronte Story: Dudley's Redemption Rating: Everyone Setting: DH-interview Status: WIP Reviews: 12 Words: 18,441
Dudley ducked into a doorway and breathed a sigh of relief as they ran straight past. A girl came up and for a moment Dudley felt a spark of something. “Excuse me, you’re blocking the door.” “Uh... sorry?” “The library… Is through there,” she pointed behind him, “and you’re blocking the way.” “Oh. Sorry. Hey are there teachers in there,” Dudley asked as a plan was starting to form. “There’s the librarian and the AV technician.” “Right, thanks,” Dudley was busy thinking. If there were teachers he was safe. “The door?” “Oh, right. S, sorry. Again.” Dudley moved out of the way letting her past, then, in a snap decision, followed her through. ~ Dudley started to spend more time in the library heading straight there every lunchtime, as soon as he had eaten. At first he had just sat there but he soon got bored and started picking at some of the books in the senior students section but he couldn’t understand them and soon gave up. After another week of sitting doing nothing each lunchtime Dudley decided he would give it another try. This time after lunch instead of going straight to the library he stayed in the courtyard willing himself to not run as the gang of three approached him. “Hey fatty.” “Whatcha doin’ outside chubster?” “Where’re you been hiding? Too scared to spend time in the playground?” Dudley stood his ground until they were a couple of yards away. Then his knees quivered and made a run for it. He didn’t get very far before they caught up. They dragged him around the corner and pummelled him. Dudley threw his arms up in front of his face and protected his face as best he could while looking for an opening to get a hook in. Luckily there wasn’t anything around for them to use to hit him and they were limited to using their fists. Dudley swung out at the closest of the boys, and was sucker punched in the stomach. Groaning he slowly turned away curling in against the wall. The thumping continued until he heard a cry from the corner and the three boys ran off. Dudley peered cautiously out from behind his arms. “Are you OK?” It was a girl with long brown hair and braces. “Um... I think I’ll be fine, I’ve never been beaten up before.” “It’s horrible. I didn’t want to call their attention onto me but I had to do something so I yelled from around the corner so they couldn’t see me. I’m glad it worked.” Dudley had pulled himself around and was struggling to his feet. He held onto the wall while he gained his balance. “I think I’ll stick to hiding in the Library for lunch from now on.” “That would keep you out of trouble,” she agreed smiling. “Would you like me to walk you there?” “How long is it till the bell? It might be better going to class instead.” She looked at her watch. “There’s still over half an hour, library then?” Dudley and the girl moved in that direction, reaching it without incident. “Thanks. Oh... my name’s Dudley.” “I’m Sarah,” she said holding out her hand. “Well, I guess I’ll see you around.” She turned and headed up the stairs to the private study cubicles reserved for the A level students on a mezzanine level. Dudley winced as he trudged over to an open area where the libraries new purchases were displayed. He cast an eye over the new additions. He picked up one that looked both interesting and easy. It was a comic Asterix and the Golden Scythe. Dudley opened it and started to read. It was very funny. Asterix and Obelix and Obelix’s dog, Dogmatix, live in Gaul. Dudley wasn’t quite sure where that was but it didn’t really matter. They were fighting the Romans so it could be anywhere. They had learnt about the Romans in his Latin class at Smeltings. Dudley couldn’t remember much Latin but he remembered the Romans conquering Europe. Dudley became so interested reading and following the accompanying pictures he didn’t hear the bell and only looked up when the librarian came over and tapped him on the shoulder. “I’m pleased to see you’ve finally picked up a book after all those days doing nothing, but it’s time you went off to class unless you have a free period now?” Dudley looked at his watch, swore, apologised to the librarian for his language, just about threw the book back on the shelf, grabbed his backpack and ran as fast as he could to his next class. ~ Dudley fell back into his pattern of spending lunchtimes in the library. He worked his way through the libraries whole collection of Asterix books, laughing along at their discovery of tea and the ‘drugs scandal’ at the ancient Olympics By the time he reached the last one he felt at home in the library but he still didn’t have a clue about what he should try reading next. He’d looked at the Tin-tin books but they weren’t funny like the Asterix books. “Excuse me.” The librarian looked around to find the voice. “Um... I was looking for something new to read.” “Finished all the Asterix have you?” She queried. Dudley nodded. “Have you tried anything else?” “I looked at Tin-tin but I didn’t like them much.” “Well, let’s see. What do you like, other than Asterix?” “Mostly I play games. Tekkan, World of Warcraft, Joust, stuff like that.” “Hmm, my nephew plays some of those games.” The librarian started to browse the shelves. “How long have you been reading for fun? Just since you’ve been coming in here at lunchtimes?” “Yeah, I had friends at my old school.” The librarian looked sideways at him but Dudley was nosing through the books on display. “How about these,” she carried over a stack of small colourful books. “The Horrible Histories. Lots of gore but you’ll be OK with that given the games you play.” Dudley took the pile of books and sat on the floor next to the gap in the shelves where they usually were. The books all had different years listed in them. The librarian helped him sort them into order and he put all but the first back on the shelf. He managed to get through two chapters before the bell rang and he waited impatiently while the librarian checked it out before stumbling through the door stuffing the book into in his bag. ~ Dudley walked home from school. Hestia and Dedalus wouldn’t let Daddy bring his car with him from Little Whinging and while Daddy spent all his time around the house pottering in the garden and not getting a job he wouldn’t be buying one any time soon. It was odd how calm Daddy was with all the magic stuff. Hestia did the kitchen clean up every morning with her wand and Daddy didn’t bat an eyelid. Mummy had huffed the first morning and from then on had left the kitchen before it was time for clean up. He’d never had to do much walking. They’d walked to school when he and Harry had gone to primary school but it had been little more than around the corner. Now he had over a mile to get to school and it was hilly, not like Surrey where it was all flat. Dudley sat down at a bench, part of the national trail. He’d walked via the roads the first week of school until Hestia has seen him arrive from the road and pulled out an Ordnance Survey map after dinner pointing out the trail, it was a little shorter and he didn’t have to walk on the road at all anymore which meant he only had to walk through puddles and not get sprayed with them when passing cars went by too fast. Dudley kicked his boots off as he came in the door and slung his bag over the newel post. Mummy would want to know he was home, and feed him. She may allow, if not like, Hestia doing the clean up, but she wasn’t letting anyone else cook for him and Daddy. She cooked for everyone every meal rather than allow that. Dedalus couldn’t cook, Hestia could and had for a couple of meals to start with, but she wasn’t as good as Mummy and would rather spend time on what she termed Security. Dudley could smell something coming from the kitchen. He went in and sat down at his usual spot. Mummy hugged him and gave him a plate of fresh scones and butter and jam with a big glass of orange juice. At home he could forget about those boys. He wasn’t going to tell Mummy about that though. He reached for a scone and the butter while Mummy asked about his day. This was the way it was meant to be.
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