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Author: KEDme Story: Home Alone: Shadow Rising Rating: Teens Setting: Pre-HBP Status: Completed Reviews: 13 Words: 85,731
Fred and George did not seem to be the least concerned for Harry's plight, though. They were busy introducing themselves to Dudley's shell-shocked friends. Being two years older and so obviously outgoing, it appeared to Harry that the group in the living room did not quite know what to make of the identical troublemakers. "So," he heard Piers ask hesitantly, "how do you know Harry?" George said casually, "We went to school with him, of course." "And we used to play—" Fred started to say but was cut off abruptly by Ron who, startled that Fred was about to say 'Quidditch,' deliberately stepped on his foot in passing. "Ouch!" Fred yelped. "Ron, you big prat! Watch where you're walking with those big feet of yours!" he complained. "He was about to say that we played on our house football team together," Harry interjected calmly, shooting Fred and George a menacing look. "Yeah…" Fred said, catching on at last. "The football team." He winked at Harry. Dudley, not knowing in the least what they were on about but not particularly liking the conversation, tried to divert everyone's attention to the video player which had by now been properly hooked up. Piers, however, was not satisfied with the answer that the twins gave. "So," he asked, "you go to St. Brutus's as well, then?" "St. Brutus's?" George asked, perplexed. Once again, Dudley frantically tried to gain his friends' attention. Harry sat back and waited, interested to see what would happen next. He was not in a hurry to correct this line of questioning. It had always bothered him that his aunt and uncle had told everyone that he was a hardened criminal who was locked up with other hardened criminals in the infamous school for most of the year. "St. Brutus's Secure Centre for Incurably Criminal Boys," Piers clarified, sounding confused. "That's where Potter goes to school." "St. Brutus's Secure Centre for Incurably Criminal Boys?" Fred scoffed. "You've got to be joking! Harry," Fred said, turning to face his friend, his face bright red, "what's this bloke on about? What do they think you are, some sort of criminal?" "That's where the Dursleys having been telling everyone that I've been attending school," Harry explained, slightly embarrassed. He regretted letting the Weasleys know. What was the point, really? There was nothing they could do about it. "But, that's insane, Harry!" Ron exclaimed, also beginning to get red with anger as comprehension dawned what they were talking about. "You mean to tell me that they've been telling people that you go to a school for criminals?" "Yep," Harry shrugged. "Since my first year, I think." "Why, didn't you tell us they were spreading around that load of rubbish?" he asked through clenched teeth, moving his hand to his wand. Harry saw his gaze fall on Dudley who had seen it too. His fat cousin stumbled backward a step of two under Ron's murderous glare. He had not missed the subtle hand movement either, as far as Harry could tell. "That's all right, Ron," Harry said evenly, stepping in front of Ron and laying a hand on his chest to stop him from hexing Dudley. "It was Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia that started the rumour. Dudley was just saying what they told him to, weren't you, Dud?" He had to work very hard to make this appear casual. The last thing he needed was for one of his friends to do magic and have it come back on him, as he was the only wizard supposedly living in this area. After all that mess last year… Besides, Ron was underage too, and Harry didn't want him to get in trouble on his account. "So if you don't go to St. Brutus's, then where do you go to school, Potter?" Piers asked suspiciously, obviously not liking the fact that Dudley had lied to them or that Harry was not, in fact, a criminal. Harry shrugged. "I go to a boarding school up North. The same one my parents attended. I guess the Dursleys just don't like the fact that I attend a better school than Dudley." Harry glared at Dudley, daring the larger boy to contradict him. "But you're poor!" Piers exclaimed. "And I know for a fact Mr. and Mrs. Dursley would never…" He did not finishing his statement. They all knew what he meant. Harry flushed. "My parents left a trust when they died that pays for my education," he said stiffly. He had never discussed his financial situation with the Dursleys. They had never asked, and he didn't feel the need to tell them. Gordon interrupted suddenly, gesturing to the four of them stupidly. "So, you all go to a boarding school up North?" Harry supposed he was trying to make sense of this new information. "Yes, that's right," Ron said more calmly, almost daring them to say anything more about it. "Well, technically, Fred and I don't anymore," George added. "We almost finished our seventh year, but decided to move on to bigger and better things." "Yeah, we own our own joke shop in… err… London." "Really?" Malcolm said, seemingly impressed. "Weasley's… Er… Wonderful Wheezes," George said, stumbling over his words. "That's right," Fred added, grinning maliciously. "We specialise in all kinds of jokes and tricks that we invent ourselves. Some might even call them magic tricks." He shot Dudley a dirty look. "Yeah," George jumped in. "Just ask old Dudders here about our gag, Ton-Tongue Toffee. Makes your tongue… uhh… feel as if it weighs a ton! He ate a piece a few years ago by mistake." Harry glanced over at Dudley, who looked positively green. "Wow!" Dennis said in his typical lisp. "I bet you had to be really good at chemistry to invent something like that!" he exclaimed. "Yeah," George said smoothly. "Really good at chemelstry." The four Muggles gave the wizards in the room odd looks, like they weren't quite sure if the twins were having them on or not, but Dudley looked as if he were ready to explode. "Shall I start the video?" he asked uncomfortably, plainly wanting this interrogation to end before any more family secrets were let out of the bag. Everyone agreed and took places around the living room wherever there were spots available. With the addition of three more people, Harry and Ron ended up on the floor, but the twins made themselves at home on either side of Dudley on the sofa. Harry found it hard not to laugh at Dudley's horrified expression at being situated between the Weasley brothers. Everyone grabbed handfuls of the snack food that had been put out on the coffee table, as well as a cold can of beer. "Right then," Piers said, pushing the remote, "here we go." Harry noticed Ron jump when the telly burst to life and began playing the movie. Being from a Wizarding family, Ron had no experience with television or other Muggle devices. "I thought Muggles didn't know how to use magic," he whispered to Harry out of the corner of his mouth. "They don't," Harry whispered back, smiling. "Don't worry, I'll explain later." Harry soon realised what all the fuss had been about. The main character was an extremely voluptuous woman by the name of Lucinda Lovelace. Harry tried hard to get the image of Luna Lovegood in her silly lion hat out of his head at the sound of Lucinda's name. The Muggle boys all hooted and clapped upon seeing the title. Apparently, she was the main character in a series of movies. In this adventure, Lucinda Lovelace Does School, Lucinda first appeared as Linda Landers, a prim and proper school governess with a Professor McGonagall-like attitude. Behind closed doors, however, she became Lucinda Lovelace, sex-addict who proceeded to do some very naughty things with… well… just about everybody. Harry and Ron - thankfully on the floor and off to the side and with their backs to everyone - were the only ones not hooting and cat-calling to the screen. Fred and George, in particular, seemed very much taken with Lucinda and her antics and were the loudest of the lot. At one point in the movie Harry sneaked a glance at Ron, who appeared to be as red as his Weasley hair. Harry knew his own eyes were wide as saucers, and he also felt his face heat up during the more explicit scenes. He had no idea people actually did those kinds of things to each other. Thinking of his one pitiful attempt at kissing, Harry became even more embarrassed. What if he was supposed to have kissed Cho like that? If so, no wonder she had bawled all over him! Maybe Hermione was wrong and it was his fault after all…. Harry suddenly felt very unsure and insecure. He did feel slightly better, though, when he took another glance at Ron and found him looking just as shocked and embarrassed, if not more. At the movie's conclusion, Dudley stood and stretched regally. "Well, lads," he said lazily. "That was the best one yet! Good show, Malcolm! I'll have to remember to thank your dad." Turning to Harry, he asked in a sneering voice, "So Potter, enjoy the movie?" "Umm…" Harry's voice cracked, "sure…" Then, more confidently, he looked Dudley in the eye and with his best poker face lied, "Yes, I liked it very much." Ron's eyes popped, but he kept quiet. Dudley didn't know how to respond at first. Then he took the typical Dudley route. He smiled condescendingly and said, "Come off it, cousin. You and I both know that no girl has ever touched you like that." He laughed smugly as Harry's face paled. "Like you have," Harry scoffed. He was certain no girl - certainly not a pretty one - had ever looked twice at Dudley's porky frame. Dudley snorted, "So you admit it then? Look, lads…" he taunted, shooting Ron and Harry disgusted looks. "…we have a couple of ickle virgins here! Told you, Potter, that you and your friends were nothing but namby-" "Hold on, now," Fred warned. "-pamby nancy boys," Dudley finished, ignoring Fred completely. "There's no need for name calling here Dursley," George threatened. Dudley didn't seem to hear the twins. He continued to glare at his cousin for a full minute, his mouth tight and grim. A tense silence enveloped the room. Harry glared back, silently challenging Dudley to take it one step further. Dudley seemed to shake himself back into reality. He turned to his four friends abruptly, who were looking as if they were just waiting for permission from Dudley to pounce on the three Weasleys and Harry. "Right," he said, clapping his hands. "Well, lads… you know what time it is now, correct?" "Time to break out the hard stuff," Piers answered with great anticipation in his squeaky little voice. "Just what do you mean by 'the hard stuff'," Ron asked warily, his eyes still cold with fury. "Lager, gin, vodka…" Dudley said casually, ignoring Ron's menacing stare. "Among others…." He flinched when Fred and George exclaimed raucously, "Now you're talking!" "Oh, I'm sorry…" Dudley said, sounding anything but sorry. "I'm not sure if there's enough to go around. After all, we weren't expecting guests," he told them, looking down his piggy nose at the three Weasley brothers. "No problem," Fred said easily. For a moment it looked as if Dudley had won this battle. Fred and George had other ideas, though. "Not a problem. We'll just pop down to the corner store and get our own," Fred said, gesturing towards the door. They exchanged knowing grins, making Harry wondered what they were up to now. As the twins turned to leave, they were interrupted by the ding of the doorbell. "What time is it?" Dudley asked Piers. "Going on four o'clock," Piers answered, checking his wristwatch and smiling. "Great, they're right on time," Dudley exclaimed, shoving past Harry and the twins. "Out of my way, Potter!" Harry stumbled and would have fallen if it weren't for Ron standing right behind him. He watched as Dudley opened the door to reveal five girls, three of whom looked vaguely familiar to Harry. The other two girls were complete strangers. All five were very pretty. They appeared to be about Dudley's age, and were dressed provocatively in the fashion of modern Muggle teenage girls with tight shirts that accentuated certain… aspects of their upper bodies. Harry heard Fred and George both suck in air sharply at the sight of them. Two of the girls were identical twins, who - Harry just remembered - had been in one of his primary school classes at the school he and Dudley had attended before Harry went to Hogwarts and Dudley went to Smeltings. Andrea and Audra… Thompson? The other girl Harry definitely recognized. Claire Smith was difficult to forget, given that she had been the female version of Dudley at his old school. Claire was very pretty even at ten - but at sixteen she was gorgeous. She had long blond hair and pale blue eyes and reminded Harry somewhat of a mixture between Draco Malfoy and Pansy Parkinson. Like Dudley, Claire had been well known to bully anyone that was different, poor, or who slighted her in some way. Harry fit every category and, thus, had been one of her favourite targets. He had not seen the three girls since the end of term when he was ten years old. Idly, he wondered if they went to Stonewall High, the public school where he would have gone had he not gotten his Hogwarts letter. Although Piers and Dudley both went to Smeltings, Dennis, Malcolm, and Gordon did not have the grades, money, or family connections to be accepted into the better school and that's where they attended. He remembered Dudley and Piers laughing about it long ago. Dudley smiled and greeted the girls warmly. Harry had never seen him so amiable towards anyone before and was slightly disconcerted by it. Dudley quickly invited them in, then looked around nervously before shutting the door. Harry supposed this was to see if any nosy neighbours were about to notice the addition of the females to the house. He was sure that Aunt Petunia would not approve of mixed company when there were no adults present. Claire smiled widely at the boys and then caught sight of Harry and the Weasleys. "New friends Duddy?" she asked, eyeing the four boys with open appreciation. Harry was flabbergasted. Didn't she remember him? Dudley must have thought the same thing for he said sourly, "You remember my cousin, Harry Potter." Harry noticed that Dudley said his name as if it left a bad taste in his mouth. It was very obvious he did not like the attention that the wizards were receiving from the girls. "And these are his loser friends, the Wellsleys." Claire did a double-take. "Skinny little Harry Potter with the ill-fitting clothes and smart mouth? Your cousin, the one you hate?" "That's him, unfortunately," Dudley grumbled his voice low and gravely. "My, my," she tutted appreciatively. "You have grown up, haven't you? And quite well, I might add…." Harry attempted to say something that came out sounding somewhat like "Er..um.. thanks". Claire was checking him out rather openly, and it made him feel very uncomfortable. He did not like being the centre of attention, even from a girl as pretty as Claire. Besides, Harry could still sense Claire's true nature lurking under the surface and he had been on the receiving end of her wrath too many times in his childhood to forget it. Dudley did not like Harry being the centre of Claire's attention, either. He quickly stepped in between them, effectively blocking his cousin from view and putting himself in Claire's line of vision. "Claire, luv," he said charmingly, "why don't you and your friends come into the sitting room and I'll get you a nice, cold drink. How does that sound?" "Duddy, I would absolutely love a drink. Do you have any gin and tonic?" she asked sweetly, turning on her charm while still glancing around Dudley at Harry as if he were a very desirable dessert. Harry idly wondered if she had Veela blood in her ancestry the way that Dudley was acting towards her. She and the four girls, plus Piers and the others, all moved towards the living room leaving Fred, George, Ron, and Harry alone. "Well, Harry," George grinned, slapping him on the back, "it looks as if you have yet another admirer." "Guess you don't have to be a famous wizard to get attention around here," Fred agreed wickedly, elbowing him. "Did you see the look on Dudley's face when she was checking you out? Priceless!" Ron added happily. It was clear that Ron was even less keen on Dudley than before. Harry, who knew his best mate very well, wondered which Ron hated more at this point, Dudley or Malfoy. "Shut it, you three," Harry said irritably. "That girl is a nasty piece of work. You don't want anything to do with her… trust me." "Who were the others? Do you know them?" Ron asked curiously. "Yeah," Fred said eagerly. "Who—" "…were the foxy twins?" George finished for him. They often did this when excited, but Harry still found it spooky that they could finish each others sentences. He wondered, not for the first time, if they could communicate telepathically. "Andrea and Audra Thompson," Harry told them. "I remember them from school and always really liked them. If they're hanging out with Claire, though, I'd watch out," he warned. "I don't recognize the other two, though." "We'll watch," Fred said absent-mindedly. "Yeah," George said, looking towards the living room appreciatively, "we'll definitely watch out for them…" "Just where were you off to a moment ago?" Harry inquired, changing the subject. "Oh…" Fred said casually, dragging his eyes away from the twins whom he and George were still ogling. "Mundungus," he said simply. "He always keeps a supply of Ogden's Best Firewhiskey on him and we thought we'd haggle a few bottles off him. He's outside on guard duty tonight. Or at least he's supposed to be on duty. You know Mundungus." "Harry," George asked hesitantly. "Would you mind terribly if we pop back to the shop for a few minutes and check on Lee? He's supposed to be closing up. I was hoping that I could convince him to join us here, if it's alright with you. That would even the odds a bit. You know, five against five - not counting the lovely ladies, of course." "I don't have a problem with that," Harry told them. "I'm sure another wizard here will send Dudley mad." He grinned at the thought. "Just don't forget to warn him about the no-magic thing, okay? No one can use magic anywhere around here at all, apart from Apparating and Disapparating. That doesn't seem to trigger the underage magical authorities," he said slowly. "Both Dobby and Mundungus did it and nobody said anything. Any wand-magic, though, is certain to cause trouble." He said this more for the twins' benefit than anyone else's. "Don't worry, Harry, we'll take care of everything. Fred can go dicker with Dung about the Firewhiskey and I'll go collect Lee," George said, settling the matter. "See if Dung has any butterbeer," Ron called out after them as they headed out the door. "That Muggle stuff was just nasty!" he said, making a face. "You got it, little brother," Fred said, winking. "You take care of our hero here while we're gone. And do try to stay out of trouble while we're away, won't you?" he said in his best Mrs. Weasley voice. "Of course," Ron said, rolling his eyes. "Same to you…" he warned just before they shut the door. Ron and Harry had just turned to join the others when the doorbell rang again. Dudley could be heard cursing from the other room, something along the lines of, "Bloody Hell! Who is it this time?" Harry looked at Ron, who had tensed up at the unexpected sound, and shrugged, "Must be Fred and George coming back. Maybe they've forgotten something." Moving to open the door, he found his jaw dropping for the second time that day as he got the shock of his life. "Hermione? Ginny? What are you two doing here?" [A/N: I apologize that it's been so long between updates. I had originally wanted to have this rewrite finished before the New Year, but my father in law passed away and we were out of town over the holidays for several weeks. I have been using any spare time I get to work on the sequel to this, Shadow of the Serpent, which is already being published on other sites. Again, if you've read the original, I've changed quite a bit and combined two chapters in one. I've also shifted the entire story to Harry's point of view and cleaned up the riff-raff. I like the result much better, don't you? Thanks to Arnel for her fast beta powers. She has the next chapter already, so expect an update very soon. I'll try to keep them coming as fast as I can until I finish this and start publishing the meat of the story, which is the sequel, of course. Until then, happy reading!]
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