Harry Potter and the Order Of the Phoenix [5]
“Th- thanks, Dudley,” said Harry, having no clue what to think. Throughout his entire life, Dudley had never even said one nice thing to Harry, much less give something to him… voluntarily. Maybe he had turned over a new leaf.
“Happy Birthday!” said Dudley.
“What?” said Harry. “Um… there’s still several weeks until my birthday, Dudley.”
“I know, but since we’re leaving for Hawaii next week, I figured I won’t have time to give it to you on your actual birthday.”
“Where did you find it?” asked Harry, still looking it over and admiring it.
“I found it in the basement,” he said. “It was in a box labeled ‘Lily’”
Harry immediately looked up at him. Lily? Lily Potter? His mother?
“You mean my mom?” asked Harry quietly.
“Yeah,” said Dudley. “I think we got a box of her stuff from her will. Even though my mom hated her, she still couldn’t throw it out.”
Harry looked at Dudley, then at the watch. Somehow, knowing that it had once belonged to his mother made it appear to be even more beautiful.
“But why are you giving this to me?” asked Harry, putting the watch on.
“Come on,” said Dudley, smiling and patting Harry’s shoulder, “can’t a cousin do something nice every now an then, huh?”
“Other cousins, yes I’m sure. You… no way,” said Harry. Dudley let out a sigh “Harry, I haven’t told anyone this… no one at all.”
“What is it?” asked Harry, interested.
“Well, a little into my school year last year, I started having these dreams,“ said Dudley. “Only, these weren’t dreams of floating in the air, or falling, or whatever. No, these were dreams with a message. They were telling me something.”
“What were they telling you?” asked Harry.
“That I should be doing something that I’m not,” said Dudley, extremely seriously. “So, I tried everything. I tried losing more weight, but the dreams wouldn’t stop; I tried to do better in school, but the dreams wouldn’t stop; I even tried having a girlfriend for a while, but that didn’t make them stop.
“So, one night, I laid awake in bed, contemplating what I could possibly be doing that I wasn’t: being nice to you, treating you like a human being.”
“And have the dreams stopped?” asked Harry.
“Ever since I proclaimed to myself that day that I would be nice to you for the rest of our lives… yes. I realized that I should have known to be that way ever since you first came here. Just because you can make glass appear, and talk to snakes doesn’t mean you’re a bad person… in fact, it makes you kind of cool.”
“Um… thanks Dudley,” said Harry.
“Hey, you want to come downstairs?” asked Dudley. “You must get awfully bored up here all by yourself.”
“Um… sure,” said Harry, still overwhelmed by Dudley’s sudden and complete change of heart. “Just let me check on Hedwig.”
“Alright,” said Dudley, smiling as he left the room.
Once Hedwig had been settled back into her cage, Harry sat down on his bed. So many questions were burning in his mind: Why was Dudley being so nice to him? Was it really because of the dream? And before… what was up with the black phoenix in his room? He didn’t even know phoenixes came in black! And what had caused his forehead to hurt when he saw it? Harry rubbed his eyes and walked over to the mirror in his room, and lifted up his bangs to reveal a lightning shaped scar on his forehead.
This scar made Harry even more unusual, even by wizard’s standards. Harry was the only person to ever survive an encounter with Lord Voldemort, the most powerful and evil wizard in over a century. Voldemort barged into Harry’s parent’s house one night when Harry was only one year old. Voldemort killed his mom and dad, and when he tried to kill Harry, his curse backfired, turning him into a weak, powerless creature that over a course of thirteen years returned back to his original power with the help of his most faithful servant, Peter Pettigrew or Wormtail. The reason Voldemort’s curse had backfired is because his mom, Lily, sacrificed her life for Harry giving him a shield against Voldemort’s powers. However,