Raised Better

5 - Rising Tensions

On his way to drop off Dudley's laundry in his bedroom, Vernon paused when he heard the boys chattering away in Harry's room. Looking in through the cracked door, he saw his son bend down to rummage through Harry's trunk as the boy finished filling his pet owl's water dish.

"Hey! Is this the stuff you have to wear for that sport you play at school?" Dudley asked as he pulled out of Harry's school trunk what appeared to be shoulder pads.

Harry nodded as he came over to take the gear from Dudley. "Yeah," he answered.

Elbowing his way into the room then, Vernon set aside the laundry basket and began to look at the other pieces of Harry's sports gear that lay still lay in the trunk. Staring at the equipment, he tried to remember if Harry had told him about being a part of a sports team. Vaguely, he could recall something about Harry mentioning a time or two playing a game that involved brooms and flying spheres.

"You made a sports team?" Vernon asked his nephew as he turned around.

The boy turned away and reached into his owl's cage, beginning to pet its white feathers.

Dudley, however, had no qualms about gushing about what Harry must have told him. "Yeah, Dad! He impressed some professors with his skills flying a broom during flying class one day and was offered a spot on his house's team! He's the first first year in forever to make the team!"

Vernon blinked at Harry. His scrawny nephew made a sports team where you had to wear gear like this? "What do you do on your sports team, Harry?" he asked the boy.

"I'm the seeker," Harry answered. "I'm supposed to try and capture the snitch and stuff. You have to be fast and I am."

Nodding as he heard this, Vernon flashed him a bit of a smile, still miffed about the fact his nephew hadn't told him he was on the team. "That's good," he praised. "Sports are good for lads - they teach discipline."

Harry perked up at this. "Really? It's good I'm playing a magic sport?" he asked.

Vernon nodded.

A smile beginning at the corner of his lips, Harry told Vernon, "Professor McGonagall said my dad was good at Quidditch and flying too."

"Oh?" Vernon replied, surprised at this sudden, almost giddy offering of information.

Smile blinding now, Harry said, "Yeah."

While he knew he should be happy that Harry was feeling a connection with his father, he couldn't help himself when he said, "Don't try and become too much like him, lad."

"Why?" the boy demanded, smile gone and frown now marring his face.

Vernon sighed. "Being exactly like your father would probably end up with you dead too," he explained with some reluctance.

"Who should I be like then, Uncle Vernon? My mum ended up dead too."

Looking into his nephew's hurt, angry green eyes all Vernon could think was he'd made a mess of things yet again.

Putting a hand on his cousin's arm, Dudley began, "Harry…Dad didn't mean-"

"-Like Petunia. Petunia was smart and shrewd and she always could tell when something strange was going on. She also always had for plan fixing it," Vernon cut in over his son. Then, giving Dudley a long look, he told the boy, "You could do with being more like her too, son." Gaze wandering away from the boys, Vernon whispered, more to himself than anything, "We all could."

"Yes, Uncle Vernon," Harry replied.

Nodding, Vernon patted both boy's heads. "Good," he said before leaving the boys alone once more.