The Forgotten Twin

Chapter 3

The escape of the Brazilian boa constrictor earned Harry and Delilah their longest-ever punishment. By the time they were allowed out of their room again, the summer holidays had started and Dudley had already broken his new video camera, crashed his remote control airplane, and, first time out on his racing bike, knocked down old Mrs. Figg as she crossed Privet Drive on her crutches.

Delilah was glad school was over, but there was no escaping Dudley's gang, who visited the house every single day. Piers, Dennis, Malcolm, and Gordon were all big and stupid, but as Dudley was the biggest and stupidest of the lot, he was the leader. The rest of them were all quite happy to join in Dudley's favorite sport: Harry Hunting.

This was why Harry, and therefore Delilah, spent as much time as possible out of the house, wandering around and thinking about the end of the holidays, where there was a tiny ray of hope. When September came both of them would be going off to secondary school and, for the first time in their life, Dudley wouldn't be there with them.
Dudley had been accepted at Uncle Vernon's old private school, Smeltings. Piers Polkiss was going there too. Harry and Delilah, on the other hand, were going to Stonewall High, the local public school. Dudley thought this was very funny.
"They stuff people's heads down the toilet the first day at Stonewall," he told Harry, ignoring Delilah as usual. "Want to come upstairs and practice?"
"No, thanks," said Harry. "The poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it - it might be sick." Then he ran, Delilah at his heels, before Dudley could work out what he'd said.

One day in July, Aunt Petunia took Dudley to London to buy Dudley's Smeltings uniform, leaving Harry and Delilah at Mrs. Figg's. Mrs. Figg wasn't as bad as usual. It turned out she'd broken her leg tripping over one of her cats, and she didn't seem quite as fond of them as before. She let them watch television and gave them a bit of chocolate cake that tasted as though she'd had it for several years.

That evening, Dudley paraded around the living room for the family in his brand-new uniform. Smeltings' boys wore maroon tailcoats, orange knickerbockers, and flat straw hats called boaters. They also carried knobbly sticks, used for hitting each other while the teachers weren't looking. This was supposed to be good training for later life.

As Delilah looked at Dudley in his new knickerbockers, Uncle Vernon said gruffly that it was the proudest moment of his life. Aunt Petunia burst into tears and said she couldn't believe it was her Ickle Dudleykins, he looked so handsome and grown-up. Delilah didn't trust herself to speak. She thought two of her ribs might already have cracked from trying not to laugh. Luckily she had a good poker face.

There was a horrible smell in the kitchen the next morning when Delilah and Harry went in for breakfast. It seemed to be coming from a large metal tub in the sink. Delilah went to have a look. The tub was full of what looked like dirty rags swimming in gray water.

"What's this?" Delilah asked Aunt Petunia. Her lips tightened as they always did if either of them dared to ask a question.

"Your new school uniforms," she said.
Delilah looked in the bowl again.

"Oh," Harry said, "I didn't realize it had to be so wet."
"Don't be stupid," snapped Aunt Petunia. "I'm dyeing some of Dudley's old things gray for you. It'll look just like everyone else's when I've finished.

Delilah seriously doubted this, but thought it best not to argue. She sat down at the table and tried not to think about how she was going to look on her first day at Stonewall High - like she was wearing bits of old elephant skin, probably.

Dudley and Uncle Vernon came in, both with wrinkled noses because of the smell from their new uniforms. Uncle Vernon opened his newspaper as usual and Dudley banged his Smelting stick, which he carried everywhere, on the table.