The next few weeks passed in a blur. For once, I wasn't the schools outcast. In fact, I was actually popular! I was now an official member of the wrestling team, and part of a pretty solid friend group. At first it was rough, because Dudley and his friends still insisted on bullying people, and I would never want to do that. Eventually though, the boys all realized that you don't need to be mean to be cool and chilled out a bit. Sometimes there are bad days and fists still fly, but hey, improvement is improvement. What can I say, that's just the kind of influence I have. It took even more time, though, for the rest of the school to learn they no longer had to be scared of Dudley or his pals. It's kind of funny, because I didn't actually realize all of this change was happening at first. It was only when I was called to the principals office a few weeks ago that I noticed things were different.
"Mr. Xavier wants to see you in his office." Mrs. Elidave had said when I entered her classroom. I felt my heart drop. I remember thinking, 'surely this can't be about the water fountain, right? That was ages ago, and Dudley isn't mad at me anymore!' but I also couldn't think of anything else I had done wrong to deserve being called down to the principals office.
When I finally reach Mr. Xavier's office, I prepped myself for the worst. From past experiences, I was pretty sure I was about to be booted from the only school I actually liked. But upon walking in and talking with Mr. Xavier, I learned that he wanted to apologize, and thank me!
Never in my life had I been sent to the principals office to be thanked. But I guess there's a first for everything.
Anyways, the guy goes on to say he had assumed I was a troublemaker based on my history (and honestly I can't even blame him, my records don't exactly show me in the best light), and when I started hanging out with Dudley after the whole water fountain incident, he was scared I was about to be a worse bully and student then Dudley was. And yet, to his, and the rest of the staffs surprise, the bullying didn't get worse. It got better. And the schools average grades even went up as the terror caused by Dudley and his gang lessened. He attributed this to me, and felt bad for judging me harshly at first. I obviously forgave him, and was sent back to class with a pat on the back.
That was three weeks ago, and I'm thinking about it now as I look around the lunch room and marvel in how much it's changed since I first showed up. People no longer flinch when our table explodes with laughter, or look away in fear when they're caught looking over. It's weird for me to think that I was the one to kickstart the change, but I guess it makes sense in a way.
"Hey Percy," I flinched as I was flicked on my shoulder, and I turned to see who had spoken,
"Oh. What's up Piers?"
"You've been zoned out for a solid minute. Big D's trying to asked you something." Somewhat embarrassed, I turned to the person in question.
"What's up Dudley?" Dudley rolled his eyes, clearly amused that it took so long to get my attention, and tossed me a bag of chips before answering,
"Eat that. Are you ready for the wrestling meet this weekend?"
My face must have reacted without me telling it to, because the whole table burst into laughter. I chuckled a bit too, but it wasn't as genuine as everyone else. I didn't want to think about the wrestling meet this weekend. It would be my very first one, and man was I nervous. Sure, I had been practicing almost non-stop, and I had even gained quite a bit of muscle in the past seven weeks, but still didn't feel ready to actually do a real match. It didn't help that Henry, Alexander, and Olivia were all busy this weekend, so I would have no one there to cheer me on. Other than my teammates, obviously, but they would be focused on their own matches so I wasn't really sure they counted.
After the laughter died down, Dudley let out one more snort, just to be dramatic, and then said,
"No need to look so nervous, Jackson. Your a natural, its like fighting is in your blood or something. My parents wanted to take us out to dinner after the meet. What restaurants do you like?"
"Huh?" His reassurances that I would do well were very appreciated, but the second half of his statement caused my brain to lag a bit. Why would he ask me for restaurant recommendations?
"We're going out to dinner after the meet. What restaurants do you like?" This did nothing to clarify it for me, and I saw Gordon roll his eyes as I asked,
"Like the whole team? Why would I get to choose the restaurant?"
"What? No, not the whole team--you and me, maybe Piers if he's free. You're crazy if you think I'd go anywhere with the fifth years." Then he mimed throwing up, as the table laughed. Even I let out a chuckle. Sure it wasn't a very nice thing for him to say, but seriously, I'm pretty sure some of the fifth years we wrestle with don't know how to brush their teeth. Then what he had actually said hit me.
"Your parents want to meet me?" I tried to hide the disbelief in my voice, but based on the way Dudley's face softened slightly I wasn't sure it had worked.
"Of course mate. They're upset they haven't been able to meet you sooner, actually. But, uh, a little warning..." Dudley paused and shot a side look at Piers who winced and took over,
"Duds parents are very obsessed with normalcy. Like to the point it makes them stand out as strange, a bit counterproductive if you ask me, but one of the things they deem normal..."
Before Piers could finish, Gordon interrupted,
"The Dursleys are racist. They'll never straight up say anything, but you'll be able to tell by the way they look at you."
Dudley winced, clearly not wanting it to be said so bluntly, but not willing to deny it either. My heart stopped for a second, before restarting and going a thousand miles a minute. As an orphan, I don't know my parents or ancestry, all I know is that I'm a little tanner than most of the british people around me. Not like thats a difficult feat, really, considering how pasty white so many of them are. I realized I had been silent for a tad too long and spoke up,
"So will they judge me for being American? Or will they judge me for being tan?" There was some light laughter, which made me feel better.
"Honestly, they'll probably be more upset about your hair than your skin or your accent," Malcolm teased, "Mrs. Dursely might try to shave it all off." My hands flew to my hair dramatically as I gasped,
"No! Not my gorgeous curls! The messiness is my signature look!" The laughter around the table got a bit louder, and I felt my heart return to my normal heart rate. Honestly Dudley's parents being racist wasn't very surprising considering the bad attitude Dudley had had when I first met him. Also, Smelting's was a rich private school. Similarly to how I wasn't surprised by the homophobia Mrs. Elidave had to face, I couldn't really bring myself to be shocked that Duds parents might be judgy. I looked over at Dudley and saw he looked kind of upset, almost guilty for his parents ignorance.
"Hey Dudley," I spoke over the laughter that was still happening, "I'd love to meet your parents if they want to meet me. I'll even brush my hair, but you should probably chose the restaurant, I don't really eat out that often."
That seemed to work, because Dudley's face lightened and he nodded enthusiastically. I smiled back at him.
I probably wouldn't actually brush my hair, especially since it would be after a long day of wrestling, but hey maybe I would be able to turn Mr. and Mrs. Dursley away from their racist beliefs the same way I was able to get Dudley and his gang to stop being bullies. It was hopeful thinking, but not impossible.
1450 words! A long one!
Hello! I hope you enjoyed! It is finals for my college classes right now, and I wrote this instead of studying haha. College has been going well. We had to evacuate because of a hurricane though, and I got a nasty concussion that took 5 weeks to heal. Anyways, hope y'all enjoy the chapter! It's starting to pickup a bit and I'm so (so so very) excited for the next chapter. Thank you to everyone who has read, voted, and/or commented. It really keeps me going. <3
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The Dursley's adopted son
FanfictionOk, so this might sound weird, but I had this idea that Percy was adopted by the Dursleys. But that's not all! When he is adopted he's a year older than Harry. Harry is eleven and Percy is adopted during the school year. You know what this means? Ha...
