The Broken Hero

A Change Of Heart

Dear Harry,

Only two more days, it's the 27th and Mrs. Weasley is coming on the 29th. I am excited to see you soon! I just arrived at the burrow last night, it was a long night. Ginny yet again walked into one of the twin's pranks! I honestly feel really bad for her, also thanks for writing back to us. It relieved me from feeling worried. I hope to see you soon!

Hermione

A few days since letter writing with Petunia, Harry found himself relying on Aunt Petunia more and more. He often felt sick, and his chest hurt incredibly. Most mornings, he would literally be so pale that he looked like a ghost. Harry couldn't really keep anything down for the most part and resorted to drinking fluids for meals. What worried Harry the most is that his friends would be coming to get him soon, he couldn't look how he looked, or Mrs. Weasley would probably drag him to St. Mongols. Harry hated hospitals and tried to avoid them at all costs, the last few visits he had were checkups but those were over a year ago. When he was sick, he would often shove a ton of pills down his throat which Harry figured, wasn't the healthiest option. Still, he couldn't rely on his aunt and uncle very much. They really didn't care about him until a few weeks ago. His "brother" Dudley had been an entirely different story. Speaking of brother, Dudley had stepped foot into Harry's room. Harry gave him a confused look but kept his mouth shut. He learned that it was better this way, Dudley would have no excuse to hurt him in any way. He held the sides of his bed hard, he bit his lip and tried to look anywhere but Dudley who still stood in his doorway. Dudley took a step forward and moved his feet forward, he plastered a smile on his face but made no sudden movement that would scare Harry. As Dudley made his way forward and towards his "brothers" bed, he saw Harry tense up more and more until Harry looked like a stick, quite literally. He gave one last curious glance around the room and sat down on Harry's bed. He heard the bed squeak and sag but payed no attention. For about 20 minutes, there was just the uttermost silence and other than the sound of the fan, no one spoke. Harry wanted to say something but didn't know what to say. He would forever hold his peace, but he couldn't stand the silence. What worried him even more is that Dudley made no move to harm him in any way, that was unusual.

"So, um Dudley, whatccha doing here? Did I do something wrong?" Harry asked cautiously. Dudley immediately looked up at Harrys green, emerald eyes. He saw fear and worry in both eyes. He didn't know what to say, he wanted to apologize for everything but here in Harry's bedroom wasn't the place he wanted to do it in.

"No Harry, you didn't do anything wrong. I just want to talk to you."

Harry stood shocked in place. Everything he knew was a lie but Dudley always being mean to him was not lie at all. Harry felt that this might be a trap, walking into one of Dudley's traps wasn't very unusual, it sadly was actually quite common. Dudley was the kind of person to really never change, once he chose his victim, he made sure he's victim suffered but yet here he was, trying to actually talk and not with his fists. Harry's eyes closed and he took in a deep breath, he wouldn't succumb to Dudley, he just wouldn't. Dudley felt awkward, Harry wasn't saying anything to him and it just felt weird. He shifted his weight and put his hands on his leg. He had a question he wanted to ask Harry, but something was holding him back. Dudley knew if he didn't say anything soon, he would lose Harry so he just got the question out there. It had never felt so tense in one room.

"Hey Harry, do you want to get ice cream with me?" Dudley asked with a tint of worry in his voice. Harry just stared at him and blinked his eyes many times. "Please say yes, please say yes," Dudley thought over and over again. Harry finally stirred and simply nodded his head. Dudley wanted to jump up with excitement but held himself back considering Harry threw up a few hours before and was probably still extremely ill. When Aunt Petunia told Dudley what Harry had or developed, he wanted to cry, cry forever. He stayed in his bed for two days with no food or water and it took his mom hours on end to get to leave his room. Dudley was better now but it still plagued him. What made it worse was that his mom wanted to tell Harry what he had but Dudley made her promise not to. Harry couldn't handle the news right now; he was either always sleeping or vomiting. Dudley did his best to be nice to Harry, it actually really wasn't that hard.