A matter of Law

20

"What do you mean, I can't take my nephew in? You people just stormed into my brother's home and arrested him along with my sister in law, and took Dudley to some stranger's home to stay. When I was finally informed of what you had done with Dudley, I was told my home would need to be evaluated before he could stay with me. Against my better judgment, I allowed your so-called evaluators into my home, because my nephew needs to be with his family until my brother can get this misunderstanding straightened out and can take care of him again. And you want to say I can't care for my nephew?"

Marjorie Dursley's face was red as she finished her rant.

"Miss Dursley, it is standard procedure to inspect and evaluate the potential home of a child in cases like these. We must ensure that any home a child may be placed in is going to be a place that the child will be cared for and is in the child's best interest. Unfortunately, your home was found to be unsuitable as a possible home for Dudley Dursley, despite his blood relationship to you," the Child Protection worker stated, glancing down at the notes taken during the home evaluation.

"Nonsense, I'm his family! Dudley should be allowed to stay with me, despite what you may think."

"Miss Dursley, when your home was evaluated, the worker doing the evaluation was almost bitten by one of a number of dogs in the house. It's in the report that your home is small, and given the number of dogs on the property, more closely resembles a kennel than a house where someone would make a home, especially if a child will be living there. The worker also wasn't able to find any sort of licensing that would be needed if you are operating a kennel out of your home. Add that to the fact at least one of the dogs appeared vicious, it would not be in your nephew's best interest to stay with you. This agency will not place a child in a home where there is even a slight chance they could be hurt."

"Ripper just doesn't like strangers, so was defending his home. That isn't being vicious."

"And the other dogs? I see in the report there was at least one dog there nursing a litter of pups."

"Yes well, Mabel is one of my females, yes. I sell the pups, although I don't think I'll sell all of this litter. There is at least one that is too small for the breed; a runt. No one will buy a runt. So this may be Mabel's last litter. I'll not keep a bitch that produces a runt. A runt means there's something wrong with the pup, so there must be something wrong with Mabel. You see it all the time when raising dogs. If there's something wrong with the bitch, there will be something wrong with the pup."

"Interesting. And do you have this same train of thought in regard to human beings?"

"It's part of nature, sir, people aren't just born with something wrong unless it's passed down from someone."

"And, Miss Dursley, you have just clearly demonstrated yet another reason why your home is not a suitable environment for your nephew Dudley. Thank you for coming in. Good day to you."

OOO

Dudley Dursley wasn't happy at all. First his freak cousin disappears, then his parents were arrested, and he was taken to live with people he didn't know. No matter how many times he screamed he wanted to live with his Aunt Marge, he was just told that his Aunt Marge wouldn't be taking care of him. Now, he wasn't allowed to eat all of the sweets he wanted to, he was told he had to do chores, and the people he was staying with just ignored his tantrums, so he couldn't even use those to get his own way anymore. He kept trying to get his way, though. It usually worked with his parents, so why wasn't it working now?

Dudley was currently using a broom to sweep the debris and grass clippings of the freshly mowed lawn from the walk, something that his foster father, Lawrence Stephens, had told him was one of his new chores. Mr. Stephens mowed the lawn, and it was Dudley's responsibility to sweep the walk clean after he was finished.