Redemption (Dudley Dursley)

XIII. The Dursley's.

Before anyone really knew it, Winter had come and gone and in its absence Spring rolled around. There was no more snow on the ground, no more ice whether it be black ice or white ice- both were equally as annoying and dangerous. No frosty winds that would grasp everyone who had the misfortune of having to brave the horrific weather in a fist that was almost impossible to escape. Now, it wasn't exactly warm because it was still rather chilly but mostly it came from the cool winds that swept throughout the country and didn't actually come from the day simply being cold.

It wasn't much of a surprise really that a lot of people prefer Spring over Summer because when the latter does come around it can sometimes get far too hot to even go out unless the person in question wants to risk becoming a human lobster for a few days afterwards. Right now it was sitting comfortably at thirteen degrees Celsius which was definitely not warm but it was hot enough in order for everyone to shift their large winter jackets in favour of lighter ones. Surprisingly, today it wasn't raining which as a whole may be seen as a sign but it was anything but nice.

Well, to some people at least. One man in particular was extremely annoyed over what day it was and what exactly was happening a measly two hours away from the two-bedroom house he owned which was only a ten-minute drive from the south coast of England.

It was a far cry from the large house he used to live in (even though he technically still owns the place but he had signed a pre-nuptial agreement with Petunia that she would get the house if anything ever happened to them). He never expected it to happen but Vernon Dursley was annoyingly a man of his word and he would never change it. The past couple of months he had basically had a permanent sour look on his face and this was for a very simple reason- he hated change and this wasn't something he liked. The man was used to a life of luxury and right now he was living anything but a luxurious life. Yes, he was high up in Grunning's Drilling Manufacturer's but everything else.

For over twenty years he had been coming home to a large five-bedroom house in the more exclusive area of Little Whinging- even though it wasn't that expensive- and to a loving wife and son. He can't even begin to understand where it all went wrong. Petunia had shared the same views as him over everything concerning her nephew (he scoffed at the thought because the boy shouldn't be considered her nephew) but it had seemingly happened instantly that she changed her mind. Dudley though, where did he go wrong? His son had been absolutely perfect- at least in his eyes but he didn't care what anyone else thought. He had shared the same views as soon as he knew everything about that lot because even just thinking of the word that those people were sent his blood into a boil.

It wasn't normal, and it wasn't right.

It had all started when they were forced to leave their large house to move somewhere that they had never even heard of never mind been to before that his son changed. To the majority of people his change was extremely impressive and was something to look up at but to the beefy man who was currently sitting on the couch watching the small television he had whilst people-watching out the large bay window it was like the biggest sin of all time. He had raised Dudley to be the best he could be yet the twenty-one-year-old threw it all back in his face like it was absolutely nothing.

Like father like son.

That was how he had raised Dudley, he wanted him to be a reflection of himself because Vernon genuinely didn't see that his thinking process was really messed up. He shouldn't have even been thinking about getting in touch with them, yet he did and he had kept it all a secret. He shouldn't even be thinking of his cousin yet he had been meeting him in the flesh. It was all because of that girl- it had to be. It was when he met the tiny blonde girl that his thought process suddenly shifted for worse. For so many years he had spent with his son gossiping over the latest TV show and their excessive appetites as well. Once they moved it wasn't like that at all, Dudley changed and in the man's eyes he had changed for the worst when really he had changed for the better.