Rose Dursley: The Girl Who Lived

24. Needing to Escape

The next morning, Rob woke up still feeling tired. He thought about staying in bed, but decided it would be better to get up.

He had a quick shower first, then went back to his room to get dressed. Rob went through the bag of clothes that Dudley had given him. He picked out a pair of jeans that were nearly the right size. They were a bit long in the legs, so Rob rolled up the bottom. And on top he picked out a polo shirt.

Once he was dressed, Rob went down to the kitchen to get some breakfast. He made some coffee, and two slices of toast.

Rob was just sitting at the table finishing his coffee, when he heard his mum coming down the stairs behind him. Mrs Dursley stopped at the doorway. Where Rob was facing the other way, his mum didn't recognise him.

"Hello? Who are you?" said Mrs Dursley.

Rob put down his coffee cup and turned around to face her. "It's just me, mum," he said.

Mrs Dursley shrieked with surprise. "Rose, what have you done to your hair?" she said.

"I cut it," said Rob. "And I'm not Rose anymore. My name is Rob."

"Not this again," Mrs Dursley cried. "Stop this nonsense, Rose."

Rob stood up angrily, and spoke firmly. "My name is not Rose," he said.

"It's that magic school. I knew it was a mistake," said Mrs Dursley.

"It's nothing to do with magic. This is who I am," said Rob.

"And what are you wearing? You look ridiculous," she said. "Go and change your clothes."

Rob picked up his coffee cup and threw it at the sink. It hit the side and shattered into loads of tiny pieces.

"This is who I am. You need to accept it," Rob shouted.

"You do not behave like that in my house, young lady," shouted Mrs Dursley. "Go to your room."

"I'm not a lady," shouted Rob.

Then Rob stormed out of the room and slammed the kitchen door shut behind him. He ran to his bedroom and slammed that door shut as well. He kicked his bin across the room furiously, then collapsed on his bed.

The shouting and banging had woken up the others in the house. As Rob laid on his bed, he could hear his parents arguing loudly.

Rob rolled out of bed and grabbed a piece of parchment. Then he wrote a quick note to Ron. Once he had finished writing, he gave it to his owl to deliver.

~~~~~

Many miles away, Ron was eating a late breakfast. As there was no school, he hadn't got out of bed until 11am. He had gotten up to take his plate to the sink, when he heard a tapping at the window. Ron looked over to see Rob's owl there.

Ron took the parchment from the owl to read;

Ron,
Help!
My parents didn't like the change. I need to get out of here.
- Rob.

Ron put down the note and looked around to work out what to do about it. His mum had gone out shopping with Ginny, so she couldn't help. That just left his dad.

Mr Weasley was out in his garage when Ron came running in. "Dad, I need help," he said.

Mr Weasley put down the muggle kettle he was playing around with. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"It's my friend, Rob, from school," said Ron. "He's had a big fight with his parents. Can he come here for the holidays?"

"Hmmm, what did your mother say?" Mr Weasley asked.