No Repeating History

Chapter 15

"So, your cousin got accused for child abuse?" Hermoine asked again, looking Harry over and trying to not feel the stares of the children next to him.

"Yes, he did" Harry answered, "and for as far as I know, he never hurt them,"

"Of course he never hurt us," Georgie said, looking nastily at Harry.

"Well, I'm not an expert in muggle law, but don't they need proof?" Hermoine asked.

"Auntie Marge said he was abusive," Georgie said, remembering the evening the woman had stood at their door and the fight they had.

"Well, Roger Davies is our Muggle liaison, and he does owe me a favor," Hermoine said, pondering, "I can send him over,"

"I would be very grateful Hermoine," Harry said, and Hermoine smiled at him.

"It's nothing Harry,"

Dudley was in the cell, sitting morosely on the bench. He hadn't been allowed to make any phone calls, and after trying to interrogate him for four hours, they had put him in here, which had been a couple of hours ago as well.

He was dying of thirst and was getting rather hungry as well, but he wouldn't give in to these people. He hoped that Livia was doing well, but knowing his wife, she was giving them a hard time.

"Mr. Dursley, your family is here," a cop said, and he was escorted to another interrogation room, where his mother and father was.

"Mom, Dad," Dudley greeted them coldly, not knowing what they had to do with his current trouble.

"Diddykins," Petunia said, looking worried for her son, and almost bursting into tears.

"So...." Dudley began, and Petunia started to cry.

"Oh, Dudley, we know it wasn't you. We'll vouch for you and your character, and Marge said she would do her best to let the charges against you dropped," Vernon said, looking contrite about what had happened to is son.

"and Livia?" Dudley asked, and then he saw his parents look at each other rather uncomfortable.

"Marge thinks that you are...uhm, that she is the one who is a bad influence ," Vernon said.

"Well, I guess your word will mean nothing then," Dudley said, "because I'm not going to abandon my wife to her lies,"

Livia was angrily sitting in the cell. She hadn't been interrogated for very long. Once she started to hammer on evidence and her rights which were not respected, she had been put to a cell in the side.

Another cop had said threatened her, telling her that child abusers had a hard time in the cell, but Livia had shouted back that she wasn't one, and if they would just try and get some proof that it would be obvious.

"Mrs Dursley, your Lawyer arrived," A cowed cop said, looking uncomfortable. Livia raised an eyebrow, not having been able to call anyone.

"Sure, why not see who it is," Livia said, getting up from where she was sitting and following the cop in a room. A man in a suit was sitting there, looking calm and going through papers.

"Hi, Mrs Dursley, my name is Roger Davis, and the cousin of your husband has asked me to represent you and Mr Dursley," the man said, introducing himself.

"You're good in this kind of thing?" Livia asked, mindful that someone could be listening in, but if he was send by Harry, that meant that it could be a wizard, who was perhaps not as knowledgeable about muggle ways.

"Yes, I have studied more than one kind of law," the man said, and Livia nodded, relieved.

"So, what have you found out?" Livia asked, sitting down.

"I have found out that it'll take about two hours to get the two of you out here. There is no file except an accusation. At the most, they would have checked in the house to see if the children are okay," the man said, and Livia looked relieved.

"I would be very grateful for that, but I would like another favor," Livia said.

"Yes?" Riger asked.

"So, how do I sue someone for lies and slander? I want that woman down,"

Dudley was more than happy when they were let out, and finally grabbed Livia's hand again. Roger Davies was joining them.

"I will prepare an official missive for false accusation and excessive police force," Roger said, "but seeing that there was an accusation, they are allowed to come and check in on you guys unexpectedly,"

"I guess that'll be okay," Dudley said, and Livia nodded, "can you ask Harry to bring the kids back?"

"They'll be home by the time we are," Roger said, and both Livia and Roger breathed a sigh in relief.

Georgie and Freddy immediate flew in their parents embrace when they arrived, Harry standing at the side and watching the scene.

"Marge causing trouble again," he asked Dudley, who looked exhausted.

"Yeah, she's a horrible woman," Dudley said, closing the door behind them and falling exhausted in the couch.

"Don't worry about it," Roger said, already going through his papers, "we're going to be with you every step of the way. I got an appointment for the cops to go through your house and talk to the children tomorrow,"

"Tomorrow already," Livia said, sounding a little worried, "and they're allowed to talk to the kids,"

"They are, but we've demanded a trustee to go in between,"

"A trustee?" Livia asked, and Roger nodded.

"Yeah. Your neighbour seemed more than willing to sit with them,"

"Edith wanted to?" Livia said, looking in affection to the wall where their house joined Edith's. In the beginning, she was a bit wary of the noisy neighbour, but her heart was in the right place.

Georgie and Freddy were both plastered in between their parents during the conversation, Freddy sitting nicely on Dudley's lap and nearly falling asleep. He had been so worried, but now everything would be okay again.

And he had secretly talked to Harry, in Parseltongue, and they had a plan for when it would go wrong. Even George didn't know it, but even now, he opened his eyes and let out a small hiss, and saw Harry wink at him.

Yes, if it went wrong, they all would be gone in a blink of an eye, as if they never existed in this world.

The doorbell rang, and startled everyone. For a moment, they all stared at each other, no one wanting to break their peace.

"I'll go get it," Roger said, his wand at the ready but out of sight. He opened the door to see the next door neighbor, a big sack in her hands. She looked surprised at him, but then saw the Dursleys sitting in the couch.

"Hi guys, thought you would like some fish and chips," she said, holding up the bag with several packages of steaming food.

"Would I ever," Dudley said, his stomach almost painfully cramping.