Summer Glow Up

The Aftermath

Harry's blood ran cold as his eyes locked onto the man. "It can't be", whispered Harry to himself as he felt a lump form in his throat. His gaze locked on him.

"Forgot how to walk? Potter", sneered Dudley. His face twisted into a mixture of mock horror and curiosity as he mused at Harry's predicament. Clearly enjoying the terrified face plastered all over his "freak" cousin's face.

The man who caused this predicament for Harry caught his dark brown pupils onto Harry's brilliant green. His eyes widened in recognition, leaving his mouth agape as he gawked at the scar-headed teenager stupidly.

"It's him isn't it?", Harry concluded as he swallowed deeply. Turning him over to the police would not do much good, as much as he hated living at the Dursleys. For some reason, he didn't know Dumbledore wanted him to stay. Getting kicked out for plausibly implicating their son in a crime and being left in the middle of nowhere in Muggle Britain wasn't exactly smart.

Harry responded nonchalantly, "Duddykins last time I checked standing still, isn't a crime, not like you would know anything about that of course. You can barely stand with all those flabs drooping off you" spat Harry. Who grudgingly thanked Malfoy in his head for providing him with a large palette of juvenile insults over the years.

Dudely's face glowed bright like a freshly bought tomato, his eyes blazing with enough anger to burn off his thin eyebrows.

"Potter, you frea-", Dudley screamed before being interrupted by a quick nudge on his shoulder by the brown-eyed suspect, who whispered briskly into his tiny ears.

Dudley's face lost color comically, if this had been any other situation Harry would have been snickering in ridicule of his dumbfounded cousin. This though was not the case as Harry knew exactly what caused the sudden shift in the hue of Dudley's skin.

He had told him.

The mere thought of that sent a second shiver up Harry's spine in the space of 5 minutes. His feet began moving as if it had a mind of its own, his pace quickly ascending from a brisk walk to a light jog.

He didn't hear any calls behind him, not a sound.

Harry reached the doorstep of Number Four, a light sheen of sweat on his forehead as he pulled off his knackered shoes tossing them to the side. His hands grasped the coldness of the knob and gave it a twist, entering the house.

He heard the intelligible chatter of the television, the snide remarks of his uncle, and the haughty voice of his Aunt. He quickly tiptoed his way to the stairway, creeping up the steps and skipping the creaky ones, closing the door with a soft click behind him. Harry let out a sigh of frustration as he slumped onto his bed, his back rounded.

"It always had to be Harry Potter"

Harry fidgeted with his fingers, "What if Dudley asks something?" "What if he tells everything to Uncle Vernon" "What if.. What if..", Harry repeated the thought in his head without stopping.

It was like an itch, which you couldn't quite scratch.

His gaze fell on his pillow, his hands latching on to it as his face broke into a sheepish smile an impressive contrast to his previously emotionally deprived face.

He knew what he was about to do was in no way "manly"

Harry took a deep breath in and fluttered his eyes close as he hugged the pillow with all his might. His mind imagined a bush of chestnut brown hair tickling his face, her vanilla scent flooding his nose, the strong grasp of two dainty arms wrapped around his neck ferociously as they stroked his black locks.