The Child of

Preface - The Dursley's

Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the perfect little family. The one easily recognizable at church, at work or at the grocery store. The one fading into the walls , the streets, the portraits and what else. A true copy paste of a popular magazine, the ones depicting the sweet expectations of society. They had everything they needed to own the perfect picture and absolutely nothing else. Why would they? Mr and Mrs Dursley were quite happy, if not bursting from proudness, at the ideal of their family. They were perfect. Oh, so perfectly normal.

It's in a delicious normality that they welcomed the arrival of their son Dudley after being married for a little while. It was expected after all and so much of a blessing for the couple. They had completed their family and absolutely nothing could disrupt the glorious future they had build for themselves. Nothing, except THAT.

THAT thing as they liked to call it. And oh god, it was such a ugly thing if you were to ask the Dursley's. A vile, vile thing. It was small, frail, white as a ghost and totally disposable. No wonder it had been abandoned at their doorstep! No one would welcome such an ignoble being into a great family. The thing belonged to the street if not six foot under the surface according to Mr Dursley. It had absolutely no utility if not taking from his hosts. It was eating and needing supplies and baths and attention. All of that at the expense of their perfect little Dudley. Only taking and taking, never providing. It was such a parasite. Honestly, for the couple, the second they had seen the disgusting creation of Lily Potter and her... partner, it was as if the world started crumbling. Their future was compromised, destroyed, imperfect. For that thing was a curse and they knew it the second they saw it.

***

The thing was strange, so so strange. It was in it's very nature, they knew. Never crying, it was never crying. No matter of much little food it had, how cold it was or how long it was forgotten under the stair, the thing never seemed to care. It was so strange and the Dursley's hated it. They wanted the ugly ducking to hurt, to feel despair and abandon. It should! It needed to suffer after all! It had completely destroyed their normality, their perfectness and it was not thank you very much. One night, Mr and Mrs Dursley decided to leave the thing outside on a cold night of winter. They expected the thing to lose a finger or two and learn something of it's place in life. What a nightmare they had the following morning when they realized that it was peacefully sleeping, protected by a blanket of rabbits,squirrels, cats and quite likely the entirety of the wild life of Private Drive. Worse, it wasn't even crying! It had not shed a single tear! They had always knew it, but then it was confirm. The thing was a monster of nature, for only the devil could survive such a cold night unscathed.

***

On a relatively sunny morning, Mrs Dursley woke up, dressed and made her bed before heading towards the kitchen, completely unaware of how awful the rest of her day would be. It's true, because no matter how much of a little monster the thing was, it had yet to demonstrate it's true power. That morning, she entered the kitchen and found the thing... the thing doing... doing THAT thing. The unforgivable one. The curse of the curse. It was doing evil in her house! The thing was levitating a pan of egg in the air! It was, she could swear it! How daring was the thing! In her house! In Vernon's house!

- " What do you think you are doing with that pan FREAK! Give it to me and never ever EVER thing of even reproducing what you did! I am gonna show you freak what we do to things like you! Vernon's will show you and it won't be pretty let me tell you! We have treated it far too well! The freak has been way too confortable in that household. It gets confortable and then what? It takes and takes and destroy! The devil, the curse! Oh god! Pray saves our souls from the devil's bastard!"

Nothing worthy of mentioning happened for the rest of the day. Of course, if the Dursley's had not maintained their image so perfectly from the prying eyes, one would have heard the angriest tirade ever performed by Mr Dursley, the sound of the first breaking bone of a small child and the laugh of a perfect little angel named Dudley. After all, the thing had been pushed back into its cage. How funny it was!

***

-" Did you see what he did to his hair? Did you... did you see? Vernon, I swear that I have cut that mutt yesterday for a little laugh, but it's grow back! In one night! It did it again! The devil's tricks! It's never stopping don't you see! I do not know what to do, but it has to stop. It is bringing so much bad energy around our beautiful son. I cannot continue on this path. Vernon, you have to do something to make it control himself or at least get ride of it's freakishness!" Exclaimed Mrs Dursley.

-" What can I do Petunia? I starve it, beat it, neglect it and it never stop. It's still has its claws, like a beast. It's never gonna stop, because it is not normal. It is unnatural. It should not have been!"

-" No Vernon no! Surely there is something to do! I cannot continue like this! I cannot! The shame that I bear everyday on my shoulders is getting unbearable. The fear that holds my entire being at the idea that our neighbours might find it. Oh just imagining their reactions, their disgusts and they would have every rights to feel that way. We are housing a monster! It is so shameful and I want to get right of our sins!"

-" What do you want me to do? You said they were always watching. If they are, how can I do anything... and how is this my problem. That thing comes from your family side! It is your blood problem! Your monster thing and not mine! You should be grateful that our son's normal now that I think of it! Imagine for five seconds if he wasn't and now we could talk about real shame! Your fault again!"

-" HOW! How dare you Vernon! I gave birth to our son with love and as a respectful person. I am not one to mingle with filth! My blood is pure of freakishness I can assure you! Now that thing we could I don't know! Made we could misplace it somewhere? Forget about him?"

-" You said they were always watching. I am not putting our families semblance of normality to the trash because of your sensibilities. Until it is gone, we shall make it suffer for how unwanted its presence is. It shall never forget how insignificant it is. It will crumble one day let me tell you. We can destroy it."

***

Mr and Mrs Dursley never discovered the secret to the thing's resilience. It never broke, has if it was never meant to be. It seemed to be an unbreakable fortress. And they tried, oh they tried everything. They destroyed and poisoned all the spheres of its life, but the thing never even complained once. Not when they turned it's professors against it, not when they Dursley and his group of lovely friends decided to have a chat with it or even when they used it has a slave and made it work unthinkable hours around the house.

Instead, it had a mystery air on its face. In never looked quiet there. At least, never completely. It was always doing a perfect job (not that they would acknowledge it to the thing), but it was always looking a peculiar things. The thing was staring at things as if they would talk or had feelings. It was, again, completely strange and the Dursley's hated it. They also despised how the thing was gradually taking the devil's face. It was ugly... really ugly... yes ugly... the ugliest of the ugliest compared to their beautiful boy who was so... in shape!

Therefore, Mr and Mrs Dursley endured the thing with great difficulty for ten long years, a decade! They truly should receive a prize for it. No one could have done better than them that's for sure. At least, no one's normal! So they endured, until a little accident. One that took away all their never ending patience and kindness.