Avoiding The Marauders

Dinner From Heaven Or Hell

Vernon was a squat, toad-like, ugly man. There was no denying it. It was almost funny seeing him sitting next to my sister, who was his opposite, but I could tell from the sneers on both of their faces that they had something in common; they both hated me.

He hadn't even met me yet!

But, of course, he knows all about me. Or at least, he knows the twisted and manipulated versions of why he should hate me. Petunia would never tell her perfect boyfriend what I was. She would just make him hate me in other ways. She wanted him to be on her side, not run away screaming.

My mum was still beaming at the two of us, Vernon had turned around and was glaring at me. Petunia was now looking over her shoulder. Her eyes lay on James and at first she seemed to be actually checking him out, but then she realised, if he's with me, he must be one of my kind; a freak.

"Hello, Vernon," I forced out, shaking his sweaty hands. "It's nice to finally meet the boy that my beloved sister talks to," unfortunately for my poor ears, "and about so much."

My mother was still looking at me expectantly and I remembered James. "Vernon, Petunia, this is a friend from my school; James."

He came forward smiling and shook both their hands. It's then that I realised I had to warn him. "James-" I tried to whisper, but my mother had already dragged me to the other side of the table and placed him next to me; we were in full view.

My father came out of the front room, placing his news paper on the coffee table as he did so and sat at the head, with my mum took her place at the other. We now sat with them at the ends, me and James on one side and Petunia opposite him with Vernon opposite me.

Get it?

Just remember that I have to look at his fat face while I eat.

On the table was a giant chicken, balls of carrots, broccoli, sweetcorn, stuffing, cauliflower, a plate of Yorkshire puddings and a big boat of gravy. I could almost hear James' stomach rumble.

My Dad began to carve the turkey and my mother told us all to tuck in. I grabbed some carrots, stuffing, two Yorkshire puddings and then some chicken, which I smothered in gravy.

Next to me, James' was piling his plate with everything. He winked at me over his plate and picked up his knife and fork, beginning to dig in.

I did the same when I noticed the plates opposite me. Petunia had next to nothing; just a few pieces of measly chicken and some sweetcorn. Whereas Vernon seemed to have not eaten in days, he literally had a volcano of food on his plate, gravy running down it. He wolfed it in, but when he caught my Dad's disgusted look and he swallowed a large mouthfull and rubbed his nose awkwardly.

"So, Vernon, James how did you meet my two girls?" My mum asked, smiling behind her fork.

I glanced at James and he had a smirk on his face. "Well, Lily and I have been the best of friends, since first year at our school."

I smirked too. "We hated each other," I added.

"We did!" He laughed, facing me.

I turned to my Dad, who seemed completely confused. "He was a compete jerk," I informed him, flicking my fork.

"She was a know it all," he added under his breath.

I frowned. "I was not!"

He looked up from his food with a smile. "You were, don't you remember when we got sorted? The first time we really talked?"

***

My name was called and I walked over to the stool, trying my best not to fall over on my wobbling legs. Once I sat down, the stool began to wobble too. Turns out I wasn't stable at all.