Without Magic [Harry Potter and the Cursed Child]

Chapter Eight

Joe's Pizza Parlor

The three of us freeze. We've been overheard. Sure, Scorpius and I aren't wizards anymore, but we could still get in trouble. And Rose. Oh, poor Rose. She's a wizard and to my knowledge plans on being one for the rest of her life. She would be forced to become a muggle and probably would have to be separated from Scorpius and I.

Scorpius turns around in the booth. "Oh, we're just roleplaying." He covers, somehow managing to keep his voice even. "We sure can't be the first teenagers you know or overheard roleplaying."

The man's eyes narrow, as if he's not believing us. He gets up from his booth and joins ours. As I hastily move over he slides into the booth next to me. He turns to look directly at me and says "You're a Potter, aren't you?"

I freeze. Whoever this guy is obviously knows about my family. Do I lie to him though? I've already said too much, given too much away. If this guy is from the wizarding world government then this whole conversation is a test.

When I don't say anything, the man continues. "Come on man, you have to be. You have the same eyes as my cousin. Especially the hair, no one else could have that hair."

I rack my brain for my fathers cousin. He never talked about any of his family besides Mum. I never knew he had a wizarding family other than the Weasley's. "Who are you?" I ask, giving up.

"I'm Dudley. Dudley Dursley." He responds.

Scorpius and Rose continue to give Dudley scared stares; the name is unfamiliar to them. However, I know perfectly well who this muggle is. 

"You're my father's horrible cousin!" I exclaim, getting up from the booth. "Get away from me and my friends!"

"I see I have some explaining to do." Dudley says sadly. "Before you three leave I just want to tell you I've changed. I'm different from when Harry lived with my parents and I."

I consider this. Sitting down, I say "You have five minutes. If I decide that we can't trust you, we're out of here."

"Alright, that seems fair enough. I'm guessing you're Harry's son." He looks to me and I nod. "Okay, so you want to know who I am now and why I'm in New York I'm guessing.

"I'm not sure how much your father told you about me when we were both children. When Harry's parents died, Harry was brought to my moms doorstep to be taken care of until he was old enough to go off to school." He pauses and looks around the table to make sure we understand what he means by 'school'. "Of course, my parents knew that the Potters were...differnent from us. I didn't know exactly what that meant at the time since my parents tried to keep the truth from me.

"As I grew older, I was able to sense that my cousin was different from me but I didn't realize how different he exactly was. As one of your stereotypical boys - I guess that's what you could call me - my first instinct was to be a jerk towards him. When my friends saw how I treated him, they joined in. As a result, we made Harry's first 11 eleven years of life hell."

"I'm not seeing how you're different," I cut in. "and you only have two minutes remaining."

He sighs. "Looking back at myself then, I was a spoiled child. But now, I've cleaned myself up. I moved far away from my parents in the United Kingdom, cut away all the alcohol and drugs from my life, and made a living here."

"Hold on a second." Rose says. "Alcohol? Drugs? When did they come into the picture?"

"Somewhere in my preteen years." Dudley says as if it's no big deal. "Around 7th grade perhaps, right after Harry went off to his boarding school."

"How did that all happen?" Scorpius asks.

"My friends knew a guy, persuaded me into them, and BAM! Addiction. That's the nice way to put it." He looks around the table scanning our faces.

I don't know how to react. This guy I just met five minutes ago admits to being an alcoholic and a drug addict. Isn't New York just great.

"You aren't still... you know..." I force myself to ask. I knew I was going to have to tell my parents about this encounter at some point. And if they knew I was sitting at the same table as someone like this they'd throw a fit. Knowing me, I'd cave in as if I was still living under their roof. But I'm not anymore.

"I told you that already." he answers. "I've cleaned myself up. Drugs and alcohol are completely out of my life."

"You don't even go for a drink every so often?" Rose asks suspiciously.

"How can I? Those memories haunt me now. One drink would take me back to those times and I wouldn't know what to do. I'd most likely go do something stupid and possibly become addicted again. I worked too hard to become sober to just throw all of my work away." 

None of us say anything. This is not what I was expecting to happen on my first day here and I'm sure Scorpius and Rose feel the same way.

"Is there anyway I could call Harry?" Dudley asks suddenly. "You know, to make amends?"