I May have helped an Evil Wizard. (rewrite)

Unexpected messages

Christmas was coming to quickly for Harriet's liking. Everyone seemed to be going home to their families. That or making horrendous attempts at spreading joy and happiness throughout Hogwarts. Absolutely ridiculous. People were just running up and down corridors hugging everyone.

Due to this she spent even more time in the library than usual. The actual reason was to hide from Ronald Weasley so she wouldn't have to deal with his face and words. If he spoke to her one more time, she would hex his arse!

She was lying on her bed in the dormitory, staring at the ceiling, when Hedwig swooped in and dumped a letter on her face. She grumbled and sat up letting it fall into her lap.

Wait! Wasn't that Dudley's handwriting?

The messy scrawl of first grade like letters was pretty memorable. All through primary school his handwriting had always been the worst. He'd gotten a lot of points taken off because of their teachers inability to decipher his penmanship. The paper was crinkled and a bit torn in places as well. Harriet unfolded it with pursed lips and a disapproving yet curious frown. What was the reason this paper had been violated so?

There was another, much neater letter with flowery script that obviously belonged to her aunt.

Why were they writing to her? She decided to read Petunia's letter first.

It read:

Harriet, 

When you return from school this summer, there may be a few changes. Mine and Vernon's relationship has taken a turn for the worse. Henceforth, you may only be living with me and Dudley.

Petunia

Short and straight to the point, the letter still left a lot of questions. What had happened? Why were Vernon and Petunia splitting? They were the horrendous version of a dream couple. She turned to the mess that was Dudley's letter.

Hello Harriet, 

I don't know what to write but mum says I should write you a letter.

Dad and Mum are fighting and Dad is drinking something that smells like pipe cleaner and makes him mean. It makes him really clumsy too. He threw something at me. Mum says I shouldn't tell you that but I don't know why so I'm writing it anyway. It was something about school and focus and so on. How long do letters need to be anyway?

Smeltings isn't that great. Everyone is mean and they call me names all the time because I weigh more than them and get bad grades. I'm sorry I was mean to you. It's not nice. I'll try not to do it again.

Mum says you won't write back. She says you probably like being at school more than you like living with us. We must be horrible. I don't know how to send you things in the mail so I don't know if I can send you your Christmas present. Mum says you never got any. She also says you have a different post.

See you in summer I guess.

Dudley.

Harriet stared at the page. What was happening? What alternate universe had she landed in? Was this a trick? What was going on?

She looked around the dorm. The underwater light patterns on the ceiling didn't seem to have an answer either. Most of the girls had stayed at Hogwarts aswell. Amina and Elizabeth didn't have parents they could go back to and Millicent's mum and older brother had gone to France. Pansy was the only one in their dorm room who had a place to go back too.

Harriet reread the letters. Merlin's beard! This was a bit much to spring on someone you had ignored or been horrendous to for their entire life. Aside from the atrocious spelling mistakes in Dudley's letter and the slightly sharp curve to Petunia's handwriting. It seemed a legit statement.

"Merlin's socks," she huffed and flopped back down onto the mattress. What should she do? She had two and a half weeks to figure it out and then she needed to focus back on class. Well, the philosopher's stone situation too she supposed.

Harriet curled up like it would shut out the outside world. What was the right thing to do here?

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Who else feels like Dudley got too little character development in the original series? I always thought there was so much potential there.
Anyways, how is everyone holding up?
Stay home, stay healthy, stay safe.
XOXO Drachma ⁸