The Dursley's adopted son

Chapter 20

@caitliniscooler123 thanks for reading!

Mr. Brunner left about an hour later, and he left me with a lot to think about. My mind was no longer on wrestling, because now all I could think about was my father. I guess I never quite grasped the fact that he's a real person. Okay, that sounds weird, but I mean, I've never seen the guy before, and I don't know anything about him. Or I didn't know anything about him. Mr. Brunner had shared countless stories about my dad. Apparently, my dad was one of 6 kids! (Although Mr. Brunner didn't seem fully confident in that number.) I learnt that my dad loves the ocean, and that he was incredibly wealthy, although 'maybe not by your standards.' Those were Mr, Brunner's words, not mine, and I have no idea what he meant.

I felt enlightened by all this information about my father, but I felt as though Mr. Brunner wasn't telling me the whole truth. There were times he would suddenly stop talking mid- sentence, or just stare into space silently for a minute before talking. He also refused to tell me my father's name. At one point I asked him how he was sure I was the kid he was thinking of, and he just said,

"I only needed to be in the same room as up to be sure. You would be hard to hide, and that's why—"

And then he completely backtracked, saying,

"I've never seen anyone with eyes like your father, except for you. If you weren't the right kid, this would be an extraordinary coincidence."

I guess that's a valid explanation, but I was still rather caught up on the part where he said that I'd be hard to hide. What does that even mean?

When he left, I had more questions than ever before, yet had simultaneously never felt more satisfied with the answers I had finally been given. I quickly got ready for bed. It was a lot later than it felt, and I had school tomorrow. Luckily, tomorrow was Friday, so I could look forward to the upcoming weekend.

——————

Friday was— uneventful. Especially considering the fact that the cafeteria water fountain had blown up the day before. Dudley wasn't at school. I figured he was grounded or something, but I didn't know why that would mean he wasn't at school. Maybe his parents were the coddling type who would baby him every time he got in trouble.

I showed up to my first period early. Mrs. Elidave was at her desk putting together a slideshow for the class. There was light classical music playing. When I walked in, she looked up at me and smiled. I immediately smiled back.

"Mr. Jackson, can I speak with you for a second?" She asked, still smiling and beckoning me over. I walked over to her desk, and she pulled a chair out of seemingly nowhere for me to sit on. Once I was seated she started talking.

"So how do you like Smelting's so far?"

"Oh! Uh, yeah. It's alright. I wish I had lasted longer without getting in trouble, but it is what it is."

Mrs. Elidave laughed kindly.

"Right. Thomas told me that this is your sixth school in six years."

I startled, and blinked at her.

"Thomas?"

"Oh, that's Mr. Xaviers first name."

"You guys gossip about students?"

Again she laughed.

"I wouldn't call it gossiping, more like sharing relevant information."

I nodded sagely.

"Teacher gossip. Cool."

She studied me for a moment, before saying,

"My wife, Minerva, she's actually a teacher too!"