Chapter 78
Chapter 78
Seated on the drawing-room sofa, Mr. Ellison smiled warmly at Vernon Dursley.
“I never imagined your nephew and my son were friends.”
“Heh… heh-heh…” Mr Dursley laughed awkwardly. “Nor did I, Mr. Ellison.”
As he spoke, his gaze stole towards Suer and Harry, who were sitting together in a corner.
A preposterous thought suddenly sprang into his mind.
Harry was delighted. He could hardly believe that a trip out with the Dursleys had led him to one of his friends from Hogwarts.
“Why are you here?” he whispered.
“Is it so strange?” Suer blinked. “I live here. This is my home.”
While Suer and Harry whispered to each other, a box appeared in front of Suer.
“Hello, I’m Dudley Dursley.” The plump boy stood before him with a smile. “This is for you.”
“Thank you.” Suer paused, then accepted the box. “You don’t mind if I open it, do you?”
“Of course not. Mum and I spent ages choosing it. I hope you like it,” Dudley said.
Inside was a fountain pen. A perfectly ordinary gift.
“Thank you. I like it very much.” Suer gave a reserved nod and set the box on the tea table beside him.
Perhaps Suer really did have a kindly face, because Dudley found the courage to ask the question that had been nagging at him.
“You know that freak?”
“Freak?” Suer frowned almost imperceptibly.
“Oh, you don’t know. That freak is a…” Dudley hesitated, then lowered his voice to a whisper. “A wizard. He does tricks with a stick. You should stay away from him…”
Harry stared at Dudley in surprise, then a peculiar smile spread over his face.
“If by ‘freak’ you mean a wizard…” The same smile appeared on Suer’s face. “Well, unfortunately for you, so am I.”
“And those ‘tricks’ have a name. They’re called magic.”
Dudley went blank for a moment. Then terror flooded his tiny eyes.
“You’re a wizard too?!” he shrieked.
Some dreadful memory seemed to have returned to him. His face white with fear, he edged backwards one step at a time, then turned and fled to Mrs Dursley’s side.
“What’s wrong with him?”
“No idea.” Harry spread his hands, stifling a laugh.
Mr Dursley had heard Dudley’s cry, and the smile congealed on his face.
“Mr… Mr. Ellison, your son–” Mr Dursley swallowed. “Is he a wizard?”
“You mean Suer? Oh, yes, he is.” Mr. Ellison looked puzzled by the other man’s reaction. “Isn’t your nephew a wizard as well?”
“Extraordinary, isn’t it? My wife and I were astonished when we found out.”
“Er… heh-heh.” Mr Dursley had no idea how to respond. He laughed uneasily.
Angel rescued him from the awkward silence. Mrs. Ellison had finished preparing dinner.
“Come along, Vernon. You must try a bottle I’ve been saving. I remember you know your wines.”
“Heh-heh… of course.”
Mr Dursley spent the entire meal in a daze. The son of the wealthy man before him was a wizard, just like the nephew who had turned his household upside down.
Mrs Dursley, having heard the shocking news from Dudley, was equally distracted. She cast frightened looks at Suer every few moments and repeatedly failed to respond when Mrs. Ellison addressed her.
All in all, the evening was going terribly.
“Try this, Harry.” A friend had come to his home, so naturally Suer meant to be a proper host. He placed a large chicken leg on Harry’s plate.
“Oh, thanks.” Harry smiled.
“That reminds me.” Suer suddenly recalled something Hermione had told him. “Haven’t you received any letters from Hermione at home? She’s sent you loads.”
“What?” Harry looked genuinely astonished. “No, I haven’t received a thing. I thought all of you had forgotten me.”
“Maybe they went to the wrong address. Never mind. After dinner, you can come with me to Hermione’s house. She lives next door.”
Suer nodded thoughtfully. A fragment of memory had just surfaced in his mind–a memory involving a house-elf named Dobby.
If Harry was here, there was a very good chance that Dobby was here too. Which meant the gaze from the shrubbery…
“Hermione lives here as well?” Harry asked, delighted.
“Yes. Didn’t I ever tell you?”
“No.” Harry shook his head. “But now I know, and this is brilliant. You wouldn’t believe what it’s been like at the Dursleys’–”
Before Harry could finish, Mr Dursley, who had been keeping a close watch on them, coughed loudly and launched into a booming speech about how exceptionally delicious Mrs. Ellison’s cooking was.
There came a crash from the kitchen, followed by the clatter of breaking crockery.
Everyone at the table froze. Suer did too. Then he remembered the house-elf named Dobby.
Bloody hell. Surely not.
“I’ll take a look.” Suer leapt to his feet and ran towards the kitchen. Harry hesitated, then followed close behind.
The kitchen was in chaos. It looked as though a whirlwind had torn through it.
White porcelain plates that had once stood on the rack now lay shattered across the floor. Chopping boards and knives were strewn haphazardly over the worktop.
Suer’s brow knotted tightly.
“What happened?” Harry came in behind him and stared wide-eyed at the devastation.
Suer did not answer. Picking his way around the broken plates, he rushed towards the cupboard and yanked it open.
There was nothing inside. It was perfectly bare.
Then Mrs. Ellison and Mrs Dursley screamed in the dining room.
Suer spun round and ran back.
The dining room, like the kitchen, looked as though a whirlwind had swept through it. It was a complete wreck.
Dudley sat stunned in his chair, dripping with gravy from head to foot. The table was a jumble, and the half-eaten roast chicken had tumbled to the floor.
Mr. Ellison’s brows were drawn into a deep frown. Angel clung to Mrs. Ellison, her face frightened.
“Dobby!” Suer spat through clenched teeth.
“Dobby? Who’s Dobby? What’s going on?” Harry asked, bewildered. Then he met Mr Dursley’s furious stare.
A moment later, the beat of wings came through the open window.
An owl swooped inside, dropped two letters, circled once beneath the drawing-room ceiling, and flew out again.
As luck would have it, one of the letters landed directly in front of Mr Dursley.
He opened it. His face darkened at once, and his little eyes fixed upon Harry as if they might erupt into flame at any moment.
The plan to discuss a machinery order with Mr. Ellison after dinner was abandoned. The Dursleys departed in a desperate hurry, taking with them their bedraggled son and a thoroughly bewildered Harry.