Harry Potter 05 - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

the road beyond the park railings.
    He did not know how long he had sat on the swing before the sound of voices interrupted his musings and he looked up. The streetlamps from the surrounding roads were casting a misty glow strong enough to silhouette a group of people making their way across the park. One of them was singing a loud, crude song. The others were laughing. A soft ticking noise came from several expensive racing bikes that they were wheeling along.
    Harry knew who those people were. The figure in front was unmistakeably his cousin, Dudley Dursley, wending his way home, accompanied by his faithful gang.
    Dudley was as vast as ever, but a year’s hard dieting and the discovery of a new talent had wrought quite a change in his physique. As Uncle Vernon delightedly told anyone who would listen, Dudley had recently become the Junior Heavyweight Inter-School Boxing Champion of the Southeast. ‘The noble sport’, as Uncle Vernon called it, had made Dudley even more formidable than he had seemed to Harry in their primary school days when he had served as Dudley’s first punchball. Harry was not remotely afraid of his cousin any more but he still didn’t think that Dudley learning to punch harder and more accurately was cause for celebration. Neighbourhood children all around were terrified of him – even more terrified than they were of ‘that Potter boy’ who, they had been warned, was a hardened hooligan and attended St Brutus’s Secure Centre for Incurably Criminal Boys.
    Harry watched the dark figures crossing the grass and wondered who they had been beating up tonight. Look round, Harry found himself thinking as he watched them. Come on … look round … I’m sitting here all alone … come and have a go …
    If Dudley’s friends saw him sitting here, they would be sure to make a beeline for him, and what would Dudley do then? He wouldn’t want to lose face in front of the gang, but he’d be terrified of provoking Harry … it would be really fun to watch Dudley’s dilemma, to taunt him, watch him, with him powerless to respond … and if any of the others tried hitting Harry, he was ready – he had his wand. Let them try … he’d love to vent some of his frustration on the boys who had once made his life hell.
    But they didn’t turn around, they didn’t see him, they were almost at the railings. Harry mastered the impulse to call after them … seeking a fight was not a smart move … he must not use magic … he would be risking expulsion again.
    The voices of Dudley’s gang died away; they were out of sight, heading along Magnolia Road.
    There you go, Sirius , Harry thought dully. Nothing rash. Kept my nose clean. Exactly the opposite of what you’d have done.
    He got to his feet and stretched. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon seemed to feel that whenever Dudley turned up was the right time to be home, and any time after that was much too late. Uncle Vernon had threatened to lock Harry in the shed if he came home after Dudley ever again, so, stifling a yawn, and still scowling, Harry set off towards the park gate.
    Magnolia Road, like Privet Drive, was full of large, square houses with perfectly manicured lawns, all owned by large, square owners who drove very clean cars similar to Uncle Vernon’s. Harry preferred Little Whinging by night, when the curtained windows made patches of jewel-bright colour in the darkness and he ran no danger of hearing disapproving mutters about his ‘delinquent’ appearance when he passed the householders. He walked quickly, so that halfway along Magnolia Road Dudley’s gang came into view again; they were saying their farewells at the entrance to Magnolia Crescent. Harry stepped into the shadow of a large lilac tree and waited.
    ‘… squealed like a pig, didn’t he?’ Malcolm was saying, to guffaws from the others.
    ‘Nice right hook, Big D,’ said Piers.
    ‘Same time tomorrow?’ said Dudley.
    ‘Round at my place, my parents will be out,’ said Gordon.
    ‘See you then,’ said Dudley.
    ‘Bye, Dud!’
    ‘See ya, Big D!’
    Harry waited for the rest of the gang to move on before setting off again. When their voices had faded once more he headed around the corner into Magnolia Crescent and by walking very quickly he soon came within hailing distance of Dudley, who was strolling along at his ease, humming tunelessly.
    ‘Hey, Big D!’
    Dudley turned.
    ‘Oh,’ he grunted. ‘It’s you.’
    ‘How long have you been “Big D” then?’