“Harry, are you ready yet? Aunt Lily is waiting to leave, and Neville is wanting us to hurry up and get over there!” William heard Dudley yell up the stairs.
“Just a second, Dudley!” William yelled. This would be the first time he had ever met his cousin, and he hoped Dudley was as friendly and nice as Neville and Harry had described him.
He threw the last couple of things he needed into his duffle bag, placing the mirror on top before zipping it closed. Grabbing his bag, he thundered down the stairs.
“Harry, what have I told you about running in the house?” Lily snapped.
Both William and Dudley hung their heads and sullenly said, “You told us not to run in the house.”
This was twice in as many days that William had broke that rule without meaning to. He walked over to Lily and gave her a hug and said, “I am sorry, Mum. I hope you have a nice time tonight. I love you!”
“Love you too, munchkin! Have fun at Aunt Alice’s tonight, boys,” Lily said, shooing them out the front door.
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“I can’t believe that Lily, Alice and Molly all sent their boys to the Norris Lake Quidditch Camp,” Severus said to himself. “And the same summer I sent William! I wonder how Molly could afford to send any of her children, much less three of them. I thought that they weren’t very well off? The camp does offer a multi-camper discount of 5% per child for each camper, which means 15% off each boy’s tuition for camp. And then there is a 50% discount on each camper’s tuition if a relative is a counselor, which means 65% off tuition. It doesn’t really matter, I suppose. All that matters is that William and Harry met and decided to prank me and Lily, the brats…”
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“Blinky!” Harry called out.
“Yes, Young Master?” the house-elf asked as he popped in.
“Would you mind getting me a glass of apple juice, please? I’d really appreciate it,” Harry asked politely.
Blinky snapped his fingers and the requested glass of juice appeared on the end table next to Harry. “Is there anything else Blinky can do for Young Master, Sir?
“No, thank you, Blinky. I appreciate you getting me the juice, though.”
“Anything for you’s, Young Master,” Blinky said before bowing and popping out with a *crack*.
Harry took a drink of the juice before turning back to his book.
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William and Dudley had barely reached the stoop at the Longbottom house when Neville threw the door open, saying, “About time you guys got here!”
Dudley pointed at William and said, “It’s all this slowpoke’s fault for not having his bag ready when I got there.”
“Hey! I’m not a slowpoke! I just had to do something real quick before getting ready,” William said. At Dudley’s suggestive smirk, he said, “Not like that, doofus! It is relating to something Neville and I need to talk to you about in a little while.”
“Neville, let Harry and Dudley in and shut the door before you let all the A/c out!” Frank Longbottom called from the living room.
“Alright, Dad!” Neville said, bordering on whining. “Leave your bags here by the door, guys. Sally will take them up.”
William and Dudley put their bags where Neville had been pointing, before following him into the living room, where they chorused “Hello, Uncle Frank!”
“Hi, boys. Dudley, did you have a good vacation?”
“Yeah! It was so cool getting to visit with Aunt Marge and Colonel Flubster! You know, Aunt Marge got a new bulldog, Ripper, the other day. He is just the cutest little thing I have ever seen!”
“That woman and her dogs, I swear. I never know whether to send her perfume or a flea collar for her birthday anymore – OW!” Frank was cut off with a swat to the back of his head with a newspaper from his wife.
“Frank, that is no way to talk about your cousin’s husband’s sister!” Alice said.
“Aunt Alice!” Dudley cried, running up and giving her a hug.
“Hi, Dudley. Welcome back,” Alice said, hugging him back. “Well, boys, supper will be ready in about 45 minutes, so why don’t you head upstairs and play for awhile? I will call you down when it’s ready,” she suggested.
The boys nodded, and started off to Neville’s room, slowing down a bit as they heard Alice and Frank both call out, “No running in the house!”
Upon reaching Neville’s room, Dudley blurted out, “What was it you two wanted to talk to me about?”
First, why don’t you two kick off your shoes and make yourselves comfortable” Neville suggested, turning to activate the charms that allowed them to hear what went on outside of the room, but those on the outside not able to hear into the room.
William was wearing flip-flops, so he just slipped them off, but Dud was wearing hiking boots (I have no idea why…). He leaned over to untie his laces, and his shirt hiked up, exposing his rear end.
“Eww, Dudley! We’ve told you before, if you’re going to sag, wear underwear!” Neville said.
“Yeah, we don’t want to see your flabby white arse!” William added.
“My arse is not flabby! You’re just jealous that you’re too boney to go commando!” Dudley exclaimed.
“We’re just messing with you, Dud!” Neville said.
“Yeah. Your butt ain’t flabby; however, you should wear underwear if you’re going to sag,” William said.
“Anyhow, Dudley, the two of us do have something to talk to you about,” Neville said. “You know how we” *pointing between himself and William* “went to Quidditch camp with the Weasleys?”
“At Dudley’s nod, William picked up the story. “Well, at the same camp was another boy named William. He was interesting. He is from Orrville, Ohio, and lives with his single father. He is the same exact age as me and Neville, and is originally from England.”
“So? Are you saying we know his mother or something?” Dudley asked, wondering where the two of them were going with this.
“You know his mother, alright. And his twin brother. You call his mother ‘Aunt’,” Neville said.
Dudley looked at William and said, “Harry?”
“I’m sorry, Dudley. I am not Harry. I am William. Harry is in Ohio with his dad,” William said.
Dudley got a shell-shocked look on his face, and slumped down against the wall he had been leaning against.
“That seems to be a common reaction, doesn’t it?” Neville stated more than asked.
William simply nodded and proceeded to Ennervate his cousin. “Thank Merlin he didn’t hurt himself when he hit the wall.”
“That’s because of the cushioning charms, you know,” Neville said. “I used to have nightmares really bad, and Dad pit charms up on the walls so I didn’t hurt myself. He never took them down.”
Dudley, having recomposed himself, said, “You’re not Harry? But you look and act exactly like him!”
“I guess you missed where I said we are twin brothers. We are identical twins,” William said. “Once we realized that our parent had betrayed us by not letting us know of the other, we decided to prank the other by switching places. We benefitted by getting to know our other parent. Now, however, we have a situation. Lord James Potter has Mum under some kind of love spell or potion and plans on proposing to her tonight in Venice. We, that is to say Harry, Dad and I, need you two’s help. Neville, we also need your mum’s help.”
With that, the three of them devised a rudimentary plan of action and decided to ask for the Longbottoms’ help over supper.
Chapter 12