Chapter 113: Chapter 113: Call the Police? I Can Help
The Dursley family was having dinner. On the table were buttered buns, fried cod, sausages, and vegetable soup, while Dudley had a delicious serving of mashed potatoes.
"I don't want to eat this!" Dudley threw a tantrum. "I want cheese bread! And I want roast meat."
"I'll make it for you tomorrow morning, Popkins," Petunia said dotingly, looking at her chubby son. "You need to eat a lot before school starts."
She always worried that Dudley wouldn't get enough to eat at school.
"I want roast meat now! If I don't get it, I'm not eating dinner!"
Dudley stubbornly insisted, and tears quickly welled up in his eyes, as if he had been gravely wronged.
Petunia Dursley panicked and quickly said, "Alright, alright, just wait a bit. Mummy will make roast meat for you right away."
She got up to head to the kitchen, but just then, the family heard the doorbell ring.
"Who could be visiting today?" Petunia asked curiously.
"No guests… Maybe it's someone delivering mail."
Vernon had planned to call Harry to open the door, but he suddenly remembered that he had locked the boy up. Grumbling, he pushed his chair back and went to open the door himself.
Outside stood two strangers, one tall and one short, dressed impeccably and exuding an air of dignity. Neither of them had any mail in hand.
"Hello."
Vernon's irritation at being interrupted during dinner quickly faded when he saw the visitors. He started trying to recall… Is this man perhaps one of my business associates?
Politely, Vernon asked, "What can I do for you, gentlemen?"
Petunia, hearing voices, came out of the kitchen and, upon seeing the man at the door, found him vaguely familiar.
"Good evening, Mr. Dursley," Lupin said coolly. "I do have some important business, but I'm not here for you."
Vernon, not sure why, instinctively stepped aside, watching this man—whose name he didn't even know—walk right into his house.
"Wait—who are you looking for?" Vernon hurriedly chased after him to ask.
At the doorway, Petunia suddenly gasped, and her arm trembled as she pointed at Lupin. "You... you... you're... you're the groomsman..."
"Remus Lupin," Lupin said, looking at the thin woman. "It's been twelve years, Mrs. Dursley."
Vernon looked at them suspiciously, but in the end, he trusted his wife more. He asked doubtfully, "You know him, Petunia?"
"Actually, you should recognize me as well, Mr. Dursley," Lupin said as he stepped into the house, glancing around before turning to face the home's owner.
"We were both at James and Lily's wedding, weren't we?"
Vernon, stunned, stammered, "You're... you're one of those... wizards?"
His voice sounded as if it were being squeezed out of an air tank.
Dudley, who had been munching on his fried fish, suddenly let out a piercing scream. He dropped his plate, frantically clutching his backside as he ran around in circles like a headless chicken, before finally darting into the bathroom and locking the door, refusing to come out.
—The last time Dudley had encountered a wizard, it was Hagrid, who had left him with a pig's tail as a parting gift. They had eventually needed to take him to a private hospital to have it removed.
"Oh—my poor Popkins!" Petunia cried as she hurried after him, trying to comfort her terrified son. But all she got was a loud "bang" as the bathroom door nearly slammed into her face.
Vernon, equally startled, stumbled back, grabbing a dinner knife and holding it with both hands as he pointed it at Lupin, shouting, "What do you want? Get out of my house! Petunia, call the police!"
Lupin, uninterested in dealing with them, turned and started walking upstairs.
Petunia lunged for the phone, but the receiver was already lifted.
"Call the police? I can help with that," Wade said calmly. "999? Or 116111? I think either could work." (Official Emergency and Child helpline Number)
As Wade calmly explained and dialed the number, he was abruptly stopped by a pair of cold hands pressing down on his. He looked up to see Petunia, her face pale, saying, "We can't call the police... we can't, Vernon..."
"What?" Vernon shouted in confusion, torn between wanting to rush upstairs to stop Lupin and feeling reluctant to leave his wife and son alone, too panicked to think straight.
Suddenly, there was a loud bang from upstairs, like the sound of a door being blown open.
Lupin's voice followed, filled with anger: "Is this what they're feeding you?"
Vernon's face flushed with rage, but Petunia looked embarrassed, her discomfort visible.
But they had no choice but to listen to Wade, who added, "116111 is the hotline for the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC)."
Wade kindly explained, "It's the only charity in the country with legal authority."
Vernon stared at him in shock, his small eyes darting around as he tried to process the situation.
Upstairs, in the small bedroom, Harry leapt up from his bed, staring fearfully at the stranger who had burst into his room.
"Who... who are you?" he stammered, grabbing a pillow to shield himself.
"Come with me, Harry," Lupin said, taking a deep breath, his eyes moist. "I was a friend of your parents... I've come to take you away."
Harry hesitated for only a second before he jumped off the bed and grabbed Lupin's hand. For him, there was no worse place on earth than the Dursleys' house. Many times, he had wondered if they would simply starve him to death.
"Wait, Hedwig!" Harry ran over to pick up his owl's cage.
Lupin shot a look of disgust at the bowl nearby. There was barely any vegetable soup left, and Hedwig's food dish held only a few shriveled pieces of vegetables.
Back in the downstairs living room...
"You can certainly call 999 to report this, but I must remind you that as guardians, deliberately failing to provide adequate food, clothing, medical care, or housing for a dependent under 14 years old, when you have the financial means to do so, is illegal."
Wade spoke calmly, "If I'm not mistaken, you've locked Harry in the room upstairs, haven't you? The windows have been boarded up."
"Imprisoning children, abusing children, and neglecting children are all criminal acts. Physical abuse, emotional abuse, and domestic violence all fall under child abuse. Reporting such acts can lead to fines and imprisonment."
"Your actions have already violated the Child Abuse Prevention Act, the Children's Care and Adoption Act, and the Children Act enacted three years ago."
"If you don't believe me, feel free to look it up. Or call the police and let them determine right from wrong."
"I wonder, though, how your neighbors would view you if the police arrested you? What would become of your Dudley… and how would his situation at school change?"
"How… how do you know all this?" Petunia asked incredulously. "You're just as strange… just as much of a freak as they are, right?"
These laws were not only unknown to wizards but also not well understood by ordinary people.
"My parents couldn't do magic either. I grew up in an environment just like yours."
Wade raised his voice slightly. "What do you think, Harry? If you choose to call the police, I'm sure this couple will face consequences."
The Dursleys turned around in a panic, realizing that Harry had come downstairs with Lupin without them noticing.
The two were immediately terrified.
Police… prison… Dudley would be bullied by his classmates at school… he might even be expelled…
Their future was suddenly shrouded in a terrible shadow, and that shadow had come from the very boy they had always disregarded.
Hatred surged in Harry's heart.
At that moment, he genuinely wanted to call the police, to send this couple to prison, to make the whole world aware of his grievances.
But he opened his mouth, hesitated several times without gathering the courage, and finally just raked his fingers through his hair and said, "I... let's just go..."
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