head, and despite the sense of numb dread that had settled on Harry since the arrival of
the first owl, he felt a certain curiosity. Dementors caused a person to relive the worst
moments of their life. What would spoiled, pampered, bullying Dudley have been forced
to hear?
'How come you fell over, son?' said Uncle Vernon, in an unnaturally quiet voice, the kind
of voice he might adopt at the bedside of a very ill person.
'T-tripped,' said Dudley shakily. 'And then -
He gestured at his massive chest. Harry understood. Dudley was remembering the
clammy cold that filled the lungs as hope and happiness were sucked out of you.
'Horrible,' croaked Dudley. 'Cold. Really cold.'
'OK,' said Uncle Vernon, in a voice of forced calm, while Aunt Petunia laid an anxious
hand on Dudley's forehead to feel his temperature. 'What happened then, Dudders?'
'Felt… felt… felt… as if… as if…'
'As if you'd never be happy again,' Harry supplied dully.
'Yes,' Dudley whispered, still trembling.
'So!' said Uncle Vernon, voice restored to full and considerable volume as he straightened
up. 'You put some crackpot spell on my son so he'd hear voices and believe he was - was
doomed to misery, or something, did you?'
'How many times do I have to tell you?' said Harry, temper and voice both rising. 'It
wasn't me! It was a couple of Dementors!'
'A couple of - what's this codswallop?'
'De - men - tors,' said Harry slowly and clearly. 'Two of them.'
'And what the ruddy hell are Dementors?'
'They guard the wizard prison, Azkaban,' said Aunt Petunia.
Two seconds of ringing silence followed these words before Aunt Petunia clapped her
hand over her mouth as though she had let slip a disgusting swear word. Uncle Vernon
was goggling at her. Harrys brain reeled. Mrs Figg was one thing - but Aunt Petunia'?
'How d'you know that?' he asked her, astonished.
Aunt Petunia looked quite appalled with herself. She glanced at Uncle Vernon in fearful
apology, then lowered her hand slightly to reveal her horsy teeth.
'I heard - that awful boy - telling her about them - years ago,' she said jerkily.
'If you mean my mum and dad, why don't you use their names?' said Harry loudly, but
Aunt Petunia ignored him. She seemed horribly flustered.
Harry was stunned. Except for one outburst years ago, in the course of which Aunt
Petunia had screamed that Harry's mother had been a freak, he had. never heard her
mention her sister. He was astounded that she had remembered this scrap of information
about the magical world for so long, when she usually put all her energies into pretending
it didn't exist.
Uncle Vernon opened his mouth, closed it again, opened it once more, shut it, then,
apparently struggling to remember how to talk, opened it for a third time and croaked, 'So
- so - they - er - they - er - they actually exist, do they - er - Dementy-whatsits?'
Aunt Petunia nodded.
Uncle Vernon looked from Aunt Petunia to Dudley to Harry as if hoping somebody was