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Soon Dudley and Piers walked out of the men's room. They were still adjusting their belts after de-wedgie-ing themselves.
"I can't believe that kid fell for it," Piers laughed.
"I can. He didn't sound too smart to me. I'd at least have made him turn out his pockets if he said he didn't have any money. Stupid git."
"Just like you did to Brenda Schumaker last week, right Dudley?"
"Just like," Dudley agreed. "C'mon, let's go get a few more things before meeting mum and dad."
"You got any more room in your coat? Mine's about full," Piers patted a special pocket on the inside of his coat where a few of the store's items now resided.
"Nah. It's packed. Let's buy a couple things so we can get a bag and make it all look respectable."
As they walked past, Harry latched onto their shadows and walked in their "shoes". As he walked, a shadowy arm carefully removed the 30 pounds Dudley had in his front pocket and the 10 pounds (all in coins) from Piers' pocket. This process was helped along by a stopover of the boys at a perfume table where they commented (loudly to each other) on the smelly stuff they wouldn't be buying their mothers, no siree, even if it was expensive.
Harry took that as a challenge and while their eyes were turned to another stand, he managed to cast an illusion over his shadow hand to make it look a little more colorful and fatter than normal. Then, the hand coming out from "under" the coat made its way to a nearby bottle of perfume which it then slowly dragged back to the cover of the coat to be stored in the inside pocket that Dudley liked so much.
Luck was with Harry. The two boys hadn't seen anything. The same couldn't be said for the store clerk who noticed the "theft" (and how that boy managed to get his hand out of his sleeve so fast in order to get that bottle she'd never know). Still, she knew what to do in a situation like this. She'd been trained on it just last week.
As Piers and Dudley made to leave that department, a beefy hand clamped on Dudley's shoulder. "You going to pay for those things in your coat?" said the gruff voice.
"I have no idea what you mean," Dudley stammered.
"Uh-huh. Turn out your pockets. Especially all the ones in your coat."
"You don't have the right to put a hand on me. Don't you know who I am?"
"You're just another young punk to me, kid. Now turn out your pockets."
"But I don't have anything!"
"He really doesn't," Piers tried to save his friend.
"Uh-huh. Turn out your pockets. Now."
Whimpering, Dudley nervously turned out his pockets on this coat. "See? Nothing there."
"Uh-huh. Now turn out the pocket on the inside of your coat, kid."
"How do you…"
"Give this old geezer some credit, why don't you. I've seen this trick more than one other time."
Hands shaking, Dudley turned out the pocket on the inside of his coat and put six things on the table, including a bottle of expensive perfume.
"Hey, how'd that get there? I didn't put it there!" Dudley exclaimed looking at the perfume.
"Uh-huh. They all say that. Now you going to buy these things or did you think you could just walk out with them?"
Dudley reaches for his money but quickly realizes it is gone. He panics again. "My money's gone. I've been robbed."
Fed up with the stories he was getting, the security guard said, "Right, then. You're coming with me to store lockup. We'll get the bobbies involved with this."
"But I didn't do anything!" Dudley cried out.
"Yeah, yeah," gruffed out the burly guard. "They all say that. Save it for the judge."
"Where's my mom and dad?"
"Yeah, where's his mum and dad?" Piers put in.
"Save it, you. You're coming with me as well. We'll just see what you've got in your pockets, eh?"
"Sorry, Dudley, I've got to go!" Piers' attempt to run off was cut short when the same meaty hand clamped down on his shoulder that held Dudley.
"Piers! Mum, dad! Help!"
Harry smiled at the trouble they got into, calmly bought a tie for his dad, knowing he wouldn't know what to do with it which was a good prank in itself, and then donated the money he mugged from Dudley into a charity kettle in front of the store. He wasn't the least concerned about the funds he'd acquired from his portly cousin: if memory served, Dudley tended to bully it out of the neighborhood kids with Piers along for the ride.
Harry hoped they enjoyed the ride he just set them on. He'd have to ask them sometime.
Harry gave his mind some mental workout and thought back to everyone who'd been atomic wedgie'd. He had one more person to give that gift to before the school year was out. Someone special.