FIC: Coming Full Circle (Dudley/Piers, Harry, PG)
Title: Coming Full Circle
Author/Artist: katmarajade
Pairing, or gen: Dudley/Piers, Harry
Rating: PG
Warning(s): references to off-screen character death, 2nd person pov
Word count: 2500
Summary/Excerpt: You resign yourself to the fact that you'll never get the chance to make up for it all. Never get the chance to right your wrongs. And then Harry shows up one night in the middle of your sitting room.
Author's notes: This was written for dudley_redeemed for bgreenwivy's brilliant prompt, and major hugs to the awesome mods over there for running such a wonderful rare-character-centric fest! A huge thank you to my wonderful betas, aigooism who had to hit me over the head with the grammar stick and thimble_kiss who was blessedly patient with me and helped me make this story so much better.
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all associated characters and settings remain the intellectual property of JK Rowling and her associates. We are very grateful for permission to play with them.
Piers always knows everything before you do. So it's no surprise that he's the first to notice this either.
Piers knew he fancied blokes way back at Smeltings and had been out for years, whereas you barely felt even a hint of attraction to anyone during your teenage years, focusing too much on boxing. You hadn't really fancied anyone at all until you emerged from nearly a year of hiding and promptly ran into Piers in the market a hundred miles from Little Whinging.
He's your best friend-always has been and always will be-but it wasn't until you met him again after a year away that you began to notice the difference, like how your heart started beating faster whenever he showed up. Suddenly, every time he made a dirty joke and flashed you that lopsided smile with his crooked front teeth, your stomach twisted in an uncomfortable but glorious way. All the things you'd always liked about Piers seemed better than ever, and you started noticing new quirks as well.
You love how much strength and power can be wrapped up in such a compact person. Piers is short and looks scrawny, but you've been on the receiving end of enough of his punches to know just how tough he is. He has quite the temper on him too, but that's to be expected with gingers.
Piers is your favorite person on the planet. He's funny and blunt and never acts like he's better than other people. He talks too fast and curses too much, and sometimes you can barely keep up with his insane energy, but you find his constant buzz of enthusiasm intoxicating.
It's no wonder you fell in love with the bloke-he's bloody perfect. Or, perhaps, perfectly imperfect. Either way, he understands you better than you understand yourself, so it shouldn't come as much of a surprise when one night he casually mentions your deeply-secret, long-harbored wish to make things right with your cousin, who's the only family you've got left anymore.
You're shocked at first that he knows about that, but you probably shouldn't be. You've been living together for almost two years, you're in love, and Piers always knows everything about you.
*** *** ***
Things with Harry have always been complicated. Looking back it's bloody appalling, is what it is, to see how much of a spoiled brat you were. To think back on all the horrible things you did and to know that, even though you were just a kid, you still should have known better. Somehow. You remember all the long and terrible steps it took to be able to see yourself clearly. As a great bullying git. And even though Harry has been and always will be an annoying little bugger, he had a point about you and your parents.
You look back and you wish that it could be different. That you could somehow fix everything that went wrong in the past and make it better. But it doesn't work that way. You've learned the hard way that life doesn't always let you right your wrongs. Sometimes you never get a chance to make things right.
You often wonder how it would have turned out if things had been different back then. If you and Harry had been friends growing up, if Harry's parents hadn't been murdered, if Harry hadn't been a wizard, if your parents had been more open-minded. It would have changed things, sure, but there's no way to know if it would have made anything better or just different. Fate's a bitch like that.
You haven't seen Harry in five years, since he turned seventeen and left Privet Drive forever. You tried then to say it-that you were sorry, that you knew how horrible you'd made things, but you've never been good with words. You're no bloody Shakespeare. And saying someone's not a waste of space isn't the same as saying you're sorry and you were wrong and you only just started to figure that out. It's not the same, but you think maybe Harry understood anyway.
If you'd been thinking, you would have asked Dedalus how to contact Harry. As it is, you don't know where he lives or if he's got some kind of magical mobile. You don't even know if he's still alive, though you think he probably is. Somehow you think you might have heard if he died, because you're pretty sure that that's about the only thing that could really devastate the wizarding community.
You wonder if he knows that you and he are the only family you have left. That your parents died, along with Hestia Jones, back when you were in hiding. Apparently the bad guys didn't get the memo that Harry hated you all. Sometimes you really hate those evil masked morons for getting it all wrong, and sometimes you think that maybe karma really is a bitch and came back to bite your parents. You hate yourself even more for thinking that.
It's been a long time and you resign yourself to the fact that you'll never get the chance to make up for it all. Never get the chance to right your wrongs. And then Harry shows up one night in the middle of your sitting room.
He's grown up a lot since you last saw him. He's taller and he's filled out and his face looks far older than it should at twenty-two. His cheeks are hollowed and a bit gaunt-looking, his hair is as untidy as ever, and he looks exhausted, but his eyes are clear and strong. And when he fixes you with that intense, green-eyed stare, you know that he has indeed grown up to be the savior his world was waiting for.
You've waited for this moment for years, a chance to apologize, to tell him that you know now what a spoiled, bullying brat you were. But in the moment all you manage is, "What are you doing here?"
Harry doesn't seem upset at your lack of proper etiquette, but then again he's just appeared in your house without so much as a knock, so maybe it's a draw on the politeness scale. He tells you that Dedalus told him how to find you, how you had moved in with Piers after the Death Eater attack. He says he's sorry about your parents and that they didn't deserve to die like that.
Harry keeps talking, telling you about the war that they're still fighting, the battles they've won, the ground they've lost, and how they're still rallying. You just nod, feeling numb and a bit stupid. Harry's always been good at talking. Sometimes he just says crap, but at least he says something.
You feel Piers' hand on your back and it gives you the presence of mind to finally blurt out, "I'm sorry!"
Harry stops talking for a minute and looks surprised, but then he gives you a half-smile and a shrug and says, "I know, Dudley. Don't worry about it. It was a long time ago. Dedalus told me about what happened while you guys were in hiding. I know you're different now. You've grown up. We all have."
Your face flushes and all you can manage is a grunt, but inside you feel three stone lighter and oddly giddy as some of the guilt and self-censure shrivels up and pops away. Piers squeezes your hand and remains uncharacteristically silent, though you're sure that he's gnawing at the inside of his cheek to keep from blurting out something and ruining your moment of reconciliation or whatever the hell this is with Harry.
Harry stares at your hand, which is currently engulfing Piers' fingers in a death grip. His expression is a weird mix of assessing and wistful and a lot of other things that you can't even guess at. You're about ready to make some grand statement defending your relationship with Piers, which probably would've been far less grand than you imagined, when Harry's eyes flash sharply back up to yours and you feel like he's just pinned you against the wall.
"Dudley, I need your help. You're the only person who can help me. Please." He looks so sincere and the sight of your cousin actually begging you for help is so completely unexpected that you just stare at him, shocked, unable to speak.
"Of course he'll help you. You're family. What do you need?" Piers finally steps forward from his position slightly behind you to stand at your side. You squeeze his hand blindly, grateful that he's answering for you when you can't find the words, because this is important and you don't want to bollix it up.
Harry seems satisfied with the answer and pulls at the empty air in front of his chest and suddenly there's a baby in his arms. Your eyes widen, still shocked by magic after all these years, but other than that you're pretty sure that your expression remains blank.
"This is Lily. They've been trying to kill her since before she was even born. Her mother died in the last attack. I can't keep her safe, not with our world the way it is. They'll find her again, and that can't happen. As long as she's with a witch or wizard, they can track her-our magic is too easily traced, even when we try to hide it. I need you to take her, Dudley. Take her and disappear. You're the only person I can trust to do this. Please."
You meet Harry's gaze, which is desperate and blazing into your mind like a bolt of lightning. You're nodding before you even realize it and Harry's coming closer.
"Take her. Take her and leave England. Go as far away as you can. Change your name. Change hers if you need to. Just go." Harry leans over and kisses the sleeping baby on her pink forehead. His eyes are suspiciously shiny as he thrusts the tiny girl, wrapped in a hand-knitted, pink blanket into your awkward arms.
"There's money in the blanket," he adds as he steps back. You glance back and forth between the baby, who looks frighteningly small in your large arms, and your cousin, whose expression is now determined and focused.
"How do I contact you?" you ask finally.
"You don't. If I don't know where she is, then they can't force it out of me. Just… take care of her, Dudley. Please. She's the most important thing in my world and… just keep her safe, yeah? Because right now I can't. As much as I wish I could."
"Is she…" You don't finish the question, trailing off, but Harry nods.
"Yeah, she's mine. You and she are all the family I've got left."
"I'll keep her safe, Harry. I promise," you swear fervently, and you think that you've never been so determined to keep a promise in your life.
"I know you will. I better go. Don't tell anyone I was here, and leave-as soon as you can. Don't tell anyone you're going. Just go. Just…" Harry's voice breaks off suddenly and he steps forward again and kisses the baby one more time. You hear him murmuring good bye and that he loves her and you feel a sudden rush of love and protectiveness course through your veins.
He steps back and fixes you with a piercing look. With his magic wand in his hand and that look on his face, you understand for the first time why everyone in that magic world of his looks to him. He looks nothing like the scrawny, snotty brat that you grew up with. He radiates power and you want more than anything to make him proud, to protect your family. You've never felt a bond like this before and you know that you're going to do anything you can to keep this little girl safe, because it's your duty now.
With an almost inaudible pop, he disappears, leaving you blinking for a moment until you realize he's used magic. You look at the baby stirring in your arms, with her scrunched up pink face and miniature fingers clenching the air, and all at once the magnitude of what you just agreed to hits you. You glance at Piers in panic, just now realizing that you never even asked him before doing this, before taking in a baby and promising to leave the bleeding country.
"I should have… Christ on a bike, what the hell am I going to do, Piers?" you whisper.
"Exactly what you told Harry we'd do. We take the baby and leave. Go somewhere. Dunno where exactly. And we should probably buy some milk and nappies and, erm, blankets? What all do babies need?" Piers has his scheming face on already and you let out a sigh of relief.
"I didn't know if you'd… I mean, a baby, and the leaving, and it's a lot to ask, didn't know if you'd…" You can't quite get out what you're trying to say, but Piers understands, because Piers always understands what you're saying.
"Well, you had to take her in, didn't you? I mean, she's family. And it's bloody important and all. Life and death and whatnot. You do whatever you have to when it comes to this sort of thing."
"But she's-"
"Dudley. Listen up. You are my family. I love you, you overgrown numbskull, and you damn well know it. You're my family. And that makes her my family. It's not a question of if I'm with you on this, just how the hell we're going to do it." He takes in your relieved smile and rolls his eyes in fake annoyance before flashing you that too-big, lopsided smile with the crooked front teeth, the smile that still makes your stomach twist and makes you believe that anything's possible.
"So I know this bloke who knows a bloke and…" Piers begins planning out loud and you look at him in amazement. He smiles at you, and you realize that he's known that you needed this long before you ever did. This one last opportunity to prove yourself. The prat always knows everything before you do, and you think that somehow you love him more than ever for knowing and understanding this, when you're not even sure if you understand it yet yourself.
You stare down in wonder as Lily blinks open her eyes and fixes you with a familiar green stare. She's beautiful and perfect and you're going to keep her safe, no matter what it takes. You're holding your redemption in your arms and you understand with perfect clarity that this is your chance to make things right, the chance you never thought you'd get.
You give Piers a look that you've given him hundreds of times over the years, the look that means I'm in. Piers grins his crooked-tooth smile at you. Lily yawns and grabs at you, and you gently touch the impossibly tiny fingers clutching at your shirt. You straighten your shoulders, ready for the fight ahead.
"Let's do this."
*fin
Comments are always love-- thanks for reading!
Author/Artist: katmarajade
Pairing, or gen: Dudley/Piers, Harry
Rating: PG
Warning(s): references to off-screen character death, 2nd person pov
Word count: 2500
Summary/Excerpt: You resign yourself to the fact that you'll never get the chance to make up for it all. Never get the chance to right your wrongs. And then Harry shows up one night in the middle of your sitting room.
Author's notes: This was written for dudley_redeemed for bgreenwivy's brilliant prompt, and major hugs to the awesome mods over there for running such a wonderful rare-character-centric fest! A huge thank you to my wonderful betas, aigooism who had to hit me over the head with the grammar stick and thimble_kiss who was blessedly patient with me and helped me make this story so much better.
Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all associated characters and settings remain the intellectual property of JK Rowling and her associates. We are very grateful for permission to play with them.
Piers always knows everything before you do. So it's no surprise that he's the first to notice this either.
Piers knew he fancied blokes way back at Smeltings and had been out for years, whereas you barely felt even a hint of attraction to anyone during your teenage years, focusing too much on boxing. You hadn't really fancied anyone at all until you emerged from nearly a year of hiding and promptly ran into Piers in the market a hundred miles from Little Whinging.
He's your best friend-always has been and always will be-but it wasn't until you met him again after a year away that you began to notice the difference, like how your heart started beating faster whenever he showed up. Suddenly, every time he made a dirty joke and flashed you that lopsided smile with his crooked front teeth, your stomach twisted in an uncomfortable but glorious way. All the things you'd always liked about Piers seemed better than ever, and you started noticing new quirks as well.
You love how much strength and power can be wrapped up in such a compact person. Piers is short and looks scrawny, but you've been on the receiving end of enough of his punches to know just how tough he is. He has quite the temper on him too, but that's to be expected with gingers.
Piers is your favorite person on the planet. He's funny and blunt and never acts like he's better than other people. He talks too fast and curses too much, and sometimes you can barely keep up with his insane energy, but you find his constant buzz of enthusiasm intoxicating.
It's no wonder you fell in love with the bloke-he's bloody perfect. Or, perhaps, perfectly imperfect. Either way, he understands you better than you understand yourself, so it shouldn't come as much of a surprise when one night he casually mentions your deeply-secret, long-harbored wish to make things right with your cousin, who's the only family you've got left anymore.
You're shocked at first that he knows about that, but you probably shouldn't be. You've been living together for almost two years, you're in love, and Piers always knows everything about you.
*** *** ***
Things with Harry have always been complicated. Looking back it's bloody appalling, is what it is, to see how much of a spoiled brat you were. To think back on all the horrible things you did and to know that, even though you were just a kid, you still should have known better. Somehow. You remember all the long and terrible steps it took to be able to see yourself clearly. As a great bullying git. And even though Harry has been and always will be an annoying little bugger, he had a point about you and your parents.
You look back and you wish that it could be different. That you could somehow fix everything that went wrong in the past and make it better. But it doesn't work that way. You've learned the hard way that life doesn't always let you right your wrongs. Sometimes you never get a chance to make things right.
You often wonder how it would have turned out if things had been different back then. If you and Harry had been friends growing up, if Harry's parents hadn't been murdered, if Harry hadn't been a wizard, if your parents had been more open-minded. It would have changed things, sure, but there's no way to know if it would have made anything better or just different. Fate's a bitch like that.
You haven't seen Harry in five years, since he turned seventeen and left Privet Drive forever. You tried then to say it-that you were sorry, that you knew how horrible you'd made things, but you've never been good with words. You're no bloody Shakespeare. And saying someone's not a waste of space isn't the same as saying you're sorry and you were wrong and you only just started to figure that out. It's not the same, but you think maybe Harry understood anyway.
If you'd been thinking, you would have asked Dedalus how to contact Harry. As it is, you don't know where he lives or if he's got some kind of magical mobile. You don't even know if he's still alive, though you think he probably is. Somehow you think you might have heard if he died, because you're pretty sure that that's about the only thing that could really devastate the wizarding community.
You wonder if he knows that you and he are the only family you have left. That your parents died, along with Hestia Jones, back when you were in hiding. Apparently the bad guys didn't get the memo that Harry hated you all. Sometimes you really hate those evil masked morons for getting it all wrong, and sometimes you think that maybe karma really is a bitch and came back to bite your parents. You hate yourself even more for thinking that.
It's been a long time and you resign yourself to the fact that you'll never get the chance to make up for it all. Never get the chance to right your wrongs. And then Harry shows up one night in the middle of your sitting room.
He's grown up a lot since you last saw him. He's taller and he's filled out and his face looks far older than it should at twenty-two. His cheeks are hollowed and a bit gaunt-looking, his hair is as untidy as ever, and he looks exhausted, but his eyes are clear and strong. And when he fixes you with that intense, green-eyed stare, you know that he has indeed grown up to be the savior his world was waiting for.
You've waited for this moment for years, a chance to apologize, to tell him that you know now what a spoiled, bullying brat you were. But in the moment all you manage is, "What are you doing here?"
Harry doesn't seem upset at your lack of proper etiquette, but then again he's just appeared in your house without so much as a knock, so maybe it's a draw on the politeness scale. He tells you that Dedalus told him how to find you, how you had moved in with Piers after the Death Eater attack. He says he's sorry about your parents and that they didn't deserve to die like that.
Harry keeps talking, telling you about the war that they're still fighting, the battles they've won, the ground they've lost, and how they're still rallying. You just nod, feeling numb and a bit stupid. Harry's always been good at talking. Sometimes he just says crap, but at least he says something.
You feel Piers' hand on your back and it gives you the presence of mind to finally blurt out, "I'm sorry!"
Harry stops talking for a minute and looks surprised, but then he gives you a half-smile and a shrug and says, "I know, Dudley. Don't worry about it. It was a long time ago. Dedalus told me about what happened while you guys were in hiding. I know you're different now. You've grown up. We all have."
Your face flushes and all you can manage is a grunt, but inside you feel three stone lighter and oddly giddy as some of the guilt and self-censure shrivels up and pops away. Piers squeezes your hand and remains uncharacteristically silent, though you're sure that he's gnawing at the inside of his cheek to keep from blurting out something and ruining your moment of reconciliation or whatever the hell this is with Harry.
Harry stares at your hand, which is currently engulfing Piers' fingers in a death grip. His expression is a weird mix of assessing and wistful and a lot of other things that you can't even guess at. You're about ready to make some grand statement defending your relationship with Piers, which probably would've been far less grand than you imagined, when Harry's eyes flash sharply back up to yours and you feel like he's just pinned you against the wall.
"Dudley, I need your help. You're the only person who can help me. Please." He looks so sincere and the sight of your cousin actually begging you for help is so completely unexpected that you just stare at him, shocked, unable to speak.
"Of course he'll help you. You're family. What do you need?" Piers finally steps forward from his position slightly behind you to stand at your side. You squeeze his hand blindly, grateful that he's answering for you when you can't find the words, because this is important and you don't want to bollix it up.
Harry seems satisfied with the answer and pulls at the empty air in front of his chest and suddenly there's a baby in his arms. Your eyes widen, still shocked by magic after all these years, but other than that you're pretty sure that your expression remains blank.
"This is Lily. They've been trying to kill her since before she was even born. Her mother died in the last attack. I can't keep her safe, not with our world the way it is. They'll find her again, and that can't happen. As long as she's with a witch or wizard, they can track her-our magic is too easily traced, even when we try to hide it. I need you to take her, Dudley. Take her and disappear. You're the only person I can trust to do this. Please."
You meet Harry's gaze, which is desperate and blazing into your mind like a bolt of lightning. You're nodding before you even realize it and Harry's coming closer.
"Take her. Take her and leave England. Go as far away as you can. Change your name. Change hers if you need to. Just go." Harry leans over and kisses the sleeping baby on her pink forehead. His eyes are suspiciously shiny as he thrusts the tiny girl, wrapped in a hand-knitted, pink blanket into your awkward arms.
"There's money in the blanket," he adds as he steps back. You glance back and forth between the baby, who looks frighteningly small in your large arms, and your cousin, whose expression is now determined and focused.
"How do I contact you?" you ask finally.
"You don't. If I don't know where she is, then they can't force it out of me. Just… take care of her, Dudley. Please. She's the most important thing in my world and… just keep her safe, yeah? Because right now I can't. As much as I wish I could."
"Is she…" You don't finish the question, trailing off, but Harry nods.
"Yeah, she's mine. You and she are all the family I've got left."
"I'll keep her safe, Harry. I promise," you swear fervently, and you think that you've never been so determined to keep a promise in your life.
"I know you will. I better go. Don't tell anyone I was here, and leave-as soon as you can. Don't tell anyone you're going. Just go. Just…" Harry's voice breaks off suddenly and he steps forward again and kisses the baby one more time. You hear him murmuring good bye and that he loves her and you feel a sudden rush of love and protectiveness course through your veins.
He steps back and fixes you with a piercing look. With his magic wand in his hand and that look on his face, you understand for the first time why everyone in that magic world of his looks to him. He looks nothing like the scrawny, snotty brat that you grew up with. He radiates power and you want more than anything to make him proud, to protect your family. You've never felt a bond like this before and you know that you're going to do anything you can to keep this little girl safe, because it's your duty now.
With an almost inaudible pop, he disappears, leaving you blinking for a moment until you realize he's used magic. You look at the baby stirring in your arms, with her scrunched up pink face and miniature fingers clenching the air, and all at once the magnitude of what you just agreed to hits you. You glance at Piers in panic, just now realizing that you never even asked him before doing this, before taking in a baby and promising to leave the bleeding country.
"I should have… Christ on a bike, what the hell am I going to do, Piers?" you whisper.
"Exactly what you told Harry we'd do. We take the baby and leave. Go somewhere. Dunno where exactly. And we should probably buy some milk and nappies and, erm, blankets? What all do babies need?" Piers has his scheming face on already and you let out a sigh of relief.
"I didn't know if you'd… I mean, a baby, and the leaving, and it's a lot to ask, didn't know if you'd…" You can't quite get out what you're trying to say, but Piers understands, because Piers always understands what you're saying.
"Well, you had to take her in, didn't you? I mean, she's family. And it's bloody important and all. Life and death and whatnot. You do whatever you have to when it comes to this sort of thing."
"But she's-"
"Dudley. Listen up. You are my family. I love you, you overgrown numbskull, and you damn well know it. You're my family. And that makes her my family. It's not a question of if I'm with you on this, just how the hell we're going to do it." He takes in your relieved smile and rolls his eyes in fake annoyance before flashing you that too-big, lopsided smile with the crooked front teeth, the smile that still makes your stomach twist and makes you believe that anything's possible.
"So I know this bloke who knows a bloke and…" Piers begins planning out loud and you look at him in amazement. He smiles at you, and you realize that he's known that you needed this long before you ever did. This one last opportunity to prove yourself. The prat always knows everything before you do, and you think that somehow you love him more than ever for knowing and understanding this, when you're not even sure if you understand it yet yourself.
You stare down in wonder as Lily blinks open her eyes and fixes you with a familiar green stare. She's beautiful and perfect and you're going to keep her safe, no matter what it takes. You're holding your redemption in your arms and you understand with perfect clarity that this is your chance to make things right, the chance you never thought you'd get.
You give Piers a look that you've given him hundreds of times over the years, the look that means I'm in. Piers grins his crooked-tooth smile at you. Lily yawns and grabs at you, and you gently touch the impossibly tiny fingers clutching at your shirt. You straighten your shoulders, ready for the fight ahead.
"Let's do this."
*fin
Comments are always love-- thanks for reading!