FIC: A Fresh Start [Dudley, Harry, Gen]
Title: A Fresh Start
Author: themightyflynn
Prompt: # O29 by greyeyesbluetoo
Pairing(s): Dudley/OC, background Harry/Draco
Word Count: ~7800
Rating: G
Warning(s): None
Disclaimer:Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Notes: Thanks go out to: my prompter for this wonderful prompt and for giving me the chance to write a grown-up Dudley! Also to the wonderful mods for being so understanding and patient. Lastly, to smirkingcat for the beta!
Summary: Strange things happen around Dudley’s almost eleven-year-old daughter. He only knows one other person that strange things happened around. Now all he has to do is find him.
A Fresh Start
Mr. Harry Potter,
Hello, my name is Dudley Dursley. I am writing to you because I am searching for my cousin, who is also named Harry Potter. I have tried again and again to get in touch with him, but failed to do so.
We lived together at 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey when we were little. He was born in 1980 and came to live with us when he was one. He went to boarding school. He has black hair, green eyes, wears glasses and has a lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead. We never really got along. In fact, I was a bit of an arsehole to him. It’s something I regret and hope I can make up to him.
I once saw a mention of a ‘Harry Potter’ in a little announcement in a newspaper, but I can’t be sure if it was him, or you, or someone else. It was a notice of marriage thirteen years ago to a woman named ‘Ginevra’, I think it was?
Please, if this is you, and you are the Harry Potter I’m looking for, can you contact me? I really need your help and am desperate. If it makes any difference, this has to do with my daughter. She’s nearly eleven and, well, something has changed, if you catch my drift.
Thanks for your attention,
Dudley Dursley.
Dudley stared down at the letter. The words began to swim before his eyes as uncertainty shivered through him. He’d been trying to write this letter for the past few weeks, but had never been able to get past the greeting. He hadn’t spoken to Harry since the last day he had left Privet Drive, all the way back in ’97. It had been eighteen years since that day. How the hell could he write to a cousin he hadn’t seen in eighteen years, asking him for help? A cousin whose life he had made hell when they were kids? A cousin who his parents had spent his entire life telling him is dangerous and unsettled?
“Dad! Dad, he’s hitting me!”
The sound of his daughter’s voice carrying to him through the open kitchen windows gave Dudley his answer straight away. Having children had given him a purpose in life that he had never imagined he could have. They had given him something to focus on other than himself, which had come as a sharp wake-up call. If there was one certain thing in his life, it was that he would do anything to make sure his kids were safe and happy. Placing his hands flat on the kitchen table, he shoved himself to his feet and wandered over to the backdoor.
“I am not hitting her! She won’t give me a turn!”
Caitlyn and Fletcher stood in the middle of the backyard, right near the clothesline. Scattered around them were bits and pieces of various toy sets they had been gifted by their grandparents that neither of them seemed to want to play with. No, it was the scooter that they were both focussed on at that moment. Dudley sighed as he pushed the door open.
“Fletch, you know you have your own scooter, right?”
“This is mine!” Fletcher gave the handle of the scooter a tug, trying to pull it out of his sister’s hands.
“No, it isn’t!” Caitlyn tugged back, almost pulling Fletcher off his feet. “You broke yours and now you’re trying to steal mine!”
“I didn’t break mine. Your fat arse broke it!”
“I’m not fat, you idiot!”
“Alright, you two.” Dudley stepped between them, grabbed the scooter and raised it above his head, breaking both of their grips on the handles. “That is more than enough. You both know to not swear, or to call each other names. I should wash your mouths out with soap.”
He watched as disgust crossed Fletcher’s face. Caitlyn just stood there, her arms crossed across her chest, scowl firmly in place. A gust of wind blew her fringe into her eyes, causing her to sigh and run a hand through it. The movement was so reminiscent of her mother that Dudley had to repress a smile. Trying to keep hold of his authority, he frowned back at the two of them. Reaching up, he rested the scooter on the lines of the clothesline where neither of them could reach it without effort.
“Look, guys. Your Mum isn’t here, so I’ll go easy on you. Promise me you won’t start fighting again and I won’t send you up to your rooms.”
It took a few seconds before either of his children reacted. Eventually, though, Fletcher let out a gusty sigh that seemed designed to tell Dudley that he was making a great concession.
“Fine. If she leaves me alone, I won’t fight with her.”
Shaking his head, Dudley turned to Caitlyn. “Lyn?”
She huffed. “Whatever.”
Turning her back on him, she stalked over to sit on the steps of the garage, her blonde curls bobbing as she walked. Reaching into her pocket, she brought out the mobile that they had given her for her tenth birthday - for emergencies only - and began to text, completely ignoring him.
“That phone is for emergencies only.”
“You ruining my life is an emergency!”
Caitlyn’s reaction shouldn’t be funny, Dudley told himself as he fought against a smile. If having a scooter taken away from her was the worst thing that ever happened to his daughter, then he would happily take the accusation. With another shake of his head, he turned back towards the house.
The letter was waiting where he had left it on the breakfast bar. With a quick glance back out the kitchen windows, he added his phone numbers and email address to the very end. If there was even the slightest chance that the man he had found in that old newspaper announcement was the Harry Potter he was after, then he wasn’t going to take any chances. A stronger gust of wind preceded a crash in the backyard. Dudley was on his feet and moving towards the backdoor before his mind could catch up with what had happened.
Caitlyn stood in front of the steps to the garage, rolling her eyes as she prepared to sit back down. Fletcher, on the other hand, was happily zooming around the yard on the scooter.
The clothesline was wobbling wildly in the wind, which he normally would have assumed was the cause of the scooter being flung down off the lines. He had placed it on the very edge of the lines, and neither of his children were tall enough to have been able to reach up to pull it down. Glancing from the clothesline to Caitlyn, however, sent suspicion down his spine.
Strange things happened around Caitlyn, usually things that could be attributed to freak acts of nature. She had never been able to jump up onto the roof of a building, or grow her hair back after a haircut like Harry had when they were children, but Dudley had seen enough magic when he was a teenager to know that there had to be more to it than the obvious things. He took a steadying breath as he watched his kids. This letter was definitely the best thing he could be doing for them both, he knew.
*~*
Four days later
“Are you absolutely certain, Duds? I mean, she couldn’t have just thrown something to knock it down? Or maybe shook the lines somehow?”
There was a touch of desperation to Mandy’s voice as Dudley stood before the wardrobe, getting dressed. This was a conversation that they had had over and over again over the past few days, but it never changed. His eyes slid shut involuntarily, but he knew he had to go through with this, even if the idea still scared him a little. Taking a deep breath, he let it out slowly and turned to face the bed, where she still lay.
“I’m sure. There was a big wind, but I don’t think it was strong enough to have knocked the scooter down by itself.”
“But how do you know something like this? Can it be measured? Is there a test she’ll have to take?” Pushing herself up into a sitting position, Mandy wrapped her arms around her legs as she drew her knees up. “Is it genetic? Could Fletch have it as well? This cousin of yours, how did he know?”
It was clear that Mandy was working herself up into a tizzy: her voice was rising with each question, and her knuckles had turned white with the pressure of having her hands clenched. All it took was for Dudley to take a small step towards her for her to uncurl and fling herself towards him. Catching her with a quiet chuckle, Dudley smiled.
“Love you, babe.”
“Don’t try to distract me.” Her voice was muffled in the collar of his shirt. “I’m serious, Dudley. How can we know if this is what you think it is? If Lyn is… magic?”
Tightening his grip on her, Dudley moved over so he could sit on the edge of the bed. Mandy immediately curled herself around him, her fingers playing with the ends of his hair at the base of his neck.
“I’m scared, Duds.”
“I know, babe. I know.” Shifting on the bed caused her to let out a sound of protest. “We can do this, though. Having magic isn’t a disease. At least, not from what I can tell. You know my parents and what they’re like. They didn’t let me know anything about it, really, so I’m fuzzy on the exact details, like how to tell if this is what it is, or not.”
She sighed. “You know that’s not really reassuring at all, right?”
Dudley smiled. “I know.” He tightened his grip around her for a few seconds, squeezing her tight. “Harry will know what to do. And, if it turns out that she’s not like him, then I am willing to admit to my paranoia. You’re always telling me that I wrap the kids in cottonwool, right?”
It took a few seconds before Mandy did anything other than play with Dudley’s hair. When she pulled back from him, however, she was composed.
“This might just be the one time that your usual paranoia over the kids is a good thing, you know. If Lyn needs help, or needs to go to a special school for this, then picking up on it before it gets out of control is probably for the best.” She leant forward until she could rest her forehead against his, her eyes sliding closed. “You’re a good dad, Duds. And you’re right: we will get through this.”
Dudley let out a small sigh as he watched his wife slide off his lap and move into the bathroom. He was fully aware of just how insane this must sound to her. Mandy had known that Dudley had a cousin out there somewhere, but they had never really spoken about him at all. There was no reason for Dudley to have mentioned him beyond the fact that they grew up in the same house. He knew that made the whole ‘oh, by the way, honey, my cousin that we never speak of? He’s a wizard’ discussion all that much worse. But, really, who'd have believed him? Conversations like that were reserved for times when they needed to be had, not for the average day when they ran out of things to say to each other.
Shoving himself to his feet, he went about getting ready for the day ahead. He packed his backpack - he had never felt comfortable carrying a suitcase like his father always had - and trudged down the stairs to the kitchen. Breakfast was a quick affair that morning, as he knew he had to be in early. It was always annoying having to go searching for them himself. Mandy made it downstairs with a bleary-eyed Fletcher following closely behind her just in time for Dudley to kiss her on the cheek before exiting the house.
His drive to work was, thankfully, uneventful. By the time he was pulling into the space reserved for the CEO of Dursley Security Services, he’d even warmed up a little in the slightly chilly late May weather. When Dudley had taken over the security company he’d worked for since the end of school ten years previously, it had been a failing enterprise. It had taken a few years and a small loan from Mandy’s parents, but he had managed to turn it around and into a profitable venture. These days, not only did he and his security teams hire out bouncers to nightclubs across the country, but they also offered bodyguard services to anyone who could afford them. He waved to the guard on the door - Michael Lister, a young man who Dudley knew was going to make waves in the company in a few years - before entering the elevator.
His mind began to wander over what he knew he had to get done that day as he intercepted the mail trolley on the second floor. The contracts for Wilhelm Jamison had to be signed and sent off, the issues that Olivia’s team had been having with their inability to actually work together had to be taken up with HR, and the newest recruits had to be given schedules so that they knew where to go to get to training. Oh, and Dudley had to get over to the bank and try to sort out that bloody thing with the finances; the one that meant that one of his boys had been underpaid. All thoughts of Harry, Lyn and magic faded from his mind as he settled in to work.
By the time 3 pm rolled around, Dudley was about ready to tear someone’s head off. The bank had claimed that it was his Human Resources Department’s fault that Mickey had been underpaid, but HR had told him that it was an issue with the bank. One of the new recruits had shown up here rather than going off to the physical assessment they put everyone through before signing their initial contract and had had to be driven across town. Olivia had called and yelled at him because two of her boys had decided to have some kind of bloody pissing contest in front of a girl while they were meant to be working. To top it all off, the lunch trolley hadn’t had any muffins. All in all, it had been a shit day. So, when his mobile trilled at him just as he sat down to take a sip of the scalding hot coffee that his secretary insisted was good, he was very tempted to ignore it. When it continued to ring, however, he sighed. He swiped angrily at the screen a few times before it responded to him.
“What? This had better be important,” he snarled into the phone as he stared at the steam wafting from his Styrofoam cup.
“I, er…” The voice was male, but not one Dudley recognised. “Sorry, is this Dudley Dursley?”
Dudley sighed. This was probably one of the new recruits, judging from the nervous tone to the man’s voice. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he pressed his lips together for a few seconds before responding.
“Yes. Who is this?”
“Harry.” Dudley froze, hardly even daring to breathe as he waited for the man to go on. “Er, Harry Potter? I got your letter yesterday, but I haven’t been anywhere I could use my phone without interference, so I couldn’t call until just now.”
Dudley’s mind seemed to kick into hyperdrive in the matter of a few seconds. Questions flooded him faster than he could possibly voice them.
“Harry! Oh my God, I actually found you?”
“Ah, yeah, yeah you did.” There was laughter in Harry’s voice, mixed with more than a little relief. “How are you?”
“Good! Great, yeah… Wow. You know, I never thought I’d be able to find you again. Mum and Dad, well, they weren’t much use. They just looked at me like I was mental to want to get in touch with you again.”
“You asked your parents where to find me?” The laughter in Harry’s voice was now much clearer. “I bet that went down well!”
Unable to help it with the amount of relief rushing through him, Dudley joined in with Harry’s mirth. It felt good to laugh after the day he had had. His shoulders began to relax as the tension ran out of him. When they had both gotten themselves back under control, Dudley let out a sigh. The mention of his parents had brought back one of the more pressing things that he knew he had to do with this phone call.
“Harry, I… Look, I’m sorry.”
There was a small pause. “What?”
“I’m sorry,” Dudley repeated. “For everything. I was a complete arsehole to you when we were kids and so were my parents. I know this is something that I need to actually say in person - and I will - but just know that, well, I’m sorry.”
“Oh.” There was a tone of surprise to Harry’s voice, but Dudley thought that he could hear a touch of gratitude as well. “Er, thanks. I, er… Well, I admit that I was kind of nervous about this call. I didn’t know what to expect, really and-”
Something that sounded very much like a derisive snort interrupted Harry then, causing Dudley to frown. There were a few muffled words - Harry had obviously covered the phone - before Harry was back.
“Sorry about that. There’s a nuisance tagging along behind me.”
“‘Nuisance’, Potter, really?”
“Shut up, Draco.”
Dudley cocked an eyebrow at his phone, but kept his mouth shut, not knowing exactly what was happening on the other end. Clearly there was someone else there with Harry; someone he knew quite well, if his tone of voice was anything to go by. With a gusty sigh, Harry was back.
“Sorry, he’s grumpy because the kids woke him up early this morning on his day off.”
Confusion rocked through Dudley, but something told him that questioning everything that Harry had just said was probably the wrong move. So, he latched onto one of the points that sounded safer.
“You have kids?”
“Oh, yeah! James is eleven, Albus will be turning ten at the end of September, and Lily is nearly eight. And then there’s Draco’s Scorpius, who’s nine. He and Al will be starting Hogwarts next year together.”
“Wow, that’s a lot!” Dudley smiled when Harry chuckled. “Uh… Harry?”
“Yeah?”
Despite the nagging voice telling him to not pry into Harry’s personal life this early on, Dudley just had to know. “Was I wrong about the marriage thing in the newspaper being you? To that girl with the unpronounceable name? Geneva Wesley, or something?”
“No, that was me. Although, her name is Ginny. You met some of her brothers and her Dad, Arthur, when we were teenagers.”
“Oh… They’re the ones with the toffee? Who broke Mum and Dad’s fireplace?”
“Yeah, that’s them.” There was laughter to Harry’s voice again. “Now I think it may be my turn to apologise. I honestly didn’t know about what Fred and George were up to back then, really.”
“No, it’s fine.” The pig’s tail had taken a while longer to work his mind around, but Dudley thought he’d done quite well with coping with the fact that he had had a tail at one point. “I’m over it, at least.”
“That’s good to know. Those two were, well… Yeah. They were a little rowdy when they were teenagers.” There was a hint of something strange in Harry’s tone, but he covered it quickly. “I married Ginny just out of school. We were too young, I think. We split when Lily was two.”
“Oh, right, yeah…”
Dudley paused. Curiosity still nagged at him, but he knew he should be cautious with this one. While they may be getting along right at that moment, who knew what would happen if he pried too far? He didn’t know Harry well enough to know whether he held a grudge over Dudley’s treatment of him when they were kids. Sure, it sounded like he didn’t, but still. Probably best not to push things at this point, he figured. They were still to get to the whole reason Dudley had contacted him in the first place, after all.
“Draco and I have been married for just over a year now.”
Dudley winced. “I didn’t mean to pry, really.”
“No, it’s not prying. I wouldn’t have told you if it was private, or anything.”
“Right, yeah, sorry…” Dudley bit his tongue when it occurred to him just how often he was apologising. “Look, Harry, I’m actually at work right now-”
“Oh, shit, really? Your boss isn’t going to walk in on you, are they?”
Dudley couldn’t help the small chuckle he gave. “No, no, he won’t. But, look, since it’s Friday and all, do you think maybe you and Draco might want to go grab a drink tonight? It’s cool if not, but I figured there’s some things I’d like to talk to you about and they are best done in person, rather than on the phone.”
“A drink tonight?”
It was clearly a question, but it was also clearly not directed at Dudley. It sounded as though Harry had moved the phone away from his mouth to speak to this Draco he had apparently married. Dudley blinked. Married. Harry sounded very much like he was married to a guy. He shook his head. It seemed that Harry was going to provide quite a few surprises for Dudley, if this short conversation was anything to go by.
“Yeah? Alright. Alright. Alright, Draco, geez!” Even through the muffle of the phone, Dudley could hear the amused exasperation to Harry’s voice. “Dudley?”
“Yeah?” Nerves fluttered through his stomach, but he ignored them.
“We’re actually busy tonight.”
“Oh.” It felt as though a balloon had been popped in Dudley’s chest. He cleared his throat around the disappointment. “That’s - yeah, that’s good. Okay. It was really short notice and-”
“We are free tomorrow night, though,” Harry interrupted.
“Tomorrow?” Dudley frowned. “Yeah, that works. Or it will work. I honestly have no idea what we are supposed to be doing tomorrow. Mandy, my wife, makes plans and I just go along with whatever she wants, really. But this will work. Thanks. Uh, how about I text you tonight with details?”
“Yeah, that sounds good to me.”
Dudley hung the phone up after an exchange of pleasantries. He sat back in his chair, simply staring down at the phone in his hand. Now that the conversation was over, it seemed as though feeling was finally coming back into his extremities. His nerves had been jangling so hard as they had spoken, but it seemed like Harry wasn’t angry with him at all. Was it possible that this could all work out in his favour? Taking a deep breath, he let it out slowly, feeling himself relax a little as he did. Maybe this was all going to turn out well.
*~*
Caitlyn was in fine form when Dudley walked through the door that night after work. He could hear the shrieks from the front yard before he even stepped foot inside, but it was the weather that really concerned him. It had gone from a mild late spring afternoon to looking as though it was about to thunderstorm in the space of about half an hour. Suspicion crept down Dudley’s spine, but now that he had made contact with Harry again, it wasn’t as strong as it would have been otherwise.
“You and Dad never let me do anything fun!”
Caitlyn’s voice hit him like a shockwave as he stepped into the hall. It was followed swiftly by the slamming of what he assumed was her bedroom door.
“Mandy?”
“Oh, thank God, Duds.” There were bags under Mandy’s eyes, making her look on the verge of tears when she stepped out into the hall. “I don’t even know what set her off this time. She was texting someone and when I interrupted her, she just lost it.”
Dudley gathered his unresisting wife into his arms. “It’s okay, babe. Everything will be alright.”
“‘Alright’?” Mandy pulled back just far enough to shoot him a disbelieving look. “Duds, if this is what having a teenage girl around the house is going to be like, I’m not sure I can cope. I don’t remember being this temperamental when I was her age.”
Dudley only just resisted raising an eyebrow at her. All teenagers were difficult; this was a well-known fact. Sure, he would like to think that his kids were the exception, but he knew they most likely wouldn’t be, not with him as a father, at least.
“Well, she is nearly at that age, right? All girls start to go a bit bonkers around her age. With all the hormones and stuff…” He trailed off when he saw the look Mandy was shooting him. “Well, it’s true. I didn’t go to an all-boys school; I saw what they were all like.”
“Really?” Beneath the weariness that was still clear on her face, Dudley cold see amusement trying to make its way to the surface. “Tell me more, oh great and wise one.”
Dudley rolled his eyes. “You’re all mental. The damn bloody lot of you.”
A sense of satisfaction flooded his chest when he saw her smile just as she pulled out of his embrace. He kept hold of her hand, though, as she began to move through the house towards the kitchen.
“Mental, are we?” Mandy turned to shoot him an amused look over her shoulder. “Are you sure you want to stick to that assessment about the woman making your dinner? How about the woman who you have to sleep next to tonight?”
“Well,” Dudley began with a grin. “As long as the first one doesn’t poison me, then the second one doesn’t need to know, does she?”
Mandy’s laugh was cut short when Dudley pulled her back into his arms. She didn’t let him kiss her too long, though, before she pulled back again.
“One day, you’ll have to show me where you’re keeping all these extra girls. I might need to put some of them to work on the laundry.”
Dudley grinned as he sat down at the head of the table. Settling back into the chair, he watched as Mandy worked in the kitchen, simply admiring the way she moved. It was a few minutes before his conversation with Harry came back to him.
“I have good news,” he began, just to get her attention. “I spoke with Harry today-”
He was interrupted by a shriek loud enough that he was certain it must have been heard over in the next county. Dudley was up and out of his chair before his mind even registered what was going on. He thundered up the stairs to the second floor, where the screams were still coming from. Following the sound to the second-floor bathroom, he grabbed the knob and twisted, but nothing happened.
“Lyn! Caitlyn, are you in there?”
“Dad!”
It was strange, but it sounded like there was a deep kind of rumbling coming from behind the bathroom door. “Lyn! I need you to unlock the door.”
“I - I can’t. Dad, please, please…”
Dudley’s heart hammered in his chest, pumping adrenalin through him at a rapid rate. Without even thinking his actions through, he stepped back and rammed into the door. His shoulder thudded against the wood just as a second rumble sounded from inside the bathroom, followed swiftly by another shriek.
“Lyn!” Dudley stepped back and rammed the door again, hearing wood splinter. “Lyn, hold on, I’m nearly through.”
“Dad, please…”
The tears he could hear choking his daughter’s voice spurred him on. Taking one last step backwards, Dudley charged the door with all his strength. It splintered on contact this time and he stumbled in. Or, at least, he would have, if it had not been for the rush of water that poured out of the tiny room. His mouth opened to call for Lyn again, but he was drowned out by the sound of rumbling thunder.
Standing in the doorway to the bathroom, Dudley could only stare in shock. A big, black cloud clung to the high ceiling of the room, rain pouring out of it at a rate that was astounding. The rumbling the cloud made seemed to never really cease, and it wasn’t until it gave off another loud crack that Dudley moved again.
“Lyn!” Wading into the drenched room, he moved to scoop his daughter into his arms. “It’s alright, baby girl. It’s okay. It’s going to be fine. You’re going to be fine.”
He kept the murmuring up until he had them both out of the room and he had managed to slam the door behind him. Leaning back against the door, he hugged Caitlyn close to him.
“Lyn?”
“I’m sorry, Dad, I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s happening to me. I don’t know.”
“Shh, baby girl. It’s alright. We’ll work this out, I swear. I know someone who can help. You’ll be fine, I promise.”
“Dudley!”
He closed his eyes and took a steadying breath at the sound of Mandy calling him from downstairs. “I’m a little busy, babe!”
“You need to come here right now, Dudley!”
There was something about her tone that told Dudley that this was important. Pushing off the door, he took a quick look around. The rain had poured out as far as the end of the short hallway in both directions, and Dudley was sure that it must have made its way into some of the open doors along the way as well. It was still seeping out from under the closed door behind him, but it was nowhere near as bad as what it could have been if he hadn’t been able to close it again. Hugging Caitlyn close to his chest, he made his way slowly downstairs, still murmuring into her ear the entire time. The sight that greeted him when they got there, however, had his blood freezing in his veins.
“Mr. Dursley?”
Two men stood at the door, both of them dressed in what Dudley could only describe as some kind of deep red cotton dressing gowns. The uniform brought back memories that he had long since tried to forget.
“No.”
Dudley pulled Mandy away from the door and passed Caitlyn over to her. His daughter was still sopping wet, shivering and whimpering with each breath, but protecting her was much more important to Dudley at this point.
“Excuse me?” The lead man - who must have been roughly about Dudley’s age - stared at him for a few seconds before trying again. “Mr. Dursley, we are-”
“I said, no.” Moving so he was standing in the doorway, Dudley crossed his arms across his chest. “You are not taking my daughter away. I’ve seen those uniforms before, when I was a child. Two of you people came to my home when my cousin had an accident like this and you wiped my Aunt’s memory. You’re not getting to my daughter like that. Or me and my wife, for that matter.”
“Mr. Dursley, you don’t-”
“Look, I know that something has to be done about the bathroom. But I know someone who can help. There’s no need for you to come in here and wipe my memory of what has happened. In fact, I know what happened. I know what my daughter is and I know that-”
“Mr. Dursley, you aren’t-”
The interruptions only caused Dudley to begin to lose his patience with the men before him. Drawing himself up to his full height, he took a deep breath and glared down at them.
“My daughter is perfectly fine where she is. We will get this fixed. There is no need for you to be here.”
He spoke slowly, hoping that the men would just take the hint and leave this time. Frustratingly, they didn’t seem to want to.
“Mr. Dursley,” the second man began from behind the first. “My name is Jason-”
Dudley sighed. “Look, I don’t care who you are. I know that you have a job to do, but could you go do it somewhere else? My daughter is fine. You aren’t going to wipe my memory, or my wife’s, because I already know what is going on-”
“Dudley!”
The shout that interrupted him this time came from outside. Dudley scowled, hoping that this incident wasn’t being witnessed by one of his nosier neighbours. It was the second of the two men in front of him who saw the intruder first.
“Is that… Harry Potter?”
Dudley blinked. Two men were jogging across his lawn, one of them clearly Harry by the wild black hair and the glasses that Dudley would recognise anywhere. The second he recognised Harry, a sense of relief flooded through Dudley that felt as strong as the real flood currently happening upstairs. He didn’t even spare the time to wonder why he was there, or even how he had gotten there.
“Harry! I-”
The rest of his sentence was drowned out by the sound of a loud crack of thunder from above his head. Everyone standing in the doorway ducked automatically.
“Mr. Dursley, you really should allow us to-”
“Er, Kellan?” Harry stepped up in front of Dudley, running a hand through his hair. “Do you think it would be possible if Draco and I took care of this? It wouldn’t be any trouble, I’ve dealt with weather charms before. And, Dudley’s my cousin, so I’m going to be here anyway…”
The man - Kellan - took one last look back to Dudley, who breathed in again, making himself look as challenging and intimidating as he possibly could. He shook his head, but it seemed to be more in resignation than denial.
“Alright, Harry. But if Kingsley asks, this is on you, okay?”
Dudley couldn’t find the energy to care what that sentence meant. He stood watching as the two men left his front lawn, a sense of satisfaction once again making itself known.
“Dudley?”
He stepped back to allow Harry and Draco inside. “Please, come in. Mandy and Caitlyn are in the living room and the, uh…”
“Thunderstorm?”
Dudley turned back to see Draco raising an incredibly pale eyebrow at him. “Yeah, there’s a thunderstorm in my bathroom.”
The three of them looked at each other for a long moment before Harry nodded sharply. “Right. A thunderstorm. I can deal with that. Draco, do you think you could maybe take a look at Caitlyn?”
Dudley nodded in response to Draco’s enquiring look before directing Harry up the stairs. “The bathroom is-”
“At the end of the flood?”
Dudley stared at the water now pouring down the staircase. “Yeah. That works.”
The storm had lost none of its potency in the short amount of time since Dudley had slammed the door shut. It took both he and Harry pushing against the broken door for it to re-open and, when it finally did, it emitted a wave that began at Dudley’s knees. The water was freezing cold, but they pushed through it until they stood just outside the doorframe. Dudley placed a restraining hand on Harry’s shoulder.
“I heard thunder. I have no idea whether there’s lightning or not, but this looks like a real storm.”
Harry nodded grimly. “It is. The weather charms are just charms, but they produce real results.”
“Can you stop it?”
“Yeah.” Dudley nearly sagged in relief at the confident tone to Harry’s voice. “It will take a little concentration, but I should be able to reverse it.”
Taking a few steps back, Dudley stood to watch what happened. His hands shook a little as Harry waded into the storm pouring from his bathroom ceiling, but he couldn’t tell if it was from nerves or cold. Yet another rumble of thunder sounded when Harry raised his wand and Dudley took a step forward, intending to drag him out. He was stopped by Harry’s raised hand.
“Wait. I know it sounds dangerous, but I have to be here.”
The white of the tiles glistened as the rain ran down them in tiny rivers. They were overly bright when compared to the black of the ceiling, which looked ominous and threatening. He clenched his hands by his sides when Harry raised his wand again. The thunder this time was much louder, sounding closer, but Dudley held his ground. He couldn’t hear the words that Harry mumbled, but they seemed to have some kind of effect. The storm rumbled again, but it sounded much further away this time. Dudley took another step forward, needing to see what was happening.
“Bloody thing,” Harry muttered, before waving his wand and beginning to mumble again.
The spell - or whatever it was he was doing - this time had an immediate reaction. The clouds cleared a little, but the rain increased enough that Dudley was pushed back a step.
“Uh, Harry?”
“I know, I know.”
Another wave of his wand and yet another bout of mumbling produced a different effect again. This time, the clouds changed to a slightly green colour. The rush of colder air combined with the colour of the clouds was just enough warning for Dudley to grab Harry’s elbow and yank him out of the way as chunks of ice began to fall from the clouds. They stood in the doorway, just watching for a few seconds.
“Well,” Dudley began. “It’s not raining anymore.”
Harry sighed. “Your daughter did this?”
When Dudley met his eyes, he thought he could see some kind of admiration in Harry’s expression. He offered up a small smile.
“Yeah. She and Mandy got into an argument - I don’t know what over - and she was racing upstairs just as I got home. A few minutes later, I was breaking down the door here to pull her out of the storm.”
Harry let out a low whistle. “Accidental magic this strong at her age? She could turn out to be pretty powerful.”
He didn’t give Dudley any time to respond before casting some kind of spell and stepping back into the bathroom. Whatever he had cast seemed to repel the ice falling on him, allowing him to work without being brained by hail. Dudley braced a hand against the doorframe, his knuckles turning white as he clenched his fingers.
“I think…”
Harry waved his wand and mumbled something else. Dudley held his breath as another rumble sounded above him, but it seemed that this time, Harry had managed to find the correct words. The ice turned slowly back to water, which slowed to a small patter in less than a minute. Dudley released the breath when the clouds finally began to recede, almost as though they were being sucked up the ventilation shaft of the fan.
“Harry?”
“I still need to dry everything, but it looks like it’s stopped.” He stood in the middle of the bathroom, saturated and shivering slightly, but smiling a little all the same. “She gave me a challenge on this one.”
“Believe me, as you get to know her, she’ll probably challenge you on everything.”
Dudley didn’t understand the wide smile Harry gave him in response to that statement, but he smiled back in return. Watching as Harry cast what he called ‘drying charms’ on everything the water had touched was both fascinating and a little intimidating to Dudley. This was the man that he had spent all of his childhood bullying, but he possessed this kind of power. He followed along behind Harry as he worked his way along the hallway, drying everything as he went. They went down the staircase and over to the front door, where the water had reached while they had been upstairs, before turning back and moving into the living room.
“Harry?”
Draco knelt before the three-seater lounge, with Caitlyn sitting in front of him. She was dry already, and appeared to be fine.
“How is everyone in here?”
“Good,” Draco responded, with a nod to Dudley. “I’ve run diagnostic charms on Lyn here, and she seems to be in full health. A little shaken, but that would be normal after accidentally conjuring a thundercloud in the bathroom.”
“Draco’s a doctor, Dad. Sorry-” she grinned down at Draco, who had cocked an eyebrow in her direction. “A Healer,” she corrected.
Draco sighed as he pushed himself to his feet. “A paediatric Healer, to be precise. Just in case you were thinking I was some kind of quack.” He eyed Dudley for a few seconds before stepping forward with his hand out. “Draco Malfoy.”
The first impression Dudley got of this Draco was that he was incredibly poised and elegant; not the kind of person he would have ever thought would be Harry’s type. His handshake was solid, though, which Dudley could always appreciate. ‘Never trust a man with a weak handshake’, was one of his father’s favourite sayings, and Dudley had found it to be true.
After Harry and Dudley were dried off - and what an experience that was! - they settled in and began to chat. As it turned out, Harry and Draco had actually known each other for many years before they got together. Dudley caught a slight look of shame from Draco when their school days were brought up, but it was quickly covered. Overall, it turned into a fairly pleasant night. Not even Mandy leaving to pick Fletcher up from the early practices of cricket, leaving Dudley and Lyn alone with Harry and Draco, managed to break the friendly atmosphere. Dudley actually found himself a little disappointed when Harry stretched and announced that it was time they picked their kids up.
“We dropped them off with Draco’s parents when the firecall came through from the Ministry that something had happened here. It’s nearly Lily’s bedtime, so…”
“They always have such spectacular timing as well. It’s not like I was busy or anything…” Draco muttered in response. Harry turned to look at him, but he only offered up an innocent smile. “We’d better go rescue them from my Father?” he asked in a more normal tone of voice.
Dudley could tell that there was so much he was missing to be able to understand the look the two of them exchanged. There was clearly a lot of history between the two of them, but that was best reserved for another day, when his house hadn’t been nearly destroyed by a thundercloud in his bathroom. Standing and stretching himself, he offered Mandy a hand up. A thought occurred to him as they all wandered slowly towards the front door.
“Harry, do you think I could maybe have a word with you?”
Harry and Draco exchanged a silent look, but Draco didn’t stop him from leaving with Dudley. Bringing Harry into the dining room, Dudley let out a breath. Nerves began to jangle through him once again as he turned to face Harry.
“Firstly, I want to thank you again.”
“There’s really no need-”
“Yes, there is. I know that this has been a very weird way to come back into each other’s lives again. But…” He sighed. “Look, can we maybe start over? I mean, do things properly form the start, at least for the kids. I know that nothing can erase the way I treated you in the past, but maybe our kids can have a fresh start. A new beginning to our part of this family.”
Harry crossed his arms over his chest. “What about your parents?”
“I don’t know.” Dudley found himself unable to keep eye contact. “I honestly don’t know how they are going to react to this. They love Lyn, they really do. I have never doubted that, but this…” He broke off with a shake of his head. “I’ll deal with that when I come to it. What I’m talking about here and now is Lyn and Fletch, and Lily and Al and Jamie. And even Scorpius, if he wants to be part of this. These kids deserve a family. If we can give them that, then I think it will be a great start to life for them.”
Harry stood and stared at him for so long that Dudley began to fidget. His skin prickled with the knowledge that he probably had no right to ask this of Harry, but he knew that once the idea hit him, he just had to give it a try.
“A fresh start?”
Dudley nodded firmly. “Yes. Clean the slate and start again.” He stepped forward and held his hand out, feeling absolutely ridiculous, but thinking it the right thing to do. “Dudley Dursley. I am married to my soul mate. I have two wonderful children, one of whom floods my bathroom accidentally when she gets angry. I don’t have any pets, but Fletch wants a dog; a really big one. My parents live in Surrey, but I swear you’ll never have to see them again, if you don’t want to.”
Harry was grinning by the time Dudley finished. The sense of relief that shivered through Dudley when Harry accepted his hand was nearly overwhelming.
“Harry Potter. I am married. Whether Draco believes in soul mates or not is up for debate. I have three brilliant children and one step-son. All of whom drive me insane, and yes, I am including Draco in that as well. We have more peacocks than I have ever wanted to own. I’ll tell you later,” he added when Dudley’s eyebrows shot towards his hairline. “I probably never want to see your parents again; you are right about that. We will see, though. Things can change.”
Dudley was grinning widely as they made their way back out into the hallway. He moved to wrap his arm around Mandy’s waist when they stopped to say goodbye. Dudley’s face began to ache when Lyn stepped forward and flung her arms around a startled-looking Draco, thanking him for explaining things to her.
Then they were gone. Dudley stood in the doorway for a long time, simply breathing deeply. A fresh start. It had been one hell of a day, for all involved. But it seemed to have ended on a positive note. He had a lot to do - a lot to sort out - before the start of September. He knew that things wouldn’t always be smooth, but he had a feeling that he and Mandy wouldn’t be dealing with them alone.
Author: themightyflynn
Prompt: # O29 by greyeyesbluetoo
Pairing(s): Dudley/OC, background Harry/Draco
Word Count: ~7800
Rating: G
Warning(s): None
Disclaimer:Harry Potter characters are the property of J.K. Rowling and Bloomsbury/Scholastic. No profit is being made, and no copyright infringement is intended.
Notes: Thanks go out to: my prompter for this wonderful prompt and for giving me the chance to write a grown-up Dudley! Also to the wonderful mods for being so understanding and patient. Lastly, to smirkingcat for the beta!
Summary: Strange things happen around Dudley’s almost eleven-year-old daughter. He only knows one other person that strange things happened around. Now all he has to do is find him.
A Fresh Start
Mr. Harry Potter,
Hello, my name is Dudley Dursley. I am writing to you because I am searching for my cousin, who is also named Harry Potter. I have tried again and again to get in touch with him, but failed to do so.
We lived together at 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey when we were little. He was born in 1980 and came to live with us when he was one. He went to boarding school. He has black hair, green eyes, wears glasses and has a lightning bolt-shaped scar on his forehead. We never really got along. In fact, I was a bit of an arsehole to him. It’s something I regret and hope I can make up to him.
I once saw a mention of a ‘Harry Potter’ in a little announcement in a newspaper, but I can’t be sure if it was him, or you, or someone else. It was a notice of marriage thirteen years ago to a woman named ‘Ginevra’, I think it was?
Please, if this is you, and you are the Harry Potter I’m looking for, can you contact me? I really need your help and am desperate. If it makes any difference, this has to do with my daughter. She’s nearly eleven and, well, something has changed, if you catch my drift.
Thanks for your attention,
Dudley Dursley.
Dudley stared down at the letter. The words began to swim before his eyes as uncertainty shivered through him. He’d been trying to write this letter for the past few weeks, but had never been able to get past the greeting. He hadn’t spoken to Harry since the last day he had left Privet Drive, all the way back in ’97. It had been eighteen years since that day. How the hell could he write to a cousin he hadn’t seen in eighteen years, asking him for help? A cousin whose life he had made hell when they were kids? A cousin who his parents had spent his entire life telling him is dangerous and unsettled?
“Dad! Dad, he’s hitting me!”
The sound of his daughter’s voice carrying to him through the open kitchen windows gave Dudley his answer straight away. Having children had given him a purpose in life that he had never imagined he could have. They had given him something to focus on other than himself, which had come as a sharp wake-up call. If there was one certain thing in his life, it was that he would do anything to make sure his kids were safe and happy. Placing his hands flat on the kitchen table, he shoved himself to his feet and wandered over to the backdoor.
“I am not hitting her! She won’t give me a turn!”
Caitlyn and Fletcher stood in the middle of the backyard, right near the clothesline. Scattered around them were bits and pieces of various toy sets they had been gifted by their grandparents that neither of them seemed to want to play with. No, it was the scooter that they were both focussed on at that moment. Dudley sighed as he pushed the door open.
“Fletch, you know you have your own scooter, right?”
“This is mine!” Fletcher gave the handle of the scooter a tug, trying to pull it out of his sister’s hands.
“No, it isn’t!” Caitlyn tugged back, almost pulling Fletcher off his feet. “You broke yours and now you’re trying to steal mine!”
“I didn’t break mine. Your fat arse broke it!”
“I’m not fat, you idiot!”
“Alright, you two.” Dudley stepped between them, grabbed the scooter and raised it above his head, breaking both of their grips on the handles. “That is more than enough. You both know to not swear, or to call each other names. I should wash your mouths out with soap.”
He watched as disgust crossed Fletcher’s face. Caitlyn just stood there, her arms crossed across her chest, scowl firmly in place. A gust of wind blew her fringe into her eyes, causing her to sigh and run a hand through it. The movement was so reminiscent of her mother that Dudley had to repress a smile. Trying to keep hold of his authority, he frowned back at the two of them. Reaching up, he rested the scooter on the lines of the clothesline where neither of them could reach it without effort.
“Look, guys. Your Mum isn’t here, so I’ll go easy on you. Promise me you won’t start fighting again and I won’t send you up to your rooms.”
It took a few seconds before either of his children reacted. Eventually, though, Fletcher let out a gusty sigh that seemed designed to tell Dudley that he was making a great concession.
“Fine. If she leaves me alone, I won’t fight with her.”
Shaking his head, Dudley turned to Caitlyn. “Lyn?”
She huffed. “Whatever.”
Turning her back on him, she stalked over to sit on the steps of the garage, her blonde curls bobbing as she walked. Reaching into her pocket, she brought out the mobile that they had given her for her tenth birthday - for emergencies only - and began to text, completely ignoring him.
“That phone is for emergencies only.”
“You ruining my life is an emergency!”
Caitlyn’s reaction shouldn’t be funny, Dudley told himself as he fought against a smile. If having a scooter taken away from her was the worst thing that ever happened to his daughter, then he would happily take the accusation. With another shake of his head, he turned back towards the house.
The letter was waiting where he had left it on the breakfast bar. With a quick glance back out the kitchen windows, he added his phone numbers and email address to the very end. If there was even the slightest chance that the man he had found in that old newspaper announcement was the Harry Potter he was after, then he wasn’t going to take any chances. A stronger gust of wind preceded a crash in the backyard. Dudley was on his feet and moving towards the backdoor before his mind could catch up with what had happened.
Caitlyn stood in front of the steps to the garage, rolling her eyes as she prepared to sit back down. Fletcher, on the other hand, was happily zooming around the yard on the scooter.
The clothesline was wobbling wildly in the wind, which he normally would have assumed was the cause of the scooter being flung down off the lines. He had placed it on the very edge of the lines, and neither of his children were tall enough to have been able to reach up to pull it down. Glancing from the clothesline to Caitlyn, however, sent suspicion down his spine.
Strange things happened around Caitlyn, usually things that could be attributed to freak acts of nature. She had never been able to jump up onto the roof of a building, or grow her hair back after a haircut like Harry had when they were children, but Dudley had seen enough magic when he was a teenager to know that there had to be more to it than the obvious things. He took a steadying breath as he watched his kids. This letter was definitely the best thing he could be doing for them both, he knew.
*~*
Four days later
“Are you absolutely certain, Duds? I mean, she couldn’t have just thrown something to knock it down? Or maybe shook the lines somehow?”
There was a touch of desperation to Mandy’s voice as Dudley stood before the wardrobe, getting dressed. This was a conversation that they had had over and over again over the past few days, but it never changed. His eyes slid shut involuntarily, but he knew he had to go through with this, even if the idea still scared him a little. Taking a deep breath, he let it out slowly and turned to face the bed, where she still lay.
“I’m sure. There was a big wind, but I don’t think it was strong enough to have knocked the scooter down by itself.”
“But how do you know something like this? Can it be measured? Is there a test she’ll have to take?” Pushing herself up into a sitting position, Mandy wrapped her arms around her legs as she drew her knees up. “Is it genetic? Could Fletch have it as well? This cousin of yours, how did he know?”
It was clear that Mandy was working herself up into a tizzy: her voice was rising with each question, and her knuckles had turned white with the pressure of having her hands clenched. All it took was for Dudley to take a small step towards her for her to uncurl and fling herself towards him. Catching her with a quiet chuckle, Dudley smiled.
“Love you, babe.”
“Don’t try to distract me.” Her voice was muffled in the collar of his shirt. “I’m serious, Dudley. How can we know if this is what you think it is? If Lyn is… magic?”
Tightening his grip on her, Dudley moved over so he could sit on the edge of the bed. Mandy immediately curled herself around him, her fingers playing with the ends of his hair at the base of his neck.
“I’m scared, Duds.”
“I know, babe. I know.” Shifting on the bed caused her to let out a sound of protest. “We can do this, though. Having magic isn’t a disease. At least, not from what I can tell. You know my parents and what they’re like. They didn’t let me know anything about it, really, so I’m fuzzy on the exact details, like how to tell if this is what it is, or not.”
She sighed. “You know that’s not really reassuring at all, right?”
Dudley smiled. “I know.” He tightened his grip around her for a few seconds, squeezing her tight. “Harry will know what to do. And, if it turns out that she’s not like him, then I am willing to admit to my paranoia. You’re always telling me that I wrap the kids in cottonwool, right?”
It took a few seconds before Mandy did anything other than play with Dudley’s hair. When she pulled back from him, however, she was composed.
“This might just be the one time that your usual paranoia over the kids is a good thing, you know. If Lyn needs help, or needs to go to a special school for this, then picking up on it before it gets out of control is probably for the best.” She leant forward until she could rest her forehead against his, her eyes sliding closed. “You’re a good dad, Duds. And you’re right: we will get through this.”
Dudley let out a small sigh as he watched his wife slide off his lap and move into the bathroom. He was fully aware of just how insane this must sound to her. Mandy had known that Dudley had a cousin out there somewhere, but they had never really spoken about him at all. There was no reason for Dudley to have mentioned him beyond the fact that they grew up in the same house. He knew that made the whole ‘oh, by the way, honey, my cousin that we never speak of? He’s a wizard’ discussion all that much worse. But, really, who'd have believed him? Conversations like that were reserved for times when they needed to be had, not for the average day when they ran out of things to say to each other.
Shoving himself to his feet, he went about getting ready for the day ahead. He packed his backpack - he had never felt comfortable carrying a suitcase like his father always had - and trudged down the stairs to the kitchen. Breakfast was a quick affair that morning, as he knew he had to be in early. It was always annoying having to go searching for them himself. Mandy made it downstairs with a bleary-eyed Fletcher following closely behind her just in time for Dudley to kiss her on the cheek before exiting the house.
His drive to work was, thankfully, uneventful. By the time he was pulling into the space reserved for the CEO of Dursley Security Services, he’d even warmed up a little in the slightly chilly late May weather. When Dudley had taken over the security company he’d worked for since the end of school ten years previously, it had been a failing enterprise. It had taken a few years and a small loan from Mandy’s parents, but he had managed to turn it around and into a profitable venture. These days, not only did he and his security teams hire out bouncers to nightclubs across the country, but they also offered bodyguard services to anyone who could afford them. He waved to the guard on the door - Michael Lister, a young man who Dudley knew was going to make waves in the company in a few years - before entering the elevator.
His mind began to wander over what he knew he had to get done that day as he intercepted the mail trolley on the second floor. The contracts for Wilhelm Jamison had to be signed and sent off, the issues that Olivia’s team had been having with their inability to actually work together had to be taken up with HR, and the newest recruits had to be given schedules so that they knew where to go to get to training. Oh, and Dudley had to get over to the bank and try to sort out that bloody thing with the finances; the one that meant that one of his boys had been underpaid. All thoughts of Harry, Lyn and magic faded from his mind as he settled in to work.
By the time 3 pm rolled around, Dudley was about ready to tear someone’s head off. The bank had claimed that it was his Human Resources Department’s fault that Mickey had been underpaid, but HR had told him that it was an issue with the bank. One of the new recruits had shown up here rather than going off to the physical assessment they put everyone through before signing their initial contract and had had to be driven across town. Olivia had called and yelled at him because two of her boys had decided to have some kind of bloody pissing contest in front of a girl while they were meant to be working. To top it all off, the lunch trolley hadn’t had any muffins. All in all, it had been a shit day. So, when his mobile trilled at him just as he sat down to take a sip of the scalding hot coffee that his secretary insisted was good, he was very tempted to ignore it. When it continued to ring, however, he sighed. He swiped angrily at the screen a few times before it responded to him.
“What? This had better be important,” he snarled into the phone as he stared at the steam wafting from his Styrofoam cup.
“I, er…” The voice was male, but not one Dudley recognised. “Sorry, is this Dudley Dursley?”
Dudley sighed. This was probably one of the new recruits, judging from the nervous tone to the man’s voice. Pinching the bridge of his nose, he pressed his lips together for a few seconds before responding.
“Yes. Who is this?”
“Harry.” Dudley froze, hardly even daring to breathe as he waited for the man to go on. “Er, Harry Potter? I got your letter yesterday, but I haven’t been anywhere I could use my phone without interference, so I couldn’t call until just now.”
Dudley’s mind seemed to kick into hyperdrive in the matter of a few seconds. Questions flooded him faster than he could possibly voice them.
“Harry! Oh my God, I actually found you?”
“Ah, yeah, yeah you did.” There was laughter in Harry’s voice, mixed with more than a little relief. “How are you?”
“Good! Great, yeah… Wow. You know, I never thought I’d be able to find you again. Mum and Dad, well, they weren’t much use. They just looked at me like I was mental to want to get in touch with you again.”
“You asked your parents where to find me?” The laughter in Harry’s voice was now much clearer. “I bet that went down well!”
Unable to help it with the amount of relief rushing through him, Dudley joined in with Harry’s mirth. It felt good to laugh after the day he had had. His shoulders began to relax as the tension ran out of him. When they had both gotten themselves back under control, Dudley let out a sigh. The mention of his parents had brought back one of the more pressing things that he knew he had to do with this phone call.
“Harry, I… Look, I’m sorry.”
There was a small pause. “What?”
“I’m sorry,” Dudley repeated. “For everything. I was a complete arsehole to you when we were kids and so were my parents. I know this is something that I need to actually say in person - and I will - but just know that, well, I’m sorry.”
“Oh.” There was a tone of surprise to Harry’s voice, but Dudley thought that he could hear a touch of gratitude as well. “Er, thanks. I, er… Well, I admit that I was kind of nervous about this call. I didn’t know what to expect, really and-”
Something that sounded very much like a derisive snort interrupted Harry then, causing Dudley to frown. There were a few muffled words - Harry had obviously covered the phone - before Harry was back.
“Sorry about that. There’s a nuisance tagging along behind me.”
“‘Nuisance’, Potter, really?”
“Shut up, Draco.”
Dudley cocked an eyebrow at his phone, but kept his mouth shut, not knowing exactly what was happening on the other end. Clearly there was someone else there with Harry; someone he knew quite well, if his tone of voice was anything to go by. With a gusty sigh, Harry was back.
“Sorry, he’s grumpy because the kids woke him up early this morning on his day off.”
Confusion rocked through Dudley, but something told him that questioning everything that Harry had just said was probably the wrong move. So, he latched onto one of the points that sounded safer.
“You have kids?”
“Oh, yeah! James is eleven, Albus will be turning ten at the end of September, and Lily is nearly eight. And then there’s Draco’s Scorpius, who’s nine. He and Al will be starting Hogwarts next year together.”
“Wow, that’s a lot!” Dudley smiled when Harry chuckled. “Uh… Harry?”
“Yeah?”
Despite the nagging voice telling him to not pry into Harry’s personal life this early on, Dudley just had to know. “Was I wrong about the marriage thing in the newspaper being you? To that girl with the unpronounceable name? Geneva Wesley, or something?”
“No, that was me. Although, her name is Ginny. You met some of her brothers and her Dad, Arthur, when we were teenagers.”
“Oh… They’re the ones with the toffee? Who broke Mum and Dad’s fireplace?”
“Yeah, that’s them.” There was laughter to Harry’s voice again. “Now I think it may be my turn to apologise. I honestly didn’t know about what Fred and George were up to back then, really.”
“No, it’s fine.” The pig’s tail had taken a while longer to work his mind around, but Dudley thought he’d done quite well with coping with the fact that he had had a tail at one point. “I’m over it, at least.”
“That’s good to know. Those two were, well… Yeah. They were a little rowdy when they were teenagers.” There was a hint of something strange in Harry’s tone, but he covered it quickly. “I married Ginny just out of school. We were too young, I think. We split when Lily was two.”
“Oh, right, yeah…”
Dudley paused. Curiosity still nagged at him, but he knew he should be cautious with this one. While they may be getting along right at that moment, who knew what would happen if he pried too far? He didn’t know Harry well enough to know whether he held a grudge over Dudley’s treatment of him when they were kids. Sure, it sounded like he didn’t, but still. Probably best not to push things at this point, he figured. They were still to get to the whole reason Dudley had contacted him in the first place, after all.
“Draco and I have been married for just over a year now.”
Dudley winced. “I didn’t mean to pry, really.”
“No, it’s not prying. I wouldn’t have told you if it was private, or anything.”
“Right, yeah, sorry…” Dudley bit his tongue when it occurred to him just how often he was apologising. “Look, Harry, I’m actually at work right now-”
“Oh, shit, really? Your boss isn’t going to walk in on you, are they?”
Dudley couldn’t help the small chuckle he gave. “No, no, he won’t. But, look, since it’s Friday and all, do you think maybe you and Draco might want to go grab a drink tonight? It’s cool if not, but I figured there’s some things I’d like to talk to you about and they are best done in person, rather than on the phone.”
“A drink tonight?”
It was clearly a question, but it was also clearly not directed at Dudley. It sounded as though Harry had moved the phone away from his mouth to speak to this Draco he had apparently married. Dudley blinked. Married. Harry sounded very much like he was married to a guy. He shook his head. It seemed that Harry was going to provide quite a few surprises for Dudley, if this short conversation was anything to go by.
“Yeah? Alright. Alright. Alright, Draco, geez!” Even through the muffle of the phone, Dudley could hear the amused exasperation to Harry’s voice. “Dudley?”
“Yeah?” Nerves fluttered through his stomach, but he ignored them.
“We’re actually busy tonight.”
“Oh.” It felt as though a balloon had been popped in Dudley’s chest. He cleared his throat around the disappointment. “That’s - yeah, that’s good. Okay. It was really short notice and-”
“We are free tomorrow night, though,” Harry interrupted.
“Tomorrow?” Dudley frowned. “Yeah, that works. Or it will work. I honestly have no idea what we are supposed to be doing tomorrow. Mandy, my wife, makes plans and I just go along with whatever she wants, really. But this will work. Thanks. Uh, how about I text you tonight with details?”
“Yeah, that sounds good to me.”
Dudley hung the phone up after an exchange of pleasantries. He sat back in his chair, simply staring down at the phone in his hand. Now that the conversation was over, it seemed as though feeling was finally coming back into his extremities. His nerves had been jangling so hard as they had spoken, but it seemed like Harry wasn’t angry with him at all. Was it possible that this could all work out in his favour? Taking a deep breath, he let it out slowly, feeling himself relax a little as he did. Maybe this was all going to turn out well.
*~*
Caitlyn was in fine form when Dudley walked through the door that night after work. He could hear the shrieks from the front yard before he even stepped foot inside, but it was the weather that really concerned him. It had gone from a mild late spring afternoon to looking as though it was about to thunderstorm in the space of about half an hour. Suspicion crept down Dudley’s spine, but now that he had made contact with Harry again, it wasn’t as strong as it would have been otherwise.
“You and Dad never let me do anything fun!”
Caitlyn’s voice hit him like a shockwave as he stepped into the hall. It was followed swiftly by the slamming of what he assumed was her bedroom door.
“Mandy?”
“Oh, thank God, Duds.” There were bags under Mandy’s eyes, making her look on the verge of tears when she stepped out into the hall. “I don’t even know what set her off this time. She was texting someone and when I interrupted her, she just lost it.”
Dudley gathered his unresisting wife into his arms. “It’s okay, babe. Everything will be alright.”
“‘Alright’?” Mandy pulled back just far enough to shoot him a disbelieving look. “Duds, if this is what having a teenage girl around the house is going to be like, I’m not sure I can cope. I don’t remember being this temperamental when I was her age.”
Dudley only just resisted raising an eyebrow at her. All teenagers were difficult; this was a well-known fact. Sure, he would like to think that his kids were the exception, but he knew they most likely wouldn’t be, not with him as a father, at least.
“Well, she is nearly at that age, right? All girls start to go a bit bonkers around her age. With all the hormones and stuff…” He trailed off when he saw the look Mandy was shooting him. “Well, it’s true. I didn’t go to an all-boys school; I saw what they were all like.”
“Really?” Beneath the weariness that was still clear on her face, Dudley cold see amusement trying to make its way to the surface. “Tell me more, oh great and wise one.”
Dudley rolled his eyes. “You’re all mental. The damn bloody lot of you.”
A sense of satisfaction flooded his chest when he saw her smile just as she pulled out of his embrace. He kept hold of her hand, though, as she began to move through the house towards the kitchen.
“Mental, are we?” Mandy turned to shoot him an amused look over her shoulder. “Are you sure you want to stick to that assessment about the woman making your dinner? How about the woman who you have to sleep next to tonight?”
“Well,” Dudley began with a grin. “As long as the first one doesn’t poison me, then the second one doesn’t need to know, does she?”
Mandy’s laugh was cut short when Dudley pulled her back into his arms. She didn’t let him kiss her too long, though, before she pulled back again.
“One day, you’ll have to show me where you’re keeping all these extra girls. I might need to put some of them to work on the laundry.”
Dudley grinned as he sat down at the head of the table. Settling back into the chair, he watched as Mandy worked in the kitchen, simply admiring the way she moved. It was a few minutes before his conversation with Harry came back to him.
“I have good news,” he began, just to get her attention. “I spoke with Harry today-”
He was interrupted by a shriek loud enough that he was certain it must have been heard over in the next county. Dudley was up and out of his chair before his mind even registered what was going on. He thundered up the stairs to the second floor, where the screams were still coming from. Following the sound to the second-floor bathroom, he grabbed the knob and twisted, but nothing happened.
“Lyn! Caitlyn, are you in there?”
“Dad!”
It was strange, but it sounded like there was a deep kind of rumbling coming from behind the bathroom door. “Lyn! I need you to unlock the door.”
“I - I can’t. Dad, please, please…”
Dudley’s heart hammered in his chest, pumping adrenalin through him at a rapid rate. Without even thinking his actions through, he stepped back and rammed into the door. His shoulder thudded against the wood just as a second rumble sounded from inside the bathroom, followed swiftly by another shriek.
“Lyn!” Dudley stepped back and rammed the door again, hearing wood splinter. “Lyn, hold on, I’m nearly through.”
“Dad, please…”
The tears he could hear choking his daughter’s voice spurred him on. Taking one last step backwards, Dudley charged the door with all his strength. It splintered on contact this time and he stumbled in. Or, at least, he would have, if it had not been for the rush of water that poured out of the tiny room. His mouth opened to call for Lyn again, but he was drowned out by the sound of rumbling thunder.
Standing in the doorway to the bathroom, Dudley could only stare in shock. A big, black cloud clung to the high ceiling of the room, rain pouring out of it at a rate that was astounding. The rumbling the cloud made seemed to never really cease, and it wasn’t until it gave off another loud crack that Dudley moved again.
“Lyn!” Wading into the drenched room, he moved to scoop his daughter into his arms. “It’s alright, baby girl. It’s okay. It’s going to be fine. You’re going to be fine.”
He kept the murmuring up until he had them both out of the room and he had managed to slam the door behind him. Leaning back against the door, he hugged Caitlyn close to him.
“Lyn?”
“I’m sorry, Dad, I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s happening to me. I don’t know.”
“Shh, baby girl. It’s alright. We’ll work this out, I swear. I know someone who can help. You’ll be fine, I promise.”
“Dudley!”
He closed his eyes and took a steadying breath at the sound of Mandy calling him from downstairs. “I’m a little busy, babe!”
“You need to come here right now, Dudley!”
There was something about her tone that told Dudley that this was important. Pushing off the door, he took a quick look around. The rain had poured out as far as the end of the short hallway in both directions, and Dudley was sure that it must have made its way into some of the open doors along the way as well. It was still seeping out from under the closed door behind him, but it was nowhere near as bad as what it could have been if he hadn’t been able to close it again. Hugging Caitlyn close to his chest, he made his way slowly downstairs, still murmuring into her ear the entire time. The sight that greeted him when they got there, however, had his blood freezing in his veins.
“Mr. Dursley?”
Two men stood at the door, both of them dressed in what Dudley could only describe as some kind of deep red cotton dressing gowns. The uniform brought back memories that he had long since tried to forget.
“No.”
Dudley pulled Mandy away from the door and passed Caitlyn over to her. His daughter was still sopping wet, shivering and whimpering with each breath, but protecting her was much more important to Dudley at this point.
“Excuse me?” The lead man - who must have been roughly about Dudley’s age - stared at him for a few seconds before trying again. “Mr. Dursley, we are-”
“I said, no.” Moving so he was standing in the doorway, Dudley crossed his arms across his chest. “You are not taking my daughter away. I’ve seen those uniforms before, when I was a child. Two of you people came to my home when my cousin had an accident like this and you wiped my Aunt’s memory. You’re not getting to my daughter like that. Or me and my wife, for that matter.”
“Mr. Dursley, you don’t-”
“Look, I know that something has to be done about the bathroom. But I know someone who can help. There’s no need for you to come in here and wipe my memory of what has happened. In fact, I know what happened. I know what my daughter is and I know that-”
“Mr. Dursley, you aren’t-”
The interruptions only caused Dudley to begin to lose his patience with the men before him. Drawing himself up to his full height, he took a deep breath and glared down at them.
“My daughter is perfectly fine where she is. We will get this fixed. There is no need for you to be here.”
He spoke slowly, hoping that the men would just take the hint and leave this time. Frustratingly, they didn’t seem to want to.
“Mr. Dursley,” the second man began from behind the first. “My name is Jason-”
Dudley sighed. “Look, I don’t care who you are. I know that you have a job to do, but could you go do it somewhere else? My daughter is fine. You aren’t going to wipe my memory, or my wife’s, because I already know what is going on-”
“Dudley!”
The shout that interrupted him this time came from outside. Dudley scowled, hoping that this incident wasn’t being witnessed by one of his nosier neighbours. It was the second of the two men in front of him who saw the intruder first.
“Is that… Harry Potter?”
Dudley blinked. Two men were jogging across his lawn, one of them clearly Harry by the wild black hair and the glasses that Dudley would recognise anywhere. The second he recognised Harry, a sense of relief flooded through Dudley that felt as strong as the real flood currently happening upstairs. He didn’t even spare the time to wonder why he was there, or even how he had gotten there.
“Harry! I-”
The rest of his sentence was drowned out by the sound of a loud crack of thunder from above his head. Everyone standing in the doorway ducked automatically.
“Mr. Dursley, you really should allow us to-”
“Er, Kellan?” Harry stepped up in front of Dudley, running a hand through his hair. “Do you think it would be possible if Draco and I took care of this? It wouldn’t be any trouble, I’ve dealt with weather charms before. And, Dudley’s my cousin, so I’m going to be here anyway…”
The man - Kellan - took one last look back to Dudley, who breathed in again, making himself look as challenging and intimidating as he possibly could. He shook his head, but it seemed to be more in resignation than denial.
“Alright, Harry. But if Kingsley asks, this is on you, okay?”
Dudley couldn’t find the energy to care what that sentence meant. He stood watching as the two men left his front lawn, a sense of satisfaction once again making itself known.
“Dudley?”
He stepped back to allow Harry and Draco inside. “Please, come in. Mandy and Caitlyn are in the living room and the, uh…”
“Thunderstorm?”
Dudley turned back to see Draco raising an incredibly pale eyebrow at him. “Yeah, there’s a thunderstorm in my bathroom.”
The three of them looked at each other for a long moment before Harry nodded sharply. “Right. A thunderstorm. I can deal with that. Draco, do you think you could maybe take a look at Caitlyn?”
Dudley nodded in response to Draco’s enquiring look before directing Harry up the stairs. “The bathroom is-”
“At the end of the flood?”
Dudley stared at the water now pouring down the staircase. “Yeah. That works.”
The storm had lost none of its potency in the short amount of time since Dudley had slammed the door shut. It took both he and Harry pushing against the broken door for it to re-open and, when it finally did, it emitted a wave that began at Dudley’s knees. The water was freezing cold, but they pushed through it until they stood just outside the doorframe. Dudley placed a restraining hand on Harry’s shoulder.
“I heard thunder. I have no idea whether there’s lightning or not, but this looks like a real storm.”
Harry nodded grimly. “It is. The weather charms are just charms, but they produce real results.”
“Can you stop it?”
“Yeah.” Dudley nearly sagged in relief at the confident tone to Harry’s voice. “It will take a little concentration, but I should be able to reverse it.”
Taking a few steps back, Dudley stood to watch what happened. His hands shook a little as Harry waded into the storm pouring from his bathroom ceiling, but he couldn’t tell if it was from nerves or cold. Yet another rumble of thunder sounded when Harry raised his wand and Dudley took a step forward, intending to drag him out. He was stopped by Harry’s raised hand.
“Wait. I know it sounds dangerous, but I have to be here.”
The white of the tiles glistened as the rain ran down them in tiny rivers. They were overly bright when compared to the black of the ceiling, which looked ominous and threatening. He clenched his hands by his sides when Harry raised his wand again. The thunder this time was much louder, sounding closer, but Dudley held his ground. He couldn’t hear the words that Harry mumbled, but they seemed to have some kind of effect. The storm rumbled again, but it sounded much further away this time. Dudley took another step forward, needing to see what was happening.
“Bloody thing,” Harry muttered, before waving his wand and beginning to mumble again.
The spell - or whatever it was he was doing - this time had an immediate reaction. The clouds cleared a little, but the rain increased enough that Dudley was pushed back a step.
“Uh, Harry?”
“I know, I know.”
Another wave of his wand and yet another bout of mumbling produced a different effect again. This time, the clouds changed to a slightly green colour. The rush of colder air combined with the colour of the clouds was just enough warning for Dudley to grab Harry’s elbow and yank him out of the way as chunks of ice began to fall from the clouds. They stood in the doorway, just watching for a few seconds.
“Well,” Dudley began. “It’s not raining anymore.”
Harry sighed. “Your daughter did this?”
When Dudley met his eyes, he thought he could see some kind of admiration in Harry’s expression. He offered up a small smile.
“Yeah. She and Mandy got into an argument - I don’t know what over - and she was racing upstairs just as I got home. A few minutes later, I was breaking down the door here to pull her out of the storm.”
Harry let out a low whistle. “Accidental magic this strong at her age? She could turn out to be pretty powerful.”
He didn’t give Dudley any time to respond before casting some kind of spell and stepping back into the bathroom. Whatever he had cast seemed to repel the ice falling on him, allowing him to work without being brained by hail. Dudley braced a hand against the doorframe, his knuckles turning white as he clenched his fingers.
“I think…”
Harry waved his wand and mumbled something else. Dudley held his breath as another rumble sounded above him, but it seemed that this time, Harry had managed to find the correct words. The ice turned slowly back to water, which slowed to a small patter in less than a minute. Dudley released the breath when the clouds finally began to recede, almost as though they were being sucked up the ventilation shaft of the fan.
“Harry?”
“I still need to dry everything, but it looks like it’s stopped.” He stood in the middle of the bathroom, saturated and shivering slightly, but smiling a little all the same. “She gave me a challenge on this one.”
“Believe me, as you get to know her, she’ll probably challenge you on everything.”
Dudley didn’t understand the wide smile Harry gave him in response to that statement, but he smiled back in return. Watching as Harry cast what he called ‘drying charms’ on everything the water had touched was both fascinating and a little intimidating to Dudley. This was the man that he had spent all of his childhood bullying, but he possessed this kind of power. He followed along behind Harry as he worked his way along the hallway, drying everything as he went. They went down the staircase and over to the front door, where the water had reached while they had been upstairs, before turning back and moving into the living room.
“Harry?”
Draco knelt before the three-seater lounge, with Caitlyn sitting in front of him. She was dry already, and appeared to be fine.
“How is everyone in here?”
“Good,” Draco responded, with a nod to Dudley. “I’ve run diagnostic charms on Lyn here, and she seems to be in full health. A little shaken, but that would be normal after accidentally conjuring a thundercloud in the bathroom.”
“Draco’s a doctor, Dad. Sorry-” she grinned down at Draco, who had cocked an eyebrow in her direction. “A Healer,” she corrected.
Draco sighed as he pushed himself to his feet. “A paediatric Healer, to be precise. Just in case you were thinking I was some kind of quack.” He eyed Dudley for a few seconds before stepping forward with his hand out. “Draco Malfoy.”
The first impression Dudley got of this Draco was that he was incredibly poised and elegant; not the kind of person he would have ever thought would be Harry’s type. His handshake was solid, though, which Dudley could always appreciate. ‘Never trust a man with a weak handshake’, was one of his father’s favourite sayings, and Dudley had found it to be true.
After Harry and Dudley were dried off - and what an experience that was! - they settled in and began to chat. As it turned out, Harry and Draco had actually known each other for many years before they got together. Dudley caught a slight look of shame from Draco when their school days were brought up, but it was quickly covered. Overall, it turned into a fairly pleasant night. Not even Mandy leaving to pick Fletcher up from the early practices of cricket, leaving Dudley and Lyn alone with Harry and Draco, managed to break the friendly atmosphere. Dudley actually found himself a little disappointed when Harry stretched and announced that it was time they picked their kids up.
“We dropped them off with Draco’s parents when the firecall came through from the Ministry that something had happened here. It’s nearly Lily’s bedtime, so…”
“They always have such spectacular timing as well. It’s not like I was busy or anything…” Draco muttered in response. Harry turned to look at him, but he only offered up an innocent smile. “We’d better go rescue them from my Father?” he asked in a more normal tone of voice.
Dudley could tell that there was so much he was missing to be able to understand the look the two of them exchanged. There was clearly a lot of history between the two of them, but that was best reserved for another day, when his house hadn’t been nearly destroyed by a thundercloud in his bathroom. Standing and stretching himself, he offered Mandy a hand up. A thought occurred to him as they all wandered slowly towards the front door.
“Harry, do you think I could maybe have a word with you?”
Harry and Draco exchanged a silent look, but Draco didn’t stop him from leaving with Dudley. Bringing Harry into the dining room, Dudley let out a breath. Nerves began to jangle through him once again as he turned to face Harry.
“Firstly, I want to thank you again.”
“There’s really no need-”
“Yes, there is. I know that this has been a very weird way to come back into each other’s lives again. But…” He sighed. “Look, can we maybe start over? I mean, do things properly form the start, at least for the kids. I know that nothing can erase the way I treated you in the past, but maybe our kids can have a fresh start. A new beginning to our part of this family.”
Harry crossed his arms over his chest. “What about your parents?”
“I don’t know.” Dudley found himself unable to keep eye contact. “I honestly don’t know how they are going to react to this. They love Lyn, they really do. I have never doubted that, but this…” He broke off with a shake of his head. “I’ll deal with that when I come to it. What I’m talking about here and now is Lyn and Fletch, and Lily and Al and Jamie. And even Scorpius, if he wants to be part of this. These kids deserve a family. If we can give them that, then I think it will be a great start to life for them.”
Harry stood and stared at him for so long that Dudley began to fidget. His skin prickled with the knowledge that he probably had no right to ask this of Harry, but he knew that once the idea hit him, he just had to give it a try.
“A fresh start?”
Dudley nodded firmly. “Yes. Clean the slate and start again.” He stepped forward and held his hand out, feeling absolutely ridiculous, but thinking it the right thing to do. “Dudley Dursley. I am married to my soul mate. I have two wonderful children, one of whom floods my bathroom accidentally when she gets angry. I don’t have any pets, but Fletch wants a dog; a really big one. My parents live in Surrey, but I swear you’ll never have to see them again, if you don’t want to.”
Harry was grinning by the time Dudley finished. The sense of relief that shivered through Dudley when Harry accepted his hand was nearly overwhelming.
“Harry Potter. I am married. Whether Draco believes in soul mates or not is up for debate. I have three brilliant children and one step-son. All of whom drive me insane, and yes, I am including Draco in that as well. We have more peacocks than I have ever wanted to own. I’ll tell you later,” he added when Dudley’s eyebrows shot towards his hairline. “I probably never want to see your parents again; you are right about that. We will see, though. Things can change.”
Dudley was grinning widely as they made their way back out into the hallway. He moved to wrap his arm around Mandy’s waist when they stopped to say goodbye. Dudley’s face began to ache when Lyn stepped forward and flung her arms around a startled-looking Draco, thanking him for explaining things to her.
Then they were gone. Dudley stood in the doorway for a long time, simply breathing deeply. A fresh start. It had been one hell of a day, for all involved. But it seemed to have ended on a positive note. He had a lot to do - a lot to sort out - before the start of September. He knew that things wouldn’t always be smooth, but he had a feeling that he and Mandy wouldn’t be dealing with them alone.