Disclaimer - I own nothing you recognise
Written for Hogwarts Assignment 7, Wandlore, Task 3 - Write about someone going into hiding.
Parts of the beginning, particularly in the dialogue, have been taken directly from the book.
Beta'd by the lovely Lo
Word Count - 2800
Hiding
Dudley watched his father pace, a sick feeling in his stomach. They'd played this scene over many times during the past few weeks, and each time, it left Dudley nauseated for hours.
He listened to his dad argue with Harry, his lips quirking momentarily when Harry snarked right back at his dad. There'd been a massive change in Harry over the last few years, or perhaps, the change was in Dudley and he was only just noticing.
At the reminder of the Dementors, the horrifying monsters that had attacked Dudley only two years earlier, his hands flew up to cover his mouth, protecting himself from an invisible threat.
The room was silent, and Dudley belated realised that his parents and cousin were staring at him. "There are… more of them?"
The thought of them just wandering around, bringing the cold and the screaming back was enough to terrify Dudley beyond comprehension.
"They will torture and kill you like they did my parents!"
Dudley didn't want to die. He didn't want those things after him and he didn't want to be tortured by men he couldn't fight back against.
"Dad," he said loudly, catching the room's attention once more. "Dad - I'm going with these Order people."
Dudley saw the satisfied look in Harry's eyes. It was odd to think that his cousin actually cared whether they lived or died. After the way he'd been treated… Dudley didn't know if he could be that generous himself had their roles in life been reversed.
"They'll be here in five minutes," Harry informed them, before he left the room.
"Dudley," his dad murmured, glancing at the door. "The boy could just be trying to scare us. We don't really need to leave, to be left at the mercy of these people."
"Vernon, enough. Harry's right. Do you want to be murdered?" his mum asked, stroking a hand down Dudley's back.
Dudley saw the fight leave his father and he knew the battle was won. They were leaving with… Harry's lot. They were going into hiding.
…
"Good day to you, Harry Potter's relatives!" a man wearing a mauve top hat trilled, walking into the living room a few minutes later.
Dudley couldn't help but flinch away, although he felt the oddest need to suppress a laugh at his father's face when they were referred to as Harry's relatives.
"I see you are packed and ready. Excellent! The plan, as Harry has told you, is a simple one," the man said, pulling a large pocket watch from his pocket. "We shall be leaving before Harry does. Due to the danger of using magic in your house — Harry being still underage, it could provide the Ministry with an excuse to arrest him — we shall be driving, say, ten miles or so, before Disapparating to the safe location we have picked out for you. You know how to drive, I take it?"
Dudley's dad looked like he was about to explode. As he spluttered out a response and the man admitted to not being able to drive, Dudley half expected another change of mind. The man spoke to Harry for a moment, until the watch he was holding let out an ear-splitting shriek of "Hurry up!"
Dudley jumped, feeling his mother do the same. Who the bloody hell had pocket watches that shouted at them?
The wiz- people made some noises about leaving the room to allow what Dudley imagined they thought would be a heartfelt family farewell, and again, he had the oddest need to suppress laughter. His father had never had a nice word to say about Harry. Ever.
"Ready, Diddy?" his mum asked, fussing at her handbag. Dudley thought she was avoiding Harry's eyes.
Dudley stood up, watching Harry.
"Come along then," his dad said, heading towards the door.
"I don't understand," Dudley muttered. It had been something that was plaguing his mind for weeks. Why wasn't Harry going with them? If they needed protection, then surely Harry did too?
When his mum questioned him, he asked exactly that, pointing at his cousin. He wasn't surprised when he was forced to repeat the question. After all it wasn't like he'd ever shown any interest in Harry before, beyond using him as a punching bag.
The answer, that Harry simply didn't want to go with them, wasn't satisfactory in the slightest.
"But where's he going to go?"
The woman blinked. "But . . . surely you know where your nephew is going?" she asked.
"Certainly we know," his dad replied airily.. "He's off with some of your lot, isn't he? Right, Dudley, let's get in the car, you heard the man, we're in a hurry."
Again, his dad got as far as the door, but Dudley did not follow.
"Off with some of our lot?" The woman asked, looking angry.
"It's fine," Harry told her, placating her. Dudley didn't really want to know what she could do to them if she was truly angry. She seemed scarier than the man. "It doesn't matter, honestly."
"Doesn't matter?" she repeated, her voice rising. "Don't these people realise what you've been through? What danger you are in? The unique position you hold in the hearts of the anti-Voldemort movement?"
Dudley frowned. Danger? Just what had Harry gotten himself into, and better yet, what had he been through? Dudley wasn't stupid. He knew that his cousin had suffered, his godfather had died last year, the boy before that, that Harry had had nightmares about.
"Er — no, they don't," said Harry. "They think I'm a waste of space, actually, but I'm used to —"
"I don't think you're a waste of space."
Dudley could feel his cheeks heating. The words had slipped out without his permission, though they were absolutely the truth. His cousin looked amazed and somewhat disbelieving. Dudley felt bad for that.
"Well . . . er . . . thanks, Dudley."
Dudley's frown deepened. "You saved my life."
"Not really," Harry argued. "It was your soul the dementor would have taken. . . ."
As if that was any better. Before Dudley could reply, his mother was crying all over him, and the woman was looking angry again.
"Are we going or not?"his father shouted, reappearing yet again at the living room door. "I thought we were on a tight schedule!"
"Yes — yes, we are," the man said, seemingly coming back to himself. "We really must be off. Harry —"
Dudley sniggered quietly when the man fell over his own feet as he stepped forward to shake Harry's hand.
"— good luck. I hope we meet again. The hopes of the Wizarding world rest upon your shoulders."
Dudley's eyes widened. He stared at the man, wondering what on earth had possessed him to say such a thing. Even if it were true, which, it couldn't be, that was a lot of pressure to heave onto a teenager's shoulders.
What on earth was wrong with these people?
"Oh," said Harry, "right. Thanks."
"Farewell, Harry," the woman said, also shaking his hand, albeit more briefly. "Our thoughts go with you."
"I hope everything's okay," Harry said, and Dudley met his eyes.
"Oh, I'm sure we shall end up the best of chums," the man said cheerfully as he left the room, the woman following him.
Dudley released himself from his mum's grip and stepped towards Harry, holding his hand out to him. It wasn't much, but perhaps it was a start.
"Blimey, Dudley," said Harry, "did the dementors blow a different personality into you?"
"Dunno,"Dudley muttered. "See you, Harry."
"Yeah . . ." said Harry, taking Dudley's hand and shaking it. "Maybe. Take care, Big D."
Dudley left the room, wondering to himself if he'd ever see his cousin again.
…
They drove on and off for days. Dudley was cranky, his mother was weepy, and his father looked on the verge of bursting a blood vessel.
When his father pulled off road at the instruction of the man, who Dudley had been told to call Dedalus, they bumped and bounced their way along for a while until they came upon a small cabin.
"This is where you will be staying for the foreseeable future," the woman, Hestia, told them as his father parked the car. "It's well protected, so you'll be safe here."
"You're not staying with us?" his mum asked, aghast. "You're just leaving us here to fend for ourselves in the middle of nowhere?"
"Of course we're staying," Hestia snapped. "We're to do a job for Harry, and we'll do it correctly. Get inside the cabin while we do a quick perimeter to make sure we're secure."
Dudley thought that perhaps his family weren't the only ones struggling.
…
"Are you okay?"
Dudley looked up from where he'd been sitting staring into the fire. He nodded at Hestia, turning his eyes back to the flames.
They'd only been at the cabin for a few days, and he was craving home like nothing else. He'd never had cause to be homesick before.
It didn't help that his mum had spent most of the time crying in her room.
"I'm worried about my mum," he admitted, when she sat down beside him.
"Some people care too much. I think it's called love, it could also be fear. She isn't worried for herself," Hestia added. "She's scared for you. But we will protect you, Dudley. All of you. With our lives, if that's what it takes."
"I… hope it doesn't. Take your lives I mean. I don't… I don't want anyone to die."
Hestia smiled, patting his shoulder. He took pride in the fact that he didn't flinch away from her.
"That's always a lovely sentiment. Unfortunately, our world is at war. Death… death is inevitable for some. We can only hope that Harry can stop it before it destroys us all."
She stayed beside him, each of them lost to their thoughts, each of them finding small comfort in the flickering flames.
…
"It's beautiful here," Dedalus said, when Dudley joined him outside. They'd been at the cabin for a little over a month, and Dudley was going slightly stir crazy stuck inside the cabin. Amazingly, it was much bigger than it looked, something that had amused Dedalus and Hestia when Dudley commented on it.
"Uh huh," Dudley replied automatically. He could just see a pair of swans swimming across the nearby lake. "Mum just freaked out."
"Oh? What for this time."
"Spider," replied Dudley with a shrug.
"How big?"
Dudley held his thumb and forefinger apart to show him.
Dedalus snorted. "That's nothing. In our world, the magical world, we have spiders bigger than this cabin."
"Piss off," Dudley snorted, disbelieving.
Dedalus turned to look at him. "You don't believe me?"
"Of course not! There's no such thing as spiders bigger than a house!"
"Accio Fantastic Beasts!"
Dudley flinched away when Dedalus pulled his wand out, and then ducked when he saw a book flying towards him.
Dedalus flicked through the pages until he found what he was looking for and then handed the book over, tapping the page.
"Read."
Dudley looked at the page. Acromantula. Was that even english? He read the page slowly, fear settling deep in his chest as he thought about the havoc these monsters must wreak.
"How do wizards not die with these things running around?"
"You really never talked to your cousin, did you?" Dedalus asked, tilting his head to the side. "None of you. It's sad really, that you could all care so little. Your cousin faced and escaped these when he was just twelve years old."
"Really?"
"Uh huh."
And that was how evenings with Dedalus started, with stories of creatures and the odd tale about his cousins' youth.
…
"I have to leave for a little while, but you'll all be safe," Dedalus said, already heading out of the door. "I'll be back by morning, stay inside!"
Dudley watched him go with a sinking feeling in his chest. Something was happening, and as he met eyes with his mother, he could tell she knew it as well. His dad snored away in the chair by the fire, a box of chocolates resting precariously on his knee.
Dudley waited by the window until the early hours, outlasting even his mum, who went to bed with his dad when the old man woke up from his nap.
A familiar crack outside sounded, and Dudley tensed, waiting for the person to appear by the window, so he could make sure that it was in fact Dedalus.
Not that he'd be able to do anything even if it wasn't.
He hated feeling so helpless.
The door opened, and Dudley cringed back, sighing in relief when he laid eyes on Dedalus. It only took a moment before he realised something was wrong.
"What is it?" Dudley asked, fearfully. "Is it Harry?"
"What? Oh. No. Harry is… well, I'm sure he's fine. No. You should go to bed, Dudley, it's late."
Not knowing what else to do, Dudley allowed himself to be dismissed.
…
Days passed in a strange kind of statis. Dedalus was clearly unhappy, but Dudley didn't think there was anything he could say or do. If there was anything, he didn't know what it was.
"Wizard's smoke?" he asked, sitting on the deck beside Dedalus. "I didn't know that."
Dedalus shrugged. "We don't get cancer like the muggles, or lung disease, or anything else that comes from smoking. It just… helps me focus."
"What would Hestia say about it?" Dudley jested, having joked previously about Dedalus having a crush on her.
"All I'd get from her would be a snappy one liner, and if I was lucky, a new nickname," Dedalus replied, shaking his head. "She hated me smoking, said it was a stinky habit. As if I couldn't just spell the smell away."
"Where is she anyway?" Dudley asked. "We haven't seen her for almost a week, she's not normally away this long."
Dedalus's lips pressed together for a moment. "Did I tell you that following Voldemort's rebirth, she was the only one I spoke to for weeks who didn't think I was insane? Her sarcasm knows no bounds when she's angry, but she's always been kind to me. I thought I was doing a good thing, trying to spread the word, but it did more harm than good in the long haul. Anyway, she was the only one who didn't call me an idiot."
A tear fell onto his cheek.
"Dedalus… where is she?"
"Missing, presumed dead. It was announced on Potterwatch the night I left here. That's where I went, to see if I could get any information on her whereabouts, but… nobody knows where she is."
Potterwatch was a radio channel that Dedalus tuned into on his funny looking radio. Dudley had tried to listen to it once, but he'd only lasted ten minutes before the nausea was too much to bare. The list of dead had shaken him to the core.
"I… I'm sorry."
Dudley was at a loss. He'd been lucky in his life, he thought suddenly. He'd never lost anyone close to him.
"Maybe… maybe she's hiding too. Like us. Maybe she's okay?"
Dedalus nodded, a sad smile on his face. "Maybe."
…
"What is that?" Dudley asked, nodding towards a bird hopping along a little ways away. Summer was coming, and the air was lovely and warm.
"A blue jay," Dedalus told him, glancing up from his book. "Pretty birds."
Dudley nodded. During his time at the cabin, he'd come to appreciate nature more than he ever had before. He supposed being stuck in the middle of it would make anyone more appreciative.
"Any news about Harry?"
"There's been sightings," Dedalus replied, chuckling. "Just a few minutes ago on the wireless, there was a report of him breaking into Gringotts and leaving on the back of a Dragon! The imaginations of some people."
"A dragon? Like… a real one?"
Dedalus rolled his eyes. "What on earth do they teach you at these muggle schools?"
…
"He did it. He actually did it! Praise Merlin, the boy did it!"
Dudley blinked. And then repeated the action. Getting up from where he'd been lounging in bed, he walked into the living room, meeting his crumpled and creased barely awake parents at the door.
Dedalus was hopping and bounding around the living room. "He did it! We're free!"
Dudley had learnt enough over their year in hiding to know exactly what Dedalus meant.
They were finally, finally going home.
…
As Dudley unpacked his luggage back into his bedroom, he pulled out a book that certainly wasn't his.
Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them
He thought fondly of Dedalus teaching him about creatures on the long, cold nights at the cabin, and he smiled.
Written for;
Character Appreciation - 1. Potterwatch
Disney - C5. Kanga - "Some people care too much. I think it's called love."
Book Club - Mister Nancy - Smoking / Spider / Sarcasm
Showtime - 1. Write a different POV of a canon event.
Buttons - O1. Luggage
Ami's Audio Admirations - 19. Rebirth
TV Addict - 1. Lost - "All I'll get from her is a snappy one liner, and if I'm lucky, a brand new nickname." / Cabin / Swan
Build A Bunny - Blue Pants - Blue Jay
Auction - unhappy