A/N: so this is a Harry and Dudley one shot. I thought it would be nice for them to meet after the war, and this is what I came up with. Enjoy!
Harry stared at the letter in his hand, which had been delivered via owl, the previous morning. He sat outside Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour and re-read the letter.
Dear Harry,
My daughter hazel received a Hogwarts acceptance letter this morning. You can imagine his reaction when he found out Hazels a witch. But mum's been supportive. I was wondering if you'd meet me Hazel in Diagon Alley tomorrow?
Sincearly Dudley Dursley
Harry looked up from the letter. Standing in front of him, was a tall muscular man with blue eyes and the same pig nose. Even though it had been almost 23 years since their last encounter, the man that stood before him, was unmistakably Harry's cousin Dudley.
"Looks like Petunias diet finally worked out then big D" harry smiled standing up to greet them. The girl who stood beside Dudley had long blonde hair, blue eyes, and her father's pig nose. But very much unlike her father, was very petite. Must of got her size from her mother's side harry thought, remembering a much younger Dudley, however much bigger Dudley sitting on a 7 year old harry.
"Aha yeah." Said Dudley nervously reaching out to shake Harry's hand.
"And you must be Hazel" harry said
"Yes, that's me" she said "and you're Harry Potter"
"Correct" Harry confirmed "shall we get some ice-cream?"
Hazel nodded enthusiastically and sat on the spare seat at the table harry had previously occupied. Harry ordered three sundaes, although Harry's was free – an old habit of Mr. Fortescue's, and brought them back to the table. Dudley looked at the sundae like it was about to sprout teeth as soon he took a bite and kill him.
"What's up big D? Scared of a little ice-cream?" harry asked
"No...no it's just that – er – I haven't had much ice-cream since I heard what happened to you after the war" he continued to stare at the sundae whilst talking "that's when I started to lose weight. I thought since you could defeat a dark w-w-wizard" evidently, he still had trouble with the word wizard, but continued anyway "I could at least loose a few pounds. Like I told you, I don't think you're a waste of space" he finished and looked timidly up at Harry.
"Well I didn't expect that. But um, I'm glad I could help" harry offered a small smile, still confused as to where this had come from. It doesn't sound like much, but Dudley Dursley giving up food for Harry was almost as shocking as Hagrid producing an edible meal.
"Yes yes dad, it's amazing how much weight you lost blah blah blah. Now tell harry about grampa!" hazel piped up impatiently.
"Alright calm down. You'll enjoy this Harry. Well, as you know, dads not a big fan of the wizarding world," harry scoffed, but didn't interrupt "unfortunately mum and dad had been staying with us over the weekend Hazel got her letter, and when dad saw the owl fly through the open window he almost fainted; then when he found out Hazel was a witch, well the redness of his face spoke for itself. Later in the day, a ministry wizard turned up to explain that wizards are real; of course we already knew that, and about everything else. Next thing we knew, dad was on top of the guy shaking him by the shoulders trying to get him to 'admit' that he was lying and it was all some kind of joke. We eventually managed to get him to let go and the guy left as fast as he could. Before we could stop him, dad had packed up and left the house without mum. Don't know where he went, we just let him go. Better to let him get used to the idea first." Dudley finished and Harry burst into fits of laughter. The thought of Vernon Dursley attempting to fight a wizard was hilarious! Finally he had cracked. Harry imagined him to take off into the ocean and live in the shack on the rocks like he had done the last time a family member was proven to be a wizard.
Once he had regained control harry sat up straight in his chair and looked at his cousin "sorry mate, I just find that hilarious" he apologised
"No don't worry about it. I think it's great that Hazel is a witch, and if dad can't accept that then I guess we won't be on speaking terms with him." Dudley stated.
"Right then, I think we should get shopping, you've got lots to get I assume?" harry asked Hazel
"Yeah loads! It's all on this list; one standard pewter couldro – " she started to recite but harry cut in.
"Yeah I know, after reading my letter about ten million times to make sure it was real, and three kids worth of letters, I think I've got it"
They spent the next few hours walking round Diagon Alley, searching for everything on Hazels list, although it wasn't too hard to find them as harry knew exactly where to look. Hazel looked around in awe at each different shop. But the shop she was most intrigued in, was the one containing broomsticks.
"Ah, that's a racing broom Hazel; the best in the world. Sorry to disappoint, but first years aren't allowed brooms." harry informed her
"What's it for?" she asked, not taking her eyes off the broom in the window
"You play a game called quidditch on them. You know what, I'll teach you. C'mon lets go" harry said smiling
They arrived back at the Potters, and it turns out Hazel is a natural. She stayed outside with the other Potter children to practice whilst Harry, Dudley and Ginny had a cup of tea inside. They were just sitting down when green flames appeared in the fireplace and a figure appeared.
"oh, its George, I forgot he was coming over, he wanted to drop something off for James and Albus...I didn't want to ask what it was, the less we know, the better" Ginny said hesitantly. George stepped out of the fireplace and crossed the room to hug his sister and shake Harry's hand
"And who's your friend?" he asked turning to Dudley, who had the same look he had had in the ice-cream parlour.
"This is Dudley, my cousin. You've met before, remember?" harry asked. But he knew that they both remembered. On their last encounter George had managed to cause Dudley's tongue to swell to four feet long before Arthur Weasley was able to shrink it to its original size. This explained why Dudley was so pale.
"Yes I remember, do you want a toffee?" George asked pulling a paper bag from his pocket
"Not funny" Ginny said attempting to grab the bag off George
"I would, but I'd rather my tongue stayed its normal size thanks" Dudley said confidently, the colour back in his face
"You remembered! I was only kidding this time though, and sorry about last time." George said offering his hand for Dudley to shake.
"That's alright, anyway I'd better get used to that sort of thing, Hazel likes her jokes and with magic involved she'll be unstoppable"
"Dudley's daughter got her Hogwarts letter the other day" harry informed George
"Oh that's cool" George said
"Yeah. Right I'd better get going, my wife will be wondering where we are" Dudley said. He eventually managed to persuade Hazel to leave the broom and come home.
Harry didn't see Dudley again until September first at kings cross. After the train had pulled out, taking their children with it, harry made his way to Dudley; Ginny was talking to Dudley's wife so Dudley took his opportunity to say to harry what he had wanted to say for a while.
"I just wanted to say that if Hazel is half the witch you are wizard, I'll be the happiest dad in the world."
Harry walked away from the station that day feeling as if he and Dudley were finally on the right tracks after almost their whole life feuding. And it felt good.
A/N: please review, even if its bad, I want honest feedback!