His aunt and uncle had told him about Potter's godfather and how he was an escaped murderer who wanted to protect him. The thought of that, quite frankly, scared the living shit out of Dudley.
Dudley Dursley lay awake in his bed, staring at the ceiling, wondering where that murderer was now. Dudley knew that Sirius Black had been in touch with Potter throughout the summer holidays – he had watched owls soaring through the midnight sky carrying letters to and from his cousin's bedroom window.
Potter was known for his nightmares which plagued his subconscious every night, but little did Dudley know what had caused them.
A sudden gasp alerted Dudley that Potter's nightmares had started again. They seemed to be happening more and more frequently as time went on. He probably hated his time at the freaky school that he went to; he probably had no real friends. Dudley smirked at the thought.
Deciding that he probably needed new blackmail material to use against him, Dudley slid quietly out of bed and crept along the dark corridor towards the freaks room. Carefully, he turned the handle and pushed the door open an inch and peered in. Unfortunately, Dudley couldn't see anything, so he pushed the door even wider and snuck into his second bedroom (better known as Potter's room), silently closing the door again.
He moved further into the room and saw his cousin drenched in sweat and writhing on his bed, his hands balled into fists. Despite having been the skinny little punching bag the boy had once been, Potter had indeed grown a couple of inches and had grown some muscle. His thin night shirt clung to his six pack as his body thrashed across the bed. Dudley wondered what dreams could be so bad to make a person react like that, but then he figured that he probably didn't want to know.
"Sirius," the boy muttered, his eyes still firmly shut. Dudley leaned forward, not wanting to miss anything.
"Please… too dangerous… the veil… Bellatrix…" well that made a lot of sense.
"Don't kill him, he's innocent," Dudley froze. Had Potter witnessed someone's death?
"Crucio!" he almost shouted. Dudley leapt back in shock. That was when he decided that this had gone too far.
"Potter," he muttered, poking the boy, "Potter," he tried again, louder this time. The boy hadn't appeared to have heard him. Dudley shook the boy's shoulders
"Potter, wake up," he demanded, shaking him harder, "Potter!" Potter's eyes flew open and he sat bolt upright, staring at Dudley with a mad glint in his eyes.
"What are you doing here?" he demanded, glaring at him. Talk about ungratefulness
"You were having a nightmare," Dudley replied simply, "wanted to know what it was about. You have lots of nightmares don't you, Potter?" he sneered. Potter continued to stare at him. "Look," Dudley continued, "It's just plain creepy being woken up by hearing you screaming 'don't kill Sirius!'" Potter looked down and Dudley was amazed to see a tear sliding down his face. Dudley had seen Potter angry before, he had tormented him enough, but he had never seen the boy actually cry before. Dudley suddenly realised that Potter somehow needed him and he didn't know what to do.
"Sirius is your godfather, right?" Dudley demanded. More tears cascaded down his face. It took a moment for him to reply.
"He was. He got killed and fell through the veil at the ministry," Dudley stared at Harry, waiting for him to continue. He didn't.
"What is the veil? Who killed him?" Dudley demanded. Potter looked properly shaken and Dudley wondered if questioning him was the best thing to be doing. But Potter didn't seem aware of this
"It's this sort of… doorway between our world and the world of the dead. If you go through it, you die. My… my…" Harry broke off, unable to continue. Dudley suddenly remembered what Potter had said in his sleep – a name
"Bellatrix," he murmured. A choked cry escaped Potter's lips and Dudley pulled him into a hug. This gesture was completely alien to him and completely unexpected.
Dudley expected Potter to push him away in disgust and to tell him to piss off, but to amazement, he leaned his head into Dudley's shoulder and cried, clinging onto him as if his life depended upon it.
Dudley whispered words of reassurance to Potter and stroked his back as he let him sabotage his night shirt. In that moment, Dudley made a silent vow to try not to torment his cousin in future.