"Harry? Harry Potter?"
The person outside the door was knocking rather loudly, Harry thought. Wondering who it could be and why they were so impatient, he opened the door to find Astoria Greengrass standing outside.
He frowned in surprise. As far as he knew, no one had seen her after the war. She had pretty much fisappeared wothout a trace. And yet here she was, on his doorstep, lookinh desperately helpless.
Regaining his composure, he finally spoke, breaking the awkward silence.
"Astoria. Please, come in."
She nodded and obliged, walking inside. She did not sit down, however, even after he asked her to. She looked far too restless, pacing around the floor of the living room. Then, as if suddenly gathering all her courage, she spoke up.
"I need your help with something," she said, rather breathlessly. He tilted his head, waiting for her to finish.
"I suppose I should start from the beginning." She sighed. "I ran away to Muggle Britain after the war. The pain, the politics, it was all too much for me. There, I met...someone. And we fell in love. We havr been togther for years now and we were even to be married soon. I even told him I was a witch. He didn't seem surprised..." She paused to take a breath. "He had heard of wizards before. I didn't know...he is your cousin, Harry."
Harry jumped up in surprise at this. "Dudley?" he asked, shocked. She nodded quietly, with a slight blush on her cheeks. Harry could not make up his mind about how he felt about such a thing. Dudley had changed into a much nicer person once he grew up, butthe two still did not keep in contact.
After a moment, Harry asked, "Well, why did you need my help?"
"He told me he used to be...not nice, as a child." Harry could not resist a smile. That was most certainly true.
"Someone wanted to exact revenge on him, Harry. They framed him for a crime and now he's arrested...the police came and swept him away..." Her sentences grew more and more broken as she began to sob.
Harry stood there, dumbfounded. Then, he laid a comforting arm on her shoulder, and helped her sit down.
"How do you know someone framed him?" he asked, quietly.
Astoria took a deep breath to calm herself. "They said he threatened someone for money with his pocket knife. And then...he killed her. Dudley would never do that."
Harry agreed with her. Despite the fact that Dudley had once been a bully, mirder was taking it too far. He couldn't do that.
"Please, Harry. I don't know what to do. And I can think of no happiness without him..."
Harry found himself at a loss. He knew breaking Dudley out of prison might involve illegal actions...and besides, a part of him still resented Dudley, if only slightly.
He turned to Astoria. She looked rather pitiful. To see the once proud and haughty Astoria Greengrass reduced to this state... She really did love him a lot, he realised.
"All right," he said, standing up suddenly. "Let's go save my cousin, shall we?"
Astoria smiled.
Notes: For the Through the Universe Challenge at The Golden Snitch. Prompt: Astoria Greengrass.
Also for the British Literature Challenge: Prompts: pocket knife, swept away, someone being framed for a crime, I can think of no happiness without him.