A/N: Hello All! So as some of you may know, I have always felt that Dudley Dursley and Lavender Brown were meant to be. That being said, here's their story :) Also, remember I am not J.K. Rowling, and I do not own the Harry Potter series or stories.
Chapter One: coffee and crumpets
Dudley entered the coffee shop, his books and laptop in one arm, and approached the counter. "One cup of coffee? With an extra shot of caffine? Thanks."
"£2.30," the tired looking cashier said. Dudley handed her the money and went to a quiet, little clump of squashy chairs at the back of of the coffee shop. He sat down and opened his laptop. Yay graduation, now let's work out ass off in the real world, Dudley muttered under his breath. He had graduated from a university only a month earlier, and he was now working for his father's drill business. Dudley was working in sales management, and he really liked his coworkers, but he didn't enjoy having his father as his boss like he had always been.
Dudley's coffee was set on a small table between Dudley's chair and another, by a waitress. "Enjoy," she said, before turning to head back to work.
"Thanks," Dudley muttered, even though the waitress had already walked off. Dudley began working on his report on this month's sales. He only worked at the office three days of the week. The other days, he came to this coffee shop. The shop was only a block from his office building, and it was quiet, but busy. A little over-priced, but worth it since Dudley got so much work done here. Dudley had been working on his report for about thirty minutes before another person interrupted him.
"Sorry to interrupt, but um, do you mind if I sit here?" Dudley looked up. A woman around his age was looking at him. She had wavy, blond hair and nice curves. She had some sparkly eye make-up on, and she was nicely, but casually dressed. She nodded her head towards the seat next to Dudley. It had a newspaper on it.
"Oh! Oh, yes of course. That isn't my paper, but it's been here all morning, so I don't believe that seat is still taken." Dudley smiled at the woman. She was really pretty.
"Thanks." She smiled at him then held out her hand after she sat down, "Lavender Brown."
"Dudley Dursley. It's a pleasure to meet you." Dudley tried to sound casual and professional at the same time, but it was hard to do with such a pretty girl looking at him so his voice cracked a little bit. Dudley blushed a little pink when his voice cracked, but Lavender giggled. Dudley smiled awkwardly. "So, uh, I haven't seen you here before. Do you come often?"
"Not really, I came a few times in the past, but I'm not usually around here. I was in the area today though, so I decided to stop by." She smiled then added, "I'm trying to decide where to accept a job."
"Oh? That's great! Where were you offered jobs?" Dudley was interested. Hmm so she is around my age if she's looking into jobs.
Lavender blushed, "Oh, um, well...none of them are around here exactly. You wouldn't recognize them..they aren't very, erm, interesting." She hadn't expected him to be interested, i mean it's only work after all.
"Try me." Dudley urged her, "Believe me I know of a lot more jobs in this world than you might realize." He smiled at the girl, thinking of all the jobs Hestia and Dedalus had mentioned that existed in the wizarding world.
"Oh no, really, you don't want to know," Lavender insisted. Gah how do people from my world date muggles without letting stuff slip?! She really liked the guy, so she didn't want him to get a bad impression of her, but what was she supposed to say?
Dudley felt confused, why was she so secretive? "What? Is it a job in a magical world or something?" Dudley teased her. He knew what he said did actually exist, but the girl doesn't have to know that.
To Dudley's surprise, the girl stiffened at Dudley's words and stuttered, "u-uh n-no." She laughed shakily, and pulled some papers out of her purse. In her surprise at being asked such a question, some of her papers slipped from he hand and onto the floor. Dudley reached out and picked them up for her, but as he was handing them back—
"Wait!" Dudley looked at the piece of paper on top in shock, pulling it back towards him. The Hogwarts crest was at the top. Dudley recognized it from some of Harry's old school things. He looked up at the girl. She looked really uncomfortable. "Sorry." Dudley said apologetically and handed them back to her. "...but, uh...are you...uh...a...witch?"
Lavender starred at Dudley in disbelief. He knows about my world?! "Um..."
"Sorry, I know you aren't supposed to talk to-to people like me about that kind of stuff if they are strangers to your world...but...if it helps, I know about it..." Dudley looked at her, hoping he hadn't scared her off.
"H-h-how do y-you know?" She was still in disbelief.
"Uh..well do you know Harry Potter by any chance?" He asked. If she is around my age and went to Hogwarts then she will...
"Yeah!" Lavender's face brightened up at the familiar name. "You know him?"
Dudley smiled, "he's my cousin."
Lavender looked at him, shocked, then exclaimed, "no way!" She was smiling at him. Dudley smiled back at her, amused by her surprise.
Dudley chuckled, "yeah, not the best childhood memories, but we grow up together. I like working in this shop since I know that Leaky Cauldron place is near by. I keep hoping that I'll see Harry."
Lavender looked at Dudley in wonder, "that's crazy. I never would have expected to meet you in a coffee shop! Harry and I were in the same year at Hogwarts. I learned a lot from him too. If it weren't Harry, I wouldn't have known practically any defensive magic to use in the war!"
Dudley smiled, "yeah, he's a really great guy. And you fought in the war too?" Wow, a war veteran, Dudley thought.
"Yeah. I was a part of the DA. Did Harry ever tell you about the DA?" Lavender was curious how much Dudley knew.
"I don't know much, but I know it's our generations version of the Order, right?" Dudley had over-heard Hestia say this once during the year his family spent in hiding.
Lavender was impressed. "Yes! Exactly!" She took off her scarf and held back the neck of her sweater's collar, "this is from the Final Battle...The Battle of Hogwarts."
Dudley looked at the scar surprised, "whoa! That doesn't look like magic!" Dudley looked at the scar on her shoulder. It was nasty. It was white and a little raised. "How'd it happen?"
"I was knocked out by a death eater and a werewolf bit me."
"A-a what?!" Dudley was shocked.
"Yeah. It was crazy. I was lucky though. He wasn't transformed at the time, so he didn't turn me into a werewolf. I get a high fever though, every month on the full moon. That's a lot better though, than what could have been."
"Wow." Dudley was still staring at her shocked.
She smiled. "So? What's your story? Didn't you have to go into hiding?"
Dudley looked her in the face again."Yeah, my mum, dad, and I were taken to a safe house by members of the Order. We didn't do anything cool, like you did, though."
"That's ok. You're alive now, unharmed. And yo never killed Harry when you were kids, so you helped us all a lot." Lavender laughed, and Dudley smiled.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. Near misses though, when we were kids." He smiled at her. He really liked her. "Now I've got to figure out what to do with my life though— not, unlike you I guess, huh?"
"Yeah, now we both have to start living our own lives with less help from our mums and dads. How are you planning to start?" You could always start by asking me out, Lavender thought.
"Well I'm working for my dad's Drill firm now, but I was thinking," Dudley's voice lingered for a minute, and Lavender looked at him hopefully, "How about Dinner and a show tomorrow night?"
Lavender smiled, "I was hoping you might say something like that!" She smiled, flirtatiously, "Absolutely!"
Dudley laughed, "Thanks." Yes! "The Royal Ballet's production of the Nutcracker opens tomorrow night. We could go, or if you think that's a bit formal for a first date, there's a Christmas band playing at a pub near here."
"Ooh a Ballet? My friend, Hermione, told me about ballets. She was at Hogwart's with Harry and I, but she came from a muggle family. I'd like to see a ballet." Dudley smiled at the excitement on her face. He didn't used to go to ballets, but one of the guys he used to box with had also been a dancer. After high school, Dudley's friend told him, he was offered a place in the Royal Ballet's company- in the corps. Dudley's friend accepted the offer, and in the four years since then, Dudley's friend had become a soloist. Dudley watched his friend, Michael, perform a couple times a year now. Dudley was amazed by how much work Michael put into it.
"Great." Dudley said. "I can pick you up around six for an early dinner before the performance. Where should a meet you?"
"Hmm...I live in a flat in Diagon Alley so you can't really come there, i don't think. How about we meet outside the Leaky Cauldron?"
"That sounds perfect!" Dudley said. He couldn't believe he had met a witch, asked her out, and been accepted. He was strangely excited too. "Shit." Dudley's cell rang. "I've got to get this-" he sighed, "–work."
Dudley took his call, and Lavender began making her pros and cons list for the job she had been offered at Gringotts and the job she had been offered at the ministry in the Department for Magical Currencies and International Exchange.