He was wet, the water or whatever it was felt like it had not just gotten him wet but actually seeped through his body making him feel like a fish or something. He coughed at the gunk in his throat and rubbed his eyes trying to gauge if it was alright for him to open them without the stuff getting in his eyes and tried to get out the stuff in his nose.
"-dley"
He turned toward the noise that he could barely register through clogged ears when he felt a lot of the gunk get sucked off his face and body until all of it was gone. He felt naked, no, he was naked; he opened his eyes then closed them. Shit that was bright, a blanket or towel or whatever was draped over his shoulders and took it covering himself as his eyes adjusted.
"Who turned on the lights" he mumbled squinting and he heard several chuckles.
"Well Harry, he's related to you alright" a man's laughed.
The room was black and pristine but the lights were bright "Merlin's Beard, look at his eyes" a woman's voice mentioned.
"Blue as the liquid crap he was in" the same man before said.
He blinked a few times and managed to get an actual look at people; the woman had with dark hair and tight pants and she raised her eyebrows as he stared at her. He turned to the man who was dirty blonde and looked good humored "aw he's cute" the woman added.
"He's not a dog, Laurence, Dudley we all functioning?" he snapped his head to someone he actually knew. It was none other than his cousin, Harry but Harry looked different. He looked… older, he had wrinkles and a little bit of grey hair.
"You look different" Dudley croaked, his voice not quite at full capacity.
"Oh" Harry smirked raising his eyebrows "well so do you, Dudley, I'm gonna have to ask you to try and remain calm in the next couple of hours" he told him.
Dudley stared in confusion then nodded and stood, he lost his balance though and luckily Harry took his shoulders. Huh? That was weird, he looked up at Harry in confusion. He bit his lip as he was led through pristine polished black tile areas then into an office, his heart was pounding and he turned at a large mirror in the office and slid to the floor. He was young! He was at least 16, he'd never seen himself this thin when he was 16. And his body was thin, hell he was skinny and his entire facial structure felt unrecognizable. He couldn't remember ever being actually this slim so his face looked different too.
His eyes too, they were blue but not the blue he had, not the ice blue he remembered being the only thing he liked about his body but they were almost fluorescent blue, a blue on a day with not a cloud in the sky or marker blue. He was breathing heavily now "Dudley, it's alright, just calm down" Harry was at his side rubbing his back.
"H-How?" Dudley asked.
"We're not sure, do you remember anything?" Harry asked.
"I remember we left the house, we shook hands and went to the safe house…we left the safe house and I spent a day there and then… I don't remember, why don't I remember?" he asked, shaking.
"Hey listen" Harry voice was stern and somehow comforted him "it's alright, I don't think there's any way to change you back and I don't think you want that. You're 16 again, don't you think that's at least a little bit of a perk?" he asked.
Dudley stared then sighed, willing his heart to stop hitting hard against his rib cage. "Maybe, ok, tell me more?" he asked.
"Right, I'm 36 Dudley, you went missing years ago; when we found you in that room it was yesterday. We found you in an abandoned house, no clue except the pod like thing you were in and goop stuff. You were then transported to the Department of Mysteries. Dudley, we think that stuff, the goop has some magical properties, we're not completely sure what it does but we're positive you are a wizard now" he explained.
Dudley stared at Harry then tilted his head, jumping when he heard a loud noise and found it was woman. A pretty woman holding a bag and Harry stood then kissed her lips "why did you need James clothes, I'm not sure I-" she paused looking at Dudley "now I see" she said.
Dudley blushed then covered himself more with the large blanket "there's a bathroom down that hall" Harry told him handing him the back. He nodded and left the room, once he was dressed in boxers, jeans, and a t-shirt he smiled feeling much better. He headed back to the office room with the blanket his hands.
The two turned to him "feel better?" Harry asked and Dudley nodded "good, now, this is my wife Ginny" he introduced.
Dudley turned to her and nodded "she's a um Wease- Wes-"
"Weasley" Harry filled him in "you remember?" he asked.
"Her brothers made my tongue grow that one time, of course I remember" Dudley replied then turned to Ginny and smiled "sorry I missed the wedding" he said sincerely, his way of making sense of it all.
"And 2 sons and a daughter" Harry added.
"So James is your son I'm guessing?" Dudley asked pulling on his t-shirt which was a little big on him and the pants a little long. It was clear James was tall and an athlete.
"James Sirius Potter, yup, he's the oldest and he's your age, technically. Albus Severus Potter is 14 and Lily Luna Potter is 12" he informed.
"God- I feel old, that's weird right?" Dudley asked.
"Yes" he turned to find the woman who was in the room when he woke walking in along with the man. "I have to file this, Harry, and I guess after that you can take him home" the woman added handing him the file.
"Right, that would be best, he's got a lot to do" Harry answered sitting at the desk and filling out information.
"Ginny, long time no see" the woman said.
"Hello Laurence, how have you been?" and thus a long conversation between women was born and Dudley and the man were left in the dust.
"How can they even go on for that long?" the man asked.
"Women are talented creatures" Dudley answered vaguely.
"Dudley, come on" Harry said, he got up over to him and Harry handed him some ash "throw it down in the fireplace and say very clearly Lemon Drops" he said.
Dudley nodded and went into the fireplace he threw the powder down then said "Lemon drops!" he was taken over by a swirl of green fire and landed himself in another fireplace and he moved remembering how Ginny had appeared in the fireplace and sure enough Ginny appeared followed by Harry.
"Um Harry?" Dudley paused.
"Yes?" Harry turned.
"What do we have to do?" Dudley asked remembering what he said before filling out the file or whatever. Harry raised his eyebrows then looked at Ginny who smiled.
"Hm what do we not have to do? Dudley, you're practically my son now so we have to buy a lot of things. New clothes, books, a wand, decorations for your room, a pet for Hogwarts, hm-"
"But do you have money for all that?" Dudley yelped, absorbing that he suddenly being raised by his cousin. It was very backwards but something he felt okay with, but this concerned him.
"Money? Dudley, in the wizarding world I'm Chief of Police and that gives me a lot of money" Harry assured him gesturing and for the first time Dudley looked around. Their house wasn't mansion like by any means at all but it was definitely not what you call small. "We have a lot of family, our house had to be good size" Ginny shrugged smiling with pride "I did all the decorations myself with paint and crafts" she added and Dudley though she sounded a little bit like a 5 year old but it was endearing so he just smiled back.
His house was never like this. Always the dark moods with contempt and jealousy but there was none of that here. "The kids are done with school and will be back tomorrow, how about we just go buy your room stuff first then the clothes and things later?" Ginny asked.
"Right then James and Al can help Dudley pick stuff out the rest, oh I suppose Lily will want to too" Harry replied laughing then sat down to write a long letter while Ginny explained where they would go and made a list of things he needed.
Harry had a very large owl (which, he'd informed to Dudley, was named Tibalt) fly off to deliver the letter "lets go" Harry said. Dudley nodded and he side-apparated with them and they were suddenly in London. They went into a department store "first we'll need a bed, a desk, oh definitely a desk chair, and-"
"Gin, let's focus on the bed first" Harry said amused.
"Oh, right, I forgot how much fun this was Harry, Dudley, we almost never get to shop for bedroom stuff" Ginny said cheerfully.
Dudley and Harry shrugged, they settled on a queen size bed "you're on the tall side Dud, I know for sure if we get a twin you'll grow out of it" Harry added and Ginny went to get a shop assistant to haul out the bed.
In 20 minutes they had it out in the back of the store "you sure you don't need help lifting it on your truck, ma'am?" a man asked.
"No thank you, we've got it?" Ginny assured and then man went back in, Ginny looked around "good, no cameras either" she pointed her hand and the plastic wrapped bed shrunk to palm size and Ginny placed it in her purse.
They got all the large items that way, just shrinking them down and finally they headed for the smaller details. "I like blue" Dudley said.
"Who wouldn't, with your eye color, dear?" Ginny asked smiling then ruffling his hair then she retracted her hand "oh sorry, Dudley, I keep forgetting you're my age" she said.
"It's alright, I haven't really matured anyway, mentally I mean but I guess physically too" he explained, more than a little confused on just exactly how old he really was.
"Then I will ruffle your hair all I like then" Ginny said and Harry snickered as Dudley gulped. Dudley finally decided on a blue and black checkered comforter and dark blue sheets. And then they apparated home, it was all but a moment for his room to get arranged because
Ginny did it with magic. "I think it's time for bed, yeah?" she asked.
Dudley nodded "I'll let you borrow James sweat pants" she said.
"Are you sure he won't mind?" he asked.
"Of course not, James will deny it to the ends of the earth but he's the most generous of our children" Harry added, Ginny nodded and went to go get the pajama's. Dudley couldn't picture what the kids would look like and it was almost unfathomable that they were close to his age.
He shook his head, done over thinking things and laid down to fall asleep.