Dudley looked around to see if he'd forgotten anything. As usual, he had. He grabbed the little bag of carrots and threw them into the sparkly, pink lunch-box. "Emmeline? You ready to go?" Dudley grabbed his car keys from the flowerpot by the garage door and looked up to see his daughter coming down the stairs. Her wavy, strawberry-blond hair in two braids and a sparkly, pink backpack on her shoulders. Dudley smiled as she reached him.
"Ready!" Emmeline said brightly, smiling up at her dad and taking her lunch-box, which looked extremely odd in Dudley's big hand.
Dudley pulled out of their driveway and stopped at the end to quickly grab their newspaper from the wet, morning grass. He got a glance of the front page as he put in the seat next to him. His ex-wife, a model, looked back up at him from the paper. Dudley sighed and turned back to look at the road. They had been divorced for just over nine years now. They had been married for two years and had an 18 month old baby when she suddenly announced one day that she no longer wanted to be a mother or a wife. It had been really difficult for him at first, but since he and his cousin, Harry, had been going out for drinks about once a week already, he just turned to Harry, who helped Dudley through the shock. Now Dudley was a single dad and the boxing coach at a local high school. Quite honestly, Dudley loved his life now and wouldn't change it for anything. His daughter meant everything to him. Just last week, Emmeline turned 11 and the two of them went to the beach together. This week Em had been in summer camp while he coached a summer boxing workshop, but after today, it would be back to just the two of them. Dudley couldn't wait; he'd already planned a special dinner for that night.
When they arrived at Emmeline's day camp, Dudley got out of the car, gave her a kiss and told he'd be back, same time as always, in the afternoon. He watched her go and thought of how much she had changed in the last couple years. He could already tell she was well on her way to her teens, and judging by how quickly childhood flew by, Dudley knew it was only a matter of time until she passed her teen years too.
That evening they had just finished an early dinner and were about to settle down to watch an international boxing tournament on the television, when their door bell rang. Dudley frowned. It was still early in the evening, only 6:30, but he couldn't remember inviting anyone to come by.
Emmeline sat on the couch, peering over the top like a little mouse while Dudley open the door and few feet away. Dudley opened the door and he recognized their visitor, but he was shocked by who it was. Melville? Nel...Nehhh...Nathan? Something that starts with an N, right? Dudley stared at his visitor while trying to remember their name. The guy was a close friend of Harry's. Dudley had met the guy multipul times, they had both even been in Harry's wedding a few years ago, but it had been a while...
The visitor saw the confusion on Harry's cousin's face but didn't say anything for a moment because he was confused too. He had been told who he was supposed to visit that night, and the name had sounded familiar, but he never expected it to be Harry's cousin! The visitor held out his hand to Dudley, "Erm...Neville Longbottom, sir. Dudley, isn't it?"
"Oh yes! Of course! Sorry, I was having a little trouble putting a name to the face...uh, is everything alright? Can I help you with anything?" Dudley felt really awkward. He didn't know if he should invite Neville in. They weren't really friends, but they weren't really complete strangers either. Ah well, he's a friend of Harry's and he fought in the war...i can trust him..."err...you- you wanna step in for a minute?"
"Uh yeah, that'd be great actually. Sorry to interrupt your evening. I didn't realize it was you, who i was being sent to visit." Neville stepped in the house. It was a very nice house. It was small and old, but well built, and cozily decorated. Neville looked up at Harry's cousin and felt his ears go a little pink with the awkwardness. " well, I, uh, suppose i ought to say why i'm here?"
Neville asked Dudley the question, but it was really more like a statement. "Yeah, i s'pose. Do, er would you like to sit down?"
Emmeline came off the couch. Her dad obviously knew the man, so she figured it was safe. Before Neville could answer he father's last question, she answered for him. "Here, you can come sit on the couch with us. I'm Emmeline." She gave him a warm, friendly smile and led him to the couch. "So? Who are you?"
"Emmeline! Be polite— ask his name or his purpose. Don't just demand both at the same time with no sense of manner!" Dudley reprimanded his daughter. His mother, her grandmother, was a very manners oriented person, so both Emmeline and Dudley were raised to be manner conscience, and Dudley also wanted his daughter to be respectful to her 'Uncle' Harry's friend.
Neville smiled pleasantly, "oh don't worry, no offense taken. My grandmother is quite the manners fanatic too." He said this last sentence with a smile to Emmeline, before continuing, "and I am here," Neville turned to make eye-contact with Dudley, "-because it is customary that a professor from Hogwarts give Muggle-born students, their acceptance letters in person since most muggle families, yours being the exception of course, are not aware of our world." Neville finished, still looking at Dudley, watching this information digest. Emmeline looked a little confused.
"What world?" Confused, Emmeline looked at her father, questioningly.
He father looked up at her, his face spreading into a wide, proud smile. "Harry's world, Emmeline. You know how he and I always tell you stories about a magical world?" He looked at his daughter, who nodded, intrigued. Dudley smiled, "Well, those weren't just fairytales. Harry is a wizard, and when we were eleven years old, he recieved a letter, accepting him to Hogwarts—Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."
Emmeline's eyes were as big a saucers. Neville smiled apologetically, "Sorry, I didn't realize she didn't know that yet. I just assumed she did, especially when I saw the Tales of Beedle The Bard." He nodded his head in the direction of a large tome, sitting on a nearby coffee table.
"Oh yeah, and that book of fairytales you love from Harry, are childrens storiesnfor witches and wizards. Neville, I'm assuming, is about to tell you that your blood is magical. That would mean that you're a witch." Dudley watched his daughter, monitoring her facial expressions. He was relieved to see she didn't look offended by being called a witch.
Neville nodded at what Dudley said. "Exactly! Emmeline, I am a close friend of Harry's. he and I went to Hogwarts together, and after we finished school, I went back to teach when my favorite professor retired. If you would like to, you can attend Hogwarts in the fall and start your magical training. You seem to have inherited some of your grandmother's sister's magical blood." Neville smiled at the awe struck girl.
Emmeline turned to her dad, excitement all over her face. "Daddy? Can i go?"
Dudley smiled at his daughter, feeling prouder of her than he ever had before. "Absolutely."
Neville stayed for over two hours at Dudley's and Emmeline's house. Normally, Neville never stayed longer than an hour at muggle families houses. If the Dursley's had been a regular family, Neville would have filled them in and left them with a packet of information, but he knew Dudley to an extent, and it had been seven years since they last saw each other, at Harry's wedding to Ginny. Surprisingly, Neville and Dudley got along really well. They told Emmeline stories about the wizarding world and their childhoods. Neville was also pleased by how interested Dudley seemed in Neville's job. Neville had taken over Professor Sprout's job ten years ago as Herbology professor at Hogwarts when Professor Sprout retired. Dudley actually knew a lot about muggle plants, so they spent a little while discussing the differences between some of the plants that existed in one world versus the plant's equivalent in the other's world.
It was just after 9:00 when Neville stood up, thanked Dudley and Emmeline for the visit and said he had to get up early the next morning for some research he was doing on a species of magical plants and their effect on dragon-pox. Even though there was already a cure for the disease, there was hope for finding a faster, more long-lasting cure.
Dudley opened the door for Neville and shook the wizard's hand. "It was great to see you, man! Come by again, maybe we can get drinks sometime?"
Neville happily agreed to hangout with Dudley again soon. After after giving Emmeline a friendly hug and congratulations, he left.
Dudley turned around and smiled back at his smiling daughter. "I'm going to miss you, but I am so proud of you!" He gave his daughter a long tight hug before going back into the tv room to discuss her coming adventure.
Dudley and Emmeline sent Harry a letter immediately after Neville left. Then they called Dudley's parents and arranged to have breakfast with them the next morning because he and Emmeline had some 'exciting' news.
Vernon and Petunia had been completely shocked by the news of Emmeline's acceptance to Hogwarts. Vernon just sat there looking grumpy, but to everyones' surprise Petunia really was genuinely happy. Dudley could tell this was exactly what the family needed to get his parents and Harry to mend their relationship. He was excited to think of everything the future now held. He was so proud.
The rest of the summer passed in a blur, and before Dudley knew it, he and Petunia were walking into King's Cross Station on September 1st with Emmeline. Harry had bought her a large, snowy, owl, much like his first owl, Hedwig, so she could stay in touch with her family, especially her father, who Harry knew, was going to miss Emmeline the most.
The night of September 1st he received no news from Emmeline, but early in the evening, he had recieved a small letter, with the Hogwarts crest, from Neville, letting Dudley know that Emmeline had arrived safely at school and already seemed to have a large group of friends.
On September 2nd, Dudley received a letter from Emmeline's new, large, snowy, owl (now named Gildina, the name of a famous, female, Herbologist that Neville had told her about), informing him that she had been sorted into Ravenclaw. She was extremely excited and felt very welcomed by her older house-mates. Teddy, Harry's godson, who Emmeline usually saw a couple times a year at holidays, was a Gryffindor in his third year at Hogwarts, and he enthusiastically introduced her to all of his friends as his cousin. She was flattered and already, it seemed, half the school knew she was a blood-relative of Harry Potter's.
A month after Emmeline had started Hogwarts, he received another excited letter from Emmeline. Her favorite class was now Herbology, but most importantly, she informed her father that, though first years usually didn't play quidditch, she had been selected by Ravenclaw's team captain to play as reserve beater. One of her house's beaters was a seventh year, so next year when he was gone, he'd need to be replaced. Beaters were usually male, but with her training as a boxer (she didn't do a lot of boxing, even if the muggle world, but she did some since her dad was a coach. The sport gave her strong muscles, though, and a better ability than most girls to self-defend incase of an emergency) she had the upper arm strength for a beater. She had also played baseball a couple summers ago when she and Dudley have visited friends in the United States for a month, so Emmeline was good with a bat. On top of all that, she was small so she could maneuver easily on a broom. She was really excited by the honor of being asked to play, especially since Teddy played the same position for Gryffindor.
To say the least, Emmeline loved Hogwarts. Dudley missed her, every second she was gone, but he saw her on Holidays and wrote Emmeline daily and Neville weekly. Emmeline Dursley was a witch, and Dudley Dursley was a proud, proud father.