Acknowledgements
Once again we visit Harry Potter and his friends in the world that the amazing J. K. Rowling created for us. Those of us who like writing stories but are unable to put together a coherent world or subculture owe much to the skills and abilities of writers such as Ms Rowling.
This story takes place a few years after the end of the original series.
Prologue
Dudley Dursley held up the cage and looked at the barn owl inside. "Yes," he said to the shop owner, "this one will do nicely."
"I assure you," the shopkeeper said, "it will make a brilliant mouser."
"Good. Come on, Veronica, come away from the kittens."
"Daddy, couldn't we get a kitten instead? Please? Cats can catch mice, too."
"No, dear. We'll have to try this owl first. I'll tell you what. If the owl doesn't work out, I'll think about a cat. But we need to try the owl first."
"Ok, Daddy," she muttered, belligerently. "But I hope the stupid owl fails."
Dudley frowned and gazed at the owl. It better not fail, he thought. I don't care if it catches a single mouse but it better not fail.
Later that night Dudley took the owl's cage out to the back yard of #4 Privet Drive, the house he had grown up in and had inherited from his parents. Setting the cage on an old tree stump, he reached in and tied a note to the owl's leg. "Please don't fail me. I really need this to work," he told the owl. Taking the owl from the cage he told it, "Please take this note to Harry Potter," and tossed the owl into the air. He watched as the owl circled once or twice and veered northward.
Chapter One – The Message
Harry walked in the front door and called out, "Hi, Honey. I'm home."
"Hi, Daddy. Mum's out in the yard. We're going to Diagon Alley tomorrow so I can get what I need to start Hogwarts next month. Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione and Hugo are coming over for dinner. Do you think Hugo and I'll be in the same House? I'm not sure I want to be in Gryffindor with James and Albus and Rose. Maybe Hugo and I will be in Ravenclaw. But not Slytherin."
Harry smiled tolerantly as his daughter rambled on. She's so much like her mother, he thought. "Whoa, Lily. Slow down and breathe. You'll be wonderful in whatever house the Sorting Hat puts you in. And there's nothing wrong with Slytherin."
"Yes there is," she insisted. "It's in the dungeon and too cold and damp. I want to be in a house high up where I can see out and be warm!"
"Right, that would be a problem in Slytherin," Harry agreed, laughing.
Going out to the garden, Harry saw Ginny tending the vegetable patch. As always, the sight of her trim form and flaming red hair caused his heart to swell with love. Every time he saw her he was astounded that someone so wonderful would be with him.
"How long are you going to stand there and stare at me?" Ginny asked without seeming to have noticed him.
How does she DO that? he thought. "I don't know. But not long enough since I never tire of looking at you."
"Twit!" she replied, smiling. "I'm dirty and sweaty and not very attractive right now and…"
He quickly crossed the yard and took her in his arms. "I think you're beautiful no matter what. Don't you know that the sight of you like this makes me see the real you? Not the Ginny you show the world, but the real Ginny; the woman I love."
She leaned back in his arms and cocked one eyebrow at him. "Silver-tongued devil, aren't you? Well I love it and I love you, too. By the way, there's an owl for you. He wouldn't let me take the message so you'd better go find out what he wants."
"What about what I want?" Harry asked, leering at her.
She wriggled against him provocatively while hitting him in the shoulder, sending intentionally mixed signals. "Later," she said, pulling away from him. She glanced back over her shoulder and winked, "I promise!"
Harry grinned in anticipation, then sighed and approached the owl. Talking to it, he untied the note from its leg. Once released, the owl took off.
Opening the note, Harry turned stone cold.
Harry,
I know you probably never wanted to hear from me after the way I treated you while we were growing up. The fact is that I've thought about you a lot recently and am sorry things were the way they were.
Even so, I probably would have respected your wishes and not contacted you except that I need your help. Desperately!
I inherited #4 Privet Drive when my parents died and am living there. If you could see your way through to meeting with me here tomorrow night I would be in your debt.
Please, Harry.
Dudley
"Harry? Are you ok?" Ginny asked. "You look a bit shocked."
"It's from my cousin Dudley Dursley. It seems he has a problem and is asking for my help."
"What kind of problem?"
"He doesn't say. He…"
Lily popped out the back door. "Mum, Daddy, Aunt Hermione and Uncle Ron are here."
"Bollocks!" Ginny murmured. "Harry, entertain them while I take a quick shower."
Lily escorted the guests out to the yard. "Hi, everyone," Ginny said hurriedly. "Please excuse me for a few minutes while I clean up. Harry, get them something to drink." And with that, she was gone.
"Hugo, why don't you and Lily go compare notes for your shopping trip tomorrow? Hi, Harry," Hermione said throwing her arms around him and giving him a hug. "Hear anything from the boys at school?"
"Well, James is in detention again for playing tricks on the first-years. If I didn't know better I'd say he was the reincarnation of your brother, Ron. Albus, on the other hand, seems to be taking after me. He is mild, studious, attentive in class…"
Hermione snorted back a laugh. "Oh, yeah. That's like you. NOT!"
Harry grinned. "Actually, he seems to be slated for the Quiddich team. We may have another Seeker in the family."
"I wouldn't bet on it, Harry," Ron said. "Rose says she's trying out for the position and I think she'll get it. Of course, I'd like her to be a great Keeper like her Dad but she wants to be Seeker."
"'A great Keeper like her Dad?' What great Keeper? I thought you were her dad, Ron," Harry teased, knowing that Ron had saved the House Cup for Gryffindor several times.
Hermione looked gently back and forth between them. They're like kids, she thought. It's hard to believe they are the two most famous wizards in the world today. And that I seem to share the spotlight. Not what I would have expected back in my first year at Hogwarts when I had no friends and little hope of making any.
"Harry, why don't you fire up grill," Ginny suggested, coming back looking all clean, crisp, and groomed. "You and Ron volunteered to do the cooking, remember?"
Ron and Harry looked at each other in mock horror. "We DID?" they exclaimed simultaneously.
"You DID!" Ginny and Hermione responded similarly.
After they had eaten, Harry told Ron and Hermione about the letter he had received from Dudley Dursley. "What are you going to do, Harry?" Hermione asked.
"I think I need to go see what he wants. He is my cousin, after all."
"Yeah," Ron said, "but that didn't keep him from treating you like dirt all those years. Remember him using you as a punching bag. And how about picking on you all the time when you couldn't use magic to fight back."
"Are you saying Harry shouldn't go, Ron? That he should ignore the letter?" Ginny asked.
"Hell, no. He should go and see what's up. He should just remember the past before agreeing to something that may not be a good thing."
"What do we know about Dudley?" Hermione asked. "Do you know how his life has turned out? What does he do? Is he married?"
"I don't know," Harry admitted. "All I know is that Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon are dead and Dudley is living in the old house on Privet Drive. Other than that, nothing."
"Daddy," Lily piped up, "who is this Dudley person and why do you dislike him?"
"He's my cousin, sweetie. His mother was my mother's sister. When my parents were killed by Voldemort, the headmaster at Hogwarts took me to be raised by my Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon. They hated wizards and magic, absolutely forbidding it in their house. In fact, they never even told me that I was a wizard. I found out from Hagrid when he delivered my letter to Hogwarts. They told me that my parents were killed in an automobile crash. Their son, Dudley, was a spoiled, overweight bully who picked on me all the time. Until the day I saved his life from Dementors. We were never friends but after that he understood the difference between us even if he didn't like it. The thing about Dudley was that he was actually smarter than his parents but they had trained him to their way of thinking."
"Then I think you should go see him," Lily said. "Maybe he's changed."
"And if not, you can punch him in the nose," Hugo added.