There are some DH spoilers in here…so I wouldn't suggest reading it if you haven't finished it yet. But by now, I'm pretty sure anybody looking for a fic like this would've read it already.
Note: I have done some basic re-writing of this fic. Please start over from the beginning if you've already read it since I did some restructuring. I hope you enjoy!
"Ariana", Harry told the stone gargoyles. They immediately leapt aside and allowed Harry to enter the spiral staircase. He climbed it and knocked on the door.
"Enter," said a squeaky voice, though it was more commanding than it had been 19 years previously. Harry slid open the door and entered the headmaster's office.
"Good morning, Filius," Harry said, glancing at the portrait of Dumbledore. It was empty at the moment – he was no doubt off visiting another one of his many portraits. Severus Snape, however, was pretending to be asleep.
He glanced over sideways and saw the portrait of Minerva McGonagall looking disapprovingly at the falsely slumbering Severus. He chuckled…remembering that was the look McGonagall had given to any misbehaving students – imagine her giving it to one of her fellow colleagues?
"Ah, Harry, wonderful to see you here. To what do I owe the pleasure-?"
"Sir, Neville told me about Jade…"
"He did, did he?" Filius seemed slightly amused. "I should have guessed…"
"Is it…Is it all right if I go with Neville?"
"Certainly. It would be interesting to present one of our newest muggle-borns with the hero of the wizarding world," Flitwick said, a matter-of-factly. "Good luck!"
"Thank you, Filius." Harry then turned his back on the sleeping portrait of Severus Snape and climbed down the stairs.
Before he stepped outside onto the grounds, he paused for a look at a large plaque on the wall opposite of the house hourglass that recorded the house points. "Colin Creevy…Remus Lupin…Nymphadora Lupin…Fred Weasley…Severus Snape…" Those names stood out to him, but he also saw the names of a few D.A. members; and Marietta's name was mentioned as well. On top of the 50 names were the words: "In remembrance for all those who died for a better tomorrow."
A single tear slid down his cheek. These were the real heroes. They protected him while he went to search for the piece of Voldemort's soul. They gave their lives to help the people of the new generation – yet, somehow he was the one who got all the credit.
He pried his eyes off Cho's name and set off at a brisk pace towards the gates. As soon as he stepped beyond the gates, he spun on the spot and, after an unpleasant feeling of being shoved through a thin, rubber tube, he found himself in a familiar muggle landscape.
"Good morning, Neville," Harry said.
"Hey Harry. You ready?" Asked Neville.
"As ready as ever," Harry muttered. "This aught to be interesting." He let out a small grin. He found the house he was looking for, strolled up the driveway, and gave the door a few good knocks.
He had expected to hear someone explode into something related to "who the hell's calling at this time in the morning?", as it was rather early in the morning. Instead, a shy female voice called through the crack, "Who's there?"
"Are you sure they still live here?" Harry asked Neville. Neville nodded, pointing the address on the letter. Harry shrugged, "It is I, Harry Potter and Neville Longbottom, here to see your daughter Jade."
"S-Sorry…I'm afraid I don't know you. A-are you friends of her's?" Harry knew that her question was pointless – as they obviously sounded like two adults. "Or are you her teachers?"
"Um, yes, you can say that," Neville replied. "I, at least, will be her teacher if you accept our schooling opportunity." Harry looked at Neville, shaking his head. Muggles did not like anything remotely resembling a door-to-door advertiser, and he heard the woman inside stomp away.
Harry sighed, and looked at Neville. "How many times have you done this?"
"This is actually the first letter that I'm delivering to a muggle-born. I've never done it before – just promoted to head of Gryffindor this year, see?"
Harry nodded. "In that case, can I speak to Dudley Dursley, then?" Harry yelled at the door. No response. "DUDLEY!"
He heard mad scrambling and something rough grabbing the doorknob. Harry motioned Neville to step back, preparing to see his uncle's red face exploding in front of him within a second…
Instead, he saw a rather skinnier and more intelligent-looking Dudley standing at the doorway. He had slimmed greatly since Harry had last seen him. He was sporting a striped polo shirt and Harry rather thought that he might have even had muscles underneath. His hair was unkempt, as if he had just woken up. "Hello? How may I help you?"
"Good morning, Mr. Dursley. I'm Neville Longbottom. And…you probably know, this is Harry Potter."
Dudley's eyes landed on Harry's face. His jaw dropped down. "Oh…g-good morning, Harry. And Neville," he added hastily, his eyes landing on Neville once more. Seemingly regaining his manners, he said, "Come in, come in…"
Neville lumbered in happily; glad to get away from the cold. Harry followed him slowly, slightly suspicious to why Dudley warmed up to him like this. He followed Neville into the familiar sitting room and sat down on the couch. All around, there were pictures of a little boy and girl – pictures of Dudley's wedding ceremony, and of Vernon and Petunia Dursley. How Dudley ended up getting married was beyond him. But he did look different – and he certainly acted different.
"Tea? Coffee?" Dudley asked, bustling out of the kitchen, carrying mugs.
"Do you have any firewhisky or butterbeer?" Neville asked hopefully. I rather need something warm after being in that cold. As if to emphasize his point, he let out a little shiver.
Harry expected Dudley to explode at Harry for bringing in one of those freaks into his house – but once again, he was surprised.
"S-sorry. I'm afraid I don't know what that is," Dudley replied uncertainly.
"Ah well…I didn't expect you would. Just got my hopes up. Tea would be fine, thanks," Neville said.
"Same here," Harry added.
"All right," Dudley replied, and went back to the kitchen to get some warm tea.
"He doesn't seem so bad," Neville observed.
"I know. He's changed a lot. I noticed it when we last met…but this hospitality is ... unusual."
Dudley had returned with three mugs of tea. He set them on the table, and Neville grabbed one instantly and began warming his hands with it. Harry took his, and against his better judgment, began sipping it slowly without checking for poison first.
"Where's Vernon and Petunia?" Harry asked.
"At the senior center. Dad got a heart attack one day, so he and Petunia decided to retire and move in with him."
"Good," Harry said. It would be better to break the ice to Dudley without Vernon or Petunia here. "Well, I've got to tell you some-" But at that moment, the woman that Harry recognized as the person in Dudley's wedding picture walked in. So she was Dudley's wife.
"Good morning!" She said, jumping slightly. "You were the two men at the door, I presume?" She asked.
"Yes," Harry replied. He stood up, and shook the woman's hand. "I'm Harry Potter – Dudley's cousin. And this is my friend, Neville Longbottom."
"Pleased to meet you," Neville said, shaking her hand as well.
"So you're Harry Potter!" The woman said.
Harry's heart skipped a beat. This woman was a witch? Then surely, their daughter wasn't muggle-born. Where were all the magic contraptions? And why would Dudley marry a witch? Those questions swirled around him until he heard Neville speak.
"You know Harry?" Neville asked.
"Of course! Dudley's mentioned him a few times."
Harry's heart skipped a beat again. Dudley talked about him to his wife? He glanced at Dudley, who appeared to be looking away, as if embarrassed.
Dudley's wife sat down next to Dudley, and said, "He's told me some stories. Said he was really sorry about how he treated you back when you were little. Couldn't imagine you coming to visit him after what happened…" Her voice trailed away.
Harry looked at Dudley, awestruck. "Is this true?"
"Yeah," Dudley replied. He looked up and stared straight into Harry's eyes. "When those…d-dementor things attacked me, I saw…I saw myself as what I really was. I saw myself as a spoiled brat – as a pothead – as a failing student…as a bad person. And I saw how I treated you, and instantly began feeling guilty. I saw all the bad things I had ever done to you- all the bad things I had ever done to anyone. I decided the next morning that I was going to change. But by then, you were already gone…"
Dudley's wife shook her head. "Sorry about that. Dudley keeps on talking about those 'dementor' things. I don't know what he's trying to mean by that. But I assure you, he's changed. He really did change from how he treated you when he was little."
Harry found that he believed her. Dudley telling someone about him, telling something about the wizarding world was so unprecedented that there was nothing else to believe than to believe her.
"I believe you," Harry told Dudley's pleading eyes. They seemed to relax.
"Well then," Dudley's wife said, clasping her hands. "I'll leave you two to your little family reunion. Oh, I'm Laura, by the way. Nice to meet you…" With that, Laura left the sitting room to prepare breakfast.
"So…" Dudley began, "Why did you come here? Not to be rude or anything, but you surely had a reason-?"
"Yes," Neville said. He had been watching the proceeding events, looking rather amused. He suddenly remembered that there was business at hand – and that he had to deliver several more letters that week. It wouldn't do to fall behind schedule on his first delivery. "Erm…we wanted to talk to you about your daughter. Could we speak to her, now?"
Dudley glanced at the clock, which read 6:45 AM. "Don't you think you came a little early? She's an eleven-year old girl…"
"Has anything unusual been happening around her lately?" Neville interrupted.
Dudley looked at him oddly. "Wha-"
"It's no problem," Harry interrupted. "We'll come back in an hour or two once your daughter wakes up."
"No!" Dudley said. Harry glanced at him. "I just…erm…wanted to catch up, you know?"
Harry looked at Dudley in surprise. "Oh. Sure! Let's find somewhere to talk…what about my old room?"
Dudley glanced up at the roof. "There might be a problem with that-" Dudley said. "You see, when Dedalus and Hestia finally let us go, we came back to this house. But it looked a little different, you know? Everything was brand new – like it was newly built. And your door was locked shut. Nothing would open it."
Harry had been expecting something like this. "I think the Death Eaters came over and destroyed your house while you were in hiding. Told you running away was a good idea. In any case, I'll bet the Order came and fixed your house. I can't imagine why they'd lock my door, though."
Harry pondered over this for a while. "Hey, Neville."
"Yeah?" Neville asked.
Harry threw him a remote control. "This thing controls that box over there. Play with it for a while…" Harry and Dudley left a completely amused Neville to play over the television set.
"Hopefully Laura won't see Neville like that. She'd think your friend was mad…" Dudley chuckled. Harry cracked a grin – his cousin sure had changed. Usually a dementor attack was a bad thing – but in this case, it did good. Ordering the dementors on Dudley and him was probably the only good thing Dolores Umbridge did in her life.
They reached the top of the stairs, and Dudley gestured a closed door to Harry. It was his old bedroom. Harry grabbed the doorknob and shook it – and it remained shut. He tried jiggling it and began looking for a keyhole that simply wasn't there.
Harry decided to take out his wand (Dudley flinched), waved it, and said, "Alohamora". Something deep inside the door clicked, and he heard Dedalus Diggle say, "Welcome back, Harry Potter!"
Suddenly, the door swung open, and a huge display of fireworks greeted him that he thought he'd gone blind. "Muffliato!" He yelled, so as to drown out the noise the room was making. Luckily, Jade hadn't woken up and Laura and Neville did not come running.
"Come in," Harry said, grabbing Dudley and slamming the door shut. After a few minutes, when the fireworks and the unbelievable sound died down, Harry finally dared open his eyes.
"Those noises made my ears buzz," Dudley complained.
"Huh? Oh…my bad." Harry waved his wand again and the buzzing in both their ears, and presumably the other inhabitants of the house, disappeared.
"Thanks, Harry." Dudley suddenly fell quiet, and his jaw dropped open again.
For the first time, Harry glanced around the room. It certainly wasn't the same room that he'd left it as. It was magically magnified to be 5 times the size it previously was, with humming instruments whirring in one corner, a Sneakoscope in the other, and a wall of bookshelves filled with books. There were Gryffindor hangings on one side of the wall, and a large banner of Harry zooming across the Quidditch field in the other. A huge window bearing the view of the Hogwarts lake took up an entire wall, causing sunshine to stream in (despite the obvious cloudy weather outside.)
Dudley looked near fainting, and Harry carried him over to a couch, where he (conveniently) found a wizard herb for curing dizziness. He glanced around the room, staring at the moving pictures of himself, Ron, Hermoine, and a multitude of other people. "Dedalus Diggle outdid himself this time," Harry thought, smiling.
"Wow," Dudley whispered. "If mum and dad found out that this was in their house this entire time…"
Harry grinned. He imagined Vernon pulling out great tufts of his hair and yelling at the fireworks display and the moving pictures, and he saw Petunia trying to whack them with a broomstick, which would immediately begin levitating…
After the initial shock of seeing Harry's new bedroom, which took nearly half-an-hour, Dudley had already clambered up and examining the books lining the shelves.
"Since when did you begin to take an interest in books?" Harry asked.
"Since the dementor attack. I realized how absolutely stupid I was and forced myself to read." Dudley looked at Harry guiltily. "I used to sneak downstairs to the cupboard under the stairs and read your school textbooks. Some books were actually rather interesting…" Dudley replied. He randomly pulled off a book entitled "A Study of Western European Society, Level 1, Muggle Studies." He plopped into a cushion and began reading.
Harry had to admit, he liked this Dudley much better. He was no longer astonished that Dudley had managed to find a wife. However, there was a job left to do, so he went over to Dudley and said, "Big D, I do have something to say, remember?"
Dudley jerked up from the book. "You guys got it all wrong. Napoleon wasn't German…"
"Actually, he was," Harry said. "Napoleon was really a wizard (how else did he conquer everyone else so easily?), but the German Ministry of Magic was more stable than France's at the time, so he quickly manipulated it…and well, you'll see. The muggle version was written after the Obliviators went and wiped everyone's minds."
Dudley's mouth formed a rather amusing "O" shape. "In any case," Harry said, taking the book from Dudley and setting it on a table, "Let's talk. You can read this entire library on your own accord."
"How am I going to keep this secret from my wife and children?" Dudley asked.
"You might not have to…" Harry said. "But," he said, cutting off Dudley, who had every intention of interrupting, "I want to ask some questions."
"Sure," Dudley said.
"Well, what happened after you guys left?"
"What the bloody hell?" Vernon screamed at Dedalus Diggle.
"Sorry sir. The sensation of apparition does take a while to get used to," A thoroughly frightened Dedalus replied.
"What do you mean, takes a while to get used to? You bloody suffocated me!" Vernon screamed.
"All right, all right, let's settle down." Hestia Jones said, brandishing her wand. That effectively shut Vernon up, although his face was still red.
"Well, we're in the Muggle port city of Cowes, in the Isle of Wight," a thoroughly shaken Dedalus said.
Sure enough, Dudley could smell the salty scent in the air.
"Here's the logistics. You-Know-Who's going to be rather angry that you escaped right under his nose – and if all goes well, Harry will have escaped too-"
Vernon let out a horrible strangling noise, which he faked off as a violent sneeze.
Hestia looked unnervingly at him, then continued, "If that's the case, he will be really mad. We'll have to keep you guys inside 24/7."
Dudley began complaining, but Hestia interrupted. "There will be television and food and other stuff…"
"But I kinda want to go out, take a walk, and stretch my legs once in a while!" Dudley said.
Uncle Vernon looked at Dudley in an odd way, but otherwise ignored the odd comment.
Not to worry, Dedalus Diggle said, "After a few days of this simple routine, we'll be allowing you out again. We doubt that You-Know-Who will be looking for you when there's other things to do…"
Vernon and Petunia nodded, their faces still grave.
"Well, come on!" Hestia Jones said. The group followed her for a short ways, until they came upon a small, rundown apartment. The were begrudgingly ushered in, but the internal of the apartment was rather different than the external parts: the room wasn't exactly lavish, but it was very livable and rather comfortable-looking as well.
"We'll be staying with you and watching what you do, so you don't do anything stupid" Hestia began, "but other than that, you're left to your own devices."
"Now, what do you mean by that?" Vernon seemed to regain his nerve. "You haven't got the authority to order us around like that!"
"Why yes we do!" Hestia Jones said, pointing her wand at Vernon threateningly. Vernon shrunk back and said nothing else.
Harry grinned. He had a newfound respect for Hestia Jones after hearing this part of Dudley's story. She reminded Harry comically as Arabella Figg, as she whacked Mundugus Fletcher upside the head for leaving Harry and Dudley alone to fight the Dementors.
"Continue, please," Harry said. Dudley nodded. "We just stayed in that apartment for a few days, then moved. It happened routinely for a couple weeks, when they finally let me out to stretch my legs."
Dudley was walking down a rather bustling street in Paisley, some city in Scotland. He turned a corner and found a rather inviting diner, so he went in and sat down.
"Good morning, how may I help you?" A rather attractive looking girl asked.
"I'll just have a cup of tea and some bacon, please," Dudley said, fishing out a 20 pence coin and a two pound coin.
"That girl, she's Laura, isn't she?"
"Yep," Dudley replied. "I ended up visiting that diner every day of that week that I was there. We began becoming friends – and we'd talk for hours every day after her shift ended. She asked what I was doing here and I made an elaborate story about witnessing murder and being protected and moved around until the trial – for my safety. I was stupid enough not to ask for her phone number when I left; but I drove up to Glasgow after we were told we were safe and met up with heragain. Never did tell her the truth about you, though…"
Harry nodded. It seems as if Voldemort managed to get Dudley a wife. It was interesting how two of the most feared things the wizarding world has seen in modern times had both managed to do good to Dudley.
Harry glanced at the large, ornate clock on the wall. It read 7:30 AM. "Come on, Dudley, let's go downstairs."
"What about your story?" Dudley asked Harry.
"Well…" Harry scratched his thin thoughtfully. "I haven't the time right now to explain. It's complex, you know? There are lots of books here that can tell you that…but…" Harry pulled out a volume called "Harry Potter and the Second Wizarding War" by Hermoine Granger. "Just read this anytime you want – its very accurate. Just stay away from that one," he said, pointing at Rita Skeeter's book.
Dudley stared at the large book Harry had just handed him. Even though Dudley began reading, it was obvious that he rarely tacked such a large book. Hermoine must have thought it was a bit of light reading when she wrote it. Harry chuckled.
"Come on, we need to get Neville away from the television and get organized. There's something we need to tell you, you're wife, and Jade. By the time we're done, there probably won't be a reason to hide this room anymore."
Dudley gaped. "W-what? You're telling my wife about magic? And why are you telling this to my daughter? She's the younger one, you know. My son would probably just laugh…"
Harry's eyes glanced at the mention of an older son. So only one of Dudley's children were magical. Harry dearly hoped this wouldn't spark a similar rivalry that torn apart his mother from her sister.
After dragging Neville away from the television ("Look, Harry! Muggles have figured out how to make moving portraits without magic!"), and introducing himself to his nephew, who hugged him tightly, as if he was a long-lost relative, he took the Dursleys and their children to the sitting room.
Neville handed Jade a letter, and Dudley let out a loud gasp. Laura looked at him oddly. Jade eagerly ripped open the letter and began reading it.
"This isn't really funny," Jade said, looking up at the two men. "What does it mean?" Laura took the letter from her and began reading it. Dudley looked a little white. Apparently, old hate dies hard.
"What's this supposed to mean?" Laura asked, waving the peace of parchment.
"It means your daughter is a witch," Neville said, with emphasis, as if trying to awe the family. Harry facepalmed.
"What did you call my daughter?" Laura asked, starting to look rather ferocious.
"Neville, I told you, Muggles use that word as an insult. It is very rude to call them that."
"Oh…yeah…"
Harry turned to Laura. "He meant that Jade is a witch – a person who is able to perform magic." He pulled out his wand, pointed at the fireplace mantlepiece and suddenly, the picture of Dudley in his wedding portrait began moving, wrapping his arms tightly around a laughing Laura.
Laura stared at the moving picture, and fainted. "You'll run into this problem a lot, Neville," Harry said.
"Yeah…Filius told me stuff like this might happen," Neville said, conjuring up a vial with a sickly green potion in it. He knelt down and administered some to the fainted Laura.
Laura began to stir, Dudley still looked rather pale, but some color began returning. Connor (the Dursley's son) was staring at the unfolding events curiously, though he didn't seem really surprised.
Jade was jumping up and down, screaming, "I knew it! I knew there was something special about me: I mean, how could you explain that time when I made that dead flower bloom?" Harry glanced at Jade weirdly. "Or when my report card disappear, because I got a couple Fs? And…" She faltered when Dudley stared at her sharply.
"You did what?"
"N-nothing, dad."
Dudley decided to let it go. "S-so, our daughter is a witch?"
Harry nodded. He was rather interested to see how he would take this.
"Oh, please, dad, let me go! Please!" Jade begged, pointing at her letter.
"Of course you can go," Dudley said. "But you might get disowned by grandpa and grandma…"
"I don't care," Jade said, her arms in a cross. " I never liked them much."
Harry chuckled, "I never liked them much, either." He was still surprised that Dudley had let his daughter attend Hogwarts. I mean, sure he's changed and all…but this is a radical departure from Dudley's previous philosophy.
"Oh, yeah, Dad told me about how grandma and grandpa would abuse you…" Jade's voice trailed off.
Harry glanced over at Connor, who was no longer smiling, but just staring forward with a bit of indifference.
"You seem to be taking this rather well," Harry told Connor.
Connor shrugged. "I kinda knew something like this would happen. Jade showed me her abilities, and though at first I thought she was just performing some magic tricks, I was soon forced to believe that some were too elaborate to be faked."
Harry nodded. "Are you fine?"
Connor nodded. "It's disappointing that I can't go to Hog…the school. And well, it's disappointing that I'm not a wizard as well, but just knowing that another world exists out there…it's a gift, you know? Not many people know about this – and I'm happy to be honored the gift to be able to know there are wizards and witches running around."
Harry nodded, this time smiling. "Dudley raised you well."