A/N: Like I said, total re-write.
Disclaimer: Yeah, right. I don't own it. Never have and never will.
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The next day Harry woke at 9. He was allowed to watch T.V. and wasn't asked to do anything. Harry knew it was too good to be true. Uncle Vernon summoned him into the living room.
"Now Potter, since you go to that school..."
"Why don't you call it what it is, now that Dudley goes there?"
"Silence! Since you go to that school, you know where to get all the books he'll need. Tomorrow you two are going to London to buy his books. I expect you to treat him like a brother, or else." said Vernon.
"Fine, but he needs money." said Harry.
"How much?" said Uncle Vernon, digging into his wallet. Harry did the familiar calculations and came up with an answer.
"50 pounds, maybe a little more." Vernon handed him 100.
"I expect you to spend that all on him. Oh, and this came." he handed Harry his letter. The next day Dudley and Harry walked into The Leaky Cauldron. The pub silenced. He was used to this so he paid no attention and walked back to the entrance.
"Is this the entrance?" asked Dudley. Vernon had given Dudley a talking to. He told Dudley that if he was mean in anyway to Harry, he wouldn't be going. Harry tapped the bricks and the entrance appeared. They walked through and entered Diagon Ally.
"Where are we going first?" asked Dudley.
"Gringotts, a wizarding bank." answered Harry, seeing the confused look on Dudley's face. They went to Gringotts and got the cash exchange. Harry also went down to his vault and got some of his money, careful not to show Dudley how much money he actually had. They emerged from Gringotts and ran into Ron.
"Hi ya Harry. Mum and Dad are finally letting me go off by myself. Where you going? Who's that?" Ron said pointing beside Harry.
"Ron, this is Dudley. Dudley, Ron." said Harry, introducing them. They took off walking towards Madam Malkin's Robes For All Occasions. They waited for Dudley to get fitted for his robes.
"Do you think there is a robe big enough for him?" asked Ron which sent them both into a fit of laughter. Dudley emerged with a bag. They walked to get him his books and ingredients for potions. Then Dudley asked about a wand. He went inside Ollivander's Wand Shop and came out 5 minutes later.
"So Dud, what kind?"
"A phoenix tail is in it and it's made from Oak."
"Oh. How much money do you have left?" Harry asked. He counted.
"3 gold things, 2 silver and 15 bronze. Is that a lot?"
"Enough to buy an owl." said Harry.
"Harry!" said a voice about 5 feet behind him. He turned and Hermione came running up. He took her in a hug and quickly kissed her head before anyone could see. Ever since the Ministry incident he kept thinking about how it almost killed him to see her hit and realized he loved her. It only took a few hours back at Hogwarts to tell her and she confessed her love for him. Wanting to not draw attention from The Daily Prophet they were keeping their relationship secret, only the few in the DA who went with them knew.
"It's good to see you love." Hermione whispered as she let go. Harry took the bags she was carrying from her.
"You to sweetheart." said Harry, Hermione smiled and gave Ron a quick hug before Harry took her hand in his. He turned around to introduce Hermione to Dudley but she was already ahead of him.
"Hi, I'm Hermione Granger. Who are you?" she asked extending her hand. Dudley looked at her as if she was vermin on the sole of his shoe.
"Hermione, this is my cousin, Dudley." Harry said in a drone voice.
"I though he was a muggle." Hermione asked Harry.
"Don't call me that!" Dudley shouted.
"Dud, all it means is your not a wizard or witch." Harry corrected. He turned to Hermione. "Dudley got a letter from Hogwarts. I guess you can't deny that."
"Oh, well Dudley I hope you learn to use magic responsibly." Harry and Ron snorted. Hermione glared at them. They started walking towards Flourish and Blotts.
"Have you gotten your books?" Harry asked Hermione.
"Not yet. I was planning on meeting you and we could all buy books together." Hermione said as she put her arm around Ron's waist. He slung his arm around her neck.
"You do know she's mine, right?" Harry joked. Ron nodded and pretended to look disappointed. He couldn't hold it for long before laughing.
Opening the door, Ron led Harry, Hermione and Dudley into the bookshop.
"Ok Dud, you still have your list?" Dudley nodded. "Ron will help you get your books and…"
"He's your cousin." Ron retorted.
"Ok; then you get to help Hermione carry all her books." Harry said. Ron took the list from Dudley's hands and started off towards the school books. "Alone at last." Hermione smiled.
"You've still got to make good on your promise." Harry grinned and followed her up the stairs.
An hour later the 4 of them met outside Flourish and Blotts. Dudley and Ron were carrying two bags of their own while Harry was laden down with 8 bags, 2 of his own and 4 from Hermione.
"Got enough books there?"Ron teased. Hermione lightly hit him with a smile on her face. She then looked at the clock outside Gringotts and gasped.
"I'm supposed to meet my dad outside The Leaky Cauldron at 1:00 and it's 12:50 right now!" Hermione hastily started trying to get her bags from Harry but he calmed her down.
"'Mione, don't worry. We'll get there with plenty of time to spare." Harry told her.
"We won't let you be late. But if you hadn't spend so much time in the stacks doing…well you know…" Ron joked as they started off towards the entrance. Hermione blushed and Harry took her hand as Ron laughed.
"Are we done?" Dudley asked. He wasn't used to being ignored, especially by Potter.
"No, we're just dropping her off to meet her dad. We've still got some things to buy for us and you." Harry told him. He liked this, having the upper-hand on Dudley. Here magic wasn't taboo and here he could put a quick curse on Dudley before he even knew what hit him. He was trying to be polite and from the smile he got from Hermione he was succeeding.
"Do you see him?" Harry asked when they opened the door into muggle London. Hermione nodded and took her bags from him. Checking to see if anyone was looking, Harry bent down and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. "See you soon love." He whispered in her ear.
"You too baby." She smiled. They couldn't use these names with each other when they were around people who didn't know about them but here, when they could, it made her smile.
After dropping Hermione off, they made a few more stops before they got Dudley his owl; it was the same size as Hedwig but black and its eyes were red. They made their way back towards The Leaky Cauldron to grab a drink before heading home.
"So what's his name?" asked Ron as they sat down in and passed a butterbeer to Dudley and Harry's empty seat, taking one for himself. Harry was gone, buying their tickets for the train.
"I don't know, probably Midnight," Dudley answered as Harry came back.
"Original, that one," whispered Ron into Harry's ear as he sat down. He choked on his butterbeer but quickly turned it into a cough. "You know Tom offered you some Firewhiskey?" Harry turned towards the old wizard and waved a 'hello' before turning back around.
"Really? He knows I'm underage. I mean I still have a few more weeks before I'm 17. You could have taken it you know." Ron laughed.
"Yeah right. You try explaining to my mum why I drank Firewhiskey. Even though I'm of age I'm toeing the line until I get out of Hogwarts." Harry laughed and looked over at Dudley who had a very confused face.
"Have a question?" Harry asked.
"What's Firewhiskey? And why do people treat you special? They made way for you when you walked down the street out there. Why?" Dudley asked. Ron choked on his drink and it took a few seconds for him to calm down.
"You don't know about Harry? Blimey, and I though Crabbe and Goyle were slow!"
"He just doesn't know. First Firewhiskey is like whiskey in the muggle world, like what you could get at a pub. It's just an alcoholic drink. Second, why people treat me differently is harder to explain." Harry took a breath before continuing. "You know my scar," he pointed to his forehead and Dudley nodded.
"When I was just over a year old a very dark wizard tried to kill me. He killed my parents but he couldn't kill me. All he gave me was this scar. This wizard was almost immortal and I was only a baby when I defeated him. That's why I'm famous, plus he's back and I've fought him twice since his return. To the wizarding world I'm like James Bond. Any more questions?"
"Who was that girl that you went into the bookstore with?" Harry turned towards Ron who just held his hands up. Harry sighed. A car horn honked outside.
"I'll tell you later. That's Vernon. Get your things." While Dudley was getting all of his packages Harry turned to Ron. "I'll see you on the train. I'll try to head over to the Burrow before summers over but with him" Harry then gestured to Dudley, "I'm not sure."
"See you later then mate." Ron clapped Harry on the back and the two men shared a quick hug before Harry grabbed his bags and started out towards the door.
"Get moving boy!" Vernon yelled out the window. Harry shoved his stuff in the trunk and slid into the back seat. Dudley was in the front and once the door was shut Vernon sped off. Harry put his seatbelt on and tried to relax but the Dursley's had other things in mind.
"So who was that girl?" Dudley questioned.
"What girl?" Vernon asked. They were on the speedway now and Harry was watching Vernon fly by all the other cars.
"Hermione. She's a really good friend of mine." Harry told Dudley. "She's from a muggle family too."
"What's a 'muggle' again?" asked Dudley as they pulled into the driveway.
"It's someone who isn't a wizard, witch, or squib," answered Harry. He got out of the car and grabbed his bags from the trunk.
"What's a 'squib'?" Dudley asked as they closed the door.
"Someone who has magical parents but they aren't good at magic, there's one at Hogwarts. Any more questions?" asked Harry.
"Um..." While Dudley was thinking Harry stole off and went to his room. He landed on his bed and grabbed a picture of him, Ron and Hermione. Ever since they had started dating the picture re-arranged itself to where Hermione and Harry were in the middle and Ron was smiling at them from the side. He hugged it to his chest and fell asleep.
