A/N - Here is the second chapter from Dudley's POV. You will probably recognize some of the dialogue as there is some overlap. Enjoy!
I'm dedicating this to my lovely teammates trollnexus, MaryRoyale and asebi. I'd say sorry for being your ship dealer, but I know you wouldn't believe me. :P
Dudley nervously drummed his fingers on the table while he waited for his cousin to arrive. He hadn't seen Harry in nearly two years, not since the night they had been taken away from Privet Drive.
A lot of things had changed for Dudley that year in hiding. Actually, they had started changing before that, the summer those Dementor things attacked him and Harry. But last year, he'd lived with a witch and a wizard and had lost his fear of magic. The things they could do were quite amazing really. And he had heard all about Harry's success defeating that crazy wizard that had been after him since he was a baby. Dudley had been rather impressed with his cousin.
Surprisingly enough, their house on Privet Drive was still standing when they returned to it. Dudley had gone up to Harry's bedroom and saw the stack of his abandoned things in the corner. Dudley had taken most of the books and the newspapers and hid them in his room and then spent that summer reading everything. Some things confused him, but he still found it fascinating. His parents had no idea of course and Dudley intended to keep it that way. Even after everything Harry's friends had done for them, his father still had no use for magic.
In the fall, he had gone back to Smeltings to finish his final year. He continued boxing and lost more weight. Dudley would never be a small person by any means, but he had now lost all the pudginess of his youth. All of his friends had finished school the year before, but Dudley found this to be a good thing. He got the best grades he'd ever had.
Dudley was pulled from his thoughts by the jingle of the bell from the café's door. He looked up and saw Harry searching for him. He stood and gave a wave, Harry's surprised look another indication of Dudley's change in appearance.
Harry approached the table and Dudley remained standing, holding out his hand to his cousin when he reached him. Harry shook his hand and the two sat. Harry still looked the same, except he had filled out some and he was a little taller.
"So, how are things?" Dudley asked after a few moments of awkward silence. Harry shrugged.
"Better than they were the last time we saw each other," he said.
"Hestia told us all about what you did," Dudley said. "I didn't understand most of it, but it sounds like it was pretty amazing." Harry shrugged again.
"I just did what I had to do," he said quietly. They fell into silence again. Dudley tried to put his thoughts into words, but every time he opened his mouth, they all jumbled in his head again.
"Look Dudley," Harry said after a few minutes. "I'm not sure why you asked me here or what you want, but can we get to the point?"
"I read your books," Dudley blurted out. Harry looked at him in confusion. "The books you left in your room. I read them all."
"My textbooks?" Harry questioned. Dudley nodded. "But…why?"
"I was curious," Dudley said. "Although, I didn't understand a lot of it." Harry chuckled. "But the parts I did, it's, it's, I'm not sure how to even describe it. Just, wow."
"Should I be testing you for Polyjuice potion?" Harry asked jokingly, although his face had taken on a guarded look.
"Polyjuice?" Dudley asked his brow furrowing. "Oh wait, that's the one that makes you look like someone else right?" Harry's hand twitched and suddenly Dudley could see the tip of his cousin's wand sticking out from his sleeve. Dudley looked at him warily.
"What game did you like to play with me when we were younger?" Harry asked tersely. Dudley gaped at him for a minute.
"We, we didn't play any games," Dudley's stuttered out. Harry's grip tightened on his wand. Dudley swallowed visibly, his face falling. "You mean Harry Hunting don't you?" Dudley could see Harry relax.
"Sorry, but you have to admit Dud, this is extremely odd," Harry said with a wry grin. Dudley grinned sheepishly.
"I suppose," he agreed. "I'm sorry Harry. For being such a git to you when we were kids." Harry just gaped at him and then began to laugh.
"What's so funny?" Dudley finally asked.
"Just, I don't," Harry paused and shook his head, getting his laughter under control. "If you had told me a week ago that I'd be sitting here having this conversation with you," he shook his head again. "It's just weird, all right?"
"Yeah, I know," Dudley said with a grin. The two spent the rest of the meal talking about various things. Dudley thought it went quite well and invited Harry again the following week.
"No offense, Dudley, but why are you doing this?" Harry asked again. Dudley sighed.
"Look Harry, you're the only family I have except my parents and Aunt Marge," he said making a face at the mention of his aunt. "I know my parents treated you horribly when you were a kid and I did too. I'm not going to try and make up for that or anything, because I doubt I could. But I'd like to start over I guess." Harry stared at him for a moment.
"Hell, why not?" he said. "Next week, same time?"
"Sounds good," Dudley said with a grin.
The next few weeks, the cousins met for breakfast in the same café. Dudley asked Harry all sorts of questions about magic and was growing more enthralled with it by the minute. Harry had brought him a book about Quidditch, and Dudley had devoured it in only two days. He was currently reading Hogwarts, a History. They discussed magic and spells and theories about why Harry's mother had been a witch, but Dudley's own was not. His parents still had no idea he was meeting with his cousin or that he had all Harry's old books in his room. And Dudley had no intention of telling them about it. They would never understand. He was just grateful that Harry wanted to have anything to do with him.
Dudley walked toward the tube station, the newspaper in his hand capturing all of his attention. The article on his gym was even better than he had expected and Dudley was grinning. His coach had truly helped him turn his life around, in more ways than one, and he would be forever grateful to the man.
He was so engrossed in the newspaper, he wasn't watching where he was going. He heard the shout as he stepped into the road and when he looked up, couldn't quite process the fact that a bus was looming in front of him. Before he even realized what was happening, he felt himself lifted up into the air and thrown backwards, even though he was positive that there was no one around that could have done it. His head slammed into something and darkness overtook him as he fell to the ground.
Everything felt fuzzy. He could hear sirens in the distance, but his head throbbed painfully and he couldn't figure out what they were for. He blinked, trying to focus and saw the outline of a shape next to him. By the time he realized it was a person, she was starting to stand. He reached up and grabbed her arm and she gasped and looked down at him. Even through the haze of his vision, he could tell she was beautiful.
"Who," he began as his eyes drooped closed and then opened again, "are you?" He saw her look back at him one more time before his eyes closed once more.
When he came to, he was in a hospital bed. He groaned at the pain in his head.
"Right big knock you took to your head there," the nurse said to him when she realized he was awake. "Bit of a concussion the doctor says, but you'll be all right."
"The girl," Dudley said, trying to sit up.
"Now, now, none of that," the nurse said, pushing him back against the pillows. His vision swam and he closed his eyes. "You'll be a wee bit dizzy for a while yet."
"Is the girl all right?" Dudley managed.
"What girl?" the nurse questioned.
"The girl, woman, that pushed me out of the road," Dudley replied. "That's how I hit my head."
"I don't know anything about any girl or a woman," the nurse said. "You were alone when you came in. The doctor will be in to see you in a few minutes." With that, she left the room.
Dudley didn't understand. He was positive there had been a woman kneeling over him when he regained consciousness for those few moments. But if she hadn't come to the hospital as well, it must mean she wasn't hurt. Maybe the doctor would know more.
But, as it turned out, the doctor had no idea what Dudley was talking about either. The only witness to the accident had said that someone had shouted a warning as Dudley was about to step in front of the bus and that he had stepped quickly backwards, tripping on the curb and hitting his head on the nearby lamp post. Dudley knew someone else had been there. Perhaps the person that had shouted? It was making his head hurt to think about it anymore and so Dudley closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.
Dudley finally escaped the confines of his bedroom. His mother had been fussing over him for days and it was about to drive him mad. There were loads of things he couldn't do with his concussion and he was extremely bored as a result. He began to walk toward the park, hands stuck in his jeans' pockets. He had been thinking more and more about the woman over the last few days.
He had dreamed about her, more than once and she was quite beautiful. At first he thought that maybe it was just his mind supplying a face to the voice that he had heard, but the more he dreamed of her, the more he knew that it was a memory he was seeing. He just wished someone else had remembered seeing her. He wanted to thank her for saving him.
And that was the other thing. The more he thought about what had happened, the more it didn't make sense. Sure, he'd looked up and seen the bus hurtling towards him, but he had no recollection of backing up himself and tripping over the curb. Besides that, he clearly remembered being thrown into the air and given the fact that his only injury had been the bump to the back of his head, it was obvious that the bus hadn't actually hit him.
The only explanation Dudley could come up with is that someone had used magic to get him out of the way; which led him to wonder if the woman that he saw in his dreams was a witch. The more he thought about it, the more it made sense to him. He wondered if Harry knew her and then decided that was a ludicrous thought.
Chuckling, Dudley sat down on a bench in the park. Surely, Harry didn't know every single witch and wizard in Britain, regardless of his fame. He turned his face toward the sun, glad to feel it on his skin after so many days of being cooped up in the house. He sat in silence, simply reveling in the quiet when the hair on the back of his neck prickled.
Slowly, he turned around and scanned behind him. He didn't see anyone, but he couldn't shake the feeling that someone was watching him.
"Is someone there?" he called, still looking around. When no one answered, he shook his head and turned back toward the sun. He was truly letting his imagination run away with him. The feeling disappeared moments later and he snorted. Maybe the concussion had shook up his head more than he thought.
A few days later, he was back in the park. If the doctor didn't clear him to go back to work soon, he thought he might just throttle his mother. He had been home from the hospital for over a week and he was perfectly fine. He had planned to live at home while he attended university, but he was seriously considering looking for a flat. He wasn't sure if he could handle his mother's hovering much longer.
He heard a noise behind him and turned to the copse of trees. It was the same place that he'd thought someone had been watching him from the other evening. Standing, he peered at the trees, trying to discern if there was someone hiding there. A few moments later a woman walked out into the park. His mouth dropped open.
"It's you!" he exclaimed and she spun around, coming face to face with him.
"I, I," she stuttered, looking frightened. He closed his mouth thinking he had scared her.
"You're the one that saved me," he said with a smile.
"Saved you?" she questioned.
"Yes, remember, the bus," he said. "You shoved me out of the way somehow." Her mouth opened and closed like a fish.
"No, I, erm," she trailed off and he looked at her in confusion.
"It was you, wasn't it?" he asked, wondering now if he really had imagined the whole thing.
"No, I mean," she shook her head. "Yes, it was me, but I just shouted and you looked up and then you stumbled back."
"That's not how I remember it," he said, crossing his arms over his chest. She was giving him the same story as the doctor, but Dudley knew that something else had happened.
"Well, you did hit your head pretty hard," she pointed out. "Sometimes that makes things a little hazy." His eyes narrowed as he studied her.
"I guess you're not who I thought," he muttered.
"I'm sorry?" she said in puzzlement.
"Forget it," he said. "Thank you, for shouting." She smiled.
"You're welcome. How are you feeling?"
"I'm all right," he said. "I had a mild concussion so I'm sort of stuck without much to do right now. My mum is driving me crazy." She chuckled. "What are you doing here anyway?"
"Oh, I was, um, visiting a friend," she managed. He nodded, seeming to believe her.
"I'm Dudley by the way," he said holding out his hand. "Dudley Dursley."
"Cho Chang," she replied shaking his hand.
"Well, Cho Chang, would you let me take you to dinner?" he asked. "To thank you properly?"
"I'd like that," she said with a smile.
The two of them were nearly inseparable the next few weeks. It was a bit strange for Dudley at times, as Cho seemed so excited about many of the places he took her. It was almost as if she had never been to the cinema or a shopping center. The day they went into the electronics store, Dudley had just watched her in confusion. She exclaimed over the computers and the mobile phones and the CD players.
When he questioned her about it, she simply told him that she her father was very overprotective and did not allow her to do many of the things most normal teenagers did. He understood that but it almost seemed to him as if she had never heard of some of the things they saw in the store. But she looked at him with eyes shining in such delight that he completely forgot what he was even going to say. Instead, he just enjoyed her enthusiasm.
He had never met her father, Cho always insisted on meeting him somewhere in London before their dates. Dudley hadn't introduced her to his parents yet either. He wasn't sure why. He was quite sure they would love her as she was beautiful, smart and polite. He shrugged as he walked up the street toward the restaurant where he was meeting her.
"What's the matter?" he asked, the moment he laid eyes on her. He could tell she had been crying.
"My father and I had a fight," she said. "I moved out." Dudley sat down next to her and took her hand, wiping her tears from her face with the thumb of his free hand.
"What did you fight about?" he questioned. She shook her head.
"It doesn't matter," she replied.
"It does to me," he said, kissing the back of her hand. She sniffled and he handed her the napkin from his place setting.
"He found out about you," she said quietly.
"Oh," Dudley replied, unsure how to respond to that. He hadn't even met her father, how could the man dislike him? Or maybe it was because he hadn't met him. Perhaps her father was upset that she had been hiding their relationship.
"Maybe if he met me, he might change his mind," Dudley said. Cho just shook her head.
"No, it wouldn't," she replied.
"But, he doesn't even know me," Dudley protested. Cho smiled sadly and brought a hand to his cheek.
"He doesn't want me to date at all," she explained. "It wouldn't matter who you were." Dudley covered her hand with his own and then kissed her palm.
"I'm sorry," he said. She smiled. He smiled back at her for a few moments before struck with a sudden thought.
"I want you to meet my cousin," he said impulsively. Cho's brow furrowed.
"Your cousin?" she asked.
"Yes, I mean, I want to introduce you to my parents too, but I don't know, maybe my cousin would be easier to start," he said, wondering why it was so important to him that Harry like her.
"All right," she agreed.
"We have breakfast together once a week," he said. "I'm meeting him tomorrow. Can you come?"
"Yes," she said.
"Brilliant," he replied.
"Come on," he said, tugging at her hand. Cho laughed and he knew she was having a hard time keeping up with him. He wasn't sure just why he wanted them to meet so badly, but he couldn't wait either.
"Here she is Harry," Dudley said as they reached the table. Harry looked up and Cho's jaw dropped.
"Harry?" she said incredulously.
"Cho?" he replied just as surprised. Dudley looked back and forth between the two of them. How on earth did they know each other?
"You two know each other?" he questioned.
"We went to school together," Harry said, still obviously in shock. Cho looked at Harry and then Dudley, a look of terror crossing her face before she spun and ran from the café.
"Did you know?" Harry asked.
"No," Dudley replied, then turned and ran after her. His mind was whirling with snippets of thoughts. Some things made so much more sense now and even the fact that he had suspected from the beginning didn't make it any less shocking now that he actually knew. Still, he wasn't going to let her go. He thought that he just might be in love with her.
"Cho, wait!" he called as he came out of the café, but she didn't stop. Thankfully, she couldn't outrun him and he caught up to her before she could cross the street.
"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked taking hold of her arms and gently turning her around. She shook her head, the tears streaming down her face.
"I tried, I did, so many times, but I couldn't, I didn't know," she trailed off and sobbed harder. Dudley pulled her into his arms and kissed the top of her head. She clung to him and he was all the more certain that he might be in love with her.
"I knew it," he said.
"What?" she asked.
"I knew you used magic to save me that night from the bus," he explained. She blinked and he wiped the tears from her cheeks with his thumbs.
"And you're not furious with me?" she questioned.
"From keeping me from being flattened?" he quipped. She smacked his chest.
"Not that," she replied.
"Well, I do wish you would have told me sooner," he admitted. "But I don't plan on losing you anytime soon Cho. Besides, after talking with Harry all these weeks, I've become rather intrigued by magic." He smiled at her.
"I'm sorry," she said.
"I know," he responded and then he kissed her. "Come on, let's go have breakfast." She laughed and threw her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. He grinned and led her back to the café.
Two years later, Dudley was pacing in the small anteroom behind the altar of the church. He tugged at his collar which seemed entirely too tight.
"Dud, calm down mate," Harry said with a chuckle.
"Are you sure she's here?" Dudley asked. Harry laughed again.
"I'm sure," he replied. "For some crazy reason she loves you and wants to marry your sorry arse." Dudley grinned, then sobered a few moments later.
"I just wish her dad was here," Dudley said quietly. Harry's smile slid from his face.
"Yeah, me too," Harry said. "You don't wish your parents were here?" Dudley shrugged.
"Sure I do," he said. "But I know a lost cause when I see one." Things had gone well when he introduced Cho to his parents. Until they found out she was a witch anyway. Then his father's face had turned purple and his mother had started to cry. Dudley had pulled Cho away when his father started in on magic and they left before his vitriol could gain full steam.
Harry clapped him on the shoulder just as there was a knock on the door.
"Gentlemen," the clergyman said. "It's time." Dudley and Harry followed him to the front of the church and Dudley looked out of the people assembled.
"Dud," Harry whispered just as Dudley spotted her. His mother was sitting in the back row of the church, hat pulled low and handkerchief in her hand.
"Well, I'll be damned," Dudley said quietly prompting the minister to clear his throat and glare at them.
"Sorry, sir," Dudley said automatically. But he had no more time to think on his mother's presence as the most beautiful vision filled his eyes. Cho walked into the church, on the arm of her father no less. Or at least Dudley assumed he was her father, never having met the man. Her father said something to her and she nodded and then they began to walk down the aisle towards him.
Cho was smiling widely when she reached Dudley's side. Her father stared at him for a few moments, his eyes flicking toward Harry in surprise. Finally, he released Cho's arm and laid her hand in Dudley's.
"You will take care of her," Mr. Chang said and his tone brokered no argument. Not that Dudley would have argued anyway. Of course he was going to take care of her.
"Until my last breath," he replied instead and Mr. Chang nodded once and then went to sit down. Dudley raised Cho's hand to kiss the back of it. She smiled and Dudley returned it, then they both turned to the minister ready to begin their life together.