Disclaimer: I do not own the world of Harry Potter, nor any of the characters or global concepts herein. My name is not J.K. Rowling, and this is not meant as a threat to her ownership of Harry Potter.
Reader Beware: Homosexual Relationship, "British" Dialogue with American Spelling.
The pair of them were reclining on the sofa together, arm in arm watching a crime program on television. Dudley had thought it was hilarious that Neville, a wizard cop, had gotten hooked on a muggle crime drama. Especially since half of it was made up, and didn't reflect real police work.
Neville pulled away from him as the credits began to roll. "Duds, I think it's time we talk about us just a bit," Neville said. Dudley gulped but he hit the button on the clicker to turn off the telly and turned to face his lover.
"Dudley, I love you, and I want you to be my boyfriend," Neville said.
"Oh, Nev, isn't that what we've been the last month?" Dudley asked, a laugh on his lips. They had seen each other a minimum of once a week, and gone on date-like activities regularly, and they'd been on a steady schedule of sex since that night in the alley. Dudley had told him that he loved giving himself to Neville. He'd described it as a feeling so right to just let go of all his stress, macho image and stubborn rigidity when Neville wanted to connect to him in that most intimate of ways. Then he'd laughed and said it was the most intense thing he'd ever felt pleasurewise in his life.
Neville shook his head, "No, I mean that sincerely. We've been acting like a true couple yes, but it's time we discussed our future."
"I love you too, Nev. You know I do. I just feel guilty about pushing Hannah aside," he said. Neville read into this confirmation that the official title meant in some way that Neville's marriage was over. Dudley's face was somber and Neville hoped it wasn't due to more than the reason expressed.
"Don't feel that way. She has seen my love for you grow, and she's encouraged it. Just the other day she asked me, 'When are you going to ask him, Nev? He deserves to be happy. You deserve to be happy.' And that was when I realized that I have been happier than I ever have before. You being in my life is the change that made it," Neville said.
Dudley was quiet for long moments and gave him a sad smile before reaching over and embracing him. "I hope you don't regret this decision. You don't have to live here, but if you're going to be my official one and only, you'll need to speak to me daily," he said with a matter of fact tone.
"Duds, you know I want to do that anyway," he said.
"No, I mean it. Your job is dangerous, and I worry about you whenever you tell me you had a brush with death. I usually have a nightmare the next night of Harry or Hannah standing at the door, and handing me your bloody wand," he said. By the way Dudley was holding him, arms contracting even tighter so that he couldn't get away, Neville knew it was a true statement. He hadn't really thought about it, being an Auror was a natural extension of his talents after the war. However, there were a few more options. He had just received a notice that his favorite professor was about to go on an extended sabbatical, and that she might retire entirely if her temporary replacement served well.
"Well, despite the fact that I've inherited a bit, and aurors make good pay so the stacks of galleons kept increasing, there is a career path I had been meaning to take. It's much less dangerous," he said.
"Anything. I just want to know you're safe every day," Dudley told him.
Neville and Dudley parted, leaning back onto the sofa once more. Neville looked right and gave his boyfriend a serious look, "When do you expect me to move in?"
"How about the day before we tell my parents? I'll need an extra long cuddle after that, I can tell you!" Neville smiled and leaned over to kiss his Dudley.
"Alice Augsusta Longbottom, get in here this instant! And don't you smirk, Harrison Frank Dursley. You're in just as much trouble for this!" Dudley bellowed out. It took several minutes, but a little girl, recently turned 5, slunk into the main room of the house. She looked at the younger boy, aged 3, who's hand was being held by their dad. Dudley lowered his voice as he addressed his daughter.
"How many times have I asked you two to not run around like animals in the house? You accidentally spilled the floo powder. For one thing, you could have activated the fireplace and connected to almost anywhere. I'd not have known where you are, and I can't very well call your Papa everyday and get him to come find you!" he said. He was very angry, but more upset about the prospect that either child might be lost. It must have shown on his face because both children looked down and mumbled out their apologies.
Harry looked up at him, with a face that somehow he had inherited from his namesake's mother, and asked, "Daddy? How come you can't come find us if we get lost outside the house? You always come find us in the garden." Harry's hair was blond, but had a strawberry cast to it, and it reminded him that he might still end up auburn by the time he went off to primary school.
"I've tried to explain properly before. I'm not a wizard, Harry. If you leave the house by magical means, I've got no way to find you. It scares the living daylights out of me to even think about it. My children lost somewhere in the world by themselves until I can get ahold of Papa or Cousin Harry," he said. Tears welled in his eyes and he bit them back with willpower. He sternly looked between them and said, "I can't stay mad at you. Just be careful with magical things, and think about consequences. Every rule your papa or I have is a rule that is meant to keep you safe or help you grow up into responsible adults. You have to obey so everybody is okay, alright?"
Both children immediately nodded and smiled now that Dudley was no longer angry. "Now give us a kiss and go play out in the garden, but walk there! No running in the house, remember?" He knelt down in front of both of the children. Alice walked forward, reminding him of a female version of pictures he'd seen of Neville as a child, round cheeked, a little heavy but not obese, and with golden blonde curls that made her adorable, and extremely hard to stay angry at. She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek, before smiling at him and stepping back.
Harry almost assaulted him by running into his arms and planted a kiss on his other cheek and hugged him tight. Alice then grabbed Harry's right hand and began to lead him through the house. Dudley slowly stood back up, and then looked at the mess of powder covering the carpeted floor beyond the fireplace tiles. He sighed and wondered if a portable hoover would ruin the magical nature of the powder or not, and sighed. He had been told to expect accidental magic, not accidents caused by kids to magical parts of the house.
Still, he didn't regret being a stay at home dad either. Someone had to watch them while Neville was at Hogwarts, and walking over to his day planner, he saw that his husband wasn't going to be free until lunch time, half an hour from now. Maybe he could scoop up enough powder to floo the main office and ask Neville to come home for lunch. Then he could help him clean this up properly. Dudley walked to the back, and opened the inner door so he could hear the children outside, then turned back to his next task at hand.
Having made up his mind he headed to the kitchen and started preparing toasted cheese sandwiches and soup. He had gotten so in the habit of removing bread crusts that he hadn't even stopped when he got to Neville's or his meals. Putting everything away to keep until right before cooking time, Dudley walked back to the fireplace, scooped up a handful of powder from the floor and threw it into the cold hearth while saying "Professor McGonagall's Office, Hogwarts". It erupted into green flames and he steeled himself and stuck his head inside.
"Professor McGonagall? Professor?" he asked. He coughed and got his bearings slightly. The no-nonsense headmaster was staring at what little of his frame appeared to her from the vantage point of his desk. "Yes, Mr. Longbottom?" she asked. Not for once did it stop nagging Dudley that in the wizarding world his surname meant nothing when they got married. They were so progressive in having formal homosexual marriage for centuries, and so damn traditional in that somebody had to play the part of the woman.
"Ah, yes, Headmistress. Can you please see to it that my husband comes home for lunch? I am having a bit of a domestic issue and I don't know the proper um... instructions for how to handle it. The problem only arose minutes ago, so sending a letter seemed... too slow to inform him?" he asked rhetorically.
Professor McGonagall looked him in the eyes and asked, "Is it a malfunctioning magic issue, or an accidental magic issue?"
"Um... the kids knocked over the floo powder jar, getting it everywhere in the carpet and I don't know if I can just use a hoover or what. This has never happened before, and I can't wait till tonight to clean up the mess. I know this seems frightfully trivial to someone such as yourself, but...," he rambled.
Professor McGonagall's eyes softened into a look of concern, "Mr. Longbottom, you most certainly can use a hoover to clean up the powder and not risk damaging its potency. And might I add, you are most likely going to have to sit down with your eldest child and remind her of the secrecy required of her soon. I'd start now. You can even make it a game. I'll remind Professor Longbottom of that, and I'll let him know he has a hot meal waiting for him at home."
"Um... yes, thank you, Professor. Um... sorry for taking up your time like this. Um... goodbye," he stammered out and pulled his head back out of the fireplace. He heard her say "Goodbye, Mr. Longbottom" as he began to extract himself. He quickly stepped back as the green flames guttered out to nothingness and he patted himself to clean up his hair and shoulders and to check for burns. Then he went off to find the Dyson.
By the time he had cleaned up the majority of the spilled powder, the fireplace turned green once again to disgorge his husband. Neville brushed soot off his shoulders and looking up smiled widely at Dudley. "So you called to ask me something you didn't know about being a house husband, eh?" he asked. Then looking around he said, "It looks like you took care of it very well, Duds." He walked over and kissed him hello.
"Well, I'm still new to all this stuff. I used to foreman a construction crew not look after tykes. Your boss looked at me with pity when she figured out I didn't know something basic like cleaning up floo powder," he said. He didn't let it cause a scene, but he leaned over and strongly embraced Neville.
The children came running back into the house and latched onto Neville's legs. "Papa's home! I told you I heard the fireplace!" Harry said.
Neville looked down, broke his embrace with Dudley and scooped Harry up into his arms. "Yes, I'm here because your daddy has made us all a tasty lunch. So let's go wash up and go sit at the table, hrm?" He kissed Harry's cheek and deposited him down. He knelt and let Alice kiss his cheek in greeting before scooting her off as well.
"Walk through the house please!" Dudley called after them, it already being too late to slow them down.
Neville wriggled out of his robes and hung them on the coat rack near the kitchen, installed specifically for this reason, before heading into the kitchen. "It smells good. I can't remember the last time I had toasted cheese and homemade soup," he said.
"Well the bread is homemade because I made it last night, but the soup's just from a bunch of tins, Nev," Dudley responded. "Your boss said we might want to try making it a game to teach Alice not to let muggles know about wizards since she's starting primary school this year. I hadn't thought about that," he said.
"She briefly mentioned it to me. She said it's very common in most homes with wizards living beside the muggle world like we do. I suppose she can't get far in primary school telling every kid that she has a fireplace that can take her anywhere in Britain," he said chuckling.
"I truly wished that mobile phones worked at that school," Dudley began again, right as the duo stormed back to the kitchen full steam and Dudley had to berate them again.
"Children! Stop running, please! Your meal is ready for you, you don't need to rush," he said.
Neville looked at him, and took a bite out of his sandwich, "You're a really good father, you know that?"
"Well I had to learn how to be, didn't I?" Dudley answered.
"So, about going to visit Harry and Ginny come Christmas, there's been a change." Neville asked.
"What change? Are they off on holiday overseas? I swear that cousin of mine gets the best perks, when he's allowed any vacation at all," he said.
Neville smirked and said, "Well, we're going over to the Burrows instead, to have Christmas with the Weasleys as well, instead of the Potters alone. It'll be like a reunion."
Dudley thought about it and sighed, thinking of all the pranks that were likely to get pulled on him by children and adults alike, and smiled, "Oh, is that all then?"
"Hannah and her family were invited as well," Neville remarked. At that the two children stopped munching and asked, with food still in their mouths. "Mum?" asked Harry, and "Mum's coming to Christmas?" asked Alice.
Neville nodded and said, "Nothing is confirmed, but she was invited."
Dudley smiled and pondered, "I wonder if she's every gotten that husband of hers to leave his Ministry desk long enough to help her clean up the back storage room? Maybe I should offer to go over and help out. The kids can come with. That way they'd get to see their mum whether she can make Christmas or not."
The little ones cheered that idea, and began excitedly talking about making new drawings to give to Hannah for their visit. Neville only smiled and nodded, "I'm certain she'd love the help. After all, a big strong man is the next best thing to a levitation spell, and much less dangerous if you lose concentration."
Dudley laughed boisterously, "Well, things are always happening at the Leaky!" He then turned to the children and said, "But you two will have to be on your best behavior, both before and during the visit." The two tikes straightened up immediately and began eating without speaking for a good four minutes.
Neville and Dudley both chuckled at that, and Dudley tucked into his own meal as Neville said, "You all make me so happy. I love you, Duds."
"Love you too, Nev, and Alice and Harry makes three," he said back. The children swallowed and chimed in unison with, "Love you, Papa! Daddy!"
FIN