A/N
Seventh Season, Round Seven
Team: Wigtown Wanderers
Position: Chaser 3
Prompt: Write about someone trying to solve something, figure something out, or understand something.
Additional Prompts: (word) enlighten, (dialogue) "I love it when someone insults me. It means I don't have to be nice anymore.", (object) picture frame
Note: Flashback, but not italicized because it makes my head hurt.
Betas: Jet, Bailey
Setting the Record Straight(ish)
Dudley pouted with his arms crossed over his chest as Harry laughed his head off at the memory.
After enduring another ten minutes, he jerked to his feet and yelled, "It's not funny, Harry! Stop laughing at me! It's humiliating, is what it is," he trailed off. He crossed his arms once more, this time scowling down at his cousin.
Harry snorted and choked back a few more giggles. He had to resort to a Sobering Charm to compose himself. "You have to admit it's a little bit funny, Dud. I mean, you asked Ron if he was going steady with Luna! My Luna!"
"Look at that picture and tell me they don't look like a couple! Enlighten me—how could that picture have been taken as anything else?" Dudley pointed at the picture in question. The frame was still cracked from when the whole ordeal happened because Harry hadn't felt like repairing it yet.
Two hours earlier, Dudley knocked on Harry's door for their bi-weekly get-together. Harry had begun inviting Ron and Hermione to the beer, fish and chips parties three months after they started to allow them to get to know Dudley as a person instead of continuing to see him as Harry's childhood tormentor.
Dudley sat on the couch to wait for the others to arrive when the moving picture caught his eye. He picked up the frame and stared at the picture impassively. A pretty blonde female was hanging off of Ron's arm as she laughed and smiled winningly at the camera. Ron grinned and ruffled her short hair.
Dudley frowned and went to set the frame down. "It's not my business who he dates," he mumbled under his breath.
He jolted when the front door slammed open and Ron stepped in—with the blonde by his side.
Dudley clenched his hand at this sight, cracking the glass and splintering the wooden frame.
Ron immediately turned his concerned blue gaze on Dudley. "You alright, mate?"
Dudley dropped the picture frame face down on the table and looked at his hand. "Yeah, fine."
"I'm gonna find Harry, Ron," the girl said before she ran off in the direction of the kitchen.
"Oh, okay," Ron called after her. He focused his gaze on Dudley once more. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"I said I'm fine," Dudley snapped. "She your girlfriend?"
Ron made a face, "Uh, no. That's not even in the realm of possibilities."
"Sure looked cozy to me, what with her hanging all over you in the pi—when you walked in." Dudley tried to correct himself.
Ron's gaze narrowed as he finally saw the frame Dudley damaged. "That isn't what you think it is, Dudley. I'm not dating Luna."
Dudley sniffed. "Not like it's my business to be nosing about in anyway…"
Ron clenched his jaw and counted backward from ten in Gaelic, then Latin, before responding, "Are you trying to make my temper flare?"
Dudley shrugged and turned to look at anything besides the man barely keeping his cool in the doorway.
"I love it when someone insults me. It means I don't have to be nice anymore," Ron growled as he stalked forward. "I don't like Luna like that! We are not dating! After all this time, you should get it!"
Hermione chose that moment to walk in. "What's going on in here?"
Ron drew back and glared at the hopeless Muggle. "A difference of opinions and false assumptions."
"Oh? On whose account?" Hermione leaned against the wall and eyed the two men.
"His!" Ron growled, hands fisted at his side as he tried to keep himself in check.
"Dudley?"
Dudley faced Hermione and gave a hopeless shrug. "I asked if he was dating...Luna, was it?"
Hermione snorted. "Uh, no. He's not. Because she's actually dating Harry. Ron just escorts her here because they work in the same building."
Dudley blinked rapidly and tilted his face toward Ron. "Why didn't you just say that?"
Ron exploded into a screaming rant. "I shouldn't have to explain anything! It should be bloody obvious with how Harry and Luna act together that they are together! Luna is my sister's best friend and therefore like a sister to me! You are so stupid! Why can't you see that the only one I have feelings for is you, you great, big idiot!"
Ron suddenly stopped, then bolted from the room without giving Dudley a chance to answer Ron's accidental confession.
"Is that enlightening enough for you, Dudley?" Hermione asked as she pushed off the wall to leave the room. "Food for thought—you should definitely ask Harry for further clarification."
Dudley's expression was sour as he remembered the encounter with Ron.
"He likes you, Big D. You just gotta let him have a chance to cool off and come to terms with the fact he actually told you without bringing you chocolates first."
"What?"
"Oh, yeah. He had a whole confession planned out. It took him almost a month to get up the courage to do it today, but you had to go opening your mouth and saying things that had no business being said." Harry shook his head sadly.
Dudley slumped back onto the couch. "My investigative skills need work, Harry. I didn't even see that he liked me, too."
Harry clapped his cousin on the shoulder. "Now you know, and you can preemptively strike with your own confession before he does the whole shebang." His eyes flashed with mischief. "You should flashmob him!"
Dudley snorted and shook his head, "I don't even think so. Flashmobs are cliche. I don't want to be cliche. I want to be unique."
Harry flopped into his favorite armchair and slung his legs over the arm so he could watch his cousin plan and plot. "You could get him a dog."
"A dog," Dudley repeated flatly. "After the shining examples we had growing up with Marge's terrors?"
Harry winced. "Yeah, maybe not. No cats either. Or rats."
Dudley gave Harry a startled look. "Rats?"
"Magic thing." Harry waved his hand dismissively.
Dudley suddenly shot up in his seat and gave a triumphant grin. "I think I have a few ideas."
