Saturday, early in the morning, Madam Pomfrey was telling Ron and Hermione off for invading the hospital wing and interrupting Harry's rest when the door opened and another visitor was brought in by Dumbledore himself.
Dudley trailed behind the headmaster, gawking at everything. He had halfway crossed the room when his eyes met Harry's. The cousins stared at each other for a heartbeat.
"Oh. Hi, Dudley," Harry said a little awkwardly.
"Hi," was all Dudley could say in response.
Dumbledore walked over towards Harry's bed and Dudley automatically followed him, as he had all the way there. "Hello, Harry," the old wizard greeted cheerfully. "How are you this morning?"
"All better, thanks. I was about to ask Madam Pomfrey to release me." He turned expectant eyes to the matron.
Madam Pomfrey insisted on giving him a thorough examination but finally conceded that he seemed mostly recovered. With repeated warnings to take it easy, Harry was finally released from the hospital wing.
"I'll take my leave of you now. Please make sure to be in the Great Hall at dinner time, Mr. Dursley, so I can take you back to your school. Have an enjoyable stay here at Hogwarts until then." With that, Dumbledore left.
The four adolescents glanced awkwardly at each other. Then Harry cleared his throat and began the introductions, unnecessary though they were. But he just needed the excuse to have something to say.
He had not anticipated what meeting Dudley again would be like. Harry's relationship with his cousin had undergone two major changes in the time they had been apart. For one, he was now no longer friendless and defenceless. For another, he had built a sort of pen friendship with Dudley. The question remained, however, whether that would translate into an actual friendship now that they had met again.
It was fortunate that Harry's two friends were with him. Neither cousin knew how to relate to the other any more and their meeting would have been very awkward if not for Hermione and Ron, who managed to keep up a conversation with everyone.
It was time for breakfast, which was a good place to start. They all went to the Great Hall, while Hermione explained interesting details about Hogwarts to an awed Dudley. All the things that had first astonished Harry – the moving staircases, the animated portraits, ghosts and poltergeists – and now seemed fairly common to him, took on a renewed sense of wonder seen through Dudley's eyes.
After a year of seeing the same faces, someone new was bound to get noticed right away. Everyone's eyes were on Harry and his cousin before they had even sat down at the table.
"Oh, this is my cousin, Dudley. He's visiting me because I landed myself in the hospital wing Thursday night."
Instead of clearing things up, Harry's explanation only generated more interest. He was immediately bombarded with questions about his adventure Thursday night. While he tried to come up with answers, people also began asking questions about Dudley and suddenly interest switched to him.
"Your cousin? But I thought you lived with muggles?"
"A muggle? Really? How come he's at Hogwarts, then?"
"A muggle school? What do they teach there?"
There was nothing offensive about those questions, but Harry still found them a little rude. He began to wonder how long it would take Dudley to lose his fear and become rude in turn. His cousin might have grown a bit over the year, but Harry doubted he had changed quite that much. For the moment, at least, he still looked too intimidated to do more than glare.
"It's pretty cool that you get to visit Hogwarts," Dean Thomas then spoke to Dudley directly. "No offence, Harry. Didn't mean that it's cool that you got hurt. I just wish my sisters could visit," he added wistfully.
"Are they like – like-" Dudley spoke for the first time, but stopped midway through, not quite sure how to phrase his question.
"Are they muggles, too?" Harry asked in his stead.
"Yeah, both of them. They're younger than me – not old enough for Hogwarts yet, but they've never done any magic. Well, they're my half-sisters – we have different dads – which would make sense if I got magic from my dad."
"Our mums – Harry's and mine – were full sisters, but my mum still isn't magic," said Dudley.
"Yeah, that can happen, too. Hey, how come only you're visiting? What about your parents?"
Harry exchanged a dismayed look with his cousin, both unsure how to explain that, but thankfully, Dumbledore called everyone's attention at that moment to say a few words about the events of Thursday night. He told them that Quirrel had been trying to steal a valuable object that had been kept in the third-floor corridor but that Harry, Hermione and Ron had confronted him and stopped him – but not without getting hurt. He also told the students about how Neville had warned the professors to come to their students' aid.
Dumbledore then briefly – vaguely – described the scene he had found. He did say he suspected the – clearly malevolent – being that had been possessing Quirrel was what remained of Voldemort, but he did not mention what the valuable object was throughout his explanation.
The speech was followed by a promise that the students involved would receive an 'appropriate reward' during the end of year feast. This was followed by cheers all around the Gryffindor table.
That was when Harry caught Snape's eye and became aware that Snape's feelings towards him had not changed one jot. He almost felt something like regret, to his surprise.
Then the questions began once again. With the little hints Dumbledore had given about their confrontation with Quirrel, everyone was curious to know more. Neville was the first to crack, only too willing to bask in the attention. He told how he had been unable to sleep and had therefore still been in the common room when the trio sneaked out. Everyone was impressed at his bravery for deciding on the spot to go along and help them, especially when he told them that he had been asked to report to Snape.
Everyone was surprised at the request, but Hermione and Ron – with Dudley filling in some details now and then – took up the tale and described how they had first suspected him, but later came to realise that he was actually the most opposed to Quirrel. Harry's sense of regret intensified.
The questioning had one unexpected benefit. The Gryffindors took note of how well Dudley seemed to be informed about Harry's life at Hogwarts, how many details about the goings-on of the past year he knew, and began regarding him with more respect.
After breakfast, before Harry and his friends had got up to leave, Oliver Wood came over to where they were sitting.
"Ready, Harry?" he asked.
"Er, ready for what?" Harry began to say, only to remember midway through the sentence.
Wood scowled. "The match, of course! We're playing against Ravenclaw in less than an hour!"
Before Harry could respond, Professor McGonagall was standing next to them, having rushed over as soon as she spotted Oliver walking towards Harry. "He's not going to play, Mr. Wood. I'm astonished at you for even suggesting such a thing! After all that Mr. Potter has been through-"
"But, Professor-"
"I don't want to hear it! Mr. Potter, please pay him no mind. You're in no condition to play quidditch. If it were up to Madam Pomfrey, you would still be in the hospital wing. Look at the positive side: for once you'll be able to watch the Gryffindor team play." She looked at Harry as if she wanted to say more, but then looked around at all the students surrounding them, and reconsidered. She just nodded at him, and left.
"A lovely match it will be, too, if we're playing without a seeker. You'll get to see us properly trounced," grumbled Wood, but then he left without trying to convince Harry to play.
"Harry, don't even think about it," Hermione spoke before everyone else.
"Relax, Hermione. He knows if he feels up to it or not," said Ron. "And if you don't, everyone will understand," he added quickly, turning towards Harry.
"I don't know. I do still feel kind of sore."
Ron's face fell, but he tried to mask his disappointment. "Well, come on, then. Let's find some good seats. McGonagall's right. This is the first time you'll be watching our team play, so better make the best of it."
"Is this the same sport you were playing when Quirrel cursed you?" asked Dudley.
"Yes. But with Quirrel gone, it'll be safe-" said Ron.
"Or as safe as quidditch gets," finished Hermione.
"You know, Dumbledore picked a good day for your visit. You'll get to see one of the most important things in the magical world-"
Hermione raised her eyebrows.
"Quidditch is very exciting to watch. It's played on broomsticks, and there are four balls. Not just one like in that muggle sport – er-"
"Football?" Dudley guessed.
"Er, yes. Now, you may think that's the best sport there is-"
"Actually, I don't much care for sports."
"No? Well, you'll like this one, I'm sure. Everyone loves quidditch."
Hermione almost protested at that point, but reconsidered, shaking her head fondly. Ron continued to talk about quidditch while they showed Dudley some of the Hogwarts grounds before making their way slowly towards the quidditch pitch.
For all that he was sorry to watch his team lose, Harry was almost looking forward to sitting down with his friends and cousin to watch the two house teams' performance. However, before they had reached the stands around the quidditch pitch, Draco Malfoy and his two sidekicks spotted them, who were also walking in that direction, not far away from them.
"Make way for the invalid!" he announced dramatically. "How can you expect him to play quidditch, can't you see he can barely walk?" he loudly asked his friends while gesturing at Harry. A few people around him turned to listen and some even laughed in agreement, including his two sidekicks.
"Get lost, Malfoy!" said Ron, unable to resist the taunting. "He could still wipe the floor with you, if he wanted to!"
"Ron, let it go-" began Harry, uncomfortable with the attention they were drawing from the people walking to the quidditch pitch.
"Yes, Weasley, listen to him. We both know his winning streak is over. Next year, when they finally let me play, you'll see how a real seeker plays. You know, someone who wants to win, not just get more attention." With that, he walked off, looking smug.
The worst part was that the people standing around had begun to look like they agreed with his assessment, shooting speculative glances at Harry. He even caught fragments of a few conversations, questioning whether he was really feeling ill enough to abandon his team.
"On second thought, I'm feeling a lot better," said Harry as soon as people around them had dispersed.
Seeing his determined look, Hermione did not argue. "But, Harry, please be careful," was all she said.
Dudley, Ron and Hermione climbed the stairs up to their seats and from there they saw Harry walk over to the tense looking group of Gryffindor quidditch players, saw him speak a few words to Oliver Wood, and then saw the whole team break into cheers.
They procured Harry's quidditch robes from somewhere, but because there was no time, he had to change right there, to his embarrassment. Thankfully, most people were unaware of what was happening until Madam Hooch threw the quaffle in the air and the players left the ground.
"Oh, wow," said Dudley, unable to hide his awe.
"It's pretty awesome, isn't it?" said Ron, pleased.
Dudley nodded, staring open-mouthed at the players whizzing around in the air. He could not really tell what was happening and the disjointed commentary from what seemed to be a student called Jordan was not overly helpful. One of the professors seemed to be trying to take the microphone from him to interrupt the match to announce something, but Jordan was holding on to it valiantly.
Finally, Dudley identified Harry, who was flying in large circles around the arena, out of everyone's way. Once in a while, one of the two smaller balls would sail close by him, but one of the red-haired players was usually nearby to keep his cousin safe.
"What's Harry doing?" Dudley asked.
This was followed by a long explanation from everyone around him, especially Ron, but also from some of those students his cousin had only briefly mentioned in his letters. It all felt almost unreal. Suddenly all those bizarre and entertaining stories from Harry, that had almost read like fairy tales, became real. The magical people mentioned in those letters became real, friendly teenagers his age.
Then Harry dived suddenly and the whole arena exploded in noise, which impossibly got even louder when he pulled up sharply with something small and shiny in his fist.
"Yes, yes, he did it! He did it again! Take that, Malfoy!" Ron was shouting next to him. After having met Malfoy, Dudley could understand that.
After the match, Hermione and Ron got up quickly from their seats and urged Dudley to go. When he asked, all they said was that they were going to meet Harry. As far as Dudley could see, that was bound to be a little troublesome, with the crowd of people who had gathered around Harry and the teachers trying to get to him.
However, once down from their seats, they did not head over to the crowd of people, where Dudley had last glimpsed his cousin. Instead, they headed straight for Hogwarts.
"What's going on?" he finally asked.
"Harry said he'd meet us inside, don't you remember?" Hermione answered impatiently.
Dudley was not entirely sure he did, and the confusion on his face showed it.
"He doesn't want to deal with McGonagall. Not after she told him just this morning not to play," Ron explained. "And then spent the entire match trying to get Lee Jordan to announce the end of the match..."
They caught up with Harry just outside the Great Hall and followed him in. There were very few people scattered across the length of the tables – the odd student who either had not felt like watching the match, or had hurried back on their own, like them. They walked towards the Gryffindor table, while Hermione and Ron both congratulated Harry and Hermione hugged him while Ron patted his shoulder.
Perversely enough, that was the moment Dudley first felt jealous of his cousin that day. Of course there was a small part of him that would always be jealous of Harry's magic. In the surroundings, though, magic was such an ordinary thing, there was no reason to be jealous of his cousin in particular. But having friends like those – friends who could communicate plans with one short sentence, who shared private meetings and always stood together – that was almost more than Dudley could bear.
They were suddenly interrupted by retching and gagging sounds. Draco Malfoy, flanked by Crabbe and Goyle, had entered the hall as well, and they had to make their presence known.
"Ugh, what does he want this time," grumbled Harry, and the weary tone finally made Dudley notice how tired he looked.
His friends, of course, had already been aware of that and subtly stepped in front of him, almost shielding him from the Slytherins.
"Yes, congratulations, Potter. Excellent idea, to disappear when everyone was looking for you. Now you're guaranteed to be the centre of attention for the rest of the school year," said Malfoy.
"You think, of the two of us, I want more attention?" Harry replied, beginning to lose his calm.
"You don't?" Malfoy pretended to be surprised. "You break rules to get attention, lose points, find you don't like being unpopular, then come up with that over the top plan to get noticed, while getting that poor foolish teacher fired – not much of a loss, but really, how biased can Dumbledore get, promising to reward you for it?
"Next, you pretend to be too hurt to play – when you know your team will lose for sure if you don't – but then you end up playing after all – making sure no one knows until the very last minute, so it'll be a proper surprise. Did I miss anything out?"
"Have you lost your mind?" Ron said indignantly. "Harry almost died trying to protect-"
"Ron, enough! Malfoy, you're just mad that Harry played after all and won the Quidditch Cup – which would have gone to Slytherin otherwise. And best of all, he did that because of your taunting," said Hermione.
"Oh, don't pretend that wasn't his plan all along. He would never have missed the chance to show off-"
"You know, you sound really jealous of how popular Harry is," Dudley said unexpectedly, arms crossed in front of his chest and no longer looking intimidated.
"Look, the pet muggle has spoken!" said Draco, causing Crabbe and Goyle to cackle loudly.
"What did you call me?" Dudley said as soon as the words registered, making fists and even taking a step towards the other blond boy.
Harry was suddenly reminded of his initial assessment that Draco was a lot like his cousin.
Draco looked scared for a moment, being faced with someone who was even larger than Goyle, but he quickly switched to anger. His wand was out in an instant, halting Dudley's steps. "Really, Potter, it's enough that you sully Hogwarts with your muggle relatives. Keep him in check, or I will."
"By cursing him?" said Harry. "For talking to you?" But despite his dismissive tone, he stepped forward to shield a now no longer so brave looking Dudley.
"He dared to threaten me. Me – a wizard. Your stupid oaf of a muggle cousin – how you can show him off – I'd die of shame if I were related to him-"
"Shut up!" growled Dudley.
"Now do you see? He's asking for it." Malfoy raised his wand and pointed it at Dudley.
Harry and his friends drew theirs at that point.
"He grunts and growls like the oaf he is-" Malfoy began to continue his insults, but Dudley had reached the end of his patience.
The fist landed in the middle of Malfoy's face and he went down. Unfortunately, he did not stay that way for long. Crabbe helped him up, while Goyle cracked his knuckles.
"You shouldn't have done that," he said and went for Dudley, who was barely even larger and did not look nearly as mean.
Harry was not sure if Snape and McGonagall entering the Great Hall just as Hermione cast a leg-locker curse at Goyle, Ron blocked Crabbe's path and he pointed his wand at Malfoy was a blessing or a curse. He could not help but wish they had chosen a slightly more convenient time.
Harry had to admit, it did not look good for them. There was an unmistakeable bruise developing on Malfoy's face. He, Hermione and Ron did their best to recount the events truthfully, but the Slytherins felt no shame in twisting the story as they liked. McGonagall was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, but the more she tried to defend them, the more set Snape became in his opinion that the Gryffindors were to blame.
Then another voice joined the discussion. Dumbledore walked in, together with a group of the other teachers, and some of the students who had decided to continue rehashing the match inside.
"Now what seems to be the problem here?" he asked pleasantly.
Harry's heart did a somersault. The headmaster would be fair and not so easily fooled. Things might still work out, he thought.
Dumbledore bid them all to follow him outside, to discuss everything away from an audience, and to give them all a moment to cool down. He questioned them all – and they all had either too much respect or fear to argue unnecessarily with him.
He decided there was no evidence to blame the Slytherins and dismissed them. Maalfoy would not go quietly, of course. He once again claimed Harry had done all that to get more attention and that he should get punished for attacking him.
The discussion did not end there of course. Snape wanted to see the Gryffindor students punished but it looked like Dumbledore did not want to do that. Snape finally lost his patience and insisted everyone was biased against Slytherins. He accused Dumbledore of giving Harry special treatment – and would not listen to McGonagall who, contrary to her usual strictness, claimed Harry was entitled to some special treatment after recent events. Finally, he even said that Dumbledore did not even intend to dock points so the House Cup would go to Gryffindor. Then suddenly Dudley spoke up.
"It was me. I punched that boy first," he said quietly. Even with everyone's attention on him, his courage did not fail and he went on in a firm voice. "I'm sorry, but he kept calling me names – because I'm not a wizard, and so on-" McGonagall drew a sharp breath at that. "But Harry and his friends didn't do anything wrong. They just tried to save me from getting attacked after I did that.
"You keep saying these things about Harry – that he wants attention and that he's biased and holds grudges, but none of that is true." Dudley stopped for a moment, to collect his courage, and then recounted briefly how Harry had written to him and sent him a present over Christmas even though he had bullied his cousin all their childhood and how they had become friends after that.
Snape's face twisted like he had swallowed something bitter. He looked away, but when his eyes landed back on Harry, there was something reassessing about the way he regarded his least favourite student.
"You would try to – want to – befriend someone who used to bully you?" he asked disbelievingly.
Harry shrugged. "Everyone deserves a second chance. I don't want any enemies," he tried to explain badly.
Dumbledore, however, looked deeply thoughtful at his reply. He stroked his beard in quiet contemplation, before making a decision. "I do not believe Mr. Potter and his friends can be held accountable for Mr. Dursley's behaviour – who had strong justification for what he did. Do not misunderstand me. We do not condone violence here, no matter the incentive. I'm afraid I'll have to ask you to apologise to Mr. Malfoy this evening at dinnertime before we leave, Mr. Dursley."
Dudley nodded meekly. Snape was about to say more, but only nodded shortly and left. Dumbledore then guided McGonagall away, leaving the teenagers alone.
"I'm sorry I got you in trouble," Dudley said as soon as they had left.
"Don't worry about it. Malfoy deserved it, and it was such a lovely sight, when he went down," Harry reassured him.
Ron and Hermione wanted to go to Hagrid's hut. They usually did that after quidditch matches, and especially with the sort of unfortunate attention their fight had drawn, going back to the Great Hall did not sound appealing.
"Harry," said Dudley, then frowned at how scared he sounded and cleared his throat. He had the full attention of the three friends. "This – Hagrid – person, is that...?" he asked as casually as he could, but his voice still trailed off at the end.
"Er, yeah," Harry answered after a moment's hesitation. "Yeah, he was the one who, er, who brought me my letter."
"Oh, don't worry," Hermione said impatiently, when she noticed Dudley slowing down. "He's not going to jinx you again. He shouldn't have done so in the first place. Using magic on muggles isn't even allowed. Come on. Hagrid is really nice, actually. You must have misunderstood something, I think. He'd never do something to frighten you."
Dudley found himself thus bullied along to Hagrid's hut. He was not convinced that what she said was right, but could not bring himself to appear too cowardly in front of a girl – even if she happened to be a witch, on top of being bossy and rather intimidating.
Hagrid opened the door as soon as they knocked. "There you are. I was beginnin' to think you weren't goin' to visit today at all," he said.
"Er, yeah, we did manage to get in trouble. First, we decided to lay low after the match because I wasn't supposed to play..."
"You won't get into trouble fer that! McGonagall was just worried you'd get hurt. Again. But you had to prove them all wrong. Blimey, Harry, I'd never've thought – I thought I was set to watch one sorry game."
Harry glowed under the praise and smiled, but even that could not disguise how wretchedly tired he looked. Hagrid rushed them inside to get them seated and served them tea and finally noticed Dudley who had been trying to hide behind Ron and Hermione – as much as that was possible.
"Hello there," he said cautiously.
"H-hi," Dudley replied meekly.
"Dumbledore said he'd bring you to visit Harry. Didn' think he'd be all that happy ter see you, but..." Hagrid trailed off, seeing the faces of Harry and his friends, ready to defend Dudley.
"Dudley's all right," said Harry, quietly, but with conviction. "And he's also changed a lot over the year. He's grown up quite a bit, I think."
"Er, thanks, Harry." The cousins actually smiled at each other.
"Well, blimey, why didn't you say so?" said Hagrid. "Here, sit down, have a cuppa."
With that, Dudley was also settled with a cup of tea and slowly began to relax.
Hagrid stroked his beard, as if trying to figure something out, then turned back to Dudley. "Changed over the year, did yeh?" he asked shrewdly. "Did yeh go to a boardin' school, then?"
Dudley nodded.
"Thought you must've. Fat chance of changin' into somethin' decent, living with that pair..." Hagrid mumbled under his breath, but his guests all heard.
Dudley almost said something in his parents' defence, but his courage failed him. He looked down.
"Ah, didn't mean it like that," Hagrid said with a raised voice, now feeling guilty for hurting him. "Not too fond of yer parents, but yeh know that – S'matter o' fact, I was trying to curse yer Dad that day, jus' missed an' hit you instead. You know why, too. They let Harry believe—"
"I know. They can be wrong, about – stuff," Dudley said quietly.
"That's not an easy thing to understand – at yer age. But enough sad stuff." He got up, and began to rummage in the one cupboard in his room. "Aha! There it is! Bin' meanin' to give you this all day, Harry, for – fer the other stupid thing I did."
"Hagrid you didn't..." Harry began, but trailed off as a handsome, leather-bound book was laid in front of him. Harry opened it curiously. It was full of wizarding photographs. Smiling and waving at him from every page were his mother and father.
"Sent owls ter all yer parents' old school friends, askin' fer photos... knew yeh didn' have any... d'yeh like it?"
Harry could not speak, but Hagrid understood.
His friends gave him some time alone, to get acquainted with his present, before they wanted to have a look as well. Finally, Dudley also joined them.
"Your mum didn't look much like mine," he said, after looking through some photographs (and getting over the fact that they moved).
Hagrid snorted and began to say something, but reconsidered.
They walked back to the castle in time for dinner. The time for Dudley to say goodbye drew near. All in all, it had been an unforgettable day, he thought while they walked. He could not remember ever feeling so peaceful, so content, so – so happy. He slowed down.
"Harry," he almost whispered.
The others slowed as well.
"Hmm, what is?"
"What are we going to do when we go home?"
Harry stopped, looked up at the still sunlit sky. "I don't know. But now that I've met you, I believe it'll be all right." And he smiled.
Dudley would not let anything stop him from enjoying the rest of his time at Hogwarts after that. He was at his politest when he was made to apologise to Malfoy, and quite enjoyed the other boy's fury when he was told he also needed to apologise for his anti-muggle comments.
Dinner was eaten and properly appreciated, and then it was finally time to say goodbye. Dudley shook hands with Harry and both his friends, and then followed Dumbledore back to his school.
He could not wait to see Harry again.