The Start of Something New

Rating: K+ I think slight bad language by Dudley.

Disclaimer: I have no rights to these characters, they being the sole property of JK Rowling and am making no money from said story.

After the Incident with the Dementors Dudley has made peace of a sort with Harry. This is hopefully the furtherance of their friendship / family relationship after they leave school and move on to adult life.

The Start of Something New

Chapter 21: Crystal Balls, Fires, and The Lodger. (Part 1)

After my holiday I came back to the office to find my desk piled high with paperwork. The technology department had succeeded in getting mobile phones to work properly in the magical world and several other things, but still had made no progress with computers. The amount of shielding to get them to work in a magical community was just so much that their functions were shielded out of existence. The 'program' that enabled an ordinary muggle computer to access the Hogwarts website was fairly simple to implement, a password and an encryption key that allowed access to a special website, somewhere away from magical influence.

I really hoped this problem would be sorted soon, the amount of paperwork cluttering numerous desks could be reduced dramatically, but until then I was reduced to reading pages of heavy documents and getting them moved to another office by a house elf after I had finished. A computer or laptop would be extremely helpful, but it was still not possible.

I had made several visits to parents of muggleborn witches and wizards, but the one that had really affected me was the young boy who had been caring for his disabled father. I had made many return visits to them after it had been arranged for a house elf to be assigned to the son as the magical member of the family. The boy was starting to come out of his shell a little and making friends. The father was much impressed with his new carer and his benefits had not been affected through some clever paperwork from the ministry. The muggle authorities believed his care had been organised by some charitable organisation and were glad of the fact that it had not cost them anything; penny pinching beaurocrats the lot of them.

I was at home about three months after my holiday when I heard some commotion in the square, a bit out of the ordinary for this quiet area of London. There was what looked like a large pile of packing crates in the street, and no-one in sight. Suddenly there was a loud crack from the small garden in the centre of the square and the familiar figure of Gabrielle Delacour came striding into view, a large holdall in her hands. We had exchanged a few emails and spoken a few times on the phone. I knew she had got the internship at the ministry she wanted, but she hadn't said anything about her accommodation arrangements whilst working for the ministry.

She dropped her bag and quickly gave me a kiss, "bonjour Dudley! Are you visiting Harry, he didn't tell me you would be here?"

I looked at her in some confusion, "err! No, I just heard noises in the square and came out to see what was happening. What is happening?"

"I am moving in to lodge with Harry and Ginny, Maman and Papa did not wish me living in a strange city, in a foreign country on my own. Fleur lives too far to apparate every day and besides she has a young child there to look after. So it was decided I should move in here, after all it is family. But that still does not explain why you are here, if you are not visiting."

"I know I never told you where I lived, but did Harry never tell you about his neighbours?"

"No! I have no idea who lives next door to him, I assumed they would be muggles and I would have limited contact with them. His neighbours do not even know his house is there, is that not so?"

"Partially, the muggle family in number 13, have no idea he lives there, or even that his house is there, but the man at number 11, knows all about him."

"So he lives next door to a wizard, that is to be expected I suppose, a lot of wizards who work in the ministry live in London."

"Nope. The man in number 11 is a muggle." I was enjoying teasing her this way; it was not dissimilar to the game I'd played at Justin's birthday party with Hannah and Ernie.

"A muggle who knows Harry Potter. That is surprising; I did not think he knew that many muggles, he never talks about them much."

"He knows some muggles, not that many I admit, but you're probably right he probably doesn't talk that much about them. His interaction with muggles wasn't that good when he was younger."

"Yes! I understand that was your faul... I get it! The muggle who lives next door is you? No?"

"Found out my guilty secret I live at number 11, I'm also one of the few muggles that work for the ministry."

"You said in your e-mails, you interact with muggleborns and the wizard world. You do a good job, I understand. Harry says he has only heard good reports of you."

"That's nice, I'm sure I've caused him some headaches as well? Changing some things about the way the ministry is run. Did you need help moving your stuff in? I can help if you want." She accepted my offer of assistance and after knocking on the door and being admitted by Kreacher, I helped her move her packing crates into the house, and we sat in the kitchen afterwards talking about her plans for work, which she was due to start the next week. She had come early to London to see a little of the city before settling down to work.

When Ginny arrived home by floo, from practise with the Harpies, I excused myself and left the two of them to catch up and went home to sort myself out something to eat. My phone rang unexpectedly; very few people had my phone number, just work, for emergencies and family for the same reason. I'd only got it installed because I needed a phone line to get access to the internet, most people called me on the mobile.

"Dudley, it's Hermione! We think we've got a problem. There's been an act of magic by a muggleborn before their parents have been contacted, we've tried calling the home, but there's no reply. We need someone out there quickly, someone who understands the protocols of dealing with this sort of thing." She proceeded to give me an address and I went to the closet to get my helmet etc ready to leave on the bike. As I was getting dressed into my safety clothing there was a polite knock on the front door, now what?

Gabrielle was standing on the doorstep. "Pardon Dudley, but you left this in Harry's house!" she handed my mobile phone to me. Well that explained why work had called me on the house phone. Harry's house was 'unplottable' and mobile phones were always out of range when you were there. "I was going to ask you a favour, but I see you are leaving, I will call back later, au revoir."

"What did you want to ask? I'm about to head out on emergency, but if I can help quickly I'll do what I can!"

"I was hoping I could use my laptop in your house. I want to email Maman to let her know I am here safe, but Harry has no coverage. She pulled her laptop from the large bag she had over her shoulder, but if you are going out, is not possible!"

"I don't think it'll pose too much problem, you're welcome to use my internet connection." I told her the password that I used to access the internet and showed her to the lounge where I got the best signal. "I don't think you're going to rob me!" I laughed at this, "and if you do I happen to know where a very understanding auror is, to arrest you, just make sure you lock up when you leave! Thanks for bringing my phone back; I'm going to need it later."

"Merci Dudley! Thank you!" she kissed me on the cheek again and switched on her laptop preparing to send her emails and I left via the back door to get on my bike. I could really get used to being kissed by that young lady.

I arrived at my destination quickly coming to a landing about a half mile away and driving conventionally to the street where I needed to go. I was disappointed to see a police car, a fire engine, and an ambulance outside the address. Damn, but that looked bad. A uniformed police officer cane across to speak to me. "Can I help you sir? I must ask you to move on if you've got no official reason to be here. We've got a real problem here!"

I reached into my pocket and pulled out the wand and showed it to the officer, "I'm a ministry employed social worker and I was informed there was some sort of problem here that came under my jurisdiction. Can you tell me what happened?"

"Wasn't aware the ministry employed social workers? Thought that was all local authorities, do you mind if I check this out for myself first? Security. You understand?" I assured him that I did and he went off to make some calls to check with his station. After a few minutes he came back. "Sorry about that Mr. Dursley, but you must understand the need." I assured him that I did and again asked for clarification on the problem.

"Seems like the young girl here set the house alight in some sort of argument with her parents, now normally this would just be routine. The parents however began to refer to the girl as devil spawn and were trying to exorcise the devil out of her. We were called in by the neighbour after she heard screams. The girl's in the ambulance now being checked out. She was conscious, but had a lot of bruising that I could see."

"I see, would it be possible for me to talk to the parents. Find out some details for myself you understand?"

"They've already been arrested and taken to the station. We're just here to find out what the harm is to the child, to ascertain what charges if any will be brought against them. Looks like assault at the least, and will probably involve a custodial sentence if it is."

"I really need to find out everything I can then? Could you give me directions to the station and radio them that I'm coming in. I'll need to speak to them both." He gave me the requested information and assured me that I would be expected on my arrival. I drove off at a normal speed, keeping to the ground for this short journey, no need to arrive too quickly. Although the bike was registered to the ministry and had immunity in the case of certain speed restrictions I didn't like to flaunt it.

The sergeant at the desk, checked out my ID and admitted me to an interview room where the parents would be brought to me. I sat down to wait. Two well dressed young people were brought in; the girl looked to be 3 or 4 years older than me, her partner a couple of years older than that. They sat down in the chairs indicated and the escorting police officer went to stand by the door, obviously intending to monitor the situation. I turned to look at him, "I need to speak to these people in private. If you check you'll find I have the necessary clearance and authority to do so." I waited for the officer to leave.

"I'm here for your protection as well sir! These two have employed violence to police officers as well as the young girl. They could get violent."

I pointed out the cameras watching the interview room. "You're welcome to monitor the situation on the camera, but I must insist that I talk to them in private, this is a matter of security. I can get this enforced if I need to, but I'd rather not." The officer looked undesisive for a moment, nodded and left the room, closing the door behind them.

I looked at the two people sitting opposite me! "Ok, I'm a ministry employed social worker, why don't you tell me your version of what's gone on tonight I need to know!"

"It was that little bastard! She's some sort of demon, always with the bloody fires. No way she can light them in the house, but always things erupting into flames. Don't know who the ruddy father was, Mary went on a college trip abroad a few years back and when she came back, swore some fellow had raped her. No physical evidence could be found by police to indicate rape, but Mary had been brought up properly, no sex outside marriage. Well when she turned up pregnant, I agreed to marry her and adopt the child as my own, but I swear the brat is some kind of demon spawn."

I looked at the young woman, "do you agree with what he's been saying? Is there anything else you'd like to add to this?"

"I remember the college trip and having some strange dreams at night, erotic dreams, and one morning it was different, I felt ashamed, dirty, soiled. I tried to tell my tutors but they didn't believe me. When I was pregnant with Angela, they thought I had been playing around whilst I was abroad, but I wouldn't do that. I was brought up to be a proper Christian and despite her name that child is no angel. She's got the devil in her from her father whoever he was. We tried to get her exorcised by the pastor and he told us some things to try when he wasn't available, but it doesn't work. She's some sort of demon spawn. The only way to get rid of that sort of thing is kill it." This had taken a turn for the worst. I got up from the chair and knocked on the door to be let out.

"I need to call my superiors about this, it seems the child will need to put into foster care for her own safety, can I go outside to make a call." The officer nodded and showed me through a back door to some sort of courtyard where several police cars and other vehicles were parked and I called the ministry emergency line.

"Caller, you have reached the Ministry of Magic emergency service, please listen to the following list of numbers for the department you require." I hated these ruddy things, if I'd known I was encouraging the ministry to adopt one of these automated systems I was sure I'd never have shown them how to use a phone. I pressed the number to get through to the Obliviators and proceeded to tell them about the story I'd heard over the past half hour. As I told the background of the case so far, it was decided that no oblivator would be needed but they were sending out an auror to look into things and maybe help me if I needed to gather evidence for later.

I went back into the station and informed them that I had finished for now with the prisoners, but I would have a colleague from the ministry arriving soon. Law enforcement, who may need to speak to them, it was looking highly likely that the child would be going into foster care. I was shown to the staff canteen to wait and sat down with a cup of coffee wondering who they would send?

I had been waiting for nearly an hour when a constable came and informed me that the officer I was expecting had arrived and was waiting downstairs for me, an Inspector Potter from Special Branch. I nodded and followed the officer back to the reception. I shook Harry's hand, called him Inspector, as if he were a stranger to me, and explained again everything I had learnt from interviewing the prisoners. Harry nodded and asked the desk sergeant if we could review the evidence room and were lead to another room where the footage from the camera was played for us both. Harry agreed with me that this was an extreme case and the child should be removed from her parents for her own safety. I informed the desk sergeant that I needed to go outside and collect the appropriate paper work from the bike, gave Harry a direct look and he nodded. I noticed him waving his wand under the table we were sitting at.

I went to the bike and on the left hand side of my bike out of sight of the car park camera there was a briefcase attached to the side. I removed this and proceeded back inside. I opened the briefcase and speed reading the document I brought out handed it to the desk sergeant. "This is a document for making the child a ward of court, removing it from the care of her parents and taking her into approved foster care." I filled a few details in on the form, that name of the child and names of the parents.

The desk sergeant nodded, looking quite impressed. "I would think from the evidence we've viewed and the state the child was in, a case of attempted murder should be brought against them. I'm sure you can see the necessity of our removing the child from where the authorities have taken her to another hospital for her own safety," again I saw his arm twitch under the table as he waved his wand. "We're also going to need a copy of that tape from the evidence room. It will be put on sealed record in the child's file. You do understand, don't you?"

After we had the copy of the evidence we left the station knowing the couple would be charged with attempted murder and we had guardianship of the girl. Harry walked with me back to my bike and flicking his wand attached the briefcase to the bike like a pannier. I've put an additional charm on that case, in case of similar events or some such. Any time you need some paperwork, forms etc, they'll be in there for you."

"How did you get here, did you apparate from London?"

He chuckled, "no I came in a similar manner to you." He pointed out the large Jaguar car that was parked next to my bike. "Take a look at the car, ahem, properly and you'll see what I mean." I thought about his statement for a moment and reached into my pocket to touch the wand. Lying on the floor in the parking bay was a broom, but as soon as I took my hand away from the card, I could see the car again. I nodded understanding what he meant. "I've got to go and collect the child now and take her to St. Mungo's for a proper check out by a healer, but you can get off home. When the ministry called me at home, Ginny told you to call round ours when you got back; she's preparing a meal for the family and invited you. I won't be too long after you." He 'climbed into his car' and backed it out of the car park and drove off. I looked up and saw his broom shoot off as soon as he was out of camera range.

Back at Grimmauld Place I parked my bike in the garage and came out with my helmet in hand, preparing to go through the house, change and go round to number 12, but there was a surprise in store. There was an open gate in the fence and Kreacher was standing in the gateway. "Mistress Ginny heard you arrive and asked me to bring you straight over."

I followed him through the open gateway and into Harry's back yard. "I never noticed a gate here before," I said looking back at the fence, but there was no gate, just a normal fence the same as there had always been. I turned to look at Kreacher. "Where's the gate, Kreacher?"

"Gate? Master Dudley, there's never been a gate in the fence. Mistress Ginny asked me to bring you straight over; I just came to fetch you. Kreacher always does as Master Harry or mistress Ginny tells him to."

"Err! Right. Thank you Kreacher."

I followed him through the back door and into the kitchen, Ginny was stirring something on the stove and Gabrielle was setting the table. "Thank you for letting me use the internet from yours, Dudley. Maman and Papa are pleased that I am all moved in safely, and Maman is pleased to know there is someone living nearby that I consider a friend. Family is all very well to be with, but you need friends as well, do you not agree?"

I nodded at her comment, "I agree with you, but aren't I family as well, after all my cousin and your sister are in laws?"

"Of course, but that is different, I feel different about you to what I do for Harry, Ginny, or any others of their family.

Ginny looked hard at Gabrielle, "Gabby, are you certain of this? You're not going to do anything to hurt Dudley are you! I don't mind you being friendly with him, but I'm sure Harry would agree with me, that he doesn't want his heart broken or anything by anyone!"

"I will not do anything to Dudley that a normal girl would not do! My intentions are strictly honourable. If we go any further as friends it will be his choice, I am not going to trap him into anything because I am part veela. That would be dishonest." She smiled at me, and I gulped. It seemed she had plans set firmly in her mind, was I really ready for this. I enjoyed her company and I liked it when she kissed me, but was I ready for this to go further, I mean I was 23, a muggle and not that experienced with girls, and she was 17, not entirely human, and beautiful. I do hope I knew what I was letting myself in for...

Author note: the use of the term 'bastard' in this chapter is meant to be taken in its original meaning, as illegitimacy, not a swear word. In the way the chapter runs, the title should read, the Lodger, Fires and Crystal Balls, but that didn't read right. The next chapter has already been started and you will learn more about the lodger, the significance of fires and what the crystal balls are all about.

Please review: this chapter was very easy to write, and seemed to be getting a bit longer than I usually post so look out for the next one which I intend to post at the same time. Crystal Balls, Fires and, The Lodger (Part 2).