Entry for "Divination" at "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)"

Extra CreditTask: Write about making a difficult choice. Min 500 words

Entry for the "Ultimate Hermione Granger Pairings Challenge" at "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)"

Pairing: Hermione/Dudley Dursley

Entry for the "February Event: My Love" at "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)"

Prompt: (action) Meeting the parents

Entry for the "Word Prompt Express" at "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (Challenges and Assignments)"

Prompt: 995. worry

Entry for the "Gringotts Prompt Bank"

Character Pairing: Hermione/Dudley Dursley

Wizarding Occupations: Trainee Healer

Muggle Occupations: Game Designer

HP Locations: Privet Drive 4

(1140 Words)

Meeting the Dursleys

To Hermione, it was more than odd to be in a relationship with Dudley Dursley, the cousin of her best friend Harry. When she had first met Dudley in a coffee shop in London, she had not known that the tall, muscular man with the blonde hair and slightly crooked, but still friendly smile was related to Harry at all. She had of course met Dudley before, briefly, at Kings Cross, but that had been many years ago and Dudley had changed a lot since then, so much that she had really not recognised him.

Later it turned out that he had remembered her but had not wanted to tell her who she was from the beginning because he had feared that she might turn down his offer to drink another coffee together should she learn that he was Harry's cousin, who had formerly bullied the wizard.

Hermione really was glad that she had not recognised him from the start, as she then would have missed how nice Dudley was by now – he really had changed a lot, not only in physical terms, but also in personality.

Harry and Ron had been more than shocked when Hermione had introduced her new boyfriend to them after a dozen wonderful dates, and it had taken them some time to warm up with Dudley and deal with the thought that he was now the new man in Hermione's life, but she was happy that they had given him the chance to show that he was not the bully any more.

Since Dudley had moved out of his parent's house with eighteen, he had lost a lot of weight, as his mother had no opportunity to stuff him with cake any more, and overall he really was not a mummy's child any more. For him, it really had been revolutionary what he had done, a late rebellion against his parents, as he had not aimed to follow in his father's footsteps. No, instead Dudley had choosen a job that he had interest in, and he really did it with passion and motivation, no matter how much his father would criticise him and tell him that game designer was not a proper occupation for his son. They only had brief contact anymore, a letter here, a christmas or birthday card there.

Telling Harry this had earned him a lot of sympathy points, and now, half a year after Hermione and Dudley had started to date, the two cousins were getting along rather good.

But life once again had something in hand to disturb the peace that had settled in Dudley's and Hermione's life – one day, he had received a letter from his parents, asking him if he could come home for some tea and a talk that would help them communicate with each other more.

At first, Dudley had been against it, but Hermione had talked him into it with the argument that family was important, no matter what had happened in the past, and that maybe one day he would regret it should he not answer and at least hear what they had to say. It really had taken her a lot of time to convince him, as he really thought that they just did not understand him. He hated how low their tolerance was, and that they had not supported him when he had decided to become a games designer, and that they had also been the reason why his first love had broken up with him – she had been the target of Petunia's constant criticism and one day, she had not been able to take it any more.

Dudley feared that they could ruin his life once again if he allowed them to come back in, and it had taken many days for him until he was able to decide if he was going or not. During these days, he had debated with himself, turning the topic over and over.

When Hermione had promised to join him, he had finally agreed, and now they were standing in front of Privet Drive 4, holding hands, not knowing what was awaiting them.

One thing Hermione did worry about was how Mr. and Mrs. Dursley would react when they saw her – she was pretty sure that they had not changed their anti-magic regards since they last saw Harry, and even though she was muggleborn, she was still a witch too.

With that thought in mind, she was not all too surprised to see the extremely sceptic look on the faces of Dudley's parents as he introduced her to them during a rather awkward welcoming. The two obviously remembered her name and that she had something to do with Harry Potter, and when they settled in the living room and started to talk about Dudley's living conditions, it became clear that his parents really did still think the same.

"So... Hermione. What do you do for your living?" Mr. Dursley asked, obviously expecting to hear that she was unemployed – Hermione frowned internally about his prejudices.

"I am a trainee healer," she answered after taking a sip of tea, only to receive questioning glances from the two older Dursleys.

"Healer? Is this some esotheric nonsense?" Petunia responded sharply and Hermione could feel Dudley tensing next to her as he replied in her place:"No, mother. A healer is a wizarding doctor, and Hermione is really talented. I broke my wrist when I fell this winter and she healed it within a second."

Hermione could literally see that Petunia's dislike towards Hermione was increasing with every single word that was related to magic, and her face darkened when Dudley explained that they had moved together lately, living only a few minutes away from Diagon Alley. Dudley was the opposite of his parents by now – he was fascinated by magic, now that he was 'allowed' to express his own opinion, and he would get excited whenever Hermione took him with her to visit the wizarding shopping street.

When Dudley let it slip how awesome he would find it if, should Hermione and he have a baby, his child would be a wizard or witch, Petunia obviously had enough – her cup fell from her hand and she jumped into a standing position, an angry expression on her face:"Dudley, I tried to be tolerant, but there is no way I will ever be able to accept that you want to spend your life with... her!"

Looking back, Hermione knew that Dudley was oddly relieved that his mother had taken the decision if he wanted to have more contact with them again from him – after that statement, Hermione and he had left Privet Drive 4 without another word, and he had never gone back ever since.