Madame Pomfrey gave Dudley a potion to have a dreamless sleep, so he slept well. When he woke up the next morning, a familiar face was looking over at him.

"Luna?" he said, wiping his eyes. She was lying in the other hospital bed, grinning as she ate a bowl of porridge.

"I thought you'd sleep all day," she said.

"Why ... how did you get in? Pomfrey wouldn't let visitors come in at night would she?" then he realised she was in the end and he cottoned on. "Wait, are you injured?"

"Oh, no. Nothing like that," she said. Luna looked over at Pomfry's office to make sure she wasn't nearby and lowered her voice so that Dudley had to lean forward to hear her.

"It was Ginny's idea," Luna said, looking proud of her friend. "She knew I wanted to come and just be with you, but we knew Pomfry wouldn't let visitors in. And ... nor would Dobby."

Dudley followed Luna's gaze. Sure enough, his elf was sat in a chair, his feet dangling above the ground. "Dobby watched over Duddy Durzy—nobody allowed near, except for Luna. Dobby thought Duddy Durzy would like Luna to be allowed?" He looked anxious.

"Thanks, Dobby," Dudley said. And noticing the elf looked sleepy, her added. "You should get some sleep."

"Dobby stayed awake all night and will stay awake all day!" Dobby said.

Dudley insisted, however, and the elf curled up on the chair to get a nap.

"What were you saying?" Dudley asked.

Luna was staring at Dobby. "Oh ... well, yes. So Ginny had an idea—Madame Pomfry wouldn't let in visitors, but how about patients? She hit me with the antler charm..."

"Are you ok?" Dudley asked quickly.

"Oh yes, it's quite painless ... you know, I first thought they were quite cool, antlers. But then they just seemed to get in the way. I bumped them on the tops of doors twice. And trying to lie down with them is impossible ... where was I? Oh yes, well, anyway, of course Madame Pomfrey let me in as a patient and while I healed, I watched over you."

Dudley felt very grateful to both Luna and Ginny. "Smart scheme, worthy of the twins," Dudley said. "Ginny will be pleased. She's determined to outdo them."

Luna didn't ask about what had happened or discuss the third task at all, which Dudley felt very grateful about. The last thing he wanted was to talk about his experiences, at least, not yet. Instead she told him all about her exams and what grades she thought she would get.

Eventually, Madame Pomfrey dismissed them both. "Oh, and Miss Lovegood ...next time you attempt such a trick, it will be detention."

"You knew?" Luna asked in astonishment.

"Of course I knew! I wasn't born yesterday!" said Madame Pomfrey, but she smiled. "I think your company helped. Now, get going, the pair of you."

"Thanks Madame Pomfrey," Luna said.

They walked to the staircase leading to the Gryffindor common room. "Do you want me to come with you?" Luna asked.

"No, I'll go there alone—thanks," said Dudley. He hesitated a moment, then leaned over to give Luna a kiss. "I'll see you at lunch?"

Dudley walked slowly through the castle. He was in no hurry to return to the common room and experience a wave of questions about what had happened, so he took his time. Eventually however, he found himself outside the Fat Lady.

"Password?" she said.

"Hairy Hobgoblins!" said Dudley and the portrait flew open.

He stepped inside, sure enough the Gryffindors were gathered, but nobody asked any questions. Some stared at him, others forced themselves to look away. Dudley suddenly felt awkward—why the silence?

Fred and George hurried over. "Dudley, glad your own your feet," he said, shaking his hand.

"Yeah, can't tell you how glad we are to see you, Dud," said George.

"Thanks ... erm, why's everyone acting so weird?" Dudley said, glancing around. "I was expecting everyone to be asking questions."

"Ah," said Fred.

"That was Dean," said George. "He said he would hex anyone who asked you about what happened and anybody who pestered you in anyway."

"Hermione backed him up," said Fred. "And she can look pretty scary when she's wound up."

"So that's why everyone's ignoring me?"

"Yep, I mean everyone is curious—and everyone is relieved to see you. But Dean thought you'd want to be left alone," said George.

"He's not wrong," Dudley muttered.

"They're all up in the dorm room," George said.

"Thanks," Dudley hesitated before walking up. When he did so and arrived in his room, he saw Neville's bed had been covered with flowers and notes of best wishes and he felt the tears start to come. He had been so brave—Dudley intended to tell everyone what Neville had done at some point. He deserved everyone to know how he had defied Voldemort—but not now.

"How are you holding up, Dud?" said Dean.

He, Ron, Hermione and Ginny were waiting for him in there.

"I ... have no idea," Dudley said, throwing himself down on his bed next to Ginny.

They were all silent for a while.

"The Second Wizarding War has started," Hermione said, quietly. "Everything is going to be different from now on."

Dudley nodded. "Yeah, I was with Dumbledore, he's gathered something called The Order of the Phoenix."

"Yeah, Bill sent me an owl—he, mum, dad and Charlie have all joined," said Ron.

"Percy?" asked Dudley.

"I haven't heard, I think he's pretty busy at the Ministry," Ron said.

"I'm sure he will join you," Hermione said, quickly. "Family needs to stick together in times like this."

Dudley looked over at Neville's bed. "Anyone got a quill and parchment?"

Ron handed him some.

Dudley looked down at the parchment and began to write. He decided to keep it short and sweet.

"To Neville,

You are the bravest wizard I ever met. You will be missed.

Dudley"

After a while, they decided to go for a walk. As they went through the common room, Dudley saw a copy of the Daily Prophet on a table.

"YOU-KNOW-WHO RETURNS

Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge announced last night that You-Know-Who was back …"

Dudley didn't read further. He knew that Voldemort was back, so he didn't need to read the Prophet's take on such matters. They headed outside, Ginny announced that she would go and fetch Luna and would meet them in the entrance hall.

As they walked, Ron, Dean and Hermione talked determinedly about the exams. Dudley knew they were trying to take his mind off of what happened, and he was grateful for their efforts. But he would barely listen as Ron complained bitterly about the History of Magic exam, or Hermione fretting she got one of her ancient runes mixed up, or Dean saying how he aced the Defence Against the Dark Arts practical.

As they waited for Ginny and Luna, four Slytherin girls entered the entrance hall. One of them, a girl with long blonde hair tied back into a braid, nudged her friend—her eyes wide as she saw Dudley. The group made a beeline in their direction. They were all wearing a red badge with the letters S.A.D on it.

Ron was the first to react. He stepped forward, I front of Dudley, drawing his wand as he did so. "What do you want?" he demanded, suspiciously.

Two of the girls—identical twins, tall and lanky with short bob cuts eyed him scornfully. The blonde frowned but the short girl with long black hair who Dudley recognized as being Tracey Davies who had once asked him to the Yule Ball, smiled. He recognized the blonde girl too as being in his potions and Care of Magical Creatures class, but he wasn't sure of her name.

"Relax, Ron, we're not here to cause trouble," she said. "We came to talk to Dudley."

"You really think he wants to talk about last night?" Ron said furiously.

"Not about that!" Tracey said, quickly. "As if we would … I can only imagine … no, we came to tell Dudley that not every Slytherin supports You-Know-Who."

"Really?" Ron said, disbelievingly.

"It's true—listen, Malfoy and his moronic friends might have got it into their heads to be wannabe Death Eaters, but we haven't," Tracey insisted.

"It's true," the blonde said. "I'm Daphne Greengrass by the way. None of us like Malfoy at all. Like, all that nonsense about blood supremacy and how pure bloods are superior is utter nonsense. I mean, Hermione is the smartest witch in our school …"

Hermione looked very pleased at this.

"… and she's a muggleborn. You've, like, escaped You-Know-Who four times! Crabbe and Goyle are both pureblood and they barely have five braincells between them. Seriously—hearing Crabbe trying to answer a question in potions makes ME lose IQ points. It's all nonsense—my family are all pureblood, but that doesn't mean anything. Dad always said he bets most of the Death Eaters are half blood and are just pretending and says there are plenty of muggleborn witches and wizards just as powerful as pure bloods."

She said this extremely quickly without taking a breath. Ron was staring at her in wonder.

"My family has a few members who believe in blood supremacy," one of the twins said. "Our idiot of an uncle and our moron of an aunt used to blabber on and on about it during dinners until they were banned from family gatherings."

"Much to the delight of everybody else," the other twin said. "Best Christmas present I ever had was not having to listen to Uncle Amycus talking absolute bollocks over Christmas pudding."

"I always said the only thing Uncle Amycus and Aunt Alecto were superior too was an amoeba."

"So, we decided to start Slytherins Against Death Eaters," Tracey said proudly.

"Cool," said Dudley. "I'm glad not everyone in Slytherin is a …" he trailed off, trying to think of the best word.

"Twat?" supplied one of the twins. "It describes Malfoy pretty well. You can use tosser as well."

Dudley felt surprised to hear such language from someone who looked like they'd be more at home singing in a choir.

"As my sister said, we're not all, erm … twats …" the second twin said. "Some of us are quite nice, it's just the house carries an abhorrent reputation thanks to You-Know-Who."

"I've always said all Slytherins can't be bad," said Hermione.

Tracey beamed at her. "Exactly."

"So how many people are in sad?" Ron asked, squinting at the badges.

"Four," said Daphne. "And it's S.A.D, not sad. Myself, Tracey, Flora and Hestia, no, wait—that's Flora, this is Hestia Carrow."

"I'm the pretty one," Hestia said.

"You're the one who swears like a sailor because you think it makes you seem cool," Flora corrected.

"Shut up!" Tracey said, silencing them. "They'll argue all day if you let them."

"I won't," Flora said.

"Will …" Hestia said, quietly.

"Won't …"

"Shut up!" Daphne said, giving them both a gentle slap on the head. "They've got it into their heads that if you get the last word in you win the argument, so it will go on for, like, forever. I bet Uncle Amycus got banned from Christmas dinner on purpose, so he didn't have to put up with this pair."

"Anyway, I think we got sidetracked," Tracey said. "We just came to let you know not all Slytherins are …"

"Gits," said Ron.

"Yeah," said Tracey.

"Thanks," Dudley said. "I appreciate it," and he did. He had thought all Slytherins were like Malfoy and Nott—up to their ears in dark arts. So he was quite glad to see that some weren't.

Luna and Ginny arrived, just as the Slytherin girls were departing. "Was that the Carrow twins?" Luna asked. "They're quite nice—I have potions with them. Hestia swears a lot though. Even Snape has given her detention because of it."

Luna took his hand and the group went outside. Ron and Dean started talking about the upcoming war.

"Fudge might be gone soon," Ron was saying. "There's going to be a vote in the Wizengamot to remove him."

Ginny and Hermione were talking about music—Ginny talking about trying to persuade her mum to let her go to a Weird Sisters concert in the summer. "It's only fair, I put up with Celestina Warbeck three years ago, so she owes me for that!"

Dudley and Luna didn't walk. They just walked, taking in the peace and quiet of the lake. Dudley was thinking about what was to come.

The wizarding world was at war again. Dudley felt confident in Dumbledore. He had acted quickly and decisively upon hearing the news. He had persuaded Fudge to accept Voldemort was back, persuaded Fudge to send the Aurors after Macnair, dispatched Lockhart and the DFDL to arrest Avery II, got Hagrid to prepare to meet the giants, sent Snape to presumably go and spy on Voldemort and reformed the Order of the Phoenix, all in the space of an hour. He just hoped Fudge was as decisive as Dumbledore, but, then again, it seemed Fudge would be gone soon. Maybe Dumbledore would be the next Minister?

They sat down by the lake. Dean had brought some snacks for the giant squid which he tossed in towards it. It shot a bunch of bubbles out of its mouth. "That means it's pleased," Dean explained, tickling one of its tentacles.

"Do you know what the Order of the Phoenix is?" Dudley asked Luna. All he knew was that they were supposed to combat Voldemort. Luna's dad worked for a newspaper, so maybe she knew more.

"Daddy says it's a top secret group searching for the secret to eternal life. Dumbledore and Flamel founded it," said Luna.

Ok, maybe she didn't know more. "What's your plan for the summer?" he said, changing the subject.

"We're going to visit my family in Ireland," Luna said. "For a couple of weeks at least. How about you?"

"I guess I'll go and stop at Ron's at some point," Dudley said.

"I thought you'd be making plans to fight," Dean said, sitting next to him.

"Huh?"

"You know, with this Order of the Phoenix lot, you're joining, right?"

Dudley hadn't considered this.

Hermione piped up. "Dudley can't drop out of school to fight You-Know-Who, don't be ridiculous."

"I would if I could," Dudley said darkly. "I'm going to kill him for what he did to Nev."

"And I'll be right alongside you," Dean promised. "They're all going to pay."

"It will be an Auror … or Dumbledore again who will bring You-Know-Who down," Hermione said.

They all looked at her.

"But … well, of course—if we have a chance to do something, I'll help."

"Me too," said Ginny. "I would love to hit him with my Bat-Bogey Hex."

They all laughed. Dudley included. It was the first time he had laughed since the graveyard.

"I bet Dumbledore has plans," Hermione said, thoughtfully. "I expect we'll learn all about them in the Summer."

"How do you figure that one out?" Ron asked.

"Your parents are in the Order," Hermione said, simply. "And do you really think Fred and George aren't going to do everything they can to find out everything?"

"Yeah, that's true," said Ron. "You're coming over this summer?" he asked.

"Yeah, after I see my parents," Dudley said.

"How about you, Dean?" Ron asked.

"Same,"

Dudley looked around at his friends and decided, suddenly, it was time to tell them what Neville did. He kept much of the details of what happened during the graveyard to himself. But he felt it was time to let them know how brave Neville was.

"He actually gave You-Know-Who the finger?" Ron asked, looking amazed.

"Yeah—I couldn't believe it. It was brilliant."

"Oh, Dud, you've got to let everyone know. Neville deserve that's," said Hermione.

"I will … in time," Dudley promised. "I just don't want to yet."

"I understand," Hermione said, quickly.

Dean stood up. "I have an idea!" he said, quickly. "Nobody come to the dorm room for another hour at least."

"Why?" Ron demanded.

"It's a secret—trust me!" Dean said, excitedly and hurried off to the castle without a word.