Sensing Magic
by Teddylonglong
Please refer to chapter 1 for my disclaimer and warnings. Thank you.
From the following morning onwards, Harry and his parents took Dudley with them to the Great Hall for breakfast and dinner.
"This is my cousin Dudley, and he's staying with us over the summer."
"Harry?" Dumbledore leaned forward in his seat. "You're aware that your cousin is a muggle?"
Harry rolled his eyes in annoyance; however, before he could do as much as think of an appropriate response, Dumbledore directly addressed Dudley.
"Mr. Dursley, I'm afraid that you cannot remain at Hogwarts."
"Nonsense!" Harry rose from his chair, staring down at the headmaster. "First of all, my cousin is not a muggle but a Squib, and as such, he is well able to visit my family and me during the summer."
"Mr. Dursley?" Harry looked at Narcissa in surprise.
"Please call me Dudley."
Narcissa smiled. "Dudley it is, then. If you're interested, perhaps you could attend my summer course for the muggleborns students."
"Oh, Narcissa, that's a brilliant idea and a very nice offer." 'Why didn't I even think of that?' Harry wondered. Realising that Dudley looked at him in apparent uncertainty, he nodded. "Dudley, why don't you just try it out?"
"You will love it. Magic is just brilliant," Luna added, giving Dudley a dreamy look.
Dudley smiled. "Yes please. Thank you for having me."
From that time onwards, Dudley attended the summer class for the muggleborn students, who were going to become first-years during the upcoming school year. To Harry's surprise, his cousin appeared to thoroughly enjoy himself, and even Narcissa told him that Dudley seemed to be as interested as her magical students.
"I just wished I had magic," Dudley said one evening, when they talked about the summer class.
"Is that really what you wish? Have magic and, according to your mother become a freak and attend Hogwarts with the new first-years?" Severus raised an eyebrow at the boy.
Dudley sighed, deeply. "Yes, I'd love that, but I know that it's not possible. They told me that I'm a Squib and Squibs only have about two percent of magic, which is not enough to cast any spell whatsoever."
"I believe that it would be possible for you to gain magic."
"Really?" Dudley stared at Regina in obvious excitement.
"Really." Regina smiled. "However, we'd need your mother's consent."
"How…"
"I'll ask my sister to bring her here sometime during the weekend, and then we can speak with her together."
"Thank you so very much." Dudley cast Regina a grateful look. "I hope we'll be able to convince Mum."
HP
While Petunia was obviously disappointed that Severus refused to give her magic, she accepted for Dudley to become a wizard and attend Hogwarts from September onwards. Unbeknownst to his aunt and cousin, Harry simply paid the Hogwarts fees for Dudley from his own account.
Severus chose the weekend after Harry's birthday for the blood transfusion, so that Dudley would have ten days to get used to suddenly having magic.
"Harry, I can't believe it," Dudley said in clear amazement, when they retired for the night on his first evening as a wizard. "I'm so happy."
Harry smiled. "I believe that immediately. Magic is simply brilliant. I wonder where you're going to be sorted."
"Me too. Your friends… they're all awesome, but they're all in different houses."
Harry shrugged. "Does it matter?"
"I don't know. Does it?"
"No. We have study rooms for every year, where you can study together with all first-years from all houses. We made them at the beginning of our first-year, and everyone is always studying together. During the next few days, I'm going to show you all the classrooms and such, so that you can guide your classmates if that's what you wish. I will then take care of the other two houses."
"Thanks Harry… for everything you've done for me." He paused, and Harry already though that he had fallen asleep, when he added, "… in spite of how I've treated you in the past."
"It's all right. You were only a kid, so, what happened is not your fault. Good night, Dudley."
"Night, Harry."
HP
As the days passed, Dudley seemed to become more and more excited about his Sorting.
"Did we make such a fuss about where we were going to be sorted?" Draco asked one day, when Dudley had gone to the owlery to post a letter to his mother.
"I don't think so." Neville grinned. "He has completely changed, since he came here."
"He feels as if he belongs here now, because he has magic just like us." Luna smiled. "It's nice of Harry to allow him to be here."
Harry sighed. "It's all right. I'm happy for him. I'll be happier though, when the Sorting ceremony will be over."
Everyone laughed at his expression of pure annoyance at his cousin's apparent excitement.
HP
On the Hogwarts Express, Harry enlarged a compartment for the whole third-year class to fit in – much to his classmates' delight and the other students' bewilderment.
"Dudley, perhaps it would be better for you to sit with the other first-years, so that you can get to know some of them even before the Sorting." Neville gave the other boy a pensive look.
Harry nodded. "That's true. Sorry all, does anyone have younger siblings in first-year?"
"My sister Astoria is a first-year," Daphne was the first to reply. "Shall I take you to her?"
"Yes please." Dudley eagerly followed Daphne out of the oversized compartment, and a few minutes later, Daphne returned alone.
She chuckled. "Astoria will take care of him. She can be very annoying, like every other younger sibling probably can, but she's good at taking care of insecure people."
"That's great. Thanks for introducing him. He must feel very insecure, as he has only been a wizard for ten days now."
HP
A few hours later, Harry realised that Astoria indeed seemed to have taken good care of Dudley, as he was sorted into Slytherin, where he happily took the seat next to Daphne and was joined by Astoria a few minutes later. 'Slytherin,' he thought to his father in amusement. 'I wonder if it was your blood or Astoria Greengrass' care that caused it.'
His father merely returned a glare.
tbc...
Thank you so very much for the kind reviews for the previous chapter.