"Alright, you've about five minutes to explain this all to me because we're already behind schedule!" Moody barked, rubbing his forehead in exhaustion.

Harry took a deep breath, recalling the crazy events that he'd experienced over the past few days. First, he and Dudley had been attacked by dementors, in little Whinging of all places. Then, he'd been expelled, only not really expelled and instead waiting for a hearing where he would likely be expelled. Finally and most ludicrously, his cousin Dudley who'd been an ordinary muggle for most of his life gained the ability to do magic. In short, it had been one hell of a week.

"It all started when the dementors came." Harry began, figuring that was as good a place as any to start. "Dudley was nearly kissed by one of them, and he went unconscious. When we got back home, he was naturally nauseous, so I think he used some accidental magic to summon the rubbish bin and hurled in it."

"You think?" A tall black man, who Harry had learned was called Kingsley, asked.

"Well, I didn't see it myself, but the bin wasn't supposed to be there," Harry explained, "then the ministry sent me the letter and they mentioned the summoning charm."

"Is that all?" Moody asked gruffly, his false eye zooming around as he looked Dudley up and down. Dudley jumped like a frightened mouse as he saw the moving eye, seemingly afraid that it would pop out and eat him whole.

Seeing Dudley's nervous behaviour, Harry couldn't help but feel a little giddy. For most of his childhood and even a fair bit of his wizarding life, it had always been Dudley and his friends who bullied Harry. But now, Dudley was all alone, and Harry's friends were here throwing their weight around. This little role reversal helped to ease a lot of Harry's dissatisfaction with the wizarding world.

"No, there's a bit more. When I was trying to explain to my aunt and uncle what had happened, I realized that Dudley had been able to see the dementors. So, I let him use my wand… and he did some magic."

Moody's frown deepened as he heard this, with his eye flicking back and forth between Dudley and Harry. He seemed to be waiting for one of them to jump out and say this was all a joke.

Honestly, Harry didn't blame him, he had thought this was all a dream when he first heard it. People didn't just 'gain magic' one day, it was totally unheard of. Even for muggleborns like Hermione, they would have instances of accidental magic throughout the years and eventually get a Hogwarts letter like everyone else. So why had neither of these things happened to Dudley?

"Look at me boy." Moody growled at Dudley. "I'm going to ask you this simply and you better not lie to me. Did you, or did you not see the two dementors that attacked Potter here?"

"I-I saw them." Dudley stuttered, his face going pale. It seemed like even the Heavyweight Boxing champion of the Southeast was afraid of Mad-Eye Moody.

"Then put your robes on and pack a trunk, you'll be coming with us. Tonks, Remus, Potter you three go help him, I want to be brooms-up in five minutes." Moody grumbled, hobbling outside with the other members of the Advanced Guard to 'secure the perimeter' whatever that meant.

Once Moody was gone, Dudley's complexion returned mostly to normal, but he was still a bit frazzled, constantly sending glances at the door.

"What? Is little diddykins scared of an old man?" Harry couldn't help but tease. Dudley didn't even flinch, his eyes locked on the door. "Snap out of it, Dudley. You're not going to get us to do all the work, no matter how long you stare, so either get a move on, or I'll hex your behind!"

Dudley started moving at that, though he took careful steps, not daring to let his eyes leave the door. Harry had never seen him so serious. Only when he made it to his room did his tensed shoulders finally relax.

Still, he didn't relax completely, quickly moving to pack up his stuff. Clearly, Dudley was still very afraid of what Moody would do to him if he missed his five-minute timeline. Professor Lupin and Tonks stepped in to help him.

"You'll need to excuse Mad-Eye there, Dudley. He's not used to talking to muggles, or rather anyone who's not a Dark Wizard." Tonks comforted. "The gruff bastard spent the better part of a year looked up in his own trunk, so he's still a bit rough around the edges."

Tonks's soothing words served to placate Dudley's fears rather quickly and Harry even saw him crack a wicked smile at the thought of Mad-Eye being locked in his own trunk. Classic Dudley.

Almost immediately, Dudley started chatting up Tonks, putting on a scared veneer to slowly ween information out of her. While his cousin might be an idiot, Harry had to admit that he was a master of manipulation. He'd wind up in Slytherin for sure, if Dumbledore let him into Hogwarts that is.

By the time Dudley's trunk was packed, he and Tonks seemed positively chummy with each other and even Professor Lupin was smiling at him.

"By the way, can either of you perform a reducing charm? I'd like to bring my pet turtle, Bacon with me, but I reckon he's a bit big to fit in his cage." Dudley asked sweetly, Harry resisted the urge to snort at his honeyed veneer.

"Not a problem." Tonks declared, simply tapping her wand on Bacon's shell and shrinking the meter-long turtle to the size of a rabbit.

Dudley gawked at what was no doubt his first sight of practiced, intentional magic. Harry knew that a bully like Dudley would no doubt be entranced with the powers of magic. He questioned the wisdom in giving Dudley his old school books, but Hermione had once told him that wizards who never learned to control their magic were not only a danger to themselves, but also to others.

Plus, Harry doubted that a dumb brute like Dudley had the patience to learn any complex spells. At best, he'd become a minor menace like Crabbe and Goyle.

After placing a rather startled Bacon in his cage, Dudley secured his trunk before smiling. "Well, I think we're all ready to go."

"We're here!" Tonks called out in a singsongy voice, tripping over a bit of hose as she walked through the garden.

"Took you long enough. I thought I taught you speed was key in extractions. Constant Vigilance!" Moody—Dudley had learned that was the gruff man's name—harrumphed, pounding his walking stick into the pavement.

Moments later, a half dozen broomsticks flew over from various directions, each one levitating a foot above the ground in a diamond. Each wizard picked a broom stick, straddling it, while Kingsley and Moody retrieved their own broomsticks and took positions at the front and rear of the formation respectively. Harry also seemed to know exactly what to do, taking a position in the centre of the diamond.

Moody walked back over to Harry, rapping him hard on the noggin with a wand. Dudley watched in amazement as his cousin disappeared before his eyes, becoming barely distinguishable from the darkness around him.

"What are you looking at?" Moody snapped angrily. "Where's your wand? Your broom?"

Dudley was flabbergasted, wondering when Moody thought he had the time to buy a wand, let alone a broomstick. He'd just figured out he was magical for Chrissake!

Still, Dudley doubted that would placate the grizzled old man and he floundered for an answer. Fortuately, Tonks came to his rescue.

"Moody he hasn't got any of those things. He was just a muggle a few days ago."

"Oh, right." Moody grumbled, his face full of impatience. "Come here boy."

Dudley obliged.

Moody reached for a pouch at his waist as Dudley arrived, putting his scarred hand inside and digging around. The pouch was barely bigger than a fanny pack, so Dudley questioned what useful things could be kept there, only for the man to thrust his whole arm into it, right up to his shoulder.

"There it is!" Moody grinned, yanking a long, narrow stick out of his pouch.

Dudley didn't even want to think about how the stick—which was longer than the pouch itself—had fit into it, but he wondered what purpose it would serve.

"It's a wand, you can use it until you get one of your own. As for a broom, you can ride up with Tonks."

"Why do you have a spare wand Professor Moody?" Harry questioned, his voice seemingly coming out of nowhere.

"It's not mine." Moody growled. "It belonged to that bastard Crouch!"

Just the name 'Crouch' served to stiffen the backs of the other wizards in the group, making Dudley wonder who he—or she—was.

"Don't you need to turn it over to the ministry then?" Tonks questioned. "Evidence and all that."

"Not that Crouch, the other one. The spineless coward who let his own son out of Azkaban!" Moody hissed in rage, clenching the wand until his knuckles went white. He threw it at Dudley, who fumbled a bit before catching it. "For all I care, you can feed it to a dragon once you're done with it. A man like that deserves nothing better."

Many of the other wizards, particularly the 'aurors', nodded their heads in agreement with Moody, though Dudley saw a few who looked less convinced.

Regardless, the notoriety of this wand's last owner made Dudley feel a lot more convinced about its powers. From what he'd read, wands chose the wizard, so a powerful wizard ought to have been chosen by a powerful wand.

Holding it in his right hand, Dudley felt a connection with the wand that was… different, from what he'd felt with Harry's. Maybe it was because Harry's wand had an owner while this one didn't.

"Lumos." Dudley incanted softly, unable to resist the urge to try out a bit of magic.

To his shock, the wand-lighting charm succeeded on his first try with a small ball of white light forming at the tip of the stick. Dudley almost dropped the wand in astonishment.

"Bloody hell boy, that's not a toy! Now put that out before you alert half of England!"

Dudley quickly obliged the order, needing to say Nox three times until he finally put out the wand. Then, he rushed over to Tonks, fearing that Moody would turn him into a frog for easier transport if he tarried for too long.

Fortunately, Tonks seemed to be more amused by his antics than anything else.

"Alright, you're gonna want to straddle the broom real tight. If I know Moody, he'll be making us go to hell and back before back at Grimmauld Place."

Dudley let out a dumb grin at Tonks using the word 'straddle', but he still mounted the broom just as she indicated.

"Now hold on tight…" Tonks cautioned, eyes locked on a jet of green-sparks in the distance.

"Hold on to whaaaah!"

Dudley's question would never be finished as Tonks suddenly kicked off the ground, her rickety old broom going off from 0 to 100 in a second. Riding a broom reminded him of riding a bike, only ten times faster and omnidirectional.

Screaming out in a mixture of joy and terror, Dudley clung to the witch in front of him with all his might.

Tonks let out a frantic spree of giggles.

"Never figured a big tough guy like you could sing soprano you know." She teased as she swerved in the air.

With the wind whipping in his face, Dudley scarcely had the ability to open his mouth, let alone quip back. All he could do was hug both Tonks and his wand for dear life and pray this hell ride would soon be over.

It wouldn't.

That said, Dudley could feel himself acclimating to the experience slowly but surely. Tonks' hair must have changed colour and shape a dozen times in the interim, but he didn't have the breath to ask about it.

"How long are we going to be flying?" Dudley asked, wondering if his frozen hands could survive much longer.

"I dunno." Tonks responded with a shrug. "Knowing Moody, we'll probably be doing a round through Greenland to throw off any tails."

Greenland? Dudley shivered. He wouldn't be able to survive that.

While he didn't pay much attention in school, he knew enough about Greenland to know that it was much too far North for his tastes. Plus, even as fast as they were going, such a detour out to take hours, if not longer.

"Don't worry, I'll be the first to mutiny if he actually does send us that far." Tonks offered in consolation. "That said, you make a mighty fine body-warmer though."

Dudley blinked, wondering if Tonks had noticed the odd language in her compliment. If she did, she didn't care about much, instead following the other brooms into a low dive near the Thames.

Blue eyes widening to the size of saucers, Dudley felt a blast of river water in his face as the broom hovered inches from the churning rapids. If his grip loosened for even a second, he'd slip into the depths of the river and likely never be found.

He gulped in terror.

Fortunately, their riverside flyby was short and sweet, pulling back up into the skies. Looking down at the beautiful lights of London below him, Dudley sighed.

His dad was down there, somewhere in the hustle and bustle. He probably wouldn't be seeing him any time soon.

And his mum… would she cry upon learning that her son was off to Boarding School? Or would she give him the same 'good riddance' she gave Harry each year?

Dudley wiped the salty river water out of his eyes, shaking his head. His parents loved him, they were just… coping.

But he'd make them proud this year. He'd learn all sorts of magic to make their lives easier. Spells to make better drills for his dad and tidy up the house for his mum. He'd make sure they never wanted for anything.

"You alright there Dudley?" Tonks called out.

"I'm fine." Dudley responded. "I'll be fine."

"Well then you'd better brace for touchdown, because here we go!"

Dudley looked down to see the glittering city lights rapidly approaching as Tonks aimed her broom for a small square. Bending his knees a bit, he groaned at the impact from the landing.

No more than a moment after they landed, the others followed suite, making a large circle in the centre of which Harry landed. All of them had their wands raised, ready to protect him. His little chosen cousin.

Ignoring the little show, Dudley dismounted on a patch of unkempt grass in the middle of the small square where they'd landed. It wasn't a particularly well-to-do area like Privet Drive, with most of the houses looking grimy and old.

Checking the street name, Dudley frowned. Who named a street 'Grimmauld Place'?

But that wasn't the only oddity of the street as Dudley noted that the houses on the street seemed to jump straight from number 11 to number 13, with no number 12 in sight. Confirming that it wasn't on the other side of the street, he scratched his chin.

Maybe it had been torn down?

As the wizards unpacked their trunks, Dudley nodded on approvingly to the music blaring on in number 11. It was that new American song, Gangsta's Paradise. At least they had good taste.

"Do you know them then?" Tonks appeared over his shoulder pointing to the window of number 11.

"How on earth would I know them?"

"I dunno. I figured most Muggles knew one another. Most wizards do anyways." Tonks said with a shrug.

"There are well over fifty million people in the UK, do you seriously reckon know them all?" Dudley scoffed.

"Fifty million? Yoinks, I figured there were 500 thousand or thereabouts." Tonks marvelled with her mouth agape.

Dudley glared at her in astonishment. Did she really believe that?

He didn't have time to ask as the group set off to move once more, forming a tight circle around Harry as they moved towards the space between numbers 11 and 13 on Grimmauld Place.

Moody had shoved a paper under Harry's nose making sure he'd read it before thrusting it into Dudley's hands.

The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix may be found at number twelve, Grimmauld Place, London.

"What the hell's that supposed to-" Dudley started, but then his eyes almost bulged out of his skull as the terrain before him began to shift.

It looked like a scene straight out of a cartoon where an invisible force seemed to push the two houses at number 11 and number 13 apart to put a third in between them. The booming tune of Gangsta's Paradise sounded out, completely uninterrupted by the massive house being magicked into existence next-door.

Dudley just stood there for a moment. Mouth opening and closing like a fish as the other wizards walked past him, casually entering the magical house.

"Come on then blondy, this luggage isn't going to carry itself." Tonks grunted, heaving two massive trunks behind her.

"Aren't you a witch?" Dudley asked stupidly.

Tonks blinked.

"Oh, right."

She then turned to the trunks, flicking her wand to levitate them off the ground, having them follow her and Dudley as they entered.

Dudley stepped over the threshold into the almost total darkness of the hall. His first reaction to number 12 Grimmauld place was that it stunk of hobo. Like that weird, mouldy rotten smell around abandoned buildings. He considered digging his heels in and protesting, but with Moody standing right behind he decided not to.

Then, the door slammed shut, sealing the darkness for a moment.

Raising his new wand to make some light, he almost did as Tonks stopped him. He understood a moment later as Moody spoke in a hushed whisper.

"Now stay still, everyone, while I give us a bit of light in here," Moody whispered.

Dudley heard a soft hissing noise and then a set of rickety gas lamps sputtered into life all along the walls, casting a dim light across the hall.

'Gas lamps? What is this, 1945?' Dudley thought scornfully.

Still the flickering lights were enough to allow Dudley his first cursory glances of the house he'd just entered.

On his first assessment, Dudley felt that number 12 had probably once been a pretty regal estate… decades ago that is. Now, the wallpaper was peeling, the exposed wood was filled with rot and termite holes, while the metal had all rusted to an ugly brown or green colour. Also, the design was oddly snake-themed, making him suspect that the original owners of this house were Slythryins or whatever that House was called.

Dudley shivered slightly. The first thing he'd learned from reading Harry's old books were that Slythryins were bad news.

Most of them hated people like Dudley, people without magical relatives that is, reckoning they ought not to be let into schooling. Some of them even took a step further, reckoning that muggles ought to all be exterminated or at least subordinated.

He figured it was a shame, since most Slythryins in the books seemed to be smart and cunning. Smarter than the Gryffydoors and Huff'npuffs at least.

Continuing down the rickety old hall only served to cement Dudley's beliefs as he saw writings on the walls ranging from 'Pure is power' to some nasty slurs about mudbloods.

Once they reached the end of the hall a door swung open, briefly revealing a table with a dozen or so wizards seated around it, before swinging shut. As for the figure who exited it was a short, portly woman with bright red hair.

Red hair… Dudley shivered as he recalled his last encounter with a red-haired troupe. If those demon boys were any indication, he ought to stay away from this woman.

"Oh, Harry, it's lovely to see you!" The woman whispered, hugging his cousin.

After checking up on Harry, the woman's eyes scanned through the crowd, before landing on Dudley.

"Who's this then?" She asked with a bright smile.

"This is Dudley, Molly." Lupin responded. "Harry's cousin."

Her smile soured in an instant.

"Oh… well we haven't cleared another room for him yet." She said stiffly.

Dudley scoffed, it was really starting to get annoying just how well-loved Harry was. He could only imagine how hard it would be to convince others that he wasn't the monster Harry no doubt made him out to be. Not that that depiction would be wrong per se.

"You needn't worry about that quite yet Molly. I haven't decided if we're keeping him quite yet." Moody growled.

Harry grinned at that comment, looking at Dudley gloatingly. But Dudley didn't care too much himself.

Even if the wizards did obliviate him, he'd written loads of notes on magic in notebooks all over his room and on his computer. In fact, he almost wanted to be obliviated so he could strike out on his own.

"Alright then… but he'll still need to stay somewhere while the meeting's going on."

"You don't understand Molly, he'll be coming to the meeting." Moody explained. "This little bugger's got information in his head that Dumbledore'll need to verify."

"Hang on! Dudley gets to go to the meeting and I don't! That's rubbish!" Harry cried out indignantly.

His loud cry echoed through the house and Dudley could hear clattering from across the door.

It took both Lupin and Molly to calm him down, sending him packing upstairs as the adults went into the room. Moody was the last to go in giving Dudley a cold stare.

"You'll be waiting out here until I call on you. If you even THINK about running, I'll turn you into a pumpkin." He hissed, clunking his way into the room.

Then Dudley was left alone in the hall.

For the first few seconds, he could hear some hushed voices from the other side of the door, but soon, even they disappeared as someone cast a spell on it.

There, in the silence, by himself, Dudley had time to sort out his thoughts.

"Lumos." Dudley lit his wand once more, watching the small flickering glow.

While it was feeble and useless, it represented something important.

This wasn't a joke anymore. Not an idea or a possibility. He had magic. That was undoubtedly true.

But what could he really do with it.

While Dudley had lofty dreams, now that he'd really had a chance to experience it, he realized that magic was no joke. Even something like the wand-lighting charm took a good bit of effort for him, and all he could produce was a feeble bit of light. Starting at a four-year disadvantage to all his peers… could he really make that up?

Plus, he wasn't an idiot. Dudley had been picking up on a few things.

The way the Order talked in hushed whispers, how they seemed to be so cautious, the fact that Harry had been almost expelled for self-defence. It was clear that there was something going on in the magical world.

He remembered what Harry'd said that night, after his world had come crashing down. The Dark Lord—the one who'd killed his parents—was back.

Between Dudley being a muggleborn and Harry's cousin to boot, he figured that Voldywhatsit would probably shoot first and ask questions later when it came to him. Plus, it seemed the government wasn't on his cousin's side either, sic'ing their prison guards on him. If he sided with Harry, he'd be miring himself right in the muck next to him.

And for what? A Hogwarts education was free for all wizards and his parents were well off enough to buy him some magic stuff.

Even if they weren't, Dudley had a couple hundred pounds saved up himself and could manage to scrounge together some more by selling his stuff. He really didn't need this stupid Order of the Pheasant or anyone else. And given their attitude, it was clear they didn't want him either.

Puffing up his chest, Dudley prepared to storm out right that instant, leaving this house in his rear-view mirror. The door behind him swung open.

"Come on in boy."

Dudley definitely didn't want to go in, but a hand reached out through the door, seizing him by the shirt. He was then thrust into the super-secret meeting room, with the eyes of two-dozen wizards on him at once.

Despite being fully clothed, he felt naked under their piercing gazes, particularly those of the two at the head of the table, a man with greasy, black hair and an older man with a long silvery beard.

As a long-time bully, Dudley was used to confrontations with authority, and could generally get a feel of a room from the moment he entered. From this room, all he could feel was a burning hostility.

Save for the old coot, Tonks and a balding red-haired man—who he recognized from last year—the others all looked at Dudley with varying degrees of contempt. There was one, emaciated, long-haired man who almost looked like he wanted to throttle him if he wasn't being held back by Lupin and the redhead. Dudley recognized him as Sirius Black, the psycho godfather Harry had often threatened him with. He looked as homeless and savage as his mugshots.

"While Sirius has indeed been lax in his grooming of late, that's quite an abrasive evaluation Mr. Dursley." The old coot finally broke the silence of the room.

Everyone looked to the old coot in confusion, Dudley most of all. Could that man read his thoughts?

"What's this brat been thinking about me!" Sirius snapped, looking at Dudley with killer eyes.

Dudley winced.

"Nothing too uncouth, I assure you." The old coot continued. "Still, he'll need to work on his etiquette if he's to do well at Hogwarts."

The greasy-haired man scoffed, but a stare from the old coot stopped him.

"Ah that's right, introductions!" The old coot beamed jovially. "As much as I like the term 'old coot' I believe a person's name tells you a lot about them. I, for example, am Albus Dumbledore."

"And what's that supposed to tell me? That you're a Dumb-Old-Door?" Dudley snorted.

His joke definitely did not land, as the wizards around Dumbledore gasped out in shock, all looking at Dudley with hostility. A hearty chuckle from Dumbledore himself diffused the tension, still Dudley was impressed by the loyalty of the other wizards.

'Alright, so messing with Dumbledore is a big no-no.' Dudley thought.

"Actually the origins of my surname are most intriguing indeed, but I fear we haven't the time to go over them. Instead, why don't we all make some introductions. I'm sure you know Kingsley, Alastor, Elphias, Sturgis, Emmeline, Remus, Hestia, Daedalus and Nymphadora here."—Dudley noticed Tonks make a 'tch' sound, but even she didn't dare correct Dumbledore—"And of course you know of Sirius."—The bedraggled man growled.—"I'll allow the others to introduce themselves."

And they did.

That said, Dudley could barely keep the names he already knew straight, so he only bothered to remember the important ones like Kingsley, Moody, Tonks and Sirius. He also remembered the bloke named Mundungus Fletcher, since he was pretty sure he'd seen him around Privet Drive and Arthur Weasley too.

Finally, when the last person had introduced themselves, Dumbledore turned to Dudley.

Dudley just stared back at the man, blue eyes meeting each other.

"Typically, Mr. Dursley, when others introduce themselves to you, you respond with an introduction of your own."

"Oh, right." Dudley muttered. "Well, I'm Dudley Dursley, though I suppose most of you know me as Harry's cousin."—"Evil cousin." Sirius scoffed under his breath.—"I'm 15, I like boxing and… I dunno what else to say."

"That will do." Dumbledore responded with a smile. "Now, as I understand from Alastor, you have volunteered to give information to secure Harry's exoneration from his charges of misuse of magic."

"I haven't volunteered for anything."

There was a booming outrage as he uttered this, with all the wizards looking at him with loathing.

"Liar! You said you saw them boy!" Moody snarled, pointing his wand at Dudley.

"Alastor please-"

"I never said I was going to bloody testify to that!" Dudley snapped back.

"But he's your cousin! You owe him to come forward!" Molly cried.

"Fat load of good that's done me." Dudley sneered. "All I've ever got from you magic folk is scorn. I got a pig's tail when Harry got into his freak school, got my house busted up the next year, had my Aunt blown up on year 3 not to mention the shenanigans those two redheaded bastards pulled with my tongue just last year. And this is even mentioning that bloody dementor attack. As far as I figure, he owes me for not getting him sacked out of his freak school before now!"

"Oh and you're a saint of course! Never bullied him, beat up on him, treated him like dirt!" Sirius jeered.

"You're right I'm no saint, and that's the same reason I don't got to testify. Far as I see it, there's no good to backing the twerp and a hell of a lot of bad!" Dudley cried out. "What with that Voldemonkey"—a resounding gasp rang through the room—"looking to kill the bastard, putting my name behind him is just putting a target on my back!"

Dudley was huffing and puffing at the end of his speech, but he could see that it'd turned a few opinions around. After all, given just how bad this Voldefreak was, it made sense that he didn't want to implicate himself with him. The others got it too.

No one could force him to put his life at risk. If he was going to do, it had better be for a damned good reason.

"Just like his mother." The greasy-haired man, Snape, muttered under his breath.

The others looked surprised at Snape's contribution, but Dudley was straight-up livid.

"What's that about my mum!" Dudley roared, ready to throw something heavy at the bloke.

"I said you're just like her." Snape jeered, baring his yellow teeth. "You'll take all of the good and none of the good. Happy to wear the fancy beauty products and eat the magic chocolates but when it comes to anything substantial, you're off shrieking 'freak'!"

This time, Dudley did throw something at Snape, picking up a plate and whipping it at him. The man flicked out at it lazily with his wand, but a year of Ultimate Frisbee had given Dudley's throw just enough of a curve to evade taking the spell head on. The plate shattered in mid-air, but one of the large fragments continued slashing a shallow cut in Snape's cheek.

Dudley grinned for a moment, but then he felt an impending sense of dread as Snape brandished his wand at him. A dark-green jet of light was launched out of the scowling man's wand, speeding towards him.

He moved to dodge but it was too late as the spell came to within inches of his nose before hitting an invisible barrier.

"That's enough!" Dumbledore's booming voice called out. "Mister Dursley is correct, we have no right to compel him to testify on Harry's behalf."

"But Dumbledore!" Sirius started but was silenced by a glare from the old man.

Then, Dumbledore turned to Dudley, a genuine softness in his eyes.

"I understand that you're afraid, Dudley."

"Bollocks! I'm just looking out for myself!" Dudley snapped.

"I'm not talking about Voldemort." Dumbledore continued, with another gasp going through the room. "Fearing Voldemort is a wise thing, particularly for one so young. I'm referring to your fear of becoming a Wizard."

Dudley scowled at that comment, but he didn't refute it.

"Forgive me if I say this, but you've never excelled in your academics Dudley, and now that you are entering a world of which you are already unknowledgeable of, it scares you. You are afraid, that you will not be able to flourish in the wizarding world. That you will have put yourself into a world that seeks to persecute you without gaining from it the skills needed to protect yourself. And you're right."

Dumbledore was annoying. Dudley had deciphered as much from what little he'd said. He didn't have any grasp of nuance or secrecy, openly airing his dirty laundry that he'd unfairly pilfered from his mind.

He could already see the growing sneer on Snape's face.

Then, Dumbledore continued.

"But I can promise you this Dudley. If you agree to help Harry and the Order, in the best way you can, it will not be a thankless task. While you are indeed behind your peers in terms of knowledge, with determination and guidance, I am confident you can make it far."

Dudley wanted more than anything to believe those words. But as Dumbledore said, he was afraid. Afraid of mediocrity, of persecution, of death.

"Severus was right about one thing. You do have a lot of your mother in you. While I was never able to meet Petunia, from what correspondence we did have, I sensed a ravenous curiosity from her, as I do from you. Not many would be able to decipher a text as complex as 'A History of Magic' in a single week. I'm certain that with that same dedication, you can flourish as a wizard. Now the only question that remains is… will you try?"

Dudley paused, not willing to answer the question right away. While honeyed words were all well and good, he needed assurances.

"So you'll teach me then? Teach me what I need to catch up."

"The Order will aid you, to the best of its capabilities."

"And all I've got to do is speak up about the Dementors?"

Dumbledore nodded.

Dudley weighed his options carefully for a moment. In the end, he came to a clear conclusion.

"You've got a deal."