Harry Weasley

Chapter Twenty-Three: Gilderoy Lockheart

When they got their letters for the upcoming school year a couple of weeks after Harry's 12th birthday, they found a full list of books by someone that the ladies knew of. Gilderoy Lockheart, the arrogant git, who had, as he so puts it in his own books, taken out, Werewolves, Vampires, Hags, Giants and everything else evil and lethal. He was able to keep up his appearance easily, and win witch's weekly's most eligible winning smile five years running. None of the boys or men were very well enamored with the man, but they did respect him. They all have heard about his exploits in taking on the evil in their midst.

While they were a bit surprised that they had to have so many books, they all were able to get their lists together to get the books that year. It was going to be tight for the Weasley's, but Harry said that he would take care of Ron and Ginny's books also, since they were the closest to his age. He would have offered to take care of Percy, Fred and George's also, but the three of them quietly declined saying that they would be able to take care of they're own this year. Harry smiled when he heard this, but didn't say a thing. The Weasley clan was having breakfast one morning, when they heard a small pop inside the living room. When they went in there, Draco was surprised to find his house elf Dobby standing there.

"What brings you here Dobby? I thought that you would be at home helping with the manor. I'm not saying that I don't appreciate having you around, it's just that I didn't think that father would let you come here." Draco even tho he was sounding like he was a bit mad at the house elf, actually had a smile on his face when he saw the little being.

"Mr. Draco sir, Dobby is sorry for bothering your sir, but Mr. Lucious sir sent Dobby over to help you and your friends with anything that you might need. I am also to help Mrs. Weasley ma'am with whatever might need to be done around here." Dobby was bowing to Draco and hoping that he wasn't in trouble. Dobby liked the young master Malfoy, because he has always treated him well.

"That is great Dobby, I'm glad that you are here. Mrs. Weasley, my parents house elf is here to help out around here. Also he is to help us with what we might need. His name is Dobby, and he is very loyal to me. Dobby, this is Mrs. Weasley, and this is her family, Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, George, Ron, Harry and Ginny Weasley. The others are Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood and you know Pansy already. We are all staying here this summer, and will be going back to school from here. I think that Harry might have a friend that is here that he might want your help with also, but that's up to him." As he introduced everyone, they all said their hello's and shook the elves hand.

The rest of the day went quite well, and they all went to look over their school lists to see what they were going to need this year. "Hey Ron, are you going to try out for the team this year?" Harry knew that Ron had always wanted to play on the house Quidditch team like all his brothers had. They all had practiced since they were old enough to fly. They had a small pitch in their backyard, and all were very good.

"Yah I think I will, maybe try out for a reserve spot, because none of the other positions have an opening. Maybe go for a reserved Keeper spot." Ron was actually quite excited about doing this, and was all ready to try for it.

"That's great Ron, I hope that you get it. I know that Wood will be looking to at least train his replacement for he graduates after this year. I think you have a good chance, especially if Fred, George and I give a good recommendation for you being on the team. I know I will, you might have to talk them into doing it tho." Harry chuckled a bit as he saw Ron running out of his room down to where the twins were at. Harry didn't tell him this, but he had already talked to the twins about them talking to wood about giving Ron a chance at his replacement at Keeper for when he graduates this year, and they were all for it.

Ron came running back upstairs slapping Harry across the back of the head when he got in there. "Why didn't you tell me that you had already talked to them, and they agreed to talk to Oliver about it?"

"I thought I would let you find out for yourself. I thought that it would be better for your confidence if you had to ask them yourself, to make sure that you actually wanted them to do it. We knew that you wanted to, but we wanted you to know that you wanted to. So we decided that I would tell you that you would have to ask them yourself, but not tell you that they were going to talk to him also. Are you mad?"

"Nah I'm not mad, I'm actually glad that you did it. It makes me know that I really want to be on the team."

"Now Ron, you know that your going to be going through a whole lot of training with him, and that he will push you just as much, if not more than the rest of the team. This is because he only wants the best to be his replacement. Believe me, by the end of this year, you will not only be just as good as he is, but you will also be the hands down pick to be the quidditch captain in a few more years when Fred and George graduate. I know that your going to say that I will deserve to be the captain, but you will not only be trained to do it, but you're a great strategist. You will probably be an assistant Captain every year til you are ready to be the Captain, Oliver told me that he went through this also. He also started when he was in his second year, and became the Captain in his 5th year. You will do great at it Ron, you're a natural."

Ron was blushing when Harry got done with his speech, but he knew that he was right. "Thank you Harry, I really needed that."

They talked about Quidditch for the rest of the afternoon and then they went down to dinner and ate with their friends and family.

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#4 Privet Drive

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It was a quiet evening at #four when there was a loud knock on the door. Vernon Dursley went to the door and answered it. "Who are you? What can I do for you?" The men that were on the other side of the door pushed their way into the household, holding guns on the Dursley's. Dudley Dursley was lucky, in that he was spending the night at one of his friends house, and wasn't home at that time.

The robbers tied the two elder Dursley's up and rummaged through their house stealing everything and anything. They let the Dursley's watch what they were doing, because they weren't going to let them live after this. They had already decided that they were going to kill them when they were done. When they got done with the ransacking of the house, they went into the living room where they had the Dursley's tied up. "Where is the child? We know that you have a child that also lives here. Where is he?" They were punching Vernon into submission, hoping that he would tell them.

When Vernon wouldn't say anything, they turned their attention to his wife and started beating her with bats and pipes in hope that he would talk. When he wouldn't talk, they just beat her to death, and then beat him til he was dead. As they left the house, they torched the place, burning all evidence that they were there. As they disappeared with a pop, there were sirens heard in the distance.

When the Auror's from the ministry of magic showed up, they didn't know why wizards would do this to a muggle family. They new that it was wizards because there was signs that the fire was caused magically.

When Dudley came home the next morning, he found that his house was destroyed, and his family was dead. He was met by a kind looking woman, that introduced herself as Leanna Newkirk from the Child Welfare Service to take him somewhere where he would be safe. She took him to his Aunt Marge's for she was his closest living relative. Dudley liked his Aunt, and hoped that she would be able to love him like his family did.

They cried for the lost of the other Dursley's, and laughed over what their life was like. Marge was Vernon's older sister, and was more than happy to take in Dudley. Since the next day was Dudley's 11th birthday, they decided to turn in early for the night.

The next morning when they woke up and were down at breakfast, there was a brown owl that came flying in through the fireplace, and landed in front of Dudley. Marge looked like she was getting a bit nervous when she saw the owl, thinking. "Can it be possible, but his father was a Squib like me? Well I recognize the letter, it's from Hogwarts. I guess that Dudley is a Wizard." She smiled as her nephew opened the letter up with trepidation and looked at it.

"Aunt Marge, this is a letter from a school called Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It says that I'm a wizard, and that I have been accepted to start there as a first year starting on September 1st. Do you think I would be ok for me to go there? I promise that I will be good, and make you proud of me." Dudley looked at her with pleading in his eyes.

Marge just sighed, and looked at her young nephew. "You can go Dudley, but we need to talk about some things first. Your father was and I am what is known as Squibs, they are people that are born to Magical people that don't have magical abilities. If I remember right, your mom's sister also was a witch, so I'm not surprised that this happened. You can go, and don't worry about the money, your grandparents had set up a fund for any children or grandchildren that have the ability of a witch or wizard. You have a vault at the wizardring bank called Gringotts. We will go to Diagon Alley in a couple of days to get your supplies for the new school year. You might want to send a reply back to the headmaster saying that you will be attending this year."

"You said that my mom's sister was also a Witch, do you mean the one that was killed in a car accident 11 years ago? Killed with her husband and baby son?" This is what Dudley and Vernon had been told by Petunia that had happened to her sister and her family. He didn't know that his cousin was alive and attending school at the school where he was going to be attending this next year.

"Yes that was her, her name was Lily Potter. She was married to a nice man named James, and there son, who would only be a year older than you, was named Harry. As to them being killed in a car crash, that is wrong. You should know that there used to be a evil man out there that would kill those who despised him. They were killed on Halloween night in 1980, and there was rumors that Harry wasn't killed, that he deflected the killing curse. Those are only rumors you understand, for his body was never found, and there was no word heard about the baby. We only hope that he had survived some how, and is still out there." Marge knew that Harry was still alive, and she wasn't going to tell Dudley that. He would find out soon enough anyway.

"Ok Aunt Marge, I think that I will like going to this school. Thank you for letting me go, and I will keep my promise to be good, and to make you proud of me. I know that dad and grand ma and grand pa will be looking down on me with pride." He hugged his Aunt, and went off to his room.

"Harry I hope that you can handle having your cousin in school with you. I know that you will find out soon enough. I better send off a owl to Albus to let him know that I am going to be taking care of Dudley from now on, since his parents were killed. She had heard through her sources in the Ministry that it was done by wizards in a muggle way, so she was wondering why." She went about her day with a song in her heart, but also with a bit of worry.

A/N: Ok what do you think about the new twist in this story. Before you say anything, I know that Dudley is actually a year older than Harry, but for the time line continuity, I have made him a year younger.

A/N two: I have another challenge for you all. If I get 500 reviews I will do one of two things. I will either give you a preview of the final chapter of this story, which I can assure you that I can easily, because I have it already written. Or I will give you a preview of the Sequel to this story, which is going to be about a new school, and have some of the characters that were students in this one, being teachers there. Thank you again for your kind reviews. —Donald