Malfoy had timed his attack on Dudley well. The next day, most of the school, including Malfoy, headed home for the Christmas Holidays, so Dudley didn't have time to enact revenge. Dudley was determined that once they were back at Hogwarts however, he would settle things with Malfoy one-on-one.
The whole of the school quickly heard about the attack on Malfoy, and Dudley's mood was lifted somewhat by the people wishing him the best. Cedric Diggory of Hufflepuff came over to Dudley before he took the floo network home to shake Dudley's hand and condemn Malfoy.
Luna, as dreamy as ever, siddled up to Dudley too when he returned to the common room to hand him a singing get well card—quite why he needed a get well card when he was already better, Dudley never quite found out. Luna it turned out, was going to spend Christmas in Irelad where her grandmother lived and was quite looking forward to it. "I am hoping to see Gagglesnax while I'm there," she informed them. "It's the only talking gnome in the world. Granny sees him around the farm sometimes and has lots of interesting conversations with him."
"It sounds like Granny Lovegood is just as potty," Ron had whispered to Dudley.
Students returning home could either apparate if they were over 17 and had passed their licence, use the floo network or take the Hogwarts Express back to London. A few, who lived close to Hogwarts, even flew home by broomstick. The Weasleys were using the floo network.
Hermione and Dean left early the Saturday morning. The Weasleys were delayed for an hour or so while they waited for Ginny who couldn't find the present she wanted to send via owl post to Luna for Christmas. Finally, they were all ready and headed to McGonagall's office to use her fireplace.
"Have a good Christmas," she said, without looking up from the papers she was marking.
Percy went first, then Fred, then George. Then it wad Dudley's time.
"The Burrow!" he said, as he stepped into the flame.
When he emerged from the other end, the Weasley parents were waiting for him in the front room. "Hello Dudley, dear!" Molly said, pulling herself away from hugging a pair of disgruntled looking twins.
"Dudley, good to see you!" Arthur said, shaking his hand.
Before they could speak further. Ron arrived.
"Ron! I am glad you are back!" Molly grasped him in a tight hug.
"Mum! Gerrof!" Ron said, embarassed.
He was spared further embarassment by the arrival of Ginny, who instantly became the target for Molly Weasley's affections.
"Bill and Charlie not here yet?" Ron asked.
"Bill well be arriving tomorrow, Charlie on Christmas Eve," said Arthur, leading the way to the kitchen.
They sat around the Weasley's big kitchen table. Dudley looked around—already he could see signs of the Weasley's new good fortunes. Arthur Weasley had gotten a raise at work, almost doubling his income—the pots and pans were sparkling new, the window sills had been given a fresh lick of paint and Molly had an expansive spice rack.
"Master is here!" a voice said.
Dudley looked around, sure enough, it was his House Elf, Dobby.
The Elf looked much happier now. He was stood up straight rather than being hunched over and his teeth were gleaming. He was clad in a bizarre assortment of clothes. On his head was a thick, woolen tea cosy, he wore a t-shirt patterned with tiny hippogriffs and on his feet were multiple pairs of thick, woolen socks.
"Dobby will get Master some food,"
"I'm fine, Dobby,"
"Some drink,"
"That's ok,"
"Dobby will polish master's shoes ..."
"I'm fine, Dobby, stop!" Dudley said.
The Weasleys laughed.
"Don't mind him," Molly said. "He just needs something to do. House Elves can't sit around being idle. Dobby, dear, would you go and collect ..." she did a quick head count. "Eight eggs please, you can help me prepare dinner."
Dobby bowed and hurried out to obey.
"He's getting along well?" Dudley asked.
"Oh yes!" Molly said. "I have much more free time with an extra pair of hands to help out."
The Weasleys caught up with each other while Molly bustled over the stove. Dobby tried to help, but kept getting in the way, so Molly directed him about on various little tasks like cleaning some dishes, positioning the chairs and fetching water.
Dudley leant back comfortable in his chair, nursing a mug of hot chocolate as Ron told his dad about Lupin's classes.
"Fred and I have been thinking," George said, quietly,
"About what?" Dudley asked.
"You and Malfoy," said Fred. "I think the only way to settle things is with a duel."
"We tried that in first year," Dudley said. "And Malfoy sent Filch after us."
"I reckon he might accept this time. He hates you as much as you hate him," said Fred.
"And if you challenge him in front of his Slytherin mates, he'd have to accept," George said. "We reckon the quidditch pitch—there's never any teachers there. You and Malfoy can meet and duel it out."
"Course we'll need to be there to make sure the Slytherins don't ambush you." said Fred.
"Do you think that'll work?" asked Dudley.
"Of course, we'll challenge him together when we're back at school. He'll accept."
"Good, I want to get my hands on that rat,"
George grinned. "Just make sure you win."
"I will, did Ron tell you we've been practicing duelling?"
"Yeah," Fred said, "Not our sort of thing—extra work. Even if it is duelling practice."
They were interrupted by Molly bringing over the food—a big plate of sausages, beans, bacon, toast and an egg each. Dobby followed behind carrying a tray of orange juice.
"Thanks, Dobby," they said, as they took their glass.
The elves eyes brimmed with tears. "Master and friends always thanks Dobby. Master Duddy Durzy is such a nice, noble wizard."
Dudley blushed, the twins were nudging each other and grinning. Luckily, Dobby had moved on to giving Percy his orange juice so couldn't flatter Dudley any more.
The next day, the eldest Weasley sibling arrived, Bill. All Dudley knew about Bill was that he had been Head Boy at Hogwarts and worked for Gringott's, the wizarding bank. He had expected him to be a giant dork like Percy, but he was quite cool. He had long hair, as red as any of his brothers, which he wore tied back in a ponytail. His clothes wouldn't have looked out of place at a rock concert, except his jacket and boots were made out of dragon hide.
He greeted his family and then turned to Dudley.
"Good to meet you, Dud," Bill said, shaking hands. "So, you're the one who keeps dragging Ron into trouble.
"He's a good influence on Ronnikins," said Fred.
"Yeah, at least he's not a goody-two shoes," George said.
"I wasn't a goody-two shoes, I was just smart enough not to get caught," Bill said, casually. "Wizard poker, anyone?"
Wizarding poker turned out to be like muggle poker except you could use magic to cheat. Whether it be levitation charms to make your opponents cards float in the air or invisibility charms to hide your own cards from view. Dudley had fun playing it and won a hand by pulling off obliviate on the others. Percy, it turned out, was the best at it and won a nice pile of galleons from them all.
Dudley didn't see too much of Arthur Weasley while he was at the Burrow—he often worked long hours at the Ministry. "It's always hectic in the run up to Christmas," he announced during breakfast one morning. "We had to fine Mundungus Fletcher yesteday, he was trying to sell a flying bicycle and we arrested Cecil Bletchley for possessing a number of exploding kettles—anti-muggle items," he explained, seeing Dudley's confused look. "They slip them in with regular kettles and muggles get injured when they explode."
He had a nice time at the Weasleys. There was always something happening—whether it was Fred and George trying some new prank or experiment, or, on a memorable Thursday, when a colony of Gnomes raided the Weasley kitchen for food or the ghoul having a tantrum and throwing things around.
On Christmas Eve, the final Weasley sibling, Charlie arrived, fresh from Romania where he worked with dragons. Charlie resembled the twins, he was short and stocky with a freckled face. He looked tough. He had calloused hands when Dudley shook hands with him. He also had a ferocious appetite, eating even more at mealtimes than Ron did.
"How's Hagrid, I heard he was the new Care of Magical Creatures teacher?" he asked. Dudley and Ron spoke about Hagrid's lessons and how much they enjoyed them and the creatures he showed. Charlie reminisced about how Hagrid had once took him into the forest to see the acromantula- Giant spiders," he explained for Dudley's benefit. Ron shuddered.
"So Fred and George were right—there are giant spiders there." He looked like he never wanted to step foot in the Forbidden Forest again.
On Christmas Day, the Weasleys plus Dudley gathered in the living room to open the presents. Arthur had managed to secure a giant Christmas tree which they had all decorated a few nights ago and Molly had bewitched the angel on top to sing Christmas carols.
They set to opening their presents—Dobby included.
Dudley opened a The Adventures of Martin Miggs the Mad Muggle annual from Ron, a box of Dr Fillibuster's Fireworks from Fred and George, a moving model of a Common Welsh Green Dragon from Charlie, an enchanted wallet from Bill which could only be opened by saying the correct password and from Mr and Mrs Weasley he got some homemade fudge and a red Weasley Sweater with a big D on the front.
The rest of the family had their own Weasley sweater too. Even Dobby had recieved one—he had cried for 10 minutes believing he had been fired until Arthur and Molly explained the situation, then he wore it with pride.
Dobby had also gotten Dudley a present—a pair of thick socks in Gryffindor colors. Partway through opening presents, the owls arrived each carrying gifts.
Fred and George got an owl from Lee Jordan, a large eagle owl arrived carrying a package of gifts from Aunt Muriel and Ron and Dudley got an owl each from Hermione and Neville.
Dudley himself had sent Neville a box of his favorite chocolate frogs and had bought Hermione a biography book about Godric Gryffindor. In return, Neville had sent a plant pot with a leaping toadstool inside, there was a note attached saying "I grew these myself,". The toadstool was quite amusing, every now and then it leapt out of its pot—the first time it did so, striking Dudley on the nose. Ron too had recieved a leaping toadstool from Neville. Hermione's present turned out to be a a pot of color-changing ink.
Ron's favorite present was a new broom—A Cleansweep Seven.
Both Dudley and Ginny also recieved an owl from Luna. Ginny got a book of drawings of magical creatures which Luna had obviously drew herself—they were quite good. Dudley got a crystal on a pendant ("A calaxian crystal—it wards off snakes," said the attached note).
Finally, a handsome owl arrived with a gift for Dudley from Gilderoy Lockhart. It turned out to be a notebook with an image of Dudley and Lockhart which had been taken when they first met during Dudley's second year.
"This is a cuttings book," the letter said. "When you appear in the papers, you can cut out the story and add it here. I've taken the liberty of adding some."
Inside, sure enough were cuttings from when Dudley saved the Philosopher's Stone from Quirrell, when Dudley met Lockhart and more. The final cutting was a brief report on Lockhart teaching Dudley, Hermione and Neville memory charms.
Teaching After Hogwarts
Former Hogwarts Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor, Gilderoy Lockhart, has yet to hang up his teaching hat. The Daily Prophet can exlusively reveal that Lockhart continues to privately mentor a select number of students including his protege Dudley Dursley. "They were the three top students in the year, so of course they naturally turned to yours truly for additional tutoring!" Lockhart didn't reveal details of what their lessons involved beyond "powerful defensive and offensive magic".
"I expect they wish to follow in my footsteps and oppose the dark forces and creatures in this world too," Lockhart had said. "And who better to learn from than the real Magical Me!"
Dudley Dursley is known for stopping disgraced teacher Professor Quirrell from stealing the Philosopher's Stone in his first year and, in his second, he rescued a first year student from Slytherin's monster alongside Gilderoy Lockhart. Hermione Granger is a talented 2nd year witch, who, sources inside Hogwarts say, has her sights set on a career in the Ministry. The third of Lockhart's proteges is Neville Longbottom—the son of aurors Frank and Alice Longbottom who currently reside in the long-term injuries ward at Saint Mungo's Hospital.
"Hey, Ron, did you know about Neville's parents?" Dudley asked.
Ron read the article and shook his head. "Aurors? Wow, I had no idea—and in Saint Mungo's. I always wondered why Neville lived with his gran."
"Don't ask him about it," Arthur, who had been listening in said sternly. "If Neville didn't want to tell you, I'm sure he had his reasons."
"Did you know the Longbottoms dad?" Ron asked.
"Not well, but they were very talented and well respected aurors. Some of the best. No, I won't tell you what happened, that is for Neville to decide," and he would say no more.
Christmas dinner was spectacular. Molly Weasley helped by Dobby had cooked an entire turkey with all the trimmings—gravy, mashed potatoes, roast potatoes, carrots, leaks, stuffing, cranberry sauce and more. And for dessert was a huge Christmas pudding with homemade cream, courtest of the Weasley's goats which they had bought with Arthur's new pay rise.
"Can't beat a good Christmas dinner," Bill had said, when they were all lounging around the Weasley's sitting room afterwards. Molly was listening to a singer called Celestina Warbeck on the radio, Ron and Percy were playing a game of wizards chess, Ginny leafing through a magazine and Charlie was telling Dudley about the different dragons that he worked with. It sounded an interesting job, Dudley felt he wouldn't mind doing something similar when he left Hogwarts.
The day before they went back to Hogwarts, Arthur took Ron and Dudley to Diagon Alley. The Weasley's had decided to get Ron a new wand (He had been using Charlie's old one). There, they saw wanted posters from which the crazed-eyed face of Sirius Black or the sneering face of Lucius Malfoy looked down at them.
"No luck finding them yet?" Dudley asked.
"None," said Arthur, ruefully. "We've raided Malfoy Manor, the Crabbes, the Goyles—anyone accused of being a Death Eater or suspected of being one last time around, but nothing. You didn't hear this from me, but Fudge is under a lot of pressure—two dark wizards on the loose, its very embarassing. There are even a few voices calling on him to resign."
All too soon it was time to go back to Hogwarts. Dudley had enjoyed his stay at the Weasleys. It had been a nice Christmas, although, with Molly's cooking, his diet had all but been forgotten. He supposed he would have to limit himself for the next couple of days.