"Whoa," Dudley said as Grimmauld places gate appeared, Charlie grinned.
The door open as they were walking up steps, the bushy-haired girl from earlier stood in the door frame "hello, come on in, Ron's in the zone right now" Hermione said smiling then spotted Dudley "hello, we met earlier" she said.
"Er yes, I'm sorry I didn't know you were before," Dudley said "I'm Dudley Dursley," he said.
She blinked "Ron said he thought he knew you but you're not exactly what I expected so," she said.
"Heard that before" Dudley nodded.
"Come on in, then," Hermione said "we're all in the kitchen, Percy how are you?" she asked as they all filed in. As soon as Dudley stepped into the house his nose was assaulted with the most delicious smell.
"Merlin, he's done it again" Charlie muttered.
"You try living with him, always baking these incredible dishes," Hermione said, they walked into the kitchen where Ron was at a stove dropping flat triangular pieces of dough into an oil-filled pot.
In the middle of the table which was fairly large was a tray filled with carrots, celery, broccoli and other lovely vegetables plus a white dip. "Honestly Ron, you've got to give me the recipe for this dip. It's incredible" a boy with neat black hair and a handsome jawline said.
"It's not that special but sure," Ron shrugged then waved his wand levitating a perfectly browned fried flatbread.
"Whatever you make turns to gold mate" Harry looked really good, no longer the peaky thin boy he once was at Privet Drive. Dudley nervously backed into Charlie's chest.
"I'm not a leprechaun, Harry, and I don't always get the recipes right the first time. If it's good it's because I had practice" Ron said then paused "but thanks" he said.
"Anytime," Harry said then turned as Percy and Oliver sat at the table and spotted Dudley. "Uh hello," Harry said to Charlie and Dudley.
"Hi, Harry" Dudley greeted nervously.
"So uh what's your name?" Harry asked.
Hermione shook her head "Harry, look closely, if Ron recognized him then you should too" she said.
"What?" Harry stared at Dudley then his face went a little slack "Dudley?" he asked.
Dudley reddened at the staring "I knew it was you," Ron nodded then turned back to his cooking. "But I thought maybe you didn't say anything because you were nervous," he said.
"Where'd you learn tact?" Percy asked.
"Incredible, baby brother" Charlie nodded.
"Oh shut up, I don't mind holding your food hostage," Ron said, that did, in fact, shut them up. Dudley sat at the table and Charlie followed suit. He took a carrot stick which he dipped in the sauce. The sauce was excellent, creamy and a shock of flavor, he "mmed" which he flushed when he realized he did it out loud.
"Don't worry, everyone does that when they taste Ron's food" the girl with almost white hair smiled. Her voice was like bells and she had very blue eyes kind of like his own.
"It's great," Dudley said "how many calories?" he asked.
"Um give or take a hundred and fifty, I use low fat if I can help it or else Hermione, Ginny, and Neville start whining," Ron said.
"Well, when your food is so addictive you can't help but eat it, especially when you put it in front of like this. Plus Harry's never gained a single unwanted kilo in his life" Ginny said.
"Seconded" Neville nodded.
"Fine, then I'll stop serving appetizers is that better?" Ron asked.
"Don't you dare" Hermione glared at him, munching on a celery dipped in the heavenly dip.
"Yes, ma'am" Ron smirked then pulled out several more fried flatbread.
"I have to have the recipe," Dudley said.
"Sure" Ron nodded "so… I take it your Charlie's date then?" he asked.
"Um," Charlie flushed.
"I uh guess I am" Dudley glancing at Charlie.
Charlie grinned then coughed "um well anyway, Dudley um has something to explain to Harry," he said.
Dudley clammed up a little as Harry met his eyes and they all stared "uh well, um actually, first of all, s-sorry for everything in the past" he said.
"Is that all?" Harry mused "to be honest, I kind of forgave you when you said you didn't think I was a waste of space before I left Privet Drive," he said.
Dudley reddened and threw his face into his hands "God I'm so stupid," he moaned "the best I could think is I don't think you're a waste of space. And that was enough?" he asked.
"Well, I think your social ineptness has since gotten much better from what I've seen. I was lucky I was able to get away from your parents but you weren't" Harry said.
"Still, Harry was I really much of a useless lump that I couldn't even…" Dudley's eyes filled with water suddenly "no, no I'm good, I'm just-" he suddenly wished he could retract tears back into the ducts. Because once they began they wouldn't stop and he wasn't even really crying just like leaking out of his eyes.
"Dudley," Harry said surprised.
"Why am I crying? You're the one who had to deal with everything for 10 years," Dudley wiping furiously at his eyes. "I'm really sorry, just don't pay attention they'll, I'll stop s-soon," he said.
Charlie and Percy patted his back "I've been there, don't worry about it" Percy said.
"Stop apologizing, it's not like you can help it" Harry said "and at least I had loyal friends but you didn't exactly have a lot of support," he said.
"Not until Hestia and Daedalus, no" Dudley agreed. "It was always a man, don't be a freak, don't be a f-faggot, don't be… whatever" he shrugged then took deep breaths.
"You really shouldn't keep it so bottled up, it attracts wrackspurts, causes headaches" Luna commented and he tilted his head in confusion. Once his tears cleared up, dinner was served "chicken tikka masala" Ron announced as he placed 2 large bowls in the middle of the table, one filled with a muted yellow sauce with chicken in it and the other filled with rice.
Dudley swallowed, his mouth watered at the sight of the dish "I made plenty so eat as much as you like and we'll still have leftovers" Ron said.
For the first few minutes as everyone was eating it was quiet, Dudley figured that saying about knowing the food was good when the table was silent was true. The flavor exploded in his mouth and was made better with the naan.
"That… was a religious experience" Charlie said and there was nodding around the table.
"You have a magic touch," Dudley said and Harry laughed, getting the joke.
"Glad you liked it" Ron said, a knowing little smirk on his face.
Everyone helped to pack up the leftovers and clean dishes, with magic it was fairly easy and there was a casual conversation around and Dudley was fascinated at all the different magics swirling in the air.
Luna's mist was bright as a sunflower, swaying and swirling easily, Ron's was almost solid it was so thick with substance and it seemed to travels outward in the room, it felt curious and the dark red was practically oozing with charisma. Hermione's was a pretty pink that mixed so well with Ron's magic that they seemed to almost be attached. The pink was softness that hovered up like smoke and swirled.
Dudley had a hunch that everyone's magic corresponded much with their personality and soul. "Dudley" he blinked and he looked to Charlie "you with us, you zoned out? Percy and I were just about to talk about your aura thing" Charlie said.
"Hm, oh, ok" Dudley nodded, Charlie blues drifted like Northern Lights, wrapping around him and he felt comforted by it. "I'll let you lead then," he said and Charlie grinned, stroking his cheek momentarily before he launched into an explanation of what Dudley had been seeing.
After Percy added in his bit they all fell silent "so Dudley could have told me there was something clinging to my magic all along?" Harry asked, that was another he noticed, the black part had disappeared completely and the green swirling mass was all there was now.
"Well I don't think it would have helped much, you wouldn't have known what it meant. I barely understand what your… I think I'll call them Soul Signatures … really mean" Dudley said.
"So their different colors? Like a mood ring?" Hermione asked.
"Well they are different colors but it's not so simple, they are different everything. It's like mist that's created different patterns, Harry's is bright green and it swirls almost like a tornado or something but slower. They don't all do the same thing though, like Hermione, yours is pink and it rises like smoke" he explained.
"I think I've heard of this before, it's in divination," Luna said "reading auras, but it's rarer than seers and not very credible because it's difficult to prove" she explained.
"I think it's also something to do with personality too," Dudley said "it's like I know what kind of person someone is. With the dementors it was like mud caking everything it touched," he said.
"Well, dementors are supposedly ghosts that had such an evil and wretched life that they lost their humanity completely when they died," Hermione said.
Harry shivered "you don't think?"
"No, there's nothing left of Voldemorts soul to turn into a ghost, it's completely ruined" Ron replied firmly, his mist wound in Harry almost like a protective barrier.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to turn the conversation like this" Dudley said.
"It's ok" Charlie squeezed his shoulder, his signature blue and almost like flames as they danced up and down around him and around Dudley. Dudley leaned into his touch a little.
"Yes, it's fine this is just new information is all. I'm curious though, how do the mists behave?" Hermione asked.
Dudley looked around "um it depends on the person and those their with," he said watching Ginny's seemed to go outward in almost rings that gravitated toward Harry sitting next to him.
"An example?" Hermione asked.
"Um…" Dudley flushed "well Ron's signature is really thick and bright red that kind of expands outward but a lot of tends to move to Hermione and Harry. Hermione's is like a pink mist that's like smoke, reacting like dry ice and water" he replied.
Hermione turned pink as her mist "I see, so it's more than just magic, it's an embodiment of ourselves because, well whoever is most important to us, it drifts in the direction" she asked.
"About right yes," he nodded.
"You should test this, maybe you've been able to tell things about someone even if you've never met them. It could be useful somehow" Ron added.
"Sounds like a lot of work but I guess if I have this, I might as well try to use it" Dudley agreed.
"So I'm dying to know, what do all of ours look like" Ginny asked.
"You might be here a while" Dudley quipped but explained the appearance of everyone's signatures.
Soon enough, everyone decided to split up a little and Ron was in the kitchen cleaning thing like a madman. Dudley hesitated before asking "mind if I give you a hand?"
Ron turned and the ice blue eyes regarded him for a moment before nodding "normally I'd say no but I wanted to speak with you so I'll agree to it" he said.
"You're like my mum" Dudley mentioned and scrambled to explain when Ron wrinkled his nose "I mean in that your an amazing cook but you prefer to do it all yourself, sorry I know it's not much a compliment being compared to my mum" he added.
"I tend to work at a fast pace and no one can match me besides my own mother, everyone else would get in my way" Ron explained handing Dudley a large bowl then pointed to sink. Dudley went about washing it.
"Ah," Dudley said shrugging the bowl with a sponge wondering if Ron preferred to do it by hand rather than by magic.
"So what exactly happened to you in hiding? I know Harry will never ask you the questions he really wants to know" Ron mentioned.
Dudley was quiet for a moment "I…" Ron turned to look at him, slowing his pace to look at him, his eyes had softened a little.
"I like to think I've grown a bit" Ron began "I know that to an outsider Harry, Hermione, and I just look like the perfect team. Hermione and I bicker of course but rarely are we heated about it. If I'm not right then just tell me but it seems that you've got a bit of a self-worth issue right?" he asked.
Dudley's breath hitched and he nodded, swallowing "yeah, me too" Ron nodded "I can't say I get all of what your going through but I get some of it. Hermione brilliant and Harry's the hero and the master dueller, I stewed most of my adolescence thinking about all that I couldn't do. I focused so much on what I didn't have, wealth, power, fame. The thing is I sometimes forget about what I did have, family, magic, friendship, love, and eventually I figured out that there were things I didn't have that could be learned" he said.
Dudley nodded "I think I used everything I had to shield myself from things I wanted so badly but didn't ever get. My parents would buy me everything and give me anything but I wanted wasn't stuff but love. It's like I had to be my parents, you know I told my dad I wanted to learn guitar and he said that music is for layabouts" he said.
Ron snorted "yeah but from what Harry told me your uncle thought everyone except business men were layabouts," he said.
"Yeah, he did" Dudley laughed "so if I had an opinion other than what they thought it was like I wasn;t their son. Like I was supposed to a clone and not their son. When we went into the safehouse I stayed in the little section that was for my parents and I for a month before I just got fed up. My mom cried and begged me like just going downstairs was selling my soul to the devil or something" he said.
Ron slid his eyes to look at him as he scrubbed a pan, he didn't say anything else, waiting for Dudley to continue his story. "That day it was like someone lifted a thousand weight off my shoulders and then took off a blind fold. The kitchen was brilliant, Hestia was cooking using magic and Daedalus was in the corner stirring a big cauldron. It was so normal without the whole floating ingredients and I realized that magic was a tool not this insane weapon" he said.
"It's our lives" Ron shrugged.
"Yeah, I learned how to play wizards chess with an old man named Mendela Finch. Of course, I lost every time and when I went upstairs back to the place where my parents were it was like going back to a cage. I look in a mirror and I hated everything I saw" Dudley said, Dudley was tempted to stop there.
He swallowed "I wasn't in a great place the last few months after that, once I got it in my head that I was too big I lost control for a bit. I stopped eating as much and eventually I stopped eating entirely,"
A plate shattered and Dudley jumped turning toward the noise to find Charlie sheepishly crouched by the broken plate.