The dark green car stopped in front of Number 14, Marie Drive, at sunset. A black-haired young man got down from the driver's seat, joined by a red-haired woman who had also alighted from the car. The man took her hand in his and held their luggage in another hand. Together, they walked to the front door.
"Caitrin! See how is at the door, will you?" A familiar voice said.
"Petunia, it looks like the Potters are here!" said a blonde girl who opened the door. Next to her was Dudley with a grin on his face.
"Thanks for coming, Harry! So, I take it that this is your fiancée?"
Harry blushed and nodded, while Ginny had an important look on her face. She would NOT let anybody bully or hurt Harry as they had done before. It had taken a lot of convincing for Ginny to attend the wedding without firing hexes every five minutes at the Dursleys.
Ron and Hermione had insisted that Harry send them an owl every day for the next one week until the wedding is over and they return to the Burrow. Only after Harry had promised he would send them an owl letter at the end of each day did the Weasleys finally let Harry go. Ginny went with him simply because she wanted to stand up for him should anything happen and because the Potters were invited.
Harry fished out an invitation card and gave it to Dudley and Caitrin with a smile. He looked at Ginny, and together, they said, "We invite you all, the Dursley family, to our wedding the following month. Please come a week before the wedding."
"Who is that? Boy! A harsh voice said. Harry trembled slightly at the horrible voice. There was only one person this voice could ever belong to, Vernon Dursley! I thought I told you we want nothing to do with freaks like you!!"
Ginny put an arm around Harry and glared daggers at Vernon, but before she could respond, Dudley intervened.
"Dad! Remember that it was I who invited Harry and his fiancée to my wedding! It is my wedding, and I believe I have the right to invite my guests! And my guests have the right to be treated kindly and politely! Mum, MUM!"
Petunia came out of the kitchen. The three Dursleys looked exactly as Harry remembered them from four years back. Petunia stared at Harry and the red-haired woman. The red-haired woman was giving Caitrin a card. "Vernon! Upstairs!" She yelled and invited her nephew and the red-haired girl inside.
Ginny looked at Petunia, Vernon, and their son, Dudley. She had to use all her self-control not to use her Bat Bogey Hex on them. She was silent only because she respected Harry's wish. He clearly did not want to cause trouble. "As if Harry is the one causing trouble!" Ginny fumed.
Harry chose to sit next to Ginny. Caitrin and Dudley had already settled themselves at the couch opposite them. Petunia sat on the armchair, which Harry remembered as Vernon's (and Marge's) favorite armchair. That's when Harry remembered! He let out a small groan. "Aunt Marge will also come! Dear Lord! No!" Ginny patted his arm.
Dudley obviously had heard Harry because he immediately said, "Harry, nobody will be able to say or do anything to you. I have made sure of that." He looked at his mother, and she nodded in agreement.
Petunia said, "Now, it is time for a formal introduction. Harry, will you not introduce us to the red-haired girl her?"
"Right! This is my fiancée, Ginevra Weasley, who now prefers to be called Mrs. Potter. Ginny, you have met Dudley and my aunt and uncle." Harry said.
Dudley smiled, and with his mother and fiancée, said that it was nice to meet Ginny. Dudley said, "This is my fiancée, Caitrin."
The dinner started silent and awkward. "Hatted kit" was served for dessert, and for the first time at the Dursleys, Harry found himself feel full, warm, and comfortable. Ginny, too seemed to like the food, although her eyes were still narrowed with mistrust.
Petunia kept glancing at Ginny and Harry as she herself ate very little. Harry didn't have to wonder why for long. After dessert, Petunia asked Harry about how he met Ginny and his time at Hogwarts,
Ginny scowled, but Harry grinned. "Only after Big D tells me how he met Caitrin here."
If Harry hadn't been looking and suddenly saw Dudley, he may have mistaken Dudley for a Weasley, cousin but with blonde hair. That was how Dudley looked. He had met Caitrin during their hiding while the Second Wizarding War was going on. When he befriended her, he didn't go into details and just mentioned Harry.
"Harry? You don't mean Potter?" She had asked in awe. He had nodded. Her cousin was a Half-Blood. Voldemort's Death Eaters killed her and her family during the Quidditch World Cup. Caitrin herself never went to Hogwarts but was close enough to her cousin to know about the Wizarding World. She and her parents had wanted revenge, which was why they were particularly interested in Harry Potter and Voldemort's battle.
Dudley had never thought Caitrin or her family would ever like him or his parents. The Dursleys had been extremely cruel to Harry, often locking him up in the cupboard under the staircase, making him go through periods of near starvation, bullying Harry, and hiding the truth about his parents and the Wizarding World from him.
Ginny glared daggers at the Dursleys as Dudley explained this. Harry held her arm in an effort to restrain her from hexing them with all the jinxes that were on top of her mind, and he was sure this was only the tip of the iceberg.
Dudley had genuinely regretted how badly he treated Harry during his childhood and had often expressed it to his mother and Caitrin. Not to mention Petunia herself regretted her horrific treatment of her nephew for so long. Caitrin could see how they had changed and never held a grudge against them. Or at least Petunia and Dudley. Over the weeks, Caitrin had spent time with Dudley so much that they began falling for each other. They wondered fearfully what would happen if the other found out about their feelings for each other. Long story short, they decided to get married soon after.
Ginny's expression had softened. Dudley had given a genuine apology to Harry, and an embarrassed Harry had shaken hands with him and told him all was good between them.
That was when Harry realized it was his turn to narrate how he met Ginny, as well as his adventures at Hogwarts and beyond over the seven years. He smiled at Ginny and was relieved to see she was smiling at him too.
Explaining everything wasn't easy, though. Sure it had started out all fun like, "After you and Uncle Vernon left me alone at King's Cross Station, I had to look around for a while all by myself with a heavy trunk and an owl, Aunt Petunia. That's when I met the Weasleys." But as the story proceeded, the young couple were in tears as they spoke about the trauma, injuries, misunderstandings, quarrels, petrifications, and deaths. Harry was surprised to see the three Dursleys (Vernon couldn't care less and appeared only for mealtimes only to find no one had cooked anything, so he would grumble and go away) actually sat through the entire narration that took the whole night, and it was noon when they finished.
Harry would sometimes narrate, while Ginny would narrate at other times. They spoke about Harry, Ron, and Hermione and the trio's adventures. In brief, they explained how they saved the Philosophers Stone, how Harry saved Ginny from the Chamber of Secrets (Harry had an arm around a tearful Ginny the whole time he explained this), how Harry produced a corporeal Patronus ("Lily's was a doe. Show me yours." Aunt Petunia said. Harry showed her the silver-white stag), the Triwizard Tournament and the return of Voldemort (Harry didn't know Cedric's memory made him curl into a ball and scream in agony and guilt to this day, and only Ginny was able to comfort him. Dudley apologized for bullying him about Cedric), the Order of The Phoenix, Voldemort's past, and Horcruxes and Deathly Hallows. Cedric, Sirius, Remus, Tonks, Dumbledore, Fred, Snape, Colin, Dobby, Hedwig, the list of casualties seemed endless. Petunia had run at Ginny and hugged her, crying, "So sorry to hear your brother died!" Dudley and Caitrin were crying silently.
Harry felt a kind of warmth he had never felt before. His aunt and cousin actually cared for him. He, for once, wasn't the ignored freak but the center of attention at the Dursleys. For the first time, he was receiving from them all that he could ever ask: love and acceptance for who he is. It was true that the Weasleys, Hermione, Dumbledore, the Marauders, some of his professors at Hogwarts, and all his friends at Hogwarts had given him all the love, affection, and care they could give him. The Dursleys had finally proven that they had changed for the better. This was evident in Petunia regretting how her hatred for her sister Lily (for being magical while she herself wasn't) had blinded her with so much hate that she treated her sisters' son like he didn't exist.
Petunia, Dudley, and Caitrin were too involved in listening to think about sleep, food, or anything else. Nor did Harry or Ginny seem to notice their own hunger and sleepiness. The five of them barely noticed Vernon come into the room several times for food and grumble about nothing being there. It did not help improve Vernon's already awful mood. With Ginny on his shoulder, Harry completed narrating the story a while later.
"A week ago, Ron and Hermione got married. The next and the final wedding is ours." Harry finished. Ginny had her arms around his neck as he patted her and played with her red hair. The Dursleys looked visibly distraught but relieved that the war was finally over. Harry noticed Vernon then glaring at them all and automatically gazed at the clock. "Wait, what?" He said in disbelief.
All of them with the exception of Vernon were pretty surprised to see daylight (wasn't it eight in the night just now?) and began to realize just how weary and hungry they were.
That evening, Ron read out a letter from Harry that explained how Petunia, Caitrin, and Dudley had heard Harry's story over the years. Hermione smiled and was just about to get up when Ron turned a page and said, "Hold it. There's more."
Petunia had two necklaces her mother, Mrs. Evans' had owned. Petunia had obviously given one of them to Caitrin. It seems that she gave the second to Ginny and said that she is happy for her nephew and his fiancée. She had hugged Ginny, and the two women had cried for some time. Ginny was no longer mistrustful of Petunia or Dudley. The two of them did tell her ad Harry to be wary of Vernon, though. The letter ended with, "We are going to bed now."
As the wedding approached, Harry and Ginny did their best to help with the arrangements, and were grinning when a red faced Dudley married an equally red faced Caitrin.
Soon, it was time to go. "Hey, Big D! Don't forget to come a week in advance. You haven't actually seen Ginny's hexes." Harry joked the morning after Dudley's wedding. Dudley grinned back at him, while Caitrin nodded happily.
"Should we go?" Vernon rudely cut in. Petunia glared at him, which shut his mouth for good. Ginny and Harry didn't mind though, since they would, on the contrary, be glad if Petunia, Dudley and Caitrin attended their wedding without Vernon.
Petunia, in a way that reminded Harry of Mrs. Weasley talking to him, asked "So, Ginny dear. How are we going to get to the Burrow?"