This chapter and the previous one were Beta'd by LimeSon. Thanks for the help.

Dudley had never been so scared. This was undoubtedly the most terrified he had been in years. Yet Harry seemed to know what he was doing. He looked more confident than Dudley felt, that was for sure. Dudley and Harry faced each other and Harry quietly told him.

"Don't worry about actually having to fight, I have this in the bag. I can't duel without a Second, so here you are."

Dudley was right, Harry definitely was more confident about this than he was.

"Do you know real magic? What can you do?" Dudley inquired, knowing that any information would be useful.

"You'll just have to watch and see, mate." Harry smiled sincerely for once, or as close to sincerely as he had gotten so far, and entered his ready stance. Dudley, not knowing what to do, mirrored Crabbes stance and waited for either Harry or Draco to emerge victorious. None of the older years were particularly interested in the whole spectacle, having seen first years fight many times.

The fireplace combined with the sconces on the wall gave the common room a rather eerie feeling. A perfect backdrop for the fight that was about to go down. Dudley could feel the adrenaline pumping through him at the idea of this fantastic display of magic. 'Surely this will be an amazing spectacle to watch.' He thought to himself.

Harry and Draco stood about 20 feet apart and drew their wands. It appears that Harry is left-handed based on how he holds his wand. Goyle calls out to start the duel.

"Begin."

Straight away Draco screamed out

"FLIPENDO"

But at the same time Harry crosses the distance and punches Draco hard in the face, with his right hand, knocking him out instantly and turned to Crabbe.

"Does this mean I have to fight you next?" He mocked. But Crabbe, seeing how quickly Harry moved declined the offer of a fight and swiftly backed away.

"That was... shorter than expected, have you had training or was it a lucky shot?" Dudley inquired subconsciously sticking close to his side.

"I grew up in an orphanage and it's not the best place to grow up, that's all I'm saying."

Dudley, not really knowing how to reply just muttered out an apology and suggested going to bed.

Dudley's first morning at Hogwarts would be one he would never forget. It wasn't because of the lessons, nor was it to do with all the displays of magic; no, it was the very sudden realisation that he had been placed into a house that was going to be hostile to him for his whole schooling life. Waking up in the morning, the first thing he saw was the word 'MUDBLOOD' was scrawled across his forehead. What was worse was that due to it having been done with a quill, once the ink was washed off the faint lines left by the near carving of the words was yet to fade. Meaning that Dudley would have to go to breakfast with these marks on him. He couldn't ask his roommates, well except for Harry, because they were probably the ones to do it.

Deciding there was nothing he could do about it except just brave it out, he decided to leave for breakfast. Prior to reaching the Great Hall he bumped into Hermione, whose eyes, upon seeing the lines on his forehead widened and she dragged him into a small area off from the Entrance Hall and started worrying about him.

"Oh no, Dudley what happened to you? You must feel so alone in Slytherin. Did you wake up like this or did someone hold you down and do it? Where-" Hermione was rattling off questions in rapid succession, not pausing to take a breath.

"Hermione, please let me breathe, honestly I know you're concerned but please. I woke up this morning to find this, was written on me by a quill. I washed the ink off, but the lines still remain. What should I do?" Dudley whined. This filled Hermione with a mixture of rage and sadness. Rage at the Purebloods who did this, and sadness for her friend who didn't deserve to be treated like this.

"I can help you; I think. I mean I know the incantation and I've practiced the wand movements, but I've never tried it on another person before. Episkey", she exclaimed and without even giving Dudley the chance to object, the lines were gone. Hermione passed Dudley a mirror and his face lit up from him being so purely happy that it melted Hermione's heart.

"Thanks! You're the best friend I've ever had. None of my friends back home would have helped me like that." Dudley beamed, being the happiest he had been on any day that it wasn't his birthday or Christmas, but definitely happier than any Easter he'd ever had.

"Well that's just awful, Dudley, you deserve good friends. Come on we have to get breakfast now or we will be late." Hermione grinned and led the way to the Great Hall.

Once inside they parted ways with a goodbye and went to sit at their respective tables. However, Dudley saw something that made his heart sink again. Harry wasn't here. Whether he was running late or already left he didn't know but the thing that was becoming clear to him was 'I have nowhere safe to sit.'

Deciding that he had to sit at the table and prove he wasn't scared, Dudley sat down with his back to the window and off in the corner. With his back against the wall, metaphorically [and literally], he knew nobody could sneak up on him, but of course that meant he could be easily cornered. But this was breakfast and unlikely to be the scene of any major incident. [f*cking foreshadowing...] So Dudley relaxed, as best as possible when surrounded by hostility, and begun to eat.

At this time Professor Snape was walking down handing out lesson schedules:

Monday: Herbology with Ravenclaw first, Charms with Ravenclaw second, History of Magic with Hufflepuff third and then finally Transfiguration with Hufflepuff from 2:30 to 3:30.

Tuesday: Herbology, Defence Against the Dark Arts (DADA) with Gryffindor, Transfiguration and finally charms

Wednesday: DADA, potions with Gryffindor, Charms, History of Magic, and finally Astronomy with Hufflepuff.

Thursday: DADA, Transfiguration, History of Magic, and flying with Gryffindor.

Friday: Double Potions, DADA, Herbology and the last lesson of the week; Astronomy.

Looking at the schedule amazed him, Charms and Transfiguration immediately piquing his interest but surprisingly History stuck out to him as something he would want to pay attention to.

"At least I have Hermione with me in a few lessons and Harry for the rest, that should make things easier."