"So your son's visiting I see," Petunia remarked as she settled herself on the cleanest part of the living room couch. Part of the Dursleys' cover for staying in Amity Park was that they were related to the Fentons. It was obvious that the British family weren't impressed by their false relatives.

"I am. Gonna be around a few days," Danny retorted. Petunia did little to hide her displeasure at that news. The Dursleys clearly felt that Danny wasn't good company, unlike Jazz. They loved Jazz.

"Did you tell your parents that before you arrived?" Vernon grumbled.

"My son is always welcome home Vernon. He doesn't need to ask," Maddie interjected stiffly. She disliked the Dursleys almost as much as they disliked the Fentons. Jack was apparently oblivious and was only too happy to blather on about ghosts to the family.

Danny sighed as he rolled his eyes.

"Considering that I'm usually not around, you could be polite and at least pretend to tolerate me," Danny remarked. It didn't bother him if the Dursleys liked him or not. But he knew it bothered his mother. Petunia pursed her lips tightly. There was a knock on the door and Danny happily answered it. He knew it would be Sam and Tucker. They hadn't been around yet to see him. He messaged them the previous day and agreed to spend the whole day with them, taking the night he arrived for himself to come to terms with Dobby's passing.

"Danny!" Sam exclaimed happily and lunged at him, wrapping him in a tight hug before he could react. Tucker slipped past his two friends, chuckling under his breath. He was sorely tempted to take a picture for future blackmailing but decided against it. He paused though when he saw the Dursleys in the living room. Petunia and Vernon perched on the sofa and Dudley was standing to one side looking out of place.

"Hey, Mr and Mrs Dursley, Dudley," he called to them evenly. The British family seemed to like Tucker best out of the trio of friends, Sam not so much. Although the trio all suspected that would be different if the family knew of Sam's wealth.

"How long are you staying?" Sam asked excitedly as she finally broke their embrace. Danny shrugged.

"Not sure yet. A couple of days at least though," Danny answered uncertainly.

"Brilliant! Come on. We're gonna spend all day watching the classics. Tucker's got the DVDs. We haven't had a movie day in ages!" Sam decided. Danny smirked at his friend. Jazz was right. He'd earned a few days to himself. He'd been busy for months. Years. Ever since he joined the order. Now he sort of wished he'd relaxed more and had more fun with his friends during the time the ghosts disappeared before meeting Lupin.

"That sounds nice. Dudders, would you like to join them?" Petunia suggested. Sam scowled at the woman and Tucker glanced uncertainly between Dudley and Danny. Dudley hadn't made many friends in Amity Park. Being so large and British, there was plenty to pick on. Also since leaving Privet Drive the immense teen had grown quiet and subdued, strangely almost pacifist despite being an award winning wrestler before. Sam and Tucker did try to include the teen but this day was planned to be just the original trio. Rekindling friendships and letting Danny relax.

"It'll be horror movies Dudley," Danny warned.

"Nonsense! No horror movie is gonna scare my son! Right Dudley!" Vernon bragged.

Sam groaned in annoyance before grabbing Tucker's backpack and storming upstairs. Tucker and Danny blinked in surprise at her before Tucker motioned for Dudley to follow him into the kitchen. Danny went upstairs while Tucker and Dudley grabbed armfuls of snacks for the movie marathon.

"Sam, you alright?" Danny called as he edged into his bedroom. Sam was angrily setting up Tucker's portable DVD player and laying out the numerous DVD cases to choose from.

"I'm fine," Sam growled.

"Don't sound it Sam. Come on, talk to me," Danny encouraged.

"This is the first day in like a year we've had you home. Just on our own. And now Dudley's gonna ruin it," Sam complained. Danny smiled and stopped her from slamming another DVD case down beside the DVD player.

"Sam, I don't mind. And just because Dudley's joining us, doesn't mean we can't have fun still and have a nice day," Danny muttered reassuringly to her.

Tucker and Dudley entered the room moments later and Danny stole some pillows from Jazz's room and the spare room for them to gather together and sit on.

"Sorry. I know you'd prefer I wasn't here," Dudley mumbled as he accepted a couple of pillows from Danny. Danny shrugged.

"It's fine Dudley. Personally I'm just looking forward to a day of relaxing with friends," Danny retorted, throwing a pillow over to Tucker, purposefully aiming for his friend's head. Tucker yelped in alarm before scowling at Danny, vowing revenge. Danny settled down beside Sam, who had pulled the curtains already, and grinned at the techno-geek. Dudley uncertainly sat down beside Tucker. Tucker pressed play and they sat back comfortably to watch the film.

An hour later, Danny, Sam and Tucker were laughing and pointing out the especially bad special effects in the movie.

"I can't believe that this used to scare us," Sam laughed.

"Well we were like seven," Tucker pointed out.

"Besides the stuff we've seen, this stuff is nothing compared," Danny commented, all three had forgotten Dudley sitting in terrified silence beside Tucker.

"Alright tough guy, what would scare you now?" Sam asked curiously.

"Easy, dementors. You?" Danny answered easily.

"The soul shredder," Tucker offered with a shudder.

"Paulina's wardrobe," Sam jokingly replied. Danny and Tucker laughed. Dudley blinked in shock.

"How do you know about dementors?" he inquired in a small voice, just loud enough to be heard over the exaggerated screams on the movie. Danny froze and turned to Dudley. He couldn't believe how careless he'd just been!

"About what Dudley?" Sam interjected with forced confused curiosity.

"Dementors. He said dementors would scare him. How does he know about dementors?" Dudley retorted, his voice getting stronger, confusion over ruling the fear caused by the movie. Danny bit his lip and sighed.

"Alright. You caught me. I'm a wizard," Danny lied, Sam and Tucker gaped at him, the movie playing in the background forgotten.

"You're a-a wiz-wizard," Dudley stammered worriedly. Danny rolled his eyes.

"I am. Want to see my wand?" Danny taunted lightly. Dudley blanched and shook his head. They were silent for a few minutes, all four pretending to watch the movie but instead waiting for someone to break the tension between them.

"Do you know Harry Potter?" Dudley ventured. Danny glanced at the beefy teen.

"I do," Danny answered carefully.

"Do you know if he's okay? He was gonna go after Vol-" Dudley inquired warily. Danny lunged forward and clamped a hand over Dudley's mouth.

"Don't finish that word!" Danny shouted. Sam and Tucker blinked in surprise.

"The name's taboo. Anyone who says it gets arrested. I can't be sure it doesn't carry to muggles too. If you have to refer to him, call him You Know Who," Danny explained. Dudley gulped and nodded fearfully.

"Sorry. But if I get caught saying that word, I'm dead," Danny muttered before shuffling back off the larger teen. Sam and Tucker stared at Danny. Danny never spoke of what his role in the order entailed. It was an unspoken rule never to ask. Danny came home to get away from all that.

"S-sorry," Dudley choked out. Danny shrugged.

"You didn't know. It's fine. But don't say it, alright," Danny replied easily. Dudley nodded obediently.

"But to answer your question… I probably shouldn't but… he's okay last I saw. That was a few days ago," Danny answered. Dudley blinked and smiled tentatively.

"Good," he mumbled.

Danny chewed his lip in thought before he had to ask.

"Dudley, why do you care? I thought you and your parents didn't like Harry," Danny asked. Dudley glanced at Danny.

"Harry saved my life. I was attacked by a dementor before and Harry chased it away. Nearly got expelled doing it," Dudley replied softly.

"I thought muggles couldn't see dementors," Tucker recalled.

"They can't. But they can feel their presence Tuck. That was two summers ago wasn't it?" Danny muttered. Dudley nodded. Danny knew what Dudley was talking about. It was the summer Danny joined the order. His first job was to watch over Harry after the dementors attacked him until the order could move him. A muggle had been present. Dudley.

"It was horrible. I felt like I'd never be happy again," Dudley mumbled with a shudder. Danny nodded slowly in understanding.

"Be grateful you couldn't see it Dudley. Dementors are ugly creatures," Danny commented. Dudley glanced at the halfa before turning back to the movie.

By the end of the movie, everyone had put the conversation behind them and began to enjoy themselves again. The trio took pity on Dudley and picked the funnier horror movies they had rather than the gory ones they usually watched. Three movies later and they had grown restless and decided to emerge from Danny's bedroom to take a walk around town. Dudley decided to stay at the house which enabled Danny, Sam and Tucker to have some time together, just the three of them. They stopped at the Nasty Burger for lunch and took a walk through the park, ending at Tucker's to play video games together.

By the end of the day Danny felt more relaxed than he felt in months. He instantly knew that he'd done the right thing. He had desperately needed this day with his friends. He felt sorry for Snape since the wizard didn't have anyone to spend a day off with other than Danny, and for obvious reasons, that wasn't possible. The next day, he took a trip into the Ghost Zone to check on Walker, his guards and the snatchers they arrested. The snatchers had had plenty of insults to say despite the fact that Danny saved their lives but then again he had ordered that they be kept prisoner in Walker's prison until he said they could leave. He couldn't risk releasing the snatchers in case they returned to Voldemort and either got killed or re-joined the wizard. Two of Walker's guards had been gravely injured by ectoplasm cleaning spells but after a few days or so of rest and recovering they should be fine. Danny spent another day at home, visiting Vlad and spending some halfa quality time together. But he had to return to Britain and the war soon.

A well-deserved break for Danny.

Let me know what you think of the story so far.

Happy Christmas everyone!

Until the next chapter.