a/n: Thanks everyone for your continued support, i'm quite enjoying having this little side series going, its a great place to put all the ideas that come to me (this one in the shower while i was supposed to be going over a lesson plan). Thanks so much for all of the reviews!
Nightmare. New.
Ever since he was fourteen Dudley Dursley has had the same recurring nightmare. In it he wakes up to his alarm at 6:30am, squeezes himself into a shower and doesn't look in the mirror. When he goes down to breakfast he has to pause on the landing to catch his breath. In the kitchen there is a woman standing by the stove, she shows the signs of a once great beauty but there is a strain around her eyes he pretends not to see. She greets him warmly but he doesn't believe she means it. She married him for his money and she's been considering leaving him for ten years.
Breakfast is bacon and eggs and he can feel his chins wobbling and sweat beading on his forehead. When he stands to leave for work he catches sight of himself in the glass panel of the living room door. He looks just like his father. Same red face, same bushy moustache and the same suit and tie he'd seen his father wear a thousand times before.
Last week Dudley Dursley turned twenty five.
He wakes to the sound of his alarm every morning at 5am and rolls out of bed to open the window for the delivery owl. He dresses quietly in the dark and slips out the front door of his London flat. He goes for a run in the park. He'll never be as skinny as his cousin but he'll never be as overweight as the Dudley in his nightmare either. He passes the same girl running in the opposite direction every morning, sometimes they stop for a chat, sometimes they just smile.
When he gets home he showers and looks himself in the mirror. He likes what he sees, there's no moustache, no bulging vein or red flush that isn't a result of a very hot shower. He's solidly built but he's made it work for him. He puts the deodorant back in the cabinet beside a bottle of perfume that snuck its way in there months before. His breakfast is healthy, he's had to learn to cook, but he makes it work for him.
When he leaves for work it's in jeans and a t-shirt, he jogs down the stairs and out into the crisp morning air. When he gets to the station he'll pull on his "uniform", the badge and persona that will see him through his day. He'll check his messages and he'll share a grin with his partner. Today is a special day, his partner will give him shit all day and spend more time taking the mickey out of him than running down leads.
He doesn't talk to his dad anymore, only sees his mum when she makes the trip into the city but he's happier now than ever before. He sees his brother after work twice a week for a pint and he watches his nieces once a week on date night. He has friends, colleagues and a girl. He's lost a lot too, family and friends, seen more than most of his colleagues would believe, both magical and muggle.
And it was all worth it.
Tonight he's making dinner for his girl; he'll set the table nicely maybe light a candle. Instead of serving desert he'll get down on one knee.
He'll never have the nightmare again.