Disclaimer: I am not J.K. Rowling, therefore: I don't own Harry Potter. I write for fun, and I am not making any profit out of it.

A/N: okay folks, so there are some things that I have been meaning to point out in an (A/N) last chapter but, frankly, I forgot.

The first one is: I know that Harry and company actually ran into Draco in the forest during the DE's attack but given that this is an AU and it is a slightly darker one to boot, I don't find it hard to believe that Lucius would want Draco to participates in the DE's activity a little bit earlier than he did in the canon.

The second point is, although it wasn't on purpose, but was actually a slight over look on my part, I was told that Lucius was actually removed from the board of governors after the events of the CoS for threatening the other members. Again, giving the darker nature of this AU, I don't think it is a stretch if we said that threatening to curse your colleagues was not awfully frown upon, especially when the one who was casting the threats is a person as nasty and evil as our one and only, Lucius Malfoy. Knowing him, sacking the git would have landed the board of governors into more troubles and would have properly secured them that curse that they were promised.

That's all for now folks! Enjoy the chapter and tell me what do you thing?

Chapter Three

Under the shade of different light

Dudley woke up the day after the attack feeling very grouchy and with a head that felt like a tone of bricks. His throat hurt as well, probably from all the throwing up he did last night. He remembered the reason behind that and shuddered involuntary. God, those deme-thingies were horrible. Granted, he couldn't see them, but he could feel them none the less.

*Flashback*

He remembered feeling the coldness, a feeling like he will never fell warm again. He remembered the utter despair that he felt and how it seemed like he will never feel happy again. But most of all, he remembered running around like the coward that he was. Remembered trying to throw the blame on his cousin, not because he thought that Harry was the one causing those dreadful feelings, he could see his cousin's face after all. And Harry's face didn't show the panic of someone who started something and couldn't end it. No, his cousin's face showed the fear of someone who knows what was wrong but knew they couldn't stop it.

But Dudley blamed him anyway; he blamed him because what was going on was obviously something from Harry's world. When his cousin grabbed his arm and told him to stop, he knew that in any other situation, he would have been furious with Harry's commanding tone, but not in this particular situation, no, Harry was the expert here after all. He felt himself flinch –and cursed himself mentally for it- when Harry raised his arm and he could see the stick. But then Harry's grip on his arm disappeared and before he knew it something was grapping for him as well.

He felt like fighting whatever the hell that was and started to punch and kick the invisible attacker but couldn't tell if he was making a progress on that aspect or not- how do you fight something that you can't see anyway?

Then he felt oddly numb, his limps grew more and more heavy until all he could do is just lay there on the floor. He remembered the tightness in his chest increasing; felt like life itself was being sucked out of him. (A/N: if you only knew Dudley) Then images were rushing through his mind, one after the other, there speed kept increasing and he couldn't for the life of him see what any of them was about.

As he watched the blur of images going through his mind his thoughts kept turning to his cousin who was probably laying somewhere close going through the same thing that Dudley was going through. Because try as he might, he knew that his cousin won't save himself and leave Dudley to fend for himself, and deep down Dudley felt ashamed because he was sure that he would have run away and left Harry.

Everything after that was a little foggy. All he could remember was seeing something so bright out of the corner of his eyes that he had to squeeze his eyes shut or risk going blind. And even though he couldn't see what was going on, he could hear a strong thud that announced the moment that the bright thing came crashing on his invisible attacker, and not a minute after, he could feel the hand on his throat disappear.

There were voices, people were talking, and he could hear his cousin's voice among them but couldn't tell what the smaller boy was saying. He tried to focus on what was being said, he needed to know who was talking with his cousin and if they would be attacked once more but the words kept evading him. The words from the real world kept mingling with the words from the images that were still running through his head. He tried so hard to figure out which was which and who was saying what but all his attempts had proven futile.

That was when he gave up, in a last attempt to shield himself from the blinding headache, he simply blocked everything out.

And then the voices changer, his cousin's voice was still there but he could also hear two familiar voices. His mum and dad, when did they come here? He could hear the arguing voices and even though he couldn't make out the particular words he knew beyond doubt that his parents were currently blaming Harry for what happened.

Yeah, they should blame him, right? It was his fault after all. But no, he didn't cause this to happened, did he? Well, even if he didn't, he still had his stick out and he knew better than to have it out… b-but, if he didn't have it out, how could he drove those things away? He was the one who drove them away, right? And he didn't have to help Dudley out, he could have just run, but he didn't.

Dudley tried to open his eyes and was rather startled when he discovered that they were already open. When did I open my eyes? Never mind that. He needing to express his thought to his parents, he needed to say that Harry didn't hurt him but rather saved him.

His father kept talking and so did his mother, saying various things about attackers and being mugged. His father kept asking him if he had used his boxing skills to fend the attackers and he desperately wanted to say that he wasn't the savior in tonight's events, he wanted his parents to know that Harry saved him but he had next to no energy and all he managed to do was to raise a finger in Harry's direction and says "Him."

Feeling the last of his energy leaving him he slumbered heavily against the back of the chair and was sure that he couldn't say anymore. Although, he wasn't sure what his parents were saying exactly at the moment of his declaration, he realized, too late, that what he said might not have been the best answer. As he saw his father whirling around to face his cousin he realized how exactly his parents interpreted his single word.

He tried to fix his mistake but both his parents were currently focused on his cousin. As he tried harder, he could feel bile rising at the back of his throat and then he was vomiting, again. Apparently, he vomited before, because there is a bucket full of vomit on his lap.

He felt like the whole world was fading from around him once more and, for a moment, he started to panic, thinking that he was being attacked again. But as he realized that there was no coldness and no despair, he started to relax a little. He felt so tired and it seemed like he could sleep for a thousand years, that's alright, he will sleep, just for a bit and then when he wakes up and have his energy back, he can tell his parents what really happened and fix this whole mess. There were voices and shouts but he will just ignore them all.

"…Owls…"

"…Ministry…expelled…"

"…justice…"

"…back…boy…talking…"

And then he was throwing up once more. There were a lot of noises, thundering footsteps on the stairs, bangs and a lot, A LOT of thuds and thumps. Then his father was talking with his mother and he really wanted to tell them that he wanted to sleep, and although he wasn't quite sure that he managed to say the words, he was glade to find both his parents helping him on his feet and into his room.

He was asleep before he was in his bed.

*End of Flashback*

Now that he was awake, Dudley needed to fix the whole situation with his parents and he was going to start this now. Just as he was leaving his bed, the door opened and in came his mother carrying a tray full of food.

"Diddy!" she asked as she hurried inside the room and landed the tray urgently on his bedside table before turning to him. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Getting out of bed, mum." He said in irritation as he tried to escape the hands that kept on pushing him back into bed.

"No, you're not!" she replied stubbornly as she kept her hand firmly on his chest "you went through a horrible thing yesterday and you should rest." And with that she shoved the tray of food on his lap and looked at him with concern until he started eating.

"Okay, mum," he said around a mouthful of eggs, his mother's cooking was superb after all and he would be a fool to let it cool down "but what about Harry?"

An odd expression flickered through his mother's face before she regained a smile that she usually saves just for him.

"Don't worry Popkin," she said fiercely "that wicked boy won't hurt you again, daddy made sure of it."

"What?! No, no mum, he didn't hurt me!" he said as he shoved the tray away "That is what I have been trying to say yesterday, he saved me!"

Fear and concern were the dominant emotions on his mother's face as she moved closer and put her hands on his forehead. "Are you still feeling sick honey? Do you think you are still under the effects of the… you know… the…" she waved her hands in the general direction of Harry's room as she struggled to finish the sentence.

"But he didn't, I just told you that!" he was really irritated now "Those things came upon us, and yeah I was pretty mad at the beginning because I though he was doing his… you know… funny t-thing, but he wasn't."

"Diddy! This is not something that you would say, please baby. Try to see." His mother looked really worried as she held his arm almost painfully "You only think that because of his nonsense." The woman was openly pleading by now.

"But mum, you have to believe me." He talked softly, also pleadingly now. "He did save me, I didn't see those things and I was running right into their arms or tentacles of what ever the fuck the use to hold people."

Seeing no response from his mother he carried on. "And then he used his… s-stic-ck, and he drove the one that was attacking me away even though he was being attacked as well.

"Mum, if it were me I would have left him there" his voice was a mere whisper now; he couldn't raise it any higher as he talked of his shame. But this seemed to shake his mother out of her silence.

"You have nothing to be ashamed of honey" she talked urgently as she engulfed him in a hug "You are normal! You wouldn't have been able to drive those abnormalities away."

"Yeah well" he said lamely as he approached his most important question "Still doesn't tell me why he helped me out?"

"He had too!" she said in a high pitched voice "After all we had done for him, after taking him in, putting a roof on his head, clothe on his back and food in his belly!"

"Really mum?" he asked as he lowered his head and watched his hand laying limply in his lap "Do you really believe that he should be grateful to us?"

"Dudders…" she started but didn't seem able to finish.

"We made his life miserable, really!" he continued as if she didn't talk "We ignored his needs, starved him and hurt him. But still we expected him to serve us and be on our every call and demand. This isn't really fair, you know. It is no wonder that he jumped on the first opportunity that offered him a little time away from us."

"So no mum, I don't think that he had to save me. I actually think that it is rather strange that he did." Now that he had finished saying what he wanted, no needed, to say he finally looked up into his mother's eyes and was startled to see them suspiciously wet.

She stood up, carried the tray with one hand and patted his head with the other one gently then she turn and headed for the door. As she was almost out of the room, she sniffed twice before saying in a chocked voice "Stay in bed Dudley. Have some rest today and then we will talk." And then she was gone.

XOXOXOXOX

Half an hour after his mum left with his breakfast tray, she was back with swollen and suspiciously red eyes. Aside from that she was strangely normal, as composed as ever. She didn't say a word as she crossed the room to his desk, after some searching she approached his bed with his telly's remote control. She switched the telly on, flipped through the channels until she reached one of Dudley's favorite shows then handed the remote over to him before patting his arms lightly and pressing a kiss to the crown of his head.

"You stay rested, Diddy." She said with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes and then she turned and left the room.

Dudley was really annoyed with the apparent bed-arrest that he found himself facing, he was seriously tempted to resist his mother's smothering, at least to go and check on his cousin and get the bit that he had been rehearsing since waking up out.

But he could not really bring himself to do that, especially after he saw his mother's red and swollen eyes. That was a side of his mother that he wasn't aware of. She was always composed. He remembered her going frantic and fussing over him anytime that he got so much as a knee scab, but this was a whole new level of the frantic business. Maybe it is because this time the problem was against something that neither of them could really understand.

He found his thoughts drifting back to his cousin and what he was going to say to him once his mother lifted the bed-arrest. He wasn't quite ready for apologizing, apologies were not his things. But he thought it wouldn't hurt him to acknowledge the unfairness of Harry's treatment in this house.

He knew that wasn't enough, he was not a fool. It was just that, well, he hoped that Harry won't be expecting much from him at the moment, he thought maybe he could work up the courage to admitting the extent of his involvement in those unfair treatments by the time his cousin join them for his next summer vacation.

Maybe by that time they would be able to set together and work through their issues, they won't be the best of friend; again, he wasn't a fool. He won't actually blame Harry if he chose not to see them again after he is of age. After what the boy have suffered on their hands, that was to be expected. But maybe after they talk, they could become enough of a family to keep in touch in the future.

XOXOXOXOX

He didn't see his mother again until she delivered lunch, this time, unlike with the breakfast; she left the room as soon as she made sure he was settled comfortably to eat. She made up for her hasty retreat when she came to retrieve the tray after he finished. She kept fussing with his bedding and pillow, making sure that he was not too hot or too cold and adjusting the pillows so they were comfy behind his back as he was probed on the headboard. Swallowing his irritation, he allowed her to smother him to her heart desire.

Half an hour before his father was due back from work; his mother came back into the room and helped him to get dressed as if he was a child, she was muttering about hospitals and check ups. He fought her every step of the way feeling more and more embarrassed by the moment. Fine he got it, she was afraid for him after what he went through, but treating him like a bloody two years old kid was not helping.

When he had finally had enough and snapped at her, she left the room saying that she will check to see if his dad was home yet.

He finished getting ready just a couple of seconds before he heard he dad's car in the driveway. Feeling anxious to get it over with so that his mother would release him from the forced bed rest he found himself making his way out of the room in a second. As he passed his cousin's door in the hallway, he found himself pausing. Would Harry need to see a doctor as well?

He stopped to wonder, will those thing have a different effect on Harry? Does it make a difference if he was nor- err, with no magi-… humph! Is there a difference for people like Harry? Come to think of it, would that mean that Harry can't be treated by their doctors? Does he have to go for his kind of doctors?

After a couple of minutes of silent debate in front of his cousin's door he decided that it would be best not to bother him now. He didn't want to go through any rushed conversation now that might upset the younger boy and ultimately ruin the conversation that he kept rehearsing since he woke up. No, best to keep the first confrontation between them after the attack for tomorrow's morning.

With that thought in mind, Dudley harried down stairs to join his parents.

Two hours later, the Dursleys were sitting in one of their favorite restaurants enjoying an-all-clear medical check celebration. For the first time, Dudley noticed how rotten of them it was to exclude his cousin of all their celebrations. He was attacked as well, after all. In fact, he was the main reason that Dudley just received an-all-clear.

Truth be told, he was quite out of it yesterday. But there were talks about souls and stuff when Harry explained to Dudley's parents about the attack. He didn't really understand what that meant but he was quite sure that he wanted his soul well. And it wouldn't have been well had the deme-thingies succeeded in their attacks.

XOXOXOXOX

Dudley awoke the next morning feeling well rested. The day looked bright and sunny. The temperature was perfect, not too warm but not cold either. Yes, today was perfect, the perfect day for resolving a life long animosity, starting a new leaf and leaving the past behind. Dudley left his bedroom and heading for the bathroom while shaking his head and stiffing a laugh, he felt a little bit sappy back there.

After he showered and changed, Dudley left his room and stood at the top of the stair listening silently to make sure that his mum was still busy in the kitchen before he went to his cousin's room.

He eyed the locks warily and made a mental note to talk to his dad about them. He still didn't know what his father's reaction would be toward the whole thing, he didn't know how to approach the conversation last night with either of his parents, but he was hoping that they would respect his decision and maybe in the future they would conceder talking the same road.

As he laid hand on the first lock he was pleasantly surprised to find it open. He knew that sometimes his parents forget to lock his cousin. However, deep down he was hoping that this was not an over look but a conscious decision. Maybe yesterday after he went to bed his parents decided to let Harry off the hook. They had after all seen for themselves that Dudley was okay. He checked the rest of the locks and found them all open, something that was lifting his spirit more and more by the minute.

Taking a deep breath, Dudley laid a hand on the door knob but decided that knocking would help him convince Harry of his wish for a clean slate.

Smiling slightly to himself, Dudley knocked twice on his cousin's room trying to imagine Harry's shock for the first ever polite knocking on his door. He was not surprised when he got no answer. Harry was either to shock to answer or he might actually not have heard it. After all, Harry's only experience of knocking in this house is of loud and rapt thundering on the door that is usually associated with one of the Dursleys' shout for him to get starting on the breakfast.

After five more minutes of knocking produce no change, Dudley decided to enter now and inform his cousin after their talk that he will be knocking from now on. Taking another deep breath, he tried to draw his most unthreatening facial expression, hopping that it worked; he finally turned the door knob and pushed the door open.

What awaited him was a scene out of those bloody horror movies that Piers loved so much. It was not the fact that the desk was pushed away from its original place, the chair was toppled or that there was a freakin' floor board from God knows where laying on the bed which had scrambled bedding at that. It was the fact that there was an alarmingly big reddish-brown stain that took up most of the space between the bed and the pushed desk.

He took a shaky step into the room trying to make since of the scene, and trying desperately to push down the panic that was starting to set in. His cousin wasn't here, Harry wasn't here! Why wasn't he bloody here?

"Mum!" his voice came out as a strangled whisper. He cleared his throat and tried again "Mum!" but all that came was a hoarse word that was barely audible.

Feeling pretty frustrated with himself, he cleared his throat again and half-yelled, half-screamed "MUM!"

"Coming, popkin." She called back and he could hear here moving down stairs as she made her way toward him.

What happened? Bloody hell! I knew I should have asked him to come to the doctor with us. Those things clearly hurt him much more worst that they did me. Was that the reason behind mum's strange behaviors yesterday? Did she notice Harry's injury? Why didn't she say anything? Could we have reached his friends? Maybe they could have helped him with their m-mag…? But where is he?

"Where are you, Diddy?" he heard his mother's ask from across the hall, probably looking for him in his room.

"In here mum" he answered softly; he didn't think he could talk any louder at the moment.

He heard his mother's sharp intake of breath as she realized where he was.

"DUDLEY!" she hissed "What are yo…" but she didn't complete the sentence as she took a good look at the room.

"We should have look out for him, now he is badly hurt and we don't know what happened to him!" he was mumbling to himself more than to his mother, he couldn't take his eyes away from the pool of dried blood.

He was aware of his mother moving around the room franticly looking under the bed and desk and inside the closet as if Harry was going to jump out from one of those places saying: fooled ya! He almost wished that he would.

"Where is he? Where did he go?" he could hear his mother's frantic voice. "They took him! They came and took him? And they saw! Oh God! We are so dead."

He turned sharply to look at his mother not really knowing what to make out of her rant.

"Mum! What the hell?" he snapped, but she didn't answer him. She turned on her heel and left the room.

He followed her to the kitchen where he found her sitting on the table looking torn between being worried and relieved.

"Mum?" he inquired again.

He received the surprise of his life when she latched on him, burying her face in his chest as he stood awkwardly by her chair and started to sob and mumbled hysterically. He was seriously scared, aside from her red and swollen eyes yesterday; he had never seen his mother in anything less than full composure. What the hell happened?

"… trying to save the family… didn't know what to do… lily must be rolling in her grave… I am so sorry… should have… kill me… son…too late…" were the occasional words that he could make out of his mother's murmur.

Figuring that he might never know what the hell happened, at least not with his mother in this state, he settled on patting her shoulders awkwardly until she detached herself from him and headed to the bathroom.

He headed up stairs and found himself entering his cousin's room without a conscious thought. He took a look around the room trying to really see it for the first time since his parents gave it to Harry all those years ago.

He was surprised that there were almost no changes in the room since he used it as his toy's graveyard all those years ago. The toys were still there, broken and useless in anything but taking up a great deal of space out of the already small room. The desk stood oddly bare, no books, notebooks, papers, pencils, pens or anything that might suggest that the desk was in use. The open door of the closet showed the crocked and broken shelves that were testimony for the few article of clothe that used to take nothing more than the small space provided by the lone unbroken shelf.

He didn't even need to look to the children's bed to see how lumpy and uncomfortably small it must be for his cousin, even with Harry's short and skinny stature, the bed must feel like a match box.

He leaned down unconsciously and pulled the fallen chair up. As he was straightening again he noticed that there was something under the bedside table. He reached down and pulled it up, finding a picture frame with cracked glass. The cracked glass didn't hide the occupants of the photo who were dancing around under the autumn fallen leaves.

With a start he dropped the frame as he realized that the couples were actually dancing, as in moving around in the frame. They were moving! Bloody hell! Their pictures actually movies!

"Dudley?" Came his mother's almost tame voice from the doorway as he picked the picture back up and stared at it intently.

"Just like the telly" he whispered, mesmerized, as he kept his eyes on the couples. Now that he was noticing details he could see his cousin's untamed black hair on the male and then the man faced him and he was shocked to see how much he looked like Harry. With a start, he realized that the man was Harry's father, and if he was his father then this must be Harry's mother. As if she could hear his thought, the woman turned to face him and he found himself staring at a duplicate of his cousin's bright green eyes.

The woman kept still and it was as if she was staring at him just like he was staring at her, and he found himself drawn into this woman's eyes. This was his aunt! She was a taboo topic around this house, not that he had actually asked anything about her before, but he had often watched as one of his parents gave his cousin a trashing for any simple inquiry that revolved around her.

"Dudley?" this time his mother's voice was so close and he was startled as he looked up and found her standing right beside him. She took one look at the object in his hand and then sat heavily on the lumpy bed. She reached out a hand and he realized that she wanted the frame.

He gave it to her but sat quietly next to her as he sensed that maybe the topic was not as tabooed as it used to be and felt the urge to ask about his long dead aunt.

"Is she- " he started but she cut him off.

"Lily, yes, she was Harry's mother." She replied in a whisper. "She was my sister."

XOXOXOXOX

A/N: okay, I know that there might be some slight confusion regarding the time line of the events of the fan fiction so far, so I am going to do a brief outline here for past events and will make sure to clarify any future one from now on. :D

Dementors attack – 2nd of August, around 9 p.m. (that is actually inline with the canon)

Vernon's killing attempt – same night in less than an hour after the attack.

Dudley waking up – 3rd of August, 10 a.m.

The order receiving the bloody note - 3rd of August, around 7 p.m.

Harry's rescue (the Dursley's celebration dinner) - 3rd of August, around 8:30 p.m.

Dudley discovering Harry's empty room – 4th of August, 10 a.m.