Disclaimer: Sigh. Must I say it again?

A/N: Yeah, I know the last chapter was a bit on the short side. Cest la vie, though. I had enough trouble with it how it stood, I wasn't about to try for another thousand words, even though I believe that more could have been said. Just a short warning for this chapter - there is one use of a harsh cuss word herein. I, personally, don't believe it's enough to up the rating of the fic, especially since PG-13 movies are allowed to use the word once (in a non-sexual way) during the course of a film.

This could be considered a continuation of the previous chapter, but I don't consider it that way. This, I think, is also the second-to-last chapter for the first third of my planned story-arc, but I'm not completely positive on that yet.

Chapter Thirty-Six: Aftermath

Marge Dursley was completely fed up with her brother's family. She had warned him when he married Petunia that he was making a poor decision, particularly after she found out about Petunia's sister. She had warned him that 'bad blood will out'. Did he listen? Not in the slightest. And now, look at them. Her brother and his wife were both in prison, and now she was expected to house their son for the next seven years! It was an outrage! But there was something she could do about it; her nephew was, after all, only eight days shy of eighteen. It was high-time he learned to look after himself. Besides, Ripper wasn't fond of him.

As she hadn't chosen to attend Dudley's trial, she received a telephone call from the lawyer serving her nephew's defense. She told him, in no uncertain terms, precisely what the judge could do with his sentence. She further informed him that Dudley could pick up his possessions the following afternoon at precisely four o'clock. If he were any later, the entire lot would be chucked in the rubbish bin. Hanging up the telephone, Marge set to work boxing up Dudley's things.

Harry was upset with the judge's sentence for his cousin. House arrest! Come on! That's like Dudley's dream come true! All the computer and television time he wants. Harry sighed and poked his dinner disinterestedly. The bloody fat oaf basically got nothing more than a seven-year pass to remain an uninteresting, bullying, couch-potato.

"Come on, Cub, it isn't as bad as all that," Remus reassured him, cutting another bite of stuffed pepper.

"Yeah," Sirius agreed. "These are the best." He was indicating the food, of course.

Jenn leveled a glare at Sirius that clearly said, "Shut up now before you gnaw your foot off."

Harry sighed again, "It's just that, when the jury said 'guilty on all charges', I sort of imagined that Dudley wouldn't get away with all he's done."

"Look on the bright side, Harry," Jenn replied, handing the bowl of mashed potatoes to Remus, "this will be on Dudley's permanent record. He'll likely have a hard time of getting a job for the rest of his life."

"But still…" Harry began, but was interrupted by the doorbell. "I'll get it," he said, setting his fork down and removing his napkin from his lap.

"Do you think –" Sirius started to say, but Harry's outraged shout cut him off.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

As one, Jenn, Remus, and Sirius scrambled to their feet and crowded into the entranceway by the front door.

Dudley Dursley stood there, looking completely miserable, flanked by his lawyer and a policeman. "Hullo, cousin," Dudley's voice was so soft that it could barely be heard.

Thomas Harvey, Dudley's lawyer, stepped forward. "Please, Mr. Potter, could I speak with you in private?"

"No, you may not," Harry replied. "Whatever you have to say can be said in front of my real family."

"As you wish, Mr. Potter. May we come in, please?"

Jenn stepped forward, "Harry, let them in. Whatever they have to say, we'll work through it." As Harry stepped aside, Jenn introduced herself. "I'm Jennifer Kellerman. Come in and have a seat in the lounge."

Sirius and Remus exchanged a meaningful glance, and Remus ducked back into the kitchen to place preservation charms on dinner while Sirius followed the group of people into the living room. While he was in the kitchen, Remus conjured a plain tea service and quickly rejoined everyone.

Jennifer had taken a seat in one of the armchairs, Harvey had sat in the other. The policeman was standing in the corner nearest the door. Sirius was sitting next to Harry on the sofa. Remus sat the serving tray on the coffee table and took the remaining position on the couch. Dudley, downcast, was standing near the fireplace.

"What is this about?" Jenn asked Harvey.

The lawyer accepted a cup of tea from Remus. Before he could reply, though, Dudley spoke up, his tone still on the quiet side. "Aunt Marge kicked me out."

Harry looked at his cousin. "And that means what to me?"

"It means, Mr. Potter," Harvey cut in, "that as of four o'clock this afternoon, my client has no residence in which to serve his sentence. Unless he is able to locate such a place within the next twenty-four hours, the remainder of his sentence – that is to say, the entirety thereof – will be in prison."

Harry smirked, "Couldn't have happened to anyone more deserving."

"Harry!" Jenn hissed. Though she agreed with him, now wasn't the time to vocalize those thoughts.

"No, Mrs. Kellerman," Dudley spoke again. "I… I think I know how Harry feels. Can't say that I blame him."

"Why come to me, Dudley? What were you hoping for?" Harry returned his gaze to his cousin.

Dudley slowly met Harry's eyes. "I… I don't have… anywhere else… to go. I don't want to go to prison… like Mum and Dad did."

Harry narrowed his eyes a little and really looked at Dudley. His cousin was noticeably thinner than the last time Harry'd managed a good look at him, though still grossly fat. There were dark circles under his eyes, like he'd not been sleeping much or well. He seemed truly remorseful of what he'd done. Almost as though the thought had triggered it, Dudley spoke once more. "If it helps… I… I'm sorry. I can't say… I didn't mean all those things I did… but I can say I… that I… I'm sorry."

Harry stood up and walked over to the window. Glancing at Sirius, Remus, and Jenn, he understood that this was up to him. He crossed his arms over his chest and stared out at the rapidly approaching twilight. At least, that was what everyone else assumed he was doing. Harry was, in actuality, watching the room's reflection. Particularly his cousin. He found it interesting to see that when he'd crossed his arms, Dudley seemed to assume the worst and his posture melted a little further.

Without turning from the window, Harry said, "You're not going to stay here, Dudley."

"Mr. Potter, I must protest –"

Harry interrupted Harvey by raising his hand in the universal 'just a moment' gesture. "I didn't say that I was sending him to prison, Mr. Harvey – even if that is what he deserves. Dudley, the judge said that you would be under house arrest for a full seven years, right?"

Dudley nodded, "Yeah."

"He also said that you needed to seek medical and psychiatric counseling, right?"

Another nod, "Right."

"And he also said you were to locate a job, right?"

One last nod, "Yeah."

"This isn't going to be easy. Are you sure you want my 'help'?"

"Yes," Dudley's voice finally had something resembling volume, though it was still a far cry from his normal tone.

Harry turned around and faced Dudley. "Fine. I'll help you, though God only knows why."

Dudley then did something Harry couldn't have predicted. His cousin began to cry. "Th- thank you!"

Harry winced a little and gestured to the sofa. "Sit down before you fall down, Dudley. Like I said, you won't be staying here. I do have another place where you can stay, but there's going to be some rules. We'll discuss those in a few minutes. For now, have some tea. I need to make a phone call." He looked to the others in the room. "Excuse me for a moment."

Harry retrieved his mobile from his pocket and headed into the back yard. He dialed Nigel's number and prayed the man was home. Nigel's answering machine picked up after two rings – Harry sighed in relief. Nigel was home, but screening calls. When he went out, his machine didn't pick up until five rings. "Nigel, it's Harry. Pick up the phone, it's important."

"Hi, boss. What's up?"

"It's a little complicated. Can you come over in… say ten minutes?"

"You know I can be there now. I do know how to apparate."

Harry chuckled. "I know. I need the delay – we've got some muggle guests."

"Ah, say no more. I'm in the area, right?"

"Of course. Ten minutes?"

"Ten minutes," Nigel agreed and hung up.

Harry tucked the phone back into his pocket and returned to the living room. Answering Remus', Jenn's, and Sirius' questioning expressions, Harry said, "I called Nigel. He was in the neighborhood and should be here shortly." Moving a stack of phone books off of the piano bench, Harry sat down and addressed his cousin. "I said this wouldn't be easy. I mean that. I have some rules that I expect you to follow; if you don't I'll happily send you to prison. Understood?"

Dudley swallowed, "What rules?"

"Firstly, you will endeavor to be polite and respectful at all times – to everyone. I don't care how upset you might be or how bad a day you might have had, if you take it out on someone else, you will have shown me you weren't serious in asking for my help. Clear?"

"Yes. What else?"

"You will be staying in an apartment in a building downtown. As this is my property, I expect your temper-tantrums to be limited to your own belongings; if you cause any damage to the property, you will pay to have the repairs done. If this becomes a commonplace occurrence, you will no longer have the privilege of living there. Clear?"

"Yes."

"We both know you were ordered to seek counseling, however I know that seeking it on a court's order and actually following the advice given are two separate and unrelated things. I will expect you to listen to and follow the advice of both your medical and psychiatric doctors. You will make a conscious effort to better yourself. Clear?"

"Yes."

"Did you actually manage to finish school, Dudley?" Harry asked.

Dudley bit his lip and shook his head.

"In that case, I will expect you to complete your secondary education. I'm sure something can be worked out over the internet. I refuse to employ someone who hasn't finished at least that much schooling."

"Employ?" Harvey asked.

Harry turned a little and answered the lawyer. "Yes. Employ. I own a business downtown. We're just starting out, but I expect things to start coming together rapidly now that I no longer have to worry about school myself. Will education cover the 'gainful employment' part of the judge's sentence for now?"

"I will ask."

"Good," Harry turned back to Dudley. "If it does, then you will finish your schooling. Once you've managed that, we'll talk some about a job." A knock sounded from the front door. "Come in, Nigel!"

Nigel poked his head through the doorway and kicked the front door closed behind him. "Evening, Jenn, Remus, Sirius." He strode into the lounge, nodding at everyone. "Hey, boss. Whacha need?"

"This," Harry nodded towards Dudley, "is my cousin, Dudley Dursley. Dudley, this is Nigel Smythwick, one of my good friends. He also happens to work for me. Nigel, Dudley has something of a problem he wants my help with."

Knowing some of the story behind Dudley's current circumstances, but not the outcome of the trial, Nigel asked, "And just what would that be?"

"You see, he was found guilty of those charges yesterday, and the judge sentenced him to house arrest. However, Dudley's aunt has…" Harry cleared his throat, "evicted him from her home. Therefore, he has to find somewhere else to live, or else he goes to prison. It occurred to me that we have some extra space downtown."

Nigel grinned, "That we do."

"How long would it take to convert some of the office space into a flat for Dudley here?"

Nigel thought for a couple of minutes, "Not long, I'd imagine. Most of what a flat would need is already in place. We'd need to re-partition some of the walls, run a bit of electric wire, extend some plumbing… At most, a week. If it's really that imperative, it could probably get done tomorrow, but you'd end up paying an arm and a leg for the expedited or emergency fees."

"We don't have a week, Nigel. Why don't you make the necessary calls from the phone in the kitchen and come back when you're done to let me know how much it's going to be?"

"Sure thing, boss," Nigel grinned and headed into the kitchen. If he read Harry's meaning properly, the kid was putting on a show for his cousin's benefit – Harry knew that the remodeling wouldn't take more than an hour with magic at his disposal.

Nigel's assumption was correct. Harry wanted to pound it into Dudley's brain that he was doing Dudley a favor above and beyond that which should reasonably be expected, particularly considering the circumstances. Returning his attention to Dudley, Harry took a moment to wonder if he was really doing the right thing; if Dudley really could learn not to be a bullying git. "How, exactly, does this house-arrest thing work? All I really know about it is the little I've seen on the telly, and I'll admit that I don't watch it all that often."

For the first time, the officer spoke. "With house-arrest, the detainee is fitted with an electronic tracking anklet. His place of residence is set up with a central monitoring station that tracks the location of the anklet – most of these monitoring stations have a range of about one hundred meters. If the anklet is further than the monitor than that, a signal is sent to the nearest police station, and we arrive to investigate the situation. In cases like this, wherein the detainee has been ordered to do something that would require they be further than approved from the monitoring station, appointments are set, and a police officer escorts the detainee to the appropriate locations and back."

"I know I've read about some cases where the person placed under house-arrest was…" Harry smiled a little, "rather affluent. I doubt that many of them have houses smaller than the range you said."

The officer nodded, "In cases like that, multiple monitors are used."

"So, if Dudley manages to abide by the rules I gave him, and manages to impress me enough to hire him, I can outfit my building downtown with several of these stations?"

"Yes, you could."

At that moment, Nigel returned, carrying a piece of paper that came from the yellow legal tablet kept in the kitchen junk-drawer. "Got that info for you, boss."

"And?"

Out of sheer curiosity, Nigel had actually called the necessary offices. "Aquabella Plumbing can have that aspect completed by six o'clock tomorrow, for six thousand quid. Wires, Etc. can have the lines moved or extended at the same time, for three thousand. Capeman Construction can do the walls and whatnot tonight, for ten thousand. And last, but not least, Andrews Contracting can do the lot tonight, for twenty thousand quid."

"Why so much?" Jenn asked.

Nigel grinned, "Expedited emergency services, Jenn. Not to mention triple-overtime and two meals."

Harry stood and took the paper from Nigel. "Thanks, Nigel. If you've not eaten yet, why don't you help yourself to what's in the kitchen?" Knowing a dismissal when he heard one, Nigel headed back to the kitchen. He wasn't particularly hungry, but he knew Harry had something else to talk to him about.

Harry stood and pocketed the note. Facing Dudley's lawyer, he asked, "Where will Dudley be staying tonight?"

"The jail, I assume, since you've stated quite emphatically he wouldn't be staying here."

"What of his things? Have they been retrieved from his aunt's?"

"Yes. I have them at my office."

Harry nodded, "Good." He headed over to the phone hanging near the door and the notepad on the small side-table under it. He scribbled down the address of BKE and tore the sheet off the pad. "Meet me there tomorrow at noon, Mr. Harvey. Bring Dudley's things, if you would. Hopefully, by then you will have found out if education would fulfill his employment requirement."

"Certainly, Mr. Potter," Harvey stood and motioned to Dudley.

"No, Mr. Harvey. I have a few things I need to discuss in private with my cousin tonight." Glancing at the officer, he continued, "I presume our excellent police service is to maintain a constant presence until those monitoring gadgets are installed?"

"Yes. In three hours, I'll have ended my shift, and the overnight pair will show up. My partner is out in the patrol car."

"Then I see no reason why Dudley can't stay here tonight. You and your partner, I am sure, can join us for dinner."

The officer shook his head. "Sorry, Mr. Potter. Regulations. I need to maintain a presence in the house, while my partner maintains an exterior presence, in case the detainee decides to make a run for it."

Harry smiled somewhat humorlessly at his cousin, "Dudley won't run, will he?" Dudley shook his head rather emphatically. "In any case, officer, I understand regulations are regulations. I wouldn't want you to get in trouble from your superiors. Is there any objection to me speaking privately with Dudley?"

The officer shook his head. "As long as it's in a room we can easily monitor, my physical presence is unneeded."

"So, it's settled. Remus, why don't you go with Mr. Harvey back to his office and get some clothes for Dudley for tomorrow? Sirius, I need you to call Arthur, the twins, Ted, and Hermione," he tossed his godfather his mobile. "Ted and Hermione's numbers are in there. I know you know Arthur and his son's. In fact, have Nigel help out. I want everyone here at, say… nine? Yeah, nine."

"Tonight?" Sirius asked.

Harry shook his head, "No. Tomorrow morning. Actually, why don't we all meet up at BKE, in my office? We should probably start meeting there, anyway. While we're there, we can figure out which of the existing meeting rooms would be best for us to keep for the time being."

"All right. Nine tomorrow, at BKE, your office. That was the one with the glass-topped desk, right?" Harry nodded. "Anyone else you want there?"

Harry thought hard for several minutes before replying, "No. Not just yet, anyway."

As Sirius disappeared into the kitchen, Remus stood and smiled at Harvey. "Shall we, sir?"

After the lawyer left with Remus, Harry showed his cousin and the officer around the house before rejoining Jenn, Nigel, and Sirius in the kitchen. Sirius was quickly polishing up his meal. Nigel merely looked amused as he sipped a cup of tea. Harry got out an extra plate and handed it to his cousin. "Help yourself, Dudley." To Harry's surprise, Dudley didn't immediately pile his plate as thick as he could. He only took one of the peppers, ignored the mashed potatoes, and filled the other half of his plate with the green salad.

"I'll go make those calls, Harry. See you later?" Sirius said, standing up.

"Yeah."

"See you tomorrow, boss," Nigel grinned and followed Sirius out.

"He doesn't live here?" Dudley asked. His demeanor was still rather… wilted, for lack of a better term.

Harry shook his head, "No, Sirius lives down the block. He can't cook much, though, and normally comes over for dinner if he doesn't have other plans."

"Who is he?"

"Sirius Black. My godfather."

The officer, who had taken up residence in the corner near the back door nearly choked on his tongue. Harry laughed. "Let me guess, you remember the name from an announcement on November first, 1981?"

The officer quickly composed himself and nodded. "Yes, it was an all-points-bulletin for a double-homicide."

Harry sighed and let the smile fade from his face. "That would have been my parents, but Sirius didn't do it. The real killer was caught a couple of months ago, so Sirius was acquitted."

"Rough luck," the officer commented before resuming his 'ignore me, I'm not here' stance by the door.

Harry finished up his supper and glanced over at Dudley. "Whenever you're done, Dudley, I'll be up in my room. You remember where it is?"

Dudley nodded and resumed methodically poking his way through lettuce and tomatoes.

About half an hour after Harry disappeared into his room, a knock quite unlike Jenn's polite double-rap, Remus' are-you-busy-tap, or Sirius' imaginary I'm-coming-in-whether-you're-clothed-or-not-doorknob-click sounded. "Come in, Dudley."

The door opened a little and his cousin poked his head in, "How'd you know it was me?"

Harry cleaned his paintbrush as he answered, "I've never heard a knock sound so hesitant before. I have to say it's better than it used to be. Come in. I promise I won't hurt you."

Dudley's face contorted in confusion as he stepped into the room, closing the door behind him. "How do you know I won't hurt you?"

Harry laughed and put the paintbrush back into its place, "Because, even as thick as you can be, you still have some semblance of self-preservation. If you hurt me, I won't hesitate to send you to prison. I know you don't want that, so I know I'm safe."

"What did you want to talk to me about?"

Harry sighed and turned to actually face Dudley. "Do you remember those letters I kept getting the week I turned eleven?"

Dudley actually cracked a grin, "How could I forget? I thought Dad was going to go completely barmy."

"Did you ever get a chance to actually see one of them?"

Dudley shook his head, "No, but I remember that night we spent on that little island, though. That scary giant-man in the furry overcoat said something about… well, about magic."

Harry quirked an eyebrow at his cousin. Dudley obviously remembered the evening in question rather more clearly than Harry himself did. Dudley misinterpreted Harry's expression and hurried onward, "I never understood why Mum and Dad wouldn't let me have certain video games… Ultima Online was the last one I asked for. It's this fantasy role-playing game played over the internet. I thought it looked really cool, but they wouldn't buy it for me. They also never wanted me to watch any movies or anything like that that were fantasy… Heck, they wouldn't even let me see Monty Python and the Holy Grail…" He trailed off, obviously a little unsure of what to say next.

"What about you, Dudley? I know your parents didn't much care for anything magical, but you don't seem so… biased."

Dudley shrugged, "I don't see how playing a computer game where you blow up aliens is really all that different than playing one where you battle dragons. I mean, it's all make-believe."

"Ah," Harry sat on the edge of his bed and gestured for his cousin to take the desk chair. "But what if magic was real?"

Dudley sat, the chair groaning slightly in protest. "I sort of figured that much out. I remember how weird things used to happen around the house – and honestly, how could a bunch of owls know how to deliver letters without magic involved?" Harry's eyebrow crept a little higher. His cousin, despite appearances, had something like a brain hidden under his short, blonde hair. "I remember that time you set that snake on me and Piers at the zoo, and that time that all your hair grew back over night. So, I figure what that man on the island said had to be true – you're a wizard."

Harry didn't see any reason to deny it, and he had wanted to talk to Dudley about that very thing anyway, so he nodded and removed his wand from its holster, hidden by his shirt-sleeve. "That's right, Dudley. Had your mum not been quite so… hmm… afraid of magic, I would have spent the last seven years going to a school called 'Hogwarts' to learn how to use the magic I have. Since she didn't let me go there, and I didn't really remember that night out on the rock, I didn't find out I was a wizard until my last birthday. Since then, Remus has been bringing me up to speed on what I should have learned in Hogwarts.

"Sometime last fall, I found out that most non-magical things like computers don't work all that well around magic, and decided to figure out why. From that, I developed the concept of my business, Black Kettle Enterprises, to find ways of making technology work around magic. Since you will be living in the building, I wanted to make sure that you understood that you would likely be seeing odd things happen from time to time. Maybe more often, if you prove to me that you deserve a job there."

Contrary to every expectation Harry had of his cousin prior to this conversation, Dudley seemed to take this in stride. He simply asked, "What could I possibly do? I'm not magical… I think Mum would have said something if I were."

Harry's eyebrow-muscles began aching a little, and so his expression melted into a wry grin. "You'd be surprised what magic can't do. For now, though, you need to concentrate on finishing secondary school. I stand by what I said earlier, I won't hire anyone who hasn't."

After a couple of minutes of somewhat uncomfortable silence, Dudley finally asked, "Why?"

"Why what?"

"Why are you doing this for me? I… didn't expect you to agree, but Mr. Harvey said it couldn't hurt to ask."

Harry sighed and looked up at his cloud-painted ceiling. "Honestly, Dudley, I'm not particularly sure why, other than you asked. You never asked for anything that I remember; all the while we were growing up, you merely demanded things." He returned to looking at Dudley. "While I'm never going to forget all the horrible things you've done, I hope that we will both be able to put all that behind us. I may never really like you, but I've learned recently that you don't have to like everyone you work with, nor do they have to like you. I also know that most of what you did to me was because your parents told you to – either that, or they made it clear that they didn't care if you did it."

Dudley, at that precise moment, finally managed to notice something about Harry. Even though Harry's younger than me, how come he seems grown-up already? If I didn't know the truth, I'd think he was older by at least three or four years. Is it because of that magic? Or something else? Harry's voice managed to penetrate his thoughts. "…all. I'll wake you at eight tomorrow."

"Sorry," Dudley said, "What?"

"Mind wander?" Dudley nodded a little sheepishly. "I just said that I'd wake you at eight tomorrow morning to go downtown. Go downstairs to the den and get some sleep, Dudley. You look a little wiped out."

Dudley stood and nodded to his cousin. "Yeah, it's been a long couple of weeks."

The strongest thunderstorm of the year decided to drench the southern half of the British Isles the next day, complete with thunder, lightning, strong wind, and buckets and buckets of rain. Harry awoke to a particularly loud thunderclap at seven in the morning. The very next moment, a second thunderclap, even louder than the one which had woken him, sounded and the little red numerals on his alarm clock flickered once, twice, and then went out entirely. Oh joy, Harry thought sarcastically. If ever there was a day designed for staying in bed and reading all day, this is it. However, there's still work to be done. Sigh.

While he used a charm to clean up, carefully modulated so as not to touch his hair, he winced a little. I hope the power's not off downtown. I don't feel like walking up thirty flights of stairs this morning, and I doubt anyone else does, either.

Once Harry was dressed and as presentable as he was likely to get, he headed down to the den. A different officer than the one he'd met the night before was lingering outside the mostly-closed door. He paused, nodding a greeting to the man, who didn't seem as friendly as the other policeman had been, and suddenly realized that though he was normally awake far earlier than either Dudley or Vernon when he was still living with the Dursleys, he had no idea if his cousin was a light sleeper or not. Waking him had never been his job – actually, it sort of was. I think the smell of breakfast cooking was usually enough to wake him, but then again, I don't know for sure. Harry knocked loudly before poking his head into the den. Dudley was already awake and sitting on the futon, staring out the window. "I wondered how long you were gonna stand out there."

"Good, you're up. How did you know I was there?" Harry asked, curious.

"I've been awake since about five, when the storm started. I can't sleep during storms, there's too much noise."

"Well," Harry glanced at his watch, "it's running up on seven-thirty. We have time for breakfast before we meet with Nigel."

Dudley scrubbed a hand across his face, nodded, and stood. Harry saw that he'd already made use of the bath before the power had gone out.

Breakfast was simple fare, cold cereal with juice. Harry was a little disappointed there wasn't any tea, but neither the stove nor the microwave worked without electricity, and it wasn't like he could simply conjure some with the policeman lurking in the corner. After they'd finished eating, Harry let the officer know where they were going. The officer used his two-way radio and informed his partner of the address, and then informed Harry that he would have to ride in the same vehicle as they. Harry shrugged and headed to the hall closet, rummaged around in it for a couple of minutes, surreptitiously casting a couple of impervious charms on his clothes, and reemerged with three umbrellas – a black one, a red one, and a lime green one with yellow and pink polka dots. He offered first choice to the officer, who predictably took the black one. He then handed the red one to Dudley, who took one look at the remaining umbrella and cracked a smile for the first time since well before his trial had begun. Harry didn't mind. It was his umbrella, after all. It wasn't his fault that the day he'd been caught needing one the previous fall, the one with the polka dots was the only one left at the store. It may not have been his first choice, but by the end of that day, he'd been glad to have it, partly because of it's nauseating coloring. It was ugly enough that no one else had tried to claim it from the umbrella stand in either the art-supply store, at school, or at the service shop later that evening.

During the drive to the BKE building, neither of the muggles seemed to notice that the cab of Harry's truck wasn't quite as cramped as it could have been. Parking was much simpler than it had any right to be, since the building housed its own parking garage. The electricity for the downtown district of London was working as well as ever, so the trio was able to take the elevator directly up to Harry's office on the penthouse floor.

Nigel, Sirius, and Remus were already there. Sirius grinned at Harry, "Hermione and the rest will be here soon."

Harry nodded and ushered everyone into the office, shooting Remus a questioning glance. He was unaware that his mentor wanted anything to do with his business. Harry perched at on the desk while Sirius and Remus took both of the available chairs, Dudley plopped onto the leather sofa, and Nigel remained standing. The officer, as per usual, took up space near the door. "While we wait for everyone else to show up," Harry began, "Nigel? Did that flat get installed without any problems?"

"Sure did, boss," Nigel smirked. Ever since Harry had recruited him for BKE, Nigel had yet to revert to calling him 'Harry'. "It's down on thirty, can't miss where – I left a trail of post-it notes with arrows on them as a guide. Has a damn good view of the Thames, too. The plumbers said the seals had to set for twenty-four hours before it could be used, though."

"Duly noted. Dudley, do you have an issue with not using the plumbing for today?"

Dudley shook his head and slowly began to realize that there had been far more to his cousin than he'd ever thought while growing up. "He'd probably be able to use it all at roughly two tomorrow morning," Nigel supplied.

Harry smirked a little, but Sirius beat him to the joke, "So, Dudley, right?" Dudley nodded. "Best not over-do it on the liquids today, eh?"

Though no one laughed outright, Remus saw that even the officer had smiled.

"What company did you end up going with?" Harry asked, moving right along.

"Andrews Contracting," Nigel answered.

"Really? No… heh… personal touches, then?" If the officer thought the question odd, he certainly didn't show it.

"Nothing major," Nigel said, matter-of-factly. "I hope you don't mind, but I took the liberty of relocating some of the furniture from some of the other offices for the time-being," Nigel replied. "You'll want to order a bed, but we put in a sofa, a chair, and some side tables and lamps in the living area. One of the break-rooms is currently down a table and two chairs, and there was a decent desk that wasn't too difficult to move in what I assume had been the previous occupant's secretarial pool. They installed an electric hob, and another of the break-rooms had a full-size refrigerator and a small microwave."

"Good. Thanks, Nigel. I actually hadn't thought that far ahead." He turned to Remus, "I suppose I'll be speaking with you after all this is done, right?"

Remus smiled, "Of course, cub. I'm slightly upset you hadn't done so already."

"What time is that tracking device supposed to be installed?" Harry asked the officer.

"At nine-thirty," he replied.

"Okay… Hmm…" Harry glanced around, "Nigel? How about you go down and wait for Mr. Harvey to show up with the rest of Dudley's things? Sirius, you go see if you can find out what's keeping Hermione and the Weasleys. Remus, you wait here until either everyone shows up or I come back for you. I'll take Dudley and the officer here down to check out the flat. I'm sure you're all welcome to join us if you wish, once everyone's here, of course."

After a round of nods and other assorted affirmatives, Harry lead Dudley and the officer back towards the elevators. It was a short trip down two floors, and true to Nigel's word, the way to the flat was clearly marked in little black arrows penned on bright yellow sticky-notes. A pair of keys was taped to a plain black door set into a glass-brick wall. Harry pulled the keys down, balled up the tape, and unlocked the door. Damn… Nigel hs good taste, he thought as the door swung open and reached for a light-switch.

The wall into which the door was hung was only glass brick on the hall side. The construction crew had put up normal drywall on the inside. The living area was rather large, with two whole walls made up of full-length windows. The remaining two walls were painted a simple white, and the wall which didn't sport windows, nor was shared with the hallway, had a small, grey-stone fireplace. The switch on the wall next to it, along with the metal key sticking out from the right side of the hearth, proved it to be gas-powered. The floor was covered in dark blue carpet that felt surprisingly springy beneath his feet. As Nigel had said, he'd apprehended furniture from elsewhere in the building. A cream-colored sofa sat at an angle, facing both the fireplace and one of the walls of windows. A matching armchair was set at a ninety-degree angle to the sofa. A simple, black-lacquered end table sat between them with a dark blue lamp sitting on it. The coffee table matched the end table, and a pillar lamp stood at the other end of the sofa. Harry noticed that the electrical outlets for these lamps were in the floor, and he realized that this area had likely hosted row upon row of computers at one time.

A curved black archway not far from the fireplace revealed a darkened kitchen. As the trio made their way over to it, Harry again flicked a light-switch. The kitchen was a normal kitchen, and the industrial white-and-black-checkerboard table seemed to fit in quite nicely with the rest of the flat thus far. An unobtrusive door proved to be the bedroom – currently empty, save for the wall of vertical blinds – and the last door opened on a bathroom done in varying shades of green.

Returning to the living area, Harry turned a wry smirk on his cousin. "So, Dudley. This what you had in mind?"

It hadn't escaped Harry's attention that Dudley's jaw hadn't managed to close since opening the door. Dudley made a few unintelligible noises before managing to choke out, "I… It's… I… I mean… It's just… wow."

At about the same time Dudley finished mangling that sentence, there was a knock on the still-open door. "Mr. Dursley, Mr. Potter. Officer," Mr. Harvey greeted them, guiding the front end of a largish trolley.

The other end was being pushed by Nigel, "Hey, boss. Where should we park it?"

Harry looked to Dudley, who seemed a little afraid to have to make a decision. "Um… there is fine," he pointed in the vicinity of the empty corner near the door.

An unfamiliar woman carrying a large cardboard box was close on Nigel's heels. "Pardon if I'm early," she said, her voice carrying distinct Welsh overtones. "Miranda Goshawk," she introduced herself to Harry and Dudley. "Which of you is Dudley Dursley?"

Dudley stepped forward. "That's me."

"All right," she set the box down and looked around. "This is your place of residence?"

Dudley nodded.

"And who is the owner of the property?"

"That would be me," Harry said. "You're here to install the tracking device, correct?"

Miranda nodded, "That I am. I will also need to set up a payment plan with you."

This was news. "Pardon?"

"Oh, there's a six-pound-per-day fee for rental of the equipment, though in cases like this where the sentence is for several years, it might be more prudent to purchase it."

Harry sighed and shook his head, "And where was this information last night, Mr. Harvey?"

The lawyer had the decency to blush a little, "Um… It didn't come up?"

"Whatever," Harry sighed. "Dudley, why don't you start figuring out what boxes you want where while I talk with Miss Goshawk in the kitchen?"

Miranda followed Harry into the flat's kitchen after picking up the box again. "It's Mrs., actually."

"Sorry. Why don't you sit down? I'd offer some refreshment, but the kitchen's not yet been stocked."

"That's fine, I had coffee on the way over. Now, shall we to business?" she opened the box and removed a sheaf of papers. "First things first, I understand the sentence is for seven years, correct?"

"That's right."

"So… with 2000 and 2004 being leap years, that's… where's my calculator?" she muttered.

Harry smiled, "Two-thousand, five-hundred, fifty-seven days. You said the daily fee is six quid, right?"

Miranda nodded, "That's right. Do I even want to ask how you can figure this without a calculator?"

Harry shrugged, "I'm good at math. The total for seven years is £15,342. Does the fee increase if multiple stations are needed?"

"That it does. Each additional monitoring station is three quid a day."

"So… the grand total, should my cousin actually manage to talk me into a job would be roughly half a million pounds." Harry sighed. "How much to simply purchase the ruddy things?"

"The anklet is £150 and each monitoring station is £2500."

Harry nodded, "All right. Let's go with that route. Will the monitoring station cover an entire floor of my building?"

"I don't see why not."

"Okay, so one anklet and… hmm… I'll just buy the one monitoring station for now. If I need more, how do I contact you?"

"I'll give you my card," she replied as she began filling out a form. The paperwork didn't take long, particularly after Miranda had a copy of Harry's bank-card number, and installing the monitoring station took even less time. The station looked something like a triangular black radio, but was wired into the telephone lines. Small blinking yellow lights came on when Miranda flicked a switch. "Mr. Dursley!"

Dudley scurried into the kitchen, "Yes, ma'am?"

"Sit," she said, gesturing to the chair Harry wasn't occupying. While fitting Dudley's thicker-than-normal ankle with a wide cuff sporting a small black box, she informed him of the rules governing the gadget. "The anklet is waterproof. Should it grow too tight or become loose enough to slip off, you are to inform me immediately. You will be provided with my business card before I leave. The anklet is designed to handle a significant amount of hard use, but tampering with it will send an alarm to the nearest police station. Too many incidents like that, and you will likely find the judge sending you to prison. The lights on its surface indicate how close you are to leaving your confined area. When the green light's on, you're good. When the yellow light starts blinking, you're in a ten-foot no-zone. Should you venture far enough to trigger the red light, which will have an accompanying beep-alarm, you will have ten seconds to return to the confinement area before the police are summoned. Do you understand these rules?"

Dudley nodded, flexing his ankle experimentally. "Yes, ma'am."

After a couple of signatures from Dudley and Harry, Miranda left in the company of the officer.

Most of the remainder of the day was spent, first in introducing Dudley to the people he was most likely to interact with, and then in a rather lengthy meeting – sans Dudley – regarding miscellaneous minutiae of what still needed done before BKE could officially open their doors.

A/N2: Several reviewers have asked what fic I'm betaing. It's the 'Raising Harry' series by aramie.greyson (here on fanfiction-dot-net) – the first story is 'Raising Harry: La Vida Muggle' followed by 'Hogwarts is a Strange Place: Raising Harry Book 2'. Aramie's got everything through Harry's third year at Hogwarts written, and I'm slowly betaing my way through nearly 400 pages of fic. She wanted a second opinion on what was going on with her story before delving into what she claims is the 'really different in a harsh, how-could-I-do-this sort of way' stuff. It's an AU wherein Harry is raised by a muggle, but it's one of the better versions of that particular spin I've seen; at least, so far. Mind, I've only betaed though about chapter nine or so of Hogwarts year one, so it remains to be seen whether Aramie can keep up the pace. I hope so. For a first attempt at fanfic, I think it's fabulous. Nay, strike that, for a fanfic, first attempt or otherwise, it's pretty damn good.

So… was it better than the last chapter?