Disclaimer: The Harry potter series belongs to J. K. Rowling. The only profit I gain from this story is the enjoyment and experience of writing it.

-Chapter 8: -

There was a dip in the tunnel before it opened up into a brightly lit room. Swinging his legs over the edge he slide off the edge of the barrel and dropped onto the floor below it. The room he enter was decorated in copper, yellow and black colors. The room was round in shape and there were windows that was letting in sunlight which he assumed was fake since it was night. Looking out of them you could see rippling grass and dandelions. Plants were scattered all over the room as well as hanging from the ceiling.
"Welcome to the Hufflepuff common room." said Bones.
He smiled and nodded his thanks. Even though it wasn't really his style it had a cozy and had a friendly feeling to it.
"Blimey! This is ace!" Said Longbottom as he dropped out of the tunnel beside him.
There were two tunnels lead off from the common room that lead to the boys and girls dorms. He ended up in the same dorm room as Longbottom, Adrian, and another boy. The dorms round like the common room. There were four four-poster beds that were black and yellow covered with patchwork quilts. Dudley felt very tired after such along day and collapsed onto the bed that his trunk was next to. He was already asleep by the time the three boys got in their's.

-(That night)-

"Daddy! Daddy!"
"Hmm?" He looked questioningly down at his daughter as she tugged at his pant leg.
She frowned and stuck out her bottom lip as she pouted. He smiled with amusement at her.
"It's not fair! I want you to come too!"
"I know my angel but daddy has to stay here and work." He said as he scooped her up and set her on one of his shoulders.
"We'll be back before you know it Rebecca." Said his wife as she walked over with their son beside her.
He smiled lightly at her. "Have fun and don't get into too much trouble." he said to his daughter as he placed her back on the ground. "Same goes for you." he added as he ruffled his son's hair.
"Dad!"He whined with annoyance as he tried to stop him from messing up his hair. "Have a good time visiting your sister." he said before he kissed his wife, much to the disgust of his kids.
"I'm sure we well." she said as they drew apart. They both paused and studied each other for a second, waiting for the other to say something.
Then she looked away and the sounds from the station came cascading back. "See you in three weeks. Don't work too hard." she said smiling as she ushered the kids towards the train.
He waved as they stepped up onto the train.
Suddenly he heard screaming. He whipped around to face the source and then-.

He awoke with a start and the first thing he registered was someone was leaning over him. He reacted on instinct and lashed out hitting whoever it was in the face. There was a yelp of pain as Dudley realized that he just punched some poor kid in the face. Scrabbling to sit up he saw Longbottom sitting on the floor gingerly rubbing his nose.
"Sorry about that…" Dudley said apologetically.
"Bloody hell… you can pack a punch." Said Longbottom as he pulled himself off the floor and sat down on the edge of his own bed.
Glancing around Dudley noticed that Adrian was also awake. But their other roommate was still dead to the world. "What are you two doing up?"
"You were having a nightmare and woke us up." Said Adrian through a yawn.
Dudley started to apologize again but Longbottom waved him off. "Don't worry about it we all have nightmares once in a while. Beside they will probably get better once we all get settled in."
Dudley simply grunted in reply. Not feeling like going back to sleep he slide off the bed and changed into a new pair of robes. "How far away is breakfast?"
"We still have a couple hours." Longbottom replied sleepily as he snuggled back under his covers. Adrian had already fallen back asleep. Slipping out of the room as quietly as possible. The tunnel seem dark and lonely and the only sound he hear was his bare-feet padding against the stone floor. Then he pushed the door to the common room open and was greeted by warm sunlight filtering through the windows.
He simply stood in the in a patch of sunlight enjoying the sun lights warm rays brush across his face. 'I still have a few hours to spare… what should I do?" He glanced around the room and his eyes landed on the entrance way to common room.
He was quickly out of the room and dropping onto the ground on the other side of the tunnel. Then he took off down the hallway. He passed a painting of some fruit and climbed the staircase. Paused at the top of the stairs wondering if he should head out to the grounds or continue exploring the castle. "I should probably try to find the library..." He thought and headed up the large marble staircase.
He quickly found out that the castle was as large as it looked by wandering around the next floor. He found several different classrooms and a pair of huge double doors that lead to a hospital like section of the castle. He also found long hallway covered with tapestries and a stone bridge. His spare hours quickly vanished along with the dark thoughts that his nightmare had brought. Heading back to the Great Hall he joined Longbottom and Adrian for breakfast in a much better mood.
"Where have you been?" Asked Longbottom, when Dudley sat down next to him.
Dudley shrugged as he put some eggs and sausage on his plate.
Adrian passed him a class chart and said. "Professor Sprout our Head of House passed these out shortly before you arrived, I told her I would give you yours."
"Thanks." Said Dudley as he looked it over.

-(Going to class that day)-

Each class was interesting and different in their own right except for History of Magic. That had quickly turned out to be even more boring than the history classes he had taken before. Granted the person who had been teaching his classes hadn't bored himself to death and come back to torment the living.
Herbology was about magical plants and how to care for them taught by Hufflepuff's head of house Sprout, which they had three times a week. Though the first class had only been an introduction it wasn't one that he would forget quickly.
He, Longbottom and Adrian were heading down to their first Herbology class at the greenhouses.
"Drake! Drake, wait up!"
He stopped and glanced over his shoulder. His Aunt and another Gryffindor girl was running to catch up to them.
"Didn't think I would see you so soon after the sorting." She said with a smile which Dudley returned rather hesitantly.
"Aren't you going to introduce us?" Asked Longbottom. who had doubled back with Adrian when they had noticed that Dudley had stopped.
"This is Lily Evans, we met on the train. Evans these are two of my roommates Frank Longbottom and Adrian." Dudley paused since he didn't know who the other Gryffindor girl was.
"I'm Alice Smith." Said the girl beside his Aunt cheerfully. She was a little plump with dark brown hair.
After greetings were passed around the five of them all headed off to the greenhouses. When they came into view of the first greenhouse there was already a group of students waiting there.
Dudley froze when he saw everyone in the group. There stood Harry laughing beside his Godfather. But no- it wasn't him. As he studied the kid more, he couldn't look more different than Harry. Where Harry had shown neglect this kid was pampered. He was more filled out and taller than Harry ever was at this age. They carried each themselves completely different, where Harry had shown hesitation this boy showed none. And there was not a trace of the lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead. As he looked at the kid a heavy knot of guilt settled in his stomach. "This could have been Harry… Even though his parents had died, he still could have been well taken care of and happy…" The kid turned to see the new comers and they locked eyes with each other. The boy's eyes were hazel instead of the bright greens of Harry's. Dudley turned his attention to his companions who were talking excitedly to each other.
"Hey!"
Looking back at the group he saw Harry's carbon copy and Godfather with two other boys heading in their direction. "Great! Not only do I have to deal with my Aunt but my Uncle as well. Someone must really hate me." Dudley thought sarcastically to himself.

-(Author notes)-

Thank you, Whispers in the Dawn for beta-ing.

If you read and enjoyed please spend the time to review.

Sorry it's so short, I'll try to make the next one longer. And I won't be updating very often this month because I am doing the Write a 50'000 word novel over November.