"Dudley Dursley and the Birthday Wish" by Desslok
Chapter 2:
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As Luna took the knife from his hands, Harry snapped out of his confused stupor. He shot a quick glance into the corner where Fred, George, and Ron stood, clearly ready to draw their wands, and warned them off with a curt shake of his head. Striding forward, he grabbed Dudley none too gently by the hand and pulled him forward, saying "Kitchen, now."
Dudley, still in a state of shock himself, silently let Harry draw him into the next room, though his eyes lingered on the beautiful blonde girl cutting the cake. Noting his gaze, she smiled warmly at him and set to one side a particularly large piece of cake, fending off anyone who tried to get a hold of it. As they entered Harry's kitchen, breaking his eye contact with the girl, Dudley came to his senses and yanked his hand back. He noticed that the Weaselby girl had followed them and stood by Harry's side, glaring at him. Recalling previous encounters with Weaselbys, Dudley raised his hands in a peaceful gesture. Harry simply pointed to a chair and barked, "Sit." For a moment, Dudley felt his temper flare. How dare his wimpy freak of a cousin order him about! After a moment, however, he recalled his long drive and the reason for his trip and calmed himself down. Dudley's cardio training had helped him learn to control his temper. It was no different really than slowing your heart rate, just a matter of deep breaths and concentration. Dudley took a seat by the kitchen table and waited. The girl was whispering something to some people by the doorway, shaking her head. Harry just stared at him in disbelief. Finally, Harry sat down across from him, the girl coming over to stand behind him, her hands laid protectively on his shoulders.
"Why are you here, Dudley?" Harry asked suspiciously. "Has something happened to Uncle Vernon or Aunt Petunia?"
"Huh? No, they're fine," Dudley responded, glancing once over his shoulder back into the party room. He couldn't see the blonde girl from here and briefly considered moving his chair a bit, before realizing he should probably focus on what he came to do. "Same as ever, really," he added sourly, rolling his eyes at the thought of his mum patting his head like he was a baby.
"I'm sorry to hear that," the girl said quickly, causing Harry to laugh.
"Yeah, you don't have to live with them, do you?" Dudley shot back. Oddly, the insult to his parents didn't inspire any desire to defend them. Instead, the thought of them made Dudley suddenly angry. He dimly remembered something some very old man had said while visiting Harry. He hadn't understood at the time, but that was starting to change.
Harry's eyes flashed as Dudley snapped at Ginny, but he held his tongue. Something was obviously going on with Dudley, but he had no idea what. Luna's behavior only made it all seem that much more unreal. "I'll ask again, Dudley. Why are you here?" Dudley's eyes shot up to meet Ginny's. Though he could not see her face, Harry knew all too well the expression Dudley was finding there. Ginny wasn't going anywhere, and Harry did not mind one bit. Her comforting touch helped him more than she could ever know. Dudley apparently figured out what Harry already knew. He sighed in resignation and began to explain.
"Well it's not like there's anyone else I could ask, is there?" he began, suddenly uncomfortable. Dudley had enough trouble dealing with the things going around in his head; talking about them was definitely not something he was going to enjoy.
"Ask about what?" Harry prodded, struggling to guess where this was going.
Dudley just couldn't do it. For his entire life, he'd been taught that his cousin was a freak, someone beneath notice. Though he knew that he had many wrong ideas about Harry, the idea of talking to him, especially about such personal and embarrassing things, was too much for Dudley to bear. Just as he was about to spring out of his chair, dash to his car, and give it all up, he felt a soft, gentle hand on his shoulder. He looked up noting Harry and the Weaselby girl's stunned expressions. The blonde girl… had she said her name was Luna? ... had returned. She gazed down at him with a fond expression as she slid that piece of cake in front of him, along with a small plastic fork.
"Here, eat that. You must have had a really long drive, so I imagine you're hungry," she said calmly, patting his shoulder again with her free hand. Dudley stared into her deep, grey eyes, astounded at what he saw there. She looked at him as if she'd known him her entire life, but he knew without a doubt that he'd never met her before tonight. There was no way he could ever have forgotten meeting such a wonderful girl. She was right about one thing, though. He was very hungry. He eagerly took up the fork and dove into the cake.
"Didn't Ginny do a wonderful job with the cake?" Luna asked him, politely waiting till he was in between mouthfuls.
"Yeah," Dudley replied. "Which one is Ginny?"
"Harry! Didn't you even introduce your fiancée? You are usually such a polite boy!" Luna shook her head disappointedly. "That is Ginny right there behind Harry."
Ginny, again flabbergasted by Luna, could only nod her head in greeting.
"Good cake," Dudley said with a smile. Eating made him feel much better about things.
Luna gave him a satisfied smile and ruffled his hair a bit. "I'll let you get back to your conversation now. Tell Harry all about it; it will make you feel better. I'll check on you a bit later." Her expression turned puzzled. "Bryan? No, that doesn't work. Aloysius? No…" Luna wandered off muttering random names to herself.
Dudley felt suddenly alone, but also more at ease. "So, you're getting married, huh. Congratulations, I guess."
"Thanks," Harry muttered, trying and failing to make any sense of the evening.
"The thing is," Dudley began, "I keep having these dreams about that night when the thing… the Dementor… attacked and when I try to figure them out, it all comes back to you." Luna was right. It did feel better to talk about it, to get the things out of his head and out into the open.
Harry took a deep breath, reaching up to touch Ginny's hands which had started to massage his shoulders gently. Putting Luna aside for a moment, he focused on what Dudley seemed to be trying to say. "You've been having dreams…"
"Nightmares, really," Dudley corrected, a bit embarrassed.
"Nightmares, then," Harry continued. "And somehow I'm involved."
"No, you're not involved, and that's what's strange."
Harry looked up at Ginny, lost again. Fortunately, Ginny began to have an inkling about what Dudley meant.
"Can you describe your nightmare, Dudley?" Ginny asked.
"It's always the same thing, the stuff that I saw when that thing attacked me. I'm not me any more. I'm everyone else."
"What do you mean 'everyone else'?" she prodded.
"Everyone else," Dudley explained. "I'm my parents, my friends, my coach, people in the neighborhood. I'm all of them and I'm thinking about me, like I know what everyone thinks about me." Dudley's voice dropped down along with his gaze. For a few moments, he simply stared at his empty plate, pushing random crumbs around with his fork. "No one thinks much of me," he finally added.
"It's ok, sweetie, they will. You're just not you, yet. But, you will be soon." Once again, just as he felt completely alone and miserable, she was there. Luna set her hands protectively on his shoulders, gently caressing them.
Dudley wondered if he should ask her something. Do I know you? Have we met? Why are you being so nice to me? He decided, however, that it was probably better not to ask, worried that if he did, she might disappear. True, he had no idea why she was being so nice to him, but he was in no position to turn away any kindness. Besides, somehow just having her close lifted his spirits.
"Luna, what is going on?" Harry asked incredulously. He just couldn't ignore her odd behavior any longer. "Do you know Dudley from somewhere?"
Luna smiled kindly. "Somewhen more than somewhere, though I'm not sure there's any difference. Don't worry about us, though, Harry. We'll sort ourselves out later. You boys keep chatting." With one last squeeze, Luna released Dudley's shoulders and reached out to take Ginny's arm. "Come on, Ginny, let's let the boys talk privately. They'll be fine on their own. Besides, I need your help with names." Ginny looked at Harry, confused. He nodded his head and she allowed Luna to lead her away. As they left, Harry heard Luna say, "What do you think of 'Sebastian'?"
Turning back to Dudley, who once again appeared revitalized, Harry said, "Luna can be a bit strange sometimes."
"Strange?" Dudley replied. "She seems the most normal one of your lot that I've ever met!"
Harry laughed. Some ideas had begun to percolate in his mind, especially when he recalled their earlier conversation with Luna regarding divinations and visions of the future. "Ok, let's just leave that for now. So, you're having nightmares about the Dementors, or at least what they made you see. Why did you want to come see me about it? You've never had much use for me."
"It's not like anyone else could understand," Dudley pointed out. "Besides, the strange thing is that, even though I become everyone else I know, I never become you. I never see what you think of me. I guess I just thought that maybe that meant I should ask you about it."
"You know, this is probably the longest conversation we've ever had, at least without physical violence being involved," Harry noted. Intellectually, he knew he still had every reason in the world to hate his cousin. Without even trying, he could recall countless incidents of Dudley's cruelty, intolerance, or just general nastiness. After all the years of fighting true evil, though, in the form of Voldemort and his Death Eaters, Harry could not find the same old hatred for Dudley, especially this Dudley sitting before him.
"Yeah, about that," Dudley said slowly. "I guess I was kind of mean to you, when we were kids."
"A bit," Harry answered in a wry tone.
"I'm sorry about the toad," Dudley said sincerely. "And the other stuff, too. I guess it was pretty awful for you, growing up with Mum and Dad being the way they were. And me, I guess."
Harry did not reply immediately. Truthfully, he didn't know what to think. On the one hand, such simple words could not erase the years of abuse and neglect that he had suffered at the hands of the Dursleys. It had taken him years to realize just what they had done to him and to overcome it, to learn to trust and to love. Though Vernon and Petunia, as the responsible adults, bore the brunt of the blame, Dudley certainly had contributed his share to Harry's miserable childhood. On the other hand, though, Dudley did seem to be expressing some regret for his actions. Also, if Harry was correctly interpreting Luna's odd pronouncements, Dudley appeared destined to play some sort of role in Harry's life in the future.
"I'm not sure what to say, Dudley," Harry finally said. "It's hard to forgive an entire lifetime of mistreatment. I really don't know what to say about your dreams, either. I don't know what I think of you, right now."
Dudley shrugged and stood up. "Fair enough. I suppose you'll want me to go."
"You don't have to go just yet," Harry offered. "You had a long drive and besides, it is Luna's birthday and I have the feeling that she'd want you to stay."
On cue as always, Luna strolled back into the kitchen, accompanied by Ginny. "Of course I want him to stay, Harry. I'm still working on the name. Do you like 'Brad'?" she asked.
Dudley thought for a moment. He really had no idea why this girl was so intent on changing his name, but he also found he didn't mind overly much. He'd always hated the name Dudley in any case. Really, why did it matter what she called him, as long as she kept talking to him. Brad, though…
"Won't work, will it? I mean, lots of my stuff is monogrammed, so I need to keep the same initials," Dudley finally responded.
"Silly me, you're right," Luna said, slapping her head. "I really should have known that since we've both got the same initials."
"But Luna, your initials are L. L. and his are D. D." Ginny pointed out.
Dudley and Luna exchanged puzzled glances. "Yeah, same initials. That's what she said," Dudley replied quickly.
"That's right," Luna agreed. Suddenly, her eyes grew bright and she smiled widely. "I've got it. How about 'Darren'?"
Dudley turned it over in his mind. The name seemed as good as any, and it did start with a D. "Sure, ok," he replied. "If you like. Darren." He turned it over in his head. "I think I like it. Hey, do you want to go for a walk or something, Luna?"
"I would like that very much," Luna said, blushing slightly, "but first we should introduce you to my father. I just know he's going to love you." Dudley shrugged and let her take his arm and draw him into the next room.