And here is the important Chapter! The one that explains some my Lloyd's behaviour and clears up some in canon problems. Please enjoy :)

Warnings: Deals with Child Abuse and Trauma. May trigger those sensitive to that.

Disclaimer: I own neither Harry Potter nor Tales of Symphonia.

Lloyden and Dudley have a complicated relationship.

When they were five, after Lloyd had arrived at the Dursleys, Dudley hadn't understood why his parents hated this boy he was told was his cousin so much. Only that he wasn't the only child in the house anymore. He was jealous, and did anything he could to not lose their attention.

But he noticed his cousin wasn't like the other kids. He was quiet, didn't talk much, and seemed almost like a ghost. He didn't pay any attention to Dudley. Dudley, so used to being the centre of everyone's attention, didn't like that. So he did everything he could to make Lloyd see and pay attention to him the only way he knew how, he teased and hit and was mean, but had his moments of childish kindness too. Dudley sees his parents with Lloyd and while he knows how they act is wrong is in some way; he is too young to know what to do about it or understand. Dudley knows he has to protect his small cousin (doesn't know why, but loves him in his own boyish way, the only one in that house that does) so he keeps all the attention on him as often as he can. Lloyd is left alone and Dudley gets to keep being the apple of his parents' eyes. It's win-win.

(See, the thing is, Dudley doesn't hate his cousin. But he knows his parents do.)

Lloyd remembers being five and terrified of bedrooms, open spaces, and green light and never knowing why. His Aunt and Uncle tell him his parents died in a car crash. Lloyd thinks they're wrong, and the one time he says this he is backhanded across the face and sent to bed without supper. This pattern will define most of his remaining childhood. It is Dudley who shows him the cupboard, one night when he is so scared he can't even move. Dudley who sneaks him downstairs and who stays the night in the cupboard, listening to stories no one has ever heard before. Dudley who lets him cry and never uses the death of his mother and James against him. He sleeps that night through. He starts to heal.

(Dudley is the only one Lloyd ever tells about his Father, about James and Lilyanna's Masquerade.)

They do this for a week until his Aunt finds out. There is screaming and "You ungrateful freak, you can just stay there forever' and what was a sanctuary becomes a punishment.

(Dudley still sneaks in some nights, brings food and sweets, tells stories and Lloyd is a little less lonely.)

Once someone explained to Dudley that Lloyd's parents were dead and never coming back. It took him until he was much older to understand, eight years old or so. Dudley imagined his parents never coming home too. It scared him so much, until he remembered he'd still have Lloyd. It was a comforting thought. He resolved to make sure Lloyd never forgot him.

(Lloyd doesn't hate Dudley either. He understands the necessity of lies and secrecy far too well for such a young child.)

When they are eleven and about to be separated for the first time since they were five, Dudley is worried. Lloyd is constant, Lloyd is leaving and this means change. He knows better to ask his parents if Lloyd can come to Smeltings with him, but still he wishes.

(Dudley scared so many children, beat them up because they made fun of his cousin, whispered behind his back and he knows how much crowds of people scare Lloyd. Who is going to protect him at Stonewall?)

When the Hogwarts letters come, Lloyd is confused and scared. He doesn't know why. Then they go on the road trip and Dudley complains (protects his cousin by keeping all attention on him and Lloyd will never say how thankful he is.) and then comes the night of Lloyd's eleventh birthday and everything changes.

(Lloyden Aurion is a wizard. This is not as surprising as it should be to either of them.)

Dudley sees his cousin come home every summer with eyes a little deader than the previous September. He complains about the second bedroom because he remembers Lloyd's fear and he understands his parents' fear of magic because from the little he's seen it can be used in bad and harmful ways. But he doesn't understand his parents fear of Lloyd because don't they understand that inside, Lloyd really wouldn't use his power to hurt people (them) unless they threatened him? He doesn't like Hogwarts because he sees what it does to his cousin, changes him almost beyond recognition. And he doesn't like those redheads, doesn't trust them with his cousin's well being, because he's pretty sure they don't understand Lloyden at all.

(He is jealous too, for all that he is correct. But he also knows that he is the only one Lloyden has told his secrets and he will never break that confidence.)

Dudley is one of the few constants in Lloyden's life and he is grateful. They may not actually like each other very much but he is better than his Aunt and Uncle. They are his relatives but they will never be his family. Dudley listens to his stories, his stars, learns bits of his language and they come up with a code. They sneak into library story times and find tales about magic and heroes and revel in their rebellion against the Dursley's normalcy. So when Lloyden explains his hero status in the Wizarding World and all his adventures during the late night conferences that they never outgrew, the only time to discuss magical things is when his guardians sleep, Dudley has no problem believing him (Dudley always believes him). He's always known his cousin is a hero; always known he's been destined for greater things than him. Loves Lloyd all the better because he knows Lloyd doesn't want any of that and remembers reading Lord of the Rings with him and taking Gandalf's advice to heart.

(Their boyish love is the only thing that sustains the blood wards on Number 4 for that decade. It is not much, but the love of children is a pure soft thing, but even with all the bad it is enough.)

When Dudley is fourteen, his mother and father pack up the house in a flurry and suddenly he is on a plane to Australia, and Britain and Lloyden are shrinking smaller and smaller in the distance. He nags his mother, yells at his father but they never explain why they left and if Dudley wasn't so sure Lloyden would be okay he would have found a way back to Britain and looked for him. His parents are more afraid of magic than ever but Dudley isn't five anymore and Lloyden explained many nights ago about his parents murderer and his not being dead and the protection Number 4 Privet Drive affords him. Dudley knows that monster must have returned and that's why they've run halfway around the world and left Lloyd to face this on his own. He goes to school, he adjusts, he learns to change his attitude and become a better person because he never wants to be like his parents. But he doesn't tell anyone about Lloyd.

(Deep down he always knew this separation was coming, Heroes don't take their families on adventures and Dudley has never been a warrior.)

When the Journey of Regeneration has come and gone, when the Second Rising of Voldemort has ended, when Ratatosk has been pacified, Lloyden finally seeks out his cousin. He finds him on a beach in Australia and how different they both are now. But Dudley still listens, gasps in all the right places, and they both understand that the things the adults in their lives have done are wrong. It is Dudley who finally gets Lloyd to understand that Kratos needs to be told the whole story, that parents love you regardless and for God's sake Lloyden the man nearly died for you, so you could fix the world, and if he's as old as he claims there's probably not a lot that can faze him.

(Dudley is wrong and right. Kratos has never encountered magic like his son has but loves him anyways and always, always will.)

As children, Lloyden Aurion and Dudley Dursley had a complicated relationship, as adults it remains complicated but less secretive and more open. Neither of them will ever be able to explain it to their friends, Lloyd doesn't bother mostly and Dudley gave up trying a long time ago, except to his counsellor. But one thing is certain, that strange childlike love enabled Lloyd to survive, kept him sane and in the end that was all that mattered.

(It wasn't much, but it was enough.)

Fin.