Hi again everyone! I'm really sorry that I haven't updated in a while! I've been a bit busy lately...

Thanks so much to all my reviewers, favouriters, followers. and readers! It means a lot to me that you guys took the time to read my story :)

I hope you enjoy!

After what felt like an eternity, Dudley and Neville emerged from the tunnel. What was on the other side, Dudley certainly did not expect. He turned around to find a gigantic room filled with hammocks and poles. There was what looked like hundreds of people, all stopping what they were doing to get a glimpse of the new-comer. The room was silent, which made Dudley feel a bit uncomfortable.

"Everyone" Neville spoke loudly. "This is Dudley Dursley, Harry's cousin." There was a sudden outbreak of murmurs, which made Dudley wonder how much Harry had told people about his previous life. "Now, before everyone decides to shun Dudley, I would just like to say that every bad thing you have heard about Dudley Dursley was technically a lie." Neville motioned to Dudley for him to tell his story.

Dudley stepped forward, took a deep breath and began speaking. As he spoke, the students seemed to hang onto his every word. To his surprise, when he had finished, everyone began to clap. Neville smiled and signalled for Dudley to follow him. Everyone they walked past seemed to either nod in approval or give him a pat on the back. Dudley definitely wasn't used to feeling so heroic and appreciated.

"Here we are" Neville said as they came to a stop. "This is the hammock the room has chosen for you."

"What do you mean?" Dudley asked.

"This is the room of requirement. It can change into anything that you most desire. A hiding place, a cupboard, bathroom... you name it. As long as at least one person is in here, it can't be broken into. It keeps expanding to fit our needs, that's how we have so many hammocks."

"Harry said that you had dorms." Dudley said. "Why is everyone in here?"

"The death eaters have taken over the Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff house dormitories, so we've taken refuge in here. The death eaters like the Slytherin house though, that's where most of their type came from. So they get to keep their dungeon."

Dudley nodded as he put his bags down below his hammock. "So when does school start?"

"Beginning of September. A new law has been passed that says everyone who is a wizard must be at Hogwarts before the end of this month. Anyone found elsewhere will face serious charges."

"That's terrible" Dudley frowned.

"Yeah, the death eaters don't have much sympathy. I heard that they're planning on wiping out the whole muggleborn population." Neville sighed.

"What's a muggleborn?"

"Muggles are non-wizards. So muggleborns are when your parents are muggles, but you're a wizard."

"Oh" Dudley said, sitting down on his bed. "Are we allowed out of here at any time?"

"Yes, but I don't think you'll want to." Neville looked grave, like he was remembering something terrible. "Well, I'd better leave you to it. If you need anything, just come to the centre, it's where we all meet every week for a meeting." Dudley nodded. "Oh, and the bathrooms are at the sides of the room, just keep walking that way until you see a door" Neville pointed behind them.

"Ok" Dudley smiled. "Thanks Neville."

"No problem" Neville smiled back before turning and walking away.

Dudley took the time to examine his surroundings properly. He looked up to find plenty of hammocks about three stories above the ground. Dudley was glad that he had one only half a meter off the ground. The room was quite quiet considering there were hundreds of students present. He began to wonder what house he would have been in if he attended the school when he was eleven. Dudley snapped out of his daze and was about to turn back to his suitcase when he suddenly froze, his eyes fixated on a student.

She was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. She had long, shiny black hair and the prettiest brown eyes. She was sitting a few hammocks down in the row opposite him with her friends, who were all chatting away to each other. They didn't seem to be that happy though. Dudley could see the fear and sadness in their eyes, even if their faces denied it.

Suddenly, the girl turned around in Dudley's direction, her hair flowing around her shoulders, as if it was moving in slow motion. She locked eyes with Dudley and smiled at him. Dudley wished that moment could have lasted forever. But unfortunately, he was brought back down to reality as she turned back to her friends and continued to talk.

Much to Dudley's surprise, she stood up and began walking over to him. Dudley could feel his heart pounding as she approached him.

"Hello" she said smiling. "My name is Cho, Cho Chang."

"I'm Dudley, Dudley Dursley." Dudley replied as confidently as he could, shaking her hand.

"I know" she said giggling, her eyes twinkling like stars. "I heard you telling your story. You're really brave to take on such a dangerous task like this, especially under these circumstances."

"Thank you" Dudley replied. "But it isn't really that special. Nothing compared to what Harry is doing."

Cho giggled again. "You have his modesty. He never liked to admit that he was one of the bravest wizards of all time. Cedric was like that too..." Cho saw the curious look on Dudley's face and explained.

"Cedric was in a wizard's tournament called the tri-wizard tournament" she began. "On the last task, he and Harry both touched the cup, that would make them win, at the same time. It turned out that someone had turned the cup into a teleporting object called a portkey, so they teleported to a graveyard. As soon as they got there, the dark lord who is the leader of all of this ordered his assistant to fire a killing curse. It hit Cedric and Harry survived."

A tear fell from Cho's gleaming eyes.

"Did you know Harry and Cedric well?"

Cho paused for a moment. "I guess you could say that. Harry was the one who told me how it happened..."

Dudley could instantly tell that he had said the wrong thing. "I'm sorry." he said, trying to sound as sympathetic as he could.

"No, it's fine." Cho sighed. "I just don't like to talk about it." Cho looked down at her unusual-looking watch. "It's getting late, I think I'm going to head off to bed."

"Yeah" Dudley replied. "Me too."

"Nice meeting you Dudley." Cho turned and walked off. Dudley wanted to reply with something clever, but his mind felt too numb to do anything. He jumped up onto his hammock and closed his eyes, smiling to himself and he drifted off to sleep.

Thanks for reading! I'll try update soon :)