Here's the next chapter! It's twice as long as all the other ones, so I hope it's just as interesting :)

Please let me know if you think that the story is moving to fast, slow or if it's just right.

Enjoy!

Dudley woke up the next morning to a variety of delicious smells. He closed his eyes again hoping to get a few more minutes sleep, but his stomach protested. Sighing, he slowly got out of bed and began walking towards the centre the Neville had told him about last night. He assumed that would be where they ate.

"Hey, Dudley" a familiar voice said. Dudley turned around to find that Neville had just run up next to him. "Hungry?" Neville asked.

"Starving" Dudley replied as his stomach let out a huge growl.

"Good" Neville laughed, "because we always have more than enough food."

"How do you get food if you never leave this room?" Dudley questioned.

"The house elves bring it up to us."

"House elves..."

"They're elves that enjoy working for wizards. Hogwarts have house elves working in the kitchens. They are the only beings that can teleport within the castle, which allows them to bring us food."

Wow, Dudley thought. It would take him a while to get used to all of this. Magic rooms, elves, teleporting, evil wizards... it was almost too much for Dudley to have to take in. Dudley's train of thoughts came to a sudden stop as they reached the centre of the room.

"Whoa" he gasped. It looked magnificent, a huge change from the rotten wood and dirty floors they had been walking amongst just before. It was almost as if it were a different room altogether.

The floors were made of shiny wooden planks that looked like they had just been polished and swept. There were two long wooden tables covered by a clean white table cloth and dressed with little candles and flowers. Above it hung a big, beautiful silver and white chandelier which appeared to just be floating in mid air. Students were already digging into the amazing breakfast; some of them were still in their pyjamas, while others were dressed in clothing of their own choice.

"Does this school have a uniform?" Dudley asked Neville as they walked around, trying to find a spare seat.

"Yes, but we only wear it when we're not in this room" Neville replied.

"Have you been out this month?"

"Yeah" Neville grimaced, "a few times. They called an assembly in the great hall not too long ago, which was awful. They called on muggleborns and humiliated them in front of everyone."

Dudley felt his fists clenching. He couldn't believe how stupid those death eaters were.

"And I snuck out at night once" Neville continued. "I tried to go and steal some documents from our headmaster, called Professor Snape's office."

"What kind of documents were you trying to take?" Dudley asked as they sat down and began filling up their plates.

"Student records. Apparently the death eaters can locate any student under 17 with the trace now, and they put their location on the student records. I wanted to find out where my friend Luna was, since she wrote to me and told me she'd be here a few weeks ago. She hasn't arrived yet. I think she mentioned something about a wedding and going into hiding, but I wasn't really sure."

"Did you manage to get the records?" Dudley asked, eager to find out what happened next.

"No" Neville said, his expression turning grave. "They found me."

"They?"

"Alecto and Amycus Carrow, they're brother and sister. They've pretty much become the school's torture duo, since they love to punish us."

Dudley silently prayed that he would never meet them in his time at Hogwarts.

"They caught me just outside Snape's office. I tried to fend them off, but they were stronger. They punched me to get me to stop fighting them off, and then-" Neville's voice began to crack. "They performed the cruciatus curse on me for ten seconds."

Dudley didn't want to push it and ask what the curse did, but Neville continued;

"The cruciatus curse is a forbidden curse. It tortures the victim, gives them unbelievable pain. My parents suffered that same curse when I was little, it drove them to insanity. Now they barely remember who I am." Neville finished as a single tear fell from his face.

"I'm so sorry" Dudley said. He couldn't imagine how painful that would be. To lose your friend, almost your parents... it sounded just like Harry. Dudley realised just how much he would have to go through to help Harry, but he kept telling himself it would be worth it.

They ate in silence for the next ten minutes, before Dudley saw someone come and sit next to him.

"Hello Dudley." It was Cho, who was now serving herself some toast and bacon.

"Hi Cho" Dudley said, his face suddenly become brighter.

"How are you?" She asked, before taking a large mouthful of food.

"Fine, thanks" Dudley replied sounding rushed. "How are you this morning?"

"I'm alright" she sighed. Dudley knew that she wasn't alright, but what was he supposed to say?

"Um, uh, I-", he began to stutter. Cho looked up at him, as if she was expecting him to say something. Dudley looked to Neville, who was grinning in amusement as Dudley struggled to find words. "Are you sure you're ok?" He managed, giving her a big smile. She laughed.

"Yeah, I'm sure" she replied. As Dudley closed his mouth he realised that he had bacon in his teeth. Very classy Dudley, he thought to himself.

"So, what house do you live in?" He said rather quickly, before realising that he had worded that completely wrong. "Uh, I meant what house are you in. Because, that would be weird if I..."

"I'm in Ravenclaw" she said, giggling again. Dudley turned back around to face Neville, whose face had gone red in an attempt not to burst out laughing. Cho looked down the table and stood up with her plate. "I'm really sorry Dudley, I would love to stay and talk, but I promised my friend I'd sit with her today. She's just received the news that her mother has fallen ill."

"No, that's fine." Dudley said casually. It was probably the only thing that he had said to her today that didn't make him sound terrified.

"Bye" Cho said, waving to him before walking off.

"Wow" Neville smirked. Dudley turned around and gave him a joking glare.

"What?" He said, returning to his food like nothing ever happened.

"Cho Chang, huh? I should warn you that she lost one of her boyfriends a few years ago. She doesn't seem to be over it yet."

"Really? Wait, was that-"

"Cedric Diggory. Died in the-"

"Tri-wizard tournament" Dudley finished. Neville nodded sadly.

"Yeah" he answered.

Dudley felt that he now knew too much. If Cho didn't tell him then she probably didn't want him to know. He planned to keep it a secret that he did find out.

"Well" Neville began, standing up. "I'm going off to shower, then I wondered if you wanted to go see Aberforth and your parents?"

Neville stood up immediately. "Yeah!" He said enthusiastically. He was missing his parents already.

"Ok" Neville replied. "There are heaps of clocks scattered around the place, so you should be able to find one from where you sleep. Want to meet me here in about an hour? It's only seven in the morning, and Aberforth likes to sleep in."

Dudley nodded in agreement and walked off.

When he got to his bed he realised that he had slept in his clothes from the day before, and they smelt bad, which brought him to wonder if they had any washing machines... He planned to ask Neville all his questions at lunch, because right then, all he felt like doing was taking a nice, warm, relaxing shower.

When Dudley got back to the centre, he found that the tables were gone, and what filled the space instead were lots of comfy couches, chairs, a few small tables and a big fireplace.

"Ready?" Neville asked.

"Yes" Dudley replied, eager to see his parents again. He wasn't used to being away from them for so long, as they never let their 'little duddykins' go off on his own for more than three hours when he wasn't at school. They walked all the way to the edge of the room to find another empty portrait.

"Ariana?" Neville called out. He and Dudley waited for the girl who was in the painting in Aberforth's house to make her way over to the portrait that they were staring at. Ariana smiled at the pair and the portrait swung open, revealing the long, narrow tunnel that they had just walked down the day before.

The walk down the tunnel didn't seem as long as the other one, but that was probably because Dudley now had a lot on his mind. When they finally reached the end, the portrait blocking their way swung open and they jumped down into Aberforth's living room.

"Dudders!" Dudley's mother exclaimed, getting up off one of the chairs in the living room and pulling Dudley into a tight embrace.

"Hi mum" he replied, his voice muffled. When his mother let go, he turned to give his father a hug, which was a lot less suffocating, even if his father was about four times his mother's size.

He and Neville took a seat by Aberforth, who was on his old rocking chair drinking tea. "Nice to see you again Neville" his old voice grumbled out. He cleared his throat, put down his tea and waited for somebody else to continue the conversation.

"So" Neville began. "Have you got any news on Harry and the Weasleys?"

"Yes" Aberforth replied. "They are safely at the Burrow. However, I sense that their safety had a great cost."

"You mean-" Neville began, before being interrupted by Aberforth.

"I am not entirely sure, but the sorrow in their faces led me to guess that somebody was lost that night."

There was silence in the room.

"In three days", he continued, "Harry Potter will turn seventeen, and the protection his parents gave him will be broken. He will be more vulnerable than ever. Once the dark lord realises that Harry is missing, he may target the people he was close to."

Dudley spoke up, "you don't think..."

"Yes" Aberforth answered. "You may be a target. That is why I think it would have been wiser for you and your family to go into hiding instead of exposing yourself to the wizarding world."

"But my family will be safe, won't they?" Dudley asked.

"Oh yes, they will be safe with me, as long as they are not found out. As for you... As long as you're at Hogwarts, they know where to find you."

"But we're hidden in the room of requirement, aren't we?"

"Not for long. Soon school will start and you'll be moving around the castle."

"I won't give into them" Dudley said. He surprised himself with how confident he sounded. To tell the truth, he did have his doubts. After all, the greatest wizards of all time had fallen because of the dark lord, hadn't they? What chance did a seventeen year old boy with very little experience have against one of the most powerful wizards alive? But then again, Harry was planning to set off and make the dark lord weaker, wasn't he? Dudley shook those thoughts out of his head and went back to concentrating on the present.

"So Aberforth?" Dudley began. "How did you know what Harry was up to?"

"With that" Aberforth said, pointing to a small mirror next to the portrait of Ariana. "Go and take a look" he said. Dudley did as he was told and got up to go and have a look. He stared at the mirror, seeing nothing but himself, but slowly a new image started to form in the glass...

Dudley let out a yelp and jumped back. He could have sworn that he saw a moving nose in it. He looked back into the mirror and saw an eye, which widened as Dudley got closer. The image began to spin around, like he was falling. When it came to a stop, he saw a book titled 'how to keep your broomstick in top condition'.

"How... But..."Dudley was lost for words. He was confused and amazed at the small shard of glass.

"It's a two way mirror" Aberforth explained. "I have one piece and Harry has the other. I don't think he has yet realised that what he keeps seeing is us, but I'd like to keep it that way for a while. I use it to keep an eye on him, in case anything happens and they are in need of assistance."

Dudley nodded slowly and sat back down into the old and tattered armchair. Dudley quickly guessed that what was to come would be even more mind blowing than what he had just seen in the past two days...

Remember, please let me know if this story is moving too fast, too slow or just right :)

Thanks for reading! I hope to get the next chapter up in the next few days :)

Feel free to review if you want to! All comments are appreciated :)