Dudley had problems sleeping that evening. He kept thinking about the polecat that he and Vernon had encountered in the back garden. He wondered if it were a common beast, or if it was a previously unknow. He knew it wasn't one mentioned in Fantastic Beasts. He desperately wished he could talk to Harry but knew that was an impossibility. Besides, he'd been such a prat that he didn't blame Harry for not wishing to have anything to do with him. He decided to draw a sketch of the beast. He would show it to Miss Scamander and vowed to show up early to school.
Ivy was surprised when she came to her classroom and Dudley was sitting at his desk fiddling with a piece of paper. He looked quite excited yet quite nervous.
"Miss Scamander, Miss Scamander, I have a question about magical beasts," he said rapidly, his words practically tripping over themselves. He jumped to his feet with his paper grasped in his hand. "Is there a magical breed of polecat?"
She looked at him in confusion. "No, Dudley, I don't believe there is. Why do you ask? What have you found?"
He pulled out the sketch and showed it to her. He had added color to the black and white drawing, indicating purple magic fogging from it. "It turned and sprayed my father, but instead of making a stink, he was confunded. After I got him inside and put to bed, I took my new wand out, got a sample and put it in a glass tube."
"A wand," she said matter of factly, "Where did you manage to get ahold of a wand?" She looked at him shrewdly. There was more than met the eye with this one. She drew back with her arms crossed, eying him shrewdly.
He sighed softly. "It belonged to my Aunt Lily. Seems like my house has it's own resident ghost of a wizard. Have you ever heard of Wigbert Wulfric?"
"I can't say that I have," she admitted slowly, looking over the tube that he had shoved into his hands. The vapor floated lazily in the glass, swirling light pink and dark purple.
"Wigbert was magical consultant to King Harold Godwinson," Dudley explained as he watched her turn the tube over and over in her hands. "He ran away after the king was defeated and went to his home in Surrey. When William marched through Surrey, he caught up with him and killed him. Unfortunately for me, his home was located where our home is. I don't know why he didn't make an appearance when Harry was around."
"Maybe he didn't feel the need. Now, tell me how you found the wand," Ivy said impatiently, looking at Dudley expectantly.
"Oh, yes, of course," Dudley said, putting the heel of his hand to his forehead. "Wigbert told me to open the attic hatch, and he caused a wind to blow. It was hard enough to blow a package from the attic into my bedroom. I told my dad that the wind was from my bedroom window. He came bellowing down the hall at the racket."
"What happened when you held the wand?" Ivy asked as she looked over the wand that he had withdrawn from his backpack. "Willow. Nice wand wood."
"I'm not sure," he said uncertainly. "Red sparks flew from the end, and I felt warm, like I'd just had the best cup of hot cocoa ever."
"That's a great description of the perfect wand pairing that I've ever heard. The wand chooses the wizard. There must be something in you that the wand likes, Mr. Dursley," Ivy told him. "Have you been practicing?"
Dudley looked abashed, and he dragged the toe of his trainer on the floor. "Well, I know there's a decree on underaged magic, but I figured that I could always claim ignorance. I've gone through the entire first spell book and learned all the spells and memorized them. They all worked out for me, but I stopped when I became so tired that I was afraid that I'd set my bedroom on fire or something stupid like that."
She laughed delightedly. "Wise choice. It happens. Believe you me, it happens even to the best of wizards. I think I need to get ahold of gramps." She thought back to Dudley's discovery and mused on it a bit. "I wonder why no one has discovered the magical pole cat before?"
Dudley looked at her as if she had rocks in her head. "Probably because they've all been confunded by their scent glands. By the way, it has an essence of vanilla. I got just enough of a whiff to get a bit dizzy, but not enough to become fully incapacitated."
Dudley's voice was full of wonder. "Do you think I could meet…him? I've read so much about his beasts that I'd really like to meet him." His eyes were full of hope. He loved his parents, he really did, but they were so full of hate, and they had taught him that hate and bullying were a good thing.
Liz eyed him levelly. Most people shriveled under her gaze, but Dudley steeled himself. He was determined to be strong and not become a sniveling mess, no matter what. He was used to teachers trying to bully him with their eyes. "Dudley, what are your goals? What do you want to accomplish with your life?
Ah, yes. There it was. This was the question that teachers always asked, and he usually blew them off, but today, today was different. Circumstances had drastically changed the instant he'd been able to see the slimy disgusting things that had been menacing him and his cousin. How he wished he could see Harry and apologize.
"I want to break the chain of abuse and bullying that is the Dursley legacy. I want to be a much better man than my father. I don't wish to look at people and only see the surface. I don't want to be a wretched bully. I want to soar be at my full potential, whatever that may be," he said vehemently, his voice full of conviction. "I'm tired of the way my parents have trained me up. Jealousy and bitterness are no way to raise a child."
"I'm proud of you, Mr. Dursley," Ivy said with pride evident in her voice. "I will see what I can do about bettering your schooling. This school is a horrible example of muggle favoritism and bullying. How could you expect to get away from it? I suggest you work on your draughts and learn a technical trade. Even the magical world is in need of building specifications to use. Otherwise, the only thing to keep a building together would be magic."
"Well, I am taking a class on CAD and on old school draughting techniques," Dudley admitted, "and it's quite a lot of fun."
"Keep at it," Ivy urged him. "Unleash your talent."
It was quite some time later, after his regular teacher returned, and Miss Scamander was gone, that Dudley became the pride and joy of Smeltings. His designs, although being a bit odd, were lauded for their creativity and ingenuity. Vernon, taking his cue from his alma mater, was practically bursting at the seams with pride at the strides his boy was making in his education. He bragged about him to anyone who would listen and anyone who didn't care. His working peers were getting quite sick of the subject. One day he came to work more puffed up than usual if that were remotely possible.
"My Dudley's received an apprenticeship at a firm!" he crowed upon his arrival at work. "He's going to be working at a firm called Scamander and Scamander! Imagine that! He hasn't even graduated and he has already been recognized for his talent!"
Dudley's parents took such little notice in Harry's schooling that they didn't realize that Dudley was going to be working with a magical business. They were led to believe that it was an architectural firm, but instead it was a business tracking down magical creatures. He was going to be working with one Ivy Scamander and her great-great grandfather Newt. However, Ivy was the one to offer the apprenticeship and had offered it without Newt's knowledge. She just knew she needed to rescue Dudley from the toxic environment he now resided in.
Dudley packed frantically, attempting to stuff everything into his meager suitcase. He was so excited that his hands shook and his wand was shimmying as well, causing the air around it to flutter.
"Will you stop? You're ruffling my robes," Wigbert complained good naturedly as he smoothed down the ghostly, transparent fabric. He'd been watching Dudley's clumsy efforts with mirth but decided to step in. "Let me teach you a spell to stretch the inside of your suitcase. Make a stretching motion with your wand over your case. Now say 'laxamentum absconditus'. The interior will expand but it will be disguised. You can pack as much as you wish."
"Oh, awesome! Thank you, Wigbert. You've been invaluable. I wish you could come with me. I could use a friend," Dudley said softly. He'd never been in a place where he'd been completely alone and was scared.
"I think I just might. I'll ride in your strange trunk," Wigbert said cheerily. "After all, I am a ghost. I won't take up any room at all. Think of me as your own personal ghost and confidante. I'm afraid the spells I've taught you are rather archaic, however. I'm sure that are bound to learn other, more modern spells from other wizards."