Beware of the Fat Muggle In Love

-----------Beware of the fat Muggle in love, final chapter, "Epilogue"----------------------

It seemed as if Aunt Petunia's fears and predjudice against the Wizarding world had been swept away during the year that had passed, because she and Dudley was talking about all the weird things that had happened to him from the moment Seamus had asked him who the hell he was in the Gryffindor common room to when they had their last feast at Hogwarts, on the ride home.

Harry thought it was strange how a person who has changed so much in so little time had such an easy time in settling back into his old role.

Not that Dudley was becoming a complete sod again, oh no!

It was just that he seemed to just have been on a particularly fun rollercoaster and was anxious to tell his mother all about it.

And she listened!

Uncle Vernon, however, wasn't very talkative.

He was quiet all the way home.

Neville was going to stay for a week and would be sharing Dudley's room.

Harry didn't understand why Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia hadn't said anything about them yet, even though Dudley and Neville had kissed when they passed through the wall from platform nine and three quarters and Harry saw that both of Dudley's parents saw they do so.

Maybe they didn't have such a hard time accepting that their only son was gay.

Being a wizard was bad enough, that's at least what Uncle Vernon must be thinking, Harry thought.

The car pulled up on the driveway of 4 Privet Drive and they all made their way inside the little house and Harry, Dudley and Neville went upstairs to unpack their stuff.

Strange, Harry thought, this is the last time I'll ever unpack after being at school.

I may never be going back to Hogwarts, and even if I do, it won't ever be the same as it has been these past seven years.

It truly is the end of and era.

Harry sat on his bed heavily and felt sad.

He felt like having a sympathy cake, but thought he couldn't use magic since they were home from school.

Wait a minute! I've been of age for a whole year! I can conjure anything I want, anytime I want!

He swirled with his wand and a medium-sized chocolate strawberry cake appeared on his bedside table with a fork in it, ready to be eaten.

Dudley and Neville must have smelled it because they came in through the door just as Harry took his first bite.

They conjured each a fork and joined him, much to Harry's disappointment; he wanted to be fat and sad all by himself and now they were ruining it!

But what better way is there to be sad than with friends?

"We shouldn't eat this, dinner will be ready in an hour," said Dudley.

"So what?" said Harry.

"What's wrong, Harry?" asked Neville and ate another forkfull of cake.

"Nothing. It's just that I realised nothing will be the same ever again," Harry sighed.

They heard a pecking on the window; it was Hedwig returning from Sirius!

Harry had sent a letter several months ago when they first heard about that the Aurors knew Wormtail was still alive.

Harry thought that Hedwig had been shot down by Death Eaters or something similar since she hadn't come back.

Harry opened the window and let her in, but he didn't open the letter from Sirius untill after he had hugged and fed Hedwig a great meal.

He sat on the bed and they all read the letter together.

"Hi, Harry. Sorry for not writing sooner, I wasn't sure what to write about what you told me and when I was just about to reply, I was arrested by a group of Aurors. I think you know them; they were the same team that investigated Hogsmeade! When I realised who they were, I was so furious that I disarmed them all and went straight to the Ministry with them and with the Veritaserum, they all came clean about Wormtail and even gave up some information on where Voldemort may be hiding!

That's right, Harry! I'm cleared!

I hope I can come and stay with you sometime in July as there is still things for me to sort out here at the Ministry before I can go.

Give my love to Ron and Hermione and everyone else.

     Sirius.

P.S I have spoken to Albus and he's offered me the position as the Divination teacher at Hogwarts and I have accepted. Not my dreamjob, but after all this time hiding out any job is welcome! I also heard that Flitwick is resigning and that would leave the Charms position open. Just a hint if you still don't know what you want to work with and you miss Hogwarts already."

Harry was breathtaken.

Sirius was cleared and would be working at Hogwarts and Harry was offered the Charms job!

"Don't you need to go to a teaching school first?" asked Dudley.

"No. Everything you teach is what you already have been taught at Hogwarts!" said Neville.

"Are you going to take it, Harry?" Dudley asked.

Harry felt overjoyous.

"Yes. I'll take it. And I'll love every minute of it," Harry answered.

He took out four new parchements and wrote an answer to Sirius, a letter to Dumbledore asking about the job and each a letter for Ron and Hermione, telling them the good news.

He would tell Cho in person when they would meet in Diagon Alley.

Funny how life can seem so unpredictable in one second and so spelled out the second.

At dinner that night, the atmosphere was tense, but still relaxed.

Uncle Vernon still hadn't said anything while his wife was like a completely different person, even if she still was a little rude to Harry, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it had been before.

Harry grew more and more irritated at Uncle Vernon's silence.

Finally he couldn't take it anymore.

"It isn't the end of the world, you know," Harry said.

Uncle Vernon looked at him as if he'd been woken out of a long dream.

"What?" he said.

"Dudley being a wizard, too. It's not the end of the world; he's still your son," Harry said.

Aunt Petunia and Dudley and Neville were listening cautiously.

They all knew how Uncle Vernon could blow his top for the slightest reason and Harry was pushing it way beyond.

"I know," said Uncle Vernon lowly and looked at his plate overflowing with steak and potatoes and gravy.

Harry's eyebrows flew high up on his forehead.

"Why are you so quiet then?" Harry asked.

"Because... I realised how awfully terrible we've treated you for all this time. And now it turns out Dudley is just like you and I can't even imagine treating my son like that," Uncle Vernon's face was a face of many expressions, neither one easy to interpret.

"I hope you can forgive me, Harry. Forgive us all. We never knew," he continued.

Aunt Petunia started crying and Dudley was silent.

Neville felt misplaced at the table.

This was a family thing.

It was quiet for a while.

Then Harry got up and walked over to Uncle Vernon.

And hugged him.

Uncle Vernon cried too.

The following days, the Dursleys started to understand the upsides of having wizards at home.

Dudley cleaned the house with magic and it took less than ten minutes to have the entire house spotless.

Neville got better aquainted with Aunt Petunia and helped her wash up with magic after every breakfast and dinner.

Harry got a lot closer to Uncle Vernon and helped him out in the garden.

Uncle Vernon had started to reshape the entire garden, which was a massive job, but it only took two days with Harry's help.

And when no-one had the stamina to cook dinner, a simple flick of the wrist ordered them chinese food or italian or food from any other part of the world.

Harry told them the truth about Sirius and told them he was coming to visit in July.

They were both a bit nervous, but positive, about the idea.

Harry had gotten word back from both Ron and Hermione congratulating him.

Ron asked if the Dursleys were giving him hell again and whether or not he and Fred and George should break him out.

Harry told him what had happened and Ron's jaw dropped.

But then Mrs Weasley insisted they should all come to eat dinner at the Burrow in the beginning of July.

This scared the Dursleys a bit, remembering the last time the Weasleys had been to visit them, but they agreed.

They all travelled by Floo powder and Aunt Petunia had a bit af trubble and arrived three houses from the Burrow, but Uncle Vernon hit the spot at his first try and was greeted by Arthur and Molly Weasley, and apologised for his behavior the last time, and shook hands with the rest of the Weasley family(Bill and Charlie were working and Percy was away on Ministry buisness)

The day held many surprises for the Dursleys, such as the interior of the Burrow and all the weird things Arthur had been working on, but Aunt Petunia acctually enjoyed de-gnoming the garden together with Harry and Ron once she got used to the ugly appearance of the little creatures.

Hermione arrived, also by Floo, just when the dinner was being served.

She was just about to apologise for the way she acted on Semptember first, but Uncle Vernon beat her to it.

"It all seemed so shady, I'm sorry," he'd said and Hermione just looked at him funny.

The dinner was an awesome one (for starters they had mini minced meat pies, for main course they had a indian stew served with rice, chopped boiled eggs and cucumber and redbeets and chopped bacon. For dessert they had chocolate pudding with bananas and pineapple and whipped cream.)

After dinner, Harry, Ron, Dudley, Neville, Ginny and Hermione showed the Dursleys a simple game of Quidditch.

"There is supposed to be seven players on each team, but since we are only six we're gonna use one Chaser, one Seeker and one Keeper on each team and not use Bludgers," Harry explained to Uncle Vernon.

"What is a Bludger?" he asked.

"That is the ball the Beaters are trying to keep from hitting the other players, often breaking something." Uncle Vernon didn't know what to make of that piece of information, he just knew he didn't want to play.

After Quidditch, Arthur insisted on playing Exploding Snap with Uncle Vernon.

This game was more in his taste and he actually beat Arthur twice!

"I've never seen them so happy and buttoned down, so to say," Harry told Hermione.

"Well, it's safe to say that the wizarding world is definitely growing on them!" she answered.

A scream was heard from inside the broomshed and Ginny backed out from it and covered her eyes.

Dudley and Neville rushed out, cheeks red and clothes unstraightened, and closed the door after them.

Aunt Petunia started saying she was so sorry her son couldn't keep it in his pants for a few hours, but Molly shushed her.

"That is nothing compared to what I saw last week when Hermione was visiting. She and Ron had some equipment that looked like it came straight out of Knockturn Alley! I was shocked!" she said and Aunt Petuina blushed, but not nearly as much as Ron and Hermione.

Sirius had come to 4 Privet Drive on a Monday and Harry went to see Cho on the Thursday of the same week.

Sirius got along with the Dursleys very well and Harry felt safe, leaving for Diagon Alley on Thursday.

Neville and Dudley also went into Diagon Alley so the three travelled together, but parted ways when they reached the cafe where Harry was meeting Cho. And sure enough, she was already waiting for him and waved at them.

Neville and Dudley walked over to the Lord of Ice Cream and sat outside with each an ice cream cone.

"What a strange year it has been," Neville said and licked his strawberry and banana ice cream.

"Twice as strange for me! Learning I'm are a Witchard, going to a school for witchcraft and wizardry, fighting a bastard that can change into a huge monster and completely altering myself," said Dudley.

"Yeah, pretty freaky!" Neville laughed.

"But that wasn't the best part," said Dudley and licked his chocolate icecream.

"Oh, yeah? What was, then?" asked Neville.

Dudley took his hand in his and looked him deep in the eyes.

"It was falling in love with you!" he said.

Neville blushed and kissed him.

"And to think we were worried about what we were going to do with our lives!" Neville said.

"Yeah! I mean, it's obviuos it's going to be excellent from now on and we'll be fine," said Dudley.

They sat in the sun for about twenty minutes longer, but it seemed to them as if that moment was going to continue forever.

And it did, as all of your memories that you like live on forever inside you.

Espescially the moments with the one you love.

------------------------THE END-----------------------------