Dudley Joins the Wizarding World

"What's this, then?" Vernon Dursley, comfortable in a chair that Doge fellow had caused to appear out of thin air, was looking a bit annoyed as his son entered the room, followed by a pretty brown-haired girl holding an owl.

"Just a letter," Dudley replied after a moment, returning his father's odd look. He continued walking toward the front door, whilst trying to tie the letter to the owl's leg. It pecked him, but he ignored it.

In the front hallway, the girl opened the door, and let the owl go. "Thanks," Dudley said awkwardly. Rena Jones smiled back at him and nodded. She was quieter than her mother, Hestia, and a little meek. Being an Auror's daughter had taught her to keep herself out of the spotlight, especially in these dangerous times.

Hestia Jones had insisted that her daughter come into hiding with them. The current atmosphere of the wizarding world meant that if they discovered Hestia to have been an Order member, Rena's safety would be in question. So the girl had come.

"If he's at Hogwarts, it'll be a few days," Rena replied, as they walked back past the sitting room in which Vernon Dursley was trying to relax. They heard him make a sputtering noise as she spoke. It seemed he STILL couldn't stand to hear the name of Harry's school.

Dudley walked her back upstairs, and they both sat down in a room that looked like a library. In any normal house, he knew this is where the computer ought to be. But this was not any normal house. This was a magical house, where the dishes cleaned themselves, and the books could talk to you and tell you really awful things, if you chose the wrong one.

Dudley had never been fond of books, but there wasn't much else to do here. He'd had his dumbbells, of course, and he'd done that all the time for the first few months. Then he'd managed to pull a muscle badly. He hadn't told anyone. His mother had warned him that someone would certainly point a wand at him if he injured himself, so he'd kept it a secret. But it definitely meant no more lifting.

He'd met Rena in the library. Apparently it attached directly to her room, because at first he'd never seen her anywhere else. She wore jeans and a tee-shirt that said something about brooms that wouldn't have made any sense to him, if he hadn't seen Harry's Firebolt through his open door once or twice. He was slow, maybe, but he got the gist of what the broom was for.

He'd liked her. He hadn't meant to. She had a wand thrust into the bun in her hair at the back of her head, and she was looking at a book of moving pictures. But he was bored to tears, and talked to her anyway. And he'd liked her. A lot.

He shook his head slightly to put the memories aside, and scooted closer to her on the couch. "We've got to tell them," he began hesitantly.

Rena looked at him with a sympathetic gaze. "I've already told mum," she replied. "She's thrilled, she is. Says it's about time I settled down. I reckon she doesn't want me to be an Auror, and she figures this will cinch it."

Dudley nodded. He knew, now, what an Auror was. The term didn't even sound foreign to his ears anymore. He was about to say something that he'd been meaning to say for months, but she cut across him, and he stopped to listen.

"It's going to be alright, you know. Thanks to your cousin, the world will be safe for us." She paused. "And for the baby," she continued hurriedly, "in a way it never would have been before."

Dudley smiled at this. She was always still a bit concerned that he might turn out just like his father, and act like there was something freakish about her, or the child. He didn't think he would.

"As soon as we get the okay from Harry to leave, I want to go out and buy you the biggest diamond I can find," he said quietly, looking at his hands in his lap. "If I do," he added, glancing up, "will you wear it?"

A smile broke over her face, and he was a little shocked when she launched herself into his arms. He caught her and pulled her up, but she let go of him at once and, twirling in a circle, whipped her wand out of her bun to shoot off blue and silver sparks. Her long hair fell around her face, and for the first time in his life, Dudley grinned indulgently at the impromptu display of magic.

He turned a moment later, though, when he heard someone laughing in the doorway. Hestia Jones stood there, smiling happily at her daughter's obvious excitement. "You'll want to watch yourself with those sparks, Rena. The Muggles won't be pleased if they see you." It took Dudley a moment to remember that 'the Muggles' were his parents. They didn't usually refer to them that way when he was present.

"Mother!" Rena scolded, coming to a stop and looking rather dizzy, but still happy. She glanced at Dudley as he took her hand. He seemed to know that it was his turn to say something, and struggled to find the words.

Finally he mumbled, "I've asked her to marry me," then looked up at the woman and added, "with your permission, I hope." Neither woman had ever spoken of a husband or father in the family, so he supposed he'd better ask Rena's mother's permission, if he was going to ask anyone at all.

"Of course you have my permission, young man. I couldn't be happier for the two of you. Or should I say three?" Then she turned to her daughter, clearly excluding Dudley from the conversation. "I've made you an appointment at St. Mungos to see how the child is fairing, two weeks from now, to give things a chance to calm down. Though, I daresay with Kingsley as minister, things will shape up in no time."

Dudley remembered that Kingsley was the one his father had wanted to have as a protector. He HAD seemed to inspire confidence, somehow. Dudley was glad he was in charge now. "Can I go with her? To check on the baby, I mean?"

Both women looked surprised at this request. Dudley tried to smile winningly, though he was afraid he'd only managed to look upset at the prospect of being left behind. "Of course you can!" Rena said at once. "I'd love that." They smiled at each other properly, then.

"He can what?" Petunia Dursley asked from the door of the room. She had come out of her room rarely in the last few months, so they were all surprised to see her standing just behind Hestia.

The girls stood, dumbstruck. But Dudley had a fair idea how to charm his mother. He'd been doing it for years, after all.

"Mum! I'm so glad to see you. I have to tell you something important. Come and sit down." He strode forward and took her bony hand in his, pulling her into the room and toward the couch. At the last minute, he swung her into the chair opposite, and sat on the couch himself. Petunia glanced around at the books nervously. She'd been the first to discover a talking book.

"Mum, Rena and I are going to be married. You're going to be a grandma by this time next year." He was sitting forward on the couch, holding both her hands in his, and braced for the coming shriek of Oh Ickle Dudlikinns!

But it never came. Instead, his mother sat back in her chair, pulling her hands from his with a movement that was part shock and part revulsion. She stood abruptly after an uncomfortable moment of silence.

"Are you telling me that you've taken up with - with - their lot? she asked loudly, gesturing towards Hestia and Rena, who had their arms around each other, the smiles dying in their eyes. Then, "VERNON! VERNON, GET UP HERE RIGHT NOW!"

Dudley was at a loss. His mother had never disapproved of anything he'd ever done. Not once. Why now, suddenly, was she so upset? But he already knew the answer, and by the time his father arrived in the room, looking a bit red in the face at finding them all up here together, he knew what he was going to say.

He began before his mother had a chance to speak. "Dad, Rena and I are getting married. You will give your approval and hold your tongue, or this will be the last you and I ever speak." He'd stood as he said it, and was surprised to notice, for the first time that he was taller than his father.

Vernon Dursley looked to his wife. She was crying silently, but did not contradict her son. Dudley continued. "Also, you are going to be a grandfather."

At this, Vernon's head swung back around to look at his son. "And you aren't going to insult my wife, or be rude to my child the way you were to - to Harry, all those years. I won't have it." Dudley swallowed audibly as his father continued to look on in silence.

Vernon's face, which had been turning purple throughout the exchange, became quite suddenly pale at the mention of Harry. He disliked the boy, but it was clear that Dudley had come to some kind of understanding, not just with Harry, but with Harry's world as well. "Well, Dudders, if that's how you feel, then that's how it will be," he said, his voice a bit weak. Petunia looked up at him in shock. For that matter, Dudley looked shocked as well.

Vernon turned to Rena, who was only just beginning to smile. He avoided Hestia's gaze, under the impression that she would be less than pleased with him for his son's indiscretion with her daughter. "Congratulations to you both," he said, looking between Rena and his son. "Come along, Petunia."

His wife left the room with him without question and Dudley breathed a sigh of relief, watching them go. That had been both more difficult, and more simple than he'd expected. He'd thought his mother would be thrilled at the thought of the baby, and his father livid, but it had seemed quite the opposite.

Hestia hugged her daughter, and left the room as well. Rena and Dudley smiled at one another, almost shyly, and sat down together again on the couch, her head resting on his shoulder. After a moment, Dudley snickered. "What is it?" Rena asked, taking his hand, and raising her head to look at him.

"I can't wait to ask Harry to be the Godfather," he said with a straight face. Then they both broke into snorts of laughter, and held one another tightly. But as he squeezed her, gently, to be sure not to squish her, he closed his eyes and thought to himself that in his very next owl to Harry, he would ask. He suspected Harry would make a very good Godfather.