The Adventure of Dudley Dursley

Note: the author of this piece of fanfiction is writing this purely for entertainment purposes, and will not be making any money off the venture. Unless otherwise noted, all characters are the property of JKR.

The Adventure of Dudley Dursley

Chapter 1: The Beginning

With Voldemort's fall and death at his cousin's hands, Dudley Dursley was amazed that he somehow knew. That's not to say that he knew immediately, but he was able to notice a change in his surroundings. There was less of a feeling of gloom and doom surrounding him and his family.

There had seemed to be a change in the atmosphere, with less misery in the air. Dudley suspected that the horrible Dementors which he had tangled with once before had departed, but he was unaware of the reason. He couldn't know that the Dementors which had been searching for the Dursley family had been recalled to Hogwarts for one last push before their master died and with him their main source of strength. That being said, he was on edge because of other reasons which, of course, were too complex to think about. In any event, Dudley had never thought that he'd be waiting nervously to find out what had happened, now linked to the world that he'd pretended to despise for so long.

Leading up to this moment, Dudley had continued to notice small things that were changing in his house. Whispered bits of conversation between the two guards of his family, Hestia Jones and the excitable Dedalus Diggle after they received an owl had seemed to suggest better things ahead. Hestia seemed to be suspicious of whatever the letter had contained, stating that they needed to verify the information before they came out of hiding. Diggle, his top hat falling off, seemed eager to be rid of Dudley's father, but eventually acquiesced under Hestia's stern look. The pair waved Dudley over, to look at the letter, and as his paced towards them, Dudley took stock of the time he'd spent in hiding.

On the fateful night of July 27th, Dudley and his family had been hustled out of their home and into a waiting car, where they took a fateful right hand turn off the street that was the only real home Dudley had ever known and into a yearlong trek for their safety. Because they were trying to avoid detection, the Order of the Phoenix had decided to take the Dursleys to a hidden location.

Initially, the idea had been to leave Europe entirely, but this was decided to be impossible as magical methods of transport were being monitored and they didn't want to be tracked. Because there was a possibility that the Death Eaters might check familial lines, any relatives or vacation spots that had been visited by the family were also not possible.

It was therefore decided by Hestia and Dedalus to take their charges to a protected house they were able to purchase in the village of Goodmanham in East Riding of Yorkshire, England. Prior to picking up the Dursleys, Order members had Apparated to the house to set it up for the family, laying down protection charms, and arranging the house for the family stay of an unknown length. The decision had also been made to travel in a thoroughly Muggle fashion, as they did not want to be traced. Therefore, the car had traveled around a corner, at which point Hestia had cast a disillusionment charm on the car, and driven to a used car lot.

The Dursleys were watched carefully by Dedalus while Hestia confounded the car salesman, at which point they sold their car, and purchased a different make and model (in this case a Mercedes, as Remus Lupin had shared with the order how status focused his best-friend's in-laws really were). This car was sold to an assumed name, at which point the drive was continued to their new home. It was a nice house in a very small, yet picturesque village which contained a beautiful stream and a nice bit of forest.

As they arrived, the two order members told the Dursleys what their cover story was going to be. The plan was to have the family live in their house, which was to be protected with a Fidelius charm, as well as many others. The Dursleys would live in the village, with the family living near their new business. Given Vernon's career selling drills, the best the Order had been able to do was purchase the local hardware shop in the village.

The story was to be that the two Order members were husband and wife, and were the new owners of the hardware store. They had hired Vernon to run the shop, and he had brought his family. Dudley had been able to see that his father wasn't too thrilled about this, but was keeping quiet. He did seem to be excited as they entered the village to see that his car was obviously the most expensive, and therefore that he would be respected in this place, despite its small size.

Dudley, being 17 years old, had obviously not yet graduated, and needed to continue schoolwork. Because of the fact that someone might still be looking for him and his family, he couldn't return to Smeltings, and instead was going to enter the local school system. To be honest, he'd felt relieved when he heard this. Smeltings hadn't been as fun as previous years after he'd had his experience with the Dementors during that fateful summer.

Dudley had never told anyone this, but he had seen horrible things when he had been surrounded by those Dementors. He had remembered his parents fighting, he had seen himself trying to work up the courage to ask out a girl that he liked and failing, visions of rejection, and worst of all, he had somehow seen all of the horrible things that he had done to Harry, from an outside perspective, and realized what a horrible path he had been on. He was ashamed, and that was a new experience for Dudley. When he'd returned to Smeltings, Dudley had applied himself like never before. Instead of focusing on beating up younger students or working on his boxing, Dudley had hit the books for a change.

The progress, although maybe not remarkable for someone else, was quite astounding for Dudley. He soon realized that he wasn't unintelligent, merely someone who needed to apply himself, and he soon saw himself taking advantage of the good teachers at Smeltings to improve his grades. That being said, he still had to walk a difficult line, given that he'd alienated all of the smart people at the school, while all of those whom he had called his friends still sought him out to join in with bullying and violence. He'd found it very difficult not to return to his old habits because he'd gotten an easy rush from feeling powerful, but every time he considered it, his mind would flashback to what he'd seen before Harry saved him, of the look on Harry's face as Dudley had chased him, and he'd been disgusted with himself.

Because Dudley had been so spoiled, he'd never spared a thought for the feelings and desires of others, and now he realized that he had been on a track that he didn't like at all. Because he'd worked hard the previous year to get on the right track, he knew that he could keep up in his new school. He also realized that in moving to a new place, one out of his comfort zone and away from his so-called friends, he could start over. He could be a different person, and take his future into his own hands. Dudley seemed to take all this in quite suddenly, and brightened with the prospects before him.

As they had arrived at night, Dedalus had simply waved his wand and all of the possessions that the Dursleys had packed went speeding into the house, and arranged themselves neatly. The house in and of itself looked smaller then their previous home, but inside seemed much larger. Dudley guessed that magic must have something to do with it. Hestia and Dedalus would be living with them, although they wouldn't leave the house from the front door, instead apparating out so as to appear as though they did not live in the village, and instead were just visiting to check on their new business venture. Dudley entered his room and began to put away his meager possessions. As he did so, he caught a glimpse of a bright flash outside his window and jumped.

Dudley quickly hurried to the window and looked down. What he saw boggled his mind, as he realized that there were several men on horseback riding through his backyard. He realized that these men seemed to be pale white, as did their horses. He was all the more startled when he realized that these men appeared to be ghosts, as one took his head off, yelling, "Headless hockey!" Dudley sighed and realized that the stay in Goodmanham wasn't going to be as quiet as his parents expected.