The Adventure of Dudley Dursley

Chapter Three: A Joining of Worlds

Life in Goodmanham for Dudley and his family seemed to settle down in the next few weeks. His parents had managed to settle into their job managing the hardware store (which they were really managing for Hestia and Dedalus). That isn't to say that there weren't flare-ups. Dudley's parents didn't really understand that they were on the run, and there were many heated arguments over such issues as keeping in touch with Dudley's Aunt Marge, or other family friends, or arranging for their mail to be forwarded. Finally, Hestia managed to hammer home that the people who would be searching for them wouldn't hesitate to use these avenues to find and hurt them for the Dursleys to finally accept that they were really in hiding.

The cover story that had been left being was that Vernon had moved the family to North America somewhere to attempt to develop new products for his drill company, Grunnings. The care of the company had been left in the hands of others, while some members of the Order were seeing after their home. However, Dudley's talk with Hestia and Dedalus about using less magic in the home had really had a positive change on the family. Hestia and Dedalus went out of their way to help out with the running of the help, but always made sure to avoid overt usages of magic around the two older Dursleys. That didn't mean that Dedalus didn't have to confund Dudley's mother a few times when she had walked in on him cleaning the den with magic.

Dudley himself was actually really happy in his new home. He had started attending a new school, and because he was starting in a new place without the same old friends, he didn't have to pigeonhole himself into what others expected of him. He really applied himself to his work, and didn't bully anyone. That isn't too say that everything was hunky-dory. He was a new kid in town, and the local version of a bully first tried to recruit him to his own gang, and when that didn't work attempted to pick on Dudley. Neither worked, as Dudley went against his past in seeking friends and not victims, yet he still was strong and tough enough that when he was forced to defend himself, he did well enough to be left alone by that crowd.

Dudley was surprised to find that he actually was developing real friendships, not just associates who held the arms of his victims behind their backs. In particular, he was quite taken with a girl from his class, Susan Smith, who was kind and friendly. Yet, he couldn't help noticing that she had a sort of sadness around her. Sometimes, when she didn't think anyone was looking, her guard would go down and she'd look depressed. On other occasions, he could swear that odd things occurred around her, but he didn't quite know what to make of it. In any event, he went out of his way to be nice to her, and was thrilled that they were able to be friendly together at school. For Dudley, she was his first true friend, and also the first who happened to be a girl.

At the same time, Dudley had held true to his desire to learn more about his cousin's world. Because Hestia and Dedalus didn't really know Harry that well, they couldn't really tell Dudley much about his cousin, but they were able to give him the background on his story, and to tell of the rumors that had surrounded him since he had left the Dursley family seven years previously and began his study of the magical arts. From all appearances, Harry was everything that Dudley aspired to be: He was a loyal, brave, and honest person who cared about others and wanted to make the world a better place. Dudley realized that he didn't have much of a chance to impact the world like his cousin, but that didn't stop him from dreaming of helping in some small way, and by living by his newfound principles.

Dudley had taken to taking evening walks along the small forest that ran through part of his new village. He was able to observe nature and think about where he wanted to go. He knew that college would be a good thing for him to attempt, and he began to seek opportunities to help others. On such opportunity presented itself early in his stay. As he was walking along the end of his walk, he neared a grand old house which clearly had seen better days and possessed an untended yard. There was an old man sitting in the middle of the driveway surrounded by trashcans, with the appearance of having recently fallen. Dudley quickly walked along the ungroomed path and said, "Excuse me sir, are you alright?"

The man looked up into the setting sun and smiled at Dudley, "I'm not having a very good day, I'm afraid."

Dudley extended his hand and said, "My name is Dudley Dursley, why don't you let me give you a hand here." He grasped the man underneath his arms and hoisted him to his feet, brushing the majority of the dust off of him in the process. He then grabbed the two trashcans that the man had apparently been trying to return to his house and walked alongside him.

The man smiled and said, "Thank you, you kind young man. My name is Langford Baldwin." The two men, young and old, walked along the path together, and approached the house. As they got closer, Dudley noticed that a great deal of it was in disrepair. The only aspect that looked well-cared for was a bench on the porch, where there was a comfortable looking chair with stacks and stacks of books. There were books of philosophy, books of history, books on works of art, and many other topics.

As Dudley helped Mr. Baldwin into his seat, they stuck up a conversation. Dudley learned that Mr. Baldwin had been living alone for several years after his wife had passed away. He now lived a solitary life, but enjoyed reading, and sat for hours on end on his porch in comfortable weather, watching the world move by, and thinking. For Dudley, this seemed just the sort of person that the new and improved Dudley would help. Dudley for some reason seemed to trust this man, and opened up to him. He confessed how he had been a bad person for much of his life, and mentioned that he had had a near-death experience (not mentioning the circumstances) which had caused him to change, and reassess his life and the path he was on. They talked for several hours until a huffing Dedalus had arrived, searching for Dudley, afraid that he had been attacked. Dudley had bid Mr. Baldwin farewell, but promised to return the next evening to continue their talk.

These long walks through the woods and talks with Mr. Baldwin became a frequent occupation for Dudley. Dudley almost took up an apprenticeship with Mr. Baldwin (who insisted that he be called Langford), as he saw him as the sort of person who he could admire. Langford had served in the Second World War, and then became a minister in the Anglican Church in a large city. He and his wife had retired to Goodmanham where she had died soon afterwards. But this was a man who had dedicated himself to helping others, and had touched innumerable lives.

Now Dudley respected Langford and the priestly profession, but at the same time knew that he didn't want that path for himself. However, he was desperate to find some way to help others, and Langford was there to help him. Langford listened to him talk about his hopes and fears, and eventually they progressed to reading books together on certain evenings. In return for his council and friendship, Dudley took it upon himself to help Langford around the house. Be it raking leaves, mowing the lawn, or helping keeping the house in somewhat of a cleaner state, Dudley did what he could. He didn't particularly enjoy the work but it gave him a sense of repayment for all the help he received from the kindly old man. Consequently, he now regretted all the more mocking Harry for performing those tasks for people who had treated him poorly.

All of this reading and helping of others had begun to transform Dudley. He still was strongly built, but he was becoming known as a smart person in the local schools. His parents, who for so long had deluded themselves into being proud of what he had been now actually were amazed at the person he was becoming before their eyes. Dudley now had real friends and a goal. He wanted to get into College and have a good job where he could use his brains instead of his brawn and to help people instead of hurting them.

This newfound goal of helping others was put to an unexpected test one night when he was returning from a talk with Langford. He was walking through the woods when he heard a familiar scream. It sounded like Susan, his friend from school. Dudley had never been to her house, but knew that she lived with her father in a cottage at the edge of the woods, and Dudley was in that general area. As he quickly approached, he saw Susan in a small clearing with three scruffy looking characters in cloaks surrounding her.

Each of them was pointing a stick in Susan's direction, while the leader said, "Come on Abbott, we know it's you. Just give us your wand and we'll take you to the Ministry to register as a Muggleborn."

Susan was sweating and holding her hands behind her back. She said, "You've got the wrong person. I'm Susan Smith, not Hannah Abbott. I don't even know what you're talking about."

The leader said, "Nice try Abbott, but why would a Muggle say the Dark Lord's name. Now hand over your damn wand and come quietly or else we'll be forced to use violence."

Dudley didn't know what the hell was going on, but had managed to grasp that the nice girl from his class was caught up in something and needed help. He knelt down and picked up a large branch and began creeping through the trees behind the three thugs. Susan/Hannah was continuing to deny who she was when one of the three yelled some nonsense word and she whipped her hand out from being her back, and brandishing her own stick yelled "Protego!" A semitransparent object shimmed into life and reflected whatever it was that had just shot at her off into the trees.

For Dudley, that was enough. It was clear that these people were wizards and were attacking the nice girl he knew from school. He came thundering out of the trees with his large stick held high over his heads, knocking two of the three attackers onto the ground with a sickening thump. It was clear that just because Dudley had given up his boxing training, his strength hadn't diminished, because the two went down and made no movement. The third turned with a stunned looked on his face to face Dudley and raised his hand before suddenly crumpling to the ground as a red blast from Hannah's wand sent him to the ground as well.

Hannah and Dudley looked at each other in shocked silence at the sudden turn of events. Hannah raised her wand in Dudley's direction before lowering it again as she recognized him. "Dudley, what are you doing here? Why did you help me?"

Dudley said, "Well, I was walking home when I heard these three threatening you, and it looked like you needed some help."

"You've got that right, they had me cornered, and I couldn't have gotten away without your help." Hannah answered. She smiled at Dudley and said, "Thanks for helping me. Now I need to modify the memories of these three before I get out of here." She paused then said, "Why am I even telling you this, you must be freaking out because you don't understand this at all."

Dudley grinned and said, "Well, it's all a little new to me in terms of actually seeing it, but I have a relative who is a wizard, and I'm assuming that you belong to his world."

Hannah looked reassured and said, "Oh good, then I guess I don't need to worry about you." She cast a memory charm on each of the three so that they wouldn't remember seeing her and would wake up and leave the area before turning back to Dudley. She said, "We need to get out of here before they wake up."

The two of them walked towards Hannah's house in a loaded silence before they both started to talk. Dudley had been asking for Hannah's story, while she had been inquiring about his relative. As they both grinned at each other, Hannah said, "Well, since you saved my life, I might as well answer first. My real name is Hannah Abbott, not Susan Smith. As you guessed, I'm a witch. My mother was a witch too, but she was Muggleborn, which means that she was born to normal parents. She worked in the Wizarding World, but was killed last year by Death Eaters, and since then I've had to be on the run, both out of fear that they'd finish me off, and also because I can't prove that I'm not a Muggleborn without my mother and don't want to go to jail."

Some of the terminology was a little confusing to Dudley, but he was able to grasp the gist of what was going on. He told Hannah that he was sorry that she had to be in hiding, and that her mother had been murdered.

Hannah then said, "So, who are your related to who is a witch or wizard?"

Dudley said, "Well, my cousin Harry is a wizard. Harry Potter."