The Adventure of Dudley Dursley

Epilogue: A New Professor at Hogwarts

In one of Dudley's spare moments during the recently instituted Parents Weekend at Hogwarts, he paused to reflect back on his time since he'd found the Ax of Coifi and his cousin had defeated Lord Voldemort. One important moment had occurred briefly after he'd make up with Harry, in which Professor McGonagall, the new Headmistress of Hogwarts, interviewed Dudley on the events that had transpired over his year in hiding. As she listened with rapt attention to his descriptions of saving Hannah, finding the book, and then finding the ax, she grew more and more impressed on Dudley's ability to use other methods of problem-solving besides magic. Clearly, this was a man who, despite having no real knowledge of the magical world, had managed to find one of its most valuable artifacts.

The discovery had been front page news in the Daily Prophet, only paling in comparison to the coverage of the death of Voldemort and the rounding up of his followers. Dudley and Hannah had soon found themselves besieged by reporters seeking to document their search for the ax, as well as academics who wanted to study it, or else authors wanting to write their story for books. "When Dudley had complained to Harry about this one evening at his cousin's house, Harry had said with a sardonic grin, "Dud, welcome to my world."

As Dudley now possessed both magical skills and the talent and knowledge to use them, he felt that he ought to do something in the wizarding world to reclaim the Dursley name that had been stolen so far in the past from the annals of wizarding lore. However, given the fact that he'd never studied at an accredited wizarding school, he did not have any of the requirements needed to get a job at the Ministry, nor any other top flight positions. Hannah, who had returned to Hogwarts so as to finish her schooling, suggested to Dudley that he ought to speak with Professor McGonagall about his problem. "I mean Dudley, you have the knowledge to take a lot of these tests, maybe she'd let you take them at the end of this year with me and then you'd have your NEWTs."

With the idea lodged firmly in his mind, Dudley decided that this seemed to be as good a path as any, and returned to the home that he had purchased. It was a small house that he had managed to buy using some of the money that he'd acquired giving interviews on the discovery of the ax and his story about his ancestors. There was a nice bed that he shared with Hannah when she wasn't at school, but given that he was alone at the moment, he decided to write to McGonagall. He pulled a pen from a drawer in his bedroom (he still couldn't get used to quills and ink), and wrote,

Dear Professor McGonagall,

I was wondering if there was any possibility of me coming to speak to you about the possibility of my taking exams at the end of this year. I feel that my career options are limited as I have not completed even my OWLs. Thank you for your time,

Dudley Dursley

Dudley carefully rolled up his letter and walked to the window. On a nearby perch sat Bronson, the orphaned owl that Hannah had rescued from Hogwarts and who had apparently adopted them as his new family. Dudley told him, "This letter is headed to Hogwarts. I know that I usually write to Hannah, but this is for Professor McGonagall." He then walked to the window and allowed Bronson to take flight.

The results of his letter had been a personal interview with Professor McGonagall, who had told Dudley that he certainly would be allowed to take the exam, given his special circumstances. She then asked him what career he was interested in, and he responded, "Well, I think I want to do something to bridge that gap between wizards and ordinary Muggles. The whole reason that my family lost our magical heritage goes back to Wizard-Muggle misunderstanding. But I really just don't know exactly what I'd like to do in this field."

Professor McGonagall had stared thoughtfully at Dudley, and then eventually responded, "You know, I think that I might just have a perfect job for you. Given what I know about you, I think you'd be a fantastic Muggle Studies professor. Right now, we only have a temporary professor, as we've yet to replace Professor Burbage after her murder last year. I think that you could use your experience going through Muggle schools to illustrate the similarities between both groups, and to work to prevent young witches and wizards from growing to hate Muggles in the future."

Dudley had been stunned, but once he began to think about teaching, the more he liked the idea. Muggle Studies had been made a mandatory subject under the Carrows, but Professor McGonagall had seen no reason to change this fact, and instead had changed the curriculum. Students were now taught how Muggles lived, but also their great contributions to the world. Dudley decided that if he got the grades he needed, he would take up the post. He proceeded to study, practicing spells and learning how to brew potions (something with which Harry's friend Hermoine had helped him when she wasn't pestering him for further details on the ax, which he kept in a vault he'd opened at Gringotts). Therefore, when Dudley had taken exams at the end of the year with Hannah and had managed to do quite well, he knew where his future lay.

The next year, while Hannah began work at the ministry, Dudley began teaching at Hogwarts. He revolutionized the teaching of his field, as he offered fieldtrips to famous sites around the Muggle world, and allowed his students to understand how very similar people were, be them Muggle or wizard. Dudley's habit of taking classes to movie theaters or amusement parks, ski resorts and other such places soon made the class one of the most popular in school.

Dudley also had worked to bring aspects of the Muggle schooling method to Hogwarts. In addition to his field trips (which occurred on the reserved Knight Bus, and not a yellow school bus), Dudley had suggested parental conferences and a parent's weekend. By allowing parents or guardians to be involved in the schooling of their children, the teachers had seen a jump in the efforts of their pupils.

All of which brought Dudley back to his talks on parent's weekend. It was now a good many years after the final battle at Hogwarts, and Dudley looked up to see a group of eager young students leading their parents into his classroom. He did a slight double take to see his cousin Harry and his wife Ginny being led in by their eldest son, James, a first year student. Dudley smiled, thinking of the last time he'd seen the Potter clan (which had been an American-style barbeque at Dudley's house over the summer. Hannah, who was looking after the children, had enjoyed watching the three Potter children tearing around their backyard like maniacs with her son Thomas Dursley. Thomas, who was slightly younger than Lily, quite looked up to his older cousins and loved having the Potter family visit.

Dudley jerked his mind back to the present and gave his talk on what the children had been doing, taking great pleasure in calling on James to answer a question about microwaves and great pride in seeing him answer correctly, despite the worried look on his mother's face (who clearly did not know what a microwave was, but looked impressed at her son's knowledge).

As he finished up his talk, Harry and Ginny stuck around and chatted with Dudley. They wanted the update on Vernon, who had taken several mail-order courses just to learn to tone down his magic, but seemed to enjoy the fact that his name was well known in the wizarding world because he too had gained the ability to do magic. However, he and Petunia had ended up selling their home and returning to Goodmanham, as they'd liked the friendly atmosphere and the fact that they weren't always competing with their neighbors in a constant battle of one-upmanship. They visited their grandson all the time, and even had managed to mend their fences with Harry (for the most part), mostly based upon their beloved Dudley's shift into the magical world and his friendship with their nephew.

As Dudley took stock of where he stood, he smiled at how far he'd come. When he looked back into the past to the boy he'd been the day that Harry had saved him from the Dementors, he felt a small flash of shame for who he had been. Then, he recalled how much he'd changed, and what he had become. He had the love of a beautiful witch who'd given him a strong, intelligent, and friendly son. He had a job he loved, and one that he knew he was good at and was meaningful. And he lived in a place where the magical was ordinary, and was doing work that hopefully would make the magical world a better place. With a small smile, he jauntily walked back to his quarters to grade a few papers and then relax with his family, delighting in their love and thrilled at how happy he was with the direction his life had taken.

Fin

I hope that everyone has liked this story. Believe it or not, I never set out to write a story where Dudley somehow gained magical abilities. I was curious about what might happen to him after he went into hiding, and this story sort of typed itself as I thought about it. I'd like to thank everyone who had stuck with me through the long periods of inactivity (College has to come first), and for everyone who reviews. I plan on taking a little break from fanfic, but would like to write again soon if I can come up with an idea. Please leave a comment, even if you don't like it, and I hope you'll consider checking out whatever it is I come up with next! Happy reading!! Gords7015 3/5/08

*Update: I have finally finished editing my whole story. I've expanded some things, trimmed other, and overall I think I've got a much-improved story. I need to thank everyone who has helped me make this story what it is, especially the people on the Forums. You guys have pushed me to make myself better, caught my mistakes, and generally made this story a matter of pride for me! Finally, I have started work on my second story, "The Wand of Lord Voldemort" and will hopefully be making some progress on that soon! Thank you for reading, and especially for leaving me feedback!

-Gords7015 -5/2/08