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Author: Corey Lin Story: Unexpected Encounters Rating: Young Teens Setting: Pre-DH Status: WIP Warning: None Reviews: 40 Words: 13,851
Disclaimer: Harry Potter, all other characters and the lovely world they live in all belong to the amazing J.K. Rowling. I'm just playing with them; I'll put them back when I'm done. Dudley hastily washed the last of the pots in the sink and turned to make one last visual inspection of his flat. Everything seemed to be in the proper place: a good thing, since the small space looked slightly cluttered even when everything was put away, and impossibly messy if it wasn't. It was a far cry from the almost sterile environment of his mother's house, which meant that it was a good thing that Dudley had managed to head her off from ever visiting him, as she would cringe at what her only son considered a comfortable place to live. Everything had been recently cleaned, but all the cleaning in the world wasn't going to override the underlying shabbiness of the flat itself. The sofa and single armchair were mismatched and slightly threadbare, as both had been cast-offs from different friends, but they were cozy to sit on. One overflowing bookcase sat by the single window; no matter how many times Dudley had washed it, it still had a slightly dingy look to it. Even worse, it had been carelessly painted shut by a prior tenant, making it impossible to open - perhaps not such a big deal on this crisp October day, but the memory of the sweltering July and August that had just passed was enough to revive his irritation with the window. The flat wasn't really setup for entertaining, but he'd wanted to spend some time with Harry and Ginny in a more private setting. Hence the dinner invitation and Dudley's slightly obsessive preparations. Harry had, in fact, contacted him quickly after their successful first meeting. The two of them had met for a casual lunch the next week, since Harry mentioned he was in London for a meeting with his broom supplier. The meeting had been short, but definitely memorable. Harry had recounted the story of his and Ginny's courtship and wedding. Dudley had to admit that Harry had quite a gift for storytelling. The tales of his bachelor party, hosted by Ginny's brothers, had Dudley laughing throughout the entire meal, but like the dinner they had shared the previous week, the conversation never strayed into serious topics, prompting Dudley to invite the Potters to dinner. A quick glance into the oven reassured Dudley that the meal he had been preparing was right on schedule. A few quick swipes of the countertops returned them to a presentable state. It wouldn't meet his mother's standards of clean, but few things would. His timing was perfect, as a knock on the door signaled the arrival of his guests. ** Dinner was, without a doubt, one of the best times Dudley had encountered in recent memory. Ginny had been fascinated by the simplest things in his flat, wandering through the kitchen, her eyes wide and her hands reaching out to touch everything. He had been a bit put off at first, but when she explained that she had never been in a non-magic kitchen, he understood. Although he wondered if he would ever get used to being called a Muggle. He'd had the term explained to him during their first dinner, and realized that it wasn't an insult to him, but it was still a bit disconcerting. Harry had sat back with barely contained glee as Dudley explained the purpose of things like the refrigerator, microwave and the toaster. Ginny had flashed Harry a rude hand gesture and teased him that he had been just as out of place the first time he'd visited her family's home. The meal had come off without a hitch, and the companionable conversation that was quickly becoming a staple of their meetings flowed easily between the three of them. In what seemed like no time at all, the pudding was finished, and Ginny had excused herself to go to the loo, leaving Dudley to clear the table, waving off Harry's offer to help, pointing out that the kitchen was just too tiny for two adults to both be able to work in it at the same time. Instead, Harry perused Dudley's bookshelf with interest, occasionally pulling a title off the shelf and flipping through it. He had questions on some of the titles, and Dudley was only too happy to answer them. They soon retired to the sitting area, Harry claiming the sofa while Dudley settled in his favorite armchair, continuing to chat about the book Harry held in his hand. Ginny emerged from the toilet, her normally pale skin a slightly green-tinged white. Once glance at her and Harry immediately jumped to his feet, rushing across the room to support her by one elbow. "What's wrong?" She shook him off and headed for the couch. "Nothing. I'm fine." Harry looked skeptical. "Are you sure?" Dudley couldn't blame Harry for doubting her, as she looked positively ghostly. She sat down, and motioned for Harry to sit next to her. "I'm sure. My stomach is just a bit upset, nothing to worry about." She shot a significant look at Harry, who seemed to relax slightly. "Do you want to head home?" "No." She was emphatic. "I'm definitely not up to the Floo right now." Despite this sentence making no sense whatsoever, at least to Dudley, Harry nodded. "We could stay at Grimmauld Place." There was a hint of distaste in his voice. "I rather think not." It was echoed even stronger in her own. Dudley spoke up "I've got a car, I could drive you home." "Thanks, but it's kind of a long drive." Reaching for Ginny's hand, Harry scooted to the end of the sofa. "Well, why don't you at least lie down for a bit, to see if that helps settle your stomach?" She nodded and arranged herself on the rest of the sofa, her head in Harry's lap and her feet propped up on the opposite arm. He let his hand stray to her hair, gently stroking it, and wasn't at all surprised to see her eyes close within minutes. He and Dudley remained silent, and the sounds of Ginny's breathing evening out as she drifted into sleep were the only ones filling the room as the two men watched her. When he was certain she was asleep, Harry looked up at Dudley and waved vaguely at a woven throw draped over the back of the armchair. "Do you mind if I borrow that?" He kept his voice low, so as not to disturb her. "Not at all," said Dudley as he started to twist around to pick it up and hand it to Harry. He stopped short as Harry causally pulled his wand out from wherever it had been hidden. With a casual wave of the wand, the throw zoomed across the room, and with another flick of the wand, it arranged itself over the sleeping Ginny. Dudley stared, realizing that this was the first time that he'd ever really seen his cousin performing magic. "Wow." Harry looked confused. "What?" "I've never actually seen it. I mean, I know about it, but I've never really seen it." Harry raised an eyebrow in question. "Magic, I mean. I know that you're a wizard and all, but you never used to be allowed to do magic outside of school, and then I never saw you after school." Harry gave a low chuckle, but didn't respond, instead looking down as Ginny shifted to lie on her side, snuggling into his lap and the throw. "Is she really okay?" Dudley couldn't help but be concerned, as she really had not looked well earlier, and horrified thoughts that he might have inadvertently given her some sort of food poisoning kept running through his head. The only thing keeping him from a complete panic was the fact that he and Harry had eaten the same meal and both of them were fine. Harry's hand played across her thick mane of hair. "Yeah, I think so." He glanced up at Dudley, then back down at Ginny. "She's pregnant." Dudley was startled. That he wasn't expecting. "Pregnant? You're going to have a baby?" He winced at the incredulous tone in his voice. "Yeah, sometime in March." Harry's voice had taken on a slightly dreamy quality. "We've not told anyone yet; we wanted to make sure that everything was okay." He paused, his eyes growing darker as he continued. "She had a miscarriage about a year ago, so we've been a bit more cautious this time around, but so far so good." Dudley didn't quite know what to say, the pain in Harry's voice was evident. "I'm sorry." "It was strange. We had barely found out she was pregnant when it happened, but we'd been so excited to tell everyone we knew, which only made it worse when it happened. It's getting better with this baby. We had to wait a bit to try again, which was really hard." He paused, leaning down to plant a kiss on his wife's forehead. "Her mum took it really hard when we lost the baby. Ginny's the youngest and the only girl, so her mum was thrilled about the baby. We've not told any of them we're pregnant again; we wanted to make sure that everything was going okay before we did." "And it is? Going well I mean." "I think so. The Healer said that once we got past the third month that it should be fine. Then again she also said that the morning sickness should be finished by then too, and she's still having problems with it." Dudley had been watching Harry's hand play with Ginny's hair, but as something Harry had said sunk in, he looked up. "You're telling me about the baby first?" Harry smiled. "Yeah, I guess I am. It seems strange to think that I get to tell my family first." "You think of me as family?" There was a long pause. "You are family." Dudley shook his head. "I know, we are technically related, but there's a difference between being related and being family. I didn't think you thought of me as family." "I never used to. You and your parents were just what I had to endure on the summer holidays until I could go back to school." There was no doubting the honesty in Harry's answer. "You used to hate me." It wasn't a question Harry nodded. "I did. From where I sat, you weren't exactly likeable. Can you blame me?" "No. I was horrible, and Mum and Dad were even worse." Dudley shrugged his shoulders. "They still are, really." "I'm glad you've changed." The words were soft, but earnest. "Me too." Dudley stood up and walked to the window. He'd been waiting for months to have this conversation, and now that it was here, he wished he could put it off a little longer. "I hate the way I used to be. I hate the way I treated you, I hate the way I behaved." Harry waved a dismissive hand. "You were just a kid." "I was a nasty kid. I was rude and obnoxious and I sat around and watched the way they treated you and I never said anything." Dudley started pacing, Harry watching him without saying a word. "You lived in a damned cupboard for ten years. That's just insane, and I never said a word. I baited you and hit you and teased you, and I used to go out of my way to make sure that you got into trouble. You worked like a slave around that house while I sat around on my fat arse and never said a word. They hit you and made you wear my old clothes and practically starved you." Dudley swiped at his cheeks where a few traitorous tears had appeared. "They should have been arrested for the way they treated you! I hate that I never said anything to anyone. I should have realized that it was wrong and done something to stop them." Harry finally spoke up. "How were you supposed to know it was wrong? You were just a kid yourself, and you'd been told that was the way things were, that it was normal. You didn't know any better." "Yeah, and how old were you when you realized it was wrong?" Harry shrugged. "I don't know, I suppose around seven or so. We'd been in school for a couple of years." "I was nineteen, Harry! How crazy is that? I was an adult before I realized just how screwed up they were, how screwed up our home was, and what a complete git I was." It was quiet for a few moments while Dudley stopped pacing and stared out the window, gathering his courage. "I'm sorry." "For what?" "For everything! For the Harry Hunting, for Piers and the rest of them, for everything that they gave me while you had nothing. Most of all, for being such a self-absorbed idiot that I never realized it was wrong when I could have done something about it." There was a huge lump in his throat, and he was surprised that he could still speak around it. "It's hard to know right from wrong when no one ever teaches it to you." Harry's voice was quiet. "They were overwhelming, constantly giving you this skewed version of normal and making sure that you were surrounded by people that were as screwed up as they are. It wasn't your fault." "I hate them." "They're your parents." "I don't care. They're horrible people. It shouldn't be like this, we shouldn't be strangers meeting on the street, not having seen each other in years. We should have been brothers, should have been a real family, and they took that away from us." The tears were back, despite his effort to stem them. He hadn't cried in years, but the anger towards his parents combined with his own guilt had him teetering on an emotional brink, leaving him a tenuous control on his emotions. "We're family." "No, we're not. We're nothing more than strangers with a shared past." Dudley jerked his head to indicate Ginny. "She's your family: Ron and her other brothers and her parents and your baby. That's your family, not some berk who used to make your life miserable as a kid." He slumped back into the overstuffed armchair. When Harry finally spoke, it was in a voice so low that Dudley had to strain to hear it. "They are a wonderful family, and have been ever since I met them. But you are one of the few people who've known me my entire life." "We barely know each other." "We can change that." "You mean that?" There was a hopeful tone in his voice as he sat forward in his chair. "Yeah, I do." Harry looked down again to gaze at Ginny, where she slept on, her head snuggled into his lap, apparently unaffected by their conversation "I want my baby to know at least one member of his grandmother's family." "You wouldn't have said so five years ago." Dudley reverted back to his slouched position. "I never even met your mum and dad. And you've got a family now; you married into one of the biggest families I know of." "True. The Weasleys practically adopted me when I was in school and it's only been better since Ginny and I got married. But they've always been Ron and Ginny's family, not my own. Sirius was the closest I had to a family of my own, but then he died." His voice trailed off for a second, but then he continued on. "And we're building our own family now, but I always missed having someone who has known me my entire life, or at least most of it." "So I'm trying like mad to escape from what you've been looking for your entire life?" Harry laughed. "I know your family, and I think you might be better off." "You've got a point," Dudley conceded. "We've got each other, we can be the friends we always should have been, and could have been, if it weren't for them. Although, now that I think about it, more like brothers than friends." Harry grinned at Dudley, and silence once again fell in the room, but it had changed; it was more comfortable, stretching between them warmly. Finally Harry looked up again. "You've seen me do magic." "Huh?" Dudley had been thinking over their conversation and was thrown by this apparent non-sequitur. Harry couldn't resist teasing his cousin. "There's the Dudders I know." They both laughed. "You said that you'd never seen me do magic, but I know that you have. I know I did accidental magic as a kid, and don't you remember me blowing up Aunt Marge or getting rid of the Dementors?" "I forgot about you blowing up Aunt Marge! But that was different, you didn't have a wand or anything, all I remember was her harping on your parents and you got so angry. And with those Dementor things, I was so scared and it was so dark, I wasn't really paying attention to you at all." Harry sat up straighter, making Ginny shift positions on his lap. "I always wondered. What did you hear when the Dementors came? I mean, they make you relive the worst moments of your life, and I couldn't figure out what had been so horrible in your life to scare you so much." Dudley laughed. "You really want to hear this? You want to hear what a shallow, spoilt prat I was?" Harry nodded. "Okay. Don't laugh at me. Remember, you said that I didn't know any better." "This should be good." "Maybe from your point of view." Sitting in the overstuffed armchair again, he leaned forward, his elbows resting on his legs. "Okay, remember when your letters from your school started coming and Dad shoved us all in the car and drove us around for days without stopping to eat or anything?" "That was your worst memory?" "One of them. Also, that stupid pig's tail that I had to have removed, that thing with my tongue growing, the snake at the zoo, Aunt Marge and a couple of blazing rows that Mum and Dad had about you. That's about it." "That's not so bad." Harry was trying his hardest to keep his word and not laugh, but he was failing miserably. "You sure seemed terrified when it was happening." "Go ahead and laugh. I told you, I was a spoilt brat. I thought it was horrible." Shaking his head, he leaned back in his chair, waiting for Harry's laughter to fade. "What about you? What do you hear when they get close?" "My parents being murdered." There was no trace of the laughter left in the serious-faced young man on the sofa. Dudley's face paled. "How do you remember that? You were just a baby!" "It's weird. I don't really remember it happening, but I hear it all the same." Harry gave an involuntary shudder. "It's like I've got the memory of a memory, but it's disturbing enough that I had to learn quickly how to deal with the Dementors." "I suppose I never realized that you were there when they died, but it makes sense. I mean, Mum's car crash story was nothing but a lie, but you were really there when they died." "That's how I got my scar." Harry gestured towards his forehead. "So at least that was true: she always told me I got it at the same time they died." "I'm sorry." He seemed to be repeating that a lot tonight, but realization of what his cousin had suffered was starting to set in for Dudley. "It was a long time ago." Harry shrugged again. "And the guy who did it will never hurt anyone else again." "What happened to him?" "He's dead." Harry looked up and smiled. "Most truly and completely dead, as they say. I guess he's one of the main reasons that I decided to become an Auror." "To make sure that others like him die?" "Or go to prison. Just to keep people safe from dark wizards like him and his followers." He paused, adjusting the throw over Ginny as she shifted on his lap. "I really enjoy it, but I love to play Quidditch as well, and I couldn't pass up the chance to play for England." A sleepy voice spoke up. "You can't pass up the chance to play Quidditch at all." Apparently Ginny was now awake, and she sat up yawning. "You let me fall asleep?" "You needed it." Harry planted a kiss on one sleep-creased cheek. "You're pushing yourself too hard and I worry about both of you." Ginny smiled as Harry mentioned the baby she carried, a soft smile so filled with contentment and joy that Dudley's heart gave a little leap. Harry was definitely a lucky man. Her eyes shone as she glanced between Harry and Dudley. "You told him?" Harry nodded. "Good! I suppose that means it's not a secret anymore. It's not as though we could have kept hiding it much longer." She ran her hand over her belly, drawing attention to the small bump that was swelling there. Harry reached out and buried his hands in her hair, pulling in her towards him for a proper kiss, murmuring against her lips. "Definitely can't keep it a secret for much longer." Dudley realized he was staring and, blushing, turned away and headed for the kitchen where he busied himself making coffee, only looking up when he heard them resume their conversation. "So I suppose the next step is to tell my parents." She sounded almost giddy at the prospect. "Mum's going to be thrilled - two new grandbabies at the same time." Dudley placed the milk and sugar on the tray and walked back over to the living room and set it down on the tiny coffee table. He couldn't help but ask. "Two?" "My brother's wife is pregnant too, actually due about a month after this one." Ginny said, adding milk to her coffee. Dudley handed Harry a cup. "These aren't the first grandkids are they?" He thought he remembered them mentioning at least one or two when they had discussed her family. Harry laughed. "Nope. Our baby will be number eight, and Ron and Hermione's will be number nine." Dudley's eyes widened. "You've got seven nieces and nephews?" "No," Ginny's voice was muffled by her cup as she took a sip of her coffee. She swallowed and continued. "I have seven nephews. No nieces at all." "No girls?" "Not a one." Harry blew across the surface of his coffee to cool it. "Ginny is the first Weasley girl born in over a hundred years, and her brothers seem intent on carrying on the tradition." Taking a sip of his coffee, he continued under his breath, "Not to mention following in the Weasley tradition of having lots of kids." Ginny smacked him on the shoulder. Dudley, being an only child, had a hard time wrapping his mind around the concept of so many boys around. "How old are your nephews?" Ginny wrapped her hands around her mug and snuggled back into Harry's side, resting her head on the same shoulder she had just hit. "The oldest is four and the youngest is six months. Family dinners at our house are fun, to say the least." Harry chimed in, "And noisy." She grinned. "That will get worse before it gets better." He wrapped his arms around her. "You've got a point, but I wouldn't trade a minute of it." Whatever response Ginny was going to make was lost in a huge yawn. Harry raised an eyebrow at her. "Well, I'm thinking it's time for me to take you home before you fall asleep on me again." Ginny nodded her agreement and they both rose from the sofa. Both Harry and Ginny tried to reassure Dudley that it wasn't necessary for him to drive them, but their protests fell on deaf ears, and ten minutes later they were seated in Dudley's practical compact car. It was several years old, but it was clean and appeared to be well cared for, although Harry did comment that it wasn't the car he would have expected Dudley to be driving. "You know, five years ago, I'd have said the same thing." Dudley laughed. "Granted, five years ago I could barely have fitted into this car. But this one is mine: I picked it out and paid for it myself. Dad offered to buy me a car when I was still in university, but I didn't want to have to owe him for it. So I worked all through one summer to be able to afford to buy my own. It's not one of those big showy cars that Mum and Dad like, but it does well for me." Ginny spoke up from her position in the back seat - Harry's legs were just too long for him to comfortably be able to ride in the back. "It's lovely, Dudley, really. Nicer than any car my family has ever owned." Harry smirked over his shoulder at her. "The only car your family has ever owned flew, and was charmed to expand whenever it needed to." Dudley laughed. "Was that the flying car that came and broke you out of the house the year we were twelve?" "That's the one. Stolen and driven by my miscreant brothers." "You are only calling them that because they didn't wake you up and take you with them." Harry turned back to the front and whispered something that made no sense to Dudley, but caused his wand, which he was holding in his hand below the level of the window to spin in his palm. "Take the next left up here, Dudders, and it'll just be another block or so past the turn." Dudley looked up at the street sign. "On Charring Cross road?" As Harry nodded, Dudley couldn't help but ask. "You live there?" He was familiar with the area, having spent time in local pubs, but it wouldn't be his first choice for a place to live. Ginny laughed. "No, but there's a wizarding pub here that I can use to Floo home." Dudley was confused. "Floo?" Harry tucked his wand into the pocket of his jacket. "It's traveling through fireplaces. Normally we'd just Apparate home - in fact I still will - but it's not safe for Ginny to Apparate when she's pregnant, so we have to find a fireplace." Dudley nodded, the memory of his parents' living room with one wall blown out coming back to him as he turned off the car. "I can drive you home, I don't mind." But he knew even as soon as he said it that they would turn down his offer; the looks passing between them spoke as much. He wondered if they just didn't trust him enough yet to let him see where they lived. Harry seemed to read his mind. "We appreciate the offer, and it's not that we don't want to show you our place, it's just a logistics issue." Dudley started. "It's okay, really." Harry gave a deep sigh and twisted in his seat to face Dudley. "I admit, even up until tonight, I wasn't entirely sure that you weren't just having me on. But I've seen where and how you live, and the boy I grew up with wouldn't even dream of setting foot in that flat, let alone living there. Add to that the fact that you cook your own meals and drive a car that you chose because it's practical, not because it's showy, and I know that this really is who you turned out to be." Ginny leaned forward and patted him on the shoulder. "I'd love to have you drive us home, but it really is a long way from here." "How long a way?" Dudley's curiosity was piqued as he got out of the car. Harry hopped out of the car and opened Ginny's door for her. "By car? I'd suppose a good six hours or so. We've got a little house just outside the village of Hogsmeade." Startled, Dudley looked back and forth between the two of them. "Hogsmeade?" "It's in Scotland," Ginny supplied as she stood on her tiptoes to give Harry a kiss on the cheek. "You traveled all the way from Scotland just for dinner?" He was amazed. "Well, travel is bit easier for us than what you're used to." Harry grinned at him. "We can get back and forth in about a minute." Dudley gaped at him. Ginny spoke up. "We'd love to have you come to visit though." Harry beamed at her, obviously thrilled by her invitation. "Yeah! Why don't you come up for an entire weekend sometime?" Dudley nodded. "That sounds great. I'll have to check, but I think I've got a free weekend coming up soon." Harry clapped Dudley on the back. "Great. I'll send an owl, or see about getting a hold of a phone and we'll get the details all worked out." He glanced at Ginny who was attempting to stifle a yawn. "But in the meantime, it looks like we need to get home before my lovely wife falls asleep in the middle of the street." They exchanged good-byes and Dudley watched the pair mount the stairs into a tiny pub, which he hadn't even noticed until that point, walk through the door and again disappear from view.
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