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“Dad — I'm going with these Order people."
The words left Dudley’s mouth before he’d had a chance to think them through. But somehow he knew going with his cousin and the rest of the Order was the right thing to do.
He watched as his father’s face turned an alarming shade of puce. But he’d expected that on some level. Nearly everything upset his father most days. He was more interested in Harry’s reaction.
“You’re sure about this Dudley?” Harry’s green eyes were wary, like he was waiting for Dudley to announce that this was all a joke or something. “If you go with us now, there’s no going back.”
“I’m sure. You said this You-Know-Who is hurting people right?” At his cousin’s nod, he continued. “Well then I want to help stop him.”
“He’s not just hurting people. He’s killing them. And he wants to kill us. If you join us, he’ll want to kill you too.”
The news was jarring but Dudley had made up his mind and was determined not to sit this fight out. He’d never said as much out loud, but Dudley was ashamed of his bullying behavior from his younger years. He knew he couldn’t change the past, but at least he could try and do the right thing going forward.
“I’m still sure.” He met his cousin’s eyes, doing his best to convey how serious he was.
“You heard him, Dursley. Best be off then.” An older man with graying red hair spoke from the group assembled behind Harry.
Dudley stared back as his father stared at him. It was like he didn’t know what to make of his own son. His mother had almost the opposite problem. She moved instantly, throwing her arms around Dudley’s shoulders and squeezing him tightly.
“I love you, Dudley. Be careful.”
Then, after one last hug from his mother and a nod from his father, Dudley was alone in his childhood home with Harry and a large number of Harry’s friends.
“So…now what?” He asked after a tense moment of silence.
“Now we go back to Headquarters. Once the Trace breaks at midnight we’ll be sitting ducks if we stay here.” This time it was an older black man with a deep voice who spoke.
“Where’s Headquarters?” Dudley suddenly found himself wishing he’d asked more questions before insisting on joining these people.
“In London. We’re going to Apparate. Here, take my arm.” A girl with blonde hair stepped forward and offered her arm. She didn’t look familiar and didn’t introduce herself but he couldn’t help noticing she was very pretty. He reached out and wrapped a hand around her forearm.
“Now close your eyes, and hold on tight.”
Dudley followed her instructions and was surprised when he felt the uncomfortable sensation of his entire body being compressed and then squeezed through a tiny tube. He didn’t dare open his eyes until he felt the ground under his feet again.
“It’s alright. We made it.” The girl’s voice was in his ear and he felt her gently removing his hand from her arm.
He finally pried open his eyes and looked around. They were standing on a street in what he guessed was London but he didn’t see any sort of Headquarters for wizards.
“Here. Read this.” The blonde girl passed him a slip of paper. Or he thought it was paper. Once it got into his hand he realized it felt more like fabric than any paper he’d ever written on. Looking down, he read the one sentence written on the paper-like material.
The Headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix is located at Number 12, Grimmauld Place, London
Dudley knew he wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but even he could see that there was no Number 12 Grimmauld Place. The buildings in front of them were numbered with odd numbers - nine, eleven, thirteen and so on.
But then he got the biggest shock of his life since Aunt Marge had blown up at the dining room table. Houses eleven and thirteen began to move away from each other, and no one inside seemed to notice. As the two buildings parted, a new building appeared between them. He realized that must have been number twelve.
“There we are.” The blonde girl smiled and reached for his hand. “Come on inside, but watch out for the troll’s leg umbrella stand.”
Head thoroughly spinning now, he followed her into a narrow entry and instantly spied the umbrella stand she’d mentioned. He took great care not to knock into it, and soon found himself being led down a hallway and into a sitting room. He sank onto one of the sofas there, hoping all this would start feeling normal soon.
“I know, it’s a lot to take in. I’m Lavender, by the way.” The girl had taken a seat next to Dudley. “I go to school with Harry, Ron and Hermione.”
“Hi, ah, I’m Dudley. Harry’s cousin.” He couldn’t help noticing how pretty she was, especially when she smiled.
“You know,” Lavender continued, resting her hand on Dudley’s arm. “I think it’s really brave of you to join up like this.”
He couldn’t resist puffing his chest out a bit at her words. “I’m just trying to do the right thing. I was a right git to Harry when we were children and I want to be better.”
She nodded understandingly, before pointing to a boy Dudley hadn’t noticed before. This new boy was so pale he looked more like a ghost than a human as he walked silently through the hall.
“You see that boy there? His name is Draco. He was on the other side of this war until recently. He gave up a lot to join us. Just like you did.”
She smiled at him, and he suddenly felt about a thousand feet tall.
“So tell me about yourself, Lavender.” He said, suddenly wanting to know all he could about her. “All I know is that you go to school with my cousin.”
She launched into a story about her best friend — Patty? — and he was happy to listen. Soon, they were both talking about their friends and school exploits and their various likes and dislikes. Eventually their talk turned to the upcoming war. He was comforted to find out that she was just as scared as him.
They continued talking long into the night, until they fell asleep together on that sofa, her head resting comfortably on his shoulder.
***
Lavender woke up early the next morning with an awful ache in her neck. She sat up, trying to stretch it out, and looked at the boy next to her on the sofa.
Dudley was still fast asleep, snoring softly. He looked younger asleep, more like a child than the almost-adult he actually was. She wouldn’t deny that she found him handsome, and that their talk last night had been enjoyable. It had been nice to be able to share with someone, and to find out that, even though he was a muggle, his feelings about the upcoming war were similar to her own.
He began to stir then, and his eyes blinked open before finding hers.
“Morning.” She said quietly, not wanting to disturb the peace in the sitting room.
“Ah, morning.” He sat up as well, running a hand through his sleep-mussed hair. She idly wondered if he would let her do that one day.
“Do you want some tea? I bet I could find us some breakfast, too.”
He agreed easily, and together they made their way to the kitchen. It must have been earlier than she realized because the room was deserted. It was better that way, anyway. Without any prying eyes or uncomfortable questions.
She filled the kettle and set it to simmer on the stove while moving to retrieve two mugs from a cabinet. It took her a minute to find the teabags but soon two cups of tea were steeping and they took seats at the kitchen table across from each other.
At first they drank their tea quietly. Lavender savored the temporary peace she knew would shatter as soon as someone else entered the room. Then, Dudley spoke up.
“How do you deal with the fear?” His voice was small, like he was afraid of her judging him for being afraid, even after they’d both discussed their fear the night before.
“It’s hard,” She admitted, taking a sip of her tea. “Some days I feel like I can barely breathe. But, Harry always talks about how important it is that we stick together. How we can’t let You Know Who make us stop trusting each other. So I try to remember that, and to enact it.”
“Will you…stick with me?”
“Of course I will,” She could help smiling and reached out to squeeze his hand. “They won’t tear us apart if I have anything to do with it.”
He finally smiled at this and returned the squeeze on her hand. Even with all the fear, and the horrible events that were likely to follow, she couldn’t help feeling very good about the future.