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A New Beginning.

By Jon08



Rating: K+ I think, slight bad language by Dudley.



Disclaimer: I have no rights to these characters, they being the sole property of JK Rowling and am making no money from said story.



I have always thought that a lot is left out of the books about Dudley. What did he see when the dementors attacked him? Why did he put that cup of tea out for Harry? Did he try to change himself because of it?

I have previously posted this story on fanfiction. I recently discovered this site and will be trying to add my stories here as well, for I hope the enjoyment of others.





Chapter 2





Dudley looked through the back window of the car as Privet Drive receded in the distance, wondering if Harry was going to be alright. Maybe Harry had been right and those dementors had given him a new personality, a better one he hoped. He had no idea what to expect now. Would it be like witness protection on the telly, be given new names and moved to another part of the country or would they be hidden in the wizards world? He rather hoped for the latter, it would be interesting to see Harry's world, of course Mom and Dad would absolutely freak out if that happened.



*



We were directed onto the M25 and told to park the car at the services. Dad was mumbling under his breath, he didn't think much of this protection so far, if this was where they were being taken.



Hestia and Dedalus got out of the car and beckoned everyone else to get out.



"From here, we go by magical transport; we're outside the no apparition area set by the Ministry."



"What the hell, you mean we just abandon the car and all our belongings here," blustered Dad, Mom just looked a little bewildered and possibly intrigued. "This is an expensive car; I'm not going to abandon it to be stolen."



"Mr. Dursley, we can be tracked by your car, even by your Muggle authorities," said Hestia curtly. "'He who must not be named' can follow your journey using a simple tracking spell. Apparition leaves no trail."



"Vernon, let them do their job, they know what they're doing," Mom pointed out.



"Mr. Dursley if you would open the vehicle so I can see your belongings," asked Dedalus. Dad went to the boot, (trunk to any American readers), and opened it. Several large cases were crammed in, and abox containing Dudley's laptop and games consoles.



Dedalus checked to see how much stuff there was, nodded to himself and pulled out his wand. Dudley felt a moment of panic, thinking of the last time he had seen Harry's wand and the dementor attacking him. Dedalus looked around to see no one was watching and waved his wand silently. Everything was gone.

"What the bloody hell?" squawked Vernon. Looking daggers at Dedalus, "what have you done with our clothes?"



"I've sent them on ahead," replied Dedalus. "We will apparate us all from here; I should warn you this is not a pleasant sensation. Now if we could all grab hands in a circle."



Dudley was between his Mom and Hestia, Dad opposite between Hestia and Dedalus. Suddenly it went all black and Dudley felt like he was being squeezed through a dark pipe, not at all pleasant.



*



He fell to his knees on the pavement, with the smell of the sea in his nostrils. He felt like he was going to be sick.



"I say are you alright, Dudley? Asked Hestia, "It can affect some people very badly."



"Ugh, that felt unpleasantly like being drunk.""[i]":#_edn1 Petunia looked at Dudley with a concerned expression, when had he been drunk?



"What's so unpleasant about being drunk?



"You ask a glass of water!"



"Hmm, very clever, Dudley," remarked Dedalus, "never quite thought of it that way, you could be right!"



"We're in the village of Tinworth, in Cornwall," said Hestia. This is a half magical, half muggle village; a lot of the people you meet may be wizards or witches. Others may be muggles, like yourself, don't be surprised if you see magic being done."



"This is where you'll be living," said Dedalus pointing at an ordinary looking terraced house, just alongside where they had appeared.



You'll be glad to know that it has been given every magical protection that it can be, and is also protected by the Fidelius Charm."



"Fidelius Charm? What's that supposed to mean? Asked Dad.



"It means," said Dedalus "Mr Dursley, that as 'secret keeper' I am the only person who can tell anyone your address. This cannot be tortured out of me it has to be given voluntarily. I can tell you that your new address is 100 Marina Gardens, Tinworth, Cornwall. Now could you repeat that back to me please?"



"What rubbish, that's easy, its... its...What have you bloody done to me?"



It means you are protected. Nobody can find you! 'He who must not be named' could be standing in the front yard of your new home and not find you."



"But, but, how are we supposed to live like that. No car, no money, no job?"



"Not here, if you'll just go inside I'll explain some things to you."



*



Seated at the kitchen table alittle later with a cup of tea that Hestia had to magic up because there was no food or anything in the cupboards. A few things were explained.



"A special bank account has been set up for you; this is for household expenses, daily living etc." He handed them each what looked like a credit card, "this is a special wand that allows you to withdraw money from the bank, or use at the local shops like one of your muggle credit cards. The local taxi firm has your address, if you call a taxi to or from here, it will be protected by the charm. Dudley has been enrolled at the local school and all his records forwarded."



"But, what about work, what about my job?" Dad asked.



"Mr. Dursley, for the moment and the foreseeable future until it is safe for you, you do not need ajob. The wizarding community is looking after you and your family. You won't be aware of us, but we'll be there."



Dad just mumbled into his moustache about bloody wizards and 'not need to work indeed'.



"Mrs. Dursley would you like to come with me? I can show you the local shops, where you can purchase food and anything else you may need," Hestia asked Mum.



Mum looked at Dad and I, "Vernon, Dudley, I'll see you later!" she left with Hestia and walked calmly to the front door. "Please excuse Vernon; he's always been very prejudiced against anything not normal. I've been prejudiced against the magical community myself for years, because it took my sister from me. The door slammed behind them.



I politely asked Dedalus where my room was, and made my way upstairs to the room he had indicated.



*



The next morning I woke up, feeling slightly disorientated, this wasn't my room, either at home or school,'what was I doing here?'



Then it all came back to me, Iwas in a new home, a new town, going to a new school and probably never going to go back to Little Whinging again. After looking outside to get a vague idea of what the day was like Iwent downstairs to get some breakfast. Mum was cooking Dad his usual fried breakfast, I looked for cereal, but Mum had only bought the high calorie sugary stuff I used to eat, so I made myself some toast and sat down.



"Surely my little Duddykins wants more of a breakfast than that? He can't be a proper healthy boy on just toast."



"Bloody hell Mum, I haven't been a healthy boy for years, I've eaten too much crap, can't you remember how it used to be. I nearly got too big for uniforms at Smeltings. And don't call me Duddykins, I'm not bloody five anymore." With that I got up to leave.



"Dudley, apologise to your mother!" dad said, looking sternly at me.



"I'm going for a run, I'll see you later," I said ignoring him, with that I went out the front door, after making sure I'd got the key.



I wasn't really up to taking afull run today, although I'd been getting healthier I was still not as fit as Ishould be for a boy of my age, anyway if I had gone for a run, I'd have got lost. I had no idea where anything was in this new town. I jogged around the streets, trying to get some idea of the layout of this new town, after all Icouldn't ask for help getting home if I got lost. I couldn't tell anyone the bloody address.



I'd been walking round in circles for a couple of hours when I came across the local shop for probably the second or third time. I walked in, thinking I'd get a drink, or something, it was hot, and then it hit me. No money! I checked my wallet and found the credit card / wand thingy that Dedalus had given me last night. I asked the chap behind the counter, where the nearest ATM machine was and following his directions, made my way there, being careful to keep track of where I was, so Icould get back.



There was someone already using the machine when I arrived so I hung back waiting for them to finish. The beep, beep of the keys made me realise, PIN number. I didn't know the number to withdraw money from the machine. How was I going to get cash? The gentleman in front finished his business and walked away, I had to try anyway.



Placing the card in the machine, I thought I would give two tries to find the number and then cancel as the machine would keep the card after the third wrong attempt. Putting the card in I waited for the usual screen to come up asking for my number, but it didn't come, the machine just bleeped and the display came up, how much would I like to withdraw. Bloody hell, this magic was clever. I withdrew £20, thinking that I may need more later, if I went exploring more. I traced my steps back to the shop and bought a bottle of water, the only thing they had to drink that wasn’t pure sugar.

As I left the shop, I walked into a boy about my own age who was just coming in, “sorry, I didn’t see you.”

“That’s quite alright, I wasn’t paying much attention myself,” said the boy sounding a bit like some of the boys at Smeltings, a bit of a public school boy accent. “I’m Justin , just moved into the area!”

“Hi, I’m Dudley, the same here.” I replied, “Do you know much about the area, we only got here last night. I’ve been walking the streets just trying to find my way around, build up a picture of the place in my mind.”

“Not that much, although I have been here longer than that. A couple of streets in that direction, you’ll find the beach,” he indicated pointing to the right. “Usual sort of seaside touristy shops, prices that would break the bank.” If you want shops that locals use, they’re off that way,” he said indicating in front of him, through the shop. There’s a library, small leisure centre with sort of a gym and normal chainstores, though a bit more pricey than a non resort town.”

“Thanks, maybe I’ll see you around again.”

That afternoon, I decided to find the library that this Justin had mentioned and set out in the direction that he had indicated, would I be able to find any books about the wizarding world there, maybe about Hogwarts, Harry’s school? Would I be able to use this ‘wand’ I had been given as a library ticket? This was supposed to be a muggle / magical town, so what better place than the library to check how mixed it was? How easy it was to find information about the different halves.

The library wasn’t much, not that much more than a village library, just looked like a large house. There probably wouldn’t be any magical books in here, probably not even any of the latest books, not that I’d read anything that much lately, not even my school books to tell the truth, maybe why I was such a lousy student. I could see if they had any books that would help me catch up on the work for my A-levels. Without those I wouldn’t get to University, another step to getting out from under Mom and Dad’s thumb.

If I managed to get into a University, somewhere miles from my parent’s there would be no prejudice to stop me from continuing to make amends with Harry; to try to become the cousin’s we should have been. I had said my piece, was it only yesterday. Maybe that dementor had given me a personality transplant, even if that wasn’t its intention. I wasn’t going to be that bully any more, I had been given a second chance by the one person who had more reason than any to hate me. Harry.

This wand thingy wasn’t going to be any help to me as a library ticket, even if it did work that way. It was probably just a credit card anyhow. Putting the card back into my wallet, I turned towards the front door, there was an odd flickering in the corner of my eye, I turned back into the library. Wasn’t there a wall there before?

The library was bigger than I thought; there was a whole area I’d missed!

As I walked to the new section, I put the wallet back into my pocket. Wait. Where had it gone? Was I going mad, seeing things that weren’t there? I got the wallet out of my pocket, again, and the new section was back, this was cool!

Maybe this wand-card was more than just a credit card after all. Holding my wallet in my hand I walked into the new section.

Charms. Transfiguration. Defence Against the Dark Arts. History. Divination. Astrology. Magical Plants & Animals. Arithmancy, blimey even Harry had to suffer mathematics.

I picked a huge book off the shelves, ‘A Wizarding History of Britain and Europe’ and went to one of the reading desks, there was no way I could carry this book home, I’d need a suitcase.

‘British wizarding history can be first seen with arrival of Merlin in the early 4th century, at this time there was no Statute of Secrecy forbidding using magic in the presence of muggles, so even their history has some mention of him...’ Merlin? He was real? This could be interesting!

“Excuse me sir, the library will be closing in five minutes,” I looked up and the librarian was standing at the entrance to the hidden section. “Will you be wanting to take that book with you?”

Take it with me? I’d be knackered by the time I got home.

“Thank you, but I don’t think I could carry it all that way, it’s a bit too bloody big.”

“No problem sir, do you have your ticket and your wand?”

“Just this sir,” I answered showing him the credit card wand that Dedalus had given me.

“Ah, I see, muggle relative of a muggle born witch or wizard, no problem, if you would bring it and the book to the desk please.”

This had certainly got my interest, I picked up the book carrying it in both hands and staggered to the desk.

I handed the ticket to the librarian and he took a feather out of a drawer and wrote in a book on the desk, the title, the date, “Your ticket please sir?” Then he wrote my name, and handed me the feather. “If you could just sign here please, Mr Dursley!”

I signed my name where he indicated, and he pulled out his wand and tapped the book with it, muttering something under his breath.

He then placed the ticket on top of the book, “now Mr. Dursley, put the book and the ticket into your wallet please.” I looked at him as if to say are you mad? “Trust me, this is quite a simple spell, you should have no trouble getting the book home!”

I picked up the book and ticket and moved it towards my wallet in the other hand, both book and card went in as if they were the same size, my wallet felt no heavier than normal. I looked at the librarian. “What about getting it out? Bringing it back?”

“The book will return to normal size when you take it out of your wallet. In the presence of your wand, just place it back into the wallet, the same way to bring it back. Enjoy your reading, and I’ll see you soon.”

“Thank you,” I said and left the library. Magic was brilliant. I would have to keep the book hidden in the house, Dad would probably burn it, if he saw it, I wasn’t too sure about Mum though, and she had seemed quite friendly with Hestia last night.

I couldn’t wait to get home and read this book, and boy was that a change for me as well. Imagine me actually wanting to read a book.


Please review. Thank you to those people who have read and reviewed my story already, your appreciation is noted. I will try to update as fast as I can, but the muses, strike where they like.



i) The passage about being drunk is not mine, but comes from Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. Ever since I read JK Rowling’s description of apparition, this particular passage sprang to mind every time the sensation is described. Just had to put it in there!!
ii ) There is no mention of Justin in book 7; I am assuming he and his family went into hiding. It is hoped that this meeting will be of use to Dudley.