Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, nor anything associated with it. All the rights belong to J.K. Rowling and her business associates. I only play in her world for my amusement, and hopefully yours as well.

1 Meeting

Dudley was sitting in the library, or what he considered a library, in the safe house. He felt like he would die of boredom and wondered if a swift death, by either a bullet or a curse, couldn't be better.

It had all started some days earlier – he couldn't be bothered to count how many. Hestia Jones and Dedalus Diggle had been the ones who joined them in his father's car and directed them to a certain farm, where they left the car hidden inside a large barn, from where they used some key thingy to take them to this house. Mr. Diggle said it was his ancestral house and was well protected, yet they shouldn't go out any farther than the fence, which was only a few paces away from the house's walls. He then introduced Likky, the house elf who would take care of all their physical needs. Dudley could see the repulsion on his parents' faces. Well, Likky wasn't a beauty, not according to human standards, but she was very eager to please in any way she could. Dudley even thought she would agree to blow him, if only he asked her, not that he thought it was a good idea. Even he had some standards.

Once the witch and the wizard left them alone, his parents had retired into their room. He didn't know what they were doing there and didn't bother to ask. They only came down for meals. Dudley got his own room with an attached bathroom, but there was nothing he could do there except for sleeping. There was no electricity, no computer, no television or even radio, no electronic games, not even a music player.

After a day of total boredom, Likky had shown him this room. Half of it looked like a library, as far as he could judge. Dudley had not visited the public library, nor the one at his primary school. He had to search for some information in the library at Smelting, but had never enjoyed it. Still, there were quite a few books in the room and he thought there were almost as many as at the Smelting library.

The other half of the room contained several tables surrounded by chairs and two small sofas. He wasn't sure if this had been a kind of dining room or sitting room. At smelting, one could only check out the books and study them in one's own room.

He tried finding some interesting books. Although he had never liked reading, he knew some people found it entertaining, so it was worth a try. He browsed through several books, but found nothing of interest. Most books were dealing with various kinds of Magic. The few that were just stories had no action in them. They were mostly romances, of the kind his mother used to read at home, but much thicker.

Dudley watched the clouds through the window. Despite it being summer, the weather was cold and dreary and the clouds seemed ominous. His mind drifted, thinking of how things had changed so dramatically and how they would change in the future. He felt unprepared for all these changes.

He was brought out of his musings as he heard the front door opening. An unrecognized voice urged, "Quick! Come in! The least you stay outside, the safer it is."

Despite his initial fright, this sounded like some more people were being brought into the safe house. Maybe that would help him fight the boredom. He stood up and opened the door, trying to see the entrance hall.

Another family was being shown in. Two parents, about the same age as his, a girl who seemed close to his age and another one who seemed older. The voice he'd previously heard said, "There's already a family here, living in the last two rooms on the first floor. I suggest you take the adjacent ones. Will you two stay together?"

The question was evidently directed to the younger two. The older one answered, "No, I'd rather have some privacy, at least."

The voice sounded amused. "Well, as long as we have enough rooms, that shouldn't be a problem. We may need to reconsider if we need to lodge more families here."

Dudley knew they wouldn't have time for him while settling in their new lodging. He didn't know if they were magical or not or if they knew about him and his cousin. He decided to keep to himself until dinner, when they would probably be all served together, and retired back to the library.

About an hour later, the library's door opened to let in the girl that Dudley had estimated to be about his own age. She had brown wavy hair, dark blue eyes, pleasant face and a slightly plump, although very pleasing figure. She was quite a bit shorter than him, barely reaching his chin. The girl looked around, found him and approached purposefully. "Likky said I would find you here. She thinks we could keep company with each other," she said in a way of greeting. She then extended her hand. "I'm Bernadette, but everybody calls me Bette. What's your name?"

Dudley stood up from the sofa and shook her hand, trying not to press too hard. "I'm Dudley. Nice to meet you Bette. It has really been very boring here until now."

She seemed amused. "Sitting in the library and feeling bored? You could read to pass the time, you know."

He shrugged. "I tried. Most of the books are about Magic, and I found nothing with stories that could keep my interest. I'm not very keen about reading, as you may guess."

"May I understand that you're not magical?"

"Not even a little bit. Are you?"

"Yes. I'm the only magical person in my family. My parents are muggles and so is my elder sister. As a muggle-born, I'm in danger, now that the death-eaters took over. That's why we're here. Who's magical in your family?"

"Nobody. Well, neither I nor my parents, and I have no siblings. My cousin, who used to live with us, is magical. That's why we're here."

Bette seemed confused. "Why should he live with you? Where are his parents?"

Dudley sighed. He didn't feel like talking about Harry, but that was kind of expected now. "Well, my cousin is an orphan. He lost his parents when he was about a year old and was sent to live with us. My parents don't like him and didn't treat him well. I'm ashamed to say I acted the same until two years ago, when he saved me from Dem… something. I mean, those creature that make everything cold and make one feel as if all happiness is sucked out of them."

"Dementors," she whispered in awe. "You've seen Dementors?"

He chuckled, not quite humorously. "I didn't see them, not being magical. I only felt cold and despair. My cousin Harry saw them and produced some silvery animal that chased them away before they had a chance to suck my soul out."

"How old is your cousin?"

"Seventeen, like me. Why do you ask?"

"I thought he was older, having produced a Patronus – that's the silvery animal that repelled the Dementors. But if he's seventeen, that means he's one year above me… What's his name again?"

Dudley shrugged. "Harry. He's not much taller than you and quite thin, with black hair and round, ugly, spectacles."

She gasped as the description seemed to wake some memories. "Do you mean to say that Harry Potter is your cousin? The Harry Potter?"

"Well, that's his name. I don't know how many have that name too."

Bette seemed agitated. "Why isn't he here?"

Dudley shrugged again. "I'm not sure. The way he said that terrorist was targeting him, I thought he could benefit from staying in a safe house, but he said he had a mission to complete before that Dark Lord could be dealt with. I don't know where he's now."

She looked at him with some evident suspicion. "Are you sure you're not making this up?"

He was really confused. "Why should I make it up? Nobody in my family has ever wanted to be related to him. I can now understand that he really has something to do and that he saved my life, but we had never been close. I don't think he even likes me. I can't blame him, though."

She seemed to calm a bit, but was still somewhat apprehensive. "Then, why are you here?"

Dudley shifted uncomfortably. "I'm not quite sure, but Harry said we should hide until this terrorist is vanquished, as the protections on our house..."

"Wards..." Bette said quietly.

"Yes, that's the word he used. Well, Harry said they would collapse at his seventeenth birthday and the terrorist would come after us in order to get to him."

Bette nodded. "That's the way the Death Eaters act."

They were quiet for a while. Dudley sat back and waved for her to sit wherever she liked. Bette chose to sit on the same sofa, but near the other end. It took quite a while before anybody spoke.

Bette was the one to break the silence. "So, now that you have some company, what would you like to do?

Dudley snapped his head back in her direction. "I'm not sure. I mean, all the entertainment I normally have at home can't function here, or so I was told. Maybe we could play some board games, although I found none in here. I'd also like to exercise a bit, if only to stay in shape, but we can't really go outside for that and there's no appropriate room inside. Do you have any suggestion?"

She smiled at him, and Dudley found that he liked her smile. "I suggest we spend some time talking, getting to know each other. We may then find some things we could do together or how we could help each other." She went silent for a moment and then added, "How about we tell each other about our life at school and see where that leads? Care to start?"

Dudley had never talked that way to any girl. The only person with whom he had even mentioned a few private thoughts was Piers, his friend since early childhood, and he was quite reluctant to discuss most thing with Piers, knowing how shallow his friend was. He didn't feel that reluctance with this girl. He told her about Smelting, about the way he had felt when he started there and how he became a boxing champion. He told her about his struggle with the diet imposed on him and his difficulties achieving any acceptable grades. It was refreshing to be able to talk to someone about things that he had previously been unable to talk with anybody about.

They were interrupted when Likky invited them for lunch. It was natural for them to sit together. Dudley didn't even register the scrawls of his parents, seeing him talking in a friendly manner with someone who was clearly a witch, as the wand peeking from her pocket indicated. By the time he thought to introduce her to his parents, they had already returned to their room. Instead, Bette introduced him to her sister and her parents, who seemed quite glad for her to find somebody to talk with.

"Why don't you talk now? My cousin had never said much about his school. Well, my parents wouldn't let him even if he wanted. I'd really like to hear what it's like."

Bette seemed quite eager to talk about her early bouts of magic, the confusion they brought and then the understanding, once she got her Hogwarts letter. Dudley found it fascinating, and could finally understand how frustrating this must have been to Harry, lacking any family support, if even Bette, with full support of her family, found some of these events more than frustrating.

It got more interesting as she started talking about Hogwarts. Somehow, each year had Harry involved in something that was life threatening. While Bette didn't dwell on these events, just mentioning them on passing made Dudley acutely aware of how special his cousin seemed to be. Bette didn't know many of the details, but what she knew was more than enough to make Dudley think of how unfair his family was and how they should have treated Harry differently.

By dinner time, Bette had finished most of her story, just like Dudley had done before lunch. They sat together once again. His parents ignored them completely. Her parents seemed delighted that they were becoming friends. Dudley thought that he had talked and listened that day more than he had with his friends since primary school.

When they returned to the library room, Bette chose to sit much closer to Dudley. Both needed to finish their stories, but it didn't take long. Dudley found that he liked listening to her voice and he liked watching her face while she talked. He continued watching her face even after both finished their stories. Bette suddenly giggled. "You know, nobody ever looked at me the way you do."

Dudley seemed to be brought out of a trance. "What do you mean?" he finally asked, when her words sank into his mind.

"You look at me like I'm important to you, like you really care, and, well, as if you like my looks."

"I really like you. I'm not sure what it means or how it would evolve, but it feels nice to be with you. I'm really glad you're here."

She smiled thankfully, and then tried to hide a yawn, not too successfully. "I think I should go to bed now. We've left home before five in the morning. I should really catch up with my sleep. Will I see you tomorrow?"

He chuckled. It was almost as if they were courting. "Sure! Where else can I go?"

Her smile widened. "Well, goodnight then, and see you in the morning."

"Goodnight, Bette." A moment later she left him alone. Dudley looked for a book about the basics of magic and tried to read some of it. He really wanted to understand Bette better, and Harry too.

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