Second Chances [The Dudley Story]

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It appeared he was indeed unlucky.

September arrived and went by, yet no letter from the school of magic came. He had to start his muggle school with Harry tagging alongside him. A few more months passed, and Dudley saw the news of the collapse of the USSR.

The world was following the same trajectory that he was familiar with. He kept an eye out for any major catch related to business and finance. But it was hard to be taken seriously at that age.

He simply chose to live ordinarily, learn whatever he could to add to his old knowledge, and hang around with Harry. The two slowly went from being just cousins to brother-like. Even at school, Harry no longer got bullied or found himself without friends. After all, Dudley was a bully himself, and he was friends with other bullies, which put Harry in a protected group.

Dudley had no interest in petty bullying at the school anymore. Other than bullying the bullies and studying, he tried to find more traces of the magical world. He knew about the Ministry and the telephone booth. But going to London was no easy task.

With so much free time, he studied French just to learn something new and not be bored. With a degree in finance from his last life, he was great with numbers. Vernon and Petunia couldn't stop gloating at their son's remarkable academic achievements, already dreaming of sending him to some old elite school later on.

For Dudley, however, it was a slow means of building confidence with Vernon so he may be allowed to invest.

As months turned into a year, Dudley started to feel disenchanted with the magical world entirely. It felt like just another reality, an ordinary second life with Harry Potter beside him. And of course, the often depressing weather of the UK.

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"Ugh—Forty-nine!... Fifty!"

Thud!

Dudley landed back on his feet from the pull-up bar he had put on the door frame.

Sweating profusely, his dumbbells sprawled across the room and a few more resistance bands, he walked over to the mirror and flexed his arms, staring at his taller self. He liked what he saw, but not as much as he'd have loved to.

"Fucking hell, it's impossible to get rid of all this fat." He saw plenty of muscles in the mirror, and he no longer had bulging belly fat. The chest was well developed, but he still saw no signs of abs. "It's like a muscular dadbod."

"Dear! It's time!"

"Coming, Mum!" He shouted back and ran into the bathroom for a quick shower. Then, he put on a random T-shirt, and jeans and went downstairs. Vernon and Petunia were dressed in nice, formal attire that night. "Let's go."

"My baby, I can't believe you're fifteen." Petunia pampered him just as she did every year.

"He took after me." Vernon boasted, proudly looking at his son. "Look at him—the ladies will go crazy at his new school."

Still feels weird. Dudley thought. As a guy who hated the Dursleys from an outsider's viewpoint, he was now one of them.

"Where's Harry?" He asked.

"He's wiping the windshield. A bird did its business on it," Petunia answered.

Dudley glared at the two. "I told you not to order him around! We're better than this! Nobody likes arrogant people. And money doesn't buy class."

One of the perks of being the family's golden child was having a louder voice. With Vernon and Petunia's previous overindulgence in pampering him, they had created a perfect monster for themselves.

"N-No, Dudley. Harry willingly offered to help." Vernon tried to clarify, shaken by the mere possibility of angering his son. "I swear, we don't order him for anything anymore."

The Dursley household's dynamics had changed a lot.

"Oh…" Dudley awkwardly scratched his head. "Let's go then. It's my birthday!"

"Yes, yes, let's go, my pumpkin."

Ugh, that word again. He hated being called that while being big-boned.

That evening, they all went to a fancy restaurant in London to have dinner. It was quite a distance away from Surrey, but they wanted to celebrate.

It had been three years since his rebirth in Dudley's body. Much had changed, starting with Harry's life. His cousin lived better now with plenty of food and no more slaving around. A truly ordinary life for a teenager. Albeit, the guy stayed timid.

That day, going to London was also his plan. He picked the restaurant that would have them drive through Whitehall. He kept his eyes glued to the window that whole time, looking for that clue.

That one red box.

And there it was, the red telephone booth.

Is that it? Magic is real, there's no doubt.

He held back his urges to go there and check it. He had no way of explaining himself if it were to somehow work. So, he went with his family and ate a nice, sumptuous dinner. Then with ice cream still in hand, they drove back home.

Clack!

Dudley turned the house key and opened the door, Harry and Petunia held present boxes behind him. He took a step inside and paused, feeling something under his shoe.

"We got mail?" He muttered and crouched down to pick them up. There were two packed letters, and with one look, he noticed the Hogwarts emblem on the wax seal. "Harry's got a letter!"

He turned around and handed it to the boy who lived. A thousand questions went through his head at the same time, about why so late. Did Hogwarts change?

"Who would write h—" Petunia was about to snarkily comment when she froze, also recognizing Hogwarts seal. "No! No, not this again!"

"Hogwarts? Wait…" Harry shuffled through the two letters and extended the second one back to Dudley. "This one's for you."

"Me?" Dudley snatched the thing and read the name on it. "Mr. D. Dursley… That's me!"

What's this? I'm a wizard?

"You're a Wizard? Dudley, oh my dear! You're a wizard!" Petunia dropped whatever she was holding and jumped to her son's side to read the letter. "This is it! It's the same as Lily's!"

"My Mum?" Harry looked at Petunia.

"What's this about?" Dudley continued the clueless act. "Wizard? What's that?"

"We can't talk here!" Petunia snapped, hurrying the two boys inside and dragging Vernon along. She slammed the door with a jittery glance outside, leading them all to the living room. "We've all noticed those... strange things Harry does... magical things."

Petunia continued the explanation, her breath seemingly lost. She kept Dudley's letter clutched in her hand. "Some people are born with magical powers… My Sister… She had them."

I can see the struggle. Dudley saw the confused look on Petunia's face. The woman hated witches and wizards until a moment ago. But, with her own son being magical, what was she supposed to do? Hate him too? The venom she had formed in her mind about magic was being challenged in real-time.

"Children with… magic, they go to Hogwarts. To—to learn it properly. This letter is… it's his official invitation." She glanced at Dudley, her lips quivering, and then at Vernon, who had already sunk into his chair, speechless. "Our Dudley… has magic!"

Vernon gave a low, sharp grunt. "Refuse it! I've set my son up for the finest private school, and I won't let them sweep him off like this!"

"W-What? Vernon, our son is gifted!"

"Since when did being a freak become a gift?" Vernon snapped at his wife. The man rarely showed the guts to talk down to her. "My son is normal, and I won't let him go to that freak school."

As if you have a choice. Dudley scoffed from the side. Like hell, he was going to give up that chance. This was a dream come true. I'll just leave home if he doesn't agree. I got rich Harry here to help me.

"I don't think we can keep him from going, Vernon. Their Ministry, they'll come for us. They might even get the police involved," Petunia responded, taking a more pro-Hogwarts side. It seemed she never gave up on Hogwarts and wanted to live that dream through her son. Maybe her son would be even better than Lily's son.

Vernon's face reddened as he glared at his wife. "I've made myself perfectly clear—he's not going, end of story! He's my son, and I will not stand by while he throws his life away on such nonsense."

Thud!

Vernon left and slammed his bedroom door. Behind him, Petunia followed. Soon, loud bickering voices echoed.

Dudley shrugged and went upstairs to read Harry's letter.

"Dudley, do you think this is real?"

"Well, you being able to levitate the furniture sure is. That's pretty magical."

"Then you should come with me," Harry said.

Dudley chuckled. "Come on, Harry. You still don't know me? You think they can stop me?"

At that, Harry smiled. It wasn't wrong to say that Dudley was the man of the house. His words held the most sway.

"I can't wait!" Harry excitedly reread the letter. "But we'll need to buy these things on the list."

Won't Hagrid come over to guide him? Dudley pondered how to get a look into Harry's personal vault. We're both muggles at this point. Shouldn't there be someone assigned to guide us?

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