Many thanks to my beta, Amber0_o!
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
Dudley wasn’t exactly sure what had made him say those things to Harry. In the two years since the dementor attack, Dudley’s feelings toward Harry had changed. To what, he didn’t know, but he hadn’t been quite ready to share this with his whole family.
He sighed and looked out of the window, watching the suburban scene pass him by. But I had to tell him tonight, thought Dudley, or I might never have had the chance. It hadn’t gone the way Dudley would have liked. Even he realized that telling someone he’s not a waste of space isn’t a proper ‘thank you’. He hadn’t apologized for fourteen years of torture, either. He just hoped Harry understood.
Dudley’s ponderings were interrupted by his father’s raised voice, and he jerked his head up to see what it could be about. He seemed ready to kick Hestia Jones out of the car. “TELL ME WHERE YOU’RE TAKING US!” Vernon roared.
“For the thousandth time, I can’t tell you,” Hestia replied, exasperated, but in no way intimidated by the large, blonde man on her right. “You’ll find out when we get there.”
“If you don’t tell me where we’re going, I’ll””
“You’ll what?” Hestia challenged. Vernon fell into a huffy quiet, and continued driving into the night. A smirk planted itself on Dudley’s face; he’d never seen someone who could handle his father’s temper quite like that.
Five minutes later, on a quiet, deserted street, Hestia said, “Stop the car.” Vernon pulled to the side of the road and the Dursley family, Dedalus Diggle, and Hestia Jones got out of the car. Dedalus went to help Dudley unload the trunks, the latter looking very apprehensively at the older wizard. When he pulled out his wand, Dudley screeched in an uncharacteristically high pitch, “Please! Don’t kill mee-eee!”
Dedalus chuckled, pointed his wand at the trunks, and said, "Wingardium Leviosa!" Dudley peered between his chubby fingers, which he had flung protectively in front of his face, in time to see three trunks lift out of the car and glide forward under the direction of Dedalus’ wand.
“We will leave at the same time Harry should be leaving Privet Drive,” Dedalus announced, as the trunks stopped in mid-air next to where he and Hestia were standing. He pulled out a large pocket watch, whispered something to it, and hastily shoved it back into his robes. “Just a couple more minutes.”
The Dursleys looked warily at the witch and wizard, until Dudley spoke up. “How exactly are we getting to wherever it is we’re going?”
“We’ll be Apparating, of course,” said Dedalus.
“We’ll be what?” Vernon snapped.
“Apparating,” Dedalus repeated, as if this cleared up all questions.
Vernon’s round face began to swell and his fists clenched at his side.
“Apparition is just one way of traveling in the Wizarding World,” Hestia quickly explained, noticing Vernon’s murderous look. “We’ll be doing Side-Along Apparition, so you three just need to hold onto one of our hands.”
Dudley looked from his mother to his father, much like a little boy who won’t admit he’s afraid of a ride at the carnival, hoping one of them would protest. But before either had a chance, Dedalus’ pocket watch screeched "Time to go!”
“Okay then, who’s coming with me?” Hestia asked distractedly.
Without hesitation, Petunia grabbed Dudley’s massive arm and rushed over to Hestia, deciding she was more competent than their other escort, who kept adjusting his top hat so that it wouldn’t fall over his eyes. Vernon must have felt the same way, because he was cursing under his breath as he approached Dedalus Diggle.
“Excellent! Excellent!” Dedalus said cheerfully, “Then you’ll be coming with me!” Vernon grunted in response.
“Have you got your trunks?” Hestia surveyed the Dursleys. “Good. Just hold tight; Apparition may feel a bit strange the first time, but it’s not dangerous.”
Dudley took a firm grip of Hestia’s hand and, a moment later, felt all the air being sucked out of his lungs. Something was closing in on him from all sides and, as suddenly as it had begun, it stopped. He gasped for breath, inviting the warm summer air into his lungs.
He looked around to see Hestia and Dedalus looking like the sensation of not being able to breathe hadn’t bothered them a bit. His mother stood a few feet away, wide-eyed and very pale, seemingly staring at something in the distance, though she was facing a brick wall. His father was panting on the ground, and was trying in vain to push himself up, refusing any help from Dedalus.
Once Vernon had clumsily gotten to his feet, he began yelling incoherently at Hestia and Dedalus, who were very confused.
“NOT DANGEROUS…! FEELS STRANGE…! NEVER…! HOLD TIGHT!” Vernon’s face was now so purple and swollen it looked like it would burst at any moment. In response, Dedalus cocked an eyebrow at the crazed Muggle, and Hestia drew her wand, intent on putting a Silencing charm on him, so he wouldn’t wake up the entire street. But at the sight of the wand, he silenced himself immediately, fearing the awful things she would do to him if he continued.
They had arrived in a dirty alleyway off a street nothing like Privet Drive. The buildings were skinny and all more than five stories tall. Not one house resembled its neighbor; the first was red brick, with white shutters and moldings around the windows and door, and seven stories high. Across the street was a stunning white house with imposing columns that traveled to the roof.
Hestia led them out of the alley, with Dedalus and the trunks in tow. It looked like they were in a large city, judging by the skyscrapers in the distance and Dudley wondered if they were in London. They passed a stone building, a house covered completely with vines, and one adorned with two gargoyles, until they stopped in front of a six-story, black building. It had black brick, black shutters, and even a black roof, and lacked all the life found in the other houses.
Two black doors led them into the small lobby where two ancient-looking chairs, several dusty paintings, and an unoccupied concierge desk seemed to be there just to take up space. They walked down a short corridor to the elevator, where Hestia and Dedalus hesitated, wondering how they were supposed to get the elevator to come. “We could try a Summoning charm,” Hestia suggested, but before she took out her wand, Vernon leaned forward and pressed the “up” button, shaking his head and muttering something about incompetence.
“I do love these Muggle contraptions,” Dedalus said excitedly, noting the way the button lit up when it was pushed.
When it arrived, Hestia and Mr. Dursley squeezed inside, along with two of their trunks. Dudley reached to press the “up” button again after the doors had closed, but Dedalus stopped him, and said, “Don’t worry. Your father’s already done that.”
“But we need to press it again,” Dudley said.
“Why? It already knows were here.”
“How will the elevator know we’re here if we don’t press the button?” Dudley asked incredulously.
“Well, it was here before, and we didn’t all fit in, so it’ll come back for us,” Dedalus replied confidently, and then added, “unless this, what did you call it, ely-vader has a bad memory.”
“Elevator’s don’t have memories,” Dudley said, knitting his brows and shaking his head at the old man. “It won’t come back unless we tell it to.”
A moment later, the elevator arrived, after Dudley insisted the button be pushed, and he, Dedalus, and Petunia squeezed into the small space. Dedalus took a piece of parchment from his coat pocket and said that he was to be looking for some sort of control panel with circles and numbers. Dudley raised an eyebrow, and pointed to the buttons right next to the wizard.
He turned to face the buttons, which were numbered one to six, tapped the metal surface with his wand, and said, "Septum Aperio!" The whole thing glowed for a few seconds, and when the light faded, there was a new button for floor seven.
In the back of the elevator, Petunia whimpered. She obviously didn’t like having magic done in front of her. Dedalus pushed the button for floor seven, and, when the elevator started rising, said, “How do these Muggles come up with such things? And without magic!”
They were surprised, when the doors opened, to see Hestia with her wand drawn and looking very pleased with herself, and purple-faced Vernon struggling on the ground, shouting mutely. Petunia rushed over to her husband and tried to get him to tell her what was wrong.
“Invisible ropes and a Silencing charm?” Dedalus questioned, looking quite amused by the situation.
“Well, I couldn’t let him wake everyone up. It would be curious to the people on the sixth floor who are hearing shouts from a seventh floor they think doesn’t exist,” Hestia replied innocently, though she knew perfectly well that no one would hear them. She had just cast a wide range of protective spells on the apartment, including Muffliato.
With a flick of her wand, Hestia removed the enchantments on Vernon, who screamed, “-GET YOU WHEN I GET OUT OF THESE…” before realizing his voice was back. Hestia walked to the only door in the small, dark corridor, unlocked it with a Muggle key, and went inside without giving Vernon a second look.
A/N: “septum” means seven and “aperio” means reveal in Latin.