Redemption (Dudley Dursley)

XXX. Betrayal.

The sun was shining. There was only a slight wind that came from the Autumn breezes. Outside, it was just humid enough that it wasn't uncomfortable. Around, people were walking around lightly covered up, clearly enjoying the nice day. In the background, a lot of birds were singing their individual calls, all blending seamlessly together that it created an incredible symphony.

However, there was one person that was raining on everyone else's parade. For very good reasons too. It had only been two days since he had last heard from his wife. Two days since he realised that they had all fallen directly into Kyra's trap. Forty-eight hours. It wasn't much time at all, a lot of people would agree with that. But to Dudley, it felt like eternity. Seconds felt like hours, hours felt like days, and days felt like years.

He desperately wanted to talk, but it was as if someone had taken a thread and sewn his lips shut. Every time he did open his mouth, all saliva disappeared and his mind went blank. The day prior he had spent with a lot of people he had never met before. The second Harry realised what was going on, he had gotten four of the most respected Auror's there were along with two people who were Legilimens.

Not much could be done though, except give every piece of information they did have. It seemed like a lost cause though, because Kyra had not been on their radar before now. Almost like she had been born this past year but that couldn't be true. Dudley mentioned something he remembered from Felicity's visions, that she was an assistant of sorts to Bellatrix. That gave them a slight lead but from there it was like they were trying to scale a never ending brick wall.

Don't mess with a professional. That was something he was told on numerous occasions from his mum, his dad, other people in his family, colleagues, other businessmen. But they would probably never understand how bad this actually is. He hated feeling empty. He hated feeling useless. He hated feeling responsible. Most of all though, he hated being alone.

Loneliness was something he had always felt. Since he was a young boy really. At the time he didn't notice because he was too self-absorbed. But now that he was no longer like that, there seemed to be a never ending black cloud following him around. That cloud slowly turning into a rain cloud, to a storm cloud. Thick droplets of water falling and finally turning into thunder and lightning. The thunder being the warning, and the lightning being when the threat struck.

Now that had passed, there was never ending thunder following him. Of course, it was all happening in his head. But that only made it worse, and it made him feel even more isolated.

It was a feeling he was well accustomed to, especially over the last five years. Had it really only been that long ago? When he had been sitting on a couch with his parents being told that they had to go into hiding? It seemed so weird to think about now. But for him, he was desperately trying to cling onto the good memories. It didn't help much, but it did dull out the war going on inside his head.

Day three wasn't any better. In fact, if he had to say anything, it was a lot worse. He had tried to eat that morning but it felt like he was swallowing stones. Even then, he forced it down but his stomach did not agree with him for it because only ten minutes later he was bent over the toilet. He never really got sick. At most he had a silly cold that disappeared within a couple of days, but he was never someone who got violently sick.

In his mind, he counted three times in which he could remember being like this. The first was when he was about eight years old and it happened because he accidentally ate dirt when he face-planted the grass playing football with his friends. The second time he remembered was when he was around thirteen years old, and it came on from horrible food poisoning. That had come about when they had gone to a new (and expensive) seafood restaurant that opened in a town a couple of miles away. He remembered eating a prawn that was a bit cold but he thought nothing of it...until the next morning that is.