Chapters I-XVI are edited, the rest will be edited in time.
Multiple cars drove down the secluded suburb of Little Whinging, Surrey. Along with them, a slight wind left in their trails. Around twenty nearly identical houses lined the quiet street of Privet Drive, giving off a friendly aura. The houses were all rather large; each boasted five bedrooms, and were all occupied by at least one wealthy businessman or woman.
At the leftmost end of the street, one house stood out from the others. Number 4.
At first glance, it seemed to be no different from the others. The Dursley family were all known and well respected despite their rocky relationship with their neighbours. But on further inspection, a person would see that the garden was preened to utmost perfection. Even the growing flowers were arranged in such a way to look like a giant prism being bombarded with light. Not a single weed littered the driveway; the pale grey stones lay undisturbed. On closer inspection, it was obvious the Dursley family thrived upon normalcy and perfection.
Vernon, the man of the family, was a very large man indeed. He was short, but what he lacked in height, he made up for in his weight without a doubt. He was a successful director of a drill producing company and was rather well-off; the brand new Mercedes in the driveway confirmed this. Petunia, the woman of the family, was a little shorter than her husband, but was a polar opposite in looks. She was very skinny, had an extremely long neck and did not work. She spent all of her time doting on her garden, spying on the neighbours and most of all- spoiling her son Dudley rotten.
Dudley was the centre of attention in the household. At seventeen years old, and a dead ringer for his dad as well as a young boxing champion, he was well known throughout the small town. He attended a prestigious all boys private school which was very expensive and had a high praise in the whole country for excellence. Despite this however, Dudley failed most of his classes and relied on Vernon to essentially 'buy' his grades through a lot of bribing.
Not many people knew of the other boy who had lived in the house three years prior, or rather the boy who lived there during the summer of the six years leading up to the fateful day which changed everything. The boy almost never left the house and when he did, he made sure he wasn't seen by many people. He was a lanky boy, a month younger than Dudley and he was Petunia's nephew. His parents had been murdered when he was a baby and had been dumped on his estranged family members very soon after without any warning whatsoever.
Harry James Potter was against everything the Dursley's were for. In their eyes he was not normal and not well behaved. Harry was also rather short, but he had a very kind personality that he didn't show unless he was where he truly belonged. When the boy was seen, Petunia told her curious neighbours that she had taken him in after her sister's death and he attended St Brutus' boarding school for incurably criminal boys.
That one fact unsettled the neighbours and neither of them talked about the sixteen-year-old much, which Harry enjoyed very much, he got enough attention in his own world.
Harry Potter was a wizard and even though Dudley wouldn't openly admit it, he was jealous of his cousin. Harry had fought multiple people and attended the best school of Witchcraft and Wizardry there was, Hogwarts.
Well, this was the normal life for the Dursley's until everything changed. A few witches and wizards had arrived via the floo network- a form of public transport which consisted of travelling through people's fireplaces. One of them was a middle-aged man who had dark skin and wore midnight blue robes with a rather strange looking hat; he had informed the family his name was Kingsley Shacklebolt. The second was an elderly woman who had her thin grey hair pulled into such a tight bun it looked as though it could scalp her and dark emerald robes; she told them she was one of Harry's teachers at that school and her name was Minerva McGonagall. The last one was rather different. She was a young woman who looked no older than twenty-five and even though the family hardly said anything- they all thought she was extremely beautiful. She was slender and was sporting shoulder-length hair in a shade of deep amethyst and she wore plain black robes; she told them that her name was Nymphadora Tonks but she preferred to go by her surname and she was also what was known as a metamorphmagus.
At the three confused faces over the term, she then proceeded to close her eyes for a split second and scrunch her face up which, truthfully, looked like she was in an incredible amount of pain. Three identical gasps which were both mixes of disgust and shock left the family as her nose transformed into a pig snout. Dudley had to hide his slowly reddening face as he remembered a particularly embarrassing moment when he was cursed with a pig's tail from a half-giant named Hagrid. Anyway, the family were informed of the trace that was on Harry Potter which would hold until the second he turned seventeen and they were all planning a huge scheme to get him out of the house and taken to a safe place.
At Vernon's scoff, the three magical people turned to him and asked him what was up. When he began laughing was all the explanation they needed because he was extremely pleased that Harry was finally leaving them and they would be able to go back to their normal lives. Fate had another thing in store though because they were then informed of the war and Harry was the centre of it. At that fact Vernon only laughed more, clearly not able to comprehend his scrawny sixteen-year-old nephew fighting on the front lines of a battle. Even though she would not admit it, Petunia did care for the boy because he was all he had left of her sister who had been murdered almost sixteen years prior. She didn't need to be told that the man behind the war was the same man who had taken her sisters life as well as so many others. They were all informed they were being moved to a safe location themselves because Harry had told people that no matter what harsh treatment they gave him- they were still his family and he wanted to keep them safe.
So two weeks later the family packed all of their immediate belongings into Vernon's brand new Mercedes with Tonks sitting in the backseat directing them to a tiny village right on the border of England and Wales. They had stayed there for almost a year and they were finally told that they could go back to Little Whinging. At Dudley's request they were told that Harry had won the war but was choosing to remain silent which surprisingly the older cousin understood. He knew his cousin was already a shy person and he would not enjoy all the attention he would get from people because at only seventeen years old he had fought a war; and won.
During those months in which they were basically on the run, he had decided he would actually study and his parents couldn't hide their proud remarks when he aced all of his classes with straight A's- something he had never managed beforehand. At the invitation to go back home his parents had seized their chance but Dudley made a different and rather dangerous decision. Five months prior he had met Felicity Jones. She was a rather petite girl with a very feisty yet a loving personality. She had waist length ashy blonde hair and striking grey eyes. Dudley knew instantly that he had met the girl he would spend the rest of his life with and instead of going back to live in Privet Drive with his parents he had decided to sign a lease on a flat with Felicity whom he had asked to be his girlfriend two months after they first met.
That was three years ago and the young couple's Croydon flat had turned into a decently sized house in the London suburb Fulham. Dudley had managed to start a business that boomed with a partner, and Felicity had also landed an incredible internship in a dentistry clinic. Over their three-year relationship they had earned enough between them to get a house; aged only twenty-one. Something that very few people of that age could do and they couldn't be prouder. Felicity knew of Harry because Dudley had told her everything on one of their dates when he was still living on the borders and much to his shock- she knew about witches and wizards and told him her mother was what people called a squib. He was confused at the term but understood her perfectly once she explained.
It had been three years since the war ended and like most mornings, Dudley was stood in front of his wardrobe deciding what tie would look the best with his suit. He had started a business of multiple charities which helped with underprivileged people. He still felt as though he needed to redeem himself over his harsh treatment towards his cousin for so many years. It had been almost four years since he had last seen Harry. What did he look like now? Where did he live? Did he have a girlfriend?
The questions swirled through the twenty-one-year-olds mind often but he genuinely had no idea how to go about getting in touch with Harry once again. He knew that wizards and witches used owls to post their letters and he didn't know where to get an owl. He quickly ran a comb through his tousled hair to make it sit neater before pulling on his suit jacket. He checked over his appearance one more time before making his way downstairs where he was greeted with his now fiancé Felicity in the kitchen making pancakes.
Unlike his teenage years, Dudley had lost over ten stone in weight and now sported some impressive muscles underneath his shirt. He had taken up going to the gym quite often when he was in exile and he was forced to eat healthily. It didn't take long until the weight was falling off. Vernon didn't like it because he always wanted his son to be 'beefy with just enough armour to keep him safe'. The armour in question being unwanted and extremely unhealthy fat. He had stopped his grumbling though when Dudley's business took off.
He sat down at the table just as Felicity began dishing out the pancakes with a strawberry sauce and maple syrup in separate jugs for choice. Unlike most days, Dudley had decided to go for the sugary option which caused his fiancé of two months to quirk her eyebrow. For some reason, Dudley was nervous for the day which was new. Felicity was quick to pick up on the single fact that her husband-to-be didn't care about what he ate when he was nervous. Slowly she slithered her left hand over the table and placed it on top of Dudley's much larger hand. He stared down at the two carat diamond ring which was surrounded by a dozen smaller sapphire's; her favourite gemstone.
That day was the most nervous he has ever been and he knows he will be even more nervous when his big day finally arrives. They had set a day for the beginning of next year and were slowly making all of the bookings and buying everything they would need. Dudley didn't care how much he spent on her because he loved to spoil her rotten. He had taken her to a very fancy restaurant that had recently opened in London's exclusive Mayfair and spent almost £500 on quality wine and food. Just before their dessert arrived, Dudley slid out of their booth and had gotten down on one knee. He was visibly shaking and Felicity began crying instantly whilst everyone else in the restaurant stared on in admiration for the young successful couple. A few seconds later Felicity had nodded her head and jumped into Dudley's arms whilst he spun her around to the point they were both incredibly dizzy.
As he ate his pancakes he could feel her fingers lightly tracing his skin which caused him to look at her. Neither of them needed to say anything because they knew each other so well they could hold silent conversations with one another. Felicity knew that Dudley was nervous which was also making her rather anxious. Once he noticed she was also beginning to feel the same emotions he forced himself to not be so nervous. It was just another day after all, what was there to worry about? His days were almost completely the same apart from the occasional prank his colleagues pulled in their respective offices. He had to stifle a small laugh at the most recent one which consisted of his close friend Rob covering everything in Kyle's office with bright pink wrapping paper and littering the room with teddy bears. Kyle's face was a picture to put it simply and it had taken him two hours to remove all of the 'decorations'.
Dudley heard it first- a very faint tapping noise. Felicity heard it not long after and gave her fiancé a silent look, asking if he had any idea what it was. From his bewildered expression she knew he didn't know either. The pair looked around the kitchen in search of the source of the strange noise. They both got up and walked to opposite ends of the large room which was decorated in a soft powder blue. Dudley turned sharply at hearing Felicities small gasp immediately thinking the worst. He paused at seeing her shocked face whilst she stared out of the closed window.
"Dudley, there's an owl outside the window. It keeps tapping its beak against the glass."
Lightning fast, Dudley's head snapped up in pure shock. Owls. He darted over to the window and opened it wide allowing the tawny to fly in. Felicity remained frozen in a mixture of fright and fascination as it perched on Dudley's arm. He tried- unsuccessfully- to hide his grimace at feeling the animal's sharp claws dig into his arm. He knew this was a domesticated owl because it would have flown away by now if it wasn't. He looked to its foot and he spotted a slightly yellowing piece of paper attached to its foot. He motioned for Felicity to get out some wild bird food from their cupboards as they had a couple of birdhouses in their garden.
She was still looking on in shock and pure curiosity but retrieved the bag and took out a small handful of the birdseed. She walked over and held her hand out before offering it to the owl. The animal cocked its head to the side as if observing the petite girl but soon dipped its head to begin eating the food. Whilst it was distracted, Dudley removed the paper from its leg and his eyes widened almost instantly. The paper was a lot thicker in texture to what he was used to and it felt rough against his fingertips. It wasn't this that shocked him though. It was the slightly messy handwriting on it that he had not seen for almost four years. He turned it over and just like he suspected it was indeed an envelope; a letter from Harry. He gulped down the wad of saliva which had formed in his mouth before looking at his future-wife stunned before quietly stating;
"It's a letter from my cousin."