Chapter 3: Chapter 2
Madam Malkin of Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions was a short fat woman who really had no business smiling so brightly at him as he entered her shop. Or perhaps he was wrong to think that. Perhaps she had every reason to smile at him, given he was more than likely a paying customer.
Before Dudley can so much as speak, Madam Malkin overrides him, that smile still on her face as she cocks her head to the side.
"Here for your Hogwarts Robes, dear? Got the lot for you here. Another young man is being fitted up just now, as a matter of fact."
Dudley blinks at that, as he comes to the realization that this time of the year must be some of Madam Malkin's, both the witch and the shop's, best time for business. Over in the back of the place, a boy with a pale face and platinum blonde hair is standing on a stool, while a second witch pins up his long black robes, taking his measurements.
Madam Malkin leads Dudley back to that spot and has Dudley get on top of his own stool before slipping quite the large robe over his head, beginning to pin it to the right length with consummate professionalism and efficiency. Dudley can't help but be a little pleased that he's shed some pounds since he came back to this world. He wouldn't have felt nearly as safe up on this stool if he were still his overly rotund self.
Not that he's all that skinny now, while his mother might have always excused his weight by declaring Dudley 'big-boned', there actually was some truth to the statement. Dudley was big-boned, broad-shouldered, and likely always going to be a bit of a large man. He just wasn't quite so morbidly obese anymore. Magic had been able to help with that, as a matter of fact.
"Hello there. You bound for Hogwarts too?"
The boy at his side speaks up and Dudley turns to regard him, blinking as he truly and properly takes in his fellow student. This right here… this right here is a nobleman's son; Dudley pegs him as such almost immediately. There's no way around it, this boy is used to getting his way, and he's used to living a life with lots of money. To be fair, Dudley isn't that bad off himself… ESPECIALLY now that he and his mother have access to the Potter Vault. In fact, Dudley is quite rich, isn't he?
Squaring his shoulders, he gives the other boy a smile and a nod.
"Aye, that's where I'm headed. Dudley Dursley."
The boy squints a little at that and cocks his head to the side.
"… Draco Malfoy. Don't think I've ever heard the name Dursley before."
Ah, right. Purebloods and all that. Dudley was smart enough to know that being labelled a Muggleborn was a Bad Thing. He'd heard enough about why that bloke Voldemort had caused so much trouble, and why the Purebloods had followed him as his Death Eaters. At the end of the day, being a muggleborn in this time period was no good. Luckily, Dudley had thought of all of this already and was ready with a bit of an improvised cover story.
"My mum is a squib. Unfortunately, I was raised among muggles until it was found out that I was a proper wizard. But mum taught me all about our world, even if I was stuck living in theirs. I won't lie… I'm glad to be here now, rather than there."
Framing it in that way, pressing down on Draco's buttons as only his future knowledge allows him to, Dudley can tell that it works, at least marginally. Draco relaxes and offers Dudley a smaller but still genuine smile as well as a nod.
"I see. Well, good to see that you're getting away from that sort. I suppose your family decided to hide out in Muggle London during the Dark Lord's last rise. I don't blame you; squibs weren't exactly treated any better than mudbloods."
There's a quiet gasp from the witch currently pinning Draco's robes, but the young aristocrat doesn't pay her the slightest bit of attention, nor does he seem to notice Madam Malkin's sharp disapproving look. Dudley is all smiles in regard to all that, not having any intention of offending one Draco Malfoy when he was clearly a person of wealth and influence. Even if Dudley had a lot of wealth himself now, his influence was miniscule in comparison.
"Well then, you might not know much about Hogwarts, since your mum wouldn't have been allowed to go. Put simply, Hogwarts is the best magical school in the whole wide world. Within Hogwarts, there are four Houses. There's Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, and Gryffindor in order of descending inferiority, and then there's the best Hogwarts House, House Slytherin. That's the House both my parents were in, and it's the House I'll be in as well."
Dudley nods slowly at that, soaking in the information. He knows some of it, once again from picking things up from the future. He didn't know as much about Hogwarts as he might have liked, but at the very least he knew his cousin had been a Gryffindor. Draco had listed them as the most inferior of the Houses, and probably for a reason… but then, Harry had been anything but inferior in Dudley's original timeline, so if he had to guess, Gryffindor was the House of Heroes while Slytherin… well, it was literally just a play on the word slithering, wasn't it? So… snakes.
He could work with that. He could definitely work with that.
"Slytherin sounds like the sort of place that I'd like to be as well. I'm not exactly one for inferiority."
His joke seems to go over well with Draco, who flashes him a warmer smile and another approving nod.
"House Slytherin is the place for the ambitious and cunning. You certainly sound like you have ambition. I suppose we'll have to see if you have the cunning to match, won't we?"
And then, Draco perks up.
"Have you ever heard of Quidditch, perhaps?"
Dudley had, but like most of his knowledge of the wizarding world, he only knew the bare basics, and he was smart enough to realize he shouldn't bluff with this boy. Shrugging his shoulders in a way that has Madam Malkin tsking at him, Dudley gives a sort of half-nod.
"I've heard of it, yeah. That's the magical sport played on broomsticks."
Grinning, Draco nods back.
"That's exactly right. It's pretty great. Father says it would be a crime if I'm not picked to play for my house, and I have to say, I agree with him wholeheartedly."
Dudley didn't seem himself playing much Quidditch, truth be told, even if it did sound interesting. He might be the kind of man to be a sports fan, but playing the sport itself… eh, he was interested in other physical pursuits, at the end of the day. Still, he wasn't about to say that to Draco Malfoy. Not when the boy certainly seemed quite excited by the prospect. In the end, Dudley just gives a sort of noncommittal nod.
"Well, I suppose I should tell you about the other Houses, since I've talked so much about Slytherin. Ravenclaw is where the bookish sorts go. Not a bad place, but not as good as Slytherin. Hufflepuff… the less said about Hufflepuff, the better. Needless to say, their entire House is built around friendship. Can you imagine? Your whole identity being defined by… friendliness? Dreadfully boring. But Gryffindor is without a doubt the worst. Bunch of idiots who value things like courage and bravery over sense and intelligence. Being a Hufflepuff makes you a follower, but being a Gryffindor makes you THINK you should be a leader."
Draco pauses for a moment, before shrugging.
"Or at least, that's what my father says. He's off getting my books right now, while my mother looks at wands. I assume you came here with your mother… the squib?"
Dudley feels a small kernel of anger form inside of him at the way Draco addresses his mum. Still, he is the one that labeled Petunia that in the first place. Better his mother be thought of as a squib than a muggle, right? Muggles were obviously the lowest of the low in wizarding society, thought of little more than animals to be treated as wizards and witches liked.
Flashing a smile to hide his momentary anger, Dudley simply nods.
"Yeah, she's getting my books as well, and some other supplies. Just made sense to split up and cover more ground faster, didn't it?"
Draco nods slowly in agreement.
"That it does… that it does. Hm… well, you're relatively new to our world, but I assume you have heard about the Dark Lord and all that, yes? About… Harry Potter?"
It's funny. Draco says 'the Dark Lord' with an ease that has the woman currently measuring him for robes shivering. But when he says the name of Dudley's cousin, well, it's all hushed whispers and furtive glances about, as if just speaking Harry's name will invoke him. Dudley, more than a little curious, cocks his head to the side and shrugs a bit as he nods.
"Yeah, I've heard about all that. My mother told me stories. Something about Harry Potter killing Vo-the Dark Lord as a baby?"
He catches himself at the last second when he remembers that Voldemort's name wasn't spoken among wizards and witches. Instead, he hastily reverts to Draco's way of addressing the dead wizard, which seems to please the other boy quite a lot.
"Indeed. Though of course, that night truly is shrouded in mystery. Still, everyone seems to believe it. The Dark Lord killed the Potters, and then the Potter Heir killed him. Of course… this year's the year when Harry Potter is supposed to be coming to Hogwarts. He's our age now, after all. Can you believe it? Going to school with a Dark Lord Slayer… feels a bit… I don't know."
Dudley is surprised to see Draco's face scrunch up in sheer uncertainty for a moment, like the young boy isn't quite sure what to think or feel. It clears up a second later though, and Draco is once again confident as ever.
"Well, either way my Father thinks that it will definitely shake things up in the Wizengamot. Dreadful business all that Dark Lord stuff, but what can you do, right?"
In the end, all Dudley can do is nod. Their conversation peters off after that, with Draco falling into thought as Madam Malkin and her assistant finish up with them both. What Dudley doesn't know, and really has no way of truly knowing at this point, is that most of Voldemort's followers would prefer that neither the Dark Lord NOR his slayer ever returned to the Wizarding World.
After all, most former Death Eaters had attained positions of power and influence in the Wizarding World by now, with only a scant few actually facing justice for their crimes in the depths of Azkaban. Those who had escaped said justice preferred the way things were now, stable and Dark Lord-free, as opposed to when they were all younger and firebrands and trying to 'change the world'.
If they really want to change anything, they can just pass the laws that they feel are needed now, with Dumbledore being little more than a lame duck at this point in time. Of course, if he were suddenly to have the Savior of the Wizarding World, the Boy-Who-Lived, Harry Potter at his side… well, there was a reason none of these elite wizards wanted the Potter Heir to show up, what with all the political leverage and contracts that his House had accumulated.
Unfortunately, to them it seemed all but inevitable. Harry Potter was now of age to start at Hogwarts. So, he would be crawling out of the woodworks this very year to begin his time at the Premier School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Or so they all believed. Unbeknownst to THEM, Harry Potter wasn't coming. Instead, they were all stuck with Dudley Dursley. They just didn't know it yet.
This gave Dudley a lot more power than even he realized he had. Only time would tell just who would end up using who though…
-x-X-x-
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