Redemption (Dudley Dursley)

XVIII. A Problem.

It had only been a week. Seven days doesn't really seem like much time but it definitely did for some reason. Ever since Dudley's revelation about his mum finally managing to forgive herself of all of her wrongdoings in her life, it was almost as if everything just became stationary. However, Petunia's advice now made a lot of sense to him. He had seen it first hand with Harry and his mum. It did annoy him greatly that she was almost always right when it came to these sorts of topics, but there was no way Harry would ever forgive him if he could not forgive himself.

Elsewhere, the other cousin was thinking very similarly. Harry had not told many people apart from Ginny, Ron, and Hermione about Petunia's breakdown. All of them gave him a look that wasn't exactly decipherable to one thought entirely. All of them thought differently over the situation which was why Harry had decided to keep quiet on the matter until he was absolutely sure that Petunia wasn't faking it. It was unlikely she was, but the possibility was still there. His wife and two best friends just simply wanted the best for him. The older two had seen first-hand some of the things that Harry was forced to do underneath the Dursley's roof. Naturally, Ron and Hermione were warier over the whole situation.

Speaking of his wife, she was currently at the training grounds seen as her team was qualified in the final. Harry knew she was not going to settle for second place in the final match that was in a short three weeks. The clogs had been turning in his head for a few days and the redhead could see the thoughts in question. In fact, she was also secretly considering this but did not voice her opinions to her husband as she wanted him to be ready before he told anyone about his plans. This weekend, Harry was planning on properly introducing Dudley, Felicity, and possibly Petunia, to the other side of the family. He wasn't sure about his aunt yet but this was eventually going to happen. Seven months had passed since he had first reached out to his cousin after almost four years of no contact- it just felt like the right time to make the next step.

As a whole, they didn't exactly consider one another friends at the moment. Now that Harry thinks about it, they've never really talked about what they would label themselves currently. They had brushed over the topic occasionally but never in detail. Maybe that is something he could bring up the next time he saw Dudley in the flesh. The older had been bombarded with meetings recently considering once again there were other top businessmen attempting to make alliances between their rival companies but his cousin was having none of it. He was never interested in the money side of the spectrum, he was only interested in helping people and nothing more than that. Dudley stuck out like a sore thumb in the business field but in a good way.

There are so many people in this world who are only interested in a large fortune and public image- his cousin was neither. Harry never did find out the reason behind his thought process towards this situation. The younger shook his head before stepping into his fireplace and clearly speaking;

"Ministry of Magic!"

As a whole, he didn't enjoy using the floo network to travel places but he would much rather accidentally breathe in nasty fumes than travel through a public toilet. Workers couldn't use the visitors entrance except when bringing in someone who did not work there or to take someone to a hearing of some sort. Harry closed his eyes at the memory, he always tried to block it out. Well actually, he always tried to block out the pink-faced-toad. How that woman was even employed in the first place stunned him because surely a voice that high pitched would just mean trouble.

As much as Harry tried to hold his breath it was no use because somehow the soot entered his lungs a little causing him to cough a fair amount. At least he had finally figured out how to just walk out of the linked fireplace instead of tumbling out of it like the first few times he used the floo network. His own office was a couple of floors below and his presence was noted by everyone he walked past. Too many people holding their hands out to shake, nodding politely, and wishing him a good day. Unfortunately, this was something he had no choice but to get used to- after all it was down to Harry to bring an end to the second war and also unintentionally brought an end to the first war.