The Arrival of a Letter
‘Oh, here we go again’, Dudley thinks, as he recognises the thick luxurious paper of the envelope and the unique calligraphy, not to mention the wax seal with which the letter is closed just underneath the distinct logo with the motto "Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus".
It had been quite some time since he had seen such a letter, but he can remember, as if it were yesterday, his father’s reaction and behaviour and deteriorating mental state when that first letter disgraced their doormat in Privet Drive. The following frantic and completely ineffective battle against the arrival of these letters was, in hindsight, quite funny, though he still had nightmares about the pig’s tail he sprouted in its aftermath.
Judging by the envelope in his hand, it seemed that Daisy Harriet Dursley had been accepted to Hogwarts.
Over the past few years, Harry and his husband Draco had already gently prepared him for the possibility that this might happen, as they had noticed some early signs of magical powers in his daughter quite some time ago.
Not that he himself had been oblivious. Having grown up with young Harry, he had enough experience to recognise the signs.
Of course, had his father still been alive, the news of a Dursley being admitted to Hogwarts would not have gone down well, but Dudley had to admit that he wasn’t at all put out and was in fact quite proud of his daughter following in his cousin’s footsteps.
His mother, having lost her grip on reality completely after the death of his father, had been admitted to a facility for the elderly a number of years ago, so the only person he had to carefully prepare for this eventuality was his wife, Diane, who was a muggle through and through.
It had not been easy to sit her down to tell her about his aunt Lily and his cousin Harry and explain the whole other world that existed alongside their non-magical one.
Being a fan of fantasy fiction, his wife had taken the news surprisingly well, a bit like she was joining one of her book characters in a fantasy world.
It had taken Dudley years of therapy to accept the circumstances of Harry’s sudden appearance in his life and the years that followed of him living under their roof, and even more time to fully understand the world that Harry and his friends lived in, which in a sense was the same world he lived in, but with slightly different aspects.
If only things had been different back then, he mused, but that was all water under the bridge and Harry and himself had slowly rebuilt their relationship over the years and when Daisy was born, Dudley had asked Harry to be her godfather. Dudley had even been one of the groomsmen at Harry’s wedding, despite the disapproval of his mother and father.
Harry and Draco had embraced the best of both worlds. They abandoned quills and parchments as soon as that blasted war of theirs was over and owned and managed one of the major tech companies in the UK and had wholeheartedly embraced any new ‘muggle’ technologies. For the most part they communicated by phone and email. They still had some owls of course, partly for nostalgic reasons, but as not all wizards had embraced technology, owl post was still the main form of communication in the wizarding world. However, Harry and Draco were adamant that they would not use muggle transport, if they could help it, as they could not see the benefit of wasting hours sitting in traffic jams, and they never went anywhere without their wands. Dudley suspected that Draco might have used the odd spell or two to seal a deal or win a contract during their rapid rise in the tech world, but he was not going to risk being at the end of one of those spells by questioning Draco’s business skills.
Still standing at the front door with the letter in his hands, Dudley started to chuckle to himself.
‘I suppose now I will have no choice but to allow my fireplace to be added to that darn floo network’, he thought, thinking back to the first time the Weasleys had barged in through their front room wall.
Harry had been pestering him for years, as it would be much more convenient than apparating into the narrow side passage, when he came to visit.
Dudley had always resisted, but if his own daughter was going to be a witch, he supposed that he would have to embrace their ways.
Daisy would be so thrilled to be able to visit her favourite uncle that way.
Yes, maybe this letter was a welcome change is his life. Maybe something good would come of this letter.
Dudley was going to get his daughter the best broom and best owl money could buy. He would invite Harry to go with them to buy all the school stuff and maybe Harry would be able to bring him to Hogwarts some time and show him around.
Who would have thought that all these years later, he would be happy to ask his cousin for advice on magical stuff.
Waving the letter around, he did a little victory dance and laughed out loud. Anyone who would have seen him, would have thought he had gone mad, just like his own dad many years ago.