#nice dudley

What is Dudley got a girl pregnant in the summer after 4th year. (For the sake of the AU, he's started getting better/nicer and more understanding after talking to the school counselor)

Obviously, he's too young to be a father, but the girl skips town and, like his cousin, leaves the little girl on the Dursley's doorstep during winter break. Dudley doesn't know how to take care of a baby, but he knows one thing. He won't abandon his child.

Problem? His daughter is a witch.

How does he know this? Because he's had to pull her down from the ceiling twice, each time desperately keeping it a secret from his mother and father. There's only one person who can really help Dudley with this and that person is on his way home from King's Cross after a tough 5th year.

Dudley meets Harry on the front porch with Daisy grabbing at his fingers. The younger boy(by a few months) freezes, yanking his heavy trunk up the step andsetting it beside him and glaring at Dudley with suspicion and Daisy with confusion. Dudley doesn't know how to start the conversation.

"I had a baby."

NOT THAT WAY!!!

Harry isn't really sure how to respond to that and awkwardly congratulates his cousin with a big question mark at the end of the sentence. Is this a good thing? If Harry had to choose one of the Dursleys to give a baby, he can say that he would have not given the baby to any of them.

Dudley puts his head in his hands and mumbles something. Daisy babbles as her father's shadow covers her entire body.

"What?"

Dudley looks up at Harry through his fingers. "Daisy... She um... She has magic. I think."

Harry stiffens and looks at the door, debating if he should just run off with his...niece(?). He's done worse. He blew up his aunt in 3rd year, he could probably get away with a simple muggle kidnapping.

"Mom doesn't know. If I have my way, Dad will never know." Dudley is fidgeting with his fingers, as if they'll have some sort of answer to his dilemma. Harry breathes out a sigh of relief and lays his trunk down, sitting down on it across from Dudley and Daisy, who's surprisingly bright green eyes are staring at the newcomer. Just like her Aunt Lily's eyes. Harry swallows the comparison.

"Why are you telling me this, Dudley?"

Dudley looks up and away from Harry's face. From where he can still see the tiniest scar from where his mother had hit Harry with the frying pan. He used to think it had been funny until his counselor looked at him with such a look of horror. It really was a good thing doctor/patient confidentiality was a thing.

"You're... I think you're the only one who could help me with this. I don't know how to... stop her?"

Harry's face sours and Dudley quickly tries to remedy his statement. "N-not stop her exactly. I just don't want her to hurt herself. I... I don't know how this all works Harry. I don't remember how much trouble you were as a baby, or if you even showed this kind of magic when you were that little."

Harry looks contemplative and Dudley worries his lip between his teeth. Harry stands up and kneels forward. "Can I hold her?"

Dudley nods, surprised. "Yeah of course. Um, just support her head there and yeah. There ya go..."

Harry holds her like a natural. He smiles down at the baby girl. "Hello Daisy. Have you been getting stuck on the ceiling?" He looks up at Dudley again, who is twisting his thumb in the fist of his other hand. "What are you doing when she gets stuck on the ceiling?"

Dudley blinks. "Oh. Um usually I've just gotten done with feeding her. Bottle feeding, y'know?"

Harry nods. "Where does she sleep?"

"Mom wanted her to sleep in your room-"

"Of course." Harry rolls his eyes and Daisy burblers at him.

"-but I wanted her close, so she sleeps in my room."

Harry hums and thinks for a moment, not even acknowledging that Daisy is sucking on his pinky. "I wonder if she wants to sleep after getting her bottle?"

Dudley nods. "Usually."

"Then her... um."

"You can say 'magic' with me, Harry. Just... don't mention it to mom or dad."

Harry gives him a look that says 'you're stupid' and continues his sentence, "Her magic is probably trying to get her into her crib for bed. Maybe try feeding her in your room? She may know you're putting her down immediately if you're in there?"

Daisy grabs at Harry's glasses and he moves his face back slightly. "You're just like your father."

Dudley scowls. "I'm not sure that was a compliment." Harry give him another look. The boys stare at each other for a long time, just analyzing one another. Then Harry nods and stands up with Daisy. Dudley stands up too.

"Can you grab my trunk?" Harry asks, a smirk growing on his face.

"Why don't you get it?" Dudley asks, genuinely confused.

Harry lifts Daisy higher. "My arms are full of baby. Can't do it."

"Oi. That's my daughter you're holding, y'know."

"Why yes. I'm very aware." Harry turns away from Dudley, leaning towards Daisy while opening the front door. "How your father ended up with something as precious as you, I will never know."

"Oi!"

☆

The summer passes quickly. Harry helps Dudley take care of Daisy's accidental magic and tries to help him learn how to teach her to control it, even if she is only like 9 months old. Slowly, she's getting used to it and starts controling/suppressing it on her own.

It's a quiet night. Dudley's parents had left on a date when Harry whispers "I wish I'd had someone like Daisy has you, Dudley."

Dudley, careful not to move too much as Daisy had fallen asleep on his chest, looks at Harry. "What do you mean?"

Harry stares at Daisy from where he is kneeling, leaning against the coffee table. "Y'know... someone who cares. Someone who loves."

"Oh..."

It's quiet for a long time before Dudleg asks, "What about your godfather? The uh... the murderer?"

Harry breaks and tells Dudley about what happened. He tells Dudley that Sirius is dead, not even aware of how much time has passed or how he ended up sitting on Dudley's bed while the young man laid Daisy in her crib. Dudley pulls forward a chair and sits in front of Harry.

"Tell me everything."

So Harry does. Harry tells Dudley about how he had gotten on the cafeteria rooftop, and how comforting Hogwarts was to him. "Felt like home." He tells Dudley about the many DADA teachers that have tried to kill him and about the monsters he's had to fight.

"Oh gosh..." Dudley is hunched over the trash can he'd snatched when Harry had gotten to the last task of the Triwizard Tournament. "So... Daisy is... She's a muggleborn and Voldemort is after all muggleborns. He's after you and shes your niece and..."

Harry nods.

"Oh gosh..."

"Nothing will happen to her. I'll keep her safe, Dudley. I won't let anything harm Daisy. Or you."

Dudley stares at Harry, confusion evident. He was horrible to Harry. Heck, he still had a few moments this summer. Harry clenches his fists and stares a hole in the carpet before meeting Dudley's eyes. "She won't grow up without her father."

Dudley swallows down the acid and closes his eyes. His daughter is one of the most targeted people in the wizard world, but she's got the strongest wizard behind her. Dudley struggles to feel comforted by that fact.

Dudley had no way of knowing just how far Harry would go.

Petunia knows something is happening but Vernon ignores his son and his granddaughter, refuses to even acknowledge them. Petunia tries to understand but every day, Dudley looks at her and shakes his head. There's fear in his eyes and she can't do anything about it.

Harry stays with the Dursleys when Dumbledore comes to retrieve him. He returns after convincing Slughorn to be the potions professor. He sits on Dudley's bed while the other boy rocks Daisy to sleep and tells Dudley that something is coming. When Harry goes off to Hogwarts, both of the boys worry about what will happen.

Harry keeps hearing about attacks in the muggle world and Dudley keeps seeing OoP members patrolling Privett Drive. OoP know the Dursleys have a new kid in the house, but don't know who she belongs to yet. As the year goes on, Dudley sends many letters to Harry, not receiving many replies other than Harry assuring Dudley that he is still alive. Then he gets a letter.

"Tell Daisy about me. I'm not sure if this will work."

Dudley spends the next few days on the constant look out for Harry's owl Hedwig. Daisy is a 18 months old and has been babbling for "Hawwy". Petunia grimaces when the little girls asks her grandmother where Hawwy is and Vernon sneers at the girl. Dudley comforts his daughter. He's "graduated" and looks for a job. He needs to take care of his daughter.

When Harry returns to Privett Drive, he's exhausted. Dudley keeps Vernon away from Harry and Harry gets Daisy cuddles anytime he gets too quiet.

"Dumbledore is dead."

Dumbledore was the only wizard Voldemort was afraid of.

"What happens now, Harry?"

Harry shakes his head and sweeps a strand of Daisy's hair out of her eyes. "Shes getting so big."

"Yeah."

The OoP come to help the Dursleys move out. When Remus walks in on Harry and Dudley packing Daisy's things he notices the young girl playing with a small ball of light. A patronus. Remus glances at Harry, who's wand is glowing in his hand, as he holds the box flaps closed. Harry looks at Daisy as the light bulb gets brighter in the room.

"Daisy-Darling, low lights please," Dudley mutters, ripping the tape on the edge. He startles when Remus clears his throat.

"Harry? Is she..."

Harry glares at Remus. "You're not to tell a soul, Remus. Not even Tonks. Nobody can know."

Remus examines the strange family dynamic Harry has grown with Dudley, nearly that of a brother. There's still tension there, but the two young men stand side by side, a united front when it comes to keeping this new soul safe. Remus nods.

Dudley moves to some nowhere town with his parents. He constantly worries over Harry's well-being. He hadn't given Dudley any information on his "mission" just that Harry wouldn't be able to write very often. Daisy misses her uncle Harry. Dudley's heart broke when she pronounced her r's properly. She was growing up so fast.

Dudley finds himself sitting on the couch, staring into the flames and hoping they might turn green or the bricks would just explode like they did years ago when Arthur Weasley came to collect Harry for the sports thing. Sometimes Daisy joins him, slumping against his chest and asking where Harry is. When he'll be back.

"How will Harry find us? We don't live home anymore..." Dudley kisses Daisy on the forehead when she sleepily whines.

"He knows, Daisy. He knows how to find us."

Dudley knew something was wrong when the sky got dark in May. Daisy felt something in the air and cried about the headache it gave her. Dudley could swear he heard explosions the next neighborhood over. He didn't let Daisy out of his sight.

Petunia wasn't allowed to babysit anymore. Vernon never offered, but he wasn't even allowed to be alone in the same room with her. Dudley was wound up and anxious. He hadn't heard from Harry since his last letter, nearly 8 months ago.

The sky was red and dark, as though the world was ending. Daisy was crying and Dudley had hidden in the closet with her as she sobbed for her Uncle Harry. When she went quiet, eyes frozen, Dudley knew he'd lost his cousin, his brother forever.

Petunia didn't know how to help the grieving man and the young child who wouldn't leave her father's side. Vernon was dead. Too much alcohol and too fat the doctor said. Petunia should be feeling something. Instead, she comforted her son and her grandchild, not even knowing what they had lost.

☆

It'd been nearly 2 months since they lost Harry when the knock came. Dudley, tired from helping Daisy through a fever all night, stumbled to open the door. He didn't register who it was at first, blurry tired eyes messing with the color of the stranger's hair and clothing, but when Dudley met his eyes he gasped. The same color as his Aunt's. The same color as his daughter's. Dudley gripped Harry's shoulders and yanked the scarred man into a hug, sobbing over his shoulder. Harry hugged Dudley back as tightly and asked to see Daisy.

Daisy was still in bed so Harry sat on the edge of her "big girl bed" and set his hand on her forehead, checking the temperature. She was still really warm.

"You've been replacing the towel?" He asked, not unkindly.

"Mhm." Dudley hummed. "She's been hit pretty hard. Too much playing in the mud like her Uncle Harry."

Harry scowled playfully when he felt Daisy shift under his wrist. She blinked up at Harry and smiled weakly.

"Hi Uncle Hawwy." Both men melted. Then Daisy blinked and jolted up. Harry tried pushing her back down but she was strong for a 2 and a half year old. She pushed herself standing and slumped into Harry's embrace, sobbing.

"Where did you go!? I couldn't feel you anymore! You were gone! Don't leave again!"

"Aw Daisy-Darling. I missed you too, sweetheart. I had to go fight a bad guy and... I got pretty hurt, kid." Dudley could tell that wasn't all that happened. Harry's eyes had a death in them that Dudley couldn't really name.

"You won't leave again?!" Daisy's voice was a bit higher and Dudley smiled. The accidental magic was natural, especially during really emotional moments and he'd learned to predict them. He sat on the other side of her, brushing a hand through her hair as he blankets and plushies started floating up from where they had sat for a tea party.

Harry nodded, hugging Daisy closer. "I won't. Can you put feet on the ground again?"

Daisy nodded and the floating objects returned to their places. The sound of cups shattering broke the caring moment, Harry pushing Daisy into Dudley's hands and brandishing his wand at the person in the doorway.

Petunia stared at the stuffed animals in the tea chairs, three mugs of tea splattered on the floor and hall walls. She looked at Harry and Dudley then Daisy. Harry was tense. Dudley really hoped the wizard didn't attack his mother-

Petunia fainted and Harry dashed forward to catch her, an image of awkward.