Author’s note: Hmmmmm, I don’t really know what I’m doing. A DD/HP story? I must be sick. Well just hope you like it.

By the way, this story starts shortly after the ending of Harry’s fourth year and keeps going until… well, you’ll see. It follows the main plot of the series, but it’s part A.U.

Disclaimer: ..ANYTHING.

- Harry, are you awake?

Nothing.

- Harry?

- Uhh… Wha… What? Who’s it? – asked Harry trying to open is reluctant eyes.

- Er… it’s me, Dudley.

- Dudley? What the… What are you doing here? It’s bloody three in the morning!

Dudley stood, awkward and huge, against the door frame.

- I just… I couldn’t sleep.

- Are you expecting me to sing you a lullaby? What in earth are you doing here? – Harry slided from under the sheets and sat up in the bed rubbing his eyes with one hand and yawning against the other.

- I’m sorry, I just wanted… - Dudley looked definitely odd in the small room.

- Wanted what? To wake me just for the fun of it? – Harry mentally inquired himself if Dudley was a somnambulant.

- No! I had a nightmare, all right? Happy now? Now you can write to those freak friends of yours and tell them that Dudley, the big weeping baby, has nightmares!

- Hey, calm down! I have to sleep here you know? If you keep screaming like that, I’ll have to sleep in the backyard and I’m not really in the mood for that, ok? – Harry tried to joke but he was seriously worried. Dudley was far from having the weight of a house elf, and the way he kept stomping with his big feet was quite alarming.

- Look, I know you have nightmares to, ‘k? I’ve heard you screaming at night, you know? I have to put up with it almost every night and the least you could do is put up with mine too!

Harry stared incredulously at him. Was Dudley asking for him to comfort him? He couldn’t be, could he? And what was that about his nightmares? He knew he had them from times to times but he didn’t know he was that loud.

- I just wanted to talk to someone… I tried to tell my mum the other night, but she just made me a cup of tea and told me to think of pretty things like bunnies and rainbows and offered to tell me a sto…

- So you did?

- Did what? – Dudley had almost forgotten that Harry was there.

- Thought of bunnies and rainbows? – asked Harry, feigning a serious look.

- Are you mental? Of course I didn’t!

- Really? – Harry wondered how longer he would last without laughing before his ribs broke.

Dudley stared at Harry until his cousin broke down laughing. He wasn’t quite sure about where was the fun until he realized Harry was laughing at him.

He could have punched him.

He could have yelled AND punched him.

He did neither.

He started to laugh. It was an honest laugh and the sound of it made Harry freeze. He didn’t remember the last time he had heard Dudley laughing like this. His laughs had always been spiteful and a red sign of trouble. At least when Harry was concerned.

- Are you all right, Dudley?

- I’m not really sure. Are you?

- Probably not. Well, it’s three in the morning, isn’t it? I guess it’s normal we’re acting like this,

- Guess so. – As they had stopped laughing, Dudley would be again growing uncomfortable if it wasn’t for Harry who said, pointing the only chair of the room:

- So, are you going to sit and tell me your nightmare?

- Are you sure you don’t mind?

- No, I’m not. So you better hurry up before I change my mind.

Dudley smirked and got more comfortable in the chair, which, for his relief, didn’t creak under his weight.

- Well, first I was dreaming of something really foolish, you know, like a normal dream. I was at school and all my friends were wearing these long, black cloaks and they all had a stick like yours. They started to make smoke appear and it smelled so bad I told them to stop, but they didn’t, and suddenly I couldn’t see anything through it. Then it cleared, and I wasn’t at school. I was in the middle of a big forest and there was no one with me. Suddenly, there was no light at all and I couldn’t see a thing. I heard noises all around and a tall, hooded something came out of nowhere and started sliding towards me. Then… - Dudley stopped, as if to get some air, but he didn’t keep talking.

- Then what? What happened?

There were too many similarities between Dudley’s dreams and the ones he had in his first year. Although he was trying to block, as hard as he could, everything that reminded him of Hogwarts, his friends and, particularly, the ending of his last year there, he couldn’t stop himself from being curious about his cousin’s nightmare. Curiosity was like a second nature to him and, though it had made him fail so many times in the past, he couldn’t just bury it down and keep on with his life.

- That part… was the really scary and confusing one. The thing stopped in front of me and a hand came from under its cloak and it was soaked with a silver liquid. I was like, frozen into place, couldn’t move a single muscle. I don’t know what the liquid was, but it was too shining and clear to be in that hand. I can’t understand why I felt that way, but I got so angry and furious and just wanted to beat the thing up and take the liquid and put it in somewhere safe, but I couldn’t move because I was too scared and I heard someone screaming and I think it woke me but I’m not sure and I was so scared and I couldn’t do anything, I was so scared… - Dudley buried his face in his hands.

Harry watched with mild panic as Dudley’s shoulders started to shake and wondered if he was crying. He had no idea how to comfort him and, automatically, Ron’s voice came to his mind: “My mum always makes tea when someone’s upset.”. The memory of Ron’s rather ridicule suggestion almost brought a smile to his face and he knew exactly what Dudley needed to hear. What he felt the need to repeat to himself some times.

- It isn’t the end of the world, you know.

Dudley’s head snapped up, his eyes red and swollen. His mouth was open with astonishment and his face was blotchy and tear stained. He looked comic to the least and Harry internally fought the urge to laugh. Even if that was Dudley, no one deserved to be mocked over something they had no control over.

Or it could be that Harry was extremely sleepy and couldn’t think straight.

- What do you mean?

- Well, it’s just a nightmare isn’t it? Something you can’t help? And it was really frightening, from what you told me. It wouldn’t be normal if you’re cool about it.

- But I… I’m not supposed to be scared of a little dream! I’m bloody fifteen! I shouldn’t have freaky nightmares, should I?

- Dudley, everyone has nightmares! Your friends have nightmares, your parents have nightmares, I have nightmares!

- My friends and parents don’t have nightmares… - Harry almost missed the words, as Dudley was absorbedly studying the floor.

- I bet they have. I bet your mum dreams of you and your father in an accident or dying. I bet your father dreams of this house burning down with you two inside. I bet your friends dream of being turned down by their dream girls and being trapped in some freaky place.

- You’re mental, Harry.

- Probably. But I bet my arms and legs in all that.

- DO you really mean it?

- Positive. Everyone has nightmares, and yours was really creepy. Was it the first time?

Harry felt curious again. He had never told Dudley anything about his dreams when he had come home from his first year. How did Dudley manage to dream about something that he had never heard about?

- No, I don’t think so. I’ve had nightmares like this one since the beginning of the holidays. Sometimes they are very blurry and I don’t remember them after I get up. But this one was the most frightening one. I can remember everything too clearly.

- Well, I… I don’t know what to say. It’s just… I have nightmares, too. And they are really creepy.

- But… that’s normal, isn’t it? – Dudley seemed uncomfortable and Harry couldn’t figure out why.

- What?

- That you have nightmares. I mean, you’re a freak! You’re supposed to have freaky nightmares as well!

Harry couldn’t understand. Dudley had seemed friendly and nice enough to hold a civil conversation and now…

- Out.

- Harry, I…

- OUT!

- I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to…

- Get out of my room!

Dudley got up and ran to his room, dropping Hedwig’s cage in his way out. Harry just stood were he was, trembling uncontrollably.