Chapter 16: Fear and Faith

Busy with her preparations for the forthcoming visit of Luna and Dudley Ginny did not know whether to be excited or apprehensive. She decided she was probably a bit of both. As she was getting everything ready to put in the oven when the visitors arrived she meditated on the difference between those things she had heard about Dudley from Harry and what she had been told by Luna.

She had never met Dudley, but there were irreconcilable differences between Harry and Luna's versions of his character. From the things Harry had said about his home life, the Dudley she was about to meet sounded very different from the kind of person Harry had described.

Since Luna had revealed her serious involvement with him Harry had alternated between being glad for her and worried that Dudley would not prove to be the man she believed him to be. Well possibly within the next hour or so, they might find out one way or another. Whatever the outcome she was and would remain excited about the fact his daughter Petunia was proving to have magical talents. It will be nice that her children would have another cousin, who like them, would go to Hogwarts about the same time," she thought to herself.

Lost in her thoughts she waved her wand and the dishes were immediately covered with foil. She had just finished tidying up when a car pulled up outside their house in Godric's Hollow

"Harry they are here" She called.

At that cry the children rushed to join her as she made her way to the front door. They were closely followed by Harry. Then together they went out to meet their guests. As Dudley emerged from the car Ginny thought with a little inward laugh, I can certainly see the physical attraction. In Muggle parlance he's a hunk. The man who had emerged was over six feet tall, broad shouldered and had a heavy build but without any suggestion of fat. In Luna's place I might even have fallen for him myself.

Although he and Harry were the same age there was just a touch of graying at the temples on Dudley which in a few years would give him a very distinguished look. Now he just looked very nervous and tense as he moved towards Harry with an outstretched hand. Harry sensed the big man's nervousness, and he grasped the outstretched hand and pulled Dudley into a quick embrace and as he stepped back he said,

"You certainly haven't got any smaller Big D but you look in good shape."

Dudley gave a small laugh, "I haven't heard that name in years Harry but it does take us back to where we left off a long time ago."

"Well a lot of water has flowed under the bridge since then." Said Harry. "Come and meet my wife. This Is Ginny and these are my children, James, Albus and

Lily."

Ginny moved forward and embraced him and said,

"Luna has said a lot of nice things about you Dudley. I hope we are going to become good friends as our families get to know one another."

"I hope so too," said Dudley as the boys moved forward and James and Albus shook Dudley's hand, while Lily put her arms around the top of his legs and gave him a hug. The big man stood back and he turned to Petunia who was clinging to Luna, he took her hand and drew her forward and said to them all,

"This is Petunia, my daughter."We call her Tunie for short."

He then turned to the other children and said directly to them,

"It is just in the last few months that we have discovered that Tunie can do the sort of things that you can do and that she like you, will probably be invited to go to Hogwarts School. She doesn't know anything about it or about witches and wizards, so I hope this weekend you can help her and be able to tell her what to expect."

The boys looked at Tunie then James said,

"I am sure we will have a lot to talk about sir and we think that having a new cousin will be great fun."

Harry looked at James and said,

"I hope it will be James, but you had better be on your best behaviour."

He turned to Dudley and said,

"He can be a bit of a prankster that one, so it doesn't do any harm to fire a warning shot across his bows now and then."

Dudley laughed, "I wonder who he takes that from."

Quick as a flash Harry said poker faced, I think he takes after his Uncles George and Fred who are from Ginny's side of the family. They actually started a Joke Shop business believe it or not."

Ginny rolled her eyes and turned to Luna and said,

"Don't you think there might just be another source of genetic inheritance for that kind of behaviour Luna?"

Luna looked at Tunie and said,

"James's dad was not someone who paid much attention to warning shots across his bows, and neither did his father before him; so if his son turns out to be the same it is no surprise, you keep an eye on what he gets up to Tunie."

Ginny laughed,

"You are right on the button as usual Luna. But let's not stand out here talking. Come inside and we will have a coffee or tea and maybe introduce Dudley to butter beer."

Once the children had drinks and biscuits, they headed out into the garden to introduce Tunie to the garden gnomes. They felt that she should see for herself right away what real gnomes looked like. They would also show her what they had to do to get rid of them.

These gnomes were real with potato shaped heads and little short legs and could be a pest. They literally had to be chucked out of the garden by catching them by the legs and throwing them as far as you could into the field just over the garden wall.

This did not hurt them but it meant they were disorientated and that it would be some time before they made their way back into the garden. Soon there was laughter and screams from the children and shouts of "Gerroff! Gerroff!" from the gnomes could be heard through the kitchen window. Harry had to explain to Dudley what was going on and the policeman got up and went to the kitchen window. He could hardly believe his eyes as he saw the children chasing gnomes who were scattering in every direction. He was even more astounded when he saw them being caught by the legs and swung round and round the children's heads and then being released to fly far over the garden wall.

He came back and sat down shaking his head. "Luna told me that there were strange and even some dangerous creatures in your world," he said, "but I never thought I would ever see garden gnomes being flung out."

"Well, at least they are not dangerous," said Luna, "though if you are not careful they can give your fingers a nasty nip while you try to degnome the garden."

"It must have been a surprise and a shock Dudley," when Petunia started showing signs of magical ability," Harry said.

"It would have been an even bigger shock, if I had not spent that year with

Hestia and Didalus as our protectors. I don't think my mother or my father ever got comfortable with what went on in wizard households. But once I got used to it, I was fascinated by it and a bit envious."

"In what way?" Asked Ginny

"If you had to live in my world Ginny where you had to peel potatoes by hand and physically clear tables and wash and dry dishes, Knives that peeled spuds, and dishes that cleared themselves from the table and washed and dried at the wave of a wand would seem wondrous indeed," he replied.

Ginny, Harry, and Luna laughed. Then Ginny said,

"I see what you mean. We were made to do that sometimes as a punishment for bad behaviour. Even when we had wands we were not allowed to use them if we were under seventeen."

"I know," Harry said, "I remember George and Fred going down to the village pub, while Ron and I had to prepare a mountain of sprouts for a dinner party. We pleaded with them to help us because they were seventeen. Being George and Fred, however, they refused, and said it was good for the soul to do it the hard way. Then laughing, they went off and left us to our labours."