A Day At The Park
Fancy Meeting You Here
Dudley stepped out of the locker room into the brightly lit and spotlessly clean hallway to a smattering of applause and cheers. He'd just finished off his third match of the season and much to the pleasure of his coaches he had managed to knock out his opponent in the second round. With a huge grin plastered across his face, Dudley made his way through the crowd of people and graciously accepted their handshakes and words of congratulations. As he made his way to the end of the corridor where Melissa was standing flanked on either side by their friends Piers and Amandine. Melissa threw her arms around Dudley, kissed him lightly on the lips, and queried.
"Are you alright?"
Dudley returned the kiss with a quick peck of his own and grinning madly answered back.
"Perfectly fine."
Frowning Melissa ghosted her fingertips over the purplish bruise that had risen on his cheek and said.
"But that's a nasty bruise…"
Melissa's words were interrupted by Piers.
"Ahh, that's nothing that is…one tiny bruise…if you want to feel bad for someone feel bad for the bloke who got his face turned into a pound of mince courtesy of your boyfriend!"
Piers smirked as Melissa gazed at him with narrow eyes. She looked as though she was about to say something in reply but she was again interrupted, this time by Dudley's cousin Harry.
"Piers may actually be right Melissa…Dudley did a bang up job on that poor bloke's face."
Dudley's grin grew even wider as he turned around and exclaimed.
"Harry…Hermione…I didn't know you two were going to be here!!"
Harry grinned widely much like his cousin as the two young men embraced each other in a brotherly hug. As they separated, Dudley said.
"What are you two doing here?"
Harry chuckled and replied.
"Why to see you beat up on some poor sod of course, what other reason could there be."
Dudley beamed at Harry's words.
"Why didn't you say you wanted to come I would of gotten you passes like last time."
Harry pointed to the brown-haired woman standing next to him and said.
"It was sort of a last minute kind of thing. We both lucked into an evening off and when I mentioned you had another match tonight Hermione said we should come down and watch. Seems that first match of yours those few weeks back whetted her appetite for rampant violence and bloodshed."
Hermione smacked Harry's arm and rolled her eyes at Harry while she proffered her hand to Dudley to shake as she said.
"Good to see you again Dudley. Very well played match."
Dudley's brow knitted together in a slight frown as he grasped Hermione's hand and instead of shaking it used it to draw Hermione into a hug that lifted her off her feet and squeezed the air from her lungs. Hermione tottered back into Harry once Dudley had set her back on her feet. Dudley winked at her playfully and answered the unspoken question that shown in Hermione's clear brown eyes.
"We're practically family you and me…they'll be no shaking hands between us."
Dudley paused for a beat as Hermione cast a shifty-eyed glance in Harry's direction. Harry was saying hello to Melissa and seemed not to have overheard the exchange. Having greeted Harry with a hug Melissa made her way over to Hermione and hugged her as well. Melissa then set about making introductions. She introduced Harry and Hermione to her dorm mate Amandine Marcus. Dudley then introduced Hermione to his childhood mate Piers Polkiss. Dudley then turned and looked back and forth between Harry and Piers and said.
"I believe you two are acquainted?"
Harry and Piers nodded simultaneously following Dudley's words and exchanged rather insipid hellos. An awkward silence ensued that lasted for a few seconds which was followed by Piers excusing himself and Amandine saying that they'd promised to meet some other friends of theirs for a drink. After Piers and Amandine left, Dudley suggested that he, Melissa, Harry and Hermione get a drink as well. And so it was some twenty minutes later that the foursome were found walking down the street headed for the nearest pub. Hermione and Dudley were discussing boxing.
"So you haven't boxed all your life?"
Dudley shook his head no as he replied to Hermione's query.
"Not formally no…but as you and Harry have been friends for so long I expect you know what a bullying git I was growing up."
Dudley paused and cast a glance in Hermione's direction. When she inclined her head as a sign that she had indeed heard stories of his bullying behavior Dudley continued.
"Well the headmaster at Smeltings, Mr. Danforth, kind of made me a pet project of his. He told all the staff that because I was bullying the smaller kids and my weight had gotten off the charts that if they didn't come up with a way to sort me out they'd of had to pack me back off home. That was when Coach Nesbitt saw me pummeling some kid and thought I might be a natural at boxing."
Dudley grinned sheepishly and added.
"He was right…I was a natural…took to it straight away. The weight started to come off and Coach Nesbitt helped me to adjust my attitude. Its been a fantastic opportunity and I think I'm the better for the whole experience."
Hermione nodded in agreement and said.
"Well you certainly are very good at it. The way you took that bloke down and so early in the match…it was incredible!"
Harry looked at Hermione and the shock he was feeling registered openly on his face and was apparent in his voice when he spoke.
"Incredible…since when have you found sports to be so remarkable?"
Hermione glared back at Harry and replied.
"I've always found sports to be interesting…"
Harry's eyes widened as he interrupted.
"That's a load of tosh!"
Hermione glared indignantly at Harry's exclamation and quickly rejoined by asking.
"How can you say that I was never interested in any sort of sport?"
Harry answered immediately.
"You never took this sort of interest back in school when I played…"
This time Hermione interjected.
"I never showed any interest…oh so showing up to every match and screaming myself hoarse is showing no bloody interest!"
Sensing that he could make no further objections in light of Hermione's declaration Harry rolled his eyes and stuck out his tongue instead. His actions garnered laughter from his three companions as they continued down the street. After a few moments Melissa looked over at Harry and asked.
"What sport did you play in school Harry?"
Harry was at a lost for what to say. Melissa had no idea what he and Hermione truly were so mentioning anything about Quidditch was out of the question. Harry spared a glance in Dudley's direction hoping to glean some sense of what his cousin may have told his girlfriend about him but judging from the look on his face Dudley had kept mum when it came to personal details. Just as Harry began racking his brain for a suitable answer Hermione responded coolly and succinctly with one word.
"Football."
Melissa smiled and said.
"I had you figured for a footballer Harry…what position?"
Drawing on the endless times he had heard Dean explaining the finer points of football to Ron and Seamus, Harry remembered Dean saying once that given his quickness and excellent reaction time he would make a right fine striker. Clearing his throat a bit Harry answered.
"Striker."
Melissa smiled again.
"I reckoned that too…Dudley's always going on about how quick you are so I guessed that if you were a footballer your position would be striker."
Dudley cut in with a question that he directed to Melissa.
"How do know so much about football?"
Melissa shrugged as she answered.
"My dad's a big fan…"
The rest of Melissa's reply was cut off by the sound of someone gasping followed closely by the sound of Hermione's sharp intake of breath. Harry, Dudley and Melissa all turned concerned faces towards Hermione. They saw that she was staring straight with a frightened and disbelieving expression oh her face. Harry felt her nails dig into the flesh of his forearm as her previously open palm closed around the area where moments before it had lain placidly. Worried over what could have possible elicited such a reaction from Hermione, Harry followed the direction of Hermione's gaze and found himself staring at Ron Weasley who was standing no more than three feet away, fingers entwined with none other than Lavender Brown.
Ron cleared his throat and speaking to the foursome before him and said.
"Hello."
Harry nodded in reply and replied.
"Hello Ron, Lavender."
Lavender responded in a rather shrill voice.
"Hello Harry, its good to see you…its been ages since I saw you last."
Lavender paused for a second and plucking up her courage chanced a glance at Hermione and said.
"G…good to see you too Hermione…you…you…you're looking well."
Hermione's mouth curved upwards weakly in a semblance of a smile.
"Hello Lavender…Ron."
Ron looked visibly uncomfortable as he responded with a very quiet.
"Hello Hermione."
Following Ron and Hermione's exchange silence fell upon the group. In the stillness of the moment Harry glanced at Dudley who was regarding Ron quizzically. Harry set about making introductions.
"Ahh…er…Dudley, Melissa this is Ron Weasley and Lavender Brown, schoolmates of mine and Hermione's."
Harry then directed himself to Ron and Lavender,
"Ron, Lavender, this is my cousin Dudley…Dudley Dursley and his girlfriend Melissa Pennford."
Ron nodded and extended his hand first to Dudley and then to Melissa.
"Yeah, we met a couple of times before."
Dudley nodded and mumbled hello to Ron before moving on to shake Lavender's hand as well. To cover the awkwardness of the moment Ron smiling somewhat self consciously said.
"Fancy meeting you here…like this…again."
Harry returned the smiled as he mumbled.
"Yeah…fancy that."
Ron rambled on.
"At least we didn't crash into one another like we did last time."
Harry would have replied had it not of been for the fact that Hermione once again tightened her grip on his arm and dug her nails into his flesh. Harry was certain that if he looked at his arm he would see blood blooming on his sleeve. He chanced a glance at Hermione who was staring openly at him and saw a flicker of hurt. Harry'd never mentioned his bumping into Ron two months earlier to Hermione. Harry looked back at Ron who had obviously caught the look as well as he was studying Hermione's expression intently. As the trio stared at each other, a tense, uncomfortable quiet consumed them. Melissa spoke.
"We're just headed to the pub the four of us…we're celebrating…Dudley's just won his third straight boxing match."
Ron and Lavender congratulated Dudley. He nodded and more to stave off the awkward silence than anything else invited the new couple along.
"You're welcome to join us if you like."
Ron's eyes widened a bit and his mouth flapped open and closed once or twice as he struggled to find the appropriate words.
"Umm…er…ahh…it's kind of you to offer but we've actually plans that we're going to be late for if we don't get a move."
Dudley nodded and muttered something about maybe next time. Ron mumbled something in return before he spun back around to face Harry and Hermione. With a bit of a rueful smile, he said.
"Well, gotta be going…it was nice seeing you two..."
Ron paused for a beat then looking directing at Hermione said.
"Really good."
It was then that Lavender reasserted herself. Drawing close to Ron, she squeezed his hand and said.
"Ron, we really should be getting on, Ginny and Dean and everyone else is waiting for us."
Ron nodded absently.
"Yeah, yeah…we should really get going."
Ron glanced towards Dudley and Melissa called out a perfunctory "Nice meeting you" before hastily saying goodbye to Harry and Hermione. Hermione turned and watched as the pair disappeared into the mass of people moving along up and down the sidewalk. Harry watched her for several seconds before calling out to her.
"Hermione…are you…is everything alright?"
Hermione revolved around slowly in the direction of her three companions. However, when she spoke her words were directed to Dudley and Melissa not Harry.
"Of a sudden I'm not much in the mood to celebrate…perhaps some other time."
Dudley nodded.
"Yeah sure, just say when."
Hermione smiled and said.
"Goodnight then."
With that, she turned on her heel and headed off without so much as a glance at Harry. Harry stood there stock still for a second before he spoke.
"Dudley I'll ring you later…goodnight Melissa."
Dudley had barely opened his mouth to reply before Harry was heading off in the same general direction that Hermione had gone off in. As Dudley watched him go, Melissa looked up at him and asked.
"What just happened?"
Dudley looked at Melissa and simply shrugged his shoulders. He returned his gaze back down the street where Harry was walking to find that in the seconds it had taken him to speak to Melissa his cousin had disappeared from sight.
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