Harry was trying to stay in his room, as he always did when he was at Privet Drive. The simple action of going down the stairs left him feeling a complete outsider, a stranger in the house he had been living since his parents were killed. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon made sure of that with their continuous reminders of how much he owed to their generosity and charity.

He really was trying to not to go out, but he had to after drinking almost a gallon of orange juice he managed to procure from the kitchen. It was a day past the expiration date but it was still good and had he not grabbed it without thinking, Aunt Petunia would have thrown it away. Right now, that looked like a better decision.

Not able to hold it anymore, Harry opened the door to find Dudley bent down with what looked like a cup of hot tea, chamomille by the smell of it.

They stared at each other for a few seconds, neither boy knowing precisely what to say. Harry opened his mouth to ask Dudley what was he doing, but Dudley spoke first.

"I made tea," he said, extending the tea cup to Harry, showing him it was true.

Harry smiled awkwardly. "I can see that."

"You didn't go down for dinner," Dudley said with what Harry determined was an attempt to make idle conversation, in the middle of the night, at the door he needed to cross soon before there was an accident.

"More food for you, Duddykins. Now let me go to the ba-"

"I wanted to apologize," blurted out Dudley to an astonished Harry who could not hold it any longer. "I... I haven't been a very good cousin. I'm sorry."

Harry was at a loss of words, never before imagining the day when one of the Dursleys apologized to him for their less than kind treatment over the years. And yet there stood Dudley on his silly pajamas, barefoot, holding a cup of lukewarm tea that Harry now believed had been made as an offering of peace.

"Thank you, Dudley," he said after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence in which Dudley kept his arm extended towards Harry, the cup waiting to be taken from him. "But I seriou-"

"We don't hate you, you know?" Dudley asked, oblivious to Harry's needs. "Mum and I, I mean. We just don't know how to show that we don't. Hate you, that is."

"Well I really, really hate you right now," Harry finally said, raising his voice. "I'm about to pee myself and you appear on my door with the apology of a lifetime and tea! I just need to reach the bloody toilet before it's too late!"

To Harry's surprise, Dudley chuckled before moving to a side and letting him get out of his room and towards the bathroom.

When he went back, relieved and with a pleasant expression on his face, he found the cup of tea on the floor and smiled.