A/N: This is a LOT shorter than my chapters usually are, but I just wanted to add a little Dudley here, to ease a little of the "tension" I tried to play into the story the last couple of chapters. :) Read, review, and ENJOY!

Dudley went around the party meeting and chatting with the other wizards. He listened to all the stories the wizards had to tell, and he realized just how bad the lot had lived through. One of them lost his twin brother in the second Wizarding War. So many others kept telling stories of who they'd lost and what they remembered about the war. It was all they could talk about, like the War had literally made up their entire lives. Of course, for some of them, that was true. Harry's life - Dudley figured out - was consumed by the Wizarding War and Voldemort. Throughout his whole time at Hogwarts, Harry was dealing with an evil wizard, even at home. It was brave, and Dudley admired that about his cousin.

Halfway through the party, he found his wife again. Georgina was talking to Mrs. Weasley, Andromeda, and Fleur Weasley (Bill's wife), and they all seemed to be getting along fine. Mrs. Potter joined them soon after Dudley did, and he decided he didn't fit in quite as well here with the women. Instead, he turned and trailed back over to where Harry was talking to Mr. Weasley and Mr. Weasley's brothers - of which he had many. It was a much better fit here than anywhere, talking to the men. He learned more about the wizarding world than he had ever learned in his life. It almost made him wish he were a wizard himself, but he immediately brushed that from mind.

"So, Percy, where do you live?" Dudley asked, looking at the third eldest Weasley boy.

"I live over in the States with my wife and children," Percy replied, his voice dignified.

"Oh? Is your family here now?"

"No, no. They couldn't make it. Audrey had to work, and the girls' went to their grandparents on Audrey's side," he explained, smiling.

"Okay. Is it nice over there?"

"Very. And the people are generally polite. The wizarding community over there is fantastic though." Percy enthused, and launched into many stories about his workings there. All the brothers exchanged looks and just started to laugh, while Dudley listened with intrigue.

This lot wasn't so bad afterall.