Visiting-Days at Hogwarts:

Disclaimer: I still don't own Harry Potter. Things you might recognize are from HP and the Philosopher's stone, owned by JK Rowling.

This story is dedicated to all off you who read, followed, favourited and/or reviewed Family. You inspired and encouraged me. Lots of love to you, thanks a lot.

Kind of a continuation of Family, but you don't have to read it, to understand the story.

Things you need to know, if you didn't read Family:

Harry and Dudley grow up like brothers. Fearing to lose his brother Harry only agrees to go to Hogwarts, if Dudley get's to see the castle too. After a while Dumbledore agreed and iniciated the Visiting Days for the muggle siblings of his pupil. This is the story of the first Visiting-Days at Hogwarts. For further information read chapter 17 of my story Family. AU, so there are a few things different from the books.

Enjoy!

The second day of spring holiday found Dudley Dursley on a train. But not only a regular, boringly normal train. No, Dudley Dursley was currently riding the Hogwarts Express to England's magical Highschool. He almost couldn't believe it.

Well, it was only for three days, but Dudley was excited nevertheless.

Of course he wasn't alone on the train. There were more non-magical people traveling with him and all of them were just as excited as he was. After all this were the first visiting days at Hogwarts. For the next three days, every muggle sibling of the current students of Hogwarts had been invited to the school. Most of them had accepted. The only condition had been, that you had to be older than 11 and thus unable to ever join Hogwarts as a student. Students from other Wizarding schools weren't allowed, as they could just take part in a student exchange, but from what Harry had told him there could well be a few squibs on the train too. Even thought many boys and girls accepted the invitation, some compartments remained empty. That was why Dudley was left to sit alone for now. He didn't mind was far too excited to talk much anyway. Harry and Dudley had spent the remaining summer holidays, after Hagrid took Harry and his family to Diagon Alley, reading and rereading Hogwarts a history. Dudley had loved Diagon Alley and especially the 'wizarding rollercoaster of Gringott's', as Harry had dubbed it – but Hogwarts had to be even better!

Harry sure made it sound like it was. The two boys wrote each other once a week and Harry had also visited on Christmas holidays. They still missed each other, but it helped them keep up with their brothers life. Those letters were how Dudley knew about Quidditch and that Harry made it seeker. Harry learned, that Dudley joined the rugby team and already won his first game. They also told each other about the friends they made and almost about all the difficulties they faced.

That was why Dudley also knew about all the adventures Harry already had. The two brothers were planning to find out more about the Ceberus at Hogwarts. The Dursley boy had brought the book on greek myths he had to get for school, for that.

Quite some time into the ride the Trolley witch came along. She was for once also accepting muggle money and a few of the less than harmless wizarding sweets, like Bertie Bott's Beans, were missing.

Dudley wasn't too sad about it, as Harry had gotten him those beans for Christmas and he had gotten a puke flavoured one. Why anyone would want to eat those beans was beyond him.

Nothing exciting happened after that and the boy eventually managed to concentrate on the holiday homeworks for Smeltings he brought along. It was already dark, when the train finally stopped. The occupants quickly left their compartments, eager to see Hogwarts for the first time. Outside Hagrid was already waiting to lead them to the horseless carriages.

Harry was standing outside the castle, waiting for his cousin to arrive. Of course he wasn't alone. After all he wasn't the only one waiting for his sibling.

Hermione and Ron had joined him, too, as had Draco. The latter however looked still slightly dismayed. The Malfoy heir really couldn't believe he was standing here, outside in the fresh spring air, waiting for a muggle!

Harry smiled slightly, it meant a lot to him that Draco had come and it certainly manifested the friendship they had gained.

Neither house rivalry (as Draco was in Slytherin and the rest of them were Gryffindors) nor the Malfoy family's hate for muggles could bring them apart.

Defeating a mountain troll apparently did that to you.

Harry troll incident wasn't something he wanted to repeat.

On that Halloween eve, when the troll got in, Ron and Harry had gone to warn Hermione. Draco had seen them go and, hoping to get them into trouble. So he had followed them. But when they met the troll in the girls toilet Draco did step up and help them. Between the four of them they really managed to defeat the thing. From that day on, they had been friends.

Harry looked at his newest friend and almost laughed. The blonde wasn't that pure a Slytherin as he liked everyone to believe. He had quite some Gryffindor traits as well, taking on a mountain troll.

A few moments later Harry was stopped in his musings, as the carriages arrived.

As soon as Dudley got out, Harry was at his side. Hugging his brother he started talking in a rapid fashion.

"Dudley! It's so good to see you. How was the train ride? You will love it here! You need to meet Sir Nicholas, oh and we can visit Hagrid tomorrow. And I will take you flying!"

Dudley couldn't help himself, he had to grin at his little brothers antics. He didn't deny he was excited, too, but Harry didn't even let him get a word in. It was rather strange actually. The older boy didn't know Harry could be this ... bubbly. Hogwarts had changed the younger boy, but for the better, Dudley decided.

"No manners, Potter," a voice drawled. "You clearly are a real Gryffindor. Don't you want to at least introduce us properly, before you chew your cousins ear off."

With a sheepish grin Harry stopped his rapid talking.

"Alright," he began, a bit slower now. "This are Hermione and Ron. And Mister 'stuck-up' here is Draco, our little snake."

"Shut it, Potter," the blonde boy spit.

Dudley laughed a bit, then introduced himself. "Nice to meet you lot, I am Dudley."

"We already know," Ron told in response.

"He was only being polite, you oaf! But of course you wouldn't know how to do that, Weasley" Draco sneered.

In the mean time the other carriages had arrived and Hagrid accompanied them all to the Great Hall.

Ron and Draco continued bickering till they arrived and only stopped, because Draco went to sit with the Slytherins. Harry and Hermione had ignored their two friends and made conversation with Dudley instead. They had gotten used to the two boys quarrels.

"Remind me, why we are friends with that snake again?" Ron grumbled, as soon as they had all sat down at the Gryffindor table, Dudley included. All the tables had been magically expanded, so everybody could sit comfortable.

"Might be, because of his constant good mood and the cheer he always spreads," Harry joked.

"Come on," Hermione piped in. "He isn't that bad!"

And of course she was right. Despite his snide remarks and his attitude, Draco had grown to them. While he could be a stuck up prat, he was also a loyal, dependable friend.

Dudley only half listened to them. He was busy watching the ceiling, awe written all over his face.

"It is enchanted to look like the sky outside," Hermione told him. "It says so in Hogwarts a history."

"I know," Dudley told her. "Harry and I read that book."

Ron and Hermione looked at Harry scandalized.

"You never told me, you read it too!" Hermione complained and the same time Ron exclaimed:

"You read a book, before you had too?!"

Harry and Dudley only laughed at them.

After the headmasters short and a bit strange speach – Dudley didn't even know the words he used – the food appeared. And after the guests stopped gawking at it, they began to dig in.

While eating, Dudley was introduced to a few more Gryffindors, namely the rest of the Weasley clan, the other boys from the first years dorm and the Quidditch team.

A short time later the ghosts appeared and Dudley had a nice chat with Sir Nicholas. It all seemed like a dream. By the time Dumbledore got up, to give them a real welcome speech, Dudley felt already a bit overhelmed. By the time they were sent to their dorms he was so drop dead tired, he didn't even give the moving portraits a second glance. All he wanted to do was sleep.

But of course Harry wouldn't have it. Dudley only got so much as a glance of the comfy bed, that had been added to the first year dorms for him. Before he could get a word in edgewise Harry had already dragged him of, his invisibility cloak firmly in his hand. Ron decided to go to bed early, no doubt also full and tired from the delicious food. So Dudley and Harry went out alone.

Even though he really wanted to sleep, Dudley didn't mind too much- after all they had only three days and the excitement of exploring a magical castle quickly had him awake again.

Harry had wanted to show Dudley the three headed dog right now, but fortunately the other boy had been able to convince him, that they should save the 'fun' for later, when Dudley was less tired and therefore less likely to be eaten. Instead Harry showed Dudley the kitchen and a few of the shortcuts and secret passages he'd found.

Dudley, even though a little freaked out at first, really liked the house elves. They were nice little creatures, still the muggle boy found their will to serve a little disconcerting.

Concerning the secret passages: Dudley tried to remember them, he really did, but he was convinced he would get lost hopelessly without Harry. At this time every passage was new to him and it was sometimes hard to tell the secret passages from the regular ones. There was a regular passage that started behind a wall that faded, if you walked up to it, but there was also a secret passage behind a door. Okay, you had to touch the door on specific places and say "Nepo!" to open it, but still...

Dudley couldn't tell how long they had been out and about by the time they got back to the dorm, but as soon as his head touched his incredible soft pillow, he was asleep.

Only to be woken up, by Harry shaking him.

"Get off me," Dudley murmured.

"Come on, sleepy head, it is already morning!" Harry shouted in his ear.

"Time?" Dudley asked.

"It's already seven o'clock! Come on, get up, Dud!"

"Seven," Dudley groaned and turned his back to his little b(r)other.

"I will take you flying!" Harry said.

That had Dudley awake. Flying! On a real magical broom!

Quickly the boy got up and ready for breakfast. By the time he was fully dressed Harry had woken up Ron, too and the three boys made their way downstairs. In the common room Draco was lounging on a comfy red chair, ignoring the hostile stares of the Gryffindors.

"Draco!" Harry greeted him. "How did you get in?"

"Good morning to you too, Harry. Dudley," the blonde boy greeted. "Hermione let me in, when she went to the library this morning. She will meet us at breakfast."

Slowly the young Slytherin got up and left through the portrait hole, acting as if he owned the place. The older Gryffindors growled after him, but were ignored again. They couldn't really do anything to him, as he was friends with their own. Also he was let in by a Gryffindor.

Dudley, Harry and Ron followed their friend.

After breakfast there was still some time left, till they could go flying. Of course the students weren't allowed to take their siblings with them into the air just like that. At nine o'clock Madam Hooch would be at the Quidditch pitch, to watch them. Only who she saw fit to fly on their own, were allowed to fly without surveillance.

This left the boys with some time kill. Dudley normally wasn't a bookworm, but he had loved Hogwarts a history. So, when Hermione mentioned the library the Muggle boy was eager to go there. Harry followed grumpily. He didn't really like the library, but he wanted to spent as much time with his cousin as possible.

Ron quickly excused himself and went to find one of the other first year Gryffindors, while Draco only turned up his nose.

"If I want to read a book, I use the library in Malfoy Manor. Here at school all the interesting books are restricted," he exclaimed aloof and went to his housemates.

It was rather curious, Dudley thought, that the Slytherins didn't seem to mind Dracos friendship with Gryffindors. From what he had caught yet, both houses hated each other with passion.

When he asked Harry about it, the other boy only sighed.

"His dad is on a very friendly basis with the minister of magic and a force to be reconed with. No Slytherin would turn against Draco, as long as his father doesn't. As his father only seems to notice him, if he gets a bad grade, he is safe for now," Hermione explained. "Right now they all try to gain his trust and friendship, because it might help them in the future. When his father notices our friendship and disapproves Draco will find out which of them are his real friends."

"What will Draco do, when that happens?" Dudley dared to ask.

"I don't know," Hermione replied.

"He will stay with us," Harry defended his friend.

Hermione looked at him sadly: "Let's just hope he won't get in that position."

They walked the rest of their way to the library in silence. The library itself turned out to be rather anticlimatic.

Yes, it was big and magical in its own way, but everytime Dudley was about to touch a book, to take a closer look at it, Madam Pince would hover behind them. Hermione didn't seem bothered, as she wasn't the victim of the library witch's evil stares. Harry and Dudley were.

Apparrently the Gryffindor girl had been there often enough, that Pince believed her to be no danger to her precious books.

For Dudley and Harry the athmosphere was pretty tense and most of the books were about as interesting as a math's book, even if it was a magical one. That was why Dudley didn't mind at all, when it was time for them to go flying.

Ron and Draco joined them too, on their way to the quidditch pitch, while Hermione stayed in the library.

Dudley mounted Harry's nimbus behind the younger boy and off they went. Flying was incredible! Dudley let out a unconcious whoop, while the wind rushed past his face. Harry grinned, happy to share this with his cousin. Flying was after all the best thing of Hogwarts. It didn't take Harry long to convince the flying teacher to let them fly on their own.

As soon as they had permission they left the crowded quidditch pitch. Draco and Ron now joined them in the air, Draco on the new nimbus 2000 he had convinced his father to buy. Ron mounted Draco's old broom, a Comet 260, which he had gotten as a Christmas present from the blonde.

The three of them raced themselves through the air. After a while Harry let Dudley to maneuver their broom. They had tried if he could fly on his own, but the broom wouldn't take of, without a wizard sitting on it's back.

The boys had great fun and only stopped when they almost fell of their brooms from exhaustion. Lunch had been over long ago, so they had a lot to catch up for at dinner.

That night the five friends wanted to show Dudley the three headed dog and maybe get a look past him. Dudley had told them about a guy named Orpheus and how music should do the trick to tame the dog.

At midnight Ron, Hermione, Dudley and Harry left their common room under the invisibility cloak. They went to the dungeon first, where they picked up Draco. Then they went back up to the third floor. In front of the locked door they stopped.

Draco got out his violin (yes, Draco played the violin, no he would never play for them again, his mother had forced him to learn it, something about a pureblood tradition).

Harry looked them all over, took a deep breath and told Hermione to open the door.

"Alohomora!" The witch whispered and with a small click the lock opened.

Harry ushered them all in quickly and a second after the door closed Draco was playing. And not a second to early. The dog was about to start to growl and bite their heads off, three at a time of course, but as soon as the music started he got tired. A few moments later the dog was asleep.

"You are not bad at this!" Ron exclaimed and looked at Draco in wonder.

The pale boy got a little pink at the praise, but didn't say anything. He only continued to play, while Harry and Dudley opened the trap door.

"It's dark down there, I can't see anything!" Harry complained.

"Did someone bring a torch?" Dudley asked.

"Step aside!", Hermione told them. "Lumos!"

With that her wand lit up, allowing the kids to see what was behind the trapdoor.

The hole behind it went down almost three meters. On the ground they could barely see a big plant in the pale light of Hermione's wand. Harry picked up a bone of the dogs last meal and threw it down the hole.

When it the plant, the thing seemed to come alive. Tentacula's, like snakes were reaching for the bone, leaving it alone, when it didn't move.

"What's that?" Ron asked, grossed out.

"Devil's snare," Hermione replied. "If you would pay attention in Herbology you would know that, Ron!"

"Why should I bother? We can just ask you, if we need to know things like that," Ron replied.

Hermione frowned at that, but looked a little pleased, too.

"So, a three headed dog and a plant," Harry summoned up. But surely those wouldn't be the only obstacles on the way to the stone. "How do we get down there to check for more traps?" Harry asked. "I should have brought my broom..."

With an arogant grin Draco stopped playing and got out his broom. But the grin was wiped out of his face soon, when the dog started moving and seemed to wake up. Draco quickly rejoined his play.

"How did you fit that into your pockets?" Ron asked incredulous.

"I shrunk it of course! Dad showed me how to do it on the holidays," Draco smirked.

"Cool," Harry exclaimed. "You will have to teach us!"

Hermione looked like she was torn between disapprovement and jealousy. She couldn't believe that an ex-deatheater could have such an obvious disregard for school rules, as to teach his son magic in the holidays. Or maybe she could...

As Draco was still busy playing his violin, Harry mounted the broom and tried to fly through the trapdoor. However, as soon as he got near it the broom would change direction. After a few failed tries he stopped.

"Well, Dumbledore wouldn't make this easy, would he," Draco said, but he too looked disappointed.

"Any other ideas?" Harry asked them.

The young wizards all shook their heads.

"Maybe we could just use a rope?" Dudley spoke up.

Harry laughed: "Of course! Great one, Dud!"

As none of them thought to bring a rope, they just used their belts and ties.

But when they tried to put their makeshift rope through the trapdoor it rebounced.

After a few failed attempts Harry tried to jump through the whole secured by the rope. But as soon as he was through the hole the rope would become unfastened .The other kids had to catch him or else he would have fallen.

"Seems like this is a one way street," Harry panted. "Whoever goes in will have to go through with it. There will be no turning back."

The others nodded, still shocked from almost losing Harry.

"So we only go in, if we really have to, right?" Hermione asked.

The others nodded. Deep in thought they all left and went to their beds.

The next day all thoughts of Fluffy and the Philosopher's stone were banned from their minds. After all tomorrow morning Harry's cousin would have to leave again. So Harry, Ron, Hermione and Dudley visited Hagrid. Draco still didn't particular care for the groundskeeper and such didn't join them. Dudley had jumped at the chance to ask Harry's biggest friend about all sorts of magical creatures from muggle myths. Meeting Fluffy had made him curious how many more animals from the Greek myths existed for real. The number was quite surprising.

After that they went flying again. Draco joined them as they chased each other around the quidditch pitch.

On the afternoon Harry and Dudley excused themselves, there was one more thing left for them to do...

That evening there would be a farewell feast for the visitors. And of course Dudley couldn't leave Hogwarts without playing a prank with his brother. Kind of as a reminder of their primary school days.

The boys grinned at each other, this would be the start of their own wonderful tradition.

They hadn't had much time to plan their prank late, so they had agreed on a relatively harmless one. They would save the better ones for the next year, when they would have more time to work out the details and Harry would be better in magic. Also they didn't want to risk the Visiting Days by going over top the first time.

As it was Harry and Dudley had convinced the house elves to exchange the pumkin juice for orange juice. And as an after thought had them mix Bertie Bott's Beans into the apple pie. Now they were looking forward to see the other kids reactions.

The feast was great. Dumbledore had even organised a band, which played muggle music as well as wizarding songs.

The food was mostly splendid, too. However some of the students eating the apple pie turned a little green and spit it back out, while others, who had been more lucky, helped themselves to another piece. Dudley wisely stayed away from the cake. Fortunately he didn't like apple pie that much anyway.

Harry, Ron and the Weasley twins however braved each other to eat as many pieces of pie as they could.

Exchanging the juice turned out a good idea too. It was fun to see the other students confusion upon the unexpected taste. The muggle borns of course recognised their drink immediately and told their friends. Soon the whole school knew, what they were drinking.

The Gryffindors mostly were unfazed. But some of the pureblood Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs took a lot more interest in their drinks, then they would usually do. Some of the Slytherins spit their drinks back out and didn't touch again, but not all of them. Satisfied Harry realised Draco was one of the few still sipping their juice. The young Slytherin shot Harry an annoyed look. Gryffindors and their pranks!

The students and their muggle relatives had a fun evening, but all too soon it was time to go to bed. After all the train would leave early in the next morning. Still Harry and Dudley spent some more time talking, making the most of the time they had. It was already past midnight, when they finally fell asleep.

The next morning Harry awoke to Dudley frantically throwing things back into his bag. Quickly the young Gryffindor got up to help.

Only an hour later they were standing at the trainstation in Hogsmead again. It was time to say goodbye.

Draco, Ron and Hermoine had accompanied them. One last joke, a brotherly hug and greetings for their parents, then Dudley was on his way back to London. Harry waved farewell until the bright red Hogwarts Express disappeared from view. It had been a fun few days and Harry was already looking forward for the next visiting days. When he looked at the smiling faces of the other students seeing off siblings around him, he knew that they agreed.

The end

Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. If you liked it please leave a review. If you didn't leave a review anyway, so I can improve.

Have a fun week,

FM