This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

Word Count: 1074

Title: Perfectly Normal

Note: Slight AU, Harry and Draco become friends after the war- maybe more. Possible MC- lemme know what you think in the reviews.

Warnings:

Beta: lun27

Golden Snitch

[Name] Crissie

[School] Uagadou

[House] Ogyinae

Festival Of Light: Write about someone seeing light in the darkness.

Hogwarts

Yearly:

Prompt 649 [Quote] Difficult roads often lead to beautiful destinations. Unknown

"Don't look back," he remembered his aunt Petunia saying the day he turned seventeen and left them for good. He had never believed he would be back in this street, where the house still stood, as a reminder of the childhood that had been stolen from him.

His eyes roamed over the perfectly normal lawn, in the perfectly normal neighborhood. He felt Draco squeeze his hand.

"It will be okay," he said, noticing Harry's reluctance to move.

"I couldn't do this without you," Harry said with a small smile.

"Of course you can't, stupid Gryffindor," Draco said, rolling his eyes. Harry chuckled, there was something refreshing about the sarcasm when he was so used to the fawning.

The door swung open, and Harry knew it was too late to disappear. He saw Dudley, who now had become a more slender version of himself. He shot Harry a smile and walked outside to greet him.

"Harry, cousin! So good to see you!" Dudley exclaimed.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked, remembering how Dudley used to bully him senselessly, he had a fleeting thought of Polyjuice potion being used. Then he remembered that the war was over and he was being paranoid. Perhaps his cousin had simply grown up to be a decent human being.

Dudley laughed. "I deserve that, I wasn't very kind to you growing up. I'm sorry." He nodded in Draco's direction and added. "I see you brought the boyfriend with."

Both men blushed and belatedly realised their hands still clasped.

"Oh no," Harry insisted. "Draco's just a friend."

"Goodness, I really put my foot in it," Dudley said, slapping his forehead.

"It's normal, anyone sees me and loves me," Draco joked suddenly. Dudley let out a half-chuckle.

"Anyway, I'm glad you came," Dudley said, walking towards the house. Harry followed; something made him feel unsteady in this place. He defeated evil, yet number four privet drive still gave him the creeps.

As soon as a small girl came running out with curly blonde hair, looking like a doll, the last of those fears disappeared.

"Uncle Harry!" the girl cried, jumping at him with a hug around his legs.

Dudley laughed at his daughter.

"Harry, this is my oldest daughter, Celia," he said.

"Hello, Celia," Harry said, crouching down to look into the girl's powder-blue eyes.

"Uncle Harry, daddy said you would be coming, he told me so much about you…" the little one chattered on.

"Come on, Celia, let's go inside," Dudley said, the genuine smile on his face making him look like a completely different person to the spoiled child he had been.

"We all grow up some time," Dudley said, following the curly haired blonde girl into the house.

"I know, I mean, Draco," Harry said but faltered.

"You weren't friends during school?" Dudley asked.

Draco laughed sarcastically. "Hardly."

Harry's eyes lit up as he entered the house that used to be his childhood prison. It was brighter and had photographs of not only Dudley and his wife, as well as the two daughters, it also held moving pictures of Harry himself, in his Auror robes.

"I don't imagine my aunt takes this very well, how often does she have tantrums about it?" he asked as he saw the evidence of magic in the house.

"Oh, I'm sure mother would throw a tantrum if she saw it," Dudley replied.

"We hide those when she comes over," he added, pointing at the photographs of Harry, as well as one of Harry's parents.

"Yes, it's our little secret," Celia said, "Daddy wants us to know about magic, in case me or Lisa become witches." Harry looked at the little girl in wonder. She was so small, and yet she was already so much wiser than her father.

"That's very clever," Draco said to Celia, and Harry was surprised how easily his friend took to the child.

"Well," Dudley said and cleared his throat. "Some tea?" He offered the two of them. Harry nodded, following Dudley into a kitchen that looked nothing like the one he knew. He looked around so much that Dudley picked up on his curiosity.

"Alice wanted the whole place redone. A new start, she said, especially after she heard what mother had done to you," Dudley said with a blush.

"I like it much better." Harry sat down at the small yellow kitchen table. Celia popped onto the chair next to him before Draco could, and when the wizard gave her a curious look, she said, "Oh, sorry, would you like me to move, sir?"

Draco shook his head. "I'm Draco," he said to the little girl.

"Pleased to meet you, uncle Draco," she said. Harry was ready to correct her, when he spotted the look of adoration on Draco's face at hearing those words. It was clear that Draco was sometimes jealous he didn't have the contact with his family, and the ones he did, he hadn't been allowed to spend any time with.

While her father made tea, Harry watched Celia reach for a pink plastic glass in the cupboard just beyond her reach, and it seemed to move an inch forward, just enough for her to reach it. She grinned cheekily at Harry and then moved to the fridge to fetch the orange juice.

"Celia, are you being naughty and showing off again?" Dudley asked as he noticed the expression on the men's faces.

She rolled her eyes. "Daddy, it's not showing off, I couldn't reach," she insisted.

"Don't be sassy with me, young lady," Dudley said in the strictest voice Harry had ever heard. It reminded him of Mrs Weasley reprimanding her own brood. It was clear Dudley and his wife weren't going to allow the same behaviour that he had grown up with.

"Sorry Daddy, next time I'll ask for help," she said abashed, taking her juice and sitting down at the table again.

"That was pretty cool," Draco said. "Naughty, but cool, can you do a lot of things like that?"

Celia nodded. "But, it's a secret," she mimed zipping her small mouth and tossing the key. "If granny asks, we are all perfectly normal."

Maybe looking back wasn't an option anymore, but looking ahead, he could surely do now, and he was willing to become a part of his nieces lives and watch them grow up to become decent people, it was time to break the cycle, so no more looking back.