Aw! A lovely POV piece looking in at the friendship that is the Trio.  You get your comfort where you can and I guess that Ginny will always have to accept that there is her and there is the Trio.  She will have to get used to sharing her husband with her brother and sister-in-law (and no, I'm not suggesting that there is some crazy swinger arrangement between them, dirty people! ;-) ).  Ultimately, in a life as filled with horror and uncertainty as Harry's, the permanancy of his relationship with Ron & Hermione is a constant that he will always need, I think.

I loved that bit at the beginning with Harry revelling in the 'expanse of nothing that he had to do'.  For the first time, he is not The Chosen One, he is just Harry.

An interesting start to this story, but there is a bit too much introspection and looking back.  You might want to think of presenting events in a strictly chronological order and moving us to the introduction to young Miss Dursley as soon as possible.

I did like your characterisations of Dudley (a bit pompous - how could a son of Vernon be anything else?) and Ron (still not thinking before talking).

Well, it's good to read a story with a semi-human Dudley Dursley.  Of all the in-laws from hell, he is the one most likely to reform.  Why? Because Harry could have left him to the Dementors but didn't.

I think that your characterisations were sound.  Dudley's assessment of his parents is pretty good too.  However, I wonder if Vernon bullied Petunia too to make her so submissive and unwilling to stand up for her own wishes.

I assume that this is going to be a Dudley/Katie romance.  Goodness knows that would finish off The Blimp (my name for Vernon). ;-)

This is a good start for a story.  I will be looking out for more instalments.

I must say that I love your portrayal of Petunia.  She really is the most neurotic mess, isn't she? There is probably a small library of unresolved guilt issues (not to mention that she was probably a little jealous of her sister's apparently managing to have two boyfriends - Severus and James). 

She also very obviously is trying to compensate for abusing Harry by spoiling Dudley.  It was inevitable that he would finally have to break away from her need to smother him, ironically in the same way that Bill and Charlie Weasley did with Molly.  Vernon... well, he is basically a walking cliché; I doubt that he has ever really been interested in Dudley except as a clone to carry on where he left off.

What makes this story really interesting is that it is mostly written from a grown-up Dudley's point of view.  It is therefore very interesting in that it gives a real outsider's POV on the wizarding world, its personalities and its social quirks.

My advice to Dudley? Don't worry about the long-term for now.  Just enjoy being with Katie.

BenRG's Rating: 8/10

Poor Dudley! It has often been argued that Petunia and Vernon abused him as badly they did Harry, just in a different way.  It must be difficult for him to defy them.  It must be even more difficult to express his feelings (it seems to be a problem for us blokes - can't express our feelings :-p ).

I'm looking forward to how this goes.  I think that there is still to be the final confontation with the parents with a possible chill in the relationship before the end.  I'll wait to see.

I have a strange image in my head of Harry pacing around Godric's Hollow and shouting "When did I become the world's personal Yenta?!?" Still, he is Dudley's only real magical contact, so he is the only one who could help out.

If Dudley wants to soft-soap his parents about his relationship with Katie, Ginny has just given him the opening - Katie's maternal grandparents were 'normal', so it isn't as if Dudley's running off with a girl whose entire family are freaks. :-p I doubt that he will do that though.  He is a bit too annoyed with Petunia's attempt to control him to give much consideration to her response to Katie's nature.

I think that this story has maintained its pace well.  It is hardly an action-packed thrill ride.  It is more of an exploration of how Dudley might grow as a person, using Katie as the catalyst for that exploration. 

I will be interested to see what will happen in the next chapter.  Perhaps Dudley will have to practice saying "I love you" in the mirror a few times.  I also  think that Vernon will be coming over to have a stroke at Dudley for being 'abnormal'.

You know, as sad as it is, I wasn't surprised to read that Petunia had cut Harry off.  She had two choices: let go of her bitterness or lose her son.  But to do the former she had to admit her mistakes and that is something that she was just too weak to do.

A nice ending.  I bet that Tabitha will be a member of the new Gryffindor Trio that is about to be Sorted at Hogwarts.  And, of course, with the beginning of their adventures we reach a different story.

This story was thoughtful, passionate and involving where needed.  It was a great work.  Thanks for sharing it with us.