####
Harry was busy giving private lessons in the Room of Requirement. With him, half of Dudley's friends from other houses trained. Susan and Hannah were too serious about studying for the incoming OWLs.
Dudley had a lot of free time, although he also studied hard. But he had bigger issues to deal with. The warning that Lily had given him about Harry seeing him in the visions took away his peaceful nights. All the free time was spent studying Arithmancy to predict future events. And this time, he had to make himself the nexus of the algorithm. The issue with that was how many variables were attached to him. For the best prediction, he had to note down everything.
His money, his business, every ongoing deal, every future deal, the number of employees, his friends, his enemies, what he eats, when he shits. He had to use every single detail about himself.
Clap!
"That will be all for today, dears. Do remember to review what we so carefully studied; it's important for your OWLs."
Books shut close, and the students got up quickly, chattering as they left.
"Mr. Dursley, you'll stay."
Dudley looked up with a frown, his focus ruined from the Arithmancy calculations he was doing. His mere glance made Dolores Umbridge flinch back.
He told Hannah and Susan to wait outside for him while he stayed back. Then moments later, once the classroom was fully empty, he got up and walked over to Dolores. The woman unconsciously moved backwards, as if terrified of him.
"This better be worth it, Dolores. I was focused on my calculations." Dudley warned her and stood close, like a tower over her minute height. "If it's useless gossip again—"
"It's not, my Lord."
"Lord?"
"Ah… I mean… Sir, you are nothing less than a king, though blind fools fail to perceive it. I do apologize. I… well, here, if you please, I've brought you this. Exactly as you commanded. A full map of the entire Ministry of Magic. It was dreadfully difficult to acquire, frightfully so, but I did it, for you."
Oh?
Dudley looked at the rolled paper with interest. It was an important piece of the puzzle if he wanted to predict the future battle of the Department of Mysteries. He knew it was going to happen. But since he had changed so many things, and people who should have died lived, he knew it was going to be different.
He needed the details.
"The entire Ministry?"
Umbridge nodded her head most fervently. "Indeed, sir, yes indeed. The map is terribly old, fashioned some eighty years past, yet remains most exquisitely detailed. It even dares to chart the secret chambers… the Department of Mysteries itself. I… I was obliged, Sir, to break through numerous gates to secure it."
"Hmm." Dudley unrolled the map and gave it a quick glance. It was detailed, hand-drawn, not magically. There were scratches, mistakes that were reworked. Someone had spent a great deal of time making it.
This is fucking impressive. How'd she get it?
But he kept himself from being overly excited. "Nicely done, Dolores. You might not realise it, but this has taken you a step nearer to the Minister's chair. There'll be recognition for this, and your vault will reflect it. For the next step, wait for my instructions."
"Understood, my Lord."
"..."
What an ass licking bitch.
He gave a nod and walked out of the classroom. He met with Susan and Hannah and headed to the next class of the day. It was hard to contain his excitement. But he had to act normal. Eventually, he finished the last class of the day, Care of Magical Creatures.
"We're going to the library."
"..."
That was the first time Dudley had heard Susan speak about that forbidden place like that. She even dragged away Hannah. Clearly, Susan was scared out of her mind about failing her OWLs, and her aunt forbidding her from seeing him.
Chuckling, Dudley chose to head to the Arithmancy classroom as well. He still had the keys, after all. Besides, he was also working on predicting the questions that were going to be asked in OWLs. All he had to do was throw in the past ten or so years of questions into the algorithm, and the names, personalities, ages, and genders of the staff of the Wizarding Examinations Authority.
So, he wasn't as worried and just focused on the coming battle. He studied the map of the Ministry and started feeding details into his Arithmancy algorithm. By that point, it was already twenty-six pages long. It was tough, grueling work. He had to memorise it so he could make adjustments whenever he added something new.
In a way, Dudley had answered his own question.
That hard work was exactly why there weren't that many Arithmancy experts. Not everyone was gifted with numbers. Even less able to remember that many series, formulas, and details, and also an expert in Muggle math.
Hmm… No, they wouldn't dare. They can't be that dumb.
That evening, Dudley got his answer.
The reason why Harry saw visions about him.
It wasn't directly related to Voldemort. The Dark Lord was still focused on Harry. But at the same time, the Dark Lord had shaken hands with someone who was able to fund him, and that rich friend also wanted to deal with Dudley.
Fucking Goblins—I'll end them and their damn bank.
It was the Goblins who had decided to fund Voldemort, likely with a promise that they'd get to remove Dudley and keep his bank for themselves. That made sense. It was a very risky move, a winner-takes-all situation.
However, Dudley wasn't foolish enough to go after all the Goblins across the world. It was likely the British branch that was going to spearhead the operation, with the global branches providing support behind the scenes.
Hah, I'll push their name down the dirt.
As long as Dudley won, he was certain he'd be able to become a monopoly in Wizarding Britain, ending Gringotts entirely. As for the outer world, he was sure he'd be able to pull most of the human customers away. Nobody liked Goblins to begin with, they were tolerated because of the monetary services they provided.
Things just got interesting. Hmm… Vanguards should prepare.
Ending his work, he made his way into the Great Hall for dinner. He once again saw Lily at the teacher's table and knew why she was there. She was going to meet Snape soon. And really, Dudley wanted to be there.
But he couldn't be there openly.
Pondering, his eyes fell on the Gryffindor table.
Harry can help.
####
Later that night.
Dudley walked three times in front of the wall and waited for the door to appear. It was past curfew, but he knew why some of the students weren't in bed.
Click!
He pushed the large door open and walked inside. Instantly, he saw the scared faces of twenty-eight tired wizards and witches. They probably thought they were found by a teacher.
"It's just Dudley," Ron blurted. "Blimey, I could feel my heart in my mouth."
"Careful, Ron. Best not go stuffing odd bits in your gob," Dudley said with a grin, shutting the door so it melted away from sight. He glanced around the room, spotting Harry at the back, right beside Cho.
They're dating?
"Hey, Dudley."
"How're you, Dudley?"
"Good day, mate."
"Hello."
Dudley was pretty much the golden retriever of the school. Nobody hated him, most liked him, a few loved him, and the haters were fearful of him. He was a golden retriever that could bite really hard with his wealth.
He went past the training wizards and witches, aiming for Harry.
"Dudley."
"Oh, hey, Hermione." He stopped to greet the bushy-haired girl. "How's training going?"
"They're a difficult lot to teach. What about you? Here to train?" Hermione asked in return, though her words came a touch too quickly, as if struggling to speak slowly.
Still embarrassed?
"No, needed a word with my cousin over there." Dudley pointed towards Harry, far too busy playing teacher with his crush. "He's… very focused on teaching her."
"He's been like that since Christmas." Hermione rolled her eyes, arms crossed. "They're unofficially dating. Well, at least he's not too worried about the dreams this way."
"Hmm…" Dudley sighed and looked around the room. "I'd rather not ruin his moment. How about I give a few pointers while I waste time?"
"You'll teach?"
Dudley frowned, acting hurt. "Hermione, I may not out-spell you, but even you know, my theoretical knowledge is the best in school. I can give some advice."
Hermione chuckled at his hurt expression. She found it easy to become comfortable with him yet again. The very thing that drew her towards him in the first place. "Go on. I won't stop you."
"Great!" Dudley looked around and saw Ron flicking his wand towards the target. "You can take him. I'll go for his siblings."
Lazily, Dudley walked over to Fred and George, and instead of practicing, he discussed the progress on their joke shop. They were pretty excited about it. They didn't give a damn about studies.
Then, he went to Luna, waving her wand like she was dancing. She moved her feet while casting spells, and looked cute. But at the same time, her spells were landing. She was indeed pretty good with magic.
"Let's play, Luna. If you get more points, I'll buy you whatever you want." Dudley promised and stood beside her. In front of them was a moving target with a bullseye. He marked each circle for different points.
Woosh!
They went at it.
Luna was precise.
So was Dudley.
What Dudley had wasn't a big range of spells. He had a few spells he'd performed thousands of times to become efficient. Now, he had a hundred percent accuracy with them. It was his years of hard work.
It was a draw.
"No worries, I'll still buy you whatever you want." He said, because he bloody could. And seeing a happy Luna was like seeing the sunrise in spring.
"Then, you can put it in my as—"
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