Chapter 324: An Opportunity Arises
"Really?"
Dudley's eyes lit up at once. He had not expected the chance to come this quickly.
"Yes. The master and mistress are going out to a banquet tonight. They will be gone for at least four or five hours, and no one will be at home. If you wish to enter the Manor, this is the best opportunity," Dobby said, bowing slightly to Harry and Hermione as well.
"Oh! Dudley, you are really going to Malfoy Manor?" Hermione stared, stunned.
She had thought Dudley was only speaking hypothetically. She had not imagined he actually meant to do it.
"That is far too dangerous," Harry could not help saying.
If Dobby had not shown up today, he would have had no idea that Dudley had been planning a break-in.
"There have been some changes at Malfoy Manor recently. I need to see them for myself," Dudley said plainly.
"But breaking into a pure-blood wizard's estate is incredibly dangerous," Hermione said. "They will have warded it with all sorts of powerful magic. If any of that is triggered, you could be injured, captured, or even killed."
She had read about it in books. There were countless stories of would-be thieves who had tried to infiltrate ancient pure-blood estates and never come back out, their deaths unexplained. Whether they fell prey to powerful curses or direct magical attacks, one thing was clear: the magic woven into those old manors and castles was numerous and deadly. A single mistake could be fatal.
Even Hogwarts, a school, hid a place as dangerous as the Chamber of Secrets. Who knew what lurked in the ancestral homes of old families? History had no shortage of mad, warped pure-blood wizards.
"Are you really still worried about my strength?" Dudley asked with a crooked smile.
"But..." Hermione still felt it was wrong, but did not know how to phrase it anymore.
"Do you need our help?" Harry cut in.
He could tell Dudley had already decided. Dudley never backed down from a decision once made, so there was no point trying to talk him out of it. All Harry could do was see whether there was any way he could be useful.
"No. It is your birthday. Go and enjoy your party," Dudley said with a grin.
"But as you can see, I will probably not be there tonight."
"That's all right. Do what you need to do," Harry said.
"Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon might be upset. They have invited a lot of investors to this party for me," he added.
"It's fine. I will prepare some sweets for them. Even if it is not perfect, it will be enough to help them secure some investments," Dudley said lightly.
"In that case, see you tonight, Mr Dursley," Dobby said.
Now that Dudley had made his choice, the elf snapped his fingers and vanished.
"Honestly, I would rather go and help you than deal with Aunt Marge," Harry said wryly.
A trip to Malfoy Manor sounded far more appealing than an evening spent under Marge's stare.
"Who is that?" Hermione asked, puzzled.
"Aunt Marge. Never mind. You will find out soon enough," Harry said, not in the mood to explain.
"Before tonight, I still have some preparations to make. You two keep chatting. I am going out for a bit," Dudley said.
He picked up a box of sweets and stepped outside.
The Aurors stationed in the neighbourhood for their protection would need a fresh round of bribery, just to be sure. On top of that, he still had to find the right person to copy with Polyjuice.
An hour later, Dudley returned to Number Four.
All the Aurors had been taken care of, and no new ones had appeared. It was still the same faces. He made a point of giving extra sweets to the man Scrimgeour had planted.
At the same time, he pulled a single hair from his pocket.
Earlier at the station, he had casually plucked it from a random Muggle's head. Before heading to Malfoy Manor, he intended to take on that man's appearance.
The day passed quickly. Evening came in the blink of an eye.
Since Dobby had not arrived yet, Dudley went with the family to Harry's birthday banquet first. While there, he used the time to bribe every investor present, helping his father secure a respectable amount of capital.
He also finally met Aunt Marge.
She looked just as he remembered: about as fat as Vernon, perhaps even more so. The moment she saw him, she crushed him in a bear hug. Thankfully, Dudley was much stronger now and managed to twist away before she could plant a slobbery kiss on his cheek.
As expected, she could not resist picking Harry apart with her usual stream of criticism. This time, though, Vernon and Petunia both stepped in to defend Harry and speak on his behalf, which made things far easier for him.
Dudley had been thinking of lightly nudging Marge's thinking with a Beyonder ability, but before he could, something outside the window caught his attention. Dobby was hopping up and down in the darkness, trying to get his eye.
"I need to go. You two can handle things here," Dudley murmured to Harry and Hermione.
"Do not worry," Harry said at once.
Hermione nodded firmly.
Dudley slipped out of the banquet hall and headed for the hedge outside.
"Are you ready, Mr Dursley?" Dobby asked.
"One moment," Dudley said.
He took out a flask of Polyjuice Potion and dropped the hair he had pulled from the Muggle's head into it.
The potion began to seethe at once, bubbling green and yellow. After a few moments, the foam subsided, leaving behind a cupful of thick, yellow-green liquid. The stench wafting off it reminded Dudley of a rotting dustbin.
"Merlin, this man smells awful," he muttered, pinching his nose as he took a mouthful.
The disgusting taste burned its way down his throat into his stomach, making his stomach heave. He very nearly threw up his dinner there and then.
Then the transformation began.
He shot up in height, now pushing one metre eighty. His smooth skin turned coarse, a thick beard sprouted on his cheeks, and his golden hair vanished, replaced by dull brown with a noticeable bald patch on top. In the end, he looked like the perfect specimen of an ordinary middle-aged English Muggle.
"Not bad," Dudley said, checking himself in a window's reflection before changing into a set of black robes he had prepared in advance.
"Not as good as the Faceless, but it will do," he murmured.
"That is amazing," Dobby breathed. "Even if you are seen, no one will know who you really are."
"Ahem. I am ready. Let's go," Dudley said in an unfamiliar, gruffer voice.
"Very well, Mr Dursley. Welcome to Malfoy Manor," Dobby said.
He grabbed Dudley's hand and snapped his fingers.
Pop.
Darkness rushed in on all sides. Dudley knew the sensation of side-along Apparition all too well by now and rode it out calmly.
When his feet touched solid ground again, he found himself standing before an ancient, opulent stone manor.