LEGACY

J K Rowling owns all the rights to the books and the amazing characters she created. I write only to satisfy my imagination and use my creativity and make no money from my writings.

Note: Although I have completed several stories and/or started a sequel for some, I have noticed that many of my stories aren't read very much, reviewed or followed. I also still have my writer's block. Therefore, I have looked through some unpublished stories of three or more chapters and submit them and see if they get a better reception. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Chapter 1 – Gotcha

Vernon Dursley was not an honest man. Oh he was a lot of things, most of them not good, but honest he definitely wasn't. A little thing like his WORD – even his SOLEMN WORD OF HONOR – wasn't worth the paper it was printed on but then again, Vernon never put anything in writing if he could help it, unless he could benefit from it like an order for the drills he sold. Even then the fine print should be carefully read just so there weren't any "mistakes" or "misunderstandings" made.

The way he looked at it the saying "Cheaters never prosper" didn't refer to him as he had and would continue to cheat his entire life especially when he wouldn't be caught. He cheated on his income taxes, his faithful wife and everybody else. Had he been born a wizard he would have emulated the 'late' Lord Voldemort and tried to cheat death. So far he had succeeded with his dishonesty and the few times he had been caught he had always managed to weasel his way out of it. Until now as he had made a very bad mistake, namely, he tried to cheat persons who any fool should know that you don't cross unless you had a death wish.

Vernon Dursley had a "special source of income" which was done on a cash only basis, namely he received £1,000 per month ever since his freakish orphaned nephew-by-marriage was left on his doorstep. Since the child was a FREAK, "IT" was immediately dropped off at an orphanage despite the compulsion charm cast on the letter which had been the only source of information concerning the identity of the boy and announcing the death of his parents. His wife had read the letter and had to obey but Vernon wouldn't look at it and forced her to burn it, therefore he wasn't "compelled" to obey and he immediately dropped the "THING" off at an orphanage in the worse part of London, thinking that those Freaks should be grateful he hadn't drown IT and was showing the creature more mercy than IT deserved.

Unfortunately, three days later, the BEAST was returned to them by the Freak Vernon called the "King of the Freaks" and the Freak who had left IT in their care. Vernon didn't know just how lucky he was as most people didn't cross the Leader of the Light, Albus Dumbledore and lived not to regret it. If the truth were to be known the "Light Leader" was even worse than the recently deceased Dark Lord Voldemort. But Dumbledore was feeling "merciful" – for him at least and decided to make it worth the Dursleys' while by making certain deals.

The only one Petunia Dursley knew about was the monetary one, which meant that they would receive £500 per month in cash (and thus not reportable to the taxman) to keep and raise her orphaned nephew according to the way Dumbledore wanted. Actually they would be getting £1,000 a month but Vernon told her it was only £500 and she would definitely not know about the other deals made between the two unethical men.

Due to the way Dumbledore wanted the boy raised, Vernon was able to collect other monies due to having to do cover-ups when the child did acts of freakishness (usually to save his life) and as bribes to smooth things over due to this, that and the other things which were necessary so that the BEAST could be raised according to the deals.

In any event, the Dursleys received money, had a virtual slave, Petunia got a form of revenge against her magical sister, Dudley got a punching bag and Vernon got to hurt, abuse and humiliate a child whose freakishness soon cured any unavoidable injuries IT received from "playing with Dudley and his friends" or Vernon working out his frustrations when something in his life didn't go as planned. The Dursleys benefitted, the King of the Freaks was pleased and the FREAK was made to suffer because IT was cursed (or rather blessed) with MAGIC.

This past year the FREAK finally went off to that unholy, abominable school of his and even though he wasn't living with them they still received the money and would until IT graduated from the freakish school. It was now June, 1992 and the FREAK was due back and Vernon had figured out that besides the extra "expenses" received to pay for the "accidents" roughly £128,000 had been given to the Dursleys for "raising" the BEAST, when the BEAST finally graduated (if IT lived that long), the Dursleys should be receiving roughly another £84,000. Therefore, by June 1998 Vernon would have made approximately £212,000 for putting up with the FREAK.

His only regret was that he hadn't been able to get an increase because the King of the Freaks told him that the "extra expenses" needed to be paid due to the Dursleys' "over-enthusiasm" in raising the BEAST. Apparently the King of the Freaks had also been keeping records and from November 1, 1982 through July 31, 1991 when the BEAST was finally allowed to know about Magic and go to that school, an additional £17,000 had to be paid to Vernon "to take care of things" as well as Dumbledore having to interrupt his busy schedule to cast a bit (or rather a lot) of magic to do further cover-ups. No doubt before June 1998, more "extra expenses" would need to be paid out so no raises would be considered.

Vernon knew he shouldn't be greedy but he was, as that was his nature. However, he grudgingly accepted the fact that he was making out very well not only monetarily but having his bits of fun abusing the boy and teaching Dudley how to be "a real man" by torturing his cousin. Nevertheless, if it were possible to make more money he was more than willing to double-cross Dumbledore and throw the FREAK to the wolves or other Freaks if a better offer came his way.

And it had as in March 1992 that he had a meeting with a potential new client and had received a very attractive offer from a Mr. Goldgrabber.

He had met Mr. Goldgrabber, an odd looking man, in a private room at a very posh restaurant (Mr. Goldgrabber's treat) and after the drinks and the food was received, instead of talking about the creation of specialized drills, the conversation turned to Vernon's freakish nephew. Apparently Mr. Goldgrabber was a Freak. Actually he was a Goblin wearing a glamour, which the creature had the decency to explain to Vernon after Vernon had been frozen and silenced in his chair since he had started to throw a fit as well as beginning to curse the creature out. He was a Muggle and didn't know any better to insult and curse at a Goblin especially one of Goldgrabber's status but Goldgrabber had business to do and needed the Muggle's assistance hence Vernon not being cursed to hell and back.

"We know all about your nephew as well as your agreement with Dumbledore" the now unglamoured Goblin told him. "You probably don't care that the agreement you have with that…wizard" the Goblin spat out "is completely illegal, but since he has great power in the magical world and has no ethics whatsoever, he has been able to get away with it. However, that will soon change and unless you want to suffer the consequences when he falls, you will take the deal my clients are offering. It will be to your advantage as you will have access to a large amount of 'tax-free' money – more than you will ever receive from Dumbledore."

The more tax-free money immediately got Vernon's attention and the creature released him from the magic he had cast on Vernon and told him of the terms – and conditions – of the deal that Vernon "would be a total fool not to accept" especially if he knew what was good for him.

Simply put, the creature knew that the most money Vernon would from now on be receiving for "raising Harry Potter" would be a maximum of £84,000 and "that is if the boy lives until June 30, 1998" the creature told him. "No doubt Dumbledore failed to mention that should the boy die, flee from Dumbledore's control or be…incarcerated…all payments of money would immediately cease and the chances of the boy actually dying, fleeing or being wrongfully jailed are very great. Then you would lose all."

That had made sense to Vernon and he had never considered that the Freak would actually die, probably at that freakish school of his especially when the creature added that the boy was in serious danger at that school and had already nearly died twice as far as the creature knew.

All Vernon had to do to earn £100,000 immediately was for him and Petunia to sign a document giving up all claim to Harry James Potter and when he picked the boy up from King's Cross Station on the last day of his school term he would drive the boy to a pre-arranged place, turn him and the document over to the creature and receive the money, leave and never have to deal with the boy or Dumbledore ever again.

"Instead of hoping the boy survived until June, 1998 and waiting for the £84,000 you would receive by then, you get the £84,000 now as well as an extra £16,000 for 'your trouble' as well as being offered other inducements to sweeten the deal."

"What other inducements?" Vernon greedily asked.

"In case you fear Dumbledore and any retaliation he might decide to do to you – not that he could legally do so, but just in case – we will arrange to purchase your house and all of its furnishings if you wish and relocate you and your family. You will finally be able to leave the prison which has become your home since Dumbledore will not let you leave Privet Drive for reasons that he refuses to explain. It is known that you have wanted to upgrade your living conditions for some time but have been unable to do so. We will find you a house more suitable to the increased status you have now and relocate you to another country and find you a new job and even give you and your family a new identity if necessary."

Vernon had to admit that it was a very generous offer and there were only three conditions he had to adhere to. The first was that he definitely could not contact Dumbledore "just in case you would be foolish enough to try and broker a better deal" he was warned. The second was that he could not tell his wife as she might object or alert Dumbledore. The third was that there would be no further negotiations as he was being offered was extremely attractive deal and he would not do better – especially with Dumbledore.

He had until June 1st to accept or reject the deal but should he decline and alert Dumbledore that he had been approached, the creature showed his horrible fangs and told him that he would regret it to his dying day which might come sooner – very sooner – than expected.

Vernon left the meeting deep in thought (after having several more drinks and an expensive, very rich dessert because the creature was paying). He had already decided to accept the offer but was trying to figure out a way of having his cake and eating it too, namely getting more money. He would never admit it but he did fear Dumbledore because Vernon feared magic having seen what it could do. They had to live at Privet Drive to be protected from the Freaks who had killed Petunia's sister as there was some sort of spell cast on the house or something like that which protected them all.

On June 1st he had another meeting with the creature (at the same restaurant with the creature again buying). He wanted to read over the contract and then reasonably requested an advance of some of the money as a matter of good faith. He wanted £50,000 now and the rest when he turned over the boy. Much haggling was done and Vernon only received £20,000 and a few more threats not to betray the creature and his clients. He had to take the contract home and have Petunia sign it just before Vernon went to pick up the boy so that she couldn't talk him out of it or alert Dumbledore. Once the boy was delivered to this restaurant and the contract was reviewed, Vernon would receive the remainder of the money and be free to get on with his life. At least Vernon had £20,000 which only he knew about.

By the time he had to pick up the Freak, he had come up with a plan. He told Petunia she had to sign the contract and why. Naturally she warned him that "We can't cross the King of the Freaks – we just can't" but he ignored her concerns and forced her to sign. Then he casually mentioned the restaurant where he was to take the boy. He had done all of this the night before so that Petunia would have time to contact Dumbledore so the boy could be rescued. The creature couldn't blame him if his wife contacted Dumbledore at the last minute now could It. He would have the £20,000 and just hope the boy would live until June 1998. He would still be £4,000 to the good over the deal he had made with the creature and they would have the Freak to use and abuse and perhaps maybe finally earn a raise. Nothing could go wrong.

Now anybody with an ounce of sense knows that if you say "Nothing can go wrong" it will and it did. Once Harry Potter had gone to Hogwarts the Goblins finally knew where he lived. They hadn't known due to the spells Dumbledore had placed on the boy and Privet Drive. They knew that they and wizards couldn't get past the wards without alerting Dumbledore. They also knew that no magical article such as a rune (even a Goblin-made rune) could be placed anywhere near the house without Dumbledore knowing. However, a little thing like that never stopped a Goblin especially when money, honor and…revenge…were involved.

Therefore at the earliest possible moment, the Goblins hired a Muggle specialist. One night the Dursleys went out to an important dinner and were gone for hours. The Muggle snuck into the house and placed Muggle "bugs" all over and bugged the phones. The Dursleys wouldn't know about them or find them and Dumbledore definitely wouldn't know about the Muggle "magic" or would have ignored it if he had believing that his magic would conquer anything a Muggle could produce. The Goblins learned much from these bugs especially Vernon breaking part of the deal. Therefore they were able to prevent Petunia from contacting Dumbledore.

Unknown to everybody, Petunia did have a way of contacting Dumbledore. Fawkes could be summoned if Petunia pressed an amulet which the King of the Freaks had given her. It would notify Fawkes who could flash to the Dursleys within seconds and he would look at the situation and determine if there was an emergency or if Petunia just needed to send a letter or make a report. It had saved Harry's life many a time when Vernon "got careless" or Dumbledore had to bail them out. That was how Petunia had been able to send the "Christmas present of 50 pence" to Harry his first year. Since the Goblins had bugged the house, they found out about it and had their Muggle agent snuck into the house shortly before May 1st to replace the item with a fake because they knew Vernon would develop what he called "a cunning plan" in an attempt to double-cross the Goblins.

But the likes of Vernon Dursley couldn't pull a fast one on the Goblins and he also couldn't read the fine print of the contract he had signed negating the payment in full if he even tried to welch on the deal.

And that was what happened. He picked his nephew up at the station told him to "shut up and not ask any questions and drove him to the restaurant. The boy gathered his trunk and owl cage and followed his uncle in knowing that he was up to something as Vernon would never treat Harry to a meal especially at such a posh restaurant.

The Goblin was waiting for them in the private room and Harry was shocked to see the creature and then heard Vernon say "Here's the $##*#&& now where is my money" but the Goblin merely waved his hand and petrified Vernon. Then two other Goblins appeared and grabbed Harry, his trunk and Hedwig in her cage and portkeyed away from the room into the pre-arranged, highly secured conference room where several surprises awaited him.

After they left Goldgrabber retrieved the signed contract from Vernon and looked down on him and then with a wave of his hand replayed Vernon's conversation with Petunia. "This took place last night against our deal. You knew she could contact Dumbledore and would do so as soon as possible. Then you could blame her for Dumbledore and his minions showing up and grabbing Harry."

Vernon never expected that nor did he expect that a "worthless, ugly, sub-human creature" such as Mr. Goldgrabber would find out his little trick. He was also very surprised when the creature said "Read the copy of the initial contract you signed in May and this time, read the fine print. Since you violated the contract, you will not receive the £80,000 and as you and your wife have already signed the last magic-based contract we, on behalf of our clients, have gotten permanent LEGAL custody of the boy. Also, with your signing of the contracts, there isn't anything Dumbledore can do to reverse the boy's new custody…except maybe avenging himself on you and your wife."

The creature smiled his hideous smile and dropped Vernon's copies of the contracts. He told him "You will be able to move again in an hour so GOOD LUCK EXPLAINING TO DUMBLEDORE! Did you know that he can read minds and wizards have a truth serum which can force ANYBODY – especially Muggles – to tell the truth." He then disappeared into thin air like Harry, the owl and the other creatures had leaving Vernon wondering how he was going to get out of this one.