Title: On my Way to Save the World
Author name: NaginiSKD3
Category: Action/Adventure, Romance
This Story Includes: Dark Magic, Harry/Draco, and Hermione/Ron
Rating: R for sexual situations, violence, and language
Spoilers: SS/PS, CoS, PoA, GoF, OotP
Summary: Post-OotP HPDM Draco becomes a spy for the light and can't stand his old friends though he's unable to show it. A bit of RWHG is making Harry feel isolated. Harry and Draco start spending time together. Being a man of few morals Draco attempts to corrupt Harry. Slash ensues.
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling and various publishers. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.
Warning: This is Slash! You have been warned if you are still reading it and you don't like slash is your own damn fault.Chapter One: Appreciate Your Concern
On a fine Sunday morning just after pouring her coffee and buttering her bread Mrs. Penelope Capperwallence sat down for her breakfast and searched the table for the morning news. When she failed to find the paper it became apparent that her husband, Mr. Sebastian M. Capperwallence, had not left it out for her. Having been married to the man for twelve years you may think that she would have known about her husbands habit of sleeping in on Sundays but she had forgotten. Mrs. Capperwallence could be quite the scatterbrain at times. Laughing at her mistake she placed her coffee next to her buttered toast and went upstairs to put on her fuzzy slippers and bathrobe.
With her feet shod and robe tie knotted she smiled affectionately at the sleeping Mr. Capperwallence and returned downstairs.
Stepping out into the crisp morning air she took a moment to stand on her porch and look over at her neighbors.
The neighbors of Mrs. Capperwallence were as normal as neighbors could be. There was a husband, Mr. Vernon Dursley, who was rather red and rotund - much larger than Mr. Capperwallence. There was also a wife, Mrs. Petunia Dursley, who was a very clean and skinny woman, quite the opposite of her hefty husband. And also a son, Dudley, who according to Mr. Capperwallence was a large rude ball bouncing around with blond hair atop it. Mrs. Capperwallence sometimes wondered how Mr. Dursley had managed the feat of not crushing Mrs. Dursley under his beefy form whilst they were producing Dudley.
But that was only idle musing on the part of Mrs. Capperwallence. She really wasn't very fond of her neighbors, normal though they may be. You see Mrs. Capperwallence was a very perceptive woman, a very perceptive woman indeed. Particularly on the subject of what others thought of her. She was quite aware that Mrs. Dursley looked upon her kitchen with scorn, turning up her pointed nose at the dirty dishes in Mrs. Capperwallence's sink. Sitting down at the table and peering at her perfectly clean teacup with an air of distaste. Now Mrs. Capperwallence would never admit it but whenever she had Mrs. Dursley over for tea it left a faint aftertaste of dirty socks in her mouth and completely spoiled her afternoon.
A sickly aftertaste was not the only off putting thing about the Dursleys. There was something strange going on in that house and though Mrs. Capperwallence was by no means a snoop she did often wonder what was causing her to suspect that more was going on behind those doors than the Dursleys let on.
Perhaps it had to do with the other boy, the one no one talked about. Supposedly he was incurably criminal. Mrs. Dursleys sister had died and the family had graciously accepted the responsibility of caring for young Harry. Harry Potter, thought Mrs. Capperwallence, was quite an interesting young child. He was skinny, much like Mrs. Dursley, and had wonderfully tousled black hair. Often Mrs. Capperwallence wished she could just place her hand on the boy's head and ruffle his black mop until it stood on end. Now this inclination may have seemed strange to others but Mrs. Capperwallence gave the small wish little thought.
Last summer Mrs. Capperwallence recalled how often she had seen him. He had spent countless amounts of time out and about in the yard but since returning from his boarding school Mrs. Capperwallence had seen neither hide nor hair of the boy.
Sighing to herself and resigning to put the mystery of the Dursleys to rest Mrs. Capperwallence left her porch and went to collect her newspaper at the end of the drive. Bending down to pick up the bundle Mrs. Capperwallence heard what she thought was the roar of an enraged walrus coming through the window of the Dursleys kitchen.
Extremely perplexed and slightly disturbed by the unusual racket Mrs. Capperwallence quickly picked up her paper and returned to the safety of her porch. Giving one last worried glance to the home of her neighbors Mrs. Capperwallence was prepared to go inside when the startling shriek of an ostrich sounded out.
Now Mrs. Capperwallence was no snoop, she would not be poking her head over the azalea bushes to spy on her neighbors and she was also by no means an old prude who would stomp over to someone else's house to tell them to keep their noise down at this time in the morning but Mrs. Capperwallence simply could not contain her curiosity and was compelled by forces greater than herself to walk hesitantly across the dewy lawn and rap three times on the Dursleys front door.
What happened next would live in Mrs. Capperwallence's memory forever as the strangest thing to ever happen on the street of Privet Drive in all her years living there.
Harry Potter had woken up two hours early in the twin bed of Dudley's second bedroom. Having had no problems with Voldermort since last year Harry found himself wishing that they might stat up again if only to end the confusion and rumors, if only to give him something to think about besides the many thoughts that were always crowded in the back of his mind waiting to come forth. Another reason Harry wished he could have had a vision last night was that everything else would surely take second priority. With the distraction of a vision nothing could have happen today but five or six frantic owls being sent and a welcomed cancellation of plans. As it was noting had happened to stop today from happening and he could feel that this was going to be the worst day ever. Even worse than his last visit to Dumbledore´s office, and that was saying a lot. Harry wished he could just crawl back into bed put the ratty gray pillow over his head and not wake up till Monday. Harry slammed himself back and bounced a bit on the spring mattress before he tried to make himself fall back asleep.
Today was the fifth day of summer, the first Sunday of holidays, and five days and six nights from the last time he would ever have to see the Dursleys. It was also the day that the Black estates and fortune were to be legally turned over into his care and possession. At about a quarter till the advanced guard would be arriving by floo to escort him to Gringotts bank so that he could fill out the necessary forms and sign the proper documents. The only thing that could have been worse than the final reminder that Sirius was gone was if it had gone to the press. Dumbledore had stopped that from happening so fast that Rita Skeeter had gone cross-eyed for a good five seconds.
Harry hadn't even known about Sirius' will until he had received a very strange letter from Rita Skeeter. Rita had somehow gotten wind of the news from a goblin informant who had over heard a friend talking about the necessary transactions. Thinking that he had already known she had written to Harry on the first day of the holidays asking for another exclusive interview. Harry had been extremely confused by the request and a bit taken aback by how tactless it was. When he wrote to Dumbledore asking for details not an hour later another letter had been sent calling Harry to the Leaky Cauldron.
Not ten minutes after Harry had read the letter the advanced guard had swept into the Dursleys home through a temporary floo connection arranged by an Order member working in the transportation department. The Dursleys were not pleased. And when Harry had emerged from the fireplace of the Leaky Cauldron the scene of a Dumbledore explaining to Rita exactly why she could not have an exclusive interview with Harry greeted him. Rita looked like a dear in caught in the headlights, her eyes as wide as a bug's behind her horn-rimmed glasses.
Harry walked around the table to stand behind Rita and saw exactly why she looked so stunned. Dumbledore´s cheerful blue eyes were like eerie twin fires of burning ice. Apparently Rita had tried to press the issue and Dumbledore had not been pleased. Absolutely and by no means would any information even remotely related to the Order HQ would ever be leaked to the press. Rita, it seemed, had been recruited by the Order.
After Rita had left in a bit of a daze apologizing profusely for her inconsideration Dumbledore had sat Harry down and explained the situation. Sirius, having no heir of his own, had chosen Harry to inherit the Black family fortunes instead of it being redistributed among his death eater cousins or left in the hands of the ministry. Harry had readily accepted the terms that it remain HQ for the Order and also remain under Dumbledore´s Fidelus Charm. Harry wouldn't have had it any other way and though he was sure this was just the last nail in Sirius's coffin he was still numb to the situation and couldn't gather up the strength to break down and cry.
It wasn't until he was back at the Dursleys and had woken up from a dream that night that it really hit Harry. In the dream Sirius had been calling him son and they had lived in a renovated Grimuldian Place together, like a family, him Sirius and Buckbeak an odd but loving family. The dream was made even worse by the fact that Harry had woken up expecting Sirius to be making breakfast for him. Two seconds after realizing that he was is Dudley's second bedroom, Sirius was dead, and he would be owning the house in less than a weeks time it really finally hit him. He would be inheriting Sirius house because Sirius was dead and didn't live there anymore.
Harry thanked his lucky stars that the media had found itself a new story that very day. Azkaban had been broken into and the Murder of Lucius Malfoy was the new front page. It seemed that Voldermort didn't take kindly to disgraced and useless politicians. Lucius Malfoy had failed and been captured then killed by those he was loyal too. If Voldermort didn't blanch at killing his own most loyal followers what would stop him from killing absolutely everyone else. Apparently the rest of the wizarding world shared this sentiment.
Harry had been surprised to see a surly Draco Malfoy and a weeping Narcissa standing at her son's shoulder staring at him from the front page as he munched charred toast made for him by Aunt Petunia. The second day of summer and he had to see Malfoys ugly face while he was at the breakfast table again.
Harry was surprised that Rita had written the article and he wondered how much Malfoy had to pay her to twist such blatant lies for him Skeeter painted the remaining Malfoy's as a family in mourning. The article read as if Malfoy and his mother had been as shocked as the rest of the community when it was learned that Lucius had always been a Death Eater by choice. Harry wondered how many had actually believed the rather weak cover story of Lucius having been under the impirus. But the story had gotten Lucius off the first time so Harry relented in his sarcasm when he realized that it enough people had been fooled into believing it to allow Lucius the freedom to remain operating at the ministry. No one will believe this shit now, though Harry, Rita must have been put under the impirus herself to write such a stupid article. Trying to tell the public that Malfoy hadn't known his own father was a Death Eater is completely out there.
But when the sorrowful articles continued to appear in the paper Harry saw that most of the public bought it. Malfoy had a clear name and as far as anyone was concerned he was a boy who had been deceived by his parent and then had been forced to go through the trauma of having said deceiving parent die. What a pity Malfoy was now the sole owner of the well known Malfoy fortune. What a pity Malfoy's murderous, racist, evil son of a bitch father was put to rest before he could cause any more pain and suffering. What a pity Malfoy was now free to go and pick up right where his father had left off. Fucking press.
But then two days later before the shock of Lucius Malfoy's death had settled the paper was once again in a frenzy busy covering former Minister Fudge's resignation. It had happened just last Wednesday and was still making front-page news in the Prophet. When the public had read that Fudge knew of Voldermort's return and had refused to protect them they were appalled and began immediately demanding his forced resignation. Harry wished he could feel bad for the former Minister, he almost felt a sort of strange empathy towards the ruined man. Lord knew Harry had been experienced the bad side of the wizarding populace's fickle loyalties. How often had Harry been loved one day as the savior of the wizarding world and then despised the next all at the whim of the press. What would they make of him inheriting the fortune of a mass murderer?
Who knew, Harry thought to himself, it would be up to Rita. Harry was astonished by the rash way most of the wizarding world reacted to any sort of upheaval. But for once at least they were being told the truth. Harry had heard the saying from somewhere "Crowds are stupid" or something like that. Judging from experience he had to agree. Weather the crowd was acting for positive or negative, acting on truth or lies, they were usually acting on the wishes of someone else.
Just like Harry had been when he had gathered up the DA to go dashing off into danger and landing right into Voldermort's hands. Harry tried to stop himself before he connected that thought to Sirius. Fudge had brought this upon himself. Hadn't Dumbledore told him at the end of fourth year that he could either be remembered as a great minister or make a horrible mistake and be ruined for the rest of his carrier? Fudge was a fool and Harry was glad that he was out of office before he could make anymore disastrous mistakes that might cost them the war.
This was how Harry's thoughts had been going in circles all summer everything lead back to Sirius. After front page article revealing the truth about Voldermort the paper became filled with an endless array of speculations and rumors. The paper was filled with wild gossip far-fetched enough to earn itself a page in the Quibbler. Before he could stop himself thinking about the Quibbler had reminded Harry of that article they had printed about Sirius.
Almost anything could make Harry think of Sirius. Writing to the guard at the end of every day reminded him of the Order, which Sirius had been a part of. Watching the muggle news reminded him of third year summer when Sirius' picture had appeared on the TV one night. Seeing black dogs and men with long black Harry caused Harry to pause before he remembered. When would Harry ever stop seeing Sirius wherever he turned? When would he stop looking for him? Even the near thought of escaping the Dursleys forever couldn't cheer him up because where would he be going if not to the house that Sirius had willed to him.
Harry had almost been fine at the end of the year. Surrounded by friends who loved him and could keep his mind of Sirius. But had the hole in his chest really healed so fast? Had he really accepted that when he returned to Grimuldian Place for the summer Sirius wouldn't be there to greet him? It had finally sunken in when he had been staring out the car window for an hour: He would never see Sirius again. No matter that he still expected to it would always hit him a moment later that the only things left of Sirius were memories and those paled in comparison to having the real thing.
Ron and Hermiones daily letters had been comforting at first but Harry could tell they were soon running out of things to say when they began repeating them selves every time in the last paragraph.
We'll see you soon.
We miss you.
It'll get better.
Don't worry.
By the third day of those same sentiments the words had become hollow and Harry couldn't help feeling that he was so separated from his friends. Along with the realization that Sirius was truly gone Harry had also learned to accept another thing, a thing that proved to be almost as devastating. Along with mourning for Sirius Harry also had the weight of the prophecy hovering over him like an oppressive gray cloud.
The knowledge that if Harry didn't kill the most powerful wizard in the world then no could was crushing. If Harry failed Voldermort would become immortal and invincible and absolutely no one would be able to stop him. If Harry didn't kill the wizard who survived his own death every last one of the six billion muggles on the planet would be tortured and killed and the Wizarding world enslaved.
Accepting this did little bolster Harry's self-confidence. Last year when he had not been chosen as a perfect he had reasoned that he was such a better choice than Ron. That he had faced the Dark Lord twice, three if you counted Tom Riddle, and four if you counted the time when Harry was a baby. Four times the Dark Lord had gone after Harry and been the one to lose. Why shouldn't Harry have been made perfect? What a stupid child he had been.
Moping around because his friend got some well-deserved recognition. Whining because he was jealous and feeling forsaken because people had stopped patting him on the back for his recklessness and dumb luck.
Harry could now see his past trials for what they were. It had been like riding a bike with training wheels. Sure you were making the pedals go but the only reason you weren't falling on you face was because it wasn't a real bike. You had help, two extra wheels holding you up all the time. Everyone was always holding Harry up in front of some big challenge and after a bit of hard work and some reckless antics he won and got his praise. But did they ever set him a challenge that they knew he couldn't face? If Dumbledore had ever doubted that Harry was unable to face the challenge wouldn't he have tried just a bit harder to stop him? Would he really have allowed Harry such leniency if he didn't think Harry could handle it? It was like bowling with bumpers to stop your ball from going into the gutter.
He should have learned his lesson when Cedric died at the end of fourth year but what had he done? Thrown into a situation he was not ready for Harry had relied on blind bravery and sheer dumb luck to get him out of it. The wizard's duel he been a complete mockery. Voldermort's simple mistake had lost him the fight not Harry's bravery or strength. Harry's wizarding skill had nothing to do with winning that fight and how dare he use that to validate his claims for more praise. When compared to the battle Harry had witness between Dumbledore and Voldermort the duel he fought was a silly parody. If it hadn't been for Voldermort's simple mistake Harry would most definitely been dead because there was no way a fourth year mediocre student could have gone toe to toe with the most powerful wizard in so many ages and expected to survive.
Harry wasn't ready to face Voldermort on an even playing field and he didn't know if he ever would be. The only consolation he could offer those expecting him to win was that when the time came ready or not he would try. He would go toe to toe with Voldermort for as many times as it took one of them to die and he would give everything he had to ensure that Voldermort didn't succeed. Harry would do everything he could because it really was his responsibility now.
When had he ever paused before putting himself before danger for others no matter how horrible the person had been to him? Even if the wizarding world hated him every other month, supported dick heads like Fudge and Malfoy when the press told them too, and were a rather large flock of directionless geese when put into large groups. None of them deserved the evil that Voldermort would bring upon the world and it was Harry's responsibility to stop it because literally no one else could and he would most probably die. Harry would die but he would die trying and really that was all he could expect from himself. If he failed it was his fault the whole world went to hell.
How in the world was he supposed to stop Voldermort? How do you stop someone whose body can die but whose spirit can't be destroyed? How can you even relate to Hermione who is worried about O.W.L.S. and what Ron thinks of her new hair cut, or Ron who is completely unaware and wonders if Hermione's still writing to Krum because in Ron's own round about way that's him saying he's in love with Hermione. How could Harry ever tell them and expect them to understand?
It was still comforting reading about things that don't define the fate of the world. It was nice to worry about O.W.L.S. scores and slow cooking crushes little things that are still important. It's nice to forget that someday you have to become a murder or be killed along with the rest of the world. It's nice to put that in the back of you head and lock it next to the box that holds the last memory of Sirius falling though the veil. But those memories and that knowledge were still there and every time Harry closes his eyes to go to sleep he sees it.
He knows he sees it but he can't remember it in the morning. That would have been a good thing if the memories weren't being regurgitated throughout the day in flashes of horror and the oppressive weight of responsibility or the absolute terror that he may prove to be a failure. How do you relate to your friends about that?
By the time Harry's alarm clock when off he had worked himself into one of the deepest funks he'd ever been in. One should not think about so many bad things in such a short span of time. Harry got out of bed and groped on the side dresser for his glasses. Not that it did much good since his lights were off. Once they were on Harry walked to his closet like a zombie and began throwing clothes on without looking at them. He could have put on Dudley's orange fuzzy sweater and cared about it. Checking to see that his wand was at his side Harry was done.
It was times like these when absolutely nothing seemed to have a sunny side that Harry had to ask himself why shit happened to him. Why his parents had to die, why he had to live with the most horrible relatives possible, why he had to be surrounded by expectations, why it was him that everyone thought they owned a piece of, why it was him everyone hated without cause or praised without really understanding that he didn't deserve it. Why he had to stop Voldermort, why he had to die, why it would all be his fault, why he had to suck it up and sacrifice himself anyway. Couldn't someone sacrifice themselves for him? Just once? Hadn't he put up with enough? Couldn't he just be normal, live with his parents, have not expectations or responsibility or guilt ... couldn't Voldermort have chosen Neville to do this too?
Harry waited and when the guilt came from wanting his most selfish wish to be true he wasn't surprised. It was all good and well to wish your parents weren't dead but to wish you troubles onto someone else's shoulders was pointless and selfish and Harry knew he didn't really want to put this burden on Neville... it was just, sometimes he wondered how things could have been so much easier, so much different. Neville could be the boy who lived and Harry would just be Harry a happy child raised by his loving parents in a wizarding world free of Voldermort.
Harry trudged down the stairs and into the kitchen like a dead man walking. Knowing what would come in the morning it had taken him hours to get to sleep and losing two hours because he woke up early to make himself depressed wasn't helping ether.
Harry had one other wish that wasn't as selfish as pushing his burdens on someone else. He wished for one abstract person to want to help him. One person, just one person to understand his problems, to care only about him and to fuck with everyone else, someone to help and someone from whom Harry could accept the help offered. Not Ron or Hermione who didn't understand and who he would never wish half of his problems on, not Dumbledore who was concerned about him but had his own burdens and agendas to take care of, not Sirius who had truly cared about just him but had died and left him anyway. No one could help. Harry was alone in his troubles and alone in his responsibility and people may care but they can't help and they can never understand.
Harry sat down across from Dudley and stared down at the cheerful but fuck ugly placemat. Ron's foul mouth was rubbing of on him and he was just beginning to notice it. A very un-cheerful smile flickered onto Harry's and he had every intention of slamming his head down onto the hard wood table. Before he could give himself a concussion his spiteful Aunt thrust a plate of burnt toast in front of him and waited for her thanks.
Harry might as well give up. He should have expected this but it was like a slap in the face. Every morning that fat pig Dudley got ham and bacon and eggs and sausage and every morning Harry got charred stale toast. You'd think after making him the same thing for fifteen some years she'd learn not to char his toast. He was on the brink of tears and his aunt who's his only flesh and blood the dregs of a family meant to love and support him gives him burnt fucking toast.
Harry could feel tears welling up in his eyes and really it shouldn't hurt this much when he was used to being unloved for his whole life but it was just too much.
"My life is horrible." Harry whispered in a quivering voice surprising himself with the sound. He hadn't meant to say it out loud, it was a stupid, selfish, childish thing to say but at the moment he couldn't think of anyone who's life could possibly be worse than his. He was sure no one else had heard his moment of clichéd teenaged angst. He was sure that he should just learn to grow up and stop whining but after saying it he felt almost liberated. Like if he could just accept that his life sucked he could move on and worry about other things. Harry wasn't about to cry any more, in fact he was more likely to throw the plate back in his Aunts ugly face.
"What did you say boy?" Aunt Petunia must have heard him. She was scowling at him and it made her horse face so much uglier than it usually was that Harry abandoned his plate throwing fantasy and simply let the anger go.
"Nothing." He muttered and looked up at his aunt without moving his head.
"Good, you nasty ungrateful little child." Aunt Petunia turned on her heals and Dudley sniggered.
An odd sense of calm washed over Harry, really, it was no use caring so why try. "Thanks for the burnt fucking toast." He muttered under his breath only for the reason that he wanted to and it really didn't matter what happened because today couldn't get any worse unless Voldermort showed up to kill him.
Dudley gasped, surprised at hearing Harry curse. Harry sent his cousin a scornful glare then realized that must have been the first real time he had cursed out loud. It wasn't like he was Hermione who was as strict as McGonagall when it came to unseemly behavior, he just didn't do it much that was all. And really could you have expected him not to pick up on a few choice words after spending years of time with Ron who had grown up with the linguistic influence of four older brothers (Percy, of course, didn't curse), and having gone to school with two of said brothers as well as a host of other older and more foul mouthed peers not to mention Lee Jordan who took every opportunity he got to scandalized McGonagall with obscenities shouted during the particularly exciting games. Really what could you expect? Harry had picked up a few words and a tendency to use them every now and then when he was thinking about something especially blood boiling but he had never said them out loud. Harry shrugged it off and poked at his burnt toast.
Before Harry could register it Dudley had jumped on the opportunity to get him in trouble. "MUM! Mum! Did you hear what Harry said?" But Aunt Petunia had already left the kitchen, "MUM!"
"What is it Dudley?" Aunt Petunia poked her long neck around the corner just as if it was an azalea bush.
"Mum did you hear what Harry said?" Harry was currently rolling his eyes.
"What has that awful nuisance said to my little Dudleydumpkins?"
Harry snorted. "Dudleydumpkins?"
"Shut your trap! Mum he wasn't talking about me he said it to you!"
"WHAT!?" Aunt Petunia's simpering voice reached screeching levels.
"He said – "
"I was thanking you!" Harry butted in before Dudley could cause any more trouble for him. "Thanking you for the burnt toast. I mean for the great toast! Your toast it the best Aunt Petunia, really nice and crunchy, cleans the teeth."
"That's not what he said mum he's lying!"
"Shut up Dudley."
"You shut up!"
"Boy's stop that." Aunt Petunia chided.
"No, you shut up."
"Shut up!"
"Maybe you should shut up and just stuff your fat face before I do it for you!"
"Ha! You're just jealous because all you've got to eat is burnt toast while I get bacon. Well too bad Harry that's just the way things are."
"That's my little Durdurs acting so grown up and mature." Dudley looked dreadfully pleased with himself and Aunt Petunia beamed at her portly son.
Harry grabbed some of Dudley's bacon right off his plate and stuffed in his own mouth. Chewing with his mouth wide open so Dudley could see the bacon disappear down Harry's throat was the almost better than flying. Harry laughed at Dudley's expression. His cousin was horrified; he couldn't believe Harry had violated his plate.
"MUUUUUUUM!!!!" Dudley slammed his fists on the table breaking a leg and causing it to overturn. Plates and food crashed to the floor and broke on the ugly linoleum.
All the racket had finally brought Uncle Vernon from the sitting room. He had the Sunday paper rolled up like a club and looked about ready to slap Harry across the face with it. Harry, for once, could almost say that he deserved to be punished; he had really been acting up something horrible this morning.
"Why are you doing now you terrible nasty FREAK!"
"He stole my food and called mum a bad word!"
"WHAT!?"
"No I didn't! I didn't call her anything you lying pig!" Harry was red in the face, he had done a lot of rather deplorable things this morning but he hadn't done that. "I told her thanks for the burnt toast and that was all. You broke the fucking table Dudley!"
"Don't you use that language around my baby boy!"
"After all your aunts done fore you! Slaving away every morning for your breakfast when she has better things to do than feed a little ingrate freak like yourself!"
"Oh really!" Harry was fed up with this nonsense "You slave away in front of a toaster every morning do you auntie? Carrying the stale bread across the room and pressing a button is really putting yourself out for me. Maybe the job wouldn't be so hard if you didn't TRY to burn it! YOU ONLY MAKE ME BREAKFAST SO THAT YOU CAN BURN MY FUCKING TOAST! Just ONCE I want toast that's not got bloody black bits round the edges. Is it really too much to ask of you?"
"You should be grateful you horrible child," Aunt Petunia shook her boney finger as she scolded him before Uncle Vernon interrupted.
"– After all the thing's this family's done for you – "
"– Grateful that I take the time every morning to make you breakfast – "
"– The cloths on your back and the roof over your head – "
"– Well not anymore! From now on you can starve!"
"– And you can get out of this house if you don't like it!"
"OH SHUT UP!" Harry yelled at the top of his lungs. "YOU ARE SO BLOODY FUCKING HORRIBLE ITS UBELIEVABLE!!! YOU GO OUT OF YOU'RE WAY TO MAKE ME MISERABLE. YOU ENJOY IT!!! YOU HATE ME! WHY WOULD YOU EVEN KEEP ME THIS LONG IF YOU HATE ME SO MUCH?! YOU'RE NOT EVEN SORRY FOR WHAT YOU DO, ARE YOU? ARE YOU!!!"
Harry had brandished his wand at some point and was gripping it tightly with white knuckles. Dangerous magic was radiating from him in a haze of white-hot energy making the air of the little kitchen charged and volatile.
"ARE YOU SORRY!!" Harry demanded to know for the third time but the Dursleys didn't dare answer.
"Your just scared for yourselves." Harry was breathing heavily, his voice gone raw. "THAT'S ALL YOU ARE!!! I CAN'T STAND YOU!!"
The last shout echoed throughout the silent kitchen and Harry's gaze fell upon the Dursleys. They all looked scared for their lives and for some reason it didn't make Harry any more sorry for what he had said, in fact he probably could have said a lot more to them. They huddled together in a corner in front of the cabinets but the little show of family togetherness only served to disgust Harry. Really, would they have even thought to do that for him? Looking at the Dursleys made Harry's vision go red, remembering all that he had gone through because of them, all that he had put up with.
Harry's moral compass must have broken at that moment because whatever it was keeping him in check failed and Harry absolutely despised the people before him. He hated them beyond any hate he had ever known before. If Voldermort had entered the kitchen and killed them just then Harry would be ashamed, though only in hindsight, to say that he might not have given so much as a deadpanned 'no, don't.' on their behalf.
Bereft of moral compass and enraged by the people cowering before him Harry swish flicked his wand at each and transfigured Uncle Vernon into a walrus, Aunt Petunia into an ostrich, and Dudley into the ever-classic pot bellied pig. Really, that aught to teach them to treat little orphaned wizards just a bit nicer.
Harry was kidding himself to think that, they would never learn. They would only ever hate him or be afraid of him and on that note all the anger drained out of him and the magic dissipated with it. "I'm leaving." Harry addressed the bunch of animals cowering in the kitchen.
The animals said nothing. Well, if Harry couldn't make them better people at least he could shut them up.
Harry looked at what he had done and felt nothing. In the back of his mind he was quite aware that he could be expelled for this and that he really did deserve it. He had just purposefully transfigured his family into a pack of wild animals, not that it was much improvement mind you but still. There were laws against the un-consenting transfiguration of humans, or so Malfoy had claimed after The Amazing Bouncing Ferret Incident.
Harry wondered why he didn't care about what he had done for all of two seconds before he left the kitchen and made his way upstairs.
As soon as the door shut it sounded like all hell broke lose. Harry heard a great roar from his uncle and a couple of crashes.
Not really stopping to wonder at what his relatives were doing with themselves Harry gathered up his trunk and other things, which hadn't strayed far since it was a small room and they only had less than a week to get very far. This was oddly reminiscent to third year though it was the morning and he had actually meant to do what had happened. Harry heard a great crash and the distressed squawking of his aunt but didn't pause as he folded up the last of his socks and closed the trunk. He was dragging it down the stairs when he began hearing what really must have been the most absurd sounds that had come from a kitchen on any Sunday morning in the history of Privet Drive.
Struck by acute curiosity Harry couldn't resist one last peek. Behind the kitchen door was a pig chowing down on the soggy bacon scattered on the floor (Harry was sure if that was cannibalism but it was a bit disturbing none the less), a walrus trying to climb through the window above the sink but having busted and bent the sink as well as several pipes in its vie for escape had only managed to flood the kitchen, and an ostrich looking very dazed as if it had hit it's head repeatedly on the ceiling fan. Said fan had fallen to the floor and was sending up sparks getting dangerously close to the growing puddle of water.
Harry surveyed the hurricane of pandemonium that had formerly been the kitchen and wondered if he should stop them all from being electrocuted but then there was a knock at the door and he knew he should really take care of that first.
Harry opened the door and was greeted by the Dursleys very perplexed neighbored. "Hello Mrs. Capperwallence," Harry addressed the plain looking middle-aged woman. "It's nice to see you. I'm sorry but I was really just about to leave." Harry turned his back on the woman and collected his trunk. "Excuse me." He waited for her to move out of the way and then dragged his trunk across the lawn and dropping it beside him sat down on the curb and faced the street ignoring the sounds of a zoo gone wild that continued to come from the kitchen behind him.
"Oh my word!" Harry heard the excited neighbor remark. "What it the world... OOH!!"
There was a flash of light and louder more riotous animal racket was heard from the kitchen then abruptly stopped. The water must have reached the fan, Harry thought to himself with little emotion.
Now that everything was quiet Harry took a deep breath of chilly morning air and felt the moisture from the grass seeping into his jeans. Privet Drive was deserted and row upon row of identical houses and small shaggy laws all aligned in neat orderly rows greeted his sight. The calmness of the ordinary street, its muted colors lit by fog distilled light, settled the last of Harry's anger. Surely everyone must know what he had been up to by now and Harry wondered if expulsion or the advanced guard would arrive first but remained sedated at the thought of facing either.
Behind him Harry could hear the sound of bathroom slippers making soft crunchy sounds as they crossed the morning lawn. "Well, they've stopped that right quick..." Mrs. Capperwallence was now standing at Harry's side and when he glanced up at her he noticed that she was dressed in a pink bathrobe and blue fuzzy slippers "That was awfully strange. Bizarre even."
"Yes it was." Harry agreed calmly.
"Do you – Do you know what happened?" Mrs. Capperwallence was clutching her newspaper tightly to her chest causing wrinkles and cresses in the black and white paper.
"Oh... uh..." Harry had never really spoken to Mrs. Capperwallence before but he knew she had tea with Aunt Petunia every now and then. She seemed a nice enough lady. "It's nothing really, why don't you just forget about it."
"Shouldn't... shouldn't someone do something? Should I call animal control?"
"Really, Mrs. Capperwallence everything will go back to normal once I'm gone." Harry said resignedly. Mrs. Capperwallence dropped the defensive set of her rounded shoulders and relaxed her death grip on the news. Truly, she was taking all this reasonably well for a muggle.
"Are you going away? Will you be back?"
"Yes, and no."
"Hm... that's too bad." She stood beside Harry quietly for a moment or two and turned then turned to face the house. "You know that ostrich looked quite a bit like your Aunt Petunia."
"Er..."
"Well, have a nice time wherever you're going Harry." Mrs. Capperwallence turned back and gave him a nice enough smile. "I think this might be a dream but just incase it's real and I never see you again..."
And then Mrs. Capperwallence did something quite unexpected. She reached down and fluffed Harry's hair affectionately before leaving him sitting on the curb.
"Bye Harry!" She called out once she had reached her porch.
"Bye Mrs. Capperwallence." Harry said goodbye forever to the lady he had only just met a minute ago. Mrs. Capperwallence nodded to him and then went back inside her house leaving Harry feeling oddly reassured that not all muggles were as horrible or selfish as the Dursleys. Some were just regular people who didn't often get involved but were still nice when you met them. Harry never expected to see Mrs. Capperwallence again, and would never expected anything more from her than a friendly smile if he did but that was more than the Dursleys had ever shown him in fifteen years and it made him feel better to have someone who knew absolutely nothing about him ruffle his hair. Harry almost felt bad about what he had done to the Dursleys but they were knocked out and he really preferred them to stay that way.
"Harry!"
Harry turned back to the house and saw Remus, Mad-eye, and Tonks emerge from the front door.
"Harry what happened in there?" Tonks asked jerking her thumb back at the house. "There's animals and water everywhere. You're house is a mess."
"Er... there... well those are my relatives. I expect I'll be receiving an expulsion notice soon."
"Harry what happened? Did you do that?" Remus bent down on his haunches and gazed at Harry who was still sitting on the curb.
"Yes. Those are the Dursleys, I transfigured them into animals because I got mad and I can't really say I'm sorry for doing it at the time."
"Was it you who knocked them out Harry?" Remus tried to remain calm and peered into Harry's eyes as if searching for something.
"No, the water on the ground and the lamp did that... it's like standing in a puddle and lightning striking beside you but you still get shocked yourself. The lamp fell into the water which they were all standing in so they got electrocuted."
"Hm." Remus nodded understandingly. "I took muggle studies I know what you're talking about, but Harry..."
"Can we not talk about this? Am I getting expelled?"
"No Harry the ministry is much too occupied with organizing an effective offensive force for countering Voldermort's attacks to really focus on the underaged use of magic right now. It seems you're actions have slipped though the cracks."
"We'll get someone out here to fix this up." Said Mad-eye in his gruff scratchy voice. "Come back inside and we'll floo to the Leaky Cauldron." With that Mad-eye hobbled his way back into the house and Harry, Tonks, and Remus followed.
To Be Continued...Author's Note
Hey, thanks for reading! Please review if you liked the story. Any suggestions are welcomed and appreciated. I'm in search of an experienced Beta, oh hell any good Beta at all would be loved! So if anyone wants the job I'd absolutely love you. I read my chapters over myself before posting them but I am still apprehensive about sending them out without a good beta's opinion.
This story is rated R for a reason as you can tell right away from the language used in the first chapter... please do not read it if you are underaged.
Again, I am in great need of a beta!!! All reviews are loved to death. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it.