Harry and His Guardian

House: Slytherin

Year: Third

Category: Bonus

Crossover: Disney classics/Princess: Mulan

Prompt: Annoyance (emotion)

Words: 1462

This is an AU, just in case that isn't obvious, and Harry is eight/nine.

Beta: Sapphire and Mari: thank you!

Song recommendation: Reflection from Mulan.

"Ouch! Stupid plant!" Harry Potter cried as he pricked himself on yet another bramble. He was currently weeding the Dursley's garden, and this particular bed was full of brambles.

Being hated by his relatives, Harry got all the bad jobs. Well, he got most of the jobs full stop. His Aunt Petunia sometimes did the odd bit of cooking, but that was it. Gardening was Harry's favourite chore out of all the household tasks he had to do. If he was honest, Harry was not even sure why he was so hated. What had he done wrong?

All the chores were very hard for Harry at the start, but as time went on, Harry got older and stronger: the tasks became more of an annoyance than anything else. They were annoying little things that didn't take much to do, but stole time which could be better spent.

It all started when he was three. On his third birthday, Harry was treated like a slave, worse than a slave, actually. He had to go to school and do all the chores. Every day of Harry's life was terrible. As Harry got older, be began to value school more and what good marks would do for him. As a result, he wanted to spend as much time as possible studying. Which is why having to spend most of his time outside of school working and doing chores instead of studying was just annoying. He hated it at the beginning, but now Harry just said it annoyed him.

Harry sighed, feeling annoyed. Thinking about it all was just making him mad. Then he tried to think about something else, but that didn't work very well.

As Harry pulled another bramble out, he saw a red and yellow tail! He assumed it was a lizard, as there were heaps in the garden. It looked like a very pretty lizard. Knowing Petunia hated lizards, and if she saw one, she sprayed the whole garden with reptile killer, Harry removed all the lizards before she saw them. He liked lizards and snakes, and felt sorry for them, because they were always getting chased out of house and home.

As he picked the lizard up, it jumped out of his hand and said to him whilst glaring at Harry, "Hey! Don't pick me up! How dare you! I'm a dragon, not a pet lizard! I deserve respect, not to be picked up!"

"Yah!" Harry cried, falling backwards.

"Yeah! Bow before the great Mushu!" the lizard said, looking proud.

Harry whacked himself in the jaw before saying, "First, turning the teacher's wig blue, now talking lizards. I don't know how the first happened, but this time I am just going mad."

"Hey! I'm a dragon, not a lizard!" the lizard/dragon called Mushu shouted.

"Sorry, but I thought dragons were bigger, like taller than me: the size of a car!" Harry said, examining Mushu a little closer.

"I'm handy for fitting into your pocket, so you can carry me around! What's a car, anyway?" Mushu said brightly.

"Oh, right," Harry nodded. Then he said, "It's something used to get places. A faster and more advanced version of a horse."

"Right. Why were you complaining about the plants?" Mushu asked.

"They were pricking my hands, and it hurts," Harry said. Then he went on, "I hate my relatives, and they hate me: they give me all the bad jobs, when I should be studying! I was sad at first and didn't understand, but now it's just annoying and I wish I could just tell them no, do it yourself."

"Well, I can help you with that! Did I tell you I helped a girl become a hero?" Mushu boasted.

"Really? What happened?" Harry asked, interested.

"Her name was Mulan. She was a daughter of a well-liked and respected Chinese family. She tried to fit into the Chinese culture, but poor little Mulan just couldn't fit in. Then war broke out: a man from every family had to fight, including her aging and permanently injured father. She decided to disguise herself as a man, and went to fight. I followed her, and helped her get into the army. I was the reason she was allowed into the camp: she didn't stand a chance by herself. She killed most the Hun army, saved the captain, but then she was discovered: being a woman in the army was a sin back then. You hear me? A sin!" Mushu said, being overly dramatic.

"Wow! What happened?" Harry asked, looking even more interested.

"The captain was told to kill Mulan, but because she had saved him, he spared her life. When we were about to go back, we saw the surviving members of the Hun army pop out of the ground! Like daisies, man!" Mushu said, stretching to be as tall as he could be.

"Really! What happened?" Harry asked, looking almost fearful.

"We went down to the town, that was where they were headed, because the Emperor was down there. We tried to warn people, but they didn't listen. In the end, the Huns kidnapped the Emperor, then they believed Mulan! The Huns tried to kill the Emperor, but Mulan saved him along with the captain and some other warriors! I helped, of course, and she was hailed as a hero, even if we did blow the Emperor's palace up!" Mushu said brightly. Mushu was paraphrasing slightly, because Harry was so young, but he still told the important details.

"Wow! Cool!" Harry said, looking impressed.

"I was her guardian, you see," Mushu continued.

"Wow! Could you be mine? Stop the Dursleys from making me work when I could be studying?" Harry asked, hopefully.

"Well, of course! I don't have anyone to guard now… so, why not!" Mushu said brightly.

"Yay! I will be free of the annoyances! But, do you mind some of the strange things happen around me? Like my teacher's wig turning blue?" Harry asked, suddenly getting worried.

"Really? Well, I'll definitely stay! Sounds fun!" Mushu said excitedly. Then he held his hand out, and asked, "Friends? A team?"

"Yes! A team!" Harry said, holding Mushu's hand and shaking it.

"BOY! ARE YOU FINISHED?" cried the harsh voice of Harry's uncle.

"And what on earth is that noise? Sounds like a screaming pig!" Mushu asked, turning to the house.

"My uncle Vernon. I am treated worse than a slave! And he gives me all—" Harry said, but then Mushu cut him off.

"Yeah, yeah, and the chores are more annoying than anything else: I heard you earlier while I was trying to sleep. Come on, let's go and kick some butts! Wanna learn Kung Fu?" Mushu asked, hiding under Harry's shirt collar.

"That sounds fun! Let's go, Mushu!" Harry said excitedly.

Then Harry picked Mushu up and put him on his shoulder, then they marched inside to face Harry's uncle. And unbeknownst to Harry or Vernon, Mushu was planning to set Vernon alight if he dared complain about Harry.

"Mushu, if you're from China, why are you here? And how did you get here?" Harry asked, as they walked. He had been thinking about it for a while.

"When I'm not doing anything, I sleep in form of a statue, but someone ran off with me! And then they dropped me and my statue broke! Now, I'll have to be a dragon forever!" Mushu exclaimed sadly.

"That's not a bad thing, is it?" Harry asked.

"Maybe not," Mushu begrudgingly agreed. Then they found Harry's uncle.

"Boy! There you are!" Vernon cried when Harry entered the living room.

"You called, sir?" Harry said, raising an eyebrow. Mushu poked his head out enough to saw what was happening.

"Yes! Why isn't the garden finished yet?" Vernon said, intimidating Harry.

"I got distracted, sir," Harry said fearfully.

"Distracted? How dare you? I'll teach you!" Vernon said approaching Harry.

"Oh no you don't!" Mushu cried, then he breathed fire at Vernon.

The next thing Vernon knew, his moustache was burning! Vernon quickly fell back and landed on the floor: then the fire went out. Harry quickly realised Mushu had burnt it. Harry said, taking it to his advantage, "If you, Aunt Petunia or Dudley ever try to hurt me again, I will make sure Mushu burns you good and proper." Harry said this while looking down at Vernon. Mushu by this time, had hid again.

"Y-yes, boy," Vernon said, looking scared.

"And call me Harry. I will go and do my study now: don't disturb me," Harry said, walking into the kitchen to get something to eat.

Now that he had some power over the Dursleys, he could look forward to plenty of peace, and being able to force them to treat him like a normal kid.