Omega smelled. It was a stench that Harry could not put a name to. It was garbage, and filth, and something undefinable that made his nose crinkle and bile rise in the back of his throat. But he didn't dare complain. Aunt Petunia stared straight ahead, clutching the only bag of belongings she had been able to pack before Uncle Vernon carted them off to the spaceport just two steps ahead of the law. Her face was drawn and pale, dark circles underneath her eyes, and she vibrated with tension. Dudley kept his head in his video game and refused to look up as their worlds changed around them.
"Cheer up, Petunia!" Uncle Vernon called. Harry snorted at the cheer in the man's voice. Vernon had been trying to paint the situation with a cheery brush, but he wasn't fooling no one. This was nothing more than a bid for freedom. He hadn't chosen to uproot his family to Omega, but he refused to spend a moment in jail. It was the only choice they had.
"No, Vernon. I will not 'cheer up'." Petunia spat. Dudley flinched backwards. The shuttle jolted as it touched down at the Omega docks, and Harry gave a sigh of relief. He loved to fly, but when he had control. Knowing his life was in the hands of a pilot he couldn't see made his nerves light up in a not good way. "How can I cheer up when you forced us to move to the other side of the galaxy!"
Vernon puffed up, his face going red and mustache quivering, but before he could unleash one of his usual tirades, the pilot came over the intercom and freed them for unloading. It was a quick process, the shuttle almost empty except for the few prospectors that hurried off without meeting anyone's eyes, and they were soon following Uncle Vernon through the winding streets of Omega to the apartment they had been able to purchase. Harry stayed close to Dudley and the adult Dursleys, the eyes of human and alien alike sending chills through him. Vernon keyed in the door lock, and opened the door to their new abode without further ado.
"Home sweet home, Pet." He looked at Dudley with a proud, fake, smile, and a sneer for Harry, "Duds, you've got your own room in the back. Supposed to look out over the mining equipment. Great view of the drills!"
Dudley shoved past them and dropped into the threadbare chair near the door, his head down in his video game again. He had been ignoring his parents as much as he was able.
Aunt Petunia was having none of it. Her lip curled up as Vernon lead her throughout the new home, pointing out the features and threadbare fixtures with the air of someone who had won it big on a game show. Her lip curled up as she surveyed the micro kitchen, and she fixed her husband with a steely glare.
"What the bloody hell is this?" She ignored Dudley jumping to his feet to stand next to the door in alarm and Harry's dropped jaw, laying into her husband with all the fury she'd held in over the last two months. "We can't stay here! Dudley can't stay here!"
"This is all we've got, Petunia." Vernon snarled back, pushing towards his wife with all of his non inconsiderable bulk. "We have no where else to go."
Dudley moved towards the sensor, pressing the oor open quietly as to not draw his parents temper his way. Harry edged around the unfamiliar furniture and flailing arms, ducking low as Vernon turned to look for him. He was quickly diverted by Aunt Petunia picking up the closest thing at hand and hurling it his way.
Even as the screams escalated, Harry breathed out a sign of relief that he was not the focus of their rage, and ducked out the door after Dudley. The steel doors blocked out the sounds of the fight, but the sounds of Omega quickly replaced it and Harry winced. Omega was loud, louder than London the few times he had been there, and both boys winced uncomfortable.
"What do we do now?" Harry asked the older boy, his nose wrinkled as the stench of decaying garbage and unwashed dozed rose in his nose.
"I dunno." Dudley shrugged, and started walking. He stuck his hands deep in the pockets of his Smeltings' jacket. With no idea what else to do, Harry followed, feeling for his wand still strapped to his arm.
The boys dodged through the crowd of humans, and Aliens with a dozen eyes, and started to explore. Omega was the biggest melting pot in the galaxy, and without the laws to keep things civil.
"Is that…" Harry squinted at the bird like alien moving slowly by, his eyes sweeping the crowds for trouble and his hands on his gun. He handled it like he more than knew how to handle himself in a fight.
"That's a Turian, Potter." Dudley rolled his eyes at how stupid Harry was when it came to aliens. "Don't they teach you anything at that freak school?"
Harry rolled the word around on his tongue, storing it away to look up later. Out of all the aliens he had seen so far? That one looked the most intimidating. Harry had been caught unaware in the Wizarding world before, he wasn't going to let the same happen to him on his new home.
"Potter, come on!" Dudley called from ahead of him, nodding his head at an out of the way alcove. They had wandered fully away from anywhere Harry recognized, and he hoped that Dudley had thought to swipe a map. He didn't want to have to ask any of the locals how to get home, he didn't think that either of them had anything anyone would want in return for their help.
Dudley pulled his jacket tighter around his rapidly thinking body, face pale, as a fight broke out behind them.
"Know how to get back?"
Harry shook his head, craning his head over his shoulder at the bedlam behind them. He winced as the fight grew louder and bigger, enveloping half the street quickly. Turians in blue moved in to contain things from spreading into certain streets, but they did nothing to stop the brawl that was already going.
Some of them seemed to find it amusing.
"I think…" Harry froze and started at Dudley. The other boy's face was twisted into something cruel, his lips twisted into a cruel smirk. It didn't belong on a fifteen year olds face.
"Dudley…" Harry took a step backwards. The fight was still raging, and a body slammed into his, sending both of them flying forwards. Harry landed on his hands, the bite of uneven steel and concrete cutting into his palms. Dudley stepped on one his hands, twisting when Harry cried out in pain, and smirked harder. Harry pulled backwards and scrambled to his feet, chest heaving. Dudley just smirked harder.
Harry watched his hand disappear into the inner pocket of his jacket, heart thudding up into his throat and stomach in knots. He froze in sheer terror as the other boy pulled out a shiny pistol, pointing at the dead center of Harry's chest.
"Dudley…what are you doing?" Harry was freezing in panic. He had never been on any side of a gun, and he kicked himself for not knowing if a protego would stop a bullet.
Hermione would know. But Hermione couldn't help him now, or ever again.
"Shut up, Potter." Dudley snarled, waving the gun at Harry wildly. "Just shut the hell up! This is all your fault. All of it."
Harry backed up another step, sweat beading on his forehead. Dudley shot the ground between Harry's feet. His hand never wavered and the fight behind them never stopped.
No one was paying attention to their alcove.
"Dudley, I didn't do anything. Uncle Vernon…"
"Shut it!" The larger boy screamed. His face was red and he breathed like he had just run a marathon. "Just shut it! This is all your fault! Dad stole that money because of you! He had to, if you weren't such a freak he never would have had to!"
Harry groped for his wand, pulling it and pointing it at Dudley's head with a hand that shook. "Big-D, I had nothing to do with it. I was at school." His wand shook harder, "This wasn't my fault."
"You freaks are all the same. Freaks and Aliens, nothing more than filth on the bottom of humanity's shoes. Well," Dudley pulled back the hammer on the old fashioned revolver, his face twisting into an even more crazed look, "you can die here among your own kind. Mum and Dad will be able to take us back to Earth and this will all go away."
Harry tried one last time, but Dudley cut him off.
"Goodbye, Harry."
The sound was loud in the small space, even with the fight still raging behind them. The pain blossomed through Harry like fire before he could even begin to cast a sheild charm or any other type of charm. He collapsed backwards, grasping for the wound in his stomach. His hands were covered in blood quickly, and getting worse..
Dudley's face loomed above him, smiling peacefully. The gun was tucked our of view, or tossed, Harry didn't know.
"Say hello to you freak mother, Harry."
Harry faded into the darkness reaching for him, Dudleys' sadistic face the last thing he saw, with the scent of Omega in his nose.