Chapter Text
Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal. Thank you very much. Furthermore, their son was completely normal, an average aged ten child, and the family couldn't be more proud of their life and even prouder of their son. Mr Dursley is the director of a firm called Grunnings, which makes drills. His wife, unemployed, spent most of her days spying on neighbours trying to find the newest gossip to share with her friends and husband later that evening. Their lives couldn't be more perfect with a nice house, a good working car and steady income, a son of their own who they love dearly and spoiled to the ends of the world.
That is, of course, if they ignore their nephew. Harrison James Potter. A scrawny kid with messy scruffy, unmanageable dark hair, and vibrant piercing green eyes. He was small, smaller than any of his classmates with baggy clothes that hung off his figure, making him seem smaller. Dudleys old unwanted clothes. His eyes were hidden behind broken crooked glasses that were taped to avoid buying another pair. He was out of place next to their family he couldn't see himself as a part of their family, and he'd never dare too.
This wasn't much of a problem. It wasn't like there were any pictures of him, nor did the neighbours see him much unless he was in the garden tending to Petunias plants or leaving to go to school, or when his aunt or uncle locked him out the house. None of the neighbours questioned why a small child was being locked out from time to time or seeming to do too much work without any breaks or food, Vernon is always able to play it off, "Right tough piece of work my nephew. Tough few years with his alcoholic parents, a bit of hard work does the boy more good than harm." He'd always give a good-natured laugh with each excuse. He was able to get away with saying Harry spent longer with his parents than he did, as no one ever saw Harry as a baby, the Dursleys never took him out unless necessary and even then they'd hid him however they could.
That's all Harrison knew of his parents, though. He'd cling onto every word his Uncle Vernon would say whilst holding him roughly on the shoulder talking to concerned neighbours. Harrison had gone to trying to get himself in trouble in front of neighbours just to hear more about his parents. No matter the punishment he'd receive later that day, it would always be worth it. He'd daydream whilst trying to clean any wounds he got from Vernon trying to imagine what they looked like, whose eyes did he inherit? Did he look like one of them? He always imagined his mum as someone with long dark hair like his and his dad with his vibrant eyes. He didn't know if this was right, but it was what he knew. Petunia had dark hair, so it seemed right that his mum would, too. They're sisters, after all, and he'd never met his grandparents, Petunia didn't talk about them either. When he first mentioned them, instead of his parents, she froze, talking with a clipped tone saying they died and thats all he needs to know, she didn't punish him for asking but she did leave him with a threat to never mention them again.
His daydreaming would always end when he tended wounds on his face, which there laid an old scar, a scar that resembled a blot of lightning. It travelled from his forehead to across his face, reaching just below his eye. All Harrison knew was that it wasn't something he got at the Dursleys. Whenever he saw it, he'd always wonder if his parents did that to him, and Vernon was right about his "tough" living arrangements with his parents. He didn't know if it was the truth that he wasn't with the durselys till a toddler, he obviously couldn't remember it and the Durselys never said anything about it other than what they said to the neighbours
"Did they love me?" He would always whisper to himself, a question that he thought would never be answered. He was content with keeping it rhetorical. But It's not like he could bring his parents back, wherever they were in the world and he definitely couldn't find anything or anyone linked to his parents apart from his aunt and uncle.
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It was the day of Harrisons birthday. Monday the 31st of July, he was eleven. Dudley had turned Eleven as well not too long ago. They had all gone to the zoo whilst he was locked out of the house. They didn't want him ruining their "special dudders" birthday but Mrs Figg, the weird cat crazy neighbor wasn't free as she broke a leg tripping on one of her many cats.
Harrison wasn't excited. Birthdays never excited him. They might have once, but not anymore. He was living in a house of strangers that were meant to be his family, and he doubted they even knew his birth date. However he wasn't all too depressed either, he was almost indifferent. Almost. He still felt that deep longing for a birthday surrounded by friends and family that loved him.
"Get on with breakfast, boy, and don't burn anything." Vernon spat out over his morning coffee.
'Happy birthday to me.' Harrison thought bitterly but was rudely interrupted by a knocking at the door. He vaguely registered Petunia, telling him to answer it, which is exactly what he did. He wasn't going to risk a beating on his birthday, that would not be a good present.
Unlocking the door and removing the chain, Harrison opened the door to see a tall woman dressed in what Harrison could only describe as a dark green overlayered dress accompanied with a sharp pointy hat. He had half a mind to just shut the door in her face, the Dursleys would have never conversed with this woman, she looked too abnormal. However, the other half was curious to what this woman could want.
She looked down at him in a way that made Harrison feel like he was being analysed. He shuffled on his feet, feeling nervous and awkward but most of all, unsettled.
"Harrison Potter, I assume?" She smiled kindly down at him, looking up he nodded but looking at her he noticed it seemed like she was asking a question that she most definitely already knew the answer for.
"Nice to meet you, may I come in?" Harrison moved out the way, smiling politely, not using his voice until it was actually necessary. Unnecessary use of his voice usually invited a hit or two from either his aunt or uncle and he wasn't risking it from someone else, he didn't know what other adults were capable of.
"Who was it, Boy?" Was called out from the living room, the woman decided that was her invitation to step in. Making Petunia jump up and scream, breaking her mug of tea when she dropped it, although Harrison noted it seemed like she almost threw it at the woman.
"Petunia, lovely to see you too. I'm sure you know why I am here, but Hogwarts insists that all muggle raised students must be accompanied by a professor. Harrison will need his school supplies if he accepts his place." She said it respectfully, but as Harrison came I the room, he could see the fear radiating off Petunia and the rage of Vernon. He quickly backed up into the corned of the room, trying to blend in with the walls.
"He will not be going! I forbid it. I swore to myself when we took him in that I- we would put an end to all that nonsense!" Vernon screamed at the woman who had no reaction except looking to Petunia expectedly as if she was choosing to ignore Vernon.
"Vernon dear, we can't stop him. I wish we could. You... must let him go with her. We will only have to see him in the summer." Harrison was in shock. Wherever he was being asked to go, it didn't matter. Petunia stood up for him in some way. Even if it was just for their benefit for only seeing him in the summer. Something Harrison was confused about. Where was he going?
Petunia continued to try and calm Vernon down, who couldn't be stopped. He eventually reached his limit and stormed out the house in a fit of rage and, with his anger, ended up ripping off the door handle of the front door.
Harrison watched on in complete fear and confusion. He knew he wouldn't be touched with a guest in the house, but Vernon's anger had always affected him. He tried to regulate his breathing whilst Petunia talked to the woman, and Dudley went to his room.
"Harrison. Are you listening, child?" The was the slipped strict tone Petunia always used with him. Leaving no room for argument, as if he'd ever try to argue. Walking shakily forward, the woman finally introduced herself to him.
"Hello, Mr Potter. I am Professor Mcgonagall, I teach at a boarding school up in Scotland, one of which you have been offered a place." Harrison picked up on how vague Mcgonagall was being. Looking at Petunia, she sighed and nodded for the first time that day Harrison spoke up.
"Why me? I haven't applied to any boarding school. I couldn't afford it." It felt nice being able to ask questions. It was rare that Petunia would allow him to, but right now, she looked resigned and pained. He'd make the most of it.
And that's how the following hour went, Mcgonagall explained to him the concept of magic and Hogwarts the school up in Scotland that would teach him to control his magic and use it in a way that will help him. She also explained what would happen if he didn't control his magic. He could tell she wasn't telling him certain things but he assumed it was due to his age. Adults do it all the time. However it explained why Petunia let him have the choice to go, it seemed like she had heard this before. He didn't understand how though, but once he asked again why he gets a place and how he's magic and not for example, Dudley, the Professor explained how his parents were magic, like him. He treasured this the most from the whole conversation, he had another link to his parents, his magic was like theirs.
Mcgonagall then went on to explain everything Harrison asked her, from houses to the ministry of magic. Whilst it was overwhelming, Harrison felt more like him than he had ever felt in his life. He understood himself now. All the weird things he'd done from growing hair overnight to ending up on the school roof. It all made sense. He could finally start understanding why he was so different.
"The house you are sorted into will become something like family in your years at hogwarts." The professor told him whilst she was explaining the different houses.
Family. Harrison James Potter could finally have a family. This was the only thing he needed to finalise his decision.
"I want to go. Please." He looked at the professor who in Harrisons eyes was saving him from a life he was forced to be content with to take him somewhere better, somewhere safer. She smiled kindly at him and explained that they would need to go buy his school supplies, and as it was early in the morning, they could do it that day.
Petunia, who had accepted that she couldn't stop Harrison from becoming a wizard, allowed them to but made it clear that she wasn't going to pay for anything and she wouldn't help Harrison in any way. He was on his own in that world. And for the first time, Harrison wasn't upset about it.
He had hope.