Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

“Boy! What on earth do you think you're doing?!”

Harry shot up. He was lying under the window trying to listen to the news. He was scrambling to hide after he heard Aunt Petunia say she was going to check if he was still outside, there would be company over soon apparently. As good of a hiding spot as it was, it's hard to get out of. He didn't think they'd see him if he stayed put, but he 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 didn't want to risk it. It didn't matter in the end. “I thought I saw a snake under the hedge, I was trying to get it so I could kill it.”

She looked him up and down, as if unable to tell if he was lying or not. “Get inside.”

That was the better outcome. He didn't think he was in too much trouble, but it would be hard to tell until he got inside. They couldn't risk causing a scene where people could see.

The second the door shut Harry was grabbed by the arm. The thick hand was all too familiar. “What are you going to do when my client comes over for lunch?”

It took everything in Harry to not spit at him, but he'd rather be stuck in his room with a bruised ego than being beaten bloody. “Stay silent, stay in my room, and pretend like I don't exist.”

Vernon slapped him on the back. “Get to it!”

Harry marched up the stairs and locked himself in his room. He was upset about not being able to listen to the news, but maybe a rest in his room would be good. Since the end of term, his sleep had been filled with nightmares exclusively. Being without chores should be a nice break.

He sat down and began writing a letter to Hermione. Nobody would tell him 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 and it was infuriating. 𝘏𝘦 is the one who has fought Voldemort how many times and won. 𝘏𝘦 is the one who watched him come back. It would make sense if he fucking knew anything. If it is related to him in some way, he should know. But apparently nobody shared his sentiment.

_____

𝘿𝙚𝙖𝙧, 𝙃𝙚𝙧𝙢𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙚

𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙥𝙥𝙚𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜? 𝙒𝙝𝙮 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙣𝙤𝙗𝙤𝙙𝙮 𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙢𝙚 𝙖 𝙣𝙤𝙧𝙢𝙖𝙡 𝙖𝙣𝙨𝙬𝙚𝙧? 𝘼𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧 𝙬𝙚 𝙬𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙪𝙢𝙢𝙚𝙧 𝙄'𝙫𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙚𝙣 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙧𝙠 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜! 𝘼𝙡𝙡 𝙄 𝙜𝙚𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙫𝙖𝙜𝙪𝙚 𝙖𝙣𝙨𝙬𝙚𝙧𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙢𝙚𝙖𝙣 𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜! 𝙄'𝙢 𝙗𝙡𝙤𝙤𝙙𝙮 𝙨𝙞𝙘𝙠 𝙤𝙛 𝙞𝙩! 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙖 𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙩𝙤 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙨 𝙜𝙤𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙤𝙣! 𝙄 𝙠𝙣𝙤𝙬 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙞𝙩'𝙨 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙛𝙖𝙪𝙡𝙩, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨.

𝙔𝙤𝙪𝙧 𝙛𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙙,
𝙃𝙖𝙧𝙧𝙮

_____

Harry tied the parchment to Hedwig's leg. “Make sure she writes back a decent response.” He gave her a treat and pet her head. Getting a soft hoot in response, she took off.

He sat down on his bed. It was time he got that off his chest. He just hadn't had time. His temper has been even worse lately. Sadly, all it did for him was add to the number of bruises on his body and to his list of chores.

He didn't really have anything to do. He'd try and get his summer work done, but his things were still locked up. He sat for a minute or two trying to decide what to do.

There was an actually interesting book that Hermione gave to him last year, and he hadn't finished it yet. Alright, he'd read that until he finished it, got bored, or miraculously found something better to do.

He opened up the loose floorboard, being careful that it didn't squeak too much. He grabbed the book, its green cover shining like scales. ‘𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘦: 𝘈𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘋𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘖𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘙𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘴’. It was really interesting, actually. Apparently you can communicate with all types of reptiles using parseltonge. Hermione was always trying to get him to read more.

He turned to chapter twelve and started to read.

_____

“Boy! They're gone! Get down here and do the dishes!”

Harry groaned and pulled himself off the bed. He walked through the door and trudged down the stairs. On his way to the kitchen Harry saw Vernon standing there. “Can I go out when I'm done?” Harry was going to go out anyway, but him being on board made things easier.

“Yes, get out of our house! But you better be back on time!”

That was easy. All he had to do was know when Dudley was coming back. ‘Late’ really meant after Dudley did. After leaving the bush he's been itching to get back outside, even if the heat was near unbearable.

He scrubbed the dishes as fast as he could without being accused of doing it wrong, and went out the door. It was going to get dark soon enough, which meant it wouldn't be as hot.

He passed by all the usually perfect houses. The ban on hoses had turned the rule followers’
manicured green grass to random patches of partially-dead yellow. Some simply didn't care and kept their sprinklers on anyway. He heard Dudley and his gang talking about attacking one kid, so he avoided the area where it'd be happening. He didn't want to see them today.

At the park Harry sat on the swings. Not quite using them for the intended purpose, just gently rocking back and forth while he looked at the sky.

About two hours later someone appeared in the corner of his eye. He broke his focus on the cloud he'd been watching and looked over. It was Dudley. 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵. Maybe he would go unnoticed.

That didn't seem like it was going to happen. He was coming right for him.

“What are you doing here?”

Harry glared at him. “Did Ickle-Diddykins get tired of beating up 10 year olds?" He taunted.

“Listen here you-” Dudley raised his fist.

Harry was sick of this already, so he resorted to the quickest way to shut his cousin up. He pulled out his wand.

Dudley stepped back, almost tripping over a rock. “Y-you're not allowed to do anything! They'll throw you out of your freak school!”

Harry stood up and walked closer. “How do you know that the rules didn't change? I could do whatever I wanted right now” Harry smirked. Dudley was 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘧𝘪𝘦𝘥. It was great. Harry only wished that the rules actually changed so he could give him a pig tail again.

Dudley turned and ran. Harry chased after him.

“Get away from me, freak! I'll break your nose!”

“I can break more than a nose.” Harry said, jogging after him. Dudley was strong, not fast.

After a block or two, Harry gave up and returned to a normal pace. “I'm not going to do anything, right now at least.”

Dudley turned, and then something happened. It was icy and cold out of nowhere. A lot colder than any summer night should be. Dread creeping into his bones, Harry realized the cause. Turning, he saw two dementors nearing.

“What did you do?! Stop it!” Dudley swung his fist at him. Knocking Harry to the ground.

“You idiot! That's not me! Run!”

But Dudley didn't. He just stood there, shaking. “S-seriously stop it!”

They were approaching. Why on earth were they here? This wasn't good. He'd already had a record for underage magic. They'd make an exception for life or death situations, surely?
Focusing on the happiest memory he could conjure, going to Hogwarts, he yelled, “Expecto Patronum!”

The misty white stag sprang from his wand. He froze momentarily. Something about it was just so 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨. Maybe it was just how it was another thing that he got from his parents. Maybe it was how it made him feel closer to them, somehow. Either way, the was 𝘯𝘰𝘵 the time.

He shoved his wand into his pocket. “Come on!”
Harry grabbed Dudley by the arm.

He barely moved. “We need to go!” Just as Harry went to pull on him harder Dudley started to lean on him.

Slower than Harry would've liked, he got Dudley to start walking. After around a block and a half, they ran into a familiar face. “Mrs. Figg?” Harry looked at the elderly woman's face. “What are you doing here?”

“There's no time! Keep your wand out! Who knows if there are more coming!”

“How do you-”

“I said there's no time!”

Harry grabbed his wand without another word, and they quickly arrived at Privet Drive.

After a command to go inside and stay put, Mrs. Figg went back to her house with an angry look.

He led Dudley inside, nearly buckling under the weight. His cousin collapsed into Petunia as soon as she rushed out of the kitchens.

“Diddykins!” She frantically grabbed his chin and held him up, looking into his eyes. What happened?!”

“I-it was H-harry.”

Vernon, who had been rushing over since they arrived stood in front of Harry and yelled, “What did you do, boy?!”

“It wasn't me!” Harry objected.

A pudgy hand grabbed him by the collar and pushed him against the wall.

“Who else could it be!?”

“It was-”

Fingers wrapped around his neck.

“You listen to me, boy!”

Harry felt himself being picked up.

“You tell us how to fix this!”

Harry was struggling to draw in breath.

Fueled by nothing but rage, Harry shouted, “It was the dementors! I didn't do it!”

In the corner of his swimming vision Harry saw his aunt go pale.

Vernon let him go and he dropped to the floor, gasping.

“What are these demeny-ors!?”

“They guard the wizard prison.”

Harry and his uncle turned their heads toward Petunia.

“How did you know that?” Harry questioned.

“Lily told me.” Petunia looked like she could be sick.

“What even are they!?”

Harry forgot that his uncle had no clue what they were talking about.

“They are horrible creatures, they suck all the joy out of you.” Harry answered.

Dudley chimed in, “They made me feel like I'd never be happy again.”

Harry chose to leave out the fact that they could also suck your soul out from your mouth.

“You'll be fine. Maybe eat some chocolate but otherwise you're okay.”

He heard a 𝘽𝘼𝙉𝙂 on the kitchen window. He whipped his head around to see a well-groomed grey owl he didn't recognize scratching at the window, a letter tied to its leg.

His uncle looked at him angrily when he saw the bird. “What is that thing doing here?!“

Despite his better judgement, Harry ignored him and opened the window. The owl hopped onto the table and extended its leg. Harry untied the letter and it took off as suddenly as it came.
_____

Oh no. Oh nononononononono. 𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘵! He was fending off a demeanor! Isn't there supposed to be a rule about defensive magic being allowed? Dudley knew about magic anyways!

In his panic, and attempting not to 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸 his panic, Harry almost missed the second owl.

“What are all these owls doing here, boy?”

Harry decided his best decision was to lie. He didn't want his uncle to go on another rampage. “They sent out a warning about about dementors in the area, and I think this new one is probably an update.”

His uncle looked at him strangely. “Alright, boy.”

Now, Harry opened the next letter.

_____

Okay, so no expulsion yet. He just had to wait for news now.

He went to breathe a sigh of relief, but was interrupted by another owl. This one was various shades of brown.

He untied it from the owl and looked at the name.

Dumbledore.

Maybe he'd finally be told what's going on

𝙈𝙧. 𝙋𝙤𝙩𝙩𝙚𝙧,

𝙎𝙩𝙖𝙮 𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙖𝙧𝙚. 𝙄 𝙖𝙢 𝙨𝙚𝙣𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙧𝙚𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪, 𝙙𝙤 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙝𝙤𝙢𝙚.

-𝘿𝙪𝙢𝙗𝙡𝙚𝙙𝙤𝙧𝙚

Ha! One hell of a home this is. He'd been hoping for some information, but 𝘯𝘰. Just ‘stay where you are’. Like he'd been told all summer. Not even a name of who was coming to get him.

Harry turned his head at a sudden knock on the door.

“Who the hell is that?!” His uncle yelled.

Harry answered the door, only to be greeted by a face he did 𝘯𝘰𝘵 want to see.

Professor Snape.