Harry was frozen with horror, unable to believe his eyes. How dare he go through my stuff! Harry thought furiously. He clenched his fists in fury, his privacy had been invaded! Harry took a step towards his cousin.
Quietly, he paused behind Dudley, who was still oblivious of Harry. He was transfixed on the moving pictures in the photo album. There was a picture of Harry, Hermione and Ron, all laughing and smiling at the camera. Then with a pang of horror, he spotted a picture of Ginny sitting on his lap, his arms around her waist. The fury in him multiplied. Harry took a deep breath in and said, “What do you think you’re doing?” Dudley jumped violently; making his chins wobble madly as though someone had electrocuted him.
“WHY ARE YOU GOING THROUGH MY STUFF?” Harry yelled.
The look on Dudley’s face priceless, he resembled a rabbit caught in headlights. A fat rabbit with droppings for a brain. In any other situations, Harry would have found it funny. Then he found his voice. “Who are those people in the pictures? Your friends? No, they can’t be “ why would anyone want to be friends with you?”
“Yeah, they are my friends! At least I have some, unlike you; you just have people to do your dirty work for you!” Harry growled.
“Who is that red haired girl “ if she is a girl, she looks more like a dog!” Dudley sneered, a sneer that was so much like Malfoy’s, Harry just lost it and lunged it him. He was about to attack Dudley when he felt himself being jerked back by his hair by Uncle Vernon. He felt like someone had clubbed him round the head, making his eyes water. Before he could recover, Uncle Vernon yanked him downstairs, still by his hair, and threw him out of the house. Harry immediately attacked the door, trying to wrench it off its hinges, but the door did not budge. Everywhere was spinning and his head was throbbing agonizingly. Anger was still slicing through him, making him shake violently. How dare he snoop through my stuff, and then start insulting Ginny! Harry wanted to jinx him into a slug and then step on it. Suddenly, he heard a high-pitched scream coming from his bedroom. Aunt Petunia must have seen the moving photos; she virtually fainted when I mentioned the word wizard last week! I was only saying that the murders were due to dark wizards and she screamed and almost passed out on the chair! Bloody Dursleys. Harry thought angrily.
All of a sudden, Harry heard thudding and then Dudley opened the door, pushed past Harry and stormed out. He was just about to chase after him, to show him how angry he was, when he remembered that all of his possessions were scattered across his floor. Before he did anything else, he knew he had to put them away safely. Up in his room, the photo album was open to a picture of his parents, holding a newborn baby, Harry. Harry felt tears welling up in his eyes, but he wiped them away with one shaky hand. As he started to put away his things, his eyes lingered for a second on one of the letters. It was one of the last letters he ever received from Sirius. The lump in his throat grew rapidly, but he stopped himself before the tears fell. He missed Sirius so much. He still had many sleepless and if he did manage to sleep, his dreams filled with Sirius and that day in the Ministry. His time with his Godfather was so short it was unfair.
After he carefully put all of his belongings back in their original places, Harry went downstairs and for the third time that day, Harry went outside. However, this time he knew what he was going to do.
It didn’t take long to locate Dudley’s gang. They were loitering on a street corner smoking, thinking they looked cool. The anger started to swell in Harry again. He strode over to them and before the group realized what had happened, Harry had punched Dudley as hard as he could. Dudley stumbled backwards, tripped over the curb and fell right over. It took a while for his gang to realize what had happened (they were all as thick as Dudley was) but when they did, they turned and faced Harry, their fists clenched. Harry was ready for a fight. He wanted to show them how much he hated them, how much they had made his life a misery, he had faced worse things than them before. Then he heard Dudley groaning and he croaked, “Leave him.”
Harry was probably the only one to notice the quiver of fear in his voice. The gang looked at each other, then at Harry, and then turned away, just as Dudley was struggling to get up. Then he turned to face Harry.
“If you dare touch my stuff ever again, I will do much worse damage, trust me.” Harry growled menacingly, just quiet enough so only Dudley could hear. He saw the flicker of fear in his cousin’s eyes and his eyes moved for a fraction of a second to his pocket where his wand was. Then Dudley signalled for the gang to move, Dudley walking at a faster pace then all the others.
Now that he had calmed down a bit and was able to think more rationally , Harry reckoned it was best he didn’t get into a fight; he might do something he would regret, like pull out his wand, or worse; lose it. In addition, he wanted to be at full strength at all times, there was no need for a childish punch-up with some brainless kids. Still, punching Dudley did give him some satisfaction. However, he has bigger fish to fry.
Harry then turned to make his way back home. He thought that it would be best to be home before Dudley was. That punch would definitely give him a black eye. He deserves it, Harry thought. He couldn’t wait for the time to come when he would get to leave the Dursleys.
When Harry got back to his bedroom, he saw Ron’s tiny owl, Pig, excitedly whizzing round his room. Despite everything, Harry started to chuckle at the sight of the miniature owl flying round his room. When the owl spotted Harry, it started to fly at him and he caught it in one hand. A bit like a snitch, he thought musingly. Hermione and Ron had been sending letters virtually everyday. In his claws, Pig carried a small piece of parchment. He unrolled it eagerly. Inside was a note from Ron.
Dear Harry,
We hope the Muggles aren’t being too foul. We are going to pick you up next Friday at 5pm. everyone has missed you and especially Ginny. She just stays in her room all the time. I hope your time at the Dursleys’ wasn’t too painful. Send a reply back with Pig if you need to change anything.
-Ron
Harry felt sufficiently better after reading Ron’s note Nevertheless, when he read Ginny’s name, he became full of emotion - had she cried? He tried to shrug off the image of Ginny weeping because she missed him so much, but he couldn’t. It‘s strange how much emotion one word can make you feel, just reading the word Ginny starts me off again. He suddenly remembered when Ron and Hermione said that they were going to stay with him at the Dursleys, but he had eventually persuaded them not to, he didn’t think that it was very necessary and that the Dursleys would have gone mad if they tried to say. No, he had to go to the Dursleys’ alone, for the last time. It was just something he had to do on his own. Hurriedly, he took out a quill and parchment and scribbled a reply.
Dear Ron,
Friday’s great, I can’t wait! Got some stuff to tell you on what happened today, it’s too hard to explain on paper, don’t worry it’s just something to do with Dudley.
See you Friday and say hi to everyone for me.
-Harry
P S. I hope the wedding plans are going well.
It wasn’t exactly what he would have liked to write, but he could explain later. Then he rolled up the parchment and tied it to Pig’s leg, which wasn’t that easy as he was so excited it was hard to keep him still long enough for Harry to tie the letter to his leg. As he sent the owl off, he turned to Hedwig. She looked annoyed that she didn’t get to take a letter so Harry gave her some owl treats as he affectionately stroked her feathers. He looked at the note again. Friday at five pm. He had less than a week left here. He rested his head on his pillow as he silently celebrated. He was so happy, he felt somewhat light-headed. He didn’t know how long he had been in that dream-like state for, but when he heard a screech coming from downstairs, and a door slamming, he knew Dudley must have come home. Bracing himself for how the Dursleys would behave when he went downstairs and what Dudley’s face would look like, Harry left his room and made his way down the stairs.
As he had expected, Aunt Petunia was hysterical, Uncle Vernon was livid and Dudley was playing the victim. Aunt Petunia was trying to ask Dudley what happened, but she was unable to get a reply.
However, when he saw Harry, Dudley looked him straight in the eye and growled “Him. ” Harry was reminded of their reaction after the Dementor attack down the alleyway. Harry took a deep breath in.
“Yeah, I did it and I don’t regret it! Actually I’m just sorry I didn’t do more damage.” The Dursleys looked like someone had slapped them. “Just to let you know I won’t be bothering you for much longer, I’m leaving on Friday for good and I will never darken your door again.” They still looked bewildered and seething at the same time.
Harry stormed back upstairs and slammed his door. He thought he heard Uncle Vernon mutter “Good riddance.” Harry flung himself onto his bed and stared at the ceiling, trying to calm himself down, thinking about the Burrow and Bill and Fleur’s upcoming wedding.
A few minutes later, he heard his door open. He sat up and was about to tell Uncle Vernon or Aunt Petunia to leave, but it was Dudley. The bruise on his eye had started to show and it was starting to swell.
“Why are you in all of those newspapers? And why are they calling you ‘The Chosen One’?” Dudley sounded curious and accusing at the same time.
“Just leave it, Dudley,” Harry muttered, the anger starting to creep up on him again.
“No, I won’t leave it, not until you tell me what’s going on!” Dudley said determinedly.
“Leave it!” Harry snarled
“No!” Dudley roared.
Harry was about to tell him to shove off again, when suddenly everything all flooded out. “You really want to know what’s going on? Well, I’ll tell you. I have Voldemort and all his gang trying to kill me on every opportunity, because I am the one who has to kill him. I have the minister on my tail trying to make me their poster boy, my life all over the papers. Everywhere I go; people just gawp at my scar. I have almost died more times that I can count. Then I have to come back here and have you insulting the one person I really care about! You think you have life so hard don’t you? Oh mummy put me on a diet, that’s the worst thing in the world, boo hoo. Well you don’t know anything, you stupid, spoilt, arrogant boy! At least you have parents! At least you don’t go to sleep hearing your mothers last words, begging with Voldemort not to kill her son! You didn’t have to watch as the people who you cared about most were murdered right in front of you, did you? You don’t know what its like to think that every day could be your last? You didn’t have to watch the greatest wizard of all time get murdered in front of you, did you? Yes, that’s right, Dumbledore’s dead!” Harry choked, all of his bottled up emotions poured out of him and suddenly, he felt like he was 15 again, yelling at his best friends. He also noticed that his Aunt and Uncle had walked in the room and Aunt Petunia was looking exceptionably pale.
“Dumbledores…dead…how!?” Aunt petunia whispered.
“Like you really care! Snape murdered him!” Harry spat, not caring that they wouldn’t understand. But to his utmost surprise, there was a glint of recognition in her aunts eye.
“Snape…he knew Lily didn’t he?” Aunt petunia said, sounding almost fearful. Harry nodded, very surprised that she knew that.
“Then why are you here?” Uncle Vernon said angrily. “You’re going to get me and my family killed!”
“But you wont have to worry about me anymore after Friday, when my friends are gonna pick me up and that’ll be the last you’ll ever hear from me. You’ll finally have your normal lives back, without me messing it up!” Harry said bitterly. The left the room, leaving the three Dursleys in shock.
_______________________________________
Leading up to the Weasley’s arrival, time went exceedingly slowly. When the day finally arrived, everyone in the house was extremely tense. He and Dudley had not spoken about his confessions and since that day, Dudley had barely left the house; he looked as though he thought something was going to jump out and kill him at any time. Also, his eye was blacker than ever and he probably didn’t want to explain how his apparently weak cousin, Harry Potter, was able to give him a black eye.
Before Harry went downstairs, he made sure everything was packed, including everything from under the floorboard. He also looked at the fake Horcrux again, and the note. R.A.B. Who is R.A.B and what have they done with the real Horcrux? These were the questions that had been spinning round his head, but every time he hit a dead end. Time was going slower than ever. After he had eaten, Harry decided to have one last look outside Privet Drive. Outside, summer was in full bloom, all the flowers were out and there was a gentle breeze cooling his face. On his seventeenth birthday, the protection his mother left him would be over. It’s best to get away from here before then, be with the Order and hidden from Voldemort until I’m ready to face him, when he’s a mortal man, Harry thought. Moreover, I don’t think I could spend even another day with the Dursleys.
An hour or so later, Harry arrived back at the house. He could hear the hum of the television from the living room. Dudley had taken refuge in his room; his eye had now reached the stage where it looked like there was a flattened slug squashed against it. He went and sat in the living room, staying clear of Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia who were all dressed up and were evidently going to go out and ‘celebrate’ when Harry leaves. He looked at the clock or the hundredth time that day. Five minutes left to wait. He hoped there wouldn’t be a repeat performance of when they picked him up last time. He didn’t think the Dursleys could cope with their living room being blown up again. Uncle Vernon seemed to be frozen to his chair and Aunt Petunia just stared at the fireplace, her face was so pale and pallid she could have been mistaken for a ghost. All of a sudden, Harry heard a knock at the front door and muffled voices talking behind it. Harry stood up and quickly strode towards the sounds. He was finally going back to the only place he called home.
Changing History by A_Pink_lady
Chapter Notes: Hi, heres chapter 2 i hope u like it and tell me what you think!
(edited)