Golden rays of light filtered through the curtains of the small bedroom. The room was stuffy, overbearingly hot and full of dust, but it was quiet and away from the hustle and bustle of life. Specifically, Harry's life.

Teenagers were a complicated creature, of course, but Harry had many things that made him even more unusual than the typical teenager. Although one might guess it was the fact that he was a wizard that could do magic, and indeed for the uninitiated muggle that would be rather unusual, that was not the case. Nor was it even that he had fought a tyrannical Dark Lord over many occasions in his difficult life, though it had marked him out as special even among his fellow wizards.

Harry sat there in a meditative trance, listening to the dark whispers inside his head, trying to discern them all. They had grown progressively louder throughout the summer, to the point where he could count over a hundred different voices, whispering dark truths to him – muddled, but truths indeed.

Through them, he knew many things, and although on many occasions their truth was distant and hazy, like trying to listen through a wall or a pane of murky glass, sometimes they were sharply clear. And he had found out that what they were always telling him was the truth.

His Aunt's hidden jealousy of his mother, the reason why in a rage he had been locked in his bedroom for several days without food or water. The secret fear she and her husband possessed, of his kind, and even secret awe of what they could do. The fears and weaknesses of his cousin, Dudley… and even truths far away from his location.

In his heart, something stirred, and Harry somehow knew that they were indeed truths, though he only glimpsed them.

Dumbledore hiding secrets… a room full of orbs, important to him but especially Voldemort… and something that horrified him – some of his fellow classmates' fear of him. Of what had happened, that night in the graveyard.

He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples before standing up, making his way to the window. The Dursleys had learnt their lessons and kept it unbarred, and though tricky Harry had eventually found a way to get down and up. He effortlessly climbed out the small window, scaling his way down to the ground and away.

"You are in no danger now…" a voice whispered – Harry barely heard it amidst the constant murmurs. "The bumblebee cannot see you…"

Although Harry had found it a constant struggle at first to comprehend their riddles, as the days progressed he found it easier and easier, as if a fog had lifted off his mind.

Something was different. He was changing… crystal clear images of many of the books he had read were burnt into his mind, and he had gone out, procuring more, on any subject imaginable. Physics, biology, chemistry, weaponry, fiction, military tactics… everything was hungrily read and retained, and he yearned for more.

As he went through the park, as he always did, he noticed there was a small group of teens, hanging out by the playground.

Recognising some of them from his old primary, Harry stuck his hands in his pockets and prepared to walk by, but fate it seemed had other plans for him as one of them turned to notice him.

"Well, if it isn't old Potty-head!" One of the boys turned and sneered.

Harry paused, observing them coolly. He had no desire to play with prepubescent children, but he was not going to allow one of his former bullies to push him around as they once had at primary. "Afternoon, Sam," he greeted. "I see you've gained weight."

Harry's cool observation had caused said boy to turn red as the other teens sniggered, struggling to hide their laughter.

"You'd better watch your mouth Potty," Sam snapped.

In primary school Harry would have stuttered and apologised, and even last year he would have done the same. The boy was significantly bigger and heavier and there was the matter of his friends – though lanky he was outnumbered. The only person who he knew wasn't going to fight would be the girl, Lisa, whom he had a crush on as a child – she was popular and rich, and it seemed nothing had changed, including her arrogant and snooty demeanour.

"Bad boys bad boys," a voice sang, so horridly that Harry nearly winced. "What'ya gonna do when they come for you?"

Harry regarded the boy with intense, probing eyes, before stepping forward until he was right up against him. People didn't like it when you came too close into their personal space, and doing this, especially in the face of a seemingly stronger person would both unnerve and confuse them. "Do you know what people say about me these days, Sam?" he uttered in a low tone, though clear enough to be heard by everyone.

"N-No…" the tremor in his voice did not go unnoticed. So the boy was a coward.

"I'm sure you do," Harry answered, continually regarding him with cold eyes. "I'm sure you've heard rumours…where do they say I go, Sam?"

The boy's eyes widened in horror. "St. Brutus's..." he whispered.

"St. Brutus's," Harry repeated in a hiss. "Let me make myself very clear Sam. They fear me in there, so why do you think I would be afraid of a little fatty like yourself?"

Sam whimpered – the boy actually whimpered!

"So run along with your pansy little friends, unless you want me to show you why I ended up there in the first place!" Gradually his voice turned into a growl, and the message was clear. Sam bolted back, putting on a brave face as he and his friends left – however Lisa turned around to look at him in awe, and Harry gave her a wink before turning around to leave, although not without seeing her faint blush.

-A-

Harry spent the rest of the day generally doing nothing around town and reading in the library. Something was changing in him. That slight unease he felt when he was without his wand vanished, and he felt like he was carrying his wand in his hand everywhere, ready to sling off a blasting curse. Eventually, the feeling of invincibility led Harry to wonder whether he really needed his wand at all.

Sitting back in his bedroom, Harry thought he was crazy for trying this, then realised that he was crazy anyway for hearing voices inside his head – the realisation that he actually listened to said voices inside his head, left him more amused than horrified.

"Wingardium Leviosa," Harry incanted, waving his hand in the motions at the book on his bed. Nothing. "WINGARDIUM LEVIOSA!" Harry yelled, trying it again.

But still it did not work. Harry sat there, contemplating his failure.

"Will," the voices whispered to him.

Harry decided to try again – but this time, he did not stretch out his hand. He focused on the book and willed it to move.

The book shot up like a bullet, slamming into the ceiling – Harry quickly got over his initial surprise, focusing and refining his control as he levitated it around his room. Hedwig watched curiously as it orbited through the room in a circle, so similar to the lunar orbit of the Earth in fact that Harry in amusement willed other books and utensils to float up, and he recreated the orbit of the planetary systems, using Dudley's old basketball as the sun. He watched it for a moment until he became bored then decided if he could make them float there indefinitely, and did.

"I should have known this earlier," he mused. Magic, of course, was not about wand waving and incantations, and were in fact rather meaningless. True magic, was about the will, although he wondered about his own ability to use magic. Even if it was about will, he knew that even a strong wizard could not have done what he just did without a wand, even if he had a will of iron.

So he was unique.

Harry began playing with his ability, checking first to see if he could unlock his door – once he did, he relocked it then saw whether he could do other things. He started off with what he knew at first, seeing what he could do, pushing his limits as he at first caused bright yellow flames to burst up around the basketball without burning it, before changing the books to become actual orbs that represented their planetary body. He turned the ceiling black and dotted it with twinkling stars, sending an occasional comet streaking across it, before conjuring things out of thin air then letting them vanish. He was hungry for McDonalds, but found the taste was bland and so threw it up into the air, and fired a beam of energy that incinerated it. He laughed at this – what was the fun of cool powers without flashing lights?

As he experimented further and further, he found that although his abilities were pretty cool, any extremely fine manipulation was difficult and in some places impossible. The voices were telling him he was still yet to grow, and Harry knew that his powers would become better and more powerful in time.

All this effort left Harry hungry and with a slight headache. Though tired, there was no way he was going to let the night end. He threw on some clothes, about to change them into an outfit much cooler before he decided against it, and went out the window to go clubbing.

-A-

There was only one place that Lisa and her friends would have gone to, a place even Dudley and his goons wouldn't have been invited to – a secret, VIP party that went on every Friday. Harry had heard of it through his occasional eavesdropping, and thus knew where it was.

Walking into a side alley, Harry stepped into a seemingly innocent pawn shop, walking past the shopkeeper as he prepared to make his way downstairs.

"Hey!" the man shouted, grabbing his arm. "What're you doing?"

"I'm here for the party," Harry answered casually.

The man, who was clearly the bouncer, eyed his outfit distastefully. "Beat it kid."

Harry frowned – so he was going to be that way huh? "Go down into the manhole and eat rats," he instructed.

The man turned, and walked away – Harry saw him wring open the manhole and climb down. He wasn't sure whether that would work, but apparently it did – against the weak-minded.

Going down into the basement led to a door into the adjacent, seemingly abandoned warehouse, which when Harry entered was far from abandoned. The party was full of life, with heavy underground drum and bass music playing as he pushed his way through the people.

Lisa was there, dressed for a night out in a chequered dress. As she turned around, she looked surprised to see him as he brushed past her, giving her a mischievous smirk before heading up the stairs.

He leaned on the rails, watching the party unfold beneath him.

"The prey approaches."

"Hey Lisa," Harry said without turning around. "How've you been?"

Lisa stepped beside him. "How did you know it was me?" she asked with a frown.

"Oh, you know." Harry replied casually before twisting his body round to face her. "So as I said – how've you been?"

"Well, okay. Listen, I'm sorry about Sam and the others… I mean, you know how they can be sometimes…"

Harry snorted. "Those boys? Don't worry about it Lisa. I have a feeling they won't be bothering me again."

Unconsciously Lisa shifted closer to him. She certainly looked pretty. That dress hugged her body tightly, and Harry remembered how his Aunt and Uncle had spoken of her so fondly – oh, of how accomplished she was, how graceful as a dancer and an athlete, such an intelligent, well-spoken young girl...

But Harry saw her for what she was. She wanted to get her claws into this mysterious bad boy, one who had so easily brushed off a boy that even Dudley had respect for. She wanted to be the source of gossip, Miss popular, the one who had snagged the enigmatic Harry Potter, who had changed from a scared little boy into a ragged, street-smart teen.

And who was Harry to deny her that?

She smiled. "Not with the way you handled them. You were pretty smooth back there."

"Of course," Harry said in an off-handed manner. "What would you expect?"

"Well I don't know…" she glanced down when his intense gaze locked with hers, and began playing with her hair – typical female signals of interest, ones she had probably mastered. "They say a lot of things about you, Harry. I find it hard to know which ones are truth or fiction."

"If it helps, I can't fly and I don't dress up like a bat," he smirked, eliciting a small giggle from her. "And I wouldn't be playing them, of course. After all, I am the bad guy."

"You don't seem so bad to me, Harry…" Lisa whispered huskily, leaning in slightly.

"You think so?" Harry also leaned forward, but pushed past her lips and began whispering into her ear. "You won't get me that easy, Lisa. I know through your whole life you've had people bowing at your feet, but I'm not some street thug to be used and thrown away like a broken toy. I'm not playing your game, you're playing mine now, and trust me, you're going to love it. I'm going to show you things you never wished you saw but excite you so much you'll be drawn in. Let go of me for a second and you'll be lost in the darkness."

She shivered as he gently stroked her neck, before straightening up, and began heading down. "Come on. This party's boring anyway."

Lisa ran to catch him. "So, where're we going?"

Harry smiled. "Shopping."

-A-

"What are you doing, the shops all close by six!" Lisa protested as Harry walked down the main street of town. At this time of night, the street was completely deserted.

"What do you think of all these stores?" Harry asked, as they passed through an alley down a small side street.

"My dad calls this the high-class street..." Lisa commented as they passed extravagant window displays filled with expensive jewellery. "He got my mum a necklace from here for her birthday two years ago."

"Nice. So even your dad treads carefully round buying stuff from here huh?" Harry said as he stopped in front of a particularly nice clothes store, checking through the window for obvious security measures. Part of his time at the library had been at the computers, looking up some rather dodgy sites for information, sifting through the dregs of the Internet for information gold. And though the information, as always was still clear in his mind and he had tried some smaller stuff, he was eager to try something a little bigger.

"Yeah, although that doesn't explain why we're here..."

"Let me ask you a question. Could your credit card buy anything from here?"

"Probably would use up all my monthly allowance to do so. I mean, we're rich, but we're not that rich."

"I thought so. And I don't need to be psychic to know that it's your dad that gives you your allowance. Well let me tell you something. You see, my parents gave me an inheritance, but as of now I can't access it. You can't always rely on other people, especially when you can do it yourself."

"Wait...what?"

His words had barely registered in Lisa's mind before he moved forward, pulling a homemade pick from his pocket. He pushed it in, and after fiddling around there came an audible click as he opened the door. "Wait here, and stay quiet. An alarm's set to go off in 30 seconds if the pin isn't put in, and I see two cameras."

He pulled open the keypad, and swiftly readjusted some wires before the keypad beeped affirmative. He then used magic to short out the cameras, before walking through the store, opening the security door at the back. There was a computer terminal linked up to the cameras, and seeing the password on a nearby table, he swiftly accessed and set the cameras up on a loop, making sure his influence was untraceable.

Harry walked out, and pulled Lisa into the store. "It's safe now."

Lisa opened her mouth, as if to say something, but all she ended up doing was gawking at him. "Y-You..."

"Yes. I did. Honestly, it was easier than I thought," Harry admitted. "The alarm system probably hasn't been updated in a while and is an older model, while the password to the computer was quite close. I've heard of people who pin the combinations to safes next to them. The hardest part was picking the lock."

It was evident speech still hadn't returned to her. "H-How..."

"Experience," Harry half-lied. He had tried smaller crimes, like pick pocketing and shoplifting or picking and relocking his lock at the Dursleys, but the speed with which he had learnt these skills was frightening, and almost incomprehensible considering his slowness in picking things up at Hogwarts. The way he did it, it was like he had been doing it for years.

Lisa finally found her voice. "But you can't do this! It's stealing! They'll put you in..."

"Who?" Harry interrupted. "The cops? They can't pin this on me; I'll make sure the blame is deflected later on. Besides, what's the point of buying everything? That's so... drab." He looked at a very nice watch, and lifting the keys from beneath the counter, opened up the cabinet to see it better, before deciding it was too flashy. "Tell me Lisa, why shouldn't I just lift every single watch out of here?"

"Because it's against the law..."

"And why should I listen to the law? If someone made it a law you had to jump off the cliff, would you? Just because something is a law doesn't mean it's always best for the people. Although in this case I understand the obvious concerns regarding if everyone were to start stealing freely..." he gave her a wink. "I'm sure they can make an exception for us. Just a little object lesson to get you started, after all, and besides, I could use some nicer clothes. Just go ahead, take anything you want, but not too much, we don't want them to immediately know they've been robbed. Then again, it is a rather large store..."

He was sure that he could go into Gringotts, get some money and go on a shopping spree in Diagon Alley. But what was the point of that? It was much more fun to steal it all.

Harry decided to go for several different outfits, finding a nice, very well-made leather jacket and another gray woollen jacket. He also took several different sets of jeans, some nice shirts and cardigans, as well as taking a rugged, sleek watch that was according to its label "built to military specs".

"I can't believe I'm doing this," Lisa laughed incredulously as she went straight for a dress she had her eye on for a while. "I'm stealing from one of the most expensive stores in town..."

"I bet daddy couldn't give you this amount of freedom," Harry said with a smirk. "Living by your own rules instead of someone else's is much more fun don't you think?"

-A-

"My heart is actually pounding right now," Lisa said with a laugh as they sat in the very same park that Harry went by that afternoon. "That was...such a rush! Is that what you feel every time you break the rules?"

"Sometimes," Harry admitted, not wanting her to know that he had gotten just as much of a rush out of it. "But it is a good feeling isn't it?"

"...The best..." Lisa breathed as she rested her head on his shoulder. After that, they had broken into a mall since Harry knew they were usually guarded by hired men, and broken into several stores. Timing their runs was what he wanted to give her that rush – the feeling of being so close to getting caught yet so far...

He was wearing his new clothes, having discarded Dudley's old hand-me-downs. Sitting beside him was a box of the very latest gaming console and several games, as well as a laptop, and several pieces of jewellery which the voices told him would be useful.

"Tell me Harry... were you always like this?"

"Being honest? No." Harry smiled as he reminisced. "Oh, I was a little rebellious I guess, sneaking out after curfew, but nothing major, and I was easily influenced. But, you know, it took a big shock for me to realise that nothing is as it seems. Why should I listen to someone who I don't even like or respect, say a politician or school teacher? Better yet, how do I know that they're not lying to me or playing me like a puppet?"

"I feel like that sometimes," Lisa admitted. "Sometimes I feel like I have to listen to everyone, and have to live up to their expectations. But why should I care whether they want me to be an accountant or lawyer? It's what I want. Why should I have to be perfect little Lisa Turner?"

"You play them for the fool first," Harry replied. "They think you're their little puppet, but it's you that's holding the strings. You use everyone's expectation of you to cover up what you're doing, because they don't expect anything like that from you. Golden boy or not, when they least expect it you turn their world upside down."

"Sounds like you know what you're talking about," Lisa observed.

"I do. When you stop playing by other people's rules and play only by your own the game changes. Suddenly, you're the chess master playing them for fools. You're the one in control, and the rest of the world can shove it. That's when you can make big changes."

Harry stood up, turning to face her. "I have to be honest with you, Lisa. You see, I don't actually go to St. Brutus's."

Lisa paused, thinking on this. "I didn't think so. I mean, true, we did break into several stores, but you were too smooth for some teen street thug, and you're too smart. And I know how overblown some rumours can get."

"That's right." Harry smirked. "I actually go to a private school in Scotland. My parents signed me up for it before I was born, and before they died."

Lisa laughed at this. "You know, you're pretty good for some snotty rich kid."

"And you're pretty good for an arrogant rich airhead blonde," Harry answered bluntly, "though you're much prettier than any of the other plastic girls I see."

Lisa smiled seductively, leaning in. "There's more to this girl than just looks..."

"That's because inside you're a snake."

And Harry kissed her.

-A-

Harry returned to his room infinitely satisfied with himself. Who knows, maybe he would show her the magical world, just to jerk off the Ministry morons. Either way, he didn't care at all about what they thought. He didn't care at all about returning to Hogwarts, and he certainly didn't give a piss whether Dumbledore liked it or not.

He was playing by his own rules now. He could do whatever he wanted.

-A-

A/N: If reader response to this story is good I will continue with it as long as I am able, unlike some of my other stories.