Chapter one:
Why of all days did it have to be now?
Vernon Dursley muttered quietly under his breath as he pulled his small nephew through the halls of Grunnings Drill Company – the offices, not the factory, and scowled at anyone who even attempted to speak to him.
He'd deliberately took this weekend off (Saturday, he didn't work Sundays) because Petunia was away and Dudley was staying at his Aunt Marge's who wouldn't take Harry as well, Petunia's nephew, thus he had to stay off work to look after the brat…the six year old was too small he had noticed when he'd rushed to buy some nice clothing that actually fit the boy on the way here, Vernon hadn't really spent much time around him because of work and when he was home he spent all his time on his wife and own son,
Anyway – the owner of Grunnings had been going through all of the books this week and had apparently found out that none of the accounts added up, money was missing from several areas and he wanted to find out where it went and had called in all of the branch managers (Vernon ran in the London branch) to the branch where he worked to solve the problem before any more work could commence,
As he passed he didn't fail to notice the looks of shock from the people in the offices – they didn't know anything about his home life except that he was married and lived in Surrey, none of them even knew about Dudley never mind his nephew Harry…actually he didn't even think anyone knew about Harry except the local primary school and the closest neighbours!
When he'd told Harry to get some nice clothing on he'd quietly pointed out that he had nothing but Dudley's hand-me-downs – even his school clothing! And they were only in Yr.1. Vernon did wonder what Petunia had done for those first few months of school seeing that the uniform had been clearly worn by Dudley before it had been given to Harry.
"I'm sorry about this Vernon," Mr Kyes smiled sadly as they entered the meeting room on the fourth floor, He was rather close to the owner of the company being that Mr Kyes (or Nathan) worked from his office quite often, "I wouldn't have called you in but we need this sorting,"
"It's fine," He assured sitting down in his usual seat beside Mr Kyes and pulling Harry into his lap, frowning at how light the boy seemed to be…he hadn't been eating much either for that matter. "This is my nephew Harry, Petunia is away and I couldn't get a babysitter at such short notice."
"So long as we get this done I don't mind," Mr Kyes grinned reaching over to ruffle Harry's hair and the six year old flinched away from the movement causing both men's eyes to narrow.
Harry swung his legs quietly as he watched the nine men in the room hurry about with stacks and stacks of paper, Uncle Vernon's work didn't look too fun and a lot harder that his school work that was for sure!
Mr Kyes had said they were looking for something that made the money vanish and it had been three hours so far and none of them had found anything – getting bored Harry picked up a folder on the table that was closest and looked at it carefully.
Aunt Petunia made him do the paperwork at home for the taxes since that was her job and Uncle Vernon left her to it, she said that if he didn't the police would come and take her and Uncle Vernon away and leave Harry in a bad-boys home where he'd get beaten.
Company…
Company…
Company…
Vinyl Jones…
Company…
Company…
Company…
Vinyl Jones…
"Uncle Vernon?" He called, the room seemed to fall silent at his soft voice and he cringed at a few of the irritated looks that he got – most of them were adoring or amused,
"Harry put that folder down," Vernon ordered walking over, Harry frowned at him and pointed to the page causing his uncle to pause, "What is it boy? You shouldn't be touching these things, I did tell you."
"But Uncle!" He tried to protest,
"Vernon let him speak," Mr Kyes ordered putting down the papers he'd been looking at and telling the man on the phone that he'd phone back, kneeling down in front of Harry. "Now lad, what did you want to tell your uncle?"
"Look," He said again pointing to the page, Uncle Vernon and Mr Kyes both moved around and looked over his shoulder at the page blankly. He rolled his eyes at the adults, "All of them are companies except one, every three weeks some money goes to Vinyl Jones's bank account. Since two years ago, when the money started to disappear!"
"Jones is my accountant at the Manchester branch," a man in a grey suit called overlooking shocked as most of them did, "She does all the banking and checks,"
Harry sighed as the file was taken off him and he was thanked my Mr Kyes and Uncle Vernon smiled at him actually looking…proud? He jumped down from the seat and walked over to the corner of the room leaning against the wall tiredly,
Uncle Vernon hadn't actually ever been mean to him like Aunt Petunia had and he'd never starved him or beat him, like Dudley did some times, or his him with pans (Petunia) or made him do chores – actually Harry couldn't even remember the last time that Uncle Vernon had actually spoke to him, Harry rarely even saw Uncle Vernon around the house because he was either doing chores or locked in the cupboard under the stairs.
It was another hour before Uncle Vernon actually remembered he was there again and called for someone to go and get him something to eat – and to take him out of the room while the police were called to arrest Jones for fraud, along with another man (Harry didn't get his name) who had been working with Jones and they'd been taking turns to take the money so that it wasn't as suspicious and they'd been taking different amounts.
After some lunch he curled up on the couch in the room and closed his eyes, maybe he could get some sleep while Petunia wasn't around ordering him around and the darkness of the cupboard keeping him awake at night.