Judgment!
By DraceenaRise
Prologue
"This game's stupid!"
Harry looked over at his cousin as he threw the controller at the floor, a 'game over' showing on the screen. He inwardly laughed. That was the first battle of the game. He had been playing on it for quite literally a minute. He turned back to his chores and listened to his Uncle and Aunt tell Dudley that the game was a horrible gift anyway and that they'd buy him another one later.
Dudley had been given 'Tales of Symphonia' for his fifth birthday by a cousin on Vernon's side of the family. Apparently he had forgotten how old Dudley was and had bought him a game much too advanced for the dim witted boy. Petunia and Vernon were less than pleased that Dudley had been given such an 'abnormal' game. Magic? Elves? Half-Elves? Giant tree? What was all of this rubbish?
Personally Harry thought it seemed really interesting and the controls didn't seem that complicated. They took the disk out of the game-cube and put it back in the box before throwing it in the bin.
Harry quickly finished picking up the wrapping paper and took it over to the bin. As he put the paper in he took the box out and hid it inside his overlarge t-shirt. His Aunt looked over at what was taking him so long but looked away again when she saw he was just squashing the wrapping paper down to make more room in the bin.
As he went round the room again picking up more wrapping paper he slipped the game under the door to his cupboard. No sense in wasting a perfectly good gift right? And if it was a bad game he could sell it.
He spent the rest of the day just tidying up after his cousin before cooking a huge celebratory dinner. It was his cousins fifth birthday after all.
When he went back into his cupboard later that night he tucked the game safely away in one of his draws.
You see, Harry was no ordinary boy. For a start he lived in the cupboard under the stairs. Harry was an orphan. His parent's died in a car crash when he was a baby so he was sent to live with his Aunt, who was his mother's sister.
Of course since Petunia never liked Harry's mom, she doesn't like Harry either. For as long as Harry could remember he had been forced to live in the cupboard under the stairs and work like slave for his relatives. His cupboard was cramped and uncomfortable; especially since his Uncle had moved the old shoe rack in there when they got a new one for their anniversary last year.
It was a darn sight more comfortable than the floor but Harry wasn't about to tell them that.
Another thing that made Harry different from other boys his age was that he had a power. He didn't know what it was or how much it was capable of but it always healed him when he was hurt. He knew he was different. He was a freak.
.oOo.
Harry listened to his relatives moving about upstairs. They were due to go on holiday to Spain tomorrow for their annual holiday. They would be gone for four weeks leaving Harry alone in the house.
Sure enough when morning came the Dursleys left for the airport after giving Harry stern orders to not let the neighbours see him.
When he could no longer hear the car Harry took the game out of the cupboard and placed the first disc into Dudley's GameCube.
It took Harry a week to complete the first play through since he had very little need for food or sleep, plus if he spent his time doing nothing he would get hungry and eat all his food before the Dursleys came back. His second try took two weeks since he spent time exploring and ended up finding a few quests he hadn't done before.
After he had finished the second play through he closed his eyes. He focused inwards and searched for his power.
.oOo.
The next year the Dursleys left Harry again. He pulled out Symphonia and began to play again. He paused at the scene in the Triet Ruins. Genis could sense the Mana in the air around him. Maybe he could do the same. Genis had explained to Lloyd that mana is more essential to life than water. That would mean that all life had mana which implied that anyone with enough focus and practice could sense it.
Harry nodded to himself and shut the game down, returned it to his cupboard and went out to a clearing behind the Dursleys' house. He found it last year when he was running from Dudley once. It was far enough into the small woods that no one would find him but close enough that he could get home quickly. He had been using it to train in ever since. It was the only place in the neighbourhood he could practice magic in. So far he had only learnt a few spells but he didn't really have any need to learn battle magic. He focused on healing instead.
There was an incident when he was learning healing magic though. When he cast dispel on himself he got a huge headache and ended up passing out. When he woke up he looked to see what the problem was. He was surprised to see that his 'mana core' (what he called the large well of mana near his heart) was at least ten times the size it was before. Also the strange mana on his head, where the jagged lightning shaped scar was, was gone too. Aside from that he felt better than he had in ages.
He practiced using his feet like Regal as well as training with his hands. There was a bunch of clubs at the local community centre that focused on different martial arts. He watched their lessons through the windows whenever he had the chance so while no one was actually teaching him he was learning properly.
He had also found some old sticks that he used as dual swords. He has always been ambidextrous because sometimes he was unable to use one hand due to 'accidents' caused by his Uncle or cousin. He quickly learned how to use both so he was able to complete his chores and avoid more 'accidents'.
Harry looked over his clearing and sighed happily. It was relatively large. There was a tree stump on the furthest side where an old oak had fallen down. The tree itself lay next to the stump. Harry had taken the small axe from the Dursleys' garage and used it to smoothen out the stump as best he could so he had somewhere to sit and rest. The axe was far too small to be of any use in combat.
The ground in the middle of the clearing was compact and bare of grass from the year that Harry had spent training in it.
Harry walked over and sat on the stump. He closed his eyes and reached inwards until he found his mana. He then tried to stretch his senses outwards but felt nothing. He opened his eyes and glared at the floor. He then spotted a line of ants walking across the ground. He closed his eyes again and focused down at the ants on the ground in front of him.
It took a few minutes and several tries but Harry eventually managed to find the ants' mana. He then focused elsewhere and managed to find the trees around him. By the time the sun set he was able to feel all of the life in the forest around him, within a certain distance. He could just about reach the other end of the clearing. Harry smiled and laughed. He then thought about what would happen if he fed his mana into something. Would it change it? His mana was slightly different.
Harry decided to give it a try. He looked around at the lives around him and he found a fox. He then took in a sharp breath as it carefully stepped into the clearing he was in. He tentatively reached out with his mana and brushed against the fox.
He snapped his eyes open in shock.
He could feel the fox' emotions now. The fox was curious but a little weary too and ready to run at a moment's notice. Harry carefully fed a little more of his mana to the fox along with mental assurances that he wouldn't hurt it. The fox tiled its head but calmed down considerably. Now all Harry could sense from it was confusion.
He spent several hours 'talking' to the fox. He would send over images and memories and emotions then the fox would send them back. Eventually he sent the fox a picture of his cupboard and a 'farewell' before he stood up and left for home.
Harry slept until noon.
.oOo.
It had been another year and again Harry was left alone. This time the Dursleys had left a week earlier but they would be back at the same time. Harry didn't have anything to complain about.
In the past year Harry had made a lot of headway with his magic. He had mastered the novice and Intermediate tiers. He was running out of spells to practice. The only spells he hadn't learnt were fire spells. He wanted to learn a water spell that could put out any fires he made first.
As he was searching online for any spells that he hadn't encountered in the game he came across something interesting. Symphonia wasn't the only game to use magic the way it did. There was a whole series of games made by Namco called 'Tales'. 'Tales of Eternia', 'Tales of Phantasia', 'Tales of Vesperia' and many others also used magic the same way. Harry grinned and pulled out a spare note book. It took him two days but he eventually wrote down all the spells and had them organised by element and by difficulty.
He then began his magical training again.
.oOo.
Dudley had just turned eight. That meant that Harry was seven but he would be turning eight soon too. He had learnt a lot in his years. He dropped out of school but the authority's never asked why. The Dursleys made up something about him being home schooled and Vernon's friends in the police station faked some documents for him.
Vernon had been getting more and more aggressive lately so Harry had been spending more time in his clearing than in the Dursleys' house.
He sighed. It was getting harder and harder to live with them but it wasn't like he had anywhere to go. He spent the whole summer practicing spells. He had played through Tales of Symphonia so many times that he had practically memorised it word for word.
His spell casting was coming along nicely. It had taken him a while to get used to his increased mana core. He had managed to learn tidal wave so he was able to learn the fire spells. He fired at a wall of earth he had made using some earth spells and put out any fires he started with tidal wave.
He managed to learn all the fire spells up to the level he had learned all the others by the time the Dursleys came back from their holiday.
.oOo.
Harry looked down at the ground. He had been running from Dudley's gang. He had somehow ended up on the roof of the community centre. When the boys gave up and left Harry walked around the roof, looking for a way down. He spied a lamp post not far from the roof and a low hanging branch on a tree not far from that.
He jumped off the roof, landed on the top of the lamp post and leapt onto the branches of the tree. Two more jumps had him safely on the ground. He stood up straight and dusted himself down.
"Hey kid." He looked up at the man approaching him. "That was impressive."
Harry smiled. "Thank you, sir."
He smiled down at Harry. "You know, I teach some gymnastics classes here if you're interested in joining?"
Harry looked down at the ground. "No. No... I would like to but... I can't. I'm sorry." Harry turned and ran off into the forest. It didn't take him long to get to his clearing. He wasn't even breathing hard thanks to his physical training. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair which was getting kind of long. He had managed to persuade Petunia to let him grow it out.
His logic was that if it was longer he could put it in a ponytail and it might lie flatter.
Harry sat on his stump. So, he had somehow flown onto the community centre roof. He grinned. He had flown. He closed his eyes and began picturing wings. Oh that would be cool.
.oOo.
Harry tilted his head when he heard the mail slot clink. He didn't even have to wait to be asked to get the mail, he just did it. He knew what was expected of him.
The Dursleys only treated him like a slave now, after what happened with one of Dudley's friends. The boy had caught Harry alone but Harry had broken his arm in the ensuing fight. He accompanied the boy to hospital and apologised repeatedly to him and the boy's mother, the doctors and the police that the boys mum insisted were called. He was suitably charming the whole time and was very embarrassed, 'I'm sorry. I don't know my own strength sometimes. We were wrestling and I got him in a bad hold, he tried to buck me off, we slipped and I broke his arm. It was a complete accident, really. I didn't mean it. It happened so fast I couldn't do anything about it.'
The officers didn't press charges since Harry had so many more injuries than the other boy but refused to let the doctors have a look at him. He could heal it all later anyway.
Anyway, since the Dursleys avoided him a bit more now than they did before, Harry had a lot more free time. He was now almost eleven. It had been six years since he had first played Tales of Symphonia. One year since he had grown wings and gotten the enhanced senses of an angel.
It was more of a hindrance than a help sometimes. Bright light hurt his eyes and sound was so much louder.
He looked through the letters and saw one with his name on it just as he walked into the kitchen. He handed the rest of the stack to his Uncle but before he could leave the room Dudley stood up. "Dad! The Freak's got a letter!"
Vernon pounced on Harry and snatched the letter from his hand right after smashing him in the head. Harry held his mana back when it tried to heal him. Harry knew better than to try and claim the letter was his. Freaks don't own anything. He swished his waist length black hair behind him and stood up straight.
Vernon looked at the address on the letter and went very pale. He passed the letter to Petunia who went so white she made snow seem grey in comparison.
They moved him up to Dudley's second bedroom after this. It was about time. Despite the starvation Harry was still tall for his age and built like a tank. Not like Dudley though. Dudley was ridiculously fat. Harry had broad shoulders and was heavily muscled. The girls in the neighbourhood giggled whenever they saw him. Girls... who would ever understand them?
Anyway, for a week he got hundreds of letters. Vernon went a bit insane at one point and they all ended up on a shack in the middle of the ocean in a storm.
Not crazy at all, right?
Harry sat in the corner, it was cold and dark but it wasn't like that was any different than the hundreds of times he had been locked out at night.
A thunderous boom shook the air. Harry looked outside with his mana and found a huge person on the other side of the door. His mana wasn't fully human. Harry cloaked himself in the shadows and waited. After the second knock Vernon and Petunia came down the stairs. The third knock caused the door to fall out of the frame and land with a crash on the floor.
The giant figure outside the door came into the room and Harry drew back into the shadows as much as possible. What was this man here for? How was he only half human? What did he want?
Harry hoped he would be able to come out of this alive.