Danger of Darkness

Chapter One: Awakening

Annie Potter was firmly of the opinion that good girls never won. She had been of this opinion since her fifth birthday, when, having been old enough to recognise what a birthday was and when her birthday was, she had come to the revelation that her relatives couldn't care less. Of course she had been of this opinion before that, but it was that day that had truly driven it home. She had been on her best behaviour all week, never rising to Dudley's taunts or her aunts derision, all in the hope that she might get a birthday present like she'd heard all the other girls at school talking about, like she had seen Dudley get every year, but her hopes had been squashed as always by her family who had ignored the day as though there were nothing at all special about it. Even worse, when she had finally plucked up the courage to ask if maybe she could watch television since it was her birthday, her aunt had given her a look of utter disdain and spat 'freaks don't deserve birthday's' before promptly slapping her across the face and shoving her into the cupboard under the stairs. She had watched as they showered attention and gifts on her cousin, watched as her cousin grew into a spoiled, nasty child and known that no matter how hard she tried they would never look at her the way they looked at him. And that was when she realised, good girls don't win. It was this day that she swore she would never again be a good girl, if they would hurt her then she would hurt them right back. She knew they were older, and stronger, but she had one weapon they didn't have. She had her mind and she would damn well use it, and they would regret ever having hurt her, by the time she was done with them they would regret ever having set eyes on her, and she would enjoy every last minute of it.

She had been seven before she had managed it. She had taken the slaps and the cupboard. The lack of food and the derision. She had taken all of it with a sweet smile that promised nothing But pain, all the while knowing that one day she would have her revenge.

The strange occurrences had begun to happen with increased regularity and were always followed up with prolonged exposure to the darkness that was the cupboard under the stairs along with a lack of food that would leave her looking far thinner than could ever be considered healthy. However she looked forward to each occurrence with an increasing amount of glee due to the delicious emotion exhibited by the Dursley's every time such events occurred. Fear. Pure and unadulterated fear. Oh they hid it well, there was no doubt about that. They would sneer and deride her but their eyes always gave them away. They were afraid of her. She knew what they were trying to do, too. It was a crude form of conditioning. Treat the incidents with a punishment, and therefore a negative response which would reduce the frequency of the occurrences out of fear of repercussions. What the Dursley's failed to notice however, was that she knew they were afraid of her and she relished in it, therefore eliciting a positive response and increasing the occurrence of such happenings. Yes, Annie was very much happy with the current state of affairs. However it occurred to her that if she could control such occurrences then she could control the Dursley's fear and they would never be able to control her again. And that was the ultimate goal. Freedom from the filth she was forced to call family.

So she had practised. Well... perhaps practised was the wrong word. In truth she had stared at a stick for well over an hour and tried to make it float. She had been in the park at the time, alone as always and praying Dudley's gang didn't find her. She really didn't feel like outrunning the idiots today. But after an hour of staring and no movement she was beginning to feel rather frustrated and ended up throwing the stick at a wall, only to have it halt in mid-air half way there. It would seem Harry thought, that frustration made it easier. Thinking back, Annie realised that the incidents only occurred when when she was feeling some powerful emotion, usually anger or fear. So, she thought with a smile, emotion is the key.

From that point on the process went much faster. By focusing on a powerful emotion, usually thinking about the Dursley's and the anger they brought out in her she had managed to get a reaction. Unfortunately she had made the stick explode, but that was besides the point, it had worked! Following that incident she had decided to focus on the feeling that had occurred in her when the stick exploded. She hadn't noticed at first, distracted by her euphoria that it had worked, but after several incidences of exploding sticks, she had begun to notice a pattern. And so instead of focusing on anger she decided to focus on the curious feeling of warmth that originated somewhere around her abdomen every time she caused the sticks to explode.

Several weeks of practice later and not only could she levitate the stick she could control it however she wished. It had required intense focus and concentration, and also left her feeling drained afterwards. Not to mention she had also had to read a good dozen books on meditation in order to control her mind and focus better but after weeks of practice she could use it almost effortlessly and had decided to put her practice to good use. She had decided she wanted Dudley's second bedroom and if the Dursley's were not willing to give it to her willingly then she would have to make them. Simple as that. After all they could hardly refuse if she started levitating them now could they. And if worse came to worse, she had a plan to hurt them enough that they would be forced to say yes. She didn't really want to hurt them just yet. Not because she liked them or felt any kind of moral compunctions about doing so because she honestly didn't, but because she didn't want them to realise what she was capable of just yet. If they knew what she was capable of then they could take countermeasures, and that would simply ruin all her fun. Not that she thought they were capable of stopping her, but it was better to be prepared after all. Or following her own personal philosophy, if you expect the worst then you're never disappointed.

She had waited until Saturday when all the Dursley's would be at home to enact her plan. They were in the living room watching TV when Annie walked in and calmly sat on an armchair. She coughed delicately to get their attention and spoke in a clear and commanding tone that captured their attention at once. 'Aunt, uncle, I wish to speak with you in regards to my current living conditions.' She internally rolled her eyes at their slightly gaping expressions. Honestly if they actually listened to her once in a while it would be perfectly obvious that she refused to sound like an inarticulate idiot. She watched in amusement as her uncles face turned slightly purple as her meaning dawned on him, and he began to rant 'What about your living conditions you ungrateful brat? We feed you, we clothe you, out of the goodness of our hearts what have you possibly got to complain about, eh? Should have left you at an orphanage when we found you you ungrateful freak.'

'Enough!' she cut her uncles voice off mid rant. 'I am kept in a cupboard and barely fed. This constitutes as abuse. If I told a teacher or a social worker you'd be arrested. Now you're going to give me Dudley's second bedroom or I'm going to hurt you. Your choice.' Her voice was perfectly serene and there was even a smile on her face though there was nothing kind about it, it was cruel and promised pain to all those stupid enough to cross her. Clearly her uncle lacked the intelligence to properly understand the threat as his face slowly became purple and he stood up, looming over her, clearly intending to use his height and weight to intimidate her. Annie merely raised an eyebrow in question. When he raised a hand to strike her though she lost her patience and used her magic to propel her uncle backwards into a wall. 'Would you like to try that again uncle, because I assure you it wouldn't be wise.' She watched filled with glee as her uncles eyes began to fill with fear as he slowly began to realise that she wasn't the little girl he had beaten and abused any longer. Her eyes filled with malevolence as she stood up and advanced on her uncle. 'now, about that room...'

In the end it had taken breaking Dudley's arm in 3 separate places for it to finally penetrate her uncles mind that they weren't the ones in charge any more. It had been around 20 minutes into what she preferred to call 'aggressive negotiations' when she realised that if the harm she was inflicting on her uncles person wasn't satisfactory to drive her point home them she would start harming Petunia, when seeing his wife's body sail through the room and into a wall still hadn't been enough she had broken her cousins arm in 3 places. His screams had been extremely satisfying. It had been fun in a strange way to watch her cousin beg at her feet when for so long it had been her lying at his. Not that she had ever lowered herself to begging. She refused to give anyone that satisfaction. Refused to scream. Refused to beg. She would stand tall and proud with a haughty sneer on her face as if they were all so beneath her, secure in the knowledge that they would never break her. She would die before she was broken. Purely because she refused to be weak. She had the power to make the world burn and she would make sure that they knew it. And by god would they know it.

AN:

So this was an idea I had a while ago, if you want to know more about Annie and think I should continue the story, just drop me a review. I'm open to ideas and suggestions as well as constructive criticism. For readers of my other story, its not abandoned, I just haven't had chance to work on it lately, with school and exams. But I will be updating it by the end of the holidays before I go back to college. Merry Christmas.

ForeverSiriusBlack

Disclaimer:

None of this belongs to me, all rights go to J.K. Rowling