Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything to do with J.K.Rowling's realm. However, I own the original bunny plots that I would try to implement in this story, and I will try to give credit when due if ever I use an idea brought by another fanfic author.

Author's notes: This is my first fanfiction. In fact, this is the first time I write a fiction of any kind. I hope to get constructive criticism, and not too many flames. Anyway, if you like what you read, please leave me a review. And now with the story …

Harry Potter and The Puppet-Masters

Chapter 1: Summertime (but the living is not as easy as it seems)

It was approaching mid-day and the sun was almost at its peak, restlessly sending flaming rays over the rooftops of the houses on both sides of Privet Drive, a residential part of Little Whinging, Surrey. There was nothing out of the ordinary in that neighbourhood: almost similar lined up two-story homes, with tidy front yards and hidden back yards. There weren't many cars parked in front of the garages, because many of the residents were at work, but if you had the -oh so incredible- opportunity to see the same landscape in the evening or early in the morning, fancy family cars will most probably catch your sight. Even the boy pushing the mower in front of number 4 seemed pretty much normal.

Harry Potter was not having a good day. Even if he had woken up later than usual, the leisure of oversleeping was paid ten times over, as working in the garden under the burning sun was its price. The 15 years old teenage boy was just thinking about his day and his bad luck. He thought about the previous days, and decided he was rather having a bad month. And if he gave it more thinking, he would have come to the conclusion that he was having a bad life, but he didn't continue on this train of thought. At least this day will be over in ten hours, but his life is going to last a bit more, 'unless Voldy Moldy decided to pay me a visit' he ironically told himself. And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives...

Harry shivered as he remembered the prophecy. It has been two weeks since the beginning of the summer, and he still hasn't given it much thought. More important matters were at hand, like trying not to get beaten by his abusive uncle and his whale of a cousin, and grieving over the death of his godfather, one Sirius Black. That, he has been thinking of. A lot. And he had come to a couple of conclusions. First of all, Bellatrix Lestrange has jumped a couple of places, and is now ranked number 2 on his I-Wish-Them-A-Horrible-Death list, trailing Voldemort by little. But most importantly, he convinced himself that he can't take all the blame for Sirius' death, for Dumbledore played a part in it too, forcing the lively man to stay in a place laced with bad memories and not giving him any chance to breathe the fresh air. In fact, if he blamed himself, why wouldn't he blame Sirius for his parents' death? Weren't he the one who asked them to change their secret keeper, giving Wormtail the chance to offer their heads on a silver platter to Voldemort? No, Sirius has no responsibility in the death of James and Lily Potter, hence Harry has none in Sirius's death. However, when Sirius had gone, he had felt as if half of his hopes had dropped and shattered on the floor like glass. For he was dreaming of leaving the Dursleys, and moving in with Sirius, someone he can truly call family.

Suddenly, without giving any prior notice, the heavy and formerly vibrating machine stopped working. He cursed whatever Deity was watching over him. He stood staring at the bulk of plastic and metal. He couldn't help a cold and sarcastic laugher to escape his mouth, as he thought 'even electrical devices drop dead around me'. Harry understood the dangers he puts anybody close to him in, due to his connection with Voldemort. That is one of the major reasons he kept to himself, trying not to get too close to people, fearing they would be targeted by Death Eaters, and the ones in training at Hogwarts. Still, a big part of him was yearning to build lasting relationships with his schoolmates. He has been ignored for such a long time, courtesy of his cousin who scared all potential friends and threatened them if they got close to him. Now the hippopotamus living next room couldn't reach him in Hogwarts, so why not try to make the best of it and have as many friends as possible. Again, he wished Voldemort could just do him a small favour and push his wand into his chest through his heart, painfully ending his life.

Harry shook his head trying to get rid of his insane wishful thinking, and saw that he was still looking at the mower, as if it held the answer to all his problems. He sighed and remembered how some muggles on TV kick their machines and make them work again. He thought 'what the hell', and gave the tool a not so small kick, making it roar with life again, and earning a sore foot on the same occasion. He made a mental note to himself: 'kick electrical devices, but not on the metallic parts'. He resumed his work and finished it, returned the mower to its place in the garage, and got back inside as the clock in the entry hall indicated half past noon. While going up the stares, he made a mental checklist: wash the dishes, done; clean the ground floor windows, done; sweep the kitchen floor, done; tend to the garden, done. He smiled as he realised that the only remaining undone chores for the day were taking out the garbage in the evening, and washing the dishes after dinner. He had a couple of hours to do what he liked within the very small number of possibilities that life with the Dursleys offered, but it was freedom nonetheless.

He entered his room, grabbed what he needed for a quick shower, and then made a bee-line to the intended room. He was sweaty and really hot, and a cold shower was most welcome. In the stall, under the freezing jet of water, Harry thought about the two weeks he had spent in this house, and about how much he discovered about his relatives. It seems that his uncle's company was not in a good shape, so the investors showed him the doorstep, without a single penny for compensation. This happened a couple of months ago. After the incident, Vernon Dursley took to drinking, and came home far from sober every other day. He couldn't find a job with the same high income, but after his wife insisted, he took a low income office job, knowing that a promotion will take some time to come. Petunia, after spending every pound she had to buy dresses for her weekly tea parties, fell into dire need for money. She had a principle, one of the few she would never break: never go to a tea party without a new item of clothing, even if it was just a new scarf. When her nephew came back from his school to spend the summer, she had already missed 2 of her precious gatherings. When Harry heard her mumbling under her breath about this distressful situation, he stored the information for future use. It was not a secret to anybody but the Dursleys that Harry had money, and he had a lot of it. If he found a way to bribe his aunt, she could do a lot for him.

However, if they made any arrangements, both Harry and Petunia knew that they would have to deal with everything in secret, because they wanted to avoid Vernon's wrath in his drunken haze if he found out. In fact, Harry has been making himself scarce when his uncle was at home, especially when he was intoxicated. Who knew what a drunken hot-tempered bully would do if he was alone with the boy which he scathingly dubbed 'the source of all my troubles'. Harry has got used to shut himself in his room after dinner, when Vernon usually goes out to his favourite pub, and would come back at no specific hour. In fact, dinner was the only occasion on which Harry was in the physical presence of his uncle, and if he could skip it, he would without bating an eyelash. Since the Order has told Vernon with unquestionable words, on King's Cross, that they would intervene if Harry was not treated well, the young raven haired boy has gained the liberty to wake up on any hour he wished, but he still had to do most of the chores.

Harry has also been keeping out of the way of his cousin Dudley. The latter's body has reached humungous proportions, and he was well trained in boxing. The smaller boy could try to evade and dodge the inevitable punches whenever they were by themselves, he had seeker reflexes after all. Yet, he knew that once one punch touched its target, bones will certainly crack.

All in all, the young wizard has been keeping to himself. He spent some part of his free time in his room, the other part being spent of the roof of the house. On the first day of his return to Privet Drive, he had discovered this new spot: he was feeling extremely hot, having just lived 9 months in Scotland, some 400 miles north from where he was now, so he opened the window and had almost half his body through it. And for the first time, he saw what was beyond the edges of the window, which happened to be on the left side of the house. A little bit beyond the right edge of the window, there was the front part of the roof, that was about a yard higher than the back side of it. And from the left edge of the window, he could access the lower roof, as there was a couple of hidden small and slim steps, which were probably there for security reasons, in case of a fire per example, Harry thought. When he had climbed to the lower roof, he had discovered that it was almost flat, slightly descending, and it was totally hidden from the street by the tree in front of his window. Harry rejoiced: here was THE place to where he could escape when the heat in his room became unbearable, it was shadowed by the tree and there was always a small refreshing breeze to ease the temperatures of the summer. After that fateful day, Harry spent more than 2 hours daily, lying on the roof. He was not afraid that someone might open his room and not find him inside, he was used to lock himself in, the muggle way, because he still wasn't allowed to use magic outside school. The only way he could be caught was if his cousin had half his body through the window of his room who gave on the same part of the roof, and Harry was sure the big pig would never do it, being afraid of stumbling forward and falling down.

Harry came out of his musings, he was still under the shower, the skin on his fingers had begun to have ridges, and he was sure his aunt will start shouting soon outside the bathroom door, accusing him of using too much water. He got out of the stall, dried himself, then he put his faded grey shorts and his baby blue sleeveless shirt, which he had made himself by cutting the sleeves with a pair of scissors. He went back to his room, and noticed that Hedwig was still out on the hunt, the only presence in her cage a couple of mice bones. He decided to lay on the roof. Not wanting to take any risks, he took the spot directly behind Dudley's window.

Lying on his back just above his cousin's room, he remembered how he ventured inside it a week earlier. He knew Dudley was in his boxing club, probably trying to pick a fight with a new member just in order to fit the image of a bully. He got to the edge of the window. Seeing that it was open, he carefully descended the small steps that were similar to the ones beside his window, and jumped inside a room which he had never entered. Saying that it was untidy would be an understatement. Pieces of clothing littered the floor, the bed was unmade and the desk had tons of paper unceremoniously thrown at it. Only three places had a semblance of tidiness: the corner of the room which was occupied by some weight lifting machine, the keyboard of the computer that was on a kind of sliding platform which was part of the desk, and finally the surprisingly full bookshelf that was hanging on one of the walls. However, Harry's surprise didn't last long, as he noticed the layers of dust on the books ('These books are there for esthetical reasons', Harry thought). The computer was on, but the young wizard didn't give it a second thought, he was totally unfamiliar with this technology. So Harry went to the bookshelf to see its contents. He was through the process of re-reading his last year's school books, and would be in need of new reading material soon, if he was not to die of boredom. Most of the books were the academic ones studied at Smelting, Dudley's school. As he was sure that his cousin wouldn't notice any missing ones, Harry decided to borrow two or three books. As mathematics didn't interest him much, and he had a bad experience with chemistry, thanks to Snivellus Snape, he decided to borrow two physics books and one of biology.

He had devoured the books in less than 3 days, and had remade a visit to put them back to their places and borrow some more. I mean, when you have half the day and all the night free to yourself, you had plenty of time to fill. He was very interested in the biology books, specially the chapters delving into the intricates of the human body, from the anatomy to the nervous system. In the physics books, he skipped the chapters about mechanics, and concentrated on electrical signals and electro-magnetic waves and fields. He didn't understand the background theory, but the practical aspect was intriguing to say the least. He didn't know why, but he felt that this could be useful somewhere.

Back to the present, Harry was thinking about his aunt. He knew he could ask her to do small services in exchange of an appropriate amount of much needed cash. But what did he want from her? He lay there in his hidden spot, thinking about it, and eventually he fell asleep.