Disclaimer: I do NOT own Harry Potter!
Out of the Reign
Chapter II
Vernon's worse Nightmare
Harry yawned as he had finished with the shower. He had woken up earlier than normal so that he could get the shower without his Aunt Petunia complaining that he was taking too long every ten seconds. She was annoying. She would start complaining after only a minute, if that. It was like she thought he was going to use all of the world's water supply or something.
He had his blue towel wrapped around his waist as he entered his room, smiling as he looked at his owl, Hedwig. She was standing on her perch in her cage. He had sent her with his dispute that he hadn't used magic the evening before. She had returned with a letter with ministry a seal on the back.
Smirking, he tore the mail open to discover that he had not been questioned further about the underage magic and they had even sent an apology. He could almost laugh that they were that stupid.
Shaking his head he dried himself on his towel. His body was slender with some tight muscles from all of the training he did on his broom for quidditch. It took great effort sometimes just to stay on his broom. The Gryffindor Quidditch Captain could be a slave driver with the moves he forced them to do.
He wasn't sure what to think about his 'thing'. It wasn't small. It was fairly large. It was larger than the other boys in his dorm, but he had never thought much about it. He probably wouldn't have if he hadn't heard his cousin trying to brag about penis sizes that the last evening outside the front door talking with his friends, bellow Harry's window, disturbing him.
It was a tempting thought to set the record straight with Dudley's friends, having, to his disgust, seen his cousin naked a few times. The blubber had a habit of leaving his bedroom door open, and his childish brags were nothing but fairytales and wishes. Harry wondered whether witches and wizards talked about and bragged about things like that for a moment before shrugging as he didn't actually care.
Shrugging again, he would deal with that if it happened. He went to his bed where he laid out his clothes for the day. He pulled on his black boxers. The magical world actually did sell some normal things thankfully. He then pulled on his black school uniform trousers and some white socks. Then he pulled on his white school shirt, leaving the tie off and the top few buttons left undone before his black school shoes went on his feet.
His shoes weren't as nice as some he had seen in the muggle world, but they were magically comfortable. He straightened his glasses and looked at himself in the mirror. He looked pretty good considering he was wearing his school clothes. He needed to buy some bigger sizes for the new term anyway, so it didn't matter much.
Smiling he went back to his snowy owl Hedwig. She chirped happily as he stroked her soft feathers and gave her some owl treats before checking his watch. He had found it with the pile of broken toys that had belonged to Dudley at some point.
Dudley was too heavy handed with things and they ended up broken, but the watch hadn't been opened. It was expensive, chunky with orange hands and digital readout with compass. It was silver and black on thick brown leather strap around his right wrist. He would be taking a risk when he took it to the magical world, but maybe it would be okay.
He still didn't know why they couldn't just throw all of the broken things out. Dudley even dumped books and comics in his room because he could barely read, or and was too lazy anyway.
Harry didn't care much about him so shook away the thought. He sat next to his mother's trunk; pulling it open he pulled out a journal at random and opened it up. It was her sixth year book. It had writing on the inside cover like her fourth year book. He hopped up and landed to lie on his bed, holding the book to read on his bed for a while.
The Rules of Survival
Rule 4: DO NOT TRUST MAGICAL LORE!
In all cases I have found so far, magical lore is not only flawed, but does nothing. It contradicts itself and in many cases doesn't make any logical sense. I have been told that a mage could lose their powers by breaking the terms of certain contracts, which have lots of blood signing involved.
This is a myth. Magic seems to come from another realm altogether. I have been doing a lot of research and it seems that mage can gain access to an unknown plane of existence, what I would call a plane of creation.
This allows us to bend the very nature of physics in our world. Magic does NOT break the Laws of Physics, but twists and changes those laws temporarily by drawing another realm of existence into ours where those laws the muggles discovered are different or are not fixed states of THAT universe.
Harry had to blink a few hundred times because he felt like his brain would melt. He wasn't sure what that meant, but for some reason his mother was saying that mage didn't have magic, but the ability to pull it from another place and use it. He was not even thirteen yet and she was sixteen, maybe a bit older when adding a rule of hers that went with what that journal covered most, and had studied a lot more than him, including her own private projects.
Shaking his head he skimmed through the book for something about her, and not her slight nuttiness with trying to screw with the belief system of the magical people. He paused a few moments later as he found mention of James Potter.
James Potter. He was cute. He was being a prat again. He hung Severus by his ankles by that stupid spell Severus invented. I thought it was poetic punishment for creating it. I waited a moment before I tried to get James to let him down, but Severus was embarrassed. He wasn't wearing any trousers. I'll admit it was quite funny that he was wearing his robe like a dress.
He was a Slytherin, and I was a Gryffindor and muggle-born.
It was too much for him.
He called me a mudblood.
It had upset me.
It wasn't because of the name. I never thought much of it as an insult. I love mum and dad, and even Petunia, even though she has been a right bitch since I started Hogwarts. I love all my muggle family, so why would I care if some silly pureblood thinks that the so-called dirt in my blood was a bad thing, I don't and never will.
I was upset at the vindictiveness in the way he said it. I broke our friendship off, and I'm not sure whether I'll be able to forgive him for being so cruel. He had already been hanging around those jerk Death Eater fanboys! I fear he will eventually join Voldemort with them and he will be lost forever.
Harry stared at the book in horror. He felt sick. He agreed on the mudblood issue. He had never thought of it like that, but even though he never knew them he knew he loved his muggle grandparents just as much as they loved him from the new photos he had.
However...
"Mom was friends with Snape!" he said in disgust, shivering. He sighed as he put the book back into the trunk. He would get back to that when he could stomach reading about Snape. He would have to skim over them parts, because the only thing he would want to do about Snape is kick him in the teeth.
He could hear his relatives moving around the house and looked to his watch. He hadn't realised the time wasting away. He only had about an hour until his trip into London so he flipped himself up and grabbed his stuff, just in case. He pulled out his wand and used the one spell he knew would do him well, so he looked for it.
It was a Notice me Not charm. It was quite simple, and easy to put on his new trunk to hide it from any snoops, just in case. The trunk belongs to him no matter what anyone else might say they could get lost.
He then left the room as he needed some breakfast if he could get it. He was hungry and had a very long day ahead of him.
The kitchen had his uncle and aunt. His aunt was making some breakfast and his uncle was ready to leave the house, dressed in a black suit with white shirt and tie. It actually made him look smart rather than douchy.
"Good boy!" Vernon startled him. "I don't want to have to wait around, and you look respectable enough!" he finished gruffly as he went to help his aunt, or take over, but she shooed him away to sit at the table for a change in pace.
He was quite baffled as she placed a plate of scrambled egg and toast in front of him as well as Vernon. It wasn't as much as her husband got, but for once it wasn't scrapings' either. He was quite befuddled, but wasn't going to mention anything, so he devoured his breakfast in a timely but clean manner as he wouldn't want to dirty up his shirt and leave Vernon waiting while he changed it.
It was a few minutes later that Harry followed his uncle out to the driveway where two cars sat parked. The car on the left was a blue people carrier, which they actually owned. The one car on the right was a silver Mercedes, which was a company car.
Harry wasn't sure what his uncle did for the drill manufactures but it had to be something important to get that kind of car. It was practically brand new too. His uncle had only got it the summer before. Harry remembered how tedious it was to hear him talking about the new car, and trying to brag to the neighbours without them realising he was being a braggart.
"Front!" his uncle grunted roughly as the car unlocked with a press of the button on the remote control he held. Harry gave him a look of surprise as he had reached for one of the backdoor handles. "I'm not your flipping driver! You'll stay where I can keep my eyes on you!"
Harry shrugged, not really caring as he climbed in the front seat next to his uncle. He had never actually ridden in the front seat of any vehicle before, so it was a novel experience. He had never been in such a fancy and impressive car before either. It had all the modern conveniences like sat-nav, stereo system with phone docking terminal for the hands free, and then more.
He pulled on his seatbelt as he looked around the interior. The seats were leather and there were buttons on his door and on a panel on the seats by his legs. He had plenty of room but the seat was lying back a bit too much that he couldn't see very well out of the window.
His uncle started the car by placing the remote in a slot and pressing the start button. His people carrier was nothing like that and used a key. He noticed that his uncle adjusted the seat slightly with the buttons by his legs so looked down to find one with a picture that looked as if it controlled the back rest and soon it was sitting upright when his uncle pulled on his seatbelt and pulled out of the drive without another word.
They had just hopped on the duel carriageway after several minutes while Harry was admiring the smooth and comfortable ride. The sun was out and bright, but lowered the sun visor like his uncle to protect his eyes.
Harry's uncle broke the silence, nearly making him jump. "Okay, boy-!" he began but paused. "I-I mean Harry!" he corrected swallowing hard as if saying his name hurt. "First we're going to my tailors, so I want you on your best behaviour. I've been going to this place for a long time. We're going to get you a few respectable suits, and you can get rid of them... school uniform?" he managed to ask.
Harry nodded his head. "Umm... yeah," he quickly agreed before his uncle burst.
"You're getting too big for them!" he rushed out, sounding annoyed. "Then," he continued. "I think we'll take you to the opticians, get you a check up and some new and respectable glasses. I managed to get you squeezed in later to a Specsavers near my tailors so that should be easy.
"Then we'll head to the shopping centre to get you some more casual everyday clothes, and some... normal things for your room. I want you to sort through Dudley's broken rubbish that is in your room. Anything worth keeping, keep it. He obviously doesn't care. Then throw all of the broken rubbish away. If we're going to persuade my sister that you're normal and not a freak we need to go all the way.
"I've already called a local decorator who got some good praise from that busybody from next-door, and everybody knows her standards. I know the dimensions of the room and already picked out some carpet online last night for a good price. The decorator said he'll be able to fit some, so all we need is a new bed, wardrobe, draws, TV, and Laptop to make everything look good. So clear up that room when we get home, and make sure that no freakishness is left lying around for when he arrives Saturday morning, understand?"
"Y-yes Uncle Vernon!" he quickly replied with wide eyes. He couldn't quite believe his uncle would go through all of that trouble. Though, thinking of it, Harry hadn't seen Marge while he was going to Hogwarts, so his uncle was grasping at a chance to keep her oblivious and in the complete dark about what Harry was.
The quiet returned after that with his uncle turning on the radio, but kept the volume low enough that they could have a conversation if they needed too. It was just Radio 1 playing some of the latest hits with some news and other things occasionally.
Harry decided he was going to try his luck with some conversation. "Umm... Uncle Vernon?" he asked to get his attention. The man grunted to show he was listening. "I've... well, been thinking and stuff... umm. Well, I know you don't like me asking questions and stuff, but I think that's kind of a moot point now. Umm... what happened to my grandparents... on my mother's side?" he added the last bit quickly less he thought he meant fathers side, and Vernon looked at him shocked before looking back to the road.
"I mean," he continued. "I don't know what happened to my other grandparents either, but you wouldn't have a clue about that, but..."
"Your grandfather is dead," he answered coolly. "He died protecting your grandmother from freaks!" he said the last coldly, which caused Harry to grimace as he pictured the Death Eaters attacking his family again. "I don't know where your grandmother is or even if she is still alive. I doubt she is or she would have come for you years ago!
"That old basket case who dumped you on our doorstep said you were safe with your blood. He would have surely taken you to her rather than us if she were still alive! Petunia had a falling out with your grandparents just before your... freak mother died! So I don't have much of a clue either!"
Harry went quiet after that as he thought about it. There was a part of him that hoped that his grandparents were alive. That maybe they had gone into hiding and Dumbledore didn't know they were alive, and they didn't know he was alive. That it was all a huge misunderstanding.
He sighed as he was feeling a little depressed so tried his luck with more conversation. "We're not all bad you know," he spoke quietly. "All I want is a normal life. You know. Make friends. Have fun. Be happy. Then maybe someday... a family of my own. But since joining the... freaks as you call us I've had to face my parents disembodied killer twice in my first year. Then in second a seventy foot killer snake whose look could kill, and the sixteen year old memory of my parents' killer."
"Why should I care?" Vernon asked as he tried not to look curious.
Harry shrugged his shoulders while thinking. "I guess you shouldn't," he replied thoughtfully. "I just I thought I would tell you from the point of view of a normal 'freak'," he used air quotes. "That we're not all that different if you discount the monsters and freakishness. I think that... did you ever meet my parents?" he turned around and asked.
Vernon was further shocked as they pulled off the carriageway and pulled to a stop by some traffic lights as they were red. He looked around at Harry. He hadn't expected the boy to be quite so intelligent.
"Yeah, I met them a couple times," he agreed as the light switched to green and he pulled across the roundabout.
"If you and Aunt Petunia had died, how would you have wanted them to treat Dudley?" he asked quietly, and Vernon flinched. The car swerved a small bit, but Harry had turned to watch the houses pass by as they drove passed towards the city.
His uncle never did answer that question. He just kept on driving until he found the shopping centre as the parking was cheapest, and it was their last stop so it would be easier to leave the car there.
Vernon hailed a taxi to take them to his favourite tailors. After paying the driver they entered the old store. It was immaculate with many expensive looking suits hanging up. The place used lots of varnished wood, and quite honestly Harry would expect a store like it to fit well in Diagon Alley.
"Vernon!"
Harry startled as the smiling old man came out from behind the checkout desk. He was grey on top with friendly brown eyes. He was wearing a pristine blue pinstripe suit. He was instantly shaking Vernon's hand before turning to Harry with a beaming smile.
"And this must be your son?" he asked as he was gesturing towards Harry.
"N-no," Vernon stuttered out. "I never can get Dudley to come with me. He's more worried about being a little rascal with his friends," he said which cause Harry to restrain rolling his eyes at either of those words to describe his cousin. "This is my nephew Harry."
"It's a pleasure to meet you sir!" Harry greeted politely offering his right hand to shake.
The tailor graciously accepted it, shaking. "The pleasure is all mine, Harry. It's nice that someone so young can appreciate some fine clothes," he said eying what he was wearing with a nod. "Quite the material used in your clothes, but it seems they've gotten a bit too small."
"Oh, yes sir," he said sheepishly. "I guess I've grown a bit since. I go to a boarding school for gifted children," he said eying his uncle. He looked pleased enough that he was doing a good job of making a good first impression. "This is a part of my uniform. It's the only thing that's really fitting well enough to wear out if you can believe it."
"Well you've come to the right place," he said, smiling as he turned to Vernon. "What a lovely change in pace," he said. "My grandson can be quite the handful, and he's around Harry's age... thirteen? You must be proud of him..." he said as he didn't notice how uncomfortable Harry had made the conversation for Vernon. "Well, what can I do for you fine gentlemen?"
"Right," Vernon said as he tucked up a smile on to his face. Harry felt it looked odd, not having seen that side of him before. "I need a new suit for a business meeting I have on Monday next week, and a couple new ones for work wouldn't go a miss. Then Harry as you can see really needs a new wardrobe, maybe some new shirts and trousers for next term would be a smart idea?"
"Of course, of course," he readily agreed. "I still have your sizes for that tux you bought two weeks ago so that will be easy. How about we deal with Harry's uniform first and get that out of the way, and I'll make it a little baggier than normal for room to grow. It will have to be delivered though as we would have to order in ties and extras. What materials are you permitted for school?" he asked the boy.
"Oh, well it doesn't say," he replied, shrugging. "The uniform list just says that its black trousers with white shirt. I guess they don't mean combats or cargo trousers or anything," he said impishly.
"I would think not," he replied laughing and shaking his head as he pulled out a notepad and pen. "Okay, and black shoes," he said looking to what Harry was wearing while he nodded. His uncle was just sitting to the side by now pretending he wasn't listening in. "What colour ties do you wear?" he asked thoughtfully.
"Oh, black and scarlet thick but not too thick in strips at a... I think to my perspective right angle," he said trying to describe his school tie while still trying to think of a fake name for his school if he was asked.
The man nodded as he opened a draw full of different kinds of ties before pulling out one that looked like it could be for a Ravenclaw with blue and black strips. "Like this one but scarlet instead of the royal blue?" he asked as Harry nodded, surprised. "I know, we have a selection of tie types most commonly worn by schools, everyone is surprised. What kind of jumpers do you normally have?"
"Black or grey," he answered. "With two scarlet rings around the neck and waist," he answered.
"Good, good," he said thoughtfully. "Does your school wear blazers or anything else? Does it need extras?"
"W-well if I were to wear a blazer I suppose it would be black, but I've never seen anyone wearing one," he replied while the man nodded. "But..." he wasn't sure whether he should ask, but sore no problem with security and whatnot. "My school is quite old fashioned and rather than a blazer we're required to wear long black robes, and at least have a winter cloak as well as a jacket."
"I see, a very posh school," he said with a smile. "I take it they have... houses for different groups of students and yours is crimson coloured?" he asked, and Harry nodded. "Do they allow robe and cloak linings to be house colours?"
"Oh, I forgot about that, but yeah," he replied sheepishly to the old man's humour. Harry was surprised uncle Vernon let him go on after he mentioned robes.
"Yes, yes, some nice satin would be a good option. It's not the strongest material, but its certainly not weak, and it will look exceptional, and feel very good on the skin," he suggested, turning to Vernon, he nodded. "Some underwear too, socks... boxers?" he guessed what Harry preferred as he didn't look like the more geeky client who would wear pants, and he guessed right at Harry's nod.
"Okay then, now that is sorted, nine sets I would figure, Vernon?" he asked, and though the man thought for a second he nodded anyway. "So, Harry, lets measure you up and get you into something more fitting, and becoming of a young man," he said leading Harry to a stool and standing him on it.
The man was more professional than the woman who usually did his uniform in the magical world. He took more measurements too. Soon he was staring in awe at his reflection in the body length mirror as he was in a slender black suit with slight black pinstripes. He had on new satin underwear and black cotton socks. His shirt was black, and his tie was black. He had on a pair of black leather shoes that were polished like mirrors. The whole outfit minus the shoes and socks was a soft and comfortable satin.
Even Vernon looked at him in surprise once he left the dressing room. He looked like he could have been designed to wear a nice suit like it. He didn't know what to say, not even to himself.
"I must say," the tailor said moving around Harry and checking the fit left some room for growth. "It's not every day that someone comes in and looks so vastly different while out of casual clothes."
"Can you take the labels off so he can wear it out?" Vernon asked politely. "We have quite a few places to get too and no need for him to wear clothes too small for him."
"Of course," he agreed, already pulling the tags off with a pair of scissors.
It didn't take long for Vernon to pay. He had bought, not including the school uniform that would arrive within the week, around seven suits for Harry, including the one he was wearing. Harry hadn't been able to believe the price. However, even more his uncle didn't even blink at the number, and even more paid it without trying to haggle.
Then after they left the tailors, more awing was Vernon didn't even moan at him. He had expected his uncle to say something, or want him to pay him back or something, but he didn't say anything as he led him to Specsavers.
The opticians were straight forward. Harry and Vernon had just been on time too; having spent so long at the tailors. Harry had gone through a full eye test and exam, and a new lens prescription was required.
He got to pick out two pairs of glasses as it was buy one get one free, and Vernon refused to let him take a free NHS pair for kids, as he wanted to impress on Marge that Harry was a part of their 'happy' family, so didn't want him in cheap glasses, even though they were much better than what he wore then.
It was amazing that the opticians were able, especially since it was a slow day, to get his glasses ready within a two hour slot. He was happy with that as Vernon bought them some lunch at the pub, but that only took an hour. They had time so Vernon decided they would shop first and he would stop, let Harry out to get his glasses and spin around the block to pick him up later.
Shopping for clothes was the easiest part once they arrived back at the shopping centre. It was massive. Vernon then knew his size from the tailor, so he bought him what he would need, from combats and cargos to track bottoms and shorts, and many different tee-shirts from superhero and villain to plane.
It was the technology they were both a bit dense with. He ended up with a forty inch 3D HD flat panel smart TV with built in freeview. It was on special offer, and came with a freeview HD 1tb digital/Blu-Ray recorder and wall mount bracket for free. It was only because of the special offer that it was bought.
Then was the cell phone, and it was called a Smartphone. It had a large touch screen: a Windows 8, Nokia, and Harry weren't sure what it was all about. His uncle set up a contract with his provider for unlimited minutes, texts, and 4g. He didn't get what that was all about but figured he could send Hedwig to his friend Hermione's for her phone number as she lived in the muggle world, and then they could talk over the phone when he figured it out.
His uncle dithered over a PlayStation 4 or the X-Box One for him before deciding PlayStation was cheaper so the more viable option. It came with a game so Harry figured it would be interesting figuring out how to play the new system.
Next up came the laptop; Vernon assured him that normal boys have one. Dudley apparently had one, so Harry shrugged. It was a sleek black system, and had a large screen with what the sales lady said was a powerful processor and duel core 8 ram something or other. It had windows 8 like his phone. He was baffled by it but his uncle being nice for once got him a few dummies guides.
After shopping they returned to Specsavers to collect Harry's new glasses. He had to hop out of the car to get them. The phone shop had shown him how to make calls on his new phone, and it had been quarter charged when it came out of its box. It was red in a red flip case for its safety, and the only number he had in the phone was his uncles to call when he was done.
He felt a bit more free since he was away from his uncle for a while when he walked up to reception and gave them his receipt for his glasses. The nice lady had returned in just a few minutes offering him the two sets. He had chosen the same frame for both as he liked them.
The lady helped adjust them both just right. He got to choose the colour of his new glasses cases. He managed to get the last two red cases. His glasses were silver framed, very thin around the lenses, with thick metal hands with a cut-out along them with red rubber around a centre piece. The metal; was apparently titanium, so with a little magic for them they would be unbreakable.
He looked at himself and couldn't help but feel odd. He had never known that even with his previous glasses his eyesight was that bad. It was good being able to see as well as he could.
Calling his uncle was easier than he thought. At least he wasn't ignorant enough to shout down the phone. He could just imagine most of his pureblood friends and smiled a little. He placed his cases in one of his bags once he got back into Vernon's car.
The trip back was much less talkative, but it wasn't really uncomfortable as they had had a long tiring day out.
to be continued...
