Chapter 2: Magic...

Harry sat at the base of that wall for hours. It was getting dark now, and Harry was getting a little bit hungry. He had spent the afternoon and early evening thinking about all that had happened. During this time, he realized that every time something strange happened, he had felt that tingling sensation coursing through his body just before it happened. Dudley and his gang had not returned that evening, so Harry was left to his thoughts.

As the grey sky turned to dark, Harry headed back to his 'home' at number 4, Privet Drive. As he entered the house, it appeared that his aunt and uncle were in the living room watching television. They paid him no mind as he entered the house as quietly as he was able to. There was also no sign of his cousin, Dudley. Harry figured that they were either still out looking for him, or they had found someone else to beat up on. Either way, Harry slipped into the house, and slipped very quietly into his cupboard. He remained there for what seemed like hours. He heard his cousin come home and head directly upstairs to one of his bedrooms, and some undeterminable time later, he heard his aunt and uncle also head upstairs, presumably to go to bed. Harry waited in silence for awhile, and once the house was quiet, he snuck out to the kitchen to nick some food from the fridge. He had not eaten anything that entire day except for the two slices of bread at breakfast time, but this was nothing new for Harry. He very seldom had more than one meal per day, and it was usually a meager meal at that. Harry often snuck into the kitchen after everyone went to bed to grab some food from the fridge. He suspected that his aunt and uncle were aware of this practice, but never said anything directly to him about it. The only evidence that Harry knew that his aunt and uncle noticed anything were offhand comments about something being missing. Most of the time, his aunt and uncle assumed it was Dudley having a midnight snack, and it was left at that. Harry was always very careful about not getting caught, as he knew that if he were caught with his hand in the fridge, that he would surely be punished for it. It was a fact of life. Dudley could do what he wanted in the house without a second glance from his parents, but Harry could get away with nothing...

The following morning, Harry was woken up in the usual way, with his Aunt screeching to him to get out of bed and cook breakfast. Fortunately, Harry was able to get up and get breakfast ready completely before Dudley came down to eat. Finding no fault with Harry's cooking, Harry was able to complete the cooking, grab his two slices of bread, and get out of there without any trouble from his aunt and uncle. After showering and changing his clothes, Harry immediately headed outside and towards the school. He was determined to figure out how he got up on the roof the previous day. Since it was a Sunday, Harry knew that there would be nobody there to bother him.

Harry returned to the same spot that he was in the previous day, and concentrated hard trying to get himself up onto the roof. He had stood there for almost an hour trying to get it to happen again before giving up and sitting down again against the wall that he had spent the previous evening against. Harry then closed his eyes and thought back to each and every time something odd happened to him, trying to figure out how or why it had happened. After a short time, he realized that every time something had happened, he was either scared or angry. Only during those times did he feel that tingling sensation through his body, and only after that would things happen.

Excited with this new revelation, Harry stood up again, and concentrated... He knew that with nobody around, it was unlikely that he could honestly get scared, but there were plenty of things in his memories that could get him angry. He focused on his birthday last year, and he felt the anger flow through him. As his anger increased, he started to feel that tingling sensation, and at that moment, he wished that he were up on the roof again. With a loud "crack", he opened his eyes to find himself up on the roof. He threw his fist up in the air and yelled "Yeah!" in triumph. After a minute, he used the same technique to get himself back down on the ground. After about twenty times of going up and down from the roof, Harry had become pretty adept at getting that tingling sensation to flow through him almost immediately on command.

By this time, it was early afternoon, and Harry was lucky enough that nobody had come onto the grounds all morning. Now that Harry knew how to get that tingling sensation to flow through him, he started to wonder what else he could do with it. So far, in the past ten months, he had seen it bump him up on a roof, protect him from a fall, healed him from a beating, regrew his hair (he assumed), and vanished a pane of glass. Thinking back, though, he didn't remember the tingling sensation when he was talking to the snake, but that was something to think about at another time.

During the course of the afternoon, Harry had discovered that this tingling couldn't just get him onto a roof, but could get him anywhere he had previously been. He was aware of the crack that happened every time he moved himself, so he was careful about where he moved himself to. He had gone between the school grounds, to the school roof, to the local park, to the Dursley's back yard, and back to the school. It seemed that he could go anywhere, as long as he knew where he was going.

Also, in his experimentation, he found that he could make things come to him, and send them away from him using this tingling feeling. In fact, when he had this feeling flowing through him, he could move things around in any direction he wanted. He started experimenting with small rocks, then larger rocks. He found that the bigger (and heavier) the object he was trying to move, the harder it was to actually move it. He also found that he had a hard time making multiple things move at one time, even if they were all small things. Inevitably, one or more of the things he was trying to move would simply fall to the ground if his concentration was lost. His final surprise was that the farther away from the object he was trying to move was from him, the harder it was to get it to move at all.

By late afternoon, Harry was exhausted, hungry, and thirsty. It had been a very warm May afternoon, and Harry hadn't had anything to eat or drink since breakfast time when he had a glass of water and a couple slices of bread. He had retreated to the school's rooftop to relax and rest a little. As he sat up there, he thought about going home to get something to eat and drink, but quickly dismissed that idea, as he had no desire to see anyone that he lived with if he could help it. Though his mind did start to wander, and he seriously considered at least going home to get some water, when that tingling ran through his body again, and a glass of ice water appeared with a soft pop in front of him. Amazed, but thankful, Harry picked up the glass and took a long drink from the glass. It was just what he wanted. The water was nice and cold, there were plenty of ice cubes in it.

When Harry finished his water, he got to thinking about food, and wondered if he could make food this way as well. He brought up the tingling feeling and thought of a hamburger. A moment later, a hamburger popped into existence with a soft pop in front of him. He quickly picked it up and took a bite, immediately spitting it out. Sure, it looked like a hamburger, but it tasted like cardboard, and had no discernable texture. He decided to start smaller, and wished for a slice of bread, just like the one that he had that morning for breakfast. A moment later, a slice of bread popped into existence. Harry picked it up and tried it, and it tasted just like it should. Confused, Harry put his bread down and thought of toasted bread with butter. A moment later, a piece of toast with butter appeared. He took a bite, and again it tasted like cardboard. Harry thought for a minute, trying to figure out what was different between the bread and the toast with butter... It took him a few minutes but eventually he figured out that when he was thinking of the bread, he was thinking about everything that had to do with the bread. The texture, the taste, everything that he had remembered from his breakfast that morning, but when he thought of the toast, he just thought of a piece of toast, not taking into account the taste and texture of it. Concentrating harder than he had before, he brought the tingling sensation back and thought about the toast with butter, along with all the tastes an textures he could think of, and a moment later, another piece of toast appeared in front of him. He hesitantly picked it up and took a bite. It tasted perfect. The texture was perfect. Harry sat back and enjoyed his toast and wished for a glass of milk, again thinking about the taste and texture. When it appeared, he took a sip, and found it perfect.

By this time, Harry was even more tired, but was not hungry or thirsty anymore. Having been nearly starved for all of his recallable life, he could not eat much more than a couple slices of toast and a glass of some kind of liquid, especially milk, which is much heavier than the water that he was used to. Content, Harry (still being on the roof of the School) decided to take a nap. As he slept, a small smile crept upon his face, and he dreamt of the many things that would be changing in his life now that he could use his new gift.

When Harry awoke, it was after dark, so he used his gift (that was what he was calling it when he brought forth the tingling sensation and made things happen) to go directly back to Privet Drive. When he walked up to his house, all of the lights were out. Knowing he was locked out for the night, he gave the front door a try anyway, and found that he was correct. He started to walk away from the house to go find somewhere he could sleep before he had to go to school the next morning, when it hit him. He could use his gift to get into the house. Thinking of his cupboard under the stairs, he used his gift, and with a "crack", he was standing in front of his bed in his cupboard. A moment later, he was laying on his bed, and ready to go back to sleep.

Over the course of the next week, Harry experimented with his gift at school. He found that he could do just about anything he could imagine using his gift. He had used it to trip a couple of Dudley's gang members, much to his amusement. He had also used it to create a sign saying "Kick Me" on the back of the shirt of another of Dudley's gang. During recess on Thursday, Dudley and his gang had decided that Harry was going to get his "missed" beating from Dudley and his gang, and they cornered him in the playground at the school. Harry, far from being scared now, waited for the first punch. He immediately used his gift and put his hand up to block the punch, earning a scream from Piers Polkiss, the meanest of Dudley's friends. That day he was sent home after school with a note for his aunt and uncle, letting them know that Harry had been in a fight, and had broken Piers' hand.

Up until this time, the only fights Harry had been in were with Dudley and his gang, and until now, the only person that was ever hurt was Harry himself, but since he had now hurt another child, and Harry was suspended for one day from school, his Uncle Vernon was fuming mad when he read the note. Harry, fully expecting a beating (since he wouldn't need to be seen by anyone at school for a full four days) used his gift to simulate the injuries that he would have normally received from his beatings, while he himself felt no pain and took no actual injuries. It was an excellent test of his acting skills, and he pulled it off without a hitch. That night, Harry was locked in the cupboard and was told that he was going to be in there until Monday morning, and that he would be let out once per day, in the morning, to do the cooking, have his breakfast (still bread), bathe, and would immediately go back in for the rest of the day.

So, for the next three days, Harry would be awakened by his aunt to do the morning cooking, he would eat his bread and drink his water, bathe, and go back into the cupboard. He used his gift to still show some injuries, but also show that they were getting better. That first day, Harry intentionally walked with a slight limp.

As he re-entered the cupboard each day, he'd hear the click of the padlock making sure he didn't come out. Once Harry heard that everyone was gone for the day, he'd use his gift to get out of the cupboard. The first day, while Dudley was at school, Harry spent his day watching the television. This was the first time that Harry had been able to actually watch it, as it was not something he was allowed to do. But, since his aunt and uncle believed him to be locked in the cupboard, they had no problems leaving him there for the day while they went about their normal day.

On Saturday, during breakfast, Harry was told that they (uncle, aunt, and Dudley) would be going out for the day, and that Harry would be staying in his cupboard. After they left, with Harry securely locked in the cupboard (or so they thought), Harry used his gift to get out, and decided that he would play with Dudley's toys. As Harry got upstairs, he entered Dudley's second bedroom and found a huge pile of broken toys. There were all kinds of action figures, a couple old computers, an old TV, a couple VCRs, a DVD player, a stereo, a couple Video game systems, among many other things. All of them were broken.

This did not surprise Harry in the slightest. Harry had heard Dudley's temper tantrums and heard him break things for stupid reasons. Dudley had broken a couple of different video game systems when he lost his temper after he was beaten by the game. He'd get all mad, and pick up the video game system and throw it across the room. Of course, within a week or two, Dudley always got a new one, and the old broken one was left in his second bedroom.

Harry went into Dudley's first bedroom and tried playing with the latest and greatest video game system that Dudley had yet to break. It took him quite a while to get the hand/eye coordination down pat, but once he did, he found that he was pretty good at a couple of the different games. Harry had lost track of time, and before he knew it, he heard the Dursley's car pulling into the driveway. Very quickly, he turned off the video game system and the TV, and used his gift to put him back inside the cupboard. Less than a minute later, Dudley was banging on his cupboard door, teasing him for being locked in there all day, simply to try to annoy him. Harry thought to himself, 'Boy, if he only knew...'

Sunday was much like Saturday. Again, Harry was informed that the Dursleys would be gone for the day, and just like the previous day, he was locked in the cupboard. Once they left, Harry used his gift to get out of the cupboard, again free to roam the house. Harry had thought about going outside, but decided against it, just in case the neighbors noticed and mentioned it to the Dursleys... Harry would have a hard time explaining why he was seen outside when he was supposed to be locked in a cupboard. Harry was sure that he didn't want the Dursleys to know about his gift yet.

However, on this day, Harry decided to go up into the attic, just to see what was up there. It was one of the only two rooms in the house that he had never been in since he'd been there (the other being his aunt and uncle's bedroom). When he got up there, he found all kinds of boxes and things, most of which looked like they hadn't been touched in years. There were a few boxes that looked recent, but looking inside them, Harry found that they were filled with more of Dudley's old broken toys. However, at the far end of the attic, Harry found the most beautiful wooden trunk he had ever seen. It was covered in dust, but once the dust was cleared off of it, Harry saw the name "Lily Evans" written on the front of it. However, the 'Evans' part of it was crossed off and just below it, the word "Potter" was carved into the wood. Harry's breath caught in his throat.

The Dursleys had never told him anything about his real family, nor had they ever answered any questions about them, so Harry had no idea who Lily Evans/Potter was, but he quickly deduced that it must be someone related (considering them having the same last name). Harry also knew that his mother was his aunt Petunia's sister, and that her maiden name was Evans, since his grandparents on his aunt's side had the last name of Evans. Based on that information alone, it was a pretty safe bet that Lily Evans/Potter was his mother, which means that this wooden box belonged to her. Harry was almost shaking with excitement as he sat down and opened the trunk.