Chapter Length: 1, 017 words

First Published: Data lost during the 05–04–2016

Edited: 05–04–2016: added location and timestamp information; grammar corrections | 05–24–2016: added the missing line breaks; further grammatical corrections; minor details added


Worries

17 October 1987 – 19:07 – Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey, England

Harry was a little hesitant to have Mr. Skull walk him all the way back to the Dursley's. The small adult had already helped him out so much by patching him up. He really didn't need to come with him all the way. But Mr. Skull was very stubborn and so the smaller adult ended up trailing after him even if Harry repeatedly told him not to.

"It's already getting dark, kid. I'd feel bad leaving you to walk alone. Besides, you're still injured. What if you trip or something? Who'll stop you from getting more injured than you already are?" On top of his head, Mr. Skull's Oodako also nodded rather energetically. Harry still found it amazing how smart the creature was.

Why was Mr. Skull being so nice? No one was this nice to him for this long before. The boy was worried that he would mess up like he always did and would anger the nice purple eyed man. Everyone always got mad at him over time even if they were nice at the beginning. It would only be a matter of time before Mr. Skull would get angry at him too. That always happened. He was a freak like that.

He didn't want that to happen, though. He wanted Mr. Skull to continue being nice to him. He wanted...he didn't know exactly what he wanted but he felt that if he stayed with the strange adult, he would eventually get what he always wanted. Whatever that was.

But he couldn't stay with Mr. Skull. The man obviously didn't need him. No one wanted him. He was a burden as his aunt and uncle always reminded him.

The young boy bit his lip as he slowly walked through the neighborhood with dread. He was really nervous. He knew that his earlier running away would mean more punishment. With him being a burden to Mr. Skull, he knew that his punishment would be even worse than usual. He would be lucky if it was just the belt.

"You okay, kid?" Mr. Skull looked at him with those strange eyes of his. His even stranger...pet tilted its head along with its owner. Harry couldn't place the emotions that he saw in those eyes. Those emotions were never directed at him before.

"Yeah. I'm fine, sir." He made a small bow at Mr. Skull before quickening his pace. It was getting really dark and walking slowly wasn't gonna make the punishment any lighter.

To be honest, he wasn't fine at all but he couldn't just say that. He was already being a burden as it is. Sharing his worries would just be too much.


Target

17 October 1987 – 19:10 – Number 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey, England

Skull had initially come back to England to do a hit on a businessman that annoyed someone to the point of wanting to kill them. Earlier that day, he had observed his target in his office going about his daily work. It was boring and unpleasant, but was a necessary evil if he wanted to do a clean hit. Information was important in any mission, after all, to prevent any mishaps.

He had stopped his stakeout when work ended that day. He had thought of following his target to his home but decided on the contrary when he felt how tired he was. There was always tomorrow. His client assigned him two weeks to get the job done––more time than he usually needed for a civilian target.

When he had decided to meet Harry's family after patching the boy up, he didn't expect anything else except for a bunch of annoying losers that he wanted to punish for treating the boy so badly.

He didn't expect his target to open the door and turn a rather alarming shade of purple when he saw Harry.

Vernon Dursley sure complicated things.


Boy Who Lived

17 October 1987 – 19:13 – Number 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey, England

As if things weren't already complicated enough. Finding out that Harry was actually Harry Potter, Boy-Who-Lived, made Skull have a migraine. He just wanted to help the kid, damn it! He didn't need all these complications.

He was invited inside when Vernon finally noticed him. And how could he not when he blocked a hit aimed for Harry? After stating, in not so nice words, that he wanted to speak privately to whoever was in charge of the house, he was quickly pulled inside along with a rather surprised Harry.

Many things happened in succession after that instant.

One, Skull felt the strong magic washing over him once he had crossed the door's threshold. It had almost knocked him out with its potency.

Two, Vernon tried to attack him while he was frozen from the sudden magic overload. Oodako came to his rescue when she launched herself at the overweight man. His familiar quickly fastened her tentacles around his face, cutting off his air supply.

Three, a woman came in from the hallway holding a spatula. Her horse-like face had initially frozen in shock at the chaos before her. Once she realized the danger Vernon was in, she started to ineffectively assault Oodako with her spatula.

And four, a rather obese kid had come from the same hallway following after the rather ugly woman. He started crying and wailing while throwing random objects at Oodako with obscenely poor accuracy, adding more to the chaos that was already happening.

Off to the side near the door, Harry had watched the unfolding events with wide eyes. He was sprawled on the floor after Vernon tossed him to the side when his sweet partner went to his rescue. It was at that moment that Skull saw the iconic lightning bolt scar on the child's forehead. The fall must have for tousled his hair to the side, showing the scar for all to see.

Skull's head started hurting at the mess that this was turning out to be. Magic always always complicated things. He needed reinforcements and fast.


AN:

Can anyone guess how Skull knows about magic? Did anyone figure out before hand that Vernon was Skull's target? Isn't little Harry's worrying just so adorable? Like, I just want to hug him and pat his hair and tell him things will get better soon. Poor baby. It's no wonder he's such a temperamental teenager in canon.