A/N: You guys are amazing. Your reviews are bearing fruit! Here's an early chapter! I'm thrilled at all the response I received.
A/N 1: I haven't considered pairing at this time, but suggestions are welcome. I do love the idea of Dursley's being tortured by fate. I have no idea what Harry's supposed to do till he goes to Hogwarts. Any suggestions are welcome! Seriously!
Disclaimer: Don't own Harry Potter.
Italics for parseltongue.
Trouble and Vernon Dursley never went together. Vernon was most careful in his dealings that were classified to be less than legal. Everyone was doing one thing or another which classified to be barely legal and Vernon was not above it. In fact, he had sunk his teeth a bit deeper in those shady dealings at Grunnings Co. No, no way in the world could they know about it, could they? No, not even once Vernon Dursley was in trouble with the law.
It also meant that he had no experience whatsoever if he ever got into trouble. He was a deer (an abnormally fat one!) to be caught in the headlights of the law.
A drop of sweat trickled down his forehead as he waited patiently in the interrogation room. His eyes eying the door weighing in his chances meanwhile, the officers were busy drinking coffee. There was no solid case against him and they would probably give him a warning and a fine. There were just some routine questions that needed to be asked and then he would be free to go. It's not as if he had done anything wrong had he? The sipped their coffee in contentment and sighed as they really had no heavy workload today. With their mood lighter, they walked into the room.
"Good evening Mr. Dursley. You know the reason why you're here?"
"I'm not speaking anything until I have my lawyer with me!" Vernon roared.
'That'll teach 'em.' Vernon thought. Vernon knew that lawyers would take him out of trouble, he had seen on the telly countless of times. He didn't trust these police officers, not one bit. The two police officers exchanged curious looks.
"Mr. Dursley, this is just routine questioning. There is no need for the lawyer." Officer said in a polite voice. In the back of the mind he was already beginning to wonder why one would require a lawyer for such a petty matter. The same thought occurred to his adjacent colleague and the officers standing outside.
"Get me everything on the Vernon Dursley; his financial records, where he lives, what he does, everything!" A nondescript senior officer commanded.
"You think you can just harass a good upstanding citizen and get away with it! I want my lawyer! I know my rights!" Vernon commanded and smiled in satisfaction as he rattled the two officers out.
"As you wish, Mr. Dursley, you may call your lawyer." With that two police officers walked out. They really couldn't do anything until the lawyers arrived. Vernon smirked as they walked out, what he didn't know was they were already preparing a case on him.
"Does he have a gun permit?" An officer asked as they started with a basics.
"Yes, he does." Came the reply. He continued further, "But not the one which allows him to carry a shotgun."
"Ignorance perhaps?"
"On his part, maybe. But on the dealer's part, I don't think so. Call the dealer and say he's needed for questioning. Threaten him that his permit might be at stake, if he refuses to cooperate." It was an interesting thing the dealer had said when he was questioned about the 'Shotgun' case. He was quite adamant that he did see that the permit granted him the right to acquire a shot-gun. Furthermore, he was quite sure that this wasn't the one Vernon Dursley provided. He had clearly checked the permit before he handed him the shotgun.
"Any chance that they both might be genuine?" Officer asked with a sly smile.
"Check the records and call in someone from Authentications." The officer replied, clearly thinking otherwise. The checks on the records were enough to know that the permit was fake.
With that the ball started rolling against Vernon Dursley, officers were sure that it wouldn't stop till all the bowling pins hadn't knocked down. Vernon Dursley felt the chill up his spine that he nothing to do with the Air Conditioning in the room.
Marge Dursley opened the door and felt the smell she had so often felt around her house. She was already in a bad mood after she got delayed by traffic and she really wanted to go to the hospital to visit Vernon later on. She scrounged up her nose in disgust at the smell. What could you expect when numerous dogs pooped around the house one or two times a day? And thus to say that she was nauseated was saying something.
She could easily trace the smell back to the cupboard. She knew that the freak stayed here and had half a mind to leave it as it were. But she really wanted the smell to go and it would be a great thing if the freak will have to clean his filth.
She inched closer, holding her breath; the food was jumping to her throat and she really didn't want to puke. She had eaten the best bacon and wine before arriving after all. With that she opens the door and the smell intensified an instant. It hit Marge so strongly that she could just taste the food mixed with bile. Combined with the sight of the vomit and Dudley state of clothes, she promptly unloaded her food contents on him. A horrified Dudley promptly began crying. He had never been so humiliated in his life.
Petunia Dursley was in a hurry to get home. She had spent the night in the hospital shrieking and shouting, which didn't help her case. The doctor had the nerve to hint that he wanted to perform some medical tests! She had vehemently stated that it was all the fault of the boy but Doctor looked at her like she was a mentally disturbed patient!
Her Dear Dudders was at home all alone with the boy and she could do nothing about it. The freak had the nerve to threaten her that he would silence her son forever! That didn't mean she wasn't worried for the boy. He was locked in the cupboard for god's sake. What mother could possibly see her boy locked up in that cupboard? It had spiders in it, SPIDERS! More problems came her way when Vernon decided to run at once he felt good. She was left with filling up various forms and the Doctors were insistent on keeping her for observation.
Then, she had snapped. And then she started screaming and attacking Doctors. And then she was grabbed and tied up. And then she started cursing the freak for all she was worth. And then she was put to sleep, forcibly.
What she didn't realize that Doctors were adding a 'Nervous Breakdown' to the list of problems and grew concern about the children under her care. They promptly alerted the authorities to take a look at their house for the state of children. It was about to get a whole lot of complicated!
The panic had been subsided, his breath had calmed down. But, every time he would hear a car passing by, a dog bark, and a kid shout, his senses would instantly be on high alert. His heart would beat frantically and his motor muscles would fire up, ready for action. It didn't help that he was hearing strange hissing sounds from near surroundings. But otherwise he was perfectly fine. He was disturbed on the fact that he was twitching for tasting fresh meat. He had no need for his glasses and he promptly discarded them. His fingers had been elongated slightly and if seen properly it looked like the skin was stretched over his bones.
Only concern was the egg and he cared for it like his life depended on it. He could literally feel the magical pulse growing bigger and brighter each passing moment. He laughed out when he checked his pockets. He had 200 pounds with him, he considered it a jackpot and he would spend it very wisely. He was thinking of boarding a train, going far away from London to a village, perhaps. His uncle was ruthless and he was not ready to discard the possibility of him being hunt down. Paranoia gripped him from time to time, but he let go. Inside he knew that there must be some changes in his body or magic but this was not the time to expound on it. It was time to hide, to stay safe and protect the egg.
Thus he walked on for hours, on the path not quite noticing the electrical circuitry burning up nearby street lights and other electronic gadgets. Occasionally he would feel magic in the surroundings and he would stare at the site for quite some time till a house or some birds in surrounding reveal themselves. His sight would go funny and he would see different colors that were well, just weird.
He knew not for how long he walk cradling the egg but sun was setting down and he was getting hungry. He promptly made his way to the food court and treated himself to a hamburger and some fries.
Marge Dursley almost wet herself when she saw who had rang their doorbell but all her bodily fluids turned to ice as the reason they were on her doorstep penetrated her brain.
"To whom am I speaking to, Mrs.?" Marge recognized authority in her tone and she replied crisply, "Marge Dursley, sister of Vernon Dursley."
"We're here today to perform a welfare assessment on the charges of Petunia Dursley; her son Dudley Dursley and her nephew Harry Potter."
"I'm quite busy at the moment! Come back later." Snapped Marge Dursley. She had to get rid of the filth left behind by Dudley and tempers were already running high. The freak was nowhere to be seen.
"Petunia Dursley is currently under psychiatric ward; she was heard cursing her nephew Harry Potter with explicit threats to kill him. We can come back later, if you want with police force, of course." The nondescript officer said with a smirk.
Marge was panicking. "Sorry officer but he's not home at the moment."
"Nevertheless, we would like to know where his room is and how in general he is treated. We are also supposed to check on her son Dudley Dursley. Is he here?" The nondescript officer was finding it hard to keep temper out of his voice.
"Yes." Came the short response.
"We would like to check on him and ask a couple of questions." Marge winced on hearing the sharpness of the voice.
'Why, oh why did I have to come here in the first place!?' She screamed mentally.
"Oh… All right! Come in."
Just as Marge, the first thing they noted was the smell. It never did fade and Marge hadn't cleaned it properly. Apparently puking again on the barely cleaned floor board didn't clean it up.
"Dudley!" Marge said in a sickly sweet voice. "Someone's here to see you." Dudley came rushing down and whined at the same time.
"The freak slept in my room!" he exclaimed to his aunt and turned to face the visitors.
"Who's the freak, Dudley?" a woman officer asked politely.
"His name's Harry. He's no one you'd like to meet." Dudley said smartly while Marge made shushing gestures besides him.
"Does he do that often, Dudley? Sleep in your bed, I mean." Women officer asked politely still.
"No, he doesn't dare to. Wait till dad gets back home, though. He'll teach the freak a lesson!" Dudley said in a pompous tone. Marge had gripped his shoulders but it sent a wrong message to Dudley.
"Won't he Aunt. Maybe…" His eyes shone like he had added two and two together, without any help!
"Maybe you can set your dog off on to him again Aunt Marge! He can even bite his leg! The freak won't even be able to walk straight again."
"I see Dudley. Where does Harry usually sleep?" The women's tone was now cold.
"The cupboard over there, of course!" Dudley said happily. All was going to be right again.
Something was bothering her though. "Dudley, has your daddy told you not to talk about this?"
The boy looked at her, his little piggy eyes accusing her of being stupid. "Well of course he has, I'm never to talk about it outside the house."
All the four people marched swiftly over to the place and swung open the cupboard. It was empty, with a nauseating smell all around it. All four exchanged looks, they clearly wanted to ask one question next.
"Where is he, Marge Dursley? Where is Harry Potter?" Marge let out a nervous giggle.
"I wasn't there when he arrived!" All four exchanged looks again, they had one thing on their mind.
"Get forensics down her, now!"
Harry kept a low profile throughout the time he was at the food court. The cashier didn't give him funny looks and Harry breathed in relief. At least his face was human enough! He promptly walked away from the court without a backward glance.
'At least one good thing came out of this.' Harry smiled bitterly. His hunger had been sated with only a burger and some fries. 'Aunt Petunia and his uncle raised me right.' Harry thought cruelly. He froze in his mid-rant. He was almost 20 minutes away from the king's cross station and he felt something tickling his entire spine. He did what he had done before; he stared, intently. Soon the shapes blurred around him and vivid colors replaced his vision. At a distance, he could see the most complex of color webs webbed he had ever seen.
He shook his head; he was intrigued. He made his way back to the crossing and read the street signs. He strolled down to the street he wanted to visit, his eyes widened as he read street sign 'Grimmauld Street' pointing straight ahead.
A/N: Reading back, I've made the character of Dudley a bit more stupid than I intended to. Ah well, never did like the fellow. What sort of person are you if you require someone to save your life to change the opinion of him. Also, I seriously don't know where to put Harry for an year. For a brief moment I did consider putting him in Chamber of Secrets, though. Do tell what you think about it. Thanks for reading. Leave a review. It takes only a moment and helps me to write better! Till next time!