Warning: some scene's of child abuse in this chapter.

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

Chapter 21: Power struggle

"Mr. Potter, you have everything packed?"

"Yes Professor. I'm all ready to go."

Harry stood in the headmistresses office the morning of the 5th waiting patiently to be given the go ahead to leave. The faster this was over, the better. Initially Ron and Hermione had wanted him to send a letter everyday but in the end he had decided not to bring Hedwig. He wasn't going to be on his uncle's good side with Hedwig squawking to be let out, that was for sure. How was he supposed to get her through the Floo even if he had wanted to? He had reminded them again and again that he could use his magic if his relative's tried anything, which he doubted they would.

"Well then I can't think of a reason to have you stand here any longer." Said McGonagall "Have a good vacation."

"Thanks professor."

Harry took a handful of Floo powder and threw it into the fire. "Number 16 Wisteria walk."

He spun in a vortex of green and just when he thought that his stomach could not be controlled any longer he landed in Ms. Figg's hearth. He brushed off his jumper and wondered where his neighbor could have gotten to. A cat was already moving it's way in and out of his legs.

"Hi Tibbles." he muttered without even looking down, Tibbles had always taken a shine to him.

"Harry you're here! I thought I heard a thump." Ms. Figg came in from the kitchen and smiled at him. "But you're a bit early, Minerva said only to expect you around 10:30 and it's just past ten?"

Great, thought Harry, I'm sure the Dursley's will be just overjoyed to see me early.

"Yes well…" He shrugged. "How are you?"

"Same as always." She answered "I can see that Tibbles has missed you, the poor thing almost went crazy when you disappeared off to Hogwarts, no matter how many times I told him your were off at school he just wouldn't listen."

"Right. Well I'll just be going then, the sooner I get to number four the sooner the warding starts."

She nodded and ushered him through her house to the front door. "Don't be a stranger. I'll be walking by every little bit to make sure you're ok. Lord knows that Dung has been fired."

Harry nodded as he remembered the Dementor attack two years before. The door shut behind him as he thought about how quickly things changed. It was amazing really that just two years ago half the wizarding world had thought he was crazy, Voldemort was after his head and the thought of helping the Dursley's in any way would have made him laugh. There was no doubt about it, his life had done a 180 degree turn.

He started to walk up the street slowly, he was certainly in no rush to reach his relative's house. It was a beautiful day outside and he found himself enjoying the walk. Harry waved at a few neighbors only to be given a wary look back. Even that didn't deter is unexpected good mood.

It was only a short five minute stroll and Harry found himself struggling with his trunk up the front steps to number four far too soon. He wished he could cast a lightening charm, but it was far too risky out in the open like that. Rather then just walking in he dung the doorbell. It was strange he had lived there all his life yet the Dursely's home had always remained that, the Dursely's home. Not his home.

The door opened to the purple face of his uncle. When Uncle Vernon recognized who it was his moustache twitched in a way that Harry recognized as discontent. For a horrible second Harry thought that his uncle had no idea why he was there. Maybe they had expected him to write his relatives? He was greatly relieved when Uncle Vernon grunted for him to "get off the ruddy porch before the neighbors noticed."

He sighed. 'Welcome home Harry we've missed you' he told himself inwardly. However, outwardly he dutifully said, "Yes uncle Vernon" and squeezed his way past his uncle's bulk.

The house was strangely silent, as the door was slammed shut behind him and his uncle lumbered off to something or other without a word to his nephew. Frowning Harry levitated his trunk to his bedroom. He relished the use of magic in the Dursley home all the way there. It felt wrong, but at the same time so very right.

His room had not changed at all throughout the years. He shrugged and flopped down on his bed already feeling the walls closing in on him.

A draft came in from the window where the plaster had not been repaired properly after the events of the bars being pulled off his window before second year. It was a good thing that he never spent winter there or he would freeze, as it was in the summer the breeze was refreshing.

He sat up after a couple of minutes and felt a thrill run though him when he realized that the door to his room was open. This was not like his other stays at the Dursley's. This time he could use magic and his relatives knew it. The walls backed up a bit and he stood. Harry decided to poke around a bit, after all now he had free reign of the house.

He made his way downstairs and realized why it was so quiet. There was no TV, video game or computer game on. This, Harry deduced, meant that Dudley was not home.

He wandered into the kitchen. His Aunt was in there bustling around doing dishes and whipping down the counter tops.

"Where's Dudley?" asked Harry while opening the fridge and looking at it's contents. He could feel her lips pursing in irritation. The Dursley rule was no questions, except now things were different. Harry was no longer afraid of them, now they were afraid of him. Everything was upside down and from Harry's perspective that was brilliant.

"At school." Aunt Petunia answered crisply "At respectable schools students do not miss classes before the time has come."

He glared at the milk in front of him. Harry was doing them a favor! Maybe he should have let the death eaters have them. "Oh Hogwarts is very respectable." Said Harry coldly " I believe it rated the number one magical school in Britain."

He turned around with a coke in his hand to see his Aunt Glaring murder at him.

"Don't speak about your freakishness in this house!"

"What are you going to do about it?"

She glared at him a moment longer before averting her eyes.

How he loved being legal!

"So why's uncle Vernon here if vacation hasn't officially started or is he just not respectable?"

His Aunt ignored the jibe. "Vernon was worried about how you would comport yourself now that you can be freakish without getting expelled. He didn't want me to be completely alone with you."

Harry rolled his eyes. Honestly. "Well then I'll just get out of your way."

He walked outside and made his way to the park that had become like a second home to him.

This was how it went for the next few days. The Dursley's ignored Harry and he ignored them. For once he didn't get a list of chores for him to do, except his Aunt didn't make any food for him. So Harry would make all his on meals, which wasn't really that big of a deal. Once Dudley had gotten home from school the power struggle had intensified a bit, but in the end they were all aware the Harry was the one in charge now.

"That's it boy I've had it with this attitude!" It was the day before Harry left and it seemed that his uncle had decided that if Harry hadn't magiced them yet then he wasn't going to. Uncle Vernon was hunched over his lunchtime sandwich and he glared at Harry who was making his own lunch. "You come in and out of our home every time it suits you and eat our food and don't so much as lift a finger. I'll not have you threatening us anymore with your freakishness! The lawn needs mowing this afternoon; you will do it if you know what's good for you."

Harry grunted in response. He wasn't feeling too well today. For some reason he didn't feel hungry, but the thought of voluntarily not eating seemed absurd. His stomach had a dull pain radiating from it. Definitely in no shape to mow the law, not that he would have if he was. Finally he grabbed an apple off a bowl on the counter and decided to just have that.

"Do you hear me boy? I'll not have this disrespect!"

"Yes Uncle Vernon." Harry replied dutifully around a mouthful of apple. He leaned forward on the counter and pulled back after a sharp pain hit him in the abdomen.

"You had better boy." His uncle said as a last parting remark before gathering his briefcase and heading off to work.

Harry however did not such thing. As the day wore on he began to feel feverish and his stomach became so nauseated that he spent an hour simply lying n bed. Why was he sick now? He asked himself at he started at the peeling paint above his bed. If he had been at Hogwarts he could have probably taken some sort of potion and been fine within the hour. His aunt was completely ignoring him as usual, although he did hear her snip rather loudly about the condition of her lawn. The breeze from the window no longer felt comfortable, instead it gave him chills that had him puling up his blankets to his chin.

He glanced at the clock and realized that it was almost time for his uncle to arrive home. Deciding that he needed all his wits about him to deal with Vernon Dursley, Harry gave himself a pep talk to get out of bed and waddled towards the bathroom.

He locked the door to the loo behind him and gave himself some steadying breaths to calm his stomach before he moved. He was careful not to let his abdoman touch anything, as that was where the pain seemed to be radiating from.

His hands shook slightly as Harry looked through the various muggle medicines. In the end he took some gravol for the nausea and Tylenol to dull the pain in his stomach. He just needed to make it through the night, once he was back in the magical world a potion or spell would cure him in two seconds.

He debated going downstairs to greet his uncles raving head on but ultimately decided against it. The smells of food coming from the floor below him almost made him loose the apple he had hade for lunch and his legs wobbled dangerously on his way to his room. What ever he had, he had it bad that was for sure.

Harry heard his uncle before he saw him.

"Where is that ungrateful retch! After everything we've done for him he can't find the time to mow the ruddy lawn!"

His aunt's reply was muffled by the laughter of the T.V.

"I don't care that he's not well! He's probably just making it up to get out of doing some work, the lay about! Well, we'll see about this."

The stomping that followed shook the foundation of the house. The door to Dudley's second bedroom burst open.

Harry groaned. That medicine had done nothing!

"Get off that bed, you no good piece of filth." Shouted uncle Vernon. "You will stand and look at me when I talk to you. I will have respect!"

Harry began to move slowly into an upward position. His stomach did not like the movement. Apparently neither did his uncle, but for a completely different reason, and Harry found himself being violently pulled to his feet.

His stomach gave a lurch but Harry swallowed painfully. "Please stop." He muttered. "I'm not feeling too good."

"Neither am I." Screamed his uncle, shaking his nephew despite his request not to. Harry fought to not puke on him. "You know why? Because despite taking you in and spending our hard earned money on ourselves we had to look after you! After all we've done you are still an ungrateful freak!"

"Please stop uncle Vernon." Harry muttered without conviction. "My stomach really doesn't feel well."

"Like hell it does." Spat the large man. "I don't believe a word that comes out of your bloody mouth! Your just like your no good parents and can't stand some hard work."

Harry could almost feel the magic snap in his body. A wind swept through the room and pushed his papers off his desk and made his hair ruffle. Harry didn't feel the chill from this breeze, he just felt white hot anger.

Uncle Vernon stilled. The man knew that the cold breeze was his nephew's doing. "Stop that freakishness this instant."

But it didn't stop instead the wind just picked up and the fingers holding Harry's shirt collar started to sprout icicles. Him uncles breathing became rapid when he realized that he had no control over the situation. Panic gripped him and the man lashed out at the sick teen that he was dangling. His fist connected with Harry's head, like it had many times in the past, only this time it didn't hit his nephew into submission.

The wind in the room sped up and Vernon Dursley found himself thrown violently across the room. He landed with a painful thump against an empty piece of wall near the door. He began to move toward the door as various items in the room began to explode and the plastic pieces were blown about to hit him in the face. Vernon Durelsy sighed with relief as he made it out of Harry's room. He slammed the door behind him and locked the six locks on his nephew's door. After eyeing the room for a moment he wandered off to get a piece of wood that he could nail across, just in case.

Harry lay on the floor of his room in the center of what had become a small tornado curled in the fetal position. He shivered as fever over took him and his stomach objected and upended itself on the floor in front of him. He didn't have the strength to move even though the smell of the bile was making his stomach even more unsettled. A sharp pain hit him in his abdomen and didn't disappear this time. Harry Potter, the hero of the wizarding world curled further into himself and wondered if he would make it to a healing potion before it was too late.