Written for The Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition
Position: Seeker
Prompt: Home Alone
There were many times in his life that Harry had been alone. Of course, when the Dursleys went on holidays, he was left with Mrs Figg and all of her cats. Or Aunt Marge. He hated staying with Aunt Marge; her dogs always tried to attack him. Mrs Figg's cats were much better but then again, Mrs Figg always had stale cake that he enjoyed the sweetness of but not the dryness. So, one time when the Dursley's were preparing to leave for the airport, he hid.
Being who he was to the family, they didn't spend too much time looking for him and as such, never found him in his rather poor hiding spot of the tree just a few blocks down from Privet Drive. Instead, they gave up after five minutes, loaded the car, locked up the house, and drove off. Maybe they were hoping that Harry would run off and not bother them while they were away.
Whatever they thought, Harry was just happy to not have to deal with Mrs Figg or Aunt Marge. After waiting for an hour to make sure that the Dursley's weren't coming back, Harry walked back to Number 4. Once he reached the silent house, he lifted the rock that hid the spare key and let himself in. Apparently, the Dursley's didn't think him capable of finding out where they hid their spare key should Dudley come home to an empty house or one of them forgot their house keys when they were out.
Still, it worked in Harry's favour and he gleefully sat down on the couch in the living room. The couch was Vernon and Dudley's territory and Harry was never allowed on it. He also made himself a sandwich and ate that, though he was careful not to let any crumbs fall on the floor or the couch. Sitting on the couch and looking around the empty room, Harry wondered what he should do now.
He had never really had any time to himself and certainly never had any time where there was no chores or homework to be done. Eyes falling on the TV remote, Harry shrugged and decided to see what had his family so obsessed with the box and its multitude of channels. The first channel to flick on was a news channel and that was interesting for a few minutes. However, it grew depressing after a while.
Flicking through, Harry stopped on a animated film that showed someone waving their hands and chanting nonsense. Curious, Harry kept watching and was drawn into the magical world of Merlin and Arthur Pendragon as the young boy named Arthur searched for a magical sword under the guidance of a wizard. It was fascinating, and Harry was immediately in love.
As things tend to do, the movie finished, and Harry was once again bored. He had spent far longer than he ever had just sitting, and his body was protesting from the stillness. Getting up, he stretched, dropped his plate off in the sink, and then wandered upstairs. Upstairs was another place that he was rarely allowed to go.
It wasn't all that interesting, which was annoying to the curious boy who wanted an adventure while his relatives were away. Then he saw the door that was slightly ajar and moved to investigate Dudley's bedroom. Remembering the show he had just watched, Harry raised his hands in front of him as he'd seen Merlin do (he didn't have a sword so he couldn't be Arthur) and carefully pushed open the door.
The room was packed with all kinds of things. There were toys everywhere, a computer sat on a desk that was covered in computer games, action figures and the occasional comic. Intrigued, Harry stepped closer, avoiding the random piles of clothes and toys like he was in a dungeon and they were traps.
When he reached his goal, Harry ignored the computer, having no idea how it worked and instead picked up a comic. He had seen Dudley read these and knew they were the only things the other boy would read apart from school books he was forced to look at. On the cover was a man covered in some kind of red and gold armour with a blue light in his chest.
Harry flicked through the comic and was fascinated by the pictures. Knowing that his relatives wouldn't be home for a few days and inspired by both the comic and the movie, he raced downstairs to raid the cupboards. Several hours later and Harry had his own armour and a sword in the form of several pots and a ladle.
Completely free of relatives that would try to stop him from playing his game, Harry charged around the house and backyard. He managed to kill several monsters that were trying to destroy the Earth and even managed to trap one of them in the garden hose! It had spilled all of its evil plans, and Harry had managed to save the day from the evil monster things that had invaded.
After that, he realised just how carried away he had gotten with his game and hastily started to clean up. The flour that had somehow gotten out of the pantry and used as a weapon was swept up and put in the bin. The garden hose was reeled in, and his armour was dismantled before being put away.
That night, Harry slept well and dreamt of adventuring around with Arthur and Merlin, protecting them with his awesome fighting skills. The next day, Harry spent his time in Dudley's room reading more comic books and getting even more inspiration for his imagination to work with. The entire time his relatives were away, he read and played and quite often had clean up the inevitable messes he created while killing monsters, saving damsels and simply adventuring through the lands of the worlds he discovered.
In a few years, he would receive a multitude of letters that all said the same thing when he finally managed to read one. He was a wizard just like Merlin had been, he didn't need a sword to fight the monsters; he had a wand and magic!