Author's note:
I do not own the Harry Potter universe or anything that comes along with it. That honor goes to its magnificent creator, J.K. Rowling. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy it!
(Edit 12/5/2021: This was first published in late 2020.)
Chapter 3: Harry's Accidental Magic
"How do they decide who goes to Hogwarts?" Harry asked over breakfast. At his request, Marlene prepared jam on toast, which Harry was savoring.
"Well, there is a book that tracks the children under eleven who have shown signs of magic. If someone has shown signs of magic, then their name will be written down, and they secure a place at Hogwarts, where they will go in September. In fact, the new batch of children will have started school already this year, since it's November," Marlene explained. It had been a long time since she had thought about Hogwarts. It had been a long time since she had thought about many things magical, in fact.
"Do I have magic?" Harry looked worried. "I do want to go to Hogwarts."
"Don't worry, you do," Marlene assured him. "Remember that time you turned the Principal's hair blue? That was accidental magic, and that's what happens when young children like yourself do magic." Harry giggled as he recalled the incident. The Principal had not been happy with him afterward.
~~~flashback~~~
Harry's elated mood was dampened when Dudley snitched on him.
"Mum, Dad, the freak's got full marks for our math test! He must've been cheating!" Dudley whined. Harry knew that Dudley was just upset that he had failed, and what better thing to do than to get the freak into trouble?
His Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia hadn't helped by immediately calling up the school and demanding a meeting about Harry's progress in school.
"Harry does not hand in his work, gets into a lot of brawls and is always in trouble. Him getting full marks on this test is very strange indeed," the Principal reported.
Not handing in work? Because Dudley stole it. Brawling? Dudley and his gang beat me up and you don't do anything to stop it, do you expect me not to fight back? Always in trouble? Dudley, the little liar. Saying that Harry was infuriated would be the understatement of the year.
As Harry was thinking all of that, a strange thing started to happen. The Principal's hair began to turn a deep shade of navy blue. Everyone stared in shock, then they began trying to conceal their laughter, save Dudley, who was not even making an attempt at smothering his guffaws.
"What's wrong?" asked a very confused Principal.
"Your... hair..." Ms. Marlene choked out in between laughs. The principal looked in horror at her pretty (now blue) curls.
"My hair!" she squealed and ran off to the washroom.
Neither the principal nor Harry's Aunt and Uncle were very happy with him after that. Ms. Marlene only barely managed to convince the Principal not to expel him or fail him. To prevent anything of the sort from happening again, Harry let his grades slide until he was at the bottom of the class. That way he could not only please the Principal, but avoid another beating from Uncle Vernon like the one he had received for that incident.
~~~end flashback~~~
"Is it also like how I ended up on the roof?"
"Yes, though I can't understand why you would want to go onto the roof," Marlene joked.
"I was being chased by Dudley and his gang," Harry admitted.
~~~flashback~~~
Harry was dawdling under a large oak tree in the school compounds when he was spotted by Dudley. Knowing what that meant, he ran off quickly. But Dudley and his gang were already after him. It was time for Dudley's favorite sport (and, ironically, the only sport he ever took part in), Harry Hunting.
Harry ran swiftly and nimbly compared to his five beefy pursuers, who relied on their sheer size to catch up. Harry was sure that he could outrun them until he made a mistake. One wrong turn and he was cornered.
"Boy, you're going to pay for what you did to my handsome face," sneered a boy that Harry recalled was named Piers Polkiss. He braced himself for a pummeling worse than the last. Last time, they had broken his nose.
But instead of a hard impact, Harry felt himself slipping. There was wind in his ears and when he opened his eyes, he was on top of the roof, about five meters high. Below him, Dudley was frozen in shock, Piers had fainted on the ground and the rest of the boys had run off to get a teacher. Oh, I am so dead, Harry thought.
The principal and Ms. Marlene immediately ran to the area below where Harry was standing. Harry sat down to prevent himself from falling straight off the edge. A ladder was propped up against the wall and Harry quickly climbed down.
"How did you get up there, boy? And why?" the Principal interrogated. She still held a grudge against him for the blue hair incident. For once, Harry was speechless.
"I think Harry was just curious and climbed up onto the roof. I'm sure he meant no harm," Ms. Marlene smoothly intervened. Harry opened his mouth to object but his teacher shot him a withering glare.
The principal may have let it go, but Harry's Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia were furious about the call they had received about Harry's actions.
"What do you mean, Dudley was chasing you? Our ickle Duddykins would never do that! Ten swats for lying!" Vernon ordered.
"But I" Harry protested.
"And another ten for talking back!"
Needless to say, the ordeal did not end well for Harry.
~~~end flashback~~~
"That was nasty of them," Marlene growled. She bit her tongue to restrain from launching into a long list of choice words for the Dursleys. Once this Voldemort problem was taken care of, Marlene had a good mind to return to the Dursleys' for some payback. But there were more pressing matters at hand.
Author's Note:
I set a regular posting schedule for every Sunday. Sorry in advance if I skip any dates. The posting schedule for all my pieces will be visible in my profile.
Sneak Peek Into Next Week:
A Christmas shopping trip starts off well for Harry and Marlene, but not all goes as planned and an old (or new, if you look at it from another angle) friend is found.