Chapter 1: "Harry's Wish."
"Come back here tosser!" bellowed Dudley, perhaps out of a desire to impress his goons rather than any expectation that his query would obey the command. Harry, for one, did not fancy a runny nose today, and kept running; he wasn't physically very strong, but he was at least fast enough to out run those that where. Once his chasers where out of sight, Harry turned towards the playground and bolted behind the tree by the swing.
Harry laid still on top of the twisted oak's bark, trusting the foliage for cover, and listened out for hurried steps, or his cousins' shouts to his friends. When none of these came, he released a sigh of relief and let his body relax and recover for the inevitable second half of the game.
"Why don't you teach them a lesson?" Asked an unfamiliar voice to his rear, Harry turned his eyes and saw a kid about his own age sitting on the swing. He was dark haired much like he was, and his clothing seemed worn and old fashioned, even more so then Harry's hand me downs. "Please quiet down", said Harry, "you'll give me away."
"I see," observed the boy, kicking the ground to give the swing a greater push, "so, you will keep running like a dog from its master's whip, skulking to safety at the first sign of pain, yet always going home to get it again."
"Shut up!" shouted Harry, forgetting his earlier attempt at subterfuge. A tense silence reigned between them, the boy continuing to gather momentum, while Harry made sure that Dudley's gang hadn't sneaked up on him in the meanwhile.
Finally, Harry broke the silence "If you are so smart, what would you do about it?"
"I would make them fear me", replied the boy, slowly bringing the swing to a stop.
Harry snorted, "Right, and how would I make them fear me?"
The boy smiled, it wasn't a nice smile, as it was much the same as the one Dudley wore when he finally cornered Harry after a chase. "Think of all the pain, all the humiliations they put you through, and wish, truly wish, that they pay the price."
Harry laughed at the boy, "How old are you? Five? There is no such thing as magic!" he said, and laughed again, though this time, his laughter did not last long, "Here he is! Oh, you are so gonna get it this time Potter!" shouted Dudley, bringing his gang together towards the playground. Harry cursed, they where coming from both directions, blocking his escape route, he wouldn't be able to make a run for it this time.
"You have the power, all you lack is the will to use it."
Harry ignored the crazy kid and prepared himself for the one-sided punch up that was sure to follow. But, as one moment passed, and another began, it did not come. A sudden gust of wind, extreme in its intensity, washed over the three bullies, pinning them to the ground. "What the hell is this?!" shouted Piers, currently Dudley's lead henchmen, "Come on Dudely, this is nuts, we've got to get out of here!" said the other goon. "No!" said Dudley, "We've got him cornered!" Moments later, both his friends where gone, leaving Dudley on his own.
Harry turned to run while he had the chance, but stopped when he saw the kid, now standing with his two feet on the ground, holding both hands towards Dudley, as if they where directing the wind!
"I can't keep this up for much longer, run or fight, you must choose now", said the boy, a lot paler then he had been a short while ago, clearly straining against the effort of whatever it was he was doing.
Harry's first thought was to continue running, but if he did, wouldn't Dudley bully the kid instead? Finally, when the wind weakened, and Dudley surged ahead, Harry tried to get in a punch first, the sharp pain to his chin and the red dripping out of his mouth announced his failure. Forced to the ground from the hit, Harry managed to roll away form the second punch, but when Dudley confronted him with a third, his cousin was suddenly pummelled in the face by one of the tree's branches, even though nothing could have moved it to do so. Harry searched for the boy as the origin of the anomaly but saw no one.
Dudley staggered to his feet, several scratches dotted his face, with his left eye looking much worse for wear. "My eye! It hurts! Mummy!" Screeched Dudley as he ran away.
Harry spit out the blood of his own injury, and grimaced when he noticed a tooth glittering with specks of the red liquid on the ground. If Dudley's injury was half as bad as he made it out to be… his mouth at least would have a long time to recover, since he wouldn't be partaking in any meals for a while. If Dudley's wound was serious, he shuddered at the thought of what additional punishments Vernon might inflict upon him.
Harry turned to the swing and sat on it, massaging his mouth to try and sooth away the pain. He'd stay put for now, and only get back to the house through the kitchen window once he was sure the Dursleys weren't in. They'd take Dudley to the hospital for sure, he'd gone in for a lot less in the past, plus, they wouldn't let anything spoil tomorrow's birthday outing. Sooner or later however, Harry would have to face the music.
His eyes drifted to the tree. He tried to wish the branches would move once again with no result. Something…unnatural had made the branch move, of that he was certain, and since the boy had left before it had happened, Harry could only wonder… had the boy been right? Did he have the power to make his wishes become reality?
Some thirty minutes ticked away in quiet contemplation, a cloud passed overhead, obstructing the sun and bringing the land below under a momentary darkness. "If I have that power…" Started Harry, recalling the many years of neglect, the nights spent in his cupboard hungry without reason, and the fists of his cousin and his clique hammering against his flesh.
"I wish the Dursleys died in the car crash! So that my parents could be alive in their place!" Shouted Harry with all the fear, the sorrow, the anger, and yes, the hate that he had accumulated in his psyche for his so-called relatives. A flock of birds took off from the trees to the skies in fright, but they flew uneasily, for the winds had gone haywire once more. For a moment, he'd never felt more alive. The cloud continued its journey, the light of the sun returned, and the moment passed leaving Harry with the discomfort caused by opening his mouth to a greater extent than it was comfortable with for the moment.
His parents where dead, nothing could ever change that fact, all Harry truly desired was a loving home. The sun started turning sunset red, heralding the coming of the night, "they're surely gone by now," he thought. Harry got out of the swing, and slowly skulked his way back to the Dursley household.
It was almost dark by the time Harry arrived in Privet Drive. The first thing he noticed where the flashing blue lights on top of a car. As he entered the neighbourhood, Harry realized that the car was parked right by number 4.
"No…it couldn't be", thought Harry, as his stepped forwards to investigate. A policeman and a policewoman stood outside of the house, the former knocking at the door while the latter talked with someone over a walkie talkie. A few moments later, they seemed to give up on and turned back to the car. Harry took up the pace and reached the police car before they could leave. "Excuse me", he said, panting slightly from his sprint, "Can you tell me what's going on?"
The policeman looked on him with disapproval, "It is getting a bit late for you to be wondering about kid. Where are your parents?" He asked.
"They're dead so…", replied Harry, biting his lip as the air of speech passed by his still throbbing teeth, "I live with my aunt and uncle, Petunia and Vernon Dursley." The expressions of the two police officers immediately changed into mixtures of regret and pity. "What's happened," he demanded, not as a question but as a command.
"There's been an accident…" started the policeman but was hesitant to reveal the details of the event to a child. "For Pete's sake Harold, he'll find out soon enough, no matter how you sugar coat it", said the Policewoman and turned to face Harry. "About thirty minutes ago, a truck lost control and hit a car on the M3. The truck driver got out unharmed and called the emergency services. Vernon Dursley, identified by his car license, was found dead on the scene along with a ten-to-eleven-year-old. A woman who I assume is your aunt Petunia was found in critical condition and taken to Ashford hospital."
Harry's heart sank, he didn't think, didn't believe… "Come on, you'd better come with us until we can contact the social services. Is there anything you need from the house?"
He was only half listening, the wording of his wish, though he felt terrible about the Dursleys, he couldn't help but feel a momentary hope; if one wish had come true, couldn't have the other one come true as well? "Do you have the key?" Asked Harry, to which the policeman nodded and handed it to him, "We found it in the wreckage, though our job was to call on the house just in case there was someone present to inform of the accident. We weren't planning on searching the place."
Harry grabbed the key and opened the door. What followed was a frantic search through the rooms of the house for any sign of his parents, without result. Finally, he opened the door to his cupboard, fell upon on his bed, and cried.
"This is where you sleep?! Who sticks a kid in a place like this?" said the policewoman, entering the cupboard with her college. When she saw Harry fall upon the bed, she helped him to his feet, letting him cling to her instead of the pillow as the sponge for his tears.
"We'd better recommend a full medical check-up for child neglect, plus charges against the woman if she somehow pulls through", said the policeman darkly, as he passed by the various family portraits in the house, none of them bearing Harry's image. The three of them then left the house, got into the police car, and drove away.
The phone rang for several moments, until the small hand of a tweenaged girl picked it up, holding the book she'd been reading with the other hand with her thumb sticking in it to keep note of her current page. "Mum! It's Doctor Jerald from the hospital for you!" she shouted a short moment later.
A middle-aged woman with a bushy brown hair came down and accepted the phone with a smile as the girl returned to her book. "Hello Jerald, how are you?" She said, her initially happy expression turning sour as her friend explained the situation. "That's horrible, what a poor boy, of course we'd be happy to help in any way we can. Yes, I think we can squeeze in a check-up for him tomorrow, I will call you after I've gone over our schedule. It's no trouble, goodbye for now."
The woman put down the phone and searched the drawer below it, "Darling, do you know where the appointment schedule is?" she asked, a brown-haired man with a somewhat lighter shade then her own came from the kitchen with a thick note book. "Sorry love, I left by the stove while I was waiting for the dough to be ready." He said, transferring the schedule to his wife's care, and then turned to girl with a smile, "How are your new magic books then? Anything interesting?" He asked.
His daughter nodded an affirmative, with a big grin on her face "Oh, they are wonderful! Apparently, Hogwarts has an enchanted sealing bewitched to look like the sky outside, I can't wait to see it!" Her father laughed, but then quieted down as he noted his wife's concern. "What's the matter?" He asked, his wife brought down the schedule with a frown.
"Jerald called from the hospital, he said that he had an abused orphaned ten-year-old boy for a check-up. Apparently, he was neglected by his caretakers for quiet a while, and more recently, got into a fight where he was hit in the chin and lost a tooth."
The man thought of the possible implications, "It's a bit late in the day, but we can still hope the tooth he lost was a primary and that no serious damage was done to the others." The woman nodded to her husband, "And that his gum wasn't infected", she added, "The trouble is that we don't have a single window to put him in tomorrow, and Jerald wants him to be seen to as soon as possible."
Their daughter suddenly perked up from her reading, "I could go straight to the clinic after school, then you could see him instead of taking the time to drive me home", she suggested.
The couple thought of the idea, they didn't like the thought of their only daughter leaving school on her own, but then again, she was almost twelve years old, responsible for her age, and the distance from the school to the clinic wasn't very great. "Alight," said the woman, "but please be careful, Hermione, there are all sorts of people out on the streets these days."
Hermione shook her head and took out a carefully crafted wooden stick from her school bag "Not to worry mum, the books say we are allowed to use our wands for self-defence, and I think I know a spell that will do the trick!"
Note of the Amateur:
This is a rewrite of an earlier story I wrote under the title of "Harry Potter and the Magical Commune." For reasons that seemed good to me, I decided to change my main character from an OC I was having difficulty dealing with, to Harry Potter and a more canonistic cast. Original characters will still feature heavily in this story, but the main characters will be Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and to a lesser extent Albus Dumbledore.
As I do not expect to include gore, sexual intercourse, or so help me particularly potty language, this story is designated as T for Teenager. There will be violent events, that though they are not technically M for Mature, might prove to be at least emotionally disturbing. I hope this does not prove to be the case and ask to be informed should members of the audience think the story warrants an M so that I might reassess the designation.
My posting schedule for future updates will generally be ether Tuesdays or Fridays, and I expect to produce an update every one or two weeks. That being said, I am a very busy student, and I have another active story to attend to, so I cannot guarantee it at this time.
Thank you for your patronage,
A Lover of Nature.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. JK Rowling and any organization empowered by her to that effect own the Harry Potter title and its related products. Moreover, I consider that Carthage must be destroyed.