May 4, 1991 8:15pm Harry's Room Dursley Residence
Vernon was cursing his very existence. Clearly Vernon's lectures to his son over the past few months about the drill contracts that were still coming in were going on deaf ears. That or Dudley didn't understand the correlation between Vernon getting raises and promotions to how many toys and vacations the boy was getting.
Regardless Vernon now had a tricky situation to handle "Damn you Lily for dying and dropping this mess on me" thought Vernon as waddled over to his son who looked at him with pride on his face.
"Dad, did you see that? I knocked Potter out with one . . . OUCH!" Dudley bellowed as he was slapped across the face by his father. Immediately, tears began running down Dudley's face just as Petunia entered the room.
"What's going on?" Petunia asked Vernon as she walked over to her precious Dudley after hearing all the commotion. "W-why did you slap me father?" asked Dudley not understanding why his father would hit him. Vernon had to answer quickly as he could see Petunia was very quickly getting angry at him for slapping her precious child. Though Vernon loved his wife dearly, he did wish Petunia would not immediately coddle their son. "I needed to start working on getting Dudley to have a bit more backbone.", Vernon thought to himself.
"Because Dudley, what you have failed to realize is that until I squeeze every last dental grade drill contract out of the Granger's colleagues, Potter can't be visibly touched. How am I going to buy your sweet mother that new Mercedes sedan she's been eyeing if I don't close any more contract's because the Granger's tell their colleagues to shop elsewhere because something has happened to their daughter's only friend? Hmmmm?" Vernon explained as he glanced at his wife. Petunia's anger shifted from her husband to her son much to Vernon's relief.
Vernon breathed easier as the first disaster of this evening for him had been redirected at his son. Dudley was going to pay for the headache he was giving Vernon. Vernon decided to take it one step further to make his wife very happy with him as well. "Petunia darling, why don't you take Dudley to his room to further explain why what he did was wrong and I will deal with Potter for you." Vernon said lovingly.
"Absolutely dear" Petunia said as she kissed her husband on the check as she passed him guiding their son out of the room. Briefly stopping in the doorway, Petunia turned back asking "What are you planning on doing about the boy?"
Vernon paused for a moment looking at his nephew on the floor before turning back to his wife smiling "I think I'm going to take him down to the Grangers and see if they can take him a day early so our break from having this freak in our house starts a day sooner than expected."
Harry thought he could hear his relatives talking and groggily waited for the inevitable pain of a beating to start. As Harry slowly gained more consciousness though, he pushed himself up into a sitting position against the hard surface of his bedroom wall that was behind him. His face hurt as Harry tried to piece together what had happened and what might happen next.
"Oh good Potter you're sitting up, open your eyes and look at me" Vernon tried saying with as little disdain as he could muster. Harry for a moment thought he might be dead. He had never heard his Uncle talk to him with such little disdain before. Figuring it would only be worse for him if he didn't comply he opened his eyes to look at his uncle. Harry's vision was blurry but he didn't realize he didn't have his glasses on until he went to adjust the glasses that weren't on his face.
"Potter, your glasses are on the floor next to you. I'm going to go downstairs and get you some ice. Finish packing your bag by the time I get back, I'm going to take you to the Granger's house once you finish packing." Vernon told his nephew. Vernon had to handle the rest of the evening delicately, especially if he still wanted to not raise any suspicions with the Grangers. The only solace Vernon felt was that he had plenty of experience getting through these situations at work without anyone else being the wiser to his true motives.
"Yes sir" Harry responded immediately out of habit before watching his Uncle shuffle out of his room and slowly make his way downstairs. Harry breathed a sigh of relief that nothing worse had happened. After grabbing his glasses, Harry pushed himself off the floor of his bedroom. Harry went back to his bed to finish putting the rest of clothes in his duffle bag for his stay at the Granger's house. He had no complaints about getting out of this house a day earlier than expected, he just hoped the Grangers would be okay with it as well.
May 4, 1991 8:21pm Privet Drive
"Before we get to the Granger's Potter, I want to remind you to be on your best behavior. I want those drill contracts and I don't need you messing up anything with the Grangers that would cause those drill contracts to stop coming. Do you understand me?" Vernon weezed. He should have just taken the car from his house to the Granger's but it just seemed like such a waste of fuel to spend on his nephew. Also if anyone asked, Vernon would just say he was trying to get in some exercise.
"Yes sir" answered Harry as they neared the Granger's house. Harry couldn't wait to get away from his family. Tonight had been a whirlwind of stressful events and Harry was ready for it to end. Harry was about to turn to walk down the walkway to Hermoine's house when his Uncle stopped him "Potter give me your duffle bag." Not wanting to do anything that might anger his Uncle, Harry immediately handed Vernon his duffle bag.
"Good, let's go over what happened again earlier this evening before I ring the doorbell" Vernon said as he struggled to swing the duffle bag over his shoulder. Harry suddenly understood why Vernon had asked for his bag. Vernon was putting on a front of being the caring Uncle for the Grangers. Harry quickly answered "Dudley and I got into an argument over whose turn it was to play the Nintendo. Before you were able to reach us, Dudley elbowed me in the face causing me to fall into the wall."
"Correct, good now let's see if the Granger's can take you a day early." Vernon said as he pushed the doorbell. As Harry waited for one of the Granger's to answer the door, he had the strangest sensation that Hermione was coming closer to him, though he couldn't explain why he felt that way. "Maybe I hit my head harder than I thought" Harry pondered just as he saw Hermione opening the front door.
"Harry?" Hermione asked with concern in her voice as she saw the black eye that was forming around his left eye. She was about to rush towards Harry when she noticed Mr. Dursley standing next to Harry. "Good evening Ms. Granger, are your parent's in?" asked Vernon hoping to get this over with as quickly as possible.
Dan had decided to follow his daughter to the front door when he heard her concerned tone. As soon as he heard Mr. Dursley's question, Dan walked out the front door saying "Good evening Vernon, how are you doing this evening?" Dan reached out to shake Mr. Durley's hand as he turned his attention to Harry asking "Harry are you alright, what happened to your face?"
Before Harry could responded Vernon interjected while shaking Mr. Granger's hand "That is why we're here Dan. The boys got a bit out of hand this evening, and I thought, if it was okay with you, it might do the boys some good to cool off without having to be in the same house. I think the excitement of being out of school for the summer mixed with both of them wanting to have a turn at playing video games got the best of them."
Dan immediately knew Vernon wasn't telling him the truth. Dan had never once seen Harry ask for much less fight to have a turn at anything in his house. Dan still hadn't been successful in getting Harry to pick out a single meal. Taking a split second too long to respond for Vernon's comfort, Vernon continued, "I'm sorry Dan, I should have called first. If this is an inconvenience . . ." but Vernon was glad to see Dan interrupt him. "No no it's no inconvenience Vernon, sorry it's been a long week at the office for both of us I'm sure." Dan said before turning to Harry. "Harry come on in. Hermione go with Harry, I'll be inside in a moment." Dan said with a smile to Harry before turning back to wrap up this conversation with Vernon.
As Harry walked through the door of the Granger's house away from his Uncle, he was suddenly hit with a new wave of exhaustion. Harry knew that Hermione knew what his Uncle had said tonight wasn't true and that she would also not ask Harry about it until he was ready to talk to her about it which Harry was grateful for. For the first time in the last half hour Harry finally felt safe again.
May 4, 1991 8:24pm Hermione's room
Hermione had several competing thoughts going through her head as she and Harry walked up to her room. The foremost being what had really happened to Harry's eye? "There is no way Harry would ever be given the opportunity to play games at the Dursleys, much less fight over a turn at playing them" Hermione thought to herself. As they neared her room, Hermione also pondered about how and why she was able to sense Harry's presence before she heard the doorbell ring. She would have to talk to Harry about that as soon as everything settled down.
After getting to her room, Hermione walked to the edge of her bed before turning around to ask Harry about the events that happened earlier that evening. Before Hermione was able to ask anything, she was completely caught off guard by Harry enveloping her in a hug. "Epp!" Hermione squeaked, not expecting the embrace before a split second later returning his hug. Even though they had been best friends for months now, Harry still shied away from most forms of physical contact.
Hermione still remembered what the letter her future self had written 'Find Harry, and help him before both of you leave for Hogwarts. When I met him in our first year, he was almost completely broken.' As Hermione reflected on the letter she noticed that Harry's embrace, which started off as a light hug, slowly began to get heavier as Harry moved to rest his head on Hermione shoulder effectively using Hermione to support his entire weight. The surprise hug was already out of character for Harry, so when Harry rested his head against Hermione shoulder she started to get really concerned. 'What happened to you Harry?" thought Hermione as she began to stroke Harry's back with one hand and his hair with her other hand while continuing to support his weight.
Author's Note: I struggled with this chapter. At times I struggle writing the Dursley and this chapter was one of those times.
I apologize I didn't have a good place to end this chapter. I already have thoughts of what I want to happen in the next chapter and hope to get it up before the end of the weekend.
Again thank you so much for all the reviews!