Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me except plotlines, clans and their members, and Grey Tower.
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Chapter Six: An Interlude of Insanity
He had to run. Run away. But to where? Where could he possibly go to escape? They seemed to follow him everywhere, no matter where he was. Those damn blue eyes…
Vernon Dursley was hurtling down the usually serene streets of Little Whinging in the early morning hours of July 30th in his large town car. Normally, he would be more careful of his driving, but this was an extreme case in his opinion. He needed to at least get away for a little bit. And attempt to escape the Blue Eyes.
So many things had happened that year. It went far too fast and escalated into his own personal hell on Earth. Dudley getting sick: how dare that doctor even SUGGEST that it was his fault for letting him get like this?! Dudley just needed a lot of energy and therefore, a lot of food! Then, soon afterward he lost his job. He should've known better than to trust that Gallagher fellow. As soon as he gave them the information they had needed, they had immediately turned on him. In the end, he was just left with the crumbling remains of the company he helped to destroy. The once proud Vernon Dursley was now a ruined man.
It was entirely the freak's fault. It had to be! Wizards and their magic always caused trouble in his opinion. That was the main reason he didn't allow his sister-in-law and her no-good husband come to their wedding, or to visit them in anyway. Heaven forbid what they could've done.
If things had gone his way, the boy would have been shipped to an orphanage. Hopefully that said orphanage was a horrible one. Petunia, though, insisted they keep him. Him, the fool that he was, let her do as she wished. He could not dissuade her, no matter how many time he told her that the kid would be as much as an oddity as his parents.
As soon as the letter from that school arrived at his home did everything go awry. Only a few weeks after the first one was sent, he found himself driving his son to a special clinic to have the pig's tail removed from his son's bottom. That was embarrassing. He was thankful that no one from work heard of that incident. Everyone did, however, hear about what happened with the Mason family. Grunnings lost a huge deal because of that. When they learned how they had missed their chance, he was the target of anger, resentment, and heavy ridicule. And here the freak was saying that it was some kind of elf that did it. The boy plainly did it to spite him! Finally, when he had that boy locked up, those redheads took him away in their flying car. Wonderful.
He swerved sharply around a corner, causing some of the local dogs to bark in alarm. And what he did to Marge two years ago! First, the boy blackmails him and then, when everything appeared to be going fine, he blew her up like a balloon! Those "Ministry" wizards took care of it, but he hated them too. They all were freaks! The neighbors had asked a lot of questions about the shouting that had gone on that night. Among them were: who were those strangely dressed men at your home? Was that your nephew who burst out of the house dragging a trunk? Petunia was mortified at all the gossip. Over time, it died down, but it was the principle of the thing. At the end of that year, he started going on about his godfather, who happened to be a mass murderer. If only that filthy low-life could take the kid and go, I'd be happy. It was through this that the boy threatened to do whatever he pleased. Subsequently, the redheaded family was back. Was the name 'Weasel' or something? They destroyed his living room, enlarged his son's tongue, and then had the gall to admonish them for not saying farewell to that little troublemaker? Who did they think they were? Oh. Right. Of course they would do that: they are all insane freaks.
The boy came home differently this year. All in all, he seemed rather dead and apathetic. The freak stressed some concern over Dudley's condition, but returned to his indifferent stance once Vernon had started to blame him for all that had happened. The spark of rebellion that the freak had possessed had apparently gone out. Petunia was worried about this change in behavior, but Vernon wasn't. He just wanted his nephew to suffer, and suffer a lot. The boy didn't even scream or cry out when he beat him. It seemed as if he had given up on everything. The only time that the boy showed emotion was when he killed that ruddy owl. He went berserk trying to save that blasted animal. When he saw it finally dead, that was when he began to sink more into lifelessness and depression.
This didn't concern Vernon. His nephew had never held a place in his heart, so he really didn't care.
What he was concerned about was how his nephew summoned the Eyes to haunt him. It was soon after the boy had conjured up that maelstrom that he began to see them. The boy had brought them on him. The freak had cursed him even more with his strange abnormality.
Vernon parked the car outside a large deserted field and stepped out. Tall grass and weeds swayed in an unnatural wind. No…NO, NOT AGAIN!
Everywhere he saw them. Those two orbs stalked him wherever he was. A shadow woman with deep blue eyes, flecked with other colors inside them. Vernon, though, didn't focus on those specks; he was always too busy trying to get away. Those eyes screamed their hatred and contempt at him. He knew that she had something to do with the boy: her eyes had that same fathomless depth to them, even if the color and shape were different. Her eyes also had that exact judging quality that made him cringe in fear. He could handle the boy's; he could always punish him for giving that kind of look. The owner of that pair, though, was something else. He could attack her, but he knew that he would die on his first step towards her if he even dared to.
He was done for. Once the brat's friends find out he had disappeared, they would murder him for sure. He had heard of this Dumbledore guy. He was believed to be the greatest of all those freaks, much more powerful than the lot of them. However, he was much more afraid of one person, a person already known for killing: the man known as Sirius Black. He muttered under his breath, staring directly at the phantom woman, "I'm dead."
The woman blinked those eyes at him from across the field. He assumed that she was concurring with him.
Vernon Dursley fell on his back and laughed.
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Thanks for all who are reading this. I thought I lost this because my notebook was falling to pieces. But mercifully, I have a new one. The next chapter is going to be pretty long, so the 27th is still a tentative next update. It's Harry's birthday and conflict is a given to happen.
It was kind of hard to write this. As you can tell, Vernon has finally hit the deep end and the Dark Lady isn't helping his situation all that much. She obviously dislikes him with a fervor for what he has done and knows that it's much too late for him to repent. She did see the potential in Dudley, therefore helped him. Seeing that Dudley was indeed grateful, she helped him out even more. Woe betide Vernon when he makes the journey into Annuvin.
I just set up an account on FictionPress.Com. I already put up a story called Shadow Legends under the pen name 'Arashi Raven'. It's also in England, but is just about a normal kid…well, he appears to be one anyway. It's been in another of my notebooks for a while now and what few people that have seen it have said it's pretty good. Please look at it and review; it's my first stab at publishing original fiction.
As I said before, thank you for reading this. Personally, I didn't think it would get that many readers.
-Raven Dragonclaw
Reviewers:
DaBear: I'm glad to know that you're interested.
WolfMoon: Thanks for reading, reviewing, and understanding that I'm far from perfect. The background info will be revealed more and more as Harry assimilates into his new life. Some things will probably explained in the eighth or ninth chapter. Yes, this chapter was about Vernon and his thoughts I guess are interesting, in a way. Harry won't be back at Hogwarts for a while, due to "circumstances", though people will be all over looking for him. Malfoy will have a role to play…much later and I don't think Snape will ever like Harry, so you can count on that. I guess you're in a much different time zone than this New Yorker since yesterday was the 25th for you. I hope you liked this.
PhoenixPadfoot89: Harry will be happy that Dudley is nice now, but their reunion won't come until a while later. Yes, they will meet later on, but neither will recognize the other.
Gold Silk: Yes, Dudley can really be human, as well as Petunia. Vernon, as you can see, is a far different story.
Rachel A. Prongs: You were right about Vernon and what he has deteriorated into isn't pretty at all. We will see more of Dudley, as well as Alyce, in later chapters. Who knows, maybe I could do a spin-off of this focusing on Dudley. Who knows? Thanks for being such a loyal reader of this.