The First Client

Shrugging on a simple black t-shirt and a pair of dark-washed jeans, Harry bounded down the steps and into the kitchen where is aunt already began serving breakfast. Vernon shook the paper straight and tried his hardest to ignore Harry's presence while Dudley eyed him wearily. Harry sat down at the table and tried to look as innocent as possible. After he finished his meal he cleared his plate, ready to skive off to his room, when his aunt called out his name.

"Harry—" Petunia started. Harry jumped at being addressed by his first name in the house. Then he realized it probably had a great deal to do with the Order's threats than any change of heart on his relative's part. "I was hoping you could run to the store to pick up some groceries for me."

There was no question in her voice; this was an order. Nonplussed, Harry played along.

"Umm, sure," Harry replied, taking the list and money from her. The demons could wait an hour or so.

Harry slipped on his shoes and left the house. He could tell there was an Order member following him and judging by the heavy, even foot steps his guess would be Kingsly. Harry rolled his eyes and continued to ignore him as well as the numerous stares and whispers heard from every piece of property he passed. He had half a mind to whip out a pocketknife just to see how many people screamed.

The shopping trip passed fairly quickly and at the last minute Harry slipped in a pack of ramen noodles. A man needs his ramen. His aunt wouldn't notice a little extra money missing. As he waited for his purchases to be rung up, he noticed the cashier giving him funny looks.

"Um, are you Harry Potter?" She asked slowly as she handed him his bags. She looked vaguely familiar to Harry. She was of medium height with sandy blonde hair in a ponytail and dark blue eyes.

"Yup," he said, fully intent on ignoring her and turning to leave. He held suspicion of anyone who talked to him in this town—especially since they all thought he was a criminal.

"I'm Rachel Ackerman," she said hurriedly. "We went to primary school together, remember?"

Harry got a fleeting glimpse of a snooty, blonde haired, blue-eyed girl laughing at him after Dudley poured a bottle of glue on his head. And then several more recollections, non showing Rachel in a favorable light.

"Yeah," he said shortly and turned to leave again.

"Wait," she cried, causing him to turn and look at her impatiently. "Um, what have you been up to? I mean, do you hang out anywhere or anything? I haven't seen you around."

"I've been busy," he replied coolly, "Is there a point to this conversation because I have other things to do and you have customers to attend to."

Rachel blushed deeply and shuffled her feet a bit, "Well, I was just wondering if you wanted to hang out sometime."

"With the 'criminal boy'?" Harry asked sarcastically.

"Are you really a criminal?" she asked. She seemed excited by the prospect.

"Do I look like a criminal?" he responded, and then inwardly winced. Of course he did after all those piercing and the dark choice of clothes this morning. "Nevermind. I got to go. Bye."

"Oh, er, see you later!" she called hopefully at his back. Harry just lifted a hand and waved it without turning around. Harry stepped out side and let out a breath of air he didn't know he had been holding in. Girls were not his area of expertise, especially one's that were bitches to him since childhood.

Although she was rather good looking...

Harry halted his walking. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end and a foul stink carried in the undercurrent of the wind. There was a demon nearby.

Harry casually walked away from grocery store, looking for a good place to hide from the eyes of Surrey residents. As he walked along the cracked sidewalk he noticed only one pair of foot steps—his. Strangely, no Order member followed him. This made things considerably easier.

He let a tuneless whistle blow through his lips and abruptly made a ninety-degree turn into an alleyway between a dentist building and a bank. He placed his bags on the ground and walked a bit further down so that the darkness could better conceal him.

"Alright, I know you're there, you can attack me now," Harry said, unruffled, as he leaned against the brick wall.

And it did, for no demon in its right mind would pass up such a request from a human. Unless, of course, that human happened to be a demon hunter.

The beast flew down from the top of the building with a loud screech. The large black wings and sharp beak were a dead giveaway that it was a bird demon. It set its abnormally large talons ahead of it as it swooped down in anticipation of grabbing Harry for an afternoon snack. Harry had made no such plans for the day.

Smirking, Harry engaged his conditioned core and quad muscles to jump to the side, reaching a good five feet in the air, and quickly kicked his leg behind him. His foot crashed into the demon's head and sent it sprawling across the thin strip of ground between the buildings. Recovering immediately, the demon shook its feathered head and picked itself up off the ground.

Harry flicked a dagger he kept strapped to his wrist into his hand. In one fluid motion he drew the dagger down the length of his index finger and swiped in across the middle of a trashcan lid. The lid instantly snapped in half. He picked up one of the pieces just as the demon spread its wings for another attack. Before the demon could so much as snap its beak at him Harry had launched the lid at it like a Frisbee. The sharp, freshly cut edge of the bin lid shot through the air and successfully beheaded the demon.

The head rolled away from the body until Harry's booted foot stopped it.

"Too easy," Harry tisked. He coated his index and middle finger in blood and waved them in the air in a complex design. The blood stayed suspended in the air as if he were drawing on glass, leaving the sketch visible. When finished, Harry pressed his palm against the seal and muttered, "Attero"

The body of the demon burst into flames, which quickly became a pile of ashes. Clapping off his hands and brushing off his clothes, Harry picked up the grocery bags and strode back onto the sidewalk, whistling the same tuneless whistle.

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Very. Very. Short. Lo Siento.