The Devil as a Father – Chapter 13
Vernon Dursley wasn't a wise or good man, but he was sneaky and knew how to manipulate the system. So the first thing he did upon his arrival was to contact the immigration service and tell them his nephew had been kidnapped or run away, and was now illegally living in the United States with some kind of sex broker in Los Angeles. He was here to regain custody.
He knew all the right things to say, and soon was on his way with an extraction team to the school to pick up his nephew. Once he had custody, he planned on either forcing the man to pay to get the little freak back, or selling him to an interested party in England. Either way, he'd be better reimbursed for all the trouble the child had caused.
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Mrs. Danvers was school secretary. She knew a lot about Harry Morningstar and his sister Trixie Morningstar. Trixie had once been removed from school by a policeman who had tried to kill her and her mother. It was the greatest shame of her career and she had no intention of anything like it happening again.
So when a pompous twit showed up with men from the government, expecting her to just produce Harry Morningstar, she was not even slightly impressed.
"We're here to pick up a foreign national here illegally," said the cold faced man who was the head of this little group. He showed her his identification.
She read it over very carefully and then surprised all of them by going over to the photocopier and scanning the identification. Then she walked back and handed the man his identification.
"So you are claiming this school has not done our job in making sure of the identity of all our children?" she said suspiciously. "Harry Morningstar, is now an American Citizen, and has been adopted by a local police officer and her husband."
She turned to a file cabinet and took out a thick file. She pulled out several documents stating that Harry was now an American citizen and that he had been abandoned by his family on the streets of Los Angeles and found to have been abused both physically and sexually.
The extraction team turned and stared to stare at Dursley to find the man was gone.
"You utter assholes," she said as she picked up her own phone and called Lucifer Morningstar's direct line.
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Dursley rushed down the hallways. He had certainly not expected the freak to squeal on him. He'd been trained not to do that. Fortunately for him, the school had pictures of all the children in each class room on a poster by each door in preparation for a parent/teacher night. He found Harry's classroom quickly and barged in.
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Mrs. Edwards had a bad case of flu and was regretting not telling the Morningstars about it, because she was too sick to reach her phone and tell them Harry was in trouble. She struggled, trying to move, but her body was too dehydrated and frail. She collapsed with the word, "Lucifer," on her lips and passed out.
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Chloe and Lucifer were wrapping up a case, glad to be back at work at the precinct, albeit with several faces missing, many of whom had been part of the old guard who made Chloe's life miserable. Lucifer had just handed Chloe her favorite sugar free caramel flavored coffee when he stopped, a look of concern on his face. "I just had the oddest sensation that someone had prayed to me." He said. Chloe froze. The addition of the rings had made their lives easier, and she could think of one person they hadn't given a ring to. Mrs. Edwards, who had begged off seeing anyone because she wasn't well.
His phone rang. He picked it up.
"Mr. Morningstar, this is Mrs. Danvers from the school. Some pompous twit named Dursley is here with an immigration team trying to take Harry."
"I'll be right there." said Lucifer. "Dursley is at the school trying to steal our little boy."
Dan had heard Lucifer and rushed over, "Take me too." He commanded.
Once upon a time Lucifer would have simply gone by himself. Now he drug them into a supply room and popped his family along without hesitation.
They arrived outside the school office where Mrs. Danvers was shredding the men from immigration and calling their office to get them to verify that they were indeed supposed to be there and real immigration agents.
Lucifer nodded and then said, "I'll get Harry,"
Chloe and Dan turned to face the people trying to destroy their family and the immigration team began to feel even more out of sorts. They were used to dealing with underprivileged children who didn't know English as a first language, not the LAPD, who were known to close ranks when family was involved.
"Looks like someone didn't do their homework," said Dan before Chloe could rip into them. "We've been working on a case against Dursley for months, but because he's a British citizen, were trying to arrange for him to be jailed in the UK instead of extradition. His file should have been red-tagged, but I bet you didn't check."
"You were going to hand over my son without even telling me. What kind of professionals are you?" hissed Chloe.
"I'm calling for backup. We can take Dursley into custody. Kidnapping is the least the pedophile is going down for."
The head of the extraction team, Mr. Smith, gulped. Not a good day at all.
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Harry was musing over another math question that didn't make all that much sense to him, but might come in handy someday when he was figuring out how big a restaurant kitchen he needed. So he sloughed on and then the door slammed open and he heard a voice that froze his whole body in terror.
"So Boy, thought you could get away, did you? Don't you know you belong to this family?"
There stood the man from his nightmares.
For years now Harry had frozen in terror of this man, but he had learned a few things from his Mum and Dad. He jumped up. "NO!" he shrieked, even though all his instincts screamed to curl into a ball of fear.
His teacher was a little woman, almost as short as Doctor Linda. That didn't mean she was a coward though.
"Who are you, explain yourself right now," she demanded. Harry noted under the miasma of terror that Mrs. McDonald was fighting for him.
"I've come for my nephew," said Dursley, and his eyes were cruel.
"You are not listed as approved family to pick up Harry." She said angrily, sensing this was not normal and putting a hand under her desk.
Harry knew that the teachers at the school had been given a grant from Dad for panic buttons like those used for the banks. When you pushed them, the police were immediately informed, just like when there was a bank robbery.
But Dursley wasn't going to be put off by a mere teacher. He laughed, "This little miscreant has lied to you all. He's a criminally motivated child who has lied through his whole life. He ran away from us on holiday and inserted himself into the Morningstar family. I've come to return him to home where we know how to deal with him."
Harry listened to the old lies spouting out of Dursley and felt despair and pain. They would believe Dursley and let him take him away. It was the cupboard for him. He felt nauseous and realized he was shaking.
Then he remembered he had something he didn't have before: magic. "DAD!" he yelled at the top of his lungs, knowing wherever his Dad was he would hear and rescue him.
Dursley started for him, and Harry began to ready his magic to fight back when suddenly Dad was in the room. Dad so handsome and dressed like Dursley could only dream. And Dad wasn't ready to listen to any lies. He knew the truth and he loved Harry. He grabbed Dursley and swung him around, "I'm so glad to make your acquaintance," he hissed, "I've wanted to have a little chat with you for a long time Mr. Dursley. I even have the venue picked out."
Uncle Dan ran into the room, "He has identified himself as Vernon Dursley," said Lucifer, and his voice dripped scorn, "he is definitely the man who abused my son. Please take him into custody."
Uncle Dan had handcuff out and was putting them on Dursley while the man spluttered and made noises like an angry walrus. Uncle Dan read him his rights over all the noise.
His Dad turned and held his arms open and ran into them.
"Mrs. McDonald, you are to be honored for protecting Harry from this man, a known pedophile."
She gasped. The children didn't know what a pedophile was, but they all were crying anyway and Lucifer found himself hugging hysterical children and patting an extremely angry teacher's shoulders as she appeared to be ready to kick Dursley someplace that would really, really hurt.
Harry rested his head against his Dad and just sobbed.
Dad patted him and hugged him and let him know he was loved. It was the best thing in the world. The other kids also patted Harry's back and told him he had a wonderful Dad. Uncle Dan took Dursley out of the room, struggling and yelling and swearing.
Harry realized Dad was holding him and almost everybody else. Mrs. McDonald looked like she could use a hug too. He extricated himself and hugged the excited woman, and said, "Thank you for standing up for me."
She kissed him on the head just like Mum did. He smiled up at her gratefully and then turned and scooted back to his Dad.
"Thank you for coming, Dad, thank you." He whispered fiercely. "Always, my darling son, always."
It took a while for Harry to feel better. He kept shaking, even though he knew now that Dursley was in police custody.
Dad was on the phone with someone who owned an ice cream truck. He asked Mrs. McDonald if he could treat the class for being so supportive of Harry. She blushed and said it was a very nice thing to do.
"And after that, I think I'm going to take Harry home, if you don't mind," said Dad. "This has been a horrendous shock and I want him to have time to be restored and feel safe."
"Have you considered therapy?" asked Mrs. McDonald. She looked concerned and not like there was anything wrong with Harry.
"I have a therapist who has made some suggestions but I will ask her for a referral to someone who deals with children who have been abused. Harry has been like a little warrior all through this, but he should have to deal with this kind of thing. I regret I was unable to keep him from having to see that horrendous excuse for humanity."
He leaned and kissed his son's head.
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Detective Chloe Decker was furious. This stupid utter bastard had tried to kidnap her baby. She stared at him furiously. "Because I am Harry's mom, I am not taking you into custody, but I leave Detective Espinoza here to settle the paperwork. However, I have one request, just one." She stared at the bastard who was shaking like the big coward he was. "What's that?"
"Try to escape." She hissed.
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The LAPD squad car that showed up was not surprised to find the situation under control. They were really ticked to think that one of their own might have ended up in some camp someplace waiting to be sent to Great Britain along with his past abuser. They let their lack of pleasure be known.
Mr. Smith, who was developing a monster headache, ran a check on Dursley and found that his file was indeed red tagged. They should have taken him into custody instead of listening to the fat oaf.
Detective Morningstar Decker frightened him. She was a beautiful woman, but scary as hell.
Detective Espinoza went with the uni's to file paperwork on Dursley.
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Amenadiel and his little sister KynKyn had just administered their last treatment on Sirius Black. Sanity returned to his eyes and the wild express faded away. Mooney hugged him and thanked the two angels profusely.
Then Amenadiel heard Chloe calling him and KynKyn. "Mrs. Edwards isn't answering her phone. We think she tried to contact Lucifer. We had a situation at school with Harry's old family trying to steal him. Meet me at Mrs. Edward's house.
One of the advantages of the rings that Lucifer had given them was the ability to stealth their activities, so both angels flew to Mrs. Edward's little trim house and found Chloe opening the door with a pair of lockpicks, "Gift from Ella," she explained.
They walked inside to a silent but neat house. There in the bedroom they found the elderly woman unconscious. Feathers were gladly administered, and Amenadiel carried her to Chloe's car and they took her to the hospital emergency room. Mrs. Edwards had a very organized purse with listings of doctors, insurance and current medications as well as medical history, all in an envelope labelled "in the event of a medical emergency." Chloe was impressed.
Mrs. Edwards began to make sounds of waking up and woke up on an examination bed with two angels and Chloe at her side.
"Oh dear," said the older woman, "I'm sorry to be such a bother."
Chloe shook her head, "You are family now, you are not a bother," and kissed her forehead. Mrs. Edwards gave her a tremulous smile, "Is Harry alright?" she asked.
"Yes, Lucifer heard you and Harry called out to him too."
"Good," Mrs. Edwards seemed pleased, "He's such a wonderful little boy."
The doctor scolded Mrs. Edwards for not coming in sooner. "You were dangerously dehydrated, my dear, and your electrolytes were very off. As you can see we have you on an IV, but we want you to stay overnight for observation."
Mrs. Edwards agreed and they made sure she was safe in a room and sleeping comfortably before they went home.
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Dinner was a fairly large affair. Amenadiel, KynKyn, Mooney, Sirius or Padfoot as he liked to be called, Uncle Dan, Trixie, Mum, Dad, Dr. Linda, Auntie Ella, and Patrick from security.
Harry eyed Padfoot carefully. No one was taking him from his family, not even a Godfather who broke out of a magical prison to save him. Padfoot seemed rather aware of that and smiled at Harry. "Don't worry cub, I can see you have a wonderful family right here. I only hope I'm allowed to be a small part of it."
Harry felt better. Dr. Linda had sat and talked to him about Vernon Dursley, who she called that miserable jerk. She had him take some strange tests, but also hugged him and told him not to feel guilty if he had nightmares. She was sure she was going to have nightmares from just hearing about this, not just explaining it. Dad watched over this, flirting with Mom and keeping a loving eye on him, and Harry felt less rotten but unusually tired.
Dad tucked him into bed after, with Mum and Uncle Dan doing the dishes, and Amenadiel clearing things away.
Dad told him, "I'm going to visit your ex-uncle tonight, and give him a taste of his eternity. Is that alright with you, Son?"
Dad always was truthful with him. "I don't even want to think of him, but anything that makes him stay away from me is good, Dad," said Harry and was hugged gently.
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Veron Dursley sat in an LAPD cell alone. The LAPD had called dibs on him apparently. He was sure when he explained what a criminal the little freak was they would be more understanding that he was a successful businessman and upstanding pillar of the community.
Then the cell door opened and he was lead to a room for questioning.
"Isn't this awful late at night?" he asked nervously. Perhaps he was going to experience "police brutality". Petunia was going to be so upset. He should never have come here to this wild country.
He was seated at a table and the man known as Lucifer Morningstar entered the room and gave him a smile that made chills break out.
"You frightened my son today. You terrified him and tried to take him away from me. Normally, I would give you a taste of the hell you seem bound for, but I've decided to do something different today. To Vernon's horror white dazzling wings suddenly shot out of the man's back, but his eyes turned red. "You truly are dealing with the Devil today. I'm showing you both sides of my inner man, as it were, so you don't go mad."
Vernon trembled and choked in terror. This was real. There really was a devil. This was worse than freaks.
"I'm giving you a gift, a new gift of empathy, Mr. Dursley. You are going to feel all the fear, pain, hunger and loneliness you put my son through, and it's going to last all your life, on a constant loop until you change or die. I'm very good with loops, so it will be very interesting how you deal with it. Every quiet moment you have with be filled with Harry's pain and anguish. If you feel real repentance, it will start to fade, but I somehow doubt that will happen. The choice how you deal with it is up to you."
And suddenly he was hungry, incredibly hungry, and in pain, unimaginable pain, his bones felt broken, his head hurt, and he screamed. His hands felt as though someone had stomped on them and he remembered doing that to the freak long ago when he'd annoyed him.
Lucifer smiled at him, and left him. They took him back to his cell and he sobbed in misery and despair until he fell asleep on the cot and dreamed of being raped by someone who told him he was worthless.