Disclaimer: I'm too young to be Rowling so there is sadly no way Harry Potter is mine…
Placing: 29 years after the second war and about 6 after the first
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WALLPAPER ROOM
sSs
Small hands shredded ugly, flowery, pinkish wallpaper gleefully.
The wall beneath was destroyed with a hammer just as gleefully as the wallpaper had been shredded.
In the end, the appearance of wires stopped the destruction.
After the wires were uncovered at that place, the following destruction centered on uncovering more of the wires.
"Re-no-va-tion! Re-no-va-tion!" Harry hummed happily.
He was currently renovating the upper floor hallway.
"You're aware that you can't call this renovating," the book next to him pointed out.
Harry looked at it innocently.
"You have always have to start somewhere - and with renovating, this somewhere mostly is destruction," he pointed out rationally. "So, I think this qualifies as renovating, Ledger."
"Don't you want to do something else instead?" Ledger replied and fluttered its pages as if it was looking around the hallway.
"What?" Harry countered. "Paperwork?!"
Ledger just hummed, so Harry frowned at the book.
"I've been doing you damn paperwork every night for years now," he pointed out to the book. "I don't need to do more when I'm awake!"
"Don't complain," Ledger countered. "At least doing paperwork keeps the nightmares at bay."
"Paperwork is a nightmare of its own," Harry replied and rolled his eyes. "I'm quite sure it doesn't count when it comes to that argument."
Ledger huffed.
"You make it sound as if you've had nightmares every day for years!"
Harry nodded gravely.
"Since I count paperwork as nightmares - sure I did," he agreed seriously.
Ledger huffed again.
"You're unbelievable!" It pointed out fondly.
"Sure," Harry agreed before cocking his head to the side. "What do you think? Would Malfoy mind a bit of a magical clean-up in house - or do I have to say in country? - before we take over Hogwarts or does he want to wait until after?"
Ledger rustled its pages - which basically meant it was thinking.
"Since when did you plan to take over Hogwarts?" It asked the boy who was currently ripping a socket out of the wall.
The wires sparked.
Harry looked at it with interest.
"Oh!" He said. "Maybe I should try to do that again."
Ledger's pages fluttered.
"Are you telling me you're that eager to find out what a death by electricity feels like?" It huffed.
Harry crooked his head thoughtfully.
"Does it hurt?" He asked interestedly.
"Of course it does!" Ledger countered. "If you don't believe me - try it!"
Harry looked thoughtfully at the exposed wires.
"When do I meet the others again?" He asked in contemplation. "Saturday, right? That's in... four days, is it?"
"That's tomorrow," Ledger said huffing.
Harry blinked surprised.
"Oh?" He asked. "Already?!"
"Yes!"
Harry blinked again and then looked down the hallway with it's exposed wires.
"But I haven't yet given any thought about this hallway's new look," he said a bit dismayed.
"So... you want to skip the meeting in favour of renovating the hallway?" Ledger countered and if it could have raised an eyebrow, it would have.
Harry contemplated the idea.
"I... think that I don't," he finally said and then looked around thoughtfully. "I guess it's time to get going anyway. If I stay any longer, the neighbours might want to talk to me - and I surely don't want to talk to them in any way or form!"
"You mean you don't want to explain to them why you renovated the house and play hide and seek with your aunt."
Harry blinked.
"Aunt? What aunt?" He asked, confused for a second, then he slapped himself. "Ah! That aunt!"
He contemplated that thought a bit longer.
"Where is she anyway?"
Ledger huffed.
"Shouldn't you know the answer to that?" It countered.
Harry tipped his fingers against his chin.
"Hmm," he said. "I remember she was in the refrigerator yesterday -"
"Three days ago," the book corrected him.
"After that she should have ended up in the garden shed... it's nice and wet in there and after that... oh! The old cupboard in the attic - since my own cupboard is currently occupied!"
If Ledger had eyes, it would have stared at Harry.
"Somehow," it said slowly. "I get the idea that you have something of a grudge against your aunt."
Harry blinked innocently.
"Do I?" He asked seemingly surprised. "I never noticed."
Ledger huffed.
"Vicious little b-"
"My parents were married!"
"Biest," Ledger ammented without missing a beat, clearly used to Harry's injections.
Harry nodded approvingly.
"That, I can live with," he agreed and then looked first down the hallway and then to the wires in his hand.
"The meeting was in three days, was it?" He asked thoughtfully.
"Tomorrow!" Ledger corrected him a second time. "I told you just seconds ago!"
Harry pouted.
"Yeah, well," he countered. "And I was contemplating to test out dying by electricity and hallway renovation! Next time, tell me when my mind is less busy!"
Ledger sighed, well used to its master's odd behaviour patterns.
"You don't have time to try out death by electricity and finish up your... redecoration. So - what do you want more? Death by electricity or redecoration?"
Harry contemplated that.
"Hard decision," he finally announced. "I... think I need a bit more data before I decide."
"Data?" Ledger asked warily.
Harry smiled at the book next to him. It was a creepy smile and slightly unhinged.
"How far away is the nearest fire-department?" he asked innocently.
"How should I know?" Ledger countered. "I'm a book!"
Harry shrugged.
"Just show me one of the firemen who work there - at best one who will die at work from a heart-attack or some such."
"Heartattack?"
Harry shrugged.
"Smoke inhalation etc. won't happen at the fire-department - so, heart-attack or another, similar medical condition," he pointed out happily.
For a moment, the answer was the turning of pages, then the book stopped.
"Oh!" It said. "Listen to that! Heart-attack while sliding down the pole. Died on impact on the floor. Broken neck."
"Poor sap," Harry decided. "Address?"
Ledger rattled it down.
Harry nodded slowly, then got up and went to the attic where he opened the door of the old cupboard to look at his aunt.
His aunt glared back at him so Harry reached out and removed the duck tape that kept her silent.
"How long do you need to get to the fire-department from here?" And when his aunt just glared at him, he thoughtfully rattled down the address he had found.
"Ten minutes," his aunt answered, her glare deepening. "Why do you care, boy?"
Harry just patted her head as if she was a pet.
"Good aunt," he said and refixed the duck tape, checked if the hare bottle attached to it was still filled with enough water and then closed the door again to leave her be.
He knew that his aunt always prefered to have her peace.
That done, Harry returned to his renovation.
"So... what did you find out?" Ledger asked interested.
"Ten minutes," Harry said. "But I could add some Fiendfyre to it. It should speed up the whole thing without anybody the wiser about it."
Then he crooked his head.
"It would also remove a lot of evidence in here," he looked around a bit sadly.
"Do you really think they'd accuse a six-year-old?" Ledger countered.
Harry crooked his head thoughtfully.
"Do you think Aunt Petunia would?" He asked interestedly.
"Do you think she'd keep quiet?" Ledger countered.
"Point," Harry conceded.
Then he frowned.
"Does Aunt Petunia do anything important in the future?" He asked.
Ledger searched its pages and opened at Petunia's.
"Housewife... housewife and mother... housewife and mother and aunt... housewife... housewife... housewife..." it read aloud. "Well, if you count gossiping as important, then she does, otherwise... I don't think she matters much in the great scheme of things."
"Ah, good!" Harry said, before looking thoughtfully at the floor.
"Dudley's... nine now, right?"
Ledger snapped shut for a second, before it exclaimed in disbelief: "He's the same age as you!"
Harry blinked.
"Oh," he said slowly. "Right... I knew I was forgetting something..."
For a moment he thought that information over some more, then he scratched his head.
"Ah, I guess, he's too young to have done a lot of bad things already," he decided with a frown. "So... having learned patience and the word 'no' should be enough of a punishment for him right now..."
Then he contemplated some more.
"Vernon and Aunt Petunia on the other hand are grown," he said, before turning to Ledger. "Have I ever given somebody a second chance?"
Ledger contemplated the question.
"Does that one man count you allowed to choose between drowning or hanging?" It asked and would have frowned if it could.
Harry thought that over.
"I... think Hermione would have said 'no'," he replied.
"Then no," Ledger stated. "At least not since we met the first time."
Harry nodded slowly.
"I... think starting now would be redundant," he agreed with Ledger's assessment. "Good to know!"
The next moment he frowned again.
"On the other hand, I'm now in the past," he said to himself. "At least half of the people I know haven't done yet what I'd punish them for - and it's somehow unrealistic to expect them to know why they're punished if they didn't do the deeds, yet."
"Somehow," Ledger agreed. "Maybe you should talk that through with your cohorts?"
Harry blinked, then nodded.
"Of course!" He said. "I'm sure that at least Luna will have some sensible advice!"
Then his gaze turned towards the attic.
"But that doesn't help me now with Aunt Petunia," he pointed out reasonably.
Ledger fluttered as if it was trying to shrug.
"It's your judgement call," it said. "Even now, you've lived nearly all your life with her."
Harry nodded.
"And not a very pleasant one," he agreed unhappily, his eyes still contemplating the ceiling with a frown.
"But she's blood," he said, before his frown deepened. "Doesn't mean I want her to reproduce... well, more than she already has, that is."
He looked thoughtfully at the floor in front of him.
"Hmm... maybe... yes... maybe... aha!" He smirked, looking more mad than sane in that very moment. "I have a splendid idea!"
Then his face fell.
"Even if it means that I will only finish renovating the hallway and won't test death by electricity," he added a bit sadly.
Ledger pointedly ignored it.
"What do you plan to do?" It asked instead.
Harry didn't actually answer. He just grinned to himself his half-mad grin.
"You got some bones for me, Ledge?" He replied, suddenly looking up and at the book next to him.
Ledger paged through itself.
"Some," it agreed. "What kind do you need?"
sSs
The next day, an article could be found in the local newspaper.
"Mother kills husband and nephew - and tries to do the same to her own child."
The highlights in there were sentences like "The uncle and aunt abused their nephew for years", "The surviving son is severely traumatised and follows his mother with the accusation that his cousin was the one at fault for the fire and everything else" and "The mother is currently in custody and will have to go through a psychological evaluation."
In the end, Petunia Dursley was sentenced to a life-long prison sentence for the abuse and murder of her nephew and the murder of her husband as well as the tried murder of her son and her tried suicide.
Harry was devastated by his aunt's actions.
He had never thought her capable of murder - especially not of murder when it came to his uncle and himself!
So, in the end, he swore he would pick up his aunt's slack and raise himself as good as he could in the magical world, since he was now dead in the muggle one.
He also decided that it would be just right to sometimes come by and visit his cousin who was now living with his Aunt Marge - just in case his cousin needed an initiative to grow up as a decent adult.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Ledger asked. " I can't remember the last time you actually counted as a decent adult - and now you want to go and ensure that your cousin is?!"
Harry thought about it for a minute.
"Ah - I'll just have to ensure that Luna, Malfoy or Neville are with me, like that, I should do quite alright."
For a moment, Ledger seemed to want to object, then it sighed and left it be. There was no sense in pointing out that not one of the others could be called 'decent' in any way or form...
"And what about Hogwarts?" Ledger pointed out in that moment. "Are you really planning to take it over?"
Harry hummed.
"Who knows?" he finally said when Ledger nudged him. "Luna is the one with the master plan, after all - and Neville the strategist. Malfoy and I are just the grunts who will make it happen."
"That's... not an answer," Ledger pointed out. "And it's also not true. You're my Master - there is no way you could end up somebody's grunt boy in any way or form."
Harry pouted.
"But doing what somebody else says is so much easier!" He complained.
"And yet you refuse to do paperwork no matter how often I tell you to do it," Ledger countered.
Harry blinked surprised.
"Point," he agreed, before looking thoughtfully at the book in his arms while walking down the street towards Diagon Alley and the meeting point with the others.
"So... maybe I'm not a grunt... but somebody inspired by Luna and Neville?" he suggested after a few minutes of silence.
Ledger nodded slowly.
"I guess, I can live with that," it agreed before returning to the first point in their discussion... or well, a variation thereof, at least. "Nevertheless, what about Hogwarts? I mean, don't you think that at least Dumbledore will hear the news that you died?"
Harry blinked and thought it over.
"How?" He asked.
"Your babysitter, Mrs. Figg?" Ledger pointed out calmly.
Harry thought that over and shrugged.
"I don't think that Dumbledore ever read the letters she send him - and if he did, well, I'm already listed, so as long as I don't actually die, I will get the acceptance letter when I turn eleven... which should be about three to five years in the future."
The book's pages raised upwards for a moment, just to fall down again, lying flat and open in Harry's hands.
"I'm not commenting," Ledger said to itself. "I'm not commenting... I'm simply not commenting."
Harry pouted.
"What did I do this time around that you give me the disapproving look again?" He complained.
The book only sighed.
"You've been here in the past for over a week," it said slowly. "You've had access to a calendar ever since - and you didn't even think about looking up the date?!"
Harry pouted again.
"I was busy," he countered. "And it's not as if the date matters."
At that, Ledger snapped shut.
For a moment, the closed book was lying in front of Harry. Then the book opened again.
"I concede that the date doesn't matter for you, master," it agreed. "But it matters for everybody else so you should pay at least some attention to it!"
Harry looked at the book, hurt in his eyes.
"You're so mean!" He cried exasperatedly.
Ledger just sighed and maybe mentally wondered why it were always the nuts who did the best job as the Masters of Death...
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Well, it took some time, but here is Harry. I hope it wasn't too creepy (and yeah, I'm aware that he's definitely creepy in this story… *sweatdrops*)
'Till next time.
Ebenbild