AN: Sorry for not getting this one up yesterday but i was exhausted after the looong drive and sitting in a waiting room for a few hours at the hubby's eye appointment... So here is the short next installment, and I will have the next one up before midnight tonight i think :) Really glad so many people are enjoyin this. Again please be aware there is no beta, and this is all 1st draft as it is my 2017 NaNo. For those who do not know what that is, November is National Novel Writing Month! where you write 50k in 30 days without going back and editing or changing scenes... hence why this is only a quick grammer and spell check before posting it up...
Chapter3
Harry snapped back into reality like a rubber band being stretched to its limit and then let go. In response his eyes shot open, it seems he had dozed off for a few moments. Dudley was there on the rickety couch passed out, and his aunt and uncle were in the upper part of the thing they had rented on this lone rock.
As he glanced about recalling his memories of the talk he had just been having not so long ago, a screen popped up into his vision.
Would you like to play the tutorial? Yes No
The world around him seemed to be on pause of some kind. Slowly he stood up and began to walk around ignoring the choice he was going to have to make at some point. It was strange being able to wander about in the complete silence that was there.
Was he seriously going to waste his time on a tutorial? From what he had gathered in his previous life no one ever really did them, just clicked through them as quickly as possible just to get the game to stop trying to get them to waste time on it.
So will all his Gryffindor common sense he clicked no, but the world was still on pause. Looking about he noticed things about his pause screen. There was a time clock in the upper right, and his life, and mana in the upper left, and his experience bar in the upper center. There was no real reason to stare at them, but they were there.
Concentrating on the skill grid made it come into view. Right now it was just himself, but he had points to spend based on his past thus far. In fact he had a great number of points to spend on this grid, and it would take some time to plan things out, but he knew what he would be buying first, his memories of each year of school. That information was going to come in very handy. However he only had a few hours until Hagrid came to get him, and the faster that happened the faster he would get to see Hermione again, and it was going to be with her help that they would make this grid work the best for the both of him for their survival.
With a sigh he thought about closing the window, and it did. This made him grin, it was going to be a lot of fun once he got the hang of this. Once more he thought about un-pausing his life, and he watched as the clock in his vision to the upper right ticked off a minute, and then another.
Not having anything to really do for the few hours, he decided at least for the first two to wander about and examine things. So since his cousin was there, it seemed logical to start there.
Dudley Dursley: Born to Petunia and Vernon Dursley. Dudley is a bully, but it didn't have to be that way. While he bullies his cousin, he actually does not really hate him. Those feelings come from the spell that leaches magic from the surrounding environment to keep it going.
Harry shook his head as he read the description about his cousin. First of all Dudders didn't hate him, but the fact that it was due to a spell? Well this was definitely new. Or was it new? Could this be the same as it was from the last time he lived? Could it be that all of his relatives were just treating him so poorly because of a spell?
no time like the present to be sure. So very carefully he crept to the stairs that led to the second floor where his aunt and uncle were sleeping, in the only bed the place held. It felt strange to sneak up there to look at them, but he had to know.
Petunia Dursley: Sister to Lily Potter, whom she is sad passed away. However for all her grief at her passing, she is still spiteful and jealous that her sister was doted on by not only her parents for being a witch but seemingly a whole bunch of handsome men. To this day she is still jealous of her sister, and angry at the wizarding world for taking her sister and then killing her. Sadly this translates over to her nephew, she sincerely hopes that Harry turns out to be a normal child, because then she could perhaps start to love him. However she is still very angry at the wizarding world for refusing her the ability to go to school with her sister, and it is this that makes her so cruel to Harry. She fears that he will become cruel to her and her family and bring them into danger because of the hate and contempt many wizards hold for non-magicals.
So no spell forcing her to be so cruel, but at least he could see a reason for it. Not one he could readily agree with, but at least he could now understand why she was so bitter. Plus it was honestly kind of his fault that they were in danger due to the fact he lived there. granted he was forced on them, and he was almost certain that they had manipulated into thinking they had to and that there was no other option, and perhaps even threatened. Now it was time to see about his uncle.
Vernon Dursley: Married to Petunia Dursley, father of Dudley. Vernon works at Grunning Drills, where he is blackmailing his secretary into sleeping with him. He also is blackmailing three of his coworkers in order to get ahead at his workplace. He hates his nephew and world rather have dumped the infant left on his front step at an orphanage then take it into their home. He hates the boy landed on them, hates that he is forced to do anything for the child, and hates his wife for being so stupid to agree to it. Neither Harry nor Dudley know it, but Vernon has hit his wife for many things behind closed doors. with everything going on right now he is truly considering killing his nephew, and dumping his body in the water, and claiming that he got swept off this god forsaken rock and drown.
Pale faced he headed back down to the corner that his tattered blanket rested on the floor and sat down hard. He had always thought his uncle was cruel, and thought that he at least loved his own family, but reading that. A shudder passed through him as he thought of how if Hagrid did not come for him, he could end up being shoved into that icy cold water and left for dead. It also angered him that he was abusing his aunt, true she held no real love for him, but no one deserved that. After all he knew first hand what it felt like to be hit by that man, and here he was hitting the woman he married and supposedly loved.
As Hermione would say, his saving people thing, was rearing up in righteous anger. Whatever he had hoped for was dashed upon the rocks, but thankfully it wasn't his body at least. The big question gnawing at him now was, what was he going to do?
Here he was waiting for his birthday so that Hagrid would show up and take him away, and yet he now knew that something was up with Dudley, and that his aunt was being abused behind closed doors. That was probably another nail in his coffin with her, he was almost certain his uncle used him as yet something else to hit her for.
While he mulled over the new information he ignored the clock ticking away the time. In fact since he was not even looking at it, he missed the moment it struck midnight. Though it was hard to miss the door being brought off its hinges.
To keep things simple for himself he let everything play out just as it had last time, except for the end.
"I think my cousin has learned his lesson Hagrid," Harry said placing his tiny hand on the half giant's arm. "Could you please remove the tail from him?"
"Ah Harry, you is just as forgivin' as yer mum," the large man said with a tear in his eye. "Alright Harry, I'll take the tail off yer pig of a cousin." With that the man waved his enormous umbrella around and removed the tail.
