Under New Management:

Harry awoke the next morning and waited for Vernon to command him to prepare breakfast. When the man arrived at the cupboard, he issued the instructions and omitted the habitual acid.

The voice sounded so neutral, that it left Harry confused, even though he was quite aware of his involvement in Vernon's altered behaviour.

Vernon after eating his breakfast instructed Harry to commit himself to his usual chores. Today, he was responsible for attending to the flowers, painting the fence, cleaning all the windows and finishing all the laundry. It was at this point there seemed to be a strained vein that throbbed on Vernon's forehead after he issued the relevant orders. Harry looked on, as he waited patiently to test his ability to bend people to his will. The common threat included that if he did not complete all his chores at the end of the day he would be starved.

The threat never materialised, and Harry exhaled and emptied the air that had been lingering in his lungs. Vernon then informed Harry that he was going to collect Petunia and Dudley from Marge's house. Vernon apparently as a weak-minded individual had taken Harry's suggestions and ran with it, like a robber who had stolen something valuable. It was at that point that Harry drew upon his magic and reinforced a particular outcome that he desired for the afternoon.

"When they get home, explain why things have to change. Remind them of prison? And my ice-cream money, don't forget that" Harry commanded, with an almost casual but mildly threatening voice. Vernon, now a tamed puppy rather than the bulldog persona he usually espoused, nodded in submissive agreement.

Harry continued to do his work and heard the S.U.V pull out of the driveway. He was only too happy to walk down the road to an ice cream place he had always wanted to visit. The owner found it strange that the boy had come by himself, but then his voice sounded rather confident and sure, even if he looked a bit scruffy. Harry took multiple scoops of ice cream, sprinkles and everything else he could imagine, and he ate the whole thing at the table, that possessed a multicoloured umbrella. He was immensely now immensely satisfied. After enjoying himself very much, he walked back home and resumed the chores.

Shortly before lunch, the S.U.V arrived and there was a hushed conversation in the kitchen. Harry had decided he wanted to hear what was being said – he could see through the open window at the back of the house, that there was great panic on the Dursley's facial expressions. He wondered if his Jedi-esque powers could help him. He communicated with the buzzing entity inside himself and whispered "Lemme see and hear everything?"

Harry would learn his first rule of intent-based wandless magic, the hard way. Harry stood in shock as the entire landscape changed. Sure, the house was there, but he could now see the electricity flowing in the house? Also, present were a lot of squiggly energy waves that bounced around in the air. He figured that somehow he was seeing radio waves as the energy seemed to conduct to a radio that was visible in the kitchen. But the most interesting revelation, was when he examined the house. There was some type of magic that was present at the Dursley residence. The house unlike all other houses in the neighbourhood seemed to have a huge dome placed over it. There were streaks of energy that seemed to hit the hemispherical shield and stop dead in their tracks. There were thousands of them! Harry began to wonder if the hooded men had been after him? Was this some type of magic that was tracking him! Finally, was some type of blue chain that was tied to his body and floating in the air, although it seemed that many of the links were broken and the other end was nowhere to be seen. With the simultaneous assault of all this information, Harry's head began to hurt with a migraine that was worse than any type of punishment that he had ever received. At this moment, his body erupted into pain again. He had lost access to the pain suppression and everywhere hurt.

Suddenly a faint buzzing was detected in his eardrum. Then, his ears were assaulted. He could hear all the birds, the crickets, the cars, the conversations, the songs on the radio, the buzzing of the appliances.

It was too much.

He yelled "Make it normal!" as he panicked, in severe pain. Harry's world became mundane and he suddenly picked himself off the ground, as he recollected himself.

Harry did not know it yet, but he had unlocked a new form of mage sight and mage hearing – abilities that allowed him to truly commune with his environment. The abilities biologically augmented the retina to invisible frequencies and enhanced the range and sensitivity of the eardrums. The electricity, the radio waves, even neutrinos that came from space via cosmic radiation – Harry could now see these things as large blanketing fields of energy when he activated this ability. After Harry recovered, he decided to try again. He thought carefully about the situation and then said to himself "I want to see and hear the people in the kitchen. And I want the pain to go away."

The numbing rolled into effect again. Harry could breathe easier now. His vision magnified, and he could hear the rather distressed voice of Petunia and see the crane-like motions of her neck. It almost seemed as if she was moving a bit slow? He listened in on the frantic explanations as he observed Petunia's incessant pacing about the kitchen.

"The police were here?" Petunia exclaimed nervously.

"Yes tunie, it has to be the meddling neighbours! Told you they don't like us!" Vernon replied. Petunia nodded her head as she had always been paranoid.

"So, you think they know about how we treat the boy?" Petunia asked in a concerned voice.

"Neighbours are probably suspicious. We will have to treat him decently. And Dudders too – will have to leave him alone. We have a nice normal life. It could all go to hell. If we leave him alone, it could go back to normal" Vernon replied in a tone, that implied that he had stumbled on some great discovery.

"I will talk to dudders. Do we have to feed the boy?" Petunia queried, with disgust dripping in her voice.

"We should tuney. The little brute could have complained to a teacher. Social Services could have gotten involved – but he was too dumb to talk. Thank God he is a mute donkey. But if one day something accidentally slips? Even donkeys can bray. We will become a neighbourhood scandal!" Vernon said in a whispered, muted voice.

Harry could see Petunia's face becoming scarlet red. She silently nodded and decided that her clean and well-maintained house was important and she would make adjustments to how she treated the boy, as long as everything stayed the same. Harry understood that he now held the upper hand. Harry would judge the treatment he received and tweak the usage of 'the voice' to get what he wanted.

Later at midday, was the first time Harry had been invited to have lunch with the family. Dudley was angry that Harry had an equal amount of food on his plate and Petunia had a frown on her face. Truthfully, Harry was impressed with Dudley's restraint. If he had to guess, Dudley's future lack of toys should he not obey had been the chosen disciplinary method. He wondered about his bird and decided that this situation would quickly become complicated unless the bird became a normal occurrence in the Dursley household. He loved hugging the bird, but he had school tomorrow. He decided to manipulate the situation so that his bird would be safe at home.

"Aunty?" said Harry in the meekest voice he could muster.

"Yes?" Petunia stiffly answered.

"You know how you said you like birds? That you wanted cockatoos? Uncle bought a big blue parrot for you. It is really beautiful."

"I did not buy a parrot!" Vernon mentioned now in a confused voice, still under the compulsion. After all, this was new information and he had not been ordered to comply. Harry then forced the voice on him.

"Yes uncle, you did buy a parrot. And you told me it would stay in my closet as a surprise for aunty! You forgot I think? Sorry, don't mean to be rude but if I forgot the bird, that would make you angry. I want to be a good boy!" Harry reinforced, with his magic applied to his voice as he spoke to the walrus looking man.

"Yes, Yes I did. Good lad, you are improving." Vernon animatedly replied. Once again Vernon's imagination filled in the rest. "Bring the bird, boy!"

Dudley knew something was off. It was Harry Potter's fault. He was going to punch him later. He knew that Harry was doing something suspicious, just the same way Harry had made his hair disappear. Just in the same way that Harry could sometimes teleport. Harry would suddenly disappear sometimes when being chased. But he had no proof. Dudley Dursley was not aware that he was now dealing with something else, and not his previous favourite punching bag. Harry went to his cupboard and explained to the phoenix that he had tricked the other humans into believing it was a pet. That way, they would ask no unnecessary questions. Harry then explained to the bird, that it was allowed to protect itself – it could shock assailants if necessary. He further clarified how he could make the other humans comply with his wishes and that 'they' would always be safe. The phoenix, impressed by the ability of such a young wizard to channel his magic, gave him a proud look and proceeded to fly into the living room and dazzle the rest of the morons with her amazing plumage and her bright blue-white colouration.

Harry was not aware, but the phoenix could sense the type of magic being utilised. The magic was not being abused. The boy could continue receiving mistreatment or could tame the rabid beasts that shared this dwelling with him. It seemed that the requests were for better living conditions. The boy was within his right to demand such things – these things were not luxuries, but merely common decency. No child should have to live in a wooden box, wear rags, have no toys, and endure isolation. No child should be insulted, belittled, and made to cry regularly. The phoenix had listened as the boy for the first time in his life spoke to someone of his sufferings earlier that morning, before departing to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. The bird appreciated how the young man seemed excited to talk to her.

Yes, his courage was beginning to come out. She would continue to trill and sing the Phoenix song every night to him as it repaired his spirit.

By the time night had arrived, Petunia had been compelled similarly to treat him decently and allow him regular showers and three square meals. She was to budget the money effectively and prioritize education as the main expense. Dudley had been compelled to study hard and stop all forms of bullying. The attic had been haphazardly cleared, and Harry was now in his little personal place with his trusty bird. Most importantly, the entire household would mostly ignore him, and he would complete chores at his own pace. Without people insulting them, he found the routine to be comforting. He could have ignored the hard work and chosen not to do the chores at all, but Harry felt incomplete without it. This small difference – the ability to accept and indulge in hard work would give Harry a massive edge over other wizards. For now, Harry was content to pass the time. Finally, Vernon had been ordered to apologize to his co-workers and his boss. Harry reasoned that Vernon without his acidic personality, could eventually re-earn a promotion?

Harry was aware he had a lot of money somewhere – after all in the interrogation Vernon had mentioned that Harry's father was a multimillionaire. Harry thought about how he might get access to this money so that he might acquire some personal possessions. Also, he was now aware that Petunia already knew about the magical world, and that she could provide a much more complete picture. Harry was pretty tired because using 'the voice' had drained the 'fuzzy thing' and he felt that any more fatigue would interfere with his ability to block the pain from his injuries.

Little did Harry know, tomorrow he would meet a teacher who would change his entire world. A teacher who would help him discover himself. But more importantly, a teacher who would make his world bright again.