Survival was a choice. If he didn't do this, then he would never survive, and he was barely getting by with the scraps the Dursleys were giving him every single day. He had done this before; ever since he had mastered some of his powers after studying his diary, actually it was a collection of scraps of paper documenting every single moment something weird happened, and he discovered that anger and fear were the reason why strange things happened.
With practice, Harry was able to open locks.
He could also make people ignore him.
He could make people do what he wished.
After turning his teacher's wig blue, Harry made little toys in different colours, and he was continually coming up with new experiments, but one thing he had quickly discovered was he could shut off security systems.
And he had been using them to steal valuable food and water for himself to keep himself alive. Whenever he thought of his powers, which he was positive the Dursleys knew about and hated, and used as an excuse to beat him, Harry wondered what he was. Was he a wizard? Was he a mutant, like from X-Men? Ultimately he decided it made little in the way of difference in the long term.
Things were going to change tonight because tonight he was going to steal money instead of food. It was a cold October night; Harry hated October since it was the month that he had been shoved into the Dursleys' life, and while he had mastered a way of making himself warm, he wasn't entirely shielded from the chilly weather, and his coat was too thin to really make a difference.
The street was dark, the light from the street lamps reflecting on the moisture on the ground. It had been raining for days, and the puddles were still on the ground. Harry avoided each of them to avoid the icy sensation of the water leaking into his shoes. As he walked down the streets, a smile crossed his pale face as he reached the bank.
A few cars drove past him, but since he was too short and since he was keeping to the shadows, nobody really paid any attention to what he was doing.
Harry had walked into a bank, and as he entered and manipulated the security systems with his mind to shut everything down before he got to the money. As he opened the inner door, with a click that unlocked it, Harry stepped inside, further manipulating the desk drawer locks.
But there was nothing in them.
Harry felt that was logical since the bank staff knew it was possible that somebody could break inside, and he searched for a few minutes while he summoned the money into his bag. Once he was finished, Harry manipulated the bank and closed everything up so then nobody would suspect anybody, and then he went out of the door.
But in his excitement, Harry didn't notice he was being followed…until he was about 50 feet away from the bank.
"How did you get into the bank?"
Harry stopped and turned around, and saw a woman walking behind him.
The moment he spotted her, Harry stopped when she made him shiver. She wearing ragged clothes, her eyes swollen and bulging, gazing at him with wide-eyed greed, but a calculating smile was on her face that instantly put him on his guard. This woman was clearly mad.
Her smile was leering, and in this light, he could see one or two of her teeth were missing. It was unpleasant to look at.
And she had just seen him come out of the bank.
She grinned, flashing those teeth at him in an intense way that Harry felt himself shake.
"Mind your own business. What I was doing is nothing to you."
Anger flashed across the woman's face, but then it was gone and the leer returned.
"Ooh, you certainly have a lovely voice…how wonderful," she purred out, and while she wasn't doing it, Harry could tell that she would be rubbing her hands with glee.
"What do you want?" Harry demanded.
She grinned. "I want you to do me a favour," and she cast her eyes up and down his form. Harry swallowed, knowing this would not do her a favour at all. This was a grown woman, and she lived rough and she needed money of course, but compared to her…
"I'm not going to help. Leave me alone," Harry replied, putting on a brave face.
"If you come with me, sweetie-pie," she purred, "I won't tell anyone you broke into that bank, and I definitely want you to show me how you did it; we could be great together, you know," she added, licking her lips and grinning at her.
She stepped towards him. Harry stepped back.
"Leave me alone," Harry repeated.
The woman let out a creepy laugh. "What do you mean? I thought we'd be partners," she pouted at him. "And at this hour, who'll care?"
Harry knew she was right, and he was chilled by that. But he refused to go anywhere with this woman. He bit his lip, stepping back as she walked towards him, her creepy smile scaring him more than the rage on Vernon Dursley's face.
But he hadn't bothered to realise there was a wall behind him, and after recovering from the impact of the wall with shook his bones, Harry watched as the woman took out a rusty-looking knife, and he realised she was going to either kill him or threaten him to come with her. The sight of the knife made him worry; he didn't know how to fight back, and he wasn't sure how good his powers were in self-defence.
The woman lunged at him, and Harry moved too slowly; the knife nicked the coat.
The woman lunged again and again, but Harry rushed past her, but she grabbed hold of his arm and pulled. She was stronger than she looked, and Harry yelped in pain as she tugged him back.
"You're not going anywhere, my lovely boy," the woman purred sweetly.
Harry's anger began to grow. It had started as a feeling within his head for the last few moments and as the woman tugged on him as he fought back, it felt like the desire to kill. At that moment everything inside him was shouting at him to kill this woman quickly and Harry found it impossible to stop it. He flicked his hand, visualising the knife.
The woman gasped in horror as the knife was torn out of her fingers, but before she could do anything about it the knife slashed her throat. The woman gurgled and dropped to the ground. Harry shook the dead fingers off and looked down at the body, uncomprehending what he had just done.
He…he'd just killed somebody.
Granted the woman deserved it and she would have done unspeakable things to him, but now he was at the scene of a crime. Looking around, he hurried off.
From that day forward, unfortunately, Harry Potter changed. He became harder and more untrusting towards others, and at school, he became more violent towards his bullies. His punishments increased, but Harry was no longer bothered by them. In the meantime, the police and the public were shaken by the corpse of the woman he had left behind, but he ignored it.
Harry vowed never to be weak again.
Author's Note - The first of a new one-shot series of an alternative version of Harry. As you can see, he has quite a way to go, but as we go through his chronology, we will learn more about him.