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Warning: Not beta'd.
Chapter Two: Get Away
Dread was the only thing Harry was capable of feeling at the moment as the day when Aunt Marge arrived had finally come. To say that he merely disliked the woman was an understatement, flat out loathing her with every fibre of his being and it was quite mutual. However, now was not the time to allow his own feelings to cloud his judgement as he needed to get the information that was needed from Petunia and Vernon, and since there was no other way to get the information Harry desired. Enduring the impossible was what he did best.
His birthday had passed just the other day, a part of thought about asking Hermione's and Ron's help in searching for any information about his brother or ways that would help shorten the search. Only something had prevented himself doing so.
It was something that Harry found himself unable to explain, like a force within that stopped him whenever he tried to write anything about what had transpired several days ago. The newspaper from that day was safely kept in his room deep inside his Potion books at the very back, Dudley was able to distract them after their discussion allowing him to move in and grab it. It had been rare for him and his cousin to team up as they were now though Harry sincerely doubted that it would ever happen again, the reason that they agreed to the truce was because it benefited them both in the long run. One side had Dudley having one up on his parents while the other side had him getting what he needed.
It was a win-win situation as far as Harry could see.
And of course, it would be done magic free. The previous year had nearly rendered him magicless for the summer if he had been smart enough to cut a deal with his Uncle about doing extra chores, not that he didn't do all of them, either way Vernon had caved allowing him his school supplies. Petunia hadn't been fond of the idea making it known whenever he was in the room, verbally or by expression. He ignored it.
The only thing Harry truly cared about at the moment was keeping his end of the bargain that had been made earlier in the day. As long as he played about the story that Vernon had fed to Marge, the man would sign his slip allowing him to venture into Hogsmeade; the town located near Hogwarts. While Hogwarts felt like home to him even Harry could not deny the excitement at being able to see the visit outside of the castle walls, hearing stories from the older students from time to time plus there was a chance to use going into the shops in his advantage being able to access books and materials other then the library and the bookstore at Diagon Alley; Flourish and Blotts which he planned on checking out upon shopping for his third year books.
However, as much as Harry loved and looked forward to heading back to Hogwarts his mind was currently occupied on the teen in the photo. He was able to see the male's face almost clearly, this time. The distinctive black hair and dark eyes, that reminded him deeply of his father. His heart tugged roughly within his chest the longer he stared at the photo, his mind came to halt doing so. Whatever the connection between this teen and him was, Harry desperately wanted to know.
Somewhere deep inside he already knew the answer. But having his hopes and dreams crushed again and again almost made it unbearable to acknowledge until he heard with his own ears. Perhaps, it was his own selfishness surface, which wasn't very often. He could never allow it to. Both at Private Drive and Hogwarts, not with the constant threat of Voldemort running lose. Frankly, that was the least of his worries as the wizard was probably still out there thriving to survive.
Before his train of thought could continue the sounds of a car pulling up had rattled him back to reality, the inevitable had arrived. Harry took a deep breath and exhaled the air, promptly heading downstairs wearing a forced cheerful smile.
Not that it mattered.
Dudley and Petunia were already waiting near the door, rather Petunia pacing back and forth murmuring under her breath wearing a strained smile that revealed the wrinkles on her face. She had about as a high opinion of Marge as Harry did the difference between them was he only had to deal with her ever so often as Petunia was related to her through marriage. Their shared loathing and dread of the woman was the one thing that they shared in common, not that they acknowledge it. If anything they preferred to refuse to spend much time around each other as possible and even more so, pretending that the other didn't exist which was normal in the Dursley Household.
His cousin was parked in front of the television watching the latest episode of one of his shows only to get disgruntled as another report of the escaped convict, Black, appeared on the screen. The whale-like boy changed the channel upon the bulletin to another station that had his show. Another pound for his worth, as Vernon would put it. Excluding Vernon, Dudley was looking forward to Marge's visit, as she showered him constantly with gifts and presents much like his parents did.
Harry was surprised that Dudley hadn't become the size of a planet, with the way he was going and all.
"Oh Marge!" Petunia greeted in a false cheerful, as the door opened revealing the obese woman that resembled a feminine version of her husband. Walking over towards the woman and exchanged a tight hug, that nearly suffocated her by the looks of it. The fake smile plastered widely. "Shall I take you your coat? I trust getting here alright?"
The obese woman bellowed loudly. "It's good to see you as well, Petunia! And yes, that would be absolutely delightful. The trip was alright, could have gone better ya know. Sat beside this young couple," Shaking her head with a firm frown upon her face. "I sincerely doubt that they'll last long, not like you and Vernon my dear." Her eyes scanned the room landing upon Dudley, rushing to him like an elephant to water. "There he is! My neffy poo!"
Harry and Petunia almost gagged.
His eyes flicked to the woman's arm watching as she reached out and pulled Dudley into a tight huge, followed by a huge kiss on his forehead. Tilting his head to the side he was able to see an old bull dog, angry as usual. Harry was not looking forward to spending time with the canine. The memory having been chased up and tree and stuck there until midnight was still fresh in his memory.
The adults proceeded into the kitchen hurriedly leaving himself and his cousin in the living room.
"So what's the plan?" Harry asked Dudley, breaking the silence. His curiosity wondered what exactly the whale like boy managed to cook up, as he had practically avoided him the other day locked into his room. "I'm assuming that you have one, right?"
The blonde sneered at him. "Don't get all friendly with me Potter. Once this is over you and I will go back to being enemies, understand?" Not giving time for him to respond, he took out a piece of white paper from his pocket and held it out to him. "I made sure to write everything down for tonight, including possibilities. Aunt Marge is going to get you angry by any means necessary, knowing her. So don't get angry you hear?" Narrowing his eyes into a glare directed at Harry. "Keep it under control and your head down. Aunt Marge and Dad will be plastered around 7 or so, and head to the living room or straight to bed. At that time, Mum will be alone, that is when you move in."
Harry stared at him. "That's... surprisingly elaborate."
"What? I may not be good at school doesn't mean I'm an idiot." The blonde shot back at him. "I'm the only that's helping you with this, let's not forget shall we?"
"Right." Harry agreed, stiffly keeping his eyes trained on his cousin. "Of course, by that time Aunt Petunia should be tipsy?"
Dudley rolled his eyes sending him a flat look. "Mum barely has a tolerance to alcohol. One glass and she's done for. I should know, I've seen her do it multiple times." When Harry didn't comment the blonde continued. "So trust me, it will work."
"I trust you."
The overweight boy gave him a look. "No. You don't. Then again, I don't have much reason to trust you either so I guess we're even. Aren't we?"
"I suppose," Harry replied nonchalantly at the boy refusing to give up his ground. His distrust of his cousin was well founded in his opinion never before working together with Dudley in the past, not even school work. While the planned sounded thought out and somewhat detailed, his instincts telling him firmly to keep his guard up. "I'll follow through with your plan. Don't worry."
"Yeah, yeah," Dudley dismissed with a sneer elbowing him as he strode straight into the kitchen door, throwing him a glare. "Are you going to stand there all day or are you going to come and eat some dinner?"
Harry resisted the urge to glare. "I'm coming," Murmuring under his breath and followed him straight into the kitchen.
The day had done about as successful as his cousin had predicted it would have gone, not even five minutes into it Marge began to sling insults at him like no tomorrow. Coming to believe that he attended St. Brutus the school incurable boys, which Harry sincerely doubted existed as his Uncle informed her and the neighbours to stop rousing any suspicion of his disappearances during the school year. Her insults had become utterly laughable given the years that he had last seen her, easily rolling off of his back while attending to the cleaning. Compared to Snape, she was a novice at insulting. Then again she did have the Dursley genes running through her.
It took all of his willpower to push back the urge to snap at the woman as her insults began to become bolder and bolder with each passing minute, slowly hitting the nail upon his parents. The sound of glass breaking reached his ear, almost wincing as he could practically feel his Aunt and Uncle's eyes burn holes at the back of his head. Cursing himself for letting his emotions get the better of him, and moved into clean the broken glass shattered on the table and floor.
Skipping upstairs to hide in his room sounded good at this point. Unfortunately, Harry knew better then to even try as he'd be dragged right back down to suffer with Petunia. Recomposing himself and getting his emotions back in control were his top priorities, telling himself that the night was almost over and then he could leave. It was a part of the plan, get the information and then to the Leaky Cauldron. After all, neither his Aunt nor Uncle said he had to remain during Marge's entire visit.
Unfortunately, it felt like time was against him feeling as dinner had dragged on hearing the belligerent remarks from the woman, once again targeting his parents comparing his mother to "bad breeding" following up with calling his father a "lazy good for nothing".
He kept on chanting the permission slip in his head as Marge went on and on at his parents and how they died in the so-called "car crash" refusing to allow the hag to win. She was drunk out of her mind rambling onwards without a care in the world who heard. He gripped onto the chair angrily, forcing a crooked smile across his face straight at Vernon and Petunia.
"I think I'm going to head to bed. After all, tomorrow will be a long day, won't it?" Harry asked, curbing his words carefully.
Vernon exchanged a quick glance at Petunia. "Very well, boy. You can head to bed, but no noise or anything else do you hear me?"
"I would never dream of it, Uncle Vernon." Harry replied in a sickeningly sweet voice, the smile remained spread across his face and bid Petunia a nod while exchanging a glance at Dudley, whom shot him a poisonous look. His lips twitched threatening to turn into an actual smile until he masked it. "Good night Aunt Marge." Before she could even retort, he nearly bolted straight to his room again without looking back. The gleeful expression was hidden upon turning his back to them, heading to his room and greeted Hedwig.
The snowy white owl was perched on her swing staring inquisitively at him.
"We won't have to be here much longer. At least, for Aunt Marge's visit anyhow," Harry informed her making his way into the chair and stared into the pair of amber eyes. His gazed softened at her, letting loose a soft sigh. "After I get what we need, we'll head straight for Diagon Alley. Alright? That way you can stretch your wings as much as you like," His smile twitched as Hedwig let out a happy hoot. "Glad to hear that you're in agreement!"
The owl ruffled her wings and glared at him.
"Sorry!" Harry laughed, holding up his hands in defense as Hedwig shook her head and turned to the window. The breeze of the wind brushed up against him, relaxing him a bit as he dug out his Potions book opening it to the page where the newspaper laid. Placing it upon the desk, skimming his finger against the picture straight to the bottom; unfortunately the teen with the eyeshield over his face, did not have his name underneath and was simply called: "Eyeshield 21".
Why would they hide his name from the public? It didn't make sense to him. It was just a sport and position, wasn't it?
He could already feel a throbbing pain in his head. Too many questions and so few answers, he'd have to resort to other methods. Heading to Gringotts seemed like his best bet, as they dealt with money and family issues. However, Harry bit his lip contemplating, if they were unable to help what could he do?
"No," He told himself firmly, staring directly at the picture. "I can't think like that. I've just started, giving up isn't an option. Especially not now!"
Hedwig beamed, hooting happily.
A blush appeared on his face, as Harry grinned sheepishly. "Well I've said now. So that means I have to follow through, right girl?" The amber eyes glinted approving of his words once again hooting out her response, leaning over and tried to nibble his finger with affection. All that he had to do now was wait another hour before being able to venture back downstairs to question Petunia, the how fast the day seemed to be going it wouldn't be much longer.
He had turned his attention towards the homework that had been assigned during the holidays, the majority of it already finished and edited. At least going over everything again would past the time, and brushing up on his knowledge for the upcoming term.
As of which he had received the notice regarding the standard letter from Professor McGonagall on the day of his birthday, outlining the needed courses and whatnot. During the previous year he had chosen the courses for the year, only know Harry was beginning to have second thoughts on the matter; Divination sounded interesting and all as did the Care of Magical Creatures, but looking back he recalled the Study of Ancient Runes. He hadn't to get much detail of the course from Percy, whom he had asked during last year only being told to "play by his strengths" before walking off. Now that he was thinking about it thoughtfully, an idea sprouted in his mind.
Pulling a sheet of parchment from his trunk and his ink, Harry quickly wrote a detailed letter before stuffing it into his pocket. He'd wait until getting to Diagon Alley to send the letter, it would be a much shorter wait and give him time to think about the decision.
The sound of lights and thumping finally managed to snap him back to reality, noticing the dark underneath his door. He carefully removed himself from the chair moving towards the door and going up against it, placing his ear against the door to hear better. Incoherent noises easily penetrated his ear, mumbling lowly and hiccupping along the way.
'Vernon,'Harry thought to himself, letting out a sigh of relief. A drunken Vernon was practically harmless, merely annoying and far too happy for his tastes, which was odd as he had always thought growing up that the man would be a violent drunk or a very depressing one. As far as he was concerned it was his luck shining through again, opening the door and quietly headed to the stairs. His eyes glancing back to his Aunt and Uncle's bedroom ever split second.
He couldn't afford to waste any more time and headed straight into the kitchen, seeing Petunia holding a glass of wine in her hand wearing the strangest smile he had ever seen her wear. In fact, it was downright creepy and hoped to never see it again.
"Aunt Petunia?" Harry asked cautiously, the woman's eyes landed on him gleaming strangely. Taking another step forward towards her, he swallowed the fear building up inside. "Are you alright?"
The horse-woman giggled. "Alright? Am I alright? I'm absolutely happy!" Thrusting her glass straight into the air, the smile stayed. Before grabbing the glass of wine and pouring more into the cup, she then beckoned him over. "Are you going to stand there all day or are you going to join me?" She began tapping the seat next to her roughly. "Come! Come!"
'This is getting to be a bit too much,' Harry thought to himself, taking the seat in front of the giggling and smiling woman before him. "Umm..Aunt Petunia?"
"Yes?"
Harry ignored the urge to cringe at the smile. "I have something I want to ask you." The glazed eyes of the woman locked onto his waiting for the question. "Was I alone when you found me?"
"Found?" The woman repeated, the smile twitched turning deranged as the tone went an octave higher as if she had heard something hilarious. "We never foundyou. You and the other boy were dropped off on to our doorstep the night of Lily's and that Potter bastard's death!"
"Other boy?"
Petuina's face screwed up and becoming malicious and filled with hate. "Yes. That bratty bastard, looked too much like your father for my liking! Protected you he did, hated us with a passion. That brother of yours! I didn't like him either, too defiant and loud." Wrinkling her nose in disgust, her smile reappeared holding the twisted edge. "We gave him up! Didn't want to have another mouth to feed under this roof! Only needed you around because of the protection, why bother keeping the other?"
"You what?" Harry stared at his Aunt in complete disbelief. How could she do that? "Where is he? What is his name? How did you give him up was it an orphanage?"
The horse-woman giggled again, in hilarity. "No! No! No orphanage, just threw him somewhere, don't care where or anything at all. He's out our lives, and I finally managed to one up Lily! I have the most perfectest boy in the whole world, me! Not her. Just one child, you see!"
Harry's teeth gritted together, his anger rising at a rapid rate trying to calm it down after hearing those words. Just how low could Aunt Petunia get? "What was his name?"
"I don't know!" She announced cheerfully, throwing her arms about slipping the wine on the ground. "I didn't care to find out. I-we, wanted him gone. That's allI cared about."
His body began to shake violently the longer he remained sitting. Quickly digging through his pocket he pulled out the permission slip and slide it towards her, grabbing the nearest pen. "Aunt Petunia." His tone harsh and barely concealing his anger. "Could you please sign this?"
The drunken woman complied without as much need of persuading, signing the note legible.
"Thank you," Harry stated curtly, grabbing the note underneath once again stuffing it back into his pocket. "Have a good night." Pushing him off the seat, ignoring the pleasant farewell from Petunia, he was rather surprised that she was also a happy drunk. However, that didn't matter to him. No, what mattered was finding his brother. Dudley had said that the teen wearing the helmet with the mask looked an awful lot like him that was enough hope to hold on to.
If there was one thing he had learned; Potters were difficult to kill.
Without caring he charged upstairs and grabbed his trunk from his room, his wand in his hand along with Hedwig's cage. He couldn't stay in the same room, let alone the house with Petunia any longer. Afraid that if he did the woman would be no more!
After dealing with Lucius Malfoy and his attempt at murder the previous year the thought of someone even viler seemed difficult to believe. Now Harry realized that it wasn't.
Proceeding just outside of the Dursleys, he quietly closed and door bending down to his knees unlocking Hedwig's cage, watching the snowy white owl jumped out and perched herself upon his shoulder. Her beck rubbed against neck, tickling him.
"H-hey Hedwig!" Harry muffled his laughs into his hand, his eyes softened at her. "I knew you were dying to get out of that cage, weren't you?" He gave his head a good shake looking apologetic. "I'm sorry Hedwig. At least you'll be able to get wing room?"
The owl levelled him a look that was equal to a glare.
He shrugged his shoulders, with a small smile glancing at the lamplights. "This going to be one long night, Hedwig. A really long night, better get started," The roughly sounded caught him by surprise. "Or...find the nearest shelter, let's go girl." Placing the cage back into the trunk, he gripped the handle and walked to the end of the street.
Unaware of the pair of eyes prying at him.
He had been right. The night did turn out to be rather long.
Upon leaving the Dursleys he had somehow ended up calling the Knight Bus, a magical bus that could travel faster than a blink of an eye, and ended up learning much about the escaped convict known as Sirius Black; whom turned out to be a major support of Voldemort, practically his right hand. The man managed to escape Azkaban, the wizarding prison, which was deemed neigh impossible the rest of the British populace a feat that had invoked fear among the public as far as Harry had gathered from Stan, the conductor of the Knight Bus had told him in much detail about Black. The man's photo definitely made the man look rather unstable and deranged.
The Knight Bus managed to get him to the Leaky Cauldron, as Tom booked a room for him straight away the moment he had arrived. Collapsing upon the bed on he had gotten the chance, the window was left open for Hedwig whenever she would arrive in the morning. Which she had.
Unfortunately, when the next day finally rolled around he had been greeted with none other than Cornelius Fudge the Minister of Magic. The man in question apparently had been looking for him since he had left the Dursley household last night; the so called protection that his Aunt had mentioned somehow alerted them when he left. To say that he was annoyed at monitored was an understatement. How and why they were was the main cause of his concern, was due to the previous year's incident or because of his status as the Boy-who-lived? He wasn't so sure he liked the idea of them knowing when he wasn't at the house. Was it even legal?
The talk between them had come to an end, mostly being filled with concern about the suddenness of his leaving and made him stay near the Leaky Cauldron. The usual talk, at least from what he had seen and heard from other children; Harry wasn't sure if it was usual actually now that he thought about it. Not having a good parental role model had left him rather confused at some actions he had seen parents given towards their children, but he managed to grasp the basics.
Now was not the time to think about that. He had a job to do.
Heading straight to Diagon Alley, wand in hand and fully clothed, he ventured through the passage and promptly went towards Flourish and Blotts. He wasn't planning on purchasing anything as of yet just browsing the selection to see if anything struck his fancy or was capable of helping him for what he had to do.
He was caught by surprise at seeing how busy the place was during summer vacation, than again that must have been the reason. It was the summer after all. Harry dodged the bustling crowds carefully trying not to bump into anyone along the way, and ignoring some of the stares as he did so. After two years at Hogwarts he had successfully mastered the ability to not care about people's eyes being on him, it had become a part of his daily life nowadays. Admittedly, it was still creepy.
Getting closer to the bookstore he made a dash towards it, effectively passing through the bystanders in his way and made a sharp turn. His body spun around making another cut around a couple, pausing for a moment and darted again to make his way to the door. Grabbing onto the ledge of the door, Harry pushed himself inside and-
Abruptly, the change in his weight had shifted and he was somehow ended up on the floor staring up at a red haired girl that was laying on top of him, staring down at him with cold eyes.
The girl blinked slowly for several moments. "Harry Potter?"
..."Daphne Greengrass?"
The shared the silence moment together both trying to process what had just happened.
"What are you doing here?"
Chapter two end.
And so ends the second chapter of Wild Card, I sincerely hoped that you've all enjoyed. Unfortunately this chapter is still un-beta'd, so if you're interested in being the beta please drop a line in the review!
Make sure to leave constructive criticism in the review!