Disclaimer: Got a riddle for you lovely readers! What black, and white, and red all over? The lawsuit I'd get if I claimed Harry Potter as mine.

Chapter 6

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The drive back to Number 4 was almost uneventful. It would have been a pleasantly uncomfortable ride with no talking if it wasn't for the fact that Petunia noticed the boy reading some letter and let out a prim huff that wrinkled her nose and made her appear even more like a horse. Or at least that's what it looked like to Harry, who had to work hard not laugh.

"What is that, boy?" She looked at the letter in his hands as one might a worm, "It had better not be a letter from one of those…freaks."

Harry was about to reply when he paused for a moment and smiled up at her. If possible she went even more white.

"Actually…it's from my godfather." He grinned up at her.

"Godfather? You don't have a godfather boy!" Vernon growled back at him.

"Oh I do," Harry's tone was light and nonchalant, "he broke out of the wizard prison this year and is on the run. He likes to check in now and then on me, you know, see how I'm doing, see if I'm happy." He was hard pressed to stop the slightly malicious grin at the purple color of his uncles' face in the mirror.

After that there were no more questions, but he could see them exchange several glances the rest of the ride.

Back at Number 4 he was left to haul his trunk into the house where is was promptly locked up in his old room under the stairs. He was glad once more for the forethought of taking what he really wanted out of it beforehand and hiding them in his bag under his invisibility cloak. With his visits with Professor Lupin this year he might actually have a chance to finish all his summer work. Snape would be so proud, he though with a quiet snort.

As his uncle was putting a new lock on the cupboard Harry cleared this throat and waited for the walrus like man to look up at him, "What, boy?"

Harry hunched his shoulders, hoping the man would take this well, "I just wanted to let you know that I'll be leaving for a week in two weeks, uncle. I'll be gone one week a month for the rest of the summer at least."

Vernon looked like Christmas had come early just for him. Slowly he stood, "A week?" Harry nodded. "Every month?" He nodded again. "For the rest of the summer?"

"Yes sir." He waited for his reaction with baited breath.

Vernon thought gleefully about the weeks of freedom from the freak, but his smiled started to fall and he eyed the boy suspiciously. "Why?" He watched the boy grimace a bit before answering him.

"…I got sick at the end of term with-" but he was cut off.

"What? Are you telling me you brought some freaky disease into MY house?" Vernon looked torn between wanting to grab the boy and shake him, and not daring to touch him. So he settled for clutching his shaking hands and glaring at the boy who took a small step back with wide eyes. Dudley cracked open his bedroom door and came out, always eager to see his cousin in trouble, while Petunia came out of the kitchen to see what was the matter.

"No, sir! Mugg- I mean, normal people can't catch this." He said loudly, lying through his teeth. "They never would have sent me back if I was contagious!"

"Contagious?" Petunia shrieked, visions of infected door handles filling her head.

"No Aunt Petunia," he tried to calm her, "It's no big deal, really. I'll just go for my, er, checkups once a month, and that's it." She pursed her lips, clearly not trusting that he wouldn't get some freaky germ all over her house. "You won't even know I'm sick," he offered, "really, if I just got to my checkups you'll never even know I'm sick. Promise."

She looked him over closely for any sign of sickness before turning back to the kitchen, "You'd better not neglect the garden, boy." Was all she said before disappearing into her domain once again, leaving him at the mercy of her husband.

Harry let out a relieved breath, thankful for once for her apathy towards him, and turned to his uncle.

The man had a muscle twitching in his jaw that sent his mustache twitching as well, but he seemed mildly calmed down now. After a few more moments he growled out, "And these…people. They won't bother us for any money, right? Because I'll not pay because you picked up some freaky illness, boy!"

He nodded, "It's already all paid for Uncle Vernon."

The men nodded back curtly, "Fine, see that you don't bother us."

"Yes, sir," he murmured as he made his way to his room to unpack. He fully intended to keep out of their sight.

However a week and a half later his resolve was crumbling. Things had gone well for the first week. He did his chores and ignored his cousin, and spent the nights doing his assignments under his sheets with a flashlight.

But the day before yesterday he'd started to really notice a change in himself. His senses had improved greatly, making being around his odorous almost physically painful. His glasses now only made things slightly less fuzzy, but his eyesight was still not good enough to go without them.

This was a major part of his issues as the glasses now gave him a near constant headache. The pain did nothing to help his increasingly short temper. Maybe it was because his was with the Dursleys, but he'd noticed that more and more he'd had to take out his frustrations doing chores to keep from hitting something or someone.

It all came to a head three days before Remus was set to pick him up. He'd been nursing a headache all day, and after spending most of that day outside in the heat pulling weeds and making the lawn perfect he was on a short fuse. Tired, hot and sweaty he trudged back inside and started up the stairs slowly with a scowl on his face.

All might have gone well if Vernon hadn't been coming down the stairs at the same time. Harry scooted to the side to let his uncles' impressive girth past and kept his eyes down, trying not to gag at the man's cologne.

Vernon sniffed and started to pass him as he caught sight of the rebellious and moody scowl on his nephews face.

"Ungrateful lazy brat," Harry stiffened and curled his hands into fists. He let his nails bite into soft flesh of his hands leaving marks. Better his palms, than to fight back.

"Just like your parents, useless freeloaders the lot of you!" Vernon continued on his way, his insults already out of his mind, unaware of his nephew losing control.

Harry had had enough. He would endure insults to himself, knowing he was only a few days shy of freedom, but he wouldn't tolerate insults to his parents.

"Shut up." Vernon heard the low growl behind him and turned around to lay into his nephew, face already going red. But his first shout died on his lips with a comical squeak.

Harry was standing in the middle of the stairs looking down on him, lips pulled back in a snarl showing slightly longer and sharper than normal teeth. His hands were half curled into fists and his stance was stiff. But it was his eyes that made the man fear this scrawny boy. His usually green eyes had turned a bright golden yellow.

A/N's: *Ducks behind her overturned desk to hide* ...Not my xiphoid process? Please? I had this at least 1000 words longer but...well, I'm a sadist and decided to cut it off right here. Bwahahahahahaha-*gasp*-hahahahaha!

The wait for the next chapter shouldn't be too long,

but reviews would certainly speed it along!

~Alice