Normal (adjective): Conforming to the standard or the common type.
Given their attitude and general disposition, it would be a very safe bet to guess that Vernon and Petunia Dursley were convinced that they were Normality Incarnate, to the point of loudly vocalizing their displeasure at anything that even seemed to interfere in their little world.
Which would explain the poorly hidden dislike for one Harry James Potter. Granted, their treatment of him wasn't violent or hateful, but they did do their best to ignore his existence.
Then again, there was that one time Vernon took a belt to him for calling his son Dudley a selfish git.
In Harry's defense, Dudley Dursley had been spoiled rotten his whole life by both parents, giving in to every one of his demands and pretty much producing a fat load who would throw tantrums and even resort to violence if he was denied something he felt he deserved.
None of them could explain it, but for some intangible reason, the expect screams, welts, and potential bruising...never happened. He could feel the belt hitting him, but it didn't hurt. In fact, it was more annoying that anything. Vernon, however, got madder and tried to hit him harder...
Until Harry growled at him to stop.
Literally...the bestial rumble he had let out had sent all three members scrambling back, pissing themselves in the process if their expressions were any indication. Since then, they preferred to just try and ignore his presence, outside of when they weren't saddling him with chores to 'earn his keep'. Probably wouldn't have been too bad except for the fact they had seen fit to make sure the rest of Privet Drive did the same, resorting mostly to lies and blaming Dudley's troublemaking on him.
End result, Harry's life was more or less one of solitude the first eight years. Not that he really complained, though. In that time, he found a
At least, that lasted until he met the couple that had moved in recently: Marcel and Bianca Despereaux. The Dursleys didn't hesitate to state opposition against ''a pair of damn foreigners'' living in their neighborhood, after hearing the husband's accent. Harry himself didn't really meet them until a couple of days later when he had ran into them during one of his rare free moments.
At first he thought they had bought into Vernon and Petunia's rumor mongering, but was pleasantly surprised when Bianca told him, "To coin an English term, bollocks!" They made sure he knew that, unlike the rest of Privet Drive, they didn't take the tale at face value. It didn't take long for him to consider their place more of a home then No.4. The couple was rather fun-loving considering their ages, especially one Winslow Homnibus who was apparently a family friend.
Life went on pretty much uneventfully on Privet Drive for that year..at least until the three of them dropped a rather LARGE bomb on the young man:
Him?
Harry Potter...
A wizard..?
And this, dear readers, is where the story truly begins:
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"No offense, Marcel, but that's not one of your better jokes. " Harry said, a hint of deadpan in his voice.
The Frenchman responded by simply pulling out a thin, foot-long piece of wood, and with a flick of his hand, made the nearby lamp rise into the air and slowly float around the now gobsmacked boy's head, "I assure you, Harry," He motioned to the others as they pulled out similar sticks, "Magic is real. And like the three of us, you are capable of using it." He motioned to the couch. "Might want to sit down, you've got a big explanation coming your way."
The next half hour seemed to go by in a mesh of unexpected info to Harry. He was irate at the Dursleys lying to him about his parents with the tales of them being worthless drunks who killed themselves in a car crash, unnerved about the real way they died, at the hands of a lunatic named Voldemort, and befuddled at the notion he had survived a spell that was said to be unstoppable.
But mostly he was furious with this Dumbledore plonker. Who the bloody hell did he think he was, just dropping a baby on the porch in the middle of November like it was a parcel and telling the people there to actually break the kid's spirit!
"Where the bloody heck does someone like that get off?" He growled.
"Unfortunately, people in our world see him as one of our greatest heroes after he bested a dark wizard by the name of Grindelwald; because of that, and the offices he holds, he's lost sight that the so-called 'big picture' is made up of several smaller ones." Homnibus explained, "It doesn't help that he's had the bad habit of thinking others couldn't comprehend things the way he could. Add it all up and you have a man who thinks he knows best and is quite willing to decide things for people regardless of their knowledge or permission."
"So he's full of himself." Harry stated rather bluntly.
"More or less." The aging man nodded, "As for why he's poking into your life, it mostly revolves about a prophecy concerning you and Voldemort."
"A prophecy that's a piece of grindylow crap if you ask me." Bianca muttered, "And that man believes it to the damn letter."
"What are you talking about?"
Marcel took the reins for this part, "Harry, we don't know the exact prophecy itself, but it basically says you're the only one capable of destroying him. Granted, when the tried to kill you that night, the backlash reduced him to little more than a specter, but he used some extremely dark magic to anchor his soul to this world. Once he finds a way, he will get himself a body again."
"And that is the main problem. Even though chances are good it was fulfilled that night, Dumbledore apparently thinks it's your responsibility to kill him again when he returns." Homnibus added, flinching a bit at the volume of the resulting yell.
"WHAT! How the flippin' hell is it MY job! If I've already done my bit, let someone else take care of that nutter when he comes back!"
"Once that man makes up his mind and thinks he's right, it's almost impossible to get him to consider another option. As far as he's concerned, you're his weapon to do the job."
"The hells be damned I am!" Harry snapped, "That old coot is off his rocker if he thinks I'm going to go along with any of his crackpot schemes!"
"We were hoping you'd see it that way, Harry!" Bianca chirped.
"Indeed." Marcel said, "Which is why we've already taken steps to make sure he doesn't get his way. Which brings us all to the crux of the whole thing. Like Winslow said a long time ago, when he does come back, people are going to need a hero, not a martyr like we believe Albus expects you to be. After Dumbledore left you on the Dursley's step, we took you and performed the Essentia Draco Ritual."
"Ok...and that translates to?" Harry asked, ignoring the small voice in the back of his head that stated his life was going to get a bit more complicated now.
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finally got this one done. Would've had it up earlier but between school and trying to find a job..let's just say free time hasn't really been plentiful.