Disclaimer: I don't own anything Harry Potter.
Chapter two: The Price
The faerie sat on top of the refrigerator in the kitchen of number four Privet Drive and watched Petunia and Vernon Dursley argue.
"You have told me about her kind dear and I won't have it in my house!" yelled Vernon, his second chin trembling in rage.
"She was your sister." Said the fae. Petunia stared at the floor with a pinched, sour expression.
"She was my sister, Vernon." She said.
Her husband blustered and gestured toward the basket on the table that contained a sleeping baby.
"Can't we leave it at some sort of institution?" he asked.
Petunia's eyes wandered over to the child.
"Perhaps." She mumbled.
The fae's eyes snapped to the woman's face, the fireworks of purple and emerald green sparkling dangerously. She jumped down from the fridge gracefully, her white hair, now highlighted with fiery red, trailing behind her. She put on unseen and unfelt hand on Petunia's arm.
"You know why that won't work." Said the faerie threateningly. "Remember the old man's letter."
Petunia bit her lip and slowly shook her head and the fae resisted the urge to scratch the woman's eyes out. She could only work with what she was given and right then there wasn't a lot.
"No." the horse-faced woman finally said. "We will keep him." She held up her hand before Vernon could protest.
"That doesn't mean we have to like it. We just have to make sure that our own dear Dudley is not in any way worse off for our charity."
The lard of a man agreed and the fae let out the breath she had been holding. As if on cue another baby in the other room began to cry. The couple moved out of the kitchen and put their new charge out of their minds.
The little faerie growled as she watched them go and lightly jumped unto the table, sitting next to the basket.
The contract was not yet fulfilled.
She had hoped, desperately, that the child would be safe with his family and she would be allowed to leave. She plied all her innate skills of manipulation and cunning to find a loophole but found none.
There was tremendous power given to her, but it was so singular in use that she was left with no other options. She had to remain with the boy.
Protect him.
She sneered as she looked at the smelly human and the red mark in the shape of a lighting bolt on his once sooth forehead. It didn't mean she had to like the creature, she supposed. He, after all, was the cause of this semi slavery.
The baby began to whimper and the fae rocked the basket back and forth without realizing and continued to grumble about her fate.
The five year old Harry winced as the plate slipped out of his hands and crashed to the ground. He scrambled off the chair he had been standing on as he did the dishes as Vernon lumbered into the kitchen red-faced.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE BOY!" he yelled. The child curled into a ball and trembled under the shadow of the man.
The fae jumped up from the floor where she had been making all the edges of the glass dull and unable to cut.
The hair stood up on the back of her neck.
"Don't hurt him!" she screeched "It was an accident!"
"YOU IDIOT! We take you in and this is WHAT WE GET!?" He continued and she knew her words had nothing to latch unto in the man. He bent over and grabbed the little boy roughly by the arm. Harry yelped in pain and she tried to conjure the blasting destructive force of her power.
But this was the home of the only blood connection of the magic's progenitor. It was not a sentient thing and it would not obey her. Not in this house.
He was shaking the boy now and she jumped onto his back.
"Don't leave bruises!" she hissed deadly and quiet as she latched unto the only thing she had to work with.
What would the neighbors say?" she continued. "If you strike him they will find out." She made it sound like a certainty. "When he starts school, all those nosey, good-for-nothing teachers and their prying eyes will surely notice."
Vernon stopped shaking the boy but did not let him go.
"They won't understand the boy's ungratefulness and his…abnormality." She said "They'll ask questions if they see marks. So best not to get into the habit."
The large man dropped the now crying child unto the ground.
"Clean up this mess, boy." He spat the last word.
"Then go to your cupboard." said the fae, wanting to get Harry out of the man's reach.
"Then go to your cupboard."
The fae jumped off his shoulders as he stomped out of the kitchen. But she did not land with the grace and ease she was used to; instead she fell to her knees and groaned.
She hadn't thrown-up in decades but she wanted to right then and there. Touching such negative and dark emotions was something she swore she would never do.
Dark magic never left anyone untainted. She cringed against the pain that some evil creatures sought like a drug and looked up at Harry, who had begun to clean up.
"Be careful of the glass, Harry dear." She rasped quietly.
A/N: Please feel free to review and critique.