Chapter two:
Vernon paused and turned around to where his nephew had been sat in the comer and then froze not seeing him uncle Nathan (Mr Kyes) chuckled and nudged his arm and nodded to the only couch in the office that they'd moved to,
Harry was curled up in the corner with his arms wrapped around himself as though trying to protect himself in sleep. He looked so innocent and nothing like the freak and monster that Petunia claimed every day, it was then that Vernon realised even with Magic Harry wasn't a freak or anything else except an orphaned, innocent child that was seriously quiet and shy but intelligent.
"He's way too thin Vernon," Nathan commented looking down at the paperwork that he was filling in to sue the two offenders and to kick them out of his company along with police reports, "You should take him to the doctors and get him checked, he's rather pale as well."
Vernon looked at Harry again and notice he was indeed really thin (he'd noticed that morning) and pale, but otherwise a good looking kid with soft and smooth – now he'd washed it – midnight black hair and bright emerald green eyes, that were hidden behind hideous round glasses that Petunia had obviously bought on the cheap. The only blemish he had on his skin beside a few bruises was a lightning bolt scar on his forehead from the night his parents had been murdered in front of him,
"I'm worried about him to be honest Nathan," Vernon admitted after a while of silence between the two of them, everyone had either left or gone back to their jobs within the building. "He wakes up crying in the middle of the night but Petunia says to leave him and he barely eats…he's always covered in bruises as well, and I rarely see him when I am home,"
"What about school?"
"His report says he's bottom of his class," Vernon sighed shaking his head in confusion; Nathan seemed to share that sediment as well. "Before now I could bring myself to believe that, but not after today."
"You think he deliberately holds himself back," Nathan stated more than asked, Vernon nodded slowly trying to remember what had been said at the parents evening that Petunia made him go to, "What about your son? Dudley, was it? How does he do at school?"
"Near full marks on homework or external assignments but only just above Harry in class," Vernon admitted then froze for the second time in ten minutes as he realised something, "I need to speak to Harry about this, I think he's the one that does the homework…Dudley doesn't exactly hide his hatred of his cousin,"
"Send Harry to a different school and then you'll see if it is Dudley or Harry really is bad at school," Nathan suggested, Vernon paused once again before nodding slowly at the suggestion.
"Do you mind…"
"Go ahead," Nathan smiled gently as Vernon walked over and picked up the small six year old like he was an expensive antique, "Oh and Vernon? Take the week off – I'll cover for you, fully paid of course."
Once home Vernon walked up to the guest room that Marge used when she came to visit and placed the small child into the double bed before walking to the stairs that lead up to the attic and thus his home office,
Once inside he turned on his computer and sat impatiently until it loaded full and connected to the internet (he'd put it in without Petunia noticing) picking up the 2nd house phone he called Petunia and told her to add another week onto her holiday and he'd pay for it because she deserved a break.
After he'd finished on the phone to her he called his sister to see if she could keep Dudley for that extra week – Marge doted on her large nephew and agreed immediately especially when he told her that he had the week off and wanted to sort some things out with Harry (or Potter to her) that would benefit Dudley in the long run.
Sure it would benefit Dudley…by teaching him to do his own damned work instead of getting Harry to do it for him and learning that you couldn't get anything in life by sitting behind a TV screen and being waited on hand and foot at your every whim by your mother and cousin,
A quick search on the internet brought several schools in the local area up but none of them that suited his needs, until he came across one particular one…It was Called Kaizen Academy and was on the other side of Surrey but on the way to London – it also offered boarding facilities, weekly and the student came home for weekends or full-time beside school holidays.
Kaizen academy
ATTITUDE DETERMINES ALTITUDE
We at Kaizen Academy believe quality students come from quality instruction! We focus on excellence in education and sports as well as the ability to motivate, communicate, and encourage students to reach their highest ability in everything they do.
So it was a sports academy that didn't just do sports but also a school at the same time, looking through the site a little more the prices of attending didn't even faze him (they did get £785 a month for the boy plus government help) and he knew that Petunia hadn't touched any of that money because she claimed that it was dirty freak money because it was from the magic world.
Dumbledore had explained that in the letter left before, the Potter's had been rich (still were actually) and the strip-end they got didn't even dent those funds or the trust fund because Lily and James had set aside the money already for a monthly strip-end for anyone to look after Harry until he was 17 years old in a separate vault that the goblins only controlled releasing that £785 a month like instructed…apparently that worked out at something like 200 galleons in the wizarding world, the conversation rate about £4 to every galleon.
Vernon grabbed a piece of paper and a pen as he started to work out just how much was in the account that the 'goblins' had set up in Halifax for them for their money, so it didn't get mixed up with any other income.
Harry had been with them since November 1st 1995 when he was fifteen months old, it was now January 26th 2000 (Harry was six in July), so…
12 (months) x 5 = 60
60 + 3 = 63
£785 x 63 = 49,455 (forty-nine thousand, four-hundred and fifty-five).
Vernon gaped in shock…there was another ten and a half-years of payments to come yet! And that hadn't dented the Potter's funds at all?
That was shocking,
Then again the marriage – Mr and Mrs Evans forced Petunia to go – had been over the top and totally expensive, so had the manor that it had been in and that had belonged to the potter family. James Potter had mentioned that the family was one of the old aristocratic families still left in Britain, apparently one of the oldest and richest as well to go along with that.
No wonder the man had seemed like a spoilt child!
Back to the matter at hand – the academy cost 7thousand a year to attend and another 1 ½ thousand for the accommodation if he took the weekly one not full time, plus the cost of uniform and trips…there was plenty of money left over.
Vernon cackled in glee,
Oh Petunia, the fool – Well if his own son got the best of everything including designer clothing so was Harry and Vernon was more than willing to put money towards it so that the account didn't get emptied straight away,
His wife and son were in for a big shock when they returned home and he wasn't just signing Harry up to this new school but Dudley as well – It was a military style school and it would do his son some good, Vernon's parents had ruined any chance of him being a sports champion (if he wanted to) and had encouraged laziness – hence Marge- and he wasn't going to do that to Dudley,
A big shock indeed.
