Chapter 2: Learning

As Aunt Petunia rose him early the next morning to get ready for school he still felt pretty exhausted but hurried to comply, not wanting to make her angry.

Though this time it was slightly different because Harry actually wanted the day to be over to continue talking to Lily whereas he normally preferred school to the boredom of his cupboard. It was a weird thought, but he really felt as if he wasn't as alone anymore, even if his only companion was a dead person...

Still, he couldn't help but keep thinking about his mother the whole day. Especially during class. Sure, he tried to focus, after all he would need these things later in life, but it wasn't as if he could show anyone what he knew anyway...

As always, the worst happened after school itself was over. Dudley and his gang went back to the Dursleys almost every day to play games and they always got bored on their way back, deciding it would be a good time for Harry-hunting.

The good thing? He didn't land on the school roof again, mainly because they had started chasing him after they had already left school grounds behind.

The bad thing? He got caught. But at least the beating didn't last forever - the boys weren't very good at keeping their focus on something, especially if that something didn't fight back - and he was actually getting faster. He was sure that he would be able to outrun them soon, especially since Dudley got fatter every day.

He went straight into his cupboard once he had managed to get up again, glad that he was only bruised, so there was no blood to dirty his sheets further. But still, it bloody hurt and he was quite happy to just lie down on his mattress and do nothing. He wasn't even sure if he wanted his mother to see him like that... But that problem solved itself as Lily suddenly came through the door of his cupboard. Literally.

"Wha- How...?", he mumbled quietly.

"I may be more than a ghost, but I can walk through solid matter... As for why I am here... you actually summoned me back when you were in school, but I didn't want to distract you so I kept quiet."

Harry felt himself blush in shame as he understood that this must mean that she had been watching everything. Thankfully, she didn't comment but said something completely different.

"I think you need to learn some magic."

He stared at her.

"But... didn't you say that children first learn magic once they get into Hogwarts?" And that would still be five years away, since the Hogwarts letter came once the student had turned eleven...

"Well, normally, yes. But I have come to understand that your living situation is not normal. Petunia has an unused room, hasn't she?" Lily asked, her face unreadable.

"Well... There is a guest room for Aunt Marge and a room for Dudley's toys..."

"Exactly! I can't believe anyone thought it to be a good idea to leave you here of all places!" She huffed. "Anyway. About magic. I thought that maybe you could learn a few very basic spells. After all, you don't have a wand and wandless magic is very stressful, especially on a child. Also, if you'd like I can teach you a few phrases of Gobbledegook."

That had Harry blinking in confusion.

"Gobblegook...?"

"Gobbledegook. The language of the Goblins. Mind you, I'm far from fluent, but I know some phrases to get you the respect of a Goblin should you encounter one," she explained.

"A Goblin?"

That led to another small explanation session about the British wizarding bank called Gringotts and the money system wizards were using around the world, as well as a few very intelligent creatures the wizarding world had to offer, like Goblins, Merpeople and Centaurs.

Harry even forgot his pain for a moment and he was really curious about everything. Especially about that magic part! Even the slightest success would prove to him that Lily was right and he actually was different from his relatives...! Also, it would help ceasing his boredom when he was locked into his cupboard for longer periods of time.
He couldn't wait to get started!

His first 'lesson' began slightly later that evening, after Harry had finished his homework that he would never be able to turn in. He still liked completing it, knowing that he at least understood everything even if he had no one to show it to.

Well, almost no one, Lily actually watched him working and even commented on his work, telling him when he did wrong and why. She even offered to check his homework regularly after he confessed that he could not turn it in.

But the real exercise began afterwards.

"Alright... I guess we will start with Lumos, since it's a very simple spell," Lily told him as he listened with wide eyes. He would be doing magic...! "It's name comes from the Latin word for 'light', which would be 'lumen' and it will normally light up the tip of your wand. But since you don't have a wand it should create a ball of light in the air. Now, please try pronouncing it correctly, because actually saying the word, even if it's just a whisper, greatly increases the simplicity of the spell. Non-verbal magic is something for later, alright?" Harry nodded. "So repeat after me: Lumos."

"Lumos."

She nodded approvingly.

"Very well. Sadly I don't know much about wandless magic, but you need to really want what you cast, otherwise it won't work. I think it helps if you concentrate on your magic, but I am not sure how hard that might be if you have never consciously cast anything. I fear we'll have to use the trial-and-error method."

Harry listened carefully. It sounded pretty complicated and not as easy as he had hoped, but he would certainly try.

And he did try. Every day in the evening after he had done his homework for the day he practised, with Lily watching over him. But nothing happened for more than a week, especially since after his punishment was over he needed to help Aunt Petunia with cooking or gardening again, which sometimes made him too exhausted to focus enough. He still did his best, trying not to get too disappointed.

And finally, about twenty days after he had began practising - it was Easter Monday and Harry had been once more locked into his cupboard, though he was very happy about that as Aunt Marge was visiting for the day and that way he was at least safe from her and her horrible dog - and many different strategies they had tried there finally was a spark of light! At first, he wasn't sure if he had imagined it as the surprise had destroyed his focus, but after he tried again he was absolutely sure that he could see some sort of faint glimmer in the darkness of his room after a while. And judging by Lily's small cry of joy, she had seen it too. He only needed to improve his technique now, he guessed...

He needed another week to manage a steadily glowing ball of light that illuminated his cupboard almost as well as his lightning bulb. Lily assured him that she and James - who Harry still had not dared to call - were very, very proud of him. Also he could begin trying to cast other spells, because the main problem of not knowing how to use wandless magic had been solved by now. The rest would be practise and focus.

Also, she wanted to begin his Gobbledegook lessons. And although he wasn't sure why she thought it important, the premise of learning another language besides English sounded horribly interesting to him. Even if it was just a very small vocabulary, like greetings, goodbyes and a few helpful phrases one might need when dealing with a Goblin.

Still, it sounded cool - harsh and rasping, not at all like normal languages - and he was really interested in learning something new. It ceased his boredom and he could ask his mother about anything he didn't understand and show her whatever he had learned. She always stayed calm and encouraging and sometimes even told him stories about her time at Hogwarts. About a Slytherin boy called Severus who had been her friend until both of them had made grave mistakes and about James, his father, who had been a Gryffindor and a cheeky devil but had gotten much friendlier after growing up. She told Harry about their mutual friends, Sirius and Remus, and about another person who had been their friend once, called Peter.

Harry listened to these tales with growing enthusiasm, wishing he would already be eleven to explore the castle grounds himself. He even began to dream of things like flying on a broomstick or changing into an animal at will. These things sounded so cool!

But of course, that also had a big downside. Life at Privet Drive didn't improve in the slightest and Harry felt increasingly nervous around his relatives, knowing that he could not let his new-found knowledge or talents slip. And even though he had always known that his life certainly wasn't the best, he now knew that everything could improve once he turned eleven, which made the waiting time just so much worse...!

It took another three surprisingly calm months until something finally happened to upset the delicate balance between Harry and the Dursleys. It was the end of July - Harry's seventh birthday to be exact, but the Dursleys mostly didn't remember it anyway - and he had made quite a progress concerning his magic. He was able to hold his Lumos for an extended period of time now, also he knew a simple unlocking spell called Alohomora, a severing charm called Diffindo and Reparo, a spell to fix broken things. Though he hadn't dared to use it on his sellotaped glasses that had broken long ago as Dudley liked to punch him in the face. Instead, he had first tried to cut some paper he owned for school with Diffindo, before fixing it back up with Reparo. Actually, he was very proud of being able to do these four spells, because cutting something while moving your hand over it did not only look wicked, it had also needed the longest to learn, because it wasn't just done with concentrating on a certain spot, he needed to move his hand while cutting without losing his focus. It was quite difficult, but he had felt great after managing to do it. Though Lily had warned him multiple times to be careful with it, because the spell could also cut through human skin. And Reparo could not repair that.

Anyway, the problem wasn't so much his magic, because that was developing just fine. No, it was the fact that Aunt Marge had come for another visit. Normally she just visited at Dudley's birthday on occasion - like on his fifth birthday when she had whacked Harry repeatedly with her walking stick around the shins for beating Dudley at musical statues - or sometimes on Holidays like Easter or Christmas. But this time she had obviously wanted to visit 'her Dudders' during the summer, even wanting to stay a few days, and as she seemingly was busy at Dudley's birthday she came over now.

Harry had been in his cupboard, happily practising cutting and repairing paper once more, when he had been called out to help preparing dinner for Aunt Marge's visit. His mother had opted to wait inside of his cupboard, not wanting to distract him while cooking and Aunt Petunia always demanded his full attention. Of course, he could have sent Lily back to summon her later - he knew his strange power a bit better by now though he still had not dared to summon anyone else - but he felt more comfortable knowing that she was basically there instead of somewhere in the afterlife and she told him every time he asked if that really was alright that she didn't mind.

So he silently helped cooking before Aunt Petunia sent him to dress up for Aunt Marge. Easy for her to say, he only had Dudley's hand-me-downs and his hair was all over the place no matter what he tried to do or how often Aunt petunia dragged him to get a haircut. Still, he did change his clothes, put on the smallest clothes he had - that still were about twice his size - and combed his hair even though it did nothing while he explained to his mother who Aunt Marge was.

"Vernon's sister? Yes, I think I remember her from Petunia's wedding... she looks quite a bit like her brother, doesn't she?" Lily asked thoughtfully and Harry nodded.

"She even has a moustache! And she breeds dogs... She always takes Ripper with her, her favourite bulldog..." he explained quietly just as the front door opened. He cringed as he could already hear Aunt Marge's heavy footsteps and Ripper's panting.

"Where is my little Dudders?" Her loud voice boomed through the house, though even from his cupboard Harry could hear the television in the living room, meaning Dudley was probably there. Aunt Marge must have thought so too, because soon her steps got quieter just as Uncle Vernon opened the door of the cupboard.

"Boy, don't dawdle and help me put Marge's suitcase into her room!" he ordered and Harry hurried to comply, just hearing a faint "Good luck!" from his mother before Uncle Vernon closed the door again and she was blocked from Harry's view.

The day turned out to be the worst birthday of his life. At first everything went by more or less alright. Aunt Marge coddled Dudley for a while, probably presenting him with money too and Ripper's attention was somewhere else, but dinner was a horrible affair.

"So, what's that boy still doing here?" Aunt Marge asked Uncle Vernon after she had finished eating. While Harry was glad that he got a normal meal Aunt Marge had continued to drink Brandy out of her small glass that was refilled by his uncle more times than he could count. And she was worse when she drank a lot. "Wasn't there a boarding school to send him to?"

Uncle Vernon grimaced. "You know how it is, boarding schools are expensive... but we're thinking of sending him to St. Brutus's once he turns eleven. It's a school for hopeless cases like him."

Harry just stared at his plate. He knew he would get his Hogwarts letter on his eleventh birthday, but what if the Dursleys did not let him go? He really needed to ask his mother about that! He did not want to go to some school for 'hopeless cases'...

"Right, of course... Honestly, sometimes I wonder why you put up with him, he'll just be a bad influence to poor Dudders. How did you end up with him again?"

"His parents died in a car crash," Aunt Petunia threw in stiffly and Aunt Marge huffed.

"Of course. They were probably drunkards, eh? I don't want to know how such a son might turn out once he's older. It's just like with dogs, if the parents are underbred the whelp won't develop into something good. Best beat some sense into it as long as it's still young, though that doesn't always work."

By now, Harry was getting angry. He didn't care about her stupid dogs, but his parents hadn't been drunkards! They had been magical and very strong, too!

But Aunt Marge hadn't finished yet. "Really, it's all in his blood!" she said while taking another big sip from her glass. "Nothing against your family Petunia, but there are bad seeds even among the best. Though his father probably wasn't much better. After all, what do they say? Like will to like and everything."

"That's not true!" Harry finally burst out, catching the attention of everyone at the table - except for Dudley, who was still eating.

Uncle Vernon had already opened his mouth, probably to tell him off, but Aunt Marge beat him to it.

"Is it not? Well, maybe it is just your mother, after all, if the bitch is foul the whelp can't turn out much better, even if it had a decent father."

"My parents weren't bad people!" he nearly shouted, though he knew that this probably wouldn't help his cause. But he had had three months to learn what a wonderful woman his mother was, the nicest person he had ever encountered, he simply couldn't listen how she was insulted by someone who barely knew her!

"Go to your cupboard!" Uncle Vernon ordered, already almost purple in his face from anger.

"Please Vernon, let the boy talk," Aunt Marge interjected, looking straight at Harry. "Now, boy, how can it be that drunkards killing themselves in a car crash weren't bad people, huh? Stop lying to yourself!"

"They weren't drunkards! They were nice!" Harry responded angrily, only barely refraining from commenting that they also didn't die in a car crash. But he caught himself in time.

Aunt Marge just raised one of her bushy eyebrows. "So you want to tell me that they were too dumb to drive properly? Fine by me, just what I expec-" She stopped, startled, as the light bulb of the kitchen lamp exploded. By now, Uncle Vernon was glaring at Harry looking beyond furious. As Aunt Petunia made sure that Aunt Marge hadn't been hurt from the flying shards of glass Uncle Vernon grabbed Harry sharply by his wrist, pulling him out of the kitchen and closed the door behind them. Then, he did something quite unexpected.

He slapped Harry across the face.

As the burning pain made him tear up involuntarily, Uncle Vernon gripped his collar and pulled him closer.

"You will not talk back to my sister that way ever again! And I don't care how you made that light bulb explode but I can tell you that you won't leave your cupboard for at least two weeks, starting right now!" he hissed, his face distorted with rage, before he opened the door of the cupboard, throwing Harry inside, closing and locking it immediately afterwards.

Harry needed a few moments to collect himself, especially since his head had connected painfully with the wall of the cupboard, but once his eyes had grown accustomed to the sudden darkness he could see that his mother was still there. And she was looking positively livid.

"We're leaving today."

A new chapter for you!
I had a bit of trouble writing it, mostly because Aunt Marge is quite difficult to write with all of her hatred (and I didn't want to use the same phrases she used when Harry was thirteen in the books). Still, I hope it was alright.

Poor Harry, but in the next chapter, there will be a major change waiting for him... obviously? ;)

A big thank you to all of my reviewers, I'm very interested in reading all of your feedback and suggestions... some of the latter even get me thinking if I could fit them into the story... Though the base of the story is roughly worked out now, concerning a lot of the time before Harry gets to Hogwarts. But there might be a bit more room for suggestions, depending on what they might entail. :)

Regards, Violet-san