Chapter Five: The Little Chat
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Next stop, the Dursleys. What a fun conversation that would be.
I got off the Knight Bus directly in front of the Dursleys' house. It was dark despite it being only half past six, British winters for you, and I started walking up the short path to the front door. I paused in front of it, my hand resting on the doorbell. Before I went in I needed a plan to confront the Dursleys with. My best bet would be to use magic, I could threaten the Dursleys into going along with my wishes. But, I had no wand and no wand meant no magic. That meant that I would have to wait until my wand was delivered to do anything. Or, I could try to bluff them. Make them afraid that I could hurt them, either magically or… financially. I had the money, I could damage them that way. Canton and I had been discussing stocks, maybe I could ask him to buy up the stocks in my Uncle's company. If we got majority then technically I would be the owner of my Uncle's livelihood.
Plan in mind I firmly pressed my index finger to the doorbell and waited for all hell to start breaking loose. The door was opened by my delightful Aunt Petunia, her face even further set into a scowl than usual. Upon seeing me she let loose an almost snarl and yanked me through the door, shooting fugitive glances around the street. Once satisfied that no one had seen our little exchange she shut the front door and turned to glare at me.
"Where have you been" she hissed. "When we came home the house was a mess. You hadn't done any of the chores we asked you do. You had the whole day to do it and you have done nothing. What were you wasting your time on that could have taken the whole day and stopped you from cleaning one tiny house?" I sighed. She was upset. "Did you just sigh? Did you just sigh at me you ungrateful little brat?" She grabbed me by the ear and started dragging me towards the living room. "Your Uncle will be so disappointed in you. After everything we have done for you this is how you repay us". She continued muttering things along these lines as we entered the living room, and almost threw at my Uncle who was sitting on the sofa. He looked up as we approached, and seeing me his face started going a very familiar shade of red.
"You! How dare you show your face here boy! After everything you've done to us?" I was tempted to point out the fact that these people had done their very best to make my life a misery, and the thing I had 'done' to them was not clean their entire house but the look on my Uncle's face prevented me. It was his 'someone is going to die' face and past experience gave me the feeling that the 'someone' was intended to be me. i deciedd to bide my time and stayed on the floor where my Aunt had thdown me as my Uncle started to stand up, quite a slow process but eventually he was standing on his two feet. "We took you in boy, gave you a home and food and this is how you repay us?" The passion my Uncle felt on this topic was enough to make him tart pacing around the room, his footsteps shaking some of the clutter on the walls. Deciding I was safe. i set about standing, using the bookshelf to my side to help pull myself up. I ignored my Uncle's ranting, it wasn't the first time he had gone off on such a tangent, and waited for him to finish. My Aunt had been standing by the door through this, but had started nosing around my bags containing everything I had bought today. My hand shot forward and I grabbed them from her.
"Sorry, those are mine". She looked at me angrily.
"Yours? How could they be yours boy? You have no money you good-for-nothing-brat. How could you afford new clothes or books? Have you been stealing from us? Vernon, the boy has been stealing money from us, do something!" My Uncle ceased his ranting and looked at me in surprise, which quickly turned to back into rage.
"Boy! You've been stealing money! That's it, you'll be in the cupboard for a month after this you little rat!" He made a move towards me but I raised my hand.
"Now Uncle, let's not do anything rash here. Generally speaking a peasant harming nobility never ends well". My Uncle stopped in bewilderment.
"What are talking about boy? Petunia, what is he talking about? Did you just call me a peasant?" Petunia looked like a deer caught in the headlights.
"How much do you know?" I raised an eyebrow at her.
"Your skill at hiding my mother's positions is deeply lacking. And yes, to answer your question I know everything. Who my father was, who my mother was. "Magic" My Aunt almost seemed to flinch at the 'M' word. Evidently someone did not like the Wizarding World. "I found it all out, the power that I hold".
"Power? You have no 'power' boy. This is my house that I bought with my own hard earned money. I have the power here boy, and that is how it is going to stay". Bingo. Just the words I had wanted to hear.
"Yes, the money you have earned working at… what was it, 'Grunnings Drill Manufacturing Company'?" My Uncle glared.
"What about it boy?" I smiled.
"Well Uncle, as of two hours ago I am now the majority owner of the Grunning Drill Manufacter Company" His little piggy eyes opened wide in shock, then narrowed.
"You're lying. There is no way that you could have done that".
"Believe what you want Uncle, by tomorrow your beloved job will be gone and this house you worked so hard to earn will be on the market two months later". My Uncle looked flabbergasted, and his mouth was left hanging open like a goldfish. He was so surprised that his legs seemed to give way and he collapsed back into his chair. He looked at my Aunt pleadingly.
"He can't have. He's lying right?" He looked at me and then back to my Aunt. "Right?" My Aunt swallowed and looked at me. They had fallen for it, though I made a mental note to owl Canton and ask him to buy the stocks later as it wouldn't end well if my Uncle found out I had been lying. I needed insurance.
"Your father?" I nodded.
"I will soon be the Head of the Potter family. This means that I have complete control over my family wealth, and to buy Uncle's company cost nothing more than pocket change for me". I smiled and walked over to the large armchair in the corner of the room and sat down, crossing my legs over each other and steeping my hands. I'm not going to lie, having power over my relatives was a thoroughly enjoyable feeling.
"Petunia? What's he talking about? What 'family wealth'?" My Aunt looked at me distastefully.
"Go ahead, tell him. I'll wait until you're done". I stood up from the armchair and walked out of the room to the kitchen intent on grabbing a snack. I found Dudley in there eating a large slice of chocolate cake in front of the television. He looked up as he saw me.
"Why are Mum and Dad yelling? What did you do?" I looked at Dudley and felt pity for him. Don't get me wrong, he was an unpleasant little brat, but that wasn't entirely his fault. My Aunt and Uncle had raised him that way and only had themselves to blame for the thoroughly unpleasant way he had turned out. I walked over to the fridge and opened it, grabbing the last slice of chocolate cake. "Hey no, that's mine. You're not allowed to eat that". I ignored Dudley and instead opened the cupboard and took out a plate to put the cake on. Only after also grabbing a fork and making myself comfortable against the counter did I turn around to address Dudley.
"The thing is Dudley, things around here are going to change soon. Change a lot, and I think that I'm going to be allowed to eat as much chocolate cake as I want". Dudley looked surprised and opened his mouth to retort when Petunia walked in. Her face was pinched and angry looking, but her posture was defeated.
"I have told your Uncle… everything. He wants a word". I placed my cake on the counter and stood up straight.
"Of course. Dudley, do you want to come? This will affect you too I think". Dudley looked incredibly confused.
"What's he talking about Mum? What will affect me?" Aunt Petunia looked murderous.
"You have no right to involve him in this".
"He lives here Petunia. He's involved anyway". I started walking to the living room and was greeted by a pale faced Vernon. I nodded at him and resumed my seat in the armchair. A moment later Petunia and Dudley walked in, one looking angry, the other just plain confused. They sat down on the sofa next to Vernon.
"Well, as I have told Vernon I control his job and therefore all his money. I can make life incredibly difficult for all of you and I'm more than willing to do it, but I think that we should be able to come up with a solution that makes us all happy. I will allow Vernon to keep his job but I have a few requirements in exchange. I shall be allowed to come and go as I please. I will not be forced to do any chores in this house, no more cleaning your kitchen or de-weeding your garden. In extension, I shall be moving into the guest bedroom. I will be making some changes to my new room but that shall have no effect on any of you. You will refer to me as Hadrian, not boy, not freak. Hardriam. These are my terms, and you can agree to them or lose this house and your lives as you know them".
I sat and looked at all them. My Uncle looked angry but defeated. As un-intelligent as the man was he knew when he beat. And he was certainly beat.
"Fine. We'll do it. We'll do all of it. But we want to see as little of you as possible".
"Don't worry Uncle, the feeling is mutual. Well, since we're all agreed I shall start to move my possessions into my new room. It's been lovely seeing you all". I stood and walked out of the room, only pausing to grab my bags. It had all gone splendidly if I do say so myself. Now however I had work to do. Lots of work.