AN: Hi everyone. First I want to thank everyone who reviewed last chapter, it meant a lot to me. second, I'm so sorry it took me so long to finish this chapter. In my own defense there last few months have been very busy. I have had 5 exams, my flatmate moved out, a cold, computer troubles and unfortunately a funeral. All of which came within 3 weeks. So I have not really been in much of a mood to write.
Luckily we are getting closer to the summer holiday, so I hope I will be able to write more then. I'm delivering in my Bachelor's thesis at the end of this month, but I'm hoping to have next chapter up sometime in the middle of June.
And a big thank you to C.A Crest for being my Beta 3
.:*:.
Harry's plan was not going as smoothly as he had hoped. The plan was to sneak into the house, log on to Dudley's computer, do the research and get back outside before the Dursleys got back home. 40 minutes tops, had been Harry's estimate.
He should have realized sooner that it was not going to be that easy. Like most of his plans, something went wrong. Usually the problem was some factor he had forgotten to take to consideration, or something he couldn't foresee, that happened. On the other hand, he usually he managed more that 5 minutes before the plan went awry.
He had spent almost 15 minutes trying to pick the lock with an old hairpin he had nicked from Petunia. A handy trick George and Fred had taught him the summer before his second year at Hogwarts. He had taken the hairpin as a precaution just in case he was looked in his room, or Vernon tried locking away his school books again.
He knew he probably could have picked the lock in less time, if not for the fact that he had to keep looking over his shoulder to make sure Mrs. Green, from across the road, didn't see him. She had a habit of lurking in the windows spying on the neighbors. Then again, so did most of the people in this neighborhood.
Glancing around to making sure the coast was clear, Harry hurried inside and up the stairs to Dudley's room.
As soon a he open the Dudley's door, Harry started gagging. The intense smell that hit him was enough to make his eyes water. With wide eyes he looked around the room in horror.
Empty beer cans were hidden haphazardly around the room. The small metal wastebasket, overflowing with trash, begged to be emptied and a thick layer of dust had built up on all the shelves.
There were dirty plates stacked everywhere. Quite a few of them still had leftover food rotting away on them. On one of the plates was something that might have been a half eaten burrito once, or... possibly a dead rodent. Harry couldn't really be sure.
Piles of clothes were lying on the floor, making it impossible to get from one side of the room to the nest without stepping on them. Well this certainly explained why there had been so much less laundry for Harry to do.
Covering his mouth and nose, Harry reluctantly moved from the doorway and further into the room. Honestly, the smell was horrible. The room smelled worse that the chamber with the troll, from Harry's first year at Hogwarts. Both of them put together too, he reckoned.
The air was stale and thick with the distinct smell of tobacco. Dudley couldn't have opened the window in ages. Coughing, Harry moved from the doorway towards the computer. Making every attempt not to touching anything.
He glanced doubtfully at the desk chair, before gingerly sitting down on the edge. Cringing as he did, while silently praying that he wouldn't catch anything. Though he could probably develop cancer just by staying in this toxic infused wasteland for much longer anyway.
While waiting for the computer to turn on, Harry let his gaze sweep over the bedroom.
Dudley's room was the only room in the house where no one but Dudley was allowed in. Not even Petunia came in here to clean anymore. Something Dudley had insisted on last year, saying he wanted to be left alone.
Harry would be the first person to admit that he was a messy person. He had no illusions otherwise. He could be particularly messy if he was in a bad mood, or had been left locked in his room for too long. On the other hand his kind of messy usually meant throwing clothes into a heap on an empty chair or leaving books strewn around the room, as he grew tired of reading though them. Not… whatever this was. This was filthy, not just messy.
Suddenly there was a loud noise filling the room. Harry's head snapped towards computer, looking to see if anything was wrong. Was that normal? He couldn't remember any of the school computers making noises like that. Harry's heart started to beat faster, forgetting everything about the state of Dudley's room. If anyone thought he had broken the computer, he'd be done for it.
Vernon would probably lock him in his room until the end of summer. In his mind, Harry could see himself returning to the hell that had been his first summer back in Privet Drive, before his second year at Hogwarts. There was no way he could do that again.
Taking a shaky breath Harry studied the computer, looking for anything out of the ordinary.
For once, it seemed like Harry's luck was holding up. Nothing looked wrong. The screen was blue with a small picture of a man holding a gun. Underneath was the small rectangular meant for typing in the password. At least, if what he could remember from his first and only lesson using a computer in primary school was correct.
Breathing out a sigh of relief Harry turned his attention to his first, real challenge. The password. Looking around the room for possible inspiration, Harry pondered what Dudley would most likely to use.
Harry knew it was common for people to choose passwords based on that they liked. So he supposed that was a safe place to begin.
Food, Dudley loved food. Looking over the keyboard Harry slowly started typing out all of Dudley's favorite foods. Hamburger, Pizza, Ice cream, Crisps, Chips. Along with about a dozen other guesses.
Harry felt himself growing more and more annoyed as none of his guesses worked. In a fit of frustration he even tried typing in Fat stuff with cheese. Because, who knew. Dudley certainly loved that as well. Having once seen Dudley eat a mixture of microwaved marshmallows and cheese, Harry could definitely attest to that.
Once again letting his eyes wander around the room, Harry was contemplating what Dudley was most likely to use as a password. The bookshelf was crammed with all sorts of games that Dudley might have used as a password. Harry considered trying to type in some of the names, but quickly turn down that idea. It would take too long if he just kept guessing. He needed a better way of figuring this out.
The hint to remember the password, which had popped up after his 3rd failed attempt, only said Password. 'Real helpful, Dudley' Harry thought sarcastically.
Harry slumped down slightly in his chair, rubbing his palms into his eyes. Come on, he just had to think! It couldn't be that difficult. There was no way that Dudley, the most unoriginal human being ever, had actually managed to think of a good password. Dudley was probably to lazy to spend time trying to think of a good password anyway.
Harry sat back up straight again. That was it, wasn't it? Dudley wouldn't spend time on making a password. Small smirk of triumph crossed Harry's face. It was incredibly simple really. The saying "monkey see, monkey do" really was true after all. Though in this case "monkey read, monkey write" might be more accurate. Turning back to the keyboard, Harry started typing. P-a-s-s-w-o-r-d pressed enter, and voilĂ he was in. God, Harry scoffed. Dudley really was the most unoriginal human being ever.
Quickly he found the internet browser, clicked onto the search bar and... stopped.
Harry hesitated, was he really going to do this? The small knot in his stomach, that had been there since he got up this morning, made itself known by squirming unpleasantly. Who knew what he would find if he kept looking for his birth-father. Harry anxious bit his lip as he considered what he was doing. For all Harry knew, Mr. Holmes could be some sort of psychopath.
A psychopath who went around killing everyone he meet. Harry already had one of those in his life, he absolutely did not need another. Thank you very much!
He did want to know about his birth-father though. While Harry had no plans to contact, or ever meet him, he was immensely curious about the man. He could hardly explain it, not even to himself. Everything was just so confusing.
Harry closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Trying his best to calm himself down. He just had to follow the plan. Do the research, that way he wouldn't have to wonder anymore. Everything could go back to normal.
Breathing out slowly, Harry opened his eyes with renewed determination. Before he had time to second guess himself again, Harry typed Mycroft Holmes into the search engine and clicked the search button on the screen.
Did you mean Sherlock Holmes? was the first thing Harry saw. In hindsight, Harry supposed this should have been a clue that finding out about Mycroft Holmes, would not be as easy as he had previously thought. Ignoring the headline for now, Harry braced himself for whatever he would find, and started looking through the first page.
Most of the links Harry scrolled passed seemed to contain newspaper articles. All of seemed to be connected to Sherlock Holmes. Most seemed boring enough, strength of natural fibers, a list of different kinds of tobacco. There were however a few headlines that made Harry stare incredulously at them for quite some time, before he could focus enough to tear himself away. Particularly the one mentioning a really short giant? How did that even work? And who in the world thought having an elephant in their living room was a good idea?
Shaking his head, Harry did his best to ignore any on the articles what mentions Sherlock Holmes. Focusing instead on finding out about his birth father.
Of all the things that could go wrong with Harry's ill prepared plan, not finding out anything had not even been on Harry's list. Mrs. Green seeing him and telling on him to the Dursleys? He had a contingency plan for that. Somebody else seeing him, and calling the police on a teenager braking into a house? He had a plan for that. Nothing showing up on Mycroft however? He had not planned for that at all.
Absolutely nothing had showed up on the first page, or the second, or the third. By the time Harry had looked through his 7th page, he mostly wanted to give up.
Harry didn't understand why nothing showed up though. Mycroft was an unusual name, so if he was mention anywhere it should have showed up by now. Didn't he have...what's it called again? Bookface? Facebook? No matter what it was called, almost everyone seemed to have it these days. Even aunt Petunia did, and she almost never used the computer.
Feeling terribly disheartened, Harry let his head drop down on the table with a bang, before quickly snapping it up again. Because...yuck. The table was sticky, and he could feel an unknown substance clinging to his forehead.
Rubbing his face, in an attempt to get rid of the sticky feeling, Harry considered what he should do next. Perhaps just searching for a name wouldn't be enough? There had to be a way to specify his search more.
Sirius had been wrong, finding someone in the muggle world was hard, particularly when you only had a name to go by. It would have been easier to find him in the magical world, where there weren't as many people
Harry was nothing if not determined though. Turning his attention back to the computer, Harry had every intention to scroll down a few more pages before the Dursleys returned. The biggest problem was that Harry had no idea what else he could search for. A phonebook would be useless since he didn't have a postcode, and without any more information about his birth-father Harry really didn't know what else to do.
With a sigh Harry continued to scroll down the search page for any information about Mycroft Holmes. This was likely his only chance to find out anything, and he did not want to waste it.
So focused was Harry on what he was doing, that he almost didn't hear the car that was coming to a screeching halt outside.
Harry jumped out of his seat, ran towards the window looking out towards the driveway. Just in time to see the black Sedan that belonged to Vernon driving into the garage. Shit! glancing towards the clock on the bedside table revealed that the Dursleys had barely been gone for an hour and a half. Why the hell were they back so soon?
Harry scrambled back to the computer. Not even bothering to turn it off properly, he just pressed the on/off button. Harry could feel his heart hammering loudly in his ears, and a layer of sweat forming on his forehead. This was not a position he wanted Vernon to find him in. He rushed out of the room desperately trying to think of a way to get out of the house unseen.
The stairs he took three steps at a time, in an attempt to get out of the house before the Dursleys got out of the garage. No such luck though. Just as Harry made it down the last three steps, he saw Vernon's large shape in the blurred window on the door.
Doing the only thing he could think of, Harry hid. He threw open the cupboard door, slipped inside, and closed the door as quickly as he could. Not a moment too soon either, for just as the door closed with a soft thud, he could hear Petunia's voice by the front door.
"...must have forgotten to lock it before we left" Petunia's voice was even more high pitched than normal. Harry knew from experience that this meant Petunia was nervous about something. Though why she would be, Harry had no idea.
Leaning closer to the door, Harry attempted to hear what was going on in the hallway. No one said anything else though. The only noise Harry could hear was that of four people taking of their shoes and coats. As they moved from the hallway towards the kitchen Harry could recognize the heavy steps of both his uncle and cousin, as well as the light footsteps that belonged to his aunt. The fourth pair however, was unrecognizable to him. It obviously belonged to a woman, considering the lightness of her step, and the clicking of heels he had heard as she had removed her shoes.
Harry had never had any sort of impulse control, at least that he was aware of. Of course he knew that the smart thing would be to sneak back outside, and keep doing the chores he had been given. Hoping that Vernon would believe that he had been outside all day, and that the Dursley's must just not have seen him.
On the other hand he really wanted to know who came back with Petunia and Vernon, and why Petunia was so nervous about his visit. The Dursleys had never been much for unexpected company. Whenever they had people over Petunia would spend the whole day fretting about the state of the house.
Harry's whole body was itching to sneak out of the cupboard, and toward the kitchen. And as always, Harry let his curiosity win over his common sense. Totally disregarding that it was his curiosity that got him in this mess to begin with.
Carefully Harry opened the cupboard door, and snuck forwards to the kitchen. The door was closed, but it was still fairly easy to hear what they were saying.
"You can't keep living like you have" Harry heard the newcomer said. Her voice was determined, but not unkind. "If you don't change your lifestyle, both you and your son stand in danger of suffering a heart attack Mr. Dursley.
"No hear here, how we live our lives it's none of your business" Vernon's voice was brimming with anger. Having been on the receiving end of that voice plenty of times before, Harry knew that nothing good could come of it.
"As the school nurse, it is my concern if I feel one of my students health is in danger" Well that explained who the mystery person was. Harry knew both Dudley and Vernon were a lot larger than was healthy. Particularly Dudley, who had put on a lot of weight since last summer. But to think that it had gotten so bad that the school nurse felt like she had to get involved, the thought was almost funny.
Harry stood there for a few more minutes listening to the nurse and his uncle argue back and forth. The argument seemed to be going nowhere. It mostly consisted of Vernon spewing awful accusations at the nurse, and the nurse tiredly doing her best to defend herself.
Harry was just about to sneak back outside when Petunia suddenly interrupted the argument. So far the only contributions she had made were an occasional sniffle.
"No Vernon" she croaked. "We have to do this" Harry was in shock. Petunia never openly disagreed with her husband, Harry was sure he could count on one hand the handful of times she had done so. For her to have done so now, really showed how serious she was.
"Good, then it is decided" the nurse immediately declared. She sounded relieved to finally have someone see sense. "Here is a list of food you should integrate into your diet." Harry heard rustling of paper being passed from one person to another. "And here is a list of food you should avoid."
There was a lot of scraping with chairs as people started to sit down at the kitchen table. "I will go through a list of healthy meal options with you. Just to help you get started. If you need more help I can refer you to a colleague who is a nutritionist"
Deciding he had heard enough, Harry silently backed away from the kitchen. Very carefully he opened the front door and slipped outside. Sinking down next to the flowerbeds, Harry renewed his efforts on getting rid of all the weed. As he worked Harry mulled over the short conversation he had overheard.
Dudley on a diet. Just the thought of it was enough to make Harry shudder. Sure it was a bit funny, but for the most part food the only thing that could distract Dudley when he was in a bad mood. If that was taken away Harry wasn't sure what would happened. Nothing good that was for sure.
What a waste this day had been, and it was barely past 2 o'clock. He hadn't managed to find out a single thing about his birth-father, and this had been his only chance of finding out too. There was most likely no way that he would be left alone in the house again.
Maybe he was better of not knowing anyway. It was not like it would have changed anything. He would still have to live with the Dursleys. Still have to live with the people that had never tried to hide how much they hated and despised him.
Gritting his teeth together Harry tried to contain his disappointment. He should have known better than to get his hopes up. Harry felt like he was seven again, and releasing for the first time that there was no distant relative coming to save him from the Dursleys.
He had never meant to contact his birth-father, but never the less it had been a small comfort to know that if things got too bad with the Dursleys then he would at least have the option of leaving.
Just as Harry pulled up a particular stubborn piece of weed, he heard Dudley shouting from inside the house. "Not that no, I need it!" Even from outside Harry could hear the panic rising in Dudley's voice.
With a deep sigh Harry did his best to tune out the loud voices coming from the house, and instead spend the rest of the day focused on completing the list of chores he had been given.
.:*:.
Any thought, comments, ideas or suggestions are welcome. Also if you have time you can check out the poll on my profile page, and help me decide which Sherlock character (beside Mycroft) will find out about the magical world. But remember I will only let one other person find out (unless you vote for Mrs. and Mr. Holmes)
Also, if you are going to leave a review anyway why not add a film title for me to watch? It is almost the weekend and I have absolutely no idea what to watch.