2 Room
Within a few months, not that Harry could tell how long it was, Harry's presence at the table during meals became a non-issue. He didn't get as large portions as Dudley, but he didn't want such either. Maybe that fudge cake, though… Still, his portions were about as big as Aunt Petunia's and he sometimes couldn't finish even that much. Eating better had a visible effect on the boy. He no longer looked starved or malnourished. He was still thin, but no bones showed through his skin and the skin had the healthy colour one expects such young children to have. He also gained quite a bit of height, becoming almost as tall as Dudley, lacking only about a finger's width in height.
He was also quite muscular due to his multiple chores. Aunt Petunia tried to task him with fewer chores, but Uncle Vernon insisted on keeping the boy busy as many hours as possible, whenever he was at home.
Some other aspects of his life didn't change that much either. He was still wearing Dudley's old clothes. They fitted him slightly better due to his newly gained height but were still way too wide for him. He felt like they could comfortably hold two of him at once.
Another aspect that stayed the same was his living space. He was still sleeping in the cupboard under the stairs on a threadbare baby mattress and with only a baby blanket – both too short for his new proportions. Luckily, his magic was protecting him from the cold, or so he believed, since he never felt too cold, not even during the coldest winter nights.
Yet the most annoying and painful aspect of his life turned out to be Dudley. The fat boy was becoming a constant nuisance. After suffering too many stomachaches he finally understood that stealing food from Harry was a bad idea, although he still tried it, occasionally. He got into a new habit of trying to trip Harry and make him fall whenever he could, sometimes even "falling" over Harry, using his weight as another weapon. Aunt Petunia frowned on that, but Uncle Vernon seemed to like seeing his son act like that.
After another fall, resulting in painful bruises and a very painful wrist, which Harry's magic seemed to try and fix, his aunt sent him to his cupboard to rest, despite his uncle saying she was pampering the freak too much.
Alone in his cupboard, he finally had some time to think. Harry wished his uncle to suffer the pains he was encouraging Dudley to inflict on Harry. Well, maybe Dudley too. Once the idea formed in his mind, he put some magic behind it and unleashed it on the two.
A few minutes later, he heard Dudley whining at his mother about a painful wrist. Vernon didn't whine, but he was also wondering loudly why his wrist was suddenly so painful. It took them a few minutes to decide that a visit to the local ER facility was in order. Aunt Petunia suggested taking Harry along since they couldn't leave such a small child unsupervised at home.
Vernon and Dudley only got some medicines (very bitter ones) for their pains. Harry's wrist was bandaged and he was given a different medicine to help his wrist heal.
Since they had spent a long time at the ER, Petunia stopped at a drive-in burger and bought four meals, disregarding Vernon's protest. "You know what happens when you let the boy starve, don't you?" she snapped at him. Vernon cringed and said nothing.
From that day, Harry made it a habit to make Dudley feel all his pains whenever Dudley tried to cause any. Vernon would also suffer whenever he encouraged such behaviour. Petunia only shook her head sadly whenever this happened but said nothing.
It took the two bullies quite a bit longer to learn, but by the time the two children were due to go to kindergarten, Dudley already knew that any attempt at causing pain to Harry would cause him just as much pain. He also had another thing to learn, namely – making other children do his dirty work didn't help him. He would still feel the pains, and so would those who did his bidding.
Harry had to add another aspect to his magical retribution, though. He noticed that Dudley was trying to prevent other children from becoming his friends by bullying them to comply. Dudley could do it for only one day, though. Harry thought that he needed to prevent this. Unknown to him, he stepped his magic up, creating what he would learn much later – an intention-based ward. The next day, whenever Dudley tried to bully someone, his speech would become unintelligible. If he then tried to use his muscles as the persuasive argument, they would start aching quite painfully. This put an abrupt end to Dudley's bullying.
Later, Harry tried to use the same method to protect his aunt against Vernon's fists. He wasn't sure how often that happened and had no way to check it, but he hoped this kind of protection would help her. It was just fair, since she helped him learn about his true talents.
–..–
Once again, Vernon took Dudley somewhere, leaving Harry at home with Petunia. She just motioned for him to join her in the kitchen, evidently for another talk.
"Do I need to thank you for stopping both Vernon and Dudley from bullying?" she asked, looking directly into his eyes.
Harry somewhat expected this. He just shrugged. "It didn't seem right, so I tried what I could to prevent it. I now have some friends at the kindergarten that Dudley wouldn't have allowed otherwise. I also tried to stop Uncle Vernon from acting this way. I'm not sure I did it right, though."
His aunt smiled. "Whatever you did seems to work just fine. Last night, after spending the evening with some of his old friends, Vernon came home quite drunk. He was in a very aggressive mood and when I tried to calm him down, he lifted his fist, probably intending to hit me. As soon as he started to move it, his face changed to show great pain and he clutched his arm with the other hand, promptly forgetting what he initially wanted. He barely managed to reach the bed due to the pain, but he woke up this morning with no pain at all. Is that what you intended to happen?"
Harry wasn't sure how to phrase his reply. "I wanted the bullying to hurt the bully. I didn't know how long the pain would last."
His aunt thought for a moment. "I'm now sure that you can do quite a bit more just by putting your mind and magic to it. I suggest you try to lift objects or move them at will. Just make sure nobody sees you when you try." Her expression changed slightly, although Harry couldn't understand what it meant. "My sister, your Mum, used to play with flowers, making them open and close as she liked. She was about your age when she first did that."
Harry didn't quite know where he could try to do what his aunt suggested. He couldn't do it in his cupboard, of course. He had no room to do anything and nothing to do it with, although… Well, maybe he could start just there, but if successful, he'd need more room and bigger objects to try it with.
Aunt Petunia motioned for him to drink a bit and take a biscuit. She also sipped from her tea, looking pensive.
"I believe you should no longer sleep in that cupboard. I'll talk to Vernon to give you Dudley's other room. That boy doesn't really need the room. He only stuffs it with his rejects, which should have gone to the garbage long ago. It's going to be a bit of a fight with both Vernon and Dudley. Wish me luck."
Harry nodded, not quite sure what to say. The cupboard was already quite cramped, and his latest growth spurt made him almost as tall as that cupboard was wide, making sleeping there a bit of a problem. Besides, the mattress was already too short for him, despite his magic trying to enlarge it. Even that had a limit.
–..–
Harry wasn't aware of all the discussions and arguments between his aunt and his uncle. With his fists neutralized, Vernon had to listen and apply logic when looking for answers, not merely brute force. He didn't like the answers he found, but had to admit they were right. If he wanted to be seen as "normal" he shouldn't let the children be treated so differently, especially as far as physical conditions were considered. He grudgingly agreed. "We'll give the boy his own room and buy some furniture for him, but we'll only buy the cheapest we can. You may also buy him a few new clothes to prevent the neighbours from suspecting I don't earn enough to buy both boys clothes, but don't buy anything too fancy, or Dudley may protest."
Petunia was smart enough not to argue about that. Since she was the one doing the shopping, she could decide what to buy.
That afternoon, she left the two boys under Mrs. Figg's supervision and went furniture shopping. She knew that Harry wouldn't mind the exact models, yet he would need something sturdy since she had no doubt that Dudley would try to break Harry's new furniture as soon as he had a chance. She would need to encourage Harry to protect it by magic, as much as she cringed at the idea.
It would take a few days for the new furniture to be brought home. Petunia needed to make sure the room would be ready for it by then. "Boy, take all the junk out of this room. If you see anything that's still usable, put it in this box. All the rest put in garbage bags and throw in the garbage."
Dudley was alarmed, as expected. "But these are my old toys!"
Petunia wouldn't relent. "Do you still play with them?"
"No, but…"
"Aren't they all broken?"
"They are, but…"
"Then their place is in the garbage, not in the house. I don't want this house to become a garbage pit."
Dudley tried to throw a temper tantrum, but his mother stopped it at once. "If you continue behaving like a baby, I'll take all your toys away and leave only those fit for a baby."
Dudley stopped at once.
He still tried to take some stuff from the garbage bags and carry it back to that room. Harry noticed. The second batch Dudley tried to take made his arms ache and his fingers wouldn't close. Both problems disappeared as soon as he moved away from the bags. Dudley sat on the floor, far enough to not cause him pain and looked grumpy, but dared not do anything.
Once the room was empty, Harry helped Petunia wash the floor and clean some stains on the walls. He then moved the box with the very few salvageable toys into the room. A day later, his new furniture arrived. The workers assembled the bed, wardrobe, desk and two chairs – all looking quite plain in comparison to Dudley's but of much better quality. Once they finished, Petunia took a plain white bedsheet to cover the mattress, not one with various drawings from children's films and books. She also used white for the blanket cover and the pillowcase. She was sure Dudley would find it plain and not complain too much. She was sure that Harry would appreciate his new room much more than it deserved.
Harry moved there that evening, after taking from the cupboard under the stairs anything he valued. His old mattress went to the garbage, but he thought he would keep the small baby blanket. His aunt promised to have it cleaned well before putting it in his new wardrobe.
Vernon wasn't too happy with the change. It brought the freak too close to his bedroom for his peace of mind, but he had to admit it looked much more "normal" that each boy had his own room and they weren't too different. The plain furniture and bedding could be explained by the different tastes of the boys.
Harry didn't wait for Dudley to try and destroy his new room. He used his magic to guard the room, giving Dudley a sharp headache whenever he tried to pass the door uninvited. Of course, Harry had no idea that such wards were only taught during the sixth or seventh year at Hogwarts. He only directed his magic to do something and he could already trust it to do just that.
