A/N - I received a comment or two about how odd it was Harry and Holly remained at the Dursleys; you have to bear in mind that when Holly came to the Dursleys, Harry didn't have a clue his parents were still alive. And he was reeling from the knowledge he had a brother and a baby sister at the same time. But there were other practical reasons why Harry didn't run away; he couldn't. As a 5-year-old boy, he would need to go the muggle way into London and get put into foster care. He did keep the option in mind as Holly grew older, but he wanted to visit Diagon Alley, knowing Petunia knew where it was and he wanted to find out what possessed Lily and James to send them away and see if there were options. He couldn't do that if he just ran away.

Xxxxx

"I don't know how you cope with these little hooligans, Petunia," Marge was red in the face due to the amount of wine she had swigged down her throat; Harry had often wondered if Vernon specifically bought the wine to stop his sister from "I'd have chucked 'em both into a bag the moment I found 'em on my doorstep and threw them in a river or on a railway line!" Marge laughed at her drunken wit, but Harry's glare stopped the others from even chuckling, and he made sure his eyes glowed with his power to further intimidate the Dursleys while he held onto Holly's hand.

He could feel her fear and her emotions in the way she squeezed his hand. He knew how she felt. This was hitting too close to home for either of their likings.

Marge had been here for four days now, and she had made it her life mission to both spend time with her brother and his family and also to cause problems for the Potter siblings. While he was working harder than before, Harry didn't care what the woman said about him, but he did draw the line with Holly. He didn't understand why the woman was always out to get her. Marge always insisted Holly be around for meals, despite Petunia's half-hearted efforts to keep the girl away, knowing her life depended on it, and more than once she had even set Ripper on Holly. It was only blind luck and Harry's interventions the dog stopped attacking.

Petunia and Vernon, the only ones to see a wizard in action, knew Harry was preparing for the worst and he made sure to keep close to Holly or make sure she remained in their room. Harry and Holly had always been good at using their magic to cast a crude locking spell before going to Diagon Alley. Harry had shown her how to do it, but when they had gone to the Alley, they'd found several superior locking spells, and they'd been practicing whenever they had a minute. Marge continuously insisted they be around, for reasons that made little sense to the siblings, although Harry guessed it was to spite them.

"Oh, er, sometimes I wish we did, Marge," Vernon said nervously, glancing at Harry and Holly, but the feral way Harry's jaw was twisting scared him and the freakish glare in his eyes scared the muggle even more.

'Oh, believe me, Uncle Vernon,' Harry thought to himself disdainfully as he gazed at the filthy No-Maj in disgust, 'if you'd tried to get rid of Holly, well, I'd have ripped the skin off your bones before you made it to the front door. Maybe I should really rethink my pledge about studying Dark magic. Something tells me we're gonna need it. Still, at least I snuck in a look at some of the books.'

Feeling a small, soft dainty hand on his arm made Harry turn and gaze into Holly's worried face. She knew Marge only said this to spite them while she let her big fat mouth run away with her.

"And then she turned up!" Marge went on; it was debatable if she heard Vernon or not, but Harry guessed she was simply too pissed to hear anything. Harry stiffened angrily as he watched Marge fix her beady, disgusting little eyes at Holly, who shook under her gaze. "I honestly thought their useless parents had died in a car crash. What did you say they did, Petunia?"

Harry didn't care what the Dursleys said about Lily and James; they could piss on their parents for real if they wanted, and they could ransack the Potter's home with their parents tied up for all he cared.

"Er, my sister doesn't work. She's a whore," Petunia's voice squeaked as she looked fearfully at Harry, remembering only too well the last time he'd lashed out at her.

Harry quirked a brow at her, unimpressed with the unimaginative lie even if he genuinely did not care about what they said about their parents, but out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Holly, sweet, innocent Holly, with tears in her eyes.

Cursing to himself and knowing it was because Holly still wished, deep down, everything was a huge mistake on their parents' part, a wish that still existed despite their plans, Harry leaned over to her quickly. "Wipe your eyes before she sees you crying," he hissed under his breath.

Holly quickly did as she was told, trying to move as swiftly as she could while Marge was occupied laughing at some stupid joke neither sibling knew and didn't care about. But she was not fast enough.

"Oooh, what's this? Is the Girl crying?" Marge sneered. "Well, answer me, Girl. What are you crying about?"

"Nothing," Holly said quietly.

"What's that? Nothing?" Marge's sneer turned malicious. "No, I don't believe so. Your parents are crooks, no doubt about it, and my Vernon and Petunia have to pick up the pieces, clean up the mess and look after you. If it had been me, you'd both be shipped to an orphanage, not that your parents would care."

Holly bit her lip, trying hard not to cry at the truth of the words. Harry squeezed her hand gently. 'We're not going to be here long,' Harry thought to himself, wishing he could transmit the thought right into Holly's brain.

Marge's piggy little eyes narrowed, and she smirked at Holly before turning to Petunia and Vernon, "You could have sold her, you know," she said, unaware of the air crackling but her brother was. "She would have fetched a nice little package. That way you could have gotten your money back!"

That was it.

When Harry looked back on the moment, he was never entirely sure which came first, whether it was when he had begun strangling Marge or when the glass in her hand shattered, spilling broken pieces of glass mixed with the red wine, although it was debatable if all of it was wine or blood, all over the table cloth, or if it was when she was sent hurling into the wall.

Marge let out a scream of surprise as she was suddenly thrown into a wall. She hit it hard in the chest, knocking the air out of her lungs while the bump on her head knocked her senseless.

Vernon leapt to his feet before Harry or Holly could do anything. "BOY!" He bellowed, making Holly shake in fear.

"No, she deserved what she got. Nobody is going to threaten Holly, not unless they have a death wish!" Harry snapped, casting his gaze around the family threateningly. "Well, are you going to threaten my little sister, sell her as a prostitute? I know you, Vernon, you're a pig. An animal. You don't give a damn about anybody else's pain, as long as you get cash or sick enjoyment out of their suffering!"

"That's enough, Boy!" Vernon growled; Harry was surprised by the fat man's sudden bravery. He guessed seeing Marge hurt like that had rattled him enough to forget himself. "Your parents abandoned you," he sneered, his anger giving him a bravado he shouldn't have had, and he failed to see or he just ignored Petunia's desperate warnings while Dudley looked on, proving that he had become smarter over time. "I could have done whatever I liked, and those freaks would never have cared. After all, why else would they give you to us? You belong to us, Boy. You always did!"

Vernon stopped triumphantly, while Petunia and Dudley watched on. Both frightened and worried. They knew Harry was not going to take that.

Vernon screamed in agony as he was hit by a spell, while Harry held up his hand. He collapsed to the ground, his wife and son screaming with fear.

However, to his surprise, Harry found Holly holding up her hand. The look on her face, the tears rolling down her cheeks, and the anger set in her jaw…she had been hit hard by what Vernon had just said, what he truly thought about them, regardless of their threats and the things Harry had done to them over the years.

But Harry realised something else.

Holly had read through the books on Dark Magic as well. Harry wasn't sure whether or not he should laugh at his little sister's sneakiness. But he asked himself what had possessed her to take a look at those Dark Magic books after what she'd found out about Gormlaith Gaunt and the terrible things she'd done to Isolt Sayre, and what she had planned to do to the family.

"Stop it! STOP IT!" Petunia screamed, desperate.

Harry put a hand on Holly's shoulder, and they both dropped the curse. Vernon whimpered, sobbing piteously as he tried to get his breath back. His throat sounded raw as he tried to choke, but Harry waved his hand. Petunia and Dudley screamed, whimpering as Vernon was yanked off of the ground and flung into the same wall as Marge.

"We don't belong to you, you filthy No-Maj," Harry snapped. "Earlier on, I made your wife, our aunt, take us to Diagon Alley, the magical shopping district. We've made arrangements to go to a different school. Fuck our parents and what they want, and fuck you for what you want."

"What?" Petunia whispered, stunned that her nephew and niece, freaks though they were, had come up with a plan like that.

"We're leaving," Holly added.

The siblings exchanged a quick look, having a quick conversation with their eyes, and they turned to leave. But they didn't get too far.

"Leaving? You're not going anywhere!" Marge staggered to her feet. She had been too far out of it to really take notice. She had heard the screams, but she had been too concussed to truly make any sense out of it. "RIPPER! GET THE GIRL!"

"Marge, no-!" Petunia cried desperately, knowing if anything happened to Holly then Harry would make them regret it.

"Aunt Marge, don't-!" Dudley called, knowing this was going to be really painful.

But they were too late, and Marge was just not listening to reason.