Time seemed to stand still, as Ripper rushed towards Holly, his claws clinking on the floor. Holly screamed and backed away….only for the dog to yelp and wail, writhing furiously. Holly whimpered and gazed into her brother's face. She shivered, not out of fear for her brother but fear at how far the Dursleys were going to push him.

"RIPPER! STOP WHATEVER FREAK THING YOU'RE DOING, BOY, NOW, OR I'LL-!" Marge screamed.

Ripper's sudden howls stopped her from going any further. Holly gasped and looked away as steam started rising out of the dog's body. Marge kept screaming while Petunia and Dudley held onto each other for dear life while Vernon looked on in utter horror, as the dog's fur fell off in clumps as the blood-boiling curse heated the unfortunate dog's blood to incredible temperatures before all that was left was a puddle of goo surrounding the skeleton.

Harry lifted his head slowly and gazed at the Dursleys, who cowered back in utter terror.

"Who's next?" He asked with a savage look on his face, his eyes were glowing maliciously and in anticipation, lightning crackling around his hands.

It was just for show, but the Dursleys didn't need to know that, did they?

Petunia and Dudley screamed while Vernon opened his mouth to yell, but the sight of what a wizard could do when enraged had taken the anger out of his sails while Marge had stopped screaming.

"Still think you own us now, Uncle Vernon? After what I just did, what you saw me just do, and what you've experienced…where's the arrogance now, still think you own us now, you filthy No-Maj pig? I bought several books on dark magic from Diagon Alley. I picked out enough of the curses, mostly to make sure a night like this never happened, and to protect my sister. But y'know what, you're just not worth it," Harry sneered.

And they really weren't.

Ever since he'd learnt of the magical world, Harry had considered hurting the Dursleys at a minimum and killing them outright and while it would make him and Holly homeless even if the ends justified the means, but…..

They were ultimately not worth it.

Harry had bigger fish to fry. "Holly," he said, turning to face her, only to frown in horror when he saw her cowering away. "Oh god, Holly, please….," she said.

Holly looked up, but to his surprise, while he could see fear in her eyes, she was smiling, "We're free?"

And then he realised, she was not scared of him.

She was cowering because she couldn't believe they were free, at last. He had promised her they would soon escape from the Dursleys.

"We will be," Harry said quietly, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her on the cheek. "Sweetheart, go back upstairs, get our stuff. We're going, whether or not the MACUSA have got in touch or not."

Holly frowned as she turned to the paralysed Dursleys. "What about them?"

"I won't hurt them. Much. Now go on," Harry said.

Holly nodded and she turned and went upstairs, unbothered by the idea of her beloved brother hurting the Dursleys, and after her own use of the torture curse she didn't care. She had known her brother would look at the books regardless, he was too protective over her to just leave something like that lying around, and the books held secrets to things they had never thought of before. And besides her own curiosity had won out; sure, while some of the curses had horrified her, she had taken a few of them for her own safety. Holly raced upstairs and she finished packing. She and Harry had planned to run off anyway, so they were prepared. She only needed to do one or two things first.

Xxxxx

Once Harry was sure his little sister was out of sight, he turned back to the Dursleys. "I'm still not happy with the way you claim me and Holly are your property, Vernon," he said, waving his hands and silencing the Dursleys to stop them from uttering a word. "So I will make you regret it, for as long as you have to live for."

Vernon's mouth opened wide, Harry knew the fat pig was likely screaming his head off right now, as he was levitated high in the air as far as he could with the ceiling above, only for Vernon's obese body to fold in on itself with a shrieking crack.

"I've just snapped your spine," Harry said, uncaring if Vernon could even hear him in his agony, "I'm not going to let you claim you own me or my sister. How dare you! How dare you even believe you own me or my sister, you filthy depraved muggle animal!"

Unceremoniously and uncaring if there would be any long-term health consequences - he was unsure how Vernon's body, which was stockier than Dudley's body, would take being snapped in half like that; all of those fatty foods and not enough exercise had to take its toll, but that meant nothing to him - Harry raised his hand again, and Marge was lifted high in the air like her brother before her.

"I know you can hear me, you filthy No-Maj freak bitch," Harry told her, "Oh yeah, I called you a freak. How does it feel, freak? Do you like what's happening to you now, freak? How does it feel to be the victim, hopeless and unable to fight back? Do you still think you're superior to me now when I can do this? Look at me, your superior, you pathetic creature!"

Gently and calmly twisting his hand so he could manipulate Marge's neck so the fat woman was looking at him, Harry smirked when he saw Marge opening and closing her mouth forming words, her piggy eyes gazing at him fearfully. It took Harry only a moment of silent mouthing to work out what she was saying.

"I'm sorry. Please, I won't hurt you again."

Or at least that was what he thought she was saying, too bad she was saying them to somebody who didn't care. With a flick of his hand, Marge's body folded inwards with a sharp, terrifying crack as her spine snapped. Harry dropped her to the ground and turned to the cowering woman and obese child who were huddled in a corner, trying to make themselves look as small as they could.

"Marge and Vernon have had their spines snapped. I don't know what kind of long-term damage that will have, so you will need to become carers. I hope you treat them the same way you treated Holly and me," Harry's smile was cold, evil. Sadistic. "You have no idea how tempting it is to kill you both, or cripple you both," Harry walked slowly over to them, making desperately try to crawl away, "Did you never once think, Aunt Petunia, something like this could happen? Never? Did you never once think, not ever, if you tried harming Holly and me, there would be consequences? Did you never once think, ever, that if you shut your stupid sister in laws gob, this might never have happened, and we could have left peacefully and never come back?"

Petunia's mouth opened rapidly as she tried to speak to him, but Harry wasn't interested in listening to anything she had to say.

"I won't pretend to even care about what you just said," Harry told her coldly, waving his hand and vanishing the remains of the corpse and the mess left behind by Ripper's death. At the same time, he modified their memories, so they would assume Ripper had been killed by accident, and he also removed the memories of the use of the cruciatus curse; after learning of the penalties, the last thing he wanted was for him or Holly to be thrown into prison, and if anyone did think of looking into their minds, they would just believe Vernon and Marge had suffered an accident due to uncontrollable magic, and nothing directed.

When he was sure he was finished with his work, Harry flicked his hands and made the Dursleys fall asleep. He looked over them curiously before he sighed and turned, only to find Holly had walked up behind him without him knowing. She was improving her skills in sneakiness.

"Holly?" Harry said, but the girl was looking at all of the Dursleys.

"What did you do to them?" Holly asked them curiously, her eyes spotting the unnatural way Vernon and Marge's backs were both bent completely out of shape. Harry followed her line of sight. "I lost my temper when Vernon told us he owned us both, despite everything we could do, everything we've shown over the years, and I was furious with what Marge was saying before, so I snapped their backs."

Holly gazed at him worriedly, "Harry, are we becoming evil?"

"NO!" Harry leapt at her and held her in his arms. "Why would you think such a thing?"

"We used dark magic, Harry; I knew you'd looked at those books because you were frightened for me, and I did the same, but are we gonna become monsters?" Holly's question and her tone frightened and broke Harry's heart.

"No, we're not. We used those dark spells to protect ourselves, Holly; most people use dark magic to further their own ends; Voldemort became a monster because he wanted power, and Gormlaith Gaunt wanted to use it to hurt and dominate people, including her own family. We're not like that, Holly."

Holly smiled back, reassured.

"Why did you look at those books?"

Holly's smile faded. "Well, um, when Marge came, she-she threatened me."

Harry wanted to go back and break the woman's neck, but he restrained the urge. "Go on."

"And…I remembered all the times you weren't around, and I got slapped by some of those girls at school," Holly shuddered at the expression in Harry's eyes, remembering how her brother got revenge on them, "and I realised it was better to be safe than sorry."

"That was a good approach. We wanted to protect each other and ourselves," Harry hugged Holly. "And besides, I think I'd rather die than see you become a monster."

"Harry!"

"I mean it!" Harry kissed her scalp. "Now, have you got everything packed?"

Holly nodded, taking out two small boxes the size of matchboxes. Their trunks. "Yes, everything is all packed away," she said and put them away. "Good," Harry said before he walked over to where Marge's handbag was. Holly watched him draw out her purse, and take out 3 notes. "How much have you taken?" She asked curiously.

"£30," Harry answered as they grabbed their coats. "I figured if they're going to say they own us, we deserve some wages."

Holly flinched, knowing how personally Harry had taken Vernon's arrogant remarks. "At least we know our relatives in America are saying yes," she remarked.

"Yes."

Harry and Holly had received a message from the goblins. The MACUSA Potters had been horrified by what their British relatives had done, and they had immediately agreed to take Harry and Holly in, but neither of them knew if the MACUSA Potters had gotten in touch with Lily and James. They'd been planning on heading into London anyway, and they would be early, but neither of them cared.

Harry and Holly Potter walked out of Number 4 Privet Drive and closed the door for the final time. They didn't know if the Potters ever found out what they'd done, and they didn't care.

As they walked to the station, they chatted a little about what it might be like in America but when they arrived at the station, Harry bought their tickets.

"Hi," Harry said to the ticket seller, whose smile crinkled in curiosity when she saw two children in front of her, "two-child singles for London, please," he said, subtly using his magic to control her mind.

"Yes," the woman said in a slightly glazed as the unforgivable curse hit her.

"Thank you," Harry said as he exchanged the tickets with the money.

"What did you use on her, Harry?" Holly asked him when they reached the platforms.

Harry had never lied to his sister before, and he wasn't going to start now. "I used one of the unforgivable curses to save on time, and to be more direct."

Holly nodded, not bothered by it in the least.