The next morning at dawn, Harry started waking up. Although he had slept surprisingly well, considering the circumstances, the feeling of hunger started to become painful. He now also really started to feel the cold. He had to find a way down this roof, while he still had the strength. It had become clear that the only way down would be to fly. He flew up here the day before, he should be able to glide down, wouldn't he?
He left the old nest and started hopping to the point of the roof nearest to sandbox on the playground. Maybe if he fell in his attempt to glide, he could at least fall relatively soft in the sand there. With a final hop and a small flap of his wings, Harry got on the ledge of the gutter. Peering down carefully, he tried to prepare mentally for what he was about to do. Come on, he just had to gather his courage and try this.
After three more calming breaths, Harry let himself fall forward , opening his wings at the same time. After a drop of a few meters, he caught the wind under his wings and started gliding. This was better than expected, this actually felt quite good! After gliding twenty meters away from the roof, Harry became even bolder and gave a flap with his wings and gained a little height and speed. He followed up with another few flaps.
This was going better than good, this was going great! In his excitement, he was no longer worried about reaching the ground, he wanted to go higher! He used his wings to turn towards the small church of Little Whinging. He flapped his wings again and went higher, higher, higher until he reached the rooftop of the church. Twisting his wings, spreading out his tail and stretching out his legs in the final moment, he made a perfect landing on the roof. A triumphant shriek could be heard over Little Whining.
Harry decided then and there that he would no longer need to change back to a boy. He did not care how he changed into a crow. These kind of worries were human worries, not crow worries. The feeling of freedom he experienced had been so exhilarating, the contrast with the normal locked up feeling which he had day in and out in his human body so great. He wanted to experience this bird feeling more!
With a happy caw, Harry threw himself from the roof. Let's find some breakfast.
Half an hour later, the first wave of excitement had died down considerably. Harry had a rough idea what crows ate, but was he prepared to eat for example, a mouse? He also had no idea how he would go about obtaining such a meal. Finally he decided to look out for a more human food source, he waited near the bakery, maybe they would throw away some old bread? While he was waiting in a tree across the street, he saw a familiar face leave the bakery.
Aunt Petunia did not have a good morning. Her good for nothing nephew did not come home last night. They had not been very upset, only a little worried about the kind of mischief the little criminal was doing. But her little darling Dudley had been so upset, he had such a good heart. He had been out late last night, together with his best friend Eric looking for the ungrateful freak. Naturally this morning there had not been breakfast, since the little freak was still hiding. This had caused quite a scene, her little darling needed his healthy dose of food every morning, naturally he had become upset! She had gone to the bakery to pick up a big box of donuts for her family, her two men had such a healthy appetite.
When she walked back to her house, she suddenly heard the rustle of wings behind her. Before she could turn around a bird pulled her hair with his talons. Dropping the box, she raised her arms to protect her head and started screaming. The donuts rolled around on the sidewalk. With a loud caw, the bird swooped down and grabbed a donut in his claws. With a loud noise that sounded a lot like laughter, he took off with his loot.
Harry flew away to the nearby park, in a tree he started picking apart the donut with his claws and beak and started swallowing the pieces. As a boy, he would never have done something so brutal as attacking a person in the street and stealing some of their food, even though he did not respect his aunt very much. But it seemed that his crow brain had a more brutal and mischievous side to it. He still was laughing so hard after his successful trick and catching his first 'prey' that he had hard time trying not to fall of this branch.
After he ate the complete donut, he wondered what he would do next. But he then realised he could go anywhere he wanted. No more sitting on school benches pretending he was dumber than his cousin, no more staring from children at his worn out clothes, no more bullies chasing him through the street. The world was his now, let's explore. With a final happy caw he took off from his branch. Catching a stream of wind, he rose higher and higher and higher, until he had a wide view of the area. In the distance he saw fields, factories, woods, towers,…
A new gust of wind swooped him in a direction, that was as good a direction as any. The crow happily followed the air current, his freedom started now.