Disclaimer: The Harry Potter universe is NOT mine! It belongs to JK Rowling, Warner Bros and Scholastic Books, I only own copies of the books and films. I am just having some fun in the sandbox that Rowling created. There will be some OCs that I've created that will inhabit the Wizarding World.
Author's Note: Just want to let everyone know that this story will not completely line up with the canon story as set down by JK Rowling when she created the amazing Wizarding World of Harry Potter. The main change to the Harry Potter timeline is that Hogwarts starts two years later than in canon, so Harry and company start their first year Sept. 1, 1993. The events of the Harry Potter story remain the same, up until the start of this story, so books 1-5 all happen in the same fashion, just two years later. The other main change is that there will be a deeper exploration of the Potter family.
"How dare those freaks think they can dictate how I handle business in my own home?" Uncle Vernon snarled, slamming his hand on the steering wheel. "They should be grateful we didn't just dump the boy at on orphanage like how he was dumped on our doorstep!"
Harry sighed heavily, gazing out the car window, as he attempted to tune out his uncle's words, something that was quite difficult considering the cramped size of the Dursley's car.
"You hear me boy, we should have just dumped you off at the orphanage," Vernon bellowed, glaring at Harry through the rear-view mirror. "Look at me when I am talking to you, or so help me, I will pull this car over and kick you out!"
Harry slowly turned to face his uncle, his dull green eyes boring right into his uncle's beady eyes. Somewhere deep inside, Harry felt a rush of satisfaction at the sight of his uncle faltering and breaking eye contact first, turning back to watch the road.
"Vernon, are you well dear?" Petunia asked.
"Yes, yes Pet, I am fine," Vernon blustered. "Just angry about those disrespectful freaks back at the station."
"Quite right dear," Petunia simpered. "Those no-good people have no right commentating on how normal decent people act."
"Too true," Vernon grunted. "We didn't ask for you boy, you were dumped at our doorstep like a package." Vernon broke off his ranting to chuckle. "Says what those freaks actually think of you boy. That old coot just left you on the doorstep like a bottle of milk and have just kept abandoning you ever since."
Harry flinched at Vernon's words, as they struck closer to home than Harry would ever care to admit out loud. He was alone, his parents had been killed when he was a babe, his godfather had chosen revenge over him, his father's other best friend had vanished for years, never reaching out, the wizarding world, a world that both praised him as a Savior, and claimed he was an ascendent Dark Lord, had abandoned him to these muggles for years, and keep forcing him to return each year. His friends had done the same, listening to the Headmaster and not sending him any letters the previous summer, even though they had been together themselves.
'Why should he save the wizarding world?' a random thought popped into Harry's head. 'What exactly had the wizarding world actually done for him?'
'Nothing,' a second voice whispered in Harry's mind. 'They've done nothing for you. You yourself have said it, they have abandoned you nearly from birth and have only come back to you when they've needed something from you. Who was the one who saved the Stone? You did. Who killed Slytherin's monster? You did. Who told everyone that Voldemort had returned? You did. Yet what did that get you? A nice pat on the head, some House Cup points, and a shite ton of slander, distrust, pain and misery.'
"Leave me alone," Harry whispered, shaking his head in a vain attempt to rid himself of those dark thoughts.
"What did you say boy?" Vernon barked. "Were you talking back to me?"
"No Uncle Vernon."
"You better have not been," Vernon snarled. "I will not have some sniveling nancy boy who needs a tiny stick to fight talk back to me. Real, proper, decent men use their fists to fight, ain't that right Dudders?"
"Right Dad," Dudley agreed, though only half-heartedly to Harry's ears.
Harry glanced over at his cousin, who was seated next to him in the back seat of the car, with Hedwig's cage between them. When he had first seen Dudley on the platform, Harry could hardly recognize him. His cousin must have lost at least five stone since the previous summer and had replaced some of that weight with muscle. Even though the two cousins were similar in height, Dudley had a physical presence that made him tower over Harry. However, when Harry caught Dudley's eyes, they were not hard nor cruel, as they had been in the past, they almost looked afraid, or skittish perhaps of Harry.
"That's right my boy," Vernon crowed as they turned off the main motorway and entered Greater Whinging.
"Do we need anything from the shop?" Vernon asked a few moments later.
"We do need some groceries Vernon," Petunia said.
"Right then."
A few minutes later, the car came to a stop in the carpark of a small strip mall. Vernon put the car in park and then turned in his seat to face Harry.
"Boy, you are to remain here and will not touching anything, is that understood?" he growled, pointing a meaty finger at Harry.
"Yes, Uncle Vernon," Harry said.
Vernon grunted. "At least you can take orders, like a good little soldier should do," he said. "As if a freak like you could ever amount to becoming a soldier anyway. Maybe if we had managed to stamp out your freakishness, you could have joined the army and made something of yourself, instead of being a drain on society like your worthless drunkard parents, or that wastrel criminal scum of a godfather. Heard he got himself killed, good riddance I say."
Harry whipped his head around in anger but Vernon had already slammed the door shut and was heading toward the grocers with Petunia and Dudley in tow. However, as fast as the anger surged through Harry's body, it was overwhelmed by the crushing weight of guilt at the thought of Sirius.
'It's all your fault,' a voice whispered. 'Sirius is dead because of you, Hermione nearly died because of you. You are too weak to protect anyone. Do you really think you could kill Voldemort? Of course not. You are going to die, and then all your friends will die because of your failure.'
"Shut up," Harry growled, putting his head in his hands as the sight of Sirius falling through the Viel flashed through his head.
'You know I am right,' the voice cackled. 'They will all die.'
"Shut up!" Harry shouted. "Shut up, shut up!"
The sharp tapping against the window broke Harry out of his thoughts. He looked up and was startled to see a tall man wearing a brown uniform and hat, standing next to the Dursley's car.
"Hello there son, are you all right?" the man asked.
Harry blinked before rolling down the window. "Oh, I am sorry sir," he said. "I didn't mean to disrupt your day."
"That's quite all right son," the man said. "I was just passing by and saw you. I don't mean to pry but it looked like you were having some sort of fit. Are you ok?"
"I am fine sir," Harry said, attempting a reassuring smile. "I, I was having a nightmare, you see."
"I see," the man said. Harry could tell the man didn't really believe him. "Are you here with your family?"
"My relatives," Harry answered. "They stepped into the shop for something."
"And you didn't go inside with them?"
"I just got off the train from school, and want to get some more sleep," Harry said.
"Very well," the man said. "Interesting bird cage, don't see very many kids these days with pet birds."
"It's an older school sir, and I am not much of a cat…or dog person," Harry said, his voice cracking at the indirect reminder of Sirius.
"Just curious son," the man said with a smile. "Well, I must get going. It was nice to meet you…"
"Harry, Harry Potter sir," Harry said. "And it was nice to meet you too sir."
"Have a safe trip home Mr. Potter," the man said. He paused for a moment, looking over the top of the Dursley's car before reaching into his pocket and handing Harry a card. "If you would like to talk again Mr. Potter, here is my information."
"Um, thank you sir."
The man gave Harry a final brief smile before straightening his uniform and walking off toward a small office building that was next to the grocers. Harry lost sight of the man as he made his way through the parked cars, then looked down at the card. Stamped on it was the emblem of Her Majesty's Army with the man's name: Captain Matthew Anderson beneath it along with a pair of telephone numbers.
"Boy! Get out here and move your trunk, and help your Aunt put her things in the boot!" Uncle Vernon shouted, causing Harry to jump and nearly drop the card.
"Yes sir," Harry said. He quickly put the card into his pocket while climbing out of the car and made his way to the boot of the car.
That evening, once the Dursleys had all gone to bed, Harry removed the card from his pocket and looked it over once again. An idea had been percolating in the back of Harry's mind, surprisingly placed there by Uncle Vernon, for much of the evening. Harry was just a soldier, wasn't he? He was just a weapon, a weapon that Dumbledore and the magical world needed to kill Voldemort yet he hadn't been trained or taught how to fight. Sure, he was talented in Defense Against the Dark Arts but Voldemort was decades older than Harry, was more powerful and much more experienced. How did Dumbledore expect Harry to kill Voldemort?
'The Power he knows not,' Trelawney's raspy voice echoed through Harry's mind as his fingers ran over the card.
'Could it be that simple?' Harry thought, sitting up on his bed. 'Voldemort hates anything Muggle, so he wouldn't know anything about how they fight.'
Hedwig hooted as she glided through the open window and settled on her perch. Harry gave her a small smile as he swung his feet off the bed and crossed to the perch.
"Hey girl," Harry said softly as he brushed his fingers down Hedwig's plumage. "Seems like you had a safe flight."
Hedwig clicked her beak once and then butted her head against Harry's wrist, bringing another smile to his face.
"What are we going to do Hedwig?" Harry whispered. "I can't stand another summer here. Sirius is dead because of me, and now I am told that my destiny is to kill Voldemort or die. I mean, I guess I always knew considering how many times the bugger has tried to off me already. What's the tally up too now? Four, five…it doesn't really matter does it though?"
Hedwig barked softly and blinked her large amber eyes at Harry as he rambled on.
"I have got a slightly mad, no, it's truly a mad idea, not slightly mad," Harry chuckled. "I have this completely mad idea Hedwig; Dumbledore told me that I supposedly have a 'power' that Voldemort will know not, and that's how I am meant to kill him. What if the 'power he knows not' is fighting like a Muggle?"
Hedwig blinked again, watching as Harry kept on rambling.
"Think about it Hedwig," Harry said. "Voldemort hates anything non-magical, so he would never see it coming. And it's not like Dumbledore is actually preparing me to fight Voldemort. So why not try and find a different way to fight? I met this man, a Captain in the Army, and there's a recruiting station in Greater Whinging. I am almost 18, I can join up, they'll teach me how to kill Voldemort, and I can get away from this place," he added as an afterthought.
Hedwig barked again.
"I need to plan this out Hedwig," Harry said. "I am sure the Order still has people watching me, and I can't let anyone know about this. If Dumbledore gets word of this idea, I just know he will do something drastic and stop me. I need to figure out who is actually on guard duty, maybe I'll be lucky enough that it will be Dung again. I'll need to use my Cloak, use the bus to get to Greater Whinging, which means I'll need some muggle money. Hopefully Dudley didn't find it."
Harry knelt down beside his bed and tossed aside the threadbare rug that covered part of his bedroom floor to reveal the floorboards. He then pried up a floorboard just beneath the edge of his bed and reached down into the hole.
"There it is," Harry whispered pulling out a small metal box from the hiding spot, the faded coloring showing it to be a child's promotional lunchbox. Harry gently opened the box and was glad to see that the contents had remained untouched. He removed the bundle of letters from his friends, and then scooped up the various coins and paper notes that were hidden beneath the letters. Harry was happy to see that he hadn't spent all of the converted Muggle money that he had withdrawn prior to his third year.
'This should be enough for bus fare,' Harry thought, flicking through the money. He put the letters back in the box, closed the lid and replaced it within its hiding place. Harry then put the money into his pillowcase.
"Good night, Hedwig," Harry said as he climbed back into his bed. The owl barked softly as she watched her human lay down and close his eyes.
"Boy! Get up and get downstairs! Help your Aunt make breakfast!" Uncle Vernon's voice, and pounding on the door, jolted Harry awake.
Reaching blindly for his glasses, Harry slowly sat up in bed. Placing his glasses on his nose, the room came into focus.
"You hear me in there boy," Vernon shouted. "Breakfast better be on the table by the time I get downstairs or so help me…"
"Yes, Uncle Vernon," Harry said, climbing out of bed and crossing the room to the small dresser. He pulled out some clean clothes and quickly changed into them.
"Get over to the stove and start working," Aunt Petunia's shrill voice echoed off the tile floor as Harry walked in.
"Yes, Aunt Petunia."
Harry kept his mouth shut as he worked the stove while Petunia watched him from the table, sipping on her cup of tea. He quickly made-up Vernon's preferred breakfast of eggs, sausage, bacon and coffee, and was able to set the table just as Vernon entered the kitchen, dressed for work and carrying the morning paper. Vernon grunted as he sat down, set the paper down next to his plate and took a large sip of coffee.
Harry grabbed some toast from the counter after cleaning up and then headed back up to his room. He was in no mood for small talk, especially with his relatives. Once back inside the safety of his bedroom, Harry quickly ate his meager breakfast, placing the crusts in the bottom of Hedwig's cage, then headed to the bathroom to wash up.
Harry heard Vernon saying his goodbyes to Petunia as he got out of the bathroom and made his way back to his bedroom. After changing into some cleaner and more presentable clothes, Harry stuffed the money into the pocket of his jeans, grabbed his bookbag off his desk, filling it with his Invisibility Cloak.
"Potter," Dudley grunted as they passed one another on the stairs.
"Dudley," Harry said.
"Where do you think you are going?" Petunia asked as Harry made to leave.
"I am going to the library Aunt Petunia," Harry said. His aunt narrowed her eyes at him but didn't say anything and then turned back to her programs on the television.
Harry left the house without another word and started walking down Privet Drive toward the bus station. As he walked, Harry didn't spot anything out of the ordinary though something told him that he was being followed. He wouldn't be surprised that an Order member was under their own Invisibility Cloak. Harry wanted to grab his wand from the pocket of his bookbag and cast a detection charm but knew that he couldn't. While witches and wizards could use magic outside of school once they had turned 17 and completed their OWLs, Harry still had to receive his OWL results in order to have officially completed his OWLs.
Harry reached the bus stop and sat down to wait for the next bus. The bench was unoccupied, and whilt it was a warm day, there was a slight breeze that kept the day from being too hot.
It took all of Harry's self-control to not spin around when he heard someone step on some of the broken glass that littered the ground around the bus stop, though he couldn't stop a small smile from breaking out as his suspicions were confirmed, he was being followed.
The bus arrived a few moments later and after paying for his ticket, Harry boarded and took a seat on the aisle nearly at the back. There were only a couple other people on the bus, and Harry had chosen his seat specifically. There was only one row behind his seat, and while the row was empty, the aisle was quite narrow and someone wearing a long coat or a cloak ran the risk of getting it caught on a seat. And that is exactly what Harry hoped for.
Harry seriously doubted that Dumbledore would send someone to guard him who actually knew their way around the Muggle world. And he was right. Slowly Harry stuck his foot out, ostensibly to stretch his leg out, he felt it catch on something unseen. Quickly pulling his foot back, Harry leaned over to the empty seat beside him where he had put his bag and quickly made a show of checking on it. While leaning over, Harry grinned as he heard a seat behind him creak as someone sat down in it. 'Gotcha,' he thought.
The ride took another twenty minutes to reach the main bus terminal of Greater Whinging. Luckily for whoever was guarding Harry, the bus didn't completely fill up with passengers, so they hadn't needed to use magic to keep their presence hidden. As the bus came to a stop, Harry rose to his feet and joined the queue to exit. Dimly, Harry heard his tail get up to follow him, easily evident by the people who bumped into something that they couldn't see.
Exiting the bus, Harry quickly made his way into the terminal's main building, weaving a winding path through the crowd. He spotted the exit but didn't immediately head toward it. He needed to make sure he lost his tail before making his next move. Spotting the men's restroom, harry quickly made his way inside. His luck was good as the restroom was empty. Harry quickly opened his bag and pulled out his Cloak, wrapping it around him and hiding in the corner of the restroom.
A moment later, Harry heard but didn't see, someone enter the restroom.
"Bugger!" a male voice growled from thin air. "Where is he? He can't have gone far. Homenum Revelio!"
Harry held his breath as he saw a wand appear out of thin air and cast a spell.
"Blast it, not here," the man's voice growled. The wand vanished and Harry heard hurried footsteps leave the restroom. After a moment, Harry exhaled and moved from his hiding spot. Dodging around various Muggles, Harry made his way out of the terminal still under his Cloak and out into the open air.
It took Harry roughly ten minutes walking leisurely to reach the grocers that the Dursleys had stopped off at the previous evening. Ducking into the alley behind the grocers, Harry pulled off his Cloak, put it back into his bag and walked across the carpark to the small office building next to grocers.
"Can I help you young man?" a tall, well-built man asked standing up from behind his desk.
"Yes sir," Harry said. "I was wondering about…"
"About joining Her Majesty's Armed Forces?"
"Yes sir."
"Come have a seat son," the man said, gesturing to the chair in front of his desk.
"Thank you sir," Harry said as he sat down.
"So why don't you tell me why you are thinking of joining Mr…?"
"Potter, my name is Harry Potter sir."
"Mr. Potter then," the man said. "I am Staff Sergeant O'Malley, and hopefully I will be able to answer any questions you might have."
"Thank you sir."
It was about one hour later when Harry left the recruitment office. He had answered as many of the questions that Sergeant O'Malley had asked as he could, though he could tell that the Sergeant thought he was holding something back. As the conversation went on, Harry quickly realized that he didn't know much about himself when it came to the Muggle world. Harry couldn't answer some of the more basic questions that the Sergeant asked, including what secondary school he went too, what hospital he was born at (all he knew was that he had been born in Godric's Hollow), and several others.
The Sergeant was understanding though and had offered him a pamphlet that outlined a workout routine, and suggested that Harry go through the routine as a way to prepare himself, and come back once Harry turns 18 years old.
"How goes it Staff Sergeant?"
"Sir," Sergeant O'Malley jumped to his feet as another man entered the office. "Captain Anderson sir."
"Oh relax Sergeant, no need to jump to attention every time I show up," Captain Anderson chuckled, sitting down at his own desk. "Slow shift?"
"Yes sir," O'Malley responded, sitting down at his desk. "We did have on young man come in, but I am not so sure about him."
"Why not?"
"I could barely find any information about him when I ran his name," O'Malley said. "No birth certificate, only primary school records and immunizations but nothing for secondary. It is very odd."
"That is odd. What was the lad's name?"
"Harry James Potter. Said he was 17, would turn 18 on July 31st. His parents were James and Lily Potter of Godric's Hollow but aside from that, he wasn't able to answer much," O'Malley said. "Captain, what's wrong? You've gone white like you've seen a ghost."
"Let me see the boy's file."
The sergeant handed over the folder to Anderson who quickly opened it and began reading.
"Could this be?" Anderson whispered.
"Captain?"
"That will be all Sergeant, I will handle this personally."
"Very well sir."
"Thank you. If you would excuse me, I need to make a phone call," Anderson said, rising from his desk. He stepped into a small office at the back, and closed the door behind him. Picking up the phone off the desk, Anderson smoothly dialed a number. After a couple of rings, someone picked up.
"Hello?"
"It's me sir, I think we might have found him."
A/N: Well, there you have it. The first chapter of my new story, I'm sure you will notice some similarities to my last Harry Potter story. I'm a History buff, especially military history, so there will be some of that within this tale. Hopefully you guys all like it. I've got quite a few chapters outlined and partially written already, so updates should be relatively frequent.