"Right," Harry said, sitting up in his bed that night after making sure that his dorm mates were sleeping. He took the time turner out and remembered the plan that he and Venom had come up with. He took it and turned it three times, closing his eyes as he did so. He opened them a few seconds later and looked around, the room that had been a few seconds ago dark, was now filled with sunlight. "Tempus," He said, checking out the time using his wand. "Great," He grinned. "Right now there's another me in class with Professor McGonagall."
'Let's get moving then,' Venom suggested.
'Wait,' Harry replied. 'I need you to promise me something,'
'What?'
'I don't know what you're going to do to Uncle Venom and Aunt Petunia and frankly I don't care anymore,' Harry said bluntly, completely honest. He no longer held any interest in the safety of those two, nor was he going to stop Venom from harming them. He knew that his alien friend restrained himself constantly for Harry's sake, and Harry was most definitely appreciative of that fact. But now, he was going to give him a chance to unleash himself. 'But I need you to do two things for me. First of all, don't eat them,'
'Why not?!' Venom demanded, sounding a lot like a pouting child.
'Because they're disgusting and I don't want them inside of me or you or however you eating works,' Harry said bluntly. 'Secondly, if Dudley is there, then I want you to not hurt him...at least too much.'
'Are you sure?'
'Yeah,' Harry mentally replied whilst letting out a deep breath. 'It's not all his fault, he's at least partly the way he is because of his parents. I'm hoping that he has a chance to change,'
'And what if he doesn't?' Venom asked curiously.
'Then he's not my problem,' Harry said, giving a mental shrug. 'After today, I want nothing to do with any of them.'
'Very well,' Venom agreed before Harry stood up, a second later he was being enveloped by black goo until he stood covered in black with white tear shaped eyes and a white spider on his chest and back. "Let's go hunting."
"Pet," Vernon Dursley called his wife from his favourite place on Earth, his chair in the living room. "Can you get me something to drink?"
"In a minute Vernon," She called as she walked out from the kitchen. "I just need to get something from upstairs." She told him before she made her way up the stairs, rubbing her hands against the hem of her apron. As she got to the top floor she went into her room, looking for the book she had left up here yesterday.
"Found it," She said in a pleased voice as she picked it up. She always enjoyed her time when the freak was at school, she loved it, having her family home without any of his freakishness disturbing her. It was bad enough for her that her freak of a sister had such unnaturalness, but then the stupid bitch had to ger herself blown up and pass it to her son.
"Petunia." A deep voice echoed into her ears, she quickly turned around and saw nobody behind her.
"Vernon?" She asked loudly.
"Petunia." The voice spoke again.
"Who is that?" She asked sharply, her gaze moving all around the room.
"Petunia,"
"Who is that?!" She snapped before freezing. "Boy? Boy! Is this more of your freakishness?" She demanded. "You can't do your freakishness outside of school! You shouldn't even be here!" A creaking sound pulled her attention to the door being pulled all the way open, despite nobody touching it. At least nobody she could see. "I knew it, it is you!" She accused. "I'm not afraid of you, freak!" She spat out. "Nor was I afraid of your silly little mother! You do not frighten me!" She said, walking out of the room and looked around the hallway when she heard a few footsteps, she turned in time to see the loft ceiling door open. "What is all this supposed to be?!" She demanded just as the stair ladders descended down. "Fine, I'll play your game." She said with the air of a mother dealing with an unruly child.
She let out a loud huff before she climbed up the stairs, once she got to the top she let out a second huff and slapped the dust of her clothes. She rolled her eyes and moved towards where she knew the light switch to be, she pressed it and waited for a moment, only for the light to not come in. Her frown increased and she tried again, getting the same results as last time.
"Blasted light," She growled for a second, only to be interrupted by a deep chuckle from behind her. She looked around and saw nothing, she turned back around and paused when she noticed something. Just there, just in the corner of the attic, seemingly hanging in thin air was a pair of thin, tear-dropped shaped white eyes.
"Boo," She heard before the eyes suddenly disappeared, she stood there, frozen with fear.
"Boy," She said, her voice noticeably shakier than before. "You had better stop this."
"Stop what?" That deep voice spoke from behind her, she snapped towards the source of the voice and was greeted with a razer sharp row of pointy white teeth smiling at her. A loud shriek escaped her lips as she took a step back and fell on her butt, she looked up and saw that the teeth were gone. A sound to her left brought her gaze to the loft door and she was able to see it close, seemingly on its own.
"S...stop this!" She stuttered as she shakily got up to her feet. "I know it's you! S...top it! Stop it!"
"Or what?" That deep voice asked in an amused tone, her response died in her mouth as she was just about able to see a figure descend down from the ceiling, hanging upside down from what looked like a large black rope. Her gaze took in the figure's spider logo and white eyes. "What are you going to do, Aunt Petunia?" Venom asked in an amused tone.
"Why...why are you doing this?!" She demanded, glaring at him despite how scared she was.
"Why are we doing this?" Venom asked before the right side of his face disappeared to reveal Harry's face. "Maybe because we're finally ready to be free of you." They said before the black goo recovered Harry's face, his face changed and a set of sharp teeth appeared. "Goodbye, Aunt Petunia." Venom growled.
"Petunia!" Vernon called impatiently. "Get me something to drink!" He huffed before turning his attention back to his TV. A few seconds later he was pleased to hear her walking down the stairs, even if her steps did sound somewhat heavier than usual. As he listened to the news reporter on the TV, he was able to hear her go into the kitchen.
"Stupid news," Vernon rolled his eyes. "Who cares what some hippies in America are doing? Get on with the real news!" He yelled at the TV before shaking his head. "Honestly, sometimes I think this country is just going down the drain. Really, I do. You've got hard working and decent folks like us Pet, and then you have all these gypsies, hippies, drug taking wastrels, not to mention all these foreign people that are flooding in. I swear, sometimes I think my company is taking its workers directly from Pakistan. Oh, and don't get me started on the freak and his society of weirdoes." He ranted as he heard her walk into the room, he extended his hand without looking and felt a glass being placed in his hand, he grabbed it with a good grip. "Thank you Pet," He grunted before bringing the drink to his lips, he took a few sips before instantly spitting it out, coughing hard. "What the hell was that?!" He croaked, coughing violently.
"Bleach," A deep voice answered. Vernon's eyes widened, he turned his head and saw that it was not his wife standing in front of him. Instead there was someone that was covered head to toe in black, he had white eyes and a logo of some spider on his chest, but he also happened to have some blood splattered across the logo. Vernon didn't get a chance to say anything since the figure grabbed him by the neck with one hand, quickly finding it hard to breath, his hands came up and tried to push away Venom's arms, but had no success in doing so. "This has been a long time coming." Venom growled before growing in size into his regular. tall form, including sharp teeth.
"Why? Why are you doing this?" Vernon gasped as he was lifted into the air by the neck.
"Because, Uncle Vernon," Venom said before his face disappeared to reveal Harry's face. "This is vengeance," Harry growled before Venom's face covered his. "And we are Venom."
"Getting in here is surprisingly easy," Venom whispered as he climbed the outside of Gryffindor tower, keeping himself invisible just in case.
'We should count ourselves lucky,' Harry's voice whispered in Venom's head. 'Let's get in quick, I don't want to take any chances.'
'Right,' Venom mentally agreed before reaching the window for Harry's dorm. He peaked in in time to see an earlier version of Harry vanishing. 'We've got good timing,' Venom commented before quietly opening the window and sneaking in. Venom quickly disappeared back inside of Harry, leaving the young Gryffindor in his sleeping clothes and allowing him to sneak into his bed with his roommates being none the wiser.
'Harry,' Venom spoke up as Harry let his head hit the pillow. 'Are you okay?' He asked, knowing that Harry might be disturbed by their earlier actions.
'At first I felt horrible,' Harry admitted. 'Then I remembered everything they did to me, how they treated me. They're not my family, they were my jailors. And...I know I should feel bad, but can I be honest?'
'Always,' Venom replied, speaking softly, as if whispering.
'I just don't care about them anymore, they can't hurt me anymore.' Harry said simply.
'What about Dudley?'
'I'm sad that he lost his parents,' Harry admitted. 'But he's still alive, he can keep going on. Except now he might have a bit more sympathy for orphans,' Harry added, feeling a bit sadistic as he remembered all the times that Dudley had mocked him because of his dead parents. 'Besides, I reckon it'll be good for him. Without his precious 'Mummy and Daddy' watching his back, he'll soon have to learn to start watching where he throws his weight. Either way, I don't care what happens to him anymore. I've been more than kind enough to him, considering all he did to me. They're not my family, they never were. But that's alright, because now I've got family.'
'Who?' Venom asked, sounding curious.
'I'm talking about you, dumbass.' Harry said with a silly smile before he closed his eyes and tried to go to sleep, Venom didn't say another word for the rest of the night.
"Hi Harry," Hermione said as she sat opposite him at breakfast with Ron on her right. "Sleep well?" She asked.
"Was decent," Harry grunted before continuing to eat.
"Oh," Hermione said before before forcing a smile onto her face. "So, you got any plans for the holiday?" She asked.
"I did," Harry said, glaring at her. "But now unfortunately the headmaster is insisting I change my plans," He added, not wanting to point out that the Dumbledore's 'suggestion' meant diddly squat to him right now.
"Oh, Harry," Hermione sighed, not taking long to realise that he knew she had told the headmaster about his plans. "I'm sorry but I was only doing what I thought was best."
"Yes, you're right," Harry snorted. "What us common mortals think doesn't matter if Hermione Granger thinks otherwise. I told you repeatedly that I am perfectly safe in Diagon Alley!"
"What if someone tried to kidnap you there?!" She argued. "Or worse? What if someone tries to kill you?!"
"I would be surrounded by other witches and wizards and I would be able to use the floo networks to get away or get help from any of the number of aurors walking around, that's what." Harry replied, continuing to glare. "You had no right to interfere in my plans."
"I was doing it to protect you!"
"You had no right!" Harry hissed. "You and the headmaster will both be disappointed because I am not going to those stupid pricks."
"But Harry you must!" Hermione blurted out. "Tell him Ron!" She slapped Ron on the arm.
"Um..." Ron froze for a second before he opened his mouth. "Look...Harry, I don't really like the Dursley's either mate. But...if Hermione and Professor Dumbledore say it's safe then..."
"Oh yeah?" Harry cut him off. "What if the two of them decide that the safest thing for you is for you to never sit on a broom again? Huh? What if they both decide that for your safety you are going to have to go and live with Snape? Are you going to do it?" He asked Ron whose cheeks turned red. "That's what I thought," Harry said after it was clear that Ron wasn't going to say anymore.
"But Harry," Hermione spoke up. "Professor Dumbledore believes that you have to go there, if he believes it then..."
"He isn't my guardian so I don't care," Harry told her bluntly. "He's a school headmaster, nothing more. In the muggle world, the best teacher in the world couldn't tell me where to live, and I'm pretty sure the wizarding world works the same way. I'm telling you right now, no force on Earth is going to make me go back to the Dursley's."
"So...you're going to be staying in Diagon again?" Ron asked awkwardly.
"No, I've made alternative arrangements."
"What?" Hermione blinked. "Where are you staying then?"
"You see I would like to tell you, Hermione, but I can't really take the risk of you running off and telling Dumbledore so sorry, but you can't find out." Harry replied as he stood up and picked up his plate. "If you'll excuse me." He told them before walking away.
'Well, that went well.' Venom commented.