Almost ten years had passed since the day the Dursleys woke up and found their nephew on the doorstep, nestled in a fruit basket packed in a magically heated blanket, with only a short letter informing them of the tragedy and their new forced obligations towards the boy, with no chance of returning the "package", as none of them knew whom to turn to.
However, Privet Drive had changed very little. The sun rose on the same well-kept gardens and illuminated the brass number 4 on the Dursleys' front door, sneaking into the living room, which remained almost the same as it had been the night Mr. Dursley heard the grim news about the flocks of owls and oddities occurring between the fall of the Dark Lord and the rest of such a significant and important day, yet hidden from their understanding.
Only the photographs on the mantelpiece showed how much time had passed. What once seemed like just another common, healthy, and successful family now appeared quite the opposite. Vernon, who had once been tall and robust like a boxer, had now replaced all his size with fat. Petunia seemed to have aged much more than her years suggested, and the once model-like figure was now replaced by one full of bitterness, insecurities, and envy, evident in her severe features at every moment in the photographs. The little colorful bundle of clothes had grown into a robust boy who seemed to follow in his father's footsteps.
And in all the family photographs, only one had a different figure. In it was a short and chubby child with both parents beside him... and a little further away, a teenager with a pair of round glasses and mysterious, captivating emerald eyes. It was strange because, in all the photos, this was one of the few where the teenager was present. This boy was Harry Potter, or more famously known as The-Boy-Who-Lived. Logically, this had not reached his ears, but it was noticeable that Dudley showed great happiness being next to Harry in this photograph, very different from the other two adults who appeared to reluctantly pose in the presence of an almost eleven-year-old child, yet with an oddly mature and almost adult-like appearance.
Leaving that aside, inside one of the cupboard under the stairs in the Dursleys' residence, Harry Potter had just woken up to the shrill screams of his aunt, who spared no effort in bothering him early in the morning:
- Up! Get up! Now! - Petunia demanded, her extremely irritating voice almost shouting from the other side of the door.
And to her surprise, Harry Potter was already awake and dressed when he opened the small door and struggled to get out. She still couldn't believe how the boy had matured so rapidly over the past nearly four years. She thought that giving him less food would make him stop growing so quickly, but this proved futile as he had reached a height of 1.80 meters at ten years old, with a defined muscular physique that kept him looking well-built—just above an admirable muscle mass and below the exaggerated atrophy that many bodybuilders loved to display in such tournaments. His hair was short and slightly messy, round glasses sat on his face, and most striking of all, a lightning-shaped scar was hidden by his fringe on his forehead, looking as if it were a recent scar but existing for almost eleven years, with a slight addition of a beard that he always aimed to groom before starting his daily chores.
- Good morning, isn't it? - Harry announced with a smile, but it was noticeable in his emerald eyes that he didn't want to be in the uncomfortable presence of the woman. This was completely normal; even though he was the target of all prejudice and humiliation in that household, he always decided to falsely treat people well and remain silent about his problems so as not to worsen his situation. Something that certainly irritated his relatives, being among the few who noticed his smile was fake and his sarcasm present in that bright gaze that seemed to exude pure hidden power, but that currently, they could do nothing about due to certain changes in his style and attitudes over the past years.
- Well! Hurry up, I want you to take care of the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn... I want everything perfect for Dudley's birthday. - Petunia exclaimed quickly as she went upstairs to get ready, unable to even stand being in the presence of the known dead weight of the family, who was the subject of gossip about being some kind of bully, which in no way reflected his true personality.
- "Dudley's birthday, isn't it?... Hope you enjoy it." - Harry thought with a tired sigh at his aunt's mediocre attitude, as he took a small box from the top of a side table next to the bed—his only belonging in such a "room"—and walked quickly toward the kitchen, where the bacon was frying to perfection. For him, it would have been more than easy to let everything burn and ruin the day for the two useless adults, but Harry was not malicious; he aimed to restrain himself if only for someone he cared about in the house.
It was quite difficult to reach the stove due to the countless presents of all sizes. From what he saw, Dudley had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike. Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, because Dudley was a bit chubby and hated exercise, except, of course, when Harry went for a run before dawn and Dudley sometimes insisted on following him, making Harry double his routine to open the boy's mind and make him more concerned about his health, forcing him, even unconsciously, to engage in long exercises without even realizing it.
Something that in the end, Harry congratulated him with a small pastry from a bakery, more like taming a little dog to give a paw and roll over, greatly raising his uncles' fury to the extreme upon seeing such morning scenes.
Even though Harry was discriminated against in his own house and hostile to the point of having to sleep in a cramped and dusty broom cupboard under the stairs, he wore good, common clothes like those of a teenager; they were few but of good quality... something that certainly did not come from his uncles. This was due to Harry's appearance, which forced him to get a job and support himself for the past four years. Of course, he received food at home, but if he depended on those two, he would end up starving because the amounts were infinitesimal compared to the portions everyone else ate ravenously. All this because they refused to support a teenager who could very well fend for himself instead of being an undesirable deadweight in the "considerable natural residence of the Dursleys".
With no choice, a seven-year-old Harry from the past had to look for a job downtown. He searched in shops, restaurants, bars, offices, supermarkets, gas stations, but the only place that accepted him according to his very few qualifications on a resume due to still being young was the city's central zoo. Even Harry found something very strange there because on the day of the interview, the manager showed skepticism and even sarcasm about the information from a seven-year-old boy with the appearance of a teenager and no qualifications asking for a job. But when Potter wished very much to be hired, knowing that returning empty-handed would mean another beating at home, the manager seemed slightly dazed, his gaze fixed on the boy as if something kept him totally relaxed and malleable, which made Harry suspicious. However, in the end, Potter abandoned all his fears and musings when the man immediately hired him and strangely implored him to accept a month's salary in advance so he could start working immediately.
Something very strange, of course. But getting a job and being able to return already with a salary in hand was better than suffering the consequences at home, and Harry did not want to question his "luck".
Along with this, Harry studied at the same school as Dudley in the morning, had lunch at a diner at 12:00 without interference from the Dursleys, who always bothered him, started work at 13:00, had a one-hour break from 16:00, which he spent near the reptile cages where it became a routine at the request of his boss who always noticed the snakes becoming extremely tame in his presence, and finished his shift at 21:35 with an incredible routine of his boss always looking at him as if he were a subordinate of the boy. But in the end, Harry knew how to pretend to ignore it in order not to test his luck, seeing that his boss always seemed to return to normal when he moved away, so he didn't touch on the subject that had not hurt anyone so far.
At the zoo, he was specifically responsible for cleaning the cages and feeding the animals in section five. Why? Because simply all the animals had a great affection for the boy, especially the reptiles of that section, which only accepted being fed by the young man and attacked any other employee who tried something with them. This was one of the reasons Harry believed he was a permanent employee in the job until today, regardless of his lack of records and certificates stating who he really was. He also found the low whispers around him strange whenever he went to that section, but he also did not try to delve deeper since he learned early not to question his luck too much, or it could get angry and turn the world against him.
The boy's life was very busy, different from a few years ago, before his seventh birthday and when he still didn't have the accelerated metabolism of a teenager, having a short, anemic, frail, and submissive appearance of an abused child. This, of course, was in the time of an event where he was fleeing from his cousin in his idiotic state and the chubby cronies who followed him in a game called: Freak Hunt.
A time when he didn't even know his name was Harry, since they only called him a failure or even a cursed freak.
At that time, he began to suspect certain things around him. One day, he was desperately fleeing from the bullies, tears in his eyes and a growing desperation inside him. In the next second, after blinking, he found himself on the highest roof of the school after feeling himself being pulled swiftly through the air as if he were incredibly flying, but he saw nothing. Of course, his relatives discovered this when the staff found him, giving him a large detention and scolding the Dursleys. Thus, he began to feel a certain fear of being "different," based on what his relatives claimed after a long and torturous "education" session.
This act consisted of his uncle whipping him with a belt by the iron buckle and his aunt with a plant stick with large thorns until he was unconscious, often marking his back and chest with dozens of painful scars on his fragile and frail body.
This system of beatings was a routine that his relatives claimed was a way to educate him for the "greater good," whether it was when he had the roof incident, or when his aunt tried to tame his hair, leaving it extremely short and almost bald in some parts with other long and messy parts, but the next day it was back to normal, or when they noticed that his body did not retain the scars from their "education" sessions, thus increasing their sessions to the point where they managed to keep the scars marked in dozens of different ways so that he would "learn once and for all to be normal".
At that same time, Harry permanently changed his intellect after being abandoned by his uncles, going hungry and having to humiliate himself to get something from the trash cans behind restaurants, feeling day after day that he could really die... In the midst of this, in another of his nighttime survival adventures in search of dinner, a woman offered to help him when she found him anemic in a dark alley. This woman acted in a way he had never seen before: staring at him with an extremely strange look and a creepy smile, but he didn't know what else to do to get food, so he accepted her help.
What would mark his life forever, because from the perspective of his relatives who returned from a vacation trip and not an abandonment, they found him with an enhanced metabolism and a mature appearance almost like that of an adult. His personality had become very independent, he seemed more focused and with an unshakable coldness towards everyone if they examined his eyes deeply. It was a time when he entered school, where he finally discovered his name through the class attendance call. A time that passed slowly, but his body accelerated its growth absurdly. Even on such occasions, the teachers suggested the boy skip some grades because, along with his accelerated metabolism, he discovered an incredible ability to never forget what he read, saw, heard, or felt. However, he irritably refused to be noticed for this and continued trying to be a "normal boy", something demanded by his relatives who were always ready to "physically educate" him, now believing he could endure the beatings and they could be intensified for the greater good.
All this that happened to him made him get more attention from his relatives, along with greater hatred and hostility when their form of "education" aimed to strengthen with bigger beatings, prolonged humiliations when Vernon's sister got involved, whether with cigarette burns on his arms, bites from her demonic dog on his legs, or anything they wanted due to perhaps having a bad day or not liking how the "freak" walked, looked, breathed, spoke, all to the point where he himself began to feel anger and hatred towards himself for being different and everything only messing up his life, when he just wanted to live in peace without attention from anything or anyone.
It was a time when his personality was becoming more dominant and certain events that his uncles didn't know about affected him furiously regarding "that woman", and he, being more curious and less afraid of his uncles with each "education" session he overcame, as he was really getting used to this type of "life", chose to ask his uncles why his parents were never with him, abandoning him in that cursed house.
To his shock: they simply threw in the face of the mature-looking child that both were killed in a car accident, because they were equally abnormal freaks, with his father being an unemployed, drunk, and bum, and his mother a worthless prostitute who, due to the same "weirdness" as Harry, achieved nothing in life and was now buried in Godric's Hollow, something located in the southwest of England and which would become firmly fixed in his mind as a unique goal to be achieved.
Along with that incident, which again served to unconsciously frustrate Harry and partially make him hate whatever existed inside him to be treated in such a way, making him fear that these "oddities" of his would indeed get him killed like his parents, without discovering his roots or finally escaping the hellish prison that was that house.
And after that, the result of everything he was experiencing at the time when he was still growing absurdly and something inside him was undergoing its first cycle of maturation, it turned him into a serious person, of few words, and he only showed a smile to people he trusted or even false smiles to those he did not like, which were actually all false since he trusted no one. Whenever he saw his relatives, it seemed that a flame of pure hatred ignited inside him with his eyes unconsciously shining, which earned him more beatings, along with the same moment when he blamed himself for not being "normal" as he should be, desperately wanting all the oddities around him to stop screwing up his life. Little did he know that such thoughts, self-hatred, and suppression of emotions were only serving to merge them into a deep point within himself, along with any "oddities" of his that were only repressed and not naturally matured, always avoiding touching them and providing him with a tiny fraction of what he could achieve at that age, accumulating over the years and one day possibly exploding in a condensed mixture of negative emotions and the power of his known "oddities that made him a true freak".
Thus, setting these thoughts aside when he once again felt himself gripping the handle of the frying pan so firmly that he nearly snapped it in half while grinding his teeth, losing time recalling the mess of his life, Harry focused on finishing preparing the food. He sighed as he thought about his oddities and aimed to concentrate on what was his own method of mental calming, discarding all negativity and imposing a minimal, false smile on his face. He could hate these oddities and how they had always messed up his life, but if everything was already a mess, why not use and abuse them when he could really manipulate them to get rid of his anger, rage, resentment, and any useless emotions he didn't need? Because today being Saturday, he had to start his job at 08:00 and didn't want to ruin his entire day thinking about the misery of his life and ending the day bitter with the thought that he would really never get out of there, dying alone and bitter for not achieving anything of value in his short life, yet at the same time, so damn cursed by his much-acclaimed oddities.
[ ... ]
Harry was frying the eggs when Dudley arrived excitedly in the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like Vernon. He had a large, pink face, a short neck, small blue eyes, and very thick blond hair settled on his huge, dense head.
Harry placed the plates of eggs and bacon on the table, which was difficult because there wasn't much space. Meanwhile, Dudley was counting the presents and seemed disappointed:
- Thirty-six? - He said, looking up at his parents. - Two less than last year. - Dudley continued scandalously.
- Darling, you didn't count Aunt Marge's present, it's here under this big one from Daddy and Mommy, see? - Petunia tried to explain as if the boy was the one giving orders in the house instead of the adults.
- Alright, then it's thirty-seven. - Dudley replied, turning red. Harry, noticing that Dudley was preparing for a huge tantrum in the style of his uncles, decided to give his present immediately.
- Here! It's not comparable to the presents your parents give you, but it should be useful for something. - Harry said to the boy with a cold warning look: it was better for him not to throw a tantrum or things would get ugly, as he handed a small wrapped box to the now extremely cheerful little chubby boy.
- Thanks, cousin! - Dudley said while trying to hug Harry. Or at least he tried, as the chubby little boy clung to the legs of the other of the same age but much taller, who looked at him, strangely feeling uncomfortable with this sudden contact when he despised any human contact, something he had never received positively in life. But wanting to take advantage of the opportunity, Harry gently patted the boy's blond hair and looked at Petunia as if he were taking care of a docile puppy, which certainly must have made her very angry based on her expression, further enhancing the sadistic and emerald glow present on Potter's face.
Yes, Dudley was not at all ignorant with Potter, at least not in recent times, because once Dudley tried to throw a tantrum at him and his parents before he was nine years old. The Dursleys couldn't control him, and everyone around was already fed up with it, until Harry simply slapped the chubby boy's face hard. Potter's irritation was noticeable at that moment, and the main target of this was because of this tantrum when he received everything from everyone around him, causing certain tears in the little boy and fury in the Dursleys.
{ Past Era }
- Dudley, dear, be quiet, we will buy your ice cream later. - Petunia tried to say, but the boy continued to throw a grotesque tantrum, causing certain looks of disgust from the other people around.
Dudley, who was crying and throwing a tantrum, stopped when he saw Harry approaching while savoring a condensed milk ice cream. Knowing that Harry worked, he would surely force him to spend all his money on ice creams for him, as his parents treated him and he never complained, being something natural in the boy's view since it was the parents' actions that mainly shaped the child's behavior.
- Mom! Make the freak buy me an ice cream. - Dudley said scandalously, but what followed surprised everyone around. For Potter no longer felt a sense of fear of consequences, having practically discarded it to the back of his mind for years, that being: Fear.
Harry simply pulled the boy and slapped his face hard, causing some redness and swelling in the area, under the attention of everyone who widened their eyes and a certain fury in the eyes of the two adult Dursleys.
- Listen, you spoiled brat! Stop throwing a tantrum, your parents already said they will buy it later, just shut up and wait or you won't get anything. - Harry shouted, bending down towards the boy who was trembling from head to toe, to the surprise and irritation of the Dursleys, as they could never control their son, but the freak managed to silence the whole situation by seeing the chubby boy with tears in the corners of his eyes, but who did not complain and refused to start a new crying fit.
Logically, this incident would not be forgotten by the older Dursleys, for when Potter arrived home at night after separating from them early, Vernon aimed to press Harry's neck firmly against the wall, temporarily choking him, as a warning of his "sovereignty in the house".
And the worst of all for the older man was seeing the freak's smile in such a situation, the damn smile on his face when he only showed apparent sarcasm in those emerald eyes, the apparent challenge that he was just waiting for his "dear uncle" to give him a reason to react physically, where his face lacked the emotion Vernon so loved to see in what was once a scared little boy: Fear.
- What is it, Vernon? Are you going to hit me? - Harry asked sarcastically, his pupils shining brilliantly in that powerful emerald tone, along with sclera so dark it looked like demonic eyes depicted in cinematic fiction. This made the older man tremble and abruptly release the boy. - I will say this only once... - Potter continued, raising a finger in warning as he approached and whispered in the older man's ear. - Don't touch me again... or I swear I will use this beauty I bought to "physically educate" you. - Harry explained, finishing with a false and sarcastic smile. Only then did Vernon notice that the freak had a sword strapped to a sheath on his back. Something he didn't understand why he hadn't noticed before, but his subconscious perfectly captured the warning that he could be sliced in half if he continued playing with danger, and that after years of abuse, Potter had finally developed a backbone and would retaliate against any physical attack.
Little did Harry know that at this very moment, another of his "oddities" was at work, with the boy's uncle promptly affirming quickly with an irritated face, but appearing to forcibly retreat away from those cursed and terrifying eyes, following the path his survival instinct guided him: Away from Danger.
Barely noticing, Harry went straight to his tiny, moldy room situated under the stairs in a broom cupboard, and thus he leaned his back against the door when he locked it to prevent anyone from invading, and began to sob silently with his eyes closed, in a repugnant feeling of not just being someone odd, but now proving to his relatives that he was a kind of monstrous and psychotic freak who threatened to kill what should be his own family.
He knew it was wrong, but after what his uncle and aunt had been doing to him, what he went through years ago when that woman claimed to help him in a deplorable state only to do "that" in the end, he never wanted to feel weak and fragile again, submissive and with a feeling that the whole world was conspiring against him, forcing him to become an adult from the repugnant acts of such a woman with a child, losing his innocence prematurely and life knocking him down whenever he did something minimally wrong and even sometimes when it wasn't his fault, forcing him to buy something dangerous in this way, which he would train with and dedicate all his survival and safety instincts to never be hurt near these rotten people, or be hurt by them.
{ Present Era }
Since that day when Harry permanently changed his personality, his relatives distanced themselves even more from him. However, in contrast, Dudley showed great admiration for him, thus getting closer to Potter. Harry appeared stronger than anyone he knew, and this became more incredible over time for the boy's greater admiration. Harry simply looked like he was seventeen years old, or even older, as his muscles grew rapidly based on his physical and martial training. Despite being nearly eleven years old, he carried a dangerous blade everywhere, with strangely almost no one noticing it, except when he wielded it and attracted a lot of attention, making him even more popular as a delinquent and bully in the city.
Thus, once again dispelling the useless thoughts from his mind, Potter promptly removed any emotion from his face, making it as blank as a porcelain doll, then turned to Vernon Dursley, who had just come down the stairs:
- Vernon, I know you don't like doing favors for others, and I don't like asking, but could you take me to the zoo? My shift starts in half an hour, and since you plan to go there to celebrate Dudley's birthday..., could you give me a ride while I finish washing up here? - Harry asked while heading towards the sink and starting to wash the pans and skillets used to prepare the greasy breakfast.
Mr. Dursley only responded with a hand wave and a murmur of disdain, followed by everyone finishing their breakfast and heading to the zoo, where three of them would have a long outing to celebrate Dudley's birthday with his friend, and Harry would go for another day of work, this time from early morning until night as it was the weekend and one of the busiest days.
[ ... ]
Half an hour later, they were all in front of the zoo. Harry was ready to head to the staff area, but Mr. Dursley stopped him by gripping his shoulder tightly:
- I'm warning you! - He said, bringing his large, red face close to Harry. - I'm warning you, freak... the first funny business you pull, the first oddity near us, you'll be locked in that cupboard until Christmas.
- Don't try to threaten me, Vernon... - Harry responded coldly. Petunia was his aunt, and her scandals were one thing, but this man was repugnant, only thinking about himself and still complaining about his son liking Harry. - Take care of your son and your business, and leave me in peace at work, because you're only here because I asked my boss to allow you and that spoiled brat friend of Dudley's to enter. Or should I remind you of the mess he made when the idiot decided to invade one of the gorilla enclosures? - Potter finished, continuing on his way, leaving his uncle with an extremely red and furious face behind, but unable to argue to avoid a scene, since Dudley's friend had indeed made a mess and Harry had gotten hurt saving him from an animal attack.
Despite all the accidental incidents involving Potter, Vernon believed that nothing would go wrong that day. He would be with his wife, his son, and his son's best friend at the zoo. They would stroll through the city, eat countless boxes of pizza at the end of the day while watching their favorite TV shows, and in the end, the family's dead weight would just work and at the end of the day, exclude himself in his cupboard under the stairs.
As for Harry, he spent most of the morning busy. He took care to stay a bit away from the Dursleys whenever he saw them, so his uncles wouldn't try to interfere with his work in any way. Harry believed everything would go well.
He was having lunch in the corner near the reptiles, which was closest to the cafeteria. His uncles ate various types of food in the middle of the food court. Dudley enjoyed a large ice cream with multiple flavors, along with his friend Piers, and they laughed together as if they appeared to be a normal family.
Harry even felt a slight pang of jealousy when he saw that scene, which he had never been a part of and believed he never would be. But he discarded all that when he remembered the garbage that was the true personality of his uncles, thinking it preferable to have them as sworn enemies rather than allies who could attack him from behind. Making him remember never truly having a peaceful night as he was always on guard for any danger, always living a worried, paranoid routine of constant alert and vigilance against everything and everyone around him.
Thus, hastening to finish his lunch, Harry aimed to refocus on his work, as he had to feed the reptiles, which was the best task he could receive. He loved reptiles because it seemed like they intelligently communicated with each other, but he also hated seeing such creatures imprisoned in cages.
On the other side of the zoo, after lunch, the Dursleys decided to visit the reptile house at the same time Harry was assigned there. It was cool and dark, with illuminated squares along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of snakes and lizards crawled and slid on pieces of logs and rocks. Dudley wanted to see the huge venomous snakes and the thick ones that could crush a man completely. Dudley and Piers soon found the largest snake there. It could wrap twice around Uncle Vernon's car and crush it down to the size of a trash can, but at that moment, it wasn't inclined to do anything. In fact, it was sleeping, not caring about anyone there.
Harry, who had just arrived at the reptile house, could simply see that his uncles and cousin were approaching. Before he could think of anything, Dudley took action when he and his friend pressed their faces against the glass, observing the snake's shiny brown spirals.
- Make it move. - Dudley whined to his father, who tapped his fat fingers on the protective glass, but the snake paid no attention.
- Do it again. - Piers ordered, with Vernon tapping the glass again with his fingertips, but the snake continued to sleep. Harry had already planned to scold the man for the irresponsibility of trying to irritate such a dangerous animal, but he let it go, as if they were expelled again, it was entirely their problem.
- It must be because of the freak's presence. - Vernon said as he walked away, seeing Harry approach to work in that area, with Potter laughing sarcastically at the man in an act of explicit defiance, leaving him certainly furious with the veins popping out on his forehead and his chubby face turning red.
- How boring. - Piers complained, dragging his feet and pretending to throw a tantrum.
Harry, who had just noticed, could simply see that snake a few meters away that had slithered behind him, with only the protective glass separating them. It wasn't one of the common ones he knew; it seemed bored or something like that, and it surely must have arrived that morning at the zoo, as it had a private space just for it, showing to be a hostile animal to others of its species.
The snake unexpectedly opened its eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were level with Harry's, with only the glass preventing any contact, but somehow, it felt comfortable in his presence.
Finally, it winked one eye.
Realizing that this was not normal, but also unable to theorize anything since he had never been face-to-face with such a fully developed adult snake before, with strange occurrences only related to baby reptiles, Harry decided to repeat the act for fun, simply winking his right eye in response. This caused an amusing grunt from the reptile, which to Harry sounded like a whispered laugh of: Humans.
The snake nodded its head in the direction of Uncle Vernon who was walking away, then looked up at the ceiling and finally gave Harry a glance. To others, it would be a common or even funny act from such a dangerous animal, but Harry could hear at the same time, a whisper from the snake, and this time he seemed to fully understand, even though it was a muffled and low communication through the dividing glass:
- ss*You put up with them daily?*ss - Was what he heard, and for the first time, he showed real surprise because it was a completely formed sentence from a snake, not mere whispers from baby reptiles that he always thought he was imagining and never took seriously.
Harry, unsure if he was imagining things, simply nodded and whispered back:
- ss*It's either that or live on the streets.*ss - Harry replied while adjusting to feed the reptile. Barely noticing that he did not speak in his usual language but whispered strangely as if chanting a sinister mantra. - ss*It must be boring to stay here, right?*ss - Harry continued, trying to confirm if the whisper really came from the snake. It might seem crazy, but with so many strange things happening to Harry and the nearly silent whispers from other snakes, talking to an adult one should rank third in the bizarreness of life, with the second place being his certainty that he unconsciously flew in the past, and first place, of course, being his appearance that did not match his age at all.
To Potter's fascination, the snake slowly nodded its head while only he understood what it was saying. Dudley, who saw everything that was happening, even finding it amazing, decided not to interfere because he knew that if his parents saw this, they would treat him badly, just as he had treated his cousin years ago.
- ss*But where did you come from?*ss - Harry asked curiously. - ss*The zoo has only ever had baby reptiles.*ss - He finished as the snake pointed with its tail to a sign next to the glass.
{ Boa Constrictor - Brazil }
Boa is a genus of snakes from the Boidae family. They can be found in South and Central America, and in Madagascar and Réunion.
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Weight: 10 - 15 kg
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Serpentes
Family: Boidae
Warning: Do not lean on the safety glass.
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- ss*Was it good there? Do you miss your family?*ss - Ge asked, with the reptile pointing again at the sign with the tip of its tail, and Harry read another sign that was more hidden among the branches and leaves. - ss*This specimen was born in captivity.*ss
- ss*Ah, I see, so you never lived in Brazil, but survived, right?*ss - The snake shook its head, but a deafening scream behind Harry made the snake jump in surprise while Potter sharpened his gaze.
- DUDA! MR. DURSLEY! COME SEE THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING! - Piers, who was Dudley's friend, simply screamed shrilly, causing some astonishment in everyone around and disturbing many animals nearby.
- Get out of the way. - Vernon deliberately bumped his weight against Harry, causing him to stumble and fall hard onto the concrete floor. What happened next occurred so quickly that no one saw it or could avoid it. In one second, Piers and Vernon were leaning heavily against the safety glass, and in the next second, they were leaning on nothing, falling into the enclosure, releasing howls of terror as the snake slithered beneath them and pretended to strike, but Harry could hear a sarcastic whisper from it calling them: stupid humans.
Harry sat and caught his breath, observing the following: The front glass of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished. The large snake quickly unwound from the logs and slid across the floor. People in the reptile house screamed and began running for the exits. As the snake swiftly passed by him, Harry could swear that a low, hissing voice had said:
- ss*Brazil, here I come... Thank you, human-speaker.*ss - The whisper came from the direction where the snake had been, leaving him confused amid all the commotion around him as they fled from the reptile, which wasted no time exiting through the front door and blending into the forest next to it.
A keeper from the neighboring enclosure was in shock as he came to help Potter up:
- But the glass... - He kept repeating. - Where the hell did the glass go? - Harry, hearing this, felt bad for the zoo losing an animal that was surely expensive, but he also felt content that at least someone escaped from a place they didn't like, something he still couldn't do, or maybe just didn't have the courage to do.
[ ... ]
The zoo manager himself made a strong cup of tea for Aunt Petunia while apologizing profusely after everything had calmed down. The strangest thing about the man was him looking into Harry's eyes almost as if asking for orders on how to act.
Piers and Vernon could only babble incoherently. From what Harry saw, the snake had done nothing but pretend to bite at their heels as it passed by, but by the time they reached Vernon's car, he was telling how the snake had almost bitten his leg off, while Piers swore the snake had tried to squeeze him to death.
But the worst of all, at least what Harry would discover later, was Piers calming down enough to ask Dudley's parents:
- Harry was talking to it, wasn't he, Dudley? - Piers asked, drawing Vernon's attention, who could only look toward where Harry was still working and curse furiously about how he would make the freak regret cursing them with his oddities.
[ ... ]
Vernon waited that night at home when they returned, intending to have a serious talk with the boy after his shift. He was so angry when Potter barely showed any reaction to staring at him that he could hardly speak properly, especially when he tried to threaten to strangle Harry's neck with both hands, but his eyes once again, after years, shone in that dark and demonic sclera pattern with the bright emerald green pupils. Thus, he could only murmur as he lost all the courage he had rehearsed since early:
- Go... Cupboard... You freak... No food. - Before collapsing into a chair and Aunt Petunia having to run to serve him another good dose of brandy among the dozens he had already drunk since the incident at the zoo.
Much later, lying in his cramped cupboard, Harry wished he had a clock. He didn't know what time it was and wasn't sure if the Dursleys were already asleep. Until they were, he couldn't risk sneaking into the kitchen to get something to eat or go out to buy something with his money.
Deciding to opt for the second option, Harry quickly grabbed his shiny black katana that he always kept close since it had become a symbol of never showing fear, and he didn't know if he would have the same courage without it nearby. He strapped it to his waist along with the sheath and silently slipped out of the house.
Little did he realize that this blade was a physical aspect of his safety, as he always trained fencing techniques and other free attack styles before classes while exercising his body from 5:00 AM to 6:00 AM. Since it had protected him from his uncle's "fury" in the past, it could protect him again. Of course, he wouldn't attack anyone with such a weapon even if he were in danger. He always opted to use different fighting styles due to his defined physical build and advanced height, at most using his sheathed blade to deter any ill-intentioned person.
Harry saw how beautiful the night was, with countless stars, the bright full moon, and some people insisting on walking with their families in the central square, which was a safe area since the neighborhood was very monotonous and peaceful. The boy couldn't help but imagine being with his parents in that child's place, but he quickly discarded those thoughts while suppressing his emotions once again. He then quickly bought a snack sold in the middle of the square and sat on one of the benches, letting out a long and deep tired sigh, something not very natural for someone his age, but now he really seemed tired of everything.
It was notable how he drew people's attention, not only because he had a sword on his lap but also because of how handsome he was compared to other boys. For a moment, he forgot that he looked like a seventeen-year-old boy since he always clung to the weak and frail image from years ago. For this reason, he found those looks directed at him strange, especially from the female audience. Although it wasn't overt, he always noticed that he was the target of attention from women, even more so when his relatives labeled him as a delinquent, bandit, and such, making Potter find it even stranger that these girls were interested in that.
At that moment, he began to think about his entire life. He had been living with the Dursleys for almost eleven years, eleven damned years since he could remember. Whenever he tried to recall any memory related to his parents, as he could actually remember a lot if not everything he had read or seen, it strangely made him hear some screams along with recalling a greenish lightning bolt striking his face, always making his scar hurt excruciatingly. Of course, the pain would disappear the next moment, but it felt like a shock to his brain.
When he was younger, Harry often dreamed of an unknown relative or someone acquainted with his deceased parents coming to take him away from that damn prison he lived in. However, this never happened. The Dursleys were his only family, and he had to bitterly accept this fact quietly with no one to turn to.
But still, he thought, or maybe it was just a hope, that strangers on the street knew him. And they were very strange strangers indeed. A little man in a purple top hat had once bowed to him while he was shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley. After furiously asking Harry if he knew the man, Aunt Petunia hurried the boys out of the store without buying anything.
A crazy old woman all dressed in green had once waved cheerfully at him on the bus back from school, this after he adjusted his hair from his sweaty forehead, and the woman seemed perplexed upon seeing his scar on his forehead.
A bald man in a long purple coat had asked to shake his hand on the street one day, and when Potter agreed, he walked away without saying anything, and as Harry could strangely notice, it seemed like the man appeared to have made his day after that.
There was even a time when a strangely repugnant man in black robes followed him after work at night. This man tried to approach him and drag him, strangely murmuring about finding the enemy of the dark, something that Harry instinctively reacted to by striking the secure part of his blade on the man's nape before any malevolent action that made him feel in danger. Harry's heart was racing at that time because no stranger had ever acted that way with him, and unconsciously he begged in his mind for the man to forget him to avoid problems with the Dursleys. Little did he know that when he left, one of his "oddities" simply surfaced, completely erasing the man's mind, who months later would be found by certain "hidden police forces," discovered to be a faithful follower of someone very evil who had been destroyed in the past and whom they had been hunting for a long time, not knowing whom to thank for containing such scum of society, but who unconsciously in an innocent act, had saved the lives of many innocents.
The strangest thing about these people was the way they seemed to disappear the moment Harry tried to see them better.
At school, Harry had no one. All the boys discriminated against him for being taller and looking like an adult, which was also due to Dudley's past tendencies to bully him, where the little boy may have changed, but the rest of the people did not.
The teachers always looked at him strangely; it wasn't hostile, but they seemed to have a sparkle in their eyes and always had rosy cheeks when looking at his serious face, which he still avoided all contact with. Little did he know that such actions of not showing affection for anyone and constantly snapping at nosy people only served to attract even more attention from the teenage girls at that school.
Many older girls whispered about him, not saying anything bad, but having to live in an abusive home, work at such a young age, and still hear his uncles humiliating him in every way. For a child, living like this was a nightmare, which is why he had been saving all his salary for the past four years to at least temporarily fund his escape as far away as possible. He hoped to live in a small and cheap place, but as far away from Privet Drive as possible.
Thus, setting these thoughts aside, Harry simply finished his snack and got up to head towards his "dear home," once again discarding the emotion and melancholy feeling of thinking so much about his life, forming an emotionless face hidden in a minimal fake smile that he had learned very well to form for all situations.
Little did he know that if he smiled like that in front of a certain bearded old man who had condemned his life in that house, it would brutally terrify him about how he had failed the adolescent-looking child, due to having features extremely identical to a certain sadistic teenager who had a partially identical life to Potter's in the past and thus became known as the most feared dark lord in history.
Leaving everyone wondering which path The Boy Who Lived, or rather, Harry James Potter... would really choose to follow:
Would he become a kind hero, submissive to certain manipulations in his life, always wanting to please everyone?
Or would he become a malicious and manipulative villain who only cared about his own well-being, not caring about sacrificing anyone in his path?
Because one thing was certain, abused children did not yearn to be heroes, but Harry James Potter also did not yearn to be a freak.
And with that, I end the second chapter of Changed Prophecy.
Things are starting to become more apparent, and I believe you will enjoy what is to come.
Harry constantly lives in contact with two opposite sides of society, and barely knows about one of them yet, either bumping into friendly people who idolize him, or dangerous people who almost discovered his location, but his "oddity" managed to erase such knowledge from the enemy's mind.
For those who understand, they will know which oddity caused this, even accidentally.
I really hope everyone enjoys it, and I ask that you leave your opinions in the comments below, it's us. XD
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Petunia Dursley 1991 (Fiona Shaw):
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Vernon Dursley 1991 (Richard Griffiths):
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Dudley Dursley 1991 (Harry Melling):
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Harry James Potter 1991 (Daniel Radcliffe):
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Sword that Harry always uses:
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