Letters and the anger of Vernon Dursley
Chapter 3: Letters and the anger of Vernon Dursley
Harry makes his way back to number 4, with Selena carefully hidden. He tiptoes into the house moving straight for his cupboard, hoping to avoid any interactions with the Dursleys.
Vernon steps into his path, blocking the hallway with his body. Cold dread seeps into the young boys' bones, as he lowers his head and tries to make himself a small as possible. Vernon looks angry... really really angry, and it seems to be Harry he's angry at.
"BOY! LIVING ROOM NOW!" Vernon's voice booms out, making Harry flinch harshly. Silently terrified of whatever Vernon is mad at him for, maybe he found out about Selena? That thought only increases his dread tenfold. "Yes, Uncle Vernon. Sorry Uncle Vernon.” He says automatically, as his brain switches onto a familiar autopilot.
Vernon turns around sharply, lumbering into the living room with thundering steps.
Harry quickly tells Selena to hide and she reluctantly slithers away to his cupboard probably hiding under his pillow. Then with the sinking feeling of accepting one's fate... he follows Vernon into the living room trying to stop himself from shaking.
The livid man is standing in the middle of the room next to the fireplace, which has a glowing red fire slowly burning; in the middle of summer? Why did he put the fire on in the middle of summer? Harry wonders bleakly if maybe Vernon is going to burn him.
He shifts his focus away from the flames and back to Vernon again. He is clutching a letter in his fist, so aggressively that his knuckles have turned white. Harry stares at the letter then back up at Vernon, and then (much to Harry’s horror) the man speaks and his uncle's anger suddenly makes sense.
“We took you in! Raised you under OUR roof! We tried to keep you normal we tried to keep you from being a FREAK! Like your parents.” He begins to yell, snarling at Harry like a rabid animal. “But YOU resisted us at every turn! You with your disgusting behaviour and strangeness; WE should have thrown you to the ORPHANAGE the second you turned up on our doorstep! God knows why we thought we could make you NORMAL! clearly no amount of DISCIPLINE can change BAD BLOOD! And now THIS!” He waves the letter angrily; “You see this letter BOY! You will never get it!” He throws the letter into the fire. “WE can't make you NORMAL boy but at least we can stop those FREAKS from taking you and making you WORSE!!!!” He finishes his tirade, breathing heavily, as he glares at his nephew, violence and threat in every line of his face.
Harry stares at the burning letter which he knows must be the Hogwarts acceptance letter, Selena told him would arrive soon. He fights back angry tears that are starting to prick at his eyes, as he watches his hope burn in the Dursleys fireplace. He looks away from the red-hot coals and the ashes of what remains of his ticket out of this hell hole, to stare up at his uncle. “Anything else I can help you with, Uncle Vernon?” He says in a hushed empty voice. Because Harry is tired, so tired, of having every good thing taken from him.
"Help? HELP!?" Vernon shouts, and harry knows he has made a grave error. "You wretched ungrateful BRAT! You useless DIRTY FREAK! This is how you speak to me?! With such insolence?! Get over here BOY!” Vernon is so angry... Harry knows that whatever is next is going to hurt. He takes a shaking breath as he walks over to Vernon, and tries not to flinch or show his fear as the first punch lands.
~~~
If he had to guess he would say an hour has passed since what he is now calling; ‘The letter incident’. Vernon beat him for longer than any sane-normal-human-being should be able to withstand. However, it is not all that surprising that he made it alive considering he has always been a freak of nature and if there is one thing Harry knows how to do it is; survive.
Once Vernon finished disciplining his ‘insolent ungrateful behaviour’ he chucked Harry into the understairs cupboard and locked the door from the outside. Leaving Harry to lay in a crumpled shaking bloody heap on his pathetic tiny bed in his stupid tiny hovel.
He cannot move, it hurts too much, everything hurts, even breathing hurts.
He feels cold scales brush against his neck. He forces his eyes open to see Selena staring at him in deep concern (or as concerned as a snake can look). She moves her head to his cheek and starts licking the tears of his face softly, with her tiny pink forked tongue. It isn’t very effective but he appreciates it nonetheless. He doesn’t really know how he’s going to heal himself, the Dursleys most definitely won’t take him to the hospital. But he isn’t sure if he can survive without some sort of medical intervention.
He feels himself start to panic, his breathing becoming more difficult, his head swimming with overwhelming fear and pain, the tears are falling faster. He has to get out he’s going to die in this stupid cupboard, he doesn’t want to die in his cage.
He tries to calm down but the panic is climbing in his chest, he can’t breathe he thinks he has a broken rib; his wrist is definitely broken and he's bleeding but he doesn't know where from. He is going to die, just as he learned about magic, he is going to die, and no one will even care.
Selena pokes her face gently into his cheek and hisses, “Breathe Star you will be okay. I am with you."
“S-Selena,” He stutters out through short gasps of air. “I'm g-going to d-die in this cupboard I'm gonna die in m-my c-cage."
“No Star you will not die here. We shall use your power to heal.” She murmurs in a soothing but firm tone.
“H-h-how?” He says shakily through his tears and panic.
“Will the magic through your body. Ask it to heal the cracks in your bones and the cuts and bruises. I will shield your magical signature. Now Star, quickly."
"O-o-ok, S-Selena.” He said tearfully, as she settled on his chest as he lays flat on his back.
He closes his eyes, and begins to imagine magic flowing through him, running through his bones and sealing all the cracks. He wills the magic to flow over his skin and make the bruises melt away. Finally, he pushes the magic into his chest willing it to heal the broken rib and the organs that have been damaged.
When it’s done, he opens his eyes, his whole body is tingling with magic, green and gold sparks dancing on his skin. Selena is staring at him with her deep emerald eyes, he is still in pain his body is aching, but his bones no longer feel broken he can breathe almost normally again and his skin is still badly bruised but less now than before. “Are you okay now Star?”
“Yeah, S-Selena I'm ok. Th-thanks for helping me, I'm s-sorry you had to see me l-like that.” He hisses in a quiet voice. He’s still shaking and trying to hold back sobs.
"Star, do not apologise for your family's cruelty. You are my speaker, my Star, of course I helped you, I will always help you now.” She says nudging his cheek with her nose again.
Harry can’t hold his emotions in check any longer, so he starts to cry again, because this snake who he has known for not even two days, already cares about him more than the Dursleys ever have in decade. This brilliant beautiful snake that has introduced him to magic, who tells him he’s powerful. This snake who is interested in what he has to say. It's too much for him to process.
Harry is not a child that is used to care and comfort, he has never been treated with love, he has never been wanted. Up until today when he found out that his mother was not a lazy jobless drunk like the Dursleys always told him, but instead a powerful strong beautiful person who had loved him who had wanted him, who had given her life for him. And Selena who cares about him and teaches him things the Dursleys would never want him to know, Selena who licks his tears away and calls him her speaker, her Star.
What does an unloved child do when faced with tenderness? How does a boy who has only ever been treated with pain and hate, accept affection unflinching and care without suspicion? Harry does not know what to do so he simply cries, horrible heaving sobs shake his newly healed ribs because he Harry Potter is wanted.
The tears fall for a long time, Selena doesn't say anything she just sits on his chest a comforting presence. Eventually his breathing evens out and the tears stop flowing down his cheeks, he makes a pathetic attempt at drying the salty tears from his face before taking a steadying breath. Then he looks to Selena again. "Selena, they burnt my letter how will I go to Hogwarts now?"
“Do not worry, more letters will come... they will not stop until you receive it Star."
Harry feels hope and joy bloom in his chest, he will get his letter eventually, then he grimaces at the thought that every time a letter appears Vernon will get angry and probably just keep burning the letters and beating him until either Harry is dead or the letters stop.
“Selena what if the Dursleys keep taking the letters?”
"Salazars school will send someone if you do not receive your letter within a week. They will send someone to deliver it personally."
Okay, so... He's just got to survive the week, to meet them. Harry winces again at the thought of the amount of damage that could be done to him in the space of a week. This is most likely going to be the worst week in the history of his life.
~~~
The next morning, he wakes to the sound of Petunia screeching. Quickly followed by the familiar noise of Vernon’s angry footsteps on the stairs. A brief silence and then;
“Those FUCKING FREAKS!!! Five BLOODY letters?!! FIVE!!! Who do they THINK THEY ARE!? How DARE THEY!” His uncles livid voice is so loud Harry swear the house trembles.
“Burn the letters, Vernon! Burn them all!” Petunia squawks at her husband in reply, sounding equally enraged.
Harry waits a few minutes until it’s safer before cautiously making his way out of the cupboard with quiet footsteps and lungs barely breathing. He passes the living room where Vernon is knelt by the fire burning a small stack of letters one by one with unhealthy look of glee in his eyes as the envelopes turn to ash. Harry wishes he could do magic strong enough to fight against Vernon, wishes he was strong enough to take his letter.
When he reached the kitchen, it was obvious that petunia is still in a rage, as she was aggressively scrubbing the units with bleach, a task she only did in her most angry moments. She didn't spare him a glance and simply said sharply, "Boy! Get in here and make breakfast. Don't mess it up, you hear me."
Harry nodded mutely and began making the Dursleys breakfast, he already knew Petunia wouldn't let him have any which was a shame because Harry didn't get a chance to eat all of yesterday either.
Once he finished making their breakfast, he managed to snag an apple without Petunia seeing and sneaked back to his cupboard. Once the door was firmly shut giving him the dangerous illusion of safety, he sat on his bed. Selena slithered up to him and looked curiously at the apple. "Do you want some?" Harry asks amused at her curiosity over the fruit.
“I will try human food.” She states as if she is the one that suggested it.
“Ok here you go.” He broke a small chunk of the apple off and handed it to Selena with a small smile.
She swallowed the piece whole (vaguely disturbing he will admit) and darted her tongue out hissing in satisfaction. "Human food is good. Thank you, Star."
“No problem.” He hisses back with a hushed tone, smile still in place as looks down at Selena with a fondness, he wasn’t sure he was capable of until he met her. He slowly crunched the rest of his apple and spent the rest of the day in the cupboard.
~~~
The next few days went like this…
Monday: 10 letters addressed to Harry Potter number 4 privet drive the cupboard under the stairs; arrive pushed through the letterbox, Harry didn't get to them in time so instead he had to watch as all ten letters were burned in the fireplace by Vernon.
Tuesday: 15 letters arrive all addressed to Harry, this time Vernon is at work so Petunia rips the letters up and hoovers up the pieces of paper with her Dyson hoover.
Wednesday: 20 letters arrive shoved through various windows and left in plant pots, because Vernon nailed the letter box shut in a fit of rage. They are all torn to pieces, (mainly by Vernon's teeth).
Thursday: 25 letters arrive left scattered across the front garden, because Vernon boarded up all the windows. Vernon burns the letters again.
Friday: 30 letters arrive left in the back garden this time. Vernon storms around in a fit of rage burning letters and ripping them to shreds.
Saturday... Is where everything reaches a breaking point.
~~~
On Saturday morning Harry is laying stiffly in his cupboard waiting for the letters to arrive. He is feeling well and truly broken at his point, Vernon has been taking his anger out on Harry which is not a pleasant experience... at all. But at least he gets to practice using magic to heal (Although he has come to realise that magic has its limits, and it takes a lot of energy and strain to use his magic constantly in such a way) he has gotten really good at it over the past few days.
Selena seems to be growing in power. It's like she gets more powerful the more he uses his magic. She can turn herself invisible now which is very useful to stop the Dursleys from finding her. Although Harry is starting to think it might not go very well for the them if they tried to hurt the small but mighty serpent, as she would probably bite them and let her venom kill them slowly. Harry would not stop her.
Suddenly there is a screech which can only be Petunia, then a roar which is surely from Vernon’s moustache clad mouth, Coming from the living room. Harry's head snaps up (oh dear the post is here) and he darts to his feet. Selena is wrapped securely around his neck so he hisses at her mindlessly to turn herself invisible, and hurries out of the cupboard and into the living room.
He stumbles upon the glorious sight of Vernon Dursley jumping around trying to catch letters that a streaming out the fireplace. Dudley who is squealing in fear as he runs past Harry away from the swarm of swirling letters. Quickly followed by a screaming petunia. It takes all of his willpower not to break into a fit of giggles at the sight of them so panicked about letters.
He knows there is no point attempting to grab a letter, because Vernon will just rip it out of his hands before he can even get a chance to open it. Harry has already decided to just wait until they send someone from the school to hand deliver it, knowing it will be more difficult for Vernon to take it then.
Through the tornado of Hogwarts letters, he can see Vernon stop in place, face the colour of ketchup, as he yells in a booming voice; “PETUNIA, DUDLEY, BOYY! Get in the car we are going away! FAR AWAY!”
~~~
Half an hour later he is sitting in the back of the Dursley's car with Selena still wrapped invisibly around his neck. Overnight bags thrown haphazardly into the boot of the car and they’re driving to…somewhere. Vernon refuses to tell anyone where exactly, Harry can’t help but think maybe his uncle doesn’t know either.
They drive for hours, the whole time everyone in the car stays deadly quiet. Harry doesn't dare speak to Selena for fear he will be heard.
Eventually they arrive at a dingy motel. Vernon pays for two rooms for the night, and he seems in a better mood now they are away from privet drive, he probably thinks the letters will stop with no set address to go to, but... Harry thinks differently. He has a nagging feeling that these letters will find him anywhere in the world. So, Vernon is in for a surprise tomorrow morning.
~~~
The next morning, they sit around a table in the motel café, when a waitress approaches them. “Sir, is there a mister Harry Potter here? We have about two hundred letters addressed to him at the front desk.”
Harry tries not to smirk, because he was right (Ha-ha take that Dursleys!). Vernon’s face has turned purple with rage, he seems to be trying to stop himself from strangling the waitress, and probably his nephew as well. “Yes.” He grits out through a clenched jaw. “I will take the letters.”
“Yes of course sir.” The waitress says anxiously before backing away from the obviously fuming (and very terrifying) man.
“Petunia. Dudley. Boy. Car. Now.” Vernon says, punctuating each word with a snarl. No one dares to disagree.
Twenty minutes later his uncle gets into the car with an aggressive slam of the door. He must have disposed of the letters because he didn't bring any to the car with him. They drive for a long time only stopping for fuel and at one point a mysterious long package that Vernon carefully places in the car boot.
It's dark by the time they get to their destination, it’s also raining heavily as they all climb out of the car wearily and make their way to what seems to be a small wooden rowing boat.
Vernon speaks to an old man who's standing next to the boat for a brief moment, before he turns and snaps at them to get in. The old man rows them all to a tiny island with a broken down rickety wooden hut in the middle of it, just off the shore. They all clamber out of the boat, Vernon hands the man a small stack of cash and then leads the way over the slippery rocks to the hut’s front door.
The inside of the hut looks just as bad as the outside, it seems to be falling apart and it's freezing cold. Harry Can hear the rain hitting the roof outside he thinks it will be a miracle if the hut doesn’t collapse by morning.
Vernon looks around with a satisfied smirk. “HA! Those freaks won't find us here!”
Harry knew he was wrong but he decided to keep his mouth shut. Also, it had been exactly a week and one day since the first letter had arrived so someone from the magic school would likely appear either today or tomorrow (if Selena’s information is correct).
~~~
It is even later in the evening now, Petunia and Vernon were asleep in the other room, Dudley is asleep on the sofa snoring loudly, and Harry was wide awake sitting on the cold hard floor listening to the storm outside. He glanced at Dudley's wristwatch 23:50, then he remembers.
"Selena.” He says in a quiet hiss. “Did you know it's my birthday in 10 minutes?”
"You will be eleven.” She says equally as quiet.
“Yeah, I'm gonna be eleven years old, and tomorrow someone will bring my letter.” He can’t deny the excitement that bubbles hesitantly in the back of his mind.
"Yes, tomorrow you will finally open your letter Star.”
“I'm so excited Selena I can't wait to go to Hogwarts, I can finally be free or at least partially free, from the Dursleys. And I will meet other magic people like me."
"And you will learn to grow your magic." She tells him decisively.
“Yes, and I can learn everything there is to learn about magic. I want to make my mother proud." He admits into the mostly silent room.
"You will Star." She assures him fondly.
Harry glances at Dudley's wristwatch again; 00:0. He is officially eleven years old.
“BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!" The whole shack shivers, Harry jumps to his feet staring at the door someone was knocking on or more accurately trying to break it down.
Dudley jerked awake and said stupidly, “where's the cannon.”
There was a crash behind them and Vernon came skidding into the room clutching a rifle (ah that's what was in the long suspicion package Harry thought distantly). "Who's there!" Vernon shouted nervously. "I'm warning you I-I'm a-armed!"
The banging stopped for a moment and then; “SMASH!!” The door is ripped clean off its hinges, and a large man fumbles into the room, and clumsily places the door back in the frame.
Harry retreats into a shadowy corner, deciding it's best to stay hidden and watch the man speak to the Dursleys first, so he can assess the danger.
The gigantic man turns to face the Dursleys. “Hullo! I'm here to give young Harry his letter.”