Chapter 1
Harry wiped the sweat off of his forehead with the back of his hand, before going back to pushing the lawn mower. It had been hot the past few days so he had gotten up early so that he could finish the lawn before it got unbearable.
It seemed everyone had the same idea as well. Harry watched out of the corner of his eye as people walked their dogs, or went on their morning run or walk. He was finishing the lawn when one man different from the rest stopped in the middle of the Dursleys driveway.
He had short dirty blonde hair and wore a white button up shirt tucked into black slacks with the sleeve rolled up neatly. He just stood there with his hands in his pockets looking unaffected by the weather and watching him.
Harry ignored it at first and just finished mowing, he was used to people staring. In the wizarding world because he was famous, and then at the Dursleys because he was a delinquent. He put away the lawn mower and then got out the weed eater and worked on that for a few moments before he finally gave up, turned off the machine and faced the man.
“Can I help you with something?” He asked, not at all politely -fuck politeness, it’s not like the man was returning the favor.
“Yes, I think you can,” The man replied brightly, not looking at all affected by his attitude. “I was wondering, is this the Dursley’s residence?”
“Yes.” He answered simply.
“You must be the son that Mrs. Dursley was telling me all about.” He said with a friendly smile, but Harry couldn’t help but stare in horror at him.
“Absolutely not.” He corrected the man, disgusted. The man looked at him confused for a moment before answering again.
“So did they just hire you for lawn work then?”
“No, I live with them. Mrs. Dursley is my aunt.”
“That’s strange, she never mentioned you.”
“Yeah she wouldn’t have. So do you need something?” He asked sharply.
“Well I just needed to let your aunt know that I wouldn’t be able to make it for the lunch she promised me, something came up, but if it’s okay with her I can come over for dinner tomorrow evening.”
“She left a while ago to go to the store.”
“Oh shame, do you think you could let her know for me?”
“Yeah.” He answered simply. The man just stood there continuing to smile at him. “Is that all?”
“Yes, thank you for your help. I look forward to eating dinner with you tomorrow.” Harry didn’t say anything, just waited till the man started walking away to turn the weed eater back on and finish his work.
~~~
He spent the next evening slaving in the kitchen. Aunt Petunia wanted dinner that would show off their class -like they had any- while still being filling as well as refreshing, so obviously Harry was put in charge of making it.
He made a fruit salad, fresh garlic bread, a side salad and a main dish with chicken and pasta in a light creamy lemon sauce.
The stranger -whose name he found out was Leon- arrived at six p.m. sharp wearing something similar to what he wore the day before, only this time with a dark red and the pressed gray trousers. The three Dursleys lead him to the sitting room for tea before dinner. He brought out a tray with a matching china tea set and made them all tea to their liking. His aunt and uncle didn’t even look at him as they accepted their cups and continued on their talk of politics, Dudley didn’t even reach out to get a cup too busy playing his video game so Harry just set it on the table.
“How do you like your tea sir?” Harry asked Leon, acting completely different from how had been the day before. He made sure not to anger his relatives as much as he could. He had decided that it wasn’t worth the extra chores if he back talked so he swallowed down his retorts behind a monotonous mask -not to say that he never slipped and earned himself a cuff to the head along with whatever else they thought he deserved as punishment.
“Oh, how polite you are,” The man complimented him. Harry just blinked blankly at him till he answered his question. “I just take a dash of milk thank you.”
“Oh you must try one of my biscuits, they're homemade.” Aunt Petunia insisted, lifting up the plate toward her guest right after he had taken his cup from Harry. He took one with a smile and gave a hum of satisfaction as he bit into it.
“Delicious, no doubt because they're made with love.” He complemented, making her cheeks blush unattractively. Harry just rolled his eyes not carrying when Leon gave him a curious look. He went back to the kitchen after that, setting the food up to look fancy on the plates.
When the four of them finished up they came to the dinner table to sit down. Vernon sat at the end of the table that made his back face the kitchen and Leon on the other end table so he could see the kitchen clearly from where he was, with Dudley and Petunia sitting across from each other in the middle, Harry came out with the first dish. They had only started eating when he was brought up.
“Is your nephew not joining us?” He asked curiously, after taking a bite.
“He refused to eat with us, he thinks he’s too good for us.” Vernon stated superiorly, an excuse he’s used before.
“So why is he serving us dinner?” Leon asked innocently, seemingly only curious about the answer.
“It’s part of the curriculum for his school, it’s required for us to keep him disciplined or he may start to act out.” Petunia spoke, raising her nose in the air acting like she was doing something important.
“Really? How fascinating, I’ve never heard of a school doing that before. What is the school's name?” He asked before taking another bite of the salad.
“Stonewall High” Vernon said, causing Dudley, who hadn’t added anything to any of the conversation besides maybe his chomping, to snort. Vernon pretended like he didn’t hear him. “They make sure to instill them with a sense of respect.”
“So does your son attend this school as well?” It was Harry’s turn to snort, earning him a sharp glare from Petunia before she turned to answer him, her voice full of pride.
“No Diddykins goes to Smeltings.”
“I went there myself as a boy.” Vernon spoke self importantly.
“Yes, very impressive.” Leon complemented. Harry looked up at that, studying the man's face, he could swear he detected a note of sarcasm in his tone but wasn’t sure if he imagined it. The Dursleys didn’t notice a thing but Leon seemed to notice him looking and gave him a friendly smile which Harry returned with a small grimace before looking away and going back to doing the dishes.
Vernon signaled that they were done not long after that so Harry went over to collect their plates.
“That was delicious, I can’t tell what I liked more, the fresh bread or the homemade dressing on the salad.” Petunia’s smile widened and Harry could tell in the moment she was going to take credit, so when she opened her mouth he couldn’t help but butt in.
“Thank you, it’s my favorite as well.” Harry thanked with an overly friendly smile, trying to suppress a smirk at seeing Petunia's face; she looked like she had just swallowed a frog.
Harry served them the main dish next. Leon commented on how much he liked that one as well and again Harry spoke up before Petunia or Vernon could take credit. By the time dessert came out (chocolate cheese cake) the two of them were clearly trying to hide their temper. Before Leon had a chance to compliment the cake, Harry saw Petunia give him a glance before speaking up, and Harry knew she was trying to get to it before he did.
“The Chocolate...” She started off, but Harry cut in finishing for her.
“Was done by me again, of course. Worked on it since yesterday.” This time Petunia didn’t bother to hide her glare in front of their guest.
“Oh this is by far my favorite, delicious. You all must be so proud to have such a talented nephew.” Leon complimented Harry. The look he sent Harry when he caught his eye made Harry wonder if this man was playing with his Aunt and Uncle. Harry couldn’t help but smirk back at him before turning back to what he was doing. His aunt and uncle on the other hand didn’t seem to see it and both had ugly red flushes on their faces.
“Well, I wouldn’t...” Vernon started.
“And it’s all thanks to you two that he has such skills. Petunia, you must have passed on all your superior expertise to him when you taught him.” That seemed to stop either one of them from saying anything for a moment, the husband and wife shared a quick glance before seeming to come to a decision and she looked back at Leon with a smile.
“Thank you, it certainly is hard work teaching him anything.”
“Yes, Petunia taught him everything, isn’t that right boy?” Vernon says, turning to give him a pointed look. Harry puts on the biggest overexaggerated smile that he can.
“Yes, aunt Petunia has taught me everything I know, I owe her so much.”
“Yes, he... what do you think you are doing boy?” Vernon accuses, when see that Harry is serving himself the leftovers
“I’m just eating, Uncle. You wouldn’t let me starve now would you?” Harry says with the most sickly innocent look he can, knowing his uncle couldn’t out right refuse him food in front of a guest.
“No, of course not,” He chuckles weakly. “You go ahead and eat all that you want.”
“Thank you uncle.” Harry smiles, being careful not to smirk outwardly. He then directly at Vernon as he cuts himself a deliberately large piece of cake. As he takes an exaggerated bite, he catches the amused look on Leon's face, but looks away to focus back on his food.
~~~
Don’t remember where I was going with this one but if you hadn’t guessed Leon is Tom Riddle. This would be a sane(ish) Voldemort who wanted to figure Harry out before attempting to kill him again. At seeing him living like this I believe his plans would change and would end up adopting Harry in an attempt to control him and the public view.