Chapter One
At seven years of age, Harry James Potter is considered a prodigy. People often say about him “now, that one is going places. Just you wait.” Harry finds an interest in everything, from Russian literature and philosophy to medical books and politics. In fact, he has read most everything that Ashford Library has to offer, after discarding his own school’s library as being catered more towards children’s literature. Understandable of course, considering it is a child’s school, but that doesn’t really change anything. Harry thinks he could even find an interest in how worms evolved.
Unfortunately, Harry is only a prodigy to the rest of the world. At 4 Privet Drive, he is known as a ‘freak’ and not thought of as smarter than a brick. That is, to his Uncle Vernon at least. His Aunt Petunia and cousin Dudley could not be prouder of him though, and that entirely makes up for it.
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“Are you awake, Harry?” Harry hears a whisper by his door and sits up in bed. He reaches over to the nightstand, fumbling around before his fingers finally curl around the edge of the arm of his glasses. Putting them on, he squints in the morning light while pushing the hair out of his face. Seeing his cousin standing in his doorway, a smile spreads across his face. “I am now. Morning Dudders” Harry responded brightly. Harry took a second and properly looked at Dudley’s face, it was twisted into a sort of grimace that couldn’t possibly mean anything good.
“What is it? Has something happened?” he asked gently, he didn’t want Dudley to feel like he was interrogating him. Dudley shrugged, his grimace falling as his eyes grew sad, “mum and dad are fighting again, it sounds bad this time. I was thinking you could maybe read to me until they stop? Maybe keep reading Peter Pan?” Harry smiled again, softly this time. “Of course I’ll read to you Dudley. Come here, hop in” he said, as he pulled back the sheets and quilt, patting the bed. Dudley accepted the invitation and clambered right in, while Harry reached over to his bookshelf and plucked out Peter Pan. As they both righted themselves, they scooched down in the bed to find more comfortable positions. And then, they began to read.
It was there, reading in bed, that Petunia found them an hour later. She stood in the doorway, leaning on the frame as she watched her nephew animatedly read to her son. She couldn’t quite hear the story, she was thinking of a time years ago when two little girls were in a very similar position reading ‘The Velveteen Rabbit’. She was glad that the two boys grew so close to each other; and she just hopes that when Harry’s letter comes, Dudley doesn’t grow angry like she did. It took some years for her to rectify that rift in her relationship with Lily, though she is glad she eventually did. She had never quite gotten over the fact that while she had some magical core, it was too low and too small for her to ever attend the school.
She shook herself out of memories from years gone by, coming back to the present. “Good morning my boys, do we want to go out for ice cream?” she asked, walking further into the room. Both boys looked up, startled. It took them both a second to process what she had said, but she tell the moment it sunk in. “Yes, ice cream! Can we go feed ducks too?” Dudley asked, wriggling out of bed. “I suppose we could do that. Is there anything special you want to do, Harry?” Harry thought for a moment, running through his options “could we go through the RHS Gardens? They should be quite lovely this time of year.” Petunia smiled softly at this, he really was just like Lily. “Of course we can. There should be a few different flowers in bloom as well. Alright, let’s all get dressed and have some breakfast, then we’ll be off.”
Shortly, they left the house and piled into the car. Petunia turned on the radio, letting music flow through the car. Harry could tell it was some kind of rock, but beyond that he couldn’t make out much else. “So, what kind of ice creams will we get boys?” Petunia asked, turning into a parking space outside the ice cream parlour. “I think I’ll get a chocolate one. It’s my favourite.” Dudley said excitedly, “what about you Harry? Will you get a toffee or vanilla one?” Harry took a moment to think. He didn’t have much of a sweet tooth and preferred milder flavours in such things, usually he opted for vanilla as it is the most muted flavour available, but when he was feeling like a little bit of extra in his ice cream he went for toffee. “I think I’ll go for the vanilla flavour today. I don’t feel like too much sweetness.” “I think that’s a good choice, it feels like one of those days” Petunia responded, a smile lifting the corners of her mouth. “Alright, let’s all get out and go inside.”
Exiting the parlour ice creams in hand, they decided to walk down the park where the ducks are and find a bench. As they walked down the street, Harry looked around at the windows of the few shops that lined it. There were some very interestingly dressed mannequins in the clothing shop window, garbed in what Harry guessed may have been the latest fashion, but looked to him more like a curtain with tassels hanging off. He was so focused on the disturbing garments that he had not noticed he was lagging slightly behind his aunt and cousin, nor did he notice the man coming up the footpath in front of him that he then ran into. “I’m so sorry” Harry apologised hurriedly, his attention being all on saving his ice cream. “I wasn’t watching where I was going, sorry. Aunt Petunia wait for me!” he called as he darted around the man and up the footpath, noticing how far behind he was. “Come on Harry dear, the park is just up here” his aunt called over her shoulder, looking down at where Dudley’s ice cream was melting, trickling a path down his arm. So absorbed in their little family world, they didn’t pay any more attention to the dark robed stranger Harry had bumped into. They also didn’t notice how his dark eyes widened in shock, before he turned swiftly on his heel and began to follow them from a distance.
Arriving at the park, Petunia led them over to a little bench nestled underneath a willow that swept the ground with long fronds. After sitting down, they watched in silence for a few minutes as the ducks glid gracefully through the water. Petunia inhaled deeply, preparing herself for what she was about to say. “I’m sure you boys heard the argument that went on this morning. I thought we should talk about what is going to happen now.” Dudley and Harry shared a glance, confused. “What’s going to happen, mum?” Dudley asked tentatively. “Well,” Petunia started, still staring out at the water “your father will be leaving our house and our family. I cannot allow his treatment to continue. There are things you boys should know, things that it is about time you learnt, but he wanted to pretend that they did not exist. I cannot stand for that, since it involves my family. Aside from that, I never wanted you to be treated like that Harry dear; and I told him that if he wouldn’t stop and think about what he his words and actions, then he had to go. So, he went.”
Now that she had gotten it out, Petunia found that she did not feel all that saddened by it. In fact, she felt a sense of relief at the prospect of the three of them having free lives. Even more so, she was filled with immense joy that she was now able to freely tell Harry stories about his parents and the wonderful world he was born to be a part of. And so, watching the duck family as the little ones were fed, she began the story of two little girls who grew up in Cokeworth, one of them being entirely different in an incredibly special way. So enraptured in the story they were, they did not notice the dark man lingering out of sight, hanging on to every word with a growing smile on his face.