Wishes
Harry had always been a bright kid; it was in his genes, after all. How could he not have been?
So many people overlooked the fact that his parents were prodigies because of course, Harry (foolish, innocent, ignorant, brash) had purposefully given in exam results that were just barely passable and therefore couldn't possibly have paid attention, therefore couldn't possibly be more than barely even mediocre at best. It was pathetic, really, and he would openly admit it to anyone who asked, not that anyone bothered.
Harry sniffed disdainfully; oh how he wished he had just let the hat sort him into Slytherin.
He flopped down onto his cot (it wasn't able to be classified as a bed) after subtly warding his room, using the runes book he had bought in his more recent trip to Diagon Alley (were they even aware they had it? he had been more than prepared to brave Knockturn for this book in particular, but he guessed not many people could read between the lines.) and his own blood and magic to power it. Dumbledore's supposed "wards" had been voided long ago, having chewed up any residual energy left to power them because they weren't done right-
Never mind, that was a problem for another day. He had, of course, taken down all the remaining wards with ease. How they hadn't fallen before then was beyond him, but he didn't have the heart to try and pry the situation apart right now, analyse it to high heaven. He closed his eyes and let his heartbeat steady, falling into a light meditative state (he would not allow a repeat of the first week of last summer).
(dark, pain, large meaty hands wrapped around his neck, help help helphelphelp-)
Harry shot up, covered in sweat and gasping for breath. Well shit. He buried his head in his hands, trembling slightly.
Before long, Petunia war rapping on his door with her bony fingers (cold cold coldcold-), yelling for him to get up and do the chores. Not much had changed, since he came home, just that Vernon was more hands on in his violent approach with the too-small teen. Harry sighed, getting up and resigning himself to another day of torture.