Harry’s Wars: Episode 1 - Chapter 2 pt1

Summer 1993, England, Little Whinging, Privet Drive number 4

The next day, he awoke with a start. The sun was already shining high in the sky, it was already around noon. As he looked around in order to find out what had woken him up, he found the gaze of one unhappy owl. Hedwig was clearly not amused at the missing bacon he carelessly promised. "I'll be up in a minute Hedwig. Just… give me a second, okay? You are the best," he said, trying to placate her. Then he closed his eyes and let his head flop back onto the pillow.

"This is real. This really happened, I really transmigrated. But if I did that, why am I not freaking out? Why am I so calm and accepting about this? I can remember a lot of unnecessary stuff. My games, love me some SWTOR, Mass Effect and Halo, the plot of my favourite tv series - Mr. Iglesias go! - some random tidbits - Titanic is about a time traveller, really? Talk about a plot changer. - but my personal life? Nothing. Well, not nothing. I'm pretty sure I had some family, so no orphan. Yay old me. And my name… I think it was something with an 'm'. Ugh, the more I think about it the more my head hurts. *Arrgh* Okay I should stop."

As he mumbled softly to himself, to not irritate the angry female in the room, he put the back of his hand against his forehead. Right where the scar was."Maybe I should just…" before he could finish his thought, the scar started bleeding and his head started to pound so hard, he had no trouble believing his brain was trying to escape his skull.

In order to deal with both, he decided he had to enter his mindscape again. But first he had to wipe the blood off his face and let the headache subside.

After approximately five minutes, he felt able to focus again so he prepared to enter his mindscape.

But he quickly came to the realisation, he had absolutely no idea how.

Fanfictions taught him that meditation is the key, so he decided to start with that. Lucky for him, he did have some experience in his past life.

He took a deep breath, held it for a moment and released it slowly. Repeating that three times, he started with the mental aspect. While he kept some of his mental focus on his breath, he imagined a pulsating crystal, and as he breathed in, the crystal got a bit brighter. Releasing a soothing, soft glow. WIth each exhale it dimmed some.

After he reached an acceptable level of calm, he focused on his mindscape. He tried to picture it in front of his mindseye in as much detail as he could remember and, with one thought about entering, he was in.

Immediately he saw the difference to what he remembered having left behind the day before. The black wisps were back, this time in higher numbers and accompanied by blackish wafts of fog. Both radiated a feeling of wrongness that left him with a feeling of being dirty.

What disturbed and frightened him more were the cracks he could see on almost every surface he laid his eye onto. With an alarmed expression on his face, he desperately pushed some magic into his mindscape. As the crystal globe in the centre briefly pulsated in a bluish glow, an equally bluish wisp appeared in his hand. And with some effort he pressed it into a crack beneath his feet with the command to "fix this". To his immediate relief and not so small surprise, the crack slowly healed up as the bluish wafts slowly flowed into it.

With that experiment done, he immediately started to keep a small, steady flow of magic into his mindscape.

"It would be great if I had something like a direct source here. The crystal is obviously my magical core, but it seems to me that my magic has to flow from my body into here."

And with that thought, a small fog fountain appeared right next to his foot.

"Well, that was easy," but as he lost focus the fountain faded away as quickly as it had appeared. "Now that was just mean. Well, at least I know now it works. Imagination is king here. Wait, didn't I find that out yesterday already? The Tom Riddle unpleasantness. Oh damn it all. I have to go through that whole shit again? How often is this going to happen?", he complained to the emptiness of his mind. "I have to find a solution. For now, I have to absorb Tommys memories again and then deal with all these cracks. Something tells me, it won't be a fun experience if this grows worse…"

He steeled his face into a determined expression and strode into the direction of the highest concentration of black wrongness he could sense with a confidence he did not feel. When he arrived, he saw a disgusting black mass of wrongness in front of him. Not dawdling any longer, he repeated his strategy from the day before.

And with some effort and a rather substantial amount of pain, he absorbed his second dose of Tom Riddle's childhood memories.

"Ugh, that was even worse. God, he really should have been shot Farmer John style behind a barn and left to rot in a shallow grave. At least now I have the basic knowledge in occlumency and I have a good understanding of Hogwarts education up to the second year. And the differences are glaring. Dumbledore destroyed the Hogwarts experience. The festivities, traditional rites and rituals he cancelled and turned into the non-magical versions… So many classes are no longer available or are limited in their scope. Enchanting, alchemy, rituals, advanced charms and advanced transfiguration. And that is just what Tommy managed to gather in the Slytherin common room."

As he wondered aloud, he slowly made his way in front of the big crystal globe. The source of his magic, his magical core. It was beautiful. "Well, let's get to work" he said to himself, as he slowly lowered himself to kneel in front of it. Then, carefully, he again pushed some magic into his mindscape, creating a nice and soothing bluish mist. When he opened one eye to check the magic concentration, he smiled at the result. Then, he pushed all the mist onto all the surfaces and ordered it to repair the cracks. He had to repeat it two more times, for a total of three. "A magical number. Funny how that fixed it all on the last try," he observed keenly.

Then, as if to mock his success, he saw the golden shield stutter for a moment before it caught itself. But the damage had been done, a new group of black wisps and wafts of black wrongness had entered. This time, he decisively absorbed it all before it could even come to a stop. And he was rewarded with another year of the life of Tommy-boy. Now at least, he has a basic understanding in third year material and some dark arts Tommy cheated out of his posse.

"Beggars can't be choosers," he consoled himself.

With his job done, he decided to leave for the real world, before Hedwig decides to nibble on him instead of her bacon.

When he awoke, he realised that not as much time had passed as he would have thought. "Must be a mindscape thing. Makes sense, as your thoughts are as fast as you can imagine. And if you add magic into the mix…"

As he got up and made his way to the bathroom to clean himself up, he passed the scorch mark in front of his room. 'Oh yeah, I need to check the feathers out. And what that foreign magic on my glasses is supposed to be and if there is more foreign magic on my belongings. And Hedwig. Have to check her first, or she will be very cross with me.'

After he finished his shower with plenty of hot water, "Fuck you, Vernon", he stared into the mirror. "I really am Harry James Potter. The green eyes, the black messy hair and the scar. Pain is real too, I can feel magic coursing through my body…

So be it, from now on I am Harry James Potter. The boy-who-doesn't-give-a-fuck-about-the-magical-world. If Tommy would leave me alone I would not care about him either. No that is not true, he killed my parents. He should prepare to die." He cackled like a madman at his own joke.

After brushing his teeth, he walked naked into his room, whistling a tune that would not come out for years. "Hey Hedwig," he smiled at his owl. As he prodded the bond he felt with her with his magic, she sharply looked at him, as if to say "Are you done being stupid? I am waiting." *Hoot* And emphasising it with an annoyed hoot.

"Yes Heddy, I'm almost done, let me dress and we will get you your crispy bacon," Not liking the new nickname, Hedwig launched herself from her perch and whacked him over the head with her wing. Repeatedly.

"Ouch, ouch! All right I give HEDWIG. I won't call you Heddy anymore. You are Hedwig, the magnificent and not Heddy the cute and cuddly. Ouch, stop it!"

Satisfied with the punishment she had dished out, she flew back to her perch and watched Harry as he dressed himself. Using the opportunity when he was distracted, she flew onto his shoulder and nibbled lovingly on his ear.

"I love you, too Hedwig. Now let's get you that bacon and then you can rest." As he walked into the kitchen, smiling all the way, he wondered if the fridge was going to be as full as usual or if the Dursleys had left one last nasty surprise for him.

As he opened the fridge, he saw something that he had never seen before in his life here at Privet Drive. The fridge was empty. As he blinked stupidly, closed and opened it again. No change. He turned his head slowly to Hedwig with a strained smile.

"I can fix this Hedwig. I promise. Give me a second to think."

As Hedwig let out an unimpressed hoot, Harry slowly walked to the kitchen table and sat down. Just as Hedwig had lifted her wing to cuff him again, for him to think faster he suddenly slapped the table loudly. Startled, Hedwig flew onto the fridge and hooted disapprovingly.

*Hoot. Hoot hoot*

"I'm sorry Hedwig, but I have the solution. The perfect solution for our food needs and a lot of help. I just have to ask Dobby if he wants to work for me!"

*hoot?*

Hedwig hooted, as if to question his sanity.

"Yes, I know, he was not nice to you and stole your mail. But at least he wanted to help me. And he owes me for his freedom, so I think this will work. All right, here it goes."

As he fast-talked Hedwig out of believing him to be insane, he called out "Dobby!"

And with a *pop* Dobby appeared in all his glory. Maybe not glory, but he had come.

"Master Harry Potter calls Dobby?"

"Hey Dobby, how are you?"

"Master Harry Potter asks how Dobby is? Master Harry Potter bes the greatest wizard in the world! Dobby bes good, Master Harry Potter, sir. Dobby be searching for employment Master Harry Potter, sir."

As Dobby finished his excited speech, Harry realised one critical point in his form of address. He had called him master. Repeatedly.

"Dobby, why are you calling me master? Have you bound yourself to me?" he questioned with a raised eyebrow.

Dobby's excitement came to a screeching halt. Like a statue, he slowly turned to him, and with tears pooling in his eyes. He threw himself at Harry's legs.

"Dobby bes sorry, great master Harry Potter, sir! Dobby sneakily binds himself to the great Harry Potter! Dobby will punish himself!"

As Harry tried to dislodge the distraught house elf, he had to intervene fast as the distraught House elf was already looking for means to hurt himself.

"Dobby stop!'' he called out, "don't punish yourself. Ever. If you are my house elf, you will stop punishing yourself whenever you think you made a mistake. I originally called you here to ask if you wanted to work for me. I thought you were happy being free, so I want to offer you a salary. How much do you want?"

As Dobby froze for the second time in as many minutes.

"The great master Harry Potter wishes to pay Dobby? Oh, Harry Potter is even greater as Dobby had thought!"

And he threw himself with greater ferocity onto Harry's legs.

"Alright, alright. Calm down. We need to hash out the details of your employment, then you explain to me why exactly you bound yourself to me and then you need to get me some food. With extra bacon for Hedwig."

When Dobby heard Harry say he needed something to eat, Dobby disappeared with a small *pop*, only to reappear moments later with enough food to feed the Dursleys. Not an easy task, considering Vernon and Dudley alone ate for five on a bad day.

When Hedwig saw a platter with crispy bacon and sausages, she immediately landed onto it and started eating, ignoring Harry in the process. Harry only laughed at that.

"Enjoy your meal Hedwig. You deserve it."

As he was about to eat himself, he invited Dobby to eat with him, only to be surprised at the response he got.

"Great master Harry Potter sir, house elves not be needing human food, only masters magic be needed. If a house elf not being bound to a master or a home and family with sufficient magic, we slowly and painfully die. Most house elves also becomes bad in the head, makings big messes everywhere. Dobby wanting to bes helping master Harry Potter, so he binds himself to master Harry Potter."

Harry was stunned, he expected some kind of repercussions for elves, but to slowly die painfully and become insane. He thought that was only possible in the terrible and beautiful world of fanfiction.

"Wow Dobby, I didn't know. I really thought I was helping you when I freed you from the Malfoys. Knowing that, I am happy that you bound yourself to me Dobby... So you don't need food, but does that mean you can't eat it?"

"No master Harry Potter, sir. House elves can eat human food, wes just don't needs it."

Harry smiled when he heard Dobby,

"Great, then you will eat together with me. You are my friend Dobby. Also, stop calling me master Harry Potter or great master Harry Potter. You can call me Harry."

Dobby, with tears running down his cheeks threw himself at Harry for the third time that day, as he bawled "master Harry Potter be's the kindest master in all the world!"

Hedwig, enjoying her master's discomfort, hooted in amusement at the byplay.

*Hoot hoot*

"Laugh it up Hedwig. Why don't you try to be hugged like that?" Harry growled playfully at her.

"And you Dobby, that's enough. Let's eat this food, you clearly appropriated from someone deserving."

As Dobby finally calmed down, Harry could finally eat. And he was hungry.