5 Truth of the Matter
"I... Think that's it..." Harry muttered while clapping his notebook closed, the ritual pamphlet carefully hidden within. Before him was his sixth ritual circle, one designed to imbue an object with magic.
He'd spent almost all his time this last two weeks with his head buried in books, making notes, conjectures, and theories on how magic in general worked, especially rituals which he'd had an incredible amount of trouble using.
Since any direct magic like levitation was so incredibly weak street magicians would seem more impressive, he'd been forced to delve into alternate schools. Rituals was simply the easiest to reach and utilise... After all, it wasn't like any pieces of fiction would contain actual magic. Nor would he just find tomes of ancient knowledge lying around.
He was aware his pamphlet 'Real Rituals, Curses, and Hexes' was likely fake and designed to coax loners and losers into trying them, and once failing that buying the larger edition which was being sold at a premium in the local bookstore.
That said, it provided the base of many ideas that seemed to work, if slightly for Harry's own magic. All that was left was for him to uncover the entirety of an incredibly dark, dangerous, and usually fatal(according to many stories) school of magic... No pressure.
He'd tried four rituals after turning Vernon bald, barring this one. All of them had been off in some manner or another, all had magical effects but none were exactly as he'd liked. One designed to give him more magic almost burned him to death, causing him to push off any self-improvement rituals for later.
Rituals designed to hurt people, even if their effects were somewhat random, almost always did something he liked. Instead of killing or crippling Vernon his first ritual turned him bald, which yes, the consequences for antagonising the man were quite painful. It was still a proof of concept.
Thankfully, Harry's usual bumbling had resulted in some replicable phenomena that was workable in future rituals, eventually leading to his sixth...
After the ritual circle had stopped burning, he bent over and collected the kitchen knife he'd sacrificed a dozen creatures with. It was scorched, warped by fire, but the black blade seemed sharper than before, and somehow. Hateful...
Now, he hadn't enchanted this object just to see if he could do it, or because he wanted a 'cool knife' as other kids his age might've. No, through his reading he'd come across many tropes when it came to rituals. Things that he'd found had some degree of fact behind them, as if they were based and derived from something real.
In this case, he was specifically trying to create a ritual dagger, a tool that had many stories and connotations behind it.
"A key with which to open a door to the other side."
"An instrument to conduct darker energies of the cosmos."
"A vital component with which to isolate outside influences."
"A gimmick to sell toys..."
That last one was his thought, but it might be just as applicable given how some Dungeon and Dragons models being sold looked. The board game thankfully gave him a cover story to explain away his interest in rituals... Saying he was going to be Dungeon Master usually gave him the green light.
"I'll call you..." he hums as he stares down at the mangled kitchen knife, "Reprisal."
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"Oh, and Dudley, I hope you and your family have fun over in the Isle of White, truly the sights there are to die for." a teacher remarks as class ends.
"Really? Mummy said we're going to see the needle, but I hate needles!" Dudley childishly pouts.
Harry pauses in the doorway for a moment before shaking his head and continuing, "Hm, looks like Uncle's finally going to get rid of me..." he mutters under his breath. No one would bat an eye if the troublemaker decided to 'run away' in the Isle, and by the time they figured out he'd flung himself from the cliffs, who would care?
Well, let's just hope his preparations were worth it, otherwise he'd be selling his soul for no reason...
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That day once Harry got home and started cooking the Dursleys their dinner, he covertly dropped a whole bottle of sleeping pills he'd absconded from the nurse's office into the bolognese sauce.
It was almost comical how their choice to refuse to allow Harry to eat with them would be their demise. Or the fact Vernon and Dudley ate theirs so quickly they didn't notice the odd aftertaste.
The only block in Harry's plan was Petunia's sudden diet, choosing Nutri-grain bars and oatmeal instead of the dinner he'd painstakingly cooked for her. A shame, he'd have to get his hands dirty.
"Uuuuhhh... Mummy, I don't feel good so... Stoma-ch hurt..." Dudley sways in his chair before collapsing. Petunia gives a shriek and runs for the boy while Vernon tries to get to his feet, only to stumble and grab the table, almost collapsing it under his weight.
He gags on bile and slowly looks around, eyes flashing with recognition when they land on Harry. "Y-you! What did you do, freak!?"
"Nothing, uncle... Dudley must have eaten something weird at school!" he innocently says while stepping to the side and pulling out a filled rucksack from under the sink.
"N-None-sense, you..." he breathes hard, clutching his chest with a fat hand, "I-II'll kill you, for this... Boy..." he growls before dropping, hitting the ground unconscious next to Dudley and earning another shriek from Petunia.
She stands and jabs a bony finger at him, her face looking like a disgruntled hawk as she stares at him, "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?"
"Me?" Harry snorts while walking to the corner of the room where Vernon's bag of golf clubs lay. "You're the one who did this. It's your fault." his grin didn't reach his eyes, which squinted in fury as he approached.
"ME!? YOU POISONED MY HUSBAND AND SON! I SWEAR TO GOD I'LL... I... Stop! You can't do this!" she accidentally topples a chair as she backs away. Harry may have been a child, but Petunia despite her height was skinny enough that she was barely heavier than Dudley. Harry doubted she had the will to fight either, not that he'd take the chance.
He lunges forward stomping on and pushing off of Vernon's fat nose as he swings the club, which connects with Petunia's leg as she tries to flee for the door. She drops, the pain enough to cripple her movement despite not breaking anything.
"That's all it takes?" Harry chuckles, "You forced me to school with a shattered arm and ribs, yet a bruised leg puts you down? How... Pathetic." he growls, raising the club high before bringing down on the woman's head.
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Vernon Dursley awoke with a scream, his stomach pulsing with pain as if acid was burning through his stomach. He pulls at his hands and legs, only to stop dead in his tracks upon finding them bound. He'd been tied to a chair with layers upon layers of electrical tape...
Blinking the blurryness from his vision, he feels terror rise up in his throat upon viewing the scene. There, atop a strange pentagram that stunk of iron and ammonia, his family sat similarly to him, both tied to chairs.
Much to his anger, he spotted a huge black bruise on his wife's face, along with dried blood from somewhere on his scalp. "P-Pet! Wake up! Pet!" he quickly says in a hushed tone, fearing whoever had tied them up.
"Uuugh... D-dad...?" Dudley's eyes flutter open, the boy quickly panicking as he pulled on his restraints. "Ow! OW IT HURTS!" he shouts from the tape tearing at his skin like dried glue.
"Dudley, calm down and stay quiet! Wake your mother, quickly!"
"Oh, you're awake. Fantastic, I've been waiting hours for this." a voice, no, the freak states as he walks out of the hallway, finally revealing his true, evil colours. "I'm surprised you woke before her, I put so many pills in your food that I thought you'd die..." he shrugs uncaringly.
"BOY! YOU FUCKING DARE DO THIS TO US!? AFTER WE TOOK CARE OF YOU ALL THESE YEARS!? I SHOULD'VE LEFT YOU TO FREEZE ON OUR DAMN DOORSTEP!" Vernon shakes his head and tugs harder at his restraints, "I WON'T STOP THIS TIME! I'LL CAVE YOUR BLOODY HEAD IN!"
Harry tilts his head at the man, looking almost curious. "About that, do you remember? Whenever I asked why you didn't shove me in an orphanage? How you'd beat me for asking too many questions?... Well, I'd like you to tell the truth now." he says as he slowly walks around the group, poking Petunia in the face and causing her head to lull to the side.
"I'll not say a word you worthless, EVIL SHIT! YOU BETTER LET US GO OR SO HELP ME GOD, THEY'LL NEVER FIND WHAT'S LEFT OF YOU!"
Harry nods sagely, "I knew that'd be your answer, so lets try it this way." he grab something from behind Vernon and walks to Dudley, dragging the blackened knife across his cheek and causing blood to seep down his face. Vernon's about to blow a gasket, but goes silent when Harry holds the weapon directly in front of the boy's eye.
"Feeling talkative yet?"
"Touch a hair on his head and-" the man starts but pauses at Harry's derisive snort.
"Oh, shut up with the threats already. Is your pride worth more than your 'Duddinkins' ability to see? Or maybe I should start cutting below the belt, see if that'll get you motivated. TELL ME WHY I'M HERE. WHY YOU NEVER SENT ME AWAY!? WHY YOU CALL ME FREAK!" he lowers the knife to Dudley's abdomen.
"LET ME GO YOU FREAK! LEMME GO LEMME GO LEMME GO!!!" Dudley roars.
"S-stop..." Petunia suddenly rasps, finally awake from the commotion. "I-I'll talk... Please, leave our boy alone..."
Harry smiles jubilantly, "At least my dear aunt has some sense! Go on then, speak up." he urges, and Vernon is surprisingly silent despite his earlier protestations.
"Y-You were dumped on our doorstep like trash by that, Dumbledore... T-the Headmaster of that magic school! T-the letter he left said that he did magic on our house, and that we HAD to take care of you."
"Who is this, Dumbledore?" he grouses. From the spirit of his mother he'd heard of Dumbledore, and now he knew that he was the one responsible for his suffering over the last seven years. He was most likely the one who stopped him from leaving too, along with preventing anyone from checking up on him. No wonder child services hadn't rescued him if this damn magic user was involved!
"I-I don't know-" she stutters out, but Harry could tell she was hiding something.
"Do you really think I won't do anything!?" he grips one of Dudley's large ears and brings the knife down, cutting it cleanly from his head.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!! MUMMY IT HURTS! IT HURTS! MUMMY MAKE IT STOP!!!" Dudley breaks into babbling screams, forcing Harry to tape his mouth shut. At Vernon's shouting however he just grips the boy's other ear, making him go silent.
Finally with peace, Harry looks to Petunia. "Now, tell me the truth. Or else." he tosses the severed ear onto her lap.
"M-M-my sister w-went to their school!... S-she was a w-witch! She left us for the rest of those freaks! And she died for it!... Please, I don't know anything else!"
"So, you treated me like crap, abused me for years... For what? Because I could do magic?" he questions, pushing some of her hair out of the way with his knife.
"Because it's what you deserve you little toe rag. You damn freaks hide in our country doing your freakishness on honest folks! They left you here and ignored any letters we gave to that girl of Dumbledore's."
"Mrs Figg..." Petunia breathes, "S-she's one of them. I-If you want to hurt someone, hurt her, or any of them!" she whimpers.
"You know she's Dumbledore's?" Harry queries, recalling the times he'd spent at the old bints house.
"She moved in the day after you got dropped here! Taking the house of kind old Charmane! Of course we knew who she is, especially asking about you all the time, and those freakish cats of hers!" Vernon angrily spat.
