The Rise of a Dark Lord

Deal with the Devil

Harry looked at the door in front of him with disdain; he was back. Taking a deep breath, he entered the building and went to the matron's office to tell her that he was back and would be staying until the beginning of September.

He knocked on the door and waited until he heard Mrs. Brown telling him to enter. The face she made when she saw it was him was quite entertaining to Harry.

"Good afternoon Mrs. Brown." he said, maintaining a polite and mature air. However the look of dread on her face remained.

It wasn't something that surprised Harry, Mrs. Brown always suspected that he did things to the other boys at the orphanage, however she was far too afraid of him to do anything about those suspicions.

"Harry, I thought that you would be returning tomorrow." Mrs. Brown said, trying to hide her apprehension behind a fake smile.

"Yes, that is my fault, when I sent the letter to inform you about the day that I would be back I got the date wrong."

It was partially true, it was his fault, it just hadn't been a mistake. Harry had no wish whatsoever for them to pick him up at the station. He preferred to keep the contact he had with the muggles at the orphanage to a minimum.

"Is my room still the same?" he asked, the sooner he left the woman's presence the better.

"Yes, of course it is." she replied rather sharply, as if it was an insult to suggest otherwise. He sometimes forgot how seriously she took her job, considering how she never did anything to help him when he was younger, he thought it was rather normal. Perhaps she only cared about appearing to be doing her job and not actually doing it. Oh well, it didn't really matter to Harry, as long as they let him be, he wouldn't bother with them.

"Hmm, very well. I will be staying until the first of September, unless of course I spend some time with some colleague from school. Have the rest of a nice afternoon."

He was out of the office before the matron had the chance to reply. He had many things planned, he hoped that he would be able to do everything. He had to contain the smile that wanted to appear on his face when he remembered everything he had planned, it was going to be fun.

A little over two weeks after he had arrived at the orphanage, he had established a routine identical to what he'd had before he went to Hogwarts.

The same day he'd arrived he went shopping and filled his cooling cupboard, he still found it odd that there were no fridges in the Wizarding World. Instead there were cupboards with several charms on them that kept the food fresh, cold, or in some cases frozen.

Having those little magical things during the summer was a blessing. After having been in a world full of magic it would have killed him if he had to spend a whole summer completely cut off from that. At least he could practice Potions, Runes, and Arithmancy and had all of his books; otherwise he thought he would have gone insane, pretending that he was nothing more than a muggle.

Speaking of books; now he could finally read the books he had received from the mysterious T.M.R. as a Christmas present. Though he'd been dying to read them, he hadn't touched the books at Hogwarts. He knew that the books were illegal and he didn't want to risk someone finding them, even if they were inside his trunk. Accidents did happen, he could put a book inside his backpack or something like that, and even though he was careful, he would rather not risk it.

Now though, there was nothing to stop him from reading his books. He knew he couldn't do magic, but nothing stopped him from picking up a stick from the ground and practicing the wand movements and when he went back to Hogwarts he would be able to practice with a wand.