Devious Future

Chapter 1

Harry Potter was a very strange child. He had always been different. In fact, he had realized at a very very young age that he was different, but he didn't honestly care much.

You see, Harry knew things. Things that no small child should know. He also acted very oddly for a child. He was often very quiet, with a distant, thoughtful expression on his face. He would sit in silence, staring off into the distance, doing absolutely nothing for hours. Sometimes he would crack a smile, or even giggle lightly. Other times he would scowl or look sad, for apparently no reason at all.

Harry Potter lived with his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon, and their son, Dudley, because his own parents had died when he was just over a year old.

His Aunt and Uncle had told him that his parents died in a car crash, but Harry knew that wasn't the truth. He never told them he knew, or how he knew however, because honestly... he just did.

Vernon and Petunia Dursley prided themselves in being as plane, normal, and boring as possible. Anything strange or out of the ordinary was the worst sort of thing, and since Harry was so obviously odd, they absolutely despised having to care for the boy.

For the first five years of his life spent with the Dursley's, Harry's 'bedroom' was actually the cupboard under the stairs. As soon as he was tall enough to reach, he was forced to do the cooking and cleaning around the house, and was only fed table scraps, while the Dursley's spoiled their own chubby little Dudders, rotten.

And yet, oddly enough, Harry never lashed out at his Aunt and Uncle. He never spoke ill to them, or protested his treatment. He took care of his tasks quickly and without any argument.

His exceptionally odd reactions only put the Dursley's off, even more. They knew that Harry was destined to be as freakish and unnatural as his parents had been, but his behavior was too strange to be explained by that alone. There was clearly something more, wrong with the boy.

One morning, during the summer that Harry would turn six years old, an event took place that would begin a string of events that would change the way the Dursley's treated Harry, for the rest of his life.

Vernon Dursley was sitting at the kitchen table, reading the newspaper, while Petunia sat fussing with Dudley's hair. Harry was standing on a step stool at the stove, fixing the eggs and bacon for his relative's breakfast.

After bringing the food to the table, Harry sat perfectly still in his seat, with that strange vacant look in his eyes while he seemed to stare at a distant spot on the flowered wallpaper. The Dursley's all filled up their plates, leaving nothing but tiny scraps for Harry. Once they were all done loading up their plates, Harry took what was left and began to eat.

Vernon was muttering things about the economy and finances as he looked over the business section of the paper. Eventually his mutterings shifted to Harry and the financial burden he put on their family. This was a very common complaint of Vernon's. Of course, Harry was hardly a financial burden at all since he barely ate anything, they never bought him any toys, and all of his clothes were hand-me-downs from Dudley. But that would never stop Vernon from complaining about the boy.

Vernon grumbled, once again, about how Harry was a freeloader and didn't do enough to warrant his expense to their family.

Harry looked at his uncle with a critical eye for a moment and the intense gaze caught Vernon's eye and startled him deeply. Harry's eyes were rarely that focused and the look to the strange boy was extremely unnerving.

"What the devil are you looking at boy!" Vernon bellowed, angrily.

Harry was quiet for a moment, and the intense gaze of his piercing green eyes, combined with the strange silence sent a shiver down Vernon's spine.