Harry Potter - The Accidental Animagus

Chapter 1 - The Accidental Animagus

With one beefy hand, a purple-faced Vernon Dursley pinned his nephew to the wall while smacking him across the face with the other. "I will not have any of your freakishness in my house, boy!" he bellowed, following it up with another smack.

Harry Potter's trouble had started before he could remember, but age five was quickly shaping up to be much worse than the previous four years. It had already been bad enough that he was made to sleep in a cupboard, wear his over-sized cousin's castoffs and do as many chores as he could handle. Somehow, going to primary school just made things worse. His aunt and uncle hadn't wanted to send him, but they knew they couldn't get away with keeping him at home, so they grumbled about taking time away from "earning his keep' and sent him away with Dudley. It took all of two days before his cousin and his friends invented their new favourite game of "Harry hunting," which they engaged in whenever the teachers weren't looking. It took all of four days before, while being scolded for a teacher for knocking over his juice (which Dudley had actually done), Harry was shocked to see the teacher's hair turn neon blue.

That evening was the first time Uncle Vernon had hit him himself instead of letting Dudley do it. Young Harry had no idea what was going on and only a vague idea of why he was in trouble. But he couldn't mistake his uncle ranting all night about his freakishness and vowing to "stamp that rubbish out."

Harry still had bruises a week later when the next strange, unexplainable thing happened. He didn't mind being locked in his cupboard too much most of the time. At least it kept his relatives away from him. But something had changed in him after that first beating. The urge to respond, suppressed by years of conditioning, started to assert itself again. Then, after being beat on some more by Dudley's gang at school and having his loudmouth cousin stomp on the stairs above his head one too many times, that urge crystallised into a single, overwhelming desire: escape.

"You're going to stay in your cupboard when you're told, boy!" Uncle Vernon's rant continued. "You're not to let yourself out unless we say so. Just like your good-for-nothing parents, always getting into trouble. Worthless, the lot of you!" He punctuated each sentence with either a slap to the face or a punch to the torso.

Harry's cupboard door had seemingly unlocked itself and flown open with a bang. Uncle Vernon had rushed over and slammed it shut before Harry could react, but it happened twice more right in front of him, at which point he was forcibly dragged out into the living room. As the beating began, Harry willed himself not to cry, but it was a losing battle, and as expected, it only enraged his uncle more. By now, he didn't even notice Aunt Petunia and Dudley standing by and scowling at him.

"Don't you cry at me, boy, or I'll give you something to cry about!"

With that last punch, Harry's crying jumped an octave. Then, the lights started flickering, and the doors and windows began to rattle.

"Vernon!" Aunt Petunia cried with a twinge of fear.

"Stop that! Stop that right now, you little freak!"

Harry kicked to try to get away, but his uncle held him too tight. Unseen by anyone, the lights began flipping on and off in all of the rooms at once. The floors began to vibrate.

"Daddy!" Dudley cried.

"Stop that this instant!"

BANG!

As Harry's cries ascended to an inhuman yowl, every light bulb in the house exploded, every door slammed open, and all three Dursleys were thrown across the room and landed in a heap. When they came to their senses, Harry Potter was nowhere to be seen.