Tory Potter and the Pathological Liar

Prologue

"Suspicious" was the first word to come to my mind as I stared at the tabby cat outside the window. I narrowed my hazel eyes at the cat with square spectacle-like markings on its face.

The cat would have been normal if it hadn't been sitting on the stone wall all day, stiff as a board. But the cat had, and it's eyes seemed to hold something human to them. There was no way that cat was just your everyday cat.

My eyes narrowed even more. "What are you hiding...?"

"Tory Jamar Potter!"

I jolted, causing some of my black hair to drop in front of my eyes, before quickly sliding to the ground from the chair I was just standing on. I turned around and found a woman glaring down at me.

The woman was tall with blonde hair. Her face was akin to that of a horse, but you couldn't say that to her. Her eyes were piercing as she stared down at me. Her hands rested on her hips as her long neck, which seemed to be twice the size it should have been, strained down towards me.

"A-Aunt Petunia..." I looked everywhere but at the woman, my grey eyes darting around nervously. My hands rubbed together as my feet turned inwards. I already had my head hung low.

"Why in the world were you standing on that chair?!" She yelled at me, causing my cheeks to flush red with embarrassment.

"There was a strange-"

"We don't use that word," Aunt Petunia hissed angrily at me, causing me to shrink down.

"Th-the cat-"

Her eyes snapped up towards the window, only to see no cat in sight. She looked back down to me, and I was still avoiding her gaze. "Tory Jamar Potter! You are six years old! It's time to grow up and stop lying!"

"But I'm not!" I cried out, my hazel eyes finally looking up.

"No dinner," the woman said coldly, causing my entire body to sag down.

I hugged myself as I muttered, "Y-yes ma'am..."

"Get back to work," the blonde woman demanded as she pointed to the vacuum sitting nearby.

"Yes ma'am," I said as I walked over to the cleaning instrument I had discarded earlier. I turned it back on and returned to cleaning the floors of the Dursley household. I kept my head down, not bothering to look at the windows. If I had, I would have seen the cat sitting just outside of the window, it's tail flicking with agitation.

Said cat remained silent for a moment before meowing.

I glanced at the window before narrowing my hazel eyes. I then looked at Aunt Petunia and opened my mouth, but paused. My gaze returned to the floor, and my shoulders sagged down. I continued with my vacuuming, never looking back at the cat in the window.

A car pulled into the driveway of the 4 Privet Drive. It parked, and out came a fat man and an equally fat boy.

I briefly glanced over as the man and boy entered before returning to my vacuuming.

"Ew! It's Tory!" The six-year-old boy yelled as he pointed at me. His blonde hair shined in the light of the bulbs above. His watery blue eyes showed disgust as he stared at me. He was chubby to say the least.

I shrunk down into myself, looking down at the floor. "H-hello..."

The man grunted as he closed the door behind him. He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large mustache.

"Dudley!" Aunt Petunia exclaimed happily upon seeing her son.

The fat boy rushed to his mother with a happy smile. He shoved me to the floor as he passed, not giving the action a second thought. "Mommy!"

"Did you have a good day?" The blonde woman asked with a cheerful smile.

I slowly picked himself up and held the vacuum hose close. I quickly slinked off to a corner and began to vacuum there, out of the way of the others.

"It was good!" Dudley chirped happily. "I got to yell at people like Daddy!"

The man, Uncle Vernon, gave a chuckle. "He'll grow up into a fine man one day. He'll take over the firm for sure."

"I'm so proud to hear that!" The woman chirped before glaring over at me. "That good-for-nothing lied to me again."

I shrunk down as I bit my tongue. My hazel eyes glared at the floor, knowing I didn't lie.

Uncle Vernon's fat face turned red with anger. "That's the third time this week!"

"Exactly. I'm worried about what will happen if he continues at this rate," his wife whispered softly to her husband.

"Tory Jamar Potter!" Uncle Vernon bellowed, causing both boys to flinch.

I had my hung low as I all but dragged myself over to man.

"How dare you lie again?!" The man yelled at me.

I lifted up my head, defiance in my eyes. "There was a strange-"

"No, there was not!" Aunt Petunia interrupted loudly.

"There was, Uncle Vernon!" I objected, stomping my foot on the ground.

The fat man walked over to me and roughly grabbed me by my arm. His voice was deadly calm as he growled, "Don't raise your voice at us, boy."

Anger morphed into fear as I stared into Uncle Vernon's eyes. "The cat looked like it had on spectacles..."

The man paused for a moment, fear clear in his eyes. His anger then returned as he dragged me into the kitchen.

My eyes darted everywhere, looking for a means of escape. I couldn't find any, and was soon faced with the man taking off his belt. I released a loud cry of pain as I was repeatedly hit with the belt.

Once Uncle Vernon was satisfied, he dragged me to the stairs.

I was thrown into the cupboard under the stairs, the door slamming shut behind me. I whimpered softly as I curled into a ball.

"What happened?" My twin brother asked me softly.

"There was a strange cat," I mumbled as tears ran down my face. "She didn't see it and said I was a liar."

"I'm sorry," the boy with the unruly black hair apologized as he hugged me.

"It's not your fault," I assured the younger one. "It was my fault. I shouldn't have said anything. You know how they get."

"Yeah..."

We remained silent afterwards, both thinking the situation over. We remained silent into the night, even as we changed and crawled into what the called a bed.

"Goodnight, Harry," I muttered sleepily as I struggled to get comfortable.

"Goodnight, Tory," Harry replied while yawning.

~

A tabby cat gazed through the windows of 4 Privet Drive for a few minutes after dark before turning into a woman with spectacles. Her graying hair was neatly put up into a bun, and her green robes flowed elegantly around her as she walked around the side of the house before disappearing into the night. She had news for her coworkers, news that surely wouldn't be appreciated.