Angel's End

Chapter One: The Start of Change

"He's as light as a feather!" They'd say, "And as dull as a brick!"

But no one knew what truly went on in Harry Potter's mind. No one, except he, himself. Still, people liked to try to assume what this young wizard was thinking. It was a common pastime among wizards, witches, and muggles alike. However, no other group of individuals were more prying, more sneering, and more iniquitous than the Dursleys.

The Dursleys were a particularly foul bunch, with their demeaning words and dejecting stares of disapproval. Their minds were full of phrases and actions of harm that they were eager to inflict on anyone they saw as revolting. Their favorite target of harassment was Harry, despite him being a relative to the discourteous family. They had left a protracted mark of anxiety and distrust on the adolescent. 

That changed over time, though. Dudley started to learn that he was not much different than Harry, and didn't bully him much, anymore. Petunia was kinder, but still felt a sense of competition with the wizard. She was slowly working on her resentment, and had even given the teen a three second hug for the first time since he showed up on the doorstep all those years ago. 

Of course, it was nothing compared to the constant fight for his life that Harry had to have put up with all his years at Hogwarts, nothing, and although the Dark Lord was gone, he still had a gut feeling that things were not settled just yet. 

How right he was.

It was June twenty-ninth when things started to seem off. The eighteen year old was walking down the streets of London, all alone, when he encountered a strange weather phenomena: snow in summer. 

He was feeling particularly cold and upset at the time. Now that things were, to quote Vernon Dursley: "Fine and dandy," Harry was being kicked out of the residence for good. After all, the family needed their house back, and Harry was an adult, so they did not have to let him stay there at all, anymore. 

Harry was fine with all this. It wasn't his home, anyway, and he felt it was best to get away from the nightmare.  It was the argument he had gotten into with the family that set him off. More or less, it was just Vernon, as he was starting to get along with the other two, but it still hurt. 

He had just awoken early that morning to the banging of boxes being brought into the home. When he had gone down stairs to see what all the noise was, he was greeted by an angry Vernon.

"What are you still doing in our house?" The grumpy old man asked, harshly.

"Aunt Petunia said I could stay for a little, until I found a place." Harry answered honestly.

"Hogwash! My wife would not let someone like you, a danger to our family, stay in our beloved home." Vernon went to set down a small box, as it was, for some reason, too heavy for him. 

"You can ask her, if you don't believe me." The teenager stated. 

"Don't play smart with me." Vernon answered, pointing a fat, sausage like finger at his nephew.

"Why not?" Harry pressed on.

"Because you'll regret it. When people are smart Alecks, they're punished. Humiliated. Treated like the insufferable, unintelligent scum they are."

"Being treated like an outcast for being smart? Doesn't that sound a bit destructive to society?"

The older man didn't respond. He just scoffed, as if seeming angry about the question hid his lack of knowledge. 

Soon, Dudley and Petunia came in, bringing with them as many boxes as they could handle. For Petunia, it was two small boxes on top of a medium box. For Dudley, it was, surprisingly, three medium boxes.