Snakes And The Moon

Chapter 1

It was now the summer holidays and that meant Harry was back to being stuck with the Dursley's. To his great displeasure, that also meant Dudley was always at home, too. He'd almost forgotten what his cousin and uncle's fat faces looked like and how how shrill aunt Petunia's voice could get. 

When they'd gotten home that day from picking up Harry at King's Cross Station, they'd immediately grabbed his trunk, robes, cauldron and Nimbus Two Thousand off him and locked it away under the cupboard. They'd even gotten a big padlock and attached it to the door just to make sure he couldn't get in. He put up a good fight about it but uncle Vernon threatened to burn it all to the ground. 

Harry remembered hearing old stories from aunt Petunia, based on some books she had around the house when he was younger before he learned he was a wizard, that people would witchhunt and set fire to them because they thought they were, what aunt Petunia would call, unnatural and freakish. 

He scowled at the deep memory, realising that she was trying to set the idea into his head at a young age that he was all those things and he should be burned at the stake, even if he didn't realise. She's a barbaric woman.

He didn't want to push uncle Vernon's buttons so he just let him take them. He could always just sneak in there in the middle of the night and pick the lock, not with magic as he's not allowed, but with a hair clip. It shouldn't be too hard. He wants some of his books, he needs something to keep him entertained otherwise he'll end up killing them.

Speaking of, that really will be a possibility considering his Wolfsbane Potion is in there and he'll need it by the end of the month. Fools, if only they knew. 

Then they'd kick him out! Maybe he should tell them. No, bad idea. The stake burning incident comes straight to mind and he shudders. He'll have to look into that, surely muggles didn't actually burn wizards, right? That has to be a stereotype. If it's true, he's going to start looking at them in a whole new way...

Uncle Vernon also seemed to have a problem with Hedwig. He kept insisting on taking her to the animal shelter and handing her over but Harry just glared at him hatefully. 

"No, she's staying with me. I need her, she's family." He said firmly.

"Family? How can a silly over sized pigeon be family?" Uncle Vernon laughed. Dudley was just grinning at him.

"She's a much better family for me that you lot have ever been!" Harry spat at him. "At least she's there for me when I need it and offers me comfort. At least she listens."

Uncle Vernon just glared. "Of course it listens, it's a bird. It can't talk back."

Dudley just burst out laughing from where he was standing and watching the commotion taking place like usual. Harry seriously felt like whipping out his wand from his holster and cursing them with the Skin Peeling Curse but he didn't want to get expelled from school and get into major trouble with the Ministry. 

His Dark Arts book which he stole from the Restricted Section in the school library and never gave back was safely stored away in his trunk and did say they weren't illegal, but that didn't mean he was going to risk using them on a muggle, considering you couldn't even use Light magic on a muggle. He wouldn't even be able to pass it off as accidental magic, considering he had his wand in his hand. The Dursley's aren't worth his time or magic anyway.

He took Hedwig upstairs and went into his bedroom, which was Dudley's old one, and put a chair underneath the door handle so nobody could get in. He opened up Hedwig's cage and soothingly stroked her feathers, making her hoot happily. 

"Hey, girl. You okay?" She hooted again and gave a slight nod of the head, making Harry smile. "Good." He stroked her feathers for a few more seconds before sighing and opening up the window with a grin. "On you go." She flapped her wings happily and flew out the window quickly, going for a nice fly and probably to hunt for some mice.