"Harry Potter Makes His Own Destiny"

Chapter 10 "My Hero"

"What took so long?" Dudley asked when Harry walked in.

"Nothing, your Mother just asked me what I was up to." He shrugged and handed Dudley a soda.

"Really? Weird."

"That's what I thought. So anyway what's the movie?" Harry asked eager to change the subject.

"It's called 'Ford Fairlane: Rock and Roll Detective'. Hand me the popcorn, I skipped dinner, and I just blew my lunch."

"You skipped dinner?" Harry asked astonished.

"Yeah, yeah, shut up Harry, I had a lot on my mind."

"You had a..."

"I said shut up Harry."

"Okay, okay lets just watch the movie." He wasn't sure how long before Dudley might change his mind about palling around, come to think of it Harry wasn't sure how long it might be until he himself changed his mind.

The movie was a funny, crude plot. The dialog was cheesy, the acting was so so, but all in all, not too bad for the Diceman's first starring role. Just the sort of movie any teen age boy is likely to enjoy. This was a rare treat for Harry, since he generally could only catch bits of movies on the telly between chores. When the movie was nearly over, the part where the main character brings his arm up causing a gun to pop out from his sleeve made Harry gasp and grab the remote to pause it.

“Hey,” Dudley protested reaching for the remote,”This is the good part! He's about to blow the bad guy away.”

"Pip" Harry called out.

"What is it master Harry? Is something wrong?" Pip popped in out of nowhere.

Dudley jumped but Harry just told Pip to watch the movie while he replayed the part with the gun. "Pip, could you make a holster like that for my wand? So it would shoot out from under my sleeve into my hand like that? I think I'll need an advantage if ole moldy-mort shows up."

Pip giggled at the silly name. "Yes sir, I thinks I can make something like that. I'd be proud to help fight against you-know-who, er, moldy-mort" Pip said, daring to make fun of you-know-who. He glanced around nervously before disappearing so the boys could enjoy the carnage.

* * *

The holster was done the next day and worked beautifully. It had a magickally activated spring and latch system tuned to Harry. All Harry had to do was think about it, and his wand would shoot into his hand, or back into the holster.

Harry had to keep his distance because Dudley was starting to get curious about magick, plus he still wasn't sure how to take the supposedly new Dudley. Even a sort of friendly, or at least non hostile Dudley was kind of hard on the nerves. So Harry just kept to himself like always, studying in his room.

It had been a long day so Harry went to bed early. It was a little before midnight when he felt a frantic tugging on his arm. In his dream it was an over friendly puppy jumping on him. He awoke when he heard a high pitched voice, "Please, Master Harry has to wake up."

"What is it Pip?" Harry asked sitting up, rubbing his eyes.

"Trouble sir, there is a wizard downstairs who is angry with Mr. Vernon."

"Oh crap, here it goes." Harry stated as he jumped out of bed and pulled on some shorts and a shirt. He grabbed the holster and strapped it to his wrist on the way down. He crept down as quietly as possible, surprise could be important here. He paused at the bottom of the stairs, then peeked around the corner. There was a gnarled, white haired wizard pointing a wand at a shaking uncle Vernon who was on the floor. He seemed to have more scars then normal skin, and a chunk missing out of his noise.

As he jumped around the corner, Harry brought his arm up, his wand sliding into his hand.

"Just in time. By the way, nice trick, Potter, you make that yourself?" The wizard said hoarsely, but obviously not surprised by Harry's entrance.

"No, I just got the idea, but Pip actually made it.” Thats when Harry noticed that the wizard had a large round eye trained on him while his normal eye was still on Vernon. “Now, put your wand down. I can't let you hurt him."

The wizard lowered his wand, "Why would you defend someone who would give you those bruises and broken bones?"

Was that surprise Harry saw on the wizard's scarred face? "I don't know really,” Harry kept his wand trained on the intruder,” just seems the thing to do at the moment. If I want revenge on him, I am capable of doing that myself. But I think he's starting to learn his lesson, slow as that may be." Vernon seemed to relax just a little, Harry didn't want him too sure of the situation, yet. That wouldn't do. ”Besides if any one is going to hurt him, it should be family. Learned that one from you, Uncle Vernon.”

The gnarled wizard put away his wand, ”I see you have the situation well in hand, Potter,” He pulled up a chair a sat down. Now Harry saw that the wizard had a carved wooden leg that ended in a eagle like claw. His over sized eye started to rotate in its socket. ”Name's

Moody, Alistair Moody, but a lot of people call me Mad Eye, for obvious reasons, but I ain't sure if I like that name yet. I admit I've been called worse. You can just call me Moody."

Harry hadn't lowered his wand yet, but that didn't seem to worry this Moody character too much. "Well, you obviously know who I am. Why did you have to come here to threaten the likes of him?"

"I heard about how this lout had been treating you. I thought I would come by and teach him a little respect. Maybe I was just bored I guess. I use to be an Auror, and things was gettin dull in my retirement. I used to know your parents. When I heard this fellow was using you as a punching bag I couldn't really stand for that now could I?"

"An Auror? I've read about those. You fought Dolt-emort, didn't you?" He finally lowered his wand.

"Heheh, that's a new one, yes I did, but with most of his supporters dead or in Askaban, I decided to take an early retirement. Didn't know it'd be even more boring than that little office I was stuck in." Moody took a hip flask out and drank from it. “always prepare your own food young Potter. In my line of work, it's saved my life. No one can poison you if you don't give then the chance.”

So this fellow was a little paranoid, with the scars he has, he's got good reason. "Well, I appreciate you coming by, Mr. Moody, really I do, but Professor McGonagall had a chat with them. I don't know what she said, but it seems to have worked. Plus, I got Pip here to make sure."

"Alright then I'll be off, I think maybe I need to get a hobby." Moody heaved himself to his feet.

It didn't seem right just letting this fellow leave like this, after going to all this trouble. Then Harry had a thought. "Well, if ya got any stories you'd like to tell from when you were an auror, I'd love to hear 'em sometime. Maybe you could send an owl or drop by the school. Plus,” Harry added with some embarrassment, ”I don't really know too many folk in the wizard world."

"Really, you'd wanna listen to me ramble on 'bout the ole days?" The scarred face brightened up and Moody looked twenty years younger.

"Yeah, really."

"Okay then, I'll let you get back to bed, and I'll send you an owl sometime." and with that Moody left.

* * * * *

As Harry went to bed he thought how cool it must have been to be an auror. He always found the cop shows, when he was able to watch them, kind of boring. Except maybe the car chases. But the idea of magick, dark wizards, these kinds of stories had to be awesome. He had never dreamed of this kind of stuff until he was rescued by Hagrid. He couldn't wait to talk to Mr. Moody again.

Harry woke to some noise wafting up from downstairs. He was having a good dream. He had been chasing Voldemort through the woods. Harry and his team had finally caught up with and surrounded him in a clearing. "Hey Dork Lord." Harry yelled. Voldemort turned in anger and was about to cast a spell, but Harry was too quick for him. He brought his arm up, his wand shooting into his hand. A large green lightning bolt shot out of his wand and hit Voldemort square in the chest. Voldemort screamed in pain then exploded in a fiery mass, sparks shooting in every direction. Harry was cheered as the hero, which was the only part about the dream he didn't like. It made him uncomfortable.

Harry got up and threw on some clothes before going down to investigate the noises. He got downstairs to find the Dursleys heading out, with their suitcases already loaded into the car. Harry couldn't believe what he was seeing.

"Er, Aunt Petunia, what's going on?"

"Oh, I'm sorry Harry, I was going to leave you a note. But since you're up, I'll just tell you. Last night was too much for your Uncle."

Harry looked over at his uncle, who was very pale and distant. "Uncle Vernon?" No response.

"He's been like that since last night. That's why we're gonna go visit Marge. That, and to hide out until the repercussions of what we did to you dies down."

Harry looked a little scornful. "Yeah well," Harry started but Petunia cut him off.

"I want to say I'm sorry. But what's done is done."

Harry wasn't gonna let her off that easy. Time to maybe let something slip in front of Dudley. "Sorry Aunt Petunia, but I overheard what you and Pip were saying the other night about your and Dudley's Hogwarts letters."

Dudley was shocked and Petunia was pissed. "I got a letter too? What the hell's going on mom?" Dudley said in an confused voice.

"Button it Dudley." Petunia said harshly as she glared at Harry. "How dare you listen in on a private conversation."

"No, how dare you try to make what happened to me sound like a slap on the wrist. As for you and Dudley, it would appear you can do at least some magick, and ignoring it won't make it go away. It just makes it dangerous. I may have a lot to learn still, but I already know that magick is dangerous when you don't know how to use it. You guys need to get your head outta your arse and wake up. I don't want to have to talk down any more wizard's that come after ya." Harry stated getting the upper hand.

"Wait, are you saying I can do magick too?" Dudley said realizing that being a freak could have its advantages.

"I said button it, Dudley." Petunia said getting frustrated, then in a slightly softer tone, "We'll talk about it later."

Then turning her attention back to Harry, she studied him a moment trying to think of something to say. He looked like a little boy, but you could see the man he would become in those green eyes. She could also see her sister in those eyes. A sister she finally realised was never coming back. A sister that had died to protect her son. Petunia had never grieved, she had only focused on the fact she had another kid to take care of. A kid that wouldn't let himself be put down anymore. Petunia then got a startled look on her face, she was actually starting to respect Harry. "Oh my, keep this up and I might start thinking of you as a person. How did you become so smart?"

"Good genetics" Harry said not to be outdone.

"I hope Pip will keep you from blowing up the house before you leave." Petunia said as she got into the car.

Harry turned to the silent Dudley, "I guess I'll see you sometime cousin."

"Yeah, er, sometime I guess." said an unusually subdued Dudley.

Then Harry got a twinkle in his eye and said "try not to blow up your Aunt Marge, OK?" and he winked at Dudley who just remained open mouthed at the thought as they pulled out onto the street and were off.

As Harry watched them drive off he noticed a cab at Mrs. Figg's house. She was having trouble getting out as she had a broken leg and the driver was doing nothing to help.

"Let me help you Mrs. Figg." Harry called out as he headed over to her.

"Oh thank you so much dear boy." she said.

"Couldn't lend a hand could you!" Harry said angrily to the driver who looked at Harry and went a little pale before quickly driving off.

"Tripped over one of my cats." She said as they made their way up the sidewalk. "Might be a good idea for me to rethink how many cats I want to keep."

Mrs. Figg stumbled slightly as Harry was helping her into the house. Pain shot through Harry's healing left arm as he put too much pressure on it. Harry gritted his teeth and sucked it in, he didn't want anyone to pity him. Luckily, she didn't even notice. After getting her into the house, she thanked Harry again and he left.

The next day was Monday and Harry was getting a little nervous. School was only a week away. What if couldn't live up to his name? What if people staring at the scar he once thought was kinda cool get to him? He was learning some magick, but the other kids grew up around it, so that wouldn't be anything special.

"What's the matter sir?" Pip asked when he saw Harry was just picking at his breakfast.

"I'm just a little nervous about school, that's all." said Harry still picking at his food.

"But Master Harry sir, you is the boy-who-lived. Everyone will know you, and you has been studyin real good. You can do stuff that many will never be able to do." Pip stated trying to cheer him up.

"That's what I mean Pip, I don't wanna be a celebrity. I know I can't hide but, I don't know."

"Tis okay Master Harry, just be yourself, and those that likes you will like you and those that won't won't. Just like yous said in the garden, remember?" Pip said in his best supportive voice.

"Yeah, I getcha Pip, thanks. I'm still nervous, but I guess I'll make it." Harry replied trying to sound reassured.

"You'll do alright, I knows it sir. Why don't you send an owl to Mr. Moody? Then we can goes and gets the muggle stuff you said you is wantin." Pip said trying to take Harry's mind off things.

"Yeah, thats a great idea Pip." Harry said as he went to send the owl.

Dear Mr. Moody

would you mind coming over this week sometime for
some stories? Uncle Vernon wasn't feeling to well
after last night, so they went to stay somewhere
else for him to rest and maybe hide till what
happened to me dies down.

I start school next week and I'm getting a little
nervous. I was hoping maybe you could show me some
defensive spells too, if you would. I want to be
prepared for whatever might happen, you know?

Thanks
Harry Potter

P.S. don't worry about me being left alone, I got Pip
here. Please don't try and find the Dursleys. You
really unsettled Uncle Vernon last night, not that he
didn't deserve it, but my aunt and cousin are coming
around finally, and have apologized.