FicWad

Chapter Five: Everyone Hates Vernon

Harry returned to the headquarters of his organization, with the diary tucked safely under his arm and Lucius Malfoy's cane in his hand. The Boy-Who-Lived-Twice made his way into the seemingly abandoned hotel, thinking about the best way to eliminate the diary. The venom from a Basilisk fang worked nicely last time, but breaking into Hogwarts and into the Chamber of Secrets would not be something that would be in intelligent move at this point in time, especially with Dumbledore on his guard, looking to bring Harry back to the Dursleys for his own good. While, Harry was absolutely sure he could escape again and then have the Dursleys dumped in a lake with cement shoes, it was trivial and not worth his time.



Harry walked up to his office where Sirius was waiting for him, with a slightly worried look leaving his face, when he saw Harry was back and pretty much in one piece.



"Everything went according to plan, Sirius," said Harry, breaking the silence.



"Exactly what was this plan, Harry?" asked Sirius. "I mean, you were vague earlier, you only told me that Lucius Malfoy would get everything that he deserved."



"I managed to fool Lucius, with the innocent little boy act, making him foolishly think I was a tool for his manipulation," explained Harry. "Then he signed what he thought was his cleverly created adoption papers, which I managed to switch with the ones I had my legal representation had created the other day. Lucius, being a complete dunderhead, didn't bother to read what he signed. I went home, freed Dobby the house elf for the hell of it, provoked Lucius into attacking me which broke the contract and transferred all of the gold in the Malfoy family vault to me. I also sent a letter to the Ministry, informing that they could find several curious dark arts artifacts buried underneath the Malfoy family drawing room. And without his gold, there is no way Malfoy can escape Azkaban this time and to top it all off, I have this pimpin' new cane."



Sirius looked at the cane for a few seconds.



"You took Lucius's favorite cane," said Sirius before breaking out in a loud, bark like round of laughter. "Harry, you just had to rub salt in Lucius's wounds."



"I take pride in my work," said Harry with a grin. "Of course, I'm looking forward to Draco's feeble attempts of getting revenge against me when he's older for making his father lose every knut he ever owned."



"Well, I don't know much about Draco, but Narcissa might be after your blood too," said Sirius which caused Harry to raise his eyebrow "She'll be forced to find a job and she absolutely hates to do manual labor."



"Maybe, maybe not, but I can't expect everything to go my way all the time," said Harry before throwing the diary down onto the desk. "Thankfully I managed to lift this little gem from Lucius Malfoy's former home."



Sirius looked at the diary, feeling a strong compulsion to open it up and write in it but he managed to shake off that particular feeling.



"This is no ordinary diary," continued Harry. "This is the diary containing a sixteen year old version of Tom Marvolo Riddle or as he would be known as in the future, Lord Voldemort."



"No wonder, I felt a brief, strong compulsion to write in it," said Sirius.



"Indeed, and the pull would be much stronger, if you were an underaged witch or wizard and possess them to do nasty things," said Harry in a casual voice. "Which is what happened during my second year at Hogwarts, when Ginny Weasley foolishly trusted a diary that could think for itself despite her father's repeated warnings against artifacts of the nature. Anyway, she wrote in the diary and was possessed by Voldemort, to open up the Chamber of Secrets."



"The Chamber of Secrets was real!" exclaimed Sirius. "Mother did mention that she hoped that someone would find the Chamber and purge the world of all muggleborns, like Slytherin had intended. Only, she used a different word than muggleborns, that I'm not going to dirty my tongue by saying."



"Yes, very real, and so is the monster inside, unfortunately," said Harry darkly. "Through Ginny, Voldemort attacked several muggleborn students throughout the year, until he finally had drained enough of her life, to come out of the pages of the diary. I decided to run down to the Chamber of Secrets and was forced to fight the monster, a basilisk."



"You fought a basilisk when you were twelve years old!" growled Sirius in an indignant voice. "Where in the hell was Dumbledore during all of this?"



"Lucius Malfoy had blackmailed the board of Governors into sacking Dumbledore, but Dumbledore seemed to show up promptly after I had risked my neck," said Harry. "In fact, Dumbledore never seemed to show his face, until after I had risked bodily harm. I don't know if this was some twisted way of testing my skills that Dumbledore had convinced himself that was for the best or what."



Harry took a deep breath, as the floor beneath him was starting to shake slightly.



"To make a long story short, Riddle and I had a conversation, Dumbledore's phoenix Fawkes brought the sorting hat, Riddle ordered the basilisk to attack me, Fawkes poked the eyes of the Basilisk out, I pulled the Sword of Gryffindor out of the Sorting Hat, stabbed the basilisk, destroyed the diary with the venom from a basilisk fang before Riddle could completely leave the diary, Riddle was gone, Ginny was safe, the end," said Harry calmly. "Harry Potter against Lord Voldemort Part Three summed up in a nutshell."



"What would have happened if Riddle had managed to escape the diary?" asked Sirius.



"Voldemort would have returned to full power a lot sooner than he did," answered Harry curtly. "This diary is another possible method that Voldemort might want to use to return to power and I need to find a way to destroy it."



"Basilisk venom seemed to work well enough before," suggested Sirius.



"Yes, it did, but Basilisks aren't exactly the most common magical creatures," said Harry. "The only one alive is underneath Hogwarts in the Chamber of Secrets and I don't know if basilisk venom is something that you can buy."



"Yes, but I can't think of anything that might be as corrosive as Basilisk venom," said Sirius thoughtfully. "I suppose there might be other substances, whether they be magical or Muggle in origin, that could destroy it."



"Right, I'll have to test a few things, trial and error, but for right now, I'm keeping the diary locked up where no one will get it," said Harry, levitating the diary into the air, before placing it in an old empty trunk that was in his office. Harry waved his wand, snapping the trunk shut before putting several spells on it to prevent anyone from opening the trunk. "There, if anyone but me, tries to open up that trunk, they'll get blasted backwards and then bound with unbreakable ropes. I will deal with them appropriately when I find them."



Harry heard a knock on the door of his office and Harry leaned his head forward.



"Enter," prompted Harry in a dull voice and the door opened to reveal two of Harry's mobsters. "Ah, come in, I've been expecting you."



"We have the information you wanted Boss Potter," said one of the mobsters, tossing a stack of folders onto Harry's desk.



"Excellent, every business my organization has controlling interest in," said Harry, thumbing through the contents in the folder, looking them over in great detail but one particular business caused Harry to break out in a large round of evil laughter.



"Okay Harry, what exactly did you read that made you so happy?" asked Sirius, looking a bit disturbed.



"This is excellent, the perfect opportunity for revenge on the Dursleys," replied Harry looking over one of the documents in the folder. "My criminal organization , is funding Grunnings, the drill company that my Uncle Vernon is employed. Oh glorious revenge, this is the second greatest thing that has happened to me in the last few hours."



"Wait, your crime syndicate funds Dursley's place of employment," said Sirius before it dawned on him what Harry had in mind. "Well, it won't be his place of employment for much longer, if the look on your face is any indication."



"Sirius, did you really think I would fire my dear Uncle Vernon for no good reason?" asked Harry in a falsely sweet voice. "Well, granted, I do have a good reason but I'm willing to give Vernon the benefit of the doubt or rather, the benefit of giving him enough rope to hang himself with."



"Meaning?" prompted Sirius, even through he had a shrewd idea what his godson was planning.



"Vernon Dursley will be getting a job assessment review from one of the top financial backers for Grunnings tomorrow morning," said Harry, rubbing his hands together with glee before walking towards the office, with Lucius Malfoy's cane in hand before swinging the door and walking down the hallway whistling merrily under his breath.



Lucius Malfoy was dragged into Azkaban by two Aurors. He would make Potter rue the day that he made a mockery out of him and took his money. Worse yet, Malfoy didn't even have his stylish pimp cane as the infernal little brat took that too.



"Listen you two, I was under the Imperius Curse," said Lucius desperately which caused the two Aurors to burst out into laughter.



"Listen, Lucy, that defense only works when you bribe someone," said one of the Aurors calmly.



"You're damn lucky you're not getting the kiss, for throwing an Unforgivable at the Boy-Who-Lived," added a second Auror.



"The foolish child provoked me!" yelled Lucius in a desperate voice. "If he didn't free my house elf he..."



Lucius found himself struck with a silencing charm and could not say anymore.



"That's enough out of you, Malfoy," said one of the Aurors, as they pushed Malfoy into Azkaban, both wands pointed at the back of Malfoy's head.



Lucius walked into the prison, his shoulder hunched forward. Attacking the Boy-Who-Lived was enough to get him into Azkaban but all of the dark arts artifacts buried underneath his manor proved to be too much. Without his fortune, Lucius was screwed.



"Without your fortune Malfoy, you're screwed," remarked the Auror.



"Enjoy your stay at Azkaban," said the second Auror in a sadistic voice, throwing the knutless Lucius Malfoy towards his new cell, the door of which had not been opened as of yet. Malfoy hit the bars with a crash.



"Maybe you should have opened the door first if you wanted to put him in," said the Auror.



"No, I shouldn't of," said the second Auror as he levitated Malfoy before flinging him into the steel bars of his cell again. "Okay, maybe you've got a point, but maybe just one more time to make sure."



The Auror blasted a banishing charm towards Lucius and once again Lucius's head bounced off of the metal bars of the cell door.



"Well, I'll be damned," muttered the Auror before waving his wand and clicking the cell open. Lucius scurried into the cell quickly and pulled the door shut behind him. "You know, I wish more prisoners would do that, it would make our jobs so much easier."



Lucius crawled onto the cot, as he heard the door sealed shut and the Aurors walked. He pulled his battered body onto a cot inside the cell, before curling up in a fetal ball. He went cold, with visions of Harry Potter outsmarting him, as the Dementors glided by the cell. The Dementors seemed to linger, as Lucius felt tormented by memories of being tricked by a six year old little brat. He would break out of Azkaban one day and avenge his humiliation.



Adrianna Zabini sat in the library of one of the manor houses that she inherited in one of her many marriages, pouring over a very obscure dark arts book. She cursed her current husband and would kill him on the spot, if she didn't have another man with an insanely large fortune to trap in her web, seduce, and promptly kill. Edward had done something unforgivable to her and nine months later, she gave birth to a girl. The pregnancy part didn't bother Adrianna, but the fact that she gave birth to a girl who could usurp her when she got older caused her to be paranoid. Blaise looked to inherit her mother's beauty and that was something that Adrianna could not take, was competition, especially from her own flesh and blood. It wasn't like she was getting any younger, despite her best efforts. Certain potions and spells caused her to retain a youthful experience, temporarily, but it was becoming more difficult to hide behind a glamour as time spun on. With each husband she married and knocked off, her assets expanded but she was really just killing time until she could get her hands on the biggest inheritance of them all. The illusive Potter family fortune, belonging to the Boy-Who-Lived, Harry Potter. A boy who was the same age as her daughter, Blaise and Adrianna was counting down the days until Potter became of age so she could seduce him, marry him, kill him, and take his fortune. Then and only end could she retire from her chosen career.



This brought Adrianna back to the problem of her daughter and the ever growing fear that Blaise would steal her rightful position when she was older. That could not happen, so Adrianna found herself pouring over text over text, attempting to find a way to turn her daughter into her son, in mind, body, and soul. Adrianna had done some underhanded things in her life, but killing a child, even if she did turn out to be possible competition, was something she could not do. A full gender switch was her only possible avenue. So far her extensive searches had turned up nothing permanent but she was confident that someday she would find what she needed to eliminate her daughter as a threat. Then there would be no competition and Adrianna's plans for one Harry Potter would go unchallenged.



The Floo connection in the library came to life and Adrianna Zabini looked up, looking irritated before seeing the face of one of the wizard members of her husband's mob.



"This had better be good," said Adrianna in an irritated voice.



"Madam Zabini, there is something that you should know," said the mobster in the fireplace.



"Spit it out," said Adrianna, she had no time for men with little or no money.



"The rival criminal organization has a new boss, so your husband may be a little late in returning home," said the mobster.



"Whatever, he wants to do, he can't avoid me forever," said Adrianna, tossing back her long dark hair with a superior look on her face, knowing full well that statement would get back to her husband and would add to his paranoia that she could kill him at any moment, something that she thrived on for the moment, as it kept Edward out of her hair. "Is there anything else?"



"No," said the mobster quickly.



"Good, now out of my sight, I have important business to attend to," said Adrianna in a voice that left no room for argument.



Vernon Dursley sat in his office at Grunnings, looking absolutely pleased with himself. Less than a week ago he had been knocked unconscious by his freakish nephew and that was a blow, but the plus side was he didn't have to see the boy ever again. Petunia informed him that the boy had fled and while two other freaks had came to question her about the boy's whereabouts, he hadn't heard any more about the brat. Everything was too good to be true, as a new financial backer was coming to Grunnings this morning and Vernon wore his best suit, hoping to impress this new backer. Perhaps if he had wormed his way into this financial backer's confidence, he would get a promotion. A promotion that he was passed up from, because of his alleged temper. The notion of Vernon Dursley having a temper was quite insane. Sure he backhanded the boy a few times, but he was a freak and thus he didn't count. Vernon admitted at yelling at a few secretaries but they had it coming for not putting enough sugar in his tea.



"Mr. Dursley, sir, the new financial backer wishes to speak with you personally," said Vernon's secretary, who looked a bit apprehensive. "He's in Meeting Room Three right now."



Vernon sprang to his feet, this was too good to be true. The financial backer must have heard of all of his years of distinguished service at Grunnings and was going to give him everything that he deserved. Vernon knocked on the door of Meeting Room Three.



"Come in," said a calm voice, that struck Vernon is being rather familiar but he couldn't quite place it but Vernon took it as his cue to open the door.



"You wanted to see me Mister..." said Vernon, taking in the two large bodyguards who were standing by the seat of the new financial backer, which was spun around.



"You may call, me Boss Potter!" said the voice as the chair spun around, revealing the boy!



"YOU!" yelled Vernon, going purple in the face. "What in the hell are you doing here, freak?"



"Vernon, my criminal syndicate funds Grunnings," said Harry calmly, looking bored. "So, in other words, I can make or break you."



"Listen here boy, I am your legal guardian and I demand that you give me a promotion!" yelled Vernon but he saw the boy's two bodyguards come on either side of him, cracking their knuckles. "How did you become a mafia leader anyway, boy?"



"First of all, you will address me by my proper title, Boss Potter," said Harry his eyes narrowing dangerously before adding. "Vermin."



"Boy, I should have beat the respect out of you a long time ago," said Vernon, his face becoming purple once more. "You wouldn't disrespect me if you weren't hiding behind your two bodyguards right now. You are a spineless little weak little brat, freak."



"Oh, you think I wouldn't have the nerve to disrespect you, Vermin," said Harry before reaching into his sleeve and pulling out his wand. "Well, say hello to my little friend."



Vernon sputtered, recognizing the object at once. He had the misfortunate of meeting the boy's parents briefly and they had both used a wand similar to what the boy was holding.



"I knocked you out once and I didn't even have a wand then," said Harry with a smirk as his two bodyguards chucked dully. "I could make you make a complete and utter idiot out of yourself, not that you don't do that well yourself, eh, Vern."



"You can't do that, people will notice," said Vernon in a desperate voice.



"Not with what I'm willing to pay them to look the other way," replied Harry. "Money might not be able to buy happiness but it can sure as hell buy vengeance. Ya know what I mean, Vern."



Vernon just sank himself into a chair, the boy was going to fire him and use his freaky powers to humiliate him, not necessarily in that order.



"Time enough for that later, time for your performance review," said Harry in an all too cheerful voice, as he turned his back, with his bodyguards surrounding on either side of Vernon. "Let's see, Dursley, Dursley, Dursley, ah, Dursley, Vernon Q."



Harry thumbed through the folder, as Vernon looked on with an apprehensive look on his face.



"Dear me, several allegations of the harassment of female employees, Vernon I'm surprised, what would Aunt Petunia say?" asked Harry as he looked through Vernon's folder. "We'll have to inform her of course, a good marriage should be based on honesty."



Vernon began to sweat purposely as the boy began to further pick apart his record.



"Oh boy, you had to attend psychological counseling because you were said to have a temper," continued Harry.



"Boy, I don't have a temper!" thundered Vernon, shaking his fist at Harry.



"Right Vernon, you don't have a temper," said Harry sarcastically. "Really Vernon, what kind of idiot do you take me for?"



Vernon just gritted his teeth, wishing he would have drowned the boy when the brat was dumped on his doorstep all those years ago. It would have saved him the humiliating situation he was currently forced to endure.



"There is just one thing I want to know boy," said Vernon in a quiet voice through gritted teeth. "A week ago you were nothing but a spineless coward who had no idea that...magic..existed and cowered in fear at me. Now you are the boss of a criminal organization, not to mention you are mouthing off to me with no fear. What in the hell happened to you, boy?"



"Wouldn't you like to know Vernon and thank you for bringing up the fact that I cowered in fear at you," said Harry. "We here at Grunnings don't like people who break the law."



"I never broke the law, boy!" yelled Vernon.



"Oh, I think that forcing me to live in a cramped cupboard underneath the stairs with little or no food falls under the area of child abuse," said Harry. "Something that is very much against the law, Vermin."



"So, you're putting me through this because I gave you exactly what you deserved," said Vernon.



"Yes, Vernon, but I wanted to teach you a lesson, in respect for your betters," said Harry. "And unfortunately, the only way I can teach you that lesson is by firing you from Grunnings. You have thirty minutes to clean out your desk. If I find that you are on the property for a second longer, you will be arrested."



"Respecting my betters!" thundered Vernon but one of Harry's bodyguards grabbed Vernon by the arm and pulled him away from Harry. "You're dead, boy! I'll kill you! You can't fire me! You'll be sorry!"



"If I had a knut for every time someone threatened to kill me, I'd double my fortune at the very least," said Harry with a smirk before turning to his second bodyguard. "I believe we're done here, we should get back to headquarters."



"Right Boss Potter," said the bodyguard as his associate returned.



"That damn Dursley attempted to stab me with a pair of scissors," grumbled the bodyguard. "I had to break the idiot's arm. You'd better watch out for him boss. He might not seem too dangerous but you'd be surprised what some of these kooks will do for revenge."



"I know," said Harry. "If he tries to kill me, well, I might just have to return the favor."



Harry beckoned his two bodyguards to follow him. Other individuals in his organization were waiting in the limousine just outside the entrance, keeping an eye out for suspicious characters.



As Harry and his bodyguards walked from the limo, several of the Grunnings employees cheered as he walked from the office.



"Thank God someone managed to finally fire Dursley!" yelled one of the employees in a happy voice.



"Hey, everyone, party tonight at my house, to celebrate the sacking of Dursley," said another employee and everyone looked jubilant at sacking of Vernon Dursley.



Harry smiled, it was nice that he managed to do something that benefited other people then him. Still, Harry had much work to do. The Boy-Who-Lived-Twice needed to send a letter to complete the next phase of his plans.



Remus Lupin sat in the flat he was renting with a tired look on his face, looking at a picture of himself, James, Peter, and Sirius from their fifth year at Hogwarts. Right beside it was a framed picture of Lily, James, and Harry, who was only a few months old in that picture. Those were the only reminders that Remus kept around to remind him of what seemed like a distant past. Everything went to hell in a matter of days. Peter, Lily, and James were all dead, with Sirius having turned traitor and Harry was shipped off to some unknown location by Albus Dumbledore. Remus asked Dumbledore where Harry lived on two occasions but Dumbledore remained rather tight lipped and said that it was for the best that Remus didn't know. Dumbledore reassured Remus that Harry was perfectly safe so Remus had no choice but to grudgingly accept the Headmaster's words and thus drop the subject. He had no other information contradicting Dumbledore's word, so Remus had to assume Harry was okay.



Unfortunately, everything was far from okay with Harry. Almost a week ago, Harry had fled from wherever Dumbledore had kept him. Dumbledore still withheld details about where that was from Remus and everyone else for that matter. Harry was the last link to Lily and James and Remus feared foul play, especially with the Death Eater breakout around the same time. Death Eaters that sadly included his former friend, Black.



The werewolf saw an owl tapping the outside of the window. Remus quickly got to his feet and opened the window. The owl dropped a letter on the table, before soaring off before Remus could get a better look at the owl. Remus took the letter, reading it closely.



Remus,



It is time for you to know the truth about recent events. Meet us at the Leaky Cauldron at Four in the Afternoon. Tell no one and come alone. Anyone who comes with you will be shot on sight and yes, this includes Albus Dumbledore. Don't disappoint us.



Sincerely,



A Friend



Remus looked at the letter, expecting more but it turned out that the short note was all that he got. He couldn't help but being curious and something told him to take the order in the letter about coming alone all too seriously.