Disclaimer:
Harry Potter and all of its characters belong to J.K. Rowling.
I own nothing but the original characters I make.
"Dialogue"
'Thoughts'
-Author notes-
Chapter 03: Dreams Of A Better Life
"Boy! Answer already!" Vernon banged on the door of the cupboard so hard that the hinges seemed like they would give up at any moment.
Harry, who had once more been transported to the realm of his dreams, was violently woken up by his uncle.
"Ouch!" In his rush to get off the bed, he ended up hitting his head against the low ceiling of the room once more.
"Boy!" Vernon shouted as he opened the lock. "I swear, if you don't answer righ—"
"Uncle Vernon, I'm here," Harry hurried to respond while holding the painful bump on his forehead.
His uncle opened the door. "Get here right now!"
Harry wondered why his uncle sounded so angry. He had done nothing but sleep since they left.
As he went outside his room, Harry found himself staring at both his aunt and uncle. Neither of them looked pleased to see him. "Ehm… yes?"
"Care to explain that?" Petunia moved to one side and pointed at the carpet of the living room.
At first, Harry didn't know what she was trying to tell him, but as soon as he finished adjusting his old glasses, he spotted the fragments of something broken.
If his memory didn't fail him, there used to be a small purple vase resting at the top of the fireplace, and now it was missing.
"I… I didn't do that."
Vernon grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and lifted him into the air.
"Urggg!" Harry couldn't breathe and tried to pull the large, fat hands of his uncle away, but the man was way too strong for him.
"A freak and a liar as well?!" Vernon shouted in his face. "Who else could have done it? We were all away! That was a gift from my sister!"
Petunia placed a hand on Vernon's shoulder when she saw Harry's face starting to turn blue.
"Tsk!" Vernon threw Harry down. "You are going to pay for that broken vase, even if you have to work by cutting the neighbors' lawns for the next ten years."
"But I was in my room the whole time, I swear! I didn't break anything!" Harry tried to defend himself. He knew he was innocent. How could he have done something like that? "I have been sleeping the whole time."
Vernon and Petunia exchanged a knowing look, and they seemed to get even angrier, if that was possible.
"You were sleeping? Is that true?" Petunia asked.
Harry felt tears forming in his eyes. "Y–yes…"
"He must have done something freaky again," Vernon muttered to his wife. This was not the first time they had to deal with something like this.
"He is ten… it's close…" Petunia mumbled the words under her breath, but Harry was able to hear them.
'What does she mean by that? Close to what?' This only made Harry more confused.
He always had the feeling that his aunt and uncle were hiding something important from him.
Every time something strange happened, they would immediately blame Harry for it and get angry, without giving him any explanations.
"Boy, go get started with the dinner," Vernon pushed him toward the kitchen.
Harry looked back at them for a moment. They seemed to still be discussing something in whispers.
They were now too far away for him to hear properly, but he did pick up something that sounded like a name being mentioned… Albus Dumbledore
He wished he could get closer and hear the rest of the conversation, but by now, Harry knew better.
His uncle and aunt were already angry with him. Pushing his luck now was only going to get him a few belt strikes.
Harry went to the kitchen and began preparing dinner.
It was not a very complicated task, even for someone of his age. The Dursleys would typically eat some of those unhealthy frozen meals.
Opening the freezer, Harry spotted some large boxes of pork pies and took them all out.
He had a good idea of how much each of them ate, so he placed their generous rations on a tray before putting it inside the oven.
Harry didn't dare to put any for himself, even though he was hungry.
'After seeing their outburst, the chances of getting some scraps for dinner are not looking good…' the boy lamented.
While he waited for the pies to cook, Harry stood in front of the oven, thinking…
When his uncle Vernon woke him up, he had once more been having one of those dreams.
Harry recalled that the Kingdom of Camelot was getting ready for a war when his dream was interrupted.
'It's so weird. I never dreamed twice in a row.' He always remembered the dreams about Camelot and Merlin because they were so vivid, to the point that it almost felt like he was there, interacting with those people, and always from the perspective of the same person… the one known as Merlin.
It wasn't only their faces and voices, but Harry could even recall small details like their smells and the texture of their clothes.
Over the past few years, he had dreamed about the same place and the same group of people. But it wasn't always the exact same dream. He had seen many different events take place.
Like the time that Merlin accompanied King Arthur Pendragon and his knights to kill an evil dragon.
Or when Merlin took the beautiful Morgan under his wing and taught her the secrets of sorcery.
It was like a real, living world, always changing and evolving.
For Harry, those dreams felt more real than the real world. After all, his world had barely changed...he had been sleeping inside that cupboard and performing chores for his family since he was old enough to remember.
'I wish I could live inside the dream world instead of here… this ugly house with ugly people.' Harry quickly discarded the thought.
He was old enough to know that living in a fantasy world was impossible.
A.N: - Remember to comment, vote, and/or leave a review if you have the time. Those things help me a lot and I would really appreciate it.
You can support me on P@treon if you like and get 20 advanced chapters. You can also find character images to view for free in Collections/Merlin Images
-patreon.com/Kriogenix
For donations and commissions, go to ko-fi.com/kriogenix