Harry Potter and the Reworked Universe [HP Rewrite] [Narrative Quest]

Harry snapped his fingers.

[][WINDOW] Crash!: Before his eyes, the window exploded outward. Miraculously, no glass lands on anyone or anything important. [Harry becomes more attuned with ¿¿¿???]

[][WINDOW] Pop!: Before his eyes, the window changed and bloated, slowly becoming a collection of soap bubbles that almost immediately popped. The soapy water droplets would later be found as shards of glass, almost too small to see. [Harry becomes more attuned with ¿¿¿???]

[][WINDOW] Whorp!: Before his eyes, the lights of the reptile house flicker and dim. It takes both Harry and the snake a moment to realize that the glass is simply... gone. And why do people look so tired? [Harry becomes more attuned with ¿¿¿???]

[][WINDOW] Howdy!: Nothing happens. Harry blinks. During those ten milliseconds of closed eyes, if he had the ability, he would notice the sounds of grunting, powertools and angry muttering. When he opens them, the snake looks a tad spooked and the glass is gone. [Harry becomes more attuned with ¿¿¿???]

However it happens, not that Harry has any chance to understand it, it isn't long before the snake is rushing out of the enclosure as fast as a creature with no legs can (which, as it turns out, is shockingly fast).

"Ssssso long, ssssucker!" the snake cries over its... erm... 'shoulder'. "Brazzzil, here I come!"

Harry barely has enough time to start to feel betrayed when someone shrieks very loudly from near him.

He turns around, finds a person pointing a finger at him, and resigns himself to getting in trouble when they shriek, "THIS CHILD IS THE ANTI-CHRIST!"

Harry really wished that had been the only time that had been shouted about him.


It took a while to calm people down. It took longer for the zoo security to calm down after it became apparent that they were not finding the snake. It took even longer for the zoo administration to let the Dursley-Potters go after it became clear (through Petunia's best impersonation of a lawyer and Vernon's most intimidating glare) that Harry couldn't possibly have broken the glass and that he probably wasn't the anti-christ.

In that entire time, Harry's aunt and uncle did not fail to make it clear that they were angry at him.

This feeling only escalated once they found themselves back in the car, stuck in traffic once more, with no silly argument to distract them.

Dudley was just as quiet as his parents and just as nervous as Harry. Not because he thought he was in trouble, but because he worried a bit that his parents might actually kill his cousin over this one.

They'd always been harsher on Harry, for whatever reason, but maybe it was that Harry's messes were always pretty much unexplainable.

Dudley snuck into the kitchen overnight and ate the leftovers? He got grounded.

Harry insulted a bully, got chased and wound up on the roof of the school somehow? Once they were sure the firemen got him down safely and he was fine, they stuck him with chores for a literal semester.

Dudley got in a fight? A reprimand from Petunia and a proud nod from Vernon 'cause he won.

Harry got in a fight with three kids, all of whom ended up in a river somehow? He had to unearth weeds from every garden in the neighborhood.

Dudley cheated on a test? He got sent to a tutor's to study and improve himself.

When all the tests in Harry's class except his suddenly got dyed purple, no one had actually blamed him because they just didn't see how he could have possibly done that. But Dudley's parents punished him anyways.

And they were never... angry about it. They frowned and they talked in their angry voices, but...

Dudley's mom just looked sad, mostly.

Dudley couldn't make heads or tails of it. Personally, he wanted Harry to teach him how to do that stuff. Would've made for awesome pranks.

But his parents weren't dumb, and Dudley had that easy trust of children that told him that there was probably a reason for why they disapproved of all this stuff.

Like how Dracula had all these cool powers but Trevor Belmont still had to kill him!

Except no one should kill Harry.

This was starting to make his head hurt.

Luckily, Harry broke the silence to say, "I'm sorry."

Petunia stared dead ahead, while Vernon inhaled sharply through his nostrils.

"You're sorry."

"... yes, sir."

"Do you even understand why you're sorry, boy?"

"... because I... broke the glass?"

Vernon met his eyes through the rear-view mirror.

Harry wilted and muttered, "No, sir. I don't know."

Vernon huffed and stared ahead.

Traffic refused to progress.

It kept refusing to progress for quite a while.


Things were awkward for quite a bit.

Contrary to Dudley and Harry's expectations, the latter wasn't punished too severely for the zoo incident, only getting a few extra turns on the chore rotation.

This oddly relaxed reaction roused his curiosity, so one night Harry snuck out and stuck an ear to their bedroom door when he thought he heard something. Muffled crying and lamentations from both were his only reward, and he went back to his bed feeling like his heart had filled with lead and fallen to his feet.

It was a worse punishment than anything they could have willfully done to him. Harry spent more than a few nights unable to sleep, staring at the ceiling and wishing he could just reach into his chest and pull out whatever part of himself was making things so much harder for everyone else.

It was in those nights that Dudley tended to visit and lead him downstairs, to the telly, where they played forbidden games.

If Harry broke down crying once or thrice, Dudley showed enough awareness to not comment or react. Vernon had explained to both of them that after a certain point it just wasn't acceptable for men to cry about things, so Petunia had encouraged them to get it out while they could.

Dudley didn't try to hug him. This did not mean he didn't want to.


Time moved forward, and the incident was left behind.

But never forgotten.

In an effort to smooth things over, Harry tried to make himself helpful and lovable, and he really thought he found the most success with...

[][BUYING-LOVE] Aunt Petunia: In between helping her with her chores even when it wasn't his turn, participating in the knitting circle by helpfully holding the ball of yarn and talking about recipes with her, Harry got a bit closer to his aunt. [Harry is closer to his aunt (duh), gains appreciation for handicraft and character trait of being a decent cook (can evolve into cooking-related tropes)]

[][BUYING-LOVE] Uncle Vernon: He hadn't really expected a success on this front, honestly, but sitting on the couch with Vernon one evening and getting mad at the same time as him — whenever football or stocks didn't go like they wanted — had lead to a bit of what his uncle called "male bonding". [Harry is closer to his uncle (duh again), gains appreciation for sportsball and character trait of knowing about businesses (can evolve into business related tropes)]

[][BUYING-LOVE] Cousin Dudley: Well, the parents were a bust, but Harry's cousin still liked him alright. Dudley's friends were a bit more ambivalent on the subject, but Harry managed to come up with a few games that put him on their good side. [Harry is closer to his cousin, gains appreciation for social manouvering and character trait of being imaginative (can evolve into art and creativity-related tropes)]

[][BUYING-LOVE] Nobody: Welp. Uncle Vernon might not care for them, but the Beatles had it right about people not being able to buy love. [Harry becomes a bit more isolated from his only living family. He gains appreciation for social interaction and character trait of being starved for affection (can evolve into you being a monster for doing this to a kid. Look at him! You're giving him anxiety! (It can also evolve into severely improved ¿¿¿???))]

Christmas went and Christmas passed with a bit of fanfare and a thankful lack of appearance from Vernon's sister Marge, who was busy lobbying for closed borders somewhere else or whatever she did with her free time. Dudley got a discman and a few CD's of parentally-approved music from both of his parents.

(You both exchanged knowing looks. After finishing the latest game, you had been wondering what you would spend your pooled-together money on next. Time to find out what all the fuss was about with that rap music.)

Harry got...

[][CHECKOV'S-PRESENT] Fiction Books: Despite their reluctance, the librarian from you and Dudley's school, with whom you got along great, had recomended this series to your aunt and uncle as present for you. Kind of a weird name, though. What the heck is a "Discworld"? [Harry gains access to the single greatest book series in the world. Will become relevant eventually. Harry becomes more attuned with ¿¿¿???]

[][CHECKOV'S-PRESENT] A Football: Either a severely tone-deaf gift or one granted because of your burgeoning new interests. Whatever the case, you do become quite good at bouncing it off your knee. You also develop a desire to kick it into the face of anyone that calls it "soccer", for whatever reason. [Harry gains a classic white-and-black football. Will become relevant eventually. Harry becomes more attuned with ¿¿¿???]

[][CHECKOV'S-PRESENT] Some LEGO: Originally, they only got you this because the boxes indicated that they could only be assembled into one thing. Because of who they are as people, it did not ocurr to your aunt or uncle that you could mix them up and make original stuff. Whoops. [Harry gains a pretty solid collection of LEGO parts. Will become relevant eventually. Harry becomes more attuned with ¿¿¿???]

... which he was pretty happy about, honestly.

After that, New Year's, which lead to your aunt and uncle going to a big party hosted by some bloke from Vernon's job and your cousin and you sneaking behind your neighbor Figg's back to listen to forbidden music.

(These NWA chaps had some major anger issues against the police, but if their lyrics were telling the truth, they bloody well had every right to be! Although Harry was getting a little worried about Dudley's tendency to sing along to the lyrics of these songs. Hopefully nothing slipped out in front of anyone.)

The school year came back around. Being one year older than his cousin and not particularly well-liked by his classmates on account of weird things following him everywhere, Harry spent most of his school hours in solitude.

He performed well enough in class, though a recurring complaint from every teacher he ever had was that he was smart enough to not pay attention in class or study at home, instead gleaming things from when they were first explained and then operating with what he could remember.

Winter melted into Spring, which slowly warmed up into Summer. The school year ended, taking with it Harry's last year of primary education. He really thought he would have felt more, given all the fanfare that the telly and movies put into entering your teenage years, but it just felt like getting out of school.

Still, Vernon bought him a wristwatch and Petunia cooked his favourite meal, so it kinda balanced out into being pretty good.

[][FAVOURITE-MEAL] Write-in: This one is pretty much just fluff and preparation for cute scenes in the future. If no one votes it I'm gonna do like I did with Earthbound and pick something weird.

It was near the end of summer vacation, a year and a week after the snake incident, that Harry walked down the stairs to find his aunt and uncle, grim-faced and teary eyed both.

The mail was inside his uncle's shaking fist, crumpled tightly.

"... we knew this day would come," your uncle whispered, choked up.

"I thought we might have done enough," Aunt Petunia said, shaking her head. "He... he's been so good, hasn't had an incident in almost a year."

"That we know of. The boy could have... hidden some things. He's done it before."

"But... but he's been so good..."

"... It had to happen, Pet. We tried out best, but... blood rings true."

A step creaked under Harry's weight as he leaned in to listen. Both of their heads snapped over to him.

Harry froze like a deer in headlights. He expected to be shouted at for spying on them.

Vernon looked away and Petunia covered her mouth, choking back a sob.

"... I... I'll put the kettle on," Vernon whispered, resting a hand on his wife's shoulder. "You... should explain things to him."

Vernon walked away.

Petunia took a moment to steady herself, rubbed her eyes with her thumbs, and gestured for Harry to come closer as she walked over to the garage.

He followed, and once inside found his aunt reaching for a shelf. She pulled a dusty leatherbound book from it, and held it under her arm as she walked towards the door.

Harry got out of the way just as she walked through the door, and again he followed as she took Vernon's usual seat at the head of the table. She opened the book and, without looking, gestured for Harry to sit at her side.

He did so, leaning closer to look at the book.

It was full of pictures. The earliest ones showed a pair of babies, one barely bigger than the other, and as the pages advanced so did their age.

One had black hair and his aunt's nose. The other had red hair and... Harry's eyes.

During one dinner party, after a few drinks and on her way to an early bed, while the laughter and conversation was still going strong downstairs, she'd stopped to say goodnight to Dudley and Harry in that order.

Brushing his hair off of his forehead, rubbing her thumb against the stupid scar, she'd said...

"... is that my mom?"

"Mm."

"... I didn't know we had pictures of her," you whispered, leaning closer. "You... you never talk about her."

"I don't," Petunia nodded. "She... she fell in with a certain crowd, and... they took her from me."

Harry had questions and he opened his mouth to ask them, but they failed to escape the knot in his throat.

Petunia kept going through pages, lost in thought, until she found a certain image. "My parents, your grandparents, they didn't think it was a bad thing. But whenever she came home for summer vacation, she came back... different. I knew my sister like the back of my hand, but every day I recognized less and less of her.

"The last time I saw her, before she married your father, I finally asked her about it.

"She told me that the parts I was missing were parts she'd willfully given away."

Harry blinked.

"After that, I only ever heard from her through letters, and they rarely had a return address. When I could reply, it was months before she answered, and I never had much cause to think she'd gotten my messages," Petunia said.

Her tone was... neutral. Carefully so. None of the emotion from minutes ago was present when she talked, she just reported the facts and went through the pages, revealing more pictures that kept showing more of her sister and less of her.

"Her last letter to me was a Christmas greeting card," Distaste finally entered her voice, and she rolled her eyes a bit. "It was a ridiculous thing, too. A picture of her and her idiot husband in matching sweaters. Hers was stretched out, with you in her belly. She must've been five months pregnant. There wasn't even anything written for us, just... 'Happy Holidays, and a Magical New Year'."

Harry grimaced a bit. Seemed like a tone-deaf thing to say to Petunia as he knew her.

"Next year, you were left with us," Petunia continued, "We didn't get all the details, but... it was that same world that took her, for good this time."

Her hand trembled a bit, taking another corner of a page as she stopped her progress.

The pages were mostly blanked, except for a photo of your mother being kissed on the cheek by a handsome young man with hair as unruly and black as Harry's. She was showing off a ring on her left hand.

They looked happy.

"He..." her lip curled in disgust and she spat her next words out, "Albus assured me that she died 'doing the right thing', whatever the bloody hell that means."

He failed to contain his surprise at her swearing. Petunia was the kind of person that literally washed mouths with soap, Vernon's included.

"Maybe he meant to reassure me that my sister never gave up her kindness," Petunia theorized, ignoring Harry's expression. "But I knew that. Nothing could make Lily unkind. What I wanted was for my sister to be alive. Even distant, I would have preferred her to be alive and far from my life than present as a ghost."

Petunia's breathing got harsh and she shut her eyes tight. One of her hands, the one on the same side as Harry, was curled into a fist. One that trembled a bit.

Harry didn't know what to say. He wished he could know a combination of words that would make everything right in the world. He wished, more than anything, more than he'd ever wanted parents, that he could take away her pain.

In absence of the ability to do that, he placed a hand over his aunt's fist.

It kept trembling for a moment, before slowly unclenching as the shakes died out, and her hand wrapped around his.

"... and now it's come for you," Petunia sighed.

"What has?"

Vernon, teapot filled and cups in hand, placed one in front of everyone. Then he added a letter in front of Harry.

It was addressed as such:


On the top right corner of the envelope, a shield with a lion, a snake, a badger and a raven stood proudly with some small letters that he couldn't read under them.

Over the shield, a single name stood.

"Hogwarts".

---

Author's Note: To those of you disappointed by the snake's disappearance, don't be.

Character traits are basically little guidemarks as to what Harry will or can do about stuff, they'll open or close paths and let me write longer chapters by not having to consult with voters over every little thing.

Also, I edited the previous chapter so that it was nine years later instead of ten, that way I can justify the holiday vote and all.