Veritas Odit Moras
Harry settled down into on the heavy, dusty settee in place of his morbidly obese cousin who'd abandoned it in favor of putting as much distance between himself and the giant as possible. For a moment, Harry was staring down listlessly, before looking up and meeting the man's charcoal-dark eyes.
He was a Giant, no doubt about it; towering over his tall Uncle Vernon's head, the man in front of Harry must have been almost four meters in height. His curled beard was unkempt and seemed to merge with the wavy hair protruding from around his head, longer than any hair that Harry had ever seen; a veritable bushy mane of darkness covering a friendly, but proud face.
"Who are you?" Vernon asked, eyes narrowing dangerously. The man never took well to threats, even the unspoken kind.
The giant's smile faded, like cracked winter ice starting to flow through with the realization that water brought. He glanced at Vernon dismissively, scoffed at the double-barreled shotgun in his hands, then smirked and looked at the man's face. "I suggest you put that down, Mr. Dursley. I am Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Grounds and Keys at Hogwarts. Headmaster Albus Dumbledore sent me to recover our errant little wizard, should he choose to come with me."
"No!" Aunt Petunia yelled. Harry turned, surprised by this insistence - it was a chance to get him off their hands, wouldn't they want this? "I will not have that. It's enough that my mad sister was crazy as you. You'd to turn my nephew, as well?"
"Crazy?" Harry asked, voice utterly blank. That didn't seem to be right. This man was here about the letters from the School of Magic that Harry had been receiving.
It would explain all the incidents throughout his childhood, like the disappearing wallet or spontaneously-combusting pants...
"I suggest you put that down," Hagrid said insistently, looking down at the firearm with disdain.
Uncle Vernon simply grinned at him through his blonde, graying mustache. "No."
Hagrid closed his eyes mournfully as if commiserating with a small loss the world was about to experience. He breathed in a slow breath, put down his umbrella, and took off his coat. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia watched this happen with trepidation; Harry, with boiling excitement.
"Fine," Hagrid said, showing off his toned musculature. His physique was superhuman, with sculpted abs and pectorals the size of fleshy watermelons. His honed body was covered in crisscrossing pink and white scars, keloidal and ancient, as if dealt through countless battles with inhuman beasts. Harry was transfixed by them, when Hagrid opened his eyes: their charcoal-black coloration suddenly became a brilliant, fathomless blue. "I warned you."
There was a blast and a ringing sound, louder than anything; it rattled Harry's bones and caused the settee to vibrate. At first he thought that Uncle Vernon fired the shotgun; that was correct, but it was actually the second thing that happened. The first thing was that Hagrid... teleported.
No, Harry corrected, as his brain caught up to what he saw and experienced. Hagrid didn't teleport; he was simply that fast.
Appearing in front of Vernon, who'd already spent one shell, Hagrid ducked low, turned on the balls of his feet, then delivered a skillful jab aimed at the man's throat. To Harry's surprise, Vernon performed a backflip and narrowly dodged.
"Hah. Knowledge of Muggle martial arts? How novel," Hagrid said, starting to grin. He set down into a position that Harry recognized as some modification of the Bloodflame Dragon School off-shoot of ordinary Taekwondo.
"My wife had warned me this would happen," Vernon uttered with steel conviction, nothing but zealous flame in his eyes. He, conversely, was using perfectly normal boxing techniques; something he might've learned in the pit.
"Vernon!" Aunt Petunia screamed shrilly. Dudley had wet himself at some point, his pajama pants covered in a dark stain.
"Stop!" Harry yelled, "I'll go with him!" This didn't stop either of them.
Hagrid roared and leaped forward, but Vernon could track him this time, and so could Harry. The shotgun raised up, and--
There was a loud boom, but when the flash cleared from Harry's eyes, he was shocked to find Hagrid standing in front of Vernon, one hand around the middle of the shotgun's double barrels, the other holding onto its end, having twisted it up at the ceiling. The shell blasted straight through the second floor and rained down plaster and wood splinters all over the room.
Hagrid smiled triumphantly, and before Vernon could react, yanked the shotgun closer alongside Vernon and jabbed him in the jugular. The disabling strike caused Harry's uncle to yowl and fall over in pain, writhing on the ground.
Aunt Petunia leaped to his side, asking him if he was alright.
Uncle Vernon's fingers twitched, as he moaned and breathed, then grit out the words, "What did you do to me?"
"I have blocked your chi, Mr. Dursley," Hagrid explained with a smile. The giant's hands blurred into a dizzying sprawl of impossible motion, spinning wheels and lines so fast that Harry couldn't perceive anything down from his elbows. "Normally, this would be far more excruciating for a Wizard. Be glad that you are not one, but a mere Muggle." Hagrid's arms stopped moving, showing that the double-barreled shotgun had been tied into a neat knot.
Suddenly, Uncle Vernon breathed his last breath and closed his eyes. Harry stepped up in shock, and looked up at Hagrid. "Is he?..."
Hagrid closed his eyes and nodded, an expression of somber conviction carved on his features. "I'm afraid so. I had to defend myself. Professor Dumbledore will understand."
"Y-you... you monster!" Aunt Petunia screamed. She ran over to Hagrid and started banging her fists hopelessly against his chest, but it was useless. It was like banging wooden cudgels over a steel wall. Hagrid looked down at her, eyes unimpressed but filled with a deep, remorseless pity.
When Petunia started to use her fingernails to cut through his skin, Hagrid did not wince even once in pain. He simply accepted the strikes as if they were punishment.
However, when she picked up the nearby vase, Hagrid was forced to use another hypersonic blow to knock her out.
Dudley had been watching his parents die from the corner. "I- I..."
Hagrid ignored him, and whatever he had to say. He simply put his clothes back on, picked up his umbrella, and turned to address Harry with a dark look. "I'm sorry about your relatives, Harry. They stood in my way, and as a part of the Giant's Oath, I was forced to eliminate them. Had they been Wizards, they would know this, but they did not. I apologize deeply for your loss."
Harry wasn't sure if it counted as a loss. He wasn't planning to kill them by any measure, but he'd thought about it before and made back-up plans to kill them if their hand ever became abusive; some of those plans were even possible to activate from the confinement of his understair chamber. He'd also considered running away when he was seven, but he needed the resources to study and learn how to use his powers better; this was his best chance. In order to establish cordial relationships, he'd have to act understanding.
"That's fine." Harry nodded once, then regarded his pathetic creature of a crying cousin. "What about him?"
"Well, I'll have to Obliviate him, as he was exposed to magic," Hagrid said, then frowned. "Hm. Such a strong memory might not erase properly."
These people could erase memories on top of what Harry already saw? Since they were Wizards, Harry upgraded his threat assessment by three steps and redrafted his plans accordingly within the next two seconds, before saying, "That might not be necessary. Dudley is emotionally immature, but he's not an idiot. You won't talk, right?"
Dudley started to shake his head. It was clearly in disbelief, but Harry managed to time it to look as if he were agreeing with him. "Right," Harry said, before looking at Hagrid with a smile. "We're free to go. Just let me pack my things."
The giant nodded. "I'll take your word for it, Harry. I'll be waiting outside. We have to make for London by tomorrow if we're to buy your school supplies in time."
---
Good job! You had some good results on the initial vote argumentation and the general rolls, but that was at least in part due to the overwhelming fanwork count. For the record, you've managed to produce 102 Hallows.
As a reminder, the build-vote that won was, [X] Boy-Who-Lived, and contained the options: Parseltongue, Thrice-Great: Duelling, Broom-Flying, Battle Magic; Heritage, and Half-Blood, as well as the drawbacks, Impaired Eyesight, Mark of the Equal, and No Parents.
As for the last turn, the votes that won are [X] Obedience, Escape, Studious, Greatness, and Rubeus Hagrid, Keeper of Grounds and Keys.
Unfortunately, since you picked Hagrid, the conflict that resulted led to your caretakers' death and Dudley becoming an orphan. Harry auto-spent 1.5 Hallows in order to come up with a quick plan in order to save his cousin that Hagrid would accept; he didn't hate Dudley, seeing him as more a product of his terrible parents, than a cancerous existence in of himself.
This, might, ironically come to be a mistake.
But moving on, Hagrid agreed to teach Harry one of his magical abilities on the way to London, since the boat they were swimming on was self-steering.
What should Hagrid teach Harry? Pick one, or pick two but all scalar variables are toned down by 50%.
[ ] Spellcasting - +2 to MAG, gain +500 EXP in the Spellcasting Skill, enough to raise Harry from Nothing [Tier 0] to Novice [Tier 1]. This lets him start learning Charms, Transfigurations, Jinxes, and Hexes earlier than he would have; if you dedicate yourself, he could learn up to three Spells before he even boards the Hogwarts Express.
[ ] Combat - +0.5 to PHYS, +0.5 to WILL, gain +700 EXP in the Combat Skill, enough to raise Harry from Nothing [Tier 0] to upper Novice [Tier 1]. This makes him slightly better at all combat-related tasks, including evasion, tactics, etc.
[ ] A Spell [12 Hallows] - As Spellcasting, but gain an additional +200 EXP in the Spellcasting Skill and learn one of the Softening Charm, Severing Charm, Fire-Making Spell, or Wand-Lighting Charm (& counter-Charm) for free.
[ ] Martial Arts [64 Hallows] - Hagrid's real cream. +1 to WILL, +0.5 to PHYS, gain +1,000 EXP in the Martial Arts Skill. This raises Harry from Nothing [Tier 0] to the peak of Novice [Tier 1], and the precipice of Proficient [Tier 2], as well as +700 EXP in the Combat Skill. Furthermore, Hagrid will let Harry select one of his three primary styles: the Dragonvigor Brawling Style, the Drunken Oni Taijutsu, and the Death Chi Flow Motion.
All of these styles have a specialty, respectively: fighting and taking down magical beasts, fighting and lethally taking down general threats, and fighting and putting down wizard non-lethally or Muggles lethally. Harry's body is unsuited to Martial Arts, let alone the Giant-oriented Arts that Hagrid practices, but Hagrid will proscribe him a training regimen and give him potion recipes for physical enhancement that will let him catch up at least slightly to Hagrid's general level by his Fifth Year. This is a good long-term investment.
In Diagon Alley, Harry will acquire the standard list of items for his First Year at school. By default, he will also buy a set of self-cleaning, self-repairing robes, a personal owl to be named Hedwig, a protective Dragon-Leather jacket, and some other gadgets of minor use.
Harry's net worth, after expenses, is currently 49,725 Galleons, or about 247k pounds sterling. It's a load of dosh. Is there anything else that Harry should acquire for this money?
Approval voting; each option needs at least half to win, votes with insufficient money/Hallows fail automatically starting with the highest/least useful options.
[ ] Mokeskin Pouch - Costs 700 Galleons. Very fine make. It comes enchanted with an internal space of eighteen cubic meters. Items that are placed within can be taken out by calling their name, or should the user be Silenced, the mokeskin pouch is enchanted to also work with a simple programmed hand gesture. This makes it incredibly useful if you need to take out a first-aid kit but someone slit your throat!
[ ] Ultra-Deluxe Trunk - Costs, 20,850 Galleons. Very fine make. This trunk for carrying around school-books is, in fact, a spatially-expanded micro-realm. It contains a ladder that leads to a single room connected to several other rooms, with an overall structure nearly twice as big as the Dursleys' house.
Outside of that is a floating island stuck in a perpetual season that is not quite summer, and not quite spring, with a number of fruit trees, vegetable gardens, and a small farm maintained by unseen servants who automatically operate tools and listen to commands but cannot leave the trunk.
Suddenly, Harry realizes why the housing market is so inactive in the Wizarding World, as well as why there's no grocery stores.
[ ] Extra Books [8 Hallows] - Total cost of 500 Galleons. Requires either Mokeskin Pouch or Deluxe Trunk. Harry acquires all textbooks up to the Seventh Year in advance. In addition to that, he acquires all books that catch his eye or regard the extracurriculars at Hogwarts. This means he will possess a very steady access to knowledge.
[ ] First-Aid Kit (Wizarding VIP-Class) [8 Hallows) - Costs 1,000 Galleons. This medkit contains a solution to every possible or hypothetical problem you might encounter: a syringe that contains a potion that temporarily petrifies the target to stem bleeding and keep them from dying so they can be Floo'd to St. Mungo's, a bar of chocolate for Dementor Treatment, an Antidote to Common and Uncommon Poisons, and far, far more. It'll be cumbersome to carry without either a Mokeskin Pouch or a Deluxe Trunk.
[ ] All Cauldrons [8 Hallows] - Costs 12,250 Galleons. The Hogwarts letter suggests purchasing a specific class of pewter cauldron for starting brews, but more advanced potions cannot be brewed without better or loftier cauldrons. As such, Harry acquires all three sizes of cauldrons in all five primary materials (pewter, tin, steel, silver, and gold,) thus enabling him to brew any potion he wishes from the safety of his micro-realm. Requires Deluxe Trunk.
[ ] A Flask of Felix Felicis [64 Hallows] - Costs 17,700 Galleons. Liquid Luck. This potion is incredibly rare and valuable, and the flask on sale that Harry finds should this option be chosen contains enough for a total of eight hours of incredible luck.
Mechanically, Felix Felicis makes Critical Failures impossible, throws an additional half-die for every roll, and adds +5 to every roll. All successes that go over 100 due to their numerical value rather than initial roll count as Critical Successes.
[ ] Write-in. A specific idea for a Wizarding gadget? Diagon's Alley probably has it! Subject to QM veto.
