Chapter 4: The Stigma of Strength
Since the green-eyed boy didn't have time to pack himself any lunch and didn't want to pay from his hard-earned money to eat food as horrible as the one in the cafeteria, he chose not to eat at all. He wasn't hungry anyway, distracted by what could be happening to him.
The so-called 'freakishness' alone was a problem. It was random, it was odd, and Harry could easily hurt anyone with it. Harry didn't really mind the idea of hurting someone who deserved it, but if anyone knew about it, they could end up destroying whatever potential future he might have. It would rob him of his greatest payback on the Dursleys, living well.
For all their dismissal of him, grumbling over his uselessness, Harry knew that he was worth far more than they could imagine. He would make something of himself if only to spite them. He had the potential to build something great, something that would dwarf their meaningless lives, and he would ignore them as they did him. After all, the best revenge for someone who wronged you is to simply live well. The Dursleys wanted to bring him down, but they failed. What better way is it to have revenge than to watch them from afar, having made himself a great life, while they wallow in their petty lives – which will probably be short considering Vernon's health – like the idiotic garden beauty competition the housewives had.
Honestly, out of the loathsome relatives Harry has, he dislikes his aunt the most. Petunia Dursley had never even tried to like him, let alone love him. The worst that ever happened was how useless she truly was to the world. She did absolutely nothing with her time outside cooking, gossiping with the neighbours and taking care of Dudley, who is eleven years old and could learn to have some independence at the very least.
Now, considering that Vernon is unlikely to live past fifty, it would be very likely for Petunia to find herself widowed with no career prospects or actual work experience. The Dursleys tended to blow their money on luxurious items they did not need, like the honestly uselessly expensive gifts they give Dudley or the constant renovation of their house. That's not even mentioning buying a new car almost every year.
Yeah, things didn't look good for them if their income dropped suddenly. It was somewhat worrying for Harry to imagine what would happen to him if Vernon got fired or something. He wouldn't dismiss the idea of Dudley just eating him out of hunger.
Instead of staying inside, Harry chose to take a walk outside to clear his head. This was his last year of primary school and Harry will have to go elsewhere to continue his education. He didn't even know where he would be going. Vernon kept bragging about Dudley being accepted in Smeltings, his old private school. It was so pretentious, it stopped being funny. Who the hell gives teenagers walking canes anyway? As for Harry, for some reason, the Dursleys didn't apply him to any school. However, the young boy believes that he would probably end up going to a generic public school, which isn't all that surprising.
Although when Harry asked his aunt about it, she looked oddly stricken and told him that they had already arranged something for him, which didn't really reassure the young boy too much.
Harry's musing was again interrupted by the sickeningly familiar voice of his cousin, "Well, if it isn't the freak?"
The green-eyed boy raised an eyebrow, "What a clever name, Dudley, did you come up with it by yourself?"
As expected, the sarcasm went over the boy's head. Dear lord, Dudley was a different kind of stupid. Honestly, Harry wouldn't be surprised if Vernon and Petunia were somehow related to causing this much stupidity to be contained in a single body.
The boy in question was standing next to his little gang, Malcolm, Piers, Dennis and Gordon. These five menaces barely did anything with their time other than harassing and terrorizing the children they happen to encounter. They usually did their best trying to antagonize Harry, but the young boy was always close to a teacher, who stopped them from doing anything.
Speaking of the teacher, Harry looked towards the school entrance and saw them be suspiciously missing. Dudley followed his gaze and laughed, "There aren't any teachers to bail you out, freak."
Damn, this wouldn't have happened if Harry wasn't distracted by his weirdness. He should have noticed that there were no teachers and gone back to the cafeteria. He looked around and saw that he was surrounded. Damn, give him an intellectual debate and he would win with his eyes closed, but physical activity just wasn't his thing. Against five bigger boys, Harry didn't really have a chance at coming out of it unscathed.