Harry shook his head amusedly.
He understood why Dorea would be worried, but he knew he had no choice but to prepare as much as he could for what was coming.
After the other Potter's and Sirius left, Harry made his way to the basement and smiled at what he saw. It had everything he would need to keep pushing himself and he would push himself as far as he needed to go to get the job done.
(BREAK)
It was a few hours later that the Potter's and Sirius returned from their shopping excursion having retrieved everything that the boys would be needing for the upcoming school year.
"Harry, we're back" Dorea called as the group entered the kitchen. "Harry?" she called again louder when she got no response.
"He'll still be in the basement" Charlus interjected.
"It's been 3 hours" Dorea balked.
"We'll get him" James offered, gesturing between himself and Sirius.
"No, put your things away" She instructed. "I'll get him" she sighed, exiting the kitchen. She entered the basement only to be stopped in her tracks by what she saw.
Harry was shirtless, expertly wielding a flame whip and gouging lumps out of a training dummy with clearly practiced precision.
She watched in a mixture of awe and horror as he ended the spell, sent a severing charm towards the dummy, quickly conjured a dagger and disappeared completely silently. He appeared behind another dummy and rammed the dagger through the back of its skull just as the severing charm cleaved the other in two.
The way in which he cast the magic left her simply dumfounded but it was the look on his face while doing so that left her horrorstruck.
It was a look of pure, unadulterated rage, his features twisted into an expression of hate with nothing short of murderous and malicious intent. His eyes glowed an eerie bright green; an emerald fire that sent a shiver down her spine.
When Harry caught sight of the woman his look softened back to the calm and warmth that she associated with him.
"I'm sorry" Harry spoke. "Do you need me for something?" he asked as he approached the woman.
Dorea swallowed.
"We are going to have lunch, I thought you'd like to join us before James and Sirius drag you off to fly" She explained.
"Thank you" Harry said gratefully with a soft smile as he turned to put his t–shirt back on.
Dorea's eyes widened as she noticed the sheer amount of scars the boy had.
"Where on Earth did all those come from" She questioned, pointing a shaky finger at the marred flesh. "Let's just say the relatives that raised me weren't particularly keen on magic" Harry responded, not wanting to regale anything specific about being raised by the Dursley's.
Dorea nodded sadly.
"And that one?" she asked pointing to his right arm where the scar was thick and very deep.
Harry sighed.
He didn't want to go into details about it but he wouldn't lie to the woman, he had already promised himself that he wouldn't after all.
"A basilisk" he answered quietly.
"When did you come across a basilisk" she asked weakly, running a finger over the scar.
"When I was twelve, I killed it with a sword" he explained.
Dorea shook her head. She could see that he was telling the truth and it pained her to know that the boy had endured so much in his life.
"Can you keep a secret?" Harry asked with a grin.
"That depends what it is" Dorea returned through narrowed eyes.
Harry just smirked and flicked his wand, summoning a large cobra.
"Which sssstupid human isss ssssummoning me from my dinner?" the snake hissed angrily, rearing up menacingly and opening it's hood in displeasure.
"I apologissssse my friend, I will feed you whatever you want I jusssst wanted you to meet my grandmother" Harry replied apologetically.
Dorea's mouth dropped in shock and she swelled internally at the pride she felt. "You will feed me a juicccy rabbit or I will bite you" the cobra threatened seriously.
"Be niccce and ssssay hello and I will ssssend you back with two rabbitsssss" Harry promised.
The snake looked at him calculatingly before relaxing, becoming placid and compliant. "You have a deal sssspeaker, but do not try and trick me" the snake agreed cautiously.
Harry held his hand out and the cobra slithered up his arm and rested on his shoulder, staring at Dorea when he was comfortable.
"You can touch him, he won't bite" Harry assured her.
Dorea tentatively reached out a hand and stroked the creature, still marveling at the ability of the boy.
"You're a parselmouth" She stated flatly. Harry just nodded and smiled. "I think we can keep this our little secret" she agreed with a smile of her own. "Both James and Sirius are not particularly tolerant of anything considered dark" she sighed.
"They'll learn" Harry said soothingly while transfiguring the dagger he had conjured into a rabbit which the snake immediately struck down and devoured.
"Thank you ssssspeaker, but you promised two" the snake reminded Harry who chuckled.
He complied and transfigured another rabbit for the serpent.
"You know, you'll get fat if you keep eating like that" Harry deadpanned before vanishing the now glaring cobra.
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