AN: Italics= thoughts, emphasis, and spells, you'll know which is which.

Disclaimer: I am not making any money from this story. Harry Potter and various characters do not belong to me, but that of J.K. Rowling. I'm just playing with her characters. Things you recognize as belonging to her, do. The only thing that belongs to me is the plot and previously unknown characters and spells, unless stated otherwise. This disclaimer applies to the entire story

Author's Note: There is a trigger warning on this chapter. I don't want to go into too much detail because I don't want to spoil things, but this story is rated M for a reason. This chapter may be hard for some to deal with due to some themes that are covered.

Chapter Eight

Albus Dumbledore was wearing his favorite periwinkle blue robes with stars on them, as he paced around in his inner office clutching a letter, and shaking his head. The stone walls were bare of any portraits that could spy, and potentially report on his activities to others. The room functioned as a sort of common room for the chambers where he slept, so it was fairly empty. He kept most of his stuff in his main office, this room was where he primarily came to think in peace- without the prying eyes and ears of the former Hogwarts Heads- which was something that he had been doing a lot of lately. As of late, he had been far too busy. Between cleaning up after Harry's use of underage magic at school, and Sirius's incessant letters to Remus pleading his innocence, he didn't know what to do.

He could hardly believe what he saw when he had looked into the minds of Harry's classmates. Young Harry Potter had used the imperious curse. Upon examining the memories, he saw the brutal attack that occurred, and figured that it was done on accident. Harry had simply wanted the attack to stop, and wished for it to happen. His magic had simply done the rest. That was the only thing that made sense. For it would not do, if the savior of the Wizarding World had a preference for Dark Magic. It would not do at all.

Sirius Black on the other hand, was another matter altogether. It seemed like every other day he was sending letters off to his old friend Remus Lupin begging for his help in proving his innocence. Explaining himself over and over again. It was exasperating, and quite frankly really starting to work on his nerves. He was alerted of course, whenever Black sent any correspondence by his spies within the prison, and he always sent Fawkes to intercept the owls before they could reach their destination.

Each time Dumbledore read one of the intercepted letters, he paced his study, debating about what he should do. He knew that what he was doing by keeping Sirius imprisoned for a crime he didn't commit was wrong, but he could not have Black interfering with his plans for Harry. It was also why he took care of the Longbottom's.

Dumbledore stopped pacing. "It's for the greater good," he said before he promptly incinerated the letter. A pile of ash fell to the floor that he immediately Evanesco'd so that there would be no trace evidence. "Things must go according to plan," Dumbledore muttered before leaving his inner office, and office proper to do his nightly rounds as Headmaster.

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"Have a good day at work dear," his wife bid him while handing him his lunch and kissing him on the cheek.

"You have a good day here at home too, Pet," he wished her on his way out the door. It was the same thing every morning for Vernon, and he rather liked it that way. Vernon Dursley thrived on routine and order- Wake up, have breakfast, go to work, come home, have dinner, sleep, and repeat. He despised anything that threw that out of balance. Such as having two children to raise when he had only wanted the one- and that was only for Petunia's sake, not to say that he didn't love his son, he did- but his life would certainly be less stressful without him.

Which is why he was disturbed when the phone in his office rang. It never rang. It was there for Vernon to call out with, and to receive calls-if necessary, but it was rarely ever used for that purpose. Vernon contemplated not answering, but knew that if he didn't answer, and it was important, he would be reprimanded by his supervisors. With them having to feed that boy, Vernon couldn't risk suffering financially, so he grudgingly picked up the phone.

"Vernon Dursley speaking" Vernon answered as he forced his voice to sound polite.

"My dear brother Vernon, it's Marge!" Vernon froze, and immediately regretted answering the phone upon hearing the voice of his sister. "What time do you get off from work?" Marge asked. "I tried the house, and that wife of yours didn't answer," she stated.

Petunia could have at least warned him that his sister had attempted to call. Nevertheless, she was his sister. Switching the tone of his voice to sound as if he was pleasantly surprised, Vernon played the role of a loving and doting brother. "Marge! How lovely to hear your voice! To what do I owe the pleasure?" Please let it just be her checking in to see how things are going. With Dudley acting out, and that boy still staying with them, now just would not be a good time for Marge to come down for a visit.

"I'm on my way down for a visit. I'm using the phone at the diner I stopped at for a quick bite to eat. I should be there at your house by no later than 5'o'clock." Marge said brusquely, leaving no room for debate.

When it came to his sister, Vernon had learned long ago to just go along with whatever it was that she wanted. Or else things would go very badly for him. So to avoid any kind of conflict with her, he plastered on the tone of voice that his sister had come to expect from him over the years. "Splendid, that's wonderful Margie! I can't wait to see you, and catch up with you, I'm sure Dudley and Petunia will be thrilled as well!"

"Excellent. Make sure that there's enough room for my babies, because I've brought them with me. I'll let you get back to work now Vernon, have a good day," Marge said promptly before hanging up.

"Excellent indeed" Vernon grumbled out before getting back to work.

When it was time for Vernon to take his lunch break he decided that now was just as good of time as any to call Petunia and warn her that they would have a guest arriving. So it was with determination that he picked up the phone on his office desk and dialed his home phone number. Vernon let the phone ring precisely three times before hanging up, and immediately calling right back. It was the signal that he and Petunia had devised to let the other know that it was them calling, and not one of those blasted telemarketers trying to get them to purchase a vacation with money that they did not have to spare. Petunia picked up promptly on the third ring.

"Vernon, is everything alright?" Petunia inquired. Naturally, she'd be concerned because he rarely-if at all-phoned home from work, unless it was an emergency.

"Hardly," Vernon sighed out and began fidgeting with a pen on his desk, before he continued on. "Marge called and informed me that she would be at our place by 5'o'clock. It seems she decided to make a trip down without advanced notice again, and she's brought those blasted creatures with her too." Vernon growled out in frustration.

"Typical," Petunia griped out. "I've already been to the Market for the week, am I supposed to go back and get more food? What about Dudley's second room? It's absolutely cluttered. Did she say how long she was going to be staying for?" Vernon could tell that Petunia was stressing out about this because her tone kept getting higher with every question posed.

"Go to another Market, and get the boy to clean Dudley's second room. You'll be fine Pet," Vernon reassured her. "No, she didn't mention how long she'll be staying, but we'll be fine, Pet. We'll get through it. We've done it before, and we can do it again." Vernon said in such a way so as to seem in control of the situation. Things would go very badly if Petunia lost her head. She's supposed to be the level one.

"I suppose you're right-" Petunia exhaled out in such a manner that indicated that she had somewhat calmed and resolved herself to the situation.

"Right then. So see to it that the arrangements are made in time, or we'll never hear the end of it. I'll see you when I get home." Vernon rushed out before Petunia could protest any more. He waited a moment, until he heard Petunia huff indignantly, and then proceeded to hang up the phone. With that done, Vernon Dursley sat the pen back down on his desk, and proceeded with the rest of his lunch break in peace.

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"Hello my daring boy, how was school?" Aunt Petunia trilled to Dudley as he and Harry got in the car after a particularly dull day at school.

Dudley grumbled out a barely audible response that Harry couldn't quite make out. "Excellent. Well, I have some news that should be pretty exciting. Aunt Marge has decided to come down for a visit. She'll be here shortly after your father gets home from work. Isn't that wonderful?" Aunt Petunia informed them-or rather Dudley, because Marge's visit came as no surprise to Harry-with false cheer. Harry could tell that Aunt Petunia was pretending to be excited about Marge's impending visit for Dudley's sake. It was something that he'd observed the last time that Marge came around for a visit. Whenever Marge, Dudley, or Harry were around, Aunt Petunia pretended to be the perfect housewife, host, and sister-in-law. However when nightfall came, and Aunt Petunia was down in the kitchen soothing her nerves with a bottle of wine, she'd whisper out loud to herself angrily about how much she couldn't stand the woman. Being that Harry was locked away in his cupboard for the evening-assumed to be asleep, as well as too young to know or understand anything about what could possibly be going on- he could easily overhear his Aunt's activity in the Kitchen.

"I wonder if she brought me any presents this time. Do you know if she did Mummy?" Dudley inquired.

"You'll just have to wait and see." Aunt Petunia answered flippantly.

"But Mummy-" Dudley started to protest before he was interrupted by Aunt Petunia.

"-Besides, there's plenty that needs to be done around the house before she arrives. You will assist Harry with cleaning out your second bedroom, so that Aunt Marge has somewhere that she can sleep. It would not be appropriate for her to sleep on the couch." Aunt Petunia stated matter-of-factly.

Assist in Aunt Petunia's language, means to oversee, as in do nothing but tell Harry where to put the things that are being transferred back into Dudley's primary room. Harry almost wanted to protest and say no. To make up some excuse about needing to do homework, but since Dudley and Harry are in the same class, and would therefore have the same homework assignments, that excuse wouldn't work. Illness wouldn't even deter her from putting him to work. So, knowing that it would be futile in the end, Harry doesn't even attempt to protest.

They arrived at the house, and Harry only had time to deposit his school things into his cupboard before he was promptly put to work. Dudley however took his time and only went to his main room to "help" after consuming his after school snack. Whereupon he sat on his bed, and began to issue orders to Harry about where to put things that were moved over from the second bedroom, and how they were to be arranged. It was his method of helping. Although Dudley himself was lazy, and did not get up once to do anything himself, he still liked his room to be in a certain order.

Once Harry finished moving enough of Dudley's things from his second bedroom into his primary room, Aunt Petunia told Harry to dust, and then vacuum the room so that it would be presentable. Harry obliged. It wasn't long after he finished vacuuming the room that Uncle Vernon arrived home from work, and called everyone downstairs into the living room.

"Now, I assume you're all aware that my sister, your Aunt Marge, has decided to come down for a visit. I expect everyone, especially you,-" Uncle Vernon said while giving Harry a look that felt like it could drill holes right through him. "-to be on their best behavior. Do I make myself clear?" The tone of Vernon's voice indicating that any answer other than what he expected- which was compliance- would lead to the rebellious answerer being punished.

Both Harry and Dudley replied, "Yes Sir."

"Good. Now go make yourselves presentable. I assume that she will be here shortly," Uncle Vernon told them dismissively.

They did as they were told.

About twenty minutes later, the doorbell rang. Aunt Marge was here, and Harry knew that it was expected by his Aunt and Uncle that he would be the one to answer the door. So without any prompting from Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon, Harry went to do just that. As Harry got closer to the door, he could hear Marge's dogs barking, indicating that they too were in a foul mood, most likely from hunger, and being cramped in the car all day. He looked outside the window by the door, and could just make out the cab driver taking off. Most likely happy to finally be rid of her. Harry took a deep breath to brace himself, and opened the door. As soon as the door was open, Marge thrust her bags straight into him with such force, and angled in such a way that it knocked Harry off balance, and out of the pathway of the door. Dumbstruck, Harry just stood there gaping. He'd forgotten that her brutal treatment of him started at such a young age. Well, if she thought that Harry was just going to accept things docilely as he did in the original timeline, she had another thing coming. They all did.

Marge noticed the expression on Harry's face, and scowled. "Don't just stand there like a fool boy, take those to my room," she ordered him forcefully, knocking Harry out of his thoughts. "Vernon!" Marge shouted as she wobbled her way further into the house. "I see you're still allowing that useless boy to stay here," she ground out, as she searched for her brother.

Not wanting to hear anymore of Marge's tirade, Harry took her luggage upstairs to Dudley's second bedroom. While upstairs, he took his time. Procrastinating on a task that should take no more than a minute due to the fact that he didn't want to be downstairs around Marge. So, he kept switching up where he put her bags, but ultimately he decided to put her luggage near the bed. So that she wouldn't have to move that much to collect her things, and to spare him the inevitable "talking to" that would occur if he put them near the closet.

"Boy!" Uncle Vernon shouted up the stairs, "What's taking so long? Get down here," he commanded.

Harry sighed and then promptly went back downstairs. This was going to be a long visit.

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Marge had been here two weeks already, and Harry had had enough. It seemed like when she was around, everyone became crueler to him. It wasn't as if he had it easy with them to begin with, but he couldn't catch a break. His only respite, were the rides to and from school-which he was enjoying now-, and school itself. However as soon as he came home from school, he turned into Marge's own personal house-elf. Her dogs would attack him if he disobeyed, and Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon allowed it. They also didn't seem to be concerned about him going to school with bandages on. Probably because Dudley was forced to lie to his teachers about how Harry had obtained his injuries, and Harry was expected to go along with it. Uncle Vernon, he could understand not defending him, but Aunt Petunia should have at least defended him. Shown some semblance of loyalty to the son of the sister that she lost, but she didn't. Marge must even scare her. It was to say the least infuriating. Harry didn't know how much more of this he was going to be able to withstand.

One interesting thing had happened during the course of the time that Marge had been here, and that was the arrival of one Arabella Figg. Upon moving into the area, she immediately came over and introduced herself to the Dursley household. Confirming one of Harry's long held suspicions that Dumbledore had placed tracking spells on Harry, with the sole purpose of alerting him whenever Harry had used significant magic outside of the home. He must have sent her to ingratiate herself within their lives in order to monitor the situation, and report back to him.

It made sense, especially in light of what happened at Harry's school. He had purposely used Dark Magic in the presence of Muggles. That would have alerted the Accidental Magic Reversal Squad within The Ministry, but since nobody from there showed up or contacted The Dursley's, it must mean that they had not known. It would appear that Harry and indeed his magic was cloaked from all but Dumbledore. That way former Death Eater's within The Ministry wouldn't be able to ascertain where Harry Potter was. Which would explain the early arrival of Mrs. Figg. In the previous timeline, she hadn't moved into the area this early, because Harry did not fight back. Least of all with magic. So it would seem that things were already beginning to change.

Now that Harry had a pretty good idea that Dumbledore was in fact tracking his magic, he would have to figure out a way to break it without alerting the old fool that it had been done. In order for him to do that, he was going to need a magical distraction. One accompanied by a valid alibi incase Mrs. Figg came around inquiring about it, or worse, if Dumbledore himself decided to show up and investigate things for himself.

Harry was interrupted from his reverie when he felt the car stop and heard the engine shut off. They had made it back home from school. Harry grudgingly exited the car and went to go face his fate.

That evening, Harry was in the Kitchen preparing to serve dinner when he overheard Marge complaining to Petunia. "Honestly, you'd be better off depositing that boy into an orphanage, Petunia." Hearing Marge say that triggered a memory within Harry of this very night the first time around. Marge would keep going on and on causing Harry to lose his temper, and as a result, she would have her dogs nearly maul him to death, while nobody lifted a finger to help him. Harry was determined not to let things play out the same way this time.

Harry was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard Marge start speaking again. "My brother should not be forced to continue to care for your Sister's offspring, just because your Sister and that lousy Husband of hers were too stupid to call a cabbie. If they cared at all about the child, they would not have been driving drunk. They got what they deserved for their own stupidity!" Marge spluttered out, her comments met with silence.

In the original timeline her comments upset Harry because she was saying his parents deserved to die, and that they were stupid and didn't love him. This time it still upset him because he knows the truth about their death, and he doesn't like it when people speak ill about his parents, and their sacrifice. So, his emotional trigger would be genuine in the event that his memories are searched.

Mind made up, Harry stormed into the dining room where Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, Dudley, and Aunt Marge with her dogs at her feet, were sitting around the table waiting to be served their dinner. "YOU TAKE THAT BACK!" Harry shouted. "MY PARENTS LOVED ME, AND WOULD NEVER PURPOSELY ABANDON ME! THEY'RE NOT STUPID, AND NOBODY DESERVES TO DIE! LEAST OF ALL LIKE THAT!" He continued on, his voice going hoarse from shouting. Time seemed to stand still, and Harry could feel the air in the room start crackling with magic.

Testing to see if his senses were correct, he attempted to nonverbally cast a sound barrier around the house. He could feel his magic take hold, and affirm that the spell had indeed worked. Not missing a beat he decided that this would be the perfect time to undo whatever tracking magic Dumbledore had placed upon him. He'd crafted the spell in the future on the off chance that his suspicions were confirmed. It was nonverbal and wandless, but would require intense focus to undo Dumbledore's magic while simultaneously tricking Dumbledore's magic into thinking his tracking spell was still active within Harry. Harry thought the incantation to the spell, which was as follows: dissuo textum indago donec dollus illudo circumvenio vestigo cantamen. He internally chanted the incantation four times, and could feel Dumbledore's magic loosen its hold upon him.

By the time Harry was done with his incantation, Marge seemed to have finally grasped the reality of the situation at hand, because time seemed to resume. Maybe she was waiting for Uncle Vernon or Aunt Petunia to scold him. The fact remains that Harry will never know. However once it became apparent that they weren't going to do anything, Aunt Marge stood up so fast she moved the table, and as a result the vase in the center fell over.

Aunt Marge stormed over to stand in front of Harry, where she towered above him. "Now you listen here you ingrate, my brother and his wife took you in against my superior judgment… I'm not sure what kind of behavior it is that they tolerate when I'm not around, but I will not have you disrespect me!" She growled out as she knocked Harry over to the ground. Harry was furious, but he decided to let the next part of the scenario play out. It would go a long way towards his alibi.

"Now that you're in your proper place," Marge sneered, "I think it's high time and way overdue for you to LEARN SOME RESPECT," Marge spit out. Her dogs finally realized what was going on and rushed over to join her at her side, salivating at the sight of Harry prone helplessly- or so it seemed- upon the ground. "It would appear my babies are hungry," Marge stated calmly. "Since you don't know how to serve us dinner properly without getting involved in things that are none of your concern, you can be theirs," she said callously. "Go ahead boys," she said while leaning over to look into her dogs eyes. "You can have the boy for dinner." She ground out before kicking him and walking away into the other room, so she wouldn't have to watch what was going to happen next.

The dogs began to bite and chew on Harry's legs, trying to rip off the flesh and eat him-as they were told to do. The pain was so intense, Harry couldn't help but let out a blood curdling scream. Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia looked horrified, but did absolutely nothing to stop the attack. Harry knew from the original timeline that this was something that Aunt Petunia regretted allowing to happen. Dudley too had expressed remorse later in life for his complacency this day. He knew he would get no help from them unless he made them help. Therefore, he forced himself to look past the pain, and focus on the task at hand. Even if he couldn't make himself stop crying, he could still try to retain some control over his mental faculties.

Harry looked over to Dudley and mentally commanded him to go in to the kitchen like he was going to get his own food, but instead of eating anything he was to grab a knife, conceal it, and come back into the room. It took a moment for Harry's magic to take hold, but it did. Dudley got up and went into the kitchen. Once Dudley had left, Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon decided that they were no longer able to stomach the sight before them, so they went to go join Aunt Marge in the other room.

When Dudley came back into the room he had a disembodied look on his face, and Harry commanded him to come closer and pretend like he was enjoying watching his cousin be punished, so as to not arouse any suspicion in case any of the adults came back into the room. He pretended well enough. When he got close enough to the dogs, Harry commanded Dudley to stab both dogs quickly at the connection between their neck/head, and spine. Ensuring that the attack would stop. Dudley resisted, but Harry placed the idea in his head that this was the only way to make it stop, and save his cousins life. Dudley gave in to Harry's magic, and did as he was commanded to.

The dogs' jaws loosened on Harry's legs, and he was able to slide away as they slumped over. Free from their attack, Harry's crying subsided, and he released Dudley from his control. The knife which had become slicked with blood fell to ground. Dudley looked down at his hands confused and saw that they were covered in blood, he looked around and saw the dogs slumped on the ground with blood flowing freely from their necks, a horrified expression came across his face, and he started crying. "Mummy…I…" Dudley started, but couldn't find the words to finish.

Upon hearing Dudley's crying, all three adults rushed back into the room at once. Aunt Petunia who was followed by Uncle Vernon, who was followed by Aunt Marge. They all took in the scene before them. Aunt Petunia was the fastest though. She saw the blood on Dudley's hands, the knife at his feet, the dogs slumped over bleeding out and dying, as well as a bleeding but still alive Harry, and immediately rushed to stand in front of her son and began to console him. "Shhh now. It's going to be alright my Diddykins, Mummy's here…. I'm sure this was an accident, and you didn't mean it… It's going to be alright-"

"Alright?" Aunt Marge started as she began approaching Aunt Petunia, her face laced with fury. "ALRIGHT? YOUR FUCKING LARD ASS OF A SON KILLED MY BABIES, YOU FUCKING WHORE!" She roared out as she knocked Petunia off her feet and into the ground. Dudley tried to run away, but Aunt Marge grabbed him by his shirt and turned him around to face her. She then used her other hand and slapped him so hard across his cheek that he fell to the ground, upon which his crying resumed. Aunt Petunia was too shocked to do anything, and Uncle Vernon appeared to be in another world entirely.

Harry watched the scene unfold before him, unsure of what would happen next if he didn't do something to fix the situation. Marge could easily kill them all if Harry didn't do something about it. Just as she lifted her foot and prepared to kick Dudley, Harry pushed himself into Uncle Vernon's mind and told him to snap out of it, finally stand up to his sister, and protect his son.

"ENOUGH!" Uncle Vernon roared out, before Marge could successfully land her kick that was aimed at Dudley. "I'VE HAD ENOUGH! YOU WILL NOT HARM MY SON OR MY WIFE, MARGE!" Aunt Marge turned around and faced her brother. Her face was bordering on purple, and his was red. They locked eyes, and seemed to be waging some silent battle to test how serious Vernon was about his words. He did not blink, nor did he look away, so Marge made her way over to Uncle Vernon.

"Very well then, brother. I guess I will just have to punish you for their insolence," she sneered, and reached out to wrap her hands around Uncle Vernon's neck, and began to choke him. Harry could recognize the thirst of murder when he saw it, and it was palpable on Marge's face. Uncle Vernon's death belonged to Harry, and he wasn't about to let Marge kill Uncle Vernon when he still could prove useful to him. Plus, Aunt Petunia would be a wreck without him, and whether he liked it or not, he needed Aunt Petunia for his plans to work.

Harry pushed his way into Aunt Petunia's mind, and told her to pick up the bloody knife that way laying on the floor beside her. She easily did as she was told, without protest. He then told her to slowly get up, sneak behind Aunt Marge, and quickly use the knife to slit her throat. Aunt Petunia did as she was told. She got up, crept slowly towards Aunt Marge, and without any hesitation, she ran the knife quickly across Marge's throat before Aunt Marge had time to process what had happened. Blood from her neck sprayed out, and coated Uncle Vernon's face, as her grip around his neck lessened. Sensing what was about to happen, Aunt Petunia sidestepped backwards and out of the way as Aunt Marge stumbled back and fell to the floor with a loud heavy thump that caused the ground to shake.

End Note: So, that happened… Thank you for reading, and your reviews on the previous chapters, as well as well wishes for my finals! They were appreciated. As always, please leave a review to let me know what you think. Also, HAPPY NEW YEAR!