The Appropriate Response

Author's notes: It should be noted that the Dursleys are more like a normal family in the sense that they don't treat Harry like a servant but as an actual relative.

Story Start: Dursley Household

"Sometimes, fear is the appropriate response."

As a flying creation made out of all kinds of different parts burst through the window on the TV, eight year old Harry began to ponder just what 1 had meant. Later, when the movie ended, Vernon began to stand up from his chair when his nephew's voice drew his attention.

"Uncle Vernon?"

Looking to his nephew Vernon said "What is it Harry?"

Harry frowned and said "What did 1 mean by 'Sometimes fear is the appropriate response?'"

Vernon felt his eyebrows raise before he considered his nephew's question reminding himself that while young Harry was different than most people, he was still a curious child. Frowning in thought, he said "Fear, is a good thing. It tells us when we should avoid dangerous things. There is a saying that bravery isn't the absence of fear, but being able to go on when fear is present. But sometimes that's not the right thing to do. Sometimes you have to listen to fear in order to be able to do something at a later time when you wouldn't have if you didn't listen to it. Does that help?"

Harry nodded and stood up from the sofa and went into the kitchen to help his aunt who was washing out the popcorn bowls.

Time Skip: Triwizard Tournament First Challenge

Harry ducked behind another boulder as the dragon let loose with another blast of fire. As he flinched away from the heat of the flames, he heard Malfoy's voice as he shouted out "What's the matter Potter? Afraid?" As the blond and most of the other Slytherins laughed, a quote from six years ago came to the forefront of his mind.

"Sometimes, fear is the appropriate response."

Harry had muttered the sentence to himself but thanks to the charms around the arena that allowed the audience to hear what spells were cast everyone heard him. As the people in the audience began looking at each other in confusion, Harry tilted his head in thought before he stood up and spun around the boulder with his wand pointed at the dragon's face as he shouted out a spell that no one recognized.

"Formidilosus!"

A black ball shot out of Harry's wand and flashed across the distance between him and the dragon before it hit the massive reptile in the face, sinking inside on contact. The effects were instantaneous as the dragon reared up in fear before it began doing its best to get away from Harry. As the dragon attempted to pull out the chains tethering it while constantly scrambling backwards, everyone began whispering to themselves wondering what spell Harry had used. Hermione and Dumbledore were the only ones who had an idea and even she wasn't sure.

"Formidilosus? But that's fear in Latin." Hermione muttered to herself wondering why she had never found a spell like that before. As she was wondering just what Harry had been up to the past week when he wasn't with her, Dumbledore himself was frowning towards Harry who was cautiously making his way to the nest earning screeches of terror from the Ridgeback.

'It seems Harry has rediscovered the lost art of emotion spell crafting. But I wonder, did he find it in a book or is this more of an instinctual thing?'

Harry meanwhile had reached the dragon's nest and grabbed his egg. Backing up from the nest as fast as he could without falling over, he saw that the dragon instantly went back to the nest as soon as he was a football field away. Then, when he was going to the tent, he suddenly saw the dragon's eyes go from panicked to furious. Harry had just enough time to widen his eyes before he had to duck inside the tent to avoid a stream of fire.

'Although he doesn't seem to have much control over it.' Dumbledore thought with amusement as a small smile appeared on his face and he let out a small chuckle.