บท 3: 3
The Dursleys had noticed Potter's infatuation nearly three weeks ago. Harry stopped stuttering, stopped hiding in his room and stopped eating his dinner. He ate at Liz's, who bought cereal, milk and sweets, especially for him. She usually made do with sandwiches. However, they could order dinner from a restaurant or eat pizza.
Harry was quietly happy.
The world was coloured with new colours. Now he didn't have to be afraid of people. Now he had a FRIEND.
And Dudley?
Well... there are clouds in the clearest of skies.
It was only when it was needed that Petunia remembered that she had a nephew - and wondered where he was in the evenings.
Reveal his friendship with Liz?!
Never!
Harry said he walked after school in the fresh air and studied his lessons.
Petunia said he couldn't get any brighter than Dudley anyway, so it wouldn't hurt to mow the lawn. I had to agree - and sneak out of the house immediately afterwards.
Liz was unhappy that Harry was late because they would synthesize nitrogen iodide today, but she listened to the explanation and nodded thoughtfully.
- Your relatives are just exploiters.
Harry nodded. Liz had a hard time believing his stories, but she was convinced after a couple of scars demonstrated.
- Unfortunately, I still have to live with them until adulthood.
Liz's eyes danced with amused demons.
- That's right, Harry. But there are many ways to live.
- What do you mean?
- If they have their own problems, they'll be less involved with you, won't they?
- Makes sense. What do you suggest?
Liz snorted.
- Harry, my chemist friend, has a lot to offer. The main thing is that the subject does survive.
Green eyes met brown ones. Liz reached out and pulled a small vial from the shelf.
- Silver nitrate. Expensive stuff, by the way. But I don't spare anything for your folks.
Neither did Harry. Only...
- Does it explode, or what?
- It doesn't explode. But someone's going to regret it.
***
The morning on Tees Street began with a wild shriek.
- AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!
Aunt Petunia screamed as she looked at herself in the mirror - and saw a black woman there. Or a mulatto. At any rate, instead of a blonde with white Scandinavian skin, she looked at something grey-black-spotted.
Harry could tell it resulted from silver nitrate added to the cream, but who asked him?
The whole street jumped up in alarm, even Miss Figg's cats. Vernon jumped up on the bed, saw Petunia - and immediately proved that yelling was a family quality. Dudley came running in, and the tantrum became a general issue.
Harry prudently stayed out of the pantry, though he woke up.
- Yeah, silver nitrate doesn't do any good," he muttered meaningfully, plugging his ear with a pillow and rolling over onto his other side. Why not get some sleep? He would certainly not be asked to cook breakfast today...
Lunch and dinner were not asked either. Auntie was taken to the doctor and wrapped up like a mummy. Soap, scrub and even dishwashing liquid didn't help; we could only hope for the power of medicine.
In the waiting room, the doctor shook his head and said the patient had to be admitted to the hospital. And you, relatives, should go home and bring her all the essentials. Have her make a list and go ahead with the tests.
With that, the Dursleys left for school and work.
The illness would be incurable for a while because the list of essentials included face cream. A new one, freshly purchased by Petunia only two days ago.
Liz listened to the report of the first operation performed, sighed - and pulled the next vial from the shelf.
- To her cousin. In his food, if he gets cocky.
- Yes, ma'am!" Harry replied, eyes sparkling with amusement.
That same night, Harry got a slap on the wrist from Dudley - and walked his cousin to the hospital the next day.
The remnants of the Dursley family had been mowed down by an epidemic of violent diarrhea. They put six spoonfuls of sugar in their tea (without stirring it, as it was too sweet), flavoured with the beautiful substance phenolphthalein, colloquially known as purging.
Harry remained unmasked. Dudley thought he'd poisoned himself with biscuits from the school cafeteria, and Vernon blamed the cafe at work. Either way, they weren't busy watching the sugar bowl or beating Harry. The toilets would be shared...
***
Harry, meanwhile, was holed up at Liz's, watching the experiments, studying the properties of substances and leafing through thick chemistry books.
Incomprehensible?
Liz was always able to explain the parts she didn't understand. Other than that... if chemistry could take out your enemies so easily... Harry was willing to learn every book from cover to cover just to show appreciation!
Petunia was lying in the hospital. Tests had not yet revealed anything. Dudley's diarrhea epidemic had stopped along with the "loaded" sugar, and it was unsafe for Harry to be at school again. But the boy wasn't even going to get discouraged.
And the next time he was caught...
- Stop right there!
Same company, same place... but something's different like Harry.
- Well, I'm standing. What do you want?
- What are you, the most intelligent guy here?
- Of course, I am. Did you have doubts?
I had doubts. But it took Pierce a while to find an answer. Harry grinned, tossing a small roll of cellophane-wrapped sodium of about twenty grams. He continued:
- You haven't thought of anything cleverer to beat me up yet. I know how to blow up a school!
He had the audience's attention.
- Penknife! - Harry demanded of Dudley.
A crumb of sodium flew into the puddle, hissing and reacting.
- Did you see that? And I've got twenty grams of it! Here's if you flush it down the toilet...
The negotiation ended fifteen minutes later with an understandable result. Harry remained unscathed. The school was going to be blown up by the whole merry band. Dudley was entrusted with throwing the sodium down the toilet. Harry gave his mates a wave and went to Liz's house.
He already had his keys, and Liz herself was obviously coming in later today.
She's at the Headmaster's, writing a statement about the theft of sodium from her office. Apparently, there was this fat kid... Dursley? And one of his friends... a little fidgety one...
The statement still needs to be completed. The Headmaster felt like... to meditate, so he left Liz temporarily. It's not a big deal; it can wait...
Crawling out of the toilet very peculiarly, he was no longer sure of that.
Yes, the teachers had a separate bathroom. But they didn't have a separate sewer, did they? And so, the toilet, into which the sodium was flushed, just shattered into pieces, and the rest on the same floor played geysers, dousing everyone unlucky enough to "think about life" at that moment with an "explosive wave."
In a word... no, in a comment, it didn't go away. There was screaming till late in the evening.
The children, their parents, and the Headmaster - the latter louder than all of them combined. Liz chuckled contentedly to herself.
Indeed, these comrades would not be bothered by her lab technician. Not to get kicked out of school... she was the only one in Little Wiggling.
From now on, Harry could walk in peace. Dudley and company looked at him with genuine respect. They appreciated both the bullying and the framing... Not his own, of course, but... what if he did something else like that?
This was painful enough as it was!
Everyone was hurt, including Dudley.
Petunia was in the hospital, and Uncle Vernon had forgotten all about the love, but he remembered the belt. And Dudley's experience was different from his liking.
And the most frustrating part was that they didn't believe them when they tried to tell them about Harry. I mean, it's Potter! He's a fool for a fool! And there's no way he could get sodium! And they saw - you! You know what... at least don't get caught in the act... you morons!
***
Petunia was discharged after a month. She was thin, pale and trembling at the word 'cream.' Not for nothing, by the way. The silver nitrate was fine in the bath foam. It was waiting in the wings... as long as the vial was opaque...
Harry could live in peace for a couple of weeks at least. And then...
Do you know how many exciting reactions there are in chemistry?
You need to find out how many exciting reactions there are in chemistry. But the Dursleys were about to find out for themselves.
Once again, Harry was having a hard time.
He was dutifully shunned at school. After the set-up, they decided not to touch him, or the recoil would be painful.
At home, though, Petunia was fierce and brutal, discovering that three men in a month could so dirty a house that ten women wouldn't be able to clean it in a year.
Harry didn't try.
So when Petunia started pestering him, he consulted Liz.
And the following day...
It was an ordinary morning.
Scrambled eggs, tea, toast... radically blue after Petunia had dipped them in the tea.
The shriek of the fat man who had first noticed the mishap, which quickly became a common theme, echoed around the block. Petunia fainted. Uncle Vernon rushed to revive her, glaring at Harry; Dudley huddled in his chair... he really wanted to live.
Harry hadn't expected such an effect. The iodine added to the tea was only supposed to make the family feel mildly ill. But...
I'd have to ask Liz what the reaction was. ****
****WARNING: Drinking iodine for the purpose of withdrawal is not recommended by the authors. If your thyroid fails, you won't have time to pump it out.
Liz explained that the reaction is the simplest. Iodine with starch. As you know, the starch in this reaction turns blue, and since it's in the bread... well, there you have it.
The Dursleys' fever continued.
Tea, bread and even sugar were mercilessly poured out and spilled. Harry was looked at with suspicion, but there was no evidence. Now they saw a catch in every bite, in every spoonful... Dudley even lost weight in a way that had never happened.
And Petunia realized that her nephew was best left alone.
No proof. But no health either! The boy's health is a bit of a pain in the ass, but the trouble... ...and it's not worth the risk!
Liz's help had resulted in the Dursleys shying away from Harry and even moving him out of the closet, though into the smallest room, but still... The good news was that they were no longer interested in where the child spent his free time. As long as it wasn't near them.
So Harry very quickly found himself - and Liz, who enthusiastically began to teach the young chemist.
Until his eleventh birthday.
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