Harry was desperately trying to not question the whole thing. He felt that there was a high chance most normal people... Heck, most wizards in general, that they would not have duck villages in their minds. Then again, he had been different his whole life, so why not here too?
He sat on his bench and watched gamma squad arguing with delta squad about how close dwellings should be on a civilian extension of a militarized duck base. At this distance he couldn't tell who was winning, but they were clearly very enthusiastic about their own point of view.
Harry was debating intervening, considering the number of ankle bites he may gather on both sides, when he noticed Jim sitting next to him on the bench. He was unaware a duck could try to act casual.
"... Quack."
Harry snapped his attention back to the ongoing argument. Feathers would probably fly soon. "I don't know Jim, ok? I guess I am fine."
Small feathery eyes watched as an excellent right wing smacked some sense out of another recruit. He glanced up at the human. "Quack?"
He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "I just... I don't want to betray my real family. They didn't leave me or anything, not on purpose. They did what they could to save me."
A small yellow head nodded. "Quack. Quack."
Harry slumped into the bench. "I know. And to be honest, I know that I am already considering them family. It is why I have this guilt inside, as if it was all too easy or that I should feel worse somehow." Jim winged Harry's wrist, giving it soft pats. "Quack."
He took a deep breath, and nodded. "Yeah. And I guess if I am going to really treat them as family..." His eyes shifted, the green piercing through like fire. "I suppose I should treat them how I would my own parents. That black daemon did a lot of damage to them, you know?"
"Quack."
He stood up and stretched. "Thanks Jim. And hey, if I could fix myself, it can't be too hard to help them, right?"
Jim waddled away toward a group of VERY in trouble construction teams as Harry began planning. Tonight would probably be an interesting time for cloud watching. Assuming these teams finished the long list of punishment drills about to be laid on them. The night was thick and dark in Vernon's bedroom. Petunia was asleep, deeper than she had been for months, maybe years. And Vernon was having an odd dream, the first one since a few days ago.
He was strapped to a table, hurt. He felt so much weight on him, his neck seemed so tight, his arms pinched and sore from the heaviness. From the shadows someone came to his side.
Vernon should have felt terror, he should be screaming... but everything felt so warm. The bed was soft, the night was only pierced by the sounds of crickets, and the person only stood near. He couldn't see a face, but he could feel as the man pressed one hand on Vernons shoulder.
Liquid relief spread quickly, wrapping around his throat, reaching into his lungs, around his spine. He could feel his bones cooling, as if just removed from a freezer, but the coolness only seemed like a glass of lemonade on a hot day. As he lay there, he felt his throat clear, his neck loosen, and he began to breath deeper and less often. Each breath seemed to somehow reach deeper inside, and took less time to fill his body.
Suddenly his heart was wrapped in coldness. As soon as he felt a sharp sting, suddenly the warmth flooded back more than before, as if fire flooded his veins. As the fire burned through him he could actually feel his heart slowing, resting, as if a heavy load had suddenly lightened.
Vernon fell into a sleep so deep he never heard or felt a young hand in the awakening world move away from his body.
Harry watched for a few moments. He knew he couldn't do too much, unlike him Vernon was a very public person, going to work each day and such. Most of his changes had been internal. Cleared lungs, that now took in much more oxygen than usual, his neck slightly restructured to allow better air flow, his bones strengthened and major muscles relaxed. The surprise had been his heart. Harry hadn't expected him to be so close to heart attack, and had to use considerable power to rebuild the weakened muscle and clean it of gunk. Only a few threads had been required to clear out the major arteries and veins of build up.
It was mostly internal things, but already Harry knew this had been a good idea. With his luck, the first birthday could have had become Vernon's funeral. Turning to Petunia, he gripped some ropes and touched her shoulder.
He felt a tug as his bright green threads touched her light blue ones... and he fell into her world.
Petunia was on a beach when she heard a splash. Her calm instantly broken, she twisted on the sand and quickly began searching the waves.
A sopping wet Harry Potter was sputtering in the water, only a foot or so from shore. "THE BLOODY HELL WAS THAT!" Petunia's horror was quickly replaced with righteous annoyance. "HARRY, watch your language!"
He snapped his eyes over to her, and she almost giggled at how large his eyes were. "Uh... oh hi. Lovely day, isn't it Aunt Petunia?"
She stood tall on the beach and tapped her foot. "Apologize young man, language like that is NOT acceptable or polite behavior."
Harry absently wrung his shirt out and walked from the water. "Sorry Aunt Petunia, I uh... didn't know I would be enjoying the water just then."
Petunia could FEEL how different this was from normal. She had had nightmares before, she had had calm rest recently, but this time, this person was different. Her world was mostly gray, and her new charge was vibrant with color. "Apology accepted. Now, what are you doing here?" Her mind began to work faster. "Wait... you... You are supposed to be in bed. How did you even get... where are we?"
The boy gave an awkward shrug. "I seem to have fallen into your mind when I was trying to heal you. Apparently your blue threads have a bit more power than I thought. Vernon's gray stuff didn't bother me at all when I fixed him up."
She raised an eyebrow and gave a firm stare. "Fixed?"
He nodded, a bit sad. "Well, you two had been under the daemon for a while. He took up over eating and I was worried that his health was suffering. I fixed what I could without changing his outward appearance."
She hesitated. She really didn't like remembering the past, especially now that it seemed to really be behind her. Still, her husband came first. "What exactly did you... fix?" Harry raised a hand and seemed to count off. "Made his neck better able to breath, cleaned his lungs and made them more efficient, reinforced his bones, strengthened a couple of major muscles." He seemed to turn a bit dark. "He also had a very weak heart. Fixed that up, cleaned out the clots and stuff that had been forming."
Petunia held back a gasp. She had suspected, watching how red her husband's face would get, that his health could be pretty bad... but suspecting and knowing were two separate things. She took a ragged breath. "Was... do I have the same issues?"
He shook his head. "From what I can tell your blue threads helped preserve your health, although they have been working for so long that they can't easily keep up with your body's demands. I was just going to do the bone and muscle thing on you, before I was pulled here." He looked around. "Speaking of which, I love what you did here. Never saw the ocean myself, mind you, but it is pretty."
She felt old feelings surge back, ones she thought long gone. "Harry... you... blue threads?"
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