After fooling the receptionist, Harry entered the Department of Magical Games and Sports and walked in a particular direction. Although other wizards and witches working inside the department noticed his presence, they completely ignored him.
After reaching a certain door, Harry knocked.
"Come in," came a voice from inside.
Harry pushed the door and walked in. Inside the room, behind a desk, a slightly middle-aged woman was sitting. She had a plump body structure, black hair, and slightly smaller eyes. Overall, her appearance was quite average.
Seeing Harry, a frown appeared on her face.
She questioned, "Who are you?"
Harry smiled with a surprised expression, "Ah! Miss Jorkins, you do not recall me?"
Bertha furrowed her brows and thought harder. She was well aware of her problem with forgetfulness and hence could not outright claim that she did not know the man.
After a few moments of silence, she muttered with a defeated expression, "I do not recall you."
Harry did not react much and walked ahead, closing the distance between them, "I have come to provide my help for the upcoming Triwizard Tournament."
Bertha's expression turned even more serious, and she tried to recall harder.
Meanwhile, Harry raised his hands, and before Bertha could react, he flicked his index finger towards her.
Two concentric circles of bright emerald colour shot from his fingers. The circles, in the blink of an eye, entered Bertha's forehead, and she fell unconscious onto the desk.
What Harry sent into her body was an advanced application of runes combined with a magical spell. It would serve two purposes for Harry.
Firstly, it would work as a tracker, informing Harry of Bertha's location at all times. Not only this, but he could also hear and see what she was hearing and seeing.
Secondly, it would work as a protective spell or shield for Bertha. Now, whenever she encountered Peter, the shield would give enough time for Harry to reach her.
Having completed his aim, Harry walked outside. He again encountered the young lady at the reception table when she interrupted him, "Were you able to meet Miss Jorkins?"
Harry nodded with a smile. "Yes, but sadly she was not able to recall me."
"Thankfully, after I jogged her memory, she remembered me."
The receptionist looked at him with some confusion but did not say anything. With this, Harry left the Ministry and vanished from outside the atrium.
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When Harry reappeared, he was back in his small room at Number 4, Privet Drive.
His next course of action was to deliver justice for himself. Even though he did not hold as much hatred, as he once had in his previous life, for the Dursleys, he could not let them go unpunished.
Selecting the appropriate punishment for the Dursleys was a difficult thing to do. Considering that the abuse he faced was mostly emotional and not physical, he did not want to take the route of physical punishment. The only physical beatings he received were from Dudley and his friends, and Vernon's sister and her dog.
The main effect of the abuse was on Harry's personality. He felt neglected, underconfident, alone, and was always full of fear. The behaviour of the Dursleys had turned Harry into an anxious little kid who would jump out of fear at every little occasion. Though one could say that he showed extreme courage all through his school years, only Harry knew what he was going through while undertaking those dangerous adventures.
Only in the later stages of his life was Harry able to overcome this personality of his.
And now that he had the chance, he was going to mete out a similar kind of punishment to the Dursleys.
He left his room and walked downstairs into the small hall of the Dursleys' house.
"Mom… Dad… the freak is back," Dudley's high-pitched voice was the first thing to greet Harry as soon as he stepped into the hall.
With heavy footsteps, Vernon came running, followed by Petunia.
"Boy," shouted Vernon, but then remembering that Harry could now do 'freakish things' outside the school, he toned his pitch down. "Where have you been all night?"
Harry chuckled with a delightful expression, scaring the shit out of Vernon and Petunia, "Uncle, you care so much for me."
Harry, in the next moment, vanished from the spot where he had been standing and appeared on one of the chairs at the dining table. Vernon and Petunia, along with Dudley, scrambled a few steps back in fear.
What Harry used was a modified version of apparition, useful for short-distance teleportation. Its advantages were that it required little to no time to use, and it did not accompany the twist of space and the 'whooshing' sound of apparition.
"I think that we should have breakfast like a family first before I discuss other things," said Harry sweetly.
He picked up a plate for himself and started to serve himself some food while the Dursleys remained motionless.
Not seeing them move, Harry's voice turned cold, "Sit."
The Dudley family snapped back from their state of shock and instinctively hurried and took seats at the dining table.
Harry did not speak further and enjoyed the egg omelette and toasted bread. Meanwhile, the Dursleys kept looking at him with sweat running down their foreheads.
Harry was calm all the while, and after eating his breakfast, he used the towel to wipe his mouth and then looked at the Dursleys.
"Uncle, Aunt," smiled Harry. "I am so thankful to both of you for taking care of me for the past eighteen years."
At the mention of these words, Vernon and Petunia's eyes widened in shock. How could they not understand that the treatment they had meted out to Harry was anything to be thankful for?
Coupled with Harry's freedom to use magic outside Hogwarts, even their foolish instincts screamed about an upcoming disaster.
They knew that something bad was coming and a bad premonition arose in their heart.
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