115 Got the Stones to Act

"Niiicky! Dinner's ready!" Nick's mother calls him from downstairs, prompting him to toss the charm books and Fuath Stone Harry had gifted him under his bed. Over the past week since he'd been home he'd noticed some small changes, no doubt brought by the magical object.

While he didn't feel any stronger physically or magically, he noticed he was faster to react to things some kids accidentally kicked a ball at him and he easily caught it, which was a big difference compared to usual.

He'd also started noticing things... Like how the way his mother would stare at him when he wasn't looking, he'd taken a glance at her during this once and her expression almost scared him. Like she wanted nothing more than to bury him in the garden.

He wasn't sure if what he saw was real or not, as he had no idea why his mother would feel like that... If it was, what had he done wrong?

Shaking his head, he makes his way downstairs but pauses as he reaches the bottom and peers into the dining room. They had guests, his aunt Keira and her two children, Reggie and Darren, the fourteen and thirteen-year-olds already sending grins his way.

Nick was tempted to just go back and lock himself in his room. While the Slytherin students may be more dangerous to him, his cousins won the competition concerning annoyance. To put it simply, they were bullies, and being family apparently didn't matter to them.

"Nicky! Come sit, I've put your plate next to the boys." his mother says, forcing him to sit next to Darren.

"So, how's Nick getting on at his new school? When you told me it was a private one in Scotland everyone was shocked you know!" Kiera states while prodding her mashed potato experimentally.

"Brilliantly, or so I'm told." his mother vaguely says, aware that knowledge of the magical world was a dearly kept secret.

"Is that so, have you made any friends yet Nick?" his aunt turns to him.

"Some..."

"Really? Aren't you lying? You only had one friend in Primary School, and he moved away after a year!" Reggie says, almost mockingly.

He sighs and stabs at the sausage on his plate with more force than necessary, almost chipping the ceramic plate. The rest of the meal continued like this, forced to evade basic questions about his school which only gave his cousins more ammunition to come at him with.

After quickly finishing his meal he slides it away and makes a break for his room, only for his cousins to follow, prompted by his mother who presumably wanted them to 'get along', however small a chance that was.

"Hey, hey! You got a SNES!" Darren exclaims as he runs over to the dusty console. Nick hadn't touched it since he'd been introduced to magic, what were games worth in the face of manipulating reality itself?

"Don't touch that." Nick grouses.

"Ehh? Why not!? It's all dusty, is it broke?"

"No. Don't touch." he repeats.

"Whatever," Reggie sniffs, grabbing a cartridge and turning on the console.

Only for Nick to turn it off at the plug, "I said don't touch! This is my room, these are my things!"

"Hey, since you don't use it, I think I'm gonna take it." Darren says, taking the SNES under his arm.

"NO! Mum! Reggie and Darren are being annoying!" he shouts, hoping to get them removed.

"Have fun dear!" she impassively responds, seemingly uncaring.

Finally having enough, Nick pushes Darren and tears the SNES away from him, causing the boy to fall into the wall and hit the back of his head. "OUCH! HEY! WHAT WAS THAT FOR!?"

"Don't touch my things or else!"

"Or else what?" Reggie says, the older and bigger brother shoves him into a nearby bookshelf containing his Hogwarts study books. A shelf breaks and five or six to fall down on him, causing his already frail temper to boil over.

Gritting his teeth, he drops the SNES and growls at Reggie, "I SAID STOP! GET OUT OF MY ROOM NOW! I'VE HAD ENOUGH!"

"Hey, what's this thing here?" Darren asks, pulling a black pearl out from under his bed.

"That looks expensive, give it here." Reggie says, the brothers now fighting over the magical artifact.

Nick's vision goes red as he loses it. The brothers had no idea what was happening when two heavy slammed into their heads, Reggie hits the floor and Nick begins raining blows down at him, kicking and punching as hard as he can. Darren tries to pull him off but he swings his fist and clips him in the jaw, sending the boy to the ground and causing him to start loudly crying.

"Stop! Stop! Get off!" Reggie screams as Nick stomps on his face with all his weight.

"I. TOLD. YOU. TO. STOP!" he shouts, jumping on the boy's head and breaking his nose with a loud crunch. Darren tries to get up but a football kick puts him back down again...

Finally, his mother and aunt Keira burst into the room, the former grabbing him as the latter attends to her crying children.

"NICK!? WHAT IN GOD'S NAME ARE YOU DOING!?"

"I warned them! They asked for it!"

"LITTLE MONSTER!" Kiera exclaims as she sees the sheer amount of damage that'd been done to her boys. Their faces were turning black and blue, and Reggie's broken nose was seeping dangerous amounts of blood. "We need to get you two to the hospital now! We're leaving!" she turns to Nick and his mother, "And we won't be back!"

"Good! Take them and fuck off, you fat cow!" Nick shouts and his horrified mother hurriedly covers his mouth.

"NICK!? HOW DARE YOU!"

"YOU TOO! LET GO OF ME!" he scrambles out of their grasp and kicks the door open wider, "ALL OF YOU GET OUT! I'VE HAD ENOUGH! LEAVE NOW!"

They do so, and he hears his mother locking the door behind her, allowing Nick to let out a long breath... That, may have been overboard... "At least now they won't bother me anymore..." he smiles to himself, seeing this as an absolute win. He picks the Fuath Stone from the floor and places it in his pocket, taking comfort in the slight warmth it was now giving off.