"Oh crap!" Harry hissed before he landed on the cobbled street below, the stones he landed on cracking viciously. Harry looked back up at the three storey building he had jumped off of. "Wow." Harry breathed out before walking out of the alley, thankfully his hood was still up and decreased the chances of him getting caught. 'I swear, one day you're going to get me killed.'
'Why would I do that?' Venom asked. 'You are far too good of a match to throw away.'
'Yeah? Well, if I die then you just go and find a new host or something, right?' Harry asked.
'Yes,' Venom admitted. 'but that does not mean I would enjoy doing so. There are no guarantees that I will ever find a host that I can bond with like you, only probability.'
'Perhaps, but you still forget that normal humans don't casually jump off buildings.' Harry pointed out.
'You are right,' Venom agreed. ' normal humans do not. You, are far from normal, even before meeting me.'
'Sad part is, I can't argue against that.' Harry's sigh wasn't simply limited to being in his mind.
'Normal is overrated.'
'You sound like you're in a bad movie.' Harry told him just before stopping and looking around.
'What about that shop on your right?' Venom asked.
'Be specific,' Harry told him as he looked right. 'which shop? Wait, are you talking about that one?' Harry asked, staring right at Eeylops Owl Emporium.
'Yes, I'm up for some experimentation.'
'Not in my body, you're not.' Harry quickly sent back. 'We'll try something else,' Harry thought before looking around and spotting a stall with a man selling various sweets and chocolate. Harry couldn't help the grin that appeared on his face as he was unintentionally reminded of buying a ton of stuff on his first ride to Hogwarts. 'How about some sweets and chocolate?' Harry asked.
'Sweets? Chocolates?' Venom hummed in Harry's head. 'Buy a few, buy some animals as well, just in case.'
'I will buy some meat from the butcher's shop and…'
'No!' Venom hissed. 'It needs to be live!'
"Of for Merlin's sake." Harry groaned under his breath. 'Let's just try the sweets first, yeah?'
'Fine.'
...
'Chocolate, I like chocolate.' Venom declared a few minutes after the two had finished their tasting spree.
'So, brains and chocolate then,' Harry snorted. 'so very similar.'
'I like what I like,' Venom growled.
'Fair enough,' Harry replied, not wanting to get into an argument with the alien inside his head. 'so, what do you want to do now?'
'Eat more.'
'We have already eaten enough,' Harry replied. 'I suppose I can just hurry up and get my homework over with. That would stop Hermione from harping at me.'
'If boredom is an issue then you could get a job.' Venom suggested.
'A job?'
'It is my understanding that human children around your age will sometimes get jobs and begin earning money early,' Venom replied.
'I suppose it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world,' Harry took a moment to think about it. He would like a lazy summer, but he didn't really mind staying busy. Hermione could keep herself busy for days by just reading books, Ron could do the same as long as they were quidditch books but would likely just waste time sleeping and eating. Harry didn't think that he could do that, his mind was constantly active and he needed to be doing something until he was tired enough to go to sleep. 'I think Flourish and Blotts has an opening.' Harry bit back a chuckle as an image of a wide-eyed Hermione finding out he would be surrounded by books entered his mind.
'Good,' Venom said in an approving voice. 'an excellent choice, a beneficial one. You have a chance to improve greatly.'
'Improve?' Harry asked. 'What are you on about?'
'Harry, you have the opportunity to learn more about your powers, the powers that let you manipulate reality itself! And yet you prefer to goof off with Ron.'
'Excuse me, but have you forgotten that I'm a thirteen-year-old kid?' Harry protested defensively.
'A thirteen-year-old kid who has nearly died multiple times since coming to the wizarding world, one that now has a mass murderer chasing after you.' Venom argued. 'Wouldn't it be easier for everyone involved, including those that you are trying to help, if you were the best wizard you could be?' Venom asked.
Harry almost stumbled but managed to avoid it, barely, but as he continued working he felt his thoughts being rained down on by Venom's words. He wasn't entirely sure if the symbiote was messing with his mind or if his thought process was natural, either way, he had no choice but to think about it. On the one hand, he wanted to protest that Venom was wrong, that Harry had done as good as someone in his position could, given that he had been muggle raised and that he was still quite young. But had he?
Harry had no doubt that if Hermione felt like she was the centre of everything then she'd hit the books with a vengeance, she'd likely pass out in the library but still, it was the thought that counted. Some may believe it to be arrogant of him to believe that he was crucial to whatever was happening, but he did truly believe it. In his first year, it had been him that had been targeted by Quirrell and it had been him who had fought Quirrell. In his second year, it had been him who had killed the basilisk and he destroyed Voldemort's diary. Of course, Ron and Hermione helped, but it felt like they were more along for the ride while everything seemed to be centred around him. Heck, even this year he had an insane mass murderer chasing after him after having broken out of an unbreakable prison, meaning the man was clearly quite skilled and/or intelligent.
Did Harry really want to rely on luck? Did he not want to reduce the chances of him and his friends dying if Sirius Black attacked? Though it's not like he could actually practise during the summer, maybe he could find a way around that, and if he couldn't, then he could still learn the theoretical and practise the practical at school. That was a good idea, but he also didn't want to become like Hermione or Ron. He couldn't afford to take Ron's lazy approach to books and he couldn't bring himself to continually do Hermione's extreme approach to books, Harry honestly wouldn't be surprised if one day that girl marry's a book. Maybe he didn't have to do either, he could find a nice middle ground. Besides he didn't have to put the same level of effort into all of his subjects, he could put most of his effort into the classes that could help him survive while putting a reasonable amount of effort into his other classes.
Harry frowned as he continued walking, every argument his mind could conjure against the idea was being shot down almost immediately. Once more he wondered if that was Venom's doing or if he was naturally coming to this himself?
"Hey! Stop!" A voice shouted. Harry stopped and turned around in time to see the crowd departing and a man running through, throwing spells behind him in a wild manner. Looking past the man, Harry could see two people dressed in auror robes chasing after him, though not firing spells beyond defensive ones, likely because they didn't want to risk harming the nearby crowd, unlike the man who was throwing out spells like they were going out of fashion.