Bob

***“He could sense … it.***

***He didn't know what it was, but he knew intuitively that it was the reason Muggles feared him. That it was the thing that Luna Lovegood could not see inside him because of how well it concealed itself (except for when she caught it by surprise and could sense its malice). And now, Harry realized, it wanted him to kill James. To give in to patricidal rage and cut down his own father in cold blood.***

***And Harry somehow knew that if he did so, it would win. And the boy would be lost to a fate he didn't understand except that it was somehow worse than death. Worse even than Azkaban.”***

***Harry Potter, discovering the mysterious and malevolent entity known as “Bob”.***

**Bob**, also called "**Bob the Evil Scar**", **"Mysterious Muggle-Repelling Aura"**, or **"My Muggle Problem**," is a magical entity of unknown nature and origin which causes any Muggles who come into contact with Harry Black to fear, mistrust, and feel homicidal hate towards him.

## History

### Origin

While Bob's origin still remains mysterious, it is most likely connected to the events of Halloween 1981. During Voldemort's attack on the Potter cottage Harry gained a scar often attributed to falling masonry, which only a handful of powerful Occlumenses have realized is shaped like the Sowilo rune.

Bob also appears to have given Harry access to a much greater vocabulary than someone of his age and education level should have, as well as an intriciate knowledge of the works of Oscar Wilde, which he shares with Tom Riddle, who received a copy of *The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde* from Myrtle Warren while at Hogwarts.

### Harry's Childhood

Bob first appeared sometime in later 1981, shortly after Harry was placed with his aunt and uncle, Vernon and Petunia Dursley. While Vernon and his wife were at first intent on raising Harry as if he were their own, they independently came to the conclusion that Harry would somehow harm their son Dudley if they were kept in the same nursery, and before long Harry was placed in the cupboard under the stairs.

Bob also corrupted the Dursleys views of Harry's actions as they happened, leading Vernon to believe that an accident when Harry was six and spilled some grease on him to be a genuine attempt to maim him, causing him to attack Harry in "self-defense" and break his arm. This also caused the Dursleys to neglect contacting the Potters when Harry showed signs of accidental magic, instead trying to "stamp it out". Bob's influence wasn't limited to the Dursleys, as teachers, neighbours, and even doctors and nurses ignored Harry's obvious signs of neglect, despite being required by law to report them. The only inhabitant of Little Whinging who seemed to be unaffected by Bob was Arabella Figg, a Squib. This upbringing left Harry with a great deal of resentment towards the Potters, as well as a persistent feeling that no adult in the world was out to help him.

### Book 1 - The Prince of Slytherin

Harry is reunited with his biological family, who he blames for his treatment at the hands of the Dursleys, and he swears revenge against them. Bob becomes more dormant at Hogwarts, as it appears to be unable to affect non-Muggles.

Harry's physical abuse at the hands of Vernon Dursley allows him to recognize similair signs on Theodore Nott, which would lead him to befriend and try to protect the other boy.

### Book 2 - The Secret Enemy

During the summer of 1992 Harry is attacked by a swarm of doxies, which had been sent to Privet Drive by Narcissa Malfoy to kill him. Harry just barely manages to get inside the house, but Vernon, convinced that Harry had somehow brought them to his house to threaten his family, punches him in the face and throwing him out again while bellowing "SUPPERTIME!" and grinning as the swarm descends on Harry. Harry is saved by the timely intervention of Hestia Jones and two aurors, who arrest Vernon. While under interrogation Vernon suffers a heart attack and is transported to a Muggle hospital. Vernon is visited in the hospital by Severus Snape, who uses legilimency to read his and Petuna's memories, which causes him to discover Bob.

Snape reveals his findings to Harry, Hestia Jones, Artemus Podmore, and Ted Tonks at the Tonks Clinic in Hogsmeade, where Harry is recovering from the doxy attack. Ted, a professional healer, and Snape, an expert on the Dark Arts, both profess to never having encountered anything close to this. Ted advises against taking Harry to St. Mungo's, as the Healers there would not be likely to release Harry until they had found a cure for his condition, as it's very existence endangers the International Statute of Secrecy, and Ted believes that the Healers might simply hand Harry over to the Unspeakables.

Snape's revelation causes Harry to realise just how differently Muggles and Wizards react to meeting him, as both sets of parents of the Muggle-Born Justin Finch-Fletchley and Hermione Granger show an immediate dislike of him.

When Vernon Dursley dies later that year, James, Lily, and Jim Potter attend Vernon's funeral, where Jim is mistaken for Harry and they are attacked by Vernon's sister Marge and son Dudley.

That Christmas Hermione Granger questions Harry on why her parents took such an instant dislike to him. After Harry explains his Muggle Problem she invites him into Team Mysterioso, a study group formed by Professor Lockhart to investigate Luna Lovegood's ability to perceive nargles and wrackspurts, as Luna had sensed that something inside Harry was trying to hide from her.

Luna interrogates Harry, helping him realise that he is incredibly erudite and well-spoken for someone with a self-admitted sub-par primary education, and reach the more frightening realisation that he has an impeccable knowledge of the works of Oscar Wilde despite not remembering having ever read anything he wrote, or even when he first heard Wilde's name. When Luna poins this out she senses a brief flash of a very strong anger coming from within Harry, despite Harry only feeling surprise, concern, and fear at the moment, which vanishes as soon as she notices it.

### Book 3 - The Death Eater Menace

During his first Study of Ancient Runes class Professor Bathsheba Babbling subconsciously notices that Harry's scar resembles a Sowilo rune. When she later reviews this memory while meditating she is noticed by some kind of magical effect that leads her to obliviate her conscious mind of the connection, though she does manage to save it deep within her subconscious and in a letter written to Serena Zabini.

In a timeline erased by Harry's use of the Time-Turner, Harry is forced to kill Remus Lupin in self-defense using Parselmagic, which leads James Potter to use the Ultimate Sanction to disinherit Harry from House Potter. Harry's rage at this instantly washes over his Occlumency shields, and for a second he stands ready to murder James, until he realises how unnatural his rage is, leading him to truly sense Bob for the first time.

Somewhere around this time Harry first begins referring to his "Muggle Problem" as Bob, likely because he realised that its influence reached beyond just making Muggles dislike him.

### Book 4 - The Resurrection Game

Bob appears to have gone dormant since the previous school year, as Harry is able to have a normal conversation with Sir Malcolm Finch-Fletchley, who admits that, while he did feel an instant dislike for Harry when they first met, that dislike evaporated when he met Harry again that summer, and that his wife Barbara feels the same way. Sir Malcolm is able to deduce that magic was involved in his previous feelings towards Harry, which Harry confirms, though he remain vague about the details. Malcolm reveals to Harry that he had bought tickets to Disneyland for Justin and his friends, which includes Harry, and proposes it as a field test of sorts to see if Bob has truly gone dormant.

During his ride on Indiana Jones and the Temple of Peril, while Harry is in a cart with Neville Longbottom, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Theo No-Name, Blaise Zabini, and Bobby Lattimer, while their adult chaperones Regulus Black and Gunther Hagrid sit in another cart, Bob makes his move. During the ride Harry's scar suddenly starts hurting and bleeding. When a Muggle park attendant comes over to help Harry his eyes turn blood-red and he begins strangling Harry. The attendant is quickly joined by a group of equally red-eyes Muggles, who try to throw Harry onto the tracks and into the path of Regulus and Gunther's cart. Harry is saved when Gunther derails his cart and Justin summons magical park attendants. While carrying Harry away from the scene Regulus notices both blood and thick black ichor dripping from Harry's scar. The incident prompts Malcolm to suggest that Harry not meet with him, Barbara, or any other Muggles without an adult Wizard nearby.

The incident at Disneyland leads Harry to reveal the existence of Bob to Sirius Black, Amy Wilkes, Augusta Longbottom, and Andromeda Tonks, the only members of the Azkabal (outside of Lucius Malfoy, who Harry still did not fully trust, and Bellatrix Black and Buck Macmillan, who were in Australia) who were still unaware of Harry's Muggle Problem. Harry also reveals his belief that Bob was created on the night of Voldemort's death, and his observation that his scar resembles the Sowilo rune, but only Severus Snape shares it, as all other in the room are unable to make the connection.

## Personality & Traits

Its personality is unknown but it does possess a degree of sentience. It is highly wrathful as noted by Luna Lovegood, and the homicidal rage Harry Potter felt towards his father on the day he met him and the day he ultimate Sanctioned him were actually caused by Bob.

## Magical Abilities

Bob has shown no influence over wizards besides the ability to conceal its presence from them, to an extent that can keep a Heliopath like Luna Lovegood from divining anything about it besides its existence.

It can induce immense fear and mistrust into muggles so effectively that it turned the Dursleys from unloving but ultimately caring guardians, into abusive monsters who tormented and abused Harry Potter at every opportunity for almost a decade. As well as instantly generating hatred from muggles towards Harry. It is unknown if he can produce the gate this affect to any target or just Harry Black.

It can also possess muggles on masse and drive their hate towards Harry Black to levels comparable to the mind altered victims of The Rune of Singular Hatred, instantly turning them into a mob with the singular goal of killing Harry Black.

## Behind the Scenes

* TSM revealed on Discord that Bob was able to influence Harry's behaviour before he started studying Occlumency, which is why Harry appeared far more ruthless in his First Year at Hogwarts, openly considering having Draco Malfoy killed for his actions towards Theo.

## Canon Divergence

In Canon the Dursleys are never revealed to be under the effect of any kind of magical effect, though their treatment of Harry is also far more toned down.

## References

Book 3 - HP&DEM - Ch. 136 - The Fall of the House of Potter (Pt 2),

"The thing in my head that Luna can't see and that makes Muggles hate me. I've decided to start calling it Bob.".
Book 4 - HP&TRG - Ch. 143 - A Series of Tense Conversations (Pt 1),

""Bob the Evil Scar" had been quiet since the incident...".
Book 3 - HP&DEM - Ch. 114 - The Blackest Day (Pt 3),

"After his Mysterious Muggle-Repelling Aura and his disturbingly large vocabulary...".
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 81 - The Power of Friendship,

"[C]ould these … abilities … have anything to do with my … my Muggle problem?".
Book 1 - HP&PoS - Ch. 1 - The Meeting Begins,

"Harry had a scar of his own, of course, but one which was generally attributed to falling masonry, a lightning bolt having no apparent connection to the Dark Lord. Or so most people thought.".
Book 3 - HP&DEM - Ch. 99 - Feasts, Electives & Student Organizations (Conclusion),

Professor Babbling notices that Harry's scar bears a resemblance to the Sowilo Rune.
Book 4 - HP&TRG - Ch. 143 - A Series of Tense Conversations (Pt 1),

Harry reveals the existence of Bob to the Azkabal.
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 70 - Investigations into Dark Matters,

Harry joins Team Mysterioso.
Book 3 - HP&DEM - Ch. 122 - The Hunting of Sirius Black (Pt 1),

Luna gives Harry a book she found in the Hogwarts Library.
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 37 - Mysteries and Revelations,

Snape reveals what he learned from Vernon's memories.
Book 1 - HP&PoS - Ch. 7 - Potions and Process,

"I've never met a grown-up who did anything to help me in any way. But I want you to understand one thing: You. Have. No. \*Idea\*. About what it means to \*hate\* James Potter.".
Book 1 - HP&PoS - Ch. 3 - The Reunion,

Harry reunites with his father James.
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 58 - Family Dysfunctions (Pt 1),

Harry is informed of Vernon Dursley's death.
Book 1 - HP&PoS - Ch. 6 - Day One in the Snake Pit,

Harry notices Theo's scars.
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 82 - Goodbyes,

Narcissa visits Peter Pettigrew's office.
Book 1 - HP&PoS - Ch. 35 - The Lessons of Summer,

A swarm of doxies appears in Little Whinging.
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 36 - Healers and Hospitals,

Harry wakes up in the Tonks Clinic in Hogsmeade.
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 42 - The Birthday Party (Pt 1),

"[N]ow that he knew what to look for, Harry could sense the barely concealed disdain that both of the [Finch-Fletchleys] had developed for him after just a few minutes.".
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 45 - The Ice Cream Conference,

"[T]he Grangers and the Finch-Fletchleys were all four worried about "dangerous elements" within the school itself. And at that comment, all four of them looked over in Harry's direction with concern.".
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 67 - A Very Potter Holiday,

Hermione invites Harry to join Team Mysterioso.
Book 3 - HP&DEM - Ch. 124 - The Hunting of Sirius Black (Pt 3),

Peter Pettigrew forces a transformed Remus Lupin to attack the Potters.
Book 3 - HP&DEM - Ch. 125 - The Hunting of Sirius Black (Pt 4),

James casts Harry out of House Potter.
Book 4 - HP&TRG - Ch. 141 - Speaking of Harry Black,

Harry and Sir Malcolm discuss the Wizarding economy.
Book 4 - HP&TRG - Ch. 142 - Happy Birthday, Harry and Jim!,

Bob tries to kill Harry at Euro Disney.
Book 1 - HP&PoS - Ch. 27 - Who Is the Prince of Slytherin?,

"Niddhogg here had a lot of interesting suggestions, and between the two of us, we came up with at least four different ways to murder [Draco] before the end of term and get away with it.".