Disclaimer: I do not own the original canon nor am I making any profit from writing this piece. All works are accredited to their original authors, performers, and producers while this piece is mine. No copyright infringement is intended. I acknowledge that all views and opinions expressed herein are merely my interpretations of the characters and situations found within the original canon and may not reflect the views and opinions of the original author(s), producer(s), and/or other people.

Warning: This story may contain material that is not suitable for all audiences and may offend some readers.

Author's Note: This story came to me while working on other projects. Those projects grow out of many discussions on various, um, problematic aspects of the HPverse. Many of those aspects are things which I have noticed that a lot of people either miss, due to the fact they are not explicitly stated in canon, only implied. If people do notice them, many hand-wave approval for them, typically because of the influence of a specific character involved in the decision-making process for the aspect. This story will not be giving that approval.

Story Tag(s): AU (Canon Divergences); AU (Wizarding Nobility); AU (Wizarding Traditions); AU (Larger Wizarding Population)

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Of Thieves and Beggars

Part 01: In Darkness

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"Childhood should be carefree, playing in the sun; not living a nightmare in the darkness of the soul."

― Dave Pelzer, A Child Called "It"

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Harry Potter was a very unusual boy, as his relatives knew very well. Since the morning that Petunia Dursley had found the boy on her doorstep with only a thin blanket and a letter, odd things would happen around the Dursley residence. To most people, these odd occurrences defied explanation, but Petunia and Vernon Dursley knew what made them happen. Petunia had a sister who was a witch. This witch married a wizard and together they had Harry, who obviously had the same ability to use magic as his parents and only a child's control over it.

Petunia knew that she was not a kind aunt, but the odd things scared her. Lily had never done nearly as much accidental magic as a child, whereas Harry seemed prone to do them almost every day. In desperation, she began to pile on chores to the boy as soon as he could take direction, which was just as freakishly early as he was a freak. If the boy was exhausted, he wouldn't have the energy to cause trouble. To a certain extent, it worked and the occurrences slowed down. Harry did his growing list of chores without complaint, even when Petunia caught Dudley deliberately undoing his hard work. This worked up until the boys had to start school, which took them away from her care for much of the day. Immediately, the incidents started again.

In desperation, she began to carefully ration out the boy's meals. He would watch with his unnaturally dark green eyes as the rest of the family ate full servings while he had half, if that much, but he didn't complain. She was careful with what she sent to school with the boy—it would not do for people to begin to talk more than Petunia knew they already did. When questioned about the simple lunch consisting of a sandwich made of three thin slices of cheese between two slices of white bread and an apple alongside a thermos of overly-steeped tea, she would always explain about how picky the boy was when it came to food. The boy did nothing to contradict her lie. It was hard to watch him stay the scrawny child while her Duddikins grew in size, but Petunia always reassured herself that it was better this way. It was not as if Dudley was overweight—oh, no, her beloved boy was merely big-boned and muscular like his father. If the boy was the tiniest in his year, it must be due to his inheritance of Lily's slight build and not anything that Petunia was doing. Besides, even if it was, controlling the boy's food made the incidents all but disappear, so it was definitely for the greater good that she continue on exactly as she had been.

The rules were another thing entirely. The Evanses had raised both their daughters with the firm belief that power was never to be taken lightly. It must be controlled. Unlike her parents who had idolized Lily for having power and let her run wild practicing it, especially after that boy came into their lives, Petunia would see that Harry would understand that because he was different from decent folk like her Dudley, he had to follow a different set of rules. It was perfectly logical that these rules be harsher and less lenient. After all, the danger if the boy abused his power was far greater than if Dudley threw his weight around the playground. There was also the little fact that the boy, being what he was in defiance of natural laws, was already starting out in the moral deficit. He simply had more to make up for than her perfect son. The boy must be limited for the safety of those around him. Otherwise, who knew what horrors he would unleash upon them?

And what was the point of having rules if they weren't enforced? So of course the boy was punished whenever he broke the rules. It didn't matter if the punishments would seem to be overly harsh to most people. Those who would dissent clearly did not understand what she had to deal with concerning the boy. No, Harry needed his punishments to be harsher than anything she would dare inflict upon her own child. If the punishments weren't that harsh, then the lesson would not linger long enough to change his behavior.

Petunia Dursley took very deliberate care in raising her nephew. She made conscious choices and justified it all with what she viewed as unassailable logic. A few things escaped her notice, such as just how ingrained her habit of never referring to the boy by name was or how stingy she was when it came to affection and praise for any of the boy's childhood achievements. It never occurred to her that her perfect son would misinterpret her actions as cruelty and abuse being acceptable. It also never occurred to her to limit Dudley's actions and interactions at all as he was a normal child without any of the freakishness of her sister's son.

After all, she was quite proud to say that she was perfectly normal, thank you very much.

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Albus Dumbledore was not a man whose motives were questionable, no matter what some people would say. Being raised in Mould-on-the-Wold had shown him the true character of muggles. At the same time, due to his father's work on the Wizengamot—and later, his own work—Albus understood the character of his fellow wizards. People in general are always the same; they are spitefully cruel and arrogantly blind to those around them. As a wizard with both exceptionally high intelligence and great power, it was his obligation to his fellow Man to guide and protect them, even from themselves. As such, everything he did was for the Greater Good.

There were things he had done in service to that sacred duty of which he was not proud. The wizarding world had to be protected from itself, and sometimes that meant sacrificing a few for the betterment of the whole. Of course he regretted their loss and the part he played in their deaths. He was not a monster, after all. But those deaths were necessary for the betterment of all—it was for the Greater Good, even if some people could not see that.

Albus knew a great many things whose obscurity had long since become one of his top priorities. There were things which could make things difficult if it remained common knowledge. One such topic was Obscurials, which were created when a magical child forcefully rejected their magic, typically because of abuse from non-magical guardians. If people knew the risks—and more importantly, how common an occurrence Obscurials actually were—then there would be demands to remove magical children from their muggle homes as a matter of course. Dumbledore had plans which required muggle-raised magicals. He needed a certain number of willing followers, and magically-raised wizards and witches were far more difficult to fool, due to growing up within the magical community which meant that Albus couldn't always control their exposure to information.

It was unfortunate that he also had to suppress information on Wilding. If wizards understood that Magic chose to create the muggleborns, the fear-based rhetoric against them could be more easily countered. However, the subject also increased the discussion of cultivating familial talents and how the more erratic magic of muggleborns was disruptive to this process. Why, the very thought excluded the witches and wizards who were first in their families. It also kept alive the idea of the magic-born, which was problematic for Albus' continued guidance of the wizarding world.

Magic-born were allegedly chosen by Magic to be leaders and innovators. It was certainly true that a magic-born had a more innate understanding of how magic worked, but it seemed that every single one of them wanted to promote the practice of unquestionably Dark magic. They would lecture about how magic was not Light or Dark—it just was and it was the intent of the caster which determined its purpose. They also promoted those horribly outdated magical traditions such as the testing of magical compatibility before marriage—or even worse, the practice of magical bonding instead of marriage. They talked about magical vows and suggested making a protectorate vow mandatory for anyone holding a public office. It was like they couldn't see how restricting that could be upon the person holding the office. Magic may not understand what was needed to protect the Greater Good. It was evident in her chosen champions. Clearly, Albus had to do something to protect Magic from herself.

It was disappointing to discover that not only had the Potter child not succeeded in truly ridding the world of the most troublesome magic-born Albus had ever had to deal with (even after tricking the brat into destroying his connection to Magic, the man kept on being a thorn), but it turned out that the boy was also a magic-born. It was beyond bothersome, really, but it did give Albus a potential chance to do a little cultivation of his own. While Tom Riddle hadn't been particularly interested in following Albus' advice, perhaps Harry could be taught to restrict his desire to question instructions. Harry certainly could not be allowed to be raised by his godfather; Sirius Black may have rejected much of his heritage, but Albus suspected that he would still be able to recognize what Harry was. That would be disastrous as the Black heir was already acting suspicious of Albus' lack of direct action against the Death Eaters. A magic-born raised within magical society would most likely never follow Albus' vision. If Albus could arrange for little Harry to be raised in the muggle world, then perhaps the lad would be more malleable when he finally arrived at Hogwarts.

It would take some maneuvering. Not only did Sirius Black need to be dealt with, there was also the troublesome matter of Alice Diore y Longbottom, Harry's godmother. While Alice was a few generations removed from her magic-born ascendant, she would still be more than able to teach a young magic-born how to control his abilities. That just wouldn't work out well for Albus' plans. Magic-borns were notorious about not wanting to attack each other, particularly with their stronger magical abilities. With Voldemort not truly gone, Harry still had a destiny to fulfill. Any influence which would make young Harry not follow Albus' plan put the Greater Good at risk.

In the end, it was incredibly simple to get his way. Sirius easily handed over Harry to Hagrid once the half-giant adamantly stated that Albus had sent him. (The acquisition of Hagrid's loyalty was one of Albus' finer moments and still paid dividends.) The hot-headed wizard then took it upon himself to track down Pettigrew who conveniently managed to disappear in the confrontation. Albus only had to assure that Black's guilt was beyond question for Sirius to disappear as well, into the depths of Azkaban. By the time anyone thought to question the man's lack of trial, the Dementors would have taken care of the issue nicely. It took only a brief conversation being overheard by a young Death Eater to send a group of them after the Longbottoms, removing Alice from the possibility of being an issue. Remus Lupin was a bit trickier to stop from being an issue, the lupine mindset demanding that he watch over his pack's youngest member. It was regrettable that Albus had to allow Umbridge's anti-creature bill to pass, but in the end, it really did do more good than harm.

Of course, placing a magical child, let alone one as powerful as a magic-born was bound to be, in a muggle home was not without risk. For all their resilience, children were also incredibly fragile. If Petunia and her husband became too harsh, if they overstepped from the desired strict discipline to overly violent, then there was the potential of Harry becoming an Obscurial. That would be wasteful as well as problematic. Not only would Albus not get his chance to be the guiding light for a magic-born, but Obscurials tended to die messy and early deaths. Since locating Voldemort seemed impossible for the moment, Harry had to survive long enough to take care of the matter. Dying would certainly prevent that. Luckily, the Order contained more than one squib, so moving one into the Dursleys' neighborhood to keep watch took next to no effort.

Albus could finally relax for the first time in over a decade. The Greater Good was back on track.

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There was one thing which Harry had known for all of his childhood. The Rules must be obeyed. What the Rules were could change depending on the situation. The Rules for his primary school were not the same as the ones for Number Four which were slightly different while Aunt Marge was visiting and while Aunt Petunia was hosting her bridge club. Also, the Rules were not always given voice; not everyone was as nice as Aunt Petunia as to explain them. This did not change the fact that the Rules must always be obeyed. Fortunately, Aunt Petunia was kind enough to have trained Harry to pick up on the Rules when they changed, and she had Dudley remind Harry of them when they were at school. Thankfully, Dudley was normal and understood the Rules better than Harry who was a freak like his no-good parents.

Harry didn't always like the Rules. They kept him and everyone around him safe from his freakishness, but Harry hated that the Rules had to exist in the first place. Because of his freakishness, the Rules were harsher on him than they would be for normal children. This was why Harry was not allowed to play like Dudley was and why he had harder chores than the other children, especially his cousin. The Rules also meant that Harry was not allowed to do his homework like Dudley could, even if he could very easily understand all the topics without the practice.

Infractions of the Rules had consequences. Harry hated these most of all. He didn't mind the lashings from Uncle Vernon's belt or when Aunt Petunia took the wooden spoon to whatever part of him she could reach. The consequence that Harry hated the most was being locked in his cupboard. When he was locked into his cupboard, the Dursleys completely ignored him except for the two times a day Aunt Petunia would let him out to use the toilet. The hunger was not so bad—Harry was used to his stomach being achingly empty—but he would get so thirsty that it felt like he was becoming a living desert.

The physical discomfort was nothing compared to how lonely and invisible he felt while locked away out of sight. It felt like he was no more real than a ghost, like he could just stop existing and no one would even notice, not even him. Sometimes that feeling haunted him even when he was not in the cupboard. When Dudley formed a sort-of gang with some other boys from around the block, Harry found a sure-fire way of making that feeling disappear. If Harry made his cousin mad, then he and his gang would initiate what they called "Harry Hunting". They would tell Harry to run and then chase him. When they caught Harry, they would beat him up. A beating from the boys made him feel so much more alive than a lashing or facing the Spoon did, despite usually ending up hurting more and for longer.

The Letters changed things. Harry was as certain of that as he was that the Rules had to be obeyed. His first inkling that things were different was when Vernon visited his cupboard the night the first one arrived. Harry wouldn't have even noticed the letter's arrival except for the fact that he had been the one to fetch that day's mail when Dudley had refused. Apparently, his aunt and uncle were concerned because the letter had a very specific address listed for Harry. So for safety, Harry would be staying in Dudley's second bedroom for the foreseeable future. The generous space unnerved Harry who was far more used to his cozy cupboard, even if Uncle Vernon was right in saying that Harry was getting too big for it now that his head could touch the sloped ceiling whenever he stood completely straight. There was just too much space and the bed was far softer than the thin cot mattress he had slept on in his cupboard. It was also brightly lit by the streetlamps shining through the curtainless window. The light made the ash tree in the garden cast strange shadows on the walls. More than anything, Harry wished to be back in his safe hideaway under the stairs, letter-writing stalkers and all.

The Letters did not stop with that first one, even without a reply. They just kept coming, in greater number and in stranger ways each day. Harry was quickly becoming just as unnerved as his aunt and uncle. He was used to strange things happening around him, but all those times had been something that happened quickly and was immediately over like his teacher's wig turning blue or popping onto the roof instead of jumping behind the dumpster like he had planned when running from Dudley's gang. Harry knew that like those things being his fault, no matter conscious intent, the Letters must be as well. They were all incidents without good explanations. Incidents were always infractions which meant that eventually, Harry would be punished. The worse the infraction, the worse the punishment would be, and with every day the Letters coming in stranger ways, Harry knew that his punishment was just getting worse. But they showed no sign of stopping and Harry couldn't figure out how to make them stop.

When Uncle Vernon decided to attempt to outrun the Letters, Harry bore it stoically. While Dudley lamented missing meals and his shows, Harry fretted about falling behind in his chores. He knew that the longer the garden was left unattended, the longer it would take to bring it back to pristine perfection, and the longer that took, the longer it would be before he could have his full share of meals. The garden was just one of his chores—just because there was no one in the house, it did not mean that the dust wouldn't matter. Oh! And Sunday was bathroom day, and Uncle Vernon hadn't given Harry time to do that chore before piling everyone into the car. Come to think of it, breakfast hadn't been cleared even. What state would the house be in when Harry finally got to do his chores? Uncle Vernon would take into consideration that he had been the one to cause Harry to not be able to get things done, right? Harry certainly hoped so, but felt that it was very unlikely. After all, they wouldn't be on this random car trip if the Letters addressed to Harry hadn't started coming.

It was almost a relief when the gamekeeper interrupted their sleep the night they arrived at the Hut on the Rock. While Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had retreated to the only bedroom and Dudley had curled up on the saggy couch, Harry had set about cleaning the main room as well as he was able without the tools and supplies he had at home. He couldn't make this little place presentable, but maybe he could earn a bit of leniency if he could make the place a bit more hospitable. While working, Harry found a small wood stack tucked into what might have been a pantry once. He was gathering the split logs when the banging at the door started.

Listening to Hagrid was hard. It was not just because of the ongoing tension between the giant-like man and Uncle Vernon, either. The man had a weird way of swallowing parts of his words and speaking in only phrases. There was a lot that Harry didn't understand, but he knew the Rules. The most consistent rule was to not ask questions. Harry couldn't afford to disobey that rule, not with the Letters Incident quickly spiraling into something far worse than a mere Incident. When Hagrid insisted Harry leave with him the next morning, Harry could only cast a worried glance at the closed bedroom door which hid the Dursleys from view. This was a bad situation and it was quickly becoming worse.

It always did when the Rules shifted and Harry was left on his own.

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To Be Continued in Part 02

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