Disclaimer: The Harry Potter series is the sole property of JK ROWLING and a select number of Publishing Houses worldwide hold a limited amount of rights to its usage. I do not own nor do I make any profit from the writing and publishing of this story. The characters here-in are still hers. The idea behind the story is my own and as such is mine to do with as I please. Also, this chapter has not been beta-read, so I apologize ahead of time for any grammar and/or spelling mistakes.

See the end for an Author Note.

Dudley Dursley had one job: he was to watch the Freak they kept locked in the cupboard under the stairs.

Well, calling it a cupboard was a little ridiculous. Almost like calling Big Ben another clock in London.

It was a cupboard that was much bigger on the inside than it was meant to be. There was an area where he was to sit in an old wooden chair mounted to the floor and wait for the sun to set.

A few feet away from that there was a glass wall. On the other side there was stark white padded room. It had no door-- no windows-- but an unnatural white glow gave it light. Inside was the Freak.

Or at least that's what his parents called it. To Dudley it looked nothing more than a little boy of no older than five or six. He was a small thing with a bed of unruly hair and dull green eyes.

Of course his appearance was completely inaccurate to the true horrors that it kept hidden. Neither Dudley's mum nor dad would speak of it, yet he knew that the Freak was not normal, like them. Why else would they lock it up? And considering they used such nonsense to help lock it up, that had to be the origin of its danger.

It had magic.

Dudley never dared to ask his parents if this were true. And he didn't bother asking the Freak either.

It wasn't talkative, although it was rarely quiet. In fact, it never shut up.

It was probably a spell or curse of some sort. Just the same three words over and over again.

"Dreams come true. Dreams come true. Dreams come true..."

That was all.

On a repeat from sunrise to sunset when the Freak became silent and went into some sort of comatose sleep. It was all rather unpleasant for Dudley. His family lived in Surrey, one of the only non-magical neighborhoods near London. Everyone was normal. After all, it wasn't natural, mixing in with their sort. Dudley could not think of a single person who had even seen a picture of one of those monsters, at least not a real one.

Everyone had some idea on how those monsters would look like in their true form. Tar black bodies that moved like smoke and pale white faces. But they could pretend to look like normal people too which is why you had to be careful who you invited into your house.

Yet here his parents were harboring one of the monsters under their stairs like it was a pet! And Dudley was even under strict orders to speak to no one about its existence.

For the most part, his parents acted as if the Freak didn't even exist. But who they thought he would tell was beyond him. A mere mention of such nonsense would have you slapped in chains and hauled away.

It was sure to be a one way ticket.

Dudley had heard a story from Piers that his uncle's neighbor's daughter's roommate's cousin had turned out to be a monster that had taken the place of a human child. The whole family had their memories stolen and the monster had then been taken.

The facility that had housed it was burnt to the ground within a fortnight.

This was definitely a warning to any who would dare to involve themselves with something so unusual.

But Dudley's parents would hear nothing of the sort.

So here he was, spending his well earned summer vacation watching the Freak.

Perhaps Dudley was upset. But he had every right to be: his parents had even made him watch the Freak on his birthday!

The month of June had come and gone without even so much as a Happy Birthday to him and here it was an entire week through July and Dudley hadn't even got a single present. There was no family trips, no cake, and no Piers. He had never had a more horrible birthday in all of his years. And Dudley was a man of eleven- he knew pretty much everything now.

"Dudley?"

It was his father, a rather robust man by the name of Vernon, that interrupted his inner musings. To Dudley's surprise, the light had already faded from the hallway leading to the cupboard and the Freak had fallen silent once again.

It was evening.

"Come and eat. Your mother's just finished dinner."

To Dudley's horror, he couldn't even remember the last time he ate. He had overslept that morning and had to skip the toast, sausage links, and eggs he normally had for breakfast.

This was becoming an increasingly normal occurrence.

Truth be told, Dudley felt a little bad about eating when the Freak could not. He had heard stories that the Monsters couldnt grow old and die. Yet the Freak grew every year like a human so it must be a kid like him.

What child was forbidden to eat?

While Dudley continued his internal debate every morning, he continued to not eat. He had dropped nearly twenty kilos since the summer had begun.

"Dudley."

The familiar ray of light that shined in the hallway had dimmed significantly. It reflected across the floor in a deep orange.

Sunset.

He watched his dad's face turn pink when his eyes strayed to the Freak who had huddled into the farthest corner.

"Come, Dudley. It's time for dinner."

With that Vernon Dursley made his way back into the hallway.

Dudley spared one more glance at the Freak.

Dull green eyes blended in with the darkness of the room. As was expected, the Freak was silent. His eyes stayed focused on Dudley as if he could read his thoughts.

It was very unsettling.

"Dudykinns?"

But that was ridiculous. Not even... magic... could do that. Right? And what was he even thinking?

It was a Freak.

They kept it locked up.

It didn't even have a name.

...Did it?

With one more glance at the Freak whose eyes were now closed, Dudley closed and locked the door to the cupboard under the stairs.

"Mum?"

It was the next day (about an hour til sunrise) when Dudley next thought of the Freak. In the past, he had no interaction with it. His mother watched it during the day. This ordinarily didn't change during the school breaks.

The weeks he had spent watching it this summer had given Dudley much to think about.

"Yes, Dudykinns?"

"It has a name, right?"

"What does, sweety?"

His mum was currently at the sink washing breakfast dishes. Dudley continued on cautiously. "What I mean is, what is its name?"

"Dudykinns, I don't understand-"

"The Freak."

There was a shatter as she dropped a dish onto the floor.

Her lips were tightened and her face pale. She looked quite ill. "Never mind about that. Do you want more to eat?"

"I was just curious is all. Everyone has a name and it is rather odd that it doesn't. I mean. What do I call it? It is human, right mum?"

"Dudley, I really think-"

"I just wanted to-"

"Well you don't need to know. It's a freak, it's unnatural, it's a monster."

"Mum, it looks like nothing more than a kid. He could be just like us for all-"

"We are nothing like one another! It's a freak just like its mother!"

"Mother? It has a mother?"

By then Petunia's face was quite pinched and red. Dudley had never seen her quite so angry. Yet none of this made sense to him.

If the Freak had a mother, then it had to be human.

It had to have a family. Where was its family? "What is his name then? His mother must've-"

"Harry. His name is Harry. Now I have to wake up your father. I will hear no more about this nonsense."

And with that, his mum left.

Dudley had worked her up into a right fit, but still he felt somewhat satisfied.

The Freak wasn't a freak at all.

It was human. HE was human.

And he had a name.

A mother.

A family, probably.

What if he had siblings too? A whole slew of other children with green eyes and unruly black hair that missed him?

Or maybe their eyes weren't as green or their hair brown instead of black?

For all Dudley looked like his father, he received a fair amount of his appearance from his mother. Did The Fre- did Harry look like his mother or his father?

What did his father look like?

By the time that Dudley finally entered the cupboard he had a whole new outlook about the mystery child. And a name.

"Hello Harry."

The green eyes opened and peered at him in what could almost be considered a questioning gaze. "That's your name. Harry. Did you know that?"

He said nothing. "My name's Dudley."

The Fr- Harry stared at him for a moment more and there was a short instant when Dudley was sure that he was going to speak to him. But when he opened his mouth, it was the same mantra again.

"Dreams come true. Dreams come true. Dreams come true."

Dudley would be lying if he said that he wasn't disappointed. He didn't know what he had been expecting. It would probably take more time than a simple one-sided conversation. If Dudley were to continue, perhaps the F- Harry would talk to him.

Harry would be normal too.

Or so Dudley had thought. But four more days passed with pretty much the same one-sided greeting every morning with no change at all, although Dudley thought Harry had almost smiled once. But then he had just started up those words again. Just that same mantra.

Maybe it was a spell.

That was what the monsters did, right? Voodoo enchantments to make things happen. He didn't know what this one could possibly do. Perhaps he dreamt about his parents- that was the type of thing Dudley might do if he was locked away. Harry was just a kid after all.

This was Dudley's first mistake involving Harry.

As the end of July loomed ever closer Dudley tried to start a conversation with the newly dubbed Harry. But these were always one-sided conversations. Dudley did all the talking, but he had found that he liked this very much. Less likely to disagree with him that way.

Dudley talked about only the most important things for being normal: his best friend and their group- all of whom did what he said without fail and were completely loyal to him; his favorite sport- rugby, of course; his favorite type of food- anything sweet, preferably chocolate; and most importantly, how much better he was than everyone else at school because he listened very well- the teachers never had a single parent conference.

He told Harry about everything he got for his last birthday and everything he was going to get for Christmas. His parents, having forgotten his most recent birthday, were horribly in the wrong and were due for a real bad tantrum any day now. But Dudley assured Harry that he would wait until right before school started again in the fall so that he would be able to tell Harry what new presents he would be getting. He had hoped this would finally get Harry to speak so they could brainstorm what would be best to placate the impending tantrum, but the same mantra met Dudley's silence.

That night Dudley had some sort of a nightmare. It wasn't particularly bad, but it was not a happy dream. In his dream he had begun to throw a tantrum at the breakfast table while his parents happily conversed over their toast.

They ignored him.

He pushed his plate away and scraped his chair back heavily and began hollering.

Still they ignored him.

Furious, Dudley pushed his plate onto the floor and stood on his chair, hollering at the top of his lungs until he could feel the ache in his throat and a throb in his head.

His parents didn't even blink.

Dudley was very upset by this. Why would his parents ignore him? How was he supposed to tell Harry about his new present if they wouldn't pay attention to his tantrum?

It was just as suddenly that Dudley realized he couldn't hear his own voice. Why, he had been making no noise at all!

He turned to question his parents but couldn't hear their voices either. And he couldn't stop the silent scream that was clawing out of his throat.

It was horrible! He had never thrown a tantrum for so long and by then it became incredibly hard to breathe. But he couldn't stop.

Dudley stumbled down from his chair and reached for his shirt collar, expecting that his shirt had shrunk in the wash again. But his hands gripped nothing.

By then, Dudley was sure he would be as red as his father got when he was considerably angry by the face if he was to look into a mirror.

He looked up to somehow ask for help and saw that the cupboard under the stairs was open. Standing in the doorway, bathed in shadows, were two glowing green eyes.

And then Dudley awoke with a shout and a huge gasp of air.

It was a horrible dream and he had rather forget it. He climbed back into bed- because it was still much too early to be awake- and the next time he opened his eyes, he had indeed forgotten all about the dream.

It was the end of July when Dudley made his final mistake.

He had reoccurring bad dreams all week and expected his parents had too by the look of their tired expressions. At first Dudley had only one earlier in the evening, giving him more than enough time to catch a few more hours of sleep before he had to wake up and watch Harry. He always told the boy about his strange dreams, even as they progressively got more and more like nightmares.

Harry, as always, paid him no mind.

Now, Dudley Dursley was not a patient boy by any stretch of the imagination. He had been doted on hand and foot by both of his parents for as long as he could remember and the brief introduction into discomfort that this summer provided was doing very little to change that.

It had been a sweltering July and Dudley had gotten yet another stream of bad dreams that night. They had all been rather horrible and for one reason or another, he had been unable to wake up. He had rested very little despite sleeping through the night. When he entered Harry's cupboard, the grunt he released in greeting was hardly comparable to his previous ones. All Dudley wanted was the sun to hurry and rise so it could hurry and set. He hadn't even bothered to check and see if Harry had even opened his eyes yet.

It probably wouldn't matter.

Harry always said the same bloody thing anyway.

"Dreams come true, dreams come true, dreams come true..."

And there it was!

Always the same message on endless repeat. One would hope that Harry had learned something else to say by now. After all, Dudley had only been talking to him forever. He could have said a thank you at least. He didn't have to be nice to Harry! Didn't have to find out his name nor anything about his parents.

Dudley was perfectly fine the way he was, being ignorant to the Freak they had kept under the stairs and the possibility of training it to be normal.

He had no idea why he would even try. Nothing was coming of it. Harry wouldn't even say anything.

"Dreams come true, dreams come true, dreams come true..."

Except that mantra again.

Dudley said hello to him everyday.

He told him about Piers, and Mrs. What's-Her-Face and Mr. What's-His-Hair from down the street who were getting a new pet.

Sure Harry probably had nothing worthwhile to add to the conversation, but he could have at least said hello back.

It was common courtesy after all.

"Dreams come true, dreams come true, dreams come true..."

"Enough!" Dudley roared.

He was tired, hungry, and sore.

And Harry was being very rude.

Dudley got up and stepped to the glass and pressed his hands against it in the corner closest to Harry, "Yes, Harry! Sometimes dreams come true!"

Harry tensed. The silence rang rather uncomfortably in Dudley's ear. He had never heard Harry silent during the day.

Harry looked up at Dudley and for the first time, caught his gaze. Dudley watched in dawning horror as Harry's eyes bled a deep, vibrant green and a manic smile seeped onto his face.

His eyes.

They were the exact color as the ones that would always be staring at Dudley in his nightmares.

Harry leaned closer to the glass and whispered a new set of words, his green eyes glowing from within. "Nightmares are dreams too."

Dudley opened his mouth to scream as Harry uncurled from his ball and touched the glass wall. But his screams were silent, just as they were in every one of his nightmares. The wall melted around Harry's hand.

"Sleep."

His voice came out deeper than Dudley had ever heard it with a hissing sound underneath. "Sleep. And dream."

Those glowing green eyes were the last thing Dudley saw as his world bled to black.

A/N: It took me a surprisingly long time to write this first chapter. Although it doesn't explain much of the mechanics behind 'why' Harry's life seems to be the way it is, it does introduce you to what is the normal setting for Harry and how he gets out of that situation. This is the first chapter so there are going to be a lot of things you won't understand that will only be explained in later chapters.

As a warning, the main pairing in this will eventually be Drarry (although at this moment, nothing explicit happens so if you truly want to squint your eyes, you could get through it merely imagining that Harry and Draco happen to have a bromance going on). The main pairing won't come into play for quite some time, however. For one, I don't plan on Harry going to Hogwarts (and you will understand why within the next chapter or two). Secondly, I want to play around with Draco's development without his 'Harry Potter' childish escapades going on at school.

This can be considered a Dark!Harry fic in some ways, definitely a Super!Harry fic in a lot of others. He's OOC in a lot of instances (as will a lot of them be) but considering his first few years, can you blame him? There will be a lot of familiar faces in the next chapter- some good, some less so. More explanations as to the state of the Wizarding and Muggle Worlds (although I won't be delving into anywhere out of the UK at this time). Right now, I have a lot of characters from the series planned to show up and somehow become involved with Harry. Some will die (but no one in the main cast is planned at this time). A lot of the planning of this one is still in the works, so I will try to keep you updated as I write.

Finally, I will answer to all reviews (that are signed in). If you don't want the trouble of signing in at that moment, you can always submit it under your pen name and I'll try to find you on here and send you a PM. Otherwise, I might not respond. Any questions asked, however, I will try to answer in the Author's Notes at the end of the chapters (which will hopefully be much shorter than this one in the future).

Second chapter is in the works.

Bon Voyage.