A new Harry Potter story! I'm going to try to start writing Fanfiction again, so here we go! This basically starts with Harry as a child and explores the idea of what would happen if he met a young Draco Malfoy in London. Obviously this is an AU. Manipulative Dumbledore, Gray Voldemort and a not-so-evil Malfoy family. Some characters might be OOC. Started in honor of Harry Potter's birthday.

Obviously I'm not JK Rowling.

Seven-year-old Harry Potter never understood why his aunt and uncle hated him so much. Despite his bad grades, he was a very bright boy. Being locked into the cupboard under the stairs that was his bedroom was a regular occurrence so Harry had taken to reading. He knew that getting better grades than Dudley, his dull older cousin, would anger his aunt and uncle so he was always careful to fail tests and get bad grades.

While his uncle never hit him or beat him his aunt would swing her cast iron frying pan at his head if he burned the bacon and he was usually pushed into his cupboard. Harry knew that what his family did to him wasn't quite right but his uncle was respected and the only teacher who ever questioned Harry's torn and ragged clothing was fired.

His aunt, while usually rude and short-tempered, would occasionally give Harry the leftovers that no one wanted. She hated wasting money or food, so although she considered her nephew a burden on her family she refused to waste good food. In little ways she also taught Harry useful skills like cooking and cleaning and gardening and such. By age five, Harry could tell weeds apart and make perfect tea and biscuits. The Dursley household was always spotless, thanks to Harry.

His cousin Dudley, on the other hand, was a bully and almost nothing else. He enjoyed getting his friends, other bullies, and chasing down Harry before beating him up in a game he called "Harry Hunting". Luckily, Harry was small and fast and Dudley had a hard time catching him. Besides being a bully, Dudley was greedy and selfish, as well as dumb. Sometimes when the Dursleys went out and left Harry locked in his cupboard, Harry would sneak out and lay with the broken toys in Dudley's spare room.

The broken lock on his cupboard door as one of the few good things Harry had found. The old lock didn't work, twisting the knob and wiggling the lock would open the door without making the lock change position. Harry would use that to sneak out at night to get food when the Dursleys didn't feed him. He knew all the creaky spots on the floor and the food he could eat without anyone missing it.

Harry had a hard time growing up, but he did his best. Reading in his darkened cupboard didn't help his poor eyesight but he did it anyways. His aunt Petunia had felt that good glasses or contacts were out of the question for Harry. However, she did buy him a cheap pair of wire-framed glasses when the school nurse sent home a note. The glasses were broken by Dudley from time to time, but a little tape always fixed them up.

On the way home from school, Aunt Petunia would ask Harry to pick up food from the local market. She didn't trust Harry to ride in her car and Dudley went over to his friends' houses several times a week so Harry usually walked home anyways. The people at the market get accustomed to seeing the small boy picking up vegetables, fruit and eggs and happily walking home with his load. Harry knew Dudley wouldn't dare hurt him when he had food.

Over time, Petunia Dursley grew used to sending her estranged nephew out to fetch things. In the spring before his eighth birthday, she began to send Harry on the train to pick up food. On those trips she would pick him up at the bus station. Harry would take the bus into a bigger city nearby where he would catch the train to wherever his aunt wanted to go. He got lost only rarely and enjoyed the freedom.

Vernon Dursley and Dudley never knew about Harry's brief bursts of freedom. Only his aunt knew, and she didn't mind. Harry had always known his aunt didn't care for him, he didn't really mind. The knowledge that the Dursley family was not as normal as they liked to pretend was good enough for him.

Besides, Harry had learned much more from the Dursleys than he would admit. He learned how to be sneaky, how to deal and be quiet. Sometimes he would pretend he was a spy, a ninja, and assassin. It was a fun game that passed the time, his cupboard was a cramped closet from which he spied on his enemy, the squeaky floor boards were bombs that would explode if he stepped on them. His imagination entertained him when he had no books to read and nothing to do.

Sometimes Harry wondered what it would be like to meet someone from his family. He didn't know much about his birth parents, just that his father drank too much and his mother wasn't very bright. He knew they died in a car crash and left his aunt Petunia with the job of raising him. Harry didn't know anything about I grandparents, he could have an aunt or an uncle or a grandparent for all he knew.

Asking questions in the Dursley household was useless and generally ended with time in the cupboard under the stairs. Therefore, Harry never got answers to the burning questions in his mind. It was nicer to pretend, too, knowing the truth wouldn't help. So Harry never asked about hi other family and rarely mentioned his parents.

Life in the Dursley household was generally quiet. Harry thought his life would always be dull, normal, ordinary. And then his aunt sent him to London for the first time. And that day, everything changed for Harry Potter.

Sorry for such a short beginning, the next chapter should be longer. Reviews are welcome, flames will be laughed at.