Hello everyone,

This is my very first HP fanfic. I do not own any of the characters. I just read so many HP fanfictions that I wanted to write my own. English isn't my native language, so I apologize in advance if some sentences come off as weird or awkward. I hope you like the first chapter so far, I have more ideas for Harry later on :) . Any comments are welcome!

Thank you!

This is my life

Book 1 : Year1

Chapter 1: Life with the Dursleys

My name is Harry Potter and I am about to be 11 years old. I am an orphan living with my aunt and uncle. A family called the Dursleys. I have a cousin who is a year older than I am. His name is Dudley. My parents died in a car crash when I was about 18 months old and I was left under the care of aunt Petunia, my mother's sister. I don't remember much about my parents, which is not unexpected, considering that I was too young when they died. However, sometimes, in my dreams, I see a flash of green light and I hear a man yelling, a woman crying and then a high cruel laugh. Somehow, I feel that those were real memories about my parents. But I can never ask my aunt and uncle, they never talk about my parents, except to remind me that they were drunkards who went and got themselves killed and made me a burden for the Dursleys.

You probably can tell from what I am saying that my family doesn't like me much. I know that part of this was because they have to put up with me when they didn't want me nor volunteer to take care of me when my parents died. Another part was because strange things tend to happen to me all the time. There was that one time when Dudley shoved me from the stairs, I fell all the way down and my knees were bleeding, before suddenly the bleeding stopped and under the terrified eyes of my aunt and cousin, my injuries started healing to show an unblemished skin as though I wasn't injured just a few moments before. There were other instances like when I was washing the dishes and a plate slipped from my hands. I instinctively reached out with my hand hoping against hope to catch it before it falls, and breaks and the plate froze mere inches away from the floor.

We never speak of these incidents as the Dursleys hate anything that is out of the norm but they dislike me all the more, because I am disrupting their normal life with my freak like behavior.

I really don't understand why these things happen to me, it is like magic, except that we all know that magic doesn't exist in real life. It is only in books and movies. And I have no one to ask. I can't talk to my aunt and uncle. They barely talk to me, only when they give me orders to do some chore or fetch something for them. Otherwise they pretend that I don't exist. My cousin is a bully. He and his gang of friends seem to only enjoy themselves when they are taunting other children or doing pranks on the neighbors. So I tend to steer away from them.

At school, I am a lonely child. I'd rather read books instead of playing with other kids my age. I spend all my spare time in the school library, I have my special spot there. There is a dark corner next to a section made of old books that no one reads anymore. I always go there, settle down with a book and lose myself there until it is time for me to go home and help my aunt with cooking the dinner, set the table then take the farthest seat from the Dursleys and listen to them while they exchange stories about their day and forget my existence. Then I clean the table, wash the dishes and go upstairs to my room to do my homework, read a book and dream of another life in which my parents are alive and I am not alone and unloved.

Today, as I am waking up, I feel like something is going to happen. I don't know what it is. I don't know if it is going to be a good or bad thing. I just know that things will never be the same. My aunt is already in the kitchen preparing breakfast. Uncle Vernon and Dudley were still upstairs, so I go and fetch the mail as I do everyday. I am about to set the pile on the breakfast table when a particular letter grabs my attention. It is addressed to me. Mr Harry Potter, the Smallest Bedroom. 4 Private Drive, Surrey. The sender was an Albus Dumbledore from Hogwarts.

To say that I am shocked is an understatement. I never received letters. And why should I? I am still a child after all. Anything related to me would be sent to my guardians. My hands tremble as I pry the letter open and I cannot believe what I am reading. The letter says that I am registered as a first year student in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and that the school year starts September 1st. In the envelope there was a list of items that I am supposed to acquire for school, books, school robes, a wand and a pet. The letter also stated that should my guardians be unfamiliar with the way the magical world works, I can owl the school and have someone from the staff come to my house and help me with whatever I need before going to school.

My mind was spinning. Is this a joke? Magic? Wizard? Wand? Owl? What is happening? As though on autopilot, I go to the kitchen and with a trembling voice I call my aunts name. She turns around with a scowl on her face. That is until she sees the letter I am holding in my hands and her face pales so much I start to think she is going to faint.

"So it happens again", I hear her murmur. She then pulls herself together and with a nod from her head towards the living room she says "Go to the living room and wait for me there." I do as she says and stand in the middle of the room at a loss of what to do, until I see her in the doorstep a few minutes later.

"Aunt Petunia, what is going on?", I ask, "Is this a joke?"

"No, this isn't a joke. Your mother was a", she stops, hesitating, then with a great difficulty she says "your mother was a witch. She used to have all kind of freakish things happen around her. Just like you. And then when she was 11, she got a letter like you, and went to this school where she met your father and married him. I haven't heard from her since. Not that I wanted to, I had no interest in her and her abnormal crowd. Then about 10 years ago, I found you in my doorstep, with a letter. Just like that. The letter was from this Dumbledore man, he was the headmaster of the school Lily went to. He said that your parents were killed by a bad man and that he tried to kill you too but you survived. You had no other family, so for your protection, we had to take you in."

"But, you said that my parents were killed in a car crash"

"What could I have said? I was hoping you wouldn't turn out as much of a freak as your parents", she hissed venomously

This is too, much, I don't know what to think or what to say. My parents were wizards, they were killed by some criminal wizard and I am magical too. "Aunt Petunia", I whisper,"What do I do?"

"Why, go to your freak school and live with your crowd of course"

"But, how? I don't know where that is? And I have no money"

"Your father was rich, I am sure he left you some money in your freak bank, I remember Lily saying something about a place called Gringotts. Go get changed and I will take you to the entrance of your world. There, you will meet people like you and they will help you get your school things. That is as far as I am willing to go."

I nod my head dumbly and go upstairs as she instructed. When I go back to the living room, I find uncle Vernon there, his face purple with anger. I guess aunt Petunia told him then. He glares at me, then stomps to the door. My aunt says, "Come along then, your uncle will be driving us to where we need to go".

The trip to wherever "my world" is, is quiet. I still feel like I am dreaming and will wake up any moment. With a sudden screech of the tires, the car stops in front of a place called "The Leaky Cauldron" in a deserted alley. My aunt says."My parents used to drop Lily in this place, supposedly, there is an establishment here called the Leaky Cauldron that only your people can see. Can you see it?" I nod my head understanding that she actually cannot see the place and point to its direction."Well then", she says impatiently,"what are you waiting for? Get out of the car and get your things done. Then you can find your own way back home, we will not waste another moment in this place".

I hurry out of the car and my uncle immediately leaves. I am left alone in front of the Leaky Cauldron. I take a deep breath and push the door open. The noise that greets me is deafening. The place is crowded with people in funny clothes, they are all chatting, drinking and eating. The bartender seems busy with customers and nobody pays attention to me as I look around me. Now, what do I do? My aunt said that this was the entrance to the magical world, but how do I get there? I see a fat man making his way to the back of the bar, so I follow him there and I see him tapping a series of bricks with a stick. And just like that, the wall disappears and the man steps into an alley that appeared out of nowhere. I see the bricks starting to close and I jump after the man.

What I see once I am in the alley knocks the breath out of me. I stand there frozen, then I hear one of the merchants say "Welcome lad to Diagon Alley!"

End of chapter

Thank you for the encouraging reviews. I was very glad to see that people are reading this story!

* geetac : I am glad you like the story

* FotoDi : I was very happy to read your review. Thank you for pointing to something that I missed to update. I was thinking of having Harry spend the rest of summer in the magical world at first but then I thought he was too young and decided to have him go back to the Dursleys after his trip to Diagon Alley. I just forgot to update this in the story. Thanks a lot for reminding me.