Bellatrix send a spell. Hits Sirius. Falling through the veil with angry look on face. He turns back to the caster and sees… Harry. No! I didn't kill him! Sirius's voice comes from the veil, "Harry, why did you kill me? How could you? After I tried to save you!" No Sirius! I didn't mean to! Come back! "You killed me Harry. I can't believe you!" Nooooo

"ooooo!" Harry woke with a start, reflexively grabbing his scar. Panting slightly, he looked to the side of his cot where his owl Hedwig should have been waiting to comfort him. Keyword being "should". Vernon had finally gotten royally pissed off.

Flashback

Harry could only catch the gist of what Moody was telling Vernon, but it sounded like he was telling him to make sure that Harry wrote every three days to make sure that he was ok. "He won't be able to write. I think it will be a lot safer if there are no owls coming or going from the house. They are less likely to find him if there is nothing to point to them that we are housing a wizard." Vernon said loudly enough for Harry to hear.

"I guess when you put it that way, you are right." Moody clapped Vernon on the back heavily. "This is why it is always good to have new people, they can come up with fresh ideas." It's amazing how much bullshit Vernon can spout and still not lie. This was going to be a long summer.

End Flashback

Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump. Jingle. Jingle. Jingle. Click. Harry could hear as Vernon unlocked all five locks with excruciating detail. Maybe he is here to actually let me out, even if it is only to do chores.

"Boy, do you know what happened to me today? of course you do." he yelled at Harry.

"N-no Uncle Vernon." How could i? I have been locked up in this cupboard since I got here three days ago. of course he could not voice his thoughts, he wasn't suicidal.

"Boy, are you listening to me? I lost me job today, and its all your bloody fault! You did your freaky thing, didn't you?" Harry was too shocked to answer; if the situation had not been so serious, the sight of Vernon's purple face and his hands waving in the air would have been an amusing sight. As it was, Harry was watching the hands warily hoping none of them would strike him. "Answer me you stupid fucking brat!" He punctuated the word "brat" with a backhand that sent Harry strait into the wall, then proceeded to kick Harry until there was an audible crack from Harry's ribs and Vernon's breath was ragged. "Clean yourself up and come make breakfast for us. And don't ever make a racket like that again." With a final kick that left Harry gasping for air, Vernon thumped out of the room and down the stairs probably to go sit in front of the telly while he waited for food to be served. I can't believe he actually beat me,. Me a wizard, the fucking boy-who-lived-and-defeated-the-dark-lord was just beat by a stupid ugly muggle!

:You deserve it though, don't you. After you killed Sirius, how could you not:

No! I didn't kill him. He is not dead! He just fell!

:Yeah right.: From the tone, Harry could tell that the voice did not believe him.

" boy! you better get down here if you know what is good for you!" brushing himself off the floor, Harry slowly made his way down the stairs, careful not to jostle his injured ribs. "Hurry up boy."

"And don't burn the bacon; we want everything perfect for m little Duddikins." His aunt told him in a sickeningly sweet voice that the whole house could hear.

Nothing little about HIM. And how could I have forgotten Dudley's birthday? Guess I was in the cupboard more than three days.

Flip the bacon! Harry was broken out of his train of thought by a voice. he quickly looked around to see of anyone else had heard the voice. Satisfied that he was the only one that had heard it, he turned around and flipped the bacon, soon forgetting the helpful voice. He quickly served breakfast, giving himself a meager portion of whatever was left, then he sat down and started wolfing it down, trying to eat as much as he could before the Dursley's saw that he had food.

"Boy! What do you think you are doing stealing food from our ickle Birthday Boy?" then he took Harry's plate and put all but two strips of bacon and about one egg on his plate and handed it back to him.

When Dudley finished his breakfast he waddled over to his presents. not even bothering to tax his brain and try to count them, "How many are there?" he asked nastily.

"Forty-three, I counted them myself." Vernon replied sounding rather pleased with himself. "One will be given to you later." A nasty grin spread over his face that only served to excite Dudley and frighten Harry.

Not many things can make him that happy…

Dudley tore into his presents. Hundreds of dollars worth of electronics, a new air gun, gift certificates to numerous candy stores, an I owe you note for a shopping spree with his mother, and an owl. Wait! That's MY owl! That's Hedwig!

"I thought that I would give you the first opportunity to kill the freaks owl. Do me proud Dudley."

Harry jumped up trying to get to his owl to set her free but was quickly beat down by Vernon "No! You can't kill my owl!" Harry was just trying to unlock the padlock when everything went black.