Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
WARNINGS: This story will contain physical and emotional child abuse and bullying.
The little black spider in his cupboard was spinning a web above him.
He stared up at it, watching in dull fascination, trying to ignore the throbbing pain in his body. The spider was blissfully unaware of its roommate's condition. It had no idea about what went on in 4 Privet Drive. It probably didn't even know that he was bleeding.
Harry let out a whimper, bringing his fist to his to his mouth to silence the noise. The Dursley's were still up and moving around in the living room and kitchen. They would undoubtedly hear him, and they wouldn't be happy about it.
A trickle of warm blood smeared on his wrist near his face, dripping off his chin.
He wasn't sure what happened. One minute, he had been dusting in the living room, the next Dudley had come barreling in, slamming into him and causing him to bump into a nearby table. The expensive vase that Marge had bought for Petunia toppled off, and Harry had thrown his hands out to catch it.
But his hands had been too far away.
And the vase stopped in mid-air anyway, levitating of its own volition.
He wasn't even given any time to react before Dudley had gone off screaming that he was doing freaky things again, and then Vernon was on him. He hurt his arm when he was shoved to the ground, trying to catch himself, and he was pretty sure several of his ribs were bruised, if not broken after he was repeatedly kicked.
And his head was bleeding. Badly. When he'd been thrown into his cupboard, he had slammed his head against the wall.
He hadn't bled this much before.
And he was scared.
One arm around his torso, the other against his mouth, he tried to keep his eyes focused on the spider above him, but his vision was blurring. His head was beginning to feel light. The pain was starting to dull away.
He wondered if the spider had a family, or if it was stuck in the cupboard, all alone, just like he was.
It was with that thought that his body began to burn, and he bit down harder on his fist to keep from screaming.
His vision faded slowly, but the burn stayed, starting in his chest and spreading to the rest of his body, like he was on fire from the inside out. He bit down harder on his knuckle, fearing for his life if Uncle Vernon heard him make a noise.
And then suddenly, as his body seemed like it was about to combust, the pain began to filter away, his body feeling like it was disintegrating and floating, and he welcomed the darkness that came.
Petunia Dursley was proud to say that she was perfectly normal, thank you very much.
She lived in a perfectly normal house on 4 Privet Drive, had a perfectly normal husband named Vernon Dursley, and raised a perfectly normal boy named Dudley. She had a perfectly normal garden, a perfectly normal book club, and a perfectly normal life.
Unlike her freakish sister, Petunia Dursley was completely normal.
Her sister was a freak, has always been a freak. She went to a freakish school, married a freakish man, had two freakish kids, and lived a freakish life. Petunia wanted no part of that.
So, of course, when she opened up the cupboard under the stairs that morning in order to grab Dudley's coat before he headed to school and found a decidedly not normal thing in the cupboard, she screamed.
Because it was not normal to find a bloody, critically injured little boy in your cupboard.
Especially a bloody, critically injured little boy that you have never seen before in your life.
"Pet? Is everything alright, dear?" Vernon mumbled as he waddled in from the kitchen, shoving a piece of bacon in his mouth.
Petunia pointed at the child, letting out another horrible screech. The boy was curled in a ball, unconscious. His black hair was matted with blood and his skin was a sickly pale color and littered with bruises. His chest moved up and down in harsh breaths.
The bacon fell out of Vernon's mouth as he stared at the sight, "What? How? That's impossible! The door's been locked!"
His hands moved for the telephone, ready to call the police, but Petunia quickly dove for him, "No! Stop! We can't tell anyone. They'll arrest us!"
"How? We didn't do anything!" Vernon protested, meaty hand pointing at the child, "I've never seen this kid in my life!"
Petunia shook her head sharply, skin white as milk, "What do you think they'll think? We just happened to find a practically dead child in our cupboard? We'll become the number one suspects immediately. No, he must be one of those freaks! How else would this happen?"
Vernon reared back, beady eyes widening and staring at the boy, "He's a freak?"
She nodded timidly, "Must be."
"Get him out of this house!"
Petunia nodded sharply this time, hands shaking. She slammed the cupboard door shut, unwilling to stare at the bloodied child, and ran to the phone, "Can you take Dudders to school, Vernon? I'll… I'll call my sister."
Lily Jasmine Potter was used to her life not being normal. As a young girl, she had often done mysterious, abnormal things, like grow flowers in her hands, drift harmlessly off a swing, and even cause several objects to burst into flames when she got angry. Then she received her Hogwarts letter when she was eleven years old, and she left her family to venture into the Wizarding World.
She had become best friends with someone who would later betray her, married the man she once thought was an arrogant toe rag, and killed He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named when she was only twenty-one years old.
She had met giants, pet a unicorn, befriended goblins, and worked as a professor in a magical castle.
At this point, nothing should surprise her.
Of course, things never failed to do just that.
So when she received a patronus in the middle of teaching third years about the history of the Second Goblin War from her children's babysitter telling her that she needed to return home immediately for a family emergency, she was more than surprised.
When she found out that said family emergency was coming from her sister whom she had not seen in over twelve years, she was even more surprised.
"She called, seemed really worried. She was asking for you. I told her you were at work and she said that it was an emergency," Eleanora Russell, a sweet, elderly lady who they had hired to watch their children when they were working, told her when she arrived, in the middle of handing Samuel a juice box, "She sounded really scared about something."
Lily let out a hum, walking over and placing a kiss on Violet's forehead. The nine-year-old let out a groan, swatting her away, red hair messy from just waking up, and Lily smirked at her daughter as she grabbed the phone to call Petunia back.
Eleanora shook her head, tutting softly as she ruffled Samuel's messy red hair, but she was looking at Lily, "You should probably just go ahead and go there. She said it was urgent that you come."
She frowned lightly and ran a hand through her hair, shaking her head, "It must be bad if Tunie actually called. I haven't spoken to her in years."
The elderly woman paused and shot her a concerned look, before telling Violet and Samuel to go pick out a board game. Once the two children had happily fled the room, she turned to Lily again, "Is everything okay, Lily? Do you want me to call James to go instead? If your relationship is this rocky…"
Lily shook her head firmly, "No, I can handle it. He's busy with a really nasty case right now. Besides, he's likely to just jinx them. Whatever it is, it had to be important."
Eleanora reached out, placing a reassuring hand on her arm and giving her a soft smile, "Be safe, Lily. I'll watch the children for a little while longer if you need me to."
"Thank you, Eleanora, but I shouldn't be too long," Lily said as she walked to the floo, glancing over at her children in the living room who were in the middle of a heated argument over what board game to play, "Good luck with those two."
"Oh, they're angels," the elderly woman said with a laugh, "Don't worry."
Lily barked out a laugh at that, "They're the children of James and me. They're never angels."
Petunia let out a shriek as Lily stepped out of her fireplace. She pointed a shaky finger at Lily, skin pale, "Don't do that freakishness in my house."
Lily ignored her sister. She was used to that. The last time they had spoken, at her wedding, Petunia hadn't even arrived, simply sending a letter that she would not attend a freakish wedding.
"What is the emergency, Tunie?" she asked, glancing around briefly. Part of her had assumed that something must have happened to their parents, as that was the only type of family emergency that she could think of that would make Petunia contact her, but Petunia did not seem to be upset, but scared.
The frail, horse-like woman pursed her lips and pointed her shaking finger at the cupboard under the stairs, "There's… There's… There's one of your freaks in there."
"Excuse me?" Lily said, baffled by her sister's behavior, "What are you talking about?"
Petunia swallowed thickly and stuck her nose up at her, "I-I went to grab my Dudder's coat out of the cupboard this morning and there was a child in there. I've never seen this child in my life. All the doors were locked. He… He has to be one of your lot."
Lily blinked, confused and alarmed, hand pulling her wand out, causing Petunia to flinch, "A child? And you left him there?"
"What else was I going to do with him?" Petunia shrieked defensively. She swallowed, a bit timid suddenly, "He was injured."
Alarm growing at the words escaping her sister's mouth, but still incredibly confused by what she was hearing, Lily quickly approached the cupboard door. She held out her hand, just in case, and slowly opened the door.
She was not prepared for the sight that greeted her.
A young boy, no older than ten, not much older than her Violet, was splayed on the floor of the cupboard. He was laying tucked in on himself, one arm clutching his torso with the other by his head. His messy, black hair, which looked rather familiar, was coated with blood, and his pale skin was colored black and blue. His clothes, which were ten times too large, were ripped and bloody, hanging off of his much-too-skinny body.
"Oh, Merlin," Lily whispered, horrified at the sight and quickly, silently, casting a diagnostic charm. A piece of parchment appeared in the air, floating, and ink appeared on the parchment quickly, "Concussion, broken ribs, broken wrist, sprained ankle, severely depleted magical core," she blinked lightly, glancing back at her sister, barely constrained rage simmering under her skin, "You were right about one thing. He is a wizard. You shouldn't have just left him here. He's obviously been attacked! Must have used accidental magic to apparate somewhere safe to get away from his attackers."
Petunia was silent for a moment, avoiding her eyes, "What are you going to do?"
"I am going to take him to St. Mungo's, the magical hospital," she said, gingerly picking the child up. He weighed almost nothing and whimpered lightly as he moved. She shushed him softly, "Shh, sweetie. It's okay. You're going to be okay."
She glanced at her sister once before climbing into the floo, "Thank you for calling me."
Without another word, she threw the powder down, and floo away to St. Mungo's, the boy clutched in her arms.
Author's Note: Hope you guys enjoy! Let me know what you think.