Harry Potter lay on the ground in front of the fire place in the small shack on the tiny rock island his Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia had drug him to for some odd reason. Harry believed it had something to do with the strange amount of owls carrying letters around their home at Number 4, Privet Dr. The storm that had accompanied them all the way from Surrey had died off about an hour ago and from looking out one of the small windows Harry could see that the clouds were clearing and the moon was glowing brightly in the sky, bathing the small two room hut in pale moonlight.

It was eerily calm outside something that Harry wasn't use to since Privet Drive was shoulder to shoulder homes built so close together that Harry could listen as Number 6, Mr. Chambers, hooted and hollered as he watched football on the telly late into the night.

Harry stretched on the stone floor, knowing that sleep would not come easy tonight because of the uncomfortable conditions he found himself in, so he did the only thing there was to do and watched as the moonlight danced across the floor sometimes darkening as clouds passed in front of the moon only to brighten again as soon as they had passed.

For Harry it was a wonderful way to welcome his birthday, if it weren't for the crunching of gravel outside.

Harry's eyes widened as he glanced towards the bedroom door only to see his Aunt Petunia was standing there looking at him with narrowed eyes. Harry didn't like his aunt very much if at all. She was a skinny stick of a woman with a tendency to blame and punish Harry for anything that went wrong, and sometimes the punishments were severe. Lashings, beatings, no food, the last one was the most difficult for Harry since usually his meals were small to begin with not getting any food was torture especially after he had been working in the yard all day. No, Harry didn't like his aunt at all.

So there they were staring at each other, Petunia looking at Harry scornfully while Harry met her glare impassively not allowing any emotion show. Petunia finally looked towards the window after a shadow passed by it. The boards on the patio creaked confirming that there was indeed an intruder and also indicating where that intruder was.

Petunia Dursley was a very protective wife and mother and Harry knew this, having been on the wrong side of that protectiveness many times before, so it was no surprise to him as Harry watched her move silently to the fireplace and retrieve the fire poker from the flames. Gripping it with one hand she silently moved to the front door where the creaking floor boards indicated the intruder to now be approaching.

Harry almost respected how silent and graceful his aunt moved. She positioned herself behind the door as Harry heard the intruder mumble something and the lock on the door twisted open.

The door opened slowly and Harry was smart enough to close his eyes slightly so the intruder would think he was asleep. Through slitted eyes Harry could tell that it was a man with shaggy hair wearing a trench coat with the collar pulled up. The moonlight outlined the man but kept his face shadowed obscuring it from Harry's view and the strangest thing was that the man was holding a stick!

Harry watched confusedly as the man seemed to sniff the air inside the hut before he stepped inside. His heart rate increased as he realized that the man was focused completely on him. It was an eerie feeling to have the man so focused on him like the man was concocting some nefarious plan of kidnapping the boy and murdering him. For the first time in his life Harry was hoping his Aunt Petunia would save him.

The front door slammed shut and Petunia brought the fire poker down hard at the man's head. Harry heard a yelp from the bedroom but dismissed it as he watched in horrified fascination as the man spun around, plucked the fire poker from Petunia and raised the stick to her throat in one fluid motion. His eyes widened, abandoning all pretense of being asleep, at the sheer speed of the man.

"Nice to see you again Petunia, I apologize for the late hour but you were surprisingly hard to track especially for a muggle. One would almost think that you were trying to hide from somebody?" The man said as if greeting an acquaintance.

Petunia was on her tippy toes as the stick dug into her throat. "I should have known they would send you after us. Filthy bastard! I will not tolerate this! I told that old man we would have nothing to do with your kind. Vernon and I have fulfilled our part of the bargain. We took the boy in and provided him a home."

"Come now Petunia. He has been watching you. I was inside your house mere hours ago and I have seen the so called 'home' that you have so kindly provided and would hardly consider a cupboard under the stairs fulfillment of your part of the bargain." The man said through gritted teeth as he pressed the stick harder against her throat.

The bedroom door was flung open and a shotgun barrel appeared. Harry sat up as Vernon came out of the bedroom the shotgun held in front of him by his shaking hands. Dudley followed behind his father peeking out with a small swiss army knife clenched in his meaty hand.

"Drop her!" Vernon yipped, his voice cracking from fear.

The man continued to glare at Petunia almost waiting for her to deny what he had said. She met his glare indignantly her lips thinning in defiance.

"I said drop her!" Vernon roared trying to drown his own fear.

The man shook his head allowing the stick to drop away from Petunia's throat but the fire poker raised in is other hand parrying the shotgun barrel away from him just as Vernon pulled the trigger leaving Harry Potter looking down the barrel of a shotgun being fired straight at him.

Pure instinct brought Harry's arms up in front of his face to block the blast but with the rush that Harry was feeling something else rose with his hands, something that branded him as a freak in the Dursley home.

Buckshot slammed into an invisible shield before it pinged to the ground. For a minute nobody moved but only stared in stunned fascination as the air in front of Harry rippled then cleared. The small eleven year old boy lowered his hands, his chest was heaving as if he were hyperventilating, which he most likely was.

The man stepped forward towards Harry pulling him into a hug before pushing him back and looking him over.

Harry continued breathing hard not understanding why he wasn't dead. The man in front of him grabbed him by the chin forcing Harry to look at him and Harry could see that the man was smiling at him.

"You're alright Harry. My names Remus Lupin, I was a friend of your parents and I'm here to give you this." Remus said as he pulled a slightly crumpled envelope from his coat pocket before pressing it into Harry's hands.

Harry stared at the envelope that he had been given, barely processing anything written except for who it was from.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The sound of Vernon chambering another round in the shotgun made Harry look up just as another shadow moved at one of the windows. A bright red light arced from the shadow straight into Vernon causing the man to slump to the ground. Petunia and Dudley were quick to follow Vernon into unconsciousness as two more red lights flashed from the window.

Remus turned back to Harry smiling as the person who had been hiding in the shadows moved to the door. It was a young woman that also had a stick I her hand.

"Thanks for the back up Tonks."

The young woman merely nodded as she checked the Dursleys over to make sure they were fine. Dark purple lights leapt from her stick as she moved from one Dursley to the next.

Harry looked back to Remus, who was still smiling at Harry.

"Let's get some sleep Harry. In the morning we get you started on becoming a wizard!"