July 31st 1987

A very tired Harry Potter lay in his cupboard counting down the seconds till his 7th birthday. It was a habit that had grown over the years, as he got old enough to decipher how to know the hour. As the bells of the Little Whining's church clang for the 12th time in a row, the little boy sung himself a birthday song. Very quietly that was, so that his aunt - or even worse his uncle - wouldn't hear him. As he closed his eyes he tried to image how his mummy and daddy would sing to him, if they still would have been alive. When tears started to roll down his cheeks the boy fell into a fitful sleep, only to be woken a handful of hours later by the screaming of his aunt and the knocking on the door of the cupboard.

"Boy, get out of there right now, you lazy layabout", his aunt Petunia yelled, " and make sure breakfast is ready when Dudley and Vernon wake up, or else..."

Yes, Harry Potter knew good enough what the "or else..." meant: on a lucky day he would get away without food and a scoff to the head, but most of the time his uncle would find another way to punish him. So, as fast as he could, Harry put his taped glasses on and walked out to the kitchen to start cooking the breakfast he wouldn't eat a piece of himself.

Exactly 15 minutes later a boy, resembling a fat whale with a blond wig, waddled into the kitchen, just as Harry finished putting the food on three plates. The boy started devouring his food right away, while Harry started on the dishes, every once in a while throwing a hungry glance at his cousin. Soon after uncle Vernon joined Dudley at the table and yelled at Harry: "Boy, get me my paper and fast, or else..."

Obediently, Harry did as he was told, before returning to washing the dishes.

After breakfast aunt Petunia gave Harry a list of things that needed to be done that day, knowing good enough Harry wouldn't be able to finish them. Harry took the list and squinted as the letter seemed to dance around the paper. His glasses out of the rubbish bin and the fact that he wasn't allowed to have any books didn't make reading any easier. After a couple of minutes he had sounded out the first task: mowing the lawn. Why that lawn needed mowing so often, he didn't know, but he set to the task anyway. After 3 hours out in the burning sun, with only a few chances to sip a bit of water from the water hose, it was time to prepare lunch.

While his family ate roast beef and tuna sandwiches, Harry was send outside with a chunk of old bread and a cheese crust. Happy to have something to eat, he broke of a piece of the bread, deciding to hide the rest in his pocket for later.

In the afternoon he vacuumed the Dursley's bedrooms, even Dudley's toy room, though that was very hard with all the toys loitering around. After that he cleaned the bathroom and started making dinner. As it was a beautiful summer day, the Dursleys decided they would have a barbeque, so Harry had to make sure the coals got to the right temperature, while cutting the vegetables. Which was not an easy task, considering his head didn't come all the way up to the barbeque set. After half an hour of toiling, it was finally time to put the steaks on, which was right in time as he heard uncle Vernon come home from his work. Right as he was flipping the steaks for the last time, his aunt yelled at him to hurry because his uncle and cousin were very hungry. A minute later he found himself balancing three plates as he was serving his family there meal. The ate, while he was again doing the dishes. As soon as they finished his uncle grabbed the list with his chores and started calling them out, checking if he had done them all. As soon as he noticed that that wasn't the case, he bellowed: " Boy, come here this instant!" As soon as Harry was close enough, he was grabbed by the collar of his too large shirt and without time to jerk away his uncle punched him right against his temple. Not being able to withstand such a blow, Harry dropped to his knees, fighting the urge to sick up on the kitchen floor. The next moment he felt himself lifted from the ground and bit later he was thrown in his cupboard and he heard the latch close. Despite the early hour little Harry, exhausted from a day full of hard labor and pained from the blow to his head, fell fast asleep. His sleep didn't last long though, as he woke up a couple of hours later with a screaming headache and an upset stomach. Now fully sobbing, Harry asked himself what he could have done so wrong to deserve such uncaring relatives. Sure, there must be something wrong with him and this must be punishment for being such a freak.

As many another night that summer, Harry lay awake till the wee hours of the morning, counting down the days till school would start again. Not that he didn't get punished during the school year, but at least he didn't have to do as many chores and he got a few Dursley-free hours a day. It wasn't as if his teachers even liked him, no aunt Petunia didn't waist any time telling him how bad a boy he was and how much of a bully. The teachers didn't believe him when he told them he wasn't allowed to do his homework or that his reading didn't improve because the letters looked all a bit blurry to him and that he wasn't allowed to touch a book at home. He didn't have any friends either, Dudley made sure that all kids staid far away from him. Not that he would have friends otherwise, who would want a friend with rags as clothes and who smelled like he hadn't had a bad in weeks – which was also the case.

Still Harry preferred his days at school over his days at home, at least the teacher only used ruler to tap on his fingers or bum every once in while and he only had to stand in the corner in stead of being locked in a cupboard.

Yes, little Harry had since long given up the hope that his life would ever change, little did he know he was in for the surprise of a lifetime in a couple of years...