Hello! This is a new storyyy yay. Idk if you'll like this haha this is pretty Hermione-centric, so yeahhhh! This is the rewritted version, so if you see a rewritten thingy on top, with the date or something, then I've rewritten it. If not, then be prepared for bad grammar and weird characterization up until chapter 12, which is like a marker from where I started to become better at writing yayyyy

Oh, I don't own anything besides the plot and the names you don't recognize!

Chapter 1: Freed

I think I should go. Mio Versenheiuch removed her freshly bruised cheek against the cold, unforgiving window. She didn't know if she could still endure the yells and crashes echoing around the house. Tears prickled in her eyes. They're fighting again.

Fine.

I'll stay with Dud first. Skilfully climbing down the staircase without making any sound—she had done this so many times before, it took no effort at all—she listened in to her parents' shouting in the kitchen.

"Trixie, I do not like her in my house!"

"But Wendell—"

"No buts! One more incident like that, and she'll get more than that bruised cheek!"

The nine year old girl blinks heavily as she realized that she was the reason her parents are fighting. Again.

But she didn't blame them for it. It was her fault, anyway.

Mio was right beside the front door when a glass bottle flew and broke on the surface of it, inches near her. She lets out a small whimper, throwing open the door and moving to cross the driveway to Number 4 of Privet Drive as fast as she could.

"Come back here, Insufferable girl!" She ignors her father's shout, closing the door before he could pull her back into the house. He wouldn't dare do that while she was this close to the other house or he'll let the Dursleys know that he wasn't the nice man they always thought he was.

Daddy wasn't nice, but he was her daddy. She couldn't do anything.

Dud lived just across them. He was a humongous kid with little neck and a pink face, but he was her only friend. Mio removed her hair tie absently, letting her dirty blonde hair tumble down to her shoulders, and hiding her bruised cheek. Dud might be a bully who liked to prank her once in a while, but he was the only one who didn't shun her out because of her bookworm tendencies and her strangeness.

Sometimes he would notice things and say smart words one in a while, completely catching her by surprise. She didn't want to risk him noticing her bruise. In his mind, he was the only one allowed to harass her. She didn't really mind. It made all the other bullies stop, even though they didn't like Dud too much because of it.

She knocked on the door, still breathing heavily. Right away, a chubby face with a little blonde hair appeared at the doorway.

Dudley Dursley grinned, his chest sticking out. "Mio!" She nodded at him, her eyes skimming the form of Auntie Petunia, who was preparing breakfast in their kitchen.

"Mummy! Mio's comin' over!" He shrieked, making her deaf temporarily. "Come on, you wasted um... uhh..." He looked at the clock, probably computing how many minutes she's been outside. He always tries to impress her – been trying since forever to show her that he was smart like her.

Naturally, she decided to help.

"I've been outside for five, now six minutes. Remember, there are four minutes between two numbers in the clock." Dudley scowled. He hated it when Mio acted as smart as she really is. "Let's go upstairs."

The blonde girl follows him, leaving her slippers at the foot of the stairs—she'll come back for it later.

A green eyed boy groaned as he heard footsteps on the wooden staircase. She's staying over. Harry Potter was locked in Dudley's second "bedroom" when the doorbell was rung. Again.

Staying in his cupboard would be better, because he had an actual bed, along with his things there. If only Aunt Petunia allowed him to actually move here along with his cot and belongings, he would be eternally grateful, and a whole lot more comfortable. Now he needs to try getting comfortable on his position, sitting with his back flat on the hard door.

He really disliked Mio Versenhue or whatever her name is. He always gets locked in this storage room for hours until she leaves. And when she comes over, she doesn't leave until Harry's backside was sore from sitting on the wooden floor for hours.

Because Dudley doesn't like his only girl friend associating with him, his freak cousin. He was called that because well, he was as abnormal as the Dursleys were normal.

Harry wondered that if his parents didn't die in that car crash, he might be living a better life right now. Away from Dudley, whose favourite hobby was Harry Punching. Away from the Dursleys, who absolutely hated him.

He felt angry for having the most rotten of luck in the world. Why did he have the worst life ever?!

A loud clang came from right above him, where the doorknob should be. Suddenly, he was sliding backward, and after a loud SLAM! Pain flared at the back of his head. He opened his eyes, only to find wide chocolate brown eyes staring back with concern at him.

Mio had run over to him when the door unexpectedly opened and he had fallen out, and she was looking down on him, her golden hair falling over her shoulders.

She also looked confused. Of all the times she had stayed over, she had never seen him. She was probably wondering who he is.

"Are you okay?" He voice was shrill but quiet, like it always is when the teachers call her to recite in class.

Harry moaned and turned his head to the side, jerking when he saw Dudley's purple and scowling face. It promised a huge Dudley tantrum and Harry Hunting time later. The eight year old boy glared at Mio, deciding that he hated her now completely.

No, he was definitely not okay.

2 years later, September 12

Mio Versenheiuch shut the door of her room with a loud bang that can be heard probably up to the Dursley's kitchen in Number 4. She felt like breaking something, anything. How can they do this? They can't just simply call her when she was no longer convenient and tell her—

How could her parents lie to her face for all this years? This just couldn't be happening. It just can't be. She wasn't perfect, but she tried. She tried her very best! Oh god, why was this happening to her?

She looked of her window, another thing she would like to break. Seeing the smallest bedroom's window in the Dursley's only brought bad memories about the other boy. Potter. It's been two years since they first met, and now they absolutely hated each other.

The girl frowned. She couldn't believe anyone could be so mean, so much like... Wendell Versenheiuch!

He was almost exactly like her father in terms of how badly they affect her self-esteem and confidence. She was only turning eleven for Christ's sake!

The doorknob emits a clanking sound, and she glares at the crumpled piece circle of metal. Amount of things broken – one.

Fresh tears welled up on her eyes. Potter avoided her, snapped at her when she talked to him, and that was about school projects! He disliked her... Her 'father' hated her as well... Was she really that detestable? That people loathed her so much with a passion? She bumped her head to her door, and crying. She couldn't believe her luck.

She must have stayed there for hours, because the sky had turned orange, and the cheerful color felt like it was insulting her. Does she just do as her parents say? Maybe she would actually have a better life if she obeyed. But to leave everything she had known, even when they were only lots of horrible things?

Can she do that?

Can she leave everything?

You should. A male voice echoes in her mind, and she nods slowly. If he agrees, then maybe she should, too.

I should.

She stood up shakily, grabbing everything she felt was important.

All her things fitted into two trunks, one for her books, and the other for her clothes. She did not try to get a single picture to remind her of her family. The sound of her trunks slamming down the stairs was deafening to her ringing ears.

But if this is what her father wanted, then she would obey him. Her mother? It was painfully obvious that she did not care whatever happens to her. She tried to look at the bright side. No more beatings—she didn't have to cry herself to sleep, having a hard time moving.

Maybe she can even make Potter happy because of this. God knows how much he didn't like seeing her at all. Even when she was just on the other side of the playground, he would glare at her, as if the distance wasn't enough. She hated him. He was a stupid jerk.

He was the only bully that Dud couldn't manage to keep at bay. Harry Potter had said hurtful words to her, thrown her things at her, and she had only wanted to be friends.

Nobody wanted her.

Maybe she did have to leave.

At the end of the stairs, an old man waited, looking solemn. He offered his hand to her, and she takes it after a moment's hesitation. I should do this. I can do this.

Still, her heart broke at the thought of leaving her parents. Her parents, who only looked at them without a shred of emotion in their eyes. They don't look sad at all. Why doesn't Mommy and Daddy care? She felt the little kid in her refuse to even think about leaving. You can't leave Mommy and Daddy!

"T-take me away from this place. Please." Her voice sounded sad to her own ears, and the kid stopped saying anything. The man smiled sadly, squeezing her hand in an attempt to comfort her. It didn't.

She looked one last glance at the people she's known for eleven years, tears traitorously falling down her face. "Daddy… Mommy…I'm leaving." Her mother nodded, eyes looking perfectly dry. Like how she did when she was sending her off to school.

Clouded, hollow eyes without a shred of emotion. Not like how a mother's eyes should look like.

Like she wasn't leaving at all – or like she was meant to leave, all this time.

"Good riddance." Wendell crosses his arms. But his eyes had the same look in it, too.

The old man tugged on her hand before she could react and yell at her parents—before she could scream at how they have become monsters. That they weren't like this before, and they she had happy memories with them.

What went wrong with us? But the look in their eyes didn't change.

She already knew the answer. She was what was wrong, what didn't fit the picture. They had wanted a perfect daughter—and she had strived to be one. She could have been what they dreamed of her to be, if only she was normal. But she wasn't. She could never be.

There was a feeling of something pulling at her navel, and Mio Versenheiuch disappeared from Privet Drive. Forever.

Among all the people who entered the dingy little bar in London, no one paid attention to the two people who did. One an old man, one a young girl. They were under a powerful notice-me-not charm, as the man thought that his charge should be able to cry freely without the prying eyes.

As he had predicted, the young girl sank to her knees and broke down, the tears flowing like a waterfall—endless. The old man just rubbed her back, the usual shine in his eyes receding. Grief was something he knew, and he knew how painful it was.

The bar's occupants did not notice them until after a minute, or an hour. It seemed to last forever, until the sad girl stood up shakily, her hand on the old man's arm a little too tight. "Miss Mio... We have a place for you to stay. We can take a look at your account now, if you wish. You will be cared for, I assure you. A colleague of mine has volunteered to be your guardian." The girl shook her head. "Please, not now. Mio died when we left that house… and I want to grieve for her." She made herself smile, even though the effort was painful. "Sorry, Mr. Dumbledore, but I will be okay soon. Sorry…"

He smiled, and patted her arm. In the drone of the voices in the bar, the man spoke two words that made the girl formerly known as Mio Versenheiuch smile. It was the real piece of herself—her real identity. She had never known it until she had been told of her…difference… to normal people. She took her first glance at her surroundings.

It would take a long time before she gets over her parent's abandonment—but maybe she had already taken her first few steps away from being normal. Maybe this was where she belonged. Maybe, just maybe, she had found her place.

And so, exhaling deeply, like the air that escaped her mouth was that little part of her that loved her mother, her father, Dudley... she smiled.

"Goodbye, Mio."

Whew. This was a plot bunny that never got out of my head for a looooong time! Anyway, I got this idea from one fanfic: A Voice in the Wind by tricksie - Naruto fandom, check it it's really good - where I'll explain some symbolism I put in this chapter.

SYMBOLISMMMMMMMM:

.Chapter Title - Freed.

Quite obvious, I think. Mio is freed from her abusive and careless parents - free to be who she really is, and not the perfect daughter role Wendell and Trixie try to force her into.

."It made all the other bullies stop, even though they didn't like Dud too much because of it."

Foreshadowing - something will happen to Dudley, especially with Mio's disappearance. Whether it will make him worse or better as a person is something to tune into.

.Leaving the slippers - "Mio Versenheiuch disappeared from Privet Drive. Forever."

Slippers. I usually associate them with travelling, and with Mio saying that she'll return for the slippers later - obvious foreshadowing that she's going to return to Privet Drive later on, though when is still the question. With the second statement, it simply means that she's not going to return as Mio, but who?

.Broken doorknobs

Did anyone notice that Harry and Hermione both broke doorknobs when they were angry? This is my take on connecting both of them; their magic is something both their 'families' hated, and what set them apart from normal.

.Clouded eyes

When someone has clouded eyes, usually there is something wrong with them - or it can signify impaired vision. Impaired in the sense that Wendell and Trixie can't see what they're throwing away... or something else. Try to make sense of it ;)