Harry Potter and the Third World
Chapter 1: a Cry for help
No. 4 Privet Drive: 24th December 1985. 11:23pm
It was the night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring. Vernon Dursely and his wife Petunia had put their 5-year-old son to bed three and a half hours ago. Then along with Vernon's sister Marge they began putting presents into a stocking for their "dear sweet Dudders". The One and only stocking indicated that only one child dwelt under the roof, readily awaiting the best day of the year for any child in the world.
For Dudley Dursely was the only child that dwelt under the roof that readily expected a merry Christmas. In his bedroom he slept soundly surrounded by warm blankets and a nice snug duvet. In the master bedroom slept his parents. Parents that spoilt the boy so much that he was already the healthy weight of a child a foot taller than him. In the spare room his Aunt Marge, who spoilt her nephew and whenever possible at the expense of her nephews cousin, dwelt with her ugly bulldog in a snug warm bed completely oblivious to the cold outside.
But in the cupboard there was no happy young boy awaiting the delivery of presents, or to look forward to a day where he could increase his already too great food intake with chocolate oranges and Roast Turkey.
For there was no boy at all. Oh yes.
It was the night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring. Not even Harry Potter: The Boy Who Lived.
But outside the house the peaceful dwellings of Privet Drive and Little Whinging the harsh snow made the outside very uncomfortable. The residents of Privet Drive should be comforted by the fact that they were indoors safe from the cold snow that would bless the residents with a White Christmas. Yet not all the residents of Privet Drive were indoors and comfy.
In the Park not far from where he had ran, Harry Potter son of James and Lily Potter was curled up under a tree in the park. His left ankle was scared with the bite of the Dog that had chased him around the front garden. His nose was bloodied and broken from the early present his cousin had got from his Aunt, a cricket bat. His left arm and his right knee were bloodied from when he tripped on the pavement running from the dog. The blood from his knee was now stained against his trousers and the slightest movement caused them to sting in pain.
Bloodied and bruised Harry was stuck out in the cold, he knew that it was too late in the evening to go back to Privet Drive. His uncle would have locked him out by now. Harry had been lying in the snow for over 4 hours now. He was cold and the continued wintery weather had resulted in him being semi-covered in snow.
Harry was freezing and combined with a malnourished diet and the various exposed scars he'd acquired in his perilous escape from the Dursely's meant that Harry was feeling very ill.
Harry in his greatest moment of weakness cried into the snow. He wished he didn't have to lie in the snow. He wished he could go back to his cupboard and snuggle up into a not very warm blanket. At this stage he'd even share his cupboard with that infernal bulldog. Harry was so ill he could barely stand to move. He tried to adjust his leg but his knee stung him again.
He cried out painfully.
But it was the night before Christmas, and out in the park after dark, nobody comes to the aid of The Boy Who Lived.
"Pleaseā¦" Harry called out as hard as he could, but as hard as could, could reach no one.
So with great sense of will and all of the strength that kept him awake Harry Potter the Boy Who Lived called out.
"Please help me! PLEASE HELP ME!" and so it was with his greatest breath Harry Potter called out to the residents of Privet Drive but no one in the houses of Privet Drive and Little Whinging heard his call. With his call for help expressed with all his remaining will, his strength gave out. He closed his eyes and let the snow burry him more.
Yet despite this for the first time in his life Harry Potter had asked for help and from another world the call was felt by one whose heart was once plagued by loneliness but plague no longer.
