Hello, this is my first fan fiction.
Harry Potter and the other characters are not mine; they belong to J. K. Rowling.
Sorry for my English, it's not my first language, although I tried to check the spelling.
Enjoy!
This is written without considering the fifth book, so it's AU.
Chapter 1: The worst summer ever
Harry Potter was sitting in the cupboard under the stairs and was trying to bandage his swollen and probably broken palm with a piece of cloth. Not a day passed since he'd returned from Hogwarts for summer holidays and the Boy-Who-Lived was already in trouble.
Actually it all begun when he met his relatives at the King's Cross station. Not like previous years, this year he had an escort of fully grownup wizards which threatened his uncle and aunt to treat Harry, or they'll have to answer them, and they expected Harry to send an owl, telling he was O.K. every three days.
Back then Uncle Vernon was frightened of that threat, but on their way back to the Privet Drive he became annoyed. Not only he had to tolerate that 'good for nothing freak' for the whole summer, but to treat him good!? That just was absurd.
"I'll show them…" muttered Vernon Dursley, "NO ONE, but NO ONE threats a Dursley".
Dudley, Harry's cousin, smirked when he heard his father words, but Harry was oblivious, he was staring with a blank look outside the car window, his thoughts were back at the graveyard, where his schoolmate, Cedric Diggory, was murdered, and the most evil wizard was reborn, and all because of him, or at least, that what Harry believed, despite the conversation with Dumbledore, his headmaster, Sirius Black, his godfather and his friends Ron, Hermione and even Ginny, Ron's sister at the end of Harry's forth year. He blamed himself for the events. He was convinced that if he hadn't persist that Cedric should take the TreWizard cup with him, he still would've been alive.
That why Harry didn't hear his uncle's words and didn't pay attention when the car stopped at the driveway, near the No 4 Privet Drive.
He was awaken from his daze by his uncle "Get of the car, boy" said Vernon Dursley, "I don't have the time to waste on you, and I don't want neighbors to see you!"
Slowly Harry got of the car, when he was about to open the trunk to retrieve his belongings, uncle Vernon took him by the collar of his oversized short at shoved him to the house, with the words "Live it there!".
Knowing best not to argue, Harry entered the house, wondering what it all was about.
His uncle entered right after him, once again grabbing him by the collar he drag Harry upstairs to his small room. Vernon pushed Harry against the wall, and held him tight with one hand, with the other he made a search on Harry's clothes and retrieved Harry's wand. Harry begun to panic "Uncle Vernon, what are you doing, give it back to me, it's mine!!" the teenager cried.
Uncle Vernon just smiled evilly. "I don't think you'll need it, you're not allowed to use it outside this madhouse you call a school, anyway!" he said "I'll just keep it with me. And if you try to tell your freak friends I'll burn it."
Harry looked alarmed.
"You are going to learn a lesson, boy!" continued Vernon "That no body to threat me or my family! As a beginning you are not allowed any contact with your friends, except you'll write them every three days saying you are fine, and I'll see these letters before they are delivered! You aren't to go outside, except to weed the garden and mown the lawn, you will do any chore that we think you should do, and they're to be finished by the time I get home from the work otherwise you'll to be punished! Do you understand, boy?"
Harry, not feeling to argue with his uncle answered quietly "Yes uncle Vernon!"
"Right now you are going to collect your remained belongings, and to clean this room, since you're going back to the cupboard! You have half an hour and I want it to shine!" Harry looked in horror at his uncle; he thought that he'll never to see the inside of that cupboard again after he spent there ten years, till he got his Hogwarts letter.
"NOW, MOVE!" Vernon roared "the clock is ticking!" and he thrust Harry to the floor and strode from the room, locking it behind.
A few moments later he came back, bringing a bucket of cold water, and leaving again.
"What about some rag?" Harry yelled at him.
"You have enough of those, use them!" came an answer.
Harry looked around, but couldn't find anything to use as a rag. All his clothes, or rather Dudley's old ones were inside his trunk, which was somewhere downstairs.
Not finding anything to use, but not wanting to mess with his uncle, Harry pulled his short off and drowned it at the bucket.
First off all he opened the loosen floorboard and checked whether he forgot anything there from the previous summer, after that he folded his worn blanket and sheets and put his pillow on top of it, and then he begun washing the floor, every few minutes checking the clock.
As soon as he finished with the cleaning, he saw that there were still ten minutes left for his uncle to return. Harry took that opportunity and lay down on the bare bad. He was very tired from the journey back from Hogwarts and from the cleanings. Not noticing he drifted to sleep. He didn't hear his aunt opening the door and entering the room to check on his work.
The next thing Harry was awaken with a start from a sudden pain across his stomach. Opening his eyes he saw Vernon Dursley with a risen hand with a belt in it, prepared to strike again. His seeker instincts took over and with a speed he rolled over the other end of the bad, standing on his feet ready to confront his uncle.
With a surprisingly speed for a man as big as Vernon Dursley, he made his way towards Harry and grabbed his hand. "Who gave you the right to lay down, you lazy freak?!" Vernon hissed, "I told you to clean the room!"
"I did cleaned it" protested Harry, "I thought I could rest before you came"
"Don't answer me, you insolent peace of shit!" yelled Vernon, "I told you, the room should shine after the filth like you used it for four years, but you couldn't complete that simple task, Petunia was here to check, maybe, you should learn some lesson, so next time you'll obey me!" after he finished his tirade of words, Vernon turned Harry around, pinned him to the wall of the room and began striking him with the belt. At first Harry tried not to scream, but after the fifth strike he couldn't take that anymore.
"Stop, please, uncle, stop!" he begged, while screaming with every another strike.
"Shut up!" Vernon roared, "I don't want to hear a word from you!" and he continued his beatings. After about twenty hits, he finally released the sobbing boy, which fell to the floor. As if not enough, Petunia picked the bucket with the water that were used for the floor and splashed them on the teenager.
"Get up, boy!" commanded uncle Vernon, kicking Harry hard at the stomach, "Take your bedclothes and get down to the hallway, I'll let you settle in your old room, and take a rest, tomorrow you will work!", Harry heard someone snored at those words, and guessing it was Dudley.
Slowly, wincing from the pain, socking wet teenager got up, took his belongings and made his way down to the hallway. He looked around in hope to see his trunk and Hedwig's cage, but saw none. His first thought was to try and run away, but than, another thought came 'I deserved it for killing Cedric, I deserve worse.', it made him stand still near the cupboard entrance and to wait for his uncle, who came a few minutes later.
Vernon opened the cupboard door, and shoved Harry inside.
"Be ready at five thirty tomorrow!" he spat and left, locking the door.
Harry looked around his old "room" from his place on the cupboard floor. He tried to get up, but he couldn't reach his full height due to the low ceiling. 'Boy, was I that short at eleven?' he pondered. The cupboard seems to be really small since his last time in there, especially with the shelves with the paint cans and the cleaners. But his cot wasn't there. He took of his wet jeans and hanged them on the nail that was stuck in the wall, than spread his bedclothes on the floor, and lay dawn wrapping himself tight in the old blanket, while, looking for a position that won't heart his sore body.
The sleep came immediately as he was very tired, but as soon as he drifted to sleep he heard high spine-tingling and really creepy voice 'Kill the spare!' and saw Cedric's body fell with eyes wide open. Then the picture changed, he and Voldemort in the middle of the Death Eater circle, wands connected, and Priory Incantatem performed, he saw Cedric's echo coming from the wand "You killed me Harry, it's all your fault" then his parents appeared "If it not because of you, we'd still be alive!" and then again 'Kill the spare!'.
Harry tossed in his bedclothes, and muttering 'No, No, mom, dad, Cedric, NOOOOOO!'
He sat in his 'bed' with a start, bumping his head on a shelf, and breathing heavily. Harry realized that the last word he actually screamed. He listened to hear his uncle coming down and yelling at him, and wasn't disappointed, after a few minutes his cupboard door burst open and a very angry Vernon Dursley was at the entrance.
"What that nose that you are making?" demanded uncle Vernon, "We have work to attend to tomorrow not like you, you lazy freak"
"Sorry," mumbled Harry.
"Right you are!" answered Vernon, "One more little nose from you and you'll really be sorry". With that he kicked his nephew hard with his beefy leg and left, locking the cupboard again. The rest of the night was sleepless, for The Boy Who Leaved, at least.
He didn't know how long he lay there, staring at the other side of the stairs, but a laud thud on the cupboard door started him.
"Get up," he heard his aunt's voice, "Don't make me wake your uncle!"
Harry realized that it must be 5:30 already. He sat up, his hall body sore from yesterday beating. "I'm up" he mumbled.
He put on his still wet jeans and exited from the cupboard. He went to the bathroom to take care of the morning need, and than entered the kitchen.
"What's that?" his aunt asked, looking at him, "Where is your shirt, you little pervert!"
"I used it to wash the floor yesterday, as uncle Vernon told me and the other shirts in my trunk" Harry answered quietly, blushing.
"Start with the breakfast" Petunia ordered, "It should be ready by six fifteen, and I'll talk to your uncle about your appearance, when he is up."
Harry didn't like the sound of that, he was truly afraid. His uncle behavior yesterday was new, sure, he yelled on him a lot, and sometimes he smacked him on the back of his head, and he ignored when Dudley and his gang were beating him, but he never done it by himself.
At six fifteen the breakfast was ready, and exactly at his time Vernon Dursley entered the kitchen, fully dressed for the work.
"Why is the boy shirtless?" He demanded after he spotted Harry.
"Claims his shirts in the trunk" answered Petunia. "And he used the one he was wearing yesterday to clean the floor with, as YOU told him"
"Is it so, boy" Vernon Dursley stood up from the table, and strode over Harry, who instinctively backed. "You are wasting the clothes we paid for, to wash the dirty floor?!"
"But… but…" Harry stuttered.
"I don't want to hear you!" roared Vernon, he strode from the kitchen, only to return a few seconds later with Dudley's Smelting stick. "You know that you should be punished for ruining that shirt?" He asked with a sneer. He grabbed Harry's wrist and pooled him toward the table, pinning his hand hard on the surface. And than to the boy's horror he raised the stick and it landed with hall it force on his palm. Harry screamed, few more blows and than he blacken out, since the pain was unbearable.
He woke up later in his cupboard, remembering what happened, he sat up and tried to move his right palm, he gasped, since the slightest movement caused him a lot of pain. That how the "Boy Who Lived", the famous Harry Potter ended in the cupboard under the stairs with swollen and probably broken fingers.
He looked around and saw a sheet of paper, and a shirt.
'This is your list of chores' was written with Petunias tidy writing. He looked on the list; there were a lot of chores. Silently he put the shirt on himself, and went off the cupboard to begin his work. By the middle of the day he was exhausted, his palm was killing him, now he was sure that at least one of the fingers was broken, he hadn't eaten since yesterday's sweets on the Hogwarts Express, he was hungry, but didn't dare to ask his aunt. To his surprise he realized that while he worked, he didn't think about Cedric and the graveyard, it made him work harder, forgetting about the exhaustion, the pain and the hunger.
By the time Vernon came back from work, Harry actually managed to finish his work, and was working on the dinner. "Did you finish all you're chores?" asked Vernon.
"Yes, uncle" answered Harry. Vernon looked at Petunia, who nodded in confirmation.
"Good boy!" said Vernon sneering, "Keep up and you might get something to eat in a day or two!"
Harry swallowed, felling once again his stomach growl with hunger. He turned to the stove to continue the cooking. As the dinner was over, and Harry cleaned the table and the dishes, he was given a plastic cup of water from the tap. He drank it fast, since he was really thirsty. Than he was released for the night, just to be locked in the cupboard.
The next day was pretty the same: waking up, making the breakfast, the chores, lunch and the dinner. After the dinner he was excused from the cleaning and was ordered by his uncle to go to the living room. Vernon showed him to the coffee table where a piece of parchment, a quill and a bottle of ink were placed.
"You're going to write to those freaks," explained Vernon "telling them that you're O.K.".
Harry took the quill and tried to write whatever his uncle was dictating to him. His handwriting was unreadable since he was having a grate difficulty to write with his damaged right hand. Harry hoped that when his friends see the letter they'll realize that something wrong, but Vernon outsmarted him, and made him write that he is sorry for the terrible handwriting, but he hurt his hand when he tripped on the stairs.
When the letter was finished, Vernon brought Hedwig's cage. "Sand you're ruddy owl with the letter" ordered Vernon.
"What if I don't" snapped Harry, "Then they'll come to get me!"
Vernon put his hand inside his pocket and pulled out Harry's wand, he brought it over the fireplace. "What where you saying?" he asked maliciously.
"No, uncle, I'm sorry, I'll send Hedwig" pleaded Harry, when he saw his uncle intentions.
"Good boy!" stated Vernon, and patted Harry painfully on the head. "But you should be punished for you're little outburst, aren't you, boy?"
Harry flinched at the touch, but said nothing. "Answer me boy!" demanded Vernon, slumming his fist on the coffee table, and startling the teenager.
"Yes, uncle" answered Harry quietly, looking down, at his hands.
"Now, send the damn letter!"
Harry tied the letter to Hedwig's leg. "Take it to Sirius and Remus, please" he said in a sad voice, and Hedwig was gone.
That evening the Boy Who Lived was beaten once again with the belt on his bare back.
The summer went by, in the middle of it he got a letter from Dumbeledore saying that because of Voldemorts arising it's not safe for him to leave his relatives house, his friend's were not allowed to write to him in case there letters will be intercepted, and since he wrote that he was O.K. there is no need for him to send his letter every third day. That he shouldn't worry, there always be someone to watch the house, in case of a danger. The letter said that on the September, first, he is expected on the platform 9 and ¾, at the Hogwarts Express. His school supplies will arrive by owl post close to the end of the summer.
Harry felt really miserable, he saw no chance for him to be rescued from his relatives before the school starts, but a small voice inside him said that he deserved it since 'he is a murderer, and it's his fault that Voldemort was back'.
'It's for the better,' he though, 'they shouldn't know about my situation, that I'm showing weakness, when I'm suppose to be the strong one, and they'll be safe'.
Vernon Dursley was satisfied with the situation, he locked Hedwig in her cage and took her away, threatening his nephew now and than that he'll twist her neck if he wouldn't behave.
By July 31st, Harry Potter's fifteenth birthday, the boy was barely recognizable. He lost a lot of weight, since he got a food only every third day and it was just two pieces of dry bread and a cup of water. He had black circles under his eyes due to lack of sleep. He was afraid to wake his uncle with his screams so he put some cloth in his mouth every night to quiet the shouting. He was sleeping just a few hours every night, but staying awake after the usual nightmare. On his back he had a lot of ugly welts, some really fresh and some old from the beating he got from his uncle and now he could barely move his right hand, since it became worth and got some purple color. His clothes were dirty, since he wore the same ones from the first day of the summer and he, himself needed a good bath.
His birthday came, that was suppose to be one of the happiest days of a teenagers life, but for Harry Potter, this year birthday was the worst, he was given a lot of chores to do, when he couldn't finish them by the time his uncle got home he received severe beating, which left him bloodied and barely conscious. The saddest thing was that he received no letters from his friends. He knew it wasn't their fault, but he was upset anyway.
August came to the end, tomorrow will be September the first, and the beginning of the new, school year.
The next day Harry was up really early, he was so exhausted last night from the hard work and his 'last lesson' that he fell asleep and slept through the night without nightmares, although he was sure that he was probably unconscious part of the night.
At five thirty he was once again out of his cupboard to cook breakfast. This time he was allowed a piece of bacon along with his bred and a cup of light tea.
"Eat and be grateful" spat Petunia, "And if you tell somebody at your freak school about your summer Vernon will make sure you'd regret it, since your owl is staying here to assure your silence!".
"Please, sir" pleaded Harry, "Let me take Hedwig with me, I won't tell anyone". Over the summer Harry learned the hard way to be very polite to Vernon, and to address him as 'sir' and 'ma'am' to his aunt.
He was slapped hard on his cheek. "No! That ruddy owl stays here!" stated Vernon, "As all I care you can say it died!".
Harry only nodded "Yes, sir".
Vernon Dursley took his nephew to the King's Cross train station and left him there. "Remember your lessons!" was his uncle last words before he drove away, living Harry on his own first time this summer.