Disclaimer: Don't own.

The cupboard under the stairs in number four Privet Drive should never have hosted life inside it, unless it was the occasional spider seeking solace inside the dark space that was the cupboard, but it wasn't just spiders that lived under the stairs, no. It was here that a 7 year old Harry Potter lay, nursing his bruises from his recent scrape with the Dursley's and their son. Surely it wasn't his fault that he found himself on the school roof when Dudley and his gang were chasing him. How was he to even get up there? Magic? There was no such thing, his uncle had made sure of that, if such a thing existed why did he lived in a cupboard? Why did the Dursley's use him as a punching bag?

Simple, there was no such thing as magic.

Atleast, that's what Vernon had told him, but Harry knew better, if you could move things with your will alone you were one of two things;

A loony... or a wizard. He didn't think of himself as a loony, sure he heard voices inside his head, but they weren't his, he knew they belonged to other people. He had been able to pick up on the thoughts of other people since as far back as he could remember. It wasn't his fault that he could read people's minds, but he wasn't one to complain either.. it was a lot of fun reading the minds of his classmates, even if they all stayed away from him because of Dudley..

But sometimes it wasn't all fun and games, a lot of pain came with it. The influx of thoughts caused him pain everytime he was in a populated place, granted - that wasn't often but sometimes school was unbearable and left him disorientated for days on end. The worst mind he had seen into was the mind of a murderer, he was insane of course.. It have left Harry a sobbing wreck for days as he relived the criminal's life; one bad memory after another. When there was a memory of him being beaten as a child; Harry felt every blow, it was sometimes too much to deal with.

It was moments like those that he wished he couldn't read minds, that he was just a normal boy with normal problems. But nothing was normal about him, his 'family' were child beaters; not to Dudley, only to him.. and Dudley.. well..

Dudley, that was one mind you didn't want to pick up on.. it was disgusting! He was eight and all he could think about was food, stealing and waiting until school let out so he could have a 'smoke.'

Didn't help much that he was a bit overweight too, he had never really caught Harry in public either, as Harry would know when Dudley was about to get him, when he was about to Harry would go and seek solace in the library. Simple.

But, while he was stuck in the cupboard he didn't really have much to do but lay back on his 'bed', which was actually a mattress from the charity store. It pretty much paid for itself, as the Dursley's only sent him to school to claim benefits. Harry was a smart student though, always coming home with a perfect scorecard of A's or B's, it was worth the beating's Vernon gave him to know that he would become something when he was older, unlike Dudley.

Harry's 'bedroom' was pretty much a mattress on the 'floor' with a shelf which held a few figurines Dudley wanted to throw away, Harry found them though and kept them, they were cool; his only toys. Waving his hand lazily Harry watched as the figurine of the horseman came floating into his hand, he was gaining more control every day. A smile lit up Harry's face as he waved the other hand and the miniature horseman came to life,
the horse rearing up while the soldier on it's back laughed and gave the horse a pat on the head.

However his smile turned into a quick frown when he picked up on his uncles thoughts, two stray thoughts that flickered between his one-track mind.. Boy and food. Harry didn't have time to react before the door was wrenched open and light filled the cupboard.
Vernon Dursley wasn't the brightest individual but when he wrenched open the cupboard door to find his nephew floating a figurine in mid-air while it moved around by itself he knew the boy could be trouble.

He had come into his freakish ways, he wouldn't be allowed to stay here.. He would ruin their normal lifestyle, their normal neighbourhood and worse yet.. He could corrupt their perfect son!

"Get out." Growled out Vernon. Harry just looked on confused, this had never happened before. Normally Vernon would hit him and screech at him about how his parents were worthless drunks, how HE would be a worthless drunk without anything in his life. But this time? Vernon just told him to get out, no strikes, no shouting.. nothing.

Harry looked on confused.

"You heard me you little freak! Get out of my house! I won't have your abnormalities corrupting my family freak!" Vernon screamed, he had started to turn purple again, as he did every time he got angry.

"You want to know what really happened to your parents brat? They didn't die in a car crash, oh no! They got themselves blown up! They were freaks like you! 'Magical people.' I won't have any of it you hear me boy? I won't have any of it!" growled out Vernon grabbing the front of Harry's shirt, which was actually one of Dudley's which he had grown out of, it was still many sizes too big on Harry.

"Now BOY. You're leaving this house, and you're never coming back.. I don't care where you go, just don't bother us again! FREAK!" roared the puce coloured man, wrenching the door open and throwing his 'nephew' out of it. Harry however was still in shock, this couldn't be happening..
The Dursley's had kicked him out..

He was FREE.

But first things first, he would get away from number four, it was already quite late in the day, soon to turn night. He would spend a night in the park and travel on tomorrow morning, he didn't want to be anywhere near Private Drive if he could help it.

The park was getting dark by the time Harry reached it, wasting no time Harry walkd over to the adventure park area, crawling inside the 'house'. The 'house' had a roof on it, which would stop the wind from battering his body. It was also dark, he loved the dark, always had. Everytime he needed comfort, there was always the pitch blackness of the cupboard to embrace him in her shadowy cloak. So it was no surprise that when Harry wished he was somewhere where he could learn magic. Shadows had listened to him before, he had gotten away from Dudley many times by running into a dark space and wishing he were somewhere else.

The need to travel within shadows had stemmed from Halloween, kids trick or treated on the doors and the Dursley's, wanting to act normal had given them a few sweets and sent them on their way while Dudley sat in front of the TV practically inhaling his personal bowl of treats. Harry had never eaten sweets before, he practically lived off bread and water - and he didn't get enough of that anyway. So, while the Dusley's were at the door dealing with some children that were younger than him he had swiped a twix bar, fun sized. Not wanting to be caught he ate it as quickly as possible, savouring the way it melted in his mouth as the textures came together in an amazing flavour..

It wasn't to last, the Dusley's had spotted the wrapper and figured that they would need a pinata for Dudley's entertainment, he was hung up in the Dursley's back garden, hanging from a thin piece of rope from the Dursley's only tree. Vernon gave his son a baseball bat and told him to swing away.

A few broken bones later the rope snapped, as Harry fell to the floor with a dull thud, it was well past midnight as shadows crept across the floor. He had prayed for somewhere safe to heal, cried out for a way to get away from the Dursley's, if only until he was better. He had sunk into a shadow and ended up back in his cupboard. This was somewhere he really didn't want to be, Harry, now six still had no control over where he went in the world as he slipped through a shadow, but it had always taken him where he needed to go.

Maybe one day, when he was older he would be able to go wherever he wanted, whenever he wanted, see the world.. but for now, he would settle for not ending up in a dungeon.

This time however.. The shadows listened to him and took him to a place where he could learn to defend himself.

Somewhere he probably shouldn't have been anywhere near.

No longer in the country.. Harry Potter landed in a forest, located in Albania..