Harry Potter was a celebrity. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't reaping the benefits of it. Instead, for reasons that were murky at best, he enjoyed a far more mundane lifestyle than most celebrities receive. It was more unfortunate for Harry that his mundane lifestyle happened to involve people who weren't exactly his admirers.

Harry's family were dead. But luckily for him, he had an aunt that could be trusted to take care of him. Well, somebody thought that she could be trusted, but that somebody made a lot of bad judgement calls. But enough about him, we should be focusing more on little Harry.

Harry's aunt was married, and her husband was a bit on the bulky side. They even had a son, Dudley, together, he took after his father more than anything else. That's right, he was fat. His mother resembled a twig, but he didn't get much from her side. The genetic lottery didn't turn out well for him.

Although, he was lucky enough to avoid one nasty abnormality from his mother's side. You see, Petunia happened to be related to witch. If it had happened that Dudley picked up this trait, things might have turned out quite differently. But much to the relief of Petunia, he was about as magic-less as you can get. You see, Petunia didn't like magic. She claimed she didn't like how unnatural it was, but it was really just jealousy she picked up from when she was a child.

But now we're getting back to Harry. He's far more interesting than them anyway.

Harry did have magic, how could he not when both his parents did? He was a wizard and Petunia was quite aware of it. This awareness manifested itself as fairly major neglect, demonstrated by Harry living in a cupboard. He was basically ignored, but did receive a fair amount of verbal abuse from his uncle. His uncle's name was Vernon and he probably had a good reason to hate magic too, or maybe he just disliked Harry. I don't think anyone really cares about Vernon anyway.

Harry was also made to do quite a bit of chores, maybe a bit more than average. Although Harry likely took it a bit more personally since Dudley didn't really share the load, so to speak. Dudley had quite the load of his own to carry around regardless. To young Harry it must have seemed as if the world was out to get him. It's true that his relatives were out to get him, anyway.

Now, Harry was destined for great things. Despite his less than stellar early life, he'd grow up to stop the evil wizard who killed his parents and save the world from his reign of terror. He'd achieve all that before he was even twenty years old. Quite the achievement. The journey wouldn't be the easiest, but doing the right thing rarely is. Harry would even make some friends and other trivial stuff while he was doing all this world-changing feat.

But luckily for Harry, he was going to be saved from his somewhat abusive life by a king. Well, more of a former king, but that's just semantics. Harry's meeting with this kindly (former) king took place on a night just like any other. One where Harry was wallowing in the misery that was his life in the cupboard that had been so graciously provided by his aunt and uncle.

Harry was lying on the dingy mattress that served as his bed, when, in a flash, the darkness that surrounded him was peeled back by an overwhelming light. Incidentally, this light revealed that Harry's cupboard had numerous cobwebs and spiders in it. It wasn't really a nice place to sleep at all. The light dimmed, leaving a small ball of brightness hovering in the air near to Harry. Not that it could go much further, cupboards weren't often known for their space.

Harry, his curiosity as strong as any other seven year old boy's would be, found it an interesting sight. Insofar as he didn't run as far as he could away from it. No doubt his choice to stay was aided by the door to his cupboard being locked, but he was probably also very curious.

Harry leaned toward the ball, giving it a cautious poke. He gasped as his finger disappeared into the ball. Soon, Harry's experiments were cut short, as a voice emanated from the ball. Deep and somewhat ominous sounding, it echoed through Harry's cupboard.

"Hello, Harry. I've been looking for you," it rumbled.

Harry shrieked, backing away from the ball. He couldn't back very though, and managed a few inches before finding himself scrunched against a wall. "W-what are you?"

"I am your father, of course. And I'm here to take you away from all this, if you'll let me," he stated, noticeably dialing back its ominous tone in favor of a more soothing one.

Now, most would find an offer like this just a tad odd, but the voice had two things working in it's favor. First off, Harry was a seven year old orphan and rather desperate for family. Second, Harry didn't really have the best of lives going for him. Combined, Harry was more than willing to believe the voice.

"Yes! Yes! The Dursley's are horrible, they call me a freak, and they hit me!" Harry said in a rush, airing out his seven year old problems to his father. Looking back, future Harry would no doubt consider his young self's problems trivial when compared to fighting that dark wizard. But young Harry can't see the future, so none of this occurred to him.

"Fantastic! Well, my boy, what you have to do is simple. Just walk on through this portal and you'll be with me in no time," he said, sounding just as excited as Harry.

"What port-" Harry started, before having his question answered by the ball quickly expanding, quickly reaching a size he could pass through. Bidding goodbye to his old life, Harry rushed through the portal and into whatever laid beyond.

In a rush of light Harry found himself in a garden, surrounded by statues. Most were horses, but one particularly noticeable statue was an amalgamation of creatures. Walking toward it, Harry jumped as the voice once again made an appearance.

"Ah, there you are! How exciting. Now, I'm sure you're about where dear old dad brought you. Well, it's time for a history lesson!" he said.

Brow scrunching as his young mind worked away, Harry interrupted, "Dad, where were you before now? Why didn't you come sooner?"

Harry's dad sighed, muttering before he continued. "As I was trying to say before you interrupted, I was turned to stone by an... evil witch. Yes, she did it. She kept us apart. Luckily, I was able to bring you here anyway. "

Harry looked around, searching out among the statues that littered the garden. "But where are you now?"

"You've already found my magnificent presence, I'm the statue you're looking at."

Harry looked up to the statue in front of him, it had a variety of parts to it. The head of a horse, and mismatched antlers, greeted him. Those were just the beginnings of his father's oddity, he had a talon on one side, but a paw on the other, along with legs coming from different animals.

Harry raised a trembling finger. "You're... that? B-but, you look... different," he tripped over his own words, a grimace crossing his face.

"Yes, but don't worry. You'll look like this too someday. No problems there. Now, my son, this is important. I, am a king, and that makes you my heir, my prince. But that evil witch I told you about, she cursed me to stone and stole my kingdom away."

Harry frowned, saying nothing as his father continued. "Now, she's brainwashed my subjects into believing I was a tyrant. And that is why I am like this."

"Is she still here? Is she going to come after me?" Harry said, his eyes shifting around as he huddled closer to himself.

"I'm sorry, my son, but she would if she knew who you were. She is unaware of your presence for now, so you are safe. But do not worry, if you are careful, I will soon be free and able to protect you."

Harry rushed closer to the base of his father's statue, hugging it close to himself as he shivered. "How can I be safe?"

"I am sorry, but the witch is coming now. Her name is Celestia, and she will try to fool you with kindness. But do not trust her! She would even imprison her own sister, she is truly wicked."

"She coming here!? Dad, what do I do!" Harry said, once more clinging to his father.

"Pretend, my son, pretend you do not know me. Then, you shall be safe."

Harry had little time to prepare himself as a large white horse, adorned with golden jewelery, approached him, escorted by two smaller horses in golden armor.