Chapter one: a somewhat scary beginning
Harry was scrubbing the tiled kitchen floor. It was cold and hard. It hurt his knees and made him shiver from the cold. The freezing water he was cleaning with didn't help either. At least it was summer and he could go outside to warm up in the sun as soon as he finished. It wouldn't help his headache but he couldn't have everything he wanted.
He could hear the muffled argument from upstairs. His aunt and uncle didn't fight much before the letters started comming. He didn't know what it was all about. He guessed it had something to do with him since they were now extra violent but couldn't come up with any reason why anyone would write so many letters that had anything to do with him. He was just simply not important enough.
He finished scrubbing and got the rug to mop up the water on the floor.
Maybe it was from his school. He didn't go anywhere else. But he made sure not to get good grades so Dudley wouldn't be upset, and he wasn't quite so bad to gain attention that way. And even if he did get in trouble, they wouldn't write letters. They would call on the phone.
He just didn't know and it was frustrating. He decided that going outside when his aunt and uncle were already angry was too risky.
He looked around the kitchen to check that he had done all the chores and ran to his cupboard without a sound. The last thing he wanted right now was any attention from his relatives.
He had heard his aunt and uncle talking about some 'freaks'. They had always called him a freak. Were these 'freaks' sending the letters? If they were like him, they'd take him away from here right?
Harry had always wished for someone to come and take him away. He didn't want much. Just someone who would like him would be enough. Maybe they wouldn't hurt him like Uncle Vernon did. They said it was what people like Harry normally got so maybe whoever took him away would hit him too. But there was no way to know. He shook his head at his own stupidity. No one was going to like him. And it was stupid to get hopeful over nothing.
Harry found his old blanket in the dark cupboard, wrapped himself in it and curled up on his tiny mattress. He tried to fall asleep. The pain in his head wouldn't go away. Aunt Petunia had hit him with a pan this morning. It was his fault. He shouldn't have burned the bacon. But he still wished it didn't happen.
Letters had stopped coming after that day. Harry didn't know what happened. His aunt and uncle never mentioned it again. Until at the end of august when Harry's cupboard door was burst open very early in the morning by Uncle Vernon. He looked like he had won the lottery.
"Pick up whatever trash you have, you freak! You're not going to be coming back here!" shouted Uncle Vernon and strolled away. Harry tried to calm down and picked up his threadbare blanket with his trembling hands. He put all his belongings on it: his cousin's old clothes, a ripped teddy bear, a glass marble and a random rusting key. He tied all four corners of the blanket together and hugged it close to his chest as he slowly stepped out of the cupboard.
Within minutes, Uncle Vernon grabbed him, dragged him outside and the next thing he knew they were driving to London. Harry looked out the window. He numbly aknowleged some interesting looking buildings but his insides felt like they'd been replaced by concrete.
Uncle Vernon kept muttering something about freaks and being done with them. Was he going to be put in an orphanage like Aunt Petunia had said? Was Uncle Vernon going to leave him somewhere to be homeless? Was he going to kill him?
Harry started shaking. He tried to hide it. Things usually went worse if Uncle Vernon noticed that he was afraid. He hugged his bundle closer to his chest.
Finally the car stopped and Vernon dragged him into a building with a lot of people and trains. It was a train station. Uncle Vernon looked around.
"Now I don't care how you get to that platform nine and three quarters" he growled "I don't care IF you get on it or not, I am not accepting you back in my house. Do you understand, freak?" He said and pointed his long fat finger at Harry.
Harry shook his head like his life depended on it and was left alone in the middle of the rushing crowd and confusion.
For a moment he thought about running out of there and living on the street. What was he going to do?
"Nine and three quarters!" he heard a girls's voice. Harry looked over and saw a girl with red hair skipping among what looked like her family. "Mum I want to go too..."
Harry ran towards the family. By the time he got there , most of the boys were nowhere in sight. The mother of the boys was saying something to the youngest of them. He looked a bit older than Harry.
''Hi'' said the girl. Harry jumped a bit and she looked at him curiously ''Where are you going? Are you lost?''
Harry nodded and just said ''To the platform''
''Oh, well you only need to go through that wall then'' said the girl.
Harry felt a bit skeptical but couldn't dare to say anything about it. For better or for worse, the girl noticed.
''You can hold my hand if you want to. We'll go after mum and Ron.'' She said and offered her hand. Harry reluctantly took it.
As promised, they got to the platform through the wall. It was very tingly but it didn't hurt Harry and he was happy about that.
''I've got to go and say goodbye to my brothers.'' said the girl, looking over at her family. ''Do you wanna be pen pals? I'll send you a letter this weekend if you don't mind and then we can be friends.'' She asked and looked at him with a slight smile.
To Harry the idea of someone wanting to be friends with him was absolutely bonkers but he did want a friend so he nodded.
''Ok, my name's Ginny, what's yours?''
''Harry'' he said quietly and returned a weak smile as she said bye and went over to her family.
The train was about to take off. Harry's panic returned as he heard the whistle. He didn't know what to do, even if he wasn't late, he didn't have a ticket.
He looked around for any ideas. He ran his gaze along the train. Yes that would do! Harry ran up to the end of the train and climbed onto the metal steps, held on as best as he could and braced himself as it started to move.
The train was slowing down and Harry was very worn out. He jumped off onto the rails before the train even stopped.
He barely had any strength to get up but he didn't want to fall asleep on the rails so he clutched his bundle and got up.
He looked around. It looked like a small town. A bit of a weird one, but still a town.
As students started flowing onto the platform, Harry scrambled away and ran into the forest. He ran and ran until he found a cave and decided to spend the night there. He just wished to stay hidden. He would deal with anything, as long as he was not discovered.