Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter nor Young Justice! Thank you for all your follows and favs! As the story is obviously AU, there will be somethings taken away and added, but I'm not creating any important OC's.

4 Privet Drive | July 21 | 19:38

"Boy!"

Harry rushed down stairs, skipping the last three steps and entered the kitchen. He stood in front of his uncle, patiently waiting for the order. His uncle watching the TV, leaning back in his huge recliner.

I could sit in that thing and look like an ant, but the man lies in it and it doesn't even look like it's there, Harry tilted his head in amusement at the thought.

"What are you grinning at, Boy?" His uncle had finally noticed him. And as usual, he was angry at the sight of his nephew.

"Nothing," Harry answered, shaking his head.

"That bird of yours is getting too loud! I can't even hear the TV," he complained, rising in his chair a little. It looked hard to do.

"I've told you before; she's restless," Harry told him, quietly. "I can't-."

"Then, let her out," he waved his hand dismissively, leaning back in. Harry watched the chair sink farther back under his weight, creaking a little. It looked like it was in agony. His uncle's face snapped to him, eyes narrowed. Damn, he said that out loud. Go!" Harry ran back up the stairs, closing the door behind him.

He looked around Dudley's second bedroom as he moved to Hedwig's cage. There was lot of Dudley's old stuff packed into a corner, the empty dresser held the owl's cage, and the small bed – more like cot – had Harry's school trunk on it, where he'd been doing homework.

Hedwig was rattling the cage, excitedly, as she did when he was going to let her out. Smart bird, Harry thought. He opened it and she immediately stepped through the door to stand on the edge of the dresser.

"No letters then," Harry asked, disappointedly. It was worth a try. He'd ask her every time he disappeared from the room, even if it was only for a short moment. He hadn't gotten any letters so far, which was normal. But with Voldemort back, he hoped it would urge his friends to break the rules and make sure he was alright. At least, update him on what was going on in the magical world. She chirped at him, saying "no." No owls. No letters, not even by normal mail. Not even a phone call. It had gone wrong the last time Ron called, but he was slowly understanding how it worked, and surely Hermione knew how to do it.

Hedwig chirped again, flapping her feathers to gain his attention. He looked back down at her, wondering why she was summoning him from his thoughts.

"Right," he said, going to the window and opening it in one motion. She was right behind him and then, outside the window. Harry watched in in joy as she spread her wings. He was a little envious. After all, she was able to leave when she wanted.

Suddenly, he had the idea to go outside and then he heard the creak of the door. Sinking his wand onto his pocket, he packed his homework up into his trunk quickly and pushed it off the side of the bed.

It was his cousin. Dim as ever, he didn't show if he heard the loud thud of the trunk falling. He had an unpleasant grin on his face as he strolled in.

"Potter," he started when he closed the door, "my friends bored."

"What do you want me to do about that?" Harry asked, resisting the urge to be rude. He could think of a dozen insults piling on the tip of his tongue.

"Come play with us, of course." Dudley was speaking slowly, as if talking to a small child.

"Aren't you too old to play games?" Harry folded his arms, moving back toward the window. Harry knew exactly what Dudley was doing. Lead him outside nicely, because he was afraid that Harry would do magic on him, and then jump him once he's sure that Harry's defenseless. "I don't want to play your games."

"Oh? Well, your friend freak mailed this earlier," Harry looked over at him and saw that he had a letter. Sure enough, it was made of parchment, not paper and it was Hermione's girly handwriting on it. Harry was ready to snatch it out of his hand. Then, Dudley ugly grin dropped and he held the letter as if he was going to rip it. Harry backed off and Dudley walked out of the room, taunting the letter as he did so. When the fuck had he gotten so smart?

Chasing him through and around the neighborhood, the gang of boys - who were much larger than Harry - laughed as they picked up any object that they could find along the chase and threw it at the young wizard. They threw bottles, rocks, any discarded item they found; and Harry even saw a shoe wiz by him.

Harry leaped off the grass and onto the concrete for the fifth time, his shoes making him slide on the wet ground. He was way ahead of all of them but he was getting really tired. He kept going, though, until he felt something hit him in the back of the knee. His consequential stumble turned into falling on the slippery, hard ground. He winced and started pulling up his body by pushing against the wall in front of him.

His eyes widened when he heard hoots of victory. He looked up to see the gang stalking toward him with smiles on their faces. Harry swore. With five big guys against him, Harry knew how awful this beating was going to be. Dudley was breathing heavily, well much more heavily than normal, as he crept closer to Harry. His smile was particularly sinister as he yelled:

"Potter!" His friends echoed him in amusement. "You're gunna get the beating of a lifetime!" He pressed Harry against the wall, hands lifting him by the front of his baggy shirt. Harry was now dangling against the wall, struggling fruitlessly.

"You won't be needing these!" Dudley's best friend Piers exclaimed, snatching Harry's glasses off and throwing them to the ground. Piers stomped on them and Harry winced at the loud crunch.

"Damn, now mum and dad have to buy you another pair," Dudley taunted, "I guess that means another beating for you," and they all laughed at his misfortune.

Harry shrunk away from Dudley, trying to merge with the wall. His efforts were futile but noticed as he heard the gang laugh again. Harry's face was red with embarrassment, anger, and anticipation of getting his ass kicked. He struggled a bit more to no avail.

Dudley pulled Harry back some and slammed his back against the wall. With a gasp of pain, Harry held onto Dudley's forearms, trying to scratch him as hard as he could. Dudley didn't budge at all. In fact he held on tighter if that was possible and cursed loudly. Harry winced at the offending noise.

Dudley have him one punch to his stomach and then another. He kept going and his friends were laughing at him and oh, he felt nauseous and weak. The air was sucked out of him again and the his head was knocked to the side. They were punching and stomping on him frenetically. He felt their weight piled on him in different parts of his body and the pain was coming down him too.

And then he felt... Cold. Freezing, deathly cold. The smiles of the gang faded - not that Harry could see - and one by one they disappeared. It was only him and Dudley. And then it was just the screams of his mother.

Why was this happening now? And why did he let Dudley, of all people, bait him? He left his wand too. Shit!

Harry almost succumbed to them, shrinking to the ground as Dudley dropped him. He pulled himself up against the wall again, trying to make distance between him and the Dementor larger.

Then he waved his wand, working on his reflexes alone, he sent the Dementor away with a huge beam of light. It was quiet and relief was flooding in until he noticed Dudley's form a few feet away and he was very silent and still in the darkness of the corner. In a matter of seconds, it dawned on him that there were two of the dark creatures and the second one had been sucking the soul out his cousin. He must have gone with the other, Harry thought as he approached his cousin.

A moment later, Harry was lugging his overweight cousin back through the neighborhood, because he could not just leave him there, and through the threshold of 4 Privet Drive. His aunt and uncle immediately grabbed their son, forcing him away from the wizard in horror and panic as if they'd seen the Dementors themselves.

"What have you done?!" His uncle cried out, and then he was pointing his finger at Harry. His face was turning purple, he was so angry, "Boy," he spat. But he didn't continue as Harry received the letter.

The letter told him that he was expelled because he used magic when he shouldn't have. In front of a muggle. They were going to destroy his wand and he had to go to court. Most importantly, his only refuge, that was school, was taken away from him.

His uncle's face was maliciously gleeful at the news but he said nothing as he and his wife scooped up their son to go to the hospital. There was a look in his eye that promised that something bad would happen to Harry when he got back.

Head down in despair, Harry went back up to Dudley's second bedroom. He looked over at the empty cage that was in the corner of the room. Then he looked to his trunk that was laying awkwardly on the floor. He went over to it and hid his wand at the bottom of the trunk, though he knew it wouldn't do much to save it. He heard the rain starting up and his mood fell impossibly farther. Not a sound came from him as he curled up into a ball, hoping that the bed would swallow him whole.

He wanted a letter, and he got one. His stomach was killing him and his knee was itching and probably bleeding. But he didn't move. He just wanted this to end and he didn't want to be here when the Ministry officials showed up. He didn't want to be here.

And suddenly, he wasn't. Harry blinked, not that it helped, his vision was still blurry.

It was really dark, darker than his – Dudley's room at the Dursleys. He smelt dirt and grass, not that the odor waving off of his body smelt any better, and heard various sounds. Swishing, creaking, and hissing words amongst them. Judging by that, there were snakes nearby and he felt leaves shifting near him. With dirt under his fingernails, baggy clothes covered in sweat and grime, and unarmed, Harry let out a shaky breath of despair. He closed his eyes as they started to burn with tears.