Warnings: Child abuse, manipulative!people, and cynical!Harry.
Welcome to my Life
Chapter 1
"Get back here, boy!"
Harry scurried away from his uncle as fast as his bruised legs would carry him. He limped through the kitchen towards the back door, but his uncle, not being injured in the slightest, was faster. Vernon grabbed Harry by the arm and pulled him sharply away from his destination.
Harry groaned, both in dismay and distress; his uncle managed to pull his arm from the socket and aggravated his broken ankle. Vernon turned Harry forcefully to face him, raised his hand menacingly and backhanded Harry so brutally he collapsed to the ground, holding his cheek in agony. His uncle took advantage of his position and started kicking Harry anywhere he could reach, managing a few kicks to his chest and groin. Harry was hurting so badly, he could barely manage curling into a ball trying to make himself seem as small as possible, while also protecting most of his vital organs.
Harry had been beaten many times before and knew that he would not be able to do any of his chores for weeks if he splintered a rib; however a small fracture he could deal with. He also knew not to scream, as it would attract the attention of Petunia and the neighbors. Petunia's attention wouldn't be bad, per say, but she would complain about how 'that boy' would work slower while injured, which might end this beating early, but would make the next beating much worse. The neighbors were a different story. They would have questions, which would be difficult to answer and Harry would most likely go without food for a week. He preferred a beating to starvation; hunger pains were loads worse than broken bones.
Thankfully, Dudley wasn't around to cheer Vernon on and all this exercise was getting to him. He walked over Harry to the fridge, grabbed a beer and ambled into the living room to watch TV. Harry groaned quietly and rolled onto his hands and knees. He slowly, painfully stood up and limped at the pace of a turtle towards the stairs. Once there, he looked up at the stairs and groaned, dreading the seemingly impossible task of climbing upstairs. Harry set to work, knowing that the sooner he started, the sooner he could lie down and sleep away the pain. Halfway there, Vernon called out "Boy! Clean up your mess! You don't have a maid to clean up after you!"
Harry rolled his eyes, thinking "No, but I'm your maid, having to clean up after you and your pig of a son." All Harry wanted to do was ignore him, but knew he'd be severely punished for disobeying an order. He gathered his strength and hopped as best he could back down the stairs.
He hobbled to the kitchen, righting furniture and knick-knacks as he went. Harry grabbed the supplies he needed and started cleaning his blood off the floor of the hallway. While he was working he took note of his injuries: A broken ankle, bruised legs, three sprained fingers all on his left hand, a bruised rib, thank god, a split lip, broken nose and his right eye was blackened and swelling. He had a few cuts from Vernon's rings, but they were minor. All in all, he wasn't that bad off. It was mostly blood from his still-dripping nose that he was cleaning up. There wasn't much, thankfully, so he was finished rather quickly. He rushed as much as his protesting body allowed up the stairs and to his room. He would clean the blood from his face in the morning, but for now Harry just wanted to sleep. Being beaten was exhausting work.
His last thought before collapsing onto his bed, too tired for thought and drifting off into a nightmare-filled sleep was "Just another regular day at the Dursley household."
A/N: This is going to be my first chaptered fic! It wont be long, but I'm enjoying writing it and I hope you like it, too :)