The six year old boy looked at the ceiling of his cupboard. He´d gone to sleep with nothing in his stomach and it was groaning painfully. He tolerated the ache for a few more minutes before he decided to sneak into the kitchen and grab something to eat. He would not get much food, just enough to calm his hunger. The Dursleys would never notice he had disobeyed their orders of staying in his cupboard.
He opened the door painfully slow as to not make much sound. He then tiptoed to the kitchen where he grabbed some cookies from the pantry. The Dursleys were fond of junk food and the kitchen was full of it. Harry was sure they´d never know the cookies were gone. He himself was not that fond of the cookies but preferred them to the pain in his stomach.
He made his way to his cupboard, his green eyes trying to find the way in the dark. He went inside it and sat on his small bed while he ate the cookies. His "bedroom" wasn´t much, but he did not need more, and he preferred it to sleeping on the floor.
Harry was skinny and small for his age. The baggy clothes he was wearing and his broken glasses fixed with tape did not help much to improve his appearance. His aunt and uncle often made offensive comments about his untamable jet-black hair. Harry had tried to comb it before to appease them, but his hair would not stay in place. He finally resigned to hear the scornful comments of uncle Vernon each morning.
Harry at his six years of age already knew he would never gain the approval of his relatives. At first he had tried to please them, but each new effort he made was rejected with more scorn than the one before. He then opted for keeping it low and trying not to attract much attention.
When he entered primary school Harry had felt hope. He was going to a place where no one knew him and would meet people that were different from his relatives. However, things were not as he had hoped. Dudley and his gang soon scared away all children from Harry. Whoever was left was finally driven away by Harry´s ugly and baggy clothes and his broken glasses.
Dudley took it upon himself to torture Harry in any way possible. Harry, on the other hand, avoided his cousin in any way he could and became quite adept at getting away from him. He finally found a breath when he discovered Dudley wouldn´t set a foot in the school´s library even if his life depended on it. He found the place to be calm and relaxing and started reading a few books to entertain himself. His reading began having an effect when he placed top on the class rankings. Of course he would only make that mistake once.
After he had gone home, uncle Vernon had taken it out on him for trying to make his cousin look bad. Of course that wasn´t what Harry had tried to do. He himself did not know how he had gotten to the rankings first place, but kept that fact to himself. He knew uncle Vernon wouldn´t listen no matter what he had to say. He waited for him to finish and deliver his punishment. He was condemned to his cupboard without food. Of course, hunger had gotten the better of him and thus the crumbles of cookies that were now scattered across his bed.
Harry sighed and changed into his pajamas. He would never make the mistake of getting first place on the class rankings again. He liked to get good grades, but starving in his cupboard was not worth the trouble.
The next day Harry woke up to the yells of his aunt. He quickly changed into some clean clothes and went out of his cupboard to start cooking breakfast. He made scrambled eggs and bacon and poured some milk into a glass. He then delivered their breakfast to the Dursleys and sat down to eat.
"Comb your hair!" Vernon said as a greeting.
Harry pursed his lips and started eating, trying to ignore the difference in serving sizes between his breakfast and Dudley´s. When they finished, Petunia shoved them in the car shouting about how late they were, all this while glaring at Harry. On the way, Harry heard his cousin tell his mother about this new toy he wanted.
"Of course, everything for my Dudikins!" Petunia said sweetly, while she sent another glare at Harry as if daring him to ask for something. Harry just rolled his eyes and kept his mouth shut.
They barely made it to school, crossing the front gates at the same time the bell rang. Both cousins made their way to their classroom and took their respective seats, Dudley with his friends and Harry at the back of the classroom.
Harry found himself being bored by the lesson.. He grabbed one of his library books and started reading. Time passed quicker after that and Harry found himself surprised when the bell for recess rang. He made his way through the classroom and was almost out the door when he was stopped by his teacher´s voice.
"Mr. Potter please stay"
Harry reluctantly turned around to face his teacher. Miss. Kinnian was an okay teacher in Harry´s parameters. She was younger than most teachers and held no prejudice against him for his worn clothes. He wasn´t exactly one of his favorites but she left him alone. Harry having been on the receiving end of other teacher´s scorn had been grateful for that.
"Yes Miss Kinnian?" Harry responded politely.
"Mr Potter, May I inquire as to what book you were reading during my lesson?" She said reprimanding him.
Harry mentally slapped himself for forgetting to be more inconspicuous while ignoring the class. He went back to his desk grabbed the book and brought it to Miss Kinnian. Guiltily he handed the book and stared at his feet while Miss. Kinnian checked it. After a while of silence he started to wonder if Miss Kinnian was going to reprimand him at all. He looked up and found Miss Kinnian´s eyes fixed on him.
"You were reading this during my class?"
Harry nodded slowly.
"This is advanced math Mr. Potter, or at least too advanced for your age. Do you really understand all of it?"
Harry gave her a questioning look before nodding again. She didn´t seem to want to reprimand him so he relaxed a little.
"Well Mr. Potter enjoy your recess" she said with a sigh
Harry thanked her before walking out the door. He felt lucky. He had been caught doing something he was not supposed to do and let of without any consequences. He then raced to the library to read some more before recess ended.
Miss Kinnian had been teaching for little more than two years. She was relatively new to her job and did not know much about children Harry´s age. But even the most ignorant person regarding children would know a six year old did not have the capacity to understand what Harry had been reading. She´d seen some children eager to learn before, but none of them had been reading Algebra. She herself hadn´t learned it until middle school. Harry on the other hand seemed to understand it perfectly and found it more interesting than his Grammar classes. She found it weird that even thought the boy seemed uninterested in his grades he still got better grades than some of her better students. She had to remember to check the library to know what other books had been read by the green-eyed boy.