A/N: Ladies, gentlemen and nonbinaries, I bid you good day and welcome to the story! I am ThatOneChickenGuy, filling in for SumOfAllZeroes and this is my first story on this particular site. Just a brief message for all readers and then we'll get to the fun.
First off, over all other things, reader reviews matter. Constructive criticism determines the result of this story whether it comes to a satisfying conclusion or ends prematurely. All I'll ever ask for from readers is that you give feedback. Unless I know you in real life. Then I want food from you. Preferably burgers. I'll also take tortellini. Yum.
Second, updates may be infrequent. This doesn't mean I'm shirking story responsibilities intentionally; just means I'm not at my computer yet. You have my solemn promise that I will do my best to update with fresh new material as quickly as possible.
Lastly, I use a lot of dry satire in my stories, so...just a warning for all of you, okay?
If you have questions, comments, or suggestions, please send em in. That's all I have for now, so let's get down to business.
Disclaimer: I own none of J.K. Rowling's work, nor anything else mentioned in the following story.
Rated T for Language and Violent Themes.
Harry Potter and the Road to Freedom
Written by ThatOneChickenGuy/PuffThePurpleDrag-on
Chapter 1: A Grim Reminder...Again, I Guess?
It is innately ingrained in the human mind to be wary of what we do not know. Since the start of the progression of man up to the modern age, it has been so, as we grasp to the fading light, hiding from the crawling dark and the sound of silence.
Silence reigned over most of Privet Drive, the exception being one room in the fourth house in the neighborhood. In this room, which was the smallest and dimmest on the property, a 15 year old boy woke up, sweating profusely. Life had not been gentle with Harry Potter; his parents died protecting him from a master practitioner of black magic, Tom Marvolo Riddle, only to be left at the doorstep of relatives who hated him.
Never mind the fact that he could have had a perfectly normal life living with several other more competent guardians, (who all had a positive history with James and Lily Potter before their untimely deaths) why not just go ahead and drop him off where convenient?
At any rate, the teenage wizard, now fully roused from his already uneasy slumber, stood up. There, criss-crossing here and there across Harry's back, was a litany of bruises and cuts, varying in severity and age. The most notable of these was matted with barely dried blood, the stains of which marred Harry's sheets just as much as the Dursleys marred the art of parenting.
As Harry dragged the contaminated sheets into the laundry room, fresh lounge-wear covering the now-thankfully subsided capillary bleeding, he heard a sharp "CRACK" come from the area of the kitchen, followed by the sound of shattering glass.
"Damn it man, I know that you aren't the best at Apparation and that we've only seen a picture of the place one time, but couldn't you at least aim for somewhere other than a kitchen?!" A familiar voice hissed, trying to keep silent after the smashes. Harry crept into the kitchen, trying to mute out the sound as best he could without the Silencing Charm.
"SIRIUS?!" Harry clasped a hand over his mouth, hoping that none of the previous sounds had awoken the Dursleys. There, at the edge of the scene of a shattered cookie jar, was Sirius Black in all his statuesque glory. Surrounding him was none other than Remus Lupin, Mad-Eye Moody and an unknown pink-haired witch.
"Harry, my boy!" Sirius called boisterously.
"Sirius, now is not the best time! You need to keep quiet or-" Harry was interrupted by the sound of a door being kicked open.
"BOY, WHAT THE HELL IS WITH ALL THAT RACK-" Vernon Dursley, still half asleep, almost would have missed Harry's group entirely had Lupin not had to sneeze at the most inconvenient of moments
"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU, AND WHY ARE YOU IN MY HOUSE?!" Everyone in the group except for Moody and Sirius gave a collective flinch at the volume.
"Well, first off, use your inside voice, Muggle!" Moody spat.
"How dare you?!" Sirius quickly put himself between Moody and Vernon before Moody decided to make Muggle chop suey. Not that it would be any good; no amount of sauce or spice would cut through that perpetual state of bitterness.
"Look, bottom line, we're part of an organization that has a mission, and that mission involves Harry. " Sirius replied getting right to the point.
"We'd've come in the morning and try to be in and out in a jiffy, but someone-" Moody turned his intense cock-eyed gaze to Sirius "-Had to see his godson A.S.A.P, and just happened to drop us right next to an expensive vase!" Mad-eye stated.
"...I said I was sorry." Sirius looked away sheepishly.
"WHEN? We just got here!" Moody raised his voice.
"Don't you patronize me, you blue-eyed son-of-a-bitch!" Sirius snapped back.
"All he did was ask when you apologized!" Lupin chimed in.
"He didn't have to yell!"
"Um...guys?" The pink-haired newbie chimed in.
"Not now, Nymphadora!"
"Don't you get short with her! She did nothing wrong!" Lupin white-knighted his way back into the conversation.
"HEEL FIDO!"
"YOU RACIST!"
"Guys?" Harry chimed in.
"YOU WOT, MATE?!"
"YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO DO THIS ON A MISSION!"
"I DIDN'T WANT TO ARGUE IN FRONT OF MY GODSON, MOODY!"
"MY BREASTS ARE BIGGER THAN YOURS!" Lupin chimed in.
"GUYS!" Harry and the now-named Nymphadora yelled in conjunction.
"WHAT!?" The men shouted back.
"This is getting WEIRD!" Harry and Nymphadora yelled.
"Why does everything in my life that involves this punk go to hell in a hand basket?"
"SHUT UP!" Every non-Muggle but Harry yelled back.
"I need a drink…" Moody took a swig of whiskey from his flask before passing it around the circle, excluding Vernon and the unconscious Petunia and Dudley.
"Look, I don't care who you are or what you do; you're all getting out of my house. Without...the boy." Vernon seethed.
"And I don't care who you think you are; my team has a job and they will do it. Am I clear?" Sirius' stare intensified, causing Vernon to actually break a sweat from the intensity.
"Now, Harry, I understand it's late and everyone here is beat. I'll make this short; Dumbledore wants me to check the blood wards on the house and the Weasleys want me to-" Sirius was cut off.
"Blood wards? You put… that… on MY HOUSE?!" Vernon's face began turning purple.
"Now, hold on. His m-" Again Sirius was cut off.
"YOU LITTLE MAGGOT! I OUGHT TO FL-"
"Wait." Nymphadora silenced all noise in the house. "Do you smell it, Lupin?"
"What do you mean?" Lupin asked. Nymphadora sniffed the air again.
"A strong metallic scent. Over here, take a whiff." Lupin did.
"It's coming from…" Lupin pinpointed the smell on Harry. The Dursleys, now all completely roused, froze in grim anticipation.
"Harry… what happened?" Harry flinched at the question, failing to pass the issue off as nothing.
"I-I've no idea what you mean, godfather." Harry offered a cheap smile, which of course, Sirius didn't buy.
"Harry, tell me what happened." Sirius asked with more force behind it.
"N-nothing. Just sl-slipped on some mud… y-yeah, that's it. Mud!"
"Harry, mud doesn't have a metallic smell that strong. It has to have more elements added to it to give off that harsh a smell." Moody ripped a gaping hole into Harry's alibi.
"I...I can't tell you." Moody was about to snap at Harry about trying to help him, but Nymphadora shushed him.
"Harry, we're going to try to help you. Can you trust us to do that?" Harry didn't know what to think about the girl, eventually giving an unsure nod.
"Okay. Now, I know that there's a metallic scent coming off of you; I don't know about you, but that's generally abnormal. Usually means that there's blood in the air. You're not gonna be in trouble if you tell us what's wrong. Can you trust me to take care of you and keep you safe?" Harry nodded again, slightly more sure.
"Now, I'm going to lift your shirt a bit to see if you have any open sores. Okay?" Harry gave a final nod, and the investigation began.
"Okay, nothing her on your front… Working my way round… I think I may-" Nymphadora stopped, noticing the collective scarred tissue that barely passed for Harry's back. Her hair and eyes flew to electric-blue-surprised, before landing on a dark shade of red.
"All right," Nymphadora flicked her wrist, her wand extending to her palm as a blue and white fire, a yard long in the shape of a blade snapped outward. "Which one of you PRICKS did this, huh?!"
"W-What are you talking about? I have no-ah!" Vernon just barely missed his flesh being singed.
"You don't, huh? Let me put it in layman's terms, then; HE HAS FRESH BRUISES AND OPEN WOUNDS! Care to explain why?" Her voice carried a sickeningly sweet tone that easily conveyed her displeasure.
"I can't imagine-AHH! Okay, I'll talk, I'll talk! He didn't do as he was told! Dudley added to it too!"
"DAD!" Dudley shouted exasperatedly.
"Soo-eee, pig-pig-pig-pig!" Nymphadora positioned her sword to cleave through Dudley, flames eager to lick his sweaty, plump flesh…
...Only to be stopped by Harry, holding a ward steadfastly to protect his abusive 'family'.
"Harry?!"
"No. No matter what they did, we will not hurt those beneath us." Moody gave a snarl.
"Move Harry. Let them know pain as you have." Harry remained in front of the Muggles.
"No. I refuse to allow them to suffer, even for my own satisfaction. Not because they deserve to be forgiven, not because I hate what they did, but because I deserve peace." Harry turned to Vernon, now leaning against Sirius for support. "This will not happen again. You will not hurt me, I will not protect you from them. This is the only olive branch I will extend you; this place is not my home and I will not stay here anymore." Sirius nodded.
"Right, well, we've overstayed our welcome and then some. Nymphadora-"
"Cousin." Nymphadora warned.
"Sis, would you kindly help Harry pack?" The girl's hair shifted back to its previous bubblegum-pink spiky pixie cut.
"Sure! C'mon Harry, show me to your room!" Our protagonist and his new chipper companion quietly crept down the carpeted corridor.
"Dad?"
"Yeah, Dud?"
"The pink one scares me." Sirius let out a hearty laugh.
"You and countless wizards. We saw her scare off a Dementor using only a light bulb once." The entire family swallowed hard.
(...)
"Y'know Harry, I expected you to not have a lot to work with, but this is ridiculous." Harry scratched his head sheepishly.
"Yeah. Well, my trunk is right here but-" Harry was interrupted by the pink-haired girl's Organization Charm neatly packing all his belongings neatly into the trunk. The only thing she had a problem with was a few pairs of socks.
"I still don't get how mom always pulled that one off. Well, c'mon Harry, we've got a ride waiting on us." Harry eagerly followed the girl to Sirius and without a second more of delay, the group disappeared to a tunnel beneath Privet Drive.
A/N: Part One of The Road to Freedom is done! So again, if you enjoyed this chapter, please send in your feedback. I'll be working on this tomorrow also, so expect an update around next week. Thank you for reading.
This is ThatOneChickenGuy signing off.
Auf Wiedersehen!