This is my first fanfiction, ever, so please, bear with me for the not so good quality, and please leave a review with some constructive criticism if possible. This is not an entire chapter, just a bit of one, so that I can see what needs improving. Thanks for reading.
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, or his world. That belongs to J.K Rowling, and I am most certainly not her. I am only playing in the playground she has created.
Edit 14/01/16: Today we have lost a very talented actor, one who will be sorely missed by me, and all the rest of us. I have genuinely spent three hours curled up in a ball and crying about his death. Rest in peace, Alan Rickman.
Harry sat in the very back of the class, the only one on his table of four. He was left well alone after his cousin had scared everyone away. The others were still working on the sheet about the alphabet that Mrs Day, his kindly Year 3 teacher had given them. He of course had already finished, but huddled over the paper with his pencil, nothing more than a stub, giving the impression that he was still working. From his position, he could see everyone, and the looks they sent back at him every so often, laughing at his old clothes and taped up glasses. Once the last person had put their pencil down, always his cousin Dudley, he waited until Dudley turned around to put his pencil down, pretending that he'd just finished. He knew that if it seemed like he'd finished before Dudley, break would be a game of not so fun (for him at least) hide and seek. He checked to see if he still had his book, the one he had found on the bookshelf in the morning.
He fiddled with his pencil stub and started looking at the worksheet. When Mrs Day allowed them to start the worksheet, he knew all the answers, and for him, it was just a case of filling it in. He was so focused on his work that he didn't spot the commotion happening at the front of the classroom. Two girls were laughing at something one of them had said, and Mrs Day banished one of them to the timeout chair. The timeout chair was, predictably, one of the chairs on Harry's table. One of the girls, Aria, stood up and sauntered over to him, and sat down, arms crossed in front of her and a small pout on her face. Her face brightened as an idea came to her. Quickly looking at Dudley to make sure he wasn't looking, she poked Harry. He flinched, and turned to face her. "Why aren't you listening to Mrs Day?" she whispered. He flinched again, and turned to face the front, watching what Mrs Day was writing on the board. She poked him again. "Talk to me." He didn't look at her. "Pwease?" She pushed her lower lip out into a pout. "I was listening." He mumbled under his breath. "I don't believe you." She leaned back. "I was!" He said a bit louder. "What's she talking about then?" She challenged him. "She's teaching us about prefixes. And she's just moved on to suffixes." Aria checked the board. "Well done." She looked down and saw the book. "Ooh, what are you reading?" He reddened and tried to hide it. "Nothing." He mumbled. "That's not true." She made a grab for it. He turned and tried to yank it away, but not before she saw the title. "You're reading 'The BFG'? Have you read any of Roald Dahl's other books? He's my favourite author at the moment. I'm reading 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' at the moment. It's soo good." She finally paused for breath and saw him looking slightly scared of her ramble. "I like Roald Dahl too." He finally said after a moment. "I've read 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'. It's really good, but my favourite is 'James and the Giant Peach'."
Soon they were both engaged in a conversation about books, and their authors. Unknown to them, Dudley turned around to glare at his cousin, and found him talking. He grew angry, no one was allowed to talk to the freak, he was a freak, he was nothing. Sooner than they would have liked, the bell rang, signalling the beginning of break. Aria leapt up. "It was nice talking to you." She turned and ran after her best friend, leaving Harry behind. Harry followed the rest of his class out, and immediately headed to the bigger climbing frame. He held his book in one hand and scrambled up the ladder with his other. Finally he got to the top and wandered over to one of the random corners. He sat down and opened his book, getting absorbed in someone's else life. All too soon, he heard the bell ring and slid down the pole to join the rush of kids running to line up. He was last, as normal, to keep out of sight of Dudley and his cronies. He quickly hid the book under his over large shirt; in the crush of people, nobody saw him slip the book under his shirt for safekeeping.
They all filed into the classroom, some hanging around the coat racks, most just moving to their seats, Harry included. He carefully slipped the book from under his shirt and onto the table next to him, and looked for Aria. His eyes widened as he realised she wasn't there. Nor was Dudley, or the rest of his gang. In fact, there were several people missing. He shuddered and decided to keep his head down and try to ignore it.
Meanwhile, Aria sat next to her best friend in the headmaster's office, with tears welling up in her eyes as she held her hand to her cheek where there was a purple bruise blooming. Dudley and his gang were sat on the opposite side of the table, glaring at her. There were also quite a few more kids in the office, making it rather crowded. The headmaster entered, sat down, and sighed. He asked, "What happened?" Aria said, whimpering, "I...I was just playing on the tires, and then Dudley came up to me and... and punched me!" The headmaster asked, "Just Dudley?" Aria's best friend, Cecilia, answered for her, holding her hand to her own bruise, "No Mr Williams. There was Piers and the rest of that group." Mr Williams nodded thoughtfully. "Do you know why they did it?" he asked. Both of them hesitated and Aria shot a frightened look at Dudley before they both shook their heads.
Mr Williams turned to Dudley. "Why did you hit them?" he asked sternly. Dudley being an idiot with more fat cells than brain cells answered with, "Because they were talking to the freak." Mr Williams' face hardened. "Who is 'the freak'? We have no freaks in this school." Dudley, not recognising the danger, plowed straight on. "The freak is the freak. His name is.." here his face scrunched up with the effort of trying to remember his cousin's name. "His name is Harry? I think?" Mr Williams straightened suddenly. "Harry? Harry Potter?" Dudley nodded stupidly. "Very well. Aria and Cecilia, you may go to the nurse. Dudley, Piers and the rest of you lot, go wait outside this office in silence, and I will talk to the rest of you about exactly what happened."
Later, after school, Harry was walking home, by himself as usual, looking out for Dudley, only to find him missing. He trembled, and decided to hurry back to see where Dudley was. As soon as he stepped inside the front door, he was greeted with a blow and sent back outside to enter through the back door. Aunt Petunia grabbed his ear and dragged him into the living room where Uncle Vernon was waiting. His face was red, rapidly turning to purple as he greeted his nephew with a bellow. "YOU ARE A BURDEN UPON THIS FAMILY! YOU FREAK! YOU GOT DUDLEY IN TROUBLE FOR PUNCHING SOMEONE! HE WAS CALLED TO THE HEADMASTER! DO YOU KNOW HOW THIS WILL LOOK TO THE NEIGHBOROURS?" He punctuated each sentence with a punch to his nephew. After Harry fell to the floor, he started kicking him. Harry had no concept of time; he only felt the pain of the kicks to his stomach, and once he felt a rib crack. Once Vernon had had his fill of abusing his nephew, he dragged him to the cupboard and threw him in and locked the door. Harry lay on his cot, unconscious, and slowly, the extensive bruises to his abdomen and the cracked rib began to heal.
