Chapter 1

The little boy stood in the doorway, slightly awkwardly as he opened the door; as the new sight met his eyes he froze in shock and the many other emotions that the boy could not possibly process. All these different thoughts and feelings bombarded him. The boy was eleven years old but he was small for his age. He had jet black hair and bright sparkling green eyes that glistened slightly at the sight that met his eyes from the doorway. The green was slightly hidden by his wire frame glasses, however the tears were still visible behind them. Even though the tears never fell, this uncharacteristic show of emotion demonstrated just how effected the boy was by the sight that met his eyes. These unshed tears made the green gems look even bigger.

After staring for a while the little boys eyes quickly darted away from the shocking sight, he pulled at his frayed sleeve, staring intently at it and trying to focus all of his attention on this menial task. He was trying to get his mind away from thinking about the sight before him. He did not want to think about it. Although he knew he would have to deal with it and that moment was looming closer and closer he would try to put it off for as long as possible. The rest of the boy's clothes were scruffy and old as well as being slightly on the big size. The long sleeved t-shirt that he wore was an off white colour and the sleeves hung down covering his small hands. As one of these small hands pulled at the sleeve it was revealed to have many small red angry scratches on it, some looked in the process of healing whereas others were new and looked like they may have been bleeding as soon as an hour ago. The trousers that the boy had on were also large, not to a comical proportion, but to an extent that the bottoms trailed on the floor slightly and that they needed to be pulled up every few minutes to stop them falling down.

There was a sudden yell from down the corridor and the sound of foot steps.

"Boy!" Screeched a horse like woman with a long neck, she was too thin but the clothes that she wore hugged tightly to her frame making her look even thinner.

"Boy!" she repeated "What are you doing? Who's at the…" She trailed off. Her eyes widening as she came close enough to see what the boy had seen. She may have been shocked, just as the boy had been, but the only other emotion that she felt was anger. A hot and vicious anger that wiped away any other emotions that may have been there at the back of her mind.

"What..What are you doing here!" She exclaimed disgustedly, as though addressing a tramp who had decided to spend a night on her door step to avoid the cold. It was a compassionless tone and one that promised pain if the thing offending her did not leave and leave soon. It made the boy flinch slightly, having heard that tone before and knowing what followed it. He tried to curl in on himself and backed away until his back met the wall. He kept his eyes down the entire time, not daring to look up and draw the wrath of his aunt towards himself.

In the door way there stood two people, a man and a woman. Both looking shocked at the horse woman's reaction to them and the harsh tone with which they were addressed. The woman had bright, red, fiery hair and sparkling green eyes that were full of life and love. The man was taller then the woman and had black shaggy hair, black circular glasses and brown eyes. Eyes that seemed to glitter with a hint of mischief as though he was already planning how to get back at the woman. The boy happened to glance up and see the look in his eyes and knew that there would be trouble if that look was directed at him. It was a look that would not lead to a good conclusion for the man; he would not let it be. The boy was not one to fear mischief and knew how to deal with someone in such a way that he would never be caught.

"Hello to you too Petunia, lovely to see you" the man said sarcastically to the horse faced woman. Petunia bristled slightly at the comment and seemed to be thinking of a response as acidic as the look in her eyes.

"James!" said the woman, hitting the shaggy haired man on the arm. She knew that Petunia would not react well and did not want to have a fight with her sister and cause a fight between the people that had looked after her son for ten years of his life.

"Sorry Lily" James mumbled, looking slightly embarrassed at being reprimanded by his wife. He knew that he should be more respectful to the woman in front of him as she had been the one to raise his son, however reluctantly. Being courteous may be the difference between having a good or bad relationship with his son and having this relationship was the reason he was here, after all. Due to this he steeled himself to stop fighting. He could still see the son out of the corner of his eye and knew that he needed to keep his temper.

"I suppose you two better come in then" Petunia muttered distastefully "I don't want any of the neighbours seeing freaks on my door step." She then ushered the two into the living room, indicating for them to sit down on the sofas.

"Well sit down then! Tea? Yes tea!" Petunia said quickly, she didn't give either of them a chance to reply as she rushed out to the kitchen to make the tea.

Well in truth it was more that. She needed to get her temper under control. She knew that the two people in the room could cause some serious damage to her and her family. She should be glad. The little freak would be gone soon enough and for that she should be celebrating. At last the reign of silence would be over, the hundreds of questions left hanging in the air, the cold gaze as the only response to the yells and shouts directed at him. Finally the silent little blight on their family would be gone. She smiled. A smile that was filled with all the resentment and fear that had built up for ten years. It twisted up over her face like a vine growing up a wall and as it did tears began to leak out of the corners of her eyes. Tears that were both joyous and sorrowful, ecstatic and terrified. Petunia had been changed when that young boy had come into her life. She didn't know why but he terrified her. His silent, cold demeanour. She was so glad, so glad that he would never return to her. She was finally free, finally. She knew this and yet the tears would not stop falling down her face.