Hogwarts School of Magecraft and Sorcery

By: OnlyJ

Chapter One: Introducing the Freak

For years he was nobody. He was the freak, the boy, the slave meant to serve and do as he was told. There was nothing special about him. He wasn't allowed to be special. He wasn't allowed to be smart. He wasn't allowed to be anything other than who his relatives wanted him to be. Should he stray from the path he was given he knew that things would not end well for him. After all Vernon Dursley was an angry man, insignificant in regards to most things, however in his home he was the lord and master. He was the king, petunia was the queen and Dudley was the perfect pampered little prince who could do no wrong and deserved to have everything handed to him on a golden platter. After all silver simply would not do for someone as important as Dudley.

Vernon was the type of man who ruled with an iron fist. He was big and mean and despite first appearances he was smart. He was smart enough to know how to get what he wanted and he was clever enough to destroy anything that he didn't like or anything that got in his way. That being said there were a number of things that Vernon did not like. However if he were to answer honestly there was one thing that he despised more than anything else. Harry Potter was the representation of everything that Vernon hated. He was not only a freak, but harry was the result of true love and Vernon had heard many a story about his horrible freakish parents. those who had lived in the lap of luxury not having to work for anything. He had listened for years to his beautiful wife petunia about how the potters were some of the wealthiest and most powerful people where they come from, Literal lords and ladies. They had money influence and power. From the sound of it they had everything and Vernon had to work for every bit, every scrap of what he had all the while those potters had to work for nothing. While petunia was jealous of her sister Vernon was simply disgusted by the idea of what the potters represented.

It wasn't until he was six and started school proper that freak learned his name was harry potter. It was evident from the moment that he answered his first question in his first lesson that harry was bright. He was unusually small and he flinched when people got to close, he was almost scarily polite for someone his age and he was always clothed in the worst rags but if there was one thing that harry had going for him he was smart. Harry knew he wasn't to be special he knew that he wasn't to be anything but sometimes when he stepped through the doors of the primary school he felt that maybe there was something that made him special. He was smart and every teacher that he came across told him such. Craving that attention, needing to know that he was better at something harry worked as hard as he could to continue to receive praise. He worked to be smart and no one told him that it was wrong. His relatives could care less about him but when he was in the classroom he was not freak or boy he was Harry Potter, the smartest kid in the room.

Staring down at the seemingly insignificant piece of paper gripped in his hand so tightly someone might think the boy was trying to strangle it to death harry smiled. He closed his fist and his eyes and allowed himself the brief respite knowing that he was going to be okay even if it was only for a little while. White knuckles slowly gained color as he unfisted his fingers and released the paper which blew from his hand and was gone to the elements. Turning his face towards the sky harry thanked whoever was looking out for him that he had this going for him at least. It might have been small, but in his opinion small was better than nothing, after all he knew what nothing was like and small was much much better.

Dudley harry's enormous spoiled foul older cousin ran over to his mother and began to chat excitedly about the summer ahead of him and as he came back to reality harry couldn't help but consider the fact that school was only two months one week and two days away. Harry was smart, he would not allow his masters and keepers to figure it out they would not take this away from him.

That summer after his first year at school was surprisingly one of the best he had ever had. Sure he didn't get to sleep as much as he would have liked and his stomach was always empty no matter how much he tried to fill it with water from the hose and bathroom sink and maybe his cousin was a horrible creature for anyone to have to deal with for long periods of time but that summer harry found the place that would come to be his sanctuary.

The library was one of the best in not only his village but also the best in the area. The community had worked to build one of the best libraries around in order to brag about how educated and well rounded their community was. Harry giggled at the thought that there were very few people that spent a consistent amount of time despite the fact that the library had cost a great deal of money and work only to discard it when it was no longer shiny and new and worth bragging about. The library was run by a middle aged man that was tall and thin and yet he always had a smile to spare and story to share. He loved the library almost as much as harry and he would often share a good laugh with the boy about how the wealthy snooty snobs that lived here had created something amazing here and yet were too dense to really appreciate it.

The mornings were always the worst part of the day. He was woken early before the sun rose most days in order to do chores that no normal ten year old should do. Harry worked sometimes until he was bleeding and after struggling through the work if it was okay he would be given leave to go do whatever it was a freak does in his free time. If his work wasn't good enough he was beaten black and blue and then sent away for fear that looking at him another moment would cause his uncle to do something that would cost him more than he was willing to pay.

Everyday that summer harry made it to the library, sometimes he was a little late because he had to bandage his hands or find a good way to cover the marks that were beaten into him but school was only so far away and this year he was going to be even smarter. He wasn't going to let his mind suffer like his body was forced too.

Books were amazing because first they didn't scream which harry appreciated and they didn't attack him. Sometimes they made his head hurt when he tried to comprehend something too great for him to understand but that always left him feeling determined and when he was finally able to put all the pieces together he was just about as satisfied as he thought it was possible to feel.

Harry was smart he didn't want that to ever change.

Harry would be the first to admit that sometimes strange things happened to him or around him. It was usually it the rare instances that something got to him, got underneath his skin in such a way he couldn't just shake it off and he couldn't just not think about it. When this happened two things occured, harry became frustrated with the situation which was usually when the strange occurrence happened and then he would get angry at himself for not being able to control himself and his emotions after he was sure that smart people didn't have such trouble with their emotions like he did.

Most of the time he tried to push the unusual away and bury it in the deepest darkest parts of his mind however occasionally he would think something that would lead him to considering the strange instances which his relatives would call freakishness before beating him and throwing him in the dark cupboard under the stairs. He tried not to think about those types of things because no matter how he spun it it never quite seemed to make sense and things like that bothered him. He got the impression that one day he would find the meaning behind the strange occurrences however he also had the distinct impression that that was something that he would figure out when it was time and not a moment sooner. It was kind of frustrating but he knew that thinking about it now before the time had come would only serve to frustrate him more. The occurrences didn't stop after he came to this realization however every time they happened he was better about putting them away in the recesses of his mind and thus was able to push past them much faster.

The years went by. Sometimes life seemed to pass by in flash but it was always a distinct and well understood flash. Harry remembered just about everything with ease and so life did not blur by him. He spent most of his free time that he got as he got older and better at serving and circumventing his masters at the library. He never lost his passion for learning and though he couldn't skip grades without the permission of his guardians he did study forward and every year he established himself as the most clever person among the student body of not only his primary school but also the secondary school that was connected to his own. After establishing the fact that he was clever and could answer any question thrown his way and solve any problem his professors stopped asking him and testing him unnecessarily. He was by far the most clever person many a person had ever met and his masters had no idea. After all when he left school he was no longer harry potter, He was the freak boy slave. At home he was silent, meant to work and preferably not be seen or heard.

It was the summer after his final year of primary school and harry was both looking forward to and dreading secondary school. He knew he was way ahead of just about every person his age and the vast majority of people up to ten, fifteen, maybe even twenty years ahead of him. The problem was he looked like he was seven even thought he was ten and soon to be eleven. Today was Dudley's own eleven birthday and also one of the few times that his relatives were unable to push him off on their kindly elder neighbor because she had broken her leg and was at the hospital. Harry was also bummed because usually when he was left with the elderly ms figg she would usually make sure that he had at least one good meal and always took him to the library and they would spend the day within the stacks of books most of which looked as if they had never been touched must less the many years harry had been coming there.

Anyway harry wasn't really looking forward to going to the zoo primarily because it would be a day wasted and he wasn't expecting to have much fun because he was always sad when he thought about animals that were caged up and separated from the life they were supposed to be living and it was always for the enjoyment of people that only cared for a short period of time before getting distracted.

Making it to the zoo harry was tasked with staying as far away from the masters as possible and if he didn't want to stay and become part of the exhibit he would be back at the car at precisely two thirty and if he wasn't where he was supposed to be when the Dursley's wanted to leave well that wasn't their problem now was it. He had learned that the hard way when he was left behind at a shopping center when he was young and had to walk back to number four privet drive and it was not a fun walk to have taken part in. It was raining and cold and harry was not well equipped for such a season. In fact harry was never well equipped for any season and most situations.

Anyway harry walked around the zoo aimlessly occasionally glancing sadly at the animals that surrounded him. Some of them looked back at him curiously however he never really got close enough to get a proper look. Eventually harry went to the home of the snakes. Even though it was still sad harry still found serpents interesting. They were strange to him but also so clever and so very just cool. It was perhaps one of the only childhood wishes that he still held on to that perhaps one day he would have a pet snake. That would be cool. Just the thought of it made him smile which was a rare thing for the young harry potter.

Approaching the snake that did not have any spectators at that particular point in time harry looked over the giant creature and grinned, he carefully read the sign and went on to just look longingly at the magnificent serpent. He was unsure if he wanted to have a snake that was giant or somewhat small. Looking at the giant snake thought he thought that perhaps a nice medium snake would be perfect. The snake appeared to have been sleeping but as harry loomed over it for longer than was typical for the zoo onlookers the snake opened one eye and glanced at the boy who was so small he could have probably swallowed him whole.

Harry noticing the creature awakening got a broader grin.

"You're amazing." The snake blinked and rose to peer into the face of this strange snake speaking boy.

"You speak," the snake asked his voice soft and yet strong with a hint of curiosity.

Harry looked at the snake confused but said nothing while he carefully considered what was happening. Did he just hear that snake ask him if he spok?.

"Can you understand me," Harry asked softly knowing that he wouldn't hear anything in response because he knew that snakes could not speak.

"You are a speaker of the snake language." The snake responded. Harry shook his head.

"So i'm not speaking my native tongue," the boy asked again.

"I would think not… I do not understand what any of the other two legged beings say when they roam past my prison."

Harry just stared at the snake who just stared back with equal interest. For a long moment nothing was said but eventually getting over his shock and just to make sure that he wasn't going crazy harry went on to have a full conversations with the snake and a couple of the other snakes in the snake house. It was a very strange thing to happen but he supposed that there was still something missing. He told himself he would look into it at some point in the near future.

The day eventually ended harry was certain to make his way to the Dursley car an hour prior to when he was supposed to be there because he knew that when the Dursley's decided they were done they would be done and they would leave even though they went against their word. After all who kept their word in regards to their servant..

For several days going on almost a week harry went over the many conversations he had with the different snakes he met at the zoo. He still had no idea how any of it had happened and he couldn't find anything regarding talking snakes or a snake language of any sort though he supposed that if someone could talk to an animal they would probably keep it quiet for fear of the same thing harry feared. People would think him crazy and lock him away and throw away they key. He did not want that.

It was during his chores a week and half after the zoo visit and harry still had not found any new information about the snake language when he came across something else that made him wary and confused. Harry hated being confused. He always wanted to have the answers so to not have the answer was the most frustrating thing harry could experience.

Anyway while his master's enjoyed their breakfast and harry was tidying up the house the mail came and while he was sorting it to his uncle's preferences he came across a letter that was not usual for number four privet drive. The letter was addressed firstly to a Mr. Harry J Potter number four privet drive the cupboard under the stairs which was a sign that something was off. The other thing that was curious to harry was the fact that the envelope was made of the most peculiar parchment. It was the type of stuff they would use over a hundred years ago and usually only for the most important of documents. Harry carefully went on with his chores stashing the letter in the over sized pocket of his trousers He grinned slightly at the fact that they would have been better suited for a baby elephant considering they had once been a part of Dudley's closet like three or four years ago.

He continued on with his chores after all he would have time to ponder what was going on later when he was at the library.