I looked out my small window. A warm ray of sun fell across my face. We were going to the park - but I knew I would not be able to play. My uncle would say, "Sit here, and DON'T MOVE, or, you won't be able to move for the next week!" He always says that. But I still like to go to the park.
I liked to watch the kids play with their parents. I had always wondered what it felt like to be hugged or kissed goodnight, or, for someone just to care about you - not yell and hit you for everything. I did not do anything to deserve getting hit!
When we got to the park, my uncle and aunt left me and went off to play with Dudley.
I spotted a dog. Forgetting what my uncle had said to me about not moving, I walked over to it - a big, black dog lying under an oak tree. I slowly approached it and saw that it was sleeping. So I looked at it for a moment. It was as big as me. Its hair seemed to glow in the sunlight. Yellow and silver streams reflected in the black waves of its fur as it breathed. I felt something, a power surrounding this sleeping animal. I wanted to stay there, beside it where I felt …safe.
"Hi, I'm… Harry".
The dog perked its head up from its nap, and as I said my name, it started barking
frantically. Then it stopped, and looked at me as though it was trying to find something in my face. Its eyes seemed to go over every detail. It reminded me of…of more than a dog.
All of a sudden, I heard my uncle scream, "I told you not to move, boy!"
And with those words, I felt his hand grab my wrist, and the other slapped me across my right cheek. I let out a cry of pain as I was dragged away to where my uncle had left me.
In a voice no one else could hear, my uncle growled, "If I see you move an inch, you're going to be sorry, boy."
With that, off he stormed, leaving me to clench my fists and wish I was back with the dog. In the background, I could hear still hear it barking. I heard a man saying, "I'm coming, Padfoot, I'm coming."
The man and the dog were getting closer – and I heard a woman's voice, also. She said, "Did you find anything? Oh, I hope you found something! If you called me over here for no good reason, I'm going to go crazy. Do you understand me?". She laughed. "And you don't want to see me go crazy on the two of you!"
The dog seemed to understand, and answered, "Ruff!".
I was startled, for now, the dog was right in front of me! I could feel its breath, and then, it licked my face. I looked up to see the dog, a man, and a woman standing there, staring at me. The woman had a shocked expression on her face.
Her mouth was the only part of her that moved. The rest of her seemed to stand still as stone. "Harry?"
I looked at her, confused, wondering how she knew my name. "Yes?"
They all stood there and looked at me. Then, the dog walked right up to me, and started licking my face and nuzzling my hands.
Then, suddenly, I was spun around by a new slap that found it's place on the cheek my uncle had just minutes ago bruised. I was staring, not into the nice dog's blue-green eyes, instead, I was staring into my uncle's purple furious-monster's face.
His words were so loud that they echoed in my head before I heard what he was actually saying: "Didn't you hear me calling you, boy? We're leaving!"
I mumbled to myself, "I want to stay here."
My uncle had not noticed the two people and the big black dog that stood behind me.
He started to shake me and yelled in my face. "What – did – you –say?"
I did not even have time to cry out before I was suddenly picked out of the air and held in another pair of hands, these I felt safe in.
"Vernon!" the man shouted.
My uncle's face lost all of the color he had, going from purple to paper white.
I was clinging to the man as he held me. My cheek hurt - he had hit me harder than usual. The man handed me over to the woman, and she whispered, "It's okay, Harry, it's okay. You're safe now; don't worry."
I just started to cry into her shoulder and then I heard the man say. "Leave Harry alone. What did he ever do to you-you…"
But he stopped short of cursing when he looked at me. The dog showed his teeth and growled loudly. My uncle got the idea, and walked away.
That's the only thing I remember before I fell asleep.