Alyssum May Dursley
By: moonlightbear
Summary: Alyssum (Alyssa) May Dursley is 7yrs younger than her brother and cousin. She sees magic in a way no other muggle does… than again she may not be as muggle as you think…
Author's notes: This story has a companion called, Future Come to Past. It's a read the series story and as I finish each book of the series, I will post the next chapter of this story.
Disclaimer: I own no HP rights and stuff… is that good enough?
Chapter One: Life before magic…
She was only four years old when magic was relativity properly introduce to her and her family, but in the years to come the only things she'll remember from the experience were the big burly man and the letter storm in the living room. Before then, she was just a curious little toddler and baby. She loved to travel and therefore a trouble maker when she began to crawl.
One of her first feats was climbing over her father's belly. It delighted Vernon, and Alyssa was his little daddy's girl. She loved her family so; at times though, she drove them nuts. Petunia had to check every door and window a thousand times a day to make sure Alyssum couldn't and didn't get out, but somehow she always did. Once she got as far as a mile away from home before her big brother found her. Dudley loved the attention he got when he found her too and cared very much for his sister. Somehow Alyssa had gotten on the roof a few times, as well. They always came up with reasonable explanations when Harry was at Mrs. Figg's, or blamed him when he was home.
She was the complete opposite of her brother Dudley, both in personality and looks. Their parents were raising them the same, giving her what ever she wanted and more. If Dudley didn't take some of her stuff (which he often did), one of her first words were 'no,' and she used it often. Don't get the little girl wrong she loved toys and sweets and everything, but even for a child it gets to be too much. She liked the word 'no,' it is still one of her favorites. Where Dudley would beg for second and third, even fourth helpings to dinner, Alyssa would say no. She was thin and boney like her mother and didn't need much to fill herself. She liked stuff animals more than the electronic gizmos Dudley had all the time, and so her room was filled to the hill with them.
She loved to explore and she loved her cousin, but she was never allowed near him long enough to really get to know him. Her mother always made 'that boy' to stay in another room while she, Alyssum, was up. It was funny when the little girl began to speak and she learned her families' name. She called them mummy, dad dad, dud dud, and that boy. The Dursleys thought this was hilarious and had her repeat her given name to Harry dozens of times.
Harry loved his little cousin though, she was a peach, and never meant any harm. She was an outright Houdini when it came to her crib. Petunia purchased a crib cover and locks to keep her inside it at night, but she always found her way out. They found her in the mornings sleeping in a mess of stuff animals under her bed or beside it. If they awoke in the middle of the night, they find her talking/ babbling by the cupboard under the stairs. At first Harry found this funny and as her vocabulary grew her conversations became more interesting, but this came at a cost. He was grounded a lot more and forced to stay in his cupboard for longer and longer. It took a long time for Alyssum to realize the more she snuck out of her crib to talk to her cousin the less she saw of him during the day. Once Harry wished so hard to be let out of the cupboard, so he could put the toddler in bed and he would be allowed to walk through the house, that one night it clicked open. The 8 –almost 9- year old boy was baffled when he came up stairs and found his little cousin's crib still locked and secured while the little girl was in his arms. He found the keys in a nearby drawer and asked the baby to stay in her crib and sleep. She did, but the next day Harry didn't see the whole house liked he hoped.
Petunia was pleased to find her daughter sound asleep in her locked crib and decided to let her baby girl sleep some more. She walked down the stairs and went to unlock the cupboard door, but it was already unlocked. "Vernon!" She called so loud it woke the whole house. Vernon rushed down the stairs and Petunia told her husband about the cupboard. He dragged his nephew out of the small room. Harry, who awoke with a headache from hitting his head on the underneath of a stair, struggled against his uncle. Vernon had suspected Harry was the one who let little Lyssa out at night, but now this little bugger was escaping his room too, and god only know what the boy had done to his precious little girl! That infuriated the father, and that boy was going to pay. Harry pleaded, and struggled against his uncle trying to explain he had only put her back to bed, but anything he said or did was un-heard as his uncle backhanded him. The boy fell backwards, tripping over the leg of the coffee table and landing roughly on the floor in front of the couch. The large man grabbed a belt from the coat rack and brought the make shift whip down only to miss, as the intended victim ran. The small boy reached his cabinet and tried to close it but was unsuccessful as it was ripped open and his uncle dragged him out by the leg. Vernon held the boy's leg as he whipped him several times. A couple of cries, a hush, a grunt, and a gasp all sounded at the first strike of the whip. The grunt came from the man himself who held the whip as he repeated to hurt the young boy in front of him. The young boy was the one who cried out and bawled as he was beaten and he curled onto himself to protect himself as much as possible. Standing in the kitchen doorway, Petunia gasped as her husband attacked the boy. The second cry came from upstairs; Alyssum was awoken by her mother's yell and Houdini'd her way out to find out what was happening. She was at the top of the stairs watching as her father dragged Harry out of his cupboard and began to hurt him. Dudley covered his sister's eyes and pulled her from the view before them and tried to calm her. "Shhh, it's ok." He whispered as he hugged her. "Harry was bad, he deserves it." Dudley explained, just as his mother had done a few years before to him. A moment or so later there was a thud under the stairs and then Vernon climbed the stairs. Dudley and Alyssa hid in the hall bathroom as their father went into his bedroom. Petunia gathered her children into the dining room and began breakfast just as her husband walked out the front, slamming the door shut. Everyone flinched, Alyssa began to cry again, and a rustle and whimper came from under the stairs. It was a horribly stressful day.
Alyssum saw her cousin later that day. Red nose and puffy eyed, Harry sat backwards on a chair as his aunt put disinfectant on his back. During this time, his aunt lectured him on letting Alyssa out at night. When he denied this, Petunia push her thumb on one of the cuts and he'd hiss in pain and fell silent. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw the little girl in the door way and shifted his vision to the ground in front of him, upset that she had caused so much trouble for him. When he looked up again though, he saw her with tears in her eyes, mouthing the words, "I'm sorry," over and over again and knew deep down, she never meant for this to happen. Besides, it's not like this was the first time, nor will it be the last. Harry thought to himself that he should be used to it by now, but the fury gets to you, you know…
Alyssum's eyes were more open after that day, and though she loved her daddy she knew he was doing bad things. The bad things weren't secluded to just Harry either. Three weeks after her cousin's whipping her father smacked her across the face for saying "No!" one too many times. He backhanded Dudley on her third birthday because he knocked her over to get to the birthday cake first. The difference between Harry and the Dursley kids' abuse was that Vernon made it up to his children, while Harry suffered in silence. Harry's abuse was also much harsher, than the Dursley kids. Vernon would buy Dudley and Alyssa dozens of toys and force them in to staying in the same room until they forgave him. They always did.
The tension that was always in the house heightens as her fourth birthday passed, and summer arrived…
Stay tuned for chapter 2: Letter's and the Burly Man
Author's notes: the summers between Harry's school years are very important to this fic; unfortunately, I only have books 1, 5, 6, & 7… and I have all the movies and remember most of the books I don't have…