Chapter 1: That Girl
Mr and Mrs Dursley of Number Four Privet Drive were proud to say they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. And from the outside, most would agree. They treated their son and each other like all the others, with great care, even though their son was a pig. Not that anyone would say this, of course.
But in one aspect, the Dursley's were abnormal. It was with their nephew, Harry Potter.
He was smaller than most boys, and often picked on at school. However, most assumed this was because he was a hellion, an oddball, different from the rest, always causing trouble.
Nothing could be further or closer to the truth.
It was Friday March 20, and Harry was running. Very, very fast and as far away as possible.
Dudley had gotten bored of the playground and decided to go Harry Hunting with his gang again. Harry, who had sat near the edge of the yard where he could see if Dudley's mood changed, immediately ran as fast as he could in the opposite direction.
Which was where he was now.
Harry skidded to a stop, heart racing, and took a look around. He was on a street he did not know very well. Slowly, he started walking. A left, a right, two lefts, one more right. Or was it another left? Panic started to settle in. It was late afternoon now, meaning school was out, and he was hopelessly lost, standing near the edge of a forest.
Harry turned around to try and retrace his steps, when a sound reached his ears.
Sniffles. Someone in the forest was crying. Harry stood there, trying to decide what to do, but then the sobs started and he walked into the forest.
After a few minutes, with the sobs getting louder and louder, Harry came across a small clearing. There, near a tree, was a girl in a dull dress with no color, crying her eyes out. She had no shoes and looked like she had not bathed in a few days. When Harry took another step, the girl's head shot up.
"W-w-who is th-there?" she stuttered out, slowly getting to her feet, "S-stay b-back. I could r-really hurt you!" She tensed all of her muscles and started looking around the clearing. Harry's breath caught when she looked at him.
"Oh!" she said, and visibly relaxed, "You do not want to kill me, right?" Harry, still nervous, shook his head no.
"Good," she said, and started crying again.
Harry blinked, trying to figure out what to do, then decided to just try talking to her.
"Umm… hello? Are you okay?" he said nervously, edging closer. A strong burst of wind caught hold of him, like a tiny tornado, keeping him in place.
"Okay? OKAY? I am blind and going to starve to death all alone because of a damn bear trap! How could I possibly be okay?" she wailed as the wind got stronger, ripping up some trees. "My magic cannot undo it, and I cannot just make myself food out of nothing, I cannot even see…" she continued, as the sky suddenly swirled into storm clouds, "And no one will know I am missing until it is too late!" By now the ground was shaking, cracking in some places.
Harry gathered up his courage and yelled above the winds, "Well, I don't have any food, and I can't help you escape, but if you can't see, you could borrow my glasses."
Immediately, the wind and ground stopped shaking and whirling, and the sky showed clear again.
"Really?" the girl asked, sounding like all her dreams just came true, "I can borrow your glasses?"
"Yeah." Harry said, looking around at the sudden quiet. He then stepped forward and held out his glasses toward the girl. She snatched them out of his hands, mumbled over them, and gave them back
"There" she said, blinking and looking around, "Now I can see again!" She smiled, and looked back at Harry. "Thanks for helping me," she said smiling, then thrust out her hand to the left. "I made a spot, to thank you. It is near the school. Just stand or sit there, and no one will harm you. Bye now!"
Harry nodded, then turned and almost ran out of the forest as if he was released from a spell. About a minute later, he stumbled into the playground near the school.
Harry looked around: it was still break. But hadn't the day almost been over? The sun had almost gone down…
Harry looked up at the sky. The sun was back where it always was for break, but it couldn't be…
"Hey, Potter!" someone yelled out, and Harry was brought back to reality as Dudley's gang came closer, "Come here-we want to play!"
Terror shot through him- Dudley's version of 'playing' was never fun- and he started looking around for a way out. There wasn't enough time to run; the only thing nearby was a dead patch of grass. As Harry looked around despairingly, the girl's voice seemed to float around him, 'I made a spot for you-near the school-no one will bother you- a spot'.
Harry decided he had nothing to lose, and stepped into the circle of dead grass.
Immediately, the grass seemed to change into the softest green grass ever, like the kind seen in movies.
Dudley stopped in his tracks, eyes slightly out of focus and a confused look on his face before he muttered something to his equally confused gang and wandered off in the other direction, probably to torment someone else.
Harry breathed a sigh of relief and sat down in the grass, keen on staying there until break was over.
The next day, Harry did his morning chores, grabbed his pitiful breakfast, and raced off to school, arriving just before the bell rang, thankfully.
Throughout the school day, however, Harry could barely pay attention to the teacher, Dudley, or even the hunger creeping up on him, as the girl from the forest was on his mind.
As soon as the final bell rang Harry shot out of his seat, avoiding Dudley's fists, and ran off towards the streets. Harry had decided to wait until after school in case he got lost or could not find the forest for a long time.
His logic was pointless, as he found the forest almost immediately.
When he walked in, he heard no sounds except for some heavy breathing. Worried the girl had left, leaving something less friendly in her place, Harry crept forward to where he thought he had seen her before.
When the girl came into view, Harry stared.
Instead of crying, the girl was growling, and literally heating up the world around her. The dress, instead of white, was spinning with colors just out of reach.
When Harry took a small step forward, the girl snapped up, glaring angrily at him. The wind started whirling around at a murderous pace, and Harry tried to move away only to find that the ground had swallowed him up to his ankles.
"Why did you come back?" she yelled towards him, eyes flashing. She gripped the ground, and Harry's lunch bag was pulled towards her. She grabbed it, and Harry found it impossible to breathe, like there was not enough oxygen.
The girl shuffled his stuff around, muttering under her breath as he gasped for air. "What is this?" she asked, glancing over at him, "Why did you- oh."
She waved her hand, and Harry could breath again.
He coughed a bit, then answered "You said you were going to starve, so I thought I could bring you something to eat."
"An offering of food, which does not count technically as 'food from another realm'," she muttered, before looking over at him again. "That is so sweet, thank you! Sorry about trying to choke you before, I did not know what was in here," the girl said, smiling sweetly. "Come here," she said as the ground released him, "I want to give you something."
Harry shuffled forward until he was right in front of her.
The girl shoved an identical bag into his hands, "Here, this will help you, I believe. It is from your realm, so I am not able to eat it, but you can. Thank you!"
Harry took the bag and left the forest with a quick 'thank you' to the girl. Once out, Harry looked inside it.
There was an apple, and nothing else.
A little crestfallen (an apple would only go so far) Harry started eating it on his way home. When he got home, Harry sighed and went to throw the apple core away… only to see a full apple still there.
Cautiously, Harry took another bite. The mark appeared for a second, then dissolved and became a full apple again. Harry stared at it, a smile slowly forming on his face. He placed the apple in the bag and hid it behind some cleaning stuff in his cupboard before going to do his chores.
After the Dursleys had dinner, Harry was put back in his cupboard. He waited until he heard the TV going before slowly reaching down and carefully pulling up his bag. Reaching in for his apple, Harry felt a container of sorts. When he pulled it out, he saw that it was applesauce with a spoon attached to the top. Harry smiled, and ate his fill before hiding the bag and settling down to sleep.
That night Harry dreamed of a creature made of darkness, crying silently while someone yelled. The creature had no real form, and kept changing it, always coming back to a vaguely human form. The creature looked over at where Harry was, and reached out. Harry also reached out, they were almost touching and- RAP, RAP, RAP.
"Get up Boy!" came Aunt Petunia's screeching voice, unlocking Harry's cupboard, "And don't burn the breakfast!"
Harry shuffled over to the stove and started making bacon and eggs, thinking about his dream. It was strange, Harry thought, that he had something in common with a creature from his imagination. But then again, he thought, if it was in his head then why is it surprising to him? Surely-
"Hurry up, Boy! You're going to be late for school again, you lazy freak! You-"
Harry hurriedly finished making breakfast while his Uncle Vernon yelled at him and Dudley watched gleefully. After serving his relatives breakfast, Harry quickly grabbed Dudley's old backpack and hesitated for a split second before grabbing the bag and shoving it into the backpack. At his uncle's yell, Harry quickly sprinted out the door, dreading what he knew would happen when he went home.
About halfway to school, Harry slowed down and pulled his bag out of the ratty backpack. Inside was a bottle of apple cider Harry gratefully drank on his way to school. As soon as Harry stepped onto school property he went looking for the forest, only taking one step off school grounds before entering it. He found the girl not long after. She was pulling against her restraints this time, reaching for something with a determined face. Her dress still had faded little bits, but the rest was a swish and swirl of shining colors.
She caught sight of Harry and smiled, "Hi!" she yelled out, then caught sight of the bag still in Harry's hand and frowned. "Why did you bring it back? Was it not good enough for you?" she asked harshly, a wind picking up.
Harry's heart beat faster, "N-no, I was worried my relatives would take it, so I kept it with me," he said.
The wind died down, and the girl looked sheepish. "Oh. Okay. Well, can you push that button, please?" She pointed directly in front of her.
Harry walked over and saw a brown circle on the nearby tree, a few inches from the girl's fingers. He looked back at her. "What will it do?" he asked.
"Free me," the girl replied, fear suddenly flickering across her face, "You will push it, right?" Her dress colors started to fade.
Harry quickly nodded and hit the button. Anything to get rid of the fear in her eyes that he'd accidentally caused. There was a clink as the trap fell off, and silence filled the air. Then, a rush of air swirling around the girl, bringing in thunderclouds and knocking Harry to the ground.
"It is off. The trap is off!" came a yell from the middle of the tornado, almost drowned out by the thunder. Lightning illuminated the trees, their massive forms uprooted from the ground like they were toothpicks. "I can go home! I can take my REVENGE!"
The trees and frozen sheets of ice raining from the sky suddenly halted in mid air and turned towards Harry, who tried to run away only for fire to spin up all around the clearing. As the ground started moving and lifting into the air, Harry curled into his protective ball and closed his eyes. The wind got louder and louder, with flashes of light burning his eyelids and the sound of thunder too loud to hear anything else until… it stopped.
Cracking open his eyes, Harry saw the girl being held up by the wind in the middle of the swirling tornado. She was laughing. "I am free!" she yelled out, and spotted Harry, who watched her fearfully. She walked over to him, making him tense up and close his eyes. "And you helped me," she said softly, settling next to Harry, who peeked through his arms.
After she sat there for a while, Harry uncurled and looked over at her. Slowly, she held out her hand for Harry to take, and when he did, there was a flash, and they were on the ground, near the bear trap. The girl flicked some of his hair out of Harry's face, ignoring his flinch, and looked straight into his eyes, as if she was seeing his entire life.
Harry tried to stand still, aware of what could happen if he disrupted her. Finally, the girl pulled Harry closer and hugged him.
"Your life has been such a limited thing, with almost no one caring about you." she said softly, making Harry relax into her hug and hold back a sob. The girl waited a while, rubbing Harry's back and avoiding the spots that brought pain. Eventually, she pulled back and looked Harry in the eyes again, while petting his hand. "Don't worry. I can fix this," she said confidently, "I'll fix your life." She smiled at him and stepped back. "Goodbye, Harry," she said softly, and disappeared into nothingness.
As soon as she was gone, Harry walked over to his backpack and placed his paper bag inside of it with shaky hands, then trudged his way out of the forest and back to school. For Harry, nothing would change for a week.