Chapter 1: Saved From the Dursleys

A young boy sat alone outside seemingly tending to the garden in which he had been placed rather forcefully by his uncle. To the neighbors, this young boy seemed to be an enigma. He had suddenly shown up at No. 4 Privet Drive roughly 10 years ago and has been rarely seen since the day he had been placed on the Dursley's doorstep.

Of course, there was speculation as to why the neighbors had rarely seen the young boy but nobody knew what exactly the real story was surrounding him. It most likely had to do with the rumors that were being spread about him stating that he was a delinquent and because of this fact his relatives kept an extremely close watch on the child rarely, if ever, letting him out of their sight. Nobody ever made any attempt to get close to the young child, why would someone want to be acquainted with a trouble maker?

The young boy, whom the neighbors were unsure of his name was actually called Harry. Even Harry barely knew his name until he started primary school when his teacher was taking role call and said, "Harry Potter". There was no answer and after the teacher finished the role call, he approached the child and asked his name. Harry responded with the only name that he had ever been called, "My name is Freak. At least, that's what my relatives call me." Harry was immediately sent to the office where the principal then called and talked to his relatives who assured the principal that Harry was just acting out, he had been a troublemaker ever since they had taken him in and that if he acted up the principal and teacher had their permission to ensure that he was properly punished for his delinquent actions. Upon arriving back at Privet Drive after his first day of class, he received the worst beating that he had ever gotten from his uncle. Thus continued Harry's treatment for the next couple of years.

Harry sat in the garden, contemplating how and why his life had turned out the way that it did. Remembering back to the worst beating he had received (up to date), Harry decided that he had ultimately made the right decision in how he should behave and he took it upon himself to make sure that he acted in a way that his relatives deemed appropriate. He rarely, if ever talked. He would only respond if spoken to directly and would never raise his hand in class and always made it appear as if he was less intelligent than his cousin Dudley (mainly because if he received better grades than Dudley, he knew that he would be beaten upon returning to his domicile).

Harry did the only thing that he could in an attempt to save his own sanity and that was to read. And read he did! Harry read almost everything that he could find in an attempt to integrate himself into a different world, one where he felt appreciated, one where he felt he could belong. Amongst Harry's favorites were The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lord of the Rings and and pretty much any book that referenced Merlin.

While reading Harry discovered that he could remember everything that he read down to the most miniscule detail and after spending ample time attempting to discover what this meant, he discovered that he had something called a photographic memory. Upon discovering that he had a photographic memory, Harry spent as much time as he could allot to reading and learning different languages focusing mainly on: Latin, Greek, Old Norse, French and German. Although Harry was able to remember everything he ever read, he couldn't really spend time applying what he had learned, it was hard to find someone capable of carrying on a conversation in most of the languages that he spent time learning but he was able to utilize this new knowledge to translate literature.

Harry loved to read but he was only able to read when his aunt and uncle left him alone in the house or when he was at school if they allowed the children to get books out of the library. The Dursley's did not encourage Harry to get an education, they wanted Harry to know his place. They wanted Harry to know that he was what they had always been calling him, a Freak. Harry would never be better in their eyes than their son Dudley and if it appeared that he was going to be more successful in any way, they beat him until he understood his role in their lives.

To the world, Harry's mere existence seemed to be a bane to those around him ultimately destroying any good that may happen in their lives but, in reality, it was the other way around and one day Harry would make something of himself! As he sat there in the garden, Harry knew that he was going to utilize his skills and ultimately he was going to become someone who would lead the sheep who permeated the earth. All he had to do was use his knowledge and the world would be his… Because, as they say, knowledge is power!

The months passed slowly for young harry until the month before his 11th birthday. Exactly a month before his birthday, he got a strange letter in the mail that his uncle, Vernon, grabbed and ripped to shreds right away. This continued for the next two weeks until one day, instead of just getting one letter, Harry received hundreds of letters which cluttered the Dursley home. Harry was able to grab one of the letters and managed to escape to his cupboard under the stairs and read about his invitation to go to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. This had to be a joke, right?

His aunt and uncle swore up and down that the Freak would not be attending Hogwarts, instead scrambling to go on a vacation so that they would stop getting letters regarding the school that Harry's name had been penned in for since birth. They adamantly denied that Hogwarts was a real place, telling Harry to shut his freak mouth and reinforcing the idea that his parents had died in a car crash. They even went so far as to tell him that if he didn't stop attempting to force the issue the same thing would be happening to him, a lot sooner than it happened to his parents.

At 12:01 a.m. there was a loud noise as the door was blown off it's hinges. Vernon and Petunia had taken the boys to a small hovel of a house in the middle of nowhere on a small island yet apparently, it was still possible to track them down. The largest man that Harry had ever seen ducked to get through the doorway, introduced himself as Hagrid and proceeded to hand Harry a smashed parcel which to his surprise contained a birthday cake and a letter which once again offered him a place at Hogwarts.

Harry looked at the mountain of a man in surprise and whispered, "What is Hogwarts, I thought that this was all just some kind of a big joke?"

Hagrid looked at Harry and said, "Blimey Harry, didn't you ever wonder where your parents learned it all?"

"Learned what?" Harry said with a confused look on his face.

"You're a wizard Harry, and a mighty good one I'd wager once you're trained up a little bit." Hagrid replied.

Vernon and Petunia were quite adamant that he would not be going but the man who called himself Hagrid convinced them otherwise. Hagrid said that he worked for some man named Dumbledore who he claimed was the greatest wizard of all time and that there was no way that they could do anything to stop Harry taking up his rightful place at Hogwarts. So, with a nod of his head and a wave of his hand, Harry disappeared through the doorway with Hagrid. Harry was excited at the prospect of finding a place where he truly belonged and maybe this would be the start of that new adventure!