This story is dedicated to my beta Winter.poem, she just wonderful.

Sand Captive

Chapter 1: Whispers of the past

I met a traveller from an antique land
who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter'd visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp'd on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock'd them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
the lone and level sands stretch far away

The teacher stopped and closed the book, dropping it with a soft thump on the desk. He clasped his hands together and leaned back against its edge, staring intently at his students.

"Now, can anyone tell me what Mr. Shelly is saying in his short poem, Ozymandias?"

Complete and utter silence was the only response he received to his question.

Stifling a sigh, he swept his fingers through his aging hair and surveyed the room, trying, mentally, to find someone to answer.

The students looked away as their teacher's eyes peered into their own. They didn't know the question, and they didn't want to answer. The only thought that occupied their thoughts was the promise of summer and freedom.

Harry stiffled a yawn and shook his head in wonder at the simplicity of his fellow students. The question wasn't that hard to understand, but he could understand their desire to not to want to think so hard.

He groaned and knew he would regret it, but the answer had to be said if they wanted to ever leave the class on time for lunch. Hesitantly he raised his hand. Almost instantly the teacher called on him.

"Yes, Mr. Potter."

"Um, I think I know what Mr. Shelly is trying to say in his poem."

The teacher nodded his head and beckoned for Harry to make his way to the front of the room.

He ignored the tsk coming from his cousin, Dudley and his friends, and mumbled an apology for elbowing another student in the back of their head as he walked past.

"What Mr. Shelly is trying to say is that this man, Ozymandias, was of such great power and wealth that people were in awe of what he had accomplished. He considered himself the greatest king of all of Egypt and everything that a traveller saw was an extentison of his greatness. But as they say 'all good things must come to an end' so did his power. All the vast lands and wealth he had has vanished, and the only thing left to remember how impressive that ancient civilization was, is a statue with Ozymandias' name on it. Overall I think what Mr. Shelly is trying to convey is that power doesn't last forever."

He looked over at his teacher and sighed with relief as he nodded his head.

"That's right Harry, I couldn't have said it any better myself."

"Hmph, asswipe!" Dudley coughed, snickering through his pudgy fingers as the class glanced his way.

"Now, young man," the teacher started, but was cut off by the high pitch ring of the school bell indicating the end of the day. The students surged forward, trying to leave through the narrow door as quickly as possible. Dudley's warning was unheard.

Harry sighed and shuffled back to his desk to gather his things. He watched from underneath the fringe of his eyelashes, as other students began to call out to friends, leaving together in groups of two or more. He began shoving his books into his tattered green messenger bag, and ignored their whispers as they giggled and laughed together, enjoying one another's company.

He gave a weak smile at his teacher and headed towards the door/

"Wait a minute Mr. Potter."

Harry stopped in mid-step and glanced back at his teacher.

"Yes, Sir."

"Mr. Potter, as you may know I'm conducting a trip to Egypt this summer, where the students will participate in an archeological dig with other students from around this district. It's for the entire holidays, and I was wondering if you would like to come?"

Harry couldn't believe it. This was an opportunity of a lifetime! He could finally do something exciting, he could actually make friends. He sighed, he knew there was no point in getting excited, his 'family' would say 'no' no matter what he said. Spending such money on such a trivial thing was out of the question, especially if it concerned Harry.

"I don't know, Sir, my family-"

"Now Mr. Potter," his teacher said, cutting him off mid-sentence. "This is an oppurtunity of a lifetime and I'm sure your family would want you to partake in this. Did I mention this is quite a benefit to your college resume?"

Harry sighed. "I'll see what I can do, Sir."

"Good, good see you tomorrow Mr. Potter."

Harry bade his teacher goodbye and fell into step with the bustle of the hallway. All of a sudden he felt a firm pressure on his back, and harsh breathing down his shirt. He glanced quickly behind him and saw Dudley followed closely by his group of cronies.

'Oh god, spare me.'

"What do you want, Dudley?"

Dudley, completely ignoring his question, gazed intently at Harry.

Harry recoiled back at the persistent scrutiny of Dudley.

"What's the matter?"

"What took you so long in there?"

Harry frowned in confusion, 'Was Dudley concerned about me?'

His friends snickered before leering at him from behind Dudley's meaty shoulder. "Probably giving head!"

Harry's eye flashed in anger, and he hurried away, not even bothering to glance back at them.

'Idiots.'

It was a nice breezy day. The sun was shining brightly overhead and a gentle breeze caressed the warmed skin of those outside. Deciding to stall instead of heading home, Harry took a turn to the right, heading in the direction of the park.

The park itself was empty, and would stay that way until after three, when all the children from the pre-schools would came to claim it.

He sat down on the bench beneath a great oak tree, and tried to tame the raging anger and stress he could feel coursing through his veins. He had been feeling like this all day.

Sometimes he just needed a break from reality, and the park was the place to go.

Creak.

Creak.

The sound of rusty chains startled Harry from his thoughts and he found himself looking over at the swings.

Sitting on one of the faded wooden seats was a little boy, in quite a strange get-up. Flat sandals with golden straps wrapped around his small feet, stopping about two inches below his knee. A white, cotton tunic framed his small figure. On his arm was a golden clasp and hanging from the bottom resting against his skin was a ruby, glistening crimson underneath the sun light. His skin was a deep bronze and his hair was a dark brown, but it whipped wildly around his face as the once faint breeze turned into a fierce wind.

The boy continued to rock back and forth in a hypnotizing manner, always looking forward and tightly clasping the metal links. Harry watched him for awhile, his eyes glazing over slightly as time seemed to slow, and all was silent.

The boy all of a sudden stopped rocking and froze. He placed each foot down in the sand and suddenly stood up.

Harry continued to observe all of this with confusion playing across his features. The boy turned and frantically moved about, almost as if he was looking for something.

'What is he doing?'

Harry was curious, even though he tried not to be, but there was just something about this boy that seemed so out of place. This was England, for crying out loud. No one runs around wearing a tunic draped in golden bangles and rubies. That was just asking to be mugged.

Harry shook his head at the strangeness of the situation, not noticing the shadows that seemed to be gathering behind him. He heard a gasp and glanced up seeing the boy standing a few feet in front of him, his face screwed up in horror.

"What?"

The boy lifted a trembling finger and pointed behind him.

Harry raised his eyebrow in question, but stilled when he felt the hair on the back of his neck rise and his flesh erupt into goosebumps over his exposed skin. He shivered slightly in fear and turned to face whatever force that was behind him.

Nothing.

It was absolutely nothing, but not in the sense a person would normally imagine 'nothing'.

It was nothing in the sense that it was shadows swirling tightly together. This nothingness ate up the shadows of the trees and Harry watched in awe as the tree crumpled into dust. He stared, dazed, as it crept its way across the sand.

The sand arose from the ground, and formed little pinpricks that one would believe to be eyes appeared. A wide mouth opened and spread into a good representation of a smirk.

The Nothing, as Harry had dubbed it, began to move forward in an agonizinlgy slow pace.

He felt his mouth become dry and he licked his chapped lips trying to moisten them. He stumbled out of his seat, and scurried to the top of the jungle gym away from the Nothingness.

The creature didn't stop and continued to follow Harry, at a snail's pace, its eyes never leaving Harry's.

'Oh god, I'm going to die.'

"Yo, freak!" a boisterously loud voice called.

Harry's eyes flickered away from the Nothingness and almost sighed in relief, it was Dudley. Never in all his life had Harry thought that he would be happy to hear his cousin's voice.

He stared at Dudley, surprisingly he was without his posse.

He wanted to warn his cousin, but realized stopped when he reliased that the Nothing was gone.

Convincing himself that it was just an illusion, Harry sighed in relief.

"What the hell are you doing?" his cousin said, slowly emphasing each syllable, as he watched his cousin act even more, if possible, weird.

"Nothing, it's nothing don't worry about it."

"Whatever." The fat boy called. "We need to leave. Mum and Dad sent me to find you in case you're up to something."

Harry scoffed, 'More like, making sure I'm not spreading lies about what goes on in that house.'

He mumbled a response, and slid down the slide and fell into step behind Dudley. He kept his head down and tried to keep up with his cousin's long strides as they hurried home.

Sooner than he had expected he found himself, inside their house and on his way up the stairs.

He entered his room, and closed the door firmly behind him. He flipped the lights on and gazed around at his posters of all his favorite bands on the walls. He flopped down wearily on the bed, and covered his eyes with his forearm.

He thought of what had happened earlier slowly being replaced with the sweet nothingness that proceeded sleep. He smiled slightly and let sleep reach up and claim him.

He awoke later to a slight pressure on his forehead, as a warm hand caressed his cheeks softly. Snuggling deeper into the soothing gesture, he wondered briefly who it was.

'Can't be Aunt Petunia, definitely not Uncle Vernon or Dudley,' he thought sluggishly, before he slowly opened his eyes.

Hazel eyes were gazing down at him. Harry jumped and scrambling against the wall trying to get as far from the boy as possible. It was the boy from earlier.

"You!"

"Go to Egypt," the boy said in a melodious voice. He smiled slightly at Harry and without another word he disappeared.

Grains of sand were all that was left of him, as well as a snake bangle with the ruby enclosed in its mouth that Harry hadn't seen earlier.

Harry picked it up wearily, gazing appreciatively at the craftsmanship of the bangle. He held it up towards the light. It seemed to wink down at him from a certain angle.

"Egypt it is, guess I just have to convince Petunia and Vernon that it's a good idea."

Like it or don't, let me know! Updates for this story will be slower since there is school! Sorry!