Alive!

Disclaimer: Me no own.

Please bear with me, it will get better...I think...I hope :D


Chapter 1:It begins...

Currently Arthur Weasley was sitting in a waiting room in St Mungos, head in hands, wondering if the world he knew could get any weirder. This coming from a wizard was serious cause for concern. Hours early Arthurs views on life had been forcefully changed as he was witness to the miracle that was Sirius Black and James Potter coming back from the dead. And only minutes after arriving at St Mungos he had jumped to his feet as Albus Dumbledore had strode into the ward as if everything was right with the world. You must note though that Dumbledore had arrived before anybody had had the opportunity to contact him and tell him of this slightly distressing occurrence. A series of events that led Arthur to where he was now, slumped over in his chair and contemplating the meaning of life.

Fortunately for the poor man he was jarred out of his thoughts as two rambunctious grown men burst into the room grinning broadly and slapping each other on the back in some sort of painful looking congratulatory way. The two men caught sight of a very unfortunate red head, proceeded to launch themselves and tackle him to the floor in an overenthusiastic hug, both telling the poor, poor man how thankful they were that he didn't freak out when he first saw them and had the fore-sight to bring them to St Mungos.

Thankfully before Arthur passed out from lack of air, the waiting room doors crashed open and a frantic Remus Lupin skidded into the room, his head whipping from side to side searching for the two...things he had come to see. This had the immediate effect of the two men propelling themselves from Arthur and launching themselves across the room with simultaneous screams of "MOONY!"

-O-

As this reunion was going on, miles away in the house of 4 Privet Drive one Harry James Potter was suffering through the worst summer he could remember.

His Uncle had been none too pleased about the threat the Order had given him. Unfortunately for Harry the threat did more harm than good, and with the added effect of his family finding out that his deadly godfather was, in-fact, dead, his summer quickly turned into hell.

Vernon Dursely was never a very stable man. He had a quick and explosive temper which he liked to take out on his defenceless nephew. Also Vernon did not like to be threatened, he did not like those 'freaks' trying to tell him what to do, he was after all better than them, he was normal. In his tiny, tiny brain all the faults in his life and his family's life were there because of his nephews 'freakiness'. This conclusion lead him to another conclusion that if the boy could do all this to his family then he could retaliate and protect his family by keeping the boy in as much pain as was humanly possible.

True enough, this treatment had been going on for as long as Harry could remember. However, it was never this bad. The days became routine for Harry and Vernon. The morning beating (before Petunia woke up), this mostly included some-sort-of weapon (be it a belt, wood or metal). Vernon would leave the boy in puddles of his own blood with strict orders to clean it up and make breakfast. Then there would be the chore list when Vernon was at work. An impossibly long list ranging from weeding the garden to repainting the entire house. Vernon would return home and the list would be uncompleted, then comes the second beating of the day (which was purely physical), this one was normally administered when Petunia went out to shop. Again Harry would be left to clean himself and the pools of blood up. Harry was ordered to make dinner and then banished to his room, completing the whole "You don't deserve our food, boy!"

This is where the routine varied. If it was a writing day then Vernon would allow Harry to write a letter to the order, so they would not get suspicious. However Harry did not have a chance to write any code or anything as Vernon was always there reading over his shoulder. The nightly beating took place after that. Then worst of all. On some nights, if Vernon was in the right mind, he would force himself on his nephew. Then leave him there, tied to the bed, until morning.

This had been going on for weeks now, and nobody had noticed. Not the guards that were supposed to have been placed outside his house, nor Petunia Dursely. See Petunia wasn't as cold hearted as some might think she was, no. She actually liked her nephew, she was the one who, when he was younger, made sure he would eat (even if she did it in secret). She looked after him as best she could without her husband finding out, because she knew what other people guessed, Vernon Dursely was an evil and frightening man. Along with her nephew she also had herself and her son to worry about. She knew perfectly well that she could not get away from Vernon and raise two growing boys by herself. Not just because it would be hard (if that was all she would have done it) but because Vernon would kill them.

However she had tried to help in the past, by sending letters (via owl) to Dumbledore. None of them had ever been answered and nothing else came from them. However now things were starting to get out of hand, Petunia was actually starting to fear for her nephews life. Oh, she knew something was going on, no matter how hard Vernon tried to hide it she just didn't know how bad it really was. But she saw the warning signs. Vernon had began to drink more, his temper was shorter than normal and he had even begun to snap at his precious Dudley. So Petunia Dursely decided that she had to try something else. She racked her brains for something, and finally she remembered that Harry had to send a letter his friends every few days, that's when it clicked. His Friends. She remembered one of them from Lilly's wedding, one Remus Lupin. She decided that he would be the one to get her urgent letter. Little did she know that something would stall him in getting there and stopping something worse from happing to her poor, helpless, little nephew.


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