Chapter 2:Harmoney
A few hours later, there was the sound of the doorbell ringing, the door opening, and a voice that cheerfully asked Vernon to see Harry Potter.
Harry didn't hear any of these things. He had recovered from his whipping about an hour ago, but was still in his room. After he felt strong enough, he had the glass to his wrist. He was just about to mark his flesh again when he heard footsteps running up the steps. He had already changed his shirt, so all he had to do was quickly hide the glass, and roll down his sleeves and getting ready for anything
Moments later, when the door opened, and Harry Potter saw Hermione Granger. He panicked. He was backing up, as far as possible from the person he was sure she hated him. Up until he was in the far corner on his bed. Since he wasn't waking up, he decided to help himself by slamming his head into the wall. "Wake up, damn it, wake up!" He muttered angrily to himself as he slammed his head into the wall over and over and over.
He heard the Hermione screech, "Harry!" and knew it wasn't working, so he tried harder. He also heard to new voices muttering in shock, things like "My God", and "The poor child", and "How does he live like this". But these didn't matter to him. The fact that Hermione was walking towards him however, did. He cowered down, into the corner of his bed, and childishly used his pillow as a shield. "Please," Harry sobbed, "I'm sorry! I didn't mean for you to get hurt! I'm so sorry!"
Earlier:
Hermione was so happy she was going to see her friend. She couldn't wait till she saw her Harry. 'Her Harry?' Hermione thoughts startled her for a moment. She almost never thought of Harry as her Harry. Well, she did when she saved him from a transformed Remus, when Harry was fighting for his life in the Tri-Wizard Tournament, or most of last year. With the Dementors, hearing, and that toad Umbridge. Okay, so she did think of him like that. It didn't mattered, what mattered is that she could get to Harry, drill into his skull that not everything was his fault and get him out of there. She was upset she had to see the Dursleys too though, Hermione hoped that they behaved at least a bit because her Parents were with her. Hermione sighed a bit and looked out the window, still excited that she was going to see her friend.
Emma Granger, sitting in front next to her husband who was driving, saw the different emotions on her face and heard the small sigh Hermione made. Emma was no fool, Hermione didn't just got her smarts from her farther after all, so she knew what happened on that school was more than Hermione told them. But she also knew that this Harry meant a lot for her daughter. And though Emma only met the boy once, he was very quiet but really polite, she had heard more about him from her daughter than the lad possible could tell himself. So she just smiled, hoped for the best and waited for the confrontation with the Dursleys.
When they got to his house, Hermione was glad her mother had decided to talk to Vernon, because she didn't think she could pretend the cheerfulness her mother had done when Petunia answered the door. So she slipped inside when the two mothers talked and went instantly upstairs. Excited to see Harry.
Now
However, any joy she had was gone, seeing Harry like this. His words broke her heart. She knew that he always blamed himself, that was what he always did, and she was pretty sure it was because of his horrible relatives, but this, this was heartbreaking. Hearing him plead like that had her feel tears in her eyes.
She decided to say something on a completely different topic, to reach out to him. "Why didn't you answer any of my letters?"
That seemed to get through to him. "L-letters?" He stuttered a little bit, his eyes sparked with a little life. "Hermione?" He asked quietly. "Is it really you? Am I really awake?"
"Yes, Harry, it's me, and you're really awake," she responded quietly. "Why didn't you answer any of my letters?" She had to struggle to keep her voice from breaking because off the sight that was her best friend. The boy who faced down and defeated Voldemort three times, was now so guilt-ridden, he was reduced to hiding behind a pillow.
He turned away from her. "I didn't want to see how much you hated me," he whispered. "I knew if I saw the words, it would be more real."
She wasn't sure whether she should be mad at him for blaming himself for everything, or cry that his relatives had done this to him. She decided on trying to simply remain calm. "Harry," she said softly, "will you please come off the bed and talk to me?"
She could see how terrified he was, as he moved slowly from the bed until he stood in front of her with his head down. She could hardly contain herself from hugging him. But she could see how jumpy he was, so she asked first. "Harry, is it alright if I hug you?" She heard what sounded like a couple of sobs, and Hermione thought she saw a few drops of moisture fall from his face. In the dark room, it was hard to tell. Finally, he nodded.
She went over to him slowly, before taking him gently into her arms. She gently rubbed his back, and felt him wince. She stopped immediately. "Harry," she said suspiciously, "what happened to your back?"
Harry couldn't believe that Hermione wasn't mad at him. She even hugged him. Then he had screwed it all by wincing. He couldn't tell her what happened. She would get upset with his relatives, then he would have to explain that he did it on purpose, she would get mad and disappointed in him and he would lose her friendship for real this time.
So he hoped to head it off and simply said, "Nothing." He should have known better, Hermione is the smartest witch of the century.
"Then take off your shirt and let me see," she challenged him. Not believing him for an instance.
Damn! He thought. He knew he had to make up a lie now. "Really, it's nothing, I just fell on my back and scraped it a little."
"I still want to see it," she said. She turned to her parent who were still standing in the doorway. "Mum, will you please turn on the light?" When her mum helpfully switched the light on, all three Grangers gasped. Harry reminded Hermione of Sirius when he escaped from Azkaban. His cheeks were sunk in, his eyes bloodshot, the massive bags under his eyes, and everything about him screamed bony. If she hadn't been talking to him, she'd think he was a dead corpse. After a moment of silence, Dan said, "I'll be right back, there are some people downstairs on Death's guest list."
"No!" Harry shouted. "Please, I don't want any trouble."
Although Hermione was more than willing to help her father, she knew Harry would be upset, so she looked at her father, and subtlety, shook her head, despite the rage she was feeling. Turning back to Harry, she said, "Please take off your shirt and turn around." When he still hesitated, she added, "For me."
Still hesitant, but slowly, he nodded, and took his shirt off, slowly turning as he did so. Nothing could prepare the Grangers for the sight of Harry's back. They just stared in horror at it for a moment as Harry's shirt dropped to the floor. The adult Grangers abruptly turned from his room, and began to head down the stairs purposefully.
Harry couldn't let the Grangers do this, not when he'd provoked the Dursleys into doing it in the first place. He turned around towards them, freeing himself from Hermione's arms while throwing his arms out and shouting, "No, stop!"
The adult Grangers weren't prepared to listen to him, they, however and only, turned back when Hermione made a noise sounding much like strangled sob. She had seen the bruises on his stomach first, but then she saw the cuts that went up and down his wrists. She had grabbed his arms, turning the wrists up to look at them. That was when she had made the strangled sob her parents had heard. The fact that some of them were still bleeding wasn't lost on any of the Grangers.
Harry looked away from them, ashamed, and said, "I can't let you punish them. I purposely provoked them into doing it, knowing what would happen." Despite feeling his shame, he didn't try to pull away from Hermione's grasp.
Hermione made the strangled sob sound again. She wasn't sure her heart could take this for much longer. It was like seeing the little damaged boy Harry from first year again, but much, much worse. "But why?" She asked aloud, "Why, Harry?"
His answer broke her heart again. "I deserved it." She wanted to hug him again, and she wouldn't let him go this time. But she remembered his back. Before she could respond to that statement, Harry followed up his answer with, "Besides, it helped me deal with everything." Hermione was shocked to say the least.
"Harry, why couldn't you talk to me instead?" Hermione asked, still desperately trying to hold it together. Still refusing to look at any of them, he whispered, "I thought you hated me." It didn't matter that he whispered, Hermione still heard the pain in his voice.
"Harry," Hermione whispered back, "please look at me." He turned to her, and when his eyes met hers, she gasped at the raw pain she saw in them. Most people who had been through to anything similar as much to what Harry had, learned to hide what they felt, but Harry always wore his heart on his sleeve. Hermione let go of his arms, and held his face between her hands, preparing to do what she should have done a long time ago.
Harry turned to look at her, and he was surprised by the tears he saw in her eyes. When she took his face between her hands, he was even more surprised that she would want to be in the room with someone who had done to themselves what he had.
But Hermione wasn't done with surprises yet. She whispered to him, "I have never, will never, and don't ever could hate you." He was about to protest, but he suddenly found her lips on his. Any thoughts of protest at that point left his head. She pulled back after a second with a shy smile, but he pulled her back for more! She had enough time for a surprised gasp before melting into Harry's arms. While the last kiss was fleeting and soft, were this one was needy and passionate.
At least, it was, until they heard a "hmm hmm" that was reminiscent of Umbridge. They pulled apart blushing, having forgotten Hermione's parents. Harry shot a sheepish glance their way. He was surprised to see that both of her parents were smiling.
"Well, Hermione, it took you long enough," Emma teased her daughter.
"You mean you're not upset with me?" Harry asked, completely surprised.
Dan , and said, "Harry, if we had to hear Hermione say one more thing about you, we would have stuffed our ears with cotton. My wife here, found her journal once. We didn't read it, of course, but we did see that the front said 'Hermione Potter'!"
Both Harry as Hermione blushed, and they both looked down. This, of course, made the adults laugh that much harder.
Just then, Vernon decided to yell up, "Hey, freak, you still need to clean up breakfast!"
The faces of the three Granger's quickly lost their cheerful nature, becoming exceedingly angry at the slavery of Harry and the obvious fact that he'd barely eaten since he got here, judging from the fact that they could definitely count his ribs and they were fairly certain that they could see his organs through the skin of his stomach.
Dan decided Harry should not have to put up with this and yelled back, "Hey, asshole, clean up your own damn mess!" There was a moment of dead silence downstairs, and Hermione could see that Harry's eyes had become extremely fearful. She suddenly remembered the marks on his back, and could understand why.
Sound suddenly returned to number four Privet Drive, and Vernon came to the bottom of the stairs with a purple face, and shouted up at the male Granger, "Who the fuck do you think you are, telling me what to do in my own house!"
Harry was shaking with fear; there was nothing they could do to the Dursleys, Harry needed them so he could be safe from Voldemort, plus, he was at their mercy for at least a few more weeks, since that was how long he had to be there.
Dan, however, was of course not aware of this. He wás aware that the fat man with the purple face had tortured a child, and he couldn't stand child abuse. There was no way in hell he was letting this go. "I think I'm Dan Granger, and as far as I'm concerned, you deserve a lot more than being told what to do! I would love to beat the shit out of you right now for what you did to that defenseless boy! Unfortunately, that same boy requested I don't. If not for him, I would have bloody beaten you already! So don't push me if you don't want to see the gates of Hell early!"
Hermione and Emma Granger were staring at Dan, impressed with his dressing down of the abusive bastard. "Go Dad!" Hermione cheered. Dan glanced at her with a hint of amusement, then he saw Harry shaking. Frowning, he started to move towards him.
Vernon, unfortunately, didn't seem to get that he had lost the argument. The momentary shock he received had worn off, and he was shouting back, "That's not a boy, it's a freak! Now get out of my bloody house before I call the police!"
Dan, of course, had no worries about that. "Ha! Go ahead and call the police," he retorted, "try and explain Harry's back to them!" He waited until he saw Vernon's face pale with understanding before turning away this time.
His wife had moved into the room with Harry and Hermione, and the two women were sitting on the bed with Harry between them as they comforted him. Dan saw that he was still shaking. He joined the rest of his family in the room with a frown. He thought he understood why Harry was scared, and said, "Son, don't worry, you can come with us. You don't have to worry about repercussions from them." To his utter shock, Harry broke down.
Hermione was not having the day she had hoped for. She thought she would be able relax with her friend today, but instead she had seen him cry twice today! The only other time she could recall seeing Harry cry was at the end of the third task while holding Cedric's body.
What she couldn't understand was why he was crying this time. The previous time was because he was afraid of losing Hermione, but what was it this time? She was so grateful for her dad for offering to take Harry in. So why was Harry crying?
"Harry, what's wrong?" Hermione asked. "Why are you crying? Don't you want to live with us?" She struggled to keep the hurt out of her voice-and failed miserably.
"It's not that I don't want to live with you guys," Harry said between sobs, "I would love to! You guys are great! But I can't. Dumbledore finally told me why he brought me to the Dursleys. The Prophesy was about me and Voldemort." Hermione listened with horror as he explained the prophecy and the blood wards.
"My God," Emma murmured, "I'm so sorry Harry."
Harry shook his head angrily. "I don't want your pity," he growled. Then he realized he had snapped, burst into tears again, and said, "I'm sorry I snapped." Though this was muffled by his hands holding his face, they knew what he said.
Hermione was thinking. She had finally kissed Harry! But now, because she had come here, his relatives were more of a danger to him than ever. How could she keep him safe? She had an idea, and stood up quickly.
Harry unfortunately took this the wrong way, thinking Hermione was distancing herself from him. Hermione heard his gasp, and whirled to him, saying soothingly, "Relax, Harry, I just want to talk to my dad for a moment." She waited until he acknowledged her, then turned back to her father, gesturing to the now open hallway.
They closed the door behind them, and Dan knew exactly what his daughter was thinking. "Absolutely not," he said.
"Dad, you don't even know what I'm going to say!" Hermione complained.
"You're going to say that you think you should stay her to protect Harry," he said. She seemed surprised he got it right. "If you think I'm going to let you stay at your boyfriend's house with his abusive family, you have another thing coming. I'm not letting my daughter into danger if I can help it."
Hermione hugged her father for his protectiveness. However, she wasn't done yet. "Dad, what would you do if you were in my place and Mum was in Harry's?"
She heard her father sigh. He should have known she wouldn't give up without a fight. "I would do exactly what you're trying to do, young lady. And it wouldn't have worked for me, either."
Well, if he wasn't giving up, she had to fight dirty. She whispered to her father, "Dad, how can you expect me to leave him to those pieces of filth? Especially knowing that we made it worse by coming here?"
"I-I d-don't see h-how that h-has anything to d-do with it," her father stuttered.
Hermione smiled. She had him now. "But Daddy," she said, "with me here, I can threaten them with you if they do anything to me or Harry. And Harry's too honorable to do anything with me. If anything, I would have to force him, and I'm not ready for that."
Dan was in a bind. He knew he had made Harry's situation worse, but had the potential to make it better. The problem was, though not only sleeping at the house with her boyfriend, but the abusing family possibly could put his daughter at risk. She had defused that possibility, and Death Eaters couldn't get here either. If Harry's explanation was true. In some ways, she was actually safer. And though he still didn't really liked it to let her sleep alone with her boyfriend, he was going to let his daughter stay. He sighed. "Alright. Fine," he said, disgruntled.
Hermione squealed excitedly, and bounced into Harry's room to tell him. But she should have guessed his response…
