Disclaimer: Any thing you recognize from JK's books is NOT mine; anything that is new IS mine.
Chapter 2: Rescue
Harry had sat up to see twinkling blue eyes looking down at him.
He somehow felt different. The last thing he could remember was…
- - - FLASHBACK - - -
Harry stood up from the dinner table after he had been excused and started to climb the stairs to the second floor.
He heard a thudding of footsteps behind him as he reached the landing.
He turned to find himself facing the large body of his cousin.
"Yes Dud?" he asked politely.
"Come 'ere" replied Dudley beginning to walk back downstairs.
Harry hesitated before following the boy's retreating back into the living room.
As Dudley turned to face his cousin, his face contorted into an awful smile, more like a smirk than anything else.
"When are you leaving?" he snarled.
"What d'you mean, Dud?"
"I mean, when are you leaving like you did last summer? You know, while Dad tried to take us to that Garden Competition that ended up being cancelled?" Dudley's face was still bitter.
"I don't think I'm leaving this year. Not until school starts at least"
WHAM!
Harry fell backwards as he tried to catch his breath that had been knocked out of him.
"Why did you just punch me Dud?" he wheezed, still gasping for air.
"So, when are you leaving?" asked Dudley again, but this time more forcefully.
"I don't know! But I don't think I'm going to leave this summer" repeated Harry.
This time he blinked back stars as his cousin punched him in the face.
"So, WHEN ARE YOU LEAVING?" hollered the boy, not caring if his parents heard him.
"I don't…" began Harry, but thinking better of it, fell into silence.
"So?"
Harry pulled out his wand and pointed it at Dudley, who cowered back in fright.
"I said I don't think I am leaving this summer," he answered.
Dudley's face turned into a face full of rage and hate.
But instead of taking out his anger on his smaller sized cousin, he went over to the side table and ripped of the legs, one at a time.
Harry was shocked at the strength that Dudley had.
There must be some muscle hidden under all that flab, he thought.
Dudley used this momentary state of shock to swing a punch at Harry's head.
He fell down from the force, but cast a stunning spell at Dudley, or at least who he thought was Dudley because of the broken glasses on his nose.
The spell hit his uncle head on (he and his wife had just slipped into the room to see the source of the noise) and the man fell down, unconscious.
Petunia's sobs started within seconds and just to make her shut up, Harry stunned her too.
He turned back to Dudley and said to him, "You still want to fight, Dud?"
Dudley just whimpered.
"Fine then. I'm going to bed"
Harry turned around so that he could leave the room, but something hit the back of his head with a large force, and he crumpled to the floor.
- - - END FLASHBACK - - -
"Harry?"
Harry's vision cleared a bit more as somebody repaired his glasses and the face of his Headmaster swam into view.
"Are you alright?"
He nodded, and then shook his head.
"No? Well I didn't think you would be. Dou you need help sitting up?"
Harry nodded again.
Once he was seated properly against the smashed ottoman, he looked up at the face of the old man and opened his mouth to speak.
"No Harry. Don't talk. I will be right back, is that alright?"
Harry nodded.
He looked slowly around the room. It was in ruins. He didn't remember THAT happening.
Dudley must have done this after he tried to kill me, he decided. He looked down at himself and was even more shocked to see that he was bruised, very bruised than he remembered. He must have done that after too.
The Headmaster left the building and soon came back a minute later with a group of ten other people, most of which Harry knew.
"Harry, I believe you know most of my comrades. You know Remus, and Professor McGonagall, and Professor Snape, Nymphadora Tonks, Alastor Moody, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Arthur Weasley. This is Georgia Flat, Bruce Atnick, and Marlene Beckham."
He turned to speak to the group. "I think we should take him back to Hogwarts, to recover. Anybody else have ideas?"
The lady named Georgia raised her hand.
"For heavens sake Flat!" barked Moody "You aren't in school anymore!"
She lowered her hand. "Sorry Moody, but it's a habit. Dumbledore, I think we should take Potter's relatives to Hogwarts too, so that they can recover and also for protection reasons. If I'm not mistaken, I believe that Beckham agrees with me."
Dumbledore smiled. "Is she correct, Marlene?"
"Of course she is, we know each other front to back."
"Good, good. Any objections to taking Petunia, Vernon and Dudley to Hogwarts?"
Lupin, Snape, Mr. Weasley, and Atnick all raised their hands.
At the headmaster's expectant gaze, Atnick spoke.
"Well I don't know very much about this family, but it is quite obvious to me that they do not get along with Potter, and if they are to be staying in the same building, no matter the size of the building, it could cause problems."
Mr. Weasley cleared his throat.
"They despise magic," he said simply.
Remus spoke next. "They wouldn't like to be there"
"And they're muggles, and I don't believe that muggles can survive around that much magic." added Snape.
Dumbledore sighed.
"Alas, I had forgotten about that, Severus. I suppose we could have them taken to a muggle hospital or we could send Madam Pomfrey here, after we have the house fixed up, of course"
"I like the second idea" said McGonagall.
The headmaster turned back to Harry, who had been watching this exchange with his mind wondering.
"Harry"
This brought Harry's thoughts back to earth.
He nodded.
"We are going to take you to Hogwarts to recover and then we will decide what to do with you"
Harry nodded again, but this time with a puzzled look on his face.
"You are wondering how we will get there, I expect?"
Harry confirmed this with a nod.
"Brooms for the first part, only to London, and then we will floo to Hogwarts. We will be your guard while we fly, but since you are unable to fly on your own, Nymphadora will carry you beneath her broom"
Harry glanced at Tonks, who looked at him and smiled.
He looked back at Dumbledore, and nodded to him.
"Your belongings will be brought over by McGonagall, who will be flooing the whole way there using the fireplace at Arabella Figg's house. Now, you have to stand up Harry. We can help you if you wish?"
Harry nodded yet again, and Tonks and Atnick came over to help him up.
He smiled gratefully at them and they both smiled kindly back at him.
Once on his feet, though leaning most of his weight on Atnick, Dumbledore instructed Atnick to pick him up and carry him outside.
Once in Atnick's arms, Harry felt a soothing calm come over him.
When they arrived outside, Atnick placed Harry in a cushioned sac like contraption connected to the underside of Tonks' broom.
While everybody was mounting their brooms, Tonks leaned over and placed a kiss on Harry's forehead.
"You'll be better soon, Harry" she said and mounted her broom.
The guard kicked off, Harry hanging beneath, and they disappeared into the night.
- - -
A/N:
Hey.
I redid this chapter twice before I thought it was good.
Thanks David for letting me know about the problems in the original chapter.
Read and Review!