Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. It belongs to Joanne Kathleen Rowling.
A/N: I know that it's been months since I've put up another chapter, and I'm sorry for this. I just haven't been that inspired or anything to write anything. I've finally started writing again, and I hope that this chapter makes up for the months that I've been gone.
Harry woke up on July 30th and slowly got out of bed. His ribs still hurt from falling down the stairs, but at least they weren't hurting as much as they were the first night. He looked over at Hedwig and saw that she was sleeping. He quietly put on his glasses and stood up, trying not to wake her. He walked out of his room and started walking to the bathroom. Right before he shut the door, he looked at the clock on the wall and noticed that it was almost noon.
"I slept in that late!?" Harry whispered furiously to himself. "Uncle Vernon is going to kill me!" He ran to his room and quickly got dressed, as quickly as he could with broken ribs, and ran to the stairs. He didn't even notice when he woke Hedwig up, or when she saw the bruises on his chest.
Harry slowly started walking down the stairs, hoping that no one would notice that he was just waking up. While he was in the middle of the staircase, he heard voices coming from the kitchen.
"What do you mean I have no breakfast!?" Harry heard Dudley yell, probably to Aunt Petunia. Dudley usually doesn't wake up until noon so it makes sense that he would be asking for breakfast when it should be lunch.
"Well, I never had time to make it sweetie." Aunt Petunia replied in a loving voice. A voice that she only used while talking to Dudley.
"Wasn't Harry, the freak, supposed to make breakfast!?" Dudley yelled back. Harry thought that if he could see Dudley's face right now, it'd probably be purple.
"Thank you for reminding me Dudders. He probably slept in late, which means that I'm going to have to knock some sense into him." Harry heard his Uncle's voice say. At this point, he stopped walking down the stairs, and was curiously listening to the conversation.
"Now Vernon, don't you think that you're going a little too far. It was only breakfast, and it's not like he doesn't do anything around here." Aunt Petunia tried to reason with him.
"Only breakfast!?" Uncle Vernon yelled. Harry heard the screeching of a chair, guessing that Uncle Vernon was very upset. "Breakfast is the simplest task that we give him, and he can't even do that right!"
"He needs his rest Vernon. After all that we've done to him, he deserves a few hours of sleep." Aunt Petunia said, still talking in a calm voice.
Why is she suddenly standing up for me? Harry thought. All of these years she's treated me so horribly, and then now she stands up for me? It doesn't make sense. Why now? Why not earlier when... Harry never got to finish that thought, because all of the sudden he was on the ground.
He looked up and saw the purple face of his Uncle Vernon looking down at him. Harry could see the vein on his forehead popping out, and knew that he was in trouble now. He swallowed hard and started to slowly climb back up the stairs, never turning his back. He got as far as two steps when Uncle Vernon grabbed him by the arm and started dragging him towards Harry's room.
Harry's stomach felt like it was on fire, but he didn't want to let the pain show and give his Uncle the satisfaction. Instead, he focused on figuring out a way to break free of his Uncle's grip.
Maybe if I can grab my wand before he sees, I'll be able to break free, Harry thought while his free hand inched it's way to his back pocket.
He was just about to grab it when his Uncle threw him against his bedroom wall. As his back hit the wall, he could no longer conceal his pain. He managed to get out a short yell before his Uncle's hand was covering his mouth.
"You keep your mouth shut boy, if you know what's good for you," Uncle Vernon spat in his face. He saw Harry's hand trying to inch towards his wand again, but before Harry could grab it, he snatched it out of his pocket and threw it across the room into the far corner.
"You will not be doing any kind of magic under my roof," Uncle Vernon said dangerously. "I'll let you go easy this time, but next time I wake up and there isn't breakfast on the table, you'll be sorry."
Uncle Vernon grabbed Harry by the arm again, and threw him against the other wall before he stormed out of the room and slammed the door shut.
Harry slowly made his way to his bed and sat down. He looked towards Hedwig's cage and noticed that she wasn't in there. "Hedwig!?" Harry called. He waited for a few minutes, before he knew that she wasn't anywhere in his room. He walked to the window and noticed that it was open. "She probably went for a fly," he said to himself. "She'll probably be back sometime during the night."
He moved to his bed and as soon as his head hit the pillow he fell asleep.
~*~*~*~*~*~
Harry slowly opened his eyes and looked around. He looked at the clock on his bedside table, "midnight!?" Harry yelled, "I slept until midnight!?" He looked towards Hedwig's cage and noticed that she still wasn't back yet.
He walked over to the window and looked to see if Hedwig was anywhere near. He was about to turn around when he saw something move out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head and saw about twenty cloaked figures walking towards his house.
He started panicking when he saw that they were wearing masks that he recognized as Death Eater masks. "What about the wards!? They can't get in here, the wards are supposed to protect me!" He yelled. "I've got to warm my Aunt and Uncle!"
He picked up his wand from the corner and ran out of his room, putting all of the pain he was in aside for the moment, and ran straight to his Aunt and Uncle's bedroom. He was about to open their door, when... BANG!
Harry spun around and looked down the stairs. He could see the Death Eaters running through the blasted doorway, scattering around the house. He ran into his Aunt and Uncle's bedroom, and stopped when he noticed that they were already awake.
"You've got to get out of here! Death Eaters are attacking!" Harry yelled to them, while moving and opening the window.
"Death Eaters!? What the bloody hell are Death Eaters!?" Uncle Vernon raged, the vein in his head beginning to pulse. "They're one of your kind, aren't they!?"
"Yes! They're wizards, and if you don't let me help you get out of here they're going to kill you!" Harry screamed while thinking of a way to get them safely out of here.
Harry opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted when there was a scream coming from Dudley's room. "DUDLEY!" Aunt Petunia screeched. She started running to the door when Harry stopped her.
"You can't go out there or they'll kill you! It's probably too late for Dudley anyway!" He said to her. This was not the right thing to say. Aunt Petunia pushed him out of the way and ran out the door. "No!" Harry yelled as he watched the door slammed shut behind her. He looked to Uncle Vernon and said, "you can't go out there. Unless you want to die, you can't go out-" he didn't get to finish his sentence as the door to the room burst open.
"Look what we have here," said a voice Harry knew belonged to Bellatrix LeStrange. "Harry Potter trying to save his Uncle, how sweet," she said while slowly walking towards them. "Trying to be the hero again Harry? You couldn't save your Godfather, so what makes you think you can save your Uncle?" She was now only two feet away from them.
"Don't you dare talk to me about Sirius!" Harry yelled, raising his wand so it was level with her chest.
"What are you going to do Harry? Are you going to try and use the Cruciatus on me again?" Bellatrix laughed.
Uncle Vernon was silently watching what was happening, hoping he wouldn't be caught in the middle of it. He was also slowly backing up into the corner so it'd be harder for them to see him. Hopefully they will forget all about me and take the boy, He thought.
"We've already killed your cousin and aunt, don't you want to spare your uncle's life?" She asked, pointing her wand at Uncle Vernon's retreating form.
"Expelliarmus!" Harry yelled at the exact moment Bellatrix yelled, "Avada Kedavra!"
Bellatrix's wand flew out of her hand, but too late. Her curse already hit Uncle Vernon, and he was dead. Bellatrix started laughing, "you couldn't save him. Just like you couldn't save your Godfather. What kind of hero are you?"
"Stupefy!" Harry yelled. The spell shot out of his wand, and Bellatrix was sent flying back into the hallway. Just when he thought he'd be able to have a few minutes to figure out how to get out, Lucius Malfoy stepped into the room.
"Hello Harry," Lucius sneered. "Are you ready to be taken to the Dark Lord?" He aimed his wand at Harry and yelled, "Stupefy!"
The last thing Harry saw, was a bolt of red light coming straight for him. Then he knew no more.
~*~*~*~*~*~
A/N: Well, here is the second chapter, which has taken me almost three months to write. I'd like to thank my beta and my friend Allison, who have kept me writing these past days. I plan on having the third chapter up soon. I don't know when, but it will be faster than three months. Once again, sorry for the long wait.