DISCLAIMER: I don't own Harry Potter

-CHAPTER 1-

Harry Potter sat dejectedly on one of the swings at the park. With no friends and nothing to do while his aunt was cleaning the house, he was alone. This he was thankful for.

While it was depressing just to sit there and do nothing, it meant that his cousin Dudley and his little mob of followers would leave him be for now. Harry didn't doubt that they'd come by to annoy him later but for now it was nice to not have them beating him up for a change.

Harry wasn't like the other children. For one, he looked different to them. His scruffy black hair, taped glasses, baggy clothes and startling green eyes were enough for any other kid his age to be put off. He might have actually had a chance to make some friends if Dudley hadn't made everyone scared of being friends with Harry.

Another thing that drove the other children away was the fact that Harry was unusually quiet. He was well behaved enough, did his homework on time, got fairly good grades at school and was obedient. He never asked for anything, was nervous when he received praise and became frightened when he had to take home a report better than his cousin's. If they knew why they probably wouldn't give him as many strange looks. Harry didn't like talking about his home life; especially not to teachers.

But the thing that scared the children most of all was that strange things happened around Harry. Objects would move without him touching them, he could get birds to land on his hands without food, windows sometimes broke for no reason, and bad things happened to people who were cruel to him.

For these reasons, most kids stayed away from Harry. It didn't help things that his guardians, Petunia and Vernon Dursley, frequently told fellow parents and the neighbours about what a terrible child Harry was.

Harry got off the swing feeling angry all of a sudden. It just wasn't fair! He'd never done anything to deserve any of this! Ever since his parents had been killed in a car crash he'd been forced to endure five years of living with the Dursleys.

Harry kicked a pebble moodily. He watched it bounce away into a nearby bush. Seconds later he heard a faint plop. He frowned. As far as Harry knew, pebbles only made a "plop" if they were dropped into water. They certainly didn't do it if they rolled into a bush.

Curiously Harry peeked over the edge of the bush. It was on the very edge of the playground and was one of many bushes.

Harry whipped around when he heard Dudley's gang approaching. Thinking fast, he scrambled behind the bush. He could hear Dudley talking to his friends as he went past.

"Wonder where the freak's gone off to now..." one of the other boys said something that Harry couldn't hear. "Well, dad said it's ok to hit 'im 'cause he deserves it. C'mon, he must've gone this way."

The voices faded away. Harry sighed in relief and moved to stand up. He slipped on the edge of something a fell with a surprised cry into a hole. He landed with a splash in a puddle at the bottom.

Harry sat up feeling rather dazed. He groaned looking at his clothes. Aunt Petunia was going to kill him for getting them all muddy and wet. He looked up. Luckily it wasn't a very deep hole, he could get back out fairly easily but Harry didn't want to go just yet.

Out of curiosity, he looked around. It looked like an old den of some sort, maybe a fox had lived here? Harry crawled deeper into the den and saw something glittering at the end. He reached out and brushed the soft dirt away from the mysterious object.

It was a crystal of some sort. About ten centimetres long and roughly a centimetre thick, it was transparent and cut so it looked almost like a shard. Harry picked it up and studied it more closely. It shimmered in the dim light and when Harry moved towards the entrance of the den, it cast minute rainbows over his hands.

Clambering out of the hole, Harry held onto the crystal tightly and sat back down on the swing. Looking back over his shoulder, he could see that the den was camouflaged perfectly.

Harry ran his fingers over the surface of the crystal, cleaning it of the remaining dirt. He studied it, marvelling at the tiny spectrums that danced on his hands as he turned it.

He received a scolding when he got home and was made to wash himself with the hose in the backyard. He didn't care. His new treasure was worth it and it was a hot day anyway. Harry wasn't given dinner that night and was sent to his cupboard earlier than usual while Uncle Vernon had people from his company over for dinner. Not that Harry really cared. He fell asleep clutching his crystal in his hand. He finally had something to care about.

Harry took his crystal everywhere with him. He feared he might lose it one day if he left it somewhere so he always had it on his person. He was worried that it would get broken and had panicked when Dudley had pushed him down once and he landed on it. It was fine though. Not a scratch spoiled its pristine surface.

Eventually, when Harry was eight, he found some loose string and a bit of tape so he made a makeshift necklace for it, wearing the crystal like a pendant. The tape didn't stick to it for long and out of frustration, Harry had wished with all his might that he had a proper necklace for it.

To his astonishment, the string and tape turned to silver and attached themselves firmly to the crystal. While this delighted and scared Harry, he didn't dare tell anyone. His aunt and uncle would most likely assume he'd stolen it. That was the last thing he wanted to happen. So the crystal pendant was hidden under his shirt at all times.

By the summer of 1991, Harry had all but forgotten about how he had first found his crystal. All that matter was that he had it. It was his only comfort in his life.

When the letters came, Harry had clasped the crystal under his shirt as his uncle drove him away from Privet Drive, out of Little Whinging and beyond Surrey. Harry was left in a clearing, in the middle of a forest, with nothing but the clothes on his back, his crystal and Uncle Vernon's departing words, "You're on your own now. If they want you they can come and get you. Just tell them to stay the hell away from my family!"

Harry had sat in the clearing for a long time not knowing what to do. That night was a cold one, despite it being summer. He sat with his back against a tree, feeling lost. When the moon was directly overhead, an owl swooped out of the sky and dropped a letter in Harry's lap.

Tentatively, he picked it up, the same seal; same green writing except it now read:

Mr H. Potter

Clearing near the river

Barfold Wood

South Downs National Park

Harry went to open the envelope and froze. The clearing had suddenly gotten much colder. The sky had darkened and the grass began to frost over. Harry shivered. Something felt very, very wrong.

Then, he saw it. At the other end of the clearing, something floated through the trees. It was shaped roughly like a man only it had no legs and was covered in a black cloak. Slimy looking, scabbed black hands protruded from its long sleeves, and hood covered its head. It drew long rattling breaths as it glided into the clearing that seemed to suck the life from the air. It paused and turned its head towards Harry, who was paralysed with fear.

The creature came towards him, seemingly carelessly, as though it had all the time in the world. Harry begged his body to get up and move but he couldn't stop staring at the nightmarish creature. It stopped just in front of Harry who was now shaking in pure terror.

As it leant towards him, drawing in another rattling breath, Harry heard someone scream. Dimly he thought, it strange, no one else was around. He then noticed he had covered his face in his hands when the monster prised them apart. That was when Harry's panic response finally kicked in.

He began to flail and shout as it seized him around the neck. Harry began wildly kicking and trying to rip the monster's hands from his throat vainly. His eyes widen in horror as the monster's hideous face was revealed as it lowered its hood. It didn't look even remotely human. Blank, white eyes stared at him as it came closer still. There was a roaring in Harry's ears and he didn't notice what happened next, his vision was blacking out.

"Not Harry, please not Harry!"

"Stand aside you silly girl!"

There was high pitched cold laughter and screaming. Something pressed against his mouth and he felt his own screams of terror and breath stolen from him. Then there was a tugging, inside him something important to his existence was being pulled loose. He could feel nothing but pain and fear.

He vaguely heard someone shout "Harry!" and then he was falling to the ground, there was a rush and something bright white filled his vision. The cold disappeared but he was still drifting, something burned him and he felt himself being pulled somewhere else by it. He felt warmth and then he was secure.

Harry blinked as a silvery cat stood nearby hissing at an invisible enemy, a magnificent silver bird flew through the air, circling the clearing and the cat prowled around. He heard running feet and someone was suddenly touching his shoulders. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a silver doe vanish and he knew no more.

AN: Dementors are shit scary to write. Especially with the whole dementor's kiss thing. Yeah, I just kicked off a story with something pretty dark. Anyway, challenge for anyone who reads this: Can you guess whose patroni were there? Virtual cookie for anyone who gets it right.

I should probably go to sleep now.

Review please! 3

EDIT: changed a little tiny detail at the end of this chappie.

~Silver