Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed or Harry Potter.
Life at the Dursley's was by no means, what a normal person would call pleasant for Harry Potter.
From the moment Petunia had found him on her doorstep the Dursley's had done everything they could to make sure that Harry would know just how much they did not want him.
It started with the Cupboard.
Most normal people would never think of placing a toddler into a storage cupboard, but that is exactly what happened to Harry. His aunt and uncle seemed to think that 'out of sight, out of mind' would apply with a child.
Needless to say, it didn't work.
Harry had just lived through a traumatic experience. He had been placed with people he didn't know. He was missing his family and did not really understand that they would not be coming back. He was more than a little bit upset.
Being placed into a small dark cupboard was not helpful to Harry at all. Of course, being a toddler, he reacted as any normal toddler would.
First, he started crying. If mommy and daddy wouldn't come and take him from that dark place, surely the screechy woman would. So he cried, and when no one came to pick him up, he cried a little bit louder.
Now, eventually it is possible that another baby would cry themselves to sleep in exhaustion. They may have even eventually felt that being in the cupboard was normal.
This was not how things would work out in Harry's case though.
When Voldemort tried to kill Harry, Harry used one of the powers that were much more familiar in another world.
He Orbed.
He had his first active power.
So when his crying escalated and mommy and daddy didn't come get him, and then the screechy woman didn't come and get him…his power acted on his will.
He Orbed right into the kitchen where Petunia had been making herself a cup of tea in an effort to ignore the crying coming from the cupboard.
Seeing a baby appear in the middle of her kitchen in a swarm of blue and white light shocked Petunia so much that she tossed her cup of tea over her shoulder where it shattered into tiny pieces as it hit the wall.
Thus began the mini war between the Dursley's an Harry James Potter.
Stress was plentiful on both sides, and both sides were not prepared to lose.
Petunia, wanting nothing to do with magic or her nephew was determined to keep him as far from her and her family as possible. While she had never seen her sister have such bouts of accidental magic, she was sure that she could outlast the little boy and he would just get used to how things were now. Every time the she managed to get the child to sleep, she would stuff him back under the stairs in the hopes that this time would be the time he would just stay put.
Harry on the other hand was pretty much like every other toddler in the world. He had absolutely no intentions of being ignored and he didn't like the cupboard…so he really didn't want to stay in that scary dark place. Each time he woke up there, he immediately Orbed to wherever Petunia was as he was quick to learn that she was the one in charge of taking care of him. The fat man would just grab the fat baby and leave the room when he appeared.
Harry was not acting purposefully, it was still accidental as he had no control over his power, but his power reacted to his emotions and would continue to do so until he gained control. If he needed something or was cared...he Orbed himself to his caregiver.
Harry appeared in the kitchen.
Harry appeared in Dudley's nursery.
Harry appeared in the living room.
Harry appeared in Petunia's bedroom.
Harry appeared in the shower.
It was when Harry appeared in her shopping cart at the market that the battle had been won and Petunia-after looking around to see if anyone noticed that a baby had just appeared in her cart- decided that maybe the cupboard was not the best place for a baby.
When Petunia walked in to Number Four Privet drive with two children in her arms instead of one, Vernon snapped his head towards the cupboard in disbelief before turning wide eyes back to his wife. Petunia just walked over until he took the hint and pulled Dudley into his arms.
"Alright, I don't think that the cupboard is going to work. I was lucky no one noticed him appearing in the middle of the market this time." Petunia collapsed on the couch with Harry sitting in her lap gazing up at her with big green eyes. She looked at him in disgust.
"What do you think then? We could just put him in the play room." Vernon felt conflicting emotions when it came to his nephew. For one, he was a baby. It just seemed wrong to hate a baby. On the other hand…his nephew scared him. It was one thing to be told about Petunia's freaky sister, but it was different waking up to find a baby had just appeared in you bed while you were sleeping.
He hated Harry Potter despite how bad he felt about hating a baby.
"No, I want that to be Dudders' playroom and I want him as far away from Dudders as possible." Petunia sighed as she eased the boy onto the floor. She kept one eye on the boy while she went over her options. "The guest room is too nice for him…" She had decorated it herself and didn't want the little freak messing it up. "What about the attic. It has windows so maybe we can get him to stay up there. That would be out of the way and not so dark and cramped. Maybe he doesn't like the dark."
"The attic. Yes…that might work. Not much up there anyways. We have that camping light we could use at night to keep it from being dark at night."
Vernon actually could not fit up the narrow stairs that led to the attic. When Petunia's parents had died and they had taken the furniture her dad had made, Petunia had to pay some neighborhood boys to take the furniture apart and take it upstairs.
Petunia was lost in her thoughts as she thought about using the attic as her nephews bedroom. It was a larger space than he needed, but he would have to share the space with the boxes she had stored from her parents house, not that much as she really didn't keep much in storage and they had not lived there long enough for them to start accumulating junk.
It was one large square room with little individual spaces were the windows were. It was all unfinished lumber, but the boy didn't need anything fancy, just something less dark than a cupboard.
Petunia stood. "I am going to have a look. I think that Lily's old bedroom set and mattress is still up there, if it is alright he can just sleep on the mattress until he is older." She left the room and grabbed a box of light bulbs from the cupboard where she had tried to store her nephew before leaving a wary Vernon watching over his son and his nephew.
While Harry would still Orb to Petunia if he had been left alone for too long, Harry was much more content to play on his mattress in the attic for small periods of time, which allowed Petunia to at least pretend part of the time that the boy did not exist.
Of course things did not really get much better for Harry, though they didn't immediately get worse. While he had a less creepy place to sleep, Petunia still hated him and Vernon was avoiding him as much as possible. Both were intent on keeping Dudley as far from the little freak as possible. Harry still tended to Orb to Petunia though, as she was his primary caregiver, just not as often now that he had stuff to keep him occupied.
For a while it could be described as…livable…for Harry. Petunia, so used to over feeding Dudley really had no grasp on proper portion sizes for toddlers. By giving Harry half of what she gave to Dudley, she was actually giving him pretty decent portions at first.
So things pretty much calmed down as much as they were going to in the Dursley's home. Even the Orbing slowed down as Harry learned to come down the stairs on his bottom to find his aunt. (Petunia actually gave him a biscuit the first few times he did this in an effort to train him out of Orbing to her.)
When Harry was about four years old though, he had finished his dinner before everyone else…and he was still hungry. Harry, not understanding that his aunt and uncle did not like him yet, simply held out his plate and asked for more.
"No, you have had what you are getting and you will get no more tonight." Petunia looked at him with a look of disgust, not that he knew what it meant of course.
"But I am still hungry, Aunt Petunia." Harry was still holding out his plate.
"Just shut up. You had plenty." His aunt just went back to eating.
While Harry sat there and watched his aunt continue to put more food on his cousin's plate the only thing he could think of was how he was still hungry and he wanted more food. If Dudley got more then it was only fair he could eat more too.
As Harry's attention shifted to the serving dishes which still held quite a lot of food, he continued to think on his hunger. As with all types of accidental magic, Harry's magic soon responded to his need.
Within a small swarm of Orbs, a small chicken leg disappeared from the serving platter and appeared on Harry's plate. He immediately grinned and picked up his chicken leg to take a bite, which caused him to miss the furious expressions on his aunt and uncle's faces.
The Dursley's hatred grew with the new display of magic. As they knew of no way to stop the child from Orbing himself or now food, they both decided that if he was going to eat more than they were willing to give him, that he could earn it.
This is how Harry's education began. His aunt told him that night that he would be helping with the dishes. The next day she had him back in the kitchen while she worked and started showing him cans, bags and boxes of food while pointing out words while saying each letter and then the word.
When they were done in the kitchen she gave him a rag and showed him how to dust. As she cleaned for the next few weeks, she had Harry right there with her showing him how to get things done. Soon, Harry was expected to do different cleaning tasks by himself.
The first time he had been told to clean the bathroom by himself, (everything lower than the counter tops at that time) Harry missed a piece of trash in a corner. Of course that piece of trash was found by Petunia when she went in to clean the areas out of Harry's reach.
It was the first time that Petunia physically hurt Harry.
Dragging a scared and confused Harry into the bathroom with her she screeched at him about being lazy and not grateful for the food he took. She grabbed his arm, took a piece of flesh between her thumb and finger and twisted.
As Harry cried while holding his arm, he looked at his aunt and for the first time equated the look on her face with not liking him. While he was still very young, he did understand that you don't hurt people you like.
Harry made sure to do everything he could to keep his aunt from pinching him again, but it happened often enough that Harry eventually learned exactly what his aunt felt about him. Where she used to pretty much ignore him now she seemed to be screeching at him for everything and pinching him for the smallest things.
Harry knew that she didn't like him, and figured that his uncle didn't either as he still avoided him and tended to keep him in a different room than he and Dudley. Harry just did not understand why they didn't like him.
As the pinching turned into smacks, Harry started to wonder why they didn't like him. Slowly he began to put the pieces together.
He never really connected his magic with the reason they disliked him before. After all, it had happened so frequently at the beginning that the Dursleys had just given in instead of trying find a way to stop the magic. Neither had any ideas about how to stop a child from just appearing where ever he wanted if what they wanted to do as punishment was lock him away.
Petunia also was at a loss as to why Harry could do the same bit of accidental magic over and over and over again. When Lily had been small, bouts of accidental magic had been sporadic at best. She would float something, or possibly herself from a swing, make something break when angry, turn something another color, but never had she done the same thing repeatedly and seemingly gain control over it.
Harry started trying to avoid spending extra time with his aunt now instead of seeking her out like he had done before.
When Harry was five, he was told that he would be going to school with Dudley. Petunia had pinched him and told him that he would only get more of that if he told or showed anyone his magic. (Yes, she called it by its name since she had no chance to ever make Harry think that it didn't exist.) She was petrified that something would happen and he would Orb home.
Harry had enjoyed his first few days of class, but had confused to find that the ABCs actually came in a set order. He knew all twenty-six letters, just not that they had order to them. He already knew about numbers thankfully, so he did not have to reorder those in his mind.
After a few days, the teacher noticed Harry mumbling the ABCs under his breath and asked him if he knew them. Proud of his accomplishment, Harry quoted all of them in the correct order. Over the next week she noticed him sounding out words periodically while running his finger under words that were more difficult than the ones she normally taugt, or that he already knew his numbers.
By the end of the following week, she had asked that the office test him on the skills taught during first year. Surprisingly, the Headmaster, who had been a teacher himself, found that the boy not only had a good grasp on concepts learned during in first year, but he had the maturity and knowledge to do well in second. He would have said third, but he was a firm believer in allowing children to make social connections.
That day Harry went home with a notice that he was being suggested for a grade skip to second year immediately so that he could catch up with the class. All Petunia and Vernon needed to do was sign the form and he would be introduced into his new class on Monday.
When Petunia had been insisting on Harry learning things so that he could be useful around the house, this was not what she intended. Needless to say, Vernon and Petunia were not pleased. Vernon normally ignored him, so Harry was more than a bit scared in the face of his uncle's anger.
"What is the meaning of this? What made you think you could act better than my son?" Vernon's face had turned purple as he waved the paper from school in front of a cringing Harry.
"How dare you use what I taught you to show up my Dudders?" Petunia stepped behind him so that she could reach his arm and give him a pinch.
As one pinch turned to two and then three, Harry cringed, his fear mounting at this new unexpected development. Having his aunt behind him hurting him was one thing, adding in his uncle screaming in front of him was another.
"We feed you and clothe you. We put a bloody roof over your head and ignore your freakishness, and this is how you repay us? I won't have it, I tell you! I WONT HAVE IT!"
Harry winced as he was hit with his uncle's spit in his face before his eyes widened. His uncle's hand was raising as though in slow motion.
His aunt had hit him enough that he recognized what was coming, granted, her hits didn't hurt all that much. They just stung a bit, but she was tiny compared to his uncle. Harry knew without experiencing it that he really did not want to be hit by his uncle.
Raising his hands to shield his face, Harry waited for the blow…but it never came.
Peeking through his fingers at his uncle, he was startled to see his uncle standing perfectly still, like a statue.
Pulling his hands down just a bit, (just in case his uncle had frozen in an attempt to get him to put his hands down) Harry looked at his uncle more closely. He was completely still. A glance behind him showed his aunt with a sneer on her face, seemingly frozen right before she pinched him again.
As he was perfectly aware of magic thanks to the things he had always been able to do, Harry did not stop to question this new magic. Instead, he quickly stepped a few steps to the left.
If whatever froze his uncle stopped, he did not want to be in the path of that fat fist.
From his new position, he could clearly see that his aunt was in a bad position now, having been standing right behind Harry. With her having been the one to hit and pinch Harry over the last few years, he was not feeling all that bad about it. Personally, he felt that she deserved to know what being hit felt like…it hurt.
Only another moment or two passed before the freezing wore off.
Harry winced as he heard the sound of his uncle's fist connecting with his aunt's side. It was a much heavier sound than when his aunt hit him. He watched as his aunt doubled over with a pained gasp and as his uncle's face paled with the realization that he had hit his wife instead of his freak of a nephew.
He was quick to step forward and support his wife while asking if she would be alright.
A few minutes of assuring his wife that he loved her and would never hurt her and it was an accident and Petunia assuring Vernon that she knew and she was alright and forgave him, the Dursleys turned their heads to look at their nephew, who was just staring at them.
One thing had become very clear to Harry in those few minutes of watching his aunt and uncle's reactions. They knew hitting was wrong, and they never would have felt bad about causing him that pain. Any guilt he felt about stepping aside and letting his aunt take the hit disappeared.
"You...little..." Vernon started to turn purple again, but before he could get worked up, Harry spoke in an oddly calm voice considering how scared he still was.
"You should be more careful Uncle Vernon. You will never be able to know who you will actually hit…it could have been Dudley." As he said that list bit, he turned his bright green eyes to a rapidly paling Petunia who was suddenly picturing her nephews magic putting Dudley in his place much like the food that would appear on his plate when he didn't get enough food.
Obviously Vernon was not as stupid as he looked as he soon paled as well as he looked at his nephew with something other than dislike…fear. He hadn't even seen the blue and while lights that normally preceded Harry's ability to appear somewhere else…there was no telling what other freakish things the boy could do.
Suddenly, having Harry in a different grade level was not so unappealing.
Pulling away from Petunia, Vernon picked up the paper from the school that he had dropped at some point. After looking at it in silence for a moment, he looked at his nephew.
"I will sign this and you will ensure that you do nothing that makes anyone thing you did not deserve it. You will bring home good grades and show that you are not as ungrateful as you seem. Go to your room and don't come down until dinner.
Still keeping his eyes on his uncle, Harry started slowly making his way towards the doorway and to the stairs. He only turned his back on the obese man when he was sure that he was out of easy grabbing range. After that he was quick to make his way to his attic bedroom.
Over the years the space had changed a little. It was almost always well-lit as the windows allowed light in from both the morning and afternoon sun. He only used the lightbulbs that hung from the celling if he needed light after dark, and he tended to go to bed fairly early.
Thanks to his aunt teaching him to clean at a ridiculously early age, the space was clear of clutter and dust. As a toddler, who like most other toddlers liked to get into everything, Harry had played with the different things he had found in the few boxes that had occupied the space.
He especially loved the sound of the Metronome he had found in a box filled with things Petunia had taken from her father's desk. He didn't know what exactly it was, but it made him feel calm while it slowly ticked away the seconds as he watched the little pendulum rock back and forth. It now stood on the desk that once was his mothers.
Petunia had come up one day and helped him put the pieces of the furniture together so that his mattress was no longer on the floor. It was not out of kindness on her part, but more an effort to keep the boy from thinking the furniture pieces were something to destroy. Her father had made them after all. She was also tired of seeing how warn the fitted sheets were becoming from the mattress being on the floor.
His bed sat in a shadowed corner where the morning sunlight would not automatically wake him, and he had a light gray sheet and comforter set that Dudley had thought boring. Since Petunia had gotten it on sale, it could not be returned, so she gave it to Harry.
Rugs that Harry had found in the attic or that the Dursley's had intended to throw out now kept his floor from being to plain or too cold, and to keep Harry from getting splinters. The space had become fairly colorful despite all the brown from the unfinished wood.
At the foot of his bed sat his most favorite and precious items. A old fashioned trunk made out of some kind of reddish tinted wood with black embellishments that had appeared in his room when he was four…the same night he first Orbed food onto his plate.
While he had been downstairs using what he would later learn was the power of Telekinetic Orbing, he was also using his first Charmed power. His Orbing abilities had come from the fact that there had been three half-Whitelighters in the room when the spell casting the magic into this world was cast. The power found itself in a child at the moment of conception and pretty much created the first half-Whitelighter in this world. Telekinetic Orbing was a hybrid power between Whitelighter power and Charmed power.
Using a power of the Charmed line for the first time called to the Book of Shadows that was still safely tucked into Lily's school trunk; their home being placed into stasis's so that only someone with their blood would be able to enter before it had been turned into a monument.
So when the food was being moved in a swarm of blue and white lights from one plate to the other, the trunk was disappearing from Godric's Hollow and appearing in Harry's room in a swarm of gold and white lights.
It had been a happy surprise for the boy who didn't get any gifts from the Dursleys. He only got things that they didn't want or have a use for, but nothing that was meant just for him.
There were quite a few books in the trunk, as well as some clothes and nick knacks, but Harry's favorite thing was a large green book with an odd symbol on the front. It looked old and had yellowed paper inside where there was a lot of hand written pages with creatures and scary looking people were drawn inside.
Harry thought it was a fairytale book to begin with, but he never heard Petunia telling Dudley any of these stories.
Harry used this book to practice words, though it was hard and he rarely could read a whole page thanks to the loopy writing or the very large words. He did his best though to sound things out; it was this fascination with the book that helped Harry so much with his reading skills. They were getting better day by day.
Finding himself in his room, still rattled by what had just happened downstairs, he went and sat on the corner of his bed closest to the trunk where the book rested. Pulling the book onto his lap, he flipped to a random page in the middle and started carefully sounding out the words. Most on this page were pretty small anyways, and it was probably about candles as there were five drawn on the page.
"To Sum…Sum…mon…summon the De…Dead. To Summon the Dead."
Harry licked his lips before smiling and placing his finger on the next line.