Here. Chapter Two, re-edited and re-written. Read it. Read it.

Chapter II- This House is not a Home

As the boy cried his heart out, wind began to swirl around the sobbing figure. The trees swayed their branches, wind whipping through their leaves like a noise, voices, their own secret languages. Dead leaves rustled across the ground, and there was one last sound, the quietest, as drops of blood dripped from Harry's elbow.

His emotion released, Harry finally calmed himself, allowing his mind to focus on the near-silent woods. He wiped away the tears with his arm, and sniffed. Another breeze caused fallen leaves to roll across the ground and stop at his feet. Harry picked a dry leaf and held it to his elbow to stop the bleeding. His irregular breathing soon settled, and Harry's breakdown was over, but he still faced something else.

What now? What should he do?

He supposed he should go back home. ...But, just because he should, surely that didn't mean it was compulsory for him...did it?

The party seemed to be in full swing again, judging from the loud noises, but there was some strangely odd ones. Thinking about it, it was probably Hayden's new broom, the Zap 3000, the best broom for young child, according to Parenting Magical Children magazine. The broom had all the latest and greatest safety features, and whenever it was flown, the broom would make sounds depending on what it had been set as. Such sounds included most flying magical creatures, and even some Muggle things, like the 'airplanet' and the 'locket ship', whatever those were. His parents had once promised long ago, to show him what they were...but they had promised a lot of things.

Harry hugged his knees to his body. Surely, someone had noticed he was missing? Someone must be looking for him, right? But, no one seemed to have looking for him at the party earlier...well, save the man trying to use him to get to Hayden, but he didn't count.

For all Harry knew, he could have been waiting there for hours, but he was only there for one. And still, no signs or sounds of anyone searching for him. The people seemed much more interested in Hayden riding his new broom, rather than the 'unimportant' brother.

The sun was starting to set, setting the sky ablaze with tones of vivid reds and oranges thrown upon the clouds. The noises from the broom stopped, and he heard more loud cracks, from the sounds of the guests Disapparating away, so the party must have ended.

Some birthday for Harry.

It wasn't too long until Harry heard no sounds at all, save crickets chirping in the cool night air, and the five-year-old began to shiver. As he contemplated looking for shelter, a scream pierced through the cold air.

Surely, that was his mother's!

Harry instantly jumped to his feet. They had noticed he was gone after all! Sure, it took them long, but...better late than never, was the old saying. Harry ran through the woods back to his home, and despite that the trail looked longer than it had when he first came there, he still made it back in about ten minutes.

Strangely enough, no one was outside, something Harry noted as he walked to the back door. He rapped on the door, rather quietly.

What voices he had heard from the kitchen ceased as he heard shuffling, probably of chairs. The lock clicked and the door opened.

Harry had either expected anger for running off, or relief for returning.

He certainly hadn't expected to meet his father at wand-point, the mahogany wand pointed at his nose.

"Oh, just you," James gave an audible sigh of relief, before he opened the door wide enough so Harry could enter.

Neither had Harry expected that. After all, not the kind of the thing you'd say to a missing child when they returned.

As Harry walked into the kitchen, he saw a flamboyantly dressed old man with a long silver beard and hair, and half-moon glasses sitting at the table; one Albus Dumbledore. Harry grabbed a box of dry cereal, since he hadn't eaten all day, save the meagre meal of toast and juice he had for breakfast.

Hayden was sitting on the floor, happily scribbling in a new colouring book. And a second later, Harry was being shooed out of the kitchen and told to go to bed by his mother.

"But Hayden's still-"

"We have something very important to discuss with Hayden. Please go to bed." Lily sounded rather stressed.

Harry reached for his small pile of presents, but he was stopped by his mother again.

"Harry, please!" There was a definite note of desperation in her voice. "This is very important!"

Harry glanced over back at Hayden, still colouring. What was so important?

Sure, Hayden needed to know to stay inside the lines...and that tigers were the ones with the stripes, not lions, who were also not pink and green...but that was going off-topic, for that couldn't be so important.

Harry left the kitchen empty-handed, and closed the door all the way...before lying down by the door, putting his ear by the crack under the door. And after a moment of listening to the adults settling around the table, the conversation began.

"Now, James, Lily," said the voice which must have been the old man. "Are you two absolutely sure you heard him-?"

"Yes!" Lily yelled, and by the scuffling of chairs, had stood as she said that. "It was one of the most strangest things I've ever heard! Especially since it came from my son!"

The old man sighed. "I feared something similar to this may have happened eventually. I do have a theory...ah, you can let young Hayden listen now."

Harry supposed they had used a spell to stop Hayden hearing that part of the conversation, before he went back to listening at the door, and by the sounds, Hayden had joined the adults.

"Everyone was going, and I didn't have no one to talk to, and then the snakie said it was hungry, so I talked to it!"

"And you're absolutely sure you understood it?" asked James.

"Yup! I'm sure!"

"My boy," said Dumbledore. "Parseltongue...the ability to speak the language of the serpents...is a very rare gift. Voldemort could speak it, and it is my belief that when his curse failed, somehow, he accidently transferred some of his power ...to you."

There were two gasps, from the couple.

"Albus...no! It can't be! I- he can't!" Lily wailed and by the sounds, was about to cry.

Harry was completely puzzled. He had talked to snakes too before. And since Hayden had been hit by the curse, but if both of them could talk to snakes, shouldn't it have been something passed down?

Harry pondered over that, before finally deciding it would be best to tell them they were wrong. As he opened the door, the first thing that he saw was Hayden looking curiously at his parents, clearly wondering what all the fuss was about. James was holding Lily, but looked like he was about to break down himself.

"Um...I need to tell-"

"Harry!" exclaimed James in surprise.

"Vold-"

"You should be-"

"didn't giv-"

"-in bed!"

"I can speak-"

"-discussion about-"

"-snakes!" Harry finished.

Having spoken over Harry several times in the past moments, James misinterpreted.

"Harry. I think I would appreciate it if you didn't eavesdrop on important conversations. We were having an important discussion with your brother, not you..."

Not you...not you...

The phrase rang out in his head, blocking out any other sound or sense. How many times had he heard that now? There had to be another reason to why the twins could speak to snakes! But they didn't let him tell them! Obviously, Harry knew they were stressed, after all, even he knew about the whole thing with snakes and dark wizards, but he was their son! It was his birthday! He did his best to be good! Why did it end like this? When did it go wrong? What went wrong?

James spoke up a second time. "I don't think you understand, Harry. Your brother is known as the Boy-Who-Lived, and is important to a lot of people. Right now, we don't need you to be here."

Don't need you...don't need you...

Harry's young mind frantically tried to process what his parents were saying. Then as it did so, he went over the words, convinced he had heard it wrong. But, no.

He had been right earlier. He was forgotten. His parents...cared more about Hayden. Did they...did they even care about him at all?

Harry tore out of the kitchen as fast as he could, flying up the stairs to his room, slamming the door as hard as he could.

He had to go. This place wasn't for him. This was too much for him to know. This house was not a home for him. He had to run away...anywhere, anywhere, just far away.

With those words, all that had built up came crashing down. All the times he had felt downtrodden, pressure to be something he wasn't, thought to be someone he wasn't, used, taken for granted...and the knowledge and hate he bore, knowing he'd never be good enough.

Those voices screamed out to him: "Let it begin! Let us leave!"

He was Harry. Just Harry. Only Harry. Lonely Harry. Unwanted Harry.

Harry slumped against the door, empty sobs racking his body.

Anywhere, anywhere, just far away...

And suddenly, an odd sensation built up in him. Power surging through his body...and it released. With a loud 'crack'...Harry disappeared into thin air.

Harry felt like he was being squeezed painfully through a tube, and after what seemed like agonising minutes, when it had been seconds, Harry fell onto the ground.

Slowly, he climbed to his feet, spitting dirt out of his mouth. His eyes widened as he saw a breathtaking landscape, something he had never seen before.

A mountain range stood in the distance, covering the horizon, bases of dark green forming great peaks of blue-grey that stood above the clouds. Hills stood on one side of the mountains, and on the other, there was a thick green forest.

He turned around and saw white shores, and a glorious blue ocean, and large islands scattered across the sea.

And then he was brought back to reality. He had no food, no extra clothes, no water, and worst of all, he was all alone, in a place in the middle of nowhere.

That was bad. Very bad. Very, very bad.

Harry panicked for a few moments, before he tried to think logically. After a few moments of looking across the landscape, he could just make out smoke rising from somewhere in the forest.

It probably wasn't the best idea to run towards a fire, possibly natural, but he was five, scared, lonely, and suffering from neglect.

And he ran again.

What must have been hours later, Harry slumped to the ground, his feet aching. He had been running, then walking, but never seemed to get any closer, but now, it looked like he had actually got somewhere close.

He was no expert with physics that dictated laws of speed and distance and time- he couldn't even spell physics or dictated- but he was sure it'd take him less then half an hour to get there.

Well versed in the art of moving quietly, having used it many a time at 'home', Harry started picking his way through thick shrubbery and foliage, and soon reached the source of the smoke.

Upon seeing the 'people', he gasped, before clapping his hand over his mouth and hiding behind a tree, flattening his back across the trunk, and turning slightly to peek around the tree.

There were five of them, all of whom seemed male. They were tall, long haired, and their skin was pale- unnaturally so.

It looked like they were having a meeting, four seated on logs, looking quite relaxed, while one paced up and down- seeming quite agitated- as he addressed the other four.

Harry squinted, before moving in closer. Surely a bit closer wouldn't hurt...or a bit more...or a bit more...

Suddenly, he slipped on uneven ground and fell forward into the clearing, landing in a thick bed of dead leaves and twigs.

Harry climbed to his feet, to meet the eyes of the five people staring at him. He tried to run, the one that had been standing grabbed his arm.

Harry gulped, and slowly looked up at the tall and very intimidating person, meeting his stern gaze. "...Er...hello. How's life up there?"

How's life up there...my cheap comedy skills really shining through there.