A/N: Well, it just randomly happened. Not as long as I would have liked, but whatever. Here ya go!

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Chapter Seven: From Two to (Almost) Eleven, Part II
OR: Just the First Drop in the Ocean

"Vernon," Petunia whimpered, "Are you sure that beating the child will work? I mean," she hastily corrected herself at Vernon's glare, "those freaks would do stuff to us if they found out!"

Vernon put his arms on the table with a thump. She had a point. But… "We'll start out slow…small punishments…if…they come, then we'll stop, or try some other way. But surely," he began to grin, his eyes narrowing in contemplation and greed, "surely they won't notice the boy doing some chores, would they? It's normal for that."

Petunia's eyes lit up as well, "Of course!" she exclaimed, "and they can't really expect us to spend all our money on the bra- boy."

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"Oh yes they do! You better treat my son right!" Lily stood up and pointed a trembling hand at her sister's malicious face.

"Don't worry, Lils," Sirius shot at her, "Me and Remus are still there, we'll take him away from there. Won't we Moony?" Remus nodded determinedly, causing James to jump up from the steps and grab them in a tight hug.

"Prongs…air…need…breathe…" Sirius gasped. Remus, on the other hand, decided to have a little fun, and so, instead of joining Sirius in their normal "crushed-by-hugs" routine, he collapsed, letting his dead weight knock James to the ground. Sometimes a little humor was necessary.

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Petunia slapped a hand to her mouth, and looked around, terrified that someone might have heard her insult Harry. When she got no reaction, she decided now was the time for a little bravery. "No," she said clearly, "I meant the BRAT!" After hastily searching the room again, she smirked. "After all, they can't expect us to love the worthless, piece-of-trash, no-good FREAK!"

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"SHUT UP! YOU BITCH OF A MUGGLE!" James Potter ran up to the screen, and began pummeling it with his fists. "YOU'RE THE FREAK! YOU WORTHLESS BITCH! SHUT YOUR MOUTH!"

Sometimes humor was just plain inappropriate. Sirius and Remus stayed silent, and let their friend work out his rage.

Despite his furious efforts, the screen stayed in place, and Petunia's smug face did not change.

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Vernon looked at Petunia in horror. He couldn't understand why his wife was shouting for all those freaks to hear. It took Vernon a moment to realize that the freaks weren't responding to his wife's insults. And surely, if the boy were that important to them, they wouldn't have let him been insulted. Vernon smirked, then stood up and swept his wife into an enormous hug. "Brilliant, Petunia," he said, "absolutely brilliant."

Harry, who had spent the majority of the night wide-awake, had fallen asleep, despite his new Aunt's screams. As he turned in his sleep, accidentally knocking a spoon to the ground, his Uncle turned to him, a look of pure disgust covering his face.

"I see you've wrapped him in one of Dudley's old blankets," Vernon said. He looked thoughtful for a moment, and then glanced at his wife. "Good idea. He's smaller than our Dudley, so we won't need to pay for his stuff. We'll just let him have Dudley's old things. After all," he continued with a glare at the bundle of old blankets, "they didn't bother to leave us any money."

Petunia looked aghast. "No money?" she whispered. "Well then," she said, straightening up, "we'll just have to cut costs where we can. Using Dinky Diddydums old clothes will do fine. Since he's a much smaller boy, he'll need less food, and less space than Diddydumkins does." Vernon nodded. "He can sleep in the closet," he said gleefully, "I'm not paying for a nightlight for the boy."

With that, he charged out of the room, opened the closet, and began to rip things out of there at an immense pace. Everything from diapers to towels, to toilet tissue and washcloths came flying out in a hundred different directions. "There!" he said, pulling back at last, "We'll get your father's old army cot, give him a few of the more worn out blankets, and some of Dudley's old clothes, and we can forget about him for as long as we can." With that, he roughly grabbed the sleeping Harry, and dropped him in a pile of blankets in the middle of the closet floor. He then shut the door, and locked it.

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It was silent at Hogwarts. At least, as silent as a Great Hall filled with upset students and professors can be. The Marauders (excluding Wormtail) had moved to the first row, and asked to switch seats with a few fourth-years. Peter had since moved to the farthest row he could sit in, and ended up sitting with a few Seventh-years who supported Voldemort.

Now was not a time for witty remarks, angry outbursts, or weeping condolences. Now was a time to see the damage, and to try to minimize it.

.-o.-o.-o.-o

There was a break between the 'scenes' because little Harry's next important moment didn't seem to happen until a few years later. During that time, James stood up, and went over to Lily. He ignored the scornful looks he was recieveing from Severus, and asked Lily if she thought it was possible that Harry would be physically abused. "Obviously," he had said, "the emotional abuse will happen."

Lily looked at her shoes, scuffing them along the floor. She had listened in silent horror while her sister insulted her child. And only she knew the secret about Petunia. "As girls," she began, choking over her tears, "Petunia and I used to talk about what would turn us on." Her face began to turn red, and she refused to look at James and Severus, who were now watching her intently. "What I said doesn't matter, but—but she said that," here she choked again, and reached out for several tissues from the floating boxes. "This was the only time she ever spoke of anything in the Wizarding World as 'good.' She said that she wished the Vampires weren't as bad as they were made out to be, because she was turned on by the idea of…the idea of blood." Lily ended in a whisper, knowing that what she was saying could and would destroy her son's life.

"She always told me how happy she was dating Vernon, because he…he shared that idea." She hung her head in shame, as if, by telling James about her sister's fetish, she was to blame for Harry's torment.

Severus gently wrapped an arm around her shoulders and gave her the comfort she needed, one from a friend. James, on the other hand, was rocking back and forth on the balls of his feet, trying to find something to say that would help comfort the crying girl.

"Would you, er, would both of you, like to come to the first row with Sirius, Remus, and me? There'll be no pranking, I promise."

Lily looked hesitant, and Severus was clearly against the idea. James took a deep breath, and continued, "Look, none of us are the best of friends, and basically none of us ARE friends. But in the future we're obviously going to get together, and we're the only ones who'll REALLY understand what's going on now. Join us?"

Lily gave a soft laugh. "I never though I'd see the day where James Potter would legitimately sound smart. I'll come," she said, rising to her feet. "Severus?" He glared, but gave a brief nod, and followed Lily out of the row. He wasn't going to let her get ruined by the Marauders!

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A/N: Review please? Comments are always appreciated. Sometimes something is said that gives me a great idea! Lemme know if you like it, hate it, or if you wanna see something happen. I won't go TOO far from what I'm planning, but I'd love to make some new scenes. Later!