I'm back! I took the exam and it was terrible... Then I found out that we had to put down one of our family dogs of ten year... Then I graduated high school... Then I spent hours editing a 400+ page document... I have other excuses, but I'm sure no one wants to hear. :)

Anyhow. Here's the chapter that should have been written several days ago!

Warnings: mild graphic abuse a.k.a. beating, mental manipulation (If this is a trigger for you, please don't read.)

As always: Enjoy! :)

Hope had managed to find a comfortable position on the floor of the shed. Various tools within the cramped shed would poke her every time she shifted, and she quickly learned to stay still after a shovel had fallen on her. With night falling outside, the darkness in the shed grew more absolute.

The only upside was that there was no way that she could be blamed if something went wrong inside. Hope took a deep breath. The air was getting a little too hot and stuffy for her comfort.

Suddenly, she heard the distant slamming of a door. Hope sat up at the sound. There was silence. She frowned. Maybe her headache was making her hear noises?

The lock on the shed door jiggled loudly as whoever was outside tried to open the door quickly. Hope's heart rate spiked. She knew that it was far too early for her to be let out.

The door finally flew open as the lock outside was undone, revealing the slightly purple faced Vernon Dursley. Without saying a word, he reached down and grabbed Hope's arm hard enough that she let out a small cry. He pulled her over the push lawn mower that she had been sitting behind. A small tear appeared in her jeans as they caught a rusted nail on the doorframe.

"Please! Sir! What—" Hope was silenced by the tightening of her uncle's grip on her arm. Her heart was in her throat. What had she done?!

Her uncle led her to the back door and kicked it open, practically dragging her through the kitchen to the stairs. Hope narrowly avoided hitting a small side table where a decorous vase sat by twisting her body sideways. She struggled to get her feet underneath her as they continued up the stairs with no pause. The fact that her uncle had yet say anything scared her.

A small flash of movement caught her eye. Hope looked fearfully into the eyes of her aunt, who was standing at the kitchen door. She could have sworn that her aunt looked scared for her, but she didn't have time to think about it as her uncle jerked her up the final few steps.

The moment that they passed the threshold of her room, Vernon threw her to the ground and shut the door behind him. There was a small crash from outside as a picture on the wall fell down. The only light in the room came from moonlight in the window, but her uncle didn't bother trying to find a light switch. It wouldn't have worked anyway. Her light had burned out sometime last year.

Hope's breath was knocked out of her when she hit the ground, and she struggled to scoot back from the towering figure of her uncle. She tried to speak, but all that came out was a breathless rasp.

"YOU WORTHLESS FREAK!" Vernon finally bellowed. Hope's back hit the wall behind her and she continued to move along the wall until she was huddled in the corner. "Because of you, MY family suffers! I could have been able to accomplish so much more without you and your STUPID attention-seeking actions!"

Her uncle continued to speak, sometimes shouting, other times speaking in harsh whisper. Hope still didn't know what she had done. She tried to press herself further back, but the wall stopped her. Hope's eyes followed every movement of his hands and every shift in body language.

Then the shift occurred. Her uncle had worked himself into such a rage that his words were no longer enough. He unclasped his belt and pulled it off. If Hope's heart rate wasn't already racing, it spiked even more. She could barely hear anything else that was said and her body felt numb. Hope hated her Uncle's belt with a passion.

Vernon folded the strap of leather in half, holding the loose ends. His girth was large enough that, even when the belt was folded, it could wrap around Hope more than once. That scared Hope.

Immediately, Hope twisted her body around in the corner so that she faced the corner of the wall. She tried to make herself smaller by curling into a ball, arms protecting her face. The only thing she gave her uncle easy access to was her back. She squeezed her eyes shut so hard that she saw spots.

"LOOK at me when I talk to you!" Vernon roared. He didn't allow any time for Hope to react before he let fly the first lash.

Hope gave a strangled cry as fire erupted on her back. The moment the traitorous sound escaped her lips, she jammed part of her fist into her mouth and bit down. The very next lash, she cut the cry off in her throat and simply bit her hand harder. It was all she could do to stop herself. All past experiences told her that every noise she made only served to fuel her uncle's anger.

Two more lashes. Tears began to sting her eyes. Hope cursed herself. She didn't want to give Vernon a reason to be happy.

"I SAID LOOK AT ME!" Vernon shouted, giving her a sharp kick in the side. It was enough to force her out of the ball she was curled in.

Her uncle reached down with his left hand and grabbed a fistful of her hair. A moan barely audible escaped Hope's throat as he pulled her up sharply by her hair. She struggled to get her feet under her. "You WILL learn to respect me! Do you hear me, girl?!"

Vernon, still holding her hair, shoved her face against the wall, exposing her back to him more clearly. Hope braced her forearms against the wall by her head. It was all she could do.

Another lash. This one on her lower back. Hope bit her lip and tasted blood. A few more swings from her uncle's arm and she heard the sound of cloth ripping. Warmth trickled down her back. Remaining upright and keeping quiet for the remainder of the punishment was the hardest thing that Hope had ever done. She would face Voldemort willingly any time over this.

When her uncle finally exhausted himself, he released his grip on her hair and watched her body crumple to the floor. Hope's eyes were crossing with the pain and drops of blood trickled from her mouth where she had bitten it. She couldn't stop her body from shuddering in silent sobs.

"You stupid freak." Vernon spat out, taking a sadistic pleasure in the way that his niece shuddered at his voice. "You know you deserve every bit of that, don't you?" His voice was ragged from the effort he had put into hitting her.

Vernon kicked her side to get a response. When Hope did nothing, he knelt down and took hold of her hair once more to force her to look into his eyes. "Look at me when I talk to you, Freak."

Hope ignored the blood in her mouth as she bit the inside of her cheek and stared into the dark, glittering eyes of her uncle.

"Now tell me: Did you deserve this?" He shoved the belt strap in her face, ignoring the small crimson streak it left on her pale cheek.

"Y—Ye—Yes, S—Sir."

"Why?" He demanded, shaking her head a little to emphasize the question.

"Bec—Because I—I—I'm a F—Freak." The admittance killed something in Hope. She was too tired to understand what the new emptiness inside of her was.

"And don't forget it." Her uncle finally released her and stood up. He left the dark room behind with a slam of the door. Soon all of the locks were put to use, keeping a teenage girl inside who couldn't do more than move the tips of her fingers.

Hope remained where she was on the floor of her room, tears streaming down her face. Deep shuddered racked her body, sending even deeper jolts of pain through her nervous system. She couldn't see the damage done to her back, but knew that, even with her ability to heal fast, she wouldn't be moving for several days. Hope hated situation. She hated her uncle for what he did to her. She hated her cousin for following his father's lead. She hated her aunt for not stopping her uncle. She hated Albus Dumbledore for leaving her here. She hated Voldemort for not killing her when he killed her parents. Most of all, Hope hated herself. If only she was normal. If only she could just die already.

Another quiet sob forced its way out of her throat. It sounded loud in the dark, quiet room.