AN: I did it! I doubled the word count in a very feely chapter, so prepare the tissues!

This chapter includes rape, abuse, and just everything. You've been warned.

Boy-Who-Lived

"Harry…" Mercedes said tentatively, breaking his train of thought. He turned to look at her, before dropping his gaze. She sighed, "Did Ms Sylvester get to you?"

Harry couldn't help but laugh at those words, "No, she just… reminded me of someone that I once knew. He was my chemistry teacher. I hated him."

Mercedes giggled, shaking her head. Harry had his first encounter with the Coach, and he had stood his ground well, comebacks rolling off his tongue. She had briefly considered detention, but Mr Schue had turned up, allowing Harry and Mercedes to sneak away.

"That's funny."

She took a mouthful of coffee, stopping at the edge of the pavement. As the pair waited for the lights to change, Mercedes decided to change the subject, wanting to find out more about the boy who had caught everyone's attention.

"Hey Harry, what's your favourite colour?" She asked, knowing it was a bit random. He shrugged a little, indicating that he didn't know or didn't have one, but Mercedes wasn't happy with it, "Harry, you have to let me in some time. You can't block me or Kurt out forever."

She refrained from saying three little words, words that may damage everything between the group of three.

You need us.

Luna had said so, her last words of advice before leaving, smiling softly at their baffled faces, her dreamy eyes looking everywhere but them.

Sighing, Harry crossed the road, shaking his head, "I can't. If I do…"

Harry trailed off, thinking of all the times he let someone in. More than 75 percent died, leaving him nearly no one, and he didn't want to lose anyone else.

Being said, he not only wanted to let the two in, he wanted to let Glee club in. They gave him a place, a reason. He may not have seen it until his trip to the hospital, but they were his reason. And although he didn't know it, he was important to them, and not just for his abilities.

"Okay, at least tell me a little about you. How about telling me when your birthday is?" Mercedes reasoned, smiling softly at him, looking into his face.

He smiled then, "July 31st… Oh, that reminds me, I still haven't opened half my presents from last year. Maybe I should do that tonight. I only managed to open Ginny, Molly and Arthur and Ron's presents before all hell broke loose."

The words were casual, and Mercedes frowned then, remembering what she had read and deducted. Well, she could never forget, but it was brought to the front of her mind in that moment, the headlines glaring at her.

15-month-old orphan survives death-eater attack – hailed Boy-Who-Lived.

Boy-Who-Lived is found with a body. Is he innocent or guilty?

Tom Riddle returns. Can Boy-Who-Lived save us?

Boy-Who-Lived carries leader of the light – Albus Dumbledore dead.

Boy-Who-Lived kills Tom Riddle; the war is over.

Boy-Who-Lived's childhood comes to light. Is he a hero or victim?

"Harry… I don't know how to ask this but are you… Are you the Boy-Who-Lived?"

Harry looked at her for a moment, trying to think of how to explain, how to soothe her fears, and his hesitance was all the answer she needed. She must have seen it on the news, done research.

She nodded, and pulled the boy into her arms, ignoring the way he stiffened. He relaxed into her embrace within moments, and her heart broke for the child that just wanted to be that; a child.

Harry pulled away, closing his eyes and composing himself, "I suppose now you think I'm a freak, and you never want to see me again."

Mercedes' eyes widened, and she pushed back the urge to slap him. How dare he think like that? There were people who loved him and believed in him, and Mercedes was one of them, and she wasn't walking away anytime soon. It would only ever be him to walk away, "No, I want to know the truth. I want to know what really happened in your childhood, not some story you tell everyone; wrong time, wrong place. You've seen horrors, and its time someone held them with you."

"Okay, um… My house isn't far from here, how about I tell you there? I can show you things that I've gained; pictures, videos, books, presents."

Mercedes agreed, and they headed up to Harry's home. She looked at it in wonder, her eyes lingering on Harry's car, the black beauty just as mysterious as the boy with dark hair.

She entered, and the house felt empty; no photos on the walls, just plain walls. The flooring was basic wood, and the decorations were a minimum. There was a potted plant in one corner, a table against the wall, and that was it. There was an arch to the kitchen, which seemed massive, the equipment extensive.

"Harry?" She heard her teacher call, and she turned to see the man exit the living room, a red pen in his hands. He was marking, "Oh, hey Mercedes, I wasn't expecting you."

Before she could say anything, Harry interrupted, "She's staying a while. We're going up to the music room… it's important."

"Okay, she can stay for dinner if she'd like," The man said, before returning to his work.

They headed up the stairs, and Mercedes took note of the hall that showed 6 different doors. They entered the end one, and it was beautiful. The windows were floor to ceiling and a baby grand sat in the centre. There were two boxes in the corner and there were two couches that Harry directed her to.

"Start from wherever is comfortable for you," Mercedes told him, and he nodded, but she could tell he was going to start from the beginning anyway.

"My earliest memory is from when I was 15 months old. Things are a bit blotchy, but I remember enough for it to frighten me in my sleep. At first, it seemed like a good memory, I was playing with my dad in the living room as he read the paper. He'd rather watch the news, but it's wasn't safe. Mum came in and takes me from dad's lap," He began, his back to her. He was pulling out a photo album, and he showed he a photograph of two people, a man with glasses and messy black hair, and a woman with red hair and green eyes. His parents.

"The next thing I know, dad was out the room, and he's telling my mum 'Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! I'll hold him off!' and mum is running up the stairs with me. She blocks us in the nursery and puts me in my cot. Um… she tells me 'Mama loves you. Dada loves you. Harry, be safe, be strong.'

The nursery door is then blown off its hinges, and mum stands between him and me. He just wants my life, not hers. He begged her to step aside, and she wouldn't. She tried to save me. Her last words haunt me to this very day; 'Not Harry! Please... have mercy... have mercy... Not Harry! Not Harry! Please — I'll do anything!'"

Harry sighed and curled his fingers around the album edges.

"I don't have many memories after that until my third birthday. My present was being taught to cook as I now only needed a stool to reach the oven. When I burnt the bacon, my uncle beat me and locked me in my cup- my room for a week."

Mercedes noticed the slip-up, and she could put two and two together; it was how they had ended up there in the first place. His room was a cupboard. The thought left a bitter taste in her mouth, but she kept silent, not wanting him to stop.

"From then on, I know beatings were more frequent, bouts of starvation were longer and I became more useful. I didn't know my name 'til I started school a year later. Mum had always called me her fawn, dad had always called me his cub, and Moony and Padfoot had always called me their pup, so when Uncle and Auntie called me freak or boy, I just had no idea my name was Harry Potter."

The idea made her feel sick, but she had no idea what was about to be said.

"When I was 5, I found out that my aunt and uncle were gay, and married to keep their families happy. I found out because I saw my aunt kissing another woman, and when I asked my uncle why he took it as an invitation to rape me. Every Saturday night, when she went out and Dudley either went to bed or his friend's house for the night, my uncle would bound and gag me before raping me, generally just to stop me from fighting back or screaming."

Her hands rose to her mouth, the horrified gasp escaping her lips. He was scared of Kurt because he thought Kurt would attack him, not just because he was gay. He had been conditioned to think like that.

"That was my life; daily beatings, lack of meals and raped at least once a week. Until I turned 11 years old, and I was saved for 10 months of the year, because I was taken away to Hogwarts Boarding School. Now, the lessons were slightly different.

For the first two years, we studied Science, English, History, Horticulture, Math, Defense, and Astronomy, and we only did Gym in our first year. In our third year, we had to pick two more subjects, and the options were Foreign Languages, Veterinary Studies, World Cultures and Mythologies. I picked Veterinary Studies and Mythologies because I thought both were easy."

Mercedes felt slightly jealous; she had always wanted go to Hogwarts, but no one knew where it was. It was just a school that some people thought was a myth, and some people thought was real, but no one knew anyone that came from there. You had to be invited.

He turned the page in his album, showing a picture of an eleven-year-old him with a red-headed boy and a frizzy haired girl.

"However my first year, I spent the entire year trying to figure out why my Chemistry teacher, Snape, was trying to kill me and why there was a huge killer dog on the third-floor corridor. I found out easily, questioning Hagrid the right way got all the answers, and I almost died trying to save the world, with my two best friends, Ron and Hermione, in tow. And it turned out that my Defense teacher was trying to kill me, not Snape."

"That doesn't make it any better, Harry!" Mercedes found herself saying, tears in her eyes. His life was a tragedy, and he probably wasn't even halfway through the story.

The black haired teen smiled before continuing, "My second year was slightly easier, no longer thinking that my Chemistry teacher was trying to kill me. He just hated my guts. Instead, I was dealing with a servant who was trying to save my life and almost killed me anyway, and a bunch of 'outsiders' suddenly going into comas. Again, I ended up saving our souls as, once again, our Defense teacher was useless.

That was also the year I received my first valentines card, which was actually really sweet. Um, I can't remember the exact words she had written, but it was along the lines of 'His eyes are as green as a fresh pickled toad,
His hair is as dark as a blackboard.
I wish he was mine, he's truly divine,
the hero who conquered the Dark Lord.'"

Mercedes found herself giggling, despite the insanity Harry had suffered at just 12 years old. The page in his photo album showed Harry with the same two friends, but there were two others, twins, standing as if they were guards, but you could tell they weren't serious.

"In our third year, things were a bit easier. Yes, I thought there was a man trying to kill me that year, but he actually was innocent for a change. No Tom Riddle that year; thank god. No, I met my godfather, Moony, for the first time since my parent's deaths, and I spent time getting to know him and finding things out about my parents. And he had to correct me at some point. I had been caught out after curfew by Snape, and he had insulted my father, so I got a little sassy with 'My dad didn't strut. And not do I, and I'd appreciate it if you'd lower your torch.' And Moony came to my rescue, and after a thorough chewing out, he corrected my statement and sent me to bed."

"You didn't get a detention?" Mercedes asked, shocked. She had heard Hogwarts was really strict, and that's why you never see students unless it's summer or Christmas.

"No, Moony didn't have the heart. It would make him a hypocrite. His only problem was that there was a mass murderer hunting me down and I didn't give a damn," Harry said, grinning like an idiot, but it faded quickly. He turned the page in the album, and Mercedes saw Harry in red and black clothing, his eyes wide and his face somewhat bloody.

"Anyway my fourth year began, and everyone thought I was going to die. I fought poisonous snakes, spent an hour underwater trying to find my unconscious friend, and then was faced with Tom Riddle, back to full power. I got away with my life that night, but Cedric wasn't so lucky.

My fifth year was hell on earth, and I think I stopped being a child. My innocence was definitely vanquished, and it was a year of firsts for me, and a handful of lasts. My favourite memory of that year, a brief time of happiness was actually in the library, studying like normal children. Luna and Hermione were dating, to Ron's disgust and Neville was dating Ginny. I spent the year being tortured by toad face, and being trained miles below ground. That was the year Padfoot died and I found out I was going die, well according to a prophecy that decided the whole of my life."

Harry's voice became wobbly, but he kept a brave face, his voice continuing.

"What did the prophecy say?"

"It actually said 'The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies...'"

Mercedes nodded, the information sinking in. She suddenly saw movement out the corner of her eye, and she realised her teacher was eavesdropping on them, not that she minded. He deserved to know. She knew Harry would have noticed him, but she left him at it.

"Throughout my sixth year, my training continued in many different ways, and I slowly spiralled into insanity. Christmas was the worst when the Burrow burnt down, and Hermione and I ended up running through Ottery St. Catchpole, her in a towel as she had got out the shower as the attack started and me in a shirt and underwear. We certainly made the local papers. I also witnessed the death of Albus Dumbledore, who was assisting me in my last lesson before I was to go out and fight my life away.

I didn't attend my last year, but getting someone pregnant before leaving is never a good idea, but it happened. She may not have been my first, but we slept together many times, normally in a fit of anger or tears, and it just happened. We tried dating but it was too dangerous, so we just fucked. When she mailed me the scan, I probably felt the happiest I'd ever felt in my entire life, and I rushed as much as I could, hoping to be home by the time she was due, and I would have been.

I went back for Christmas, and I had gone out for some food as we had run out, and when I got back, they were being attacked. I got in the door as Luna tripped over, and as I pulled her up, a gunshot went off, and I heard her screams. I ran to her, the love of my life, and I found her bleeding from her belly.

She was rushed to the hospital, and the labour was induced, and the baby was born. My beautiful, little girl and I held her cold body in my arms, and I broke. That was the night I fucked Hermione, crying for my little girl, the love of my life, and all other lives lost.

A month later, I was faced with my life. I died and somehow came back. I then killed Bellatrix Lestrange and Fenir Greyback for taking the life of my little girl and then taking the love of my life's life. Many lives were lost, and I ended the battle. I killed Tom Riddle and walked away. I'm not really sure what happened after that, but I know that a month later, I came here, and you know the rest."

That was the story telling done, and with wet eyes, the two made their way downstairs, Mr Schue hiding in the bathroom just in time.

Harry cooked a wonderful tuna pasta bake, chatting away, telling Mercedes happier memories in detail, but never mentioning his love by name.

He knew both Mercedes and Kurt had slight crushes on him, and he knew that Mercedes wouldn't bother to make it known if she knew his heart belonged to someone else, but he didn't want to make it real for her, so he didn't say Ginny's name.

When Will joined them for dinner, Mercedes could see he had been crying but didn't comment on it, allowing the conversation to stay happy.

After dinner, Will murmured a thank you in her ear and she smiled at him, and he left, allowing the teens to say goodbye.

"See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah," Mercedes headed to the door and opened it, and went to leave, but she turned back at the last moment, "What was her name? The love of your life?"

Harry's eyes met hers for a brief second, but they dropped as he murmured the words, "Her name was Ginny."

AN: How did I do? Thanks for reading, please review, criticism is always welcome