Harry woke up with a start. All he could hear was his uncle bellowing his name. He quickly got dressed and stumbled down the stairs. Harry smiled at the fact that he had woken up without pain in his stomach. He still couldn't quite understand what had led Dudley to bring him some food. Was it out of sheer sympathy or was it something else? Maybe there was a little good in him. Harry did however know that he would be forever grateful towards his cousin for stepping up like that.
"Explain to me why some freak is sending you a note about visiting. You will not have any of your freakish people come anywhere near my home." Vernon said with an edge to his tone. He despised anything or anyone magical and had enough of those freakish people dressed in those disgusting pieces of clothing show up on his doorstep. It was enough that he had to 'take care' of one of them, having them show up whenever they wanted was just not okay in his books. Ungrateful folk.
"That is my note!" Harry said sharply when he saw Snape's familiar handwriting. A great warmth spread through him, Snape actually wanted to come and visit him! His uncle was taking something away from him which meant so much to him that he didn't care if he got beat again as long as he got that note.
"Not anymore." Vernon said, enjoying seeing the boy so distraught. He enjoyed having full control of this situation since he had something that Harry wanted so badly. Too bad it wasn't going to happen like that boy wanted.
"Have it your way then. He's coming to collect me soon anyways." Harry said and started making his way to the stairs, he felt triumph because he took the upper hand in the conversation away from his uncle. Maybe Snape would get suspicious and come to check on him if he got no reply.
That idea was quickly destroyed with what his uncle said next. "Come back here, boy. You will write a note back to him saying that he can't come for a visit until at least the end of July. After all, the chores you have been doing are reducing the work that Petunia does." said Vernon with a sneer to his voice. He could make the boy do whatever he wanted and he couldn't do anything about it.
"And if I don't?" Harry said using the last bit of courage he could muster up. "He is coming for me anyways at the end of July." Harry replied quickly when he saw his uncle's expression darken considerably.
"I don't think you would want to live to feel what happens if you don't." Vernon threatened, knowing that the boy would follow his orders as soon as he said that.
Harry gulped and nodded in resignation. But he quickly developed an idea. He was going to send a message to Snape that he was in danger, he just hoped that his uncle wouldn't question or somehow find out what he was going to do. Harry was going to use his uncle's lack of knowledge of the wizarding world to his advantage. He watched as his uncle got out a piece of paper and a pen. He practically shoved Harry towards the small table in front of the couch in the living room. Harry sat down and started writing, his uncle had a close eye on every word he wrote.
Dear Professor Snape,
I got your note, I don't think you should come over for a visit, it is kind of refreshing to stay away from the wizarding world for a bit every year. I need time for myself after everything that happened that this year. Don't take it personally.
Periculum,
Harry
Harry really hoped that the word/spell Periculum would send Snape the message that he was in danger. In Defense Against the Dark Arts this year, Lupin taught the class this spell in case they were ever lost or in danger. It would basically send red sparks to the air and hover over the person who cast it, making it easy for people to find the caster. The spell literally means "in great risk or danger" which was what Harry hoped Snape would see it as. He looked up at Uncle Vernon once he signed off with his name, hoping that he would be able to trick him into believing a false meaning of the Periculum.
"What does 'Perculm' mean? Don't dare send your freak friends any hidden messages." Vernon said suspiciously. Harry had to bite back a laugh at how his uncle said Periculum.
"It is a way of signing off letters for wizards, it is like saying 'Yours truly' or 'Kind regards'. It would look odd if I didn't put that in." Harry said as convincingly as possible. He could see that his uncle was mulling this over in his head and eventually he accepted it. He probably thought that Harry was too scared of him to lie.
"Give the note to that dammed owl and go back to your room. I don't want to hear any kind of noise from you."
Harry proceeded to make his way over to what he guessed was Snape's personal owl. It pecked at his fingers and cheek affectionately before Harry gave it the note. It flew off through the open window in the kitchen which made Petunia scream since she didn't hear the conversation that her husband and the Harry had. She definitely was not expecting a black owl to swoosh through while she was cooking. Harry giggled when he saw Petunia's panic. The owl even dropped some of its feathers around the kitchen. He then made his way back to his room and felt a rush of euphoria. He was sure his godfather would come soon. As the day dragged on Harry could feel his stomach rumble again. He hoped that the owl would get to Hogwarts quickly so that he wouldn't have to get back to the stage of starving. Dudley may have found some sympathy in himself yesterday, but Harry knew he couldn't rely on that questionable sympathy for food in the days ahead.
A few days had passed and Harry had still not been given any food. He felt like the pain in his stomach was now much worse than it had been before he got food the last time. He was still losing weight by the day. He knew that the owl would be delayed since the weather had been terrible with really strong winds and rain since he sent the owl back. Harry felt desperate for food, so he made a plan to get something to eat when the Dursley's had fallen asleep. He was no other option, he couldn't take the pain in his stomach anymore.
That night when Harry could hear the loud snoring of his uncle he crept downstairs as silently as he could. He opened the fridge and took out some cheese and butter. He found the bread in the pantry where it always was and made himself a decently sized sandwich. He also grabbed an apple from the dining table where all of the fruit was kept in a huge bowl. On the way out of the kitchen he saw a gleam of something behind a flower pot on the fireplace's mantlepiece. His Gryffindor-like curiosity got the better of him and he went to see what was there. When he looked behind the flowerpot, he realised that it was the key to his old cupboard. The key to where all of his magical things were kept..
Harry couldn't resist. How easy would things be if he had his invisibility cloak? He grabbed the silver key and made his way over to the very familiar cupboard and opened it and carefully. He placed his trunk on the ground with a thud so that he could open and access the contents easily. He cringed when he heard the rather loud noise that he made when putting his trunk down but assumed he would be fine, everyone was fast asleep and his uncle doesn't wake up too easily. He could feel adrenaline pump through him as he quickly rummaged through his trunk full of everything that he owned. He found his cloak and pulled it out, some other things also flew out but he didn't care. He picked up his sandwich from the ground and was about to put his invisibility cloak on when someone grabbed him from behind and pushed him hard to the floor. In that moment he knew that once again, his curiosity had let him down.
"And what do you think you are doing?" Vernon said intensely. He also felt a certain elation, he was literally looking for reasons to hurt the freak again. Now he has one. He heard Harry gasp as he watched him fall to the floor.
Harry couldn't remember much. All he could recall was his uncle punching him in the head twice followed by many hard kicks to his back, which hurt incredibly since the previous bruises were in their last stages of healing. While this happened he curled into a ball and then passed out, once again, from the pain.
Severus got the letter from Harry early in the morning. His owl had pecked at him in his sleep until he finally opened the note. When he read that Harry didn't want to be visited, he knew something was off. But once Severus read the word "Periculum" he felt somewhat of an outburst happen inside of him. He understood straight away what Harry had meant by putting in the word Periculum. The boy was smart, he could give him that. Then, Severus practically leaped out of bed, slipped into a pair of shoes and apparated to 4 Privet Drive, still being in his night gown. He growled in frustration at his clumsiness of not changing and transfigured it to a simple, black, wizarding robe. He knocked on the door as vehemently as possible but when no one opened up he assumed the reason to be that it was still very early. He thought it was only about 6am. Therefore, he let himself in, not willing to wait any second longer to know if Harry was okay. He swiftly and quietly made his way up the stairs to check which room Harry was in. The first room he opened was the bathroom, then he opened another door and was immediately horrified. His godson was laying there unconsciously, covered in blood. Harry's arm seemed to be twisted in an impossible angle. His whole body filled with a ferocious anger at the Dursley's.
I am going to try to make chapters a bit longer after this one. I have been caught in a hurricane for all of today so I didn't have too much time to make this chapter much longer. This story will start to pick up its pace in the next few chapters. Thanks for reading.
