Chapter 36

Harry stood rigidly as Ron's words penetrated his psyche. Who knew that Ron would be the one to ask? He rather thought it would be Hermione who asked that particular question. Many answers flew through his mind, the most resounding answer being "shove off," but the small amount of commons sense he possessed told him that that kind of defensive answer would only sound like a yes to them. The truth was that though Harry had been starved, neglected, belittled, and was little more than a slave, throughout his life, the adults had never actively beat him. Oh, they slapped him from time to time, and he wasn't allowed to defend himself against Dudley, but it never progressed to actual physical abuse. As Harry continued his thought process, he failed to notice the growing looks of horror on the faces of his friends. In fact, he failed to notice them at all until Hermione burst into tears and ran to tackle-hug him.

"Oh Harry," she sobbed into his shirt as she clung to him. Harry, startled out of his musings, wrapped his arms around the girl and turned to share his customary bewildered look with Ron over Hermione's actions, only to have his confusion grow. Ron was sitting in his chair, his freckles stark against his pale face, which held unspeakable rage. Knowing his friend well, Harry knew that his pale-faced rage was worse than his red-faced one. It was more pure, volatile, and was usually mixed with fear for a loved one, which made it even fiercer. A quick glance at the chair confirmed that as Ron's white-knuckle grip was leaving deep gouges in the wooden arms.

"Guys?"

"Why the hell didn't you say anything," Ron snarled at Harry.

"About what?"

"Harry, it's okay we won't judge you for it. There's really no excuse for those horrible, horrible people," Hermione whispered.

That's when it clicked. Harry didn't know how he became so slow on the uptake but there it was. He chuckled quietly. "Guys, my aunt and uncle never hit me besides a few swats when I was younger. Don't worry about it."

"Bullshit Harry," Ron snapped, "if they didn't abuse you why did the twins and I find you locked in your room half starved."

"You asked if they hit me, and they didn't."

"There are other kinds of abuse Harry!"

"Listen, yes I had a crap of a childhood. No I didn't know my name until I started school, and I slept in a cupboard, I was habitually starved and belittled, but even my aunt and uncle weren't so evil that they would ever hit a child. My uncle hated those kinds of people more than wizards; I always found it ironic since he was so close to being one of them, even if he never actively hit me. But the fact of the matter is that while I was living there I was bullied only by the kids, and that was one of the only areas I could count on my uncle to protect me, and he did."

"What do you mean?"

"During the summer I would do odd jobs around the neighborhood. One summer I was helping this old guy pack up his house to move. I dropped a vase that turned out to be pretty old and valuable. The guy beat me for it. When I got home and my uncle saw my bruises, he told me that I wasn't to go back to that house. The next day I saw my uncle confront the man, it ended in a brawl that the man lost. The cops came took statements, and my uncle was let off, while the guy went to prison. My uncle protected me, even though he hated me."

That was when Harry collapsed.

...

Albus was tired. He had spent the last ten hours creating a nastily exhausting potion that would slowly bring Harry back under his control. Thankfully, in his infinite wisdom, he had thought to collect several vials of blood from Harry over the years, which made the potion a snap. The neon blue potion was simmering softly in the cauldron when he left it. It would be ready by the time school started. Now to answer the question of why he could no longer control the castle as he once could. It wasn't long ago that he was able to move stairs and doors at will. It had come in handy over the years, after all it was he that kept Harry in danger by moving the stairs and commanding the elves to show him different rooms. He kept Neville Longbottom in line by vanishing choice steps, or preventing the portrait from opening even when he recited the right password. It kept both boys under control, he couldn't have Neville growing up confident enough to take over his parents' health care, and Harry obviously just had to be kept weak. He thought over when all this started, when that bastard took away his life, his Arianna…

No he mustn't get lost in old memories. Once this was all over then she could rest in peace, and so could he.

...

Neville Longbottom sat in his room pouring over old manuscripts he had found in the Longbottom library. Ever since returning from the summer of training with Harry and the others, Neville had been a different person. He was studious, confident, and exuded a subtle magical aura that reeked of power. He had lost his puppy fat and built up his muscle, turning himself into quite the witch's dream. More importantly though, upon his return to his family manor, the magic in the home recognized him as the true Longbottom heir, which granted him access to old areas of the library that he had never knew existed. There Herbology texts long thought lost to time were sitting, perfectly preserved. He had spent most of his days reviewing them.

It was there that he discovered the chiarezza plant. It was an ancient plant that no one understood, but those who ate it tended to have sudden epiphanies or, if they were mentally handicapped, had their brain processes sped up. It was the latter that interested him, if combined in a poultice with phoenix tears, dragon liver, heilend seeds, lacewing flies and boomslang eyes he might be able to cure his parents. The problem was that the plant was in no modern texts so he didn't know what it was called now, or even what it looked like. So diligently he worked, hoping to find a way to return his parent to him.

A/N: Yes I know it's been awhile, and I apologize, I got several reviews asking me to go back and reedit the original chapters, and I started to working on that. Then I realized that it wasn't fair to the rest of you. So here's what I'm going to do, I'll leave it up to you, I can reedit it now under another story, and make no mistake that I will completely revamp it, adding in details, fixing old ones that don't make sense, and other such sprucing up. Or I can continue it in the present format until the end and then reedit it, its completely up to you guys, let me know.