Chapter One: A Bright Little Boy
Harry Potter was a bright little boy with a mind just as wonderful as any others'. Up until his second year of primary school he had been praised for his ability to count and absorb information. His teachers thought him a wonderful child with a bright future ahead of him.
Unfortunately, his relatives did not share the same opinion. No, they only saw this wonderful little boy as a nuisance, a freak of nature. They spouted lies about their nephew to his teachers, successfully convincing those unsuspecting men and women that all the boy was was a troublemaker who stole his cousin's schoolwork and handed it in as his own.
This was the end of poor little Harry's happy school memories, the end of the praise and the smiles. From then on there would not be another happy day within his once favourite place to be.
He was from then on bullied and belittled, beaten and bruised, chased and harassed - all orchestrated by his miniature whale of a cousin, Dudley Dursley. Harry had lost the one place he had thought he had belonged.
His home life wasn't any better than his school life, in fact, it was far worse. School had been Harry's light in the darkness, and now that it was gone there was only darkness. At home it wasn't just his cousin doing the beating and bruising, it was his uncle as well.
Vernon Dursley was a bigger version of his son. He had beady eyes and resembled that size of a whale. He was a cruel man with a bad, bad temper - a temper only Harry took the brunt of. At home he was not Harry Potter, no, at home he was Freak.
This bright little boy, now eleven, was abused by almost everyone around him. His teachers would neglect them, his relatives would hurt and defile him, and his fellow children bullied him mercilessly. There was no escape for the poor child… or so he thought.
Harry Potter, the boy who lived inside the cupboard underneath the stairs, stood in front of the mail slot holding a strange letter that he couldn't read. Not only were the letters blurry and unreadable to him, he also did not know how to read - not to this extent at least.
The one– or two words that he could read were the two words that made up his name. Harry Potter. So the letter was for him? No one had ever sent him a letter before, and if they had his uncle would burn it so that he could see what it said. Quickly, he tucked the letter underneath his far too large shirt and brought the rest of the mail into the kitchen.
Harry watched as Uncle Vernon sifted through the pile of bills and packages. When the man was done he turned his beady eyes towards the young boy before him. "Back to your cupboard, boy– or do you want another whipping?" It didn't take long for the boy to scramble into the small space that was his room.
Unfortunately, just because he was in his cupboard, it didn't mean he was safe from his uncle and his belt - or even worse, the other thing the man liked to do to him when everyone else was asleep. He'd take the belt over that any day.
One week before September first, a knock disrupted the Dursley family's morning routine. Harry had been dishing out his relative's breakfast - discreetly stuffing small pieces of burnt toast into his mouth as he had not eaten in a few days - when they heard the loud but perfectly timed knocks.
"Duddykins, would you mind getting the door?" Harry's aunt, Petunia asked her son sweetly - carefully pulling Dudley's fourth plate of bacon out of reach. The whale of a boy whined but complied after a promise of ice cream and a movie after lunch was made.
The youngest Dursley waddled towards the door, footsteps heavy and loud. As he opened the door, the face of a young yet stern looking woman came into view. Dudley nearly gaped at the woman's freakish attire.
The woman wore long, black robes with the ends decorated with green silk, sort of like the robes he had seen in those movies about wizards and the like. The woman was staring down at him, eyes narrow with impatience.
"Well, boy? Where are your manners? Do let me in, I have some business with your parents to attend to." The woman snapped, lips contorted into a scowl. When the boy still did not make any move to do anything, she spoke once more in a more threatening tone. "So help me, boy, you do not want to know the consequences of disrespecting me!"
Immediately, the boy scrambled out of the doorway, and the mystery woman took that as her cue to enter. "Duddykins? Who was it?" The head of the horse-faced woman that was Petunia poked around the corner, eyes instantly narrowing at the sight of the new arrival. "Vernon! His kind are here!"
Vernon stomped his way into the entrance hallway of his home, face purple at the mention of those freaks. "You," he spat with great venom, "what are you doing here?"
The woman did not react to the whale's tone or words. "My name is Tempest Williams, Mr. Dursley. I am here to escort your nephew to Diagon Alley where he will retrieve his school supplies." She sneered as she glanced around, "Just where is the boy? Did he even read the letter? He was to be ready for this departure five minutes ago!"
Cautiously, a boy with dark, messy hair poked his head around the corner which caught the woman's attention immediately. Her eyes scanned what she could see of the boy as he silently crept into the hallway.
Thin, much too thin. Tempest thought to herself at seeing the boy's skeletal arms. He's eleven, isn't he? Why in Merlin's name is he so small? She eyed the man of the house suspiciously, just what goes on in this house?
"Potter," Tempest tried to say the name without venom weeping into her voice, "you have received your Hogwarts letter, have you not?"
The boy in question didn't respond but his eyes were darting towards his aunt and uncle frantically, she noted. Yes, something definitely wasn't quite right about this picture.
Raising a delicate hand, she acciod one of the family's photographs to her. The woman of the house, Petunia, had looked disgusted, like she had witnessed someone commit a gruesome crime.
It was a family picture that she had summoned, one that should have shown the entire family for all visitors to see. There was Vernon, Petunia, and Dudley Dursley in the very middle of the photo - but there was no Harry Potter in sight.
She wondered if it was like this with all of their family photos.
"PUT THAT DOWN!" Petunia screamed shrilly, pulling the picture frame out of her hands violently. Tempest scowled as she began to wipe off the nonexistent fingerprints on it. For a woman who values cleanliness, it is odd for her to live with a house full of fat pigs.
Releasing a sigh, she realized that this wouldn't be as simple of an outing as she had predicted. She also realized that she could not simply return the boy to these questionable living arrangements.
She wished she had more evidence to bring to Dumbledore, he would be easier to persuade that way, but what she had seen of the boy should count as something of a concern, right? Who was she kidding, that old coot was far too stubborn for that to be enough.
"It looks like you've starved the boy, I must admit." Weighing her options carefully, Tempest wondered what she could do for the boy. He had obviously suffered from neglect, and were those fingerprints on his throat? Would Dumbledore listen to her if she insisted enough? Would she have to kidnap the child?
No, she would try to do this the legal way by going to Dumbledore - if all else failed she'd contact her fellow nation, Arthur for assistance in dealing with the Minister. But where would the child go? Certainly not with her, that was for sure.
"Are you ready Po– Harry?" She would have to be careful with how she addressed the boy if she was going to get him to admit how his relatives so obviously treated him. "Yes? Well come on then, we do not have all day!" Her tone reflected the tone she'd use to encourage Alfred to go places when he was younger, and it seemed to have the desired effect.
Harry hesitantly shuffled past his relatives, and Tempest did not miss the quietly grumbled threat his uncle gave as he did so. She winced as she realized that if the abuse went so far as to be physical, that her arrival had doomed the boy to the beating of his life.
It was a good thing she had no intention of letting the boy return to this dreadful house.
Later that afternoon, Harry had found himself having the time of his life. He had never felt so free in his life! This woman, this stranger, had been so kind to him and she didn't even know him all that well. His luck was incredible today!
The two had entered Diagon Alley through a discreet and generally unknown entrance where no one had noticed them enter, although Harry wasn't sure why this woman seemed to be so cautious about who saw them.
They had gone to his vault - his trust fund, as the woman had corrected the goblin they had spoken to. Apparently to her there was a difference. Harry could not talk, of course, because this was all new to him anyway. Perhaps there was a difference in this strange place.
After that, they had gone to get his robes, which was where he was now. He had been told to stand still why the lady in charge of the shop had gone to see another customer.
As he waited, he glanced to his right to find a boy who looked like his age, or rather, what a boy Harry's age should look like, with very noticeable blond hair and pale skin. The blond boy turned to him with a poorly practised smirk. "Hogwarts?" Harry knew he wasn't the best speaker - as many adults had told him how his speech resembled someone far younger than him, so he nodded instead of speaking.
The blond seemed to inspect him carefully. "I'm going there too. Mother's off to get my books and I reckon Father's seeing to my wand–" Just then a tall, intimidating man that resembled the blond boy entered the shop, catching the blond boy's attention. "Oh, Father. There you are!"
"Why yes, Draco. Now tell me, who have you befriended? He looks… familiar." The adult's voice was well crafted, smooth, yet firm. If Harry wasn't so intimidated by him, he'd say his voice was soothing.
Harry realised that he had not given the blond, Draco, his name. Quickly, in a quiet tone as to not disrespect this seemingly scary man before him, he introduced himself. "I'm Harry Potter, sir. Pleasure to meet you both," Just like he had seen his uncle do a few times when greeting his business associates, he held out his hand for the man to shake.
Harry winced as he realised he had mispronounced a few of the words he had briefly practised in his head. Hopefully the man wouldn't be offended - it's not like he had the chance to practise his speech often, it was improper for him, a freak, to speak more than once a week, after all.
Luckily for Harry, the man seemed to accept his introduction, albeit looking slightly shocked. The man shook his hand firmly before introducing himself. "I am Lucius Malfoy, and this is my son, Draco - as you may already know."
The man retracted his hand, resting it on his cane. Harry smiled hesitantly up at him, giving a small nod of acknowledgement. He didn't dare speak again, afraid that he would offend the man with his horrible speech.
Just as Lucius looked as if he were going to say something, the door to the shop opened and the woman who had brought him here stepped inside swiftly. Then, the owner of the shop rushed over with the clothes she had ordered for him.
"Twenty galleons," The seamstress was quick to collect the pouch of gold that was hung in front of her by the woman before her. "A pleasure it is to see you again, Tempest!" With that, the other woman was off to the back of the shop.
Tempest, Harry was glad that he now knew her name, approached him quietly. She eyed Lucius for a moment before giving the man a curt nod of acknowledgement. "Lucius,"
"Tempest," The man offered back. "I must admit that I am shocked to see you here, you do not often venture out into the public's eye." Lucius gives a bow of respect - albeit a brief one. Harry wasn't quite sure why, of course. Wasn't the woman no different in social ranking than him?
Tempest seems to appreciate the gesture, as her posture seems to ease up a bit. Odd, thought Harry, this woman was very odd. Without any more words spoken, they left.
And here's the first chapter of the rewrite. I'm not too happy with the end of it, but it's not too bad so I'll leave it for now.
This chapter was mostly OC centred but not all chapters will be like this. This OC plays an important role and I felt it important to introduce her right away. Next chapter is more Harry and Vernon centred - I can't say it's a happy chapter - but it's a chapter that sets a lot of plot points into place. I will try to be as concise as I can when writing the specific scene I am thinking about.
Warnings will be placed in case you wish to skip it of course.
I will also mention that progress on this rewrite will be slow, as I am only working on it off and on as a break from my fanfictions over on Archive of Our Own (SamanthaGerrow, if you wish to find me there.) Not to mention that I'm in the process of planning an original story I want to write.
If you have any suggestions for romantic pairings (slash/boyxboy only please, I am not fond of the hetero pairings) let me know!