The Black Sheep
Not far from London in the county of Surrey there was a quaint little town aptly named Little Whinging. Little Whinging nestled in North Surrey was the perfect place to start a family. Not only was it the perfect model of suburbia with its numerous privet bushes and quiet atmosphere. Its location between two railways made it perfect for workers to commute from their quiet neighborhoods to busy London.
Little Whinging had many perfect suburban streets to buy a house on. Privet Drive was one of these streets, albeit a little more upscale than the surrounding ones. A fact that residents living on these streets took pride of. No residents took more pride in the fact than the ones of Number 4. The occupants of Number 4 where the Dursleys a picture-perfect ordinary family.
Ordinarily enough it consisted of a Dad, Mom, and one Son. The dad, Vernon, loved that he could live in a great house and easily commute to his job as Director at Grunnings. A fact that was made obvious to everyone on the street numerous times. The mother, Petunia, loved that she was just tall enough to look over the Privet bushes and gawk at the neighbor's flowers. Rounding out their completely ordinary family was their son affectionately called by his mom Ickle Dudleykins. His real name, perhaps even worse was Dudley Dursley.
They were the perfect family where everybody was perfectly normal. Well, that was what they wanted everybody to believe. The one unordinary thing about them was that they had been "kindly" sheltering their nephew Harry Potter ever since he was one. They had taken him after his horrible parents died in a drunk car crash. Which is what they told the few people who found out that Harry even existed and worse was their nephew.
He was about as unordinary as anyone could be in the Dursleys eyes. Maybe it was the bright green eyes, unruly black hair, or the lack of twenty vision that made him so different. Or it could have been that he appeared on their front doorstep one night after having no contact with his parents for years as if by magic.
The bottom line is that the Dursleys hated anything out of the ordinary. And Harry Potter at age six was unordinary. He was made even more unordinary by the treatment he received from the Dursleys. He was exceptionally small for a six-year-old with his scrawny frame being half the size of his cousin Dudley. An achievement that wasn't necessarily achieved by Dudley's good genes more likely due to his love for his moms cooking. Leading to the Dudley using his new-found size to muscle even more of his mom's food away from Harry. Whenever Harry would ask for more, he would be told to scamper off with his greedy self. With a warning that he would be smacked with his uncles Newspaper if he bothered his wonderful aunt again. Often the warning was forgotten to be said.
His state of dress was another point that cause bothered the Dursley's. He was always shabby looking with ill-fitting clothes that seemed to always try and swallow him whole. A fact that could be easily fixed if they bothered to buy him clothes of his on. Instead, they gave him Dudley's old clothes which he rapidly grew out of. Petunia was especially proud of this because her food seemed to trigger insane growth spurts for her Duddles. She proudly told her husband it was because it was made with love. Harry didn't seem to grow at all for the same reason.
One would think that Harry should have lots of clothes than due to Dudley's growth spurts. If it weren't for the fact that Dudley would love to go outside and play with his friends in his old clothes and somehow get the clothes so filthy that Pentinua wouldn't let him go into the house without throwing them away. The best time to play would be when it was raining, and the ground would get all muddy. Harry often suspected that he would even change clothes several times during his playing. Even worse, it rained a lot in Surrey. So poor Harry was left with the clothes that Dudley believed where to ugly to even mess up. Which coupled with the fact that Harry at age six was expected to pull some of his own weight around the house had to wash his own clothes. Ended up leaving Harry always in a state of disarray.
The only thing that the Dursleys could not control would be the things that made Harry Potter well Harry Potter. His bright green eyes reminded his aunt so much of her deceitful sister and how her parents always loved her eyes. His black unruly hair, which could not be controlled and would always grow back every night. Petunia broke a pair of scissors trying to tame it one night. The worst, most unique, unordinary thing about Harry Potter was the lightning bolt scar on his forehead. The same lightning bolt scar that thousands of people knew about.
The problem was Vernon Dursley knew about it as well. It was one of the main reasons that he wanted to move the baby that appeared on his doorstep to the doorstep of the house next door. It bothered Vernon so much that he could not stand looking at his nephew half of the time. His pig like animal instincts could sense something unnatural surrounding it. Vernon had decided long before Harry that unnatural was far worse than unordinary.
Upon his arrival and after the decision to keep their nephew the Dursleys quickly decided that he would live under the stairs. Where they would only have to look at him through the open doorway whenever they passed by. Each time they would, they would see his bright green eyes looking at them. If they ever wanted to close the door for a moment respite the door would be open a little while later. A fact which utterly confused Vernon causing him to replace the entire closet door frame on several occasions.
When he got older, he was granted a tiny cot which used to be part of Dudley's extravagant baby crib. To be fair, it was the only thing that could fit in the closet. He was also gifted with a tiny drawer that he was gifted after Grunners was refurbishing. Of course, Dudley got a go at it with his crayons before it was put inside of it. Dudley only ended up drawing on some of it before he got bored. He most likely would have renewed his efforts but after two weeks Vernon got tired of squeezing past it in the somewhat narrow (for him) hallway.
Regardless, Harry made the best of what he had. He still managed to fall asleep on his cot even with every spring bothering him. His drawer he loved because he loved the rich oak and he had managed to clean most of the crayon off. His favorite part about it was the fact that it had a secret compartment in the middle drawer which had a false back. He put all his keepsakes and any spare change he could scrounge up in there. It was small but he didn't have much to put in it.
Despite the neglect he managed to pick up things very quickly. He had started to walk when the Dursley's had gotten him, which was impressive for a one year old. In fact, Didders only managed to walk at age two. Harry went on to learn his alphabet at an early age as well. Petunia did not want Harry to reflect badly on her in any way and drilled the alphabet into him. She did not want to ever have a conference with a teacher knowing that she would be on thin ice already due to his stature and clothing.
Harry was also an oddity at school. A major part being his small size for his age and his clothing attire. He wasn't the smallest boy in his class, but his weight didn't match his height. He also gained some attention from some observant kids that he always walked to school even in the rain and occasional snow. There never seemed to be no one willing to drop him off.
He gained the concern of some teachers who noticed that his ill-fitting clothes and his weight. But they never saw any bruises due to the clothes dwarfing him and the fact that every night he wished for them to go away. He also never needed a parent teacher conference due to his grades never requiring a meeting. Leading to teachers to decide that every class had to have at least one kid with parents who couldn't afford to get their kid any other clothes.
Harry only realized how unordinary he was a month ago. He was the only one in his class who didn't have a mom or a dad. He was the only one that had clothes that didn't fit. He had found the one time he asked that he was the only one that lived in a cupboard. He was the only one that had bright green eyes and a lightning bolt scar. He was the only one that seemed to be able to have their hair grow overnight. He was the only one who could sometimes see things that others couldn't. It wouldn't be till he was being chased by his brothers' gang that he realized how unordinary he was.
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The day had started like every other day in the life of Harry Potter. The bloody alarm clock wrenched always wrenched him out of his sweet dreams. After half a year Harry had learned not to bolt upright when awoke due to him ramming his head on the shelf that went over his bed.
After not moving for a moment to fully wake up upon opening his eyes he realized that yes, he was still Harry Potter the Boy who Lived in a Cupboard. He was also Harry Potter who had an alarm clock to smash and chores to do.
He reached up and over the shelf and turned off the clock. He didn't even have to look at it to tell the time. It was always six in the morning day in and day out even on workdays. He had to earn his keep according to Petunia.
He was expected to have breakfast going by the time Petunia came down which was at seven. Breakfast made by the time Vernon came down which was at seven thirty. And to have a smorgasbord ready for Double Chin Dudley, who always came down at after eight. Always late and barely awake who'd eat all food he could get his hands on and grab the handful he couldn't for the ride to school.
So, Harry inched out from under the shelf and proceeded to get dressed in darkness. The closet light had gone out about two weeks ago and Vernon hadn't gotten to fixing it. After dressing he opened the door and silently dropped into the hallway. Not before grabbing a tiny plastic bottle.
Harry quickly moved to the front door with and old rag and the plastic bottle of bicycle chain grease. Vernon had bought Dudley a bike for Dudley's birthday party. Which Dudley had broken during the birthday party after flying off a makeshift ramp to show off for his friends. A ramp that Harry may or may not have tampered with. Afterwards, bikes where banned from Number Four Privet Drive for being a danger to her son.
Now the bike grease found a use on days just like these. Harry would dab some grease onto the cloth and grease the inside of the mail slot. Just enough so the letter would come through with enough black smudge to mess with readability and to ruin the paper which would occasionally be shoved through as well.
Harry never did enough to be caught and he always made sure to put just enough so it would get on the papers but not enough to be seen if looked at. Harry didn't bother hiding his smile as he hid the grease and the rag behind a loose panel where he kept all his important stuff. He had found out at a young age outright defiance meant spankings and more chores. So, he took pleasure in retaliations that couldn't be traced back to him.
With mischief managed Harry still smiling set to work on breakfast. Like always he quickly made an egg sandwich for himself with a glass of milk. Before he began his meager breakfast, he put water on to boil to make tea for Petunia. Once finished he brought out the jams and jelly and put the bread into the toaster. And started to put eggs on the pan for who would be down shortly.
As always, he heard Vernon coming down a half hour after his wife. It was easy to with the grumbling about work and the sound of the stairs creaking threatening to give way. He could barely hide his smile hearing Vernon's displeased grunt at seeing the ruined mail and the odd newspaper on the doormat.
"Bloody Postman. I'll have to Bloody talk to him. Bugger needs to keep his hands clean when delivering mail."
Petunia like always ignored her husband's rants about sleep, weather, and recently dirty postmen. She had perfected it into an art after living with the walrus for ten years. Harry had already made Vernon's daily coffee, which was black coffee mixed with enough sugar and cream to put a normal person into a diabetic into shock. Vernon despite sometimes trying for his wife was not a manly man. You would think he would be when he was the size of two put together.
Dudley came down as fast as he could manage leaping onto the stairs directly above Harry's cupboard. A habit he picked up from childhood. This time the stairs really did threaten to give way. He came into the living room right when Vernon gave up on reading the newspaper and promptly stuffed himself full. Then they were off.
Petunia was kind enough to let Harry walk to school after cleaning up the kitchen which he did while he cooked. Using the alleys and back roads Harry knew he had managed to arrive at St. Grogory's Primary School to have enough time to try and tame his hair before going inside.
The first half of the day went by very quickly. Harry only came close to falling asleep twice and only fell asleep once (in math so it doesn't count).
St. Gregory's had the smart idea at exactly eleven thirty to let kids have recess. Which was then followed by lunch. They correctly assumed that letting kid get all their energy out and then stuff their bellies would make them easier to teach.
Harry was perhaps the only kid in his school who hated recess and lunch time. He wasn't allowed to stay in class during recess, so Dudley and his goons knew how to find him. And he didn't like lunch because Dudley would always take his food before he could finish it.
Harry cleaned his glasses as he stepped out into the playground was in. He had a bad feeling about this recess and tried his best to be as unnoticeable as possible. He decided to try and blend into one of the many cliques that stuck together during recess and lunch.
He didn't have many friends within the school to be with in part due to his clothing and the fact that no one wanted to make themselves a target for Dudley and his gang. So often when Dudley would come looking, he would do his best to stand in an odd corner and hope with all his might he wouldn't be seen with mixed results. Sometimes it would work.
Today was not one of those days, however. He barely even made it into the playground when he heard laughter coming from the hallway he just left. Harry dashed toward the other side of the playground hoping he hadn't been seen.
"Oi. There's your scrawny git of a cousin Dudley" said Piers Polkiss. Harry cursed his bad luck.
"Nice job Piers. Hey Harry where playing Tag and you're it.", Dudley yelled.
Harry ran off as fast as his legs could carry him hoping that he would be able to avoid the bigger boys. Luckily, due to his scrawny size he found it easier to weave through the crowded playground. He was about halfway across the playground and gaining a lead until he tripped over a rock and sent tumbling.
"Look at that. Bloody moron can't even run right", someone yelled.
Harry lost his glasses in the fall and desperately looked for them but to no avail. He could here Dudley and his goons closing in and had no choice but to take off once more.
Harry ran towards an opening in the fence and easily slid trough it thanks to his small stature. He didn't wait on the other side due to not being foolish enough to believe that Dudley despite his size wouldn't be able to get through.
He ran across the back of the school and took a right down the service truck land hoping to hide behind a dumpster. He was nearly behind the dumpster when Piers who was the most athletic of Dudley's bunch saw him.
"Found the git behind a dumpster", shouted Piers, "Maybe we should trough him inside".
Harry backed into the corner hoping that they wouldn't hear Piers. Or that the janitor would come to throw rubbish away and save him.
However, like everything else in Harry's life it didn't go his way. Dudley and the rest of the gang soon joined Piers in cornering.
Dudley took a step closer to Harry who was trying to melt into the wall behind him. "You dropped something Harry". In his hands where Harry's glasses.
"You broke them unfortunately", he said snapping them. "Mom and Dad will be so mad you stepped on them."
Harry was furious that Dudley broke his glasses, but there wasn't anything he could do against five people. He wished he could be far away from Dudley where he couldn't be touched.
"Looks like they're trash now. Let's throw you away with them".
Harry suddenly felt a strong tug against his gut and was suddenly looking over the block around St. Gregory's. Harry heard shouts of confusion from far below him and looked down and saw Dudley a tiny speck on the ground.
That's when the realization hit him that he had teleport-ed to the top of the school. He did not have long to dwell on his teleportation as he was overcome with a wave of exhaustion. His last thought before passing out was the fact he had used magic.
AN. When reading the books I always found it convenient that no one really questioned Dumbledore about the safe keeping of Harry Potter. One would think that due to his fame as being the Boy Who Lived the government and the rest of magical Britain would want to know he his safe. Which seems out of character of the ministry when in the books they appear to constantly go against Dumbledore. Another thing that always interested me is that the ministry never checked in on the alluded Wandless Apparation Harry did to escape Dudley's gang. In this fic they discover Harry and the mistreatment he faced and deals with the political storm of the discovery of a neglected Boy Who Lived.