Chapter 1

31 August 1988

It was a cold and stormy night. The rain was so heavy it sounded like the roof would give at any minute. The wind was so loud it sounded like a saddened wolf howling in pain from loss. The air was so cold you could get hypothermia in ten minutes or less. This was a perfect night for terrible things to happen. Things that would make even some of the most horrible criminals cringe with horror.

Harry Potter was 4 years old. He lived a miserable life filled with verbal abuse by his aunt and uncle, random punches from his cousin Dudley, and a room that happened to be the cupboard under the stairs. All he had was a bunch of ratty old blankets in a pile on the floor to sleep on. The cupboard didn't have a vent so even though the whole house was warm, Harry's cupboard was not. The back wall had no insulation so the cold outside just seeped in with no problem.

Meaning the cupboard was always close to the same temperature as the temperature outside.

Harry was cooking dinner for his "family" when his cousin punched him in the back. Due to harry being on his tiptoes and a stool he had no balance and the hot grease from the fried chicken went everywhere including all over Harry's arm and shoulder. Harry screamed in pain. Harry's aunt came in and started yelling at him for the mess he made and for ruining dinner. Harry's uncle came in the room and after taking in the mess and ruined food he back handed Harry. Vernon grabbed Harry by his hair and started shaking him.

"If you don't shut up I'm going to put you outside!" Vernon shouted to the crying boy. Harry continued to cry so Vernon hit him again. Harry stopped crying. From then on anytime Harry made any sounds of distress Vernon hit him so Harry stopped making any sound when he got hurt and just sucked it up. Eventually Harry became desensitized to pain.

That was the first time anyone actually hit harry but unfortunately it wouldn't be the last nor would it be the worst thing his so called family did to him.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. They belong to J. K. Rowling.