Hi All,
New story that has been eating away at my brain, might not be quite as long as the previous one but I hope to have improved in my writing. As always I have no rights to anything produced by JK Rowling and simply bend her muse to my own.
Thanks!
-Jwall
Chapter 1.
Early one gloomy foggy morning like every morning there was a knock on a young dark haired boy's bedroom door at Number Four Private drive followed by several locks turning and his waif of an aunt yelling for him to get up. Harry Potter rolled over and stretched out his aching muscles, he had worked in the garden yesterday, which tended to be one of his favorite chores. The day however was muggy and humid with a mix of rain causing for a long exhausting day.
Harry lived with his aunt and uncle in their four-bedroom home since he was a baby. Back then a mass murderer had tracked down and killed his parents when he was just one year old, he tried to kill Harry too, but thanks to the planning his parents had put forth the murderer was left a wraith and Harry was left with a lightning bolt scar on his forehead.
It was this lightning bolt scar that made Harry Potter special in his parent's world, in his world, but made everyone he lived with despise him. The Dursley's, Harry's aunt and uncle, did not approve of anything pertaining to witchcraft and wizardry, and Harry Potter was indeed a wizard.
Since his parent's death Harry was forced to live with his only relatives who thought it was best to ignore everything magical in the world and that they could 'stomp' the weirdness out of him. Little did they know on Harry's eleventh birthday, almost exactly a year ago today, Harry's world would be turned right side up by a half giant named Hagrid.
One final knock on the door led to Harry getting up and throwing on his oversized pants belted up tightly and a stretched-out jumper to head downstairs to make breakfast for his relatives.
The Dursley's had a son who was the same age as Harry named Dudley. Prior years with Dudley would see him threatening and beating Harry in his off time. Harry going to Hogwarts last year saw all that come to an end, Hagrid had given Dudley a lovely pig's tail to match his body and the pudgy boy has been petrified of Harry since.
Harry enjoyed pestering Dudley for the first few weeks of the summer holidays then after a bit found no joy in it. He missed his friends desperately, Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger had promised to write to him over the summer, but with-it approaching August Harry had yet to hear a single word from either of them.
He thought he would at least hear something from them today being his birthday, but still had not gotten a single owl this morning. Hermione, who was a muggle born, meaning she had non magical parent's, had tried to phone right after they got home from school, but was unlucky as Uncle Vernon had answered the phone and had been very rude. She hadn't tried again since.
Harry finished washing up the dishes and ate some of the scraps he was given from the meal before taking solace in his room for the morning pretending that he didn't exist. Uncle Vernon had a client coming over today for a potential drill order and Harry was to stay in his room and make no noise.
The Dursley's often didn't tell many people who they invited over that they had a nephew, or if they knew they made up some cock and bull story about him being a scoundrel who attended a school called St. Brutus's Secure Center for Incurably Criminal Boys.
Harry had just sat down on his bed when the doorbell rang and he heard the Dursley's spring into action. "Welcome to our home Doctor and Doctor Granger, we are pleased to have you" Dudley spouted out in his most formal tone.
Granger?! Harry thought, no way! Harry knew Hermione's parents were both doctors, dentists to be exact. Did Uncle Vernon sell dentistry drills too? There were too many similarities, Harry rushed to his door, which was locked and pressed his ear against the wood tightly straining to hear.
Dudley continued. "Oh hello there, we weren't expecting anyone besides the doctors, what a pleasure to meet you …" Harry couldn't pick up the last bit of Dudley's sentence as a semi loud crack echoed through his room causing him to jump.
Harry turned around in a snap and scanned the room, seeing a weird short goblin like creature standing on his bed wringing the filthy rags he was wearing in his abnormally large hands.
"Hello?" Harry said cautiously, "Who might you be?"
"I be Dobby sirs, an I'm here's to warn youz to not go back to Hoggywartz tis year." The strange creature stumbled out.
"Hello Dobby, why must I not go back to Hogwarts? Hogwarts is my home; I must go back." Harry said in a panic hoping that the Dursley's wouldn't hear his conversation with a magical creature.
"I can nots be tellin youz the reason, I just .. you must promise me to not goes back sir Harry Potter sir" Dobby was now fidgeting while answering.
"Dobby, what kind of creature are you? Who sent you?" Harry asked quietly while also trying to listen to the conversation's downstairs, which must have moved to the lounge as he could barely hear anything.
"I can notz tell you, I should nots be here, Dobby had to iron his hands" Dobby sputtered while showing Harry his bandaged hands.
"I is a house elf sir, I live to serve my family. I has a bad family sir." Dobby just realizing what he said slapped his bandaged hands over his mouth as his eyes went wide.
"I should nots be sayin such things, I must punish meself" Dobby said while grabbing a lamp and proceeding to beat himself over the head with it.
This made such a racked that it was obviously heard from downstairs, Harry could hear one of the guests commenting on it and his uncles response of "It must be the cat, fat thing gets into Dudders toy's and knocks them all over the place, let me go check to make sure he is okay."
Harry could hear Vernon's heavy footsteps climbing the stairs, he had to hide the house elf. Grabbing Dobby by his rags he ripped the lamp out of his hand and threw the creature into his closet, just closing the door as his bedroom door opened and his Uncle walked in.
"What in the blue blazes is going on up here?" His uncle spat in a low town watching as Harry had to repeatedly close the closet door.
"Sorry Uncle Vernon, I was just putting clothes away when this door won't shut. I'll be quiet I promise." Harry said adding an inflection of fear to his voice to please his uncle, a trick he learned awhile back.
"You bloody well better, sit down and shut up or you won't have food for a week." He threatened.
It wasn't an unusual threat for Harry to hear, it was given almost on a weekly basis they never followed through with it completely, they just didn't allow him out of his room and slid what barely passed as food through the cat flap on his door.
Vernon stared his nephew down before leaving the room, Harry could hear his heavy footsteps now descending the stairs as he spoke "Silly cat, knocked a lamp over in the spare room."
Harry who wanted to desperately go back to listening at the door opened his closet and allowed Dobby to exit.
"Dobby, I don't think you get it, I must go back to Hogwarts, my friends are there, my life is there. I get treated like garbage here." Harry said in a harsh whisper.
"Friends that does not writes to you Harry Potter Sir?" Dobby said weakly.
Harry knew something was up then, he suspected that the little house elf had something to do with him not hearing from his friends. "You intercepted my letters, haven't you?" Harry asked as Dobby looking ashamed pulled quite a large stack from seemingly nowhere.
Not knowing exactly what to do but figured out that if this creature 'served' his family then he should do well with taking orders. With a hopeful sigh Harry commanded, "Dobby, I politely request that you give me my letters please."
Dobby wailed at this while handing over the letters, "Harry Potter sir is much to kind sir, I should punish meself fors taking yous things."
Dobby was readying himself for slamming his head into Harry's bedpost when Harry spoke harshly to the creature, "Dobby I forbid you to hurt yourself in my presence" Dobby stopped an inch away from his giant eyeball hitting the post.
"Yes, Harry Potter sirs, I will stop if you proimises to not goes back." Dobby said hopefully.
"I can't promise that Dobby, you need to understand that. Now if you cannot tell me who sent you then I request that you head back to your family." Harry hoped he got this right, if he learned anything from being at Hogwarts it was that magical beings had their own rules and ideas on things.
Take Peeves for instance the only people he chose to listen to are the Bloody Baron and the Weasley twins of all people. Peeves was the Hogwarts resident poltergeist who enjoyed creating havoc all over the school, which is probably why he got along with Ron's twin brothers Fred and George Weasley.
"Yes sirs" Dobby said sullenly and with a loud crack that Harry was sure was heard downstairs the little house elf was gone.
"What the in the blazes was that?" Harry heard Vernon yelling downstairs. A familiar female voice answering made Harry's heart soar.
"Excuse me but that sounded like a crack of thunder, nothing to be scared about sir." Came Hermione's talking to an idiot tone of voice that made Harry chuckle.
"If I may, could you direct me to the loo?" She asked politely to someone. Petunia responded and Harry heard footsteps on the stairs followed by his Aunt warning her about the room with the locks on the door, that his room was under construction and for safety reasons not to go in there.
"I understand Mrs. Dursley thank-you." Came Hermione's voice much closer than it had been in weeks. Harry's heart was pounding. He heard the footsteps walk past his door and the bathroom door open and close. Then suddenly the locks on his door were unlocking and the door opened.
Hermione stood there in the doorway with her arms akimbo a harsh whisper directed directly at him. "Harry James Potter how dare you do not respond to my letters or call me when these horrible muggles are out of the hous…" but she couldn't finish her arms were full of her best friend.
This took her aback as she never since she met him could remember him initiating a hug. Hermione was a hugger and loved affection, Harry always stiffened up when she hugged him, and she now knew why.
Pulling back slightly she could see the tired, underfed, oversized clothes wearing boy for the first time since school. "Harry please tell me that cat flap is for the 'fat cat' and not for you." She said with anger in her voice.
He didn't answer, in fact the boy looked down. Harry and Hermione had gotten so close in the school year that they no longer needed many words between them to know what the other was thinking. Harry could not only tell by her tone that she was royally peeved but he could also feel her magic start to ramp up.
He couldn't afford to deal with the Dursley's finding out about her so did the only thing he could think of to calm her down. He hugged her tightly the whole time telling her to breathe.
She took several deep breaths and then stood up straight and pulled away. "I've come to get you." She said while smiling.
"What?" Harry stood there dumbfounded.
"Of course, Ron and the twins had this hairbrained idea to 'borrow' their fathers flying car to come make a heroic rescue, when I told them it might be better for parental figures to be involved." She said with a tsk.
Harry held his belly chuckle in to just a whispered chuckle, "So you mean there is no flying car tonight?"
Shaking her head Hermione proceeded to fill Harry in on her plans. Knowing that his uncle worked for Grunnings she had told her parents all about him and his family, she was a bit surprised they didn't recognize her from the station to be honest.
Her parents who did in fact know about Grunnings, but avoided them due to Dursley, agreed to help their only child. Hermione was to break away and find him and bring him down so that they can make their proposition.
She told Harry to pack his things, which wasn't much considering the Dursley's had locked his unpacked trunk and anything to do with magic in his old bedroom below the stairs.
Harry didn't often talk about his time at home, what little he did Hermione picked up on that it wasn't pleasant, but him letting slip that it used to be his bedroom started her hair sparking all over again.
Harry pleading her to calm down, and the anxiousness in his eyes was the only reason Hermione was able to control her excess magic. "Oh Harry," she wept and flung her arms around his neck holding on tight.
Harry held her just glad that she was there until she got herself completely under control. He grabbed Hedwig and let her out the window then carried the cage to the top of the stairs, just out of eyeshot from the lounge. Hermione flushed the toilet and let the water run for a bit to simulate washing her hands before she joined him at the top of the stairs.
She kissed his cheek, something that Harry was absolutely not used to, so much so that it made him blush slightly as he touched the spot her lips were just on. "Let my parent's do all the talking. We worked through this rescue mission several times, trust me?"
Harry's only reply was one hundred percent the truth, "With my life"
Smiling Hermione grabbed his hand, "Oh and Harry, Happy Birthday" she smiled as she led him down the stairs.
Vernon was just getting on with his old golfing joke that no one found funny, the Dursleys backs where towards the stairs, Dudley off to their right was unable to see the stairs, Hermione's parent's however had a clear view and as her dad locked eyes with her she nodded.
"Ah Hermione dear, glad you found your friend, I was starting to worry the Dursley's really did have a cat." Daniel Granger said with a smile, causing Vernon's head to whip around quickly, which was quite impressive considering he had little to no neck, Petunia followed along within seconds.
"I'm so sorry for this interruption, this is my nephew Harry, he's mentally not well and doesn't take to visitors." Vernon started on his made up story only to be stopped by Hermione's mum.
"Oh do go on and try to explain how Harry Potter, savior of the wizarding world, son of Lily and James Potter, is an incurably criminal boy that attends St. Brutus' school." Jean said with a huff.
"It's… how… are you?" Petnunia started and Jean helped her finish.
"No, we are non-magical, if that's what you're stuttering about. We really are dentists who have a very successful practice in Hampstead." Jean stated very mater of factly.
"It is our beautiful daughter who has all the talent in the family, Hermione and Harry attend school together at Hogwarts. The fact that your ill-mannered temper made her cry when she attempted to contact him spiked our interest." Dan said with anger lacing his tone.
"How does one use so my expletives to a child over the phone, what if it was an accident that she contacted you? Not very business-like Mr. Dursley, a fact I am willing to bet your boss doesn't know anything about considering the charade you put on today." Dan knew he had gotten through to the overweight man as his face drained of color.
His wife continued onward with their plan, "You see, we investigated a little into yourself and your family, we knew of the tales you have told other dentists, friends of ours were so turned off by your fakeness that they refused to do business with you." Jean said plainly.
"And we are not here to do business in the drill department with you either, you sicken us to the core with your lack of compassion for an orphaned child left in your care."
Petunia started to speak but was cut off immediately by Mr. Granger. "I don't care what you two have to say about the past, I only care what you have to say about the present and future of your nephew."
"What do you mean?" Vernon asked with an air of caution.
"We have a proposition to make, we would like to take Harry home with us for the rest of the summer, you need to spare no expenses we will handle everything." Dan stared directly at Vernon when talking about money.
"That is the present, if you allow us to take him with his entire school things, we will ensure he gets to Hogwarts on time come September first. For the future we would like for you to clean up your act. We understand that you are Harry's legal guardians however it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know he is getting mistreated here." Dan said this through gritted teeth.
He had thought maybe the Dursley's were just jerks but one look at Harry in his baggy clothes and gaunt figure you could tell they didn't feed him enough nor maintain his hygiene. Looking towards his daughter he could see her anger on her face. She wore her heart on her sleeve and was very transparent to her parents. Something was off.
"What is it sweetheart?" Jean asked obviously seeing the same signs.
Trusting their daughter, they allowed her to speak freely. The bushy haired girl turned towards the Dursleys and with the most vicious tone they had ever heard come from their daughter she asked.
"Mr. Dursley, what would drive a person to install 6 locks and a cat flap on your nephew's bedroom door?"
Shocked expressions were on everyone faces, the Grangers not expecting the venom but definitely were not expecting that type of treatment of the young lad stared at the Dursleys. Their daughter didn't even wait for a reply before adding in her second question.
"And what is this I hear that his school things are locked in his 'old bedroom' under the stairs?" by this point Hermione was lacing the air with her magic again as she watched the fat poor excuse of a human try and explain his reasonings.
"Hermione" Harry said quietly, knowing that she needed to calm down before she had an accidental bout of magic. Squeezing her hand and pulling her towards him she stared him in the eyes and nodded. Willing herself to calm down.
Vernon Dursley, knowing that he was not getting his large drill order, and now had to worry about his job and his nephew's weirdness getting out asked what the Grangers wanted.
Together they sat down and worked out a plan to take Harry for the rest of the summer, they had also gotten permission for the yule holidays and were working on next summer when Petunia made a comment that struck a chord with Harry.
"The boy has to come back for a minimum of two weeks to regenerate the wards that surround the house. Dumbledore himself put them up. It's one of the only reasons we took the welp in, my first idea was to put him in an orphanage."
"Well, that is definitely something to ask the headmaster about. We shall see to that but will in this case allow Harry to return to this sad excuse of a home for two weeks, we expect daily phone calls and well-being checkups." Dan said while writing what he said down word for word on the document he had a lawyer buddy draw up for him.
"Please do not take us for fools, we will follow through on all of our threats if anything were to change, or if you breach this contract we are writing up." Jean said with the fierceness of a mama bear.
Nodding the Dursley's signed the contract, it really benefitted them splendidly. The Grangers wouldn't talk with Vernon's boss about his miss-use of language to a minor nor Harry's treatment at home. In return they will take Harry with them, feed, house, and clothe him at no expense to themselves.
Harry ran up to the top of the stairs to grab Hedwig's cage as Hermione's dad cussed under his breath grabbing Harry's trunk from the closet under the stairs. Seeing the crib mattress still tucked inside made his heart hurt.
How could anyone treat a child, especially a child of their family like the lowest form of scum was beyond him.
"Ready kids?" was responded with "Yes sirs" from both Hermione and Harry. Buckled into the car and down the street Harry let out a breath he didn't know he was holding and started thanking the Grangers profusely.
Harry didn't want to become a burden and quickly explained that if they could stop at Diagon Alley he could grab money out of his vault at Gringotts and repay them.
"No need Harry, save your money for fun things, we will handle your living expenses like we stipulated in the contract. You wouldn't want us to be in breach of it would you?" Jean asked.
Shaking his head, Harry once more thanked the Grangers and turned to talk to Hermione who was smiling. "Mission accomplished, remind me to send Ron an owl when we get home and let him know we did it!"
"I'm sorry I didn't write; I was waiting for a letter from either of you that never came until today." Harry said while pulling out the stack of unopened letters from his pocket and engaged Hermione and her parents in the tale of Dobby the house elf.
Pulling into their driveway Jean turned around and smiled at the kids, they had both gone quiet about thirty minutes prior and now she understood why. Hermione's kinky curly hair spilled over Harry's shoulder as her head rested in the crook of his neck fast asleep. Harry himself was angled back allowing Hermione to be more comfortable than himself, his head resting on top of her mound of curls must be the only comfortable thing about his position.
Sighing, she looked at her husband, "we really should wake them up but look at how precious they are."
"I know, I took everything Hermione said with a grain of salt but now I can see there were things even she herself didn't know. It turns my stomach that we allowed them to get away with his treatment scot free, but if we forced the issue to the police there's no telling where Harry would end up." Dan said solemnly.
Jean just nodded as she reached into her purse and pulled out her camera that she always had on her and snapped a picture. The flash waking both the sleeping children up with a start.
"Oh my, I'm sorry dears, I didn't know the flash would be quite that bright. Either way welcome home Harry." Jean said smiling as he focused his eyes on the three-story home in front of him.
"Let's get your stuff up to your room and we can talk about getting a late dinner delivered." Dan said stepping from the car with the kids following.
Showing Harry to his room, Hermione once more hugged him. "I'm so sorry it took so long for us to get you Harry!"
Hugging her back Harry hoped she understood that he was just happy to be out. Nodding at his unspoken words Hermione broke the hug and moved to his trunk, "You haven't even started your homework, have you?"
Chuckling internally at a question that was just so Hermione, Harry stated that he didn't but was actually excited to be able to complete it before the train ride which was his original plan.
The duo had just gotten what barely passed as a wardrobe into the dresser when Jean called up the stairs that the pizza was there.
Hustling down the stairs Harry was excited to try pizza, although he knew what it was, he was never allowed to eat any whenever the Dursleys ordered in. He would get the bread and water with a little sandwich meat that he was now used to.
Sitting down at the table Harry could tell some difficult questions were going to be brought up tonight, things he would much rather not talk about, but he owed Hermione's parents for everything they had done for him tonight, so he knew he would talk to them.
