Sweet Tears, Wishing You Were Here

By RicaSieg

Disclaimer: Not mine…*goes off to a corner and pouts*

Chapter 12: Now More Than Ever

The morning of July 31st dawned bright and sunny. There wasn't a cloud in the sky.

Harry placed thin strips of bacon on plates and put them on the table. Then, he went and retrieved the newspaper. His aunt and Uncle wandered into the kitchen, just as he was filling the orange juice cups.

"What are you doing up early?" growled his Uncle. "Plotting something? Hmm. Well get any ridiculous notions out of your head, your repainting the fence for me. Then I want you to put the pink flowered sheet on the guest bed. Marge is coming in two days and we need to get the house ready.

Harry scowled slightly as he ate some bread and a piece of bacon. Then, he went out to the shed to collect the eggshell paint and some brushes. He had hoped that maybe the Dursley's would remember his birthday. They never had before though. He wondered why he even bothered to hope.

He remembered two years ago when he had asked Aunt Petunia why he didn't have a birthday. She said not to be stupid, that he did have one. Feeling brave, he even asked when. "July 31st, now shut up. Never ask me questions. For two years he had known when his birthday was but never received a present. It was after lunch when the fence was completely painted.

He went to the kitchen to get a snack, but his Aunt stopped him.

"You missed lunch! Don't expect me to feed you any time your hungry. Go clean out the guest room. After that, you can hose off the patio furniture. Around four o'clock, he walked through the kitchen to go hose off the furniture. Dudley was lazing about eating cookies.

"Hungry, Harry?" grinned Dudley. "Have some!" he said as he threw the plate at Harry. Harry ducked and it shattered against the refrigerator.

Aunt Petunia came running at the sound of the crash.

"What happened?!" she shrieked as she saw the mess.

"Mummy," cried Dudley as he waddled over to her. "Harry took my cookies. When I asked for them back, he threw them at the refrigerator!"

"No I…" Harry started to protest.

"Shut up you. How dare you take away Dudley's cookies. Clean up this mess. Vernon will deal with you when he gets home.

Sulkily, Harry cleaned up the broken bits of plate and cookie. He was just finishing when Vernon's car pulled up the driveway.

Vernon clunked into the house, like he usually did.

"Pety, I'm home!" he called up the stairs. Harry could hear his Aunt's sharp foot falls coming down the hall stairs. After a few minutes of silence, Uncle Vernon stormed into the kitchen. His hair was ruffled and his face was bright red.

Harry shrank back against the refrigerator he had just finished cleaning. He held the brome in front of him like a shield.

Uncle Vernon took on of his fat hands and slapped the broom away from him. Then he punched Harry in the shoulder. After that, more punches and kicks were thrown. Finally, Vernon picked up the whimpering Harry and threw him into the cupboard. Harry lay there until the aches subsided. Then he sat up suppressing the urge to cry and sang quietly under his breath, "Happy Birthday to me, Happy Birthday to me… some birthday." He pulled his knees to his chest and sat there, rocking silently.

Soon the sounds of his relatives eating dinner rang through the crack under the door. Laughter and knives clinking against the plates overpowered his ears and the extra sensitivity that his ears had been feeling returned.

Tears ran unknowingly down his cheeks as he rocked back and forth. Slowly, he drifted of to sleep, before he lost conscious thought he mumbled, "Mummy, Daddy, I wish you were here.

A/N Sad, I know. I don't have much to say. I'm trying to write longer chapters. Sadly, I don't have a lot of time. I'm happy that I have 50 reviews. I will probably post again when I have 55. If I get 60 then I'll make a really long chapter. (At least 6 pages, my usual ones have lately been one or two) Please review.

Vale!

RicaSieg