TITLE: Past's Seduction
AUTHOR: Dessani
PAIRING: HPDM (maybe)
RATING: R
WARNINGS: May contain foul language, scenes of abuse and sexuality.
                I DON'T OWN HARRY POTTER OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS,
                UNLESS YOU DON'T RECOGNISE THEM AS PART OF THE HP WORLD
                THEN THET'RE MINE.
SUMMARY: Young Harry (age 7 when the story starts) mostly grew up on
        the streets of London, occasionally staying with friends of
        questionable occupation. As he grows up he occasionally works
        with them during the summer while he attends Hogwarts during
        the rest of the year. This is set just after 5th year.

       Chapter 1

Two emerald green eyes peered around the corner in the alley and watched the busboy throwing the garbage bags into the dumpster as the rain poured heavily down. The sandy haired teen closed the lid before walking back into the warmth of the near by kitchen. The black haired youth stole quietly from his hiding place and lifted the lid of the dumpster to begin sorting through the remains of the delicious food inside, delicious meaning fresher than food from any other trashcan.

This young boy was Harry Potter, an orphan at a young age and recently a runaway from his horrible relatives. Ever since Harry could remember he had been different from the other kids at school, his relatives had forced him to wear his cousin's old hand-me-downs, which considering the size of Dudley was rather cruel. His cousin had always made sure that he had no friends by threatening to beat the other kids up and even the fact that Dudley was always picking on Harry was enough to keep others away from him. Then there was Harry's 'freakishness', as his Aunt called it. Whenever Harry was extremely scared or angry, things just seemed to happen to and around him. Like the time he had appeared on the roof of the school when Dudley and his gang had been chasing him, just after their 2nd grade classes had let out.

"Hey, kid! Get away from there!" yelled the busboy as he dropped the two other garbage bags he held in his hands.

'Oh shit!'

The lid of the dumpster slammed shut as Harry shoved his findings into his pocket and ran for the sanctuary of the complex maze of alley ways behind the buildings of the street as the busboy ran after him. Harry, being younger and having better knowledge of the back alleys quickly began to lose his pursuer. Once he was sure that he had lost the busboy, Harry found one of his hiding places and sat down to enjoy his meal.

It wasn't much but it was better than he had been eating for the past couple of weeks. He had run away from his relatives at the first chance he had, only a month ago. And at the young age of seven, he was in way over his head. He had already been suffering from the cruel hands of his Aunt and especially his Uncle, and already had a grasp of the brutality of humanity but was unprepared for the magnitude of suffering that the streets gave off, almost like a aura of blackness overhanging everything.

Harry was a smart kid though and stayed away from the other homeless, he found a few places irregularly visited by anyone, like the shed behind the old church a few blocks up, it was great, a lock on the door to make sure nobody else got in during the night and even a tap a bit closer to the church, then there was the empty building close to the river, and a few prime choice dumpsters to scrounge for food in when pockets were scarce.

Harry finished his meal quickly and grabbed his small back pack, the only thing ha had taken with him, that held his blanket, treasures from his wanderings on the street, and his few meager belongings, including two books and an old flashlight that used to belong to Dudley and no-longer worked, and a change of clothes and a sweater for when the London weather got inevitably colder. He quietly made his way to the church a few blocks away, the sun would be setting in a couple of hours and Harry knew he didn't want to be caught out in the streets after dark.

Soon reaching the shed he pressed his finger to the lock on the door and concentrated with all his might to will the door to open, after a few moments a loud clicking sound was heard and the door swung open on its hinges. Not long before his escape Harry had found himself able to do things when he concentrated hard enough, he figured that was why he had been found on the school roof only a few months earlier while escaping his cousin. It sometimes took a lot out of him, but it was easier to do little stuff like open doors, make stuff float, or create a small fire. Harry entered the room and locked the door behind him before settling down in a corner. He opened his bag and began to sort through the spoils of the day, two wallets.

"Let's see… twenty, twenty-five, thirty-two… thirty-three pounds and twelve pence." (AN: Sorry, I'm Canadian and have no knowledge of British money, whatsoever.) " That'll be enough for some food for quite a few days!" said Harry, feeling very pleased with himself if not just a little guilty.

The next morning Harry made his way towards the local corner store. He always tried to clean up a little when going into public areas, the last thing he needed was someone calling the cops and getting himself sent back to the Dursley's. He paid for a small loaf of bread and a bottle of orange juice before heading into one of the nearby parks to eat some of his small feast. After this he was going to have to start looking for a place to go during the winter, summer was going to end sometime and it would be best if he knew where to go when it got too cold for his usual places. He looked down at the newspaper on the bench he was sitting on and noted it was July 31.

'Oh!' he thought with a start. ' It's my birthday. Happy 8th birthday Harry.'