Before the Stone

Author: Krista Leighanne

A short, three chapter story on the year before Harry Ron and Hermione went to Hogwarts

Chapter 1-Harry

"HARRY!!!" The sound of Aunt Petunia Dursley's high pitched voice awoke ten year old Harry Potter with a start. He groaned. Today was a Monday, the first Monday in June, which meant the last month of school until the summer started, where he'd be tormented by his cousin Dudley and his group of friends. He put on his round black glasses with the scotch tape wrapped around the bridge, broken from the many times Dudley'd used him as a punching bag. Over the years, Harry had learned how to avoid his cousin and his gang, but during the school year, that was a near impossibility, Dudley, Piers, and Gordon being in almost all his classes.

He swung his legs out of his so-called bed, opening the door of his cupboard under the stairs revealing the brightly lit hallway. He smelt pancakes sizzling in the kitchen to his right, but sighed, knowing Dudley'd eat them all by the time Harry'd sat down after pouring coffee for his Uncle Vernon, who was never satisfied with Harry's doings. Harry silently thanked himself that he was only really related to Petunia by blood, her being his mother Lily's sister.

Harry often wondered what his parents were like. He faintly remembered long red hair, glasses quite like his but unbroken, and a lot of screaming and green light, but the rest of his past with his parents was completely dark. He'd hoped they weren't as cruel and unkind as the Dursley's were, but then again, most people weren't like the Dursleys.

If you saw Harry walking down the street with his aunt, uncle and cousin, you'd plainly see he stood out. His uncle and cousin were a beefy bunch, and Aunt Petunia was horselike and skinny. Harry had extremely messy black hair, astonishingly green eyes and a strange lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead. He wore all hand-me-downs from Dudley, which of course, were quite too small for him.

The Dursleys took no notice to Harry's arrival into the kitchen, with the acception of Uncle Vernon barking at him for his morning coffee, but the cold silence was perfectly normal for Harry. They'd always treated him as an animal much less a human being. They seemed to think he was abnormal and worthless, reasons unknown to Harry. He'd often asked his so-called family the usual questions: How did my parents die? What were they like? Do I remind you of them?, but their answers were always the same: "In a car crash, now stop asking stupid questions!" From this he'd learned that they obviously had not been fond of James and Lily Potter, or else they were too emotional to talk about it. But Harry highly doubted the second part.

"Lookit Potter, the orphan boy!" one girl with buck teeth teased as Harry entered his fifth grade classroom that morning after Dudley. The class snickered, and the teacher seemed to not notice. Harry bluntly ignored them and took his normal seat in the back. He was used to the taunting and teasing, but thankfully they stopped as soon as the teacher started talking. Still, Harry was counting the short amount of days until he was free from it all.

"Potter?" the teached called on Harry, who jerked out of a trance immediately. He blinked rapidly for a moment.

"W-what?" he asked timidly. The class, which found this hilarious, roared with laughter. The teacher gave him a stern look then turned to Dudley.

"Perhaps Mr. Dursley, you can help Mr. Potter out with the question. What is the capital of France?" she asked. Dudley gave her a blank look. Piers Polkiss whispered it quickly into his ear and Dudley looked relieved.

"Paris," he answered, looking smugly at Harry. Harry felt his cheeks burning and he looked down at his desk.

After what seemed like an eon, school let out for the summer. Harry felt relieved as he came home from his graduation of fifth grade. He went straight to his cupboard and sat down, breathing a sigh of relief. The year was finally over, and Harry knew for a fact he wouldn't be going to the same school as Dudley next year, though he wasn't sure where he was going at all. Little did he know what that fall would bring...

That's chapter one, I'm not sure if I should add/continue so please post your comments, they're much appreciated. And of course I don't own any characters, ect. they belong to JK Rowling, Scholastic and anyone else involved making the books.