A/N: Heya Guys! Listen, I know that I already have another story out, but I promise to finish it. This story came to me out of the blue, and in my opinion is too good to lose. Alright, first things first. The OC in this story is NOT I repeat NOT a Mary-Sue. I promise. It's not me, or a friend. The character is completely made up from my head. Second, Sirius is alive. The fifth book happened, but Sirius didn't die, okie? I love him too much to have him dead, but the rest of the story happened. Let's just say that Remus ran over and saved Sirius before he fell through the veil. Alrighty then, onward.
Disclaimer: None of the Harry Potter characters or plots belong to moi. I do own Tala though. She is mine, don't steal her without asking me first. I'm poor, so don't sue.
Extra Note: There are spoilers for all of the books in this story alright? So if you haven't read all of the books, I suggest you do. They really are brilliant. Anyway, Read on!
The late June sun burned in the iridescent blue sky, and green trees remained still and poised for action should the wind see fit to blow. The occasional cloud drifted by lazily, providing little shade for any who were foolish enough to venture outside. A person could see the rays of heat radiating upward from the black asphalt, and the white, clean sidewalks were blazing with a scalding heat that was invisible to the human eye. The only person who was outside long enough to see these spectacles however, was a tall skinny boy named Harry Potter.
It was about a week since Hogwarts had let out for the summer holidays, and Harry was already disheartened. Hogwarts was almost like a home to him, and it always depressed him when he had to leave. Harry had never considered the Dursley household to be his home. No, home was not a place where you were treated like filth or the dirt on the bottom of your shoe.
However, Harry consoled himself with the fact that it was his last summer here with the Dursley's. Once the Summer holidays were over Harry would be going into his 7th and final year at Hogwarts, and after that, into the real world. He grinned in spite of himself. The prospect of leaving the Dursley's forever was a rather exciting possibility.
Harry had to cut his musings short as he paused at a street corner, looking at the asphalt in a dubious manner. He wasn't in fact paying any attention to the asphalt, but to a rustling in the bushes that had caught his attention.
Sticking his hand into his too big and too old jeans, Harry gripped his wand and crossed the street, coming ever closer to the offending bush. His heart beat quickened. What if it was a death eater? He wasn't going to be of age for another month, and another run in with the ministry was not something that he needed. Fudge was on edge as it was, Harry didn't need to give him any more reason to try and discredit and expel him.
Once he got across the street, he realized something. His new talent. Harry mentally kicked himself for not remembering sooner. How could he have forgotten? During his sixth year he had developed a skill that allowed him to see a persons energy. An aura, I suppose you'd call it. It wasn't an extreme accomplishment, but it was definitely noteworthy, and in times like this, dead useful. If there was a person behind the bush, then a distinct aura would show up. An animal only had fuzzy and indistinct gray light surrounding them.
A member of the Order would have an aura of any color with silver surrounding it, signifying that they were of the light side. Werewolves had green auras, animagus' were deep blue, mages were deep red, muggles had pale blue auras, and normal wizards varied in color depending upon their strengths.
Harry stopped himself about 15 feet away from the impending bush, and let his eyes slip out of focus. Concentrating on the bush and the bush alone, Harry let the rest of the world around him swirl and twist. After only a moment or two, colors started making themselves known. First the colors swirled from pale red to dark blue and finally settled on a violent shade of orange outlined in silver. Harry sighed. It was an Order member.
Relaxing his grip on his wand, Harry went over to the bush and said, "You can come out now."
A muffled cry of surprise emanated from the leafy green bush and out fell a slightly ruffled looking Tonks.
"Harry!" She cried out in surprise. "How did you know it was me?"
Harry sighed again. "Lucky guess. Anyway, what are you doing here? Doesn't Dumbledore have a more important job for you to do then to baby-sit me?" He asked, more then slightly irritated.
Tonks smiled at him cheekily. "Course not. There is nuffing more important then making sure our ickle Harrykins is ok."
Harry returned her cheeky grin with full force. "Lets keep the baby talk to a bare minimum shall we Tonks? I'd hate to mistake you for Bellatrix and hex you into oblivion. I don't even think that your metamorphmagus talents would be able to fix you up if you get on the wrong end of my wand." Starting to walk away, Harry looked over his shoulder and added, "If you intend on following me, keep yourself out of sight. I'd at least like to delude myself into thinking that I am alone."
Ignoring the amused snort from Tonks, Harry continued down the path he had been taking, completely unperturbed.
Harry only returned to the Dursely's when it was dusk, and opened the door expecting to find the silence and "normality" that he was so accustomed to. However when Harry opened the front door to Number four Privet drive, he found the exact opposite.
Behind the wooden front door, Harry found a scene of utter pandemonium. All three of the Dursely's were in the kitchen, and all looked as though they were going to do some one a serious injury
Having the sinking feeling that this had to do with him, Harry took a deep breath and entered the emotion laden kitchen. "Um, hello." Harry said in nervous tones. "Uh, is there something wrong?"
Uncle Vernon looked as though he would explode. His face was such a shade of purple that it would put a plum to shame, and his small and beady eyes were bulging out of his head. Overall it was not a very flattering expression, but Harry knew that if he pointed that out, his uncle would feel no remorse in killing him.
"What is the meaning of this boy?!" Uncle Vernon spat, waving a piece of crumpled parchment in front of his face.
Backing away from his seething Uncle, Harry said, "What? I don't know what you're talking about. Did it come by owl? Look if the owl bothered you or anything I'm sorry, it was probably looking for me…" But he was cut off mid sentence.
"I'm not talking about the ruddy owls! I'm talking about the letter that we just got from your freakish friends!"
Harry's face paled severely at his Uncle's words. A few days ago Uncle Vernon had hit him into a wall for not putting two coats of paint on the shed in the back. The bruise on his shoulder smarted something fierce, and in a fit of anger, wrote to the Order.
Harry hadn't intended for the letter to be sent at all, actually. He wouldn't bother them with his petty problems, but he found that writing such things down to be therapeutic. He had left the note on his desk by mistake, and Hedwig must have thought it was a letter to be sent. It was a small miracle that members of the Order hadn't shown up on the Dursely's front steps, or Harry really would've gotten it. Perhaps now he would get off with only a few smacks.
"Wh-what did they say?" Harry asked in a tone that clearly conveyed his fright.
Uncle Vernon bared his teeth at him. "Here, read it." His tone was low and dangerous. Harry knew that tone all too well, and it normally ended with Harry becoming familiar with a few of Uncle Vernon's belts as well.
Taking the crumpled parchment from his Uncles meaty fist, Harry read:
Dursely-
We've caught wind from Potter that you are roughing him up a bit. We warned you at Kings Cross Dursely, that if you so much as insulted Potter you'd be in a world of trouble. Now the only reason that there aren't any wizards standing on your front steps is simply because we are at war, and can spare no one at this point. We are picking Potter up one week after his birthday, and if he has so much as a scratch on him we will come back for you and turn your entire family into insects. You have been warned Dursely.
-Alastor Moody
Harry gulped as he read the letter. This was not good. Intimidating Uncle Vernon in person was one thing, but to do so in a letter was different. In a letter no one would pop out and curse him for doing as he pleased. Trying to prevent himself from trembling, Harry fearfully looked up into the eyes of his furious uncle, doing his best to steel himself for what he knew was to come.
"So boy," Uncle Vernon began, his voice entirely too controlled for Harry's liking. "You've been telling your freak friends about how we mistreat you. Well, we can't have that now can we? Oh you'll be sorry boy, you'll be sorry."
Harry tried to stammer out a response as his furious uncle advanced on him and grabbed him by the scruff of the neck. He did his best to keep up with the raging man as he dragged Harry up the stairs, and Dudley plodded up after them, grinning gleefully.
"B-b-but Uncle Vernon, I-I didn't send them…" But was cut off as he was thrown roughly into his room.
"Dudders?" Vernon said to his enormous son. "Tie him down while daddy gets his belt. Make sure you tie him tight, don't want the little freak to get away." Disappearing from view, now only Dudley and Harry were left in the room and Harry didn't like the expression on Dudley's overly piggy face.
Dudley grabbed Harry and shoved him face first onto the bed. He then sat himself down on Harry back, making it impossible for the smaller boy to move or breathe correctly. Tearing strips from Harry's bed sheets, the porky boy tied his cousins struggling hands to the bed post, and then proceeded to do the same to his feet.
Harry writhed, trying his hardest to pull lose from the cloth restraints. His mind was flitting around wildly, striving to find a plan that would get him out of this mess. He knew he would find none though. This had happened before, and Harry knew what was to come and that he had no chance of escape.
Harry heard his uncle Vernon come back into the room, and could also detect the gentle jingling of the belt buckle at his side. In one swift movement, the large and burly man and stepped across the room, and tore the old and worn shirt from his nephew's back.
"Damn boy" His uncle said, as he let loose the thick leather belt over Harry's back. "Always creating problems, always in the way. It would've been better if you had never been born."
Harry was in agony. It had been so many years since his uncle had beaten him with his belt, that he had almost forgotten what it felt like. However the sharp smacking sensation of cold and eventually bloody leather, would never truly leave him. It couldn't. It was deeply ingrained in his psyche, and therefore could never be forgotten. Harry clenched his fists tightly and bit back a scream as his back arched up in pain.
Harry could feel the leather of his uncles belt becoming slick, and knew that he was bleeding. It wouldn't last long after this. It never lasted long once the bleeding started. Uncle Vernon never like blood very much, and especially Harry's.
Vernon was breathing deeply with exertion. The speed and ferocity that Vernon had been hitting his nephew with, had begun to take it's toll and he began to slow. Raising the thick leather belt high above his head and whipped it down as hard as he could, making Harry scream for the agony of it all.
Grinning like the sociopath he was, he said, "Now you listen good boy. The next letter you send those freak friends of yours will be a good one telling them that you are fine. I get wind of those…people thinking that we mistreat you, and I'll make sure that you never get off of this bed again. Am I understood boy?"
Harry didn't have the energy to nod, but his uncle obviously took his prolonged silence acceptance. Huffing like he had just run a mile, he took his blood slicked belt and left the dark room, slamming the door behind him.
So grateful for his Uncles exit, Harry finally let tears run down his red and sore face. He didn't cry out loud, no, that would only invoke further anger in his uncle. No, Harry just let the tears drip down his face and slide onto the floor, forming a small puddle.
His heart ached with years of neglect and abuse. He yearned to be loved, needed to be loved. It was a gap in his heart that not even the Weasley's, Sirius, or Remus could fill. The past two years had shown him that, and Harry mourned his yearning heart by letting the tears fall to the dusty floor, and letting the moonlight bathe his bloody and marred back with it's ethereal and saintly glow.
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August 7th
Harry was standing outside of Number four Privet Drive, a gentle breeze blowing his wild and long raven locks back off of his face. His vibrant green eyes were aglow with excitement, and he gripped his trunks handle convulsively. Order members should be arriving at any moment and Harry felt like a small child awaiting Christmas Day. Trying to ease his anticipation, Harry started whistling tunelessly as he looked for any sign of wizarding folk.
It had been several weeks since Uncle Vernon had beaten him, and Harry hadn't told the Order anything of it. He didn't see it to be something to worry them over, and besides, he'd rather face an ambush of death eaters before another confrontation with his uncle and his belt. He found this realization to be rather ridiculous, but he reasoned that he had feared his Uncle for far longer then Death Eaters. Besides, you could always avoid spells. You can't avoid physical blows when you are tied to the bed.
Harry was yanked from his disturbing thoughts, as several popping noises penetrated his self conscious. Looking up quickly Harry saw the grizzled gray hair of Mad-Eye Moody, the eccentric pink and purple coloring of Tonks, and lastly, the tired and slightly worn looking Remus.
Grinning, Harry said, "What took you so long?"
Smirking back at him Remus hugged Harry tight, making Harry wince hard and the sharp pain in his back, but no one seemed to notice as Tonks came up and did the same.
"Good to see you too Harry." Remus said bemusedly. "How's you're summer been? Not too bad I hope. You're relatives didn't hit you again did they? I wasn't sure if Mad-Eye's letter would get through to them."
Harry plastered a false smile onto his face. "Yeah, don't worry. They backed off after that." He said, lying through his teeth.
"You sure Potter?" Mad-Eye asked, his magical eye fixed intently on Harry. "Something seems off with you."
Trying his best to seem unfazed, Harry rolled his eyes and said, "Don't worry Mad-Eye. After you threatened them in your letter they backed off immediately."
Grunting, Moody turned to Remus and asked, "Do you have the portkey ready Lupin? Dumbledore is expecting us back soon." Moody said all of this with his magical eye spinning around wildly in his head, as though expecting death eaters to come bursting out of the bushes at any moment.
After a moment of searching pockets, Remus produced a comb that was missing most of it's teeth. As everyone placed a single finger on the battered comb, Harry had to steel himself against the shudder that was threatening to wrack his body. Ever since the Tri-Wizard Tournament Harry never felt safe with port keys. It reminded him of the graveyard and that horrible echoing voice that repeated the same words over and over again.
Kill the spare.
Kill the spare.
Kill the spare
Kill the spare.
"Harry?" Remus Lupin had seen the haunted look pass over Harry's face, had known almost instantaneously what he must have been thinking about. Harry had never told anyone aside from Dumbledore and Sirius about what had happened during the third task. Remus had only been able to piece together bits that Sirius had let slip and Dumbledore had told the Order. "Harry? Are you alright?"
Harry came to his senses immediately. "Huh? Oh yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry about it, I just…have a headache."
Harry could see that Remus had wanted to respond but the portkey chose then to activate, and with the jerk behind the navel, all four of the magic folk were transported away to Grimmauld Place.
A/N: Hey! Well, did yall like it? waits eagerly I hope you did. Anyway, the romance will come later. Perhaps next chapter if I can wrangle it. But I promise, she is not a mary-sue. She isn't me, I swear! Well, I hope you like. Read my other story too! Buh Bye!