Against All Odds
Pairings mentioned: None in this chapter. I probably won't mention any pairings for a while. Hope to catch some reader's attentions though!
The life in Privet Drive was at an all-time low for Harry Potter. Not only did he now have to do all the chores his cousin did not have. The threat of Voldemort was strong all around him. People were following him, he could hear them. How he wished his school would start already and that he could just go and see his dearest and closest friends. They, at least, would help to draw Sirius out of his mind. Oh, how he missed his Godfather... He hated most that in the back of his mind, he knew that even if he could leave at that very instant his Godfather would not be waiting to greet him, as he had only one year before. The familiar pang in his heart grew strong again, and he bit his lip as he scrubbed the dishes desperately, trying with all his might to get his Godfather's smiling face out of his mind. Why couldn't the pain just go away? The pain he had felt all his life about his parents having died hurt, of course, but it was nothing compared to that empty space Sirius had once filled. This was because he had hardly known his father who had tried to save his wife and son... Nor had he known the mother that had given her life for him to survive. He knew that if she had simply stepped aside she would have lived. It was not Lily Voldemort had wanted, it was Harry. So, she had fallen, and he had lived. But Harry was only a year old. He couldn't remember her, nor could he remember the sacrifice. It was just part of what happened.
But he knew Sirius. Sirius had given him everything he possibly could. That dark, passionate man had given Harry advice, love, and attention... He had been there for him, and had even gotten him the Firebolt Harry was so fond of. Damnit! Why couldn't Bellatrix fall instead of Sirius? And why hadn't Dumbledore let Harry kill her? Why hadn't the Crucious curse made her scream in agony as it had Neville? Why had she been permitted to live when her cousin who fought so bravely had fallen behind the curtain? Harry turned back to the dishes and rinsed them off casually, then hastily dried them off and put them away where they belonged. The Dursleys would be home soon. They would expect the house to be spotless. And it was. However, the Dursleys found something wrong with anything Harry did, so Harry wasn't expecting praise.
With his chores done, Harry made his way into his bedroom and flung himself upon the bed, gazing half-heartedly at Hedwig who hooted at him affectionately in her cage. Opening the cage door, Harry watched as Hedwig flew to the headboard and looked down at him with her large amber eyes. He was lucky, in a way. He wasn't completely alone. Hedwig was still with him.
"BOY!" Harry winced, his green eyes closing darkly. He hated when the Dursleys were home, and Uncle Vernon was the worst. "GET DOWN HERE IMMEDIATELY!" Rising slowly, Harry made his way to the door and walked out, closing the door behind him.
"Yes, Uncle Vernon?" Petunia Dursley stood at her husband's side, her arms folded over his bosom. Vernon Dursley had a white glove on and had swept his finger over the top of the fireplace and was glaring angrily at his nephew, while Dudley was grinning from ear-to-ear.
"Does this look like you dusted, boy?" Harry raised a curt brown, peering at the white glove. He didn't see anything on it at all... Had he missed it?
"I don't see anything, Uncle Vernon." Vernon glared and shoved his finger against Harry's glassed in his anger, the pudgy face turning red in the face. He looked as if he were about to explode; he was so red in the face. "Nothing, 'eh? Look closer!" Squinting, Harry saw one little speck of dust. Surely, Vernon hadn't noticed that... From the look on his Uncle's face, however, he had. "What do you see? I see dust, boy!"
"It's only a speck..." Petunia scoffed indignantly.
"'Only a speck'? ONLY A SPECK? Don't 'only a speck' me! We gave you a list of chores! You were told specifically to finish those chores!" Harry puffed up indignantly, all his negative feelings surfacing as he glared into her horse-like face.
"I did do all my chores! Just because you pick every bloody thing apart into little cells doesn't mean we all do..."
"What did you say to your Aunt? It was a bloody stupid thing we did, taking this boy in, Petunia! I've told you so a million times! And look at how he talks to you! Boy, you clean this properly!" Vernon and Harry were at a standoff. Vernon's round face was red and his eyes were bulging, while Harry was starting to get red in the face himself, his green eyes ablaze with a fire of hate within. Never before had they seen Harry getting into a temper like this.
"It's done as well as it can be done! If you want it done any other way, then you can well do it on your own, can't you? Big man like you, all grown up? You don't need a 'kid' like me to do your things since I obviously can't do them right!" He turned on his heel and stalked up the stairs, going into his bedroom and slamming the door shut behind him. "Hedwig," He hissed as he started scribbling a note on a piece of paper, "I want you to take this—"
"Boy, don't make me come up there!"
"To Number Twelve—"
"I'll give you to the count of three! If you aren't down here by then your arse will be in the dirt!"
"Grimmauld Place, do you understand?" Hedwig hooted.
"One..."
"I'll be on the Knight Bus..."
"Two..."
"Heading for the Burrow..." Harry tied the note to Hedwig's foot and unlocking the window.
"Three!"
"Make sure they come for me as soon as they can." Hedwig flew out the now-opened window as Harry ran to his bedroom door, putting a chair under the doorknob as he heard footsteps starting up the stairs. Pushing his trunk out the window, he was very glad for that bush down below which softened the thud and made the trunk falling silent... Climbing up and onto the windowsill, Harry looked down and saw that this jump would be very difficult. The doorknob jingled.
"Open this door, boy!" Inhaling a deep breath, Harry looked down at his trunk and edged his way to the left just as Vernon threw himself against the door. Closing his green eyes, Harry lurched off the sill and into the bushes, falling to the left of his trunk. He heard Vernon enter his room and Harry jumped to his feet, feeling a jolt of pain shoot up from his ankle. No time for pain now, he had to hurry... Lifting his trunk, Harry drug it to the side of the road, mentally screaming for the Knight Bus to come... Just as he had given up hope, a three-story bus pulled up alongside him. Stan grinned down at Harry, his acne-covered face glowing.
"Looking for a ride?" Harry heard the front door slam shut and saw Vernon stalking towards him. Harry grinned weakly at Stan, clutching his trunk.
"Desperately."
"Get over here, boy! We need a word!" Stan grabbed Harry's trunk and shoved it on the bus grabbing Harry by the elbow and helping him up. Harry grinned weakly at Vernon, giving a casual wave.
"The word is," Harry said with a hint of pain in his voice, "'goodbye'." With that, the door closed and Stan said:
"Where to?" Harry sighed heavily as he seated himself in an armchair, propping his hurt foot on his trunks. Raising his chin, Harry cocked his head to the side.
"The Burrow. I need to meet someone there."
"The Burrow it is. We'll be there in ten minutes." Harry nodded and eyed his swollen ankle. Now that he'd lose his adrenaline, the pain was almost overwhelming. He was almost certain that he broke a bone in the fall, but that didn't matter now. He was almost home.