Broken Path
A/n: This chap is mostly for plot. (Whines) It's going so long.
It had been three years since my aunt took me in. Soon after I arrived, I realized that I had taken a middle ground between two extremes, One in which I was constantly abused, and one in which I was loved completely. This middle ground had aunt Petunia caring for me greatly, while Vernon treats me like I'm the lowest form of trash.
In this life, aunt Petunia tried to protect me, mainly by taking the punishments meant for me herself. I knew what was going on, but my magic was too weak to stop him, I could only ease her pain. I felt the darkness that boiled up inside me every time she was hurt, now I have enough to make him stop.
I woke up early that day, Aunt Petunia was asleep on the couch, Vernon had a woman he worked with, his secretary I think, in his bed. Dudley was his father's son, he believed that he was above the law. I woke aunt Petunia quietly, both of us had fallen into the habit of waking silently. I whispered to her, "we have to leave Aunt Petunia."
She shook her head, we had this conversation more than once. "We can't, he'll find us. He'll hurt you." I truly admired her courage at these times, she only stayed to protect me, because Dudley was almost beyond redemption.
I tugged on her arm, "please, I can-"
A loud shout was heard from upstairs, "Woman, bring me my breakfast!"
Aunt Petunia was about to get up and make it, but I would let her. When Vernon heard no response, he came downstairs to wake her up, most likely violently as he preferred to. He caught me pulling on her arm, and started laughing. Horrible, crazy sounding laughter. "You think I will let her go? I have had enough of your interference, I'm going to ensure you don't do it again!"
He stalked towards me, but I didn't react with fear, I acted in anger. With a wave of my hand, I caused him to freeze in mid stride. I started tugging on her sleeve, "it won't last long, we have to go." Vernon broke free just as we were about to shut the door. We took off running, but Vernon came after us.
I could outrun him, but Aunt Petunia wasn't as fast. He caught her and drew his hand to strike. I attacked him with the most vile curses I knew, all done wandless. I sent Vernon through the air about twenty feet back, but I was now winded. Suddenly several pops were heard as the accidental magic reversal squad appeared. One of them walked over towards us with a concerned look on his face.
"Miss, could you tell us what happened?" Aunt Petunia told him exactly what happened. He glanced at me when she said my name, but otherwise paid close attention to her. When he asked if this had happened before, she mutely hung her head.
"Yes, more than once," I said. The auror asked me for an example, I gave him five. When he asked Aunt Petunia if I was telling the truth, she said, "yes he is. I'm afraid for our lives." The auror quickly wrapped things up, even placing Vernon back in his bed. Since we knew of the magic world, we weren't going to be obliviated. He made sure we would be able to reach the police department, then he vanished.
Once Aunt Petunia told her story to the police, they issued an arrest warrant for Vernon, and aunt Petunia filed for divorce. Vernon was arrested an hour later, looking completely outraged. Several hours passed in which Vernon constantly denied the charge.
Months later, we were in court to testify to Vernon's abuse. Aunt Petunia went first, but she broke down on the cross. I did much better, getting the complete story, without the reference to magic, across. The defense asked me several questions, most seemed to try and caused me to counter myself. The main thing that damned Vernon, was Dudley's testimony and he spoke for the defense.
Dudley collaborated our story fully, our attorney didn't even bother questioning him. The jury found Vernon guilty and awarded aunt Petunia with a majority of their combined personal money and property. Dudley refused to live with us, and his aunt Marge took him in.
We lived in the house for a couple of months, but aunt Petunia kept waking up screaming. We sold the house and moved into London. Aunt Petunia searched around for a job, but most required more education than she had. A few of the other families in the area asked if she would be able to baby sit for them, she readily agreed.
We had been living in our new house for a couple of years, aunt Petunia woke up screaming less and less each week. Until we learned Vernon was out. Aunt Petunia panicked, she became afraid again. I went over to one of the neighbors and told them what had happened while she took a nap the day she found out. Soon everyone in the nearby area was aware, but no one told aunt Petunia.
About a month went by without so much as a peep and everyone started to relax, even aunt Petunia. I knew he would be back, he wasn't stupid enough to attack us immediately after he was released. One early morning there was a loud bang on the door. I was up in an instant and stood looking at the front door. Another loud bang almost blew the door off its hinges. I saw aunt Petunia staring at me, fear overriding anything else. I tried to get us out the back door, but the door came down before we could open it. I thanked whoever designed the house so the back and front doors weren't in a straight line. I dragged aunt Petunia out the door and started screaming at the top of my lungs. Lights came on and people looked at our house.
I picked up a rock, I wouldn't let him harm us. A couple of neighbors arrived just as he came out the back door. A few of the neighbors took aunt Petunia away, but they wouldn't be able to beat Vernon to me. He came charging at me like a bull, so I let the rock fly. Many people were impressed by my accuracy, as I had demonstrated it more than once. My aim was true and I hit Vernon on the head. The blow knocked him out, hopefully cracked his skull as well.
The police showed up not ten seconds later, Vernon was arrested for breaking and entering, and violating parole. A week later, Aunt Petunia had legally changed her name back to Evans and officially adopted me. I became Harry James Potter-Evans, or Harry Evans to most everyone. A couple of months after Vernon had attacked, a new couple moved into the area.
They were dentists, and as they got to know the people around them, they were introduced to Petunia, neither of us felt comfortable with me calling her mom. The Grangers had heard that Petunia was the best person to watch children in the area.
The Grangers had a daughter about my age, Hermione, and had asked Petunia if she could watch over her while they were at work. The first time Hermione came over, it was a month before my birthday. I greeted her at the door saying, "hello, you must be Hermione. Please follow me." I almost always did that if I knew who was going to be at the door.
I brought Hermione to Petunia who asked, "what would you like to do Hermione?"
Hermione seemed a little surprised that she was being asked what she wanted to do. "I would like to read my book," she said in a small nervous voice. Petunia and I shared a look, she wasn't used to interacting with the 'large' group of people that were present.
"I can show you a quiet place to read Hermione, would you mind if I joined you?" Petunia didn't seemed fazed by my request to go read, she knew if she needed me all she would have to do was call. I showed Hermione to one of the upper rooms that held our books. Hermione was surprised at the selection at first, but quickly sat down and began reading. I pulled a copy of Beowulf off the shelf and began reading where I had left off.
We sat in silence for awhile before Petunia called us down for lunch. Hermione was quiet, which made more than a little nervous. Once we finished, Hermione and me went back to our reading. After a couple of hours she said, "I won't harm anything."
I glanced at her. "No one said you would, I just thought you might like some company." Her face expressed surprise, but quickly suppressed it. The rest of the day was spent in relative silence, except when one of the youngsters broke something. Hermione was the last to leave, and after she left I went to talk to Petunia.
"She awfully quiet Petunia."
"I noticed. I wonder if its because she's shy or something else." She smiled and we made dinner. It was odd because I was really good at it, but I had very little experience at it. We enjoyed our dinner of spaghetti while laughing at the various odd things the youngsters had done. I used a quick repairing spell, Petunia had showed me a book my mother used to own, on the various broken objects and got ready for bed.
It had been a week since Hermione started staying with us, she slowly started to open up and I was careful not to betray her trust. She gradually relaxed and began to join in some of the games we played.
My birthday dawned bright and clear. I went downstairs to find Petunia casually humming under her breath. I smiled at how happy she was, she only hummed when she was extremely happy. "Good morning Harry. Happy sixth birthday." She was smiling brightly. I knew she had a party planned for later in the afternoon so more people could come.
I greeted the usual youngsters as they came over, most wishing me a happy birthday. The parents either said they were going to be at the party or dropped off their present for me to open later. Hermione came over by herself, as she usually did, and smiled. It had taken a week of hard work to get that smile, and I was glad of the effort I put in it.
We went and started pouring over a rather obscure text that was in the library, my mother had a habit of collecting them, and were constantly arguing various points back and forth. About an hour before the party, Hermione handed me a small box. She had me open it and inside was a locket with the words:
H & H
Friends ForeverInside was a picture of the two of us posing for a picture Hermione's mother took. I was looking rather goofy standing next to a laughing Hermione. On the other side was a picture of a really good picture of Hermione, most likely professional. I put it on and under my shirt, I figured there was a reason she gave it to me in private.
We went down stairs for the party and found that Petunia had decorated it fairly extravagantly. I only gave her a curious look but said nothing. The party was a joy, most of the neighbors had come over and helped liven the party. There were various games that were played before we even got to presents and cake. Most of the presents were practical, everyone knew I acted a lot older than my age, and some (given by the youngsters) were given in the hopes that they could be played with.
Everyone had a good laugh as the youngsters went to try out the new toys that I had received. After a couple of hours, the youngest ones began to droop, so it was decided to call it a night. I said goodnight to everyone, smiling brightly at Hermione before she left. Petunia and I packed away the toys and presents and went to bed.
A couple of months passed and we were back in school. Hermione and I had the same class together, but unfortunately it seems nothing can be good in my life for long without turning sour. Dudley had transferred into the school, and began terrorizing some of the smaller kids. Dudley remembered me, but we had different schedules in our classes so there wasn't many interactions.
A month passed by and it seemed that Dudley would stay away from me, but I was foolish to believe that it would happen. One day, while walking Hermione home, I ran into them. Dudley had gathered a 'small' group of like minded individuals to help him.
"Well, well. What do we have here boys? A wimp and a slut," Dudley said. I felt my anger boiling beneath the surface. Dudley's gang laughed at his joke. A couple talked about what they should do with us, but Dudley had already decided. "Let's beat up the wimp and have our fun with the girl. I'm sure he'll thank us for breaking her in."
I did a quick count, there were six of them. "You might want to get better odds Dudley," I pulled out a fist full of marbles. "As things stand right now, you don't stand a chance."
They started laughing, "and how do you think that is? We out number you."
I took a marble and threw it, hitting one of them in the gut. He doubled over in pain. "I've worked on my throwing, I can dent steel with one of these. Care to imagine what I can do to you?" A couple of them backed up slightly, one even pissed himself. Dudley saw this and put up a bravado. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Hermione looking at me with a slight bit of fear, but I couldn't tell if it was for me or at me.
The stare off continued until three of Dudley's gang turned and ran. The rest, seeing the desertion, ran off shortly afterwards. Dudley's face grew purple, much like his father. I knew he wouldn't run, but I wished he would. He came running at me, I yelled for Hermione to go but she didn't. Dudley swung wildly, it was almost too easy but I concentrated on his attacks. Finally he overextended himself and I plowed my knee into his gut.
I grabbed Hermione's hand and got her to my house before Dudley caught up. I suddenly felt cold, like my emotions were gone. It was a sickening feeling. Dudley attacked with the attitude of a man possessed, he wouldn't stop. The police showed up about the time he started to get exhausted. From what I was told, I simply dodged him for an hour, but I didn't feel fatigued. I was congratulated for my cool head, yet Hermione still looked at me oddly.
I wound up finding a locket to give Hermione for her birthday, Petunia had a good laugh at my being picky about which locket to get her. I finally found the perfect one, It was decorated with a bird as it was just spreading its wings in front of the rising/setting sun. On the back I had inscribed:
H & H
Till the ends of timeShe loved it, and I was thankful I didn't give it to her in front of her parents. It had a different picture of us, we were dressed up for something, and like her I had a professionally done photo.
The rest of the year was uneventful, but when I tried to bring up what happened to Hermione, she always changed the subject. She wouldn't tell me what she had been afraid of that day, but we became very close friends after that event. Very few people picked on her, and then only when I wasn't around. I had found Hermione crying a couple of times, but instead of physically attacking the person who insulted her, I attacked them at their weakest point. Though I wouldn't say anything dishonest, or purposely place anything in a dangerous situation, the message was clear: Mess with Hermione and I will pay you back for insulting her.
Most people simply kept there distance, more because she wasn't worth the effort to pick on than anything else. I had talked with Hermione's parents a couple of times and they had told me Hermione was very reserved and most people took it as if she was a snob. I was slowly cracking through the barriers that Hermione put up to keep her heart safe, for some reason beyond my understanding I felt Hermione was very important to me.
The next summer found Hermione and me making constant visits to the library, for more books to read. We quickly were well known by the employees there, well enough to warrant a little teasing back and forth. All in all, it was a good time, sadness wrapped in happiness.
A/n: 2892 words. One chapter. Wow, I out did my average. No one can complain that I write short chapters. Thank you for all the reviews.
