Chapter one

"Boy! Come down here right NOW!" boomed the voice of Vernon Dursley from the living room.

Harry bolted down the stairs, eager to not anger his uncle more than he already was.

When he reached the landing, he slowed down his pace to see where his uncle was. He found the large man sitting in an equally large leather wing-backed chair.

"Yes Uncle Vernon?" he asked politely.

"We are having company over by…and to avoid the catastrophe that happened after your first year at that school, you will be staying in the cupboard under the stairs—"

"I most certainly will not!" Harry interrupted, rage building up inside of him.

"You most certainly ARE! That is to say, if you want to continue to stay under MY roof!" Vernon yelled.

"How do you imagine that you're going to force me in there?" Harry asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

Vernon stood, towering over Harry with a threatening glare. "Get in the cupboard! Our guest will be here any moment!" he blasted.

"Make me!" Harry yelled back defiantly.

"Oh, I will," he replied, grabbing Harry by his shirt collar. Harry struggled. The oversized shirt easily came off of his body as he squirmed under his uncle's grip. Harry ran, leaving a very annoyed Vernon Dursley holding an old raggedy shirt, with a bewildered look on his face.

Harry could hear his uncle running after him, the walls shaking with every pounding step he took.

Harry scurried like a mouse towards his room. When he turned the corner of the hallway, he saw Dudley standing in front of his door.

"Move, Dudley!" Harry yelled frantically.

"No. You don't have your stupid magic stick you freak," he said, twirling Harry's wand with his fat fingers. "And now Dad's going to lock you up," he said smugly.

Harry's eyes widened. Dudley had his wand. He was completely defenseless. He turned around to see his uncle's red face staring angrily back at him.

He grabbed Harry's wrist and dragged him back down the stairs, making Harry's bum hit every stair on the way down. He felt like his tailbone had cracked on the last stair. He turned the corner and threw Harry into the cupboard, closed the door, and locked it with a 'click.' He opened the slot and looked down at Harry menacingly.

"Don't bother trying to make noise, I put soundproof walls in here this year," he laughed evilly, closing the slot.

"Great," Harry said aloud. He looked down at the old couch cushions that he was sitting on. They had grown moldy over the years, and even more ripped than he remembered. He could barely see a thing. The only source of light was a small light bulb hanging from the ceiling that was nearly burned out. A small spider was dangling off of the ceiling. Harry let it sit on his hand, and it crawled down to the corner.

Harry listened to see if he could hear anything from the outside of the cupboard. He had only been here for three days. He had just written to Ron and Hermione to say he was fine. That meant that he could be here for three days before the order got suspicious and a few more days until they actually checked up on him. Sure, Mrs. Figg was supposed to look after him—or rather, spy on him. However, if he didn't go outside or make any noises, she would just think that he was mourning over Sirius—which he had planned on doing anyway.

Sirius…if he had listened to Snape in Occlumency, he could have avoided the entire situation. He was dead, and it was his entire fault. Dumbledore had managed to get Harry to blame him for Sirius' death—but he knew that he was responsible for his godfather's death.

Harry leaned back against the wall, trying to ignore his rumbling stomach and drift off to sleep. Harry didn't know how long he had been sleeping. He had no concept of time, and no clock to tell him. He laid his head back down to sleep.

Suddenly, the door to his cupboard swung open. Vernon Dursley was sending him a hateful glare. "Boy! Get up! Those freaks of yours want a letter. I'll tell you what to write, and then I'll send it off with that stupid bird. Come on...I have your weird pens and paper."

Harry sat up, and stumbled out of the cupboard. Vernon pushed him forward, causing him to trip on one of Dudley's broken toys, and fell face forward onto the ground.

"Get up you idiot boy," he growled, kicking Harry's leg.

Harry dragged himself up of the ground, and sat at the kitchen table, picked up his quill and began to write as his uncle spoke. The letter was relatively long.

Dear Ron and Hermione,

Everything's been fine here. The summer is quite boring…but its nice to relax after a long, hard year's work. The Dursely's are fine, I do believe that they took Moody's threat to heart, and have been treating me quite nicely. Its nice to just sleep and watch television all day, rather than do all of those nasty chores that they used to make me do. Anyway, I don't think they want you to send you a reply, and in light of recent treatment, I wish you would just go along with it so that I don't get into any trouble.

Have a nice summer,

Harry

Vernon tied the parchment to Hedwig's leg after reading it, and she flew off, grateful to get out of her cage. Vernon threw Harry back into the cupboard, without any food. It had been three long days since he got a meal, and a full week since he had actually eaten until he was full. This went on for three weeks, all his letters pretty much the same. He had gotten a piece of bread and a glass of water every once and a while from aunt petunia while Vernon was at work. It seemed that she felt bad for him, despite how she felt about him. Vernon was horrible, and Aunt Petunia had become quite afraid of him, not at all her usual self.

Today was not at all different from the others. He was alone, nothing there but his thoughts. It was quite relaxing, Harry had become used to the quiet, he actually liked it. He didn't speak when Aunt Petunia let him out to eat, nor did he when Uncle Vernon pulled him out to write another letter. Vernon seemed to like this, the less he spoke, and the quieter he was, the less he beat him. However, that night after dinner, his rage came out after he had a little too much to drink.

He pulled the cupboard door open, and woke Harry from his peaceful slumber.

"You freak! Why am I cursed with you? I'll tell you why…because I married your Aunt Petunia, despite her family abnormality. Now the only way I can get rid of you is if you're dead. Say goodnight…" he yelled, picking up one of Dudley's metal baseball bats, and swinging at Harry's head.

Harry ducked the first blow, and the bat swung into the wall, causing Dudley and Aunt Petunia to wake up. He heard footsteps coming from upstairs. Aunt Petunia came down, curlers in her hair, and a bewildered look on her face.

"Vernon, what are you doing? Get away from Harry!" she shouted.

"No. I'm sick of him!" Vernon yelled, swinging the bat once more. Harry's seeker reflexes were put into action. He stuck his hand up and grabbed the bat's top when he swung. He pulled the bat from his hands, and Vernon stumbled back. He cursed while he was on the ground, and started to smash all the valuables in close proximity to him.

Vernon stumbled over to his wife, and smacked her across the face. She stumbled back, clutching her face. Dudley sat at the top of the stairs, his face flushed with anger towards his father.

Dudley ran down the stairs to his mother, and held her. Vernon glared at his son.

Dudley glared back. "Get out!" he yelled.

"You ungrateful brat! I will not get out of my own house. You're just as bad as them, I expected better from you. But of course, you come from HER!" he yelled, pointing a shaking finger at the whimpering figure of his wife.

"OUT!" Dudley yelled. Vernon stood still. Harry stood next to Dudley, sending Vernon the same glare as his cousin.

"NO," he said sternly.

Harry looked at Dudley, Dudley looked right back. "Ready?" Harry asked.

"You're going to help?" he asked, surprised.

"Of course. You wouldn't expect me to stick around and watch my aunt get beat up….would you?"

"But after the way we've treated you—"

"Its fine. Aunt Petunia has always been the nicer one. She feels bad, and she's just scared of him," he spat, motioning towards the drunken form of his uncle.

"Okay, then…lets go." Dudley said. "One…two…three!" he whispered.

Both boys jumped on Vernon, punching him and pulling at him, trying to damage any body part they could get. Harry worked with his quick reflexes and his dodging ability to distract him, while Dudley pounded him.

After a twenty minute struggle, Uncle Vernon lay unconscious on the floor. Aunt Petunia was nursing a black eye, and Harry and Dudley were in pretty rough shape. Aunt Petunia called the police, and Vernon was dragged off to jail. He was under considerable charges including child abuse and neglect, attempted murder, as well as numerous others. Harry wrote a letter to Ron and Hermione about what had happened.

Dear Ron and Hermione and Order,

Throughout the summer, you have received many letters from me. However, none of those letters but the first were voluntarily written. Since the beginning of the holidays, I have been locked in the cupboard by Uncle Vernon, only to be let out to write you letters dictated by my uncle, as well as checked by him. Aunt Petunia would sneak me a spot of food when he was at work, but overall, it has been horrible. Just last night, Vernon had gotten drunk, and tried to kill me by beating me with a metal baseball bat (Ron, that's something like a bludger club, only metal and more painful, as Hermione will tell you). Not to worry, he wasn't able to hit me with it. After a few missed blows, I was able to grab the end, and pull it away from him. Aunt Petunia heard all of the noise, and came down. She yelled for him to stop, so he hit her. Dudley came down, and yelled for Vernon to leave, but he wouldn't. After a while, I backed him up, and we attacked him. Together, we were able to beat him into unconsciousness (not without getting brutally hit, however), and Aunt Petunia called the police. He is now in jail, and awaits trial under the charges of child abuse, neglect, as well as many others. I don't believe he'll be able to get out of this one, and Aunt Petunia, Dudley, and I are rather glad. Aunt Petunia has been a lot nicer to me since then, and so has Dudley. Today was the first day that I've been able to see light for more than a half hour. I am now catching up on eating, since I haven't had much. I know Mrs. Weasley, that you are pretty upset now, and want to have the order bring me to headquarters, but I'd rather not. I'd like to spend time with my aunt and cousin to catch up with things. Also, I would prefer not to go back to headquarters before school. I would rather go to the Burrow, or even stay at the Leaky Cauldron (under my own expense). I've had a lot of time to think about Sirius, and the department of mysteries, but I really haven't had a chance to get over it. Anyway, I await your reply to this letter, Ron and Hermione, and I would really like to know how you are doing, as well as how Ginny, Fred, George and the rest of your family are. I miss you guys.

Your Friend,

Harry Potter

After writing this letter, Harry sat down for lunch with Petunia and Dudley.

"Hey Harry, do you want to go see a movie? My treat…" Dudley asked, while finishing his turkey sandwich and soda pop.

"Sure, what's out?" Harry asked, excited to see a movie, something he hadn't done since he was much younger.

"Van Helsing."

Harry lifted an eyebrow. "Definitely. I didn't know you liked movies like that."

"Yeah, they're cool. So, do werewolves really exist?"

"Yep. I had a professor who is one. We didn't know it at the time, but he would miss class for a couple of days each month, and we didn't figure it out until the end of the year when he morphed out right in front of me…"

"Cool."

So Harry filled in Dudley and his aunt what exactly had happened in his school adventures each year. They were quite interested, especially Dudley. Petunia seemed interested in Harry…he reminded her so much of Lily's husband, James. Sure she pretended to hate him, but really, she was just jealous at how cool he was. As Harry spoke animatedly, she began to clean lunch up.

The boys stood up, ready to go see the movie, when Harry turned around. "Aunt Petunia, do you want to come?" he asked sweetly.

"No, Harry dear. I'm going to relax here, maybe read a good book."

"Okay Aunt Petunia," he replied, turning around to follow Dudley out the door.