Disclaimer: Nothing in the Harry Potter Universe belongs to me.
A/N: All right, I know I said I wouldn't touch this again, but I was rereading it and got to the part in the last chapter about the socks and I just had to put this in. Thank you so so so much to everyone who reviewed.
The Fireflies Are Smiling
Harry had lived with Aunt Pet, Ucle Vernie, and Duddy for a long long long time.
Nine months, in fact, but he didn't know that.
And he couldn't feel the warm anymore. And he couldn't call them Aunt Pet or Ucle Vernie or Duddy.
Harry didn't know why. He had only wanted to make a fire like Daddy did. With one stick giving fire to the other sticks. Only he didn't have a Mummy and Daddy stick. So he waved his hand instead. And fire had come out of it. Real fire. It was hot.
Maybe Ucle Vernie didn't like fire.
He yelled at Harry. He put Harry in the dark. For a long time. Almost as long as Harry hadn't seen Mummy and Daddy. Then Harry said "Ucle Vernie" and ucle hurt his hand.
Now they were: Aunt, Cousin, and Uncle, with the "ennnn" sound very clear.
Aunt wasn't nice anymore like she was at first. And not Cousin neither. And not Uncle.
Harry was afraid of Uncle. Uncle could hurt him. He didn't, but Harry knew he could.
Uncle was very strong.
Harry wasn't scared of The Dark anymore. When Uncle first put him in The Dark he had shaked and shaked and cried very loudly. But now he was a big boy. He spent a lot of time in The Dark, so it wasn't scary anymore. Only cold.
Harry never felt warm now. Not ever.
Cousin was a big meanie. Cousin could hurt Harry, and he did. Only Harry wasn't afraid of him. Cousin couldn't really hurt him, not if Harry pretended he couldn't and said it in his mind over and over and over.
Uncle didn't like when Harry talked, so Harry didn't. His school Mummy, Miss Webber, said Harry could tell her anything he liked. He talked to Miss Webber. She was nice.
But Miss Webber was only his school Mummy. Harry wondered when Mummy and Daddy were going to come take him away. Maybe they had to get better after the bad man hurt them. Maybe they were all better now and would come take him home tomorrow.
Tomorrow came.
Harry waited for Aunt to open up The Dark. When she did, he went fast up the stairs to the potty, but it was too late and there was already smelly water by his underpants. Aunt didn't like that. She sprayed cold water on him and gave him new pants. Harry quickly pulled on the new pants and then went down the stairs with Aunt. Aunt put him in Cousin's high chair and pulled the strap very tight. Only Mummy called them "big boy chairs", not Aunt. Now they were high chairs.
Aunt made breakfast. Harry waited for Cousin to wake up so Aunt would take him out of the high chair. Aunt did that every day. Harry would always sit in the high chair with the strap done tight until Cousin came down and wanted to eat. Then he would sit in a big chair.
Uncle came down the stairs and opened the paper.
"Dudley awake yet?" Uncle said. 'Dudley' meant Cousin.
"He's got a little cold," said Aunt. "I'll take him some breakfast as soon as I'm done down here."
That meant Cousin wouldn't come to breakfast. That meant that Harry wouldn't have to sit in a big person chair, like he usually did. When Harry sat in his big person chair he sometimes fell off. Today was special.
Harry pushed at the buckle on the strap. The strap was really starting to hurt.
Aunt saw him pushing. She did a frown, but made the strap feel better. "But if you wiggle around," she said in her Angry voice, "that's being tightened back up."
Harry knew Aunt meant it. He nodded Yes.
Aunt put two breakfast plates on the table, one for Harry and one for Uncle. Uncle had hot cereal. Harry did too, only his was cold.
On the day Miss Webber called Sunday, when there wasn't any school, Aunt made a biiiiig bowl of hot cereal, special for Harry. She put it in the Cold Box and gave Harry a little of it every morning. Except when Harry got to eat it, it was very cold and lumpy.
And very yucky, he decided once he took a bite.
The Ding-Dong rang and Uncle went to open the door. Harry watched as Uncle picked up a package that had been sitting outside.
Aunt saw it too. "What is it, Vernon? Another package for Dudley?" 'Vernon' meant Uncle.
"No …" Uncle said. "It's for … it's for him."
'Him' meant Harry.
"But it couldn't possibly – "
Aunt and Uncle talked loudly while Harry finished his cereal. Harry didn't like their loud voices, but they weren't yelling at him, so that was okay. When he finished, Harry waited for Aunt to take him out.
He waited a long time.
Then, Aunt took him out of the high chair and put him on the floor. "Here," she said, giving him the package.
It was all wrapped in paper, so Harry tore it off. And inside – there were socks.
Harry liked the socks. He thought they were pretty. There were six all together, two red, two blue, and two a pretty yellow color.
Harry looked up at Aunt. Was it okay if he smiled? Aunt's face was ugly – no, he shouldn't smile.
"My socks?"
"Of course they're your socks," Aunt said in her Get-Into-the-Car-Right-Now voice. "Why else would we give them to you? Now take them out of here right this instant."
Harry picked up all the socks and ran into the living room. He sat on the floor and pulled one blue and one yellow sock over his bare feet.
The socks were fuzzy and warm inside, almost like the Bunny toy Harry remembered. It was pink. He didn't have any toys now.
Maybe the socks can be my toys, Harry thought happily when he realized his feet weren't cold anymore. Now I can have toys too!
Harry grabbed the other socks and took them into The Dark. He closed the door …
The yellow sock on his foot and the one he was carrying were lighting up! They made The Dark pretty, and it wasn't so dark anymore.
Harry felt like giggling, but he knew Aunt and Uncle would hear him and they wouldn't like it. So he smiled.
Aunt and Uncle can't see me in here. I'm hiding from them, just like Mummy and Daddy are hiding from me.
The thought of hiding made Harry smile more. He switched the yellow sock on his foot for a red one, then swung the yellow socks in wild circles above his head ...
They look like fireflies ...
A/N again: That's all for now! I might work on another chapter, but I'm not making any promises! Please review!
