The last of the line
Disclaimers: Not mine, don't sue
Chapter 4: Loneliness And Mistrust
He felt warm and comfortable, something so foreign to him. He noticed he was under a soft big bed with heavy blankets. He opened his eyes and waited until they adjusted to the light. He was in a nice cream coloured room, big as his aunt and uncle's, a nice mahogany dresser, same style of wide closet, a desk, chair and a full library on one wall. He looked to the library mesmerised. He hadn't read anything since last week, when he burned his relatives house up.
Suddenly, he felt his heart break, that night was also the night when Mrs. Figg died. She had been all he had left. What made her death worse was that she died in front of his eyes, just like his mother, just like his clan, just like everything in his life.
He had no one left. His clan was destroyed, Mrs. Figg died and his relatives never wanted him to begin with.
He had once asked his aunt if she loved him, she told her son that she loved him all the time, so why couldn't she say it to him! She answered: "How could anyone love a pebble under their shoe?"
At that time he was barely only 6 year old, he had lived with them for a few months. After hearing those words he had closed up to anyone and everyone. He had just seen his clan exterminated a few months ago, his mother dying with him in her arms, his relatives had just told him that he was unloved and his cousin and his friends had started to pick on him. At the school they went to, Dudley scared everyone away from him and picked on him every day, at the end he had learned not to get friendly, it also depended on the traumatising experience he had a couple of months prior.
So he came to the conclusion: He was alone!
But, in all of his depressing thoughts, his biggest worry was, how did he get here? Where was here? Could he trust these people?
Mrs. Figg had always warned him that the people who destroyed their clan were still around and most probably still looking for them. After all, they had seen them get away. Therefore, he never trusted strangers or adults in general.
He heard footsteps and looked up at the door. He tried to sit up, but the pain and exhaustion stopped him from moving more then an inch, so he stayed laying down.
The door opened to reveal a young girl about his age with huge bushy brown hair and chocolate eyes, slim body, small nose, full lips and a golden coloured tan. She was quite pretty.
Even though he never socialised with any girls or anyone for that matter, he did look at a few of them.
This girl though, seemed different. He could feel her magical aura and knew right away that she was a witch, a powerful one at that. He feared that she might be with some of the people looking for him.
She came in the room and stopped suddenly noticing him.
"Oh, your awake! How are you feeling?" She asked him, making her way towards him slowly to sit next to him in a seat that he hadn't noticed before.
He looked at her with a guarded expression not answering her question or uttering a word. Not because he was rude, but because he didn't trust her.
She noticed the mistrust and told him: "Not a people person I see! I'm not going to hurt you, you can trust me!"
He stared at her critically without uttering a word.
"I was taking a walk last night in the woods, you know."
He stared at her, 'What's that supposed to mean?' He thought to himself before she answered his unspoken question, by continuing her speech, "I heard something move near to where I was walking and followed the noise to see what it was and got there just on time to see you collapse to the ground. I ran back to my house and called my parents, they're doctors, who brought you here and took care of you. My name's Hermione, by the way, Hermione Granger."
He looked at her offered smile, she was really pretty, he thought, then mentally shook himself, 'Gat a grip of yourself, we don't even know if she's on your side or not'. He thought about what he should say to her. She had introduced herself, it was only polite to do the same, so he did.
"Harry Evans" His voice was weak and scratchy from lack of usage, he had only spoken to Hedwig for a little bit during the last week.
He had been using his mother's last name ever since his clan had been exterminated. After all his was the POTTER clan, so if he used his real last name, the people looking for him might find him, it was too risky. Mrs. Figg had made sure the Dursley followed that rule.
Of course that gave his relatives the excuse of calling him a bastard and the son of a whore. He had never believed them, he knew the truth, and, even though he had been a small kid then, he was smart enough to understand.
Hermione smiled at him again, happy that she at least new his name.
"I'll go call my mom now to come and check on you. I'll see if I can bring you something to eat." And with that she left the room.
He stayed in bed silently. He then noticed that Hedwig was nowhere to be seen and started to panic. He tried to sit up, but felt a hand on his shoulder push him back down. He looked sharply at the person holding him down, panicking.
"Shh, it's O.K., I'm miss Granger, Hermione's mom. I'm here to see how you're doing. There's no reason to be worried."
He looked dubiously at her.
Hermione was definitely a witch, he could feel her power, but her mother seemed to be a normal Muggle. Maybe Hermione was Muggleborn. "Hermione said that you're a little unwilling to talk! You're name's Harry, right?" He nodded.
"Well, lets check to see how you're doing" She said, slowly sliding the covers off the bed. He tensed, fear written across his face. She pulled the covers down to his waist and lifted slowly his shirt up showing bandages around his torso and patches here and there as well as bruises.
He stayed quiet and didn't move, nodding when she pressed a spot and asked if it hurt.
She then took out a thermometer and took his temperature. She looked at it, put her hand on his forehead and sighed. "When Hermione called us and we took you in you were in real bad shape. I can't tell how much you weigh, but I can state that your serious underweight, when was the last time you ate a normal meal?" He shrugged, not speaking.
"You also had two broken ribs, more bruises then I can count, a sprained ankle and a bad flue. You still have a high fever and it's stopping your body from healing. Where did you get those injuries? They're a bit old. Why didn't you have anyone look at them?" She asked.
He looked away. He couldn't very well tell her that he ran away and he got those bruises by his guardians. Being a doctor she would have to report any signs of child abuse and that would call for investigations and once they found the proof they needed they would start out a trial.
There were three things wrong with that.
He didn't want to go to trial
The Dursleys would know were he was, go to him and kill him
He felt he deserved it. He didn't like getting beat up, but after all the deaths and troubles he caused, he felt he deserved it.
So he didn't answer her.
"Please Harry, I need to know! Did you run away?" He looked sharply at her surprised.
"I figured as much. You had a backpack with the necessary stuff!" She exclaimed. He looked away again.
"You didn't steal the money that was in your backpack did you?" He looked at her in shock and indignation and shook his head firmly looking her in the eye daring her to accuse him of such a crime.
"O.K., that's a relief!" She said with a smile before turning serious to him once again in her interrogatory.
"Did your parents do this to you?"
Once again he looked shocked. His parents had loved him more then life itself, they would of never done something like this to him.
" Well, were are they then, I'll call 'em up and tell 'em you're O.K."
He looked pain-stricken and looked away at the question.
There was a pause, then Ms. Granger asked: "Do you have any parents Harry?" He turned to her slowly, his eyes so full of sadness and pain as he shook his head 'no', that it almost broke her heart.
"Who are your guardians then?"
He looked away from her quickly, not wanting her to find out.
"Harry, I need to know, I need to contact them and tell them where you are!" He looked at her panicking, shaking his head furiously.
"Did they do this to you?" She asked. He closed his eyes and turned away from her. Damn was she good at guessing games!
"Who are they Harry?" Still with his face turned away from her he shook his head letting her know that he was not going to tell her.
"Harry, I need to know, I need to tell the authorities!" Just like he thought, still not looking at her he signalled no. She sighed, defeated. "You don't have to tell me now. Hermione will be here soon with your lunch." She said opening the door ready to go out when she almost stepped on something.
"Oh, you have a visit!" She said smiling, and Harry felt something soft and light on his bed. He looked at it and smiled. It was Hedwig. She came up to him and coddled next to him.
"She's been waiting to see you. It's a really beautiful cat." Then she walked out. He laid there petting Hedwig, worried that Ms. Granger might look for his guardians, he hoped she wouldn't.
The door opened again, 'Didn't these people ever knock?' he thought while Hermione came in holding a tray of food. His mouth was watering and he looked longingly at the tray emanating that wonderful aroma.
She came over to him and put down the tray on a side table.
"Mom said, that it's been a while since you last ate a decent meal, so your stomach might not be able to take much. So I brought you a soup, some bread and fruit. Don't eat more then what you can or you won't be able to hold it inside." She said and went to him, helping him slowly sit up.
He felt pain go through him, but didn't show it. He couldn't show his weakness with a possible enemy.
She picked up the tray and left it on his lap sitting down on the chair next to him.
He looked at all the food in bewilderment. He had never been given so much food. He thought about how he was going to eat all this. He knew he couldn't eat much. Even when the Dursleys fed him, it was only the few leftovers they had or bread and cheese with a glass of water. So his stomach had gotten used to the little amount of food and he knew he couldn't eat more then that. He reflected on what he should eat. He decided to eat the soup, it would go to waste if he didn't eat it. The fruit could be put away and the bread used at dinner, but the soup would be thrown away.
He picked up his spoon with his mind made and tasted it.
It could have been the hunger or maybe the soup itself, but he had never eaten something so wonderful. He finished the soup and felt satisfied, he never had such a full stomach and it felt good.
"Aren't you going to eat something else?" She asked worried, he looked at her a little embarrassed. He knew that he ate very little in other people's eyes, but what could he do? He looked down at his hands ashamed, knowing very well that he wasn't a normal person.
He looked at Hedwig and noticed her starring at him. He smiled, picked up some bread and proceeded to make it into crumbs for her. She came closed to him and started eating it. At the moment he didn't have any cat food or hot dogs for her.
She was a very particular cat. She liked running in the rain, jumping in pools and puddles, liked hot dogs and pasta and all other food except fish. (AN: My cat, Musetta, was like that)
Hermione smiled, noticing Harry feeding his cat with an affectionate expression on his handsome face. When Hedwig was done Hermione stood up, took the tray of food and promised to be back later.
Harry looked at Hedwig and with a sad smile, he remembered that he wasn't completely alone. He at least had her and would do anything in his power to make sure that nothing would happen to her. He promised himself never to leave her.
AN: I appreciate the four people who reviewed so far, and would like to ask for people to review more. Thanks to GregTheGrimReaper of course, my first reviewer, even though this time someone else reviewed the last chapter before him. Thanks also to NL Kaos, Gallardo83, and my new reviewer Mimi.
To answer some questions. LN Kaos, the nurse doesn't suspect anything because, Harry's uncle doesn't beat him often or too badly, and if she asked questions he would tell her that he got into a fight with his cousin or some of the kids at school, after all, they do pick on him a lot. Therefore she didn't suspect anything.
To point out something, I love cats and I used to have five before going to the U.S, The mother, Musetta, was like what I described Hedwig as. Loves swimming in pools and running in the rain, loved hot dogs and ate anything but fish. One thing I didn't say, because I didn't want to make Hedwig too similar was that Musetta was afraid of birds. We had a cage with two small birds and we put her in front of it to see her reaction. I swear, I never saw her run faster. On the other hand, her little four kittens were somewhat more normal. They loved to sit on our shoulder and watch cartoons with us, they were beautiful and funny, I loved them.
Anyway, back to the story. I hope you enjoyed the chapter and that I didn't disappoint you. I know I'm going a little fast with it, but I planned it to be this way. I wanted it to be short, I had planned 7 chapters, longer then these of course, but it's coming out differently and it will slow down a little. Well, tell me what you think.
I'm sorry I haven't been updating.
Savage Amazon