Alright all, after one hell of a long time not writing and contributing to
this story, I would like to start off with a few words. First off, a huge,
HUGE apology to my co-writer Twisted Silver Dagger. I can't say just how
sorry I am that I've not posted the next chapter for such a long time. It
is a very poor show on my part. I can't say how sorry I am. But, hopefully
this next chapter will make up for it.
I'd like to thank Ginnygal and the other anonymous reviewers for reviewing the story thus far.
~@~
Harry battled with fighting down wave after wave of nausea. In fact, he had to stop and swallow hard to keep the rising bile down. Fortunately the saliva from his mouth seemed to have done the job. The wounds weren't bleeding that much and the blood was clotting. Harry let out a sigh of relief but then remembered just how bad he looked. Going to the bathroom again was definitely an option, in fact he was supposed to be downstairs making the Durselys breakfast right now. He looked around his room as panic began to settle in.
And then it hit him! He would just wear one of Dudley's huge long sleeve shirts and a pair of jeans! That would hide all of his wounds and allow him more time to try and figure out how to get himself cleaned later. Hurrying to the cupboard was that held all of his huge winter hand-me-downs Harry tried to lift his left hand to open the cupboard and the result was instantaneous. Pain shot up through his arm as he forgot about the fracture and he felt himself swooning on the spot.
Dancing lights flashed in front of his eyes as everything blurred. He placed his right hand out and leant against the cupboard to steady himself. After a few moments the pain passed and he stood breathing heavily. He quickly took the clothing that he sought after and with some difficulty and pain he pulled it over his head. Now he had to get downstairs and make breakfast for the people he loathed so much. Harry only hoped that he could manage using only one hand.
Harry heard a snort coming from Dudley's room and breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that nobody was up yet. 'Typical' he thought as he made his way down the stairs trying to keep his left arm as still as possible. The Dursely's only awoke once the aroma of his cooking reached them. Harry started to take out all of the pots and pans using only one arm. Harry found himself smiling as he managed to perform numerous tasks to get breakfast ready with only one arm. He was managing rather well and felt a little pride build up at his accomplishment.
Soon, once the bacon was sizzling and the eggs frying, Harry could hear noise coming from upstairs. This told him that that good for nothing, lazy Dursely family were finally getting themselves out of bed. Harry started hurrying up so that he wouldn't get too much scolding for whatever wasn't too their satisfaction this time. He did however struggle with trying to squeeze oranges for them. Trying to turn the oranges around the sieve was not an easy task, using one hand that is.
Unfortunately for Harry it proved to be too big a task. While trying to accomplish the task Harry knocked the sieve with all the juice in it over and orange juice and pulp fell all over him and the floor.
'Shit! This is just great! Now that damned Vernon will have an excuse to worsen my beating today!' Harry thought as he frantically tried to clean the mess up.
"Well, well, well, well. Now what do we have here?" came a voice that made Harry freeze in his tracks.
"It would appear that you've gone and messed up my dear wife's spotless kitchen. Oh my, what a shame." Vernon's voice dripped with menace and sarcasm as he spoke.
"I guess that means that you'll have to be punished for that, oh yes indeed." Vernon said with what sounded like joy in the anticipation of being able to further abuse his nephew.
Harry remained silent, knowing that if he said anything it would only increase the severity of what that bastard might have in store for him.
"Now serve our breakfast you loathsome runt. I'll see to your punishment once you've finished your chores. I won't give you the satisfaction of escaping them, oh no. You will finish them all or you're punishment will just have to be increased! Ah ah ha ha ha ha ha!" Vernon said and laughed what sounded like a horse to Harry.
~@~
Harry was now outside looking at the incredible amount of work that lay ahead of him. The memory of Petunia and Dudley walking into the kitchen as he was cleaning up after setting the food down was still fresh in his mind. She had gone ballistic at the sight of the mess and was convinced that Harry had done it on purpose just to spite her. Her doting husband had come to her rescue and reassured her that Harry would not get away with his actions.
Dudley had looked on with an evil grin on his face as piggy eyes were like slits as he looked at Harry. He did so enjoy it when his dad went 'Harry bashing.' After a few minutes of coaxing from her husband and then yelling her head off at Harry, Petunia Dursely finally calmed down and only ate a mouthful or two of her breakfast. Dudley had ensured that the food didn't go to waste.
'None of this would've happened in that pompous bastard hadn't broken my arm.' Harry thought to himself as his face dropped at the sight of his first task. He chuckled in bitter irony as he saw that he had to chop wood. He didn't know rightly why he had to, because the fireplace had been resealed (after the Weasleys had broken through it two years ago). The electric fire was once more in place. Harry suspected that Vernon had just ordered the huge log pile so that he could create more work for him.
He still remembered when Vernon had ordered all of the heavy logs. It was a huge truckload and it had all been dumped on the side of the road on his orders. Harry then was given the task of taking it all to the back of the house and stacking it into a neat pile. He had to restack it a few times after Vernon had remarked that it didn't look right to him. The blisters that had resulted from that physical labor were horrible. They were all open and bleeding. Harry couldn't even hold a spoon properly without being in total pain.
Now he had been ordered to chop all of this wood up. Harry held the small hatchet that Vernon had given to him so that he could chop the wood. This would be a hellish task because he only had one arm he could use properly. Chopping would was a very difficult task with two fully functioning arms, but this. Harry sighed and resigned himself to the task.
~@~
After six hours of painful, backbreaking chopping Harry had finally finished the amount that Vernon had assigned for him to do. His left arm was in such pain that he felt like taking the hatchet and chopping it off. He lifted the left sleeve of the long sleeved shirt he was wearing and looked at his arm. He winced as he saw that the skin was purplish in color and he could see that the bone was now jutting out at an awkward angle. The skin had not yet been pierced, but the bone was about to come through it.
A wave of nausea swept over Harry at the sight. The fact that all he'd had all day to eat and drink was warm water and stale bread didn't either help. It was a very hot day and he was sweltering in the sweatshirt that he was wearing. He mopped his wet brow with his right sleeve and heaved a heavy sigh.
What was the point of all of this? What was the point of his life? He had done nothing wrong, and yet was being subjected to torture each and every day. Why couldn't Voldemort have finished him off in their previous encounters? Or maybe it was him? Maybe he was such a failure that he couldn't even die properly. He shrugged, who knew, he just wondered how long it would be till he couldn't cope with this life anymore.
Hell, he was coping now, he was barely surviving. What had happened to those people whom he had once called friends? Ron and his family along with Hermione. Neither had contacted him. They didn't give a stuff about him, leaving him in this hellhole. Another sigh came from him and he dragged himself to his final chore for the day. Harry decided that he had better hurry up; otherwise Vernon would add his being late with his chores to his punishment.
His final chore was using the pitchfork to dig up and toss the soil in the flowerbeds. Once again this would prove to be a most difficult task as well due to the fact that he was only working with one arm. His left was now almost completely useless and throbbing from the pain.
~@~
Another three hours later Harry was finished with the turning of the soil and felt like he was at the verge of passing out his left arm hurt so much. He just wanted to get inside and rest, but he knew that he first had to try and get through Vernon's punishment for him tonight. He was just about to try and look for some strong branches for a make shift sling when he heard the bellowing voice of Vernon from inside of the house.
"Harry you lazy maggot! Get yourself in here now! You're late with finishing your chores! You know what's going to happen because of that." Vernon roared, the delight could easily be heard in his voice.
Harry found himself try and not shiver at the tone of Vernon's voice and abandoned his search for the branches. His punishment, no, his beating was looming over him and he knew that if he didn't hurry inside there would be no telling what Vernon would do to him. Doing his best to rush inside he was halted by Petunia to make sure that he wasn't dirty.
Of he was scolded for trying to walk through her clean kitchen in the state that he was in. Harry didn't mind the scolding so much, except for the fact that it only made him later and later for Vernon. He was sure that Vernon was getting angrier and angrier by the second. Each moment he was late would only mean more pain in the form of a more intensified beating. Harry sighed as his scolding was over and made his way out of the kitchen up the stairs.
Each step he took he found that his heart began to beat faster. Each step was as if he were walking into the jaws of hell itself. Well, he could just as well be, because he was walking to a man worse than devil himself (or so he thought). Some of the steps creaked under his weight, and he wondered if the creaking of the stairs would be an omen for maybe more bones being broken this evening.
He was now standing in front of the door to his room. It was closed, surely that was not a good sign.
"Where the hell are you boy!!" Vernon roared, allowing Harry to know that Vernon was indeed in the room beyond the door.
With a tentative had Harry reached for the doorknob and slowly turned it. The door swung open with a slight creak, the interior seemed to beckoning for Harry to enter. 'Like a lamb being led to the slaughter.' Harry thought to himself and entered.
"Took your time didn't you boy?" Came a growl from behind him.
As Harry turned to face Vernon his world exploded into pain as he was struck with something cold and hard in the face. His glasses shattered from the impact, as he was sent flying across the room and landed hard on his left arm, which exploded in pain. Harry felt a wetness just below his right eye and knew what it was, blood.
Looking up through squinted eyes he could make out Vernon looming over him with a lead pipe in his hand, it had a single red splotch on it, the spot where Harry had just been struck. Harry tried to shift into a better position with his broken left arm, but knew that nothing he did could really help.
"So, you mess up my wife's clean kitchen, take your time with your chores and ignore me when I call you? Oh, you will pay boy, that you can count on." Vernon said advancing on him with the lead pipe raised over his head.
Harry suppressed a silent scream and waited for what was to happen next.
~@~
A/N Hah! That's it, I'm going to be very irritating and leave the chapter there. Kind of a poor attempt at a cliffhanger but what can you expect when I'm writing? Nothing good shall come. Hope nobody was bored too much. I'm sure Twisted Silver Dagger will make up for this shoddy work in her next chapter. Again apologies to her and everybody else for the long time it took to write this rubbish. Sorry, I really mean it.
Cheers Lost in A World of Pain
I'd like to thank Ginnygal and the other anonymous reviewers for reviewing the story thus far.
~@~
Harry battled with fighting down wave after wave of nausea. In fact, he had to stop and swallow hard to keep the rising bile down. Fortunately the saliva from his mouth seemed to have done the job. The wounds weren't bleeding that much and the blood was clotting. Harry let out a sigh of relief but then remembered just how bad he looked. Going to the bathroom again was definitely an option, in fact he was supposed to be downstairs making the Durselys breakfast right now. He looked around his room as panic began to settle in.
And then it hit him! He would just wear one of Dudley's huge long sleeve shirts and a pair of jeans! That would hide all of his wounds and allow him more time to try and figure out how to get himself cleaned later. Hurrying to the cupboard was that held all of his huge winter hand-me-downs Harry tried to lift his left hand to open the cupboard and the result was instantaneous. Pain shot up through his arm as he forgot about the fracture and he felt himself swooning on the spot.
Dancing lights flashed in front of his eyes as everything blurred. He placed his right hand out and leant against the cupboard to steady himself. After a few moments the pain passed and he stood breathing heavily. He quickly took the clothing that he sought after and with some difficulty and pain he pulled it over his head. Now he had to get downstairs and make breakfast for the people he loathed so much. Harry only hoped that he could manage using only one hand.
Harry heard a snort coming from Dudley's room and breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that nobody was up yet. 'Typical' he thought as he made his way down the stairs trying to keep his left arm as still as possible. The Dursely's only awoke once the aroma of his cooking reached them. Harry started to take out all of the pots and pans using only one arm. Harry found himself smiling as he managed to perform numerous tasks to get breakfast ready with only one arm. He was managing rather well and felt a little pride build up at his accomplishment.
Soon, once the bacon was sizzling and the eggs frying, Harry could hear noise coming from upstairs. This told him that that good for nothing, lazy Dursely family were finally getting themselves out of bed. Harry started hurrying up so that he wouldn't get too much scolding for whatever wasn't too their satisfaction this time. He did however struggle with trying to squeeze oranges for them. Trying to turn the oranges around the sieve was not an easy task, using one hand that is.
Unfortunately for Harry it proved to be too big a task. While trying to accomplish the task Harry knocked the sieve with all the juice in it over and orange juice and pulp fell all over him and the floor.
'Shit! This is just great! Now that damned Vernon will have an excuse to worsen my beating today!' Harry thought as he frantically tried to clean the mess up.
"Well, well, well, well. Now what do we have here?" came a voice that made Harry freeze in his tracks.
"It would appear that you've gone and messed up my dear wife's spotless kitchen. Oh my, what a shame." Vernon's voice dripped with menace and sarcasm as he spoke.
"I guess that means that you'll have to be punished for that, oh yes indeed." Vernon said with what sounded like joy in the anticipation of being able to further abuse his nephew.
Harry remained silent, knowing that if he said anything it would only increase the severity of what that bastard might have in store for him.
"Now serve our breakfast you loathsome runt. I'll see to your punishment once you've finished your chores. I won't give you the satisfaction of escaping them, oh no. You will finish them all or you're punishment will just have to be increased! Ah ah ha ha ha ha ha!" Vernon said and laughed what sounded like a horse to Harry.
~@~
Harry was now outside looking at the incredible amount of work that lay ahead of him. The memory of Petunia and Dudley walking into the kitchen as he was cleaning up after setting the food down was still fresh in his mind. She had gone ballistic at the sight of the mess and was convinced that Harry had done it on purpose just to spite her. Her doting husband had come to her rescue and reassured her that Harry would not get away with his actions.
Dudley had looked on with an evil grin on his face as piggy eyes were like slits as he looked at Harry. He did so enjoy it when his dad went 'Harry bashing.' After a few minutes of coaxing from her husband and then yelling her head off at Harry, Petunia Dursely finally calmed down and only ate a mouthful or two of her breakfast. Dudley had ensured that the food didn't go to waste.
'None of this would've happened in that pompous bastard hadn't broken my arm.' Harry thought to himself as his face dropped at the sight of his first task. He chuckled in bitter irony as he saw that he had to chop wood. He didn't know rightly why he had to, because the fireplace had been resealed (after the Weasleys had broken through it two years ago). The electric fire was once more in place. Harry suspected that Vernon had just ordered the huge log pile so that he could create more work for him.
He still remembered when Vernon had ordered all of the heavy logs. It was a huge truckload and it had all been dumped on the side of the road on his orders. Harry then was given the task of taking it all to the back of the house and stacking it into a neat pile. He had to restack it a few times after Vernon had remarked that it didn't look right to him. The blisters that had resulted from that physical labor were horrible. They were all open and bleeding. Harry couldn't even hold a spoon properly without being in total pain.
Now he had been ordered to chop all of this wood up. Harry held the small hatchet that Vernon had given to him so that he could chop the wood. This would be a hellish task because he only had one arm he could use properly. Chopping would was a very difficult task with two fully functioning arms, but this. Harry sighed and resigned himself to the task.
~@~
After six hours of painful, backbreaking chopping Harry had finally finished the amount that Vernon had assigned for him to do. His left arm was in such pain that he felt like taking the hatchet and chopping it off. He lifted the left sleeve of the long sleeved shirt he was wearing and looked at his arm. He winced as he saw that the skin was purplish in color and he could see that the bone was now jutting out at an awkward angle. The skin had not yet been pierced, but the bone was about to come through it.
A wave of nausea swept over Harry at the sight. The fact that all he'd had all day to eat and drink was warm water and stale bread didn't either help. It was a very hot day and he was sweltering in the sweatshirt that he was wearing. He mopped his wet brow with his right sleeve and heaved a heavy sigh.
What was the point of all of this? What was the point of his life? He had done nothing wrong, and yet was being subjected to torture each and every day. Why couldn't Voldemort have finished him off in their previous encounters? Or maybe it was him? Maybe he was such a failure that he couldn't even die properly. He shrugged, who knew, he just wondered how long it would be till he couldn't cope with this life anymore.
Hell, he was coping now, he was barely surviving. What had happened to those people whom he had once called friends? Ron and his family along with Hermione. Neither had contacted him. They didn't give a stuff about him, leaving him in this hellhole. Another sigh came from him and he dragged himself to his final chore for the day. Harry decided that he had better hurry up; otherwise Vernon would add his being late with his chores to his punishment.
His final chore was using the pitchfork to dig up and toss the soil in the flowerbeds. Once again this would prove to be a most difficult task as well due to the fact that he was only working with one arm. His left was now almost completely useless and throbbing from the pain.
~@~
Another three hours later Harry was finished with the turning of the soil and felt like he was at the verge of passing out his left arm hurt so much. He just wanted to get inside and rest, but he knew that he first had to try and get through Vernon's punishment for him tonight. He was just about to try and look for some strong branches for a make shift sling when he heard the bellowing voice of Vernon from inside of the house.
"Harry you lazy maggot! Get yourself in here now! You're late with finishing your chores! You know what's going to happen because of that." Vernon roared, the delight could easily be heard in his voice.
Harry found himself try and not shiver at the tone of Vernon's voice and abandoned his search for the branches. His punishment, no, his beating was looming over him and he knew that if he didn't hurry inside there would be no telling what Vernon would do to him. Doing his best to rush inside he was halted by Petunia to make sure that he wasn't dirty.
Of he was scolded for trying to walk through her clean kitchen in the state that he was in. Harry didn't mind the scolding so much, except for the fact that it only made him later and later for Vernon. He was sure that Vernon was getting angrier and angrier by the second. Each moment he was late would only mean more pain in the form of a more intensified beating. Harry sighed as his scolding was over and made his way out of the kitchen up the stairs.
Each step he took he found that his heart began to beat faster. Each step was as if he were walking into the jaws of hell itself. Well, he could just as well be, because he was walking to a man worse than devil himself (or so he thought). Some of the steps creaked under his weight, and he wondered if the creaking of the stairs would be an omen for maybe more bones being broken this evening.
He was now standing in front of the door to his room. It was closed, surely that was not a good sign.
"Where the hell are you boy!!" Vernon roared, allowing Harry to know that Vernon was indeed in the room beyond the door.
With a tentative had Harry reached for the doorknob and slowly turned it. The door swung open with a slight creak, the interior seemed to beckoning for Harry to enter. 'Like a lamb being led to the slaughter.' Harry thought to himself and entered.
"Took your time didn't you boy?" Came a growl from behind him.
As Harry turned to face Vernon his world exploded into pain as he was struck with something cold and hard in the face. His glasses shattered from the impact, as he was sent flying across the room and landed hard on his left arm, which exploded in pain. Harry felt a wetness just below his right eye and knew what it was, blood.
Looking up through squinted eyes he could make out Vernon looming over him with a lead pipe in his hand, it had a single red splotch on it, the spot where Harry had just been struck. Harry tried to shift into a better position with his broken left arm, but knew that nothing he did could really help.
"So, you mess up my wife's clean kitchen, take your time with your chores and ignore me when I call you? Oh, you will pay boy, that you can count on." Vernon said advancing on him with the lead pipe raised over his head.
Harry suppressed a silent scream and waited for what was to happen next.
~@~
A/N Hah! That's it, I'm going to be very irritating and leave the chapter there. Kind of a poor attempt at a cliffhanger but what can you expect when I'm writing? Nothing good shall come. Hope nobody was bored too much. I'm sure Twisted Silver Dagger will make up for this shoddy work in her next chapter. Again apologies to her and everybody else for the long time it took to write this rubbish. Sorry, I really mean it.
Cheers Lost in A World of Pain