AN: This fic is dark. Please understand me, when I say that it is not going to be a happy fic and very likely won't have a happy ending. There is abuse - emotional and physical - manipulation, some grooming, depictions of torture and violence and some major character death of both OCs and canon characters and dubious consent. It is a Dead Dove: Do Not Eat.

So this is your warning. If you don't like any of those things then DO NOT read this. I won't tolerate flames because you didn't read the warning label.

If you want a better understanding of the tags, I am also crossposting on AO3 under the same name. My name there is Ashilaa_AO3 - a little different.

Prologue: A lifetime of laughter at the expense of the death

At first glance, the house on Privet Drive was an ordinary one. The front of the house was painted an off-white to match the other houses, the shrubs were all exactly the same height as one another, the flower bed in the front garden had its buds aligned perfectly so that when they bloomed, they would form a very structured rainbow that would appeal to the eye of any passerby.

This was how they lived their life, the Dursleys. Under a pathological need to conform to the standards of society. Within a fear that ran so far beneath their skins that it was embedded into their very souls.

But they needn't have worried. Nothing out of the ordinary happened in 12 Privet Drive. Or so they thought.

It was a perfectly normal evening.

Petunia Dursley had made dinner for her family and they were gathered around the dining room table, their meals on their plates. Despite having only given birth to a boy a year ago, Petunia seemed to be getting on with daily life. Her husband, Vernon, had only just gotten his new job selling drills and they were all very pleased with themselves.

Then there was a knock at the door.

Not expecting any guests, Vernon looked to his wife. She shook her head and placed Dudley in the high chair next to them. When she got to the door, her life would change.

There it was, laying on her 'welcome' mat, was something that was not expected at all. The bundle of blankets covered most of the small body. Only the top half of its face was showing; pale skin made to look slightly orange by the glow of the streetlamp across the road, small tufts of dark hair and a raised, red, inflamed lightning-shaped scar. On top of the blanket was a note signed: 'Albus Dumbledore'.

For a moment Petunia froze at the name she'd tried to forget for so long but she never had. The familiar swoop of the 'D' was so ingrained in her mind that she could still see it when she closed her eyes. She almost didn't notice the small thing rustling but when she did, her heart began to beat furiously.

It looked like it was about to make some sort of noise. That it was going to draw unwanted attention to her and she couldn't have that.

They were an ordinary family.

But still, something stopped her.

Maybe it was a mistake. Maybe they had the wrong number and all she would have to do was take it to the police station and everything would be fine. One night wouldn't hurt, would it? And she didn't want a baby to freeze to death because she wasn't a horrible person.

But it wasn't until it opened its eyes and blinked, and the bright green eyes stared right through her that Petunia slammed the door shut.

"What's wrong?" Vernon asked at his wife's pale face. She sat down at her seat and resumed feeding Dudley as if nothing had happened but he knew his wife.

"No-nothing," she stammered out. "They got the wrong door."

He didn't believe her but he knew his wife well enough. If she didn't want him to know then he would trust her - well that and Petunia was able to talk for hours when she was annoyed by something and he would rather not have to deal with that at the moment.

They resumed eating.

On the other side of the door, a young girl was trying to sneak back into her home. Hannah Barker had been out with her friends, though she had been grounded. Of course that wouldn't stop her though. Even at the age of fifteen, she was going places.

At least that's what her parents told her. Of course, Hannah's version of going places generally meant the shopping centre or bowling. So much pressure made for a suffocated girl in her opinion.

But they didn't want her opinion, did they?

Funnily enough, Hannah would have made it into the house if the baby hadn't started crying.

She was fortunate enough to live right next to the Dursleys and their annoying brat of a son Dudley - really, what was the name? They were asking for him to get bullied weren't they - and so she heard his loud wailing through the somewhat thin walls all the time.

They were horrible - loud and piercing in a way that made her want to claw her eyes out usually. So when she first heard the cries she rolled her eyes and thanked the brat for making so much noise. Maybe then her parents wouldn't hear her climbing the tree to get into the house.

But after a few seconds she noticed the difference. This cry wasn't a fake one. And it was far too loud for it to be coming from inside her neighbours' house. Her head spun around and there under the pale orange light was a small bundle.

She was someone driven very much by her curiosity so of course she went to look. Sure enough, there was a small baby just...laying there?

Hannah looked around the neighbourhood because surely this was a prank. Some sort of social experiment to see what kind of person she was. But the baby was crying too loudly - too realistically - for it to be fake.

And there was the fact that when she picked the screaming bundle up it stopped screaming so loudly.

Ok, so what was she supposed to do? There was a little baby in her arms and it was left outside the Dursleys house, for crying out loud. The person was obviously desperate because the Dursley family were horrible people. Mean spirited and wrapped up in this barely-there facade.

There were definitely worse people out there, but there were also better ones too.

Still - it was left on their doorstep so…

She knocked on the door. She knocked again. She knocked a third time.

Bloody hell! Were these people deaf or something?

Hannah looked at the tiny thing wrapped in the blankets one more time and she made up her mind. She went home. With the baby.

Of course, when she opened the door her parents were in the kitchen. "Hannah Beth where -" her father stopped short when he saw the bundle in her arms. "What is that?"

Hannah looked at the baby in her hands and paused. It was a tiny bit surreal and part of her still felt like she was in a dream but the weight and the warmth that emitted through the blanket made her answer with as much surety as she could in that second. "It's a baby."

"And where did you get a baby from?" her mother asked.

"It was outside the Dursley's home," she said. "And yes of course I knocked but they weren't answering and I couldn't just leave it outside because it was freezing and the poor thing was crying."

She placed the bundle in her mother's arms and watched as she unwrapped the blanket. A note fell out of it and Hannah snatched it up but when she turned it over, all she could read was To Petunia Dursley . With there being nothing of importance in the letter - so far as she could see - Hannah placed the note back down on top of the bundle and went back to the baby.

"She's a girl," her mother said.

"What are we going to do with her?" Hannah asked.

"Nothing. She was left with the Dursley's for a reason so we'll feed her, change her nappy and then give her back to them," her father said sternly.

"But they can't handle another kid - they can't even manage the one they have now!"

Her father's stern gaze fell on her and she flinched. She couldn't help it. "It is not any of our business. We'll make sure the girl is ok tonight and then hand her over. She needs to be with her family."

"You don't know that that is her family though do you?" Hannah asked. Her mother's eyes moved quickly to her, a sign telling her to keep quiet.

"We'll keep an eye on her, ok Hannah?" There was that placating tone that Hannah hated. It made her feel young and stupid - like she didn't know any better. "If you'd like - I'm sure the Dursleys will let you babysit her."

Hannah looked between her parents and just couldn't understand why they were being like this. They were kind, good people and she knew there was something fishy going on. If nothing else, they would have gone to the police just to make sure that the child wasn't abducted or something.

But she wasn't going to win this battle - she knew that. It didn't mean, however, that she would give up. That little girl with bright green eyes was alone.

Something happened, but whatever it was, Hannah would make sure she wasn't alone.

"Fine," she said. "But let me hold her, please." She was given the baby and she made her way upstairs to her room. They still had some of her old baby clothes; her mother was incredibly sentimental.

"Oh and Hannah -" she stopped and waited. "You're grounded for a month."

The things she did for other people! It was almost ridiculous.