Disclaimer: JK Rowling and a few other people own everything, I don't.
Come Take My Hand
Chapter 2
Blame and Confusion
The child woke to find himself in a blurry place that he could not immediately identify. Blinking and rubbing his eyes, he sat up in the bed and reached out towards an indistinct formation next to the bed. His hand groped around the bedside table before finally touching a familiar combination of thin metal and glass.
Placing his glasses on, he was able to make the observation that he was in a hospital bed. In a very white and very empty room.
As a cold shiver ran down his spine, he wished with all his heart that he was back at the only home he had ever known, as unwelcome as he was there. Even his cupboard seemed preferable to the uncertainity of his current location.
He shuffled back down into the bed, pulling the sheets up so only his wide emerald eyes framed by broken glasses were visible.
The fire was sitting in the back of his mind. It didn't seem real enough to warrant thinking about.
He found himself hoping that his Aunt and Uncle would come and collect him soon. He couldn't help thinking that perhaps they wouldn't bother after the incident with the vase.
Would they send him to an orphanage instead of taking him back to Privet Drive with them? The child had mixed thoughts over orphanages - the way that his Uncle had often threatened to send him to one made them sound like they were very unpleasant indeed. And he had seen movies which depicted orphanage owners as people who treated children cruelly. Yet how bad could one possibly be?
He wasn't entirely sure he wanted this question answered. Maybe it was safer hoping to stick with the Dursleys'.
Footsteps combined with the sound of a door being opened alerted the child to the presence of another person entering the room.
"Awake at last, Mr. Potter." A lady with typical nurse clothing and cropped grey hair stated with polite cheerfulness.
The one she was addressing didn't reply, but drew the bed covers up a fraction further.
"I'm sorry that you had to stay here the night; your uncle was in a state of shock following the fire. He has, however, notified us that he will be here today to pick you up. Luckily, he didn't have too much trouble finding temporary accomodation." She continued, ignoring the boy's lack of response.
This time the child peeked out enough to nod in understanding. Then, as though something he had not previously realised had just dawned on him, he spoke.
"And Aunt...Aunt Petunia and D-Dudley, they're alright, aye?" He questioned softly, looking up at the nurse's face for reassurance.
An awkward expression formed on the elderly nurse's face.
"Well...I suppose it's best I tell you, your uncle may not be ready to speak about it yet. I'm sorry to inform you that while your cousin got out safely, your aunt perished it the fire."
While there was sympathy evident in her eyes, it was clear the nurse had little experience in breaking such news to a child.
The child by the name of Harry Potter looked up at her blankly, as though his young mind was having trouble processing the information. He had never got along well with his aunt, it was clear the women disliked him and he had almost given up attempts to change her view of him. Yet, she was the nearest thing to a mother figure that the boy had in his life, following the car accident that had taken the lives of his own mother and father eight years earlier.
And to think of the fire, the fire, burning...
Traumatised, the thin child resisted the urge to throw up. He hurridly shoved the thought from his mind and began mentally counted to one hundred, as he often did when upset.
"I'm so sorry." The nurse said repeated quietly, before leaving the room.
Curling up under the blankets, Harry attempted to imagine the Dursley household without his Aunt. Somehow, it seemed unlikely that life would be any easier for him. He then drifted into a daydream where his parents were still alive, and were hugging him and assuring him that they would never leave his side...
He awoke with a start as his dream transformed into a nightmare, with angry flames consuming his parents.
Fighting back tears that were forming under his glasses, Harry was surprised to discover the large, familiar form of his uncle standing in the doorway, speaking with a nurse, younger than the previous. His uncle didn't look like he was coping all too well, his beefy face more ashen than usual, and his usually immaculate appearance more rugged.
"Come, boy, we're leaving." He announced roughly, moving towards the bed.
As the large hand seized Harry's arm tightly, he found himself pulled from the bed and out of the room. The nurse looked slightly concerned attempted to talk the the obviously angry man, but her protests proved futile and in the end she just shook her head, hoping for the child's sake that the man would calm down eventually.
Harry was basically dragged from the hospital, his uncle having already recieved confirmation that the boy could leave. Vernon was moving to fast for the short child to merely walk.
Once outside in the parking lot, Harry was shoved into the car, which vibrated hard as the door was slammed shut behind him. This occured a second time as the man entered the car.
From then on there was silence.
Though young, the child easily sensed the older man's anger, now joined with pain, was at a point where even breathing too loudly could set him off in a violent rage. He kept quiet, which wasn't hard, as he had little he wanted to say. As they drove through the city, Harry gazed out the window, watching children clinging to their parent's hands as they crossed the busy roads, watched families laughing as they shared ice-cream.
It all fascinated him, each time he saw such things.
These people proved that happy families weren't just in the fairy tales his aunt used to read to Dudley.
They drove from the city out into the countryside, where the sun could be seen disappearing down behind the dark green hills. Vernon then turned into a driveway in front of a house that Harry felt sure he had visited once before, though he couldn't remember when exactly.
"Marge's old house. Hasn't sold yet so she said we could stay here a while." The man snarled, stuffing some money into the hand of a frazzled looking baby-sitter, who seemed very eager to leave.
Moments later, he heard a car pull away from the curb, signalling her departure.
Harry soon understood why she was so distressed, as he entered the kitchen in time to see his plump cousin throw a china plate against the wall, narrowly missing him.
The anger that had been rising up inside Vernon then exploded out into the open.
"This is all your fault, freak! You're the one that did this to us, destroyed our family. We took you in when no one else would, and this is how you bloody repay us. They couldn't find the cause of the fire, don't think that I don't realise it was you. Yes, your abnormalty and freakishness had something to do with it. You killed my wife, you destroyed my son. Don't think that I'll let you get away with it this time!"
Harry was slammed backwards against the wall as a china plate hit nearer still this time, smashing shards against his bare arm.
The child yelped out in pain.
"Make him pay for hurting m-mummy!" Dudley demanded of his father and for what was probably the first time ever, Harry surprisingly felt a touch of sympathy for his elder cousin. After all, losing a mother couldn't be easy, and now when he glanced at his eyes, he could see they were red and puffy.
Harry didn't understand how it was his fault.
This thought was interupted as a fist slammed into him, almost knocking the boy off balance.
Temporarily stunned by the force of the violence, which was more than his uncle had used for as long as he could remember, Harry stumbled a few steps to one side.
Dudley had now slammed a couple more plates into the air, no longer seeming to care about which direction they went in. As one flew close to Vernon's head, the man turned back towards his distraught son.
And Harry Potter, now desperate to leave the chaotic scene, took the opportunity to dart back into the entrance way and towards the front door.
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A/N- I would like say thank you to wolfawaken, fancyfree, psychiclunar, dave-gerecke and cpt.carrot for taking the time to review and encouraging me to write more. Thanks!
I hope to have the next chapter up within a few more days.