Chapter one- the burrow:

A/N: I do not own Harry Potter

Harry sat on his bed reading a letter he had just received from one of his best friends, Ronald Weasley. He smiled as he read the letter aloud to himself:

Harry,

How are you going mate? Coping I hope. How are the Dursleys

treating you. Everything is the same as always here, dad's taken a

liking to muggle phrases, it's driving mum mad. Hermionie is here.

She say's hi. Mum say's you can come stay here at the burrow for the rest of the summer if you want. If so then we'll pick you up on Saturday around 1:00pm.

-Ron.

he put the letter down on the bed and walked over to the little desk in the corner. He sat down and picked up a quill and a piece of parchment and wrote a reply to ron,

Ron,

Everything is fine. Sure I'll come to the burrow for the summer! I don't think the Dursleys would care much about loosing their cook. Say hi to hermionie for me. See you Saturday!

-Harry.

He sent the letter of with hedwig before heading down stairs to make dinner.

"hurry up boy. And don't burn anything" came the voice of Vernon Dursley.

"yes uncle Vernon" harry replied.

He walked over to the pantry and took out some ingrediance.

"ouch" harry whispered as he burnt his hand on the stove,

"stop mucking around and hurry up." Vernon spat.

"can you go any slower" Dudley teased.

When he finished cooking their dinner he went back upstairs

To lay down. A while later their was a knock on his bedroom door, he got up and opened it to see his aunt petunia standing their with a single slice of cheese and half a cup of water in her hand,

"here is your dinner. Wash the dishes when you are done" she said

as she shoved the cheese and water at harry spilling some of the water in the process.

"yes aunt petunia" he replied watching her march off down the stairs before closing the door.

Harry was dangerously underweight due to the fact that the dursley's only gave him a single slice of cheese and some water a day. 'well I guess I better enjoy it' harry thought to himself while looking at the little food he had to eat until the next night. After he had eaten the cheese and done the dishes he went to his room and re-read the letter from ron wich made him smile again. 'I wonder what mr's weasley will say when she see's how thin I've become?' harry thought. His smile quickly faded as the memory of his beloved godfather returned to him. The screaming re-played in his head as he remembered watching Serius fall through the veil, as he watched Serius die. A tear ran down his cheek, but no-one was there to comfort him. No one could be because he would not show his pain to anyone. Not even Remus or Mr and Mrs Weasley. He was on his own in the battle of his emotions. He didn't want anyone to think he was weak.

"it was all my fault" harry said to himself.

"it never would have happened if I didn't go"

he continued to blame himself even though he had been toild many times by many people that he was not to blame. It was all the work of someone harry now hated with all his power. "I'll kill her… I'll kill Bellatrix if it takes my whole life to do so." Harry promised himself.

Days turned to nights and nights turned to days as Saturday finaly came. Harry was waiting in his room for ron to come pick him up. It was 12:30pm and there was only half an hour left until he got out of this house and away from the Dursleys. Just then harry remembered that he had not yet told the dursleys that he would be departing within the hour. He got up, took a deep breath and walked to the kitchen where vernon was reading the paper, petunia was re-arranging some flowers on the kitchen sink and dud;ey was in the next room playing video games.

"u..uncle vernon?" harry asked,

"what is it boy, stop wasting my time" vernon spat.

"I'm leaving in half an hour, I'm going to stay with a friend from school for the rest of the summer." Harry informed them.

"oh are you" vernon said in a cold voice,

"and what makes you think you can go stay with them freaks?" he damanded.

"they are not freaks. They are my friends" harry spoat back.

"why should we let you go? so that they can continue poisoning your mind with rubbish." Vernon said angrily.

"well… I won't be here to bother you?" harry said hoping that would be enough.

fortionatley for him it was,

"hmmm… fine. You can go. but if you come back and say anything to do with MAGIC then you will never go back to that school of your EVER again." Vernon spat.

At the last sentence harry turned on his heel and ran up the stairs. He got his trunk and pulled it back down the stairs and sat it by the front door. Just then the fire place lit up and ron came falling through followed by ginny, hermionie, the twins, arthur and molly weasley. This startled harry and caused him to fall backwards onto the floor.

"are ypu ok mate" ron laughed

he walked over and helped harry up of the ground,

"hi ron" harry smiled.

"HARRY"

both ginny and hermionie yelled as they wrapped their arms around him in a tight hug.

"w..wow" harry said trying to cut free.

"ch..choking" he added

"oh sorry" they said as they let go of him.

"hello harry" fred and george said with identical grins on their face.

"hello harry dear" molly added

"long time,no see. How are you harry?" arthur asked

"hello everyone, u..um I'm fine" he lied

but really harry wasn't fine. He was torn about sirius's death during their 5th year. He gave a small smile before asking a question,

"why did you all come?" harry asked

"they wouldn't take no for an answer" molly answered.

Harry grinned, but inside he was thinking… 'why would they wan't to see me? I don't deserve this, I'm a murderor.' Harry's smile quickly faded into that of a sad smile as he thought this.

"what's wrong harry?" hermionie asked noticing his change in mood.

"oh n..nothing, I'm fine" harry lied again.

But she didn't believe him and nor did anyone else. Harry noticed trhey were all looking at him with dis-belief and concern in their eye's.

"really…I'm fine"

harry managed to say before Vernon walked into the room,

"are you leaving or not?" he spat

the weasley's and hermionie all looked at him with anger for they knew that the dursleys made harry's life worser than it was.

"we better be off now harry, grab your things, come on"

molly said as they returned to the burrow by floo powder. When they got back harry followed ron up to his room to put his things there. Then they re-joined everyone in the kitchen. As they walked in harry noticed remus talking to percy in the far corner of the room. Remus and percy looked up at him as he entered.

"harry, youre here" remus said happily

"hello harry" percy added.

It was then that mrs weasley noticed harrys lack of weight.

"OH MY GOODNESS… what have they been feeding you, nothing by the looks of it. You sit right here im going to make you some actual food" molly said as she rushed to the cupboards to get some food for harry.

"harry, how did you survive? Youre as thin as a matchstick not to mention the dangerousness of your weight. What did they feed you, if anything?" hermionie said.

"I was given a slice of cheese and some water every night" harry replkied in a soft voice.

"WHAT, THAT'S ALL. A SINGLE SLICE OF CHEESE? I'LL DEAL WITH THEM!" remus yelled as he stood up of the chair.

"calm down remus we'll talk to dumbledoor about it as soon as he comes for dinner tonight with th other guests" arthur said.

"they could have killed him and that's all we are going to do about it?" remus said angrily.

"please…it's no big deal. I'm fine" harry said avoiding eyecontact with anyone.

Everyone was shocked by his statement 'no big deal' of course it was a big deal. They all shot concerned glances at eachother before quietly continueing on with their confersation and cooking.

"harry, what makes you think it's not a big deal? We all care for your safety!" percy asked him.

"but why?" was all harry said before leaving the kitchen with everyone staring at the door shocked into silence.

A/N: Please Read and Review