The Savior
Grace woke early the next morning, not because she wanted to, but because the bed she slept on was lumpy. Rubbing her neck, she made her way down the hall to the bathroom.
She returned to her room, faced with the dilemma of what to wear, Grammy's sweater or the new clothes Mrs. Dursley had bought. In the end, she pulled Grammy's worn, pink sweater on over a crisp, white T-shirt and a new, faded, brown skirt.
She started to comb her hair, and then berated herself for trying to look nice for the Dursleys. It didn't matter what they thought. She didn't care about any of them.
Breakfast passed slowly, torturously. Grace thought she would never see the end of bacon, eggs, toast ... Harry didn't eat much. He passed most of his food down to her, and like an idiot she gobbled it. She supposed she looked almost as greedy as Dudley.
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It was late afternoon. Mr. Dursley was at work, Mrs. Dursley was outside, showing Sarah around to all the neighbors. It Grace and the boys at home.
Grace sat on the couch beside Dudley and some of his friends, watching TV. Vulgar, common folk, Grammy would have called them. Nasty, dirty, common boys. They were watching a show she was sure Dudley would never have even dared to mention had Mrs. Dursley been there.
"Hey, D," said one of them, scratching his large stomach. "Who's the kid? You take up babysittin'?"
"Naw," laughed another. "That's his daughter. Can't ya see the resemblance, M?" The boy gave one of her red tangles a pull. "Got his hair and ev'rythin'."
"Hey, kid," said another, leaning around his friend to look at her. "Who's your mum?"
"I bet it's Lanie Peter's kid."
"Naw, you dope. Lanie's got brown hair. Brunettes and blondes don't make red heads."
They continued on like this for a while. Dudley made no move to stop them, he even grinned and laughed along with them. Grace sat still as stone on the couch, trying not to let them know they were bothering her.
"Hey, what about that girl at school, D? What was her name?"
"Mary Leavenworth."
"Yeah, her. She's a red head."
"Hey, kid, how old are you?" Grace said nothing, but Dudley answered for her.
"Ten."
The other boys laughed at this. "So you must've been what, six, when she was born? Boy, you sure work fast, D!"
Grace had had enough. She tried to get up, but one of the boys pulled her back. "Where you goin', pretty girl? I like red heads."
The other boys laughed. He had latched onto her arm and wasn't letting go. Grace tugged hard, but he held her thin arm tight.
Almost frantic now, she pulled harder, but this only made him hold on tighter and the other boys laugh louder.
"Leave her alone."
All noise stopped. The whole group turned to look at the stairs. Harry was standing there, glaring at them all. The boy didn't let go.
"What, Potter?"
"You heard me. Leave her alone and get a life."
The boy stood up, dropping Grace's arm as if it was a slimy bug. "You don't have any right to tell me what to ... You wanna take this outside, Potter?"
"No," said Harry coolly. "And I don't think you want to either."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. Your mother's out there. All your mums," Harry added. "But if you want to take it outside ..."
"Naw. Get out of here, girl."
Terrified, Grace darted out of the living room and up the stairs to where Harry was standing. He didn't seem to want to talk to her, though. He was heading back up the stairs ... yes, back into his room.
"Thank you," she whispered weakly as he closed the door behind him.
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AN: This doesn't have anything to do with the plot ... I don't know why I felt the story needed it. Your opinions on this in your reviews, please!!! Next chapter will find Grace discovering a familiar name in the Dursley household.
Disclaimer: Everyone in this story belongs to JK Rowling except Grace, Sarah, Lanie Peters, and Mary Leavenworth. I was just having fun with her characters!
