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Words - 2887
I'm sorry for taking so long to update, I know this is not an excuse but I've been sick for the past three weeks, and have bruised my ribs from severe coughing! To top it all off, when I missed a week of school, right when I came back it was the semester finals! So I'm really sorry, I'll try to make sure it doesn't happen again.
(1): After the Rain, Nelson, Release Year: 1990
Here's the required disclaimer:
This is a work of fanfiction using the characters from the Harry Potter world, which is trademarked by J.K. Rowling. Harry Potter, and any characters you recognize were created and are owned by J.K. Rowling, and I do not claim any ownership over them, or the world of Harry Potter. The story I write here is of my own invention, and are not to be believe as part of J.K. Rowling story canon. This is for entertainment purpose only, and is not a part of the official story line. I gain no financial profit from the creation and publication of this story, and am grateful to J.K Rowling for the creation of Hogwarts, and the Wizarding World.
I know that this background, meaning before Hogwarts, or the famous "Yer a wizard Harry," might be boring but it's required for this story. On the bright side, it'll only be 2-3 more chapter until he finds out!
Thank you to everyone who favorited, and followed! Also, thank you guest commenter, that made me so happy!
Now, what you've all been, hopefully, waiting for, the story!
Chapter 2 - Endurance
"After the rain washes away the tears," Hadrian sings under his breath as he places his right hand on the ground to steady himself, while reaching out with his left to rip out another weed. "All the pain," He overestimates the force it would take to get the weed out, and loses balance, falling back. "Only after the rain." Hadrian throws the weed into the old metal trash can beside him, once more sitting up, and getting ready to pull out another weed with his tired, bleeding hands. "Can you live again."
"Aunt P-petunia, I'm done with t-t... th-ah list," Hadrian quietly trudges up to his aunt, who is in the kitchen, writing on a plain piece of notebook paper with a black pen. "W-what do you w-wish me t-to do?" The woman glances up from the paper, scrunching up her face in disgust at his appearance.
"Boy, why must you be so messy? Can't you do anything right, no, of course not!" Petunia huffs in displeasure, placing down her pen, before picking up the list to reread it. "Go take your cold shower, after that get dressed in your nice clothes, you'll begin to make dinner then. This," She briefly shakes the paper in her hand. "is the list of what you are making, this time though, I'll be making the drinks, since the last time you attempted you did horrible," She pauses, placing down the list, and picking up the pen once again. "How many points do you have now?"
"T-twenty-one p-points, aunt P-petunia." Hadrian whispers in shame, bowing his head low.
"I see, did you add the clothing incident from this morning boy?" Petunia replies, tapping the end of the pen against the table.
"Y-es, aunt P-petunia." Hadrian looks up, nodding his head.
"Very well, go get that shower, you may use the guest soap, no points will be taken away for using them," She glances at the electric clock on the stove, tilting her head. "When you come down, Dudley will be arriving a few minutes after from his friends, if nothing held him back. You'll get a piece of chocolate cake out for him, and place it in the living room, give him a glass of chocolate milk when he arrives." Petunia glances at Hadrian, raising her thin right eyebrow. "Well, what are you waiting for?"
"S-sorry, I-I'll get ready now!" Hadrian quickly leaves, stopping at his cupboard to get his nice clothes. Aunt Petunia isn't… too disappointed in me! I'll hurry and finish this shower, so I can get started cooking, I wonder what I'm making today? Hadrian opens the cupboard door, reaching into the back to grab a plastic bag, and a small, old, wooden brush. Using his left arm to hold them close to his body. I even get to use soap, soap! That's amazing, maybe that will help the rash on my right hip get better soon. It's really itchy. All but running up the stairs into the bathroom, Hadrian quickly places the bag and brush in the counter before taking off his clothing. He pauses though, as he catches sight of himself in the full length mirror.
"I…I'm n-n…" Hadrian pauses, then proceeds to blush a bright pink in mortification. Why should I care if my skin is bruised? It's normal for people with pale skin tones to bruise easily, and, and, just because I have a, a few, just a few, scars on my back, and some other places, doesn't matter at all. It's okay Hadrian, take your shower, and get right downstairs so you can make an impressive dinner suited for bragging. Shaking his head, Hadrian steps carefully into the shower and turns on the water; making sure it's as cold as possible, before briskly cleaning his body, taking great care to be careful around his bruises and bright red scratches. While also, with purposeful evasion, avoids looking down at his body.
Placing the soap onto the ledge built into the side of the shower, Hadrian does a quick twirl in the shower to rinse off the soap, before turning off the freezing water, Hadrian reaches out of the shower to dig into the bag on the counter, pulling out a towel that he uses to roughly wipe his body dry, softly patting his face, before stepping out, making sure his feet are dry. I need to make sure not to get the ground wet, Aunt Petunia will be sure to check. If there is any water on the ground, it's positive she will take away points!
Once completely dry, Hadrian takes out his nice clothes, an old white, button up shirt, soft with age, and light black, almost grey, trousers. He also brings out his underwear, the same second hand… rags as always, and some black socks. The last thing Hadrian tales from the bag are some dress shoes, a few sizes too big, which has scuff marks on the front. These are the only clothes that aunt Petunia and uncle Vernon personally bought just for me! These are proof they care enough, right? It has to be so, I refuse to accept anything less. Hadrian dresses himself, happily giggling in delight. He packs everything, such as his normal clothes, brush, and towel, back into the bag. Then, Hadrian organizes the bathroom, before walking back downstairs to his cupboard, placing his bag back into the far corner.
"Freak, get in the Kitchen now, your ten minutes are up, and the bathroom had better not be in ruins!" Yelled aunt Petunia, who was sitting on the chair, nearest to the fridge, with a piece of paper in her left hand. I thought the list for dinner would be laying on the hallway table? Why did aunt Petunia change her mind?
"I-I'm done aunt P-petunia!" Hadrian shouts back, rushing into the kitchen to face the woman who was impatiently tapping the front of her shoes onto the ground, causing a sharp click, clack noise to echo slightly in the kitchen.
"Count yourself lucky, if you had taken any longer, you would have gotten a punishment this evening!" Petunia stands, briskly walking towards Hadrian, who hunches into himself, before shoving the paper into his hands. "This is the recipe for dinner, don't mess it up!" She glares at Hadrian, then nods to herself when she sees him properly intimidated. Oh, i-it's because she wanted to warn me.
"Y-es, aunt P-petunia."
"Don't forget Dudley's cake, and milk! We can't have him go hungry, he's a growing young man who needs all the food he can get!" Petunia says as she walks out of the kitchen, and around the corner to the upstairs. What about me, don't I need to eat as well?
Hadrian sighs sadly, lifting one hand to softly rub under his right eye as he begins to read the list:
Dinner
THIS LIST MUST BE FINISHED BY 6:15 PM,
GUESTS ARE ARRIVING AT 6:30 PM.
You'll be making Beef Wellington for the main dish,
The sides will be:
Roast Potatoes, Mashed Potatoes,
Roast Parsnips, Brussel Sprouts.
The recipes are in the cooking book on the bookshelf.
Today's dessert is Lemon Pudding with Treacle Sauce.
Current Points - 21
Beef Wellington, and Lemon Pudding, but, but that take hours to make! 2 hours is just barely enough! What was aunt Petunia thinking, no don't question her, just get started! Hadrian immediately bolts to the fridge, pulling out the needed ingredients, and catches sight of the chocolate cake. Dudley, thank goodness I didn't forget him! He quickly cuts out a large piece, and takes the plate down the hallway past the dining room, and into the living room. He turns on the Telly, before hurrying back into the kitchen to get started on dinner and desert.
Closing the oven door, Hadrian takes a deep breath in relief. Thank goodness I was able to finish the preparation around ten minutes early for the both of them. Now I have forty five minutes to cook all the side dishes, which will be just enough time. Hadrian reaches for a random ingredient on the counter, and then begins to steam them, as they turned out to be brussel sprouts.
Just as he was beginning to mash up some potatoes, the front door slammed open. "Mum, I'm hungry, give me something to eat!" Hadrian turns his head, letting go of the masher so he can grab a glass, filling it with some milk. Dudley's here, I hope he had a good time at Piers' home.
"D-dudley th-there i-is some… sss-ome c-ake o-on th...ah l-eh-ve..ing r-room t-ta..ble, a-and h-here is a g-gla..ah..s of m-milk." Hadrian quietly says as he limps down the hall towards a rather obese boy, puddy from walking home from his friend's house a block away. His dirty blond hair sticking to his forehead from the sweat, and his watery blue irises glaring out from his piggy face, towards the freak who dares to speak to him.
"Oh, you're still here. Anyways, It had better be chocolate cake Freak! I won't stand for anything less, especially from a nobody like you, put the milk by my plate, and take my things to my room! This is the only thing you're good for." Dudley carelessly drops his bag, that is filled with games, toys, and electronics, onto the ground and heaves his body down the hallway, and into the living room.
Hadrian hurries to follow him, his face flushed red in hurt and embarrassment, carefully placing the glass of milk on the coaster beside the plate. "D-do you n-need anyt-thing else D-dudley?"
With a sneer of his thin lips, he grabs one of the metal coasters and hurls it at Hadrian, hitting his side. With a pained yelp, Hadrian crumples to the floor, clutching his side. "I already told you what to do, listen to me you, you stupid person!" Along with his outburst, spittle flies from his lips in an incredible imitation of his father Vernon.
Shaking in pain at the injury to his body, Hadrian carefully stands, turned away from Dudley in an attempt to protect himself from further harm. "I-I I'm s-sorr-ie, I-I'll g-get y-you'r-eh b-bag p-put u-uh..p." With tears of pain in his eyes, Hadrian shuffles from the room. Dudley stuffing his face with chocolate cake behind him.
Sniffling in both pain and, mostly, shame, Hadrian hurries towards Dudley's abandoned bag, picking it up to carefully, so very carefully, climb up the stairs. Turning to the right when he reaches the top, Hadrian opens Dudley's bedroom door, and begins to unpack. With each item he takes out, he places them in their spot on the "favourites spot," which is on the bedside table, where all of Dudley's current favourite toys and games are. These toys and games tend to be replaced, or thrown away every week or so. With the record for longest being a week and a half, and the shortest being an hour. If only I had a room like this! Then I could bring in animals and have lots and lots of books! How fun… but I don't want to say goodbye to my cupboard, that would be bad.
I have to finish the food, there's not much time left for everything I need to finish! Rushing back into the kitchen, Hadrian takes out the finish, yet not overdone brussel sprouts, and replaces them with potatoes, rushing to finish everything in time. The mash potatoes take around 20 minutes to make, and with the size of these parsnips, it will take around 30 minutes, and, and the, what was it? Oh! The roasted potatoes will take around 30 minutes.
Hadrian carefully cooks everything to perfection, filled with hope that he might get praised for doing all of this in such a short amount of time. I can do this!
With only five minutes to spare, all the food except the Lemon Pudding, which is cooling on top of the stove, is done cooking and placed on the dining room table. He had carefully placed everything just so, with the Beef Wellington on a large silver serving plate, that has victorian designs on it. The sides, which include roasted potatoes, mashed potatoes, roasted parsnips, and steamed brussel sprouts are placed in a straight line down each side, the brussel sprouts and roasted parsnips on the left of the beef wellington, while the potatoes are on the right, nearest to where uncle Vernon will sit.
He had also gotten out some bread rolls and placed them in a two bowls, one each near the end of the table. After that, he had gotten the plates and eating utensils out, placing them in their spots. Hadrian was so used to not including himself, he almost forgot. I'm actually eating with them! Me! When that was finished he got out aunt Petunia's crystal drinking glasses, which he had overheard her telling Dudley came from her parents. These belonged to grandmother, and grandfather! I have to be careful, if I drop these I would feel horrible, and uncle Vernon and aunt Petunia would be mad! Hadrian takes a step back, looking over the setup before nodding in satisfaction. I finished, and it looks like it belongs in a magazine, at least the magazines I have seen when we go grocery shopping.
"Freak, you'd better be done with dinner!" Hadrian whips his head around to look at his aunt who had just come downstairs. She was dressed in a pale yellow dress with white accents, which brought out her blue eyes, and made her hair glow. Aunt Petunia is beautiful!
"Y-es, aunt P-petunia, I-I'm done." Hadrian shuffles to the side, so she could completely see the table. "Do y-you like it?" He stares hopefully at her, his eyes seemingly looking straight into her soul. She shifts in discomfort when she meets his eyes, looking away, and towards the front door.
"I suppose this is passable, where is the Lemon Pudding?" She asks, turning her head once more to look into the kitchen.
"It's c-cooling aunt P-petunia." Hadrian answers, barely managing to hide his excitement. That was a compliment, even if it was a small one, I got praised! I got one! I got one! He quivers in happiness, his hands clenching open and closed from behind his back. His lips turned up in a beaming smile he hides from his aunt by tilting his head to face the ground.
"Alright, go wash your hands, then stand in the hallway by the door after you make sure the living room, and toilet are in proper order." With a nod, aunt Petunia then goes up the stairs to get Dudley.
"Y-es, aunt P-petunia." Hadrian whispers in a shaking voice, even though she was already halfway up the stairs. Tidy up the living room. I got praised! Then make sure the bathroom is perfect. I got complimented! After that, stand in the hallway by the door. With those sentences repeating in his head, Hadrian obeys his orders, going into the living room, and picking up stray objects, before placing them in their designated spots. After that, he goes to the bathroom and takes out a new roll of toilet paper, throwing the old one in the trash.
When finished with everything he goes into the hallway, and waits. A few minutes later, which he knows is almost exactly two minutes because he's been staring at the clock, he can hear Dudley and aunt Petunia coming down the stairs.
"Mom, I want to finish my game, I'm almost finished with this really, really hard part!" Dudley whines out, his face set in a scowl.
"Now Dudley, I know you want to finish that game, but this is important to your Father and I. How about this, if you do good during this dinner, then we will get you a new toy or game?" Aunt Petunia says, trying to placate Dudley with promises of something new. Maybe… maybe I can ask if I can go to the study group in three days.
With a greedy smile, Dudley slyly grins. "Okay, then tomorrow we will go shopping for a new toy and game!"
"Yes, that's right Dudley." Petunia smiles, not realizing what he just did. She looks at the clock, which says 6:29, before glancing out the door. "Alright, Vernon and the guests will be here any minute now. Everything has to be perfect," She glares at me, her blue eyes icy. "That means you have to be on your best behaviour."
"Y-es, aunt P-petunia." Hadrian obediently nods, not wanting to anger her, and worse, uncle Vernon. Just then the car, with another following behind, pulling into the driveway.
Aunt Petunia tilts her head up, opening the door with a picture perfect smile. "Hello! How are you Mr. Pemberton, Mrs. Pemberton?" She calls out as their car doors open.
Still standing behind her, Hadrian winces as Dudley sneaks behind him and roughly jabs at the bruise he caused earlier. "Be one your best behaviour Freak, you wouldn't want another one of those punishment would you?" He whispers with a cruel snicker.
"N-no D-dudley." Hadrian whimpers, cringing away from the cause of his pain. I don't want to feel that again, I don't ever want to feel that again!