Plot Bunny # 5

Half Blood Princes

Summary: Believing the world to only be darkness, a young Harry is surprised when someone saves him. He's even more surprised when he's thrown back in time. A true world of darkness is born, ruled by the Half Blood Princes.

It was dark; very dark, and very cold. These were the daily thoughts a young boy had running through his mind every day. Every day, for as long as he could remember, he was locked in a cupboard. Food was only given to him once a week and he had long ago learned to save as much as he could each day to last the week. Darkness enveloped his life, and he couldn't remember what the rest of the world looked like. If he ever knew, that is…

His name was lost to him. He was only addressed as 'Freak' or 'Boy' whenever he made too much noise. It was the only semblance of a name he had. To him, his name was 'Freak Boy' or 'Boy Freak'. The ones who lived in the outside world were Petunia, Vernon and Dudley. Their names were the only other names he knew.

A sudden 'thump', 'thump', 'thump' over the boy's head woke him up. Ebony black hair shook as dust fell from the closet ceiling, dirtying his already messy hair. Green eyes slowly opened, unnaturally pale hands rubbing away dust. Thin fingers reached blindly in the pitch black confines, firmly grasping even thinner arms. A huge cloth, a shirt if he remembered correctly, covered his tiny frame, the only thing he had ever been given other than food.

As the time passed by, the boy's eyes easily adjusted to the dark he had always seen. His green eyes gained a slight gleam to them. With practiced ease he counted how many companions he had at the time. Tiny multi-legged creatures, speeders or spy-doors or something, commonly shared the cupboard with the boy. This time there were five of them. There were actually more, but it was the highest number he could count to. It was a routine for every time he woke up, not knowing the existence of night, day, or how much time had passed.

Then, voices destroyed the silence in the boy's world. Vernon was talking, but the other voice was unrecognizable. The voices stayed close, and even got louder, confusing the boy. Whenever a stranger's voice came close, one of the outsiders, Petunia, Vernon, or Dudley, would draw the voice away, far away from Freak Boy. No one could ever find out about the Freak Boy, the outsiders wouldn't let them.

With his slow, disjointed knowledge, the boy tried to understand what was being said. "… get rid of the Freak." That was Vernon's voice, the boy recalled. Piecing together the words he understood, it seemed like he might leave this small place. Fear and excitement crept up into him. He couldn't remember the outside, and didn't know if he really wanted to try and survive out there. At the same time, however, he had a lingering curiosity and urge to see the outside, to try to escape, that never left him.

The stranger's voice now erupted through the silence. "I understand sir, but-"

"He'll kill us!" Now this surprised the boy. Vernon was saying that he could somehow hurt the outsiders. He didn't even remember what they looked like! And whatever 'kill' meant, he knew it was something very bad and the boy couldn't see how he could do anything to them. Maybe that was why Vernon was suddenly talking about letting him leave this tiny place. Vernon thought he was something bad!

Interrupting his thoughts, the boy heard the other voice speak again. "I assure you, he can't do anything to you that I can't." Now most of that sentence was a complete mystery to the boy. Something about him not being able to do something and the stranger not being able to do something was all he got out of it. "I can't!" Was a common phrase he heard from the Dudley outsider.

"You- You're… you're one of them!" This was another surprising moment in the boy's life. He had never before heard Vernon talk with pauses, or repeated sounds or anything not in an ordinary sentence. The words were also spoken with an odd tone to them, and he didn't know that that was his first time hearing fear.

Now, the silence had returned, and it seemed like a longer silence than the boy had ever heard. It stretched on and on, the boy waiting for the stranger to speak again, if he ever would.

"No," the stranger whispered, "I'm different." The voice was right outside, and the boy's heart started to beat quickly as fear , curiosity, wonder, and many other things he could not name sprang up inside of him.

For the first time he could remember, the boy watched as the door was opened. It was unexpectedly dark outside of the cupboard, though much lighter than he was used to. Green eyes squinted as he sat inside the cupboard frozen still, unsure of what to do. Looking ahead, a gloved hand was reaching out to him, connected to a robed arm, and a hooded face. Through the darkness of the hood the boy could easily see deep green eyes that were unknowingly the exact same shade as his own. All of his fear began to ebb away as an odd sense of familiarity ran through the boy, still gazing into those green eyes.

The hooded stranger stuck out another gloved hand. "Come out," it wasn't a request, but the words were soft-spoken. He reached out his small pale hands towards the gloved ones instinctively. Once they reached the gloved hands they held on tightly, hoping this wasn't a dream. Slowly, he was pulled forward, and his unused feet stumbled as they left the cupboard. He didn't fall, the stranger firmly supporting him.

Finally 'outside', the boy quickly took in everything around him. Everything was so alien to him, so unfamiliar and strange. Looking down at himself, he didn't recognize his own hands or feet. Scanning the stranger, he looked at the gloved hands and wondered if they were the same as his. Above the glove there was something drawn on the stranger's arm, but the whole image was covered by the stranger's sleeve. The boy's own arms were plain and thin.

Suddenly a startled noise came from the right. The voice was Vernon's, and the boy was finally able to connect the voice with a face. The man was a lot larger than the stranger, especially around the middle. Another thing that was different was that Vernon had a huge thing wrapped around him. 'Master Rath, may I eat him?' asked the thing. It had an 'ess'… ness to its voice the boy had never heard before.

'No, Nagini, just hold him still.' The stranger's voice suddenly sounded like the thing's voice, then switched back. "Aren't you mad at him?" It took a moment for the boy to realize the stranger was talking to him.

Hearing the words and piecing together their meanings, the boy looked up at the stranger, confused, still being supported by those thin gloved hands. Then, the stranger started to speak to him again, this time in a softer voice.

"Don't you feel something towards him?" the stranger whispered, "All the days you were left without food, the days you were clothed by darkness, each hour you spent alone, each minute forgotten, unwanted, unloved? Every little second you spent wondering why you had to live your life when you could hear the joyful life right outside your door, the laughter, the pure happiness seeping through the cracks of your cage. Can't you hear your heart's anger and grief at being so mistreated? Can't you feel your soul crying out for justice?"

With each whispered word it was like something was flowing into the boy's mind through the stranger's voice. An indescribable feeling came over the boy, and he stopped trying to understand the stranger's words. The meaning was clear without having to know what each word meant. Looking from the stranger to Vernon, the boy instinctively held his hand out. The reflexive action stunned the boy for a moment before the stranger put his own gloved hand on top of his. "Let you feelings flow," said the stranger, and the boy let loose the feeling that was already fighting to come out.

A strange light shot from the boy's hand and hit Vernon. The thing that was wrapped around the huge man quickly let go as Vernon began to scream. After a while the screams stopped, and Vernon was no longer the huge mass he was. On the floor a dark stream of liquid flowed toward the boy. Watching as it reached his feet; the boy knelt down and touched it.

The boy didn't get to inspect the liquid, however, as someone burst through the door. Bright lights flashed through the darkness outside and noise rushed through the doorway. Screams not unlike the ones Vernon was emitting earlier could be heard, and the boy watched as another robed figure entered the house.

The new stranger had rushed into the house but was now frozen in shock. "Rath, who-?" a gloved hand wildly gestured at where Vernon used to be.

"Not now, Sev, let's go."

The boy was picked up and taken outside of the house. He saw many other robed people walking around and other people lying on the ground or running away. When the stranger stepped outside of the house all of the robed people stopped what they were doing and turned towards them. Then, they all started to approach them. Another knew feeling enveloped the boy, it made his heart race and he couldn't think clearly. He buried his face into the green-eyed stranger's chest and clutched the dark robes tightly. Soon, it was hard to breathe; the new emotion was drowning him. Then, everything went black.

Opening his eyes, the boy looked around him. It was still dark, but something was across from him. It hung on the wall, and there were people moving inside of it. The unknown object was a painting, and three boys were sitting in it. All three had black hair and dark robes on. The one on the far left had deep red eyes that pierced the very air. His hair reached the ground but was tied behind his head in a ponytail. Next to him was another boy, this one similar to the first stranger. This one had the same dark emerald eyes, and his hair shot out above his head at odd angles. Finally, the third boy had jet black eyes, filled with a seemingly permanent glare. The hair on the last boy was smooth and reached his shoulders. On the bottom of the painting were the letters,

TOM, RATH, & SEV