Warnings: Abusive!Dursleys, noncon!, manipulative!Dumbledore, smart!Harry

Healing and Hurting

Harry followed Lissa to a secluded corner of the park, where he found Matt lying under a tree. He drew in a quick breath at the extent of the younger boy's injuries, but immediately knelt down and began to clean and bandage his wounds.

Matt looked up through pain-glazed eyes at the boy he regarded as both his big brother and his hero.

"Hey Harry," he smiled weakly. "You came."

"Of course I came, kiddo," Harry replied, digging into his bag to get a pain reliever. "Here, drink this and you'll feel better in no time."

Matt dutifully drank the nasty-tasting liquid and sighed with relief when it hit his stomach and the pain abruptly faded. "Thanks," Matt yawned, his body relaxing so much without the painful stimulus of his injuries that he suddenly wanted nothing more than to fall asleep.

Seeing this, Harry gathered him up in his arms and stood up. "Let's get you home, bucko," he said softly as he and Lissa headed toward Number 7 Privet Drive. "And no more getting caught by the resident neighborhood bullies, you hear?" he admonished lightly.

Matt managed a grin. "But I'd much rather annoy you by making you come take care of me," he teased sleepily.

"Taking care of you doesn't annoy me, silly," was Harry's soft response.

When the trio reached the driveway of Number 7, Harry set Matt on his feet and gave him a gentle push toward the house. "Go on, get some rest before—"

Suddenly, a shriek split the air. "Melissa Marie! Matthew Thomas! Get in the house this instant!" Harry looked up, alarmed, as a woman in her mid-thirties ran out of the house towards them, a cricket bat in her hands. Upon noticing the sluggish movements of her son, her face whitened in fury.

"You…you filthy little delinquent!" she shouted at Harry. "What did you do to my son?! You've hurt him! Just wait until I…I'll have a talk with your aunt and uncle about this, boy!" She swung the bat menacingly at him, while shepherding her children behind her. Harry paled considerably at the mention of his relatives. "Get out of here before I call the cops! And don't you ever touch my Matthew again!" This time the bat connected with Harry's ribs, causing him to moan in pain as all remaining color drained out of his face. He fell to his knees on the pavement.

"It serves you right, you freak!" The woman cried angrily as she turned toward the house.

"Yes, ma'am," Harry said softly as he picked himself up, his pain evident in his eyes.

"Get out!" the woman shrieked again, as Harry stumbled away, unaware of Lissa's tearful gaze on his back or Matt's horrified "Mum, you hurt him!" It didn't matter anyway, because Harry knew just as well as Matt's mum that he deserved it, although not for the reasons she thought.

I'm sorry, Sirius, was all he could think as he headed back to Number 4.

*******

It wasn't until after he had finished his work in the garden that Harry remembered his promise to Ly about getting him some books, and by that time, it was nearly 12 o'clock. The work had, thankfully, distracted him from his depressed thoughts about Sirius and he slipped upstairs, grabbing a few of Dudley's old novels from the shelf in his room. On his way out to the shed, he stopped in the kitchen and grabbed some of the leftover chicken from the Dursleys' dinner the previous night to give to the injured boy. If the Dursleys found out, he knew they'd throw a fit, but with any luck they wouldn't notice. There was still a lot left, after all.

Ly grinned when Harry entered the shed laden with the food and books.

"I come bearing gifts," Harry joked.

"Thanks, Harry!" the boy replied enthusiastically, examining the paperbacks Harry had brought before turning his attention to the food.

"Not a problem, kiddo," Harry assured him with a smile, placing some more medicine next to him. "Make sure you drink all of this, now," he admonished. "I'll be back later," he added, leaving Ly to his new entertainment.

*******

Ly happily started on a novel as soon as he finished his meal. It was an older book called "Catcher in the Rye" by some American author. He didn't understand all of the slang, but he enjoyed the main character's sarcasm and wit. 'Phony' he laughed to himself. I'll have to add that to my vocabulary. It's almost as good as 'dunderhead'!...Wait, where did that word come from? 'Dunderhead'? Hmm. Oh well. That's a cool word, too.

Thus occupied, Ly didn't notice as the hours slipped away, and soon it was too dark to read and he fell asleep.

*******

Harry also fell asleep soon after nightfall. It had been an exhausting day, what with doing his chores, which he had miraculously finished (for once), dealing with the Dudley's snide comments, and helping Matt, which had taken a lot out of him, as he had used a tiny bit of his healing magic on the worst of Matt's wounds.

Harry had been able to heal himself wandlessly since he was seven (a survival tactic, to be sure), and he had slowly figured out how to apply the same concepts to others. Of course, he couldn't do too much magic on his Privet Drive "charges", as it would be difficult to explain how their injuries just "magically" disappeared, but he always healed the worst injuries enough that they wouldn't do any lasting harm and used potions as often as possible. He also had to be careful of how much he healed himself – if all his injuries just disappeared, his uncle would thrash him for his "freakiness" the next day, and he knew from experience that that was always ten times worse. Despite his uncle, he would normally still heal the worst of his injuries so that he could keep working. This summer was different, though. He had once held out hope that his godfather would take him away from Privet Drive, and it had been for that day that he lived. Now, it would never happen and that was entirely Harry's fault, so he felt he deserved any injuries he received. If it weren't for his own stupidity, he never would have been at the Dursleys' in the first place.