A/N: So, I'm really sorry that this took so ridiculously long. I feel really bad! But I have been working so much this summer and just extremely busy so whenever I get around to work on this, I end up falling asleep. I have basically given up hope on my BETA reader...so what you see is what you get, and if you have any comments or concerns about my grammar or plot line or anything, just let me know and I will fix the problems as best I can. Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: (As should have been mentioned in the previous chapters, I do not own any of the Harry Potter Universe and I write these stories for fun and not for profit.

Chapter 04: Reformed Connections

Harry was woken up early the next morning to help cook and serve breakfast. Harry had never cooked before, and had no idea how to use any of the of appliances in Aunt Petunia's kitchen. After every mistake, Petunia would always yell at him and slap him. It was only the beginning, and already Harry's life was looking dismal.

However the worst had been when he had been when he burnt the potatoes for dinner. He served the slightly burnt potatoes to Dudley.

"Dad! He ruined my food!" Dudley screamed. "Look! My food is all burnt and gross!"

Uncle Vernon turned a wonderful puce after that comment. He quickly stood up and stomped over to Harry. The enormous man towered over Harry, who was cowering with the frying pan of potatoes in his hand. Vernon backhanded the small boy, who crumpled under the force of the slap and onto the floor.

"That should teach you not to burn our food, you awful cretin." Vernon said loudly, laughing at Harry's situation.

Small Harry had tears streaming down his face. He was lost and confused with nobody to turn to for help. However, just within the first few days at the Dursley's, Harry had learned a few life lessons. He knew he was on the start to a long and tormented childhood. He knew he had nobody he could trust. And he knew that nobody loved him, and never would. Therefore, he could never trust anyone ever again. The only people who loved him were Merlin and the founders, and they were gone now. He was alone.

With the acceptance of his difficult and magic free life, Harry quickly resolved to stand strong to at least maintain his pride. He quickly stood up and went to get the supplies to clean up the burning oil and potatoes that he had spilled when he fell…

A month had passed sine he had moved into the Dursley's. Each day had gotten harder and harder. Petunia had added more and more chores with each passing day. Harry could hardly keep up. There were just too many to do, and this morning, Harry was feeling rather ill. He wasn't sure how he was going to make it through the list of chores, let alone the day itself.

He was halfway through the list of the chores…and well into the late afternoon. He was scrubbing the kitchen floors and making sure they were spotless, just as his Aunt Petunia had ordered. However, he had been feeling sicker with each passing minute. He was dizzy, nauseous, and his body ached all over. Finally, he just couldn't focus anymore as his world began spinning in front of him. He thought, I don't think I can keep my eyes open anymore…Why are they treating me like this? However, Harry's consciousness was quickly overcome with darkness.

As poor Harry lay in a heap on Aunt Petunia's beautiful wood floors that he was in the midst of scrubbing down, Aunt Petunia walked in, screeching at the scene in front of her. She quickly ran over to Harry's lifeless body and asked in anger, "What are you doing boy! You are supposed to be cleaning my floors!" And when there was no response, she promptly kicked him in frustration. Harry rolled from his stomach onto his back, and Aunt Petunia quickly realized that he was going to be useless for the rest of the day.

Harry was unceremoniously disregarded in his cupboard, left with only a bowl of water for when he woke up.

After being engulfed in darkness, Harry was back at the castle. He didn't know how. He hadn't expected to be there since he had no magic. For the past few months he had been living without magic and love He was sitting on the cold stone floor with his knees pulled up to his chest, shivering and muttering to himself.

The four mentors looked at Harry, confused as to what had happened. Rowena looked at the other three men, telling them she would handle this. She slowly walked over to the poor child, who had become almost a son to her. She quietly asked, "What is wrong dearie?"

Harry slowly lifted up his head, his eyes widening in surprise as he looked at Rowena. He didn't know what came over him, but he simply reacted on instinct and threw himself at Rowena, wrapping his arms around her neck and seeking comfort. He began sobbing and letting all the pain flow out. He was muttering incoherently. "Dumbledore…Magic…Petunia….Mum…Gone…"

Rowena was extremely surprised when Harry hugged her, but she quickly recovered, and slowly wrapped her arms around him. She had no idea what happened, but she tried to comfort the child. It was obviously something extremely traumatic. "Hush now, it's going to be all right sweetie."

Rowena sat on the floor, hugging and caressing Harry until he stopped crying. She softly asked, "Dear, what happened?"

"My dad found me talking to my friend Zexion, the adder. He got really angry and he yelled at me, and then he called Dumbledore. They said that parseltongue is dark magic and that Voldemort is a parselmouth, and then sent me upstairs. I cast a listening charm so I could hear what they were saying because they made me go upstairs. And then Dumbledore said that I was on the road to become the next Voldemort. So he said they needed to lock my magic away and have my live with mum's sister, Aunt Petunia, who is a muggle."

The four mentors looked aghast. How could they do this to Harry? They all knew how wonderful and sweet little Harry was. Even Salazar would crack a smile from Harry, and that was saying something because Salazar preferred to always maintain a scowl on his face. "Surely your parents did not agree with Albus." Godric said, still dumbstruck by the whole situation.

Harry nodded his head. "Dumbledore cast the spell, and now I can't feel my magic, and then they moved me to my Aunt's. And she is making me do chores all day."

The castle soon began to shake. Harry looked around, and he could see each one of his mentor's was mad, but none were angrier than Merlin himself. Magic could be seen pouring off of his body. Merlin looked at Harry, love filling his eyes. "Harry, this was not supposed to happen. Your parents were not supposed to treat you like that. Now come here young one so I may release that God awful curse that blundering fool Dumbledore put on you."

Harry, while he could feel his magic here in his dream, his connection seemed weaker and more distant than usual. He slowly walked over to Merlin. Merlin placed his hand on top of Harry's head. Harry suddenly glowed a beautiful gold color. Harry could feel his magic connection coming back.

"All done. Feeling better young one?" Merlin asked.

Harry nodded his head vigorously, a large smile present on his face. "Do you think my parents will ever come back and get me?"

Godric snorted. "If they can't realize how wonderful you are, they don't deserve to have a child like you, Harry."

Harry nodded, smiling. He realized that this was his real family, and nothing beside that mattered.

It had been another rough day for Harry. After having to do all of his chores for Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon returned home in a angry mood after losing an important business deal and beat Harry with the belt. Vernon apparently blamed Harry's "kind" for the loss of his good business deal.

While Harry laid in bed, he began thinking, How could my parents leave me to these awful people? All I did was talk to a snake! I would have stopped if they had asked. I didn't even know it was bad, and now Dumbledore thinks I'm an evil person, and my parents don't love me anymore. Nobody loves me! I just wish that I could spend the rest of my time with founders! At least they actually like me…

Harry soon passed out from exhaustions and returned to his dream that night, seeking comfort from Rowena again. The founders were not happy to hear about what Harry was going through, and the first thing they taught Harry was a large amount of healing spells in case he ever got in more situations that were dangerous to his health. He learned how to heal burns, cuts, broken bones, and to prevent scars.

Harry's less than humane treatment continued for the rest of the three years that he lived at the Dursley's house. Over that time, Merlin, Godric, Rowena, and Salazar had become the key parental figures in shaping Harry. They taught him healing spells, defense spells, charms, transfiguration, potions, teleportation (an old, quicker, and silent form of apparition that requires more focus and energy), runes, arithmancy, and many other useful techniques. It was the love from the founders that kept Harry going. He still remembers that his favorite night had been when he learned his animagus forms.

"Harry, tonight we are going to find out what your animagus form is."

Harry was practically jumping with excitement. He had been waiting for this. "What do I have do Merlin?"

"First you need to enter a meditative state. Then you need to look inside your magical core. There should be an animal familiar imprinted on your core. That is your animagus form. Study it so that you may transform."

Harry nodded. He quickly entered his meditative state. He looked inside himself to find his magical core, and find his familiar. He stayed in his trance for what seemed like hours before he finally awoke.

"What did you see my boy?" Merlin asked excitedly.

"I…" Harry paused. "I had four animals imprinted on my magical core."

"Excellent!" Merlin exclaimed. "You truly are the most powerful wizard of your time!

"But I thought you could only have one form." Harry said in confusion.

"And people also think you cannot talk to dead people, but here you are." Merlin countered.

Harry just laughed.

"Now tell me, what are your forms?"

"The first form I saw was a phoenix."

"Excellent! That is my form. It gives you power over air. What else?"

"Then I saw a griffon, a dragon, and a giant snake!"

"Ah I see." Merlin said running his hand through his beard. "Well the griffon is the power of fire, from Godric. The dragon is knowledge, from Rowena. And the snake is your parseltongue you inherited from Salazar. Excellent forms my boy. I wonder what type of dragon and snake you are though!"

"Cool! Yeah, I don't know what kind of beasts they were, but they were huge!" Harry exclaimed, using his arms to explain how big the animals were.

"Yes. Well I suggest we work on your phoenix form first since that is the one you discovered first…"

A/N: Quick Review Responses:

jabarber69: I'm sure you will feel that this chapter answers your review.

luci93182: I wish I had made it so when Harry met Ginny, his powers were returned, but I have something in store for those two later on. Right now, when they meet their connection is supposed to be weak. I'm also trying to stick to canon as much as possible. However, thank you for the wonderful ideas!

LeprechaunJV / Codyesh2: Harry is too shy and timid to leave the Dursley's or to disobey adults in my story. So he just toughs it out.

bigmommak: Dumbledore sent Tom to an orphanage with magical powers, whereas in this case Dumbledore took away Harry's powers. I'm sticking to the idea that he feel Harry will never get his powers and by being removed from the wizarding world, Harry is no longer a threat.

Finally: Sorry that Harry got his magic back so easily. I'm trying to direct most of the conflict and obstacles to later in the story when I break away from canon, and these chapters are somewhat of summaries rather than serious character building.