Thank you for the reviews, well, for most of them. The next chapter is up, Enjoy! R&R

Just to make a point: There is deference between constructive criticism and destructive criticism!!!

Chapter 15: Uncle Morris

Harry watched Remus leave and his heart sank. Remus had a wand, one word from Harry and he could rescue him and Hedwig without his uncle could do anything. But Harry didn't do it. Harry was blaming himself that he landed in that situation and he was ashamed that he let the abuse to happen. He didn't want to show weakness by admitting that he needed be rescued from his MUGGLE uncle. It was one thing to admit it to Draco, he was in the same situation as him and he didn't know about the Prophesy, it was other thing to admit to Lupin, who would definitely tell Dumbledore, and Harry didn't want to show the headmaster that he was weak, while the fate of the Wizarding World lies on his shoulders.

As soon as Remus disappeared from view, Harry turned around to face his uncle. He didn't know how Vernon would react to Remus' visit.

"You dealt well with that teacher!" commented Vernon, "I think you deserve some prize,"

"Thank you, sir," answered Harry; he mussed what kind of prize Vernon was able to give him.

"You are allowed out of the basement for the rest of the day. You will help Petunia with everything she needs you to do, and you will eat your dinner in the hallway, tonight, and I'll even allow you to read those letters you received!" said Vernon.

For Harry it didn't sound as a prize, but at least he would be able to spend a few hours in the warm house.

"I'm going to bring my cousin, Morris, from the train station, so you better behave yourself!" warned Vernon and left the house.

Although Harry heard about Morris' visit the first day he arrived, it only now sank down to him and he felt a sickening feeling.

Morris' and Vernon's fathers were brothers. Morris Dursley was much older than Vernon, about the age of fifty, but as obese as Vernon. He left to USA when he was twenty years old and became a pretty successful cars salesman. The man had a wife, some American college girl he met during his visit to Las Vegas, who was much younger than he is. And the last time Harry heard about her she was pregnant with his kid, who, if believing the rumors is supposed to be about six years old this days.

Morris was coming to visit Vernon from time to time. The first time Harry met him, that he could remember, he was six years old. At the beginning he thought about 'Uncle Morris' as the good uncle from abroad who was the only kind person in Harry's live since he was left at the doorsteps of No. 4 Privet Drive.

During his first week of stay he was bringing Harry a lot of candies, much more than to Dudley, he was showing him some pictures from his traveling and even managed to convince Vernon and Petunia to release the boy from his chores. Harry was surprised when Vernon complied and just told Harry to 'enjoy himself' with an evil grin on his face. Petunia on the other hand tried to keep Harry as far as possible from Morris, and Harry was mad at her. Once he even lost his temper and shouted at his aunt: 'You are just jealous that for the first time in my whole life I get more than Dudley!' Of course it led to Harry being locked in his cupboard for the whole weekend and even Morris couldn't bail him out of it.

Everything had changed two weeks into Morris' visit.

One day, when only Petunia, Harry and Morris were at the house, since Vernon was still at work and Dudley was at Piers Polkiss' house, Petunia was cooking, Harry was dusting and Morris locked himself in the guest room, as he was doing from time to time. Harry and Dudley were curios to know what he was doing there, since they could hear strange noises coming from the room, but every time they tried to ask him, he was smiling and saying that when they get older they would know. So Dudley tried to ask his mother, since Harry was forbidden to ask questions, but Petunia told them to stay away from the room. Dudley, then, had been sent away to watch T.V. and Harry had been ordered back to his cupboard.

So that day, when Harry was dusting the pictures on the second floor, Uncle Morris suddenly opened the door and called Harry to enter. He told the boy that he has something just for him, not even Dudley would be able to see it. Hesitantly Harry entered the room, looking behind his back to see if Petunia would see him and be angry that he abandoned the dusting. The door was locked behind him. What happened there Harry never told to anyone, but, a couple of minutes after entering, a terrified boy ran down the stairs and locked himself in the cupboard. He refused to get out for the next day; he was fighting forcefully when Vernon tried to drag him out to do his chores. Since that day Morris became very hostile toward the boy. He started to call Harry 'a freak' as his relatives were doing and he was the one who taught Dudley the 'Harry Hunting', encouraging Dudley to hurt Harry whenever he could. When he was leaving, he accused Harry in stealing one of his possessions and the boy was punished severely. It was the first and one of the few times that Vernon used his belt on Harry's backsides.

Vernon and Petunia apparently guessed what happened, because when Morris left they made Harry promise, with threatening with sending the boy to the orphanage, not to tell to anyone what Morris tried to do, since Harry was unharmed, physically, at least. And so Harry never told, as a time passed, it seemed that he forgot about the accident, although since that time he was feeling very uncomfortably with staying alone with a male grownup in one room. When Morris came to visit again, when Harry was nine, Harry stayed away from him as much as possible, and luckily Petunia was helping.

And now Morris was coming again.

-aaaaa-

Harry made his way to the kitchen, where his aunt started to prepare the welcome dinner for Morris.

"Ma'am, Mr. Dursley said I'm to help you today," Harry addressed to his aunt.

Petunia turned at Harry's voice "Fine," she made a face as if she saw something unpleasant in the kitchen, "Clean the house and then go to clean the garage."

"Yes, ma'am," Harry turned to leave.

"And stay away from Morris!" she called after him.

Harry left the kitchen and headed to the already spotless living room. He dusted a little, and then, when he made sure his aunt was busy, made his way to the second floor, there, in the hallway, he seated himself to read the letters from his friends.

Ron and Hermione were profusely apologizing for everything that happened and asking Harry to forgive them and to become their friend again.

Harry felt a sting in his eyes. He was missing his friends. Everyday locked in the cold basement he was thinking about them. They what kept him warm. He felt guilty that he insulted them and yelled at them. They were just worried about him, and he acted like a total bastard.

Then he opened Ginny's letter. Ginny never wrote to him and he felt unexplained excitement from getting her letter, even if he didn't know yet what was written inside.

Dear Harry, it said.

When I heard what happened, I almost killed my lovely brother. The git! How could he do it to you? Imagine, accusing you in being a Death Eater. HA…HA…HA…, the day it'll happen I'll admit that I'm in love with the Giant Squid!

I heard that Sirius was arrested, I don't know the whole story, but I'm really sorry for what happened… you must have been really upset if you ran away and got drunk, and with Draco Malfoy, nor less.

You know, Ron and Hermione are very afraid of loosing you as their best friend. I don't know what have you found in Malfoy, but it's your choice of friends, who I'm to interfere, just, please, don't ruin what you have with Ron and Hermione…

As to me, I'm worried about you too… I know that something happened over the summer, something that never happened before, that made you upset. Everybody think that it was the death of Cedric, but I have a feeling that it was something more.

When I heard that Prof. Lupin was going to visit you, I decided to write you this letter. Everything is going to be sorted, Harry, your godfather will be free! I'm sure about that, if not for 100, then for 99.99… and I trust my intuition… well, most of the times… I was wrong about Riddle in my first year, but I grew up since then…

Look, I'm babbling right now, it's a best sign for me to end the letter. Promise me you will keep yourself out of troubles, any kind of troubles and you will come back to the school after the New Year… you know, they delayed the Gryffindor-Slytherin game once again till you return, although they are saying it's because of the weather… yea, right, when was the last time when the weather stopped us from playing…

I'm babbling again, keep yourself safe! See you soon,

Love, Your friend,

Ginny

When Harry finished reading Ginny's letters tears were freely coming down his cheeks and staining the paper he was holding. He sat at the hallway for a long time, crying, for everything that happened, till he heard his aunt voice calling him. He got up and went downstairs, stopping on his way in the bathroom to wash his face.

"Where have you been?" demanded Petunia, facing her nephew.

"Cleaning, ma'am," he answered, "I finished the house…"

"Good! Go clean the garage!" ordered Petunia.

-aaaaa-

Fifteen minutes passed since Harry started to clean the garage, when a sound of a car pulling to the driveway was sound. Harry saw that his uncle came back from the train station. In the car Harry saw Dudley, who probably was staying with some friends and 'Uncle Morris'. The man came alone, as always, his wife and the kid, if there was one, stayed in the USA. When Morris came out of the car, Harry saw that he grew bigger since the last time Harry saw him and apparently he was wearing a wig, since his hair, instead of being blond, as Vernon's, was black and laid in too neat haircut. Vernon brought Morris' suitcases to the house and called for Harry, ordering the boy to bring everything to the room Morris is going to stay in, Dudley's second bedroom.

It took Harry four rounds to bring everything upstairs, with his broken arm, the whole time Vernon and Morris were watching from downstairs. When Harry made to last tour, he heard footsteps following him upstairs. Suddenly, the door to the room, he was in was shut, and there stood 'Uncle Morris'. Harry turned around to face the man, his heart pounding hard, and the sick feeling from before was back. Harry made his attempt to leave, but while passing near Morris, was caught by the sleeve of his sweatshirt and pulled close to the man. He felt a unpleasant, hot breath on his face, the man was too close, he leaned even closer and whispered to Harry's ear: "You became such a handsome boy, little freak, who thought…" At first Harry froze, the situation was somehow familiar, but Harry couldn't understand from where, but then his seeker's instincts kicked and he twisted around and freed himself from his 'uncle'.

"Don't you dare to touch me!" he hissed.

"You are threatening me, freak?" taunted Morris, "I wonder what your uncle is going to say if I'll tell him."

"Do you think I care?" returned Harry, although he felt less confident than before.

"We will see, or maybe I should remind him what a naughty boy you were at the age of six?" Morris had an evil grin on his face.

"I don't know what you are talking about!" answered Harry.

"Do you want a reminder?" Morris advanced, but Harry was quicker, he turned around, dodged and managed to open the door and to run downstairs, his heart pounding hard. He will deal with the consequences of being rude later. What was more important is staying as far as possible from 'Uncle Morris'.

"What took you so long, boy?!" barked Vernon, as he saw Harry.

"Tell him to stay away from me!" Harry demanded.

"How dare you!!!" Vernon bellowed and slapped Harry across his face, but Petunia guessed what Harry was saying.

"Vernon, please keep your cousin away from the boy. As much as I hate him, I don't want him in harm the way Morris can harm him," she said to her husband.

"Yes, dear, I guess you are right" agreed Vernon, calming himself, "Boy, get down to the basement, I will lock you there for your own protection!" Vernon turned to Harry.

Harry sighed, here gone his promised evening in the warm house. Vernon escorted him downstairs and locked the door, leaving the boy once again in the cold basement for God knows how long. Locked in the basement, Harry took off his shirt. His back and front hurt from the bandages that now were socked with blood and other substances and his broken hand was killing him. His state was worse then during the summer, although only two weeks passed. When he took off his sweatshirt, the letters from his friends fell from its pocket, when Harry saw them he broke down once again. Carefully, lying down and burying his face into the mattress he cried himself till he fell asleep.

-aaaaa-

More than a week passed and Christmas was approaching. Harry hadn't left the basement during this time, only to empty one bucket and to feel another one. Vernon kept his promise and Morris couldn't reach Harry no matter what. Almost regularly Petunia was bringing him his dinner, when she wasn't busy and was forgetting about the teenager.

Harry done most of his homework, although he was sure that McGonagall wouldn't like the quality, but it was all Harry was capable of with a constant pain and cold.

His nightmares resumed. They were once again about Sirius receiving The Kiss, Cedric being killed and about Voldemort's victims from his visions. Another nightmare added to his 'collection', he was dreaming about a small boy, about the age of five-six, who was trapped inside some big room with a man whose face were too close to the boy's face till they connected and the man kissed the boy. But then something happened and the man was hit by a wave of electricity. As soon as it happened he released the boy, who ran away, as fast as he could. From that dream Harry woke up in a cold sweat. The boy looked familiar, but he couldn't identify him, but the man, Harry recognized as 'Uncle Morris'. The dream about that boy was repeating himself every night since the accident in the driveway.

-aaaaa-

Harry knew it was Christmas Eve by the half drunken voices of Aunt Marge and Morris, singing the Christmas carols. Another time passed and he heard Petunia wishing everyone a Goodnight and Dudley declaring not to wait for him, and then the front door being shut. The party downstairs continued with only Vernon, Marge and Morris.

"Happy Christmas, Harry," the boy whispered, before curling in a tight ball and falling asleep. That evening he stayed hungry, not even a leftovers from the dinner were taken down to him.

Harry was woken by the sound of the locks being unlocked and bright light of a flashlight lit his face. There in front of him was Vernon.

"Get up!" he ordered, "we are having a game of Poker and we need you to serve our drinks!" Harry noticed that Vernon was drunk. It was dangerous to argue with him being sober, but Harry didn't want to think what Vernon could do to him being drunk, so Harry got up, pulled on his shoes and followed his uncle.

As Harry suspected, the only people who were in the kitchen were Morris and Marge. Harry knew that Petunia doesn't like that kind of entertainment, so she was asleep and Dudley left to vandalize the neighborhood with his friends, after the Christmas dinner.

At first everything went as peaceful as possible. Harry was doing his job, serving the drinks and some food, and the adults hadn't bothered him too much, except from occasional insults from Marge and evil glances from Morris.

At three o'clock Marge retired for the night. She could barely stand and Vernon had to help her upstairs, leaving the boy alone in the kitchen with very drunk Morris.

"So, freak, we are finally alone," smiled Morris and got up, slightly wavering. Harry backed a little; unfortunately he didn't notice his uncle coming behind him. Harry was trapped between two drunken big men. Morris grabbed his hand and pulled.

"Leave me alone!" Harry started to struggle, "Don't touch me!" But Vernon held him firmly from behind. Harry tried to free himself, but the men were stronger, and he was weak from the lack of the food, from staying for long time in the cold basement and from the lack of sleep. Harry saw with horror in his eyes as Morris' face came close and close, he could feel his alcohol filled breath, and finally he felt the man's mouth closing on his. He prayed for some accidental magic to happen, like in the dream he was having, but nothing happened, apparently his body was too weak to perform it. The next couple of hours were a total hell. Harry wished he could die, but it seemed that the God was deaf to the boy's pleading with. The only act of mercy he received was waking in the morning without any memory of what happened. Harry woke up in the basement. He couldn't remember how he got there. The last thing he could remember was seeing Vernon helping his sister upstairs. When he tried to get up he felt a pain shooting through his lower stomach and an urge to vomit. Besides his stomach his whole lower body was in pain, especially around the area of his thighs.

"Great, I'm coming with something nasty," Harry thought to himself. He hadn't noticed that he was wearing different clothes than the clothes he was wearing yesterday.

-aaaaa-

The events of the Christmas night were repeating themselves almost every night and every morning Harry was waking with no memory of it, although he was feeling very sick. When he could sleep, he was having nightmares where he saw two men hurting a young boy, there was a woman that was watching everything but doing nothing. Sometimes the boy would lift his tears stained face and look at the woman, but she would shook her head, turn around and leave. Harry was sure that the men where Death Eaters, although they looked familiar, as well as the boy.

Another thing he realized is that his uncle stopped to beat him; instead he would found every morning marks that never had been there, or maybe they had, but Harry had so many belt marks on his body, that another few were meaningless.

The lapse in memory started to worry Harry when one day he found himself in the bathroom, without knowing how he got there. It was Sunday and Harry remembered his uncle demanding him to come upstairs and to clean the house. Harry did as he was told, but from there his memory was blank. What even more frightened him was the fact that later he found ashes from his school books in the garbage. When he confronted his uncle, he was just laughed at. His relatives where acting strange either, as if they were sharing some secret that Harry was a part of it. Petunia was giving him pitying looks, Marge wasn't taunting him, Vernon and Morris were giving him evil smiles and Dudley started to call him 'little whore', but was hushed every time by his mother.

Harry decided that he would talk to Dumbledore as soon as he'd return to Hogwarts. He was afraid that Voldemort had something to do with his memory loss.

-aaaaa-

The day of Harry's return to Hogwarts arrived. Morris and Marge left the day before. Petunia woke him up very early and ordered to take a bath. Harry looked at himself in the mirror; he was pale, thin and his body covered with scars, his broken arm was swollen and his fingers and tows were deathly white with fingernails with a shade of blue, as well as his lips. When he looked at his privates he felt sick and vomited. He didn't know why, but for the last week, every time he took off his boxers, he felt sick. When he was using the 'toilet', he did it mostly with his eyes closed. He shut his eyes closed once again and quickly pulled his boxers on, only then he flushed the toiled and took a bath. When he finished, he closed his eyes again and changed to the clean pair, then he got dressed in his school uniform.

When he came back to the kitchen, where Vernon and Petunia were waiting for him, he saw Hedwig. She looked terrible, her left wing was in strange angle and she seemed to loose a lot of her feathers. Harry tried to approach her, but was stopped by his uncle.

"It was your fault, boy!" said Vernon, "if you had been more obedient, nothing of this would've happen!" Harry didn't understand what his uncle was talking about. For him it was the first time he saw Hedwig since she was locked on the attic.

"Your teacher should be here in fifteen minutes, you have ten minutes with your owl before it's locked up again! Remember, boy, one word from you, one lousy word and the bird dies!" Vernon warned, "You know I'm serious!"

"Yes, sir," Harry mumbled, "I won't talk."

"Good boy!" Vernon brushed his hand on Harry's cheek, "besides, I don't think your friends would like to know what a great service you served for me and my cousin!" he laughed.

As promised, Harry spent ten minutes, talking with Hedwig, he even tried to bandage her wing, then she was taken again and ten minutes later a knock on the door sound. Vernon left to open it. There stood Snape, dressed in a muggle outfit.

"Good morning, Mr. Dursley," he greeted Vernon, "I'm here to take Mr. Potter back to the school."

"I must worn you, that the boy was acting strange," said Vernon, "he had some kind of tantrum and ruined his broom! He was lucky I released his owl, otherwise he could kill it."

"I see," answered Snape, "well, call him here; I will talk to the headmaster about it."

Harry came to the hallway when his uncle called him.

"So, Potter, I heard you suffered from regression to the childhood?" Snape sneered, "Tantrums, Mr. Potter? I expected better from you. Well, your problem and better for my team."

Harry now realized that Vernon told Snape some lie about his ruined broom. But the month spent at the Dursley's taught Harry to control his temper, so he just lowered his head and said nothing.

"We will be traveling by Portkey to Dumbledore's office," explained Snape, "Mr. Malfoy is already there. After a talk with the headmaster you will go to the breakfast and then to the classes." He ordered Harry to take a piece of parchment and both of them disappeared from Privet Drive.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

I hope there aren't much mistakes….

The next chapter: "The dam is erupted" – The truth comes out. There will be explanation about Harry's episodes of lapse of memory. For those who are interested, look for a concept: Disassociation.

Enjoy!!! R & R.