DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything… sorry.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hope you enjoy! I worked really hard on this chapter. I had a really hard time with Dumbledore. I don't know if he's completely in character or not. Anyway, this chapter is a bit graphic so beware. R&R

Chapter Five: Limits and Memories

Soon after Remus woke up, the group headed out to Hogwarts, flooing to Dumbledore's office. Dumbledore smiled at them as they arrived. Lily however was livid.

"How could you leave him there, Albus?" she demanded.

"I am terribly sorry, Lily. It was the only place I knew he would be safe," Dumbledore replied.

"SAFE?" James shouted.

"Yes, James, safe from Voldemort. I put up a ward around the house which relied on Lily's blood relation," he explained calmly.

"That bastard raped my son and you want to tell me the place was safe for him?" James yelled. Harry ducked his head, while Sirius placed his hand on his shoulder. Dumbledore looked shocked.

"Harry, is this true?" he asked the boy, tears filling his light blue eyes. Harry looked up at his headmaster from under his lashes.

"Y-yes, sir," Harry murmured.

"H-has this happened before? The raping I mean," Dumbledore asked trying to remain calm and think logically.

"N-no," Harry said. "Not t-that anyway."

"What do you mean?" Dumbledore asked.

Harry looked down at his feet.

"It's okay, sweetie," Lily cooed.

"Go ahead, son, answer the question," James' baritone voice soothed.

"W-well it wasn't he first t-time h-he ever… you know… t-touched m-me," Harry told the carpet.

"What else did they do Harry?" Dumbledore questioned softly.

"They… you know… h-hit me… and stuff," Harry explained lamely.

"Did they hit you or beat you?" Dumbledore asked calmly.

"They b-beat me I guess."

"How long has this been going on, Harry?" Dumbledore sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"Well. It stopped for a while after I started going to Hogwarts," Harry started. "I think it was 'cause they were scared of me or something. So they just left me alone for the most part and…"

"Harry, when was the first time they beat you?" Dumbledore interrupted gently.

"U-um… the first time I can remember clearly was w-when I w-was f-four or f-five," Harry told the headmaster.

"Can you tell me about it?" Dumbledore asked.

"I-I'd rather n-not," Harry confessed, looking down again.

"Well can you tell me about what happened the other night?"

Harry just shook his head, willing himself not to cry.

"Harry, you're going to need to talk about it," Dumbledore informed the boy. "You can't keep this bottled up."

The tears leaked over the edge and rolled down Harry's cheek. He looked down trying to cover the fact that he was crying.

"We will understand you, Harry," Dumbledore told him. "What do you say, eh? We can talk about it over a cup of tea. Come on, now." Dumbledore stood up and walked over to Harry. He laid a hand one the boy's shoulder to lead him to the armchair, when he realized he'd gone too far. Harry was sobbing and flinched away from his touch. He was not the only one to notice. Lily rushed over to her son and held his face in her hands.

"Harry? Harry? Harry, baby, answer me!" Lily declared urgently. James, Sirius and Remus joined in trying to get the teen to snap out of it. They all shout and shook him gently.

Harry however, was trapped in that awful memory. His uncle's belt struck him one last time, before Harry felt his uncle's member brush against his upper thigh. He struggled, but his uncle held him fast around the middle. That's when he felt the pain of Vernon's length trusting inside of him. He felt sick, but he couldn't vomit due to the lack of consuming food. In and out and in and out. It seemed to go on forever, until Uncle Vernon trust one last time into him as deeply as he could, causing Harry to cry out in pain, and pulled out of him. Harry felt himself being thrown on the bed. And he cried. Then, it went black.

"Harry," someone called in the distance.

"What?" Harry tried to call back. There was no sound.

"Harry, can you hear me?" The same voice, but louder, closer, "Come on, baby, snap out of it!"

He knew that voice. "Mum…" he tried. He still couldn't hear his voice; they could.

"Yeah, baby, I'm here," Lily breathed, sounding relieved.

"Harry?" Another voice, a man's.

"Professor Dumbledore?" Harry asked. He heard his voice this time, it sounded hoarse.

"Oh, thank goodness!" cried Dumbledore. "I'm so terribly, terribly sorry, my dear boy! I forced you to relive that too soon, forgive me."

Harry's eyes fluttered open. He saw his mum, his dad, Sirius, Remus, and Dumbledore all standing over him. He was lying on a sofa of sort. He remembered now. He was in Dumbledore's office. "It's okay," he said groggily.

"No, no! I should have waited until you were ready to talk about such a terrifying ordeal." He insisted.

Harry simply smiled weakly. That's when he felt two arms snake around him. He turned his head to see his mother pulling him towards her to cradle him. He obliged. He had learned something very important today:

'Note to self: Everyone has their limits, and some memories are simply too graphic to just pretend they didn't happen.'

A/N: This chapter was kind of short but believe me the next two should be pretty lengthy! Hopefully!! Tee Hee! Well Any way… Review if you'd like!