So here I am with the next chapter! Hooray! But first I am going to answer some reviews
sbmcneil - Thanks for the review. From what I can tell a wizarding baby matures a lot quicker than a normal baby. From a lot of what I have read they have Harry doing lots of bouts of accidental magic at his young age.
madnessdownunder2 - It is true that they are legal in both magical and the mundane world however Ron has no plans, no money and prospects of a job and expects to live at the burrow. Molly does not want her youngest son just sitting around the burrow doing nothing and living off his parents, so basically she told him that he can go back to school or not live under her roof.
Johnny boy - My first draft of the story did in fact have Ron's thoughts about Harry's life being included but I found that it made everything very confusing. First you had what was happening, then Harrys feelings and thoughts and then on top of that Ron's feelings and thoughts. I found it difficult to write like that so I rethought my ideas.
Thankyou for all your reviews. We've passed the 1000 read mark yay! Hope you enjoy this next chapter please read and review!
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter in any shape or form .
Chapter 4 – The Dursley's
Life at the normal looking house of the Dursley's, number four Privet Drive had not been good for Harry. For as long as he could remember they had made his life miserable, a living hell. If you looked around the house though you would never find any evidence of him being there. There were no pictures of him anywhere, not that he'd want to be included in the Dursley's photos, and Dudley was large enough for the both of them. No, his Aunt had always said that he was too much of an eyesore with his untameable hair, not to mention the lightning bolt scar hidden beneath his bangs, which Harry thought was a bit unfair, after all Dudley was like a pig in a wig and no one should have to look at that!
One of Harry's first questions to his aunt had been where his scar came from. She had answered quickly with disdain 'from the car crash that killed your parents' and that was that. He'd never got any more information about his parents, he didn't even know what they looked like. He'd soon learnt not to ask questions, or argue with his uncle. The first time he had uncle Vernon had slapped his face really hard, locking him in his cupboard for the weekend. That had been when he was three and he had now learnt that his crying was ignored. He hated being locked in his cupboard for extended periods of time but he also thought of it now as a sanctuary of some sort. A place he could go to remove the Dursley's from his sight, though not out of earshot, uncle Vernon always spoke loudly making sure no one didn't hear his comments, they were normally about how great of a son Dudley was and complaining about customers at work.
Today was the thirty first of July, his birthday. He was 6 today. He knew the Dursley's never celebrated his birthday like they did Dudley's, plus they never even told him when his birthday was he'd found out himself by looking on the class registration at school. For a six year old Harry could read exceptionally well, this could be due to the fact that whenever Dudley got given books he never read them, he stashed them in his second bedroom where Harry would then pinch them, making sure to return them when finished.
Harry's thoughts returned to the hot drinks that he was preparing, he didn't want to scold himself with the hot water because he wasn't paying attention. He finished the three cups of tea and carefully placed them on the tray. It wouldn't do to break aunt Petunias best china which was mainly reserved for guests, in this case Aunt Marge, uncle Vernon's sister. He walked carefully with the tray to the garden putting it onto the new expensive garden table where the three adults were sitting under the shade of the parasol. Dudley was not here, he was most likely playing on his new Atari game station that had been brought for his birthday. Harry was surprised that it had lasted this long, his last one had been kicked out of the window.
He handed each cup and saucer to his relatives, starting with Aunt Marge as she was the guest. She was the most unpleasant women he had ever met and he despised her. He hated when she came to visit, which was about this time every year. She would stay for a week and in that time made Harry life even more miserable than it already was. What made it worse was that where Aunt Marge went, so did Ripper. Ripper was one of Aunt Marge's bulldogs that she bred. Now Harry was an animal lover, cats, dogs he loved them, but Ripper was entirely different. Ripper was evil. The first time he'd tried to pet the small dog his hand had been nearly ripped off. Harry looked at Ripper with clear dislike. He'd like to give Ripper a good kick. He looked back at Aunt Marge who was making her usual snide comments about him.
"Took your time boy," she sniped. Harry bit his lip with indignation, he didn't want to backchat her, it would be a big mistake. "It's good to see the little runt helping with the chores around the house, he needs to work for his keep. I don't know how you do it Petunia dear, if he was dropped on my doorstep he'd go straight to the orphanage where all the unwanted misfits go. He'd fit right in." Aunt Petunia nodded her head before waving Harry away. Harry was more than happy to leave until, when stepping backwards he heard a loud yelp. The colour drained out of his face. 'Oh no! Not Ripper' he thought. He could see the anger in Aunt Marge's face as she checked Rippers tail.
"How dare you stand on rippy-poo's tail! Oh if I had my cane right now I'd hit you to kingdom come," she shouted, specks of spittle flying out her mouth in her anger. Harry instinctively flinched at the threat. What was she going to do with him, he fought the urge to run, and if he ran it normally made the punishment he received much worse. He watched as she put Ripper back down on the ground. "Teach that boy a lesson Ripper."
'Not Ripper!' Harry thought. He'd eat him that was for sure. He panicked and started to back away from the already growling dog. He looked around spotting a tree that he could climb, if he could just reach there before Ripper got him. He started to run, Ripper on his heels barking madly. Reaching the tree Harry quickly pulled himself up out of reach of Ripper's jaw. He heard the adult's laughter and brought his knees to his chest, watching as Ripper prowled around the bottom of the tree like on guard duty. He wondered how long he'd be up there for.
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Harry Potter was now ten years old, nearly eleven but his life had not gotten any better than it had been when he was six. In fact it had gotten worse. As he got gotten older his Uncle had beat him more and more, using him as a punch bag for all his problems. Of course all the bruises were in places not usually seen like on his torso or legs to avoid any accusations. Then there was the fact that he was now forced to cook breakfast every morning and all the chores around the house after he returned from school. With all the rubbish in his life no one would blame him to lash out at his relatives in times of stress but Harry didn't. For all that he had gone through he was still a caring, smart boy. He put this mainly down to being able to get away from his relatives during the day. There was still Dudley to deal with but they would not ever go into the library, and that was where Harry spent most of his time during breaks. He hid away from Dudley's game of 'Harry Hunting', but also to get away from the cruel remarks of his fellow class mates. He much preferred his own company anyway, steeling himself over the years of rejection. The amount of time Harry spent in the library had made him much smarter than Dudley (not a hard feat!) but had gotten him punished by his Aunt and Uncle for apparently cheating, they believing that there was no possible way for him to know more than their darling son. He learned that day that no one would ever accept him as he was, he was a freak that should have died in the car crash with his parents. There were many times where Harry had wished this to be true, if he had died he wouldn't have to go through so much pain and he could be with the parents who loved him, not the relatives that despised him. And then there were the nightmares he constantly had, consisting of a cruel laugh and a flash of green light. He always awoke from these dreams in a cold sweat and then because he didn't want to return to sleep would read the books he had smuggled into his cupboard from the school library. He rarely had more than five hours sleep every night. If he thought the dreams were odd it was nothing compared to what else unexplainable had happened in his life. Once Aunt Petunia had cut off all his hair in a fit of rage only for it to have all grown back, exactly as it was before by the next morning. Another time he had been running from Dudley and his gang, somehow ending up on top of the school roof. None of his explanations had been believed and the punishment from his Uncle had been truly severe. But that was nothing compared to what had happened on Dudley's birthday. Somehow he had managed to set a snake on his cousin and friend Piers Polkiss on the trip to the zoo. He'd tried to explain to his Uncle that he was not responsible but again he had not been believed. He had finally been let out of his cupboard today, the start of the summer holidays. He already wished he was back in his cupboard. He'd had to see Dudley parade around the house in his Smelting's Uniform, he looked like a right pompous idiot he thought smiling to himself. He was glad he didn't have to wear that! He finished serving breakfast and was ordered to go get the post. He sighed, and did as he was told.
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He couldn't believe how lucky he was. He was finally getting away from the Dursley's, well ok so it was only for the school term but he didn't have to come back here until next summer holidays which, in his mind was the best news he had ever received. Since he'd arrived back from Diagon Alley with Hagrid, the Dursley's had kept away from him and Harry was more than happy with the arrangement. He had started to read his school books almost immediately, greedy for more knowledge about the wizarding world. He found them all immensely interesting, especially the potions one. It sounded just like cooking and that was something he knew he was good at.
He paused his reading to stroke his new friend and familiar Hedwig. He was very fond of his new owl as she was his first birthday present given to him by Hagrid. He was also very fond of Hagrid. The large man had been kind to him, telling him all about the wizarding world and he had also learnt some more information on his parents. He was glad that they were brave and caring, the descriptions Hagrid had given him were more than he could ever have expected. Hedwig nipped his finger affectionately and Harry looked back down at the book he was reading. Whilst in Flourish and Blotts he had managed to persuade Hagrid to let him buy some extra books so that he knew what to look forward to in the wizarding world. So Harry was now the proud owner of Quidditch Through The Ages, Hogwarts A History and An Introduction To The Magical World. Harry had been most excited to reach about Quidditch as it sounded very interesting, also Hagrid had told him his father had been a great player. At the moment he was reading Hogwarts A History by Bathilda Bagshot. The book was very interesting, explaining a lot about how the school was run, like the housing system. It also told a lot about how the school had been founded by four powerful wizards a long time ago. He smiled as he turned the page, he couldn't wait to get there.