The Dursley household was well known up and down the street for being a little bit strange.
It had all started those years ago when the nephew of Petunia Dursley had arrived and been taken into their loving home. There was something about that boy's arrival that made them all a little rough around the edges.
Petunia looked like she had bitten into a sour lemon when seeing the boy. She would mutter something about 'lily' and 'green eyes' and 'freaks', her eyes bugging out in fear and anger.
Vernon did his best to smile it away, but everyone knew what the vein popping in his neck meant, but they did not want to risk a fight with the man. He was known for his love of barfights back in college, after all.
Dudley did not hide his disdain for the boy, but then again, kids will be kids after all. No one cared what Dudley had to say. All they cared about was the fact that they finally knew who was egging houses in the night.
The nephew in question was an anomaly.
Good grades, a polite and quiet boy, though he, oddly enough, had an American accent. He would have been the most normal of the bunch if it weren't for his accent.
Such a strange family, those Dursleys.
"And you can stay in there until you learn your lesson!"
Booker uncovered his ears when he was sure Vernon had left the area.
By God, that man could yell.
He wasn't quite sure what he had done this time, and, quite frankly, he didn't care.
Nothing better than pissing off that man.
But the grumbles of hunger were loud, and Booker didn't want to risk the belt again because he was 'too loud'. He had to find some way to get food. It had been quite a few days since he had a full meal and it was starting to take a toll on him.
He wondered what Elizabeth would do.
Probably open up a tear to a banquet and eat to her heart's desire. She like cotton candy, right? She'd probably eat a lot of that.
He grimaced. How he envied her.
The strange threads of time and space were always loosely woven around her.
It was almost like he could see them, he mused, settling down for a lonesome and starving night.
Wait.
He blinked.
He blinked again.
Booker DeWitt, with his own two eyes, could see a tear right next to him.
Could... could he open it? Could he go through it?
Could he escape?
He reached for it, and instead of his fingers falling through the static, he hit something soft, yet solid.
The tear.
Something in his stomach sparked. Hope, perhaps?
He opened it, ever so carefully, like silk curtains, and inside was a sandwich. Simple, ham and lettuce, but still food.
It was devoured in minutes, and Booker stared with wonder as the tear closed.
He hadn't had a chance to go through. Would things have been different there?
Perhaps. Perhaps not. It was too late now.
He curled up his childish body and settled down for the night.
Tears began to pop up in many places as Booker continued living in the Dursleys' cupboard.
When his homework was torn to shreds by his 'cousin' he got it back.
When he needed food, it was available.
When he needed new clothing, it would be there, just the right amount worn to pass for his clothing but with no holes and no stains.
Sometimes they were something major, sometimes for the most simple things, though it seemed like Booker was the only one who could see them.
He could never go through, though.
He had tried many times, but something stopped wasn't sure what. Something cold coiled around his neck and limbs when he tried, and he was forced to turn away for fear of being choked by this strange feeling holding him back.
He stopped trying when he hit eight. He was growing up relatively healthy, he supposed. He had access to food and it annoyed the Dursleys to no end. Vernon wasn't too violent, as it was hard to hide bruises and Booker wasn't known for being clumsy. In fact, the family had left him alone for the most part.
Not that he cared, of course. They could go rot and he still wouldn't.
He had contemplated running away several times, but for some reason never did.
Then, the night before his tenth birthday, he tried to run away.
No sense in not trying, after all.
He made it about ten blocks are was about to turn down an alleyway when an old man in a strange billowing robe decorated in constellations appeared nearby with a pop.
"Now now, not this again Harry," the man said.
'Again?' Booker had run away before? He was sure he would have memory of that.
Something wet dripped from his nose but he couldn't focus on that. He turned a corner in an alleyway only to come face to face with the weird old man.
"I'm sorry about this, my boy. Obliviate."
Alarmed, Booker grabbed the the top of a nearby trash bin in an attempt to defend himself, and just in time, as the spell bounced off the metal and hit the old man, knocking him to the ground.
Ignoring the dazed man, Booker took off into the suburbs.
His mind was in a daze. memories of the man having done that before were breaking through into his mind, and as he pieced things together, he realized that it must have been a spell for memory erasure of some sort.
He wiped at his nose, pausing at a street corner to catch his breath, and glanced at his hand, noting the blood.
His memories were being toyed with. He never quite enjoyed that.
Booker spent three weeks on the streets, eating food from tears and trash bins and sleeping in trees and parks before the old man came back again, with assistance from a hook-nosed man.
"Harry, my boy, you must return to your family." The old man's eyes twinkled a bit, but his voice was sinister. "It's not safe here for you."
"Not much of a family," Booker bit back. "I'm no safer there. You obviously know how the Dursleys treat me."
The other man paused hearing that, but his wand was still held high.
"Harry-"
"Obliviate!"
Booker threw as much of his vigor, magic, whatever, at the old man, and hit him in the gut, sending him flying.
He stared in wonder at his hands, at how much power he held, and failed to notice a red light hit him in the side of the head.
His last thought was that he really needed to work on being more aware of his surroundings.
Snape cursed as he casted a floating charm on both Dumbledore and the Potter boy.
Dursley. Dursley. That was not a pureblood name.
He was under the impression that Lily's son was in the care of a light pureblood family, pampered and arrogant.
Regardless, he took Dumbledore back to the castle before heading to this 'Dursley' household to drop off the boy.
He knocked on the front door with more than enough vigor, wanting to get this over with.
"Yes-"
"You-"
Petunia Evans stared at him in horror, and he stared back in much the same way.
Her expression morphed into fury. "You! You and your kind think you can just drop this freak of a boy on our doorstep? He ran away! We don't want him and he doesn't want us!"
"You hardly have a choice in the matter, Tuney," Severus sneered, dropping the boy on the floor. "He's your responsibility. Put up with him."
He left at that, and returned to Hogwarts with a sour expression.
As he brewed a memory potion for Dumbledore, he thought of Lily.
Booker woke up with a splitting headache in the cupboard again.
He cursed, and swore to himself that he would run away again one day, successfully.
"Severus?"
Albus Dumbledore lifted his head ever so slightly from his lush bed in the headmaster's quarters.
"Yes, Headmaster?" The man came in with his robes billowing behind him in far too dramatic of a manner for the old man's taste.
"What happened with Harry?"
"I left him with the Dursleys and put up some more protections in the hope that he doesn't leave again."
"Good, good."
Albus could not remember much of the night. Much of his mind was in a muddle, and a memory potion could only restore so much. He could only hope that Severus remembered to Obliviate the boy before returning him.
AN: hey everyone, pastry here.
second chapter. third on the way. since i draw, i might make a cover image as well, but no guarantee bc im a lazy shit.
sorry these past two chapters have been so short. i want to write longer chapters but can't cram enough into the chapters. when the hogwarts days come up, the plot will thicken, as well as the chapters (hopefully).
if you guys ever notice some typos or want something that can be clarified, feel free to let me know, and i will do so, as long as i don't have to reveal any spoilers.
hope you guys have a nice day. feel free to leave a review on your way out (if you'd like to, of course.).