A/N - So, here's Chapter 1. :) R+R

Disclaimer: I do NOT own any of the characters or locations. The plot, however, is all mine. :)

Chapter 1

I'm the boy with the big green eyes and the hair that won't stay in place. I'm the boy who's too thin and too pale, because I grew up in a cupboard. I'm the boy with all the scars, because I hold the wizarding world on my shoulders. I'm Harry Potter.

And if there's any question as to who I am, all I have to do is raise my fringe. Oh, yes, the scar. The Boy-Who-Lived. The bloody Chosen One. The one who made Lord Voldemort mysteriously disappear when he was only a baby. Oh, I know him.

I'm only eleven. After my parents were murdered by Lord Voldemort, he tried to kill me. But somehow, the curse rebounded on him, and I was left alive. I was sent to live with my mother's sister and her family.

My aunt is not a good-looking woman. She is thin and bony, with a long neck used exclusively for spying on the neighbors. Her face looks remarkably like a horse. That is Petunia Dursley.

My uncle, Vernon Dursley, is even worse. He is fat and beefy, with almost no neck. His face is big and blotchy and he has mean little eyes. Sometimes, when he gets mad, he narrows his eyes so much they seem to sink into his head and the fat covers them up. But if I ever said that to him, he'd beat me senseless.

That being said, it is easy to see that they are related to their son, Dudley Dursley. Dudley looks like his father. He is fat and loves to eat. His favorite hobby is hitting me, but I'm faster than him and can usually get away. Once he broke my glasses though, right on the bridge of the nose. Aunt Petunia taped them up, but they're still awfully flimsy. Maybe when I get to Hogwarts I can get someone to fix them.

My aunt and uncle don't like me. They have always spoiled Dudley. He gets all the gifts and all the attention. Hell, I've never even received a birthday gift.

But now, I've got something way better than a single birthday gift. I've got a wand and an owl and a ticket to get on the train to Hogwarts.

Last month, I received a letter in the mail for the first time. It was from a school called Hogwarts. My aunt and uncle hadn't let me read it. Uncle Vernon had snatched it away with one big, beefy hand and scanned the address with his eyes. The more he read, the purpler his face became.

"Give it here! Give it here!" I had cried, jumping up and reaching towards it with desperate hands. He slapped me hard across the face and my jumping came to a sudden halt as my glasses flew off my face and tumbled to the floor. I immediately dropped to my knees and groped about for them. As soon as my hand came into contact with the cold metal that it had been searching for, I straightened and pushed my glasses up the bridge of my nose.

"No," he growled. "This letter was misaddressed."

"No, it's not! It's mine, not yours! Give it back!" I jumped once more to show how much I wanted to read my letter.

"That's effing enough!" he burst out. The letter went soaring through the air as he threw his hands up in anger. I prepared myself to spring up and catch it, but I was abruptly interrupted by Uncle Vernon's powerful fists. He hit me again and again — in the ribs, almost certainly breaking a few; in the stomach, knocking the wind out of me; and in the face, breaking my glasses. The lens cracked and they fell to the floor once again.

I bit my lip bloody as I struggled not to make a sound. I felt as if I would lose consciousness at any moment. Uncle Vernon lifted me up by the collar and slammed me up against the door of my cupboard (yes, I live in a cupboard). I let out a tiny whimper and he slammed me up against the door again.

"Don't you ever defy me again, do you hear?" he hissed. I almost didn't hear him. I was staring at the floor and struggling to stay awake. When I didn't provide him with a prompt answer, he slammed me up against the door again. "DO YOU HEAR?"

"Yes. Yes," I whimpered, slumping. He let me fall to the ground, hard. I lay there for a moment before he picked me up again, this time by the neck. He raised me up slowly, strangling me. I was pressed up against the wall as he cut off my wind pipe. My feet began kicking out everywhere, trying to hit him and make him let go. I succeeded only in smashing my feet into the wall multiple times, until I was exhausted. My feet hurt terribly now and Uncle Vernon just kept pressing harder and harder against my wind pipe. Darkness was playing at the edges of my vision.

"What the hell are you doing in there, you little...?" Aunt Petunia trilled as she stomped towards the stairs. But when she saw what was truly happening, she gasped. "Vernon! VERNON! Stop it! You'll kill him! Do you know what that will mean for our family? VERNON! LISTEN TO ME!"

After a warning from my uncle that was growled into my throbbing ear, he let me go. I immediately crumpled. I wanted to get up — to pull myself to my feet, not only to swagger about the house and say that I could take anything Uncle Vernon threw at me, but also to just get to my cupboard — to stagger inside and collapse on the little dirty cot that was my bed. But since I was unable to do either, I was left on the ground in a little puddle of my own blood. I would stay collapsed on the ground, next to my glasses that were in an equal state of disrepair, all night.

Well, surprisingly enough, my aunt and uncle had ended up taking me to the hospital. I think that they were scared that I would die if I wasn't cared for properly. They told the doctors that I had suffered a bad biking accident. But that didn't explain the finger-shaped bruises on my neck. I don't think they ever mentioned it, though.

That was the first time I've ever been to the hospital. I've never received medical care from a professional before. But Uncle Vernon has never beaten me that severely in the past. Or maybe it's because someone in the world would have noticed that I was gone — now that I've had contact with the wizarding world, that is. Whatever the reason, I still have the scars.

Now you understand why I have to go to Hogwarts — why I can't wait. Hogwarts is a chance to get away from my relatives and learn about magic! What could be better than that?