Hi. Fourth chapter and I'm still going strong. Thanx to all the people who reviewed. Just the fact that you like my story makes me happy, so even if it's only one person, I'll make sure to complete it. Here's the next chapter. Oh yeah, I realised that I spelled Privet Drive wrong in the previous chapters, so sorry.

Don't own Harry Potter. Enjoy! ^ _^.

Legend:

Thoughts

Shouting

Normal

Miscellaneous

Chapter 4

~next morning ~

Waking up, Ron hears a voice distantly calling for someone. Memories his own, and someone else's flooded his mind at that moment. Clearing his head, he looks around the room to realise that he was still at Privet Drive.

"I'm still here. Looks like my wish won't be un-granted."

He was lost in self-pity, when he was startled by a vicious bang on his door.

"Get up you good for nothing freak! We need to eat breakfast, and my poor Duddikins is starving!"

Ron was tempted to snap back at her, when he remembered how Vernon reacted last night to him simply trying to say he was hungry, never mind what he would do if he shouted at the man's wife. So with a martyred sigh he got up to face a horrible day.

"Coming Aunt Petunia"

He changed into a T-shirt and jeans, having to loop the belt around twice to get everything to fit.

Opening the door, he never expected the cuff he received to the head.

"What took you so long you little brat?"

"I was looking for something acceptable to wear so I wouldn't burn breakfast Aunt Petunia."

"Well move faster next time", and with that she turned away sharply and went down stairs.

Not wanting anymore problems, he quickly made his way to the kitchen and started on breakfast.

Serving Vernon and Dudley their seven rashers of bacon and four eggs, and Petunia her oatmeal with fruits, Ron hurriedly but thoroughly cleaned up the cooking utensils and made his way to the kitchen corner.

At first, he doesn't notice, but then he began to wonder how it was that he knew what to do and when to do it. He pondered on it for a while, coming to the conclusion that he was probably given some of Harry's memories so as not to end up getting in more trouble.

Hearing Vernon call for him, he immediately looked up to see that everyone was finished. Hurrying to clear the table, Ron didn't even bother with trying to sneak any of the scraps left, aware of Vernon's eyes burning into his back. He cleaned and put away the dishes, then stood aside, waiting for his list of chores.

Vernon stepped up to him with barely concealed malice as he looked over the scrawny little boy, "Since you decided you would disobey house rules last night, you get to go without breakfast boy." He picked up a sheet of paper and tossed it at the boy's feet "Here are your chores. If they're not completed before I get back, you'll not get anything for dinner tonight. Am I clear?"

"Yes Uncle Vernon" Ron kept his head down and his voice docile. No way was he letting him hit him again.

"Good, now get to it"

Ron picked up the chore list off the floor and hightailed it outside to safety. Looking over the list, he decided to do the outside ones first, so that he could avoid Dudley messing them up since he was too busy watching the telly at the moment.

Chores

Paint the shed

Mow the lawn

Prune the front and back garden

Clean the gutters

Water the front and back gardens

Plant some new tulips in the front garden

Trim the shrubs out front and in the back

Water the grass, back and front

Wipe down the cupboards

Clean out the garbage area

Do the laundry

Clean the bathroom

Sweep out the rooms

Dust out the rooms

Have dinner ready by six o'clock

Sighing, Ron decided to mow the lawn and then paint the shed, hoping it would dry before Dudley messed with it.

So, for the whole day, Ron washed and cleaned and gardened, and just barely managed to finish in time before Vernon got home. He had made sure that as he did the chores, he was in Petunia's line of sight. Apparently, that wasn't enough.

"Boy, why are the flowers in the front garden torn up!? Do you think it's funny?"

Ron didn't even get the chance to think of the accusation before he found himself dragged up stairs, and thrown into his room roughly.

"Since you find it funny to ruin good people's hard work, we'll see how funny it is for you to go without dinner!"

With that Vernon slammed the door and stamped down the stairs, back to the kitchen.

Sitting there, Ron was confused for a fraction of a second before he figured out the culprit…

"Dudley"

With a shake of his head, Ron climbed into bed and wrapped the threadbare covers around him and tried to sleep of his hunger.

~ ~ the Burrow, Ottery St. Catchpole, England ~ ~

Ronnie had no idea why he was eating so much. He had surprised everyone, himself included, when he had about four servings of dinner that night. His mum had checked him for a cold, but nothing came up on the diagnostic scans.

"Maybe we should get Poppy to come and check him Arthur. I don't like how he seems so weak, even when he eats more than usual."

With that, the Weasley matriarch left Ronnie's room to floo Madam Pomfery. She returned ten minutes later with said nurse in tow.

"Now what seems to be the problem young Ronald?"

"I'm not sure madam Pomfery. I was just eating dinner, and then I felt extremely hungry and I just kept eating. In all honesty I still feel hungry." Ronnie could tell his admission worried everyone.

"Well, let's begin the tests to see what the problem is."

Two hours later, and they were still unsure of what the problem could be.

Shaking her head, Madam Pomfery, turned to the Weasley Matriarch and gave her instructions on what was best to do.

"Right now, you should check him in at St. Mungo's. I have no idea what could be causing this".

With that said, Ronnie and his parents checked him in at St. Mungo's with the staff not finding anything that could cause this strange phenomenon.

~ ~ Number 4 Privet Dr, Little Whinging, Surrey, England ~ ~

Ron jumped up to the same wake-up call the next morning, with no breakfast once more and a long list of chores to complete. This stayed the same for the rest of the week, chores, and little to no food, until the incident that would change Ron's perspective on Harry's life forever.

Ron entered his room, after Vernon threatened to beat the living daylights out of him if he did any 'freakishness' while the Mason's where here, to find a creature with big, green, tennis ball like eyes, and floppy, pointy ears. He immediately recognized the creature to be a house-elf.

He had barley closed the door when the creature went off into a hero-worship speal.

"Dobby is so honoured to meet the great Harry Potter. Dobby has come to warn Harry Potter not to go back to Hogywarts. There be danger there".

Surprise would be the least of Ron's worry at the moment. He was more worried about Vernon finding the elf in his house.

"Listen, Dobby was it? I have to return to Hogwarts. I'm in more danger here than I am there".

"No, the great Harry Potter must stay away from Hogywarts, it not being safe for you".

Ron was getting exasperated by this point, "Dobby, here I'm starved beaten ad treated as if were in your place. So no, I will not remain here to be abused."

The look Dobby was giving Ron gave him a reason to be worried.

"Then Dobby is sorry for doing this", with that the house-elf snapped his fingers, and a crash was heard from downstairs.

As Dobby popped away, Ron knew his life had pretty much dropped to a lower level of hell. This was proven by Vernon's heavy footsteps stomping up the stairs an ten minutes later with a letter clutched in his meaty fist.

"Thought to fools us by not telling us that you couldn't do your freakishness for the summer freak. Well now things are gonna be different around here".

With no friends to contact, and no way to escape, Ron felt as though the door closing was his life meeting its end.

~ Time skip ~

For the rest of the summer, Ron was beaten for even the slightest of infractions and given more chores to complete than was humanly possible for a tiny twelve year old boy.

The last day of summer, as Ron tried to sleep off his hunger pain and his bruised arm and ribs, he drifted off into a fitful sleep, to later wake up to his mum shaking him awake.

"Ronnie, wake up. You're safe sweetie, wake up."

Hearing her voice, he jumped awake, then into his mother's arms as he cried with sadness, for the experience, and relief, for it being only a dream. That is, until his mum squeezed a bit too hard, and his injuries made themselves known.

Wanting to further verify what happened, Ron asked the date and what he had been doing the day before.

"It's the 31st of August. You were with your brothers, Ginny, and Harry de-gnoming the garden." Molly answered with a confused expression.

Mind made up, he informed his parents of everything that he experienced. They were at first hesitant to believe him, but when he showed the wounds, they called Harry into the room. With how vehemently and somewhat panicky of how he refuted what Ron was saying they immediately knew Ron was telling the truth. They floo called Dumbledore to find out more.

This turned out to be a mistake.

"Albus, could you come through? We need to talk about Harry."

The minute he came through, Albus Dumbledore did a low level Legilamecy scan and found that his dirty secret on the Potter heir was out.

"Now Albus, I think….," that was as far as Molly got before he casted a wide range obliviation on the family, especially of what Ron remembered.

"You were all discussing the summer spent with Harry and whether he could come again next summer."

Turning to Ron, he placed a specific memory charm of how the summer went. With that, he turned and flooed away before the family came to.

~ ~ Hogwarts, Headmasters office, Somewhere in Scotland ~ ~

Back in his office, Dumbledore pondered on how the Weasleys could have found out about the treatment of Potter by his relatives. He belatedly thought that he should have found out more before obliviating them.

"Oh well, what's done is done. It's all for the greater good."

~ ~ somewhere in a room with a big crystal ball ~ ~

A woman with light blue pixie cut hair and fairy wings on her back paced the room angrily.

"They just had to call Dumbles, didn't they? Now that avenue to help Harry is closed."

As she grumbled, her crystal ball glowed a light blue, catching her attention. Looking into it, she found the Malfoy heir throwing a tantrum.

"It's not fair, he has an invisibility cloak, and I want one."

"Now Draco, your father and I have told you before. We are not getting you an invisibility cloak. I advise that you stop this tantrum now, before your father is informed."

The Malfoy heir stopped his tantrum, but still had a petulant look on his face. Seeing this, his mother turned to leave the room.

After the door closed, he grumbled out the words that would change his life forever.

"I wish I was Harry Potter."

The fairy like woman couldn't help the smile that appeared on her face.

"Very well young Malfoy. So you have asked, so it shall be."