Disclaimer: I still do not own Harry Potter.

Thank you all for the wonderful reviews! I am so glad you all are loving the story!

This is a note to all my old readers. I am changing this story around a bit because I have come to the conclusion that I can no longer write about what Uncle Vernon did to Harry on my first go-round. It was too violent, too vile, too horrible. I can't say that what I will write this time will be much better, but what I had Vernon do to Harry last time, I simply cannot repeat. I'm sorry if this disappoints any of my old readers, but I hope you still enjoy the story.

Warning: This chapter contains descriptions of different kinds of abuse. If you don't like reading that, just skip past it.

Chapter 3: Hell on Earth

Harry woke up the next morning, a bad feeling churning in his gut. He stared out the window, knowing that Uncle Vernon or Aunt Petunia would be calling him downstairs any minute now to ask him to cook breakfast for "sweet little Duddykins." Sure enough, Uncle Vernon barked, "Boy! Get down here NOW!"

Harry sighed and made his way downstairs. He got out things to cook with, and made eggs, bacon, and pancakes not only for Dudley, but for the adults as well. He served a small helping to himself, but Uncle Vernon said: "You're not eating anything today, boy. Do you know what your freakishness has done? Did you know I was let go from my drilling company, you worthless scum? You caused it, didn't you?"

"No!" Harry said, shocked. "I'm sorry you were let go, but it wasn't me ..."

"Shut your mouth, boy!" screamed Uncle Vernon.

"You are the most ungrateful ingrate I've ever known," said Aunt Petunia. "My husband is now unemployed because of you. And we also know that in a week's time you are going to live with that freak Sirius Black, the same man who was on the news last year! Innocent? I don't think so! He looked mad!"

"Please, Aunt Petunia," said Harry timidly, "he is innocent."

"THAT's ENOUGH!" bellowed Uncle Vernon. "Don't you dare speak to your aunt like that! Get in the cupboard, NOW!"

Harry didn't move. The cupboard? Oh, no! he thought. He wondered why he was being made to go to the cupboard. Ever since he'd received his Hogwarts letter, he'd been given Dudley's second bedroom because his relatives were scared of what the wizards would do to them. But Harry thought it was probable that now, since he was only staying for one more week, he was being told to go back where he used to live.

"Your uncle told you to do something," Aunt Petunia said, "and you're supposed to obey him! Go to the cupboard, NOW!"

Without another word, Harry did as he was told. He got out of his chair, left his meager serving of breakfast for someone else to eat, and went to the cupboard, closing the door behind him.

He had nothing to do for the rest of the morning. All he could think about was what it would be like to live with Sirius and Remus. He thought of the picture album of his parents under the loose floorboard in his room. He remembered their faces, laughing and smiling as they had their arms around each other. He remembered how handsome Sirius had been, and how Peter had hung around in the background.

He thought of Ron and Hermione, probably having fun in their houses. He couldn't help the jealousy he felt. Don't worry, one more week and you'll be out of here, he kept thinking to himself.

He thought of Pettigrew, and what a horrible person he was now. He remembered Cornelius Fudge saying, "The Dark Lord is dead, Pettigrew." Later, Ron had asked why Fudge had called Voldemort the Dark Lord, since that was the name given to him only by his supporters, who were called Death Eaters. Harry and Hermione had answered that he probably called him the Dark Lord because he was imitating Pettigrew. After all, he'd said it in a mocking tone. They'd been sure that Fudge was no Death Eater.

At lunchtime, Harry was called out of the cupboard to make lunch, and then at dinnertime to make dinner. Between times, he was just stuck in the cupboard, watching spiders crawl around the area. He wished he at least had a book to read, or his photo album to look at. He started thinking nasty thoughts, thoughts that he should have let Sirius kill Peter for depriving him of loving parents. But a bigger part of him said that two wrongs didn't make a right, that Sirius would have probably been sent back to Azkaban and he'd be stuck with the Dursleys until he was seventeen, the age of adulthood in the wizarding world.

The next day passed in much the same way. But things got much, much worse that night.

Uncle Vernon had gone out to a bar to drink away his sorrows of being unemployed. Aunt Petunia and Dudley had gone out to dinner, and they were still out when Vernon came home. He was drunk, and the first place he went to was the cupboard. "Hello, freak," he said mockingly as he opened the door. "Having fun in there?" He then pulled Harry up by the hair, since he was lying down. He then made him stand in front of him, and then Vernon proceeded to start hitting him and punching him.

Harry couldn't believe what was happening. His uncle had never gone this far before. Sure, he'd had to put up with being called a "freak" for years. Sometimes he wondered if he really was one. Bad things always happened around him, what with Voldemort always wanting his hide. Ginny almost died because of him, Professor Quirrell had died because of him, his parents had died for him. How many other people would die just because of one thirteen-year-old boy?

"worthless scum!" Vernon snarled with each punch. "You are a freak! You should have never been born! I'm glad your rotten parents snuffed it, you bastard! How dare your freakishness get me unemployed!"

"Please stop, Uncle Vernon!" Harry gasped. "Please!"

"Shut your filthy mouth, you little sonuvabitch," Vernon sneered. "You deserve all of this, you know you do."

Was Uncle Vernon right? Harry wondered. Was this his punishment for almost getting people killed?

After it was over, he had a few bruises on him, but he knew that with his magic, they would probably heal within the next day or two.

xxx

The next few days got progressively worse and worse. Uncle Vernon began to do more and more damage. He started to call him even more names, and threatened him that if he told any one of those freaks about what was happening in the house, then he'd be killed. Harry lay on his small, dingy cot every night, tears running down his face. He wished for Sirius, Remus, even Snape, anyone to take him away from all this.

Things came to a head, though, on Harry's last night there. He was sitting miserably in his cupboard when Vernon, drunk and in a towering rage, dragged him out by his hair. The punches and the kicks were harder this time, and Harry's screams reverberated throughout the house.

He didn't think that things could get any worse than this, but he was dead wrong when Uncle Vernon left the living room, where he had tossed Harry after he'd had his fill of punching him. A few minutes later, he came back, holding something in his hand.

Harry's mouth opened in horror when he saw what it was: it was Hedwig, his precious owl, the first thing he'd received when he was introduced to the magical world by Hagrid.

"Give her back to me!" he cried, his voice shaking.

"I don't think so," snarled Uncle Vernon, putting his beefy hands around the owl's neck and squeezing tight. Tears came to Harry's emerald eyes and fell down his face as Hedwig emitted several awful screeching sounds. After what seemed like an eternity, she went terribly limp and still.

She was dead.

xxx

Sirius Black had a bad feeling. A very, very bad feeling. Dumbledore and he had finally got all the papers signed by them and the Ministry, so he was going to pick up Harry a day early. He figured that Harry would like to leave the Dursleys sooner rather than later. Remus had already moved in the nice little apartment they'd rented until they found a house.

But Sirius's gut was telling him that something bad was happening to Harry. He and Remus were just making their way to 4 Privet Drive now; they'd already apparated onto the street. Sirius had heard about Lily's Muggle sister and her whale of a husband before; Lily had told him that they hated all things magical.

"Harry'll be okay, Sirius," comforted Remus. "Don't worry so much."

"I hope he is," Sirius said. "Or I'll teach those Dursleys something they'll never forget."

"But you've got to stay calm, Sirius. Don't go over the edge. The last thing you want to do is get yourself landed back ..."

"Yeah, yeah, Remus, back in Azkaban, I know, I know."

So far, Sirius had not really talked about Azkaban with Remus; the subject was too painful. They kept putting it off, promising themselves that they'd talk about it later. They'd both silently agreed to not talk about it in front of Harry, though.

As they reached the front door of the house, Sirius and Remus went cold as they heard screaming from inside. They knew whose screams it was. "Please, please, Uncle Vernon, stop!" Harry was shouting. They then heard a mocking voice mimicking his words and then evil, fanatical laughter.

"Alohamora!" Sirius shouted, not wasting any more time. His spell was so forceful that the door flew off the hinges and landed on the floor. Not caring one bit, he ran into the house, Remus following closely behind him.

What they saw made their blood run cold. Harry was screaming, crying hysterically, with cuts and bruises all over his body. Vernon Dursley dangled an obviously dead owl in front of his nose, laughing mockingly.

Sirius snarled out a spell. The man went flying into the air and landed twenty feet away.

"What've you done to my godson?" bellowed Sirius. "How fucking dare you do such a thing, you fat bastard!" He lunged at the man, punching him for all he was worth. Remus just stood there, not even trying to make Sirius stop. He was so shocked at what he had seen, and his usually calm exterior gave way to such anger that he had never known before.

"The freak deserved all of it," Vernon snarled. "He got me unemployed, the ungrateful little ..."

"Shut the hell up!" the uncharacteristic voice of Remus Lupin shouted. Sirius raised his wand, muttering another spell which made boils spring up all over Vernon. Vernon screamed, and Sirius started to laugh, the same laugh he'd laughed the day Peter Pettigrew had exploded the street. The laugh chilled Remus to the bone. Sirius had lost himself; he seemed to be in his own world now. The werewolf went over to him and rapped him on the shoulder. "Sirius! Sirius!"

Sirius stopped laughing and turned to Remus. "Moony, help me!" he cried. "Help me curse the hell out of this waste of a human being!"

"As much as I want to," Remus snarled, angrily turning to Vernon, "it's against the law. And we're here for Harry now. We have to get to him."

Immediately, Sirius ran over to where Harry was. He was rocking back and forth, sobbing. "Harry? Harry?" Remus said gently, picking him up. He was so light; it seemed as though he'd lost some weight. "Harry, it's us. You're getting out of here. We're taking you away."

Harry tried to fight Remus, shouting, "No, no, no! Not again, not again! I don't want to be hurt anymore ... Hedwig, oh, God, Hedwig ..."

Sirius grabbed Harry's hand and tried to mutter soothing words to him. "Harry, it's Sirius and Remus. We're not going to hurt you. We're here to help." Finally, Harry began to calm down. He relaxed in Remus's arms, but the tears still came thick and fast down his cheeks.

Sirius turned back to Vernon. "I hope you die a slow, painful death," he bellowed, his face as red as a tomato. "I hope you burn in hell for what you've done." He sent another spell at the man, knocking him to the floor. He then kicked him viciously in the ribs, causing Vernon to moan. "Shut up!" he jeered at him, and then, following Remus, walked out the door, Sirius holding Hedwig in his arms.

xxx

Remus then apparated him and Harry to the little apartment, Sirius following suit. Harry was still crying, and muttering words like, "I'm sorry Hedwig, I'm sorry Hedwig, I'm a freak ... I'm a freak ..."

This broke Sirius and Remus's hearts. How long had this abuse been going on? Harry was bleeding from all kinds of bruises, and the two men decided to call Madam Pomfrey. After they'd "gently laid Harry down in his new room, Remus offered to stay with him while Sirius made the necessary calls.

He first called Albus Dumbledore, angrily asking him to come to the house. He asked him to bring Poppy Pomfrey with him. Immediately sensing that this was urgent, Dumbledore at once agreed.

When they arrived, Sirius shooed Poppy into Harry's room. After this, it was just he and Dumbledore facing each other. He put a Silencing Charm on the room, and Dumbledore immediately knew that Sirius Black was going to yell and scream.

"What the devil did you think you were doing, Dumbledore!" Sirius bellowed angrily. "How could you send him to that hellhole? Did you know what that monster he calls an uncle was doing to him? HE KILLED HIS OWL! And he has bruises all over his body! "Oh, that was the best place for him,"" Sirius mocked, repeating the words Dumbledore had said when he was referring to the Dursleys. "Bullshit! Do you know he'll be scarred for life now because of this experience? It's a good thing Remus and I arrived when we did, because he could have been killed! But I already feel guilty enough that we hadn't arrived earlier, we could have saved him from this before the worst happened! And don't you dare say you're sorry, Dumbledore, that you didn't know! You knew all along that Lily's sister and brother-in-law hated all things magical! Did you know that when Harry arrived here, he was saying what a burden he thought he was, and what a freak he thought he was? You're going to have to repair this, you old fool! You're going to have to help him!"

Dumbledore's face was white, and his eyes had filled with tears. He'd never felt so worn-out, tired, and terrible. He couldn't have imagined in his wildest dreams that Harry was being hurt to that extent. He'd placed him with the Dursleys because they were the only living relatives he had left. He couldn't place him with Remus unless there was someone else living with them, because the laws said that since Remus was a werewolf, he couldn't take care of a child alone. Now he was looking at an angry, grief-stricken man who'd just come out of the bowels of the worst prison on Earth, a man who'd had to see his sweet, innocent godson being brutally handled by a monster.

"I won't say I'm sorry," Dumbledore sighed. "Those are just empty words. And you have every right to be furious with me, Sirius. But I truly didn't know what was going on. But I'll do everything I possibly can to try to make up for this. I'm going to call the Aurors, and get Vernon Dursley arrested." Tears fell into his beard. Sirius softened a little; he had never seen Albus Dumbledore lose his composure before. Even when they'd lost good people in the first war against Voldemort all those years ago, Dumbledore had always seemed to grieve in private.

There was still anger in Sirius's eyes, though, and he said, "Merlin hopes that you do, old man, because if you don't, I'll never speak to you again! And I don't care if the Ministry warns me about using magic on Harry's fat uncle, he deserved it!"

Dumbledore sighed. "I know, Sirius," he said softly. "I had guessed you used it on him. You will probably be fined for it. I am not going to reprimand you at this point, but I will tell you to refrain from using magic on Muggles again."

"I don't care how much they fine me," muttered Sirius. "I couldn't give a damn."

Dumbledore nodded. "I know. Now, then, Shall we go and check on Harry?"

"I don't want you going anywhere near him," snapped Sirius. "Come back another time. I'm sure you're the last person he wants to see right now."

"Very well," Dumbledore said miserably. He took a pinch of floo powder, said, "Hogwarts!" and disappeared in a burst of green flames.

Sirius quietly went into Harry's room, where Remus was still holding him in his arms. Poppy was just leaving as Sirius was entering. "I've healed all his bruises," she said, wiping tears from her eyes. What she had seen today caused her to feel more sadness and more anger than she ever had in her life.

"Thank you, Poppy," Sirius said. "We'll call you if we need you again."

Poppy left, and Sirius walked into the room. "Harry's exhausted," the werewolf said as he spotted Sirius. "He's just fallen asleep."

"I think we should stay with him tonight," Sirius said.

"Yes, I think we should," said Remus. "Sirius, what are we going to do?"

"Well, we should definitely press charges," Sirius said, growing angry again. "That monster deserves Azkaban. A Muggle who hates magic so much should be put in the worst magical place imaginable after committing such crimes."

Remus was usually a forgiving person, but when it came to his best friend's son and a boy he'd grown to love, he agreed wholeheartedly with the way Sirius handled things. "We should talk to Dumbledore in the morning," he said. "But I'm worried about Harry. If I know him, he won't want to because he'll be scared of what Vernon might do to him."

"But we have to tell him he needs to!" exclaimed Sirius.

"I know, Padfoot," Remus sighed. "But how are we going to tell him he'll need to talk at the trial? This has been so traumatic for him, how on Earth are we going to tell him he needs to relive it?"

"I don't know," said Sirius, head in his hands. "This is too much. What would James say if he were here? He'd have murdered the bastard, that's what he'd've done."

"Yeah, he would have," Remus said. "He wouldn't have cared if he'd gotten himself a cell in Azkaban. He'd have given him a slow, painful death. That's certainly what I wanted to do. The wolf in me was having a hard time keeping itself inside. He wanted to claw that monster to death."

The two men then sat in silence, watching Harry peacefully sleep. He looked so innocent in Remus's arms, so relaxed. No one could imagine the pain this poor boy had gone through. Sirius had grown up in a home which was unhappy, and his parents hadn't loved him, but he'd never been hurt or humiliated to that extreme. He'd run away at sixteen and then been given a loving second home with the Potters, and he'd been very lucky to get away. But Harry, oh Harry, Sirius thought, his heart constricting painfully at the sight of him. "Harry, we're going to get through this," he whispered to the sleeping thirteen-year-old boy. "Remus and I will show you all the love you deserve. You're a wonderful boy, and you're not a freak."

The two men didn't leave Harry for the rest of the night. They spoke in whispers, and once, when Harry started thrashing around in a horrible nightmare, they did their best to calm him, and in the end, it worked. He fell back into a peaceful slumber, and Sirius and Remus both sent prayers to Merlin that the boy would be all right. No matter what, they'd get through this together.