Disclaimer: I do not own or have any rights to Harry Potter.

I hope you enjoy this story that I got from katie13 (yes another one) that she said that she had never put up on this site.

Chapter 12

After Harry had finished eating, Anne stepped forward and took the tray away. Harry immediately shrunk back into the pillows and turned a pleading gaze onto Sirius.

Sirius, seeing his godson's fear drew Harry into his arms. Harry leaned into the hug and buried his face in Sirius' chest. He felt scared and did not want to talk to anyone but Sirius. It's not that they had done anything to him, oh no- on the contrary, Anne and Jim had always been very nice to him- But Harry just couldn't trust them, he felt like the only person in the world he could fully trust was his godfather Sirius.

Anne and Jim, seeing how uncomfortable Harry was in their presence, went out to the garden for a little while.

Sirius stayed and talked to Harry. He was worried by his godson's behavior, Harry had always been a shy child but he had never outright refused to talk to people- especially people who had shown him nothing but kindness.

"You should talk to them!" Sirius said quietly, looking Harry intently in the eyes.

Harry turned his gaze away and fiddled a bit with his pajama sleeve.

"No." he said softly, almost too softly for Sirius to hear.

Sirius became even more worried: "But, Harry- why not?"

Harry looked and felt uncomfortable. He couldn't even really explain why he didn't trust those people, he just- didn't!

"Because I don't know them!" Harry said quietly, instead of voicing his real thoughts.

Sirius sighed and drew back a little. He could tell that Harry was lying, that this was not the real reason for Harry's silence, but he didn't want to push his godson. Instead, Sirius decided to try a different approach.

He put a finger under Harry's chin and turned the boy's head toward him: "Kid, do you trust me?"

Sirius held his breath as he waited for Harry's answer. It came swiftly, without any thought.

"Yes." Harry said, this time completely honest.

Sirius inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.

"Then, I need you to do me a favor, alright, Harry? Will you do that for me?" Sirius asked, as though he was talking to a very small child. But at the moment Harry's mentality was that of a small child: scared, depending, in need of reassurance and love.

Harry nodded and asked, "What kind of favor?"

Sirius leaned forward until his and Harry's faces were almost touching: "Please, Harry," he said intently, "Please talk to them for me!"

Harry lowered his head immediately, feeling unhappy.

After about a minute of awkward silence, then Sirius said "Listen, Harry, they care about you!"

Harry's head snapped up at once.

"They do?" Harry asked in such an innocently confused tone that it almost broke Sirius' heart.

Sirius pulled Harry into his arms again and hugged him very hard, or as hard as he dared to hug his injured godson.

"Oh, Harry, of course they do! Everyone does. I care about you! Harry, you know that you can always talk to me about anything, don't you, Harry?" Sirius mumbled into Harry's raven black hair.

Harry seemed to think hard for a minute. "Sirius….." Harry said hesitantly.

"Yes, kiddo?" Sirius asked with a gentle smile and released his godson.

"I-" Harry swallowed. "Can I talk to you about- about the Dursleys?"

Sirius felt his breath quicken. Harry trusted him enough to tell him of his life with his relatives? Sirius swallowed, "Of course, Harry," he said hoarsely.

Harry nodded and took a deep breath.

"When I came-" Harry stopped, his breathing quickened. The memories of the Dursleys came rushing back all at once. Harry wanted to scream at them to stop, but he couldn't make a sound.

"Harry!"

Harry was jolted out of the stream of bad memories by Sirius' voice. Sirius, seeing that Harry was looking at him, released his godson's shoulders.

"Are you ok?" Sirius asked worriedly.

Harry took a few deep breaths to calm himself down and nodded: "Yeah, I'm fine….."

Harry trailed off. After another moment of silence, Sirius spoke again: "Alright, Harry, do you want to try again?"

Sirius looked like he didn't want Harry to continue, but Harry felt that this was something he had to do.

"When the Dursleys picked me up at the train station, Uncle Vernon yelled at me to get my trunk into the car. Then he told me to get my lazy butt inside before anyone could see me. After we had arrived at Privet Drive, I took my things upstairs to Dudley's second bedroom. Then, when I had just started to put all my things away, Uncle Vernon came barging into the room, and he-"

Harry felt his throat constrict painfully. Tears were starting to gather in the corners of his eyes.

"He-" Harry tried again, but he found that he could not continue.

Harry broke down and started to cry because he did not want to go through this.

Sirius looked alarmed and pulled Harry into a warm hug. He ran his hand through Harry's hair and asked, "What happened, Harry?"

Harry just cried harder. "He-"

Sirius was beginning to feel panicked: "Please, Harry, tell me!" Harry burrowed his face in Sirius' chest and Sirius wrapped his arms around Harry more tightly.

When he finally spoke again, Harry's voice was slightly muffled.

"He beat me and then he locked the door. And when morning came Aunt Petunia yelled like she did every morning. Then she unlocked the door and she saw that I was healed- she was shocked."

Harry had calmed down a little. Sirius was now making soothing circles on Harry's back with his hand: "Did anything else happen, Harry?"

Harry burrowed himself further in Sirius' protective embrace.

"When- when Uncle Vernon saw me he beat me again and handed me a list of chores to do. And he told me that if I did not have them all done before he came home he would beat me again!"

Harry had started to shake slightly in Sirius' arms.

"Did he?" Sirius asked quietly, though deep down, he already knew the answer and was dreading it.

Harry sighed, "Yes, he did, and then he put me back in the room and locked the door."

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