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 42

Just a note to say that I'm now back at college so my updates won't be every over day or so now as I've got to study, but I promise to not abandon any of my fics, they WILL ALL be completed so don't worry.

"Sirius," Lily said worriedly, "What is it? What's wrong with Harry?"

Sirius pushed himself away from the doorframe and stood with his back to the couch, staring into the fire. He did not want to tell Lily and James everything…..

"Padfoot," James said, sounding agitated. "What is it that's so bad that you can't tell us? What happened to our son?"

Sirius gave and almost inaudible sigh and sat down in an armchair, facing James and Lily.

"This is going to be a shock for you," Sirius said quietly. "Harry's life at the Dursleys….. was not- nice."

"My sister wasn't nice," Lily said. "I know that. But surely she wouldn't mistreat my son?"

Sirius looked at the floor.

"Oh no," whispered Lily. "Sirius, what did they do?"

"Many things," said Sirius. "For starters, they told Harry that the two of you had died in a car crash. They never told him anything about you, or himself, or about magic- Harry learned all that when he got to Hogwarts. Also, they made him do all of the house work- cooking, cleaning, weeding the garden and so on. Even when Harry was still a small child he had to work! Harry was blamed for everything that went wrong in their lives- whether it be a bad mark for Harry's cousin, or troubles at work for Vernon- Harry was always the one at fault, the freak- that's what they told him."

Lily and James had both paled dramatically during Sirius' little speech.

"They did not!" gasped James.

Sirius nodded solemnly.

"Oh, my poor boy!" Lily gushed sadly. "How could they do this to him? How?! Harry was only a little boy when-"

"This is not all," Sirius interrupted quietly. "The worst of it you don't even know yet."

"What happened?" James asked quietly.

Sirius took a deep breath and braced himself.

"Harry's uncle Vernon beat Harry and tried to kill him."

"WHAT?!" yelled Lily and James, jumping up again.

Sirius shushed them quickly ("You'll wake him!").

"Vernon wanted to sell the house, but he can't until Harry dies." Sirius elaborated.

"I know that," said Lily. "But- oh no. Sirius, has Vernon found out about the trust?"

Sirius nodded gravely.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly. "I should have protected Harry better, I should never have-"

"Stop it, Sirius," said James firmly. "It's in the past. When Harry said that he could cook, was it because of the Dursleys?"

"Yes," said Sirius. "I told you he had to do all the work."

"But why didn't Dumbledore do anything about it?" Lily asked sadly and angrily. "Why did he leave Harry in that- that- house?"

"He had no idea," said Sirius intently. "Nobody did."

"Why not?" frowned James.

Sirius shrugged.

"Harry never told us," he said. "He is one hell of an actor. He hid this from all of us, even his best friends."

There was a tense silence for a few minutes; everyone was lost in their own, dark thoughts. Finally, Sirius snorted.

"I heard that Dumbledore even had to send Hagrid with Harry's first Hogwarts letter. The Dursleys wouldn't let him have it. They kept taking the letters from Harry and burning them."

James and Lily were silently fuming and plotting the Dursleys' demise.

"There is more, though." said Sirius, reluctantly.

"What is it?" Lily asked weariness in her voice.

"When Harry came here a few weeks ago," said Sirius, "he didn't trust anyone but myself. My grandparents tried, but Harry wouldn't even talk to them. In the end, Harry agreed to take a de-aging potion. He was turned into a five-year-old to help him trust again."

"When did he return to his normal age?" asked James.

"Two days ago," said Sirius solemnly.

"And you let him become an Animagus the day after that?" Lily asked incredulously.

"It was my surprise for him," said Sirius.

"Well, I see why you didn't want us to come before." said James wryly.

Sirius nodded, ignoring the still indignantly sputtering Lily beside him: "He needed time."

Sirius stood and faced the fireplace, watching the lively crackling fire in it for a moment.

"Nobody really cared for Harry or showed him any real love since you two were killed," said Sirius in a choked whisper.

"We knew Harry's life wasn't good," said Lily unhappily, "We appeared in his room a few times, remember. But we never thought that his uncle- that it could be so bad….."

They all stared into the crackling fire for a few minutes. Tongues of fire were licking at the logs, slowly reducing them to white, glowing ash. When the fire died down because there wasn't any wood anymore, Sirius finally stirred.

"Maybe we should go to bed," he suggested quietly.

He showed James and Lily to their room and bid them 'good night'.

It was a long time before either of them fell asleep that night.

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