I STILL DON'T OWN ANYTHING ABOUT OR RELATED TO HARRY POTTER.
Aren't the Caps lock letters annoying? Anyways…
: ) Yay! Three reviews! Thanks so much, you guys are soooooo awesome! Oh, it won't be an evil Dumbledore fic. (I can't even imagine it being like that) Oh, as for my dear second reviewer, most of your questions will be answered in the chapter and you'll just have to wait and see for the rest…(evil grin) Thanks for reviewing to each of you!
The Bright Side
Chapter 2: Beaten
Harry Potter slowly sat down before the gigantic plate of delicious food piled up on the table. Sirius began to eat opposite to him, so Harry helped himself to a large mound of bacon and eggs, slowly chewing on bits of toast, knowing the moment he was done his Godfather would asking and asking questions until he nearly exploded.
"Bloody hell, did they starve you as well?" Sirius muttered, trying to be funny but disappointing himself as well. Harry didn't answer, just stared down at the ground and his feet, already seeing the widened eyes and pale face of the convicted murderer.
"I'm fine Sirius," the boy dared to say after a few moments of nothing but the clinks of a glass full of pumpkin juice being set upon the table and the scrapes of forks and knifes on plates. "It really isn't as bad as you think," he added.
"Harry," Sirius said softly as he slid his chair back and walked over to the boy. He sat down in the seat aside him and spoke calmly. "No matter what the case may be, abuse, verbal or physical, isn't right at all." His Godfather took a deep breath, sighing as he leaned on the chair. "I don't want you to get hurt, because I love you like you are my own son."
The boy smiled at his Godfather, knowing all Sirius wanted was to help him. But Harry just hated all of the attention. Harry didn't want to be pitied; Harry didn't want to be bombarded with questions. He already had all of this, abuse or not. He wished he could just be Harry, not the Boy-Who-Lived.
"I don't want you to feel like I'm forcing you to tell me this," Sirius breathed heavily. "But, Harry, it will be so much better if you do. And if you'd rather tell Dumbledore or Remus or anyone it's alright with me."
"I-I want to tell you," the boy looked up at him. "You already know, anyways."
Sirius gave a small smile and nodded slightly. "Is it only your Uncle who abuses you? Does your Aunt ever…? He trailed off, and Harry knew Sirius was beyond livid with the Dursleys.
"It's only him," said Harry, not even saying the whale-like man's name. "Aunt Petunia knows but she really doesn't do much to stop it unless she can think of an excuse for him to stop."
"What exactly does he do? Where does he hit you?" The man's face was pale white like a ghost again as he continued with the ongoing questions. "With his hands? Or a belt? Or…"
"It's usually a belt," he muttered shyly, barely audible to Sirius. "Sometimes he tells me to turn around so he can hit my back, but I usually don't and I end up getting hit on my chest or my stomach."
"Oh, Harry," the boy couldn't even imagine someone looking so horrified. The look on Sirius' face was heartbreaking, like the cruelest thing in the world had just happened. "I will kill them if they ever lay another hand on you again. I'm so sorry, Harry, I should have realized sooner."
"It's not your fault, Sirius," whispered Harry in a low voice. "It's mine, I was the one who never told anyone," he admitted sheepishly.
"No, Harry. No, never think that," Sirius put his hands gently on his Godson's shoulders. "It's hard to tell someone, I know how it feels." Harry's mouth dropped open when he understood. His face was enough to tell Sirius the question he was aching to ask. "My parents hit me, too," he whispered. "But they, mostly my father, were a bit original with their punishments."
"W-What did they do to you?"
"They used knives to cut my skin; sometimes they would use illegal curses like the Crusiatus," Sirius looked Harry in the eyes to get his last point across. "And…and I-I never told anyone, not until they were both dead, when the problem was over."
Harry didn't even know what to say. Uncle Vernon, never did anything so cruel, of course Vernon was a magic-hating muggle so the curses like that or any curses were far out of the question, but still, the worst Harry ever had to suffer was just the harsh belt beating.
"I'm fine though," Sirius explained to him. "And I'm not going to let something like that happen to you, James and Lily would be rolling in their graves," he groaned just thinking about their deaths. "I'm going to get you out of there, Harry. As soon as the Weasleys return with everyone else we can start."
"Start what?" The boy asked with growing confusion.
"We'll let Dumbledore and a few others know, we have to," he sighed again when Harry pouted at him. "It's going to be okay, alright, little Prongs," Sirius ruffled his already messy hair. "Someone needs to go to the," he grit his teeth, and Harry could tell it wasn't something nice that Sirius wanted to say. "Dursleys," he bit his lip as not to send out thousands of insults. "And there's the matter with paperwork and stuff, Remus is the one for that, he'll be better with that stuff," muttered Sirius. "Anyways…by the time you'd usually leave Hogwarts and return home, I'll be the one to pick you up at Kings Cross."
Harry hugged Sirius, overcome with happiness. Sirius would be the father he had always wanted, dreamed of, but never had. And somehow Harry knew it was going to be okay, he'd have a family and they'd somehow prove Sirius innocent, a father-like figure in his life to help him and care for him in life as he grew up. Though in the wizard world, Harry would technically be an adult at seventeen, less than a year from now. It wouldn't be long, but it would mean the world to Harry.