The Boy

Chapter 1: The Boy

"I can't look after him anymore, Charles, "Petunia Dursley complained to her long estranged half-brother Charlie Swan, who sat silently looking at her from the ugly floral patterned pink armchair in the Dursley's living room.

He had come for a visit when she had begged him a month ago, stating that it was a family emergency. He didn't know what family emergency his half-sister meant until he arrived an hour ago, jetlagged and sore from sitting too long on a plane.

In the corner of the living room, a little raven haired boy sat, his thin legs pulled close to his chest. The child was clearly underfed and sticklike thin. Charlie wondered why the boy was in such a miserable state while the fat blond boy, who sat beside Petunia, looked anything but miserable. He had not once, not twice, but three times kicked Petunia, asking for ice-cream and crisps. It disgusted Charlie Swan to no end.

"Heaven knows, it's expensive to take care of two children. Please, Charles, you're my only hope. Otherwise, I shall have to give him to Social Services."

Charlie sighed inwardly, regretting coming to this so-called family emergency. He understood her reasoning for not telling him anything, but it didn't mean he had to accept it. His eyes strayed to the little boy in the corner. He was quite small and Charlie wondered what age he was. He looked more like a one year old and yet, Charlie are sure that he is older by the way he sat. No one year old could sit like him. Which made him wonder why the child looked the way he did.

He held up a hand to stop his sister's word vomit, a hard look upon his face "Petunia, calm down. I'll take him. You just need to help me get custody and sign him over to me. But understand this, I am doing it only for the memory of our sister and not you."

Petunia opened and closed her mouth like a fish, having thought that she would have to fight more to force the brat on her brother. She didn't think that the man would be so easily swayed . She had, with the hope of handing the child over to him, already gotten the necessary paperwork drawn up. A judge would have to rule over it though, but her lawyer was sure she could get Charlie custody of the child. Heaven knows, the lawyer had gotten her and Vernon out of a tight spot or two since the boy had come to live with them when he was one. He is four now and she had been using him as a domestic house worker to cook and clean the house. It is only right with him freeloading on normal people like her and her family.

"My lawyer will see us tomorrow at eight," she stated and Charlie didn't even feel surprised that she already had spoken to her lawyers, obviously overly eager to get rid of the little boy. She stood. "I'll let you get acquainted with the child. Come, Dudders, Mummy will give you some ice-cream and sweeties."

Charlie frowned as the little fat boy giggled happily, shrieking that the freak won't get nothing because ice-cream and sweeties aren't for freaks. Petunia didn't even berate the boy and that said a lot about why the small raven haired boy were so small; she seemed to not care to feeding him enough and her little Dudders seemed to have picked up on that.

Charlie stood up from his chair, slowly walking over to the little boy, squatting before him. "Wanna get out of here, Kid?," he asked, keeping his tone gentle and friendly.

Two green orbs that were so much like Lily's looked up through a very unruly fringe. "I not get in tlouble?," the boy asked warily .

Charlie shook his head. "No. I'm your Uncle Charlie, Kid. What's your name?"

"Fleak."

Charlie closed his eyes, counting to ten. It do him any good to get angry now. Freak can't possibly be his name. It must be what Petunia and her family had been calling him.

"Kid, I am pretty sure that, that isn't your name. What else does your Aunt Petunia call you?"

"Boy."

Charlie bristled at that. Yeah, like calling the kid Boy is such a great idea. He isn't a dog. Only dogs are called Boy or Girl.

He straightened up, holding his hand out to the boy. "Let's get out of here, Kid. We'll get you a better name."

"Plomise?"

"I promise, Kiddo."

The boy got to his feet and Charlie frowned at the tattered appearance he was sporting. The dungarees and t-shirt he wore had seen better days and was way too big for him. Charlie made a mental note to get him better clothes that fit.

He scooped the boy up into his arms, ignoring the surprised squawk he made. "Petunia, I'm taking the kid to the park!," he called out to his sister.

"Alright, Charles. Make sure to be back before dinner, though. Vernon will be delighted to see you again, I'm sure. "

Charlie snorted mentally. It was a clear careless dismissal towards the boy's safety, if there ever was one. If the boy was in his care, he wouldn't even have let anyone take him out of the house.

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The park was further than Charlie had thought it would be, not having been in Little Whinging before this visit. His mother and his stepfather had lived in Cokeworth. Charlie had only visited them the first few weeks of summer when he was a boy.

His mother and his father divorced when Charlie was two and Petunia, who wasn't his father's child, were a few months old. His father had found out of his mother's infidelity and had just decided to set her aside without making a horrible fuss about it. Rose Swan married Henry Evans a few months after that and Henry adopted Petunia as his own, though Petunia wasn't his daughter. Lily were born two years after Petunia and they never had any more children than Lily and Petunia.

Of course Henry had wanted to adopt Charlie as well, but Charlie's father had fought for custody and won. So he only gained a stepfather and he was happy with it.

A few months after Rose remarried, Charlie's father met a woman named Marie and it wasn't long before Charlie gained a stepmother also. Marie was a good woman that couldn't have children of her own and thus raised Charlie with the love and care she would have given her own child.

Charlie smiled to himself at the memory of his past as he placed the child down in a sandpit in the park. There were other children also and some parents, who eyed him and the boy curiously, but they made no move to start a conversation with him and he was grateful for that because he isn't one for conversations.

The boy only sat in the sandpit, looking confused. It made Charlie's heart ache. The child obviously didn't know what to do in a sandpit.

Charlie sat himself down by the boy and began forming a little sandman. He encouraged the boy to help him make the body that reminded of a snowman, though it's body was packed sand. The boy were hesitant, but gained more confidence as the sandman look more like a sandman than just a pile of sand.

It took them a while to finish the little sandman and by then the boy were giggling and having fun. What's more is that all around them the other little kiddies began to build their own little sandmen. It was absolutely amazing to behold.

After the sandman, Charlie took the boy to play on the swings for a little bit. He had to use the little kiddie swing, though. The boy wasn't big enough for the other ones that were only a rectangle with chains, the little kiddie one was made from a tire and the little boy's hung loosely as he sat on the middle part.

The boy seemed to enjoy the swing. Charlie was certain that it was the feeling of flying that he liked. Charlie used to like that feeling too. He used to have dreams of flying like Superman and reaching for the moon.

After the swing ride, Charlie took the boy to get some ice-cream from a small ice-cream van that were parked near the park. A friendly old lady owned it and she gave the little boy some extra ice-cream, telling Charlie to feed him properly. Charlie felt insulted, but didn't say a word because there wasn't anything he could say to make the woman thing less bad of him. He vowed to make sure that the boy got better fed while under his care and if need be, he would sue his sister for child neglect.

He stayed out with the boy until 7 o'clock that evening, getting scolded for being late. The boy was already asleep on his arm, his dark messy head resting on Charlie's shoulder. He glared at Petunia when she snatched him from him, stashing him in the small coat closet under the stairs and slamming the door shut, the boy's muffled wails coming from within.

"Petunia!," he gasped out in outrage. "That is no way to treat a child. Would you like your boy to be treated that way?"

"No one would dare !," she shrieked, glaring at Charlie.

Charlie opened his mouth to argue back when Vernon Dursley's large frame appeared behind her. "What's going on, Pet?"

Petunia opened her mouth to say something, probably to tell him what Charlie said, but a loud crash from within the kitchen made her jump and screech like a banshee. Vernon was no better, cursing loudly as he followed Petunia to the kitchen. Charlie took that opportunity to open the closet door and scooping up the little boy before walking briskly to the guestroom. He won't let the little boy be kept in there anymore. Nu uh, not while he was there to protect him.

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I don't own Harry Potter Nor do I won Twilight. I'm just playing a little bit in their sandboxes, building sandcastles.