Harry Potter was only five years old when it finally happened.
It had been his birthday just last week, not that he was allowed to celebrate, he had overheard his Aunt Petunia mentioning it to Uncle Vernon and them both tutting disgustedly at what a waste of day it was. Harry knew that his Aunt had been planning something for him since his birthday and he couldn't help hoping that maybe, for the first time, she was acknowledging their relationship and he was finally going to get his first-ever birthday present from her.
So when Uncle Vernon yanked Harry roughly out of his cupboard one day and told him to get into the car, the very car he wasn't allowed to enter, he had hope that this was finally his very first present.
He went to the car without a fuss, looking over his shoulder he saw his Aunt saying goodbye to Uncle Vernon before closing the door without looking over at him. Despite never having been in the car before he knew his Uncle's rules on making a fuss, so he tried his best to contain his excitement.
Uncle Vernon lumbered his way over to the car, pushing Harry into the back seat and snapping at him to not touch anything of Dudley's before getting in and starting the car.
Harry pulled his knees close to his chest and hugged them with spindly arms to stay as small as possible, if he behaved then maybe he would receive his present.
Harry wasn't sure how long they had been driving but the little suburb he'd known all of his life had turned into the sprawling fields of the countryside with houses few and far between and then finally into the dense woods.
Something felt wrong to Harry when his Uncle turned onto a dirt road that had a sign saying 'Dead End' at the beginning of it. He could feel a horrible sinking feeling in his stomach and his throat felt like it was slowly closing as they came to a stop, Harry was too afraid to voice his concern to his Uncle though as he seemed to be getting happier the farther they drove onto the 'Dead End' road.
When they reached the end of the overgrown dirt road Vernon turned the car off and Harry looked around to find … nothing. Nothing but the woods and the road the car was parked on leading back through a maze of towering trees.
No trails, houses, or cars as far as Harry could see.
The bad feeling grew within Harry to the point he felt he couldn't breathe, a nauseous feeling replacing the leaden weight that was previously tugging at his stomach.
"Get out of the car freak!" Vernon bit out harshly as he pulled himself out of the car. Harry didn't have much of a choice but to listen to his Uncle, so he got out of the car as quickly as his shaking hands allowed him.
He tried to listen to what was around him since he just couldn't see past the trees, they felt like they were slowly closing in on him but despite everything there was nothing, it seemed as if even the wind had gone silent, holding its breath in anticipation of what was to come. The only thing he could hear was Vernon's laboring breathe and heavy footsteps as he approached him.
"You have been nothing but a danger and a lazy nuisance to my good and normal family since you were dumped on our doorstep!" Vernon yelled, grabbing Harry by the front of his baggy hand me down shirt and shaking him "Not even your parents wanted you! They dumped you off with us and I have had enough of your freakish presence!"
Harry was scared of what his Uncle was going to do, never had Uncle Vernon been this angry at him before, and he was confused at his Uncles words, what did he mean his parents had dumped him? His parents were dead … weren't they?
"I-I'm sorry Uncle, I can do better. I promise!" Harry tried to say, to get his Uncle to forgive him and let him go back to his little cupboard at No 4 but Vernon shook him harder "You are going to pay, and then you are never going to bother me or my normal family ever again!" Vernon bellowed, his spittle spraying Harry's face.
Vernon then let go of Harry's shirt, grabbing him by his hair before he could hit the ground, then began pulling him further into the woods and away from the car.
Once they had reached a small clearing in the dense woods that Vernon had deemed was far enough from the road, deserted as it was, he let go of the boy's hair and shoved him forwards. The boy, for he refused to use the freak's name, dropped to the ground gracelessly from the rough shove.
He could tell the freak was already trying not to cry, making him grin in feral glee.
"I am going to teach you a lesson about messing with us normal people you little freak! By the end of this, you will never again force your unwanted freakishness onto others who have better things to do than deal with you." Vernon spat nastily, he took gleeful pleasure from watching some of the light dim in the boy's haunting eyes.
Smiling at the accomplishment of breaking the hope in the boy's eyes like he'd never done before, he raised one meaty hand and struck the small boy beneath him.
That one hard smack across the face sent Harry's head bouncing against the ground with a sickening crack and caused stars to swim in his vision, his mouth tasting of copper and his thoughts slowing down until only the pain was left.
The sickening sound was music to Vernon's ears, his smile stretching just a bit more on his fat face. The boy was crying in earnest now and that just would not do, he couldn't have the little freak attracting any attention even if they were in a secluded area.
"Going to blubber over one little smack are you freak? I'll give you something to cry about." Vernon growled maliciously and pulled the boy back up onto his feet by the now matted hair. He then grabbed the boy's small head in his two large hands, put his thumbs over those wide beseeching, haunting emerald eyes, and dug in as ruthlessly as possible.
He felt the eyes hemorrhage and then crush under his thumbs, the scream of pain from the freak as he struggled in Vernon's grip and clawed at his arms, the feel of blood and what was left of the eyes running rivulets down his hands and fingers. He removed his hands in disgust and watched as the blood seeped out of the now-empty eye sockets and down the freak's face, the boy fell to the floor screaming and crying in pain as soon as his grip was removed.
While Vernon felt immense satisfaction by the damage he had caused the boy he wasn't nearly done, he was afraid the freak's screams would eventually bring someone looking and he couldn't have that, not when he was so close to getting rid of him for good.
He still had much more he wanted to do to the boy, to pay him back for all the years he and his normal family had housed, clothed, and fed the ungrateful little freak. Vernon quickly took off his belt and used it to gag the boy so even if he did make noise barely a sound would be heard by any who could be nearby, it also had the added benefit of making sure the freak didn't bite down on his tongue and end his fun too quickly.
Taking his time to view the boy's bloody and slowly bruising face he decided that the freak needed a body to match his messed up face, it was only fair after all.
Vernon kicked into the boy's sternum with more power and speed than was expected from the large man. Vernon's foot connected with the freak's body and he heard the delightful sound of something snapping, the boy was trying and failing to scream around his makeshift gag.
It brought so much joy and pleasure to Vernon to finally give the freak what he deserved after all those years, he enjoyed the feeling of power he had over the boy at his feet.
Vernon could kill the freak if he wanted to. No one would miss him and it was unlikely anyone would find the body. In a rare moment of cruel intelligence, Vernon realized that keeping the boy alive to deal with his injuries would be much crueler than the mercy death would bring him. So Vernon spent the next hour breaking as many bones as he could before the boy passed out from the pain effectively ruining his fun.
He left Harry there, on the ground, in the woods, unconscious.
When Vernon got back into the car he grabbed some of the baby wipes he kept in the glove compartment to clean up after Dudley, cleaned his hands of the freak's blood, and drove home.
He was greeted by his lovely wife, a hot meal, and his sweet normal Dudley. There was a newfound peace settling over the family, they no longer had to worry about the freak or what he could do to them.
If only they knew what was to come in a few years…
Back in the woods, Harry laid beaten, bloody, broken, and unconscious on the damp earthen floor.
That was until a dark figure stumbled across him as the sun was setting and the cold had begun to seep into the ground. The dark figure had almost missed the boy entirely, if he hadn't been looking for lunar fungi this might've been an incredibly different story. Thankfully Severus Snape was a very thorough man and also a man who always carried an emergency stash of potions. Enough to stabilize even the most tortured-looking child he had ever seen in his life.