4 Private Drive- March 3, 1986
Young Harry James Potter knew nothing but pain. His uncle had gotten drunk and beat him for hours yesterday because something strange had happened. Harry knew that more than one strange thing had happened last night. Though he couldn't exactly remember what.
He vaguely remembered a man with long white hair promising his aunt that something would stop the outbursts. He didn't know what that meant, only that he felt tired and weaker than he had since he was a toddler. It was like some sort of iron weight was wrapped around his chest.
When he heard Aunt Petunia slam on his cupboard door and demand he make breakfast Harry opened his eyes painfully. He had had such a strange dream but he couldn't remember what it was really about. Like many of his dreams, this one also had a flash of bright green light. He always wondered why he dreamed about green lights.
Slowly getting up Harry couldn't stop himse;f from flinching. His entire body hurt. Standing up, he didn't notice the pocket sized trunk that sat next to his makeshift bed.
Going out and into the kitchen he saw he was being watched by his aunt. She had her usual pinched expression on her face, like she was seeing something completely disgusting.
"What are you looking at, you little freak?" she snapped when she noticed his eyes on her.
His eyes returned to the floor, where he had trained that they should be. "Nothing Aunt Petunia."
"Well," she demanded, flourishing her arm in the direction of the stove, "Get to work. Vernon and Duddykins need breakfast."
Harry made breakfast as quickly as he could. He made as much as possible in the hopes that he might be able to get some of the leftovers. He knew that it was pointless, Vernon and Dudley would eat until they made themselves sick just to make sure that Harry wouldn't get a proper meal.
As he thought Harry once again had to go without food. Petunia kept him home from school that day as there were still bruises on his face. And they couldn't let the neighbours or teachers see that.
It was times like these that Petunia was glad that the little freak healed so quickly. She knew that a normal child would take weeks to heal from the beating he had received last night, but the freak, with his freakish ways, would be completely healed in a day or two.
Harry spent the entire day working around inside the house. After he finished serving the Dursley's their dinner Harry was given his first and only food of the day. A slice of stale bread and a glass of water. Then he was sent back to his cupboard.
Sitting in his cupboard Harry felt his heart break just a little bit more as happened every night. He couldn't understand what was wrong with him. It seemed that no matter how hard he worked the Dursley's would never care about him.
Grabbing his thin blacket Harry went to sleep. It was then that his foot hit on something. Sitting back up Harry looked at what looked like a miniature trunk.
He knew this trunk from somewhere. Why did he know this trunk?
Going off instinct Harry pushed a small amount of energy into the trunk. He didn't even understand what the energy was, or where it came from, but he just decided to go with it. What's the worst that could happen?
Harry let out a muffled yelp as the trunk suddenly grew. Holding his breath Harry waited to see if his relatives had heard him, but thankfully the TV was loud enough and he had muffled hsi cry enough that they hadn't noticed. That was the last thing he needed right now.
Opening the trunk Harry looked in. the inside of the trunk was way bigger than it should possibly be. It was filled with other small trunks, large amounts of papers, and small corked glass vials that held something shiny in them. In the back of his mind Harry recognized all of this and knew that he was the one that packed this trunk.
Harry was just reaching out to grab the letter that said Ragnock on it when someone clears their throat behind him.
This time Harry did not manage to stifle his slight scream. "I'm sorry… i din't mean to… who are you?" Harrys slapped his hand over his mouth and glanced fearfully towards the door. He wasn't supposed to make any noise, but even more importantly he was never supposed to ask questions.
Harry was very confused who this man was, but more importantly, how he was able to stand up in his cupboard and not hit his head. He was small but even he could barely stand in his little cupboard without his hair brushing against the ceiling.
Death gave a soft huff. Now he knew why Fate had been throwing things at Destiny when he had left to come here. Then there were the boys' reactions. His little master was clearly being mistreated and was damaged.
Summoning a chair Death sat down. "Hush little master. I am Death, you have no need to fear me. Relax, I have placed silencing spells around us so those disgusting 'people' out there won't hear us. Now, tell me what you know about who you are, who your family is, and what is going on. I will work from that."
"My name is Harry Potter. I'm 5 years old. My mum, Lily and dad, James, were killed in a car crash when they were driving drunk. It was my fault." Harry's voice broke a little bit here. He hated knowing that his parents were dead because of him. "I live with my Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and cousin Dudley. But that's not right is it. My mind is all fuzzy. I know things but I don't know them, you know."
Death let out a frustrated sigh. This was one of the reasons they had intended for Hadrian to return at the age of 10. The minds of younger children were just too simplistic for the kinds of memories that Hadrian had. Death knew that in time Hadrian would be able to recall more but that could take years. It didn't help that he and the others had intentionally left his memories vague. That was meant to protect his sanity just as much as to provide entertainment for Destiny. As it was now things were much more complicated as Hadrian was not going to be able to properly remember the plan, let alone have the power or control to carry it out. He was going to need help.
Gently rubbing his eyes Death made a choice. "So pretty much everything you know is wrong. ok , this is what we're going to do. I am going to send you to someone who can help find a work around for this. Give me that letter addressed to Ragnock in the trunk."
Once Harry had done that he watched as with a swirl of Death's hand a sheet of parchment appeared. With another was of his hand and some muttering under his breath words appeared on the page. The parchment was then slipped into the envelope, all without breaking the seal.
Turning his attention back to the small boy now sitting on a flat, old, crib mattress. "If there is anything you want to take with you quickly grab it and put it into the trunk because you are never returning to this hovel again, i can promise you that." at this young Hadrian gave him a dazzling smile.
Harry quickly grabbed a few of his drawings and a baby blanket he had had when he was dropped off. Putting them in the trunk he turned back to the strange being. Something inside him was telling him that this man was far more than he appeared.
Saying goodbye Death transferred all the tracking and health monitoring charms onto the fat child sitting on the couch with his parents, then Death waved his hand and Hadrian disappeared with a small pop. turning around Death stepped out of the little room that had previously housed his young master. Bending reality around him once again he made it so that the door adjusted to his size.
Turing himself invisible he went into the living room and saw the Dursley family sitting on the couch. Even he was disgusted by the sheer size of the man and his son. It didn't help that both of them were each holding a full tub of ice cream and eating directly from it.
Death had never considered himself to be cruel. Death just was, he wasn't the one who killed people, no that was the job of his siblings, he just collected. It was a job that needed to be done, so he did it.
He also knew he had to do something to these disgraceful people. If he didn't and word got out then he would have to constantly worry about his young master. Not all of his siblings were as nice as Fate,Destiny and Time. he couldn't have any of the others thinking his master was fair game. If he did he would end up having to constantly protect the young boy. Some of the others would have no problem killing his young master just to mess with him.
Thinking for a few seconds he thought up the perfect punishment. They would experience his young master's life at their hands. Even though his master was now safe, these people had meant to torture him for years to come. Now,in their dreams, they would experience Hadrian's life with them. Every night they would live through what his days would have been like if he had remained. And when they woke up they would still feel it through there would never be any marks.
They would feel the hunger that comes from denying a child food. The pain that comes when a child is whipped with a belt, the agony of being forced to work with broken bones. The exhaustion that came from working long hours with little to no sleep. The discomfort that came from sleeping on a crib mattress in a cramped cupboard. And most importantly, at least to Death's mind, the heart breaking pain of being told that you were responsible for the death of your parents. They would feel all this in the years to come and there was only one way to stop it. True remorse. Petunia and Vernon would have to acknowledge what they had done to young Hadrian was wrong and feel true remorse for what they had done.
Once that was done Death turned to the boy. This was more complicated. Yes, he had gone on to do terrible things to Hadrian in the future, but he had come to regret it. He and Hadrian had actually made peace in their later years, especially after Dudley had had a magical daughter that had a dark core, it had been Hadrian that had helped smuggle Dudley, his wife and the baby out of the country. Most of the bad things that Dudley had done in his past life could be traced back to his parents and how they raised him.
To Death's mind, there was still hope for Dudley. In the end he made a decision. Dudley would feel the pain of his victims every time he bullied them. There was a time delay aspect on this curse. If Dudley was still a brutal bully by the age of 15 his curse would develop into the same one as his parents. Death thought that a decade of chances was more than enough for the spoiled little boy.
Death watched as Vernon got up and went into the kitchen. He could hear as Vernon went through the fridge attempting to find something to satisfy the hunger that came from only getting a slice of stale bread and a glass of water all day. Death grinned knowing that it didn't matter, Vernon wouldn't be able to feel full.
He watched as Petunia started to rub her arm. Death knew that that was the exact same place as the fracture that Hadrian currently had. He knew that Hadrian would be healed within the next few hours but Petunia would have to feel the pain of it healing naturally.
Walking out of the house, Death decided to extend his punishments. The people in this neighbourhood had seen Hadrian grow up, and most had done nothing to help the clearly abused child. The teachers had seen the shy, undernourished child, and rather than helping him they had all done nothing. They had all chosen to believe the lies spread by the Dursley's because it was easier to do.
As punishment they would all dream about the abuse. In their dreams they would see young Hadrian being abused, they would watch as they themselves did nothing, their children or a young member of their family would then take the boy's place. The dreams would always end the same. A battered and bruised child would turn to them and ask them why they never did anything to stop the abuse, why they never helped the child. As most decent people would instantly feel regret he needed to make this curse long lasting so rather than trigger ti release the curse a time limit was set. As it was right now Hadrian had had to live in this hell for 4 years, so they would have these dreams at least once a month for the next 4 years. As far as they would be concerned the young Potter boy had run away by the age of 5, they could only hope that he was ok.
The children in the neighbourhood were cursed in the same way as Dudley. Whenever they chose to bully someone else they would feel the resulting pain. This curse would dissipate in 10 years. Death hoped that this would teach them all to be better people.
The only member of the neighbourhood that was treated differently was Arabella Figg. Death couldn't do much to Dumbledore's spy so instead he created intricate vision spells. Arabella would see and experience the life she would have lived if Death hadn't intervened. She would watch as Harry Potter was abused and do nothing about it, just like before.
With a smile, Death disappeared.