Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and never will. The series and characters belong to the brilliant mind of JKRowling, and I do not make any money off of this. Also, Severitus was the one that came up with the challenge that this is based off of, and is nice enough to allow it to be a challenge for people to write their own versions and I do not make money off of their challenge either.

Title: Broken Ways
Characters: Harry Potter, Severus Snape, Albus Dumbledore, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Lily Evans-Potter, Remus Lupin, Draco Malfoy and several OC's.
Pairings: read and all shall be revealed.
Rating: M
Chapter: prologue
Genre: Angst/Drama
Words per Chapter: 1,148
Warnings: response to Severitus' challenge, het, OCs, AU, abuse, trauma, psychological issues, violence, swearing, and whatever else comes to the mind of this crazy authoress.
Summary: Harry's life looked as if he couldn't get any worse, but it somehow manages to do so. Just as he thought that there was no way it could look up, he finds out that he had a living family member. The question is however, do they really want him? How can two people who don't get have to suddenly get use to each other.
Notes: This is about the third rewrite of this story. The difference is that the version that's being rewritten is off the second instead of rewriting the entire plot. Also, this one of the few fics that displays het. I hope everyone likes it.

Prologue

Compared to all his other summers, this was officially the worst summer of Harry Potter's life. The reason for this was because of his uncle, Vernon Dursley. This man had taken to going to a whole new low. This was something that nobody ever expected him to do. Of course, Harry knew exactly why this was, and that was because the man did not like to be ordered around. He considered anyone connected to the Wizarding world a freak, and here they were telling him what he was going to do. Vernon did not like that idea at all. This meant that the poor boy was going to pay for what he was being told.

It all dealt with having to make sure that Harry could send letters to the people that the man considered freaks. This only meant to the obese man that there would be more freakishness around his home. He was normal, as far as he was concerned, and that meant that he would not accept anything other than normality in his life.

As luck would have it, his writing hand was okay, but he had four broken ribs. It made moving and breathing difficult and somewhat unbearable tasks. Harry lay in his cot-like bed, remaining as still as possible. He didn't move, wanting to let his ribs heal. This wasn't likely to happen. At least by remaining still and taking very small breaths, he could fight off the majority of the pain that was coursing through his body. Yet, one more beating was likely to do in the poor boy.

There was no way Harry could survive one more beating. He was so badly injured that he could not escape. The main problem was, Vernon Dursley would never just leave the boy alone. Sure he wasn't in a place to kill the boy, but he wasn't going to make his life easy. Harry on the other hand, wished that death would come and take him. If it did, he had a chance at not getting injured.

Harry's death wish was coming from his feelings. He felt responsible for all the deaths of those he cared about. The most recent being Sirius. Sure it had been a month before, but he still felt the responsibility for his godfather's death. To him, this pain was his punishment. That every injury he had was just more punishment over what he was going through.

The door to his bedroom slammed open. The force of the door opening slammed into the wall. It would have left a dent, which Harry would have been in danger of. Vernon Dursley was standing in the doorway, his lumbering form blocking every source of light from the hall. "Lying in bed again you freak! You're a complete waste of oxygen." The man's voice was loud, bellowing. "You never make yourself useful around this home! You just lie around and waste the money we spend on you." The man stormed over to Harry, each step resounding throughout the room.

He reached one of his large, meaty hands out and grabbed Harry by the collar of his bloodstained shirt. He hauled Harry up and looked at him. Harry tried not to make any noise, not that he managed it too incredibly well. "Please Uncle Vernon…" The words came out barely stronger than a whisper. Vernon's free hand reached out and punched Harry hard in the stomach. Vernon punched him again in the chest. One of his ribs broke at the impact. Harry coughed blood at that. The rib bone had been pushed into his lung, making the poor boy bleed. The blood he coughed trickled down his chin, almost a bright red colour.

"Aw…Did I rupture something?" The sickly sweet voice that Vernon used was obviously a fake. Vernon dropped Harry back onto the bed, releasing his collar. Harry barely kept the wince back from his bad landing. Vernon turned and left the room. He had apparently lost interest in his nephew. The boy wasn't really reacting, but he had done a lot of damage with the one punch. The door slammed behind him.

Harry moaned in his head. He couldn't moan vocally, but he was in so much pain. The coughing up blood was proof of that. 'I'm going to die now.' He just lay in the bed as still as possible. He couldn't fight it. Harry felt that he deserved death, though at other moments he didn't. The internal conflict was causing as much trouble as the fact that he in pain. Today wasn't a day that he felt like he didn't deserve death. In fact, right at that moment, he was embracing it.

A/N: Alright people, I hope that this chapter is liked. This is a rewrite of the original. Personally, I like this much better than the original. I hope everyone enjoys it.