Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter!
AN: Rated M (Mature, Language, Sex, Drugs, ...)
Updated: 5/25/09
Runic Animagi
Chapter 1: Apathy
I am back in this muggle hell known as Number 4 Privet Drive, and am already starting to go insane. My walrus of an Uncle, giraffe of an Aunt, and whale of cousin have been surprisingly quiet and left me alone, seemingly taking to heart the warning they received a few days ago from the Order ...well sort of anyway.
They have completely left me alone in my room so far, haven't yelled at me, beaten me, locked up my possessions, or really even acknowledged my presence in their immaculate and very normal house. They have ignored me so well, that it seems they have forgotten I've even come back from school since I have yet to be let out of my bedroom or had a single shitty meal slid through the obnoxious cat flap on my bedroom door. Luckily the bars are off the windows, so Hedwig has at least been able to come and go as she pleases and I can fertilize the plants below my window when nature calls.
It doesn't really bother me much at all, since I have absolutely no desire to interact with my so-called family anyways. But that doesn't really stop the fierce cramping pains that began yesterday when I realized it had been three days since the Hogwarts leaving feast and my last actual meal. It's not like I am not used to being starved by the Dursleys, but this seems a little ridiculous even for them.
Still, it's not like they could starve or beat me to death ... I mean the Prophecy pretty much guarantees that only Voldemort will ever be able to kill me, and kill me He will. I have little to no chance to compete with one of the darkest and most powerful wizards to ever live. I am only fucking fifteen for Merlin's sake ...I have no chance against Voldemort, regardless of what the Prophecy says about being equals or having a power he knows not. It is my death sentence, plain and simple. At least I'd get to see Sirius and my parents if I have to die, hardly a consolation prize.
I have to face the reality that at any moment Voldemort could come and end my miserable life. Why not, He has already killed my entire family and ruined my life, his followers make sure that other friends and acquaintances don't survive long enough to help me either. I just need to accept the fact that my life is forfeit. Over these miserable and extremely boring few days alone at Privet Drive, I have come to several startling revelations that should help prove that my life isn't much of a life at all.
1. Despite fame and fortune, I still have few if any true friends, and am forced to wear ill fitting hand me down rags and can fit all my worldly possessions into a simple school trunk.
2. Nobody sees me as anything other than the Boy-Who-Lived, or someone to be controlled or used.
3. I've been slandered, ridiculed, and vilified by the very community that I am prophesized to save.
4. I've been left in the dark, ignored, and lied to by the greatest Light Wizard of the age simply for the ideal of the 'greater good.'
5. Anyone I care about or get close to will most likely be used against me by Voldemort, and most likely tortured and killed simply for their connection to me no matter how significant.
6. My destiny is to kill or be killed by one of the most powerful and evil wizards of the age, who has the advantage of fifty plus years worth of knowledge and experience and no conscience to curb his tyrannical desires.
7. I am pitted against a Dark Lord bent on taking over the world and achieving immortality using any means necessary, namely the dark arts while I am equipped with no training and only love as my equalizing weapon.
8. I have so far escaped and survived Voldemort five times, but only with a lot of help, sheer dumb luck, and unusual coincidences.
9. Aside from Voldemort himself, I also have the added bonus of every Death Eater out for my blood. Fully trained witches and wizards with no conscience and terrifying appetites of destruction constantly on the lookout for me or anyone I am close to.
10. I am a prisoner in the Dursley's home, locked away in my meager bedroom starved of both food and attention, while Dumbledore's Order watches over me and yet does nothing to help.
Can this even be considered living? Muggle prisoners get better care and exercise ...hell, even Azkaban feeds their prisoner's daily even if it is shit. My life already fucking sucks, and is most likely going to be very short lived. I may as well do what I want with the shitty life I was dealt since it would end at any moment and I have yet to once really live it. Fuck consequences, I'm going to die soon anyway ...why should I care?
Fuck, I might die tonight if I don't get something to eat ...and soon. I might get expelled, but I doubt Dumbledore would let his weapon get away from him. He and the wizarding world need me a hell of a lot more than I need them. If they know what's good for them, they'll give me free reign to live my life to the fullest while I still can. If not, I'll just leave their fate in the hands of Voldemort, that should be sufficient enough motivation to give me what I want. Let's start with dinner first.
"Dobby ...I need your help," I called out with a scratchy unused voice from my position for the last three days, collapsed into bed.
"The great Harry Potter sir called for Dobby?" asked the happily bouncing elf who appeared with a pop at the foot of my bed, but stop immediately at the sight before him.
"Yes Dobby," I answered with a grateful sigh as I looked upon the small creature as my own salvation, "can you please bring me something to eat?"
"Harry Potter sir needs Dobby's help immediately," stated the almost too serious house-elf who looked over me with a combination of hero worship and terrified worry. "Dobby can fix Harry Potter sir's body and magic, if Harry Potter sir bonds with Dobby?"
"What's wrong with my magic Dobby?" I asked with nervous green eyes as I watched the usually hyper elf acting so serious and unlike himself.
"It has been touched by true evil Harry Potter sir," trembled the tiny elf, "but Dobby knows of a book that can fix it. I will bring book with food for Harry Potter sir."
"Why do we have to bond though ...not that I mind?" I inquired curiously.
"Rituals in book need magic help ...and I can only help if I am your bonded elf," responded Dobby looking more excited at the prospects of what this would mean to our relationship, but still an undercurrent of seriousness that kept me focused on the task at hand.
"Okay, so how do we bond?" I asked dumbly.
"Master only needs to declare name and say so," replied Dobby growing even happier by the second.
I quickly accepted Dobby as my bonded elf, and watched as a small glow surrounded us both and magically bonded us together. Dobby almost instantly began sobbing uncontrollably as a torrent of emotions flooded the link just formed between us allowing him to better know and serve his new master. He disappeared to get me food and the book he mentioned, and hugged my legs with all his might and promised to always watch over me. I could feel his anxiety slightly through our new link, and figured it had to do with the problems of my magic and body that I now had a slightly better understanding of through the new connection.
A few minutes of emotions flooding the new link left me tired as I fell back into bed and closed my eyes while Dobby disappeared with a pop. I must have fallen asleep in the short time it took for him to bring back food, since upon opening my eyes, my small bedroom had gone through a serious transformation that had me wondering where I was. I could see Dobby drawing things on a now large open area of the floor as my room had obviously been largely expanded.
The rest of the evening passed in pretty much of a blur as I ate my fill of the food Dobby prepared while he set up my once small bedroom for the upcoming ritual. I had to do little but lay within a series of circles and runes drawn on the floor as Dobby chanted above me for several hours, although at times it seemed endless as I was inundated with strong flashes of magic and more pain than from Voldemort's own cruciatus curse. It seemingly went on forever since moments of lucidity were few and far between, but slowly the magic settled to a low hum before my strength and body seemed to fail me and I passed into unconsciousness.
I slowly felt myself waking, but the incredible pain and soreness that I could feel in every muscle, joint, and body part had me wishing I could return to sleep. Thankfully, I was moved back to my bed which is much larger and softer than I remember from earlier, but it still didn't lessen the pains in my body. Dobby's ritual must have worked, because even as sore as I am, I feel better than I have in months. My scar, which had been slowly bothering me more and more since Voldemort possessed me at the Ministry last week, doesn't even feel like it's there anymore. The lack of even a little prickle had me reaching up to feel it as I tried to slowly blink open my eyes to make sure I wasn't dreaming.
Well, the scar is still there, but it definitely feels different from before. For one it is much more healed and no longer raw or threatening to split back open or at least it feels that way. Taking a look in a mirror would probably be more effective, but that would require getting the blinding light out of my eyes and finally entering the waking world. With a final groan of soreness, I braved the bright light of day streaming through my open window and got my first good look at my new room now that Dobby had prepared it after finishing last night's ritual.
The first and most obvious thing I noticed was that I could see without my glasses, and clearer than anything ever before. The second was the now enormous size of my bedroom, which could almost contain the entirety of the Gryffindor Common Room, and the third was Dobby himself busily making food in the far corner of the expanded room in a miniature sized small kitchenette.
"Good morning Dobby," I called out to the frantically cooking small elf as I took in the rest of my room. It had basically just been expanded and only essentials were currently taking up space leaving most of it bear and sparse looking.
"How are you feeling Harry Potter sir?" asked the happy house-elf as he bounced over to my bed floating a large tray filled of breakfast foods and even two restorative potions. "I have your potions for soreness and healing as well as a late breakfast."
"Thanks Dobby, you are a life saver," I answered honestly before kicking back the two potions and tucking into a breakfast that had me moaning in ecstasy and appreciation.
"You are welcome master Harry Potter sir," answered the excited house-elf, "is there anything else Dobby can do for you sir?"
"I'm not sure Dobby," I contemplated very slowly, "can you get me money from Gringotts if I give you my key, both magical and muggle?"
"Of course master, Dobby can be doing most everything for his master sir," he answered gladly.
"Really?" I asked in stunned disbelief, "can you block the Ministry's tracking of my wand and magic?"
"Sure, only take Dobby a minute," answered the elf who immediately began chanting again and then with a snap of his fingers caused both me and my nearby wand to glow a brilliant blue color before fading into nothing, "done!"
"Wow Dobby," I exclaimed in awe as I reached over for my wand and performed the tempus spell indicating that it was Wednesday morning, the 25th of June, and approximately 8:37 am, "you're the best!"
"Thank you master Harry Potter sir," replied a bashful and blushing house-elf not used to that kind of praise and thanks as he snapped his fingers again causing my Gringotts key to appear in his hand before before he disappeared with another pop.
"Dobby, you are fucking brilliant," I greeted several minutes later when the house-elf reappeared with a pouch of galleons and a large wad of British Pounds which he presented to me happily. "Did you have any problems?"
"No master Harry Potter sir," answered Dobby easily, "is there anything else you need?"
"Um ...maybe just some furniture ...a sofa, desk, and wardrobe for starters," I answered as I slowly got out of bed to head to the bathroom, only to be reminded where exactly I was based on the several locks that adorned my bedroom door trapping me inside. "A bathroom would probably be nice too."
"Dobby will get right on it master Harry Potter sir," replied the eager elf who quickly began snapping his fingers as he fashioned a bathroom right next to the small kitchenette area that rivaled a personal or smaller version of the Prefect's bathroom at Hogwarts.
"Perfect," I responded excitedly and rushed towards the new room, "I'm going to shower, and then maybe head into town for a bit. It's about time that I started to actually live my life."
AN: Just getting starting, enjoy the story!