Unicorn Child
~*~
Disclaimer:
All the characters you recognise belong to JK Rowling. I own nothing but the plot!!!
~*~
Chapter 1
Prologue
~*~
It was a warm, beautiful autumn evening at Godric's Hollow. The birds were singing merrily, and nothing could disturb the peaceful atmosphere. The sky was a thousand different shades of red, orange and purple and the setting sun seemed to smile down upon the three people in the garden.
"James! Get down here, dinner's ready!" Lily Potter watched with a smile as her husband swooped down on his broom and landed smoothly beside her. Harry, their one-year-old son, clapped his hands happily and grabbed a fistful of his mother's hair.
"Ouch! Harry, let go!" Harry giggled and released Lily's hair. "Gaa, oomph." He declared earnestly. Lily and James chuckled and went into the house. They all had a wonderful dinner of beef casserole and after that went into the living room.
Lily and James talked about Harry, the weather, Harry, Lily's horrible sister Petunia, Harry, life back at Hogwarts and anything else that came to their minds, like Harry.
But there was something else on their minds, something that was so dark, so horrible, so cold and so evil, that not even that beautiful evening sun could dispel it: Lord Voldemort.
As much as they tried to prevent it, as much as they tried to get on with their lives like normally, Lily and James were worried. They knew that Voldemort was after Harry and James, that's why, one week ago, they had gone into hiding. Peter Pettigrew was their secret keeper, after Sirius had declined, saying that Voldemort would suspect it was him. Lily and James were worried about their friends. What if Voldemort captured them and tortured them for information? Or even killed them? Lily and James knew that they would never be able to forgive themselves should something happen to their friends because of them.
It was dark now. The sun had vanished behind the mountains surrounding the small village of Godric's Hollow, and with it had gone the hope and the light that had taken the Potters' minds off things.
It was quiet outside. Eerily quiet. There were no animals moving about, no owls hooting in the nearby forest. There were no lights on in the other houses of the village, the people had shut their doors and windows firmly and pulled their curtains closed. Even the wind, it seemed, had stopped blowing, and the moon had vanished behind impenetrable dark clouds. There was death in the air, death and fear so thick that you could almost touch it.
"James?" Lily whispered into the dark and quiet living room. "Yes, dear?" her husband answered. "I'm scared," Lily admitted. She heard the soft rustle of cloth, then James was sitting next to her and Harry and hugged them. "I know, love," he said quietly, "so am I. But don't worry, we are safe. Voldemort can't find us here."
Lily nodded, even though she was not convinced, and hugged Harry a little closer. The small child seemed to sense that something was wrong and was being unnaturally quiet.
They sat in silence for a while. They could hear the clock in the hallway chime once. It was eleven-thirty.
'BOOM!' Lily and James jumped up and Harry gave a little whimper. 'CRASH!' This time, there was no doubt. Someone was attempting to break down the front door. James ran over to the window, peering through the gap in the curtains. When he turned around again, his face was chalk white and panic was written all over it.
"Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off!" Lily clutched her son to her chest. "James, no! We'll go together!" James cupped her cheek with his hand. "Lily, listen to me! Please! Do it for Harry!"
Lily stared into his blue eyes for a moment, tears already running down her face. She nodded, quickly, and gave her husband one last kiss. Then, she started up the stairs towards the little store room where she knew James kept his most prized possessions, including his invisibility cloak and, more importantly, his broomstick.
Downstairs, she could hear the door crash open and knew that HE was in the house.
Lily ran faster, cursing the house for being so large. She had a plan. She would take the broom and cover Harry with the invisibility cloak, then she would fly down the stairs, leave Harry on the first landing, grab James onto the broom and fly up the stairs again at top speed, then she would get Harry and together they would flee out of the great hall-window on the first floor before Voldemort would know what had hit him.
The plan was risky, but good. There was only one thing Lily hadn't thought of, one flaw in her plan. And that flaw was that broomsticks weren't designed to carry two fully-grown people.
The plan worked perfectly in the beginning, Lily found the broom and the cloak. She even managed to grab James' arms and haul him onto the broom. But that's when things started to get wrong.
The broomstick started to jerk and spin uncontrollably, and neither Lily nor James managed to get it under control.
Then, Voldemort came out of his daze and started to hurl curse after curse at the two Potters. And the final straw was the wall: The broom had obviously decided that, under the current circumstances, committing suicide was the best option and crashed right into the solid stone wall. Wood splinters flew everywhere, hitting all three people in the room.
The silence that followed was suffocating. Lily and James were sitting on the floor staring up at Voldemort dazedly, and Voldemort was standing there, pointing hid wand at the spot where the broom had been only seconds before, for the first time in his entire live completely speechless.
Had the situation not been so grave, it might have been comical
Unfortunately, it was Voldemort who recovered from the shock first. "Well," he hissed, his eyes narrowing menacingly, "Nice try. But you should have known better. There is no escaping Lord Voldemort. You two have defied me one too many times. Especially you, James. Letting the heir of Gryffindor live is of too great risk for me. I can't have you ruining my plans all the time, can I?"
Voldemort sneered down upon Lily and James, a mad glint clearly visible in his eyes.
"Say goodbye, Potter!" And with that, Voldemort pointed his wand at James and spoke the two most horrible magical words in existence. "Avada Kedavra!"
A flash of green light came out of his wand and flew straight at James. James was still too dazed to move, there was no way for him to avoid being hit with the curse. The Unforgivable hit him squarely in the chest and James Potter crumpled on the floor. He was dead.
Lily was jolted back to the present, feeling as though someone had just torn her heart out. "JAMES!" she screamed, "NOOOOOOO!"
Voldemort started to laugh. High, cold laughter full of evil filled the house, sending shivers down Lily's spine. In the dark corners of the giant mansion, spiders began to scuttle around frantically, desperately trying to hide from the evil man, and up on the stairs little Harry was frozen with terror.
A few moments later, Voldemort stopped laughing and fixed his attention back on Lily. "Now," he said in a dangerously low voice, "unless you want to meet the same fate your as your husband," Voldemort sneered down at the still figure of James, "I suggest that you tell me where the child is."
Lily blanched. No way. There was no way she would tell this..... this monster where her precious little son was.
"Child?" she asked innocently. "Have you lost one? I'd say I'm sorry, but any child is better off lost than with you-" "SILENCE!" Voldemort interrupted her, shaking with rage, "You know very well what child I am speaking of! Where is your son, woman!"
Lily let all act drop. "You monster!" she screamed, tears starting to flow down her cheeks, "You come barging in here and kill my h....husband, and th....then you expect me t....to give you m....my son?" Lily was sobbing now. "I'll never tell you where he is, I won't let you kill Harry, too!"
Voldemort narrowed his ugly red eyes. "Don't be silly, girl," he snarled, "I'm going to let you live. Just tell me where the boy is!"
Lily decided to swallow her pride, then. "Please," she begged, "Not Harry, not Harry too, please! I'll give you anything, take me instead, just let my son live, I beg you!" Voldemort sneered down at Lily. "How touching. So you want to sacrifice yourself for your son? Lemme think....." Voldemort's nasty grin broadened. ".....no. It is not you I want..... I can't let your child live, he is a heir of Gryffindor and would be a great threat to me once he'd grown up..... So, for the last time, woman, where is the boy?"
Voldemort almost shouted those last four words. Lily gave up. She knew that she was going to die that night. But she had one more trick up her sleeve, one plan to ensure Harry's safety and almost guarantee Voldemort's downfall. Voldemort would not get her son. Harry Potter would live.
So, she sat up as straight as she could manage and looked Voldemort squarely in the eyes. "I won't ell you."
Voldemort's eyes flashed as he pointed his wand at Lily Potter. "Then, you leave me with no choice. Avada Kedavra!"
Lily watched the green light speeding her way calmly. Time seemed to slow down as she started to chant in her mind. Old words that had not been spoken in many centuries, words written in a long forgotten language, an ancient protection charm Lily had come across years ago while looking something up in the library for her charms homework.
"Ghiam khamuros Harry James Potter. Nuhim amisuha lahar. Nazgh ad Szarka khem liam arzuk. RAHAR!"
Knowing that her plan had worked, Lily Potter died with a smile on her face.
Voldemort looked down on the bodies of two of his greatest foes, but not with satisfaction. Something had gone wrong. Harry Potter lived, and Voldemort knew that he wouldn't be able to find the boy even if he tried. Something else stirred in Voldemort's mind. It had been too easy. The woman had submitted far too easily, almost willingly. He had a bad feeling about this. Like the worst was still coming. And for the first time in more than 50 years, Voldemort was scared, really scared.
Wrapping his cloak tighter about himself, Voldemort turned on his heel and hastily left the house, pausing only to shoot the dark mark up into the sky. "One day, Harry Potter," he hissed, "One day I will come back for you."
Then, with one last glance at the Potter Mansion, Voldemort disapparated.
Inside the house on the first floor, Harry Potter stirred. The cloak fell away from around him. Harry looked around the quiet hallway. "Mama?" he asked timidly. No one answered. "Dada?"
Harry suddenly felt very cold and alone. He couldn't understand why his parents weren't answering him. This had never happened before. For the first time in his short life, little Harry felt scared, very scared.
He curled up into a small ball and began to cry. But no one was there to hear his cries and no one was there to comfort him.
Down in the living room, the dead bodies of Lily and James Potter were still lying on the floor, the eerie smile never leaving Lily's face.
The clock in the hallway chimed twelve times. It was midnight.
The moon and the stars shone down innocently upon the house which had been a place of terror only minutes ago. A new day had begun, the first day for little Harry Potter as an orphan.
llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
We know most of the rest of the story. Not much later, Sirius arrived at the Potter Mansion. He found Lily and James's bodies in the living room and cried over them. Hagrid, too, came, and he found little Harry on the stairs, still crying.
Sirius tried to convince Hagrid to give Harry to him, but Hagrid was adamant on carrying out Dumbledore's orders. So, Sirius gave him his motorcycle and disapparated.
He hunted down Peter Pettigrew two days later and cornered him on a street full of muggles. But this time, this one time, Pettigrew outsmarted Sirius and framed his one-time friend for his murder and the murder of 12 innocent muggles. Sirius was powerless, and taken to Azkaban without a trial.
Meanwhile, Voldemort continued to wreak havoc in the magical world, and even the muggle world. Lily and James Potter's deaths were written off by most as just two more unfortunate victims of Voldemort's reign of terror.
Few people cared about what happened to little Harry Potter. One of those who did, however, was Remus Lupin, the Potters' best friend. He tried to gain custody of the small boy, but the ministry decided that his "condition" did not enable him to ensure a little child's safety. Remus fought the ministry's decision, but in the end he lost.
Albus Dumbledore was charged with Harry's fate. He decided that it would be best for little Harry Potter to be with his only remaining relatives, the Dursleys. Remus interfered, telling the headmaster of all the horror stories he had heard from Lily about her sister and brother-in-law.
Others tried to convince Dumbledore that this was a bad idea, too, in fact everyone who had known the Potters. But none of them wanted or were able to take Harry, and so it was decided: Harry Potter would live with his aunt and uncle and cousin, which was fine with the ministry because protection charms (that had to be placed around every witch's or wizard's house) worked much better when they were based on people sharing blood ties.
So, a week after his parents' deaths, little Harry was lying at the Dursleys' front door fast asleep, a letter explaining everything clutched tightly in his tiny fist.
llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
This story begins three years later. Harry is four years old now and has spent the past three years in the "care" of his horrible relatives, the Dursleys. Even though Harry was their nephew, they were treating him like dirt.
Harry was sleeping in a small broom cupboard under the stairs, which was very dark and full of spiders. Harry didn't like spiders and was afraid of the darkness, so he cried in there very often, quietly, so that the Dursleys wouldn't hear.
Harry wasn't allowed to be loud, he wasn't allowed to ask questions, he wasn't allowed to play. If he touched Dudley's toys or did anything else against the rules, he would be thrown into the cupboard without any food for a week.
Food, that was another issue. Harry was never allowed to eat as much as he wanted to and was unnaturally thin and small for his age, whereas Dudley, Harry's cousin, was the size of a baby hippo by now.
Dudley was horrible, too. Because Harry was smaller than him, he and his gang liked beating Harry up. Harry had long ago given up on trying to complain about it, he would only get punished for badmouthing "precious, little Duddykins".
Harry had soon learnt that the best way to avoid trouble at the Dursleys was to be simply invisible, and over the years Harry had become quite good at this.
He spent most of his free time (when he didn't have to do chores) in his cupboard. He had found a few very old fairytale-books in there but he hadn't told anyone about them, knowing that, if he did, they would be done quicker than he could say 'Snow-white'. So Harry had taught himself to read, and that meant that not only he did spend a lot of time reading about unicorns, giants and other magical creatures (which was a great no-no at the Dursleys), but also that he had a much larger vocabulary than normal four-year-olds.
However, the bad treatment from the Dursleys had taken its toll on Harry. Not only the fact that he was undernourished, but also emotionally.
Harry was a quiet, shy child. He hardly ever talked to anyone, mainly because the Dursleys forbid him to and didn't talk to him much themselves. It is a widely known fact that small children have a great need for affection and warmth, something that Harry had never had with the Dursleys.
After having tried countless times to bond to the Dursleys only to be cruelly rejected or laughed at every time, Harry gave up and retreated further into himself.
He had lost his trust in other human beings long ago. Everything adults ever did was shout at him, or starve him, or shut him in places where he didn't want to be, or load him with work, or punish him for things he hadn't done. Everything kids ever did was tease him mercilessly, or beat him up, or shun him for things they had done.
So Harry had learnt quickly not to trust anyone but himself, and he was lonely, horribly lonely.
And this is where this story begins, on Halloween 1984, exactly three years after Voldemort killed Lily and James Potter.
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A/N: So, what do you think? Should I continue this story?
PLEASE REVIEW!!!
See ya,
Felinity ^_^
~*~
Disclaimer:
All the characters you recognise belong to JK Rowling. I own nothing but the plot!!!
~*~
Chapter 1
Prologue
~*~
It was a warm, beautiful autumn evening at Godric's Hollow. The birds were singing merrily, and nothing could disturb the peaceful atmosphere. The sky was a thousand different shades of red, orange and purple and the setting sun seemed to smile down upon the three people in the garden.
"James! Get down here, dinner's ready!" Lily Potter watched with a smile as her husband swooped down on his broom and landed smoothly beside her. Harry, their one-year-old son, clapped his hands happily and grabbed a fistful of his mother's hair.
"Ouch! Harry, let go!" Harry giggled and released Lily's hair. "Gaa, oomph." He declared earnestly. Lily and James chuckled and went into the house. They all had a wonderful dinner of beef casserole and after that went into the living room.
Lily and James talked about Harry, the weather, Harry, Lily's horrible sister Petunia, Harry, life back at Hogwarts and anything else that came to their minds, like Harry.
But there was something else on their minds, something that was so dark, so horrible, so cold and so evil, that not even that beautiful evening sun could dispel it: Lord Voldemort.
As much as they tried to prevent it, as much as they tried to get on with their lives like normally, Lily and James were worried. They knew that Voldemort was after Harry and James, that's why, one week ago, they had gone into hiding. Peter Pettigrew was their secret keeper, after Sirius had declined, saying that Voldemort would suspect it was him. Lily and James were worried about their friends. What if Voldemort captured them and tortured them for information? Or even killed them? Lily and James knew that they would never be able to forgive themselves should something happen to their friends because of them.
It was dark now. The sun had vanished behind the mountains surrounding the small village of Godric's Hollow, and with it had gone the hope and the light that had taken the Potters' minds off things.
It was quiet outside. Eerily quiet. There were no animals moving about, no owls hooting in the nearby forest. There were no lights on in the other houses of the village, the people had shut their doors and windows firmly and pulled their curtains closed. Even the wind, it seemed, had stopped blowing, and the moon had vanished behind impenetrable dark clouds. There was death in the air, death and fear so thick that you could almost touch it.
"James?" Lily whispered into the dark and quiet living room. "Yes, dear?" her husband answered. "I'm scared," Lily admitted. She heard the soft rustle of cloth, then James was sitting next to her and Harry and hugged them. "I know, love," he said quietly, "so am I. But don't worry, we are safe. Voldemort can't find us here."
Lily nodded, even though she was not convinced, and hugged Harry a little closer. The small child seemed to sense that something was wrong and was being unnaturally quiet.
They sat in silence for a while. They could hear the clock in the hallway chime once. It was eleven-thirty.
'BOOM!' Lily and James jumped up and Harry gave a little whimper. 'CRASH!' This time, there was no doubt. Someone was attempting to break down the front door. James ran over to the window, peering through the gap in the curtains. When he turned around again, his face was chalk white and panic was written all over it.
"Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off!" Lily clutched her son to her chest. "James, no! We'll go together!" James cupped her cheek with his hand. "Lily, listen to me! Please! Do it for Harry!"
Lily stared into his blue eyes for a moment, tears already running down her face. She nodded, quickly, and gave her husband one last kiss. Then, she started up the stairs towards the little store room where she knew James kept his most prized possessions, including his invisibility cloak and, more importantly, his broomstick.
Downstairs, she could hear the door crash open and knew that HE was in the house.
Lily ran faster, cursing the house for being so large. She had a plan. She would take the broom and cover Harry with the invisibility cloak, then she would fly down the stairs, leave Harry on the first landing, grab James onto the broom and fly up the stairs again at top speed, then she would get Harry and together they would flee out of the great hall-window on the first floor before Voldemort would know what had hit him.
The plan was risky, but good. There was only one thing Lily hadn't thought of, one flaw in her plan. And that flaw was that broomsticks weren't designed to carry two fully-grown people.
The plan worked perfectly in the beginning, Lily found the broom and the cloak. She even managed to grab James' arms and haul him onto the broom. But that's when things started to get wrong.
The broomstick started to jerk and spin uncontrollably, and neither Lily nor James managed to get it under control.
Then, Voldemort came out of his daze and started to hurl curse after curse at the two Potters. And the final straw was the wall: The broom had obviously decided that, under the current circumstances, committing suicide was the best option and crashed right into the solid stone wall. Wood splinters flew everywhere, hitting all three people in the room.
The silence that followed was suffocating. Lily and James were sitting on the floor staring up at Voldemort dazedly, and Voldemort was standing there, pointing hid wand at the spot where the broom had been only seconds before, for the first time in his entire live completely speechless.
Had the situation not been so grave, it might have been comical
Unfortunately, it was Voldemort who recovered from the shock first. "Well," he hissed, his eyes narrowing menacingly, "Nice try. But you should have known better. There is no escaping Lord Voldemort. You two have defied me one too many times. Especially you, James. Letting the heir of Gryffindor live is of too great risk for me. I can't have you ruining my plans all the time, can I?"
Voldemort sneered down upon Lily and James, a mad glint clearly visible in his eyes.
"Say goodbye, Potter!" And with that, Voldemort pointed his wand at James and spoke the two most horrible magical words in existence. "Avada Kedavra!"
A flash of green light came out of his wand and flew straight at James. James was still too dazed to move, there was no way for him to avoid being hit with the curse. The Unforgivable hit him squarely in the chest and James Potter crumpled on the floor. He was dead.
Lily was jolted back to the present, feeling as though someone had just torn her heart out. "JAMES!" she screamed, "NOOOOOOO!"
Voldemort started to laugh. High, cold laughter full of evil filled the house, sending shivers down Lily's spine. In the dark corners of the giant mansion, spiders began to scuttle around frantically, desperately trying to hide from the evil man, and up on the stairs little Harry was frozen with terror.
A few moments later, Voldemort stopped laughing and fixed his attention back on Lily. "Now," he said in a dangerously low voice, "unless you want to meet the same fate your as your husband," Voldemort sneered down at the still figure of James, "I suggest that you tell me where the child is."
Lily blanched. No way. There was no way she would tell this..... this monster where her precious little son was.
"Child?" she asked innocently. "Have you lost one? I'd say I'm sorry, but any child is better off lost than with you-" "SILENCE!" Voldemort interrupted her, shaking with rage, "You know very well what child I am speaking of! Where is your son, woman!"
Lily let all act drop. "You monster!" she screamed, tears starting to flow down her cheeks, "You come barging in here and kill my h....husband, and th....then you expect me t....to give you m....my son?" Lily was sobbing now. "I'll never tell you where he is, I won't let you kill Harry, too!"
Voldemort narrowed his ugly red eyes. "Don't be silly, girl," he snarled, "I'm going to let you live. Just tell me where the boy is!"
Lily decided to swallow her pride, then. "Please," she begged, "Not Harry, not Harry too, please! I'll give you anything, take me instead, just let my son live, I beg you!" Voldemort sneered down at Lily. "How touching. So you want to sacrifice yourself for your son? Lemme think....." Voldemort's nasty grin broadened. ".....no. It is not you I want..... I can't let your child live, he is a heir of Gryffindor and would be a great threat to me once he'd grown up..... So, for the last time, woman, where is the boy?"
Voldemort almost shouted those last four words. Lily gave up. She knew that she was going to die that night. But she had one more trick up her sleeve, one plan to ensure Harry's safety and almost guarantee Voldemort's downfall. Voldemort would not get her son. Harry Potter would live.
So, she sat up as straight as she could manage and looked Voldemort squarely in the eyes. "I won't ell you."
Voldemort's eyes flashed as he pointed his wand at Lily Potter. "Then, you leave me with no choice. Avada Kedavra!"
Lily watched the green light speeding her way calmly. Time seemed to slow down as she started to chant in her mind. Old words that had not been spoken in many centuries, words written in a long forgotten language, an ancient protection charm Lily had come across years ago while looking something up in the library for her charms homework.
"Ghiam khamuros Harry James Potter. Nuhim amisuha lahar. Nazgh ad Szarka khem liam arzuk. RAHAR!"
Knowing that her plan had worked, Lily Potter died with a smile on her face.
Voldemort looked down on the bodies of two of his greatest foes, but not with satisfaction. Something had gone wrong. Harry Potter lived, and Voldemort knew that he wouldn't be able to find the boy even if he tried. Something else stirred in Voldemort's mind. It had been too easy. The woman had submitted far too easily, almost willingly. He had a bad feeling about this. Like the worst was still coming. And for the first time in more than 50 years, Voldemort was scared, really scared.
Wrapping his cloak tighter about himself, Voldemort turned on his heel and hastily left the house, pausing only to shoot the dark mark up into the sky. "One day, Harry Potter," he hissed, "One day I will come back for you."
Then, with one last glance at the Potter Mansion, Voldemort disapparated.
Inside the house on the first floor, Harry Potter stirred. The cloak fell away from around him. Harry looked around the quiet hallway. "Mama?" he asked timidly. No one answered. "Dada?"
Harry suddenly felt very cold and alone. He couldn't understand why his parents weren't answering him. This had never happened before. For the first time in his short life, little Harry felt scared, very scared.
He curled up into a small ball and began to cry. But no one was there to hear his cries and no one was there to comfort him.
Down in the living room, the dead bodies of Lily and James Potter were still lying on the floor, the eerie smile never leaving Lily's face.
The clock in the hallway chimed twelve times. It was midnight.
The moon and the stars shone down innocently upon the house which had been a place of terror only minutes ago. A new day had begun, the first day for little Harry Potter as an orphan.
llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
We know most of the rest of the story. Not much later, Sirius arrived at the Potter Mansion. He found Lily and James's bodies in the living room and cried over them. Hagrid, too, came, and he found little Harry on the stairs, still crying.
Sirius tried to convince Hagrid to give Harry to him, but Hagrid was adamant on carrying out Dumbledore's orders. So, Sirius gave him his motorcycle and disapparated.
He hunted down Peter Pettigrew two days later and cornered him on a street full of muggles. But this time, this one time, Pettigrew outsmarted Sirius and framed his one-time friend for his murder and the murder of 12 innocent muggles. Sirius was powerless, and taken to Azkaban without a trial.
Meanwhile, Voldemort continued to wreak havoc in the magical world, and even the muggle world. Lily and James Potter's deaths were written off by most as just two more unfortunate victims of Voldemort's reign of terror.
Few people cared about what happened to little Harry Potter. One of those who did, however, was Remus Lupin, the Potters' best friend. He tried to gain custody of the small boy, but the ministry decided that his "condition" did not enable him to ensure a little child's safety. Remus fought the ministry's decision, but in the end he lost.
Albus Dumbledore was charged with Harry's fate. He decided that it would be best for little Harry Potter to be with his only remaining relatives, the Dursleys. Remus interfered, telling the headmaster of all the horror stories he had heard from Lily about her sister and brother-in-law.
Others tried to convince Dumbledore that this was a bad idea, too, in fact everyone who had known the Potters. But none of them wanted or were able to take Harry, and so it was decided: Harry Potter would live with his aunt and uncle and cousin, which was fine with the ministry because protection charms (that had to be placed around every witch's or wizard's house) worked much better when they were based on people sharing blood ties.
So, a week after his parents' deaths, little Harry was lying at the Dursleys' front door fast asleep, a letter explaining everything clutched tightly in his tiny fist.
llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll
This story begins three years later. Harry is four years old now and has spent the past three years in the "care" of his horrible relatives, the Dursleys. Even though Harry was their nephew, they were treating him like dirt.
Harry was sleeping in a small broom cupboard under the stairs, which was very dark and full of spiders. Harry didn't like spiders and was afraid of the darkness, so he cried in there very often, quietly, so that the Dursleys wouldn't hear.
Harry wasn't allowed to be loud, he wasn't allowed to ask questions, he wasn't allowed to play. If he touched Dudley's toys or did anything else against the rules, he would be thrown into the cupboard without any food for a week.
Food, that was another issue. Harry was never allowed to eat as much as he wanted to and was unnaturally thin and small for his age, whereas Dudley, Harry's cousin, was the size of a baby hippo by now.
Dudley was horrible, too. Because Harry was smaller than him, he and his gang liked beating Harry up. Harry had long ago given up on trying to complain about it, he would only get punished for badmouthing "precious, little Duddykins".
Harry had soon learnt that the best way to avoid trouble at the Dursleys was to be simply invisible, and over the years Harry had become quite good at this.
He spent most of his free time (when he didn't have to do chores) in his cupboard. He had found a few very old fairytale-books in there but he hadn't told anyone about them, knowing that, if he did, they would be done quicker than he could say 'Snow-white'. So Harry had taught himself to read, and that meant that not only he did spend a lot of time reading about unicorns, giants and other magical creatures (which was a great no-no at the Dursleys), but also that he had a much larger vocabulary than normal four-year-olds.
However, the bad treatment from the Dursleys had taken its toll on Harry. Not only the fact that he was undernourished, but also emotionally.
Harry was a quiet, shy child. He hardly ever talked to anyone, mainly because the Dursleys forbid him to and didn't talk to him much themselves. It is a widely known fact that small children have a great need for affection and warmth, something that Harry had never had with the Dursleys.
After having tried countless times to bond to the Dursleys only to be cruelly rejected or laughed at every time, Harry gave up and retreated further into himself.
He had lost his trust in other human beings long ago. Everything adults ever did was shout at him, or starve him, or shut him in places where he didn't want to be, or load him with work, or punish him for things he hadn't done. Everything kids ever did was tease him mercilessly, or beat him up, or shun him for things they had done.
So Harry had learnt quickly not to trust anyone but himself, and he was lonely, horribly lonely.
And this is where this story begins, on Halloween 1984, exactly three years after Voldemort killed Lily and James Potter.
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A/N: So, what do you think? Should I continue this story?
PLEASE REVIEW!!!
See ya,
Felinity ^_^