Summer Pains

Harry Potter was not your average fifteen-year-old boy. He was a wizard. He was tall and scrawny, with jet-black hair and brilliant emerald green eyes. He also had a thin, lightning-bolt shaped scar on his forehead, which he got from deflecting a deadly curse back onto its originator.

Harry Potter hated his life. He hated everything about it. Recently, he had just learned about a prophecy that bound him with Lord Voldemort: the most feared Dark Lord in over a century. He also hated the people he lived with. The Dursleys were never nice to him. The Dursleys were muggles, and hated absolutely anything and everything that had to do with magic.

The Dursleys pretended that Harry didn't exist. Ever since the warning the Order members had given them they just stopped paying attention to Harry. Harry didn't mind it all, in fact, he enjoyed it.

Harry was glad that they didn't talk to him. He was in a state of mourning. He had just lost his godfather. He had been dueling with his cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange, and had been hit with a spell, which had sent him falling into a veil. He never came back out. As Harry thought of Bellatrix, an extreme anger inside him arose. He was mad at her for hitting him with the spell, but was also mad at himself because he was the reason Sirius, his godfather, had been there in the first place.

Harry spent most of his time up in his room, just reminiscing on his memories, the good and the bad. He had eaten fairly little since he had arrived at Privet Drive for the holidays, and he was getting thin and pale. His stomach was growling at him, angry with him for putting it through the torture of not being fed.

Harry's scar had also been torturing him since he got to the Dursleys. It would never stop burning, and the dreams he had made it worse. Harry would often wake up in the middle of the night, vomiting from the pain.

*****************

After a week of being up in his room, Harry's Uncle Vernon decided to talk to him. In this case talk means yell until you can't yell anymore.

“BOY, GET OUT HERE NOW!” he commanded. Harry obeyed and quietly got off his bed and walked out the door.

“WHY DO YOU JUST MOPE AROUND ALL DAY, DOING NOTHING! YOU SHOULD AT LEAST WORK AROUND THE HOUSE, CONSIDERING THAT WE FEED YOU AND CLOTHE YOU AND PUT A ROOF OVER YOUR HEAD! STOP BEING SO UNGRATEFUL!” He shouted at the top of his voice. Dudley and Aunt Petunia came to the source of the shouts, and watched in panic.

“You have no idea what I've been through.” Harry said quietly and menacingly.

“WHAT COULD HAVE HAPPENED TO YOU THAT WOULD MAKE YOU LIKE THIS!?!” Uncle Vernon roared.

“Do you really want to know what I've been through?” Harry asked.

“YES!” Uncle Vernon bellowed.

“Well, first off, do you know what it's like to grow up never knowing who your parents were?” Harry asked. Everyone in the hallway shook their heads. “Well I do. And then, after losing my parents, I get sent here, to live with you, where you guys treat me like I'm worse than dirt. I live doing what you tell me to do for ten years, never knowing what it feels like to be cared for. I spent ten years of my life being a punching bag. Do you know what that's like?” Everyone shook their heads no again. “Well then, when I finally turned eleven, I got mail for the first time in my life, only to have it taken away. I finally learned that I'm a wizard, and I learned that I'm famous for not dying from the Killing Curse like my parents and so many other wizards and witches did. I finally learned that you told me lies for ten years, about everything in my life.”

“Anyway, when I get on the train to my school, I actually made a friend, Ron Weasley. This was something I had never felt before because he,” he glared at Dudley, “never let me make friends. So naturally I enjoyed every bit of it. Well, while I'm in my first year at my school, I already faced dangers.” Harry told them all about the things he faced in all of his years so far, and how many times he escaped death. He told them all the horrible memories, which actually made them gasp. When he was finished, his Aunt Petunia was very pale and shaking, and tears were forming in her eyes. Dudley was frightened, and, to Harry's surprise, Uncle Vernon was looking sorry for him.

Finally, his Aunt managed to speak. “I-I'm so sorry Harry, for…for the way we…we treated you.” She quickly ran over to him and gave him a hug, the tears falling freely. “I'm sorry about Sirius, Harry.”

Harry was close to tears. The people who had tormented him for the most part of his life were now worried about him.

“Well…we better…better be off to bed. Feel free to sleep in as long as you want, Harry. Good night.” His Uncle Vernon said. With that, everyone retreated into their respective bedrooms.

Harry lay down on his bed, thinking about what just happened. He thought well into the late hours of the night, until he drifted into sleep.

*****************

Harry was doing his Transfiguration homework, but couldn't concentrate. Him and the Dursleys were now on friendly terms, and they actually started considering him as a member of the family. Harry was happier than he had been in a long time.

Harry was reading up on teleportation, when he heard a loud BANG. He looked out his window, and his face immediately paled. Crowds of Death Eaters were destroying the Privet Drive neighborhood. <I>Oh shit, they're looking for me!</I> He thought as he ran down the stairs into the kitchen. The Dursleys were standing far away from the front door, looking horrified. Harry then heard a knock, and the door was blasted off its hinges. Harry immediately pulled out his wand and shouted “<I>Expelliarmus!</I>” The Death Eater closest to him was thrown backwards from the force of the spell, and Harry caught his wand. He began throwing spells at them, but there were just to many Death Eaters.

They had their wands pointed at him and the Dursleys.

“If you don't come with us, they die.” one of the Death Eaters said as they stepped toward him. Harry couldn't let the Dursleys be killed, not since they had just started acting like a family. Harry pulled up all the strength he could, pointed his wand at the Dursleys, and shouted “<I>Teleportus</I>” and they disappeared. Harry had sent them to somewhere away from the Death Eaters.

One of the Death Eaters shouted “<I>Stupefy!</I>” and Harry was petrified.

“Okay, now lets just take him,” said one of the Death Eaters.

“No we can't, he has to come of his own free will.” answered another Death Eater.

“How about we just destroy the house, then he'll be dead. Our Master instructed us to kill him, so let's do it,” said a different Death Eater.

“Fine.” said the second Death Eater. With the swoosh of several cloaks, they were gone. Just as Harry was reviving from the stunning spell, he heard a couple of incantations, saw the Dark Mark in the sky, and thought about why his life had to be this way, and of the last time he saw Hermione. He then felt immense heat and pain, before feeling nothing…