Preview
Within the address of Number 4 Privet Drive, Little Whining, Surrey, lives a young boy named Harry Potter. Now Harry wasn’t a normal boy by any means, oh no, he’s very special. For he contains the gift of magic and all of it’s wonders. Yes, young Harry is a wizard. But he doesn’t quite know that yet. After all, he is only 5.
Currently he can be found in the yard. His aunt, Petunia Dursley, told him to go pull the weeds, so that is what he’s doing right now. Pulling the weeds from her meticulously kept oak wood flower beds. He doesn’t like pulling weeds, but his aunt told him to and his uncle would beat him if he didn’t. So there he sat in the dirt, his little bandaid-covered legs muddied and his soft hands bleeding from cutting himself with the garden shovel. After all, nothing is worse than having no dinner. So he worked through the day until his aunt called him for dinner.
”Harry!” Her shrilly voice scared the poor boy. He looked up at her, little tears welling in his emerald eyes. She sighed and came to grab him. “Come on, you silly boy. Let’s get you clean before your uncle sees you.” He went to wipe his eyes but she stopped him, saying something along the lines of ‘Don’t do that. You’ll get dirt in your eyes!’. So Harry didn’t wipe his eyes and instead let his tears crawl down the sides of his face.
His aunt Petunia made him kick off his shoes at the door. He followed her to the little hall bathroom to get washed up for dinner time. She had to clean his bleeding hands, which always hurt. He did everything to prevent him from screaming in pain when she put the rubbing alcohol on his hands. He shook in pain and let out a few little noises, but other than that, he stayed silent. He knew she wasn’t trying to hurt him, after all. It took a minute before it stopped stinging and she could put the Neosporin and bandages on.
“All better?” She asked, a soft smiled playing on her lips.
“All better!” He chided back.
“Ok. Go get changed into the clothes I left on your bed, ok?” He nodded and ran off and she just sighed and smiled wearily at the small child. “Silly little boy.”
—— Scene Change ——
Harry, meanwhile, was changing. ‘Aunt Petunia bought me new clothes!’ He though happily. There were some new t-shirts with cool graphics and some jeans. He changed into the outfit laid out on the bed; he admired the stripes of blue and white colour and the nice feel of denim.
He grabbed his favorite toy, a small bear, and ran for the dining room. His aunt helped him into his chair and brought him food- she made his favorite fish and chips- before helping her son, Dudley, into her chair too.
“‘Ello, Harry!” Dudley chimed to his cousin whom he was sitting next to.
“Hello, Dudley! How was school?” He asked back. Harry couldn’t go to school. He didn’t have a birth certificate that the government could find, nor any identification. Therefore, they wouldn’t let him go to school until his family provided it.
“It was fine. How was your day?” It was hard to understand Dudley because he spoke while chewing. But Harry had learned how to understand and as such, wasn’t at all fazed by it. Though his aunt told him to finish eating before speaking.
“I didn’t do much today, but it was good.” Harry ate as well. He was taught to never tell his cousin what exactly he did. His uncle always beat him when he spoke too much to his cousin, though his aunt was calmer with him.
Dudley finished a bite before talking again. “Wanna watch the telly with me after dinner?” Harry held in a laugh when Dudley went back to stuffing his face a few seconds later. But he had more self-control than any other 5 years old, so he caught himself and stayed silent.
“If I’m allowed to.” He gingerly bit into one of his chips. His thoughts were focused on other things. Had he finished all of his house chores? He sure hoped so. His Uncle Vernon would be purple in the face if he found out Harry missed a single chore, a single insignificant thing on the list. He didn’t want to risk a beating.
—— Scene Change ——
Harry, luckily, had finished everything he had to do and got to watch the telly with Dudley. His cousin had turned on some weird show that freaked Harry out a little. His aunt has brought them dessert some time ago, maybe an hour or two. He guessed it had been a while since they had gone through 6 episodes and each episode was a half-hour long. He knew that Dudley must have to get ready for bed soon, since they could on watch 7 episodes until Dudley’s bedtime. Unlike Harry, who was allowed to watch whatever he wanted until 9:30pm.
When the final episode ended, Aunt Petunia came to get Dudley ready for bed. She also brought Harry some warm milk and cookies for him to enjoy. After Dudley was ready for bed, she came back down to help Harry find something he wanted to watch. They found a cool movie, a new CareBears movie, and she left him to watch it. The movie was just starting and the run time was nearly an hour and 20 minutes.
Halfway through the movie his aunt came to get him. She told him to change into his pyjamas and brush his teeth before he went back to finishing the movie. He got up and ran to his cupboard to put on his brand new pyjamas; a pair of blue pants and a long, off-white short with the CareBears on it. He grinned and took his bear to bathroom. He brushed his teeth and wiped his face. He brushed his hair- even if it wouldn’t do much- and blew his nose before running back to the living room to continue watching the movie.
He got ready quickly, so the movie was just coming back on when he was ready. He loved CareBears with all of his heart and his aunt knew as much.
—— Pov Change ——
She was letting him stay up as late as the movie ran. Petunia smiled from the doorframe as she watched her nephew laughing and humming along to the show. He looked a bit tired but she knew he would stay up most of the night. He was an insomniac like his mother, always eager to use the nighttime for herself before people-pleasing all day. She felt some soft of guilt looking into his eyes. They reminded her so much of Lily. She used to tease Lily for being weird when on reality, she was just jealous that her sister could do magic and go to a special school while she herself couldn't. She had a secret hope that Harry was like her. That someday he might get away from Vernon and never have to suffer at the hands of him anymore.
He was a piece of shit husband and uncle. She was going to divorce him when their son was older. She couldn’t hurt him like that while he was so reliant on his father. But for the safety of her son and of her nephew, she would have to leave him eventually. If only sometime would come sooner.