Chapter 1
1988
There were knocks, but he was flying so high in the dark sky that he didn't hear. Cutting through the wind and defying gravity as if it were nothing, Harry was riding some kind of magical motorcycle. It never seemed to slow down, flying higher and higher. More beats, and then:
"Wake up!" Now a voice accompanied the noise "Get up, boy!"
The bike wobbled for a moment, and everything blurred a little. One more beat.
"I won't repeat it, you little ingrate!" The voice was getting closer and closer "GET UP!"
Bright stars were replaced by a dusty ceiling, causing him to finally snap back to reality, Harry hated that. Being pulled out of such a good dream by his aunt's voice was the indicator that a terrible day was ahead, picking up his glasses in the dark little room, he mentally prepared himself for the day.
"I'll be right now" His back hurts from sleeping on the thin mattress "Just one more second."
Harry heard his aunt leave muttering, he knew that if he didn't leave soon, she would send Uncle Vernon for him.
Uncle Vernon was always the worst, he would come yelling, his unnaturally red face annoyed and practically throw him out of the closet. This motivated him to get up faster, he preferred to spend the morning without further injuries. He's been hurt enough all day, thank you very much.
After changing out of his big t-shirt he wore as pajamas for a pair of pants and shirt in slightly better condition, he was ready to start breakfast. The clock on the wall indicated it was early – not before seven, but something after that, Harry hadn't quite learned yet – luckily Aunt Petunia woke him up before his other relatives. His cousin Dudley and Uncle Vernon were huge, and they always ran down the stairs, making all the dust from the closet ceiling fall on him.
Harry decided to make a full breakfast; pancakes, bacon, toast, eggs, coffee and orange juice. That would keep the Dursleys happy with him, maybe even give him some of the leftovers, if he kept quiet enough. His belly hurt a little, he felt weak from so long without eating.
"BOY, COME HERE RIGHT NOW!" He celebrated too soon, Harry had no idea what he had done, but it would probably guarantee him another day without eating.
He hated this place very much. Harry hoped that one day he would be able to leave, the place wouldn't matter as long as it was far away from here.
Knowing how much worse things could get, Harry climbed the stairs as fast as he could. He was a little weak, but he got there in time to stop Uncle Vernon from screaming again.
“Boy, I took you under my roof, fed you my food, dressed you with my money.” Uncle Vernon pointed a big red finger at his face, his face was like a tomato it was so red, “And you dare disrespect me like that! form?
He had no idea what he had done, but he knew that no matter how hard he tried to deny any accusation, the blame would always fall on him. After so much time living with his relatives, Harry knew how things worked.
The easiest way to get through these situations was to agree, no matter how difficult it was for him. Harry would get a slap or two and after finishing his chores he would be rudely shoved into his locker.
"I'm sorry, Uncle Vernon." This didn't seem to help calm his fury, his collar was pulled up and his feet no longer touched the ground, his breathing becoming scarce.
“Listen here, freak" If it were possible, your uncle's face started to turn in some kind of purple. "I will not tolerate your antics and little tricks here anymore."
Harry heard some giggles, looking a little to the side he could see that it was his cousin Dudley, who was laughing watching the whole scene as if it was some kind of private show.
His cousin loved to do that, cause trouble and then blame him. Unfortunately, his uncle would never believe him.
"Now, I'm going to tell you one last time, if you–"
Vernon couldn't finish talking as the doorbell rang
"Darling, come here quick!" Harry vaguely heard Aunt Petunia scream, his headache and his vision was starting to blur.
His uncle's threat would be incomplete for a while. He was abruptly dropped to the ground, hitting his head too hard not to be worrying. His glasses flew away and he couldn't see anything anymore.
He heard the boards creak as he passed him, Dudley right behind him. As he listened to his relatives come down the stairs, Harry had the feeling that something big was going to happen, not something specifically good or bad, but big. Aunt Petunia was yelling at someone, and he heard heavier footsteps on the stairs, this time coming up.
A long, almost entirely black figure appeared at the top of the stairs. He was a little scary and gave off a powerful aura. Harry didn't think he would hurt him, but that didn't stop him from trying to get away from him.
The mysterious person covered his entire vision, he was too big to be any of his relatives. His head hurt so much and he could barely see anything, but he struggled to stay awake when he saw the person getting closer and closer, Harry was able to make out his face well enough to see that it was a man. He also had a beard and some sort of scar running across part of his face, Harry tried his best to move. He tried to get away from the strange man, to put some distance between them.
“It's okay now, child.” Heavy hands wrapped around his body and lifted him in the air in an incredibly delicate way. “You're safe, I promise you"
He didn't feel completely safe, and the whole situation felt so confusing, he would have reacted differently if he had been in another state, but everything was a blur and now his whole body was in pain. Harry wanted to kick and scream and tell the big man to drop him, but he didn't think it would work, the man was clearly a lot stronger than him.
Harry didn't last much longer, sleep took him gently but immediately. The big man settled him better in his arms, his head hurt so bad and the man's chest felt comfortable. He was still very scared and probably that wasn't the best thing to do, but he couldn't help himself. He was tired and really, really needed some rest.