Harry Potter was 15 months old when he was left on his aunt and uncle’s doorstep early one November morning, and became the unwanted addition to the Dursley household.
Harry Potter would learn to live his life as a living ghost, trying not to get any amount of attention, knowing that his aunt and uncle wouldn’t like the attention if it appeared to be ‘the wrong kind’.
Harry Potter was 4 years old when he found the library after running away from Dudley, looking for a place to hide. This was when Harry found a children’s book about a wizard. He was too young to understand the words but he really liked the illustrations.
Harry Potter would return whenever he could and as he improved his reading, he was finally able to read the story about the wizard and it became his new favorite book. He sometimes wondered if magic was real and if a kind wizard was out there somewhere, if they could make his aunt and uncle disappear or turn them into frogs.
Harry Potter was 5 years old when Aunt Petunia tried to force an ugly sweater over his head and it shrunk as if by magic! It was then Harry realized that the more he didn’t want to wear this ugly sweater the smaller it got. This made him wonder, had he willed it to shrink?
Harry Potter started to notice that weird things were often happening around him, he knew that his aunt and uncle didn’t like this and would often lock him in his cupboard when it happened, as if punishing him for something.
Harry Potter was 6 years old when he realized his aunt and uncle didn’t like magic, and because they didn’t like magic, they didn’t like him either. He wanted his aunt and uncle to like him, he always felt so lonely and he had observed how all the other children at school were picked up by their parents and they always seemed so happy.
Harry Potter knew he was not allowed to ask questions but one morning when Harry was doing his chores, supervised by his aunt to make sure he was doing it all properly, he blurted out the question: ‘Why he wasn’t loved’. To this his aunt had snapped at him that: ‘Freaks don’t deserve love. Stop being freaky and perhaps someone will love you!’
Harry Potter took this to heart.
Harry Potter was 7 years old when he finally managed to shut his magic away, he was proud of himself for succeeding and he looked forward to his aunt and uncle liking him. At first he was very hopeful, and for a time things did seem to get better. He wasn’t punished as much because the accidental magic had completely disappeared. He had even received some off-handed praise once from aunt Petunia remarking: ‘The freak seems to have learned to keep his freakiness away.’
Harry Potter spent a lot of energy keeping the magic shut away tightly, even as it began to rebel against his wishes, wanting to be released. Even as it got painful, he ignored it because his aunt and uncle finally seemed to think he was less of a freak. They even used ‘boy’ more often than ‘freak’ when they spoke to him these days!
Harry Potter thought that was progress but no one was aware of the looming danger in a normal suburban household on a normal suburban street in Surrey.
Harry Potter was 8 years old when Number 4 Privet Drive, and everyone inside, was ripped apart by a storm of angry magic before they could even get out of their beds. Muggle authorities couldn’t find the cause. The magical authorities who arrived at the scene could tell magic was involved but due to the lack of witnesses, they were hard pressed to do anything.
Harry Potter had disappeared, Albus Dumbledore feared that he had been taken by Death Eaters after the protective wards around the property had crashed that morning.
Harry Potter was 9 when an elderly couple found a confused boy wandering the streets and they took him in.
Harry Potter’s magic had gained a life of its own, having separated itself from The Boy Who Lived who was now nothing but a muggle and probably better off for it.