Chapter 7
Spells
'Thoughts'
::Parseltongue::
::Parseltongue Spell::
Unknown to Harry, all of the inhabitants had wandered down to the kitchen to have lunch. They all sat in an uncomfortable silence while Sirius scowled and stabbed at his food and the twins forlornly played with the food on their plates instead of eating it. Nobody wanted Harry to leave them, but four of them had a much stronger resolve about it. They knew that Harry was not treated well there.
Remus looked around uncomfortably before speaking up, "Do any of you know where Harry is?"
"Probably hiding away from the undisguised tension in the room," Charlie said with a small smirk, knowing he would have done the same.
They were all startled when Sirius snapped his head up suddenly. It was obvious that Sirius was going to struggle the most with the raven haired boy gone from Grimmauld place. "He is too thin. He should be down here eating with us if he has to spend a week with the Dursleys before Hogwarts. Someone should go get him," Sirius snapped, even as he stood up to retrieve the boy.
"Sit down Sirius, I'll get him. He doesn't need for you to yell at him because that certainly won't encourage him to come down," Charlie said as he stood up. Charlie watched as Sirius sat back down and then walked out of the kitchen and up to Harry's room.
He knocked quietly on the door twice, but received no answer so he peeked in to see if Harry was even in there. When he opened the door, Charlie was surprised to find that Harry had curled up on top of the covers and fell asleep. When he saw the empty vial on the bedside table he snatched it and sniffed it, trying to decipher what it was that Harry had taken. After recognizing it as Dreamless Sleep, Charlie put it back down and covered Harry up with the blankets. He knew that the kid deserved some sleep, especially if he had resorted to taking a potion.
He made his way back down to the kitchen and sat down at the table while everyone stared at him confused as to why Harry was not with him.
"Welll...?" Sirius said impatiently, wondering why the hell the dragon tamer had come back without his pup.
Charlier looked at the animagus with something resembling pity, "I couldn't get him down here. The poor kid must have been exhausted. He was fast asleep and had even taken a vial of dreamless sleep. I figured it would be best if we just let him sleep for now. He deserves it." Charlie looked back at his food and began to eat again. Remus, on the other hand, did not miss the nervous and worried looks shared between the twins and his mate. He figured he would ask later as it was probably something best left to discuss in private.
The group finished eating and all went their own separate ways while Harry continued to sleep on peacefully in his bed.
The next two days continued on in a similar manner, with Harry either avoiding everybody or eating with them in a tense silence, until night came and it was time for Remus and Bill to bring him back to the Dursleys. Everybody was standing in the living room, while Harry got the last of his stuff ready.
He had cast and undetectable extension charm on his trunk and packed all of his new clothes plus the muggle clothes that Sirius had bought him into it. He also tossed in his wand, just to be safe, before putting a password in parseltongue on it so that it would only open to him. Harry shrunk it so it was easily able to fit into his pocket and walked downstairs to meet everyone. He had decided he would show up to the Dursleys in a pair of jeans and one of his not so nice sweaters.
Harry made it into the living room to see everyone was standing around looking tense. Hermione was already silently crying, and Sirius also looked a little bit teary eyed. Harry hugged each one of them, whispering promises of seeing them at school or over the holidays. After had asked Hermione to bring Hedwig to school with her, and got a bone crushing hug from his godfather, Harry walked over to Bill and Remus. He knew that with Remus' senses so heightened he would have to be careful with what he felt.
Remus looked down at his cub with sadness in his eyes, "Alright kid, let's get going." The three walked out of Grimmauld, Remus side-apparated them all to the corner of Private Drive. It was only 7, but it was already extremely dark. The three of them slowly made their way down the street and towards the Dursley's house. As they got closer, Harry could feel himself becoming more and more apprehensive about actually going back. What if something goes wrong? What if they actually kill him this time?
By the time they were a house down from the Dursley's, all Remus could smell was the fear and terror coming from his cub. He couldn't comprehend why Harry was so scared, but he didn't have a good feeling about it. When they finally stopped in front of number 4 Private Drive, Harry turned around and gripped Remus in a tight hug and then did the same to Bill.
"Thank you, guys. I love you both, and I'll see you soon okay? At the holidays or maybe on a Hogsmeade weekend," Harry said softly.
Bill looked down in surprise at the boy before replying, "Of course little brother. We will all see you soon enough, and Hogwarts starts in only a week."
"I love you too cub. I'll take care of Sirius and we will see you as soon as possible, okay?" Harry nodded his head and watched as they apparated away before walking up to the front door. He could only imagine the warm welcome he was going to receive. He knocked quietly and silently hoped nobody would open the door. Unfortunately for him, Petunia threw open the door only to sneer in his face.
"Vernon," she yelled, "the boy is here again, just like they said." The horse-faced woman grabbed him by his sweater and dragged him into the hallway while Vernon lumbered into view.
>>>>>>>>verbal and physical abuse<<<<<<<<
"Well, if it isn't the Freak. Here to stay again for another week. You'll be sure to make yourself useful, boy," Vernon sneered at the boy.
"Of course, Uncle," Harry sniped back at him. He knew he shouldn't have done it, but he couldn't help it. As soon as he saw his uncle coming towards him, he cast a stunner at him with a flick of his hand. His eyes widened when he realized his uncle wasn't stopping and tried again, but once again nothing happened. It was then he realized that his magic wasn't working. How in the world wasn't it working!
By the time Harry's brain had caught up, it was too late to avoid the fist coming towards his face. He never even noticed the immense pain of the bones shattering in his cheek or the unconsciousness settling into his mind as he fell to the ground.
>>>>>>>>end abuse<<<<<<<<
Harry was freaking out. He had willingly gone to this house, and he wasn't even able to protect himself. Someone must have done something to him or put up wards- WARDS! Somebody had to of put up wards that blocked out his magic! He had just gone and put himself into a dangerous situation where he was nothing more than a muggle. No one but himself could be blamed for what was to come.
As Harry began to wake up, he realized that he was once again in 'his' bedroom. He winced at the tenderness and actual intense blinding pain in the left side if his face. Gingerly, he touched his face and bit back a whimper of pain. Definitely broken, possibly shattered. He went to mutter a healing spell when he remembered why he had been hit. His magic was non-existent under the new layer of wards under the house. He was unable to use any of his magic and would be absolutely defenseless.
Harry looked outside and estimated that it was most likely around 5 or 6 in the morning. His aunt would be coming to let him out soon to start breakfast for their family. It was only Monday and he couldn't leave until Sunday for the Hogwarts express.
It was ten minutes later when he heard his Aunt's bony hands rapping on the door. "Get up, boy! Start breakfast already you lazy freak," she spat through the door as she unlocked the eight different locks.
Once he heard her walk away, Harry left the room and went down to start cooking. Quickly and efficiently, Harry cooked a breakfast for 8, for the family of 3. Everything was cooked to perfection and Vernon's coffee made exactly how he liked it. Harry stood in the corner of the room and hunched in on himself, hoping he could get out of their as soon as possible. He just wanted his list of chores so that he could get them done as soon as he could to avoid any further punishment. He knew he would receive one anyways for the backtalk he gave his uncle last night.
Slowly, the Dursley family made their way down to the table and sat down to eat. Harry thought it would be fine and continued to stare down at the tile until he heard a plate smash and looked up. The plate of eggs he had cooked (to absolute perfection) were lying face down on the ground surrounded by shattered pieces of glass from the broken plate. Harry looked up to see his uncle's beefy face turning a bright red and a malicious smirk on his face.
>>>>>>>>verbal/physical abuse<<<<<<<<
"BOY," the obese man wailed, "Get over here now." Harry knew that this wouldn't be good, but ignoring or disobeying him would only make it worse. Harry shuffled over to the man and stood there, with his head bowed, ignoring the looks of malice coming from the other two Dursleys. Vernon grabbed him by the neck and pushed his face down to the broken glass on the floor.
"You see that, boy? You burnt the eggs and then made me break Petunia's plates. How hard is it to make a correctly cooked plated of goddamn eggs? Huh, Freak??" As his uncle spoke more, he shoved Harry's face further in the shards of glass, getting them lodged in his already broken cheek, "You're absolutely good for nothing, you little piece of shit. You can't even make one shitty meal right, can you boy?"
Harry felt himself being lifted off of the ground by his neck and dragged over to the stove. He couldn't imagine his uncle doing this. It had been so long since he had been punished like with this and he didn't know if he could actually handle it.
Vernon turned the burner on and tore down Harry's sweater so that his whole shoulder was exposed. The older man ignored Harry's pleas to stop and pushed the young man down onto the burner.
Harry screamed as he felt himself being pushed onto the burner, unable to stop the pleas and shrieks coming from him. He could feel his skin bubbling and burning and melting. The excruciating pain and overwhelming wish to die. The feelings that he might just pass out from the pain.
"Please, Master, please! Stop, please, oh my god, Ahhhhhhh! Please. I can't take it please, Master, please! Please! AHHH! I'm sorry sir, I am so sorry! It won't happen again, I swear, Master, please! Please stop!" Harry screamed and begged for the pain to end in a way he hadn't for 6 years, barely hearing as his uncle spoke to him.
"You're just a bastard child that nobody could love. Nobody wanted you and so they left you with us. Why would anyone want you when you get everyone killed anyways. Just a useless piece of trash. That is all you are, boy. You are nothing," Vernon sneered at the sobbing child. He tossed him to the floor away from him and watched as the boy curled up in pain.
Harry curled up, hoping that death would come to him as he knew that would be the only escape, but instead he felt himself being dragged over to the cupboard under the stairs and thrown unceremoniously underneath them.
>>>>>>>>end abuse<<<<<<<<
Unfortunately, Harry knew that this was just the beginning of what would turn out to be one of the worst weeks of his life.
After Remus and Bill had dropped Harry off at Private Drive, they both apparated back to Grimmauld Place. When they arrived there, they were greeted by a disturbing silence. Bill went up to his room, deciding he would go to bed early, and Remus went in search of his mate, thinking more about what he and Moony had smelt on Harry.
Remus looked everywhere and only found his mate when he went to their room. He was surprised to find that Sirius was curled up in bed hugging a pillow to his chest.
"Hey there Siri, what are you doing in bed already? I figured you would be getting wasted and pouting about our cub having to leave," Remus tried to tease. When he noticed that Sirius didn't glare or laugh he became concerned and sat on the edge of the bed beside his mate.
"Padfoot? What's the matter?" he asked nervously, not knowing what could be so wrong other than Harry leaving. He was shocked to see that Sirius had tears streaming down his face and his eyes were all red-rimmed. That was also when he noticed that the pillow he was hugging was their cubs. Sirius launched himself at his mate and sobbed into his chest.
Remus' heart broke at the desperate and shattered sobs of his mate. He wished he knew what was wrong or what he could do to make it better, but there was no way he was getting anything out of Sirius until he had calmed down.
Sirius was happy when Remus had found him, needing to share his sorrows about his pup leaving. How was he supposed to be sure that his pup was okay? He never even found out how bad it was at that household for him. And now his pup might be suffering and there was nothing he could do about it because his pup had made it clear that he would be fine.
"I need our pup, Remus. He can't be at the Dursley's, he just can't. He doesn't deserve it there," Sirius cried softly into Remus' chest.
Remus stiffened at Sirius' words. He knew there had to be something seriously wrong for Sirius to react so strongly about their cub going there. "What do you mean Sirius? Why do you think Harry doesn't belong at the Dursleys? What is going on that I haven't noticed?" Remus demanded.
Sirius shook his head into Remus' chest and mumbled against him, "Can't tell you. Pup will be so mad, but mate deserves to know. Pup refuses to talk about it. Dursleys are bad to our pup. I brought it up once and pup had an anxiety attack! He had an anxiety attack, mate!"
Remus noticed that Sirius was starting to revert into how Padfoot thought in order to keep from coping with the situation.
Carefully, he nuzzled the mating mark and waited for Sirius to calm down and come back to himself. His head rested in Remus' lap as a few tears slid down his face.
As his mate calmed down, Remus could feel himself getting angry. He could only assume that his cub was being abused at the Dursley's house. Logically he tried to tell himself that everything would be fine and that Harry could defend himself with his magic he still felt the urge to grab his cub and tear apart the Dursley family.
Remus decided that he would leave tomorrow and check on his cub, but he had no idea that when he got to Private Drive, he would be unable to even put a finger over the property line.
Meanwhile, Harry would have to put up with a whole week of the Dursleys until September 1st