Neighbours // Severitus

Moving

The street lights were dim as Petunia Dursley and her family headed to their destination, Number 9 Privet Drive. Two children trailed behind her and her husband, Vernon Dursley.

Life had been perfectly normal for the Dursleys before Harry's arrival. A useless freak. That old bastard Dumblydore or whatever had left the freak on their doorstep and told them that they needed to take him in.

They had begrudgingly accepted, tempted by the money they could receive every month just for keeping him. The boy was made useful by being forced to do all the cooking and cleaning without any reward or barely even his basic needs.

Harry shuffled along behind Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon as they walked towards what would be their new home. Well, more like home for them but not for him. He had never considered the Dursley's to be his home.

He tried his hardest to ignore Dudley taunting him with a chocolate bar as they walked down the street. Harry was starving but he knew better. Useless freaks do not get the luxury of food. Confined to his cupboard most of the time, he was only let out to complete his daily chores.

Weeding, cooking, vacuuming, sweeping, laundry were just a few examples. Before, he had really tried to be a very good boy so they might like him a little but that obviously didn't work. No matter what he did, how hard he tried, it was never satisfactory in their eyes. Nothing was.

The neighbourhood they were moving to had rows of houses surrounding a small park and garden in the centre filled with colourful blossoming flowers. Perhaps he would finally be able to make some friends with the other kids in this neighbourhood.

Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had always spread untrue stories about how he was a violent and uncontrollable child, picking fights all the time, a delinquent nephew. This deterred the parents and their children from coming close to him much less even talking to him. His only companion had been the tiny spider in his small cupboard.

He dragged the bulging luggage behind him while Dudley was doing absolutely nothing useful beside him. Running out of breath slowly as his relative's pace quickened.

It felt like hours for him before they reached the decently sized two storey home. Beads of sweat dripped down Harry's face and his worn out and tattered shirt was practically soaked with sweat.

Aunt Petunia affectionately wiped the chocolate on the corners of Dudley's mouth. Turning to glare at Harry with disdain, she flicked on the lights and immediately ordered him to unpack the boxes that they transported there beforehand. He swiftly neared the closest box to him and took out its contents.

"Freak, go and hang those up in the wardrobe. Don't you DARE do anything to them with your freakiness (idk if this is a word)!" Aunt Petunia's voice sounded behind him as she threw some hangers in his face.

"Yes Aunt Petunia."

Hearing Aunt Petunia's command, he grabbed the hangers on the floor and started putting the clothing onto them with ease. He had done this for as long as he could remember so he was practiced at it.

After the first few were hung, he heard heavy footsteps approaching him. Harry knew who it was as soon as he heard it, Dudley, his cousin that could do no wrong came beside him. In his grasp was something that suspiciously looked like scissors.

Before Harry could react, Dudley snatched one of the shirts on the floor and cut a small hole in it. His cousin grinned evilly while he looked at the noticeable hole in the shirt.

"Mommy! Mommy! Look at what the Freak did to my favourite shirt! He ruined it!" Dudley whined. Harry knew it was useless to argue at this point.

Wasting no time, Aunt Petunia came barrelling over to the room and hugged Dudley tightly, carding a gentle hand through his messy hair and trying to cease his obviously fake cries.

"Duddykins, don't worry about it ok? Mommy will buy you as many shirts as you want!" She said in a sweet voice.

"What did I tell you Freak! Maybe the last beating wasn't enough for you! This time you'll know to NEVER mess with our possessions!" Aunt Petunia screamed. Harry cowered, mumbling "I'm sorry"s over and over again and slid down the wall in an effort to protect himself.

Aunt Petunia roughly pulled Harry off the floor by his shirt and landed sharp smacks on his back and his limbs. The pain was unbearable for Harry. Maybe Aunt Petunia was in an extra bad mood today because he had made their dinner plates float yesterday and subsequently smashing them on the floor as the plates dropped.

Harry didn't know why he could do these freaky things but it was bad. He always got in trouble for it. Tears leaked out from Harry's green eyes as the pain overwhelmed him.

Aunt Petunia administered a few more for good measure before pulling Harry by his shirt to a familiar cupboard also under the stairs this time and shoved him into it. A click of a lock signified to Harry that he was going to be there for a long time. Why couldn't they have bought a house without cupboards this time?

Although being locked in the cupboard was torturous, it was the only place where his relatives couldn't hit him since it was so small. This new one far more cramped than the last. Harry full on cried his little heart out with his head buried in his knees and thin arms around his bruised legs, sitting in the cold, hard wood bottom of the cupboard.

A/N: Rewrote the whole first chapter:) I hope it's better lol