The Troubled Wizard (A Harry Potter Fan Fiction)

Chapter 5

"HOW DARE YOU?!" Vernon punched Harry in the eye and pushed him to the floor as soon as they walked away from the door. "You got in contact with those freaks, didn't you?!"

"I didn't! I swear!" Harry tried to stand up, only for Uncle Vernon to stamp a foot onto his chest.

"We feed you. We clothe you. We put a roof over your head. And for what?!" Harry could feel his ribs starting to crack under the pressure. He didn't know how much more of this he could take. "You ungrateful little freak! What did you tell them?!"

"I didn't tell them anything!" Harry cried. "I didn't know they were coming!"

"Are any more going to be showing up later?" Harry quickly shook his head. "Good." His uncle sneered before spitting onto his face. "You're going to pay dearly for what you've done."

"But I didn't do anything..." Vernon didn't care. He lifted his foot off of Harry's chest, finally giving him a chance to breathe. He then yanked Harry up by his shirt collar and practically dragged him off to his study. Normally, Harry wouldn't resist, all that would do was get him into more trouble. However, after just having a punishment the night before, he didn't know if his body could take much more.

Harry tried to get away, but Uncle Vernon just threw him back down to the ground. He then started kicking Harry with a ferocity like he had never seen before. Wizards in general made Uncle Vernon mad. But the idea of wizards finding out about Harry's 'living arrangements' made him furious. Uncle Vernon may have hated having Harry around, but he did enjoy all the free labor and getting to use him as a punching bag. In a sick, demented sort of way, he would miss him if Harry was taken away.

Harry screamed as he felt one of the bones in his leg snap at Uncle Vernon's assault. He had had many punishments over the years, but he had never had one this bad. The only time he could remember his uncle being this upset with him, was after he had blown up Aunt Marge. Luckily, he had immediately run away after that, so he didn't have to face the aftermath. He could only imagine that it would have gone down something like this.

One would have thought that Harry would have loathed his family by this point, after everything that they have put them through. However, no matter how hard he tried to, he just couldn't seem to bring himself to hate them. There was some small comfort in the fact that they were his last blood relatives. They were his family. And as a boy who had never gotten to know his parents, that made some small, tiny part of him happy. Sure, he didn't necessarily like the way they treated him, but they were allowed to because they were his family.

Besides, Uncle Vernon very rarely punished him without a good reason. He always waited until after Harry had screwed up and made some sort of mistake before he laid down the law. Harry knew that he caused a lot of problems for his aunt and uncle, and they didn't receive any compensation for it. They could have thrown him out on the street at any moment, but they still took care of him. so that had to count for something.

Harry coughed up something that tasted vaguely like blood as his uncle kicked him in the stomach. Kick after kick, Harry soon started to feel lightheaded. Uncle Vernon stopped for only a moment, to pick up a bottle of vodka. Harry's last moments of consciousness were spent watching the bottle quickly falling towards his face. After that, everything went black.

*****

"Arthur, something very wrong with Harry." The two Weasley parents had stopped by a muggle diner nearby, trying to figure out what they should do next.

"I think you're right," Arthur said solemnly, pushing his chips around with a fork. "You don't think..."

"...his uncle's abusing him..." she finished. "I... think that that must be the case..."

"Surely even a man such as Dursley wouldn't do that to a child!" Arthur looked down at his own hands. "What sort of man could do such a thing?"

"You saw the look on Harry's face..." she wiped a tear from her eye. "He was terrified of the man."

"I have a feeling; we may have just made things much worse for him," Arthur said solemnly. "He asked us to leave, we should have listened..."

"What and leave him in that house with Merlin knows what?!" she cried in rage. Several of the other patrons of the diner looked at her with confusion before going back to their meals.

"What should we do?" Arthur asked seriously. "Talk to Dumbledore?"

She made a face, "That man was the one who put him there in the first place. I don't want to have anything to do with him until I find out what's really going on."

"What do you want us to do Molly? Waltz in there with wands blazing until we find out what's going on?" he asked.

She shrugged, "They're just muggles, I think we can take them."

He sighed before giving her a small smile, "Man you're stubborn." She grinned back at him. "Let's do this..."

(A/N - Hey guys, thanks for reading! I hope you liked this chapter! :) Have a great weekend!)