Suppression

A Long Summer

In a small room in the house located on 4 Privet Drive, there lay a boy currently trapped in the sadistic throes of a nightmare. This was no ordinary boy, however, this was Harry Potter. Harry Potter, the boy-who-lived to some, 'freak' to his relatives, and apparently the mortal enemy of a dark lord who called himself Voldemort. Right now, the boy lay trapped in a vision produced by said dark lord who returned to life mere months ago.

Screams echoed through the boy's room as he thrashed and turned in his bed, feeling every bit of the pain the dark lord forced him to endure. Then, things got worse, he was treated to the memory of the night of the return. He lost a good friend that night, a boy named Cedric Diggory, a boy he respected more than anyone. He was forced to watch as the killing curse was delivered to him, rendering him lifeless without so much as a second glance.

The screams rose in pitch, alerting one other member of the house to the happenings in Harry's room. An admittedly large boy crept his way into the room fearfully, feeling his entire boy cringe at the sheer torment that the screams conveyed. This boy, Harry's cousin Dudley, made to wake him up.

"Harry," Dudley called, "HARRY, WAKE UP," Dudley more forcefully called before going over and shaking Harry's shoulder.

Harry immediately jumped awake and rolled to his feet with his wand in hand, intent on attacking his assailant. A curse was on the tip of his tongue before the world darkened around the corner of his eyes, forcing him to fall to a knee. It took a while, but his visioned cleared up enough to see the pool of blood that was quickly forming at his feet. He didn't even bat an eye, knowing it was from the lightning bolt scar that granted him the nickname of the boy-who-lived.

"Harry, th—th—there's...blood on the floor."

Slowly, painfully, Harry rose to his feet with heavy breaths that wracked his much too thin frame. "I'll clean it up," he exhaustedly told his cousin. Blood continued to rush down his face, covering him enough to give him the appearance of a creature from a horror movie.

"Harry," Dudley gulped, "what's happening to you?"

The tortured boy detected a hint of concern from his cousin and was inwardly surprised. Throughout their lives, Dudley was determined to make Harry's hell. Now, the large boy was showing him concern. Hell must have frozen over, he thought. That, or he must have looked enough of an absolute mess to render his bully of a cousin worried.

"Your guess is as good as mine, Dud." Harry grabbed a wash cloth, the one he had been using whenever this happened, and quickly wiped the blood off of his face. The formerly white cloth quickly stained red before being completely covered by the sanguineous substance.

"You don't," Dudley swallowed thickly again, "you don't want to go the hospital?"

Harry chuckled at the concern from his cousin and waved him off. "No use, they wouldn't be able to help me," he spoke once more, exhaustion tinting his voice. "Sorry I woke you," he added before kneeling to wipe up the blood that pooled at his feet.

"Yeah well, it's a good thing my parents are on a business trip," his cousin replied before exiting the room and returning moments later with a mop and bucket, surprising him. He nodded at the larger boy and got to cleaning the room.

"Well...I'll just go back to bed," Dudley softly told him.

"Wait," Harry turned to him, "you've heard me screaming like this for the past week, why come in tonight?"