Risen from the Ashes (A Harry Potter Fan Fiction)

Chapter 17

To their surprise, Harry just rolled his eyes, "I wasn't abused."

Now it was everyone else's turn to be surprised. "What do you mean you weren't bloody abused?! We saw the man hit you! You were covered in injuries when you got here!"

"It was just for discipline." He continued. "It only happened when I did something bad. So that makes it ok."

"OK?!" he stood up in rage. "Hitting a child is never, OK!"

"Calm down Sirius..." Remus put a hand on his shoulder. "Let's start from the beginning so that Professor Dumbledore is in the loop." They quickly recounted what had happened when they had gone to pick up Harry.

By the time they had finished, Dumbledore was crying. "My boy... I am so sorry that I ever put you in that house... Minerva warned me but... I didn't listen... I will never be able to forgive myself..."

Harry cocked his head to the side and put on a confused expression. "But you knew about it."

All of their eyes widened. "I assure you Harry, I had no idea. If I had, I would not have let you spend another second with those awful people."

Realization started to dawn on his face, "But... the letters... you addressed them to the cupboard under the stairs. They said you knew what was going on, but never did anything about it because you agreed with it."

He shook his head sadly, "The letters are magic. They write themselves. I never knew..."

"Oh..." he deflated. It seemed that it was finally starting to sink in that what the Dursley's had done to him was wrong.

Lily put a hand on his shoulder, "Why don't you start from the beginning. We want to know what... what they did to you..." she started tearing up.

He looked down at the floor, "For as long as I can remember any time, I did something wrong I'd get a good smack. Nothing serious, just enough to hurt for a couple hours. By the time I was around... maybe six or seven, that's when it got worse. Uncle Vernon would start using his belt and would kick me occasionally. I broke my arm once when he pushed me down the stairs, but that was the worst of it. That is, until I found out I was a wizard. That's when things got really bad.

"Uncle Vernon absolutely hates magic. For the first summer after I came back from school, he tried to beat it out of me. When that didn't work, he would take anything I did wrong and blow it out of proportion just as an excuse. He started breaking bones and withholding more meals when he became upset. I had always done a lot of chores around the house, but now I was doing all of them. During my first year, I had read a book on glamours. With some practice, I was able to perfect them. I started wearing them any time I was at school. I didn't want my friends to know... I didn't want them to think I was weak..."

"Oh Harry..." Lily grabbed him tightly, "You are the bravest boy I have ever met."

James joined the hug, "I'm sorry that..." he choked up, "I'm sorry we weren't here for you. That you had to grow up with them..."

"It's ok..." Harry gave them a small smile. "You're here now..."

Dumbledore was fuming, "I'm going to kill them. I'm going to bloody kill them!"

"No!" they all looked at them in surprise. "Don't... don't do that. I don't want to press charges either. I just... they didn't have to take me in. They could have sent me to a children's home. They took care of me. It might not have been great care, but it was something. So just... let them be. Please. Putting up with me for all these years is punishment enough."

Sirius grumbled to himself. "Not letting us kill Pettigrew, not letting us kill the Dursleys, this kid should have been sorted in to bloody Hufflepuff!"

"Actually, the sorting hat considered putting me in Slytherin." He blushed.

"Slytherin?!" Sirius laughed, "And what would you have done there, make friendship bracelets with all the other little snakes? Sing campfire songs? You're such a little pacifist." He bent down and patted him on the shoulder. "I'm proud of you..."

Remus turned to Dumbledore while Harry was distracted by Sirius. "Surely you can come up with something to make them pay for what they did."

He gave him a small wink, "Oh, I'm sure I'll think of something..."

(A/N - thanks for reading!)