It's always been you

Number 4 Privet Drive

Harry woke up with a start. He felt his burning scar gingerly and looked at the clock. It was 2am. He realised that he must have had another nightmare. "Great, third time this week that is." he thought to himself.

He looked out his small dirty window and viewed the area below him, along with the stars in the clear night sky, glistening individually, being captured one by one by Harry's gaze, as he wished he was somewhere else, anywhere else. He thought in particular of Hogwarts, which had been his only true home since his parents were killed. He wished that Ron would come along with the flying car and whisk him away from this living hell. But no one came. He expected nothing more, although that didn't make him feel any better. He laid back down and felt his bumpy mattress, as he slowly drifted off into the realm of sleep.

In the morning, Harry was pleasantly woken up by a screaming old man in his ear, telling him to get a move on and that it was "already 5 in the morning". "Yes, Uncle Vernon," Harry muttered, wanting to hex him into oblivion. He started making breakfast, extremely careful not to let a single thing burn, as he knew of the consequences that would take place if he burned even a single slice of toast. Since it was 5am, Harry had to cook the bacon and eggs for almost three hours before anyone was up to eat it. While the breakfast was cooking, Harry made sure to polish off the rest of his morning duties, before turning back to the bacon, with the gas at its lowest possible setting.

Harry heard a loud bang from upstairs, which meant that Dudley had fell out of his bed, which happened quite frequently, due to Dudley being twice the width of the bed. Harry half sighed in relief, because this meant two things- that he could stop looking after breakfast and serve it, but also that the torment was about to start.

Dudley came rushing down the stairs, being careful to elbow Harry as he made his way to the table, and started digging in to his slightly larger portion of bacon and eggs. Harry rolled his eyes and noticed that Vernon and Petunia were also downstairs.

"Where's my coffee, boy?"
"On your left, Uncle Vernon."
"Where's the post?"
"On the table, Uncle Vernon."
"Where's the food?"
"Inside Dudley's fat arse" Harry muttered.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY, BOY?"
"Nothing! I said it was on the table!"
"Keep your mouth shut, boy, or i will." Vernon threatened.

"Just like his father, I told you, Vernon" replied Petunia, who Harry had no idea was watching this unfold. "Yes, well i would like to meet this man and personally show him how a model son is supposed to look like." Vernon grumbled. Harry laughed inside his mind of the thought of his father and Vernon meeting up, and Vernon showcasing Dudley, saying things like "This is what every father needs from a son." Harry couldn't help but snigger.

As soon as he did this, he realised that the dam was about to burst.

"What are you laughing at, you pathetic excuse of a teenager, you could probably fit through jail bars." Vernon laughed. "I'm surprised your parents didn't die sooner, I would if my son was this much of a failure. Then again your parents were failures too-" continued Vernon. Harry snapped. The fork he was holding was completely bent at an acute angle. He turned around and pulled his wand out, pointing it directly at his throat. "YOU DON'T SAY A WORD ABOUT MY PARENTS. YOU DON'T HAVE THE RIGHT TO EVEN THINK ABOUT MY PARENTS. I SPENT ONE YEAR WITH THEM AND THEY WERE ALREADY BETTER PARENTS THAN YOU'LL EVER BE, I MEAN LOOK AT YOURSELF, LOOK AT YOUR SON! SPITTING IMAGE, I HAVE TO SAY. I CAN'T EVEN BLAME DUDLEY FOR BEING A HUGE PRICK, BECAUSE THAT'S HOW I WOULD TURN OUT, IF MY DAD WAS ABOUT AS HEARTLESS AS A JELLYFISH!" Harry roared at him.

Vernon smacked him directly in the face, then proceeded to again, and again, and again. Harry was unfazed, having been through this all too many times. He was about to punch back when he heard a ring of the doorbell. He walked up to the door, covered in bruises from his extremely recent beating. He opened the door and smiled at the person who stood there.

That person was none other than Hermione Granger.