The Troubled Wizard (A Harry Potter Fan Fiction)

Chapter 15

Hermione and Ron immediately moved closer to their friend as Harry cried into Mrs. Weasley's shoulder. "It's ok sweetheart..." she gently petted his hair, "just let it out..."

"I- I thought it- it was ok..." he stuttered. "If you knew about it, then I thought that meant it was ok. That you approved..."

"Harry I would never approve of that sort of treatment towards anyone, certainly not a child," Dumbledore said sadly.

"Harry," Mr. Weasley started, "Why don't you tell us what it was like living with the Dursleys."

He wiped the tears from his eyes and sat up, "I... I really didn't like it. My whole life I've lived in the cupboard under the stairs. It was dark and full of spiders. They wouldn't feed me very often, and when they did it was always just the burnt bits or the food that had spoiled. Recently, it's been worse because Dudley's on I diet, so I've been on one too."

"A DIET?!" Mrs. Weasley yelled in rage. "The last thing you need is to be on a diet! I'm going to kill them!"

"My aunt hates all things magic and passed that onto my uncle and cousin." He continued. "Every year after I got back from school, they would take Hedwig and all my school stuff and lock them in that attic. That's why I didn't respond to any of your letters. My uncle confiscated all of the ones you sent me, so I didn't even get a chance to read them."

"Poor Hedwig..." Ginny couldn't even comprehend how it was possible for someone to be so cruel.

"And what about the injuries?" Mr. Weasley prompted. "Did your uncle hurt you?"

Tears started dripping from his eyes again and he started shaking. "He... he'd kill me if I told you..."

"You're safe now luv." Molly wrapped her arms around him. "We wouldn't let that horrible man lay a hand on you ever again."

"He... yes..." Harry looked down sadly. "He... hit me. A lot... only after I had done something wrong though! He... he never did it without a good reason."

"My boy, there's no such thing as a good reason to hit a child," Dumbledore told him sadly.

"But when I'd do something wrong, I would need discipline." He argued.

"Harry, George, and I do something wrong about six times a day, double on weekends," Fred told him.

"And not once has mum or dad ever hit us." George finished.

"Sure," Fred continued, "They'd punish us, but just with things like cleaning the dishes, or doing the laundry."

"They would never lay a hand on us," George glanced over at his parents who were smiling proudly, "because they love us."

"And we love you too." Mrs. Weasley kissed his forehead. "We would never to anything to hurt you either."

"I'm sorry to ask this," Dumbledore started, "But if we are going to build a case against your uncle, I'll need to know. In what ways did he hurt you?"

His eyes widened, "You're going to send my uncle to court?"

"Of course," Dumbledore stated plainly. "He deserves to pay for what he did to you."

"I... you can't..." he said sadly. "They're my family... I don't want them to go to jail..."

"But mate..." Ron looked at him with tears in his eyes, "They hurt you..."

"I know..." Harry rubbed at his eyes, "But please, I don't want to press charges. I don't want to have to deal with going to court or anything like that. I just want to forget that it ever happened."

Dumbledore turned to the Weasley's then back to Harry. "I'm sure we can come up with some sort of consequence for them that doesn't involve having to go to court. For right now, please tell me in what ways he hurt you."

Harry let out a sigh of relief, thankful that he wouldn't have to press charges. "It... it was with his belt most of the time. He'd take me into his study and hit me with it. Sometimes he'd just punch or kick me. Other times he'd use other things in the room like a bottle, or a paperweight, and throw those at me. He'd always be very careful not to hit my face though. He wanted to make sure no one ever found out about it. I did all of the chores and cooking in the house, so it would have been pretty inconvenient for them if I had gotten taken away."

"Why..." he looked over at Hermione who was crying. "Why didn't you ever tell us?"

He looked down, "I... they were my family. My last living blood relatives. I didn't want them to get in trouble. And I knew if Uncle Vernon found out I had told someone... he wouldn't have been happy. I... was scared..."

"Well, you don't need to be scared anymore." Mrs. Weasley hugged him. "We'll protect you from now on..."

"Where am I going to be staying?" he asked.

"Normally, I would have said with Sirius sense he is your godfather." Dumbledore replied, "But with his name still not being clear, I'm afraid that's not an option."

Harry was looking down sadly when Arthur came up to him and knelt in front of him. "Harry, how would you like to stay with us?"

He looked up in surprise and saw all of his friends smiling at him. "I'd... like that very much..." 

(A/N - hey guys thanks for reading. I hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving.)