A/N: Song- press song! If you want. Song!;
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"I Am Not Nothing"
by Beth Crowley
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I am proud to present this story, Storm Grey, to you readers. To those who read Darker Than Voldemort, here is what I promised. To those who haven't read it, you should try it out.
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*Warning*
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There might be a use of swearing along with content unsuitable for certain viewers (No sexual content, if that's what you think).
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The clouds covered the sky all across. The moon just barely visible as lightning strikes land miles away. Thunder growled every few seconds. Rain pouring down heavily on everything it could. Sounds of the water against windows seeming similar to pebbles and rocks on concrete.
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A little girl lay on the floor of her own room. A tall man, her father, hovered over her with a threatening glare. Anger and fury in his eyes.
The young girl shook in fear. Her eyes were filled with it. She closed them as her father's clenched fist raised in the air just about to strike.
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She didn't know what to expect. Nothing like this has ever happened before.
She had only ever felt pain from tripping over rocks and sometimes roots sticking out of the ground. She had only shed a tear when those things happened.
She didn't ever get punished. She was well behaved.
Did she really deserve this?
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When her father's fist made contact with her cheek, she let out a cry of pain. It was horrible, more than anything she ever felt.
Worse than falling off the swing and tripping over stairs. It was worse than getting a shot at the doctors.
Worse because her father had been the one to do it.
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"Don't make a sound, or else. It only makes it worse. You're a complete ugly stupid fool. You disgust me. Don't ever talk to strangers again"
The girl was scared but still tried to defend herself.
"B-but daddy, it was only one kid. I thought he'd like to play" said the scared little girl.
Her father glared and scowled.
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"Next time and every other time after that, keep to yourself. No one needs or wants to talk to you. Stick to reading books because no one will ever be your friend. Remember that" said her father, spit flying out of his mouth every so often. The words sunk into the girl's head.
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Her father raised his hand in a fist and smacked the little girl's arm. She let out a whimper once it made contact with her delicate skin. He lifted his fist again to hit her another time.
She turned her head with her cheek on the floor and her eyes closed. She was scared out of her mind.
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She let out a small cry of pain once he made contact with her skin on her leg.
Suddenly, an evil looking grin appeared on his face. He stuck his foot out and let it kick through the air hard and fast.
Thunder sounded right as his foot hit her leg and the girl cried out.
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Her father smirked to himself. He had liked doing that. The sick, twisted man liked to hurt to kid that he should care for most.
He lifted his foot again and hit the small girl in front of him whom was obviously in pain. She let her eyes open to see his smirk.
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He let his foot make contact with her leg again. The same leg. Harder. She cried in pain. She couldn't remain calm. She couldn't keep quiet.
What do you expect? It was the first time her father ever did that. She was just a small little girl. She was only five.
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The girl's hazel eyes shifted to green for only a second, but no one noticed. The girl only felt pain and saw the evil smirk on his face.
Her father only watched the pain she was in. He only heard her cries of pain to his amusement. He didn't care of anything.
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Little did they know that someone saw a second of what happened. Saw the evil smirk on the man that was supposed to be the girl's father.
The person that saw was not in their normal world, though. Instead he was in a world that's entrance was hidden in theirs.
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The person that saw was a man. He was weak and a bit old, just older than fifty, but he seemed pretty intimidating. That was because he was.
He was very powerful. So much that he was in hiding. He would most likely be wanted and killed. He didn't know what to think.
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The little girl saw a glimpse of the man that saw her father. He had white skin, red eyes, and a bald head. On his face, he had what looked like a nose of a snake or no nose at all.
He didn't look much like a man, but he was. She didn't know who he was but felt a familiar presence.
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She came out of her thoughts when a leg made contact with her stomach. She let out another small cry of pain. This time it hurt very badly.
He made quick movements with both his foot and fist to hit her more and to hit her faster. She kept letting out small cries as he bruised her skin.
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After what felt like a lifetime to the little girl, her father finished hurting her.
He didn't have to worry about his wife finding out. She was at work. She worked overtime a lot.
He walked out of her room leaving the girl lying in the floor weak and bruised.
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The child slowly sat up and cried. She wouldn't tell anyone. She knows better.
She only says what her parents tell her to. She knows that what just happened was not to be told.
She was very smart for her age. She liked to read books a lot. It was one of her favorite things to do.
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She didn't know why she got punished. She only wanted to make a friend at the park. The boy she met was really nice. He was her age and really sweet.
His father, who looked much like him, seemed a bit grumpy and mean but tried to be nice to her. He seemed to be looking for someone.
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The little girl wished she could meet the boy again. She wished and hoped that she could see him once more. She wanted to play with him.
She only got to say 'hi' before her father had gotten a hold of her hand rather tightly. He pulled her away before they could introduce themselves.
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A week later, she got her wish. She was weak, but still wanted to play.
Her father had beaten her again, once every day throughout the week. At least once. Each time more painful to than the last. Each day longer and slower than the last.
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When she was at the park, her father watched her carefully.
While he had beaten her throughout the week he had kept saying don't talk to strangers that look weird. That dress strange.
She didn't know what was so weird. She never thought of anything as weird. Only unique.
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She went to the swings by herself. She was lonely but knew it would be better than getting beaten more and harder.
After a few minutes in the swing, she noticed her father's head turned and talking to someone who worked with him. She looked around before getting off the swing.
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The girl ran over to the slide and noticed a kid inside. It was a tubelike slide that was closed completely and you can only see down. She slid down carefully and accidentally bumped into the kid.
"Oops. Sorry" she apologized. Then she realized it was the boy from last week.
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The boy looked at her and smiled. "It's okay. So, how come you're with me? My dad told me you people don't like us because we dress differently. Isn't that true?"
"Maybe most people but not me. I was actually hoping to run into you again," she shrugged.
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"You were?" He was astonished.
"Yeah, I was hoping we could be friends"
The boy's face grew a smile but it faded after a few seconds.
"Oh, I wish we could. Really do, but my father wouldn't allow it and I have to go back home real soon"
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"Oh. Where do you live?"
She successfully hid her sadness as well as her pain.
"Kind of far from here. What about you?"
"Down that street" she told him, pointing towards the street her house resided.
"Cool. How about we're friends for today?"
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"Sure" said the girl with a big smile on her face.
"Okay. So, what do you want to do?"
"I don't know. Wait, we never introduced ourselves" she realized.
"Oh yeah, I'm-" started the boy, but he didn't get to finish. Someone came down the slide and knocked them down.
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The girl landed on top of the boy. "S-sorry" said the girl sheepishly. "It's okay" said the boy. "Sorry about that" called a new voice. She hey turned their heads to see a boy with dark hair, dark brown eyes, and dark skin. "Blaise! Why'd you do that? You knew I was in the slide!"
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"Yeah, but I didn't know you had company. Are you two friends? Or kissing buddies?" Instantly the two retched at the thought. "Eww" said them both simultaneously. "That's disgusting. We're only friends for today" said the boy. "Sure, 'Drakie'" said Blaise with air quotes on the name. "Shut up" said the boy. "Is that your name?"
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"Not really. It's a dumb nickname a girl calls me. I try to get away from her because she has what my American friend calls cooties" said the boy, as if the name itself was a disease. "Oh, is she back where you're from?" "Yeah. So what's you're name?" Before the girl could answer, an angry man cane towards them.
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The girl looked up and realized she was still on 'Drakie.' She got off immediately and cowered back. It was a man much like 'Drakie' but with long hair. "What's going on here?" "Father, it's only a new friend. Just for today until we leave. Blaise knocked us over" explained 'Drakie.'
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The man thought of what he said and sighed. "Alright but you know that's not why we're here. We have to find her" said the boy's father. "I know" responded the boy with a sigh. The girl was listening carefully but was still scared. She felt tears threaten to spill and tried to fight them back.
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"Hey, why're you still scared?" Blaise was questioning the girl. A tear managed to escape and fell down her face. Her eyes suddenly grew wide in panic. She immediately jumped up and she quivered in fear. Her eyes were stuck on someone. A man. Her father. He was walking over to where she was, angrily.
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"Just what did I say a thousand times already?" He stopped right in front of her. "N-not to talk to strangers and people dressed weirdly" said the girl. "And what did you do?" "Both?" She didn't see what was wrong with their clothing. It looked fine to her.
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"Is that a question or statement?" "S-statement" she responded, realizing her mistake. "Why are you talking to them?" "I wanted to make a friend. I was just being friendly" she tried to explain. "But you didn't listen to what I said" he said in a scary calm manner. "Come on, we're leaving"
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The girl's eyes widened once more when he said that. It meant she was going to get a far worse punishment today. She now wished she checked to see if he was coming. She wished she could have gotten a chance to run. To be found alone by the monkey bars or something.
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Her father grabbed on to her arm tightly. It was way too tight. She winced while he pulled her up on her feet and dragged her away. "Excuse me, sir. I believe you're holding on to her too tight" said the blond adult. "She's fine. Aren't you sweetie?" "Yeah, I'm fine" she stared.
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The boy's father watched the girl, her arm, her father, and her father's hand very carefully. He could tell she was lying but decided not to push it. "Dad, what are you doing? Aren't you going to yell at him?" "I'm sure she'll be fine" said his father. How wrong he was.
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Hermione looked back to the boy nicknamed 'Drakie.' She looked sadly unto his storm grey eyes before her father pulled her away. When she looked into his eyes, she felt warmth. She had felt safe when she had been with him. Before her father would drag her away, that is. But being with him was like a haven. Her escape from cruel reality.
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