The little boy ran as fast as his feet could carry him, his little stuffed bear held tightly in his left hand; they had found him again, the monsters had managed to find him, and once again, he was forced to run for his life, terror etched on his face as red and green lights shot over his head.
"POTTER!" One of the monsters roared as it fired another green light from the stick he was holding and missed the boy by inches, making the boy cry out and quickly round a corner into a nearby alley, only to stop in horror as he realized that he had run into a dead end.
As the boy turned around, he saw the monsters enter the alley, and his little heart began to race; he didn't know why these monsters kept coming after him or why they wanted to hurt him so severely; all he knew was that from the moment he had run away from his aunt and uncle's house, they had repeatedly chased him down, and only by sheer luck had he managed to escape them each time. Still, it looked like his luck had finally run out as the two began to slowly enter the alley, raising their sticks as they did.
As they slowly approached him, the boy shrunk back until, at last, he felt his back press against the wall, and his eyes widened in terror at the monsters; they both wore strange black outfits and had scary-looking silver faces with strange symbols and lines on them,
"Nowhere to run now, Potter!" One of the monsters said in a deep voice which made the boy tremble and clutch his bear,
"Please don't hurt me," the boy whispered as the monsters finally stopped, "I don't know what I did, but I'm sorry!"
"Too late for that, I'm afraid," the second monster sneered as it raised its stick, "This is vengeance for our master!"
With a cry of terror, the boy hugged his bear as tight as he could and squeezed his eyes shut, a single thought echoing through his head,
"Please save me from the monsters, Teddy!"
A second later, the boy felt a strange sensation, as though he was being squeezed through a very small space; as the feeling grew, he heard the monsters roar in anger before the cry simply disappeared, and the sensation stopped.
When the boy finally opened his eyes; he gasped in surprise at what lay before him; the alley was gone, as were the two monsters; in their place was a large open field that stretched as far as he could see, which wasn't very far considering how dark it was, with the moon being the only light he could see.
With a cry of happiness, the boy hugged his bear tight and whispered,
"Thank you, Teddy,"
with a final sigh of joy, the boy spun around and saw to his surprise that there was, in fact, another light besides the glow of the moon, it shimmered far ahead, and with a final hug of his bear, the little boy set his face into a determined expression and began to walk towards it.
XXXX
Albus Dumbledore sighed wearily as he read the latest letter from the ones whom he had sent searching, there was still no sign of Harry after almost two weeks, and Dumbledore was beginning to lose hope that the boy was even still alive at this point, for how could any five year old survive for two weeks on his own?
As Dumbledore re-read the letter again, he felt anger and despair course through him in equal measure at the thought of what poor Harry must have gone through with the Dursleys to make him so desperate as to run away in the first place; when Dumbledore had visited them and demanded to know where the boy was, Vernon Dursley had sneered and said that it wasn't his concern anymore and he hoped the freak never returned, it had taken a great deal of control to keep Dumbledore from throttling the muggle, then.
As soon as he had returned to Hogwarts, Albus had immediately written to several members of the 'Order of the Phoenix' and asked for their help in locating the boy as quickly as possible while at the same time being as discrete as possible to prevent word of Harry running away from leaking out.
Placing the paper onto his desk, Albus slowly rose and walked to his pet phoenix, who was dozing on its perch; as gently as he could, Albus stroked the bird, making it open its eyes and stare at him as though guessing Albus' thoughts, it had been Albus who had left Harry with those vile muggles four years ago, at the time he had thought Harry would be safe and loved, knowing now that he had been the victim of such horrible abuse that the boy decided to run away broke Albus' heart.
"Please let him be alive," Albus whispered to anything which might be listening, "I failed Lily and James; I cannot fail young Harry as well…."
XXXX
The boy smiled despite his exhaustion as he came over the last hill and saw from where the light had originated; he was exhausted after walking for so long but at the same time was curious as to where he was and what the light was for that matter.
Gazing down from the hill, the boy saw that the light was from a strange-looking house that looked as if it had a second house built on top of it and a third on top of that; as the boy looked at the home, he giggled at the silliness of it, it just seemed so strange to him.
As the boy slowly approached, he could hear noises from inside the building and gripped his bear tighter,
"Careful, Teddy," the boy whispered as he edged closer, "There might be more monsters here."
When the boy had finally approached the window, he slowly gripped the window sill and peeked inside; as he did so, his eyebrows rose in surprise at the scene playing out before him,
a large red-headed woman was currently scolding two young boys who appeared to have the same face, while another two older boys were sitting at a table eating cookies and laughing at something that a little girl was saying, another boy was sitting across from the cookie eaters, reading a book. As the little boy watched the two boys eat more cookies, he felt his stomach growl painfully and winced with hunger,
"They don't look like monsters, Teddy," the boy thought as he continued to watch the family, he was sure they were a family at this point, based on the fact that they all had the same fiery red hair.
"Who are you?" A voice behind the boy suddenly said, making the boy freeze with sudden fear; as slowly as he could, the boy lowered himself to the ground and turned around to see another red-headed boy staring at him with surprise and carrying a broomstick before the little boy could answer, the red-head yelled out,
"MUM! DAD! THERE'S A STRANGER OUT HERE!"
The little boy's eyes went wide with terror as the door bolted open and the woman came hurrying out, followed by her children; she stopped when she saw the boy and her eyebrows rose in surprise before she calmly said,
"Hello there, little boy; what are you doing out here all alone?"
The boy shook as they approached him warily, and with a sudden explosion of activity, the boy tried to escape only to run headlong into another red-head adult and fall to the ground with a painful 'oomph.'
As the boy fell, his bear flew out of his hand and landed next to the woman who calmly bent and picked it up, making the boy cry out in sudden terror,
"Please, no!" He cried, tears beginning to fall from his eyes, "Please don't hurt Teddy, don't hurt my friend, please!"
The woman quickly moved towards the boy and handed the bear to him; with a soft voice, she said,
"It's okay, little boy; no one is going to hurt your friend, I promise."
The boy hugged his bear tight as the others slowly approached, each eyeing the boy warily,
"Molly, who is he? Where did he come from?" The red-head adult asked the woman as he came up next to her,
"I don't know, Arthur." The woman replied, "A child from the village, perhaps?"
"What's your name, little boy?" The one called Molly asked as she knelt down to look at him,
"Freak," the boy sniffed sadly instantly; the woman's eyes went hard, and the boy hugged his bear tighter,
"Freak? Who called you that!?" Molly asked in an angry voice that made the boy shake,
"Aunt P'tunia and Uncle Vernon," the boy said softly, "They said I was a freak whenever strange things happened."
Molly turned to look at Arthur, anger written across her face, which was returned in his; the children, however, looked shocked at this and began to inch closer to the boy who was quietly crying into his bear,
"Is everything alright out here?" An older red-headed boy asked as he walked out of the house; instantly, the boy paled as he saw what the red-head was holding; it was a stick, the same as the monsters who had chased him in the alley; the little boy began to shake as he realized he had walked right into a nest of monsters and now he was trapped.
Molly saw that something was wrong almost immediately and quickly leaned forward to see what was the matter when the little boy swung his bear at her,
"NO MORE MONSTERS! GO AWAY!" The little boy cried, tears running down his face instantly; the woman jumped out of the way, while the boy's breathing became more and more panicked, making Molly pale with worry,
"He's having a panic attack!" Arthur said suddenly as the boy's chest heaved violently, Molly drew her wand to try and calm the boy, but upon seeing it, the boy let out a shriek of terror and promptly collapsed.
"What happened?!" Percy asked as he approached the child who was currently being held in his mother's arms,
"I don't know; he acted like he's afraid of wands or something," Bill replied as he stowed his in his pants pocket; Ginny shyly approached her mother as the boys talked and bent to pick up the boy's bear that had fallen from his grip when he collapsed, with tender care, she placed the bear in the boy's arms, receiving a gentle nod from her mother as a result, before falling back to get a good look at him.
"All of you inside, now!" Molly said quickly as she turned to her children,
"Aw mum, can't we…." Bill began before he was cut off by Molly,
"I said now!" She thundered, making the kids turn tail and run back into the house,
"Arthur, come and look at this…." Molly said softly as she held the boy; as Arthur approached, his eyes went wide at what Molly was showing him; across the boy's forehead was a scar in the shape of a lightning bolt,
"It can't be…." He said as the realization of who the boy was slowly coursed through him,
"It is, Arthur," Molly answered, just as surprised as he at who they were looking at, "It's Harry Potter!"
"I must floo Dumbledore immediately!" Arthur said, "He needs to be informed that Harry has been found!"
"Found? What do you mean found?" Molly asked angrily instantly. Arthur's ears turned red with embarrassment at keeping it a secret from Molly,
"Well, you see, dear…...um…."
"Arthur Weasley, you tell me this minute or so, help me!" Molly thundered, making Arthur turn an even more impressive shade of red,
"Dumbledore sent out word to the order that Harry had run away from his Aunt and Uncle's place a fortnight ago; he's had us scouring all of England for the boy ever since.
Molly's eyes went wide with surprise before they seemed to glow with rage,
"Two weeks?! The boy has been missing for two weeks!?" She raged, making Arthur shrink inwardly,
"Why did he run away in the first place?!" Molly demanded as she began to stroke the boy's hair gently,
"According to Dumbledore, the muggles he was left with were cruel to the boy, and he ran away," Arthur mumbled quickly.
It was impressive how red Molly's face became at the words until her face was almost as red as her hair, and in a deadly whisper, she replied,
"Get Dumbledore here, now,"
Molly turned and stalked into the house without another word, Arthur slowly following close behind.
XXXX
Dumbledore stood stock still as Molly thundered at him an impressive series of curses, oaths, and invectives,
"TWO BLOODY WEEKS, ALBUS! THE BOY HAS BEEN ALL ALONE AND SCARED FOR TWO DAMN WEEKS, AND JUST WHAT WERE YOU DOING ABOUT IT?! WELL?!
"My dear woman," Albus said calmly, "The moment I heard about Harry's disappearance, I immediately sent out word for others to find him,"
"A LOT OF GOOD THAT DID!" Molly raged,
"My dear, you must see that I did everything in my power to find him," Albus said desperately, "The better question is how he managed to make it all the way out here by himself; we are many hundreds of miles from the home of his Aunt and Uncle.
When Arthur Weasley had flooed Albus that Harry Potter had just shown up at his home, Albus thought his heart would burst with happiness at the boy being found alive, but that had quickly turned to fear in the wake of Molly Weasley's wrath as she demanded to know how exactly Albus had failed so spectacularly in keeping an eye on the boy, it was quite impressive, he noted wryly, how though he towered over her, she still made him feel small.
"DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT I FOUND WHEN I GOT HIM INSIDE, DUMBLEDORE?! Molly demanded, and at this point, she looked as though she were going to start crying,
"BRUISES! SCARS! ALL ACROSS HIS BODY! SOME BASTARD HAS BEEN TORTURING THE POOR BOY FOR YEARS NOW, AND YOU ALLOWED IT TO HAPPEN!"
Albus' mouth dropped open at the words, and he felt as though all he wanted to do was disappear into the floor,
"I thought his mother's family would take care of him, that they would love him like one of their own," Albus said in a small voice, his head dropping in despair, "I never expected them to so torture the boy.
"You should have, Dumbledore," Arthur said; he had been sitting on the couch since Albus' arrival and had wisely chosen to keep quiet until this point as his wife vented her anger upon Albus,
"You know what Lily thought about her sister and her husband," Arthur continued, "He should have been sent somewhere else, somewhere he would have been better cared for."
At this, Molly nodded her head angrily in agreement and opened her mouth as though to continue her tirade when Albus cut her off,
"The wards I created to protect Harry required him to be raised by a blood relative; Petunia is the only one he has; I left him there to protect him."
"Does he look protected to you?" Arthur demanded as he rose from the couch, "The boy thought we were monsters, Albus! He was so terrified when he saw Bill's wand that he had a panic attack and fainted; now, why would he be so afraid of a wand unless he was hurt by someone using one!"
Albus felt even worse at the words and suddenly found that he had no voice to respond to the glares of anger he was receiving from both Molly and Arthur,
"You think he met with some Death Eaters?" Molly asked, turning to Arthur, who nodded grimly,
"It would explain why he is so terrified of anyone wielding a wand,"
"So not only did you allow Harry to be abused, you most likely nearly got him killed as well!" Molly growled at Albus, who was looking broken at the words,
"I am so sorry for my failure to keep the boy safe; I may never forgive myself for it."
The apology seemed to calm the two Weasleys a little; Molly certainly didn't look as angry as she had a moment ago; before either of them could say anything, Albus continued,
"I will send Madam Pomfrey tomorrow for a full evaluation of Harry's injuries, and then we can discuss what will happen to the boy; he certainly cannot go back to his family."
"Absolutely not!" Molly growled, "Not after what they have done to him!"
Albus nodded sadly before turning to take his leave,
"I will see you both tomorrow, then," Albus said sadly before he spun around and disappeared on the spot.
After he had gone, Molly slowly walked to her son Bill's room; he had graciously said they could place Harry in there for the night, and he would sleep in his brother Charlie's room, which Molly had gratefully accepted.
As she entered the room, the first thing she saw was little Harry clutching his bear as tight as he could, thankfully still asleep after the events of earlier, carefully she sat down on the edge of the bed and stared at him, noticing with sadness how skinny he was and how he seemed to twitch in his sleep, she gently stroked his hair and the touch seemed to calm the boy as he stopped twitching and nuzzled his bear, making Molly smile sadly,
"No one will ever hurt you again, Harry," she said softly, "I promise, you'll never need to be scared again."