Risen from the Ashes (A Harry Potter Fan Fiction)

Chapter 7

When Harry woke up the next morning, it felt like his skull been caved in by a bludger. A feeling he was unfortunately, all too familiar with. He slowly pealed himself off of the floor and took stock of his injuries. Currently, he was seeing double of everything, and he felt unbalanced. Definitely a concussion. When he tried to walk, it felt like his leg wanted to give out under him. Probably broken. His wrist also seemed to be twisted at an unnatural angle. Must be dislocated.

He sighed and hobbled over to the floorboard where he hid his photo album and other valuables. He reached in and pulled out a shoddy looking first aid kit that he had nicked out of a garbage bin. Pulling out the necessary supplies, he began to treat his wounds the best that he could. While not the worst of his injuries, the most annoying were definitely the welts and cuts on his back. They made every movement he made extremely painful.

Harry tried to wrap his leg as best as he could to keep the injury from getting worse. He just had to pray that the bone healed back correctly. His wrist luckily, was an easy fix, and only had to be popped back into place. It would be sore for a few days, but it wasn't too bad. Honestly, last night's punishment wasn't as bad as he had been expecting. Uncle Vernon had probably been tired from having company over and wanted to go to bed.

Harry quickly got changed and wiped all of the dried blood and sweat off of his body with a washcloth. He was only allowed to take showers once a week so that he didn't waste water. As he tried to brush out the knots in his hair with his fingers, he caught a glimpse of his reflection and grimaced. Normally, he tried to avoid looking at himself.

His cheeks were sunk in, and he had deep bags under his eyes. His nose was a dark purple and was still a little crooked from it being broken the day before. His eyes were blood shot, and his hair was thin and greasy. He looked like death. He would definitely have to wear a glamor when he went back to school next year. At least for a few months until he got a bit more food into his system. He didn't want to worry his friends with his abysmal appearance.

He sighed and walked out of the bathroom, to start on his chores for the day. It was a Saturday so Uncle Vernon would be out with his golfing buddies most of the day. Aunt Petunia had mentioned taking Dudley to the mall the day before. So, for the most part Harry would be free to do his work with out disturbance. Maybe he would get done early and would be able to actually work on a bit of his summer homework. He smiled to himself as he began cleaning the toilets, maybe today wouldn't be so bad after all.

*****

"Alright, do with have everything?" Remus looked over his friends and the nodded. "Splendid. We will be taking the floo to the Dursley's next door neighbor Miss Fig. She is a squib and Dumbledore stationed her there to keep an eye on Harry. If everyone is ready, then let's push off."

They all jumped into the fireplace and tumbled out into the heavily cat themed sitting room. Miss Fig wasn't home at the moment, so they simply let themselves out and walked over to the next house.

"Oh, I'm so nervous..." Lily chewed her lip. "What if he doesn't like us?"

Sirius patted her on the back. "The kid is going to love you! Every time he sends Remus or I a letter, he always asks us something about what you both were like when you were his age. He adores you."

"What if we don't live up to his expectations?" James asked as they stopped in front of the Dursley's door.

"Don't worry, he is going to love you just the way you are." Remus smiled at him. "He is a very polite kid." He reached up and knocked on the door.

They waited a few moments, before they heard a click and it opened. Harry appeared in the door for all of two seconds before rolling his eyes. "Oh, bloody shove off!" he then slammed the door in their faces.

The four adults stood their flabbergasted. "Um... normally he's a little more polite than that..." Remus tried knocking again, but he never got a response.

"Here..." Sirius pointed his wand at the door. "Alohomora!" the door swung open, and they walked inside.

"Wow..." Lily looked around the room, "Petunia keeps this place very neat..." they heard movement coming from the floor above them, so they walked up the stairs.

"Hello?" they peaked Remus and Sirius peaked their heads into the bathroom where they could see Harry hunched over the toilet. "Harry it's Remus and I. We uh, well we have someone here, that we would like you to meet. This may come as a surprise so you may want to brace yourself..."

At that moment he stood up from his scrubbing and went over to the sink to wash his hands, not even paying attention to them. The two gasped as they say the deep bruises covering his arms and face and the nicks and cuts that littered his body. The boy was practically skin and bone, it didn't look like he had gotten any taller sense they had last seen him.

"Harry what happened? Were you attacked?" Remus said with concern.

He didn't pay them any mind and walked past them into the hallway. James and Lily gasped as they finally got a good look at their son. "Harry... it... it's us... what happened?" they looked to Remus and Sirius in horror as he walked past them into a bedroom. They followed him inside.

"Harry, please talk to us..." Sirius begged.

The room that they were in was surrounded by broken toys, and half the furniture looked like it had been through a tornado. Harry went over to a box in the closet and pulled out some newspapers. He then went over to the cage in the corner, and pulled out a beautiful snowy white owl.

"They're here again girl." He spoke his first words sense they had come inside as he stroked the bird's feathers affectionately. "I don't know why Sirius and Remus are with them though. That's a new one." He set her on the bed as he began to clean her cage while the adults stared at him in horror and confusion. "It must be this bloody concussion." He muttered to himself.

"Harry... we're right here..." Remus assured him.

"You're just another hallucination you git. Get back in my head where you belong...." He angrily threw the used newspaper into the wastebasket.

"Harry... it's us..." Sirius went over and laid a hand on Harry's shoulder. At this point, all hell broke loose...  

(A/N - Hey guys. thanks for reading!)