"HOW DARE YOU SPOIL DUDLEY'S BIRTHDAY PARTY, FREAK?!" Vernon Dursley roared, throwing his nephew across the room. The five year old let out a soft whimper of pain.

All he had done was accidentally knocked a present over...It didn't even break or anything...

The guests hadn't even showed yet... He tried to stand but was kicked over by his Uncle.

"NOW YOU'RE GONNA GET IT! I'M GONNA BEAT YOU, THEN ALL OF DUDDERS FRIENDS WILL BEAT YOU TOO!"

Vernon began to stomp all over his tiny body, then tossed Harry onto the tile.

Why did it have to be like this? Why was he born as such a freaky little abomination? Why couldn't he be normal? Maybe then he would be treated like a member of the family, and not as a punching bag...

He wanted someplace that would accept him! Not this! He didn't want this!

"SO LAY THERE AND-"

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" Harry shrieked, Vernon being slammed through a wall by Harry's Magic. Harry then glowed with a pinkish light and found himself in a vortex

Oh no, not the freaky stuff! Not now! He was in enough trouble as it was! He looked over to see his uncle screaming angrily into the vortex.

"I'LL KILL YOU, BOY! IF I EVER SEE YOU AGAIN, I WILL KILL YOU!"

Harry whimpered and let his body be dragged through the hole, Vernon disappearing far behind.

"Rest now child...I've heard your call...you will be saved..." a soothing, female voice said through the void.

"W-Who are, y-you?" he whimpered, scared.

"I am Magic herself...now rest easy. I guarantee love will be yours..."

Harry was confused...but...love would be his...? Could he really have love? What was going to happen to him?

He saw a light at the end of the vortex, and was thrown from it violently, crashing into a certain blonde with a sudden "OOMPH!"

*before his arrival*

Lucy Heartfilia had just about reached her next destination, and she was quite happy about that.

As the town came in sight, she saw a shimmer next to her, then was suddenly slammed from the side by a small and light object. One that caused her to stumble and bump into a tree.

Lucy hit the tree and fell flat on her face. An apple fell from said tree and landed directly on her head. The blonde woman groaned and pushed herself up, rubbing her head. "Ouch...What hit me...?" She all but whined.

Rubbing her head, she sat up and scanned the area to see a tiny figure crawling away slowly. It looked like a little kid...

"Hey kid! Did you hit me?"

Her voice came out a bit more roughly than she intended, and she immediately chastised herself for potentially frightening the poor thing...but then she immediately froze when she saw the condition he was in.

"Oh my god...kid what happened to you?!" she stalked forward and crouched down next to him. The kid redoubled his efforts and tried crawling away faster, but he irritated a gash that started leaking blood.

Lucy gasped and clapped her hands to her mouth. "Oh my...Stop moving! You're only gonna hurt yourself more!" She placed a tender hand over his back, and blinked when he flinched and whimpered at her touch.

"Hey...I didn't mean to scare you sweetie! Here let me help you up,"

She lifted him up into her arms and he looked around fearfully,

"D-don't ! I might h-hurt..."

Lucy placed a hand over his mouth. "Hey, come on, don't try to talk me out of helping you. I've already decided I'm helping, and you can't change my mind." She said with a smile.

The kid looked genuinely fearful of the fact she was helping him, but he liked the comforting hold of the blonde lady.

"What's your name kiddo?"

Harry looked down at the ground. "Um...I...I'm Harry..." He replied timidly. Lucy giggled at the sound of his voice.

"Awww, you're adorable." She said, pulling him into a gentle hug, careful not to agitate his injuries.

Harry shook his head.

"N-no...mm not. Ugly...freak..."

Lucy looked back at him, shocked, "Uh, no you're definitely one of the cutest things I've ever seen. Why would you talk about yourself like that?"

"Because it's true..." Lucy shook her head.

"No it's not, and whoever told you that is an idiot." She said gently, patting his head. "Who told you that, anyway?"

"I-I can't..." he said in a panic.

"Harry hun, I want to help you...is the sane person who told you that the one that did this to you?!"

Harry flinched then hesitantly nodded.

Lucy scowled. "Then he really IS an idiot!" She cuddled Harry closer and rested her chin on top of his head. "Now come on...I'm gonna get you healed up, whether you like it or not." She said this last part gently but firmly.

"But miss-"

"Sweetie no buts! This is important!" she commanded, rubbing his arms to calm him down.

Harry whimpered and covered his eyes,"I shouldn't have yelled, I'm sorry!"

Lucy gently took his hands from his eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell. I'm not mad, just...worried. That's all. Don't be scared of me, okay?"

Harry looked up at her with a confused face,

"Worried about what?" He really didn't know why she was worried...

"You silly. I want you to feel better." she said gently, entering town.

"I mean, let's face it...It's not every day an injured kid falls on your head. Heh...Since it's my head you fell on, I think that might kinda make you my responsibility in a way." Lucy giggled after she finished that sentence.

"Y-you don't want me... I'll hurt you..."

Lucy smiled, "No hun...I'm gonna watch over you until you get better. Then we'll go from there!"

Harry started to shake his head, but Lucy smiled and pulled his head against her bosom.

"D'aawww! You're such a cutie patootie!"

Harry immediately lost all desire to say no to Lucy caring for him while he was injured. He felt safe and happy when she was with him. She was so kind...

But she was only acting...she was probably going to keep him as her punching bag. But it's what he deserved. So he enjoyed the care and began to slip into slumber, clutching at her clothes with his tiny hands.

Lucy looked down at the sleeping child with a sad smile. Ooh, if she found out who had done this to him, she would be sure that Taurus had a few...words with them.

She took an opportunity to look underneath his shirt, his overly baggy one, and regretted the idea after she saw what was beneath it. She began to tear up. Then she cried and broke into a run to get to the towns hospital.

'Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh...' She thought to herself as she sprinted as fast as her legs would carry her. 'Who did this to you? WHO?!'

She busted into the Hospital after what felt like an eternity and shouted,

"This child needs a doctor now!"

The desk guy shot up and called out for the doctor as Lucy told him what had happened, tears flowing from her eyes.

"Please, you have to help him! Please do something!" The blonde begged. She couldn't stand the thought of a young child in such pain, especially not one as adorable and sweet as little Harry.

"Calm down ma'am we'll fix him." he assured her as a gurney came through and Harry was wheeled away. Lucy followed, and when they tried to protest she ignores them and enters the room anyway.

"I'm not going anywhere." She said to the doctor in a serious tone. "I already promised him I'd stay with him, and that's exactly what I'm gonna do."

The Doctor huffed and directed her over to a chair to wait while he looked him over, spending the next hour with a terrified face.

"My god...this kids seen worse things than ten lifetimes of torture victims..."

Lucy covered her mouth and approached him cautiously.

"Wh-What do you mean...?" She asked, afraid of the answer. "What'd they do to the poor thing?"

"Miss, I don't believe you're emotionally ready for this..." he said to her seriously. Lucy knelt down next to the little on and grabbed his hands, already attached to him.

"Just tell me, doctor..." She said softly, holding his little hands as tightly as she could without hurting him. "I NEED to know...I have to know so I can make things better for him..."

"There are six dozen confirmed whip marks throughout his body, he's extremely malnourished, multiple shattered bones haven't set right, and he has sever gasjes across his torso."

Lucy flinched. "No...No, no no no no..." She muttered to herself, getting progressively angrier as she did so.

The doctor put a hand on her shoulder.

"Ma'am please don't get angry. He needs rest, food and care. We suspect Domestic Violence to be involved."

Lucy sobbed, trying to find a way to vent her anger. She only got to do so through heartbroken crying.

"I just...I can't believe anyone could be so cruel...What did he do...? What did he do to deserve this...?"

"Perhaps he's a runaway from some criminals, or one of the worse guilds got into him. Either way, they were sick and twisted people."

Lucy stayed by his bed for what must've been hours, because he soon began to stir.

Lucy, who had been on the brink of falling asleep, immediately woke up when she felt his movement. She immediately clasped her hand around his and gave it a gentle squeeze.

Harry opened his eyes and looked around fearfully, confused as to who was touching his hand. And why he was warm and felt kinda good...

"Harry..? Sweetie? Can you hear me?" asked a nice voice.

Then it all came rushing back to him. The vortex, falling from the sky, hitting someone on the head...

Miss Lucy...

His eyes adjusted so he saw her, clearly staring at him with a worried expression. Why was she still with him? Shouldn't she have left by now?

"M-miss Lucy? You're still, h-here?"

Lucy smiled softly and placed a hand on his forehead. "Well of course!" She replied gently, rubbing his forehead. "I could never leave you alone in the hospital...Especially not after what I learned."

"F-freaks don't, g-get to g-go to...h-hospitals..." he tried to tell her, but was cut off by a hug.

"Nooooo! Don't say that! You're too much of a cutie..."

"But..."

"Harry, PLEASE stop." Lucy begged. "Stop calling yourself a freak. It's a lie. Whatever you were told by the ones that hurt you was a lie. There's NOTHING wrong with you. Not. A. Thing.

"Y-yes ma'am!" He squeeled, hiding under the covers as her harsher tone frightened him drastically.

Lucy huffed and gently pulled them off, "Sweetheart, I didn't mean to scare ya..."

Harry looked at her timidly. "I-It's okay..."

"Listen, please...Please don't call yourself a freak anymore. It's a lie. It's not true. You're normal, okay? Normal."

"B-but I...I do freaky things..." he told her, trying to inform her he wasn't normal. She simply grinned.

"Please, I'm sure its not that bad. Is it magic?"

Harry gasped. "That's a bad word! You can't say that!" He exclaimed, horrified.

Lucy giggled at that, but only to cover up her realisation. Harry lived with abusive Magic Haters! And the freaky stuff was his natural magic energy.

"Harry the whole world runs by magic."

Harry tilted his tiny head in confusion. "H-Huh? But...I...I lived somewhere...normal...Without magic... I...I don't understand..."

"Hm? Oh... Well it does. How about I show you some to keep you entertained?"

Lucy realized that they must've kept Magic well hidden in that household... Or was it something else? Harry, regardless, looked around scared.

Lucy smiled and patted his head. "Nothing to be scared of. Here, let me show you..." She reached into her pocket and pulled out Lyra's key.

"Open, gate of the Lyre, Lyra!" she shouted, the maiden appearing in the room in a golden flash. Harry gasped and hid back under the covers.

"Hey Miss Lucy, what's up? It's been a while!" the cheerful spirit called.

Lucy smiled. "Hey, Lyra!" She said cheerfully. "I called you because the little boy here doesn't believe in magic-" She blinked when she noticed Harry was under the covers. "...Aw, he's so shy..."

Lyra gasped and looked towards him

"Don't believe in magic?! Well that's terrible! Where's the kid from? I didn't know you had a son!"

Lucy blushed, "He, he's not my-"

Lucy was interrupted, as Lyra had already made her way to the sheets Harry had tucked himself under. Smiling, she grabbed the sheets and pulled them off. "Come on out now~!" She sang cheerfully.

Harry squeaked in fright and covered his tiny head with his arms.

"Lyra-" Lucy tried to say-

"Aww look at him! He's so adorable!" She exclaimed, happily cuddling the very frightened Harry. But he did admit it was nice to be held...

"Lyra, I know he's the sweetest thing ever, but he's not ready to be held like that yet!" Lucy chastised.

"Shh...he likes it!"

Sure enough Harry was snuggling into the spirit, trying to get comfy. Lucy sighed, exasperated.

"Is it gonna be like this with all of you?"

"Well, I mean, I don't see the boys doing stuff like this..." Lyra mused thoughtfully.

"You know what I mean!"

Lyra giggled, "Who knows!"

Lucy sighed and gently stole Harry. "Aquarius would never."

Lyra grimaced slightly. "I know..." She admitted, shuddering at the water bearer's cruel personality.

Harry yawned and snuggled into Lucy's bosom. Lyra grinned at the sound and summoned her harp, singing a song that was so beautiful, Lucy and Harry both fell asleep.

The spirit giggled softly. "Oops...I didn't mean to put Lucy to sleep too."

She simply grinned and returned to her key. Lucy subconsciously pulled Harry closer to her.

She smiled softly in her sleep and cuddled him, gently and lovingly. Harry subconsiously nestled closer to her bosom, sleeping comfortably in her tender embrace.

And here was the moment Harry would join Lucy on her quest throughout Fiore. This adventure would be one of wonder and fear. While also being amazing, and interesting.

And of course, filled to the point of overflowing with love and happiness...