A.N.: Hey guys, what's up? So I've decided to delete the other Harry Potter story and rewrite it. I didn't really like the beginning of it so much, and wanted to focus more on life for Harry while he was at home. I hope you guys like the new version. So, feel free to leave a Review, send a PM, and of course, enjoy. Until next time, OPKILLERFROST, out.

Harry woke up staring at the ceiling of his room at Number Four, Privet Drive. Well, room was a bit of an overstatement. The place that Harry had called a room for the past ten years and eleven months of his miserable life was nothing but a cupboard under the stairs. It was barely large enough for him to stand straight. As he stood up, he heard his cousin, Dudley, pounding down the steps above Harry. As Harry began to leave his "room", his cousin ran by, punching Harry in the stomach, then pushing him back into the cupboard. Harry felt like throwing up after that punch, but there was nothing in his stomach to throw up. He had gone to bed yet again with no dinner, and the Dursleys had not lost a wink of sleep over it. In fact, they had probably slept better knowing that Harry was suffering. Once the pain in Harry's gut subsided, he continued to the kitchen and began to make breakfast, just as he did every morning. While cooking, his Aunt hovered over him, smacking him in the head with a wooden spoon every time he made even a miniscule mistake.

"You've cooked the egg too long before flipping it!; You didn't cook the bacon long enough!; You're doing it all wrong, are you trying to poison my poor Duddy-kins?"

Once breakfast was finished, Harry started to go back to his cupboard before his Aunt stopped him. He was told to start cleaning the house, because Dudley's friends were coming over.

Great, Harry thought Now I have to clean, and then I get the crap beaten out of me once Dudley's gang shows up. Perfect, just perfect.

This was not how Harry wanted to spend this day, but he had no choice. He continued to clean the living room, the kitchen, the bathroom, Dudley's room (do not even get Harry started on how much of a pig his cousin was), his Aunt and Uncle's room, and that was not even the end of it. He had to go outside, weed the garden, prune the bushes, and then he would finally be allowed into his cupboard. By the time that Harry had finished all these chores, his body was sore. He collapsed onto his bed and had just closed his eyes when his door was wrenched open and hands were grabbing at any part of Harry's body they could find.

"Quick, grab him!" He heard Dudley say

He was dragged through the now-empty kitchen and out into the back yard where he was held up by two of Dudley's friends. Harry looked up to his cousin with fear in his eyes as his cousin balled up his fist and punched Harry in the face, hard. Harry could already feel the area around his left eye begin to swell as the frames of his glasses slammed into his face. He looked up just in time to receive another blow, this time to the nose. Harry felt a warm liquid running down his face, but he was unable to stop it. Harry looked up once more and felt another punch land in his stomach. At this, he slumped so much that Dudley's friends just dropped Harry onto the ground, then proceeded to stomp and kick Harry. When they grew bored of this, they scampered off inside, leaving Harry tired and bleeding the backyard. He had long ago fallen unconscious from the pain, and he would not wake up until well after midnight when his Aunt had come out and started to hit him with the spoon telling him to get inside and clean up after Dudley and his friends. Harry slowly picked himself up off of the ground and proceeded inside, where there was a mess all over the living room. There were cups and plates, and garbage and soda bottles, it was an absolute pig sty. And he had to clean all of it up. Harry began to bring all the dirty dishes into the kitchen and gingerly placed them in the sink. He then doubled back and began to clean up every single piece of garbage that Dudley and his friends had left behind. Whenever his Aunt deemed his movements too slow, Harry would receive a smack in the back with the spoon. This happened a lot because of how sore Harry's ribs were. Once the garbage was picked up, Petunia Dursley forced Harry to was the dishes that had been used that night. It was well past three in the morning before Harry was allowed to finally go to his "room" and fall asleep for the night. Little did Harry know, his life at Privet Drive was going to change very, very soon.

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Five weeks had passed since it had been Dudley's birthday, and strange things had been happening around the residence of Number 4, Privet Drive. Strange things, indeed. Harry had been moved out of the cupboard under the stairs after a letter had arrived for him. It had been clearly addressed to him, even stating where he was sleeping in the Dursley's house. After this, Harry had been moved into Dudley's extra bedroom. This was all because of the fact that the letter had scared his Aunt and Uncle for some reason. But, hey, Harry was not going to complain. He now had an actual room to live in, not just some cupboard under the stairs. Unfortunately, his stay had not lasted long. His Uncle had forced the family to a small hut on a rock in the middle of the sea. There, a rather large man appeared and told Harry that he was a wizard. He was a wizard, and he had no idea.

Although, it did explain a lot about things that had happened all throughout Harry's life. Times when he had somehow managed to get away from Dudley's gang whenever he was being chased, how bruises and broken bones managed to heal themselves overnight, or whenever he would get a haircut, but his Aunt would leave his bangs to hide his scar, his hair would grow back to its old length overnight. But Harry knew, if he went to this school, it could make Harry's life a lot better. So Harry went with Hagrid, the large man that had just saved Harry, to Diagon Alley. There, Harry learned that his parents had left him a small fortune. Using this, Harry bought everything he would need for a year at Hogwarts. It was quite the adventure. He needed things from schoolbooks to things like gloves made from dragon skin. When Harry was getting his school books, he picked up some extra books to learn about the wizarding world. Now all Harry needed was a wand.

When he stepped inside Ollivander's, Harry noticed that there were thousands upon thousands of wands stacked up as high as the ceiling and as far back as the shop could go. But the thing that would leave an impression in Harry's mind for years was the owner of the shop itself, Mr. Ollivander. Mr. Ollivander proceeded to measure all sorts of parts on Harry's body, then they continued to try out dozens of wands before Harry finally found the right one. Then Harry learned something about his wand that he wished he had not.

"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather- just one other. It is very curious inded that you should be destined for this wand when its brother- why, its brother gave you that scar."

After that, Harry had not felt like talking much. Instead, he just stayed silent all the way to the train station until Hagrid told him that he had to leave. At this, Hagrid left Harry alone in the train station, one moment there, the next, gone. Harry was very confused at that, because Hagrid was a really large person, almost four feet taller than the average person, and at least three times as wide. How he had managed to disappear was beyond Harry. So without someone to watch over Harry, he made his way through the train station and got on a train heading for Little Whinging.

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Harry's last month at the Dursley's were better in many ways, but they were also worse. While he was not forced to stay in the cupboard under the stairs, he his relatives had forced him to do every excruciating chore they could think of. But they had told him through notes. They had never uttered a single word to him for the entire month that he was there. While it was nice to not be yelled at, it grew very depressing to have nobody to talk to, even if those words were full of animosity and hate. But Harry got through it all. He made it through the month and even managed to get his Uncle to drive him to Kings Cross Station on the morning of September 1st. When he got there, he had just enough time to unload his trunk and Hedwig from the car before his Uncle sped off, leaving Harry to find Platform Nine and Three-Quarters all on his own. Harry managed to find his way to the barrier between Platform Nine and Platform Ten, but beyond that, Harry had no idea where he was going. That was, until a girl with a lot of bushy brown hair and large front teeth found him.

"Hello! Are you trying to get to Platform Nine and Three-Quarters?" She asked

"Yes." Harry said quietly

"Follow me, I know how to get there."

Following behind the girl, he saw he walk right into the barrier, then disappear. Harry followed her, and when he got on the other side, he saw a lot of strangely dressed people all crowded around the platform next to a large scarlet steam engine. Not knowing what to do, Harry just followed the bushy haired girl and her parents, who appeared to be muggles. When they found an empty compartment, they helped each other load their trunks into it. Harry sat down while the girl said goodbye to her parents. After a couple minutes, the train's whistle sounded. The girl came back into the compartment and sat down across from Harry.

"Excuse me, but I don't think that you gave me your name. I'm Hermione Granger." She said

"Oh! I'm Harry, Harry Potter."

At this, Hermione gasped. She looked at his forehead and her eyes widened a little bit. It made Harry a bit uncomfortable, and he started to squirm a little in his seat. Thankfully Hermione caught on to this and stopped staring.

"Oh my, I'm sorry. It's rude to stare. It's just that, I've read so much about you!"

"R- read about me?" Harry asked

"Yes! You're in so many of the books that I bought for extra reading! You're in Modern Magical History and The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts and Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century!"

"Am I?"

"You mean you don't know? I'd have thought that you would've known all this being one of the most famous wizards of this age."

"I- I only learned I was a wizard about a month ago." Harry mumbled "My Aunt and Uncle kept that information from me in hopes that I would never find out what I was."

"Oh my. I'm so sorry, Harry. I had no idea. Why would your Aunt and Uncle do that to their own nephew?"

"They don't think of me as their nephew. I'm just the freak of a person that was left on their doorstep the morning after my parents died."

"Harry, you're not a freak. I've only known you for fifteen minutes, and I can already tell that you are a wonderful person. Don't let what they say affect you. They are horrible people and they shouldn't treat you the way they do."

"Thanks, Hermione."

They both sat in comfortable silence until a short woman came by with a cart full of sweets. Since neither Harry nor Hermione had ever had any of these, Harry bought a little bit of everything. Together, they enjoyed eating the sweets and learning about each other. Hermione's parents were both dentists, who owned their own practice. As it turned out, Harry was Hermione's first friend as well. Growing up, kids had always made fun of Hermione for being a bookworm, so she never had any friends growing up. Both of them continued to talk and have fun until a pale, blond haired boy came into the compartment. Harry recognized him from Diagon Alley when he was getting his robes fitted. The boy was followed by two boys that looked like they would be best friends with Dudley.

"Is it true? They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"

"Yes." Said Harry. But his attention was not on the pale boy, but the two behind him. They looked more like bodyguards than anything.

"Oh, this is Crabbe, and this is Goyle, and my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."

Hermione gave a small cough, which happened to be at just the wrong time, because the boy then rounded on her.

"Think my name's funny do you? I saw you with your parents. They looked like they didn't have a clue what was happening around them, the muggles. I bet you're going to be nothing but lost as soon as we start classes, you mudblood."

Harry recognized this word. In one of the extra books he had gotten, he read that the word mudblood was a nasty term used for people that were born from two muggle parents. It was only used by pure-blood wizards who believed anybody that was anything else was below them. Harry looked over and saw that she must have recognized the word too, because she was close to tears. He did not want to see his friend- his only friend- to be bullied by some kid who believed her below him just because of who her parents were. Harry stood up and got right in Malfoy's face, seething with anger.

"I think you need to leave. Now." Harry said

"I'd be careful if I were you, Potter. Unless you're a bit politer you'll go the same way as your parents. They didn't know what was good for them, either. You hang around mudbloods like her and that Hagrid, and it'll rub off on you."

Now it was Hermione's turn to stand up and be angry. Harry had to admit, Hermione looked scary when she was angry. He did not want to be the cause of all that anger, but Malfoy was. Harry almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

"Say. That. Again." Hermione said

"Oh, you're going to fight us, are you?" Malfoy sneered

"Unless you get out now." Harry said through clenched teeth

"But we don't feel like leaving, do we, boys? We've eaten all our food and you still seem to have some."

Crabbe reached for a Chocolate Frog, but Hermione snatched it away before his meaty fist could grab it. That was when Malfoy had moved. He moved forward and smacked Hermione across the face, causing her to fall to the floor, tears falling from her eyes. If Harry had not been mad before, he was livid now. Balling his right hand into a fist, Harry lunged forward and punched Malfoy across the face, watching the pale boy fall to the floor. Before Harry could do any more damage, Crabbe and Goyle moved forward, grabbing both of Harry's arms and pinned him against the wall. Harry watched Malfoy get up and look down at Hermione, then up at him.

"You're going to regret that, Potter." Malfoy said

Draco looked like he was about to start hitting Harry when Hermione finally pulled herself from the ground and attacked Draco. She tackled him into the bench that Harry had been sitting on previously and continued to punch him in the face. That was, until Goyle let go of Harry and pulled her off of him. Goyle then threw Hermione onto the other bench and back handed her across the face when she tried to get up.

"HEY!"

Everybody looked up to see a tall boy with red hair and freckles standing in the doorway. He had a shiny badge on his chest that had a "P" on it. But that was not what Harry was focused on. He was more focused on how mad the boy's face was.

"What is going on here?" He asked

"Get out of here, Weasley. A blood-traitor like you shouldn't meddle in things that don't concern him." Malfoy said

"You better watch your tone. I know who your father is, Malfoy. I don't think he'll be pleased when he hears that his son and his lackeys have been beating on Harry Potter and a girl."

If it was possible, the boy's face grew paler. Harry wanted to laugh because of this, but found that it probably wasn't the right time. Draco softly mumbled "Let's go." to Crabbe and Goyle, and they left. The red haired boy followed them, scolding them the entire way. Harry looked over to Hermione, and saw tears streaking down her face. Harry walked over and sat next to her before wrapping his arms around the crying girl. For the next five minutes, Hermione just continued to cry into Harry's shoulder, and Harry stayed silent. After she had calmed down, Hermione looked up at Harry, and saw that tears of his own were sliding down his cheeks.

"Oh, Harry. I'm sorry."

"What do you have to be sorry for?" Harry asked

"I've been here crying into your shoulder over what those boys did to me, when what they did to you was far worse."

"Hermione, I don't mind, really. I can take a beating. I have my entire life. I just hated the way that he treated you. Nobody should be made fun of just because of who their parents were, especially a girl."

"What do you mean? How have you been taking a beating?"

This was something that Harry had kind of dodged around when he was talking to Hermione earlier. He knew that it was not normal for children to be abused the way he had, he thought that it would be best if Hermione did not know about it.

"My entire life I've been beaten, whether it was from my cousin, his parents, or my Uncle's sister. Whenever I did something wrong, I was hit. Whenever I was better than Dudley at something, I was hit. Whenever Dudley was bored, I was hit. I've been taking beatings my entire life. I'm used to it by now. What I wasn't used to was having a friend be made fun of, then hit. That's what I'm upset about."

"Harry, you can't just let your relatives abuse you like that! They can't hit you! It's against the law!"

"Hermione, there's nothing I can do about it. I'm not allowed anywhere near a phone, so I can't call the police. I'm stuck in that house until I become a legal adult."

"Tell one of the professors at Hogwarts! You have to do something, Harry! I can't bear the idea that you have to be abused by those horrid people!"

"Alright, Hermione, I'll talk to one of the professors."

This seemed to calm her down a bit. For the rest of the train ride, they sat, holding each other in silence. As they sat like this, Harry realized that this was the first time that he had ever hugged anybody. He found that he liked it. When a voice that seemed to come from nowhere announced that they were going to be arriving at Hogwarts in the next five minutes, Harry stood outside the compartment so Hermione could change into her school robes. Once she finished, she exited so Harry could change. After that, they just sat there, waiting until they got to Hogwarts. When the train stopped, they stood up and left the compartment with the flow of other students. Once outside, they saw that it was night time, and that they were on a small platform, barely big enough to hold the students exiting the train. They were confused as to where they were going to go, so Harry and Hermione started to follow the rest of the students until they heard a voice calling.

"Firs' years! Firs' Years over here! All right there, Harry?" Hagrid boomed

Following Hagrid, all of the First Years walked along a dark and narrow path. Once the darkness swallowed them, Harry felt Hermione grab his hand. He tried to see her expression, but it was too dark. So they just continued following Hagrid for what seemed like hours.

"Yeh'll get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec, jus' round this bend here." Hagrid called back everyone

When they went around the bend, there was a lot of "Oooohs!" and "Aaaahs!"

Across a large, black lake, there was a mountain with a castle at the top. The castle had many towers and turrets with all of its shining windows. Harry heard Hermione gasp next to him, but he just stood there, staring at his new home. They were all brought back to reality when Hagrid started to tell them to get into a fleet of boats. Harry ended up in one with Hermione, a red haired boy that looked a lot like the one from the train, and a round faced boy that looked like he was upset.

"You okay?" Hermione asked

"I lost my toad. I haven't been able to find him since before we got on the train. He's probably long gone by now."

"I'm sorry." Hermione said "If I had known on the train, I would've helped you look for it."

"Why are you so hung up on a toad? It's not like it's that great of an animal like an owl." The red haired boy said

"It was a gift from my Uncle for getting into Hogwarts."

"But still, a toad?"

"How would you feel if your animal were to suddenly go missing?" Hermione asked heatedly

"I wouldn't really care. It's not like he does anything, the lazy rat."

"Wait, you have a rat, and you're getting on him about having a toad?" Harry asked

At this, the red haired boy shut up and stayed silent. They continued across the lake through a dark tunnel so that they were right under the castle. They got out of the boats, and were waiting for Hagrid to lead them on, but he was checking the boats to make sure that nothing was left behind. It was a good thing, too, because he pulled a toad out of one of them.

"Trevor!" the round faced boy cried

He took his toad from Hagrid, and then they all marched up to the castle together, following the large man through another tunnel cut through the rock. This time, there were torches along the walls, so it was not as dark as the last one. When they reached the end of the tunnel, they were in front of a large pair of oak doors. Hagrid slammed his large fist against it three times, and then the doors opened to reveal an aged witch in emerald robes. Hagrid introduced her as Professor McGonagall before she then led them inside where she explained what their life at Hogwarts would be like. Then she left them until the Sorting Ceremony was ready. They all stood in the entrance hall, talking to each other until something happened that made everybody shout.

Ghosts were streaming through the walls, talking to each other. Something about a person named Peeves? Then one of the ghosts noticed them. It turns out that most ghosts represented a certain house. Before they could talk more, Professor McGonagall returned, and they continued to the Great Hall. It was full of students, each sitting at four tables. As Harry looked at the ceiling, he saw that it looked just like a night sky.

"It's bewitched to look like the sky outside. I read about it in Hogwarts: A History." Hermione whispered to me

They then all stopped walking as they reached the front of the hall. They saw a stool with an old hat sitting on it. Harry was worried that he would have to do some charm on it, like pulling a bunny out of the hat. But then the hat did something that none of the First Years expected. It started to sing. Near the end of the song, it revealed that all they had to do to be sorted was put the hat on. He heard the red haired boy say that someone named Fred had told him something about wrestling a troll. With all their worries away, they began to be sorted. They began to go through all the kids, alphabetically by last name. When it was Hermione's turn, she gave Harry's hand a squeeze and then walked up to the stool. Harry had not realized that he had been holding Hermione's hand all throughout the trip to the school. When she sat on the stool, Harry heard the hat call out "GRYFFINDOR!" Harry was surprised. He had expected her to be put into Ravenclaw, where the students were known for being smart. Neville was also put in Gryffindor, and a little while after him, they got to the little weasel named Malfoy. The hat had barely touched his head when the hat shouted "Slytherin!" Then, it was a short while until his name was called. He could hear everybody whispering. As he walked to the stool, he tried to appear as calm as possible. When he sat down, the hat covered up most of his head, going down below his eyes.

"Hmm, difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind either. That's talent, oh my goodness, yes- and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that's interesting… So where shall I put you?" the hat muttered

Not Slytherin… Not Slytherin… Was all Harry could think at the moment. The hat must have been able to read his mind, because it started to speak his thoughts.

"Not Slytherin, eh? Are you sure? You could be great, you know, it's all here in your head, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that- no? Well, if you're sure- better be GRYFFINDOR!"

Harry smiled as he walked over to the table on the far right. He sat next to Hermione and we all waited for the sorting to be done. The red haired boy that was in the boat with Harry and Hermione was also sorted into Gryffindor, making the two of them groan. After him though, the sorting was over, and they all looked to Professor Dumbledore.

"Welcome! Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I would like to say a few words. And here they are: Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak! Thank you!"

Harry just stared at the Headmaster for a few moments before Hermione nudged him. "Aren't you going to eat anything?" She asked

Harry turned around and saw that the table was now full of delicious looking foods. Harry started to pile a little of everything onto his plate. Harry and Hermione did not talk much while they were eating, only speaking to offer each other different foods. Once the feast was over, and desert had been served, Dumbledore stood up again. He told the students that they were not to go into the forest on the grounds, that they should not use magic in the corridors, something about a game called Quidditch, and that they should stay away from the third floor corridor on the right-hand side was forbidden to anyone who did not wish to die a painful death. That part made Harry nervous. Why would they have something at a school that could kill the students that happened upon it? Maybe it was the package that Hagrid had gotten from Gringotts on Harry's birthday. Whatever it was, Harry was too tired to think too much about it, and followed the other Gryffindors to their Common Room. Before they parted, Hermione gave Harry another hug, then they both went up to bed. Without much talk, Harry and the other four boys in his dormitory fell asleep.