This story has been quite fun to write, and for those of you who've been reading this, I recommend checking out "HermionePotter1989." They have a story based on this one called "Shattered Dreams Character Read," an interesting character study while having the characters read this story like a journal entry. It's so well done. I'm hoping that she adds Hermione to the mix since I'm adding her with this chapter. Thank you so much to NeoMiniTails for betareading this chapter.

3. Numb Unity

Even as he was brought into the Weasley household, a place that once felt like a sanctuary, Harry felt empty. He was glass, ready to break, needing only the smallest touch to destroy every defense he'd managed to make in all his life. Ron snapped his fingers in front of Harry as the dark haired boy tried to come to. He blinked and could see his best friend's concerned face, every freckle contorted in his dazed vision as he felt the bile from earlier rise in his throat.

Harry's eyes widened, almost fearing that Ron would find out. He couldn't. No one could. Once they knew, they would run. In his mind's eye, he could imagine the disgusted look on the face of the Weasleys, Hermoine's 'I knew it' face of disappointment, Sirius's blazing anger and him asking why he let it be done. Every single one of them would see him as disgusting vermin. They would see him, just as he saw himself right now.

Ron bit his lip, brows furrowed, appearing as if he wanted to say something but chose not to. Wrapping one arm around his best friend, he put on his most gingerly smile he could muster before saying, "Hey, c'mon. You're shivering. Let's get you to a bed, mate." He squeezed his shoulder reassuringly, but the moment his hand touched, Harry flinched and was staring back, almost as if he couldn't see him, or more like he didn't recognize him. Fear shook his eyes and his lips trembled.

Instinctively, Ron grabbed Harry by his shoulders, hoping to calm him down. "N-no!" Harry pulled back, his eyes not meeting his, and when the red-headed male looked down at his best mate, he didn't see the boy who survived Voldemort encounters on more than one occasion. No, he didn't see the bravest teenager he'd ever meet nor did he see the strong person he'd always imagined him to be. There, before him, was a child-a scared one, at that.

"Har-"

"No, Uncle Vernon, no!" Harry shouted in horror, scooting back. Sweat covered him and his face as pale as Ginny's. "Please, Uncle Vernon," he whimpered, almost inaudible. He stared straight forward but when he looked, he didn't Ron. No, he didn't even see redness in his hair. All he saw was that large man he called his uncle. He could see his round, purplish face changing tones and his beefy chest heaving up and down, and his fist curled at his sides.

When Ron grabbed him, Harry felt massive meaty hands try to take control of him and once again, he felt as if he had no control. He could feel the filthy touch, the intrusion all over again and he had begun screaming, crying out in pain until he felt cold water hit his face. The world froze for a moment as reality materialized around him. A cold moisture dripped from his face like the tidal wave of emotions he felt inside. For a moment, though, he wasn't sure what he felt. Confused, maybe. He felt his face and looked around before his eyes locked on the glass cup in Dudley's hand.

It took a moment before he realized Dudley was the one who had thrown a glass of cold water at his face. He looked around, taking in everyone's worried faces, from Ron who looked horrified and concerned, to Petunia and Mrs. Weasley both of whom were in tears, to the other Weasleys who looked a mixture of confused and uncertain.

Ginny slowly moved over to Harry, taking his hand. "Harry… you should rest." She sounded uncertain, but as Harry turned to look at her, he realized he hadn't flinched-even if he ultimately moved his hand away so that she could lead the way up to the room. He barely noticed Ron following him as he laid his head down on a pillow after Ginny left the room.

"Harry," Ron murmured, concerned. "What happened to you, mate? I've never seen you like this." His blue eyes searched him over for answers, as if the mystery could be solved with a simple deduction.

Harry looked away from him, trying to filter out the sound of Ron's concern. He was pained, and it was all his fault. Harry knew it; he'd always been the cause for other's hurt. Every strike against him, every bitter punishment received, Harry believed he deserved it. Vernon so perfectly taught him a lesson that made him realize that "surviving could be harsher than dying." He'd been better off if Voldemort had succeeded in killing him the year prior; it wouldn't hurt so much. Dying would've been quick and even if he suffered for a moment, it would only be for just that that moment. He felt cold, and he knew it wasn't due to the water thrown in his face by Dudley. He was a prisoner in his own mind.

"Nothing," Harry said trying to focus on anything but these thoughts that were slowly driving him crazy. "Nothing has happened."

"Harry, c'mon," Ron said frowning a small bit. "I know that freak did something to you…your Aunt mentioned that in the letter she sent to Dumbledore, but we don't know what. I even owled Hermione, she's been really worried about you too mate."

"Then stop worrying!" Harry snapped, not knowing where all his anger and frustration had come from. "It's their fault! It's all their fault! If they didn't have stupid rules about the use of underage magic, this would have never happened! I could have defended myself! I could have cursed him and I'd still be okay! I wouldn't…I wouldn't be…" His voice had started off as yelling but then slowly broke off, becoming choked as tears fell down his cheeks and wrapped his arms around himself and shook profusely.

Ron stared at his best friend and practically broke down into tears. Because whilst he had seen Harry in many of his weaker moments, this definitely topped them all. He wanted to hug him, reassure him that it would be okay but didn't want him to flinch away again so he was immensely relieved when the door opened and Hermione rushed inside the room, Lupin behind her.

Looking between her two friends, Hermione quickly assessed the situation and moved forward wrapping her arms around Harry and pulling him into a hug. Harry, feeling the familiar arms of his female best friend, buried his head in her shoulder, more tears falling. He couldn't explain the relief he felt from crying and the comfort of being away from the horrors that he had faced back there.

Her arms didn't feel scary; they didn't feel as if they were restraining him there like Uncle Vernon's, like Ron's had felt earlier when he tried to hold him but Hermione's didn't. This was both confusing and puzzling as to why, but he didn't question it. For a moment, he wanted to forget his inner turmoil and Hermione holding him was helping him do that. His eyes watered, his head pounding so much that he was beginning to lose consciousness. He could feel that Hermione realised this too because her grip tightened slightly. His vision blurred before once again, his vision faded to black for the third time since the incident.

"Harry!" Hermione caught her best friend when he passed out, Ron moving to assist her to lay him down on the bed they had set up for him. Initially, they had all agreed to meet at Grimmauld Place, which was now the Headquarters for the Order of the Phoenix, but the moment she had received Ron's owl, she knew Harry needed her more. Of course, she hadn't realised Ron wasn't exaggerating when he said Harry needed them badly until she had actually gotten here. Through all the things they had been through from the first year, somehow she got the feeling something much worse had happened. She went to sit besides Ron on his bed.

"Are you okay?" she asked her other best friend, noticing how shaken Ron was and to be honest, she didn't blame him. Seeing Harry like this was shocking for both of them right now.

"No, I'm not, Hermione," Ron said shakily. "He let you hug him right now but back then, earlier when I tried to just wrap my arms around him and bring him into the room, he had a panic attack, thinking I was his Uncle but then when Ginny took his hand, he calmed down. What happened to him? What did his Uncle do?"

Hermione had to raise her eyebrow at this new piece of information. Harry had panicked when Ron had touched him but had been reasonably calm when her and Ginny had... could there be a particular reason that Harry was fearing the touch of males? Could it be... oh no, Vernon Dursley wouldn't, he couldn't do such a horrible thing. But it was the only explanation she could find based on the information she was given. Her face paled, something which Ron noticed.

"Hermione? Hermione! What is it? You're as pale as Harry was moments ago!" Ron cried, waving his hands in front of her face and she snapped out of it, trying to think and not make Ron as panicked as she was. She wasn't sure about this, after all, simply assuming based on something Ron had told her but she didn't think Harry would be open to talking about something like this - but she had to know.

"Ron, I have a guess to what Harry's Uncle may have done," Hermione admitted quietly. "I'm not sure Harry will open up to us about it though if it really is what I believe though..."

"What? What is it?" Ron said, eager to know clearly so he could help Harry. Hermione hesitated, before grabbing Ron's hand and pulling him aside.

"Alright, but you can't say a word of this to anyone in your family yet," Hermione said staring deeply into the redhead's eyes and Ron sobered, nodding seriously. She leaned close to his ear, whispering her thoughts and Ron went as pale as she was. The brunette winced, having expected this since the idea of such thing was dark and unimaginable. Sure, things like this happened all the time in the world but the idea of something so horrible happening to their best friend was something she couldn't even bear to think about and knew Ron was in the same boat.

A dead silence had fallen between them. Neither of them knew what to say or how to respond to such a thing occurring. Hermione, who was considered the brightest witch of her age, didn't know how to reach out to her best friend at a time like this. Normally, when one went through such a traumatic experience, they'd reach out to their mother and cry their hearts out but Harry... a sudden thought came to her.

"Ron!" Hermione cried suddenly. "Harry could talk to Snuffles!"

Ron stared at Hermione. "Hermione, we can't tell Snuffles about this!"

The other girl shook her head. "We don't have to. Sirius knows something has happened to Harry, he just doesn't know what it is so I'm sure he's worried enough to pry it out of Harry, and Harry may open up to him because he's the closest thing to a parent that Harry has right now." She could see the gears turning in Ron's head even though he still looked a little confused.

"I guess, but how are we going to get Harry to Sirius?" Ron asked.

Hermione smiled. "Lupin's outside. He's worried as well so if Sirius can help Harry, Lupin will apparate all three of us to Grimmauld Place without a second thought. It's why he brought me here, after all." She was glad he had agreed to bring her here because she had been so worried for Harry's safety and well-being when she had heard what had happened and now wished to do something to help him since he looked very weak and thin but also very haunted. It was rare for him to openly show weakness even in front of them unless things were really bad. She was glad when Ron seemed to agree with her.

"We should talk to Lupin as soon as we can then," Ron said firmly.

Hermione nodded. "I'll go call him in here as I don't think we should leave Harry alone right now." She left.

Out of all the tasks he had been asked to do, comforting a crying woman was the hardest part of this job for Severus Snape. And that too, a woman he had never really liked. But he also knew he was the only one Petunia knew right now and thus why Dumbledore felt he was best for the job.

"Petunia..." Severus began, trying to think of the best way he could to calm her down. He wasn't good at comforting though and Dudley had been so silent that anyone who knew him would be shocked.

"I'm not Lily, Snape," Petunia said softly, voice shaky and quiet. "I'm not as brave. Otherwise, I would have jumped in front of Harry and let him abuse me instead."

Severus raised an eyebrow, surprised that she still remembered his name but didn't comment on that and simply shook his head. "He's larger than you. He would have knocked you out and hurt Potter anyway and possibly your son, too. What you did was the right thing to save all of your lives, no matter how painful it was." He internally winced at how that had come out. He could have tried for more tact to be honest but tact was another thing that had never been his strong forte. He was used to being brutally honest.

Petunia burst into tears all over again, clinging to Severus's arm. "I was so scared! I thought he would have hit Dudley and killed me as well! I was terrified, Snape!"

Severus felt very awkward but he didn't want to push her away. What would Lily want him to do? He couldn't exactly pull her into a hug - not to mention it was wrong and she was still married to Vernon. So what he did was awkwardly pat her shoulder. "It's ok. You're safe now." His voice sounded horribly forced since Petunia was crying her eyes out and Dudley had snapped out of it to glare at him. This was weird...