Prologue:
Harry was a freak. A very very bad freak who needed to be punished. A freak who was the lone survivor of a car crash whose father was a drunk and who was a burden to his good, law-abiding aunt and uncle. And that was why he was lying on his tiny cot in his cupboard under the stairs, stomach grumbling with hunger and back aching from the belting his uncle had given him. At this point in time, Harry-the-freak is 5. He is not yet aware that magic is real yet. But he will soon. And soon, his life will be changed forever.
-o-o-
It is yet another normal day in the Dursley household. The freak had just finished cooking breakfast and is waiting for Dudley to come downstairs and eat.
The doorbell rang. Aunt Petunia grumbled about crazy people who couldn't just visit at a reasonable hour, but went to go get it, yelling at the freak to go to his cupboard and stay there.
Aunt Petunia opened the door and came face to face with two strangers dressed in formal suits.
"Mrs. Petunia Dursley, I presume?" One of them asked.
"Yes, how may I help you gentlemen?" She replied.
"You are the legal guardian of your nephew, one Harry Potter?" He questioned.
"What do you want?" Petunia demanded angrily, becoming defensive. Her nephew was the one dark spot in her otherwise perfectly normal life.
"There have been some irregularities with your nephew's bank account and we wished to confirm them with you. Perhaps we can take this inside? This isn't a conversation to be had on a doorstep," he said, gesturing behind him to the neighbors peeking at them from their windows.
"C-come in then," she stuttered, opening the door wider and waving them in.
"Who is it, Pet?" Uncle Vernon rumbled, thundering down the steps, just as Petunia was leading the two gentlemen into the sitting room.
"These two gentlemen say that there are some irregularities with the freak's bank account," Petunia replied.
"WHAT? The freak has a bank account? I didn't even know that freaks had a bank!" He roared.
Just then, the air around the two gentlemen shifted, and they transformed from two perfectly "normal" gentlemen wearing business suits to two goblins wearing their formal bank uniform. Not that, of course, Petunia and Vernon knew what goblins looked like.
"So you two are freaks too!" Petunia shrieked angrily.
"We are goblins," one of the goblins stated, "and we're representatives from Gringotts Bank. We'll only take a few moments of your time this morning, just to confirm that money withdrawn goes where it is supposed to go."
"According to our records," the other goblin continued, pulling out a scroll from somewhere and unfurling it, "A Mr. Albus Dumbledore withdraws a sum of 100 galleons a month to be given to Mr. Potter's guardians for his upkeep. Converted into British pounds, that would be a sum of £5000 a month. Quite a substantial sum of money."
"We've never seen a penny for taking in the boy!" Vernon shouted angrily.
"I see," replied the goblin calmly, "we shall have the matter rectified shortly. Before we depart, may we speak to the boy in private for a few moments?"
"No," Petunia said shortly, starting to usher the two goblins towards the door.
"I'm afraid you misunderstand Mrs. Dursley," the goblin stated, "that was not a request; that was an order. Now go fetch your nephew."
Petunia gulped and nodded weakly before crossing the room to open the cupboard under the stairs. "Behave yourself freak," she hissed before turning back to the goblins.
"I do believe that I said a private conversation, Mrs. Dursley," the goblin said smirking viciously.
Petunia gulped before heading into the kitchen, Vernon in tow.
-o-o-
"Now, tell me, young Mr. Potter," the goblin said once Petunia and Vernon had left the room, "How do your Aunt and Uncle treat you?"
"W-w-what?"
"You heard him," the other goblin repeated, "How do your Aunt and Uncle treat you?"
"O-okay I guess. They treat me like the freak I am," Harry replied confusedly.
"I see," the goblin replied, "And what would you say if I told you I could remove you from your Aunt and Uncle's care?"
"Who would want to take me in? I'm a burden to all good people in the world," Harry responded, with the tone of someone repeating something he's heard over and over again.
The two goblins exchanged glances. "Yes," one of them said, "I think we're in agreement."
-o-o-
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this story so far. Please note that this story will contain some bashing of Dumbledore. I will update as soon as possible, but tentative update date is October 11th.
Please review!
Chapter posted: October 7th, 2019
Chapter edited: October 21st, 2019 (some grammar errors)