The Article

Part 1: Discovery

A/N: I plan on this being a twoshot, with the first chapter about Harry's friends finding out about what the Dursleys did to him and the second chapter mainly about Ginny doling out punishment to guilty parties. Enjoy!

The Boy-Who-Was-Abused?

Rita Skeeter

It was an innocuous comment made by the wizarding world's savior that alerted yours truly to the terrible injustice that has been done to him at the hands of his relatives.

The Daily Prophet: "What about your muggle family? What do they think of your acheivments?"

Harry Potter: (laughs) "They would probably be disappointed that I didn't manage to kill myself!"'

The Daily Prophet: "You mean they don't care about what you've done, about how you've saved the wizarding world?"

Harry Potter: "Not one bit."

The savior of the wizarding world has made several comments over the years to friends at school and to reporters relating to his relatives. Despite the humor intended by these comments, I immediately picked up the cry for help behind them. The cry of an abused boy desperate for someone to realize his plight.

Determined to find proof of his abuse at his relatives (The Dursleys), I set out to interview his fellow classmates.

"He got on the train in first year wearing clothes at least three sizes too big for him. He was very skinny, shy, and nervous for weeks after getting to Hogwarts" Fellow Gryffindor and roommate Dean Thomas told me "Every time he came back to school, he seemed thinner than when he left"

"We got the impression that the Dursleys hated him" Seamus Finnegan, another one of Potter's roomates added "He also said he was bullied by his cousin, Dudley"

"He did once say that the Dursleys made him cook all their meals…" Parvati Patil, another fellow Gryffindoor, confided.

But that, my dear readers, may only be the tip of the iceberg.

As I sat there ticking off my list of people close to him. I decided to go to Hagrid, the Hogwarts gamekeeper and Care of Magical Creatures teacher.

"I was the one who gave him his Hogwarts letter!" The giant (only an expression, I assure you) of a man exclaimed as I asked about Harry Potter's home life.

"Those fat muggles never even told him his own story! He never even knew he was a wizard!" Hagrid appeared very distraught; I knew I was close to what I was looking for.

After I asked him to elaborate, the gamekeeper mentioned how fat his cousin was while Harry was skin and bones.

I also asked him why Mr. Potter's letter had to be hand delivered, to which he answered that owls had delivered nearly a thousand letters to the Dursleys with no response.

"Dumbledore told me that he wasn't receiving his letters, he never let on that things were that bad!"

My instincts went into action here, I didn't know what, but those letters held an important secret.

"That's a lot of letters, how were they addressed?" I asked him.

He directed me to the Headmistress of Hogwarts, Professor Minerva McGonagall. After much finagling, I managed to get an interview out of her.

"He was a very shy, polite boy" McGonagall said "one of the kindest people I've ever met".

"No one doubts Harry Potter's kindness" I reminded her "I want to know if he was abused."

"Why would you think that?" The Headmistress snapped at me.

I explained to her the set of curious observations I had collected in my interview so far. Then I mentioned my reason for coming to her.

"This is ridiculous, Harry Potter abused? I think we would have noticed something as big as that!" McGonagall now seemed flustered, I pressed for what I needed to see.

She explained how the same spell that is used to find the address for Hogwarts letters catalogues these addresses for reference (in case the family needs to be notified of something), every letter sent to every house by Hogwarts has had the full address (down to even the room), recorded.

I bargained that if I could see the list that this would be the last I inquired to anyone about Harry Potter's home life. The Headmistress reluctantly accepted. As she pulled out a folder for Potter's year, I felt anticipation build; this was the moment of truth, I thought to myself as I scanned over the many addresses associated with Mr. Potter.

Most of these were to 'the smallest room in the house', but the first was addressed to 'the cupboard under the stairs'.

I repeat: the cupboard under the stairs.

With all of this information combined, Harry's life for ten years is not a pretty one.

One can imagine a small boy without parents, curled in his tiny cupboard, crying himself to sleep every night while he desperately wondered what he had done wrong to make his family hate him so much. Or perhaps Harry Potter, cowering in fear as his cousin hurt him while his aunt and uncle turned a blind eye. Or even the young boy burning breakfast and being punished by being locked in his cupboard and having to do without food for the day.

These images are enough to break anyone's heart, yet for all we know, they might be short of the truth.

I looked up at the Headmistress as I pointed out that first letter sent to Privet Drive. Her face was white as chalk, no doubt fearing what could have happened to the boy that so many of us look up to.

"I understand that you were in part responsible for bringing Harry to these people" I told accused her.

"Dumbledore thought it was for the best!" The Headmistress nearly shouted in her own defense "I told him that they were the worst sort of muggle imaginable, but he left him with them anyway!"

Yes, it was Dumbledore! Dumbledore who Harry looked up to more than anyone! Dumbledore had sent him to be locked in a cupboard, no doubt starved, beaten (at the very least by his cousin), and who knows what else.

"How did I not see this" I heard her ask herself absently as I walked away from her desk at the end of the interview.

How had no one seen this? Did no one think that Harry's thin, undernourished appearance to be worrisome? Did no one care enough to check on him at all over the 16 years of his life at his relatives?

Only Harry knows the full extent of his abuse, and I doubt he will be willing to share it. However, it is certain that the wizarding world has failed him terribly for what they have let happen to him.

Harry paled as he read the article. He glanced worriedly at the other occupants of the Burrow's kitchen, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Mrs. Weasley (who he was to call Molly), and George.

"What's wrong?" Ginny asked him immediately, worry in her voice.

Deciding for a half- truth, Harry answered "Skeeter just wrote another article about me"

Hermione immediately snatched the paper from his hand and read the article for herself, her face became increasingly sour as she read through it.

"That vile woman!" She seethed when she finished reading.

"What did she say?" Ron asked.

"Let me guess, Harry's secretly cheating on me with Malfoy!" Ginny teased.

"Nah" George joked "Harry obviously has it for McGonagall"

Harry winced at the image.

"I'm serious!" Hermione protested.

"No you're not, Sirius was Harry's godfather!" Ginny laughed.

"That joke got old the second day at Grimmauld Palace." Hermione groaned. She started grumbling that no one cared that reporters were spreading lies about Harry. The others had had enough of Skeeter and mostly ignored what she said, though Harry read her articles to be prepared for what people would ask him when he went out in public.

"Harry, dear, this food is delicious" Molly complimented, trying to bring the conversation to more lighthearted topics.

"Thanks" Harry blushed "Practice makes perfect"

"You must have had a lot a practice then" Ron said in between mouthfuls of food.

"Every day since I could look over the stove until I got my Hogwarts letter" Harry answered, then winced at his slip.

Hermione was looking at him accusingly.

"So she was right about that!" She snapped.

"Imagine that." Harry said weakly, running his hand through his hair.

"Huh?" Ron managed.

Hermione interpreted that as curiosity and huffed "Now look who's interested."

"Well Skeeter being right about something while not under blackmail is quite an event" George explained jokingly.

"So what else did she say?" Ginny asked. Harry grew more nervous as the conversation drifted further and further into dangerous territory, damn this article, he fumed internally.

"She said Harry's bedroom was a cupboard, for goodness sake!" Harry winced at Hermione's angry declarations.

Ginny noticed Harry's reaction "She is lying, isn't she?"

"Of course, Gin" Harry reassured "Imagine Rita Skeeter being right twice in one article! It would be the end of the world!" his attempt at a joke seemed to draw the conversation away from dangerous waters. Ginny looked somewhat relieved, but sent Harry a worried look that he didn't notice.

Harry relaxed and began enjoying the breakfast he made.

As fate would have it, Harry had to go to the Dursely's next week to pick his belongings that he left at Number 4 Privet Drive.

Ginny, Ron, and Hermione insisted they go with him, despite his protests that he would be fine on his own. Harry didn't realize this at the time, but the article had worried them, or more specifically Ginny, to the point that they felt that they should go with him to Privet Drive.

Harry had to inform the Dursleys of their arrival ahead of time, so the four of them apparated into Harry's bedroom two days after Skeeter's article appeared in The Daily Prophet.

"You spent the entire time in here?" Hermione asked in disbelief, looking at the small slightly worn down room.

"Well, whenever I went somewhere else in the house, the Dursleys seemed to punish me being there by piling more chores on me, and when I went outside, I was attacked by dementors." Harry shrugged.

Ginny was about to inquire further, but Ron interrupted "So, where's your stuff?"

"The Dursleys probably moved it downstairs" Harry answered "I was surprised when they wrote me that they didn't burn it."

Harry walked downstairs followed by his friends and girlfriend. He met Vernon Dursley at the foot of the stairs.

"You have a lot of nerve to be coming here with a bunch of your freakishness and your freak friends." Mr. Dursley growled.

"How dare you call Harry that!" Ginny snarled, Harry put a restraining hand on her shoulder to calm her down.

Mr. Dursley grunted, but let them pass into the hallway.

"Harry!" An exited voice shouted.

It was Dudley, he had lost a significant amount of weight, he also seemed much more friendly to Harry.

"Dudalus and Hestia told me all about what you did!"

While Harry was swept into a conversation with Dudley, Mr. Dursley grunted and walked back into the kitchen and Ginny nudged Hermione and pointed at a small cupboard under the stairs.

"It might be a coincidence…" Hermione reassured, but she seemed less sure than she had when Ginny first confided her fears about Harry's life at the Dursleys.

Ginny tried to open it, but was surprised to find that it had a lock why would a cupboard have a lock? She asked herself.

Hermione unlocked it with alohamora, inside was all of Harry's things.

Ron and Hermione levitated the stuff out, but Ginny was curious and stuck her head into the cupboard.

It was very dusty, there were spiders (Ron would hate it), but there appeared to be other things as well. A few small toys, that barely deserved to be called that, littered the bottom.

There was also a piece of paper. Ginny, even in the low light, recognized Harry's handwriting, she realized it was homework.

She had had enough; she stood up, only to bang her head on the cupboard ceiling.

"Merlin!" She hissed as she extricated herself from the cupboard, by now all four teens outside were looking at her.

Deciding to take advantage of the attention of the room, Ginny asked "What are these?" holding up the homework and trinkets she found.

"Oh, that must be from when Harry slept in there! Remember that, Harry!" Dudley exclaimed, reminiscing on 'old times'.

Hermione made a strangled sounding gasp.

Ron stared, stunned.

Harry winced.

Dudley's face fell as he realized what he said.

"What else" Ginny demanded.

"What?" Harry blinked.

"What else did they do to you!" She shouted, gaining volume with each word until she reached a screech.

"Err, the article pretty much covered everything" Harry mumbled, looking down.

"Oh, Harry" Hermione whispered "We had no idea-"

"Of course you didn't" he snapped curtly "I didn't want you to know, and neither did you."

"Of course we would want to know!" Ron shot "We care about you!"

It was a testament to how worried Ron was that he was so openly expressing concern for his friend.

"Why on earth do you think we didn't care?" Hermione all but shouted "We've always been there for each other, why would this be any different!"

"If you wanted to know, you would've found out years ago, I've slipped up enough times that should've sent alarm bells up in Ron's head.

Hermione, Ron, and Ginny looked at him blankly, while Dudley quietly slipped out of the room.

"Bars on my window, really, what did you think that was, their way of showing their affection of me!" That was pointed at Ron.

"How many times have I asked for food over the summer? I would think someone might make the connection between me needing food and me going hungry without it? Nobody thought that something might be wrong?" Harry was building up steam now.

Harry turned to Ron again "Didn't I tell you about how I never got a better present than a pair of socks and a coat hanger before, and wore all of Dudley's enormous hand- me- downs for clothes on the first day we met."

"I'm surprised you didn't find out ages ago, the number of times I mentioned something about the Dursleys, you brushed it off, the only conclusion I can think of is that you didn't want to know that precious Harry Potter had a terrible childhood!"

Silence fell across the room.

"Oh Harry, I'm so sorry." Hermione sobbed.

"Don't worry about it" Harry sighed "I didn't want you to know anyway, you guys just made it easier for me"

"Don't worry about it?" Ginny blanched "Don't worry that you slept in a cupboard that quite conveniently has a lock on it! I don't suppose they used that lock while you were inside!"

"Err only after I did accidental magic, really." Harry managed, which did absolutely nothing to help Ginny's mood.

"For how long did they put you in there?" She drilled.

Harry refused to answer, if he did, he knew she would blow.

"Harry!"

He still didn't answer.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER YOU WILL ANSWER THAT QUESTION!"

Harry wouldn't be surprised if the Dursleys were high tailing it out of Privet Drive at Ginny's scream, not that that would protect them from the fiery redhead.

"A few…. months?" Harry said in a small voice, shrunk away from his fuming girlfriend.

Hermione gave a small sob.

"I'm going to kill them" Ginny's voice was dangerously calm; Harry thought she might have meant it and moved to stop her.

Harry shook his head in frustration. He grabbed Ginny's arm as she tried to go to the kitchen where she guessed the Dursleys were.

"Don't you dare stop me" Ginny snarled as she struggled against his grip.

"What I want to know is why you didn't tell us" Ron sounded.

"Because I knew you all would act like this! And it would be ten times worse back then because it was still going on!" Harry answered.

Ginny wrenched her arm out of his hand but didn't move "We could've helped!"

"You did help!" Harry assured her, but like everything else he was saying, did absolutely nothing.

"Not enough!" Ginny yelled "We should've gotten you out of here!" tears were coming to her eyes.

"I doubt you could, Dumbledore wanted me here, me being safe from Voldemort is more important than me getting fed scraps over the summer." Harry winced again, he would have to learn not to mention stuff like that as often, his friends had ignored it before, but he doubt they would now.

"You mean they literally fed you scraps over the summer!" Ginny hissed.

"Blimey! I always thought you were exaggerating!" Ron blurted.

Ginny glared at her brother "He told you and you didn't realize!" She screeched angrily "You idiot!"

Hermione looked down guiltily, Ginny noticed, and glared furiously and looked like she was going to yell at her as well.

"Don't be mad at them, Gin" Harry tried to calm her down "Be mad at me, I didn't want them to know!"

"If you want your friends to not know something, do you put it in a letter?" Ginny demanded.

Harry could find no argument to counter her with.

She then turned back to Ron and Hermione "What kind of friends are you, huh? That you did nothing while they did this to him!"

His two friends did nothing but look at their feet guiltily, Hermione while trying not to cry.

"I'm sorry" said girl whimpered "I didn't- I'm sorry!"

"Don't apologize to me, apologize to Harry!" Ginny shouted.

"I don't need-" Harry tired, but Ginny glared at him again.

"-and then, you're going to spend the rest of your lives making it up to him!"

"No!" Harry shouted, he did not want his two best friends doing favors for him or whatever she had in mind, he voiced that thought.

Ginny rolled her eyes "You're going to make it up to him by helping him with his problems, comforting him when he's upset, loving him with all of your hearts, and never letting him forget that!"

Ginny blushed as she said that, but meant every bit of it.

Ron and Hermione nodded guiltily, tears were running down Hermione's face.

"Harry, you have no idea how sorry I am" Hermione sobbed "I've been a terrible friend, and I'll try to be better in the future."

"You haven't been a terrible friend!" Harry protested "It doesn't matter that much!"

"Bullocks!" Ron shouted "Maybe you don't think your happiness matters, but we do!"

"You mean everything to me, Harry!" Ginny cried "If you think that it doesn't break my heart that those bastards abused you, then- then-" Ginny stopped as she realized with horror that the Dursleys were probably responsible for the fact that Harry never seemed to get that people cared about him.

"I'm going to kill them!" She snarled after a beat.

"Ginny, it's not that big of a deal!" Harry pleaded.

This only further infuriated Ginny.

"Harry!" She shouted, grabbing his shoulders and shaking him "I love you! You hear! I love you! We all love you! I don't know what the Dursley's drilled into your head to convince you otherwise, but we would do anything for you!"

Ginny was breathing heavily from shouting as she rested her head on Harry's shoulder. Small sobs wracked her frame as she leaned more heavily against him.

Knowing better than to tell her to drop it, Harry moved his arms around her and whispered in her ear, "It's okay, I love you, so much…"

"I love you too, and I'm going to spend the rest of my life showing you just how much." Ginny whispered back.

"Harry, we'll always be here for you" Hermione assured after Harry and Ginny broke away.

"Yeah, mate, after Voldemort, anything else that's troubling you will be a snap!" Ron joked.

Harry laughed.

A/N: To be continued...