Epiphany

By: Radcliffe23

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and company

Chapter 1

Sitting in a spindly chair at an equally spindly desk, Harry Potter stared absently out his barred window. His mind was blank, something he knew Snape would agree with and sneer at, for he had nothing to focus on since his glasses had been broken the week of his birthday.

That week had been painful, to say the least. For two weeks Harry had managed to stay out of his uncle's way, knowing that Vernon had not taken kindly being threatened. So he stayed to his room, wrote the Order every three days, and did the chores assigned to him by Petunia.

It came to a head the Friday before Harry's birthday. He was sitting at his desk doing homework when the front door crashed open, jerking Harry out of the scratching of his quill, causing him to ruin his Potions essay. "BOY! GET DOWN HERE NOW!" He heard Vernon roar. Quickly, Harry put everything away, locked his trunk and went down the stairs to face his uncle.

As Harry reached the last step, his uncle whirled around to face him. "YOU!" Vernon roared in Harry's face, causing spittle to fly. "IT'S ALL BECAUSE OF YOU!"

Confused, and not a little sacred, Harry looked to his aunt, only to find the same look of confusion and fear on hers and Dudley's faces. He looked back at his uncle and said, "Sir?" Only to be viciously backhanded across the face. As he crashed to the floor, his glasses shattered, he heard two frightened yelps from his aunt and cousin. Disoriented, Harry was not ready when Vernon reached down and lifted him by his collar and threw him into the coffee table. Yelling in pain, Harry tried to crawl away from the rage that was his uncle, but a vicious kick to his ribs stopped him.

"Vernon!" Harry heard his aunt yell. "What is wrong with you? What could the boy possibly have done? He's been in his room or doing chores for me all this time--"

"You," Vernon hissed. "You are the reason my life is no longer normal." Vernon reached down and flipped Harry onto back, causing him to moan in pain. "You are the reason I have started to drink." Here, Vernon grabbed up a large piece of the broken glass from the table. "You boy, are the reason I no longer have a job." Vernon grabbed Harry by the back of the head, pulled it back, and slit his nephew's throat just as the sirens of the police and ambulance pulled into their driveway.

So much for having a blank mind, Harry thought. Sighing, he closed his eyes and remembered the night his life changed.

~ ~ HP ~ ~ HP ~ ~

After Vernon slit his throat, Harry's mind went numb. Distantly, he could hear yelling and frantic orders being called, but his mind could not grasp the words. His body felt heavy but light at the same time. He could feel hands grasping and moving him, and felt a slight pressure at his throat, knowing that people were frantically trying to save him. For a fleeting moment he wondered why he should be saved before blissful blackness took him away.

Waking was a painful experience. It felt like his entire body was throbbing. Harry knew this was worse than suffering from the Cruciatus Curse and tried to moan out. All he accomplished was a heavy sigh. But it was enough to alert the nurse that was stationed for the current watch. The shuffling and then a blurry figure in his peripheral told him it was a woman. The look was brief though, and she was gone again. Harry heard more shuffling, felt a cool hand on his arm and then a burst of heat before the pain suddenly vanished. This time the sigh was one of relief as all of his muscles relaxed from the tension.

Harry heard the nurse chuckle. "Am I to presume from the sigh I just heard that you are no longer in pain? Squeeze my hand for yes." And with that, Harry felt a hand enter his own so he squeezed the hand weakly. "Good. Now, I want you to try and take a sip of water for me, alright?" It was then that he noticed that he was at an angle on the bed and not flat on his back. The moment was brief because a cup was placed at his lips and tipped so he could sip the water. The first swallow let him know his throat was sore, but not so much as to cause pain. The second swallow made him remember why his throat was sore in the first place. The nurse noticed the vacant look on Harry's face and took the cup away before the water spilled. "Harry?" She whispered as she lightly touched his arm.

Harry jerked out of his memories with a breathy gasp. He looked at the nurse and felt the tears on his face, but made no move to wipe them away. "Oh Harry. What did that monster do to you?" Harry just shook his head. The nurse gave Harry a pat on the shoulder and told him she would be right back. Harry nodded, the tears still streaming.

~ ~ HP ~ ~ HP ~ ~

The call for lunch brought Harry back from the memory. He was still unsure of his aunt's sudden change of heart, but was grateful none the less. Slowly he rose from the chair, his body still sore from the injuries he received. A bandage was wrapped around his upper right leg from a large, deep gash courtesy of the coffee table and his left arm in a sling from breaking the Radius. So broken, he needed surgery to replace part of the bone. Surprisingly to Harry, his ribs were only bruised, but no less painful.

But for him, the worst part was the neck injury. When Vernon cut Harry, he sliced right through Harry's larynx, rendering him voiceless. Vernon knew none of this at the moment, being in prison without bail, but the trial was to start in two weeks. He would know soon enough, and probably be very smug about the whole thing.

One thing that confused Harry was the lack of response from the Order. Petunia had told Harry she had written to tell them what happened, but as of yet, there had been no response. Harry made sure to write himself after getting home two days ago, (he was in the hospital for two weeks) but still there had been no response. He didn't know whether to be sad or relieved.

Just as Harry made it down the stairs, the doorbell rang. As he was standing there, Harry decided to answer it, but not before checking the chain was latched. When the door was cracked, Harry peered outside and was shocked to find Professor Dumbledore on the front step.

"Hello Harry," Dumbledore said. "I hope you are well, since it took quite the effort to break my collection of trinkets in my office." Blushing, for Harry knew this was a way to confirm who he was with only information they knew, he closed the door, unlatched the chain and opened it again to admit the Headmaster.

Albus Dumbledore looked at Harry with sadness in his eyes. He was hoping that the information that both Petunia and Harry had given him had been exaggerated. But at the same time, he knew that Harry would never exaggerate, because from the look of things, this had been going on since the beginning. And since that seemed to be the case, this was yet another mistake that he would have to make up for. So, Albus smiled kindly to Harry, who led him to the kitchen where lunch was being served. Albus watched as Harry tapped Petunia on the arm and point to him. Petunia turned around as Harry shuffled to the table for his lunch. "Oh. Hello Dumbledore. I see you've finally decided to come check up on Harry. What took you so long?" Petunia asked stiffly.

"My apologies madam, for you see The Order has been very busy the last month trying to tidy up headquarters, so that Harry here can move in." Albus explained.

"Move in?" Petunia turned to look at Albus fully.

"Yes. Sirius, Harry's godfather--" Petunia interrupted with an "I know who he is" remark.

"--left his house and possessions to Harry. He is officially head of the Black estate as stated in Sirius Black's will."

Petunia looked at Albus with a raised eyebrow. "That's all well and good Dumbledore, but you're forgetting that Harry won't get to live in it at all this summer due to the fact that your school starts in two days time. So my guess as to why you are here is that you came to fetch Harry for school. And since he seems to be the head of an estate now, I guess this means this will be the last time I see him. So," she turned to address Harry, "good luck this year and make sure that you don't forget about the trial. Just know that I am on your side in the trial, but I have no desire to see that monster ever again. I know that you don't want to either… Well, just good luck."

Harry gave her a slight smile and signed 'thank you' to her. Then he turned to Dumbledore. Albus sighed. Harry didn't look at him with any anger at all. He had a resigned, understanding air about him, and Albus felt all the more guilty for it. He was hoping that Harry would still be angry. To think that Harry had reached the point where he expected such treatment broke Albus' heart. He needed Harry to understand that he should be treated better.

Although these thoughts were there, Albus knew that he was going to have to force some others to learn to be humble and teach them about humility. And he would wait for those certain people to seek him out once they learned of this situation. Until then… Albus smiled warmly at Harry and motioned for him to lead the way to his bedroom.

~ ~ HP ~ ~ HP ~ ~

Harry slowly led the way to his room. In a way, he felt some embarrassment at how broken down the room looked, but felt pride at how tidy and clean it was. He limped to his bed and sat down, motioning to the chair. He smiled at the dubious look on the Headmaster's face before he transfigured it into a sturdier look. He wished he could tell the Headmaster everything, but resigned himself to a few sentences on a pad of paper his aunt had supplied him with. Once he was ready, he looked at Dumbledore expectantly.

Albus noticed the look and also that Harry was not wearing any glasses. He noticed the broken glasses sitting on the desk and repaired them. Harry smiled his thanks. "Is there something you need, my dear boy?" He asked. Receiving a confused look he added, "I thought you might like to pack so that we could leave, but if you need to say something, ask away."

Harry's face cleared in understanding and set down the paper to pack up the rest of his things. He missed the profound sadness that flashed across Dumbledore's face and he knelt down under the bed. The loose floorboard came up easily and Harry made sure to grab everything. Once he was done and everything neatly packed, he sat back down and wrote; ~ So headquarters is officially mine? ~

"Yes, Harry. Sirius left it to you along with his vault." Albus replied.

Harry felt a pang of sadness at the words. ~ Is Kreacher still around? ~

"No. He's been dealt with."

~ Who is staying there? ~

"Just Remus at the moment, he will be very happy to see you. Have you noticed something missing from your memory, Harry?" Dumbledore queried suddenly.

Harry peered at the Headmaster wondering what he meant. He thought back to when he hoped Ron and Hermione would owl him and ask if he could go to the… the… Harry shot Dumbledore a panicked look. ~ I can't remember where Ron lives! ~ He nearly scribbled.

Dumbledore smiled gently. "Yes. The Order decided it was time to further secure the Weasley's and it has been decided to put them under the Fidelius Charm. Now, I am not the Secret- Keeper, but they will be meeting us at headquarters." Harry nodded his understanding as he sighed in relief.

Questions done for the moment, Harry packed the notebook in his trunk and with one last farewell to his Aunt Petunia, he and Dumbledore took off out the front door for a nice walk before apparating to Grimmauld Place.