This is my first story and I'm italian, so english is not my first language. I apologize for any mistakes.

Chapter 1

-Love of Legend-

"Kill the spare!" no… no.. "Avada Kedavra!"

Harry woke up covered in sweat at the memory of the eerie green light heading in his direction and the thud of Cedric's body hitting the ground. Again.

Moving the sheets away from his body, he sat on the side of the little bed. Looking at the clock he realized it was only 4.30 in the morning, with no chance of sleeping again. Since the end of fourth year and the third task of the triwizard tournament, his nights were plagued by the rebirth of lord Voldemort, giving him little to no sleep.

Things at Privet Drive n.4 were still the same, if not worse. The threat of his convict godfather was old news, not so scary since he never set foot in their house, and somehow they also found out that a boy died at the freak school and it was Potter's fault, so the Dursleys did their best to keep him away, preferably locked in the little room. And it was already July.

Without chores to do around the house and not being able to do some homework, having to leave his trunk in the cupboard at the start of the holidays, Harry Potter had a lot of time to think. And think he did.

He was not happy at all with the headmaster at the moment. 'I just witnessed someone being killed, on top of that, fought Voldemort, and he doesn't care one bit if I'm injured or else' he thought. As soon as he appeared back at Hogwarts, Dumbledore had sent him with Mad-eye to be questioned on the events.

Something was wrong, very wrong in what always happened to him. Harry got up, fishing for some paper in all the junk that littered his floor, courtesy of Dudley. With a little notebook in hand he started to write all that he could think about.

First, his aunt said they found him on their doorstep with a letter. Who in his sane mind would leave a one old year baby outside during night in October? And with only a short letter to explain the reason. If it did explain something at all. Knowing the headmaster it could very well only tell his relatives to look after him.

Tell. Not ask.

Was his parents wish that he lives with the Dursleys? Maybe there was a will somewhere so he could find out. Turning the page he wrote "look for mum and dad's wills" under his To-do-list.

His treatment at privet drive was also a big question mark. If he was the savior of the wizarding world, why did they leave him with defenseless muggles? No one checked on him to see if he was healthy and treated well. Not even Dumbledore. There were the blood wards around the house, yes, but did they really work? Did they protect him? The wards allowed the Dursleys to abuse him, starve him and beat him too. Maybe they kept death eaters away but at least they would have killed him and leave it at that, unlike uncle Vernon who took pleasure in hurting him just to throw his little nephew in the cupboard under the stairs soon after. Harry could have had such a better childhood if it wasn't for them.

A shrill voice shock him from his thoughts. –Come down here you lazy freak and make breakfast! Hurry!- Such a lovely voice Aunt Petunia.

Looking at the clock he realized that he'd been thinking for hours. It was now 6.30. Changing in a pair of clean pants and shirt, he got downstairs and started to work. He made beacon, toast and eggs, pancakes and sat everything on the table with coffee, orange juice and milk then waited for the others to eat so he could have the leftovers.

Leaning against the counter Harry took a good look at the people at the table. Vernon and Dudley were shoving food down their throats at alarming speed. They were both very obese, "whale like" his mind suggested him, with dirty blonde hair and watery blue eyes. His aunt on the other hand, was very thin and tall, with a long neck and a horse like face. Not like his sister Lily at all, Harry's mother, who was tall and curvaceous, with fiery red hair and green eyes.

He sighed closing his eyes, when a hand grabbed his shoulder forcefully.

"Listen here, boy! I want you to paint the fence and the shed in the back, then mow the grass and take care of Pet's flowers. Clean all the house and cook dinner, I have an important guest this evening and I'll not have you ruining it. Do I make myself clear? You better behave if you don't want me to beat the crap out of you!" ordered Vernon, his face red and his fists balled at his sides.

Harry nodded in silence. 'At least I'll have something to do' thought heading for the garden without having breakfast.

He spent the rest of the day outside doing his chores, the firsts of the summer, under the hot sun. Dudley insulted him a little in passing and kicked Harry in the ribs when he didn't respond. He was a real bully, scaring the little children of the neighborhood and beating them with his gang of friends. Harry was their favorite past time, Harry Hunting to be exact, they loved chasing him around and giving him a good trashing. Lucky him, he was fast and when the bullies finally reached him they were too tired to do much damage.

Cleaning his hands on his trousers he headed inside to wash the breakfast and lunch dishes, do the laundry and tidy up the house. While waiting for the washing machine, he stared on the dinner too. He was hungry, his last meal was yesterdays lunch, a very little lunch; but he knew better than steal something away for now.

At six, with everything done, Petunia sent him away with his dinner. He took a piece of bread, a slice of cheese and a bottle of water with him before retiring in his bedroom for the night.

Vernon voice could be heard from the dining room, praising his aunt cooking. 'As if! She could burn water, there's not a chance in hell the feast on the table being her doing!' thought Harry bitterly.

Going back to the list. 'Let's see.. accidental magic' all the freaky things happened to him were not known. There was the time that he turned his teacher hair blue, when he appareted on the school roof, his hair growing back after Petunia shaved them leaving only a bang to hide his scar…

Not once he received a complaint from the ministry. Maybe they couldn't trace magic done without a wand? He would have to research the matter. But what about the incident with Dobby? And the time he blew up Marge? He didn't use his wand. Hell, he didn't do anything at all the for first one! What was the explanation for that?

Could it be that Dumbledore was watching him after all? The man always seemed to know everything about him. And Harry didn't like it at all, privacy was important to him, more so since he entered the wizarding world. And if he knew about the magic he could know about the abuse too.

It wasn't so difficult to guess either, he was small for his age and skinny, the first month at Hogwarts he flinched at every touch, barely spoke and ate too little. All signs of an abused child, they had to be blind to not notice, or maybe they were so full of the boy-who-lived shit that they didn't want to see nor care about it thinking him some kind of spoiled brat or an invincible wizard. He snorted at the thought. Wizard could be so idiotic at times, a bunch of sheep who followed either Dumbledore or the prophet or the imbecile Fudge without a doubt. He shook his head not understanding how could they be like that.

Changing into night clothes he decided to try and sleep, maybe he was tired enough to sleep all night, without nightmares. Not that he believed he could, really, but one could still hope.

Harry was woken again two hours later, not because of a nightmare, but by Uncle Vernon. He was angry, you could tell looking at the deep red of his face, the hands that clenched and unclenched, and the smell of alcohol. Joy! He was in for the beating of his life, thought the boy resigned.

"That's your fault! You freak! What did you do to ruin my contract? Eh?" screamed the man while landing his hand hard on the child's body "It's not enough that we took you in! We fed you and clothed you! You should have died with that drunk of your father and whore of a mother!" he kicked Harry's stomach and legs "You ungrateful brat!".

Hit after hit, Vernon continued with his rant, while the raven haired wizard curled on himself to try to avoid being hurt in the face and stomach again. His body hurt like hell, but he did not make a sound, it would only encourage the man to strike harder. After a long time, Vernon went away, leaving a bloodied and broken Harry laying panting on the mattress.

'Why do they hate me so much? I just want to be loved and cared for.. what did I do so wrong to deserve living in hell?' were his last thought before his world went black and lost consciousness.

When the young wizard woke again it was almost dawn. Moving carefully, as to not hurt himself, he sat up to look at the damage received. He could feel his bottom lip swollen and bloodied, his eye was no doubt black, his ribs hurt making difficult to breath, and his right ankle was sprained. Cuts littered the entirety of his body.

Harry could not take it anymore. Why should he get beaten and treated like shit and just stay silent? Sure, Dumbledore had ordered him not to leave the house under no circumstances but at the moment, tired and hurting, he couldn't care less. It was his fucking life! He would do what pleased him the most. The headmaster had no say in that. Right?

Making his mind, he decided to leave Privet Drive for good. He just had to refrain using magic and no one would know where to find him. He could stay at the Leaky Cauldron until school started and… no, scratch that. Tom would alert the old coot immediately and he would be sent back to hell. No. Maybe there were other places to stay in the Alley. Only one way to find out. Standing on shaking legs Harry slowly descended the stairs, took his trunk from the cupboard and headed back into his room, trying not to put too much weight on his right foot and taking little breaths, he didn't need a punctured lung now, since at least three of his ribs were broken.

While packing his things he decided to live behind the worst of his second hand clothes, he would buy new ones. He had his parents vault, not much since it would have to last for other three years till he found a job, but he could manage choosing cheap items. All of Lockhart useless books were thrown away along with the old essays parchments. Closing the lid of the trunk he took a look around. Seeing a backpack on the ground, he picked it up placing his wand and invisibility cloak inside, along with the few galleons he found on the bottom of the trunk. He went then to Hedwig, his beautiful and loyal snowy owl. "Hey girl, we're leaving this place now. I don't know where we're gonna stay tonight so fly to Diagon Alley and look for me in an hour or two, ok?" he whispered while stroking her breast. The smart owl nodded and after nipping his ear she flew outside.

After taking a couple of sandwiches, an apple and a bottle of water from the kitchen and storing them away in the backpack for later, Harry exited the house ready to start a new chapter in his life.

Raising his arm, wand in hand, he waited for the Knight bus to arrive. The ride was dangerous as usual, when he was finally in front of the Cauldron he was green in the face and ready to puke.

Pulling up the hood of his jacket he entered the pub praying no one would notice him. There were only two people at the tables, one of which clearly passed out from the alcohol. Tom, the barkeeper, looked at him with a raised eyebrow no doubt wondering why a child was there at crack of dawn.

Harry kept his head down and headed for the entrance of the Alley. Tapping the right bricks he was met by the sight that took his breath away when he saw it at eleven for the first time. It was still new and incredibly fascinating for him this world. Pity a lot of the people living there were unbearable to him for different reasons.

The street were already crowed, he didn't want to be recognized and in a moment of panic he found himself at the entrance of Knockturn Alley. Taking a deep breath to calm down he winced, he would have to do something for the broken ribs soon. He went forward keeping his eyes open and hoping not to be attacked by someone. Borgin & Burkes was a little ahead of him, he knew they dealt mostly with dark artifacts, but maybe he could find something interesting there. He kept it in mind for later and went deeper in the narrow dark street. It was creepy being there alone, but he couldn't not notice that it was really clean. Turning the corner, Harry found what he was looking for at last. The sign read "The Wicked Witch Inn", he could stay there for the night and then decide later what to do for the rest of the holidays. Dragging his trunk behind him with great effort due to his poor condition, he pushed the door open and took a peek inside.

A dark wooden counter greeted him on the side, round tables littered the floor, on the walls pictures representing various creatures. The sound of a throat being cleared ended his musings. In front of him there was a young man, eighteen at most, looking at him expectantly.

"Welcome, may I help you?" he spoke in a deep velvety voice. It was the voice of a noble, Harry noted. "Erm, yeah. I'd like a room for the night. Maybe more. Mh." The words seemed not to come out, too nervous being in front of such a good looking guy.

Oh Harry, already knew he fancied the same sex. He really tried to like girls, but it didn't work out. Instead of admiring Cho, last year, his eyes sought out the presence of his male companion, Cedric. And even if Mrs Weasley always tried to push him to stay with Ginny, the idea revolted him.

After a little debate with himself he accepted he was gay.

The current object of his interest, was quite tall, nearly 6 feet in height; his shoulder length black hair were shiny and he wondered if they were soft as they looked at the touch. His eyes were silver pools, high cheekbones and aristocratic features, the muscular lean body was hugged by a blue button up shirt and skinny jeans. He shook his head "that's not the time or place! Get a grip!".

"Sure thing. Follow me I'll show you your room. I'm Leo by the way." smiled Leo, taking his trunk from him and leading to the stairs in the far corner of the hall.

"Thank you. Nice to meet you." 'Why didn't you introduce yourself you idiot?' 'Cause we don't want to be found by the headmaster or death eaters maybe?' Great, now he was talking with himself. He already saw one of the headlines of the newspaper declaring him a "crazy, attention seeking brat" and denying the return of Voldemort. No need to give them anymore reasons.

"There. Is this room alright?" he nodded, noticing they were arrived "Good. The kitchens are open at anytime, with our kind of customers can't do otherwise, really. If you need anything you can look for me, I'll be either at the counter or two rooms away from yours" he pointed a door down the corridor. "The owner is quite grumpy during the day. Any questions?"

"Um, nope. I'm fine, thanks" smiled Harry. Leo left the trunk inside the room and went back to work with a last smile.

'I'm here for five minutes and I already got a crush on a bloke I've never seen.' thought the raven haired boy falling on the bed. He yelped remembering his wounds. He really, really had to take care of that, but the mattress was so soft and the pillow was calling for him. Harry fell asleep dreaming of a new life where he wasn't a savior, with a family and someone who loved him, silver eyes appearing in his mind.

A pecking on the window roused him from his deep sleep. Thinking if what he could be he realized that it was Hedwig, getting up he opened the window letting her in. She rubbed her beak against his cheek and then perched on the bedpost. Not knowing what times it was, Harry decided to take a shower, and then get something to eat. He stripped of his clothes, leaving them on top of the bed, and headed in the bathroom. While waiting for the water to warm he examined his condition on the mirror. He was full of nasty bruises, 'How in the hell Leo didn't react to this state? Maybe it's not unusual there' he thought. Stepping under the spray he let the warm water to shoot his sore muscles, after a while he started to wash away the blood, followed by his hair. It was a good 40 minutes later that he stepped out of the bathroom, when someone knocked on his door.

He went to see without thinking. At the other side there was a smirking Leo. Leo who was eyeing him, strangely? With a start Harry realized he had only a towel wrapped around his hips. He already could feel a major blush spreading on his skin.

"Um.." he was so embarrassed!

" 'Lo there! You skipped lunch and I thought you could use with something to eat" true to his words there was a tray full of food hovering behind him "and I also wanted to check on your injuries. That's not part of my job, but .. do you mind if I enter?" asked Leo.

"I.. um.. there's no need. Really.. I don't want to bother you…" he said in a small voice.

"Nonsense." sighing Harry stepped aside for Leo to enter.

The young man put the tray on the little desk by the window and then turned to face Harry with a pensive expression.

"They did a really nasty job on you.. Let me see, you must be hurting something fierce" Harry couldn't move while Leo got in front of him. Mere inches separating them. He took a sharp breath when he felt the man big hands on his sides. "There seem to be a couple of ribs broken, I've got a potion for that don't worry and also a salve for the bruises and that swollen lip of yours" added caressing the boy's mouth with his thumb.

'Is he trying to kill me?' "Does anything else hurt?" he asked.

"Um.. my .. my right ankle." stuttered Harry. Leo smiled 'He looks so adorable all flushed 'cause of me' though while kneeling on the floor to take a look at his foot. "Yup, it's sprained" he got up again "I'm going to take potions and salve real quick ok? And it's best if you wait to eat, potions and full stomach don't mix well."

Harry was let in the middle of the room trying to compose himself. How could someone have such a devastating effect on him? He thought groaning at his predicament. He went to sit on the bed waiting, adjusting the towel so he wouldn't accidentally flash someone.

Leo went to his room to fetch what he would need to treat the cute boy. He opened his multi-compartment trunk taking the skelegro and pain relieving potions, the bruise salve and bandages. When he got back he found the boy sitting on the bed, he still didn't know his name but he wouldn't ask for now, no reason to scare him away. He could still ask later, maybe he could try and gain his trust in the meantime. He sat on the bed next to Emerald. Yes Emerald. Like his breathtaking eyes. It would do nicely for now.

"Alright I need you to drink these potions. The skelegro first" he saw the petite boy wrinkle his nose. "And you obviously know it tastes like shit" added with a chuckle. Emerald blushed again. Oh, he was so transparent! Leo watched him drink the foul tasting concoction and handed him the pain relieving next.

"That's already better, mh?" the green eyed wizard nodded with a small blush still gracing his cheeks. "Good. Let me apply the salve now" spreading the white cream on his hands he started rubbing a generous amount on the bruises, starting from his chest. He noted that while painfully thin the boy had some muscle, maybe from playing quidditch. His skin was warm and smooth under his calloused hands, he could feel the boy shivering. He smirked, keeping his head down, so Emerald wouldn't notice. "Turn around, I'll do your back" he massaged his shoulders for a bit before going down bit by bit till he reached the towel. He passed then to the boy's thighs and the still sore ankle. Emerald was now deep red due to his ministrations. He leaned down onto him, taking his chin between his fingers and spread some salve on the bottom lip and swollen cheekbone.

He took a minute to look at the boy. He was really petite, and too thin; his family probably didn't treat him right; there were a little muscle but just barely. His skin was pale, but Leo could see traces of old scars here and there; on his back mostly, two on his arm one of which still red and angry. Was there a scar on his forehead too? He couldn't see with the dark brown, almost black, hair hiding it from view. Once again he was taken by the incredible green eyes framed by thick eyelashes. Emerald was looking at him with wide eyes, his plump lips open, just begging to be kissed. He took a step behind clearing his throat, refraining himself to ravish the little beauty here and there. "Your ribs will be sore for a couple of days, so I'll bandage your torso and I'll leave you the salve, so you can put it on for the next week. Ok?"

"Yes. Um…"

Harry could not believe the sensations Leo could make him feel. All too soon he was finished with the bandages, and he don't want to see him leave just yet. Could he start a conversation? But that would mean Leo asking him personal questions? Would he make an idiot out of himself? 'Ugh'

"So, are you from here?"asked Leo, maybe he was reading his mind? "That's my first time in England. I'm there just to help a friend, the guy who worked here got himself killed and Vlad, the owner, called for me knowing I wanted to see London. Pity I'm stuck here with no friends to show me around"

"Um, where are you from?" he asked shyly.

"USA. Nowhere specific, I like to travel when I can and with school 9 months a year.." said Leo, while taking the tray from the desk "Here, eat something.."

"LEO! WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?! THERE'S CUSTOMERS WAITIN'!" a booming voice called from downstairs, scaring the shit out of Harry.

"Told ya he was a grumpy old bat!" he got up with a cheeky smile on his face "Well, I'll see you later Emerald, bye!"

'Emerald?' Before Harry could voice his question Leo was outside and the door closed. Still, he could feel himself blushing. Again.

He took some clothes out of the trunk, a pair of baggy jeans and an old red t-shirt. Opening his little notebook, he continued to write his doubts on what happened while nibbling on the sandwiches from the tray.

'My letter. It was addressed to the cupboard under the stairs.' Someone was bound to have noticed, unless there was some magic at work that wrote all the addresses on the letters. Still, one would check, right?

Then, instead of a teacher, like with Hermione, Dumbledore sent Hagrid to take him to Diagon Alley. Why sent the grounds keeper to him? Hagrid couldn't even practice magic and he was famous in the wizarding world, it would have been a disaster if someone had tried to curse him.

Other than that, Hagrid did nothing apart from praising Dumbledore, even while informing him of how his parents died. He also told him the all Slytherin were evil, stating Voldemort as example. The only reason, apart from Malfoy being a prat, he begged the Hat to not put him there.

Also, why did Dumbledore have his key at the beginning? And who had it now? He surely didn't see it since the second year, when Mrs Weasley had it.

Talking about Weasleys.. why were they complaining about not finding the platform 9 ¾ ? They were purebloods and more than half of their children already went to Hogwarts. The thought that maybe they were trying to catch his attention formed in his mind, along with the fact that probably it was the headmasters idea for him to befriend a well known light family.

The more he thought about it the more he felt angry, and he wasn't even at the first year proper yet.

Harry run a hand through his hair feeling tired. 'Maybe I could go to Gringotts now, and think about the rest later'.

He put on his cloak with the hood up to hide his face and made his way outside, nodding to Leo when he passed the counter.

The journey to the bank was short and without problems. It was as majestic as ever the white building that towered over the alley, he nodded to the goblin guards at the door and entered. It was late afternoon already, and only some witches and wizards were at the tellers doing their business.

Harry walked up to a free goblin "Um, greetings… Sharpclaw" added reading the name on the desk tag "I need to take out some galleons"

"Key?" the goblin asked without lifting his head from the papers he was working on.

"Um. I don't have it. I don't know where it is" the boy was now worried they would just ask him to turn around and leave.

Finally the goblin looked at him "Name?" asked in a clearly bored voice. "Harry.. Harry Potter"

The creature's eyes widened a bit "Wait here" said before walking away hastily.

'What the fuck?' thought, he couldn't be in trouble already. He barely spoke. What if they called the old fucker?

Soon after Sharpclaw came back "Please follow me, Master Potter" said, and turned around leaving a shocked boy to trail behind.