Lullaby

Catch your breath

Hit the wall

Scream out loud

As you start to crawl

Back in your cage

The only place

Where they will

Leave you alone.

Fulfillment to their lack of strength

At your expense

Left you with no defense

They tore it down and

I have felt the same as you.

I've felt the same as you, I've felt the same.

Locked inside the only place

Where you feel sheltered

Where you feel safe.

You lost yourself

In your search to find

Something else to hide behind.

Refuse to feel, anything at all refuse to slip,

Refuse to fall can't be weak, can't stand still

You watch your back 'cause no one will.

You don't know why they had to go

This far traded your worth for these scars

For your only company.

Don't believe the lies that they told to you.

Not one word was true.

~Lifehouse, "Simon"

The sound of a woman's voice could be heard. Humming the lullaby, she rocked the baby back and forth. Her red hair fell over her bright green eyes as she kept on rocking.

Harry awoke with a start, gazing around his bedroom. The dream had felt all too real as he began to notice the wetness on his cheeks. Dashing away the tears, he put on his glasses which were once again broken. He got up and strode to the window. Inky blackness greeted him.

It had been two months; two long, horrifying months since the ministry. He could still see his godfather's wasted face falling through the tattered veil.

Hiccupping, Harry forced his mind from the image. He saw the early morning light creep through the window. Knowing his aunt and uncle, they were expecting him to have breakfast ready. He went downstairs and found the Dursleys sitting around the kitchen table.

"Boy! Fix breakfast! Now hurry up, you pathetic excuse for a male. Get your useless bloody arse in motion!" Vernon Dursley's voice seemed to have picked up pace until Harry had put the frying pan on and started making the meal. With each harsh word, Harry flinched. His fingers itched to cover his ears. Once finished, he hurried through eating before finally escaping into the dark cupboard.

Sitting on the tiny cot, he rocked back and forth. "Rock a bye Harry, in a tree top. When the wind blows . . ." Harry murmured to himself.

The Dursley's, after two months of his withdrawal, were used to the anti-social behavior. Yelling through the boards, Aunt Petunia screamed, "Harry! Clean up! Make yourself a part of this household and get this place ready for company."

Harry shuddered at this. After living with the Dursleys for the better part of 15 years, he had come to dream company. Sighing, he wiped away all traces of sadness before putting on a blank expression and greeting the day once again.

The day passed quickly and soon he could hear Vernon Dursley's car pulling up. The car doors slammed and Harry distinctly heard two sets of voices coming closer; his uncle's, and a woman's soft mumble.

When the door opened he was met with an astonishing sight. There stood the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. Vernon pulled off both their coats and shoved them at Harry.

"Put them away and go back to your room," his uncle ordered.

The woman looked at him oddly before stepping forward. "Hello," she said softly, "My name is Ari. What is yours?"

"Harry, ma'am."

"Nice to meet you Harry. Thank you for taking my coat. Vernon, may we sit somewhere. I am quite tired after my long journey."
Her voice echoed in Harry's ears before he put the coat away and retreated to his bedroom.

Once there, he stripped and put on his pajamas. Taking off his glasses, he tried to recover the dream of his mother. He woke a few hours later sore and tired. His stomach rebelled against Harry's attempts to sit up. After some dry retching into a wastebasket, Harry fell limp onto his bed.

A knock resounded on the door. His Aunt Petunia's voice could be heard saying, "Harry, you must come and eat boy. Not do make an effort and be civilized. Hurry up now, won't you?"

She huffed this quickly before stepping away. Harry haphazardly put on his glasses but the room continued to spin. Walking slowly down the stairs he was met with and unexpected surprise as the lady from before got up and helped him to the table. Sitting down, he turned his aching head into his sweaty palms.

"Are you okay, Harry? You look seriously ill," the soft lady said.

He tried nodding but did not have the strength other than to roll his eyes slightly.

"Boy, why are you down here if you are sick. Go! I do not want you getting any of us sick now," Aunt Petunia spoke harshly.

As Harry tried to get up, his legs crumpled beneath him and he would have fallen except for the kind hand of the stranger. Holding him up, she staggered to the stairs. With the help of the railing, they got up and down the hall. He collapsed onto the firm bed with a groan. A warm hand nestled against his forehead as the figure uttered unintelligible words.

"You need to cool of, Mr. Potter. Here let me take off your sweat soaked clothes."

Harry had not remembered putting on the clothes, but it felt good to remove them. After the burden of fabric was lifted, Harry fell back against the lumpy bed.

The woman went downstairs and he could barely hear her loud voice saying, "He is very ill and needs a healer. Can you fetch one?"

"He is such a burden, he is not that sick," came a cold response.

Harry closed his eyes against the pain of another rejection. Tears leaked out and he could not even lift a hand to wipe the offending evidence away of his weakness. He fell into a troubled sleep and it felt like moments later when a cool hand once again lifted him up and he sipped a brew before falling fitfully asleep.

Ari looked down at her sick charge, her hand hovering over his forehead. The fever was still raging on since she did not have the necessary ingredients here to cure her patient. Taking out her thin wooden wand, she transfigured a broken toy into a small music box. Opening it, the sweet lullaby swept through the room.

She apparated to her house where she gathered the potion items for Harry. When she came back he was muttering in his sleep, "Mum, dad, can you hear me? Why, why did you have to leave?"

Her breath caught in her throat before she bent quickly down and gathered the thrashing form of her patient.

Crooning the sweet lullaby, she rocked him in her arms. Tears began in earnest down both their cheeks.

Ten minutes later, she straightened, a spasm contorting her features briefly in pain. Shaking Harry awake, she poured the potion down his throat.

He sputtered but also managed to swallow most of it. Falling back on the pillows, he was already asleep.

Ari left his bedside again, going downstairs to speak with the Dursleys. "What are you doing to that poor boy? Don't you know what he has been through? He needs love! He needs family! Can't you help him?"

The Dursley's faces were scrunched with anger. After a few seconds of intense silence, Vernon pointed towards the front door. Ari took one more glance around the pristine living room and went upstairs.

"Pack!" she muttered, waving her wand. All of Harry's belongings sorted itself into his trunk. Transfiguring it to the size of a matchbox, she put it in her pocket.

After putting a featherlight charm on Harry, she picked him up and started wobbling downstairs.

Petunia started hyperventilating upon the sight of their esteemed guest leaving with her nephew. "Who do you think you are? Leave that boy!"

Ari stopped, looking once again at the people who were supposed to have cared for Harry. "I am one who actually cares of what happens to Harry. He will be perfectly safe. Now get out of my way!"

Petunia moved further to block the exit but leapt back upon the sight of the wand. "What? You are one of them? How?"

Her voice faded out as the woman left carrying her precious cargo.