A Journey to the Past

"Harry, is anything wrong?" asked Ron. He was from the Weasley family, all whom were famous for their flaming red hair.

Harry blinked, drawing himself away from his daydreams. "I'm okay," he replied rather hesitantly. But he was not okay: When he had gone back to Privet Drive, the Dursleys had ignored him as usual. That, he was thankful for. But everything had changed when Aunt Marge broke her leg and decided to move in so the family could take care of her. Now she, unlike the Dursleys, knew nothing about Harry being a wizard. But she had heard from Aunt Petunia about the so-called Best Lawn Competition from the summer before. She had been enraged that Harry had tricked her relatives, so she decided to make him pay.

The second she had arrived, she started making Harry's life as miserable as possible. As if the Dursleys weren't bad enough. She beat him and whipped him, then locked him in the cupboard without dinner. But that wasn't all. He was also forced to sweep the floor and dust the rooms and do the weeding... and anything else she could think of. It had been horrible.

Now, as Harry sat in the Hogwarts Express, he was careful not to flinch when his friends touchfed him. His back was covered with fresh welts from the day before. He didn't know why he kept this a secret from his friends. It was just that... he felt as if he would scream if he heard their gasps and screams and questions.

Hermione Granger exchanged worried glances with each other. Their friend was hiding something, but what?

"Harry," Hermione asked uncertainly. "Are you sure nothing's wrong? You can tell us anything, you know..." She looked into her friend's emerald green eyes.

Harry found Hermione's searching look unnerving. He wanted to turn away, put his female friend gripped his arm tightly. He tried to bite back the gasp of pain, but was unsuccessful. A small moan excaped his lips.

"What's this?" Hermione asked as she held onto his hand and ripped up his sleeves. Harry closed his eyes, not wanting to see her reactions. He heard her gasp and Ron's voice saying, "Bloody hell, Harry, who did this to you?" Harry found that he was unable to answer. His entire arm was covered in scars, and he cursed himself for cryng out in pain.

"Harry, who did this to you?" repeated Ron, more urgently this time. Could the Dursleys have done this? He found it hard to believe.

"Um..." Harry stopped. What should he say? "I---"

He was cut off by Hermione. "Harry, really, there's nothing to be afraid of! Just tell us what happened..."

Harry looked at his fellowing Gryffindor's pleading face and coaxing voice. "I... not yet, Hermione, not now... I'm not... ready yet. I just ...can't. I'm sorry."

Hermione's face immediately softened. It broke her heart to see her friend like this, hurt and uncertain. "It's alright, I understand..."

"Take it easy, mate," Ron added. "Relax." His assuring voice calmed Harry.

"Thanks Hermione. Thanks, Ron. Thanks for understanding." He could not have said how much it meant to him to have his friends standing around him, caring for him.

Hermione looked at her watch. "We better change, five more minutes till we reach Hogwarts." she said as they began tidying up.

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*___Chapter 2- At Hogwarts?___*

Severus looked out the window in time to spot the Hogwarts Express pulling in. He watched as the looming figure of Hagrid rush forward to greet the first years. The second, third, and fourth year walked by, chattering.The fifth years were no different. Then came the sixth years. The gawky teenagers walked in groups: First, a swirl of blue cloaks to show the Ravenclaws, then a cloud of green as the Slytherins walked by. Then came the Hufflepuffs... Finally, a swirl of red and gold came by. Traditional Gryffindor colors. Everyone was talking noisily. Except for one person. A boy was walking silently, looking deep in thought. Who was that person? He was almost as tall as Severus himself. It was strange that he didn't recognize this boy, he had been teaching for so long, he knew practically everyone in the school... The messy black hair seemed strangely familiar. Suddenly, the boy looked up. For a second, those startling green, emerald eyes locked with his black ones. They held each other's gaze for a moment, then the professor felt that he had to look away.There was such an intense look of ... pain and despair, fear and misery, in the Gryffindor's eyes.Then, he realized with a jolt who it was. There was only one person he knew with that colored eyes. Potter. Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, his most hatWell, he didn't hate him, it was just that... it was so hard to explain that feeling... He hated his father yes, but not Harry. And suddenly, Severus realized that he had nevered called the Gryffindor 'Harry' before. It had always been 'Potter'. He didn't know why the school insisted on calling people by their last names, it was so... it gave of a cold, formal feeling. 'Harry' sounded so much better..

Severus jolted himself out of his daydreams and thought about the boy he had seen coming out of the train. But Potter, no, Harry, had seemed so different. The immature boy was gone. Instead stood a boy full of wisdom, and judging by worried look on his young face, he had seen many things in his short life that many others had never seen in their whole lifetime. He had lost his mother and father, he had never known any of his relatives other then the Dursleys, who had a rather nasty reputation.. Suddenly, Severus' heart was filled with sympathy for the orphaned Gryffindor boy. He gave himself a mental shake. No, why was he thinking about his? He shook his head and walked down to the Great Hall to get for the Sorting and Feast.

*********

Harry sat down and gazed expectantly at the Staff table. The Sorting was soon done and Harry welcomed (along with anyone else) the new Gryffindors to their table. Then, all turned their attention onto the Headmaster.

Dumbledore stood up and smiled, his eyes twinkling. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! For those of you new students, welcome to your new houses. This year, Professor Lupin will one more be taking over Defence Against Dark Arts," he paused as claps erupted from all the tables except for the Slytherins, then continued, "And the Forbidden Forest is off limits for all students." He put delicate stress on the word 'all', his gaze lingering on the Weasley twins. Fred and George looked back, innocent looks plastered on their faces. As soon as Dumbledore looked away, the twins huddled together, undoubtedly discussing plans on how to get around this rule. "Now," Dumbledore smiled, "I have two words to say: Tuck in."

Plates filled with every kind of food appeared on the table, but for some reason, Harry felt as though he had lost his appretite. He picked at his food and barely ate anything.

The others didn't seem to notice this as they piled their own plates with food. Soon, everyone was full.

"I'm so full, I can't eat another bite!" groaned Ron.

"Well, it's your own fault!" said Hermione, rather crossly. "Come on, let's get to bed," Harry said, trying to prevent another argument. Hermione caught the weariness in his voice.

"Sure, sorry, Harry."

********

Voldemort place a hand on his shoulder... There was a flash of red lights...

Harry woke up with a gasp. Good, at least, he hadn't woken up any of his dorm mates. He had been dreaming about Voldemort again... For the third time that week.

Suddenly, he felt something wet running down his back. Damn, the welts had probably started bleeding again. He tried to use his robes to stop the running blood, but in vain. Harry knew that he had to do something soon. He didn't want to go to the hospital wing, it would lead to tricky questions about how he got the scars... He finally came up with the only answer he could. He had to brew the Healing Potion. They had learned it during potions, it normally stopped all bleeding and pain. But there was a problem. He didn't have the neccessary ingrediants. There was only one place in the whole castle that had it. Snape's personal supplyroom.

********

A few minutes later, Harry found himself sneaking along the dark corridors with the Marauder Map in his hand and the invisibility cloak wrapped around him. He was almost there, almost there... The bleeding was getting out of control. If he didn't get to the dungeons quickly, he would soon be leaving a trail of blood behind, and he couldn't let that happen.

He was just walking up the last corridor when suddenly, he felt suddenly dizzy and nauseous. The world bagan spinning before his eyes as his legs gave way and he fell to the floor. He had to stand up, had to get to Snape's dungeon, but try as he might, he could not get up. Another spell of dizziness hit and before long, darkness claimed him.