Sins of the Innocent

The Sins of the Innocent

Chapter 2- Summer of Grief

"He was despised, and most rejected of men."

Summer was not going well for Harry Potter at Number four Privet Drive. Nothing he could do would ever make last summer's events a thing of the past for the Dursleys. Petunia in particular took little interest in Harry; Harry honestly doubted whether she cared if he lived or not.

Every morning, Harry got up to read his owl post, though most of the time he did not feel like answering it. Number one, he was just too tired, and number two, he did not really know how to respond to the questions everyone was asking. Everyone wanted to know how he was doing, followed by keeping his chin up, his time at the Dursley's would go fast. Not fast enough, and I just can't tell them everything anyway can't I?

The reason Harry was so tired was that, every day, he had an impossible list of chores. He was cooking three meals a day, cleaning up those meals, taking care of all yard work and anything else that Aunt Petunia decided to put on him for that day, which usually involved cleaning something that never got cleaned in the house, like the fine silver. Everyday he went up to sleep exhausted, but yet, Harry could not. He was afraid that if he fell asleep, Voldemort would raid his mind for the prophecy, and his feelings about his friends, Sirius and others, and use that against him and the Order. Thus he spent his nights thinking: thinking about Sirius, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and the prophecy. He also thought about Neville, and what his role in the prophecy was or would be. Then, about three in the morning, he would get up and read his letters. One from Ginny in particular was bothering him. Well, no, not bothering, but intriguing him.

Harry,

If you ever need to talk to someone who understands, just ask. There are precious few people around who know what it is like to be terrorised by Voldemort, and I am one of them.

Yours as always,

Ginny

Harry thought about this letter time and again, but how could Ginny understand what it was like to lose the closest thing he had to family, after having lost your real family? Harry put that one on the bottom of the stack; it was the only one he had received from her. At least Ginny was wise enough to let well enough alone. From Ron and Hermione, he got letters at least three times a week, if not more.

The clock in the parlour struck six in the morning. Harry sighed; it was time to begin another gruelling day. At least the back-breaking work kept his thoughts off of things he couldn't possibly control.

After breakfast - under the constant sneers of Aunt Petunia - Harry cleaned up the dishes and headed into the back yard. At least there he might catch a glimpse of the Order member on duty, and Harry found himself hoping that it was Remus. In a way, Harry felt much more comfortable with Remus around, and he supposed that it was because Remus was the last real living link to his Family he had left. Remus would never replace Sirius in Harry's heart, but perhaps a new space could be created. As he settled down to weed the garden beds, Harry began to weep once more.