Chapter Four

Months went by like this, with Harry becoming better and better at controlling his magic, and with certain things becoming easier and easier. It's like a muscle,Harry thought to himself more than once. The more you use it, the easier it becomes.Where before he had only been able to levitate four pebbles, each the size of his pinky, now he was levitating four far larger stones, each the size of his before Harry had trouble concentrating for very long, that too had become easier.

If only I could do something permanent about my hair but that seems beyond me so far, he thought to himself, stopping in a small hidden alcove by the Park entrance right behind where it became the normal park area to change back into normal Harry. Clothing he could change for a few hours before they began to change back, but his hair always went back to normal quickly if he stopped thinking about it. Once his clothes and hair were back to normal Harry hurried home, eager to get his chores over with and head into the cupboard before Vernon got home.

Today that plan didn't work. The moment the door opened Petunia grabbed his shoulder and hustled him into the kitchen smacking him upside the head for emphasis. "About time you got home you lousy layabout, get to work on dinner! Vernon had an important meeting today, and I want everything pristine and perfect for when he gets home is that understood!" She emphasized every word with a smack on the head, but Harry took it stoically. At least she wasn't using a frying pan as she had on more than one occasion.

"Yes Aunt Petunia." He answered dutifully. "What exactly would you like?"

"Fried chicken, gravy and potatoes! Good, hearty food. Now get to work. Honestly, with all we've given up to put clothes on your back!" With that she hurried off, heading up the stairs.

Harry shook his head sadly watching her go. He honestly didn't know if the Dursleys were his enemies or not, but they certainly hated him. Yet for some reason he just couldn't find it in himself to hate them back. They were just so, so pitiful! So happy to keep going in their normal, small lives, so certain in their worldview that they couldn't even understand that someone else could see the world differently. It was so small of them that though he loathed and feared them, he couldn't hate them, instead pitying them.

He smirked to himself even as he moved over towards the freezer. Of course, that doesn't mean I'm going to stop working on my magic and as soon as I can figure out a way to get the hell out of here! That was the dream that had powered a lot of his investigations into magic: the idea that he would eventually be able to get away from the Dursleys.

He knew he wouldn't be able to do it quickly. After all, if someone else with magic was his enemy, he couldn't really use magic all the time to get away from them, or else he might draw their attention back to him. But even so, he could use it as a starting point, which was why he was so frustrated about his hair.

Over the next hour or so Harry busied himself cooking, finding a certain sense of peace in the task, which he always did. Despite the fact that he never got to eat most of the food he made, there was something soothing about going about his business, knowing that none of the others in the house would dare bother him while he did it.

That serenity ended the moment Vernon got home. Harry could almost feel it in the air even before the man trooped in. The screech of the tires as he drove into the garage, the sharp slam of the car door, told Harry that something had happened at work and Vernon was once again angry. And it's a Friday, Harry thought, his heart sinking. Oh please, just this once, let him have found some other outlet for his anger.

Petunia and Dudley could sense it too, remaining quiet throughout dinner as Vernon bellowed about some topic or other on the news, angrily masticating his food as he stared at Harry who he'd ordered to remain in one of the kitchen corners glaring at him hatefully. Worse he drank heavily, which was never a good sign for Harry.

He was almost tempted to bolt for his cupboard now. Once he was inside his cupboard Vernon rarely went to the effort of opening it and dragging him out to beat him. But the way Vernon's attention kept on coming back to him throughout the 'conversation' meant that would be a very bad idea.

Finally Petunia broached the subject that had been on her mind almost visibly the entire dinner. "So dear, did you…"

"No I bloody well did not!" Vernon bellowed angrily, slamming his fat hands down on the table and getting up explosively fast for all of his bulk such was his anger. "We didn't impress the client enough with our 'character', whatever the bloody-fuck that means!" Vernon growled turning and throwing his beer bottle at Harry.

The beer bottle hit his head causing him to fall to the ground with a cry. "It's all your damn fault! Ever since we took you in all you've done is suck the energy out of my life!" Vernon bellowed, moving over to him and kicking the down Harry repeatedly. "I've been stuck in that one job, have never been able to go higher, always passed over! Your freakishness rubbing off on me, making other people look down on me!"

Harry screamed and cried as the blows kept on coming, and they didn't stop anytime soon. By the time Vernon was finished venting his anger on Harry, Harry knew that his arms were broken from where he had been holding them above his head, his head was bleeding severely from where it had been caught by the beer bottle, and his back was a mass of bruises.

He cried out as Vernon grabbed him by the shoulder roughly dragging him through the house and throwing him into the cupboard. "Freaks like you don't deserve more! You can stay in there until Monday or rot, I don't care which!"

Harry lay on the floor of his cupboard groaning aloud. He'd never been able to figure out how to accelerate his healing, he couldn't control his magic that much. Now though, his mind was consumed by a single thought. I have to get out of here! Anywhere somewhere else anywhere else but here.With pain fueled concentration Harry began to bring his magic to bear on that wish, pouring all of his willpower all of his magic into it. They'll kill me eventually if I stay here any longer, have to go have to get away, need to find a real home, need to find a real family!

Suddenly as he was concentrating on his own magic, it connected to something else, something magical around the house. Harry had no idea what it was, he could barely sense it, but as his own magic powers began to fade he grasped this new source of energy, sucking it dry in a single moment to power his pain and grief and fear fueled wish. Get me away from here!

With a loud clap of sound the cupboard was suddenly empty, leaving only the faintest trail of Harry's blood on the ground as Harry Potter disappeared from not only Number 4 Privet Drive, not just from the United Kingdom, but Earth entirely.