5

Chapter 5: Life at the Dursleys

"Harry, this is Elizabeth Smythe, head of the DMCW and my wife..."

Harry took a moment to study the couple sitting on the couch, Healer Smythe looked much as he had the day before apart from his outfit. Where yesterday his sandy blond hair and chocolate eyes were offset by the traditional, and slightly atrocious, lime green robes that served as St. Mungo's uniform, today they were complimented by rich cream colored robes. She however had dark hair which was pulled back into an elegant twist away from her face and bangs that framed her dark blue eyes which were highlighted with her dark grey robes.

Harry had already met Healer Smythe before and knew him to be a nice and seemingly trustworthy man. So much so that he couldn't see him marrying someone cruel.

Making up his mind Harry stepped forward holding out his small hand to the woman in front of him.

"It's a pleasure to meet you misses Smythe, I understand that you require some answers from me?"

"Yes, indeed I do dear," Misses Smythe said taken aback, yet pleased, with the polite boy in front of him. "I will try to make this as quick and possible but that would work best if we were all to sit down and try to get comfortable?"

"Of course," Bill said with a smile as he watched Charlie guide Harry towards the chair before proceeding to lean on its side.

"Now Harry, here is what is going to happen right now," Misses Smythe began as she looked at Harrys nervous form. Usually a case like this would be pretty open and close, the only difference now was the fact that if a reporter were to get ahold of this story all hell would break loose...

"First I am going to ask you a series of yes and no questions, after that I may ask for details on specific instances and finally I need you to provide a few memories as proof. All you will need to do for that is to think about the times I will tell you and I will extract a copy of the memory and place it into a pensieve, which is like a television for memories. Do you understand?"

"Y-Yes ma'am," Harry said nervously and with a deep breath as he leaned into Charlie's side for comfort. While he hoped that she wouldn't ask him if certain things had happened he knew that the Dursleys wouldn't be brought to justice otherwise. While he was scared he trusted the Weasleys and the Weasleys had said that they wouldn't care what had happened. That no matter what he was family. The least he could do was be honest and that's what he was going to do!

Looking up at Charlie's encouraging grin and then at Bill's Harry knew what he had to do. If he had to tell the truth they couldn't get angry!

"You two have to promise that you won't get angry!" Harry said suddenly and with determination as he looked steadily into both sets of blue eyes. "No matter what. No yelling!"

Seeing the hard look held within Harry's usually gentle eyes both brothers gulped before nodding solemnly, a tendril of dread unfurling deep within their guts.

"Okay," Harry said with a deep, settling, breathe, "I'm ready."

"Alright Harry, just answer honestly to each question, even if you're embarrassed. Just nod or shake your head if you want..."

"Were you ever verbally hurt by Vernon Dursley?" Nod. "Petunia Dursley?" Another Nod. "Dudley Dursley?" Yet another nod. "Marge Dursley?" Yet another nod.

And so the questions went on including if he had ever been kicked, punched, slapped, etcetera until finally she asked the question they had all been dreading...

"Were you ever touched, or been forced to touch, Vernon Dursley in an inappropriate way?"

With tears brimming in his eyes Harry looked down and nodded his head. Beside him Charlie and Bill's faces morphed into looks of pure fury as their bodies stiffened and their hands clenched into fists.

""Were you ever touched, or been forced to touch, Petunia, Dudley or Marge Dursley in an inappropriate way?"

Finally Harry was able to shake his head no, much to the others' relief.

"Alright Harry, you're doing very well so far. Now I need to ask a few more questions, just to clarify a few details so as to be prepared for the memories. Are you alright with that?" With another nod from Harry she continued.

What did Vernon Dursley do when he touched you or forced you to touch him? You don't need to go into details you just need to point okay? Where did he touch you in that inappropriate way?"

With a trembling hand Harry pointed to first his mouth then chest and then to his crotch and thighs before letting his hand drop much to the others' relief.

"You're doing very well Harry. Now, where did he force you to touch him? Just point."

Harry's hand lifted so that he could point a single trembling finger at his crotch before letting it fall again as he curled into Charlie's side yet again, reveling in the affectionate hug that he received.

"Alright Harry, you've done very well. Now, I'm going to have you think about three specific memories for me alright?" Upon receiving Harry's nod Elizabeth Smythe smiled encouragingly before continuing, "Alright Harry, I want you to think about one of the times you can remember them leaving you alone when you were in pain, the first time Vernon touched you inappropriately, and one of the times you remember being hurt the worst. We will go in and view these memories before we come back and copy the rest alright?"

"W-why do you need to see those three here? Why can't you just take them and watch them somewhere else like you're going to do with the others? Do I have to watch them?" Harry babbled out as he looked at her with wide panicked eyes.

"It's alright Harry," She said gently as she leaned forward to pat Harry's hand soothingly. "The only reason we're going to be watching them here is so that we can ask you some questions in case we need anything cleared up. If we do this now then it's all over and done with, the sooner it's done the sooner you can move on. Now, you don't have to view them with us dear, you can stay out here and read if you would like?"

"Alright," Harry said with a nod and a small smile, "As long as it helps to end this sooner I'll do it. But I don't want to see them, I'll just stay out here and read. Would you be able to take all of the memories now though? Put the rest in a jar or something? I don't think it's a good idea to wait until after."

"Of course dear."

A few minutes later and they were ready to enter the pensieve. Harry was nervous of course but he trusted them to not judge him. Since meeting them Bill and Charlie had been nothing but caring towards him and the Smythes were only trying to help him so, with a slightly nervous smile, Harry grabbed a book and attempted to lose himself in it. With a chuckle Charlie leaned down to press a soft kiss to Harry's forehead to which he was rewarded with a blush that only deepened as Bill ruffled his hair.

As Harry desperately tried to immerse himself in his book the other four placed a single fingertip each into the silvery liquid of the pensieve...

~Within the Pensieve~

One, slightly dizzying, fall later and the quartet were greeted with the first memory...

They were in a spotless kitchen that was full of the most modern and top-of-the-line appliances and what seemed to be an ever present underlying scent of bleach, before them in front of the stove stood a young boy, no older than four but who was obviously too small for his age. His hair was an inky black mess from where it was tucked behind his ears in a futile effort to keep it out of his eyes, He wore nothing more than an overly large grey shirt that hung around him as though he were wearing a tent and ended mid calf.

The little one was standing on a small stool just high enough to bring his eye level just above the skillets. The stove was full of pans, one with sausage, another bacon, one with eggs and the last containing hash.

They watched in worry as Harry stood on the tips of his toes as he reached his thin arm back to flip the strips of bacon over. Just as he's about to flip the final strip, leaning heavily against the stove front to balance himself, he didn't notice the stool tipping over and as such wasn't prepared for when it came out from under him.

As he fell backwards his arms automatically began flailing in a futile effort to catch himself only to catch onto the edge of the egg pan and pulling it down with him.

As his small body hit the ground with a deafening 'thump' the hot oil cascaded down and covered his fair skin in blistering burns.

As a piercing scream tore through the young throat Vernon and Petunia entered the kitchen with equal looks of disgust and horror. For one split moment the quartet thought that they were at least concerned for their nephew before their words of shock finally processed.

"My breakfast/kitchen!"

These monsters were more worried about their precious food and kitchen then they were their own nephew!

The next few minutes were spent watching as Harry curled up into a ball while he was continuously berated by his so called relatives, his screams of pain morphed into whimpers.

Suddenly Vernon Dursley broke off from his blustering and instead chose to sink his stubby fingers into Harry's hair before hauling him to his feet, Harry's scream of pain was subdued however, as though he had been expecting it.

Without another word Vernon began to drag Harry from the room and down the small hallway to the front room and the stairs. Thinking that he was going to take Harry upstairs to a bedroom they were horrified to find that he opened instead the cupboard door nestled below the stairs.

Throwing Harry unceremoniously into the tiny room the others took the chance to look inside. It was small, smaller than any cupboard they had seen and was cramped. The walls were lined with shelves filled with various cleaning agents and the main floor space was taken by a vacuum cleaner and various brooms, mops and buckets. However, squeezed into a corner of the small room sat what looked to be the mattress from a baby's crib and on top of that mattress lay Harry's sprawled out form.

"Now listen here boy," Vernon began with a growl, his mustache quivering and face turning purple, "Since you saw fit to ruin this family's breakfast, I see fit that you not get any. For a week! Now, I'm taking my family out for breakfast and you are to stay inside your room. If I find that you have snuck out or done anything freaky you will not have anything to eat for the rest of the month. Am I clear?"

"Yes uncle Vernon," Harry managed to whimper out as he attempted to pull himself into a ball on the small mattress.

"Good!" With that Vernon Dursley slammed the door and, much to the others' horror, proceeded to lock the various padlocks and deadbolts they had failed to notice before.

With that the first memory ended and the next began to fade into view.

Once again they were in the kitchen. Harry looked to be just slightly older than the last memory and seemed to have grown just slightly taller. He was wearing the same shirt as he had the last time and now it fell to just below his knees. As opposed to cleaning this time Harry was on his hands and knees manually scrubbing the floor with a mixture of harsh cleaning chemicals. A few minutes pass and they begin to wonder why Harry had included this memory, that is, until Vernon stumbles through the entryway, a bottle of brandy in his hand and a stagger in his steps.

Harry attempts to avoid him, he knows what happens when his uncle is drunk. He gets more violent than ever before, it's best to just avoid him...

Vernon just stands there looking at Harry as he continues to scrub at the floor before suddenly he spoke.

"Boy! Get me a glass for my brandy!" His voice is slightly thick but strong.

"Yes uncle Vernon," Harry said quickly as he stood and grabbed the step stool from beside the fridge before carefully placing it before the appropriate cabinet and climbing up. As he stretched to reach the glasses Harry could feel Vernons gaze burning into him but shrugged it off as drunken paranoia.

The four viewers watched in growing trepidation as the shirt began to slowly rise up to mid thigh level and Vernon began to stare hungrily at the young boy.

Harry, upon successfully grabbing the preferred glass hopped down from the stool and brought the glass to where Vernon waited at the kitchen table. As Harry came closer Vernon struck, his hand shooting out and grabbing onto Harry's wrist, his narrowed eyes looking straight into Harrys shocked and nervous ones.

Vernon pulled Harry closer with one strong tug of his arm, Harry's small body collided with Vernons side as his other arm wrapped firmly around his waist. Harry's eyes widen as he begins to panic, this is different than what he usually did and Harry didn't like it!

Bill and Charlie looked ready to kill and the Smythes weren't much better, they knew which memory this was then and they already wanted to look away as Vernons hand slid down to fondle Harry between his legs and Harry let out a short scream only for Vernons other hand to clamp down on his mouth. Charlie felt ready to die as he saw the tears well up in his little mates eyes before finally spilling over.

As this torture continues they can tell that Vernon is whispering horrible things to Harry but luckily they can't quite hear it all over their own screaming, be it out loud or in their heads.

Vernons breath came quickly as he continued to touch Harry, his hand now removed from Harry's mouth so that he could hear his sobs better as his other hand now trails over Harry's chest.

"That's a good little freak," Vernon says as Harry finally goes limp against him, his small body going into shock. Vernon pulls his hand away from Harry's groin and grabs his hand forcing it to lay against the obvious bulge in his trousers and Harry's vision begins to fade around the edges.

Sanctuary comes in the sound of the front door opening and Petunia's call of 'Honey, I'm home~!'

Harry had never been more thankful towards his aunt then he was at that moment as Vernon let him fall to the kitchens floor as he stood to greet his wife.

With an absent command to Harry Vernon left and Harry was safe... for now.

Elizabeth Smythe had never hated her job more than she did at that moment. They had only gone through two of the memories and already they were in tears. Though her companions were the lucky ones. She would have to watch the other memories that Harry had provided, the innocent looking vial now weighing heavily in her pocket. With tears still streaming from her eyes she turned towards where the last memory was starting, swearing with all of her being that Harry Potter would see justice...

This time they were in the living room, pictures of a baby whale of a boy covering every available surface with not a single picture of the raven haired child whose memory this was.

In the middle of the room stood four people, Harry who looked to be around seven years old and was now wearing a pair of far too large pants to go with the shirt stood with his head down and his hands behind his back as the boy from the pictures, whose clothes they obviously were, was wailing at Petunia.

"He kept stealing my answers mummy! The teacher asked me and he made me get them wrong just so that he could look good!" Dudley Dursley screeched as fake tears ran down his face.

"Oh my poor little Dudders," Petunia cooed before throwing a glare at Harry as she enveloped Dudley with a hug, "Come on, mummy will get you a nice big bowl of ice cream while daddy deals with the freak. Doesn't that sound nice dearest?"

With that she began to lead the now happy Dudley towards the kitchen as Vernon advanced forward.

With a resounding SMACK Harry was sent to the ground holding a hand to his glowing cheek. Fingers dug sharply into his skin as beefy hands fisted into raven locks and Vernon hauled Harry back up and onto his feet before proceeding to punch every bit of him that Vernon could reach. Moving faster and with more power than one would think possible he rained blows down onto Harry's small form. After what seemed to be an eternity he finally allowed Harry's small form to fall to the ground.

His pale skin is now marred by the beginnings of bruises, his bottom lip split and his eye swelling in the start of a black eyes. Harry attempts to curl in on himself, breaths coming in hitched but before they could process it a barrage of kicks were being aimed at him.

Vernon now had both hands planted on the wall in an effort to anchor himself in place as he continuously brought his foot back and rocketed it forward with as much power as he could.

The Weasley brothers watched with snarls on their faces as this madman continued to torment their little raven. If this woman didn't get Vernon put somewhere where they couldn't find him they would kill him!

With an audible CRACK and a sharp cry from Harry misses Smythe finally stopped the memory. She didn't know when she had begun shaking nor when her husband had held her against his strong chest, all she knew was that this little boy would get justice. Now more than ever Elizabeth Smythe was going to do her damnedest to see these monsters put behind bars!

With a steadying breath she spoke, her voice still holding an obvious tremble and tears still streaming down her face as the others looked at her. Oh how she dreaded watching the rest of these memories...

"I... Believe that we have viewed enough. I will take these to Madame Bones and have the Dursleys arrested immediately. I will do my best to keep Harry out of the proceedings but his testimony may still be required. I will keep in touch. Oh, and mister Weasley," She said as she turned to look Charlie in the eye with a small smile and a glimmer of happiness in her eyes, "Congratulations on finding your soul mate."

With that they exited the pensive and looked around themselves at the living room for any sign of the young boy whose past they had just witnessed and had caused their hearts to break not two minutes ago.

Upon catching sight of him they couldn't help the smiles that broke out over their faces. Harry had fallen asleep curled up on the arm of the couch where Charlie had been sitting, one hand smushed under his cheek and the other holding his place in his book.

"We shall be going now but give Harry our best," Healer Smythe said as he guided his wife towards the door. "We shall be in touch."

Ragnok, the goblin in charge of Gringotts, had been constantly working to right the wrongs done under his nose.

The goblin responsible for all of these wrongs had seen justice done in the form of his head on a spike deep within the caverns. If it had not been so important for the matter to be settled quickly he would have seen him in the pits battling for his family's honour before being fed to the dragons hidden deep below the banks floors. But this goblin had been a coward and his family was as well, they were perfectly content to wallow in their despair and had happily accepted the dishonour he had bestowed upon them as their inheritance. Not one had denied their new position so not one would be spared.

Countless hours had just been spent sorting out just what had been done with the Potter accounts and what had been put aside even before Griphook had been removed from his place.

During the war James Potter had, essentially, decided to put everything on hold. The investments still drew revenue but little else had happened, no new investments, no new inheritance or bequeathments, nothing.

Ragnok had kept a very detailed record of all that could be gained and, as such, the traitor had been able to see all that could be claimed and taken. And so it had been taken, though none of them had known that until they began to sort through the accounts of Albus Dumbledore.

It appeared as though Albus had been taking from more than just the Potters, though how he had managed none knew, though what had been interesting to find was that each account belonged to a line that was either dead or that had all but ended.

That is, all but one.

Ragnok looked at the parchment he had been presented in absolute shock.

The tale of the Weasley fortune was like a muggles brain teaser for the goblins. In the past they had flourished, invested wisely and bought even wiser, they had been very fortunate indeed. That is until around seventy years ago when everything vanished.

Some had concluded that it was lost to gambling and debts, others to drink, but Ragnok knew better. As a youngling he had started by apprenticing to the goblin in charge of the Weasley accounts, he had been awed at their goblin esque intellect when it came to wise investments as well as their ability to create profitable connections.

They would not have wasted their money so carelessly. And so, this report was vastly welcomed.

It appears as though the two families Albus Dumbledore had wronged the most were now irrevocably joined. That same connection was also allowing for both families to see justice done.

No, this would not end Albus Dumbledore, but it would surely mark his fall...