This story feels well deserved and if Harry didn't actually return to Privet drive after first year is would hopefully match what could've really happened... aside from the made up charges, obviously...
Although maybe Harry complained to the right person or being about his life at the Dursleys.
It might make for a good companion piece for this one-shot.
Maybe he went to McGonagall and she took him seriously... especially after she didn't believe about the stone being in danger.
Maybe he stumbled upon a house elf and felt he could commiserate with being that worked as hard as he was.
Now house elves like to work, a lot, for their families but we’ve also seen how capable and protective Dobby was when he protected Harry from Lucius Malfoy and later from Bellatrix.
Maybe one or more of the school elves took action to save the kind little master?

It's thought provoking. Makes one wonder if the neighborhood really learned anything or if life continued on the same after the uproar over Harry ended.

I wish that the Dursley's would have gotten this punishment in the original books as Harry was totally abused by them!

The Dursley’s definitely DID abuse & enslave Harry in Cannon! Too bad they didn’t get this same punishment in the books!

I agree with you that Harry was abused. If nothing else, the Dursleys could certainly be charged with neglect. Sending a kid to bed without supper once in a very great while for a serious offense is one thing. Consistently underfeeding him is something else again. Kids locked in a closet? Definitely abuse; you see it occasionally in headlines when someone's been arrested for that very thing. And seriously, what normal parent locks a kid in a bedroom, with bars on his window, and feeds him through a cat flap?
.
Maybe they weren't beating him. Maybe he wasn't physically chastised any worse than any other kid. But thee are many kinds of abuse, formally defined by Child Protective Services, some of them so mild it took me years to recognize my own upbringing actually fell into one of those categories.

Totally agree with your note

I still remember how horrified I was to get out of the shower to find my 3 yr old daughter just turning off the stove and dishing her perfectly fried over easy egg onto her plate. While standing on a chair so she could reach the stove!. My heart stopped ...but I didn’t want to say anything and startle her so she might burn herself. She was sooooo proud of herself for having done it, and being so quick about it too! (My shower was about 5 minutes, then drying and dressing, probably about 8 minutes.)

She climbed down off the chair, grabbed her plate and proceeded to eat her perfectly cooked egg. (I still wish I had taken a photo!) Buttttttt...we had words. I very calmly asked her to allow me to supervise her cooking so that if anything startled her, like the phone ringing or someone knocking on the door, bird or animal outside, it might cause her to accidentally burn herself.

But to do what Harry had to do...and sleep under the stairs! Hell no! But it was a story that caught Global attention for this new male version of Cinderella meets Merlin. And most people,were so enamoured with the story that they do see the abuse...until they start reading fanfiction!

I still come across things I never thought of.

What the fuck. Rowling didn't think Harry was abused? I'm sorry but I'm 18 and know that it is false.

Also, your story is brilliant but a bit wordy. Which isn't nice for my attention span so I may have skimmed paragraphs a bit... I'm sorry. I still like it though!

An excellent story!

I enjoyed the outside perspective. If this is a one-shot, would you please mark it as complete unless, of course, an epilogue is planned. Thank you.

bonne fic!

I wonder what that neighbor would do if Harry showed back up at #4 Privet Drive after he turned 17? Even if it was to just sell the house. Would he even recognize him as that little boy nobody saw until he was gone? The solicitor obviously doesn't know about magic, or he'd already know where Harry went, and what happened to him afterward.

Do you intend to continue this story? It ends like you are done, but it isn't marked as "complete".

I love this story!
(I agree with you on the abuse!).

Wow, this is intense. AU notes about the legal system aside, this is an amazing bit of work and I wanted to congratulate you.

This is bad depressing story, about JKR, well when you run away and then abuse by a suppouse husband stating that children abuse is ok is not uncommon. But really you cannot see the stupidity of child abuse and potions abuse encouragement as good or maybe you can.