The Twisted Wand

Chapter 1: Desertion from the Dursleys

Disclaimer: I own neither the characters nor world, just the few pieces I added.

0-O-0

Kings Cross station was crowded with people focused solely on their destination. It was easy to understand how most of them would miss the oddly dressed group that gathered around what appeared to be a sunburned walrus in a suit. Harry watched the members of the Order of the Phoenix speak with his uncle with a kind of detached, morbid curiosity.

Harry knew it wouldn't do any good; that it would, in fact, make things much worse for him. If the range of colors his uncle was going through was any indication his chore list for the summer had at least doubled. Not that he really minded at this point. The mind numbing work would be welcome if only to give him a reprieve from his thoughts. He had discovered over the last week that he preferred not thinking, to simply let his body move on autopilot.

"Harry?" Hermione had come up behind him and was watching the Orders exchange with his uncle. She gave him a worried look. "Will you be alright with them?"

"As horrible as it sounds I think I am actually looking forward to spending part of the summer with them. At least I'll be busy." Harry answered.

Hermione looked at him with concern and shock. Then did what came naturally and pulled him into a hug that would rival Mrs. Weasley. Limply he brought his arms up in a shallow return of the gesture. He couldn't bring himself to mean it though. It felt like his chest was tearing itself apart. He could feel the thick bandages Hermione still had to wear through her shirt. Harry swallowed thickly with guilt.

She tried to hide it but he could tell most movements still caused her discomfort. She was probably hurting herself with just the hug. She was hurt because of a curse, a curse she received following him to save his godfather from a trap. She was hurt because of him. His mind followed the well-worn path it so often took now.

Leaning her head against his shoulder Hermione whispered in his ear. "I don't care what Dumbledore says. I'm going to write you as often as I can. You don't have to write back but I don't want you to feel cut off or alone again."

"Alright." Harry said, but that was what he was, alone. "Hermione, can I ask a favor?"

"Of course Harry." Hermione pulled back and gave him a reassuring smile.

"Could you take Hedwig home with you? She and Crookshanks get along and Dumbledore says I can't let her go flying because she's too noticeable." Harry said.

"Are you sure?" Hermione knew during the summer Hedwig was his only companion; and his only way to contact them if something happened.

"I am, I hate having to keep her caged up. Besides you can use her to send letters to Ron or something. She'll enjoy that a lot more than being trapped with me." Harry said as he used a finger to stroke Hedwig through the cage.

"Alright, I'll watch after her until you leave your relatives. Hopefully you won't need to stay there too long." Hermione said.

"Thank you." Harry took Hedwig's cage, and after telling her to be good and mind Hermione handed the cage over to Hermione.

The Order had finished with Vernon so he trudged over to him. Absently Harry wondered if there wasn't a bit of metamorph somewhere in his uncle. Surely you couldn't obtain all those variations of red and purple without some magic. The stray thought of Vernon's hair behaving like Tonk's caused his mouth to almost twitch into a smile.

They walked to the car in silence. Harry fingered the bottle of dreamless sleep potion he had taken from the hospital wing. Just in case his nightmares became too bad. At the car Vernon drummed his meaty fingers on the steering wheel while Harry loaded his things. They pulled out into the London traffic and made it half way back to Privet Drive before his uncle broke the silence. "So, those other freaks tell me your godfather snuffed it."

"Yes." Harry replied automatically. Why was that one of the first questions everyone asked? Were they really expecting him to say 'no he's fine; this has all been a big joke'? Well knowing Sirius that might have actually been the case.

"How'd it happen? Blow himself up with that cursed stick your lot carries around?" Vernon asked as he cut around a pedestrian taking too long to cross the street.

"He's dead because of me." Harry said; watching his uncle in the mirror.

Vernon almost veered into oncoming traffic. "What, what do you mean because of you? Don't tell me you killed him, I, I don't believe that. Not for one moment."

"I might as well have. I was stupid and he died because of me." Harry admitted.

"Always knew you were stupid but never thought you were that stupid. Well those freaks said you needed time to mourn. Figure you can mourn just fine doing chores. They said they'd send an owl every few days to make sure you were alright. So here's how it will work. You tell them that you are fine and being well cared for and you get to keep eating." Vernon said.

"Yes sir." It worked out fine for Harry. Heck he'd probably tell the Order he was fine even if he was being starved. It would still be better than having to deal with any of them.

When they reached Number Four Harry unloaded his trunk, as he lifted his trunk he took a moment to look up and down the street. He was sure at least one Order guard was already watching him; they had probably had one trailing them on the way from Kings Cross.

He lugged his things up to his room, over the last year it had fallen into even greater disrepair. Apparently simply knowing Harry might spend a month or so in it each year was enough of a reason to ignore its maintenance the rest of the time. There was more broken junk than ever before stack along the far wall, blocking the closet. Which was impressive since Dudley would have only been home a few days. He must have been busy.

Especially since it seemed Dudley had also decided to add his own personal touches as well. Carved into the desk were the words 'freak' 'loser' 'bastard' 'unwanted' 'hopeless'. Looking around he also found that they had been written on the wall around the bed, which had apparently caved in on itself.

"Boy! Hurry up and get dinner started. You won't be making us wait this summer!" His uncle yelled from the bottom of the stairs. Harry decided unpacking could wait until later.

0-O-0

Harry collapsed onto his thin mattress. He had gotten rid of the broken frame his second night back discovering it was slightly more comfortable to sleep on the floor instead of a pile of splintered wood. By his fourth day back someone had cut into the mattress and removed a good deal of its padding.

His stomach gave a dejected growl; it was always a shock for him to go from being able to eat a full meal at Hogwarts to being starved at his relatives. He thought he was almost use to it though. The pain had lessened over the last week when he was denied food.

Absently he wondered if tomorrow would be one of the good days as he referred to them, where his aunt and uncle ignored him, outside of the ever increasing chore list.

"Boy! Get down here!" Vernon shouted from somewhere downstairs.

Groaning Harry pushed himself back up and followed his uncles bellows into the kitchen. "Yes sir?"

"I've just been outside, looks like another storms coming. I want you to go out and clean out the gutters before it gets here. Can't have them overflowing like last week." What he didn't mention was that they had overflown the previous week because they were clogged with an adult magazine Dudley had stuffed in the drain spout. "Well get on with it!"

Grudgingly Harry fetched the ladder from the garage and leaned it against the house. There wasn't much to do because he had just cleaned the gutters after the last incident. Still better his uncle see him doing the work.

While he made sure nothing had gotten into the gutters in the last few days, his mind, as it so often did, turned to his late godfather. Thinking directing about Sirius was still too painful for him to deal with and he had given up trying to figure out what he could have done differently. Instead he had made a list of those responsible. Of course his name was at the top but there were others, Riddle, Bellatrix, and Snape. He passed the time imagining the different way he could hurt them for having a hand in Sirius's death.

"Look at the freak." Dudley called out. He and one of his gang stood at the bottom of the ladder smirking. "Better check the drain spouts too. Hate for them to be clogged again."

"As long as you weren't stupid enough to try and stash you're dirty magazines in there again it'll be fine." Harry said.

"Did you just call me stupid?" Dudley asked, while his words were full of bravo Harry knew it really was a question.

"No, of course not big D." Harry said with all the sarcasm he could manage.

"No I think you did. Freaks don't get to call people stupid. I heard dad talking about your murdering godfather, one of those others mentioned it to him. Died falling through a curtain or drape or something? How lame is that!" Dudley said. His friend laughed along with him.

"Don't talk about Sirius!" Harry started to climb down, he couldn't win in a fight but at least it would be something; and he was sure to get a few licks in on Dudley too.

Dudley and his cohort grabbed the bottom of the ladder and shoved. It tipped over taking Harry down with it; right into his aunt's flower garden.

To Harry it felt like when he was playing Quidditch and knew a play wasn't going to work out. He was going to crash. Instinctively he turned his body to try and reduce his injuries. The rose bush he landed on snapped and stabbed at him, grabbing his clothes as he rolled out of it.

The impact drove the air from his lungs; he lay on the wet soil trying to pant; to do anything to force the air back into his chest. Dudley was laughing but Harry could barely hear him. What he did hear was an angry roar. Some part of his mind wondered where the dragon had come from.

Sadly it wasn't a dragon but his uncle. Dudley stopped laughing and adopted what he thought was an innocent face. "Dad! Harry wrecked mom's garden! He said he was going to fly!"

"He what!" Vernon yelled.

Harry was jerked up and pulled into the house. His uncle shoved him into the kitchen. Harry stumbled before catching himself on the counter. "Fly! I warned you no more of this freakish nonsense!"

Vernon grabbed Harry and shook him, hard. "Enough is enough! You don't have that murdering criminal to look out for you! Damn worthless waste of space! Should have saved us the trouble and died years ago, only thing he was good for, only thing any of you are good for."

"Shut up! You have no right to talk about him. He was a better person then you'll ever be and you know it! You're just a pathetic fat slob." Harry shouted back. Even as he spoke he knew he'd pay a heavy price. But he simple couldn't care.

His uncle moved his mouth but couldn't find the words to yell at Harry. So instead he tossed Harry across the kitchen, stomped over to him and gave him a swift kick in the leg. "Room, now, no food. One week!"

Harry climbed back to his feet and stumbled to his room. He fell back onto his mattress with muffled cry of pain. Everything hurt. The rose bush had given his dozens of cuts, the fall had bruised just about every part of him and his uncle hadn't helped things.

He debated trying to get back up and take care of his injuries or just lay there until he passed out.

0-O-0

Vernon was fuming, how dare that little freak try to do something as vile as ma, m, he couldn't even think that word! He was so focused on his anger that when he went outside to collect the ladder he almost missed the car pulling up in front of his house. It wasn't particularly fancy but it was part of a fleet of cars owned by Grunnings, the company he happened to work for. Vernon checked the plates to make sure, yup definitely his company. Now what were they doing here?

A short man in a gray suit and precisely trimmed beard stepped out. He was carrying a battered briefcase. "Mr. Dursley?"

"Yes, I mean I am. Who are you?" He said, this man's appearance screamed lawyer. This could be very, very bad.

"You may call me Mr. Splean." The short man said.

Spleen? What kind of name was Spleen? Maybe it was some foreign rubbish? He squinted at the man, it was impossible to tell where he might be from. "Yes well Mr, Splean. What can I do for you?"

"I was sent by the board to discuss some upcoming changes they are purposing. They felt you might be able to assist in the matter. Should this prove true they have hinted at a possible promotion. May we go inside?" Mr. Splean gestured towards the front door.

"Of course! Please follow me." Vernon led the way inside. This wasn't bad at all. A possible promotion, if the deal on Sunday went as planned it would be a sure thing!

Once inside the man jerked his briefcase. The handle popped free and the briefcase landed neatly on the floor. He ran his thumb along the detached handle and it changed into a long, crudely made spear. "I am afraid I have misled you. Would you please summon Mr. Potter so we may begin?"

0-O-0

Harry grimaced as he was roughly shaken awake. To his immense surprise, and no little amount of horror he found his uncle standing over. What had he done now? Couldn't he lay there and die in peace? His uncle kicked the mattress again; his face was switching between terror and rage. "Boy, up, downstairs. There's a, thing, downstairs. Waiting for you, I don't care what you do but get rid of it!"

"What is it?" Harry asked. Wonderful, something else probably wanting to kill him.

"How the ruddy hell should I know! Just go fix this!" Vernon seemed to be resisting the urge to strangle Harry by a thin margin.

Harry glanced around his room to see if there is anything he could use as a weapon. If only his wand wasn't locked in the cupboard with, well everything he owned except a few oversized clothes. All locked up since his second day back. His uncle shoved him out the door, slamming it behind him.

The stray thought crossed Harrys mind that if he died inside Number Four then it would show Dumbledore those wards he was always talking about were crap. Though he doubted the headmaster would notice that little fact.

He walked down the stairs and there, sitting in his uncle's recliner, was a goblin. More than a little confused Harry called out. "Hello."

"Ah Mr. Potter, excellent. I am Spleanslayer, and this." He gestured towards his spear, which appeared to have been made out of the remains of a fake office plant. "Is Spleanslayer. I represent Gringotts. We were contracted by a Mr. Black."

"Sirius is dead." Harry interrupted.

"Yes, which is why I am here. You see Mr. Black felt that certain people might try to, interfere, with his final wishes and took steps to prevent this. One such step was to submit a copy of his official will with Gringotts as well as the ministry. How he was able to submit an acceptable copy to the ministry is unclear. Another step was to hire us to come and personally inform you of the date of his will reading if it appeared someone was interfering with the official notice. I take it you were unaware of the upcoming reading?" Spleanslayer asked.

Harry blinked back tears. Sirius had a will, it made sense but he had never considered it. "This is the first I am hearing about it."

"We thought as much. The will reading is at ten a.m. room 719 at the ministry of magic this Friday. You are listed as the primary benefactor. Unfortunately due to current treaties with the ministry we are unable to offer assistance in getting you to the proceeding."

"I'll find a way to be there." Harry said.

"Excellent. I will also be the Gringotts representative and I am looking forward to seeing you there. Now, where is your uncle? There is one more piece of business to attend to." Spleanslayer said.

Ten minutes later Petunia and Vernon were sitting in the kitchen. Both stiff and watching Spleanslayer with horrified expressions. "I would like to say I find what I am about to do despicable but my orders are orders."

"N-now just wait a moment! We haven't harmed the boy; you freaks have no reason to hurt us." Vernon stuttered out.

Spleanslayer growled at them. "I would dearly love to hurt you but Mr. Black was clear on his instructions. It would be unfortunate if anyone was to learn about my presence here today. So in exchange for signing a contract of confidentiality I am authorized to offer you the monetary compensation on one thousand pounds."

"A thousand pounds just to sign something saying we won't mention you freaks?" Vernon said. Of course they wouldn't have mentioned the freak was there anyways but to get paid for it.

"Yes." Spleanslayer pulled a parchment from his briefcase and slid it across the table.

Vernon read it over quickly. It seemed basic enough. Those who signed it would be unable to reveal that the bearer of the contract had been there. "I suppose we can. Wouldn't want to tell anyone about you anyways."

"I would offer you the use of a blood quill but I doubt you have the honor to use one." Spleanslayer sneered at them.

Vernon bristled at the comment but remained quit. The spear resting against the table might have had something to do with it. The goblin offered them a normal quill and inkwell. They quickly signed the parchment with a messy scrawl. As soon as both had signed their eyes dulled.

Spleanslayer rolled up the parchment and gathered the inkwell, setting an envelope in front of them. Harry watched curiously. "What did you do to them?"

"Nothing, the contract will erase the memory of my presence here. The fat one will believe he won the money in some kind of office betting pool. They'll come out of it in a moment. Again I look forward to your presence on Friday. Good day." His tone made clear he wasn't looking forward to Friday at all. He picked up his spear and gave it a shake. It returned to the form of a handle, the briefcase jumped up and reattached itself. His profile changed until he was a small man in a suit; Spleanslayer saw himself out.

Harry stood in the living room considering his next action. He needed to escape first off; but how to get past the Orders guard. His invisibility cloak might work, depending on who is guarding him when he tried to leave but it was locked up with his wand and trunk. So before escape he needed to retrieve his things.

"Boy! What are you doing down here! I told you you're not getting any food for the rest of the week! Not when you don't earn it. Get back to your room. Lousy freak, taking hard earned food away from my family. Lord knows he's trying to drive us into the poor house." Vernon mumbled as Harry retreated to his room.

Lying on his mattress he considered what he needed to do. Break out his stuff, escape. Find somewhere safe to stay until the will reading, and then hope for something. He might have had his doubts about keeping anything Sirius left him but he would be damned if he was going to let someone keep him from that will reading.

Harry's pain was forgotten with a problem to focus on. Just before midnight he had what he thought was a fairly decent plan. He figured it might work so long as Moody wasn't the one watching the house when he tried to leave. Of course if it was Moody there really wasn't any plan that would work.

0-O-0

The next morning Harry was stiff, even just getting up he was forced to bite back a grunt of pain. Worse yet his cuts stung and were only made worse when he tried to peel of his clothes. He had to settle for pulling off several scabs where his blood had dried to the fabric.

By mid-morning he was ready to make his escape. He moved the loose floor board in his room and pulled out a small potion bottle. It still contained a few swallows of dreamless sleep potion; he had used it his first night back and the hidden it for safe keeping. There should still be enough left he reasoned.

Going down stairs into the kitchen he set the kettle on the stove. Sure enough his aunt walked in before the water had even started to boil. "What do you think you are doing? You aren't allowed to eat anything today and only two glasses of water. Certainly no tea!"

"Yes Aunt Petunia." Harry reached over to turn off the burner when she stopped him.

"If you've already gone to the trouble of heating the water you can make some tea for me and Duddlkins. No use letting it go to waste." She said.

Harry had to hide his smile. At least his relatives weren't particularly clever in their actions. His aunt grabbed two slices of a cake she had made the day before, one thin and one nearly a quarter of the whole cake and took them into the sitting room.

As soon as she was out of the kitchen Harry divided the dreamless sleep potion between two cups and poured the tea in. Then added an obscene amount of sugar to try and mask the taste of the potion. Before carrying the cups into the sitting room and setting them before his aunt and Dudley.

Harry went back into the kitchen to clean up; he kept a close eye on them through the doorway. Dudley drained his cup in a single go. His aunt on the other hand took a sip and made a disgusted face. "What have you done to the tea you stupid boy! You know I don't like it sweet! This is awful! Make me another cup."

Harry frowned, would one sip of diluted potion be enough? There was still a tiny amount left in the potion bottle but it was only a few drops worth. Carefully he coaxed them out into another cup and filled it with tea. He returned just in time to see Dudley grab his mother's cup and drink it as well.

His aunt grabbed the new cup and took a sip before nodding. "This will do."

Time moved at a crawl while Harry waited to see what would happen. Would the potion work? Did his aunt get enough for it to? What about Dudley? His size would certainly require a larger dose. Then, slowly his cousin's head dropped and he gave a loud, strangled snore. His aunt smiled fondly at her son and brushed his hair but didn't seem affected.

Harry had all but given up on his idea and was trying to think of another when he went to collect the dirty cups and noticed his aunt had fallen asleep as well. He set the cups back down and went to the cupboard under the stairs. All of his things were locked inside, including his wand. He tried the door but it wouldn't open.

Quickly, not knowing how long the potion would actually last he went into the garage and dug through the pile of tools his uncle had bought but never used. Among them he found an axe and carried it back inside. He studied the door for a moment before deciding to attack the door frame next to the knob.

Lifting the axe Harry swung it as hard as he could manage into the wood. It struck with a solid thump that jarred his arm. His muscles protested and he bit his lip to keep from crying out. He wrenched the axe free and struck again, and again. Until he couldn't manage to lift the axe again and wood splinters littered the once spotless floor.

Grabbing the doorknob and bracing his foot against the wall he jerked it as hard as he could, with a snap the door opened and Harry fell back onto the floor. He couldn't help but cry out as he hit the floor. Hesitantly he checked to make sure his relatives were still asleep. They were.

He ran up to Dudleys room and grabbed a hoody and pants from his closet then went back into the garage and took his uncles golf bag. At the cupboard he started sorting his things. He would leave behind anything he didn't absolutely need. Quills, parchment and ink would all stay; along with most of his ill-fitting clothes. He put on the only pair of robs that still fit him and use a few bed sheets to add bulk under Dudley's clothes. With a little luck his guard would mistake him for his cousin and ignore him. He used the axe to cut the heads off the golf clubs and loaded the rest of his things into the golf bag. He wished he had his firebolt but as far as he knew that was still locked up somewhere at Hogwarts.

Harry fingered his invisibility cloak, it would be easier to sneak out under it but the Order guard would know something wasn't right if the door opened and closed on its own.

With everything packed he arranged the golf club heads onto of the bag until it looked fairly normal. Then making one last check of the things he was leaving behind he walked to the door; then stopped. As an afterthought he took off his shoes and grabbed the pair Dudley was wearing. Trying to ignore his revulsion and put them on. It would just be embarrassing if he was caught because he was still wearing his old shoes held together by duct tape and magic.

Harry pulled his hood low over his face and stepped outside, he tried to act casual as he walked to the street. Not as if he expected someone to appear out of thin air at any moment and catch him, which in all honesty he did.

At the end of the drive there was still no sign of his guard so he started walking. After the first block he let out a relieved sigh, after three he was hopeful this would work. After five he was cursing having to wear his robs and the sheets to make him look as fat as his cousin. He was boiling. After seven he stopped on a deserted street and raised his wand.

With a bang the Knight Bus appeared. Its doors opened to reveal a man almost as large as his uncle. "Welcome to the Knight Bus, transportation for the stranded witch or wizard. And those too lazy to bother learning to apparate. Where yah heading?"

"Liverpool Street, Coach Station." Harry said in an overly gruff voice.

"Eh? Why you wanting to go there? The Knight Bus can take you anywhere you can get from there."

"Meeting friends" Harry said squeezing past the man and tossing him a few galleons to keep him from asking anymore questions.

He was apparently the only passenger because the Knight Bus went directly to his location. Once inside Harry checked the bus schedule and routes. It looked like it would take him two buses and at least an hour and a half to reach Hermione's home. It would have been quicker to take the Knight Bus but he didn't want to make it any easier than he had to when people finally started looking for him.

Buying the tickets he sat and waited for the first bus. It was here his plans began to get fuzzy. He hadn't really expected to make it this far and felt a little disappointed. How good could his so called guards be if he could slip away without using magic? Hopefully Hermione would be able to help him figure out what to do next.

0-O-0

Hermione was double checking her transfiguration essay, for the third time, when the doorbell rang. When she opened the front door she found a rather large boy standing there.

"Can I help you?" Hermione asked, her fingers reaching for her wand.

The figure pulled back his hoodie and Hermione nearly tackled him. "Harry! What are you doing here? Why are you dressed like that? Wait come in before you say anything."

She grabbed his arm and yanked him inside, casting a suspicious glance up and down the street before closing the door. "Are you alright? What's happened?"

"I'll tell you in a minute, but first can I have something to drink? Wearing all this isn't very comfortable in this heat." Harry asked. He'd spent the last bus ride dreaming of a cool drink.

"Oh right. Why are you dressed like that? And what are you wearing?" Hermione said.

"Had to sneak out, I drugged my relatives with dreamless sleep potion the disguised myself as Dudley. Wearing some robs and a lot of bed sheets." Harry started pulling off the multiple layers of fabric.

Hermione went into the kitchen and returned a minute later with two glasses of lemonade. She nearly dropped them when she got a good look at Harry. It had been impossible to tell when he was wearing so much but now that he was down to just his normal clothes she could see how thin he had become in just a few weeks. Not only that, but his arms, what she could see when he rolled up his shelves to help himself cool down, were covered in cuts, scrapes and bruises.

She handed him one of the glasses. "Harry what's going on?"

"I had to escape. A goblin came to the Dursleys yesterday. Sirius has a will and it's being read on Friday. No one told me, the goblin said I was named as the main benefactor though. I think Dumbledore is trying to keep the reading a secret from me." Harry said before he downed half his glass.

"I know you had a fight with the Headmaster but why would he keep something like this a secret from you?" Hermione said.

"I don't know but it wouldn't be the first time he's meddled in my life. I don't trust him anymore. Besides who else could it be?" Harry said.

"Well maybe. But I still don't think he would do that." Hermione said.

"Hermione, he knew what the prophecy was. He knew Riddle might be trying to use whatever connection he has with me to get me to retrieve it for him and Dumbledore never said a word. Not one word of warning!" Harry said.

"Hang on, he knew Voldemort could send you fake visions and didn't warn you?" Hermione said, her opinion of the headmaster took a nose dive.

"No. You were right about it being a trap. I should have listened. If I had then maybe Sirius, maybe he'd still be alive, and you wouldn't have gotten hurt." Harry stared down at his glass. The stray thought of if you could drown in a glass of lemonade crossed his mind.

"Enough of that. It was my choice to go, same as Sirius's. It's not your fault." Hermione said.

"It is, at least in part. I could have done a lot of things differently." Harry said, tears pricked the corners of his eyes.

"Harry, you did what you thought was best at the time. No one blames you. I don't blame you." She put her arm around him and he winced. She remembered how cut up his arms were. "What happened to your arms?"

"Nothing, I'm fine." Harry said far to fast.

"Harry! I have heard the lie too many times to believe it, now tell me what happened!" She listened with growing horror as he recounted the last few days. "Those monsters! What if you had hit your head on a rock? You could have died!"

Harry couldn't help it, he began to laugh. "Oh yeah, I bet the Daily Prophet would love that. Boy-who-lived dies by falling off ladder."

"Stop it! That's nothing to joke about!" Hermione said slapping his arm.

Harry winced. "Alright, I'm sorry Hermione. It just sounded so absurd."

"Maybe, but it wasn't funny. Never joke about dying again alright?" Hermione said a note of pleading in her voice.

"Ok. I'm sorry." Harry said.

"Good now take your shirt off."

"What?" Harrys face turned a shade of red that would have made a Weasley proud.

"I know some first aid and I'm going to look at you. Now either your shirt is off when I get back or I'll get it off you myself." Hermione said going to her room where the special first aid kit was. Over the last year she had collected several useful potions and a few magic healing items such as self-wrapping bandages and insta-stick gauze.

When she returned to the living room she had to bite back a gasp. Harry had complied and removed his shirt. His back was one large bruise covered in scrapes. She briefly wondered how he was even able to move. Walking up behind him she examined the scrapes and cuts. Several were an irritated or inflamed red, she'd deal with those first.

"Alright Harry. I'm going to put some salve on your cuts to make sure they aren't infected and heal them. According to the instructions it'll hurt a bit." Hermione said.

"Don't worry about it." Harry said.

Hermione checked the instructions that had come with part of the kit. Then pulled out a small ceramic jar. Inside was a red salve. She scoped some out with two fingers and gently covered one of the larger cuts.

Harry hissed in pain as her fingers traced the cut. "Ow, feels like you're cutting me."

"Well in a way. The salve has to reopen the cute to get rid of any infection. This wouldn't have happened if you had taken proper care of yourself." She watched as the cut opened and a red smoke was expelled before it sealed itself. The swelling around the cut was already diminishing.

"Sorry, didn't have much of a chance." Harry winced as she treated another cut; a particularly nasty one on his shoulder.

Hermione covered a third cut. "I know, I'm just angry at your relatives. I knew they were bad but this is just irresponsible! Its neglect!" She continued to fume silently as she finished the larger cuts and moved onto the scrapes.

"Thank you for this Hermione." Harry said. He could now freely move his shoulders again.

"No problem, I'm used to keeping to out of trouble. Well ok dragging your butt out of trouble after you've done something stupid." Hermione said.

"It's not my fault I got pushed off a ladder." Harry retorted, not that he could argue with her statement. He knew it was true.

"Maybe not but you are certainly accident prone." Hermione said.

"Technically most of them aren't accidents." Harry said. "How has Hedwig been?"

"Alright but it's easy to see she wasn't happy about leaving you. She went out hunting last night and isn't back yet; same with Crookshanks. I think I've got all the cuts taken care of. Lay down on your stomach and I'll put some bruise balm on you." Hermione reached for the bruise balm and frowned. It wasn't in the case. Now where had it gotten to? She remembered using it a few days ago. Must still be in my room. "I'll be right back, I forgot it upstairs."

Hermione went back to her room and checked her nightstand. It wasn't there. A quick check on her room turned up empty. She got on the floor and reached under her bed, fingers spread. Hermeione felt around until her fingers touched something ceramic. There it was. She pulled it out and stood, stretched and yawned. Late night reading was fine but not when she insisted on getting up early as well.

She stepped into the hall and froze. A black robed figure stood on the stairs. Hermione drew her wand.

"Expelliarmus!" the figure shouted.

Hermione's wand was knocked from her hand. She dove as the figure launched a bludgeoning hex at her. It clipped her shoulder and spun her into the wall. A quick sticking charm held her there. She watched the figure advanced on her, its hood hid their identity.

"Well well well, the little mudblood isn't so tough hm? Let's see you collect from the blood traitor now." The figure was male but the voice was being muffled. He held his wand towards her face. "What to do first? Wonder how well you could read without eyes."

Hermione brought her foot up between his legs. The figure grunted but didn't fall over as she hopped. "Bitch! I'll teach you your plac-."

The figure never finished. A vase was banished into his head. Hermione caught sight of blond hair and something in his hand before he disappeared.

0-O-0

Harry was lying on the couch when he heard the first spell. He rolled off the couch and landed in a crouch, grabbing his wand from the table. The spell had come from upstairs. He moved quietly, listening for any clue about how many there were. At the stairs he could see one person in black robes taunting Hermione.

He winced when Hermione kicked the figure. With a flick on his wand and a whisper incantation he banished a vase into the figures head. Right before he hit the floor he vanished. Harry rushed to Hermione and unstuck her. "Are you alright?"

Hermione winced as she came free. "Fine, caught a bludgeoning hex to the shoulder, it's not bad though."

"Come on we need to go before anyone else shows up." Hermione picked up her wand and they raced down stairs. Harry grabbed his invisibility cloak, Hermione a small bag from the kitchen. They both disappeared under the cloak and made their way outside; Hermione led them through the garage and a side door so there was less of a chance of being spotted by anyone watching. People might have questioned a door opening on its own.

Hermione directed Harry to a neighbor's house. "Miss Slipton is on vacation. She keeps a key under the cat statue outback."

"How do you know that?" Harry asked as they snuck around the side of the house.

"When I was little she told my parents in case I ever needed something and they weren't home or for emergency's." Hermione reached under the small stature of a smiling cat with a flat face and retrieved the key. Inside she went to call her parents. Harry stayed by the window. Leaning over he could see into Hermiones backyard.

"John I need to speak with my parents, it's an emergency…. Mum I'm alright but someone attacked me in the house…. Yes I'm fine, actually Harry had arrived just and took care of them…. yes he's alright too. Well at least he wasn't hurt by the attacker….We're at Miss Sliptons… Alright see you soon."

Hermione hung up the phone. "My parents are on their way to get us."

"Alright, I haven't seen anyone yet." Harry said. Maybe it was just the one attacker. Then he saw another figure appear near Hermione's back door. "Spoke to soon."

(A/N: This story had been bouncing around in my head since sometime last year. It started after I read a comment on a Harry Potter forum about past people who have made horcruxes, after all Riddle didn't invent them but learned of them. And who is to say there weren't other floating around? I've written out a good portion of this already so updates should be fairly regular if I can find a beta reader. Comments and critiques are welcome; flames will be force feed to a random minion.)