Chapter 1

The second years had just started learning Finite Incantatem this week, and it showed in the types of pranks occurring around Hogwarts. The general idea was, if you wanted to embarrass a girl (especially one of the older years), then at an inopportune time you would shoot a finite at the girl. The goal was to see what she looked like without her beauty charms and glamours in place (usually in front of someone you thought was her crush). Of course, this earned you the ire of whichever girl you shot the spell at if she figured out who did it, but to a bunch of second-year boys who didn't know any better, it seemed like the funniest thing they could think of. This was why, one Thursday night, when Harry was reading his defense textbook, studying up for a quiz tomorrow while trying to ignore the pain on the back of his right hand, he didn't look up when he heard someone say "Finite Incantatem." That is until he felt the magic wash over him rather than Lavender Brown, who was sitting in the chair beside him. He heard an "eep" from someone a little ways away from him, and by the time he tore his eyes away from the book in front of him, the whole common room had gone quiet.

Colin Creevy had a look of horror on his face when he realized he hit the boy-who-lived rather than the girl next to him and was shocked once he noticed the scars that had just appeared on the side of Harry's face.

"I'm sorry Harry!" he squeaked, "I didn't know you were wearing glamours. I'm so sorry; I didn't mean to undo them! I was aiming for Lavender."

Lavender shot him an evil look promising retribution but gasped when she looked back at Harry and saw in great detail what appeared to be an old burn scar on his left ear and part of his cheek. Harry was surprised when he heard a gasp right next to him, and then totally confused when he looked around and realized everyone was silent and staring at him.

"What are you all staring at?" he asked, "And what do you mean by glamours? What is a glamour?"

By now everyone was concerned as they looked at Harry. Fred had a curious look on his face that Harry couldn't quite decipher when he said, "Harry, did you know you have a burn scar on the left side of your face?"

Harry looked very confused at the question and then dismayed as realization appeared on his face. "That's still there? I thought it disappeared as it healed!"

Now everyone was very worried due to how blasé he was being about the very painful looking wound encompassing a good bit of his face.

"What do you mean you thought it disappeared, mate?" Ron asked, confused. "Burns don't just go away."

"Oh," Harry said, looking confused. "I thought all wounds disappeared like that for wizards. I mean, I've never seen a scar on any of your guys. I thought scars always just disappeared after a few days. All of mine have."

"What do you mean," Hermione choked out, "all of your scars have? How many scars do you have Harry? And from what?"

Here Harry colored and looked down, but everyone was looking at him expectantly, so finally he said, "My scars usually just disappear a few days after I get them. Dudley didn't really like me as a kid, and I tripped and fell a lot when he and his friends played Harry Hunting. And Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon didn't really like it whenever I did anything freaky, so I got punished for that too."

George was having flashbacks to Harry's room when they broke him out when he was twelve, and with that in mind, he asked the next question. "Harry, can you take off your shirt for us?"

Harry paled dramatically and started shaking a little, which worried everyone in the common room when they saw, and a few winced when they heard his neck crack with how vehemently he was shaking his head no.

"Alright, alright. It's okay; you can say no, that's okay." George was holding up his hands in a placating manner to calm Harry down, but it didn't seem to calm down very much. It got worse when Neville spoke up for the first time since this impromptu interrogation started.

Contrary to his feelings about what he suspected the next answer to be, he calmly asked his question. "Harry, I know you had mentioned before that you grew up with your muggle relatives. How often did your magical guardian show up to inquire about your living situation?"

The rest of Gryffindor clued into what he was hinting at when they saw confusion spread across Harry's face. Not understanding the gravity of the situation, he dug his grave deeper when he asked, "What's a magical guardian?"

"It's supposed to be an adult with magic who is charged with checking in on your life every month to ensure you are being treated well since you were born into the magical community before you were orphaned," Neville explained.

By this point Harry was visibly starting to hyperventilate, but managed to get out, "You, you mean someone should have been checking in on me to make sure I wasn't getting hurt and that I had a proper bedroom and food and did well in school?"

At the nods coming from many of the kids in the common room, Harry promptly decided he had had too many shocks tonight and just wanted to go to sleep. After saying as much to those around him he went up to his dorm and went right to sleep, deaf to the discussion that went well into the night on how the Gryffindors should act on what they learned that night.