Hey guys, been a while, hasn't it. I did say that there wasn't a schedule for this story.
Anyway, hope you enjoy the next chapter. :3

"Okay, we're here. Fess up." Harry said, once they arrived back at their secluded spot.

"I know who you are, Harry."

"That, that doesn't make any sense. Of course you know me." He replied, being completely confused.

"What I'm saying is, -" Jewel started, looking for the right words. "-well, if you asked any magical person if they knew who Harry Potter is, they would tell you that they indeed know who you are. In the magical world, you're a hero, Harry."

Harry processed the words, but couldn't make sense of them. "I still don't understand."

Jewel sat down and Harry followed her example.

"More than ten years ago, there was a war going on between what they called the Light and the Dark. The Light side was led by a wizard named Albus Dumbledore, while the Dark side was led by a wizard named Voldemort."

"Voldemort? What happened?" He asked, eager to hear more.

"I don't know the details of why this war was fought, but I know that it was brutal and many people lost their lives. There seemed no end to the war until a prophecy was made. The prophesy said that a child would be born with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord. The Dark Lord being Voldemort. That child… is you, Harry."

"M-Me?"

"The Dark Lord found out and sought to destroy you. He found your home and murdered your parents."

"But… What? I don't…." Harry was completely lost for words.

"Stay with me, Harry. When Voldemort tried to kill you, however, something strange happened. As he cast the killing curse on you, it somehow rebounced to him, resulting in his own demise. It was the end of the war. The Light won. And the child who made it possible was unhurt, except for the lightning bolt shaped scar on its forehead."

"That's… me?"

"You were barely a year old when it happened, so I doubt that you remember any of it. I don't know how you ended up with those muggles. It honestly makes no sense."

Both of them fell silent. Harry was trying to process this new information. He knew Jewel wouldn't lie to him, he believed what she had told him. He had so many questions, though, and he didn't know where to start.

Jewel stayed quiet, giving Harry the time he needed to think.

"It doesn't change anything." Harry said after a few minutes of silence.

"What doesn't change?"

"Our plan. I don't care about who I used to be. If what you're saying is true, and the magic community considers me their hero, then where are they? I didn't even know magic was real until I met you. The only thing I care about is you, learning magic and getting out of my prison. Rather sooner than later."

Jewel was touched by his words and calmly replied; "It's true that our plan doesn't have to change, but you being who you are does answers a lot of questions and could potentially make our plans easier."

Harry snorted. "You have no idea how many questions I have right about now."

"I'll make sure that they all get answered in time. If I don't know the answer, then we'll put it on the list of things to figure out."

"Wait a minute!" Harry suddenly exclaimed, making Jewel jump a little. "So my parents didn't die in a car accident?!"

"No, they died trying to protect you. They were murdered during war."

Harry took a deep breath. "Do you… know their names?"

"You don't know them?" She asked, slightly horrified that Harry wouldn't know the names of his own parents.

"No, the Dursleys never talked about them. And the only thing they told me turns out to be a lie."

"Uhm, let me think. I should know this, my mother told me the story at one point. I believe that your father was called James, and your mother's name is Lilly, I think. She was a muggleborn."

"And my father?"

"Was a wizard."

"Can you tell me anything else about them?" He asked eagerly.

"I wish I could, I'm sorry." Jewel said, looking down.

"Don't be." Harry said, getting her to look at him again. "You have no idea how much knowing my parent's names means to me. I'm glad to finally know the truth."

After saying that, Harry got a distant look on his face.

"Harry?" Jewel asked, getting concerned.

"To me, nothing changes, other than knowing the truth." He said and looked straight in her eyes. "How about you? Does me being famous change anything of our friendship? Am I still just Harry to you?"

"Of course you are!" Jewel answered immediately. "Harry, you have no idea what you mean to me. I don't care about the past, I only care about the present and the future. You're still Harry, and I like you just the way you are."

"Thank you." Harry was so relieved at her answer. He vowed to himself to never doubt her again in the future.

"Shall we continue our lesson?" Jewel said, changing the subject to relieve some of the tension that hung in the air.

Harry smiled at her. "Yes let's."

As they continued it seemed like Harry didn't have any problems learning new Parsel Magic. He needed to try a few times to get things right, but he didn't have any issues calling upon his magic.

Time passed quickly, it always does when you're doing something that you enjoy. The sun was setting and it had started snowing slightly. Harry had added his own magic to the warmth bubble around them, they had no trouble keeping themselves warm. The snow that fell into the bubble, evaporated before it hit the ground.

"It's getting pretty late, I wonder when the Dursleys are going to come get you." Jewel said, looking at the setting sun, enjoying the view.

"I wouldn't be surprised if they left me here until the morning. We learned that they aren't leaving me outside all night."

"I don't mind spending the night outside."

"Because you're used to it?" Harry asked, recalling her story.

"Yes. To be honest, I don't sleep comfortably inside a building. Being inside limits your escape options. Here in the open, you can go anywhere."

"I can't imagine to live like that. It must have been hard on you."

"It's all I know. It's normal for me."

"Do you sometimes wish things were different? To have a normal family and a home, like everybody else?" Harry asked, often asking that question to himself.

Jewel thought about it for a moment. "Yes and no. I don't want a 'normal' family. I want a real one. But, I do wish some things were different."

"Like what?"

"I wish I was stronger. Then maybe my mother wouldn't have died. It's my biggest regret."

"Regret? Jewel, you were only a little child. You and your mother were up against several trained wizards. There was nothing you could have done."

"You don't know that. You weren't there."

"No, I wasn't there. But, look at me, I'm a wizard and I can't even defend myself against three muggles."

"That's not the same."

"Isn't it? I fear for my life every day. Each day with the Dursleys could be my last. I'm fighting for my life, but at the end of the day, I am at the mercy of others. You can't change the past, but WE can change the future. Together, we will get stronger! And then we can take our own lives in our hands."

Jewel looked at Harry's determined face and couldn't help but believe the small boy. "I guess, you're right."

"You know I'm right! We just need patience and then, someday, we will get revenge on the ones who wronged us. Patience, like you've told me a million times before."

"Well, if you're going to throw my own words back at me, I have no choice but to believe you. Thanks."

The sun disappeared behind the horizon and the world fell into darkness. Lie predicted, no one showed up for Harry.

It was in the afternoon, the following day before Petunia turned up.

She ushered Harry, and the now hidden Jewel, back to the house where Harry got his chores for the rest of the day.

The Dursleys were in a good mood. Seems like the house visit yesterday went as planned. After only a few hours of chores, Harry was put into his cupboard with yesterday's leftovers.

With just the two of them again, they decided that it was time to test out whenever Harry could now reach his magic, like in the park.

Harry was going for the light spell, the first word he learned and by now completely mastered. He held out his hand, said the word and to his horror, he couldn't do it.

"I knew it! Something is wrong. I can't reach my magic."

"That's really strange. You shouldn't have any problems with this by now."

"Do you know what can cause this?" Harry asked, worried.

"Not for sure. But, if you feel like you can't access your magic, something prevents you."

"Something?"

"Could be a spell or an enchanted object. It could even be a ward. If it only affects you, whatever it is, it was surely made with Blood Magic. It's going to be nearly impossible to get rid of it, especially if we don't know what it is."

"But, it's possible, right?"

"Harry, I'm not sure we want to get rid of it."

"Why not?"

"Think about it. Only a person with magic, powerful magic, could have done this. This rules out the Dursleys. Given who you are, it could be anyone. You've made quite a few enemies from the Dark side. Whomever it was, clearly they don't have the best intensions with you. If we remove whatever it is that's blocking you, it could alert that person. Until we know who we're dealing with, we can't risk drawing attention to ourselves."

"So we do nothing about it?" Harry asked unhappily.

"For now, yes."

"Fine, but I'm not happy with this."

"I imagine. On the other hand, it means that we might have to add another person to the list of people we get revenge on."

"At least there's a good side to this then." Harry said darkly. "I can't wait to finally get my Hogwarts letter."

"When's your birthday, anyway? You haven't told me that yet."

"And here I thought you knew everything about me. Don't you know? I'm a celebrity." He said, jokingly.

"Hey! Just because I know who you are, doesn't mean I know every single detail about your life." Jewel replied, faking being offended.

"My birthday's in summer, on the 31st of July. So it'll be awhile 'till then. When's yours?"

Jewel had to think about it, searching her memories for the date of her birth. "On the 10th of December."

"That's tomorrow! Why haven't you told me this before?"

"I don't keep up with the date. Besides, I haven't celebrated my birthday in years."

"Let's change that."

"You want to celebrate my birthday? How?"

"Well, I can't provide a present for you, BUT, I can cook you a meal. Luckily for us, the Dursleys are out tomorrow. Some event at Vernon's work, if I recall. So, we'll have the house for ourselves tomorrow."

"You're going to cook for me?"

"Yup. Remember the rice and chicken I made for you? I know how to make many more dishes like that."

"The dish with the curry?" Jewel said, recalling the memory with sparkling eyes. "Yes, please."

Harry laughed. "It's settled then."

Jewel was so happy, thinking about tomorrow. She could barely sleep that night. By the time that she finally fell asleep, it was morning. Jewel wasn't even bothered when she was woken up again because Harry was called to make breakfast.

It was announced that Harry would be locked up for the entire day in the cupboard while the rest of the household was away. That wasn't really a problem, Jewel would be able to get them out.

So said, so done. The pair waited for an hour, just to be on the safe side, before getting out of the cupboard.

"I have an idea. While I make the food, why don't you go upstairs and take a bath? I'm guessing that it's been a while since you last had the opportunity to get a bath with warm water."

Jewel really wanted to, it sounded so tempting, yet she hesitated. "Are you sure that's okay? Won't they find out?"

"It'll be fine. Just make sure you put everything back the way you found it." He reassured her.

Jewel beamed, convinced, as she practically ran up the stairs. Finding the bathroom wasn't a difficult task.

In the past, Jewel would have cleaned herself in any body of water she could find. Harry's assumption had been right, it's been a really long time she had the change to bathe in warm water, so she wasn't going to waste this opportunity.

The warm water felt like heaven on her skin and Jewel thoroughly enjoyed every second of being surrounded by the clean, warm water.

About half an hour later Harry called from downstairs that the food was almost ready. Reluctantly Jewel got out of the bath and started to clean up.

She didn't dare to use a towel to dry herself off with, instead she called upon her Elemental Magic to warm herself up to rid herself of the wetness.

Once dressed in her ragged clothes, she went downstairs. She could already smell the food from upstairs and it smelled delicious.

Arriving in the dining room Jewel couldn't help but marvel at the food that waiting for her at the table. It was a simple meal, but to her, it was a feast.

"This smells so good! What is it?" She asked while taking her seat.

"It's spaghetti, with freshly made tomato sauce and some chicken pieces."

"Chicken?"

"Yeah, I remember that you really liked that last time."

Jewel looked at Harry with big and very grateful eyes. "Thank you." And then she dug in.

"Happy birthday, Jewel." Harry said and began at his own plate.

The food was quickly devoured. After they were done, they helped each other clean up the mess Harry made while cooking. Harry wanted to do it alone, but Jewel insisted that she helped.

After everything was cleaned up, Harry turned to Jewel and said; "Go sit down. I'm going to get something real quick."

Curious, Jewel sat down at the dining table and patiently awaited Harry's return, which she didn't have to wait long on.

While eating earlier, Harry noticed Jewel's unkept hair and decided to do something about it. So, he brought a hair brush down.

Jewel didn't say anything as he walked up to her.

"Can I brush your hair?" He asked her to see if she was comfortable with it.

Jewel nodded and Harry went to stand behind her and went to work, as gently as he could.

Few moments pass in silence, and not much later Jewel's hair was completely smoothed out.

Jewel reached behind to feel her hair.

"What do you think? Did I do a good job?"

With the combination after being washed earlier, Jewel's hair was really soft now.

"Wow, I didn't know my hair could feel like this, so smooth. You may do this more often." Jewel said, still marvelling.

"Of course, any time you want."

They spend the rest of the time they had chatting and enjoying their time together. Until it was time to get back into the cupboard.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next few weeks were pretty much the same.

Get up, do chores, go to school, get bullied or skip school to learn about magic, get home, do chores, sleep, repeat. Occasionally getting a beating in between.

Out of the five days Harry had to go to school, he ditched two or three days to go to the park to practise magic.

It was nerve-racking in the beginning. The fear of being reported for absence was great, but proved to be unnecessary. No one missed Harry at school.

Spring rolled around and Harry started to get more chores outside of the house, mainly keeping the front lawn and garden in top condition.

Harry once tried to use some magic in the garden and got the same result as if he would be inside. His magic was unreachable when he was anywhere on the property. As soon as he would leave the property, like walking on the street in front of the house, the block gets lifted.

Despite this restriction, Harry learned a lot about the different types of magic and learned many basic level Parsel spells. Not wanting to draw too much attention to themselves, Jewel kept the spells she learned Harry small and basic.

Ever since discovering that magic was real, Harry hadn't had any more cases of accidental magic. Maybe it was because he was now aware what it was, they weren't sure. But it really brought down the number of beatings in a week.

This entire pattern kept going into the summer.

Harry tried to keep his excitement low as his birthday was only days away now. Because of that, he was often distracted while doing his chores, resulting in mistakes and then turning into vicious beatings.

The last one, specifically, was so brutal that Harry was unconscious for just over two days.

Harry shifted and slowly opened his eyes, disoriented he looked around for Jewel. When he didn't see her, he called out to her. "J-Jewel?" His voice was hoarse and barely noticeable.

No reaction came, no movements to be seen. Harry's breathing sped up as he called out again, slightly louder this time.

Still no answer.

Still not fully conscious and feeling very weak, Harry started to panic.

All kind of terrible scenarios sprung to his mind and he hoped, prayed, to whoever wanted to listen, that she was okay.

Harry gathered his strength and pulled himself into a sitting position, which in his condition was quite a feat to perform.

He found himself inside his cupboard, that was no surprise. He grabbed his glasses and looked around, calling out for Jewel once again.

Now that he was fully alert, he noticed the pain in his body, at his side specifically. He grabbed his side in reaction, gasping at the sudden intensity.

'Haven't been out long then, if my wounds aren't healed yet.' He briefly thought to himself, as he noticed a fair amount of blood soaking his shirt.

He willed the pain away as best as he could. His priority now was finding Jewel and making sure she was okay.

Before he could do anything, the door to his cupboard was pulled open. Harry tensed and sudden fear gripped him. It instantly vanished as he saw who it was.

It was Jewel, in human form, who had opened the door.

As soon as she saw him awake, she was visibly relieved. "Harry! You're awake. Thank goodness."

She crawled inside and shut the door behind her. She was carrying bandages and some bottles of water in her arms.

"Jewel? What's going on?" Harry asked through gritted teeth, the pain being persistent.

"You're still in pain." She said upon seeing him, ignoring his question. "Let me see."

She reached out to him and pulled up the way too big T-shirt. Now Harry could see why his side hurt so much.

There was a knife sized cut that looked still fresh and was slowly bleeding.

"Ow." Harry winched as Jewel inspected the wound.

She then poured some water on the bandages and started to clean the wound.

"Just leave it, it'll heal soon." Harry said, trying to stop her.

Jewel ignored him again and continued her administrations.

"Jewel?" Harry said, concerned of her quietness.

"You've been asleep for two days now. In all that time, this wound hasn't healed. At first I thought nothing of it. You explained to me how your worst wounds heal first, so I figured that was what was happening. But the cut kept bleeding, not only that, some strange yellow liquid started coming out."

Harry listened in worry, letting her continue to clean the wound.

"I didn't know what that meant, but I knew it wasn't good. Your whole left side felt like it was on fire and you started to get a fever. I had to do something. So I looked at the wound and after a while I saw some piece of sharp metal in there." Jewel shuddered as she recalled the memory.

"What did you do then?"

"I knew I should get it out, but it was so deep embedded inside. I used magic to get it out. I'm pretty sure I made the wound worse than it was before. At least the metal piece was out."

"How long ago was that?"

"About an hour? I'm not sure. You were bleeding pretty badly after that. Your fever went away and your body cooled down, but the wound kept bleeding. So, I snuck out and went to find these." She motioned to the items she had brought. "I was afraid you were going to bleed to death."

"I'm- I'm sorry. I didn't know." Harry said, not knowing what else to say.

"Not your fault. I'm just glad you're getting better now."

Harry nodded in agreement and let Jewel continue tending to him.

"What about the Dursleys? Did they see you? Do they know what's going on?" He asked worried.

"They're asleep, it's night right now. They haven't checked up on you at all since they left you here? You were looking really bad when Vernon brought you here."

"I see. Are you okay?"

"Beaten up and bleeding out, and still worry about me?"

"Well, if you care about me like I care about you, it can't have been easy, seeing me like that."

"It was… frightening." She allowed.

"Then, are you okay?" Harry repeated.

"I think so, yes. Much better now."

They spend the rest of the night resting, since Jewel hadn't slept the entire time Harry was out.

The next day came and no one checked up on Harry the entire day. The duo didn't mind, they used this time to fully recover from the ordeal and talking about tomorrow, which was Harry's birthday.

Even though the latest beating had been the worst so far, knowing that Harry would get his letter tomorrow, was enough to keep both their spirits up.