Going On Instinct

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.

'Thoughts'

Parseltongue

(St Mungo's)

Harry laid on the bed in St Mungo's. A week after arriving at the Dursleys he collapsed. He had been outside doing his chores when it happened. A concerned neighbor had seen him lying on the ground unconscious and called an ambulance. Luckily for Harry, a healer had been at the muggle hospital he had been taken to. She had been at the hospital to see if any witch or wizard had been admitted. The minute she saw Harry she transferred him to St. Mungo's.

The reason he fainted was due to spider venom still being in his bloodstream. Since Harry was never given an anti-venom potion it was never flushed out. Instead his magic had been trying to. With all the injuries that went unhealed his magic was weak. The venom would take awhile to get flushed out. Normally that wouldn't be the case except the spider that bit Harry during the final task was a new species. A hybrid that Hagrid had created. The fourteen almost fifteen year old wasn't surprised. What did surprise him was that he wasn't dead. The healer had also been shocked. The spider was a cross between an acromantula and a black widow. They had to create a new anti-venom and even then it couldn't get rid of the venom as soon as he took it. It had to be taken until the last trace of venom was removed.

It showed just how powerful he was to still be alive. The healer had told him that had he not gotten help when he did, he would have died a few days after collapsing, maybe sooner.

"Good morning Mr. Potter." His healer greeted as she entered the room.

"Morning healer Small." He greeted back.

"How are you feeling?" She asked as she cast a diagnosis spell.

"Dizzy." He told her.

"At least that is the only side effect you have." She said.

The anti-venom potion had been created on the fly and was untested. He was the test subject at they hoped it worked. It appeared to be since the amount of venom decreased each day.

"True." He said.

"Are you up for a visit with your lawyer?" She asked.

"Yes ma'am I am." He said.

"Great." She smiled at him.

Healer Small had left the room. Soon his lawyer entered the room. Nickolas Small was a twenty three year old lawyer working for his family's law firm. The represent purebloods for many decades and in the last few years they represented half bloods and muggleborns. His sister had told him about Harry and what she had learned. Harry gave her permission. Nickolas had offered his services to Harry. The teen accepted.

"How are you feeling Mr. Potter?" He asked as he sat down next to him.

"Dizzy but otherwise I'm fine." He answered truthfully.

"Good. Are you up for our talk?" He asked.

"Yes I am." Harry said.

"Good. We should start with the Dursleys." Nickolas said.

Now the lawyer didn't know everything. He did know some of it. He had gone to the aurors. They had shut him down. Told him that Harry Potter was a known liar and refused to investigate. Now he was helping Harry sue them, his relatives, and various others. The kid deserved justice. Now he was just gathering evidence.

"Okay."

Nickolas took out a recorder and it record. "How did you end up at the Dursleys?" He asked.

"My aunt told me she found me on the doorstep the morning of November first, 1981 with a note attached." He answered.

"Did she tell you what she did?" He asked after writing it down. He wanted a physical record as well.

"Yes. She threw me in the cupboard under the stairs. Her and uncle Vernon discussed what they were going to do with me." He said emotionlessly.

"Do you know what they did after?" Nickolas asked next.

"Yes I do. She told me they kept me out of family obligation when I was six. They figured they would have free labor. After my third year she admitted that Dumbledore paid her. That was in the note he left when he left me on the doorstep." He said. 'Here I thought he cared about me.' He thought. "I assumed she meant that he paid her for my care."

"How were you treated?" He asked.

"Terribly. For the first ten years I lived in the cupboard under the stairs. When my letter from Hogwarts arrived it was addressed to the cupboard. That was when I was given Dudley's, my cousin, second bedroom. It was where all his broken toys and unwanted gifts went. I wasn't allowed to touch them. I was forced to do the chores and the cooking since I was four. I was barely given food. On the days I was fed all I was given was toast and a glass of water. I was made to wear my cousin's hand me downs. If they thought I did anything wrong I was whipped with a belt and sent to the cupboard. Even after I was moved into Dudley's second bedroom. The time I was locked in varied and I wasn't given food. I was given a glass of water if I was locked in for more than a day." Harry answered barely able to keep from crying.

His lawyer's eye twitched as he wrote it all down. "I have your medical records. Do you need a break?"

"No."

"Okay. You said that the letter was addressed to the cupboard?" He asked.

"Yes. The day it arrived I was told to get the mail. It was on top. I saw my name first. I picked it up and saw that it said cupboard under the stairs. It caught my attention. I stupidly tried to open it near my relatives." He still felt dumb for that.

"What happened?" Nickolas asked.

"Dudley saw me and grabbed the letter. He yelled to his dad that I had a letter. Uncle Vernon took it and laughed. He asked who would write to me. He flipped it over and both he and my aunt paled." He said.

"Do you know why?" He asked.

"At the time no. It wasn't until Hagrid came that I realized that they saw the seal and knew what it was. When it first happened they refused to answer. I asked and I was sent to the cupboard. Dudley asked and it was the first time they refused to answer him, told him no, and sent him to his room.

"Why did Hagrid show up?" It still confused him why Hagrid was sent instead of a teacher.

"After that letter I was moved to Dudley's second bedroom despite the fit Dudley threw. Uncle Vernon made sure to grab the mail after that. I think it was the fourth letter that caused him to seal the mail slot. I know he was burning them since I caught him throwing them into the fireplace. When the house was flooded with the letters we began moving." Harry explained every place he remembered moving to. "Finally we ended up in a rundown shack in far out into the ocean. It was a little after midnight that Hagrid showed up. I remember because I stayed up to wish myself a happy birthday. I knew that the Dursleys weren't going to. They never celebrated my birthday. It was storming out. He had broken down the front door and entered. He had just put the door back up when my aunt and uncle came down. My aunt was behind my uncle who was carrying a shotgun." He said. "He argued with my uncle. In the end he bend the gun and handed me the letter. That was when I learned I was a wizard and the truth about my parents death. It explained why we kept moving. I asked why he was there and he said Dumbledore sent him because I didn't answer the letter. We went to bed and when it was light out we went to go get my school supplies." He said.

"I see." He waited a few minutes before asking his next question. "Your cousin had two bedrooms?"

"Yes. One was for him to sleep in and the other was used to store his broken toys and unwanted gifts." He answered.

"They had three bedrooms and you slept in the cupboard?" He was having a hard time reining in his anger.

"No they had four. Their room, Dudley's two, and the guest bedroom Uncle Vernon's sister used when she visited. I was told freaks don't get bedrooms. The only reasoned I got Dudley's second was because they thought they were being watched." Harry corrected.

"Oh." That didn't sound any better. "You didn't know that you were a wizard?"

"No. They were hoping to stomp it out of me. There words not mine."

"What did you mean when you said you learned the truth of your parents death?" Nickolas asked.

"I had asked my aunt how my parents had died when I was six. She told me both my parents were drunks and my mother was a whore. She told me that dad was drunk and he crashed the car. That was how they died and how I got my scar." It still pissed him off that she disrespected them like that. "That night Hagrid showed up she said that my mum got herself blown up and they landed with me. Hagrid told me they died saving my life."

"You said that Hagrid broke in. Can you explain?" He asked.

Harry nodded. "It was midnight. Ever since I was little I would stay up and wish myself a happy birthday. I did that and laid my head now to go to sleep when the banging on the door started. It didn't take long until it was on the ground. Hagrid walked in a put it back up. He apologized for it as he did so."

"Okay. Did your relatives give him permission to take you?" He asked after he finished writing down what Harry had told him.

"No." Harry said with a shake of his head. "After my letter Uncle Vernon said I wasn't going to go. Hagrid snorted and asked what a muggle like himself was going to go. That was when Hagrid said I was a wizard and my aunt said my mum got herself blown up. Uncle Vernon said he wasn't going to pay to have a crackpot old fool teach me magic tricks. Hagrid became angry and pointed his umbrella at him. Said to never insult Albus Dumbledore again. He then turned the umbrella onto my cousin. Before the whole letter thing and after the gun bending he gave me a cake. It was set aside and Dudley had started eating it while we weren't paying attention to him. A light shot out of the umbrella and it hit Dudley. He grew a tail. He ran towards his parents and they went upstairs. I knew they were scared. He said that he shouldn't have done that because he wasn't supposed to be doing magic. He asked me not to tell anyone. After that he started a fire in the fireplace with his umbrella. He slept on the couch and I slept on the floor under his coat. We woke when it was light out. He made breakfast and we left for Diagon Alley." Harry said before taking a sip of water.

"He used magic?" Nickolas knew the half giant had been expelled as his wand was snapped.

"Yes. He said that after his wand was snapped he kept the pieces and put them into his umbrella." Harry felt guilty until he remembered the multiple spider incidents. 'I like Hagrid but one day his creatures he is creating is going to kill someone. That is twice now one of his spider pets have tried to kill me.' He thought.

"Alright." His lawyer was going to report that along with the creating of dangerous creatures. "Did anything else happen while you were shopping?" He asked.

"Yes. We went to the bank. When we went there he gave my vault key to the goblin showing us to my vault. It was unlocked and he took the key back." Harry now knew that wasn't what should have happened. 'Man I was so dumb.'

"He had you key?" Nickolas had been the one to inform him but needed to ask for the records.

"Yes. Dumbledore had given it to him. I had asked him why he had it and he told me that since my parents were dead the headmaster was responsible for it until I was of age." He said.

"Did anything else happen?" He asked.

"Yeah. Hagrid had given the goblin we first met a letter. What caught my attention was when he said, "It's about you know what in vault seven hundred and thirteen." The goblin gave him a serious nod and called for another goblin. I asked about it but I was told it was important Hogwarts business given to him by Dumbledore. I didn't ask again. First we went to my vault and once I finished getting out money we went to the other vault. He grabbed something wrapped in brown paper." He told him.

"Do you know what it was?" He asked and this was one of the few things he didn't know about.

"Yes. At the time I didn't. I learned at the end of my first year that it was the Sorcerer's Stone." Nickolas gasped. "It was in the vault that had been broken into later that day."

"I remember that." His father had gone to the bank to make sure their vaults were secure. "Anything else?"

"Not really. After we left the bank we got my school supplies. He had bought me a birthday present, my owl, Hedwig. At lunch he told me about Voldemort," He ignored the finch his lawyer gave at the name. "and the attack on my parents. He bashed the Slytherins and we got my wand. Ooh I learned then that the core of my wand was a phoenix feather and the phoenix that had given that feather had given Olivander another. He said that it was in the wand that gave me my scar. At the time I had no idea why it was important."

"You and You-Know-Who have brother wands?!" He choked out in shock.

"Yeah." Harry felt the same when he found out.

"I-i see." The man needed a minute. "You said Hagrid bashed the Slytherins?" He had hoped not since he himself had been in Slytherin.

"Yes. He said Voldemort was from Slytherin and so were all his followers. He called them all evil. He even said that there wasn't a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin." He told him.

Nickolas frowned at that. "I see." He said tightly. "Anything else happen?"

"Not that I can think of at the moment." Harry said after a few minutes.

"Alright. What happened after you finished shopping?" He asked.

"Hagrid helped me get on a train that would take me back to the Dursleys. Gave me a ticket for platform nine and three quarters. Said all the information was on the ticket. He left after that." He said.

"He didn't take you home?" Nickolas asked.

"No."

The man closed his eyes as he took a deep breath. It didn't calm him down. He was outraged that Hagrid left an eleven year old on his own. He opened them and looked back at Harry.

"Did he at least tell you how to get onto the platform?" He asked.

"No. Both my aunt and uncle laughed when I asked them to take me. They took me to Kings Cross and laughed as the left." He was still bitter about that.

"How did you get on the train?" He asked.

"The Weasleys. I had just asked one of the workers and they looked at me funny and asked if I was joking. I pretended I was and walked off in embarrassment. That was when I overheard Mrs. Weasley ask what platform they needed. I went over to them and was shocked when the Weasley twins went through the wall. I asked for help and that was when she told me how to do it." He explained.

"You overheard her?" He asked.

"She was yelling it." He said.

"Near muggle?" He was shocked.

"Yes. I later learned from Fred and George that they usually flooed to the platform. They started using the muggleborn entrance the year Ron started." That had been when he became suspicious of the family. 'At least I know the twins are on my side. They made a vow to prove it.' That was still a shock.

"I see. Please continue." He didn't like what he was hearing.

"The twins helped me get my trunk on board. I overheard them tell their mum that I was on the train. They seemed to be trying to say more but she kept stopping them and eventually they stopped. Ginny wanted to meet me but her mum refused. After that I met Ron who said everywhere else was full."

Harry was about to say more when his healer entered the room. "Nick?"

"Yes sis?" He looked at her.

"I'm sorry but it is time for him to take the anti-venom potion. It will knock him out." She said apologetically.

"Alight." He began packing up. "I shall be back tomorrow."

"Okay." Harry said. "Bye."

"Bye Harry. Bye Margret." He kissed his sister's cheek.

"Bye Nick."