The Circle Chapter 1: Running, a harry potter fanfic

The Circle

Disclaimer: I own nothing...thank you for not suing.

'Thoughts'

Parsletounge

Mind Speech

"Foreign Language"

Chapter 1: Fleeing

A/N: I have decided to make a few changes to this chapter some of which are going to be important later on in the story so please re-read this if you only read the original. Sorry for the inconvenience but I think it will improve the story in the long run.

Vernon PoV:

Work had been hard that day, his boss had been showing a prospective client around and it had been up to Vernon to make sure everything looked good. Right now he just wanted to get home to see his wife and son. He had been so busy at work the past week that he hadn't really had time to spend with his family and felt like making it up to them with a nice family outing that weekend. A trip to the zoo for Dudley and then a nice diner was what his family needed. It would also be nice to have a break from that freak of a nephew he had. Maybe we can lock him in the cupboard for the weekend. His plans made he pulled up to the drive way where he heard a scream. Jumping out of the car ran to the door and flung it open to see his wife pulling their son to her side and backing away from the kitchen.

"What's wrong Pet? Why did you scream?" Vernon asked pulling his son to him and looking at his wife.

He didn't like seeing his wife like this. He was a proud man and one of the things he was most proud of was the fact that he could protect his family from anything, even the freaky things his nephew seemed to be doing more often. So when she pointed to the kitchen and he found that he could see her entire arm shake, he got angry. Knowing it was either an intruder, which was unlikely, or his nephew he went and grabbed a switch that was leaning against the wall. The switch was always there for Petunia to use incase his nephew got out of control and he wasn't around. Looking at his son, he could see tears of pure fear streaming down the boy's face and that was one thing that he promised himself he would never see again, no matter what it took.

Pulling his wife and son out pf the room he had them wait in the living room. He made Petunia comfortable on the couch with a small throw and she pulled Dudley up onto her lap. His son curled into his wife and she clung to him like she would lose him otherwise.

As he approached the hall again he heard his wife mumble a prayer. 'That's odd. I don't think I've ever heard her pray.' Vernon thought. He continued on to the kitchen and stopped short at the sight of his nephew, a five year old boy. Sometimes Vernon found himself forgetting exactly what his nephew was, especially after seeing his own son. It was in these rare occasions that he would feel such disappointment when the boy finally showed him once again that no matter how many beatings he gave the boy, he was still one of those freaks. But it was the thought of his own son that brought his mind back to the present.

"What did you do this time that scared your Aunt and cousin so bad? You didn't do anything freaky did you?" He asked, hoping that for once it wasn't and thinking that maybe he had finally gotten it out of the boy.

The boy looked down at his feet and then he nodded indicating that was he did do something freaky. Vernon started getting angry. 'How dare this brat use his freakish magic on my perfectly normal family? Especially after all we have done for him. I have tried to keep him normal but he just throws it all in my face with his freakishness.' He knew he would have to figure out exactly what it was the boy had done before he could punish him because usually if he punished the boy for a specific act then he wouldn't repeat it ever again. Since this time his wife and son had been really scared, he would have to make sure that nothing like this ever happened again. That meant that his weekend plans were going to have to be put on hold till he could straighten the boy out.

"Alright Boy, tell me exactly what happened and then I'll decide what to do with you."

The boy nodded his head and straightened his posture a little bit though he still didn't meet Vernon's gaze. No he learned that lesson quickly. Now at least he knows how to show proper respect to his betters.

"I'm sorry sir. I didn't mean to scare anyone. I was weeding the garden when I found Cora. She was cold so I invited her in and warmed her up." The boy said staring at his chest.

'Cora? I don't remember anyone by that name living around here.' He looked at the boy to check if he was lying but knew right away that the child wouldn't risk the added punishment. Checking the kitchen he couldn't see anyone or any evidence of anyone else having been in the room aside from a towel that was on the floor.

"Where is this Cora person? I want to talk to them."

"She's right here sir."

The boy had started shaking, he was obviously terrified and that usually meant he knew he was going to get a bad punishment. Vernon looked to where the boy was reaching and saw the towel that had been placed on the floor. The boy lifted one side gently and started making strange hissing noises which were returned from inside the towel. He paled as he saw the small snake that was pulled, hissing all the while with his nephew, out of the cloth.

Now he had noticed quite a few odd traits his nephew seemed to have and while he certainly discouraged them as much as was possible he had never been outright afraid of the boy. Seeing the five year old hissing to a snake and then hearing the snake hiss back was quite a shock and Vernon was proud of himself for not fainting. He took one look at the boy and realized that no matter what he did he would never be able to change the fact that his nephew was a freak. It seemed that he just couldn't beat it out of the boy. So he decided to do the only next logical thing that came to his mind. If he couldn't beat the freakish behavior out of the boy then he would bleed it out of him, either that or bleed him till he was dead. With his families safety secure he would be content no matter which way it turned out.

Walking over to the boy he grabbed him by the back of the neck and dragged him downstairs to the basement. The basement had become the Punishment Room for his nephew ever since the boy started misbehaving, which was a few day after arriving. The walls had all been redone so they were sound proof while the door had been re-done so that there were eight different locks on it. At first that had only been so they wouldn't the boy crying when he was left down there for the night after a switching. Eventually though it became necessary so that no one heard his screams from the increased punishment. The boy only got a swat on the behind and a missed meal at first when he did something wrong but soon they realized that what he was doing was impossible and so they agreed to increase his punishment until he ceased his freakish behavior. The punishments soon went from a simple spanking or a skipped meal to a switching or several days without food. But the behavior never stopped and it wasn't long before he started receiving beatings for misbehaving. Within two months of his arrival they stopped feeding the boy altogether and he would usually be punished abut once a week if not more regularly.

It was harsh, he knew that, but it was necessary to help the boy be more normal. Now though the boy had gone too far by bringing his devil work into the house. Seeing that the snake was still in the boy's hands he grabbed a knife and quickly cut the snake's head off. The boy gasped at seeing this but just lowered his head and silenced himself.

Vernon tied the boy to the chain hanging from the ceiling and used him as a punching bag. After a while he decided that the boy wouldn't be able to resist very much and strapped him down to the floor. He took his knife out of his pocket and told the boy what he was going to do.

"I am going to cut your wrists and let you bleed out. You'll lose consciousness after a while but that's ok. I want you to know that I'm doing this to help you. If this works then you will be normal like me and everyone else. If it doesn't then you are going to die. Do you understand?" Vernon asked.

The small boy had started shaking and was now in a state of panic. When he didn't get and answer he drew back his fist and hit the boy in the face, repeating the question. The boy nodded his head while tears pooled in his big green eyes. Vernon had always hated those eyes. They always seemed just a touch bit unnatural.

Once he got the answer he wanted he took his knife and ran it deeply into the boy's arm from the crook of his elbow to the beginning of his palm and then repeated the gesture on the other arm. 'God he's just a child. What am I doing? I have to do this. This…all of this is for him, so that he can be normal. He will thank me one day.' He stared at the blood for a few minutes before nodding to himself and walking up the stairs.

He went straight from the stairs to the bathroom for a shower. He needed to get the blood off. After the shower he came downstairs and greeted his family who had tried to go on with their day. His son was watching the telly in the living room so he went in and picked him up.

"Daddy!" His son yelled and ran to him.

"Hey there, how's my boy today?"

Vernon was glad that he couldn't see any traces of the earlier tears on his son's face. All he could see was the smile that made his whole face glow. The two walked into the dinning room just as Petunia came in with the last dish of food for dinner. She smiled at him and walked up for a kiss.

"Perfect timing dear, dinner is ready."

They all sat down and started dishing out food.

Break

"Thanks so much for showing me the forest." A little boy hissed.

"Of course young one, I should be thanking you for allowing me to have your mice and share your warmth." A little green snake hissed back.

Normally holding a conversation with a snake would cause some people to question their sanity but such was not the case for this special little boy. All his life he had been able to understand and talk to snakes so he never questioned why. He just knew that he could and that it was something that would cause his relatives to hate him even more. Not wanting to be hated even more he hid it just like he hid the fact that he drank blood. At first he had tried just eating things that his relatives did but not only did he get punished for it he was also never full.

One of the nights he was locked in the basement he got so hungry that he couldn't think straight and broke the only window. He climbed out and attacked the neighbour's dog. It was strange because even though it was pitch black outside he could see almost perfectly. The smells expanded as soon as he left had broken the window. The grass and trees had their own unique smell while the other houses all had a certain stench coming from them. He somehow knew that there was a nest of birds above him as well. He could also hear a lot of things. He heard crickets and birds chirping and frogs croaking and suddenly much closer he could hear something beating. Fangs a little longer and a lot sharper then his canine teeth grew out from in front of his regular teeth. He sniffed the air real quick and headed towards the neighbours yard. Stopping on the edge of their lawn he looked around until he noticed the dog. It was a golden retriever. The family had bought it for their son on his eighth birthday. He approached the dog cautiously but as he got closer the beating got louder and he could smell the warmth, he lost control and sank his newly acquired fangs into the dog's neck draining it of all its blood. After he got over the fact that he had killed the dog he realized that he wasn't hungry anymore. He had been two years old at the time and didn't know what to do so he ran back to the basement until morning where he was punished for breaking the window. After that he found was to get blood even if he had to use several different rats to do it.

The boy, called Boy or It by his relatives, just got used to the fact that he was different. He thought his relatives were right and he was a freak so he wasn't disturbed by the differences. When he had to find food he found that he had certain abilities that his cousin didn't. All of his senses were enhanced and he had better agility and stamina then he should though he didn't really know this since his cousin was also a lot bigger then he was so he thought it was because of that. He also found out that he was stronger and faster then he should be. He could outrun all of the other kids when they tried to gang up on him. Boy made sure never to get too far ahead as it was considered freakish to do so and he had been severely punished afterwards the one time he had. These other abilities helped him to eat so he never thought of them as bad though he made sure that he never showed them to his relatives.

Looking back at the snake Boy nodded. He explained that it wasn't a problem since he needed larger prey now anyways. At first he could eat a few mice through out the day and be ok now he had moved up to bigger things like rabbits and foxes.

"Were you just hissing at that snake? I'm going to tell my mommy!" His cousin yelled.

Boy winced at that. Usually he knew when people were coming but this time he had been too deep in thought and conversation. His Aunt started screaming and he knew he was in trouble. His Aunt came running down the stairs demanding to know what he had been doing. Upon seeing the snake her face went white and she grabbed his cousin. She started backing them up so they were headed out of the kitchen. Not wanting to get in too much trouble Boy picked the snake up and tried to tell his Aunt that it was harmless while telling Cora, the snake, not to bite. Unfortunately she just screamed and Dudley at seeing his mum's reaction and a snake coming at his face started crying. At that moment his Uncle pulled up and Boy knew there was going to be hell to pay for upsetting his Aunt and Cousin so much.

Hearing the front door slam open he knew there was nothing to do except wait so he sat down as his Uncle got his Aunt and cousin to the living room. He heard his Uncle walk into the kitchen but he stopped short at the sight of Boy. Boy was wondering why his Uncle was confused when the man started asking him questions. 'Oh.' He thought. 'They must not have said anything.' But his Uncle had asked if he had done anything freaky and so he looked at the ground. 'Well maybe they did say something and he's just testing me.' Boy wasn't so sure anymore since they had done that before. Tested him to see if he would lie to them, he had only done it once and he would never do it again. So he nodded his head while looking at the floor like he had been taught to do in the presence of his betters. He explained what had happened and when his Uncle asked to see Cora he bent down and picked her up.

After his Uncle had beaten him he realized that he was being strapped down. He looked around for a minute before he came to the conclusion that it must be the straps on the floor as they were the only thing in the room designed to keep him down. It was then that he remembered that it had been a few days since he had last eaten and with all of the blood loss he was starved. He hoped that he could control himself but then he heard what his Uncle was saying and forgot all about eating.

Boy looked at his Uncle and saw the knife in his hand and promptly began shaking. He was so scared of what might happen that he didn't even realize that he hadn't answered his Uncle's question. SMACK! He looked up at his Uncle as he repeated his question and not wanting to get hit again nodded his head.

His Uncle looked satisfied with that answer and moved to his left arm with the knife. He felt a stinging sensation near the inside of his elbow and then a burning sensation running down his forearm. The process was quickly repeated on his right arm and then his Uncle sat back. He could feel his Uncle's eyes on him but he didn't really care at the moment. He didn't know what to do, he had heard his Uncle leave and now he was alone. It hurt to move his arms so he just laid there and cried.

Break

The family meal went on like the beatings happened regularly and unfortunately they did. No one commented on the younger boy's absence, not even the six year old little boy that was sitting with his parents. The boy was probably only silent because his face was stuffed with food from dinner. As the meal ended however Petunia broke the silent agreement and mentioned It.

"Dear I know we don't like to talk about the Boy but I just wanted to thank you for coming home and taking care of It for me. I don't know what I would of done if you hadn't been here. I mean really, talking to a snake, what could I have done?"

Vernon nodded to his wife and tried to reassure her that nothing like that would ever happen again. He told her to put Dudley to bed and that he would probably be downstairs for a few more hours. She agreed and cleaned up dinner before taking and putting their son to bed. She went to bed shortly after that and then Vernon went downstairs.

As soon as he made it down the stairs he turned on the boy. Vernon wanted to make sure he was still alive. Boy was lying in a pool of his own blood but it looked like he was still alive, if only just barely. He decided to see if the boy still had his freakish tendencies or not and un-strapped him. Vernon went to the boy and unhooked his legs then his waist and then each arm. As soon as the last strap was un-hooked Boy latched onto Vernon's neck. Boy was too hungry to realize what he was doing and just latched on to feed knowing that he was starving. As Boy drained the blood from his Uncle the wounds on his body became less and less visible until all that remained were scars along his arms. Vernon started pounding on the boy to make the child let him go but as soon as he felt it Boy released a type of paralysis venom into his Uncle. The man lay there as his five year old nephew drained him of his blood and upon realization of what he had done the boy fled up the stair and into the darkness outside.

Break

He was scared. It had been the first time he had fed off of a human. Boy thought that it would have tasted better if his Uncle wasn't so fat. He realized that he couldn't go back now that he had killed his Uncle and that if he stayed around Surrey then the police would probably find him. So he just continued running. He ran until he was too tired to run anymore and then he walked.

So what do you think? Is it better or worse then the way I had it originally? Questions, comments, suggestions all are welcome. Please review.