A LIFE, REWRITTEN

by Yih

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters and am making no profit from this whatsoever.

Spoiler Alert: This story will eventually incorporate ideas from the Deathly Hollows, but as of now, there isn't any yet.

Author's Note: This is a rewrite of A Rewritten Life, which was highly influenced by a fanfic I wrote prior to it called Chimera. I will keep the old version of A Rewritten Life on this site, and you can find Chimera on my yahoo!group. I decided to rewrite it because I wanted to focus on different things and to change some things that I didn't like, mainly to do with the plot and the characters, and lastly the writing style. It wasn't well-written enough for my tastes. I hope you readers stick around, I do really want to play around with Harry Potter in a whole new way, incorporating canon and a lot of new ideas too. Any inspiration and encouragement you'd like to throw my way, I'd be more than grateful. This time I will try to respond to reviews. Thank you so much and enjoy the story!

1

Ashen Lodge

Harry Potter of Number 4 Privet Drive lived with his uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, quite oblivious to the fact that he was the most celebrated and famous child in the Wizarding World. Of course, that shouldn't be surprising when Mr. Dursley and his wife were not keen at all at the thought of magic. They considered it the devil's own art and Mr. Dursley especially was not fond of his nephew. He made a point of letting Harry cry constantly in hunger to teach him a lesson and hoped to starve the magic out of him.

Mrs. Dursley was not much better than her husband. She began teaching Harry at a very young age to learn to cook on a stove he could scarcely reach. If he happened to burn himself, she would cluck her tongue and call him a useless boy. Now Harry was a sensitive child and he wanted to please his aunt and uncle, but he didn't know how. Everything he seemed to do displeased them. Maybe it was because he really was a stupid, worthless child. It's his fault he didn't have the sense to die with his good-for-nothing parents in their car accident.

Their son, Dudley, was perhaps the worst because he was a child of Harry's own age and he was just as cruel as his parents. He constantly made fun of Harry, calling him all sorts of awful names until Harry was glad to be locked up in the cupboard just so he could escape. At this very moment in time, Harry was in the cupboard, not crying because he'd long since realized tears didn't help and it only made things worse for him, and it didn't make him feel any better either.

Outside the Dursley house, there was a wizard Harry didn't know, who was watching him with a spell most carefully and he was most concerned. He didn't at all approve of what was going on in this muggle house. He had reported to Dumbledore that Harry's family wasn't treating him properly and he ought to be taken away, but Dumbledore had told him that it wasn't possible. Harry would be in danger if he left the place. He had his mother's protection as long as he was with his aunt and his cousin.

That knowledge had held him in check for a few months, but things were only getting worse and there wasn't much more that he could stand to watch and do nothing. When they locked Harry into the cupboard this time, he had had enough. It wasn't that this time was any different from the rest; it was just that this was the fourth time this week Harry had been locked away without being given something to eat. The poor child must be starving.

So the wizard made up his mind to do something. He didn't think about going back to Dumbledore to ask him what he should do. He wasn't sure Dumbledore would ask him to do anything that meant taking the boy away from such vital protection and he knew it was because Dumbledore didn't realize how bad it was. He had told him, yes, but the great Headmaster had no idea how bad child abuse could be, not when wizarding children were so highly cherished.

He couldn't do it tonight, though. He had to make his preparations. Dumbledore believed that Voldemort wasn't truly gone yet and he would know. So he needed to make certain that when he took Harry from his aunt's home, that he would be safe—safe from his family and safe from Voldemort. It wouldn't be easy, but he knew just the spell... the Fidelius Charm.

- - -

His house was a safe haven now, hidden completely from the world, and he had cleaned it up with some household charms so it was also fit for inhabitation by a wizard and a young boy. He inspected it once more before Apparating to the pavement on the house opposite of Number 4 Privet Drive. He easily slipped through the protections around it because he wasn't trying to threaten Harry. He carefully concealed himself with a Notice-Me-Not spell and whispered, "Alohomora"at the back door near the kitchen and close to the cupboard where he'd undoubtedly find Harry.

Since it was late at night and he had purposely planned it that way, all was quiet within the house. He quietly made his way to the cupboard, which he unlocked and opened carefully. Inside as he expected, he found Harry sleeping on a mat in a filthy cupboard covered in cobwebs with many spiders. He was disgusted at the way Harry's own family was treating him, muggles or not; it was no excuse.

He debated waking Harry up before spiriting off with him, but there was too much of a chance Harry might protest at being taken, even if he was living in such an intolerable situation. It was the only home he'd known and he wouldn't be keen to leave it, since Harry didn't even know who he was. Harry, if he was a smart child, would distrust him naturally, and there was no indication Harry was a dimwitted boy.

Decision made, he waved his wand and whispered a spell that would effectively keep Harry asleep until he'd wake up normally in the morning. It was a spell wizarding parents often used on children who found it hard to sleep after having nightmares. He didn't worry that Harry might wake up; he knew it rarely happened from personal experience when his parents had used it on him.

He gently wrapped the threadbare blanket around Harry and lifted him up, carrying him out the cupboard, out of Number 4 Privet Drive and Apparating directly to Ashen Lodge where hopefully he and Harry might make a nice life together.

- - -

Ashen Lodge was surrounded all around by tall, thick trees, not at all shocking when you considered it was built in the middle of a forest. Because of the trees, Ashen Lodge had much shelter from the sun and it caused most of the occupants to sleep rather late since there was little morning light that peeked in through the windows. Indeed it was rather late in the morning when Harry finally woke up.

He blinked a few times, not noticing any difference until he reached for his glasses, which he usually put on the floor next to his bed, only to find that he was most definitely not in the cupboard any longer. He started to panic, but he told himself that it wouldn't do him much good and that he really needed to find his glasses. It wasn't long at all before he found his glasses on the small stand next to the bed. Once he put on his glasses, he looked around the room that was decidedly not a cupboard.

He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes long enough to get the sleepiness out of them before putting them back on. Harry saw that everything remained the same. It was a nice, pleasant looking bedroom with a large bed with quilts that look a little old, but not threadbare. It had shelves along the wall with books and a desk that had a few toys and a stuffed teddy bear. Harry was tempted to snatch the bear, but he was afraid that he'd get scolded for touching something that wasn't his. Besides, he didn't even know where he was or why he was here. Could this be the second bedroom that his Aunt Petunia talked about?

But he had been bad yesterday, so why would she put him in the room she told him he might live in if he were a very good boy and did everything right? It didn't make sense and Harry knew a lot about what made sense and what didn't. Harry clutched the quilts and wondered if he should go back to bed. He wasn't supposed to get out of bed until his aunt called him. She was late, though.

Harry glanced out the window and saw pale sunlight drifting through the white curtains. He was usually up a long time before the sun came out. He wondered what was keeping Aunt Petunia. She might be sick; he remembered one time she hadn't come to get him all day and he hadn't known why until the next day when she'd snapped at him that she'd been ill when he'd asked. Harry sighed only a little, since he was too happy that he had a bed and a room to really feel sad.

He pulled the covers over him and was about to snuggle back into bed when the door opened. Harry froze, staring at the door, wondering what Aunt Petunia would say to him this time when he saw a man he'd never seen before come through the doorway. The man had golden eyes and light brown hair that was shaggy and in need of a haircut. He looked tired, but kind.

"Who are you?" Harry asked curiously.

"I'm a friend of your parents, Harry," he replied honestly. "My name's Remus Lupin and I took you from your aunt and uncle last night."

Harry stared at him rather rudely, although he didn't know it. "Why?"

"Because they weren't very nice to you."

"Oh." Harry leaned a little forward and Remus thought it was a good sign, most people weren't keen on getting closer to him. "So I'm going to live with you?"

"If you don't mind, I'd like you to stay here with me," Remus said softly.

Harry smiled shyly. "Will you tell me about my parents? They weren't bad people, were they? Like my aunt and uncle said?"

"No, they most certainly were not," Remus stated firmly. "They were the best people I knew and you've nothing to be ashamed of."

Harry had always hoped that his parents weren't anything like what his uncle and aunt had told him, to hear it confirmed by a stranger who was a friend of his parents filled him with a strange warmness he didn't recognize, but it was a feeling of happiness.

For a moment, Harry wondered if he ought to be suspicious of Remus. He had remembered his aunt telling Dudley many times not to trust strangers, but so far Remus was acting a lot better to him than his own aunt and uncle. And he had this feeling that Remus was telling him the truth, that he really was a friend of his parents and moreover, he wanted Harry here. Harry looked at him hopefully, wanting this so badly to be a good thing.

"I want to stay," he declared with all the seriously a seven year old boy could muster.

Remus smiled and held out his arms. Harry stared at them, then an image of Dudley being hugged by his mother and father came into mind, and he launched himself off the bed into Remus' arms. It felt good, Harry thought, to be hugged.

- - -

The moment Harry Potter left Number 4 Privet drive, down to the very minute and indeed the precise second, Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts, knew. Albus stroked his long gray beard and glanced at the wooden stand where Fawkes was perched. The phoenix was alert and his dark eyes were swirling.

"What do you think, my old friend?" Albus asked. "Do you approve?"

The phoenix gazed at Albus and trilled a beautiful note.

"I was thinking just the same." Albus paused, looking down at the mirror he had created just after the deaths of James and Lily Potter to watch over their son Harry. He saw that Harry was drooling on Remus' shoulder and the full grown wizard looked as content as Albus had ever seen him. Being a father would suit Remus very well. "I think they will be very good for each other."

To be continued...