Secrets Discovered

Chapter 1 – The punishment

I've decided to write a Harry Potter fanfiction after reading so many in the last couple of years. It's my first attempt at it so I hope it will be ok. I know the title is lame but I really struggled to come up with a good one. Any reviews would be great, I appreciate criticism to help improve my writing. Well, here goes nothing.

HP

Harry sighed as he shakily sat down on his bed, wiping blood from his forehead. A lone tear fell from his right eye and trickled down his pale, bruising face. His body hurt, bad. Blood was pouring from his nose, and his head ached from being repeatedly punched and being slammed into his door frame. His vision was blurred and he felt sick and dizzy, most likely from a concussion. Harry could feel that his left arm was broken; it was extremely painful, bruised and swollen, much like the rest of his body, mainly his torso.

Harry's left foot was also badly sprained, but he was thankful that he was still able to walk on it. His back too, was extremely painful and still bleeding. Fresh, bright red blood was contrasting with his old white scars, the result of being whipped by his Uncle Vernon's belt.

Harry knew he deserved this punishment, and it was every bit as bad as he knew it would be. Vernon was in the kitchen at the time, taunting Harry, calling his parents disgusting, useless freaks, and telling him that no one would ever want him, let alone love him. Then Dudley and Petunia joined in and Harry reached his breaking point.

Harry had yelled, no, screamed at Vernon, Petunia and Dudley that he hated them and wanted to live with his Godfather Sirius. As soon as the words had escaped his lips he instantly regretted them.

More tears escaped. He knew he couldn't live with Sirius yet, 'You need the blood wards for your protection, Harry', Dumbledore had explained to him when he asked if he could live with Sirius. He begged Dumbledore to at least let him stay at Hogwarts, he told him that his relatives hated him, but the old wizard sent him home.

Harry was sure that the Headmaster knew what the Dursleys did to him, his Hogwarts letter was addressed to 'the cupboard under the stairs' for Merlin's sake! He wasn't surprised that his request was rejected though, no one cared. His primary school teachers didn't care and the Dursleys constantly reminded him that they don't care, so why would anyone else?

Vernon had been so angry, he didn't say anything at first but he was purple, and shaking with anger. Harry instantly backed away, knowing what was about to come. As Vernon stepped in his direction, he spun around and fled upstairs, with Vernon only a few paces behind. Harry watched as his massive uncle raised a clenched fist and instinctively flinched, hands flying up to protect his head. "No, no please don't, I'm sorry!" Harry begged but it was useless. Vernon's first strike to the boy's head was so powerful that it knocked poor Harry to the ground. "You ungrateful, little WHELP!" Vernon bellowed as he continued punching, kicking and slamming Harry into the ground.

The whale of a man picked him up and threw him into the doorframe. The horrifying 'CRACK' that followed caused Harry to bite into his lip and moan in pain, and a small stream of blood gently flowed down his chin. He collapsed to the ground and watched as his uncle removed his belt. A rough foot kicked Harry until he was on his stomach, and the belting started. Each word Vernon spoke was followed with a lash to Harry's scarred back. "If crack you crack EVER crack say crack that crack again crack, you'll crack wish crack that crack you crack were crack never crack born!"

Vernon carelessly shoved Harry into his small, empty room so he fell to the floor, and walked out, slamming and locking the door shut.

Sitting on his hard, thin mattress, Harry wished that his parents were alive. At least they would love him, would want to spend time with him and look after him. Tears continued to fall down his face.

When Harry began to calm down, he realised just how unbearable the pain coursing through his body was. The Dursleys never gave him anything for pain though, so he rolled onto his uninjured arm, being careful not to bump any other part of his damaged body, and attempted to go to sleep.

When Harry awoke he didn't know where he was. The only thing he was aware of was that he was in immense pain and felt extremely hot. He struggled to take his clothes off, except for his underwear, and collapsed back onto his sweat-soaked mattress, allowing sleep to claim him once more.

Well that was chapter 1, I really hope that it is ok. I've made a start on the next few chapters so I might post them soon. Thank you to everyone that reads it, I appreciate it a lot,

AsSafeAsSnape