I don't own Harry Potter or Charmed!
Harry Potter had been twelve years old when he was expelled from Hogwarts for something he didn't do, and to this day wondered why Dumbledore hadn't stuck up for him. He couldn't help but wonder if it had something to do with the test Madam Pomfrey had run on him while he was in the hospital wing at the end of his first year there, if there was something she found that made him unworthy of being a wizard. His wand was snapped and he was left defenseless against his aunt and uncle and anyone else who meant to harm him.
Everything wasn't all bad at first though, he'd made friends with a boy almost a year older than him named Wyatt Haliwell, but even that didn't last as the boy's parents soon heard the rumors his aunt and uncle spread about him, and forbid their son from seeing him. At first Wyatt had been willing to sneak around and be his friend behind his parents backs, but eventually it became too hard, and they just drifted apart.
Shortly after being expelled his aunt and uncle relocated, taking him and his cousin to San Francisco, and if he'd hoped a new place would mean he could find someone to believe him about the abuse he was sorely mistaken. His aunt and uncle were too smart to leave any visible marks, at least not during the school year when there was a risk of someone seeing them and finding out what they were doing to him. He also knew it would do him no good to try and tell someone because no one would believe him, no one ever did. Eventually, he stopped talking as there was no one to talk to, sometimes wondering if he'd forgotten how to talk. After a while the only sounds he would make were the screams while his uncle beat him, but eventually those faded away into almost a harsh wheezing sound.
As time passed Harry eventually became the social pariah he was back before Hogwarts, and lived his life waiting for the day his uncle would go too far and he could leave this world behind for the next great adventure.
88888888888888888888888888
"What is the meaning of this?" Severus Snape practically collapsed into the chair in his office, starring at the paper in his hand in disbelief. "He never told me..." The men in the room with him could hear the heartbreak in the man's voice, before it turned to rage, "You kept this from me, kept him from me." They all watched as the shadows began to swirl around the man, and the two younger men in the room took a few steps back away from the irate man.
"Now Severus, it wasn't safe for him to be returned to you, we have the war to worry about, and there is no way he could have played his part in it." The older man tried to placate him, while shooting a glare at the two younger ones in the room. "I had to do what was best for the wizarding world as a whole, surely you can see that the needs of the many..."
"Will never outweigh his needs...not where I'm concerned." The man's dark eyes were pitch black, as he pulled the shadows even tighter around himself. "Because he is a submissive doesn't mean that he can just be thrown away! He should have been returned to me, he should have never been taken from me, especially not after his father died."
"Had we known the truth we would have brought him to you the first chance we got." The lighter haired man said when the glare was turned on him, "James didn't tell us he was your son either, we didn't find out until Sirius went snooping through the headmasters office...What we found we brought straight to you." Remus Lupin had been best friends with James Potter, the man who'd given birth to Severus's only child. It was Sirius Black who found the test results from Harry's first year showing who his biological parents were and any active creature genes he may carry. The man had escaped from Azkaban two years earlier when he'd seen a picture of the man who'd really betrayed James and Lily in the paper. He'd managed to catch the rat and clear his name, as well as be reunited with his mate.
"You told me the reason I didn't fade away when he died was because of the dark mark, that I was tethered here because of my connection to the dark lord. I could have removed this blasted thing at any time, because it wasn't my connection to him that kept me here when my mate died. No, it was the connection to my son, that bound me here. I have no need to serve the dark lord, or you for that matter." All at once the shadows lashed out pinning the old man to the wall.
"Severus...we had...a...deal" the old man rasped out, but it didn't stop the younger one at all.
"That deal became null and void when you kept my child from me. I owe this world nothing, it will get nothing more from me, this will be the last you see of me old man, and if I ever see you near my child again, I will kill you." With a wave of his hand all of his belongings began packing themselves away, and following him as he strode out the door. "Come along Black, Lupin, I haven't got all day." He called back to the still stunned men, who quickly followed him out of the building.
88888888888888888888
Chris Haliwell hated school, be it magical or otherwise, and the reason for that hate just so happened to live in the same house, hell, shared the same room as him. It wasn't that he hated his older brother, quite the contrary, Wyatt was his best friend. It was just hard always being compared to someone who was perfect all the time.
Ok, maybe not all the time, if he was perfect all the time he would be able to see what jerks he had for friends. It was as this thought crossed his mind that he happened to trip over his own feet of all things, and fall face first to the ground.
"Looks like he decided to make things easy for us boys." The biggest one in the group sneered, and Chris could see the stick in the boys hand. Not for the first time he wondered how people could be friends with someone as cool as his brother, and then turn around and play back up for the school bully Dudley Dursley.
He didn't have time to dwell on this thought though, because at that moment an acorn flew threw the air and hit Dursley square between the eyes. In the following panic that insued Chris would have likely missed the small dark haired teen in the tree a few feet away, using a rubberbad like a slingshot, had it not been for his vantage point on the ground.
He couldn't contain his grin as he watched the bullies run off, and when the coast was clear the kid dropped out of the tree. The first thought that came to his head was a promise to never complain about his height again, and just believe his mom from now on when she promised him that he would eventually grow to at least six feet.
The next thought was concern for the other teen when he saw him crumple to the ground, even though it looked like he had landed properly. "You ok?" He asked as he scrambled over to help the kid back up, doing his best to hide his shock at the sight of bruises and scars on his back, that showed when the stretched out collar of the worn shirt hung a little too low.
The kid just nodded as he scrambled to his feet, and took off at a sprint once he got his bearings about him. It was the haunted look in the kids eyes that had him orbing to his aunt Paige's office at the Social Services building, hoping she would have time for him.
"And you're sure this is what you saw?" his aunt Paige had back into social work after her kids had started school, and was now one of the senior social workers, and took her job very seriously.
"Yeah, the little bit I saw had dark bruises and probably six or seven long thin scars." He wanted to block out what he saw, but knew it was important to give as much detail as possible. "When I touched his arm all I felt was bone, and his skin was really cold and clammy.
"And how did you say you met him again?" He felt his face heat up at her question, not wanting to tell her the truth. "He's a year ahead of me in school, a year behind Wyatt, his cousin is also one of the biggest bullies in school."
"Is it possible his cousin gave him the bruises?" His aunt asked, but her look told him they would be having a longer conversation about this bully later...most likely with his parents.
"Yeah, but why wouldn't the Dursley's stop him before it got that bad?" Chris asked, wanting an explanation for a concept that just made no sense to him. His parents would track down and destroy anyone who hurt him, his brother, or his sister, his mom would make certain it was extra painful. He really had no frame of reference to why someone would want to harm a child like that.
"You just said Dursley right?" Paige said getting up from her chair and going over to the filing cabinet. "I remember seeing a file come across my desk that mentioned that name, now which one is it?"
"I think is name is Henry, no Hank, no , Harry, that's right, it's Harry. Harry Porter, no Peters, no Parker..." Chris tried to hp, then Paige cut him off.
"Potter, Harry right here." She opened the file, "Says he's thin, but not enough to cause concern. Says there are no signs of abuse, and that his aunt and uncle appear to be loving and attentive guardians. This is dated six months ago."
"That can't be right, Aunt Paige, I know what I saw." He was not above begging when the people he was begging were family.
"Well, I suppose they are about due for a surprise home visit, and the case worker assigned to the case has already gone home for the day. I guess this means I'm going to have to fill in." He saw the indulgent smile, and knew she was doing this just to appease him, but he didn't care. He knew that once she saw what he saw she would do everything in her power to make sure Harry was safe.
"Do you want me to drive you home?" She asked as she got her things ready so she could go. He just shook his head before orbing out. He wanted to ask her to take him with her, but knew that was against protocol, which she'd already broken by telling him a little bit about what was in Harry's file. He didn't want her to get in trouble, or for them to have to throw out any case they could have against Harry's relatives because she didn't follow the rules.
"I'll see you at the manor then." The whole family was coming over tonight for dinner before going to watch Wyatt's football game. He knew that if things were the way he suspected they were at Harry's tonight it was unlikely his aunt would make it to dinner or the game.