The Dursleys of 4 Privet Drive, Little Whinging, Surrey, were happy to say they were perfectly normal, thank you! They would be lying. They hid a very shameful secret. Petunia's unwelcome nephew was a freak. Or rather, Harry, like his parents, was magical (not that he knew anything about it), therefore he had no place in their perfectly normal world, and so was a freak. From far too young an age Harry was doing all of the chores in the home. He grew up constantly berated and derided. He lived in the cupboard under the stairs, barely fed (though he did most of the cooking) and never loved. Though he took great care with all he did, so as not to get assigned extra chores or punishment, Harry was constantly told that 'all you make is trouble' 'you will never make anything of yourself' and 'you couldn't make anything good if you tried'. He started to believe if he could make nice things, maybe someone would love him a little? Or at least not hate him as much? He would lie awake or daydream at his chores about making nice things. As he started school he would hang around anyone he saw making or repairing anything, as well as hiding in the library from Dudley who liked to play 'Harry Hunting' and beat him up.
The library had already been a decent refuge, and then Harry discovered the How To section. He could have happily spent his life there. Real instructions and pretty pictures of people making wonderful and beautiful things! He soaked it up like a sponge. Unlike his schoolwork where he got in trouble if he did better than his cousin, here he was allowed to excel. Despite the fact that most of the neighborhood and certainly the school administration thought that Harry was a little delinquent, mostly because he wore his cousin's enormous and ratty hand-me-downs and his relatives never had a kind word about him, there were a few among the school staff that realized just how special Harry was. These included the librarian, the custodian, and later the shop teacher.
His kindergarten teacher had actually stood up for him and reported the situation, but the principal was a friend of the Dursleys, so she was fired. Upon seeing that the others decided to help covertly as they couldn't afford to lose their jobs, and they still wanted to help Harry. First the Custodian offered to take any detentions Harry got and made it seem like he would be unsympathetic, but also offer a trade and some harsh discipline when talking to the Principal and the Dursleys. In reality, Mr. Franks had explained the situation to Harry and Harry got to spend time in nice company and get at least one real meal each day. Harry, in turn, helped out any way he could.
Harry helped clean and make repairs around the school. Sometimes the Librarian, Ms. Markham, would come and sit with them after hours while Mr. Franks was working and teach harry skills like how to repair and then how to tailor his clothes a bit so they fit a lot better. He was so good at it that he almost got into trouble with his relatives because his clothes started to look too good. When he said that he helped with some of the repairs on some of the cloth goods at school because he was too small to help with some of the heavy work yet, she calmed down and gave him the mending to do. Ms. Markham started to offer him her mending to earn some pocket change that he wouldn't accept when she tried to just give it to him and she had done so much for him already. He turned around and started to make her new clothes with the help of Mr. Franks to get the fabric.
The group had gotten permission to sort of apprentice to Mr. Franks over the summer. They had gone to the Dursleys and said things like 'don't want him to think the summer means a vacation' and 'he may not amount to much, but he will learn a good work ethic' and otherwise imply that Harry would be miserable and worked to the bone. The principal got free labor out of it, and made nice with Vernon-who was considering taking his son onto his sales team at Grunnings. The Dursleys got Harry out of their hair. Harry got to spend time around kind people who treated him fairly, fed him well, and showed him how to make things!
One of the best parts of this new arrangement, apart from eating regularly, was that he finally got to celebrate his birthday with something other than a longer than normal chore list. For his sixth birthday, Ms. Markham and Mr. Franks took him to an old world crafts demonstration. He learned so many wonderful things like how to make a garden wall with fallen wood and young branches from prunings, or several old school cooking techniques like making yoghurt and making butter from cream. What really caught his attention was the woodworking, specifically whittling, and all of the fiber working-spinning, dyeing, and weaving the fibers. There were some stunning woven coverlets and hand stitched quilts on display as well as samples of lace from the traditional cottage industry of the greater UK, Ireland in particular. His brain almost exploded from the possibilities. Most of the exhibitors were utterly charmed by his rapt attention and intelligent questions at such a young age. The spinner even gave him a drop spindle and some wool roving to start off with, and showed him how to use it. When he told her that she had helped to make this his best birthday ever, she almost cried.
Later as Harry was talking to the weaver about her work and the tools involved she spoke to Ms. Markham about the situation. While the living history museum where the event was held was too far away for frequent visits, they did swap contact information and over the years kept up a lively correspondence, both the teachers and Harry. She also helped spread the word around the exhibitors to give Harry a little more attention and care. As a result, by the time the group made it over to the woodworking area, the main presenter, who was showing of the results of whitling, showed Harry all of the steps to make spoons and other kitchen utensils, as well as pegs and shims to help secure and fix even some modern furniture. He walked through what he thought the most important tools to have and the order in which to get them and how to care for them. At the end of the day he gave Harry a small-handled whittling knife and sharpening stone, and showed him how to use them. At this Harry couldn't take it anymore and broke down crying. As Mr. Franks rushed over to see what was wrong, Harry was starting to say how he had never had a birthday present before this year, and everyone was so nice this year. He kept trying to promise to pay the woodworker back for the kit and needed to be told over and over that it was a gift. After profusely thanking the woodworker, Harry and Ms. Markham went to go clean off his face while Mr. Franks clarified the situation. A few minutes later a very angry (on Harry's behalf) woodworker joined the correspondence crew. Mr. Franks was also given a bag or interesting wood blanks for Harry to play with after he got a little better than raw beginner, and some easy to work wood for that stage as well. It had easily been the best birthday of his life. Harry quietly promised himself to find out when Mr. Franks' and Ms. Markham's (and the generous exhibitors') birthdays were and repay the kindness to the best of his ability.
The year passed slowly, and the first grade teacher was somewhat sympathetic to the situation, so she gave Harry independent work for his higher level, but kept his official scores low. She also assigned him plenty of detentions to give him as much safe time away from his relatives as possible. She ended up of Harry's list of kindly people he made gifts for. He was still crafting up a storm. He had started to run out of people to give things like spoons and yarn to. He has also gotten very good at sewing. Though it was slow, he was making complete garments by hand to give away. They were fairly fashionable and incredibly comfortable and hard wearing. They were just special over and above being a gift made with love. This year the school had a year long charity project. The students had to come up with a way to help others. Dudley pretended to help at his Aunt Marge's kennel, when really Harry did all the work. Harry decided to make teddies to give to kids in the hospital. Each toy he made he filled with wishes of health and comfort. He asked for help from some of the local parents (all the students who needed supplies had the chance to do so) and was given all sorts of bits of cloth. He took a picture of each teddy, and sent a letter wishing the recipient good wishes and to get better soon. He ended up making so many teddies that some had to be sent on to other hospitals. At Harry's suggestion some were also sent to a local orphanage. While no one noticed at the time, the kids who got one of Harry's teddies seemed to be helped a little more than just being cheered up. The kids however, cherished the toys for many years after.