There is abuse in this story and possible slash and maybe cutting who knows really I haven't really planned this story out, anyway it is an angsty fic so if you don't like, don't read! Also this is very different to my other fics so for those of you who are expecting something like the others this is a warning that it is going to be very different.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, if I did would I be sitting at home writing fanfiction? No, I would be out spending my enormous fortune!

Harry sat in his cupboard curled up in the foetal position, shivering from the icy wind that swept in through the cracks under the door and in the walls. He tried to retain as much body heat as possible from the meagre shelter the moth eaten blanket gave him. It was almost midnight, the night of his sixteenth birthday, and he knew tomorrow would be hell just because he happened to have been born sixteen years ago. He dreaded the moment when his cupboard door would be yanked open by a furious Vernon Dursley, purely furious because this was a day of happiness for Harry and he would never ever let Harry be happy, that was something he would just not tolerate.

Harry wistfully remembered the space of his bedroom upstairs, how he had been unceremoniously stuffed back in the cupboard as soon as news reached the Dursley's ears of Sirius Black now being dead. There was no sympathy for his loss, merely spite and barely concealed under the surface joy at being released from the reign of terror his 'axe-murdering' godfather had held over them.

The loss of this certain protection also meant that Vernon Dursley now felt no restraint in torturing Harry as much as he felt was necessary and since his opinion of anything his nephew did was extremely low, torture of the more physical kind was often necessary.

At first it had not been bad at all, there had been the occasional grabbing of his arm harder than was really needed but that soon morphed into grabbing his arm and squeezing until there were bruise marks left in the shape of a hand and this was always accompanied by a surge of unrelenting put-downs, mostly about his failure as a normal person and his dead parents. Harry had come back that summer already broken from the death of Sirius and Vernon's behaviour was not helping.

Harry had soon become accustomed to the schedule of events that happened everyday. While doing his chores his uncle left him mostly alone, content with the fact that he was practically their slave and not feeling the need to hurt him right then but as soon as he was done his uncle would push him down on the ground and twist his arm or punch him until he was sore and bruised and hurting everywhere.

Recently however it had become worse, he had come indoors the other day from watering the plants and was greeted by the repulsive sight of Vernon's purple face bursting with anger at the nonchalant way Harry seemed to have watered the plants.

"Boy!" He had yelled furiously, "do you want our plants to die? Those are prize begonias, they are. How dare you be so ungrateful as to not care for them?" With this statement he had Harry backed against the wall and raised his fist to punch the impudent face staring up at him with undisguised fear.

Vernon had gone further in that beating than ever before, he hadn't stopped punching Harry and because he was backed against the wall his back was being beaten into every time Vernon hit him. He had crumpled down to the floor barely conscious and bleeding everywhere. Vernon had left him there and Harry had only just managed to crawl into his cupboard before he received anymore beatings.

Dudley and Petunia mostly pretended they never noticed anything, even when Harry came to breakfast limping and cradling a sprained arm in a sling made from an old t-shirt. They stared past his cuts and bruises and Petunia mopped up any bloodstains found around the house with no questions asked. They both knew what was going on but were too scared of Vernon to complain and besides, neither of them cared so much about Harry as to stop Vernon.

Harry looked at his watch noticing that he had one minute to go before the possible worst day of his life. He watched the second hand ticking around the face of the watch fear knotting inside his stomach. As soon as the clock struck midnight he sat up listening for any noise from the floor above dreading that Vernon might possibly have also been waiting for this moment for a very different reason. There was however, no disturbance and the rest of the night dragged on as peacefully as normal though Harry did not sleep at all.

He was still awake when the door of his cupboard was wrenched open and Vernon's fat hand reached in and grabbing a hold of his t-shirt dragged him out.

"Well boy, it's your birthday. Do you expect something special to happen today? Perhaps you thought we might give you some presents," he mocked.

Harry knew there was no point in arguing; it would only incense his uncle more if that was humanly possible. He just hung his head waiting for the inevitable blow. He was suddenly pushed back against the door, feeling the doorknob crash into his spine painfully. Vernon had his hand around Harry's neck and was slowly lifting him until his feet were dangling off the floor.

"Were you not listening boy?" Vernon yelled into his face showering him in spit, "I said, were you expecting presents?"

Harry tried aimlessly to make some noise of dissent but could not move his head or open his mouth without gasping for air and could certainly not make legible speech at that point in time.

He was gasping for air and was certain he must be turning an interesting sort of blue colour by now and just as he started seeing black spots in his vision Vernon dropped on the ground where he crumpled into a useless heap.

Vernon then proceeded to kick him in the stomach until he doubled over on the floor tears streaming down his cheeks from the pain. His knees were the next things under assault and he cried out in pain as they fell under the heavy blows raining down upon him. He lifted his arms up trying to protect his head but they were grabbed from behind so Vernon was standing over him while he was on his stomach his arms twisted above his head in the air. He started to scream but was stopped by a meaty hand covering his mouth.

"Quiet boy, do you want the neighbours to hear?"

'Yes' was Harry's first thought but he did not voice it knowing it would not be a welcome answer.

He was stuffed back into the cupboard and Vernon said in a dangerous whisper, "you should think yourself lucky that's all you got boy."

Wondering what possibly could have been worse Harry curled up in pain sobbing silently to himself, wondering how he could be so unlucky.

He had often contemplated writing to Hermione or Ron or even Dumbledore but he could imagine their responses already. Ron would be horrified and not able to look at him the same way again, he would think Harry was weak. Hermione would pity him and he could not stand her looking at him with pity in her eyes and Dumbledore…well Dumbledore would think he was overreacting or vying for even more attention.

He knew only one thing he could do, and that was to run away. He knew Dumbledore had said something about bonds being put on the house so that he was protected but surely he was no safer here with an abusive uncle than in the outside world able to hide and to run at least even if he was still not legal to use magic.

He had made up his mind, he would not stay in this house any longer than was necessary, and he would leave tomorrow. He knew where Vernon had locked his trunk and his broomstick. It was the same place he could hear Hedwig crying out from every night as she had also been locked in there trapped in her cage and had not been fed in almost a week now.

Harry sincerely hoped she was still alive although he knew Vernon was thinking exactly the opposite considering his words on locking the room had been, "I hope that filthy rodent will starve to death, maybe then it would shut up".

With his mind made up he slept easier that night relying on the hope that was welling up inside of him, the hope of escaping finally tomorrow.

Well that's all for now, hope you enjoyed and please review!