A/N: I don't own Harry Potter and I'm only going to say this once because I hate how these things ruin the flow of the story.

Harry rolled over in his bed. As he shifted, a spring in his mattress stabbed him in the back causing a brief shot of pain. He moved off of the spring and glanced at his clock. The red flashing lights read 11:56. "Great, four more minutes until I become 16." Harry thought. "I wonder what Dumbledore has got planned to get me killed this year." Harry shook his head quickly, trying to rid his mind of that thought. He knew that Dumbledore always had his safety in mind. He would always be protected one way or another by Dumbledore. "Then again, Voldemort isn't the only thing he needed protection against." Harry thought about all of the supposed myths he had fought and almost been killed by in the past. Even a hero has to have back up. Memories of Ron and Hermione flooded his mind. The times that he had almost got them killed. Even though the only things he's ever given to them were pain, they still were by his side and for that he was grateful. That's why he had sent Hermione a letter. Hermione, being the most level-headed out of Harry's two best friends, was sure to think up the perfect thing to get him out of the Dursley's home. The house where he felt he didn't belong. No, he knew he didn't belong. Even if he had somehow been happily ignorant to the fact, it was beaten into him. Every night.

After Aunt Petunia and lovely little Dudders have drifted to sleep and Vernon was sure that they wouldn't wake to morning, Vernon would head to Harry's room. He would walk in with a glint in his eye, almost the same glint that Voldemort had in his eye as he cursed another one of his Death Eaters to the blinding pain of the Cruciatus curse. Depending on his mood, the pain would either be fast or slow. Drinking also doesn't help the obvious hate Vernon felt for the boy. One time when he went out with his friends, more like the other fathers at Dudley's school that didn't want to get hurt, Vernon let go of himself. He came back to the house completely drunk and beat Harry then literally carved the word "FREAK" in bold letters onto Harry's back. After that Petunia had realized how much pain Harry was going through, and remembered her promised to her sister. She had to take care of the boy. She cleaned him up and made sure he was to be healed properly. She even did all of the chores that Harry was supposed to do before Vernon came home. Unfortunately, she was caught. Vernon beat her and then beat Harry near death. Vernon brought them both to a hospital, furthest away from Privet drive. He figured he could lie once about what happened and then never go back. It was then that Harry realized that not only was he a way to let out his uncles frustrations, his aunt was being held captive in her own home. He needed Hermione's help and he needed it as soon as possible. In the letter he had said everything was fine and that he'd just like to get out of the Dursley's home.

Looking at Hedwig's cage had caused an empty feeling to rise in his stomach all the way to his throat, making him swallow the urge to empty his stomach on the floral upholstered walls. Though covered in Dudley's seven-times too big clothing, Harry felt even more exposed. At least in his cupboard under the stair he could sleep in peace knowing that Vernon was too much of a whale to fit into it. But now he questioned his safety. Harry looked at his clock again, silently willing time to go faster. 11: 59. One more minute. Harry began to hear footsteps coming closer to his room. Harry groaned as he realized tonight was just like any other night he would be beaten, humiliated and then left to die. He curled into a fetal position and hid his head under his hands and pillow. He knew that the worst was soon to come and he had to be prepared for it. The foot steps drew closer. Harry had thought about killing Vernon before. It wouldn't be that bad. If Death Eaters got away with it, why wouldn't he? He was, after all, the golden boy. He could get away with anything. He was supposed to be rich and popular, but here he was curled up in a ball 

awaiting the inevitable beating by his uncle. Footsteps got closer and so did his birthday. Each second that passed was echoed by another footstep. 10, 9, 8. Harry wasn't sure if he was counting down the seconds until his birthday or the number of steps Uncle Vernon had left until he reached the door. 5, 4, 3, 2… Here it is.

On the strike of midnight, his door opened to reveal the fat pig of a man who he had come to hate. "Come here, Harry, my boy!" Vernon said in a fake cheerful voice. Harry was confused. He only knew two sides of the man, when he was angry and when he was hungry. Usually the two overlapped. Now he was standing in Harry's room looking as if he's loved him for ever. "Come on, boy. Get up and go downstairs or there's no extra pudding for you tonight." Harry sat up in his bed. Had Vernon gone mad? He never got any pudding much less anything besides extra scraps of food he could get off of Petunia's plate. Merlin knows it would take much more than magic to find even a bit of food left on either Vernon or Dudley's plate. Then it clicked. Somebody was downstairs. Somebody magical. That would be the only reason that Vernon would ever pretend to like him. "Who is downstairs?" questioned Harry. He knew it had to be somebody magical, but who? It could be anyone. They could be trying to kill him. Then again, being in the Dursley's house was going to kill him one way or another. Vernon's face turned purple with an obvious attempt not to leap across the room and beat Harry until he learned how to respect his elders. "They say they know you, and want to take you away until the school year starts." Vernon said through gritted teeth. That would seem like a nice uncle talking to a nephew to anybody else, but Harry saw through the words and understood the true meaning: "Leave now or you won't live until tomorrow."

Harry sprang up out of bed and threw the few things he owned into his trunk before heading downstairs. Harry had difficulties carrying his trunk and his owl cage down the stairs. Harry left it in the house. He could always buy a new cage for Hedwig. She would love it. Vernon followed Harry down the stairs to make sure he was leaving. When they reached downstairs they saw three people. All three of them were wearing black robes with hoods over their faces. The largest of the three walked with obvious stature, like a king, and shrunk Harry's trunk and handed it to him. The middle one walked over to Vernon and pulled out his wand and positioned it at his throat. The smallest walked, more like floated, over to Harry and placed a hand on his arm. Harry pulled away from the touch. He looked over at the dark figure holding at wand point Vernon. "Are you going to kill him?" asked Harry. All three of the figures turned towards him. One by one they unmasked themselves. The smallest was Narcissa Malfoy, the middle was Lucius Malfoy and the largest was Severus Snape. Why were three world known Death Eaters where the last of his family lived? The sound of Snape's voice broke him out of his daze. "We are here to take you Malfoy Manor." Oh, that's all? They just wanted to take him to Malfoy Manor, the place where Voldemort spends his winter holidays. That's not such a big deal. Oh wait, yeah. It actually is a big deal. "What makes you think that I will go with you?" Harry said as he folded his arms over his chest more to hide himself than to show a sign of disagreement. Snape removed his wand from the fat man's neck and tucked into the long sleeve of his robe.

He looked Harry up and down noting obvious cuts and bruises. He motioned to take a step towards Harry and noticed the boy flinch. Harry heard Snape mumble something under his breath and one again held the fat man at wand point. "What did you do you him?" Snape growled 

at Vernon. Harry was confused. Shouldn't it be him that Snape was threatening? Narcissa obviously noticing Harry's confusion was the next to speak. "Harry dear," She said with obvious distaste. "We're not trying to hurt you. Our son needs you right now." Harry was even more confused. Why does the youngest Malfoy need him of all people? The arch enemy of the golden boy, the Slytherin prince needed him? Impossible. Narcissa sighed. Obviously this wasn't going the way she had planned. "We need to go. My son is in pain." said Lucius. It seemed that nothing was being accomplished by standing around doing nothing. "Severus, kill the fat one." Lucius said. As the tip of Snape's wand began to glow the deathly green, Harry reached out and grabbed the tip of Snape's wand. "Stop!" Harry hissed. In English or Parseltongue nobody was sure. All eyes were on him. "Mister Potter, unless you have a valid reason why I shouldn't kill this man right now, I shall continue as planned." Snape drawled. Harry looked at the Malfoys, their eyes like blue glass staring through him. He turned away from the piercing eyes of the Malfoys. He looked into Snape's eyes. Big mistake. The dark abyss that was Snape's eyes felt like they could see right through him. In fact, it felt like Snape was probing his mind. That feeling, the searching Snape was doing in his mind. Looking through memories. "What is Snape doing in there? Don't touch anything in my mind. All I want is peace. A little bit of privacy." Harry thought. Harry wanted Snape to get "OUT!" Harry hissed at him. "Stay out of my mind." Harry growled. Snape did as he was told. "My reason for insisting that you do not kill the man is simple." He looked at the puzzled expressions on their faces. "The fat man is mine. Once I am old enough to use magic outside of school, he will be mine."

All three of the wizards' jaws dropped at the sudden death threat. These Death Eaters have seen a lot and Harry just single handedly made all three of the most difficult people to surprise gasp in shock. Harry sent a glance at Snape who still held Vernon at wand point. "Release him. While you're at it, alter his memory so he thinks I was killed." Harry instructed. "How would you like to be killed, Mister Potter?" Snape asked mockingly. "Make up something. I know you're good with lies." Harry retorted. "It seems like somebody's gotten a taste for power and isn't planning on giving it up anytime soon." Lucius snorted. Harry walked towards the door leaving a stunned Snape in his wake. "Now it's time to go to Malfoy Manor. Apparently, I am to see my arch rival in pain. Even though there are three people that want to kill me here and one more already there, I don't think I can pass up this opportunity. I wonder how we're going to get to Malfoy Manor." Harry thought absently. Narcissa seemed to realize his predicament. "We'll be apparating, deary. You may choose who you would like to go with." Harry took no time at all in making his decision. "I would like to apparate with you, Narcissa. You are the least likely to kill me here." Harry stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Perhaps to him it was. "Very well then, we shall be going."

Narcissa held out her hand to Harry signaling that she would leave without him if he did not hurry up. Harry quickly placed his hand over hers. He noticed how similar both of their hands are. They were both very small and delicate. Harry reasoned it was the years that he had played as a seeker, he had to be delicate if he didn't want to break it. "We will arrive last." Lady Malofy told Snape. "Lucius, please inform Dragon of our arrival." Narcissa directed. With two cracks, Snape and Malfoy were gone. Narcissa turned to Harry and looked him in the eyes. "My son needs you. I just hope that you are kind enough to help him." With that she apparated to the front gates of Malfoy Manor. While Harry was still dazed from the squeezing sensation, Narcissa rushed him into the house. Harry looked around as if he'd never been in a mansion belonging to 

an extremely rich slytherin before. Which, he noted, was a fairly reasonable reaction, seeing as he hadn't been. On every wall there was one of the two slytherin colors and a mirror. Narcissa lead him to a large wooden door on which was carved in delicate handwriting: Dragon. Harry heard screams. "What's going on in there?" Harry asked nervously. "You'll see in due time. First, let me fix you're clothing. Nobody should be forced to wear such rags." "Can you not? Please, I'd rather stay in my own clothing." Narcissa looked at Harry. He knew the look that she was giving him. It was pity. Harry looked again at the door. "Let's just go."

A/N: I am an attention whore so if you could do me a favor and drop a review i'd appreciate it. I will not offer you a cookie or anything like that because I know somebody is going to leave a review saying "weres mah KOOKy!!" and I will smack them. Just to let you know. So you going to leave a review or not?