My head was in my hands as I sobbed tearlessly. Usually, there would be plenty of tears, so many they would soak my pillow and make my eyes so puffy and red that even Aunt Petunia couldn't help but give me worried looks. Little did she know, it was her husband who was causing the crying to happen in the first place. He was a bastard, I already knew that, but when he started actually... beating me, my hate for him melted into utter fury and dislike challenging the hate of the Dark Lord to Dumbledore! I hated him with the core of my soul. And he knew it.

I wouldn't go home for Christmas break, obviously, and I even begged Professor McGonnagal to stay when school was out for the year. She informed me, though, that a lone person could not be trusted in Hogwarts, as all the teachers left to be with their own friends or families. I tried explaining to her why, how she could trust me! The Boy Who bloody Lived! But all she said was that she was sorry and that she was sure I was over-exaggerating, if only just a little bit. The conversation had left me frustrated and angry, like I had been for the past month... since he, the devil incarnate, started to beat me.

At first it was subtle, a simple smack on the wrist or the cheek, as if I was being punished. Then, late at night, I hear him open my door. He didn't do anything more than just... hit me! And kick me... and whip me with his leather belts. Oh yes, and let's not forget when he broke out the metal folding chairs. Oh, that was a fun night, wasn't it? I'm pretty sure I conked out in the middle of his "punishment" for being such an abnormal boy.

That's when I met her.

She was the best friend I could ever have. She was sweet, sympathetic and understood just what I was going through. I met her in the park one day, with her bleach white-blond hair and her strange facial piercings and her eccentric clothing, I knew we were both the same. Abnormal. She had come when she saw me, weak and defenceless on the swing-set. Dudley and his friends had come for more of his family's constant beatings. Just as he was starting to wail on me, he froze, toppling over and clutching his groin. She was standing there, smirking in her bright green lipstick. She dodged the rest of the gang's shots as easily as if they were sloths, she landed a few punches that looked like they were light as a feather and they were all out cold.

After that, she took me to the creek and we talked. I told her of my uncle's beatings, of my cousin's constant verbal and physical abuse and my aunt's ignorance to it all. I learned that she, too, was a magical being. A witch from America. We talked about Hogwarts and how it was the best thing to happen to me and how she would love it there (as apparently, she was going to be attending the school in the same year as I). I told her about my friends... then I got to the deeper stuff. The people... the person... I loved. He, yes, he, didn't love me back, I assured her of this (she started squealing with excitement when she heard the word 'he' in such a dreamy tone roll off my tongue). I was... happy! She was someone who obviously would stand behind me in any of my decisions, and she would never let me down. Within the few hours I spent with her, I trusted her with my life.

It wasn't a crush, as I was only capable of having one of those on a guy (and later, she informed me, that she was capable of having a crush on EITHER gender), it was just a total and utter happiness to have someone backing me up. Someone to pour out my heart to. Someone who I could trust. Of course, I still had Hermione and Ron, but I couldn't trust them with my Muggle life. They'd start fretting and getting all crazy, while she just listened with a sympathetic looking on her face and quite a long chain of curse words to call my uncle on her tongue.

Her name was Evert. Evert Rell. She was fifteen, like myself. She'd been reading up on Hogwarts and, despite all the bad talk about it, she thought she'd fit in best with Slytherin. Either Slytherin or Hufflepuff. She couldn't decide. I tried to inform her that Slytherin and Hufflepuff were the COMPLETE opposite, but she told me that it still fit for her. She said she thought she was rather cunning and mischievous and she CERTAINLY was very good at snappy remarks, as she'd been making them the entire conversation, but she also had a kind heart and dislike for enemies... or hate of any kind. It was a refreshing mix, a lovely, new mix that simply made me grin.

So, she left me at my house after walking around the block with me for a while, just talking. She told me to give my boy a chance and that she'd see me at Hogwarts, which made me realise that my true home was only about a week away. A week of pain, torture, and misery.