Raised by Darkness: Chapter One

The forest was dark now, with thickly woven trees standing together making the slowly setting some practically invisible to its inhabitants, one of these inhabitants was a sobbing boy. He sat in a pile of leaves with tears pouring down his face, his arm bleeding and his face a mass of coloured bruises, he was unnaturally thin and was covered in much to large tattered clothes. This boy was a seven year old Harry Potter, this morning his Uncle decided to spend the day in the forest and with no one to take Harry he reluctantly allowed him to accompany them on the condition he walked behind them because he didn't want people thinking he was related to a freak like him. Dudley brought a toy and dropped it so his Uncle ordered him to go and find it, Harry recalled searching for hours but found nothing and then his Uncle punching him as hard as he could in the face before pushing the boy away and driving off. Harry wondered why he couldn't be treated like Dudley, instead he was locked in a cupboard and only allowed to eat if he didn't show his freakishness. And so he was left in the forest, miles away from privet drive and Harry feared he would never find his way home, then he heard a whisper

"Someone is here" the voice was quiet and slightly feminine, Harry turned around hoping it was his aunt but instead he was hit by a cold wave of energy, he suddenly heard the shouts as he was abused by his uncle and the familiar high cold laugh and the screams of a woman. He shivered as the end of a black cloak flickered behind a tree, Bravely he stood up and wiped his tears

"Who's there?" he stammered his voice shaking, no answer. Harry took a breath and this time felt something in his voice

"Who's there?" he asked, this time his voice was quieter and seemingly laced with another, this time something appeared. A pair of scabbed hands gripped a nearby tree, then a hooded thing appeared. It stood tall and was covered head to toe in a black cloak, it glided a few meters from the floor and Harry could sense it was looking at him, he wanted to run but his feet were like stone as the monster approached, he waited for it to hurt him like uncle Vernon but instead as he felt cold breath on his neck the voice came again

"You speak our tongue?" the voice sounded surprised and Harry opened his eyes

"What's your tongue?" he asked worried he had offended the creature, from behind the hood Harry could feel something was looking at him, then the voice came again
"I sense you hurt, what happened" the voice was filled with concern now and a scabbed skeletal hand was suddenly placed on his wrist.

"My uncle had to punish me for not being good enough at finding things" Harry choked out as the aura around the creature intensified the hurt and upset, then it stopped

"I'm protecting you from the dementors aura" the voice told him, Harry looked up at the monster

"What's a Dementor?" he asked feeling better now

"I am a Dementor and somehow you can hear us, now what's your name" the voice was more pleasant now almost motherly and Harry suddenly felt like trusting this creature

"Harry, Harry Potter what's your name?" he replied, the creature paused and Harry was worried he had annoyed the creature he got ready for it to hit him when

"Lucy my name is Lucy" the creature answered, Harry looked at Lucy, he had never seen anything like her before and he was both fascinated and terrified

"Nice to meet you Lucy, can you be my friend?" Harry blurted, Lucy seemed taken aback

"What about your human friends?" her voice was curious now, Harry looked at the ground

"I don't have any Dudley won't let me" he muttered sadly,

"Dudley?" she asked, Harry spent the next few minutes explaining about his family, suddenly he felt the ground shake slightly and this time Lucy sounded angry

"Where do they live child? Muggles can only see me if I want them to and I think I should have a talk with them". Lucy was surprised, she had never met a human who could speak in her tongue and somehow felt instantly attached to the strange boy, the ground was shaking as she became more and more infuriated by what she heard.

"Number four privet drive but don't tell them I told you about what you did or Uncle Vernon might be mad" Harry told her worried, the Dementor Lucy turned her face to him

"Trust me Harry Potter I will never allow them to harm you again" she promised "now take my hand, and take a breath shadow travel is not for the faint hearted". Harry looked confused

"What's shadow travel?" he asked taking her hand, her hand felt rough and soft at the same time and Harry was shocked to see how closely his hands resembled hers after the many stomping he had endured. Suddenly he felt as if he was melting, he gripped Lucy's hand much tighter as he fell towards the shadows, the second he touched he felt like he was moving a hundred miles an hour, his skin was rippling at the speed and it felt like it wanted to come off, Harry wondered if this is what a rollercoaster felt like, he had seen Dudley go on but the Dursley's never let him join in the fun but he enjoyed this ride a lot. Then he was pulled up by an unseen force and found himself in the living room of Privet drive

"Now you need some new clothes, where is your room? I think Humans keep clothes there" Lucy decided, Harry suddenly felt ashamed, he had seen Dudley and his friends go to his room and felt bad as he walked Lucy over to his cupboard, he opened it and immediately choked on the dust.

"Tell me this is not where you sleep Harry, Azkaban cells are nicer than this" Lucy asked hovering behind him

"Well My Uncle and Aunt need a room and Dudley needs two for his toys and Aunt Marge needs one for her visits" Harry explained sheepishly, Lucy's hand was now shaking it what Harry assumed was anger.

"Harry you need a room, you need somewhere nicer than a cupboard to grow" Lucy told him placing a hand on his shoulder. Suddenly the noise of a car pulling up came from outside

"Is this them" Lucy asked bluntly, Harry nodded

"Ok then, I'll turn off my anti muggle charm" Lucy told him,

"Why is it so ruddy cold in here" Uncle Vernon grumbled opening the door, he noticed Harry

"What are you doing here Boy" he growled clenching his fists "You can't even die in a forest right". Harry looked ashamed again when Vernon's eye fell on Lucy who had taken her hood down, underneath she was skeletal and her mouth was in a single gaping hole but other than that there were no visible features

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT" Aunt Petunia shrilled as she and Dudley entered the house, Dudley began cowering behind his mother as Vernon shook his fist

"I'm warning you" he said shakily "If you don't leave I will cause the police". Suddenly Lucy pointed at them and spoke in their minds

You dare threaten me, her voice was like a knife as it ripped into their thoughts and the three cried in a mixture of shock and pain

You abuse this child and you have the nerve to blame him! how dare you Harry could hear her voice and it hurt his ears so he could only imagine what the Dursley's were feeling inside

"He owes us we took him in" Vernon roared as his head erupted in waves of pain

You are family, I understand little about humans but I see that your hate for Harry is built in ignorance and fear Lucy hissed as the pain grew worse inside them.

"We only took him in because of the letter" Petunia told Lucy in pain and fear at the enraged creature before her

He is family and any Dementor no matter what is accepted by my kind and you pitiful excuses for humans should be ashamed of what you have done to him, Lucy was calming slightly as the three Dursley's whined in pain,

"Well who else is going to want him!" Vernon demanded but his voice shrank when he saw the Dementor approach, she studied him for several seconds then spoke

Me Harry gasped at the words and the Dursley's shock was just as evident

"Well ruddy well take him then" Vernon snapped, Lucy looked at him thoughtfully

Fine I will take him and I will raise him better than you things ever will and if we ever have displeasure of meeting again then I will suck the soul from your body she retorted.

"Really" Harry asked shocked that this creature he met mere minutes ago was offering to take him away from his abusive relatives. She turned to him

"Yes Harry, I will take you to a place called Azkaban it's not glamorous but there is very few human's there and none will argue with me, It may be a prison but you are immune to our effect now so you will be able to join me, I will teach you about magic and as much of being a dementor as I can and none of us will ever hurt you" she spoke to him directly and kindly, Harry erupted in a smile

"Thank you" he said running up and pulling her into a hug like he saw Dudley do with Petunia, for a moment Lucy was shocked she had never been hugged it was not a Dementor thing but she hugged back after a moment. Vernon was on his feet now

"Well get going" he roared, Lucy turned to him and intensified her aura around him, he gulped in fear and cried in pain as she once again spoke into his mind,

We will, he fell to the floor and his gut bounced off giving the impression he was a large ball. Harry laughed but Vernon glared at him, he looked ready to charge when Lucy swooped down and scratched him with clawed fingernails

Threaten him again I dare you she shouted as he screamed in pain,

"Harry get your things" she told him. Harry raced inside his cupboard, he ignored the clothes but grabbed a few toy knights and a book he had been given on his birthday but a man in a shop, Lucy was even more annoyed at his lack of possessions

You will never see this boy again if it's the last thing I do she vowed hitting the Durlseys with one last mental jolt of pain. Then she took Harry's hand and together they melted back into the shadows.

Harry awoke in a dark room, he sighed: he had a dream where he was rescued by a creature called a dementor and she took him away from the Dursleys, he sighed he wanted to get away more than anything, then he heard a mutter. He laying in a bed, it was thin but comfortable and much better than what he was used to, he looked around to see an open bared door and a black figure nearby. It wasn't a dream

"Lucy?" he called out remembering her name,

"Harry" she called gliding into his cell

"It was real?" he asked fearful he would wake up, Lucy went down to his level. He could smell something on her breath but he didn't mention it

"Yes it was real Harry, this is Azkaban your new home" she told him. Harry's face fell when he saw men and women huddling in rooms opposite him and most of them didn't have a bed or anything

"Now it's a prison but the people in here were told sternly if they tried to bully or hurt you they would see a lot more Dementors on this level, and this is maximum security so that scared them" she assured him placing her scabbed hand on her shoulder. Harry took a moment to view his room, it was dark and straw lined the carpet but unlike the other cells this one had a bed and a damaged looking but ok desk and chair a thin carpet beside the bed. It was bigger than his cupboard and he saw a pile of books on the desk and his toy knights beside them

"Now there are no humans here so you need to be careful, you can play outside but don't climb on the rocks, There are lots of Dementors who will all be nice to you and if you want to talk to a prisoner you can but if they upset you tell me and never help them get out" Lucy told Harry sternly who smiled
"I promise" he told her hoping to please the creature who brought him here.

"Well Harry welcome to you new home"