1 A Tale of Neglect

Eight year old Harry Potter was not a normal boy, that much was very, very clear to him and everyone around him. Harry didn't really know why he looked so different, he didn't even know why everyone treated him so different.

Harry's Uncle Vernon was a very large and rotund man with receding hair and a mustache that made him look like a walrus, though his stomach size made him look like he had actually eaten the walrus, either that or the Walrus was wearing him. Harry's Aunt Petunia was a thin woman, almost sickly with how thin she was, yet she was still the only one in the house who willingly kept to a diet plan to lose weight despite being the least in need of it. She was also not a very attractive woman either, despite what she might claim. She had a long neck like a giraffe, her face looked like a horse and she wore so much make up that make up artists would shout 'overkill' at her.

Last but not least was their son, Harry's cousin, Dudley Dursley. He and Harry were nearly the same age, give or take a few months, but Dudley took after his father in body type. To Harry he looked like a pig in a wig, though Harry would never voice that thought out loud because it was known in the Dursley house that Dudley could do no wrong while Harry was evil for simply existing.

Harry, on the other hand, was a much more interesting looking boy. His clothes were not expensive looking like the Dursley's, mostly because he was given the choice between staying stark naked or wearing Dudley's old clothes that he didn't want or could no longer fit into. Harry had originally worn round and horrible looking glasses that his Aunt Petunia had gotten from a charity shop, even though the Dursley family were rich and could have brought Harry new clothes and glasses. In case it wasn't obvious, they didn't like him much.

Harry also had very bright green eyes, his eyes were a shade of emerald green. They were undoubtedly his best feature, though they were not the part of him that drew the most attention either. It wasn't his raven colored, messy hair either. It was in fact his lightning bolt scar. Harry had had his lightning bolt scar on the right side of his forehead for as long as he could remember.

Though...it wasn't always so big.

Last year it was a small mark that he could hide under his hair, but now it was far more eye-catching. At first it was a single lightning bolt, but then one day it had changed. One day when he was five years old, his Uncle Vernon had locked him outside of the house. Harry had walked over to the nearby park when it had started raining, the next thing Harry knew he could hear thunder and lightning.

Then...there was the bird. Harry had found a small bird, lying helplessly on the floor next to a tree, it was trying to fly but had clearly damaged its wing. Harry, being the nice and innocent kid that he was, had picked it up and climbed up the tree to place the bird in its nest. He had placed the bird there and began trying to descend down when suddenly a lightning bolt had descended from the sky and hit him.

Harry didn't remember much after that, he did remember waking up around morning time, being freezing cold and walking back to the Dursley's. When he had entered his Aunt Petunia had screamed as if the devil himself was peeing on her and his Uncle Vernon became angrier than Harry had ever seen him and got his belt then beat Harry for being more freakish than before, not that Harry knew what he meant by that. Once he was done he had locked Harry up in the cupboard under the stairs, which happened to also have been Harry's bedroom, even though there was a spare bedroom upstairs just for Dudley's toys.

The next day Harry had woken up and been allowed to go to the toilet, his aunt was still upset that the new freakishness had not gone. Harry really didn't know what she had meant, at least not until he had got upstairs and seen himself in the mirror. His lightning bolt had appeared to have grown more lightning bolts. Before he had only had one lightning bolt, now more bolts descended from that one, one ending just over his right eye and the other ending just under his eye, even going over his eyelid. Luckily it hadn't damaged his eye or his eyesight, it had improved it if anything, because Harry didn't need glasses after that.

His Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia thought he had done it all on purpose for some reason, Harry couldn't help but wonder what about him made them think that he would want to have a giant lightning bolt on his face. Since that day his Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had told people that he was an idiotic and unstable boy who had managed to get a knife and went crazy on himself, and sadly for Harry most people believed them.

"Wake up!" A voice screeched followed by some loud knocking. Eight year old Harry opened his eyes, looking up at the ceiling of his cupboard, not the most pleasant place to wake up in but Harry had honestly gotten used to it. Truthfully he was just glad that he was given a mattress, pillow and blanket. "Get up and make breakfast!" His Aunt Petunia's voice screamed from outside of the cupboard, followed by the sound of the cupboard being unlocked then the sound of his Aunt Petunia huffing and walking away.

Harry sighed as he sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. he shook his head before forcing himself to stand up. He would have liked to go to the toilet first but he knew that if he wanted to avoid getting punished then his priority would be in making breakfast. He stepped out of the cupboard and walked into the kitchen and quickly began making food, as soon as he started he heard Dudley stomping down the stairs. Harry wouldn't be surprised if his fat hippo of a cousin would one day fall through the stairs. Harry could only hope that he wouldn't be in the cupboard when that happens.

Today was a happy day in the Dudley family home, if you were anyone but Harry, today was Dudley's birthday. Harry knew that meant Dudley would spend the day getting presents and whatever he wanted while Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon would take the time to spoil him silly. For Harry it meant just a loud day full of complaining and tantrums when the slightest thing did not go Dudley's way, along with Harry being the one to do all the cleaning yet get the least amount of food and fun. So...business as usual.

As Harry listened to Dudley yelling about how he had one less present than last year, he couldn't help but wonder why his Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia treated him so differently. Dudley got two rooms and all the presents and food he wanted, Harry on the other hand got a cupboard, chores and the minimum amount required to stay in a working condition. When Dudley got in trouble at school then the teachers were wrong, but if Harry got in trouble then he was a trouble child.

Why did they keep treating him so differently?"