The Troubled Wizard (A Harry Potter Fan Fiction)

Chapter 4

The next morning, Harry woke up with a sharp pain running up his back. He rolled off of his cot and rubbed his weary eyes. What he wouldn't give for just a few more hours of sleep.

He got up and peeled his shirt off his back, wincing as some of the scabs tore off with it. He took a small sip of his healing potion before putting on his clothes and heading off to make breakfast. Today was Saturday, so Dudley would be wanting pancakes. Unfortunately, pancakes didn't fit with his diet, so no matter what Harry made for him, he'd be angry.

With a long sigh, he got out a pan and started scrambling some eggs. As his brain switched to autopilot, he started thinking about all of the chores he had to get done today. Once breakfast was finished and cleaned up, he would need to mop all of the floors. After that, he should probably clean Dudley's room in case he wanted to have friends over later that afternoon. Then he would need to weed the garden and dust the sitting room. Somewhere in there, he would need to make lunch, then he could start cleaning the bathrooms. Since he didn't do any chores yesterday that meant he would also have to wash the clothes and iron Uncle Vernon's suits for next week. Once all of that was finished, he could make dinner and then finally go to sleep. That is, assuming Uncle Vernon didn't want to have another "talk" with him before bed.

Harry stirred the eggs a few times and sighed. He would need to pick up the pace. His relatives would be waking up any minute, and they hated having to wait for breakfast to be finished. At the same time though, they also hated it if breakfast had been sitting out for a while and got cold. Harry had to time his mornings just right so that he could land in that sweet spot. "Boy, why aren't you finished yet?!" Unfortunately, he didn't time it right today.

"It's almost finished, Aunt Petunia." He said quietly.

She raised her hand and he flinched, already knowing what was about to happen. A loud *smack* rang through the kitchen. "It better be. Your uncle won't be happy having to wait. Especially after your screw-up yesterday." She stomped off to the sitting room and started reading the newspaper.

Harry quickly finished up the eggs and started dishing them out onto plates, and not a moment too soon. Right as he was setting the third and final plate on the table, Uncle Vernon and Dudley walked into the kitchen.

Uncle Vernon gave the table a once over, seeing that everything was in order, gave out a grunt, the closest thing to a "Good work" Harry would ever receive. He started cleaning up the dishes while the family started eating, each talking about their plans for the day. Harry tuned them out as he took his allotted slice of bread and started to get ready for that day's work. He used to get two slices of bread, but Dudley didn't want to be the only one on a diet. Once the dishes were clean, he moved on to his next task, the bruises on his back making it harder to move. Could today get any worse?

*****

"And you're sure this is the right place?"

Arthur had to resist rolling his eyes and laughed instead. "Yes, dear. I flooed Professor Dumbledore this morning just to be sure. Number 4 Privet Drive, this is it."

Molly gave the house a once over. "It looks very well taken care of. This garden is very neat."

Arthur nodded, "Yes, it's all very quaint."

"Well," she turned back to him. "you're the muggle expert. What do we do now?"

He scratched his chin, "I do believe to polite thing to do in this situation would be to knock on the door."

"Alright then." They two began to walk up the sidewalk until they had reached the door. Arthur gave a swift rap on the door, before waiting for a response.

They could hear some kind of yelling coming from inside before footsteps came bounding towards the door. A second later, the door swung open and the Weasley's stood there in shock. It had been a year since they had last seen Harry, but it didn't look like he had grown an inch. He couldn't have been taller than 4'8. Ron had already shot up to 5'7. And even Ginny was at least 5'4. Harry had always been short, but this was ridiculous.

The next thing that surprised them, was how thin he was. The clothes he was wearing were grimy and were way too big for him. His face was gaunt and extremely pale. He looked like he was on death's doorstep.

"Harry!" Molly bent down and wrapped him in a bone-crushing hug. She didn't want to let go but held him out so she could get a better look at him. "It's been too long." She tried to straighten out his hair, but it was just too tangled.

"Mr. and Mrs. Weasley?" the look on his face was that of utter shock. Not to mention, a twinge of fear. "What are you both doing here?" he glanced nervously at the door behind him.

"We came to see you." Arthur smiled down at him. "We wanted to know if you would like to come spend the weekend at the Burrow with us?"

"Oh... I.... Um..." he looked back inside. "I don't think I'll be able to. Sorry for making you come all this way..." he tried to close the door, but Molly stopped him.

"Harry is there something wrong?" she looked down at him with motherly concern. "You don't look very good. Have you been eating right? And what happened to your wrist?"

He looked down and saw that his shoddily-made bandage was peeking out from under his sleeve. "Nothing. I just sprained it, everything's fine." He nodded quickly. "I really should be going though... tell everyone I said hi."

"Harry wait." Arthur too was becoming concerned. "Is there something you're not telling us?"

Before Harry had a chance to answer, another voice yelled from inside the house. "Boy! What's keeping you so long?! Who's at the door?!"

Harry's face turned white, "No one, just some traveling salesmen!" he called back before turning once again to the Weasleys with a sense of urgency. "I'm really sorry, but you've got to go. He can't see you!"

"Who can't see us?" Molly turned to her husband. "Harry's what's going on?"

"Please, just go..." he pleaded with tears in his eyes.

"Harry I..." Arthur was cut off as a large man stepped into the doorway, pushing Harry to the side.

"Whatever it is you're selling, we don't want it!" the man said gruffly.

"We aren't selling anything, sir," Arthur explained. "Our son Ron is a friend of your nephew. We were wondering if Harry would like to come and spend the weekend with us?"

Vernon glared down at Harry, "Do you know these people?"

Harry looked up at the Weasleys apologetically before turning his head down to the floor. "I've never met them before."

Molly's eyes widened, "But Harry, you and Ron are best friends! You met at Hogwarts!"

His eyes went wide in fear as Vernon's face began to go red. "Oh. So, you're those lot, are you?! I will not have freaks on my property! Leave now before I call the police!"

Before they had a chance to respond, the door was slammed in their face. Arthur looked at his wife who was fuming with rage. "HOW DARE HE?!"

"Calm down dear..." Arthur put a hand on her shoulder.

She shrugged it off and pulled out her wand. "You saw the look on Harry's face! Obviously, something isn't right here! We need to do something about it!"

Arthur put his hands on her shoulders and met her eyes, "Honey, I agree with you. But we aren't going to be of any use to Harry if we go in there unprepared. Let's take a moment to consider what we should do next."

She deflated and lowered her wand. "You're right..."

"Come on." He led her away from the house. "Don't worry, we'll save him..."

(A/N - Hey guys. Thanks for reading! :) I hope you are liking it so far! :) Have a great weekend!)