The Troubled Wizard (A Harry Potter Fan Fiction)

Chapter 14

Harry glanced around the room nervously as everyone stared at him expectantly. He was quickly growing tired out not knowing what was going on. He turned to Dumbledore, "Why are you here Professor?"

He stroked his beard quietly for a moment, "I'm here to speak with you. We all are." He gestured to the Weasleys and Hermione who all nodded.

He chuckled, "What is this, some kind of intervention?" when no one would answer his eyes went wide, "Bloody hell, is this an intervention?"

"You don't need to say it like that." Mrs. Weasley got up and took the seat next to him on the couch. "We're just here to talk to you about some things that have come to our attention."

Harry sighed, "Look, if this is about me pretending not to know you in front of my uncle, I'm sorry, I just didn't want him to get upset with you."

Arthur met his wife's eyes in surprise then looked back to Harry, "You asked us to leave because you thought your uncle was going to be mad at us?"

"Well yeah." He said this as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "He doesn't like magic, so I was afraid he would say something rude to you both if you stayed. Sorry, you had to see that."

"Oh, honey..." Molly wrapped her arms around Harry's shoulder. "I don't care how upset that man was with us. What I care about is that he was upset with you!"

"Me?" he asked in confusion.

"Harry..." he looked up at Dumbledore, "Mr. and Mrs. Weasley have brought it to my attention that they believe your uncle has been abusing you. Is this true?"

"What?!" Harry immediately pulled himself from Mrs. Weasley's hug. "I- I'm not abused! That's absurd! This is just a big misunderstanding."

"Harry, where'd you get all those injuries?" Hermione asked sadly.

"I fell down the stairs." The answer came automatically as if it had been well-rehearsed.

At this point, Ginny started crying, "Why are you defending them?! They hurt you!"

"Look, I don't know what you all think you know about my life, but you're wrong. My family is perfectly normal and they love me very much." He got up to leave, "I'm going to go pack up my things so I can go home."

"Have they ever told you they love you?" George asked suddenly.

Harry turned back around and looked down at his shoes, "Well, I mean they don't ever really say it you know. But some people just show their love differently."

"Do they tell your cousin that they love him?" Fred asked.

"Well... yeah..." Harry mumbled, "But he's their actual son, that's different! I'm just the freaky kid that got left on their doorstep as a baby!"

"Harry, you're not freaky," Ron said sadly.

"Sure, I am!" he waved his hands around. "I can do things that they can't. Make glass disappear, blow up aunts, other things that aren't normal."

"Harry," Mr. Weasley said gently, "You have just described things that every single person in this room is capable of doing. You are perfectly normal."

Harry was starting to go frustrated. They just weren't getting it! "Sure, I'm normal here, but I've spent most of my life there. And when I'm there, I'm not normal. I just mess up their happy family. So, I'm very grateful that they took me in at all. They could have left me out on the street, but they didn't. They feed me, gave me clothes, and a place to sleep, all while getting nothing in return."

"Ok let me stop you right there." Molly looked furious. "First of all, when Madam Pompfrey examined you, she said you were extremely malnourished and dehydrated. So, I would like to dispute the fact that they 'fed you'."

Harry rolled his eyes, "I'm not malnourished, that's ridiculous."

"Harry, how tall are you?" Hermione asked.

He shrugged, "I dunno, 4'7, 4'8, something like that."

"Harry the average height for a boy your age is 5'7." She continued. "You are way too short for your age. Both Ginny and I are significantly taller than you. At this point in your development, that just shouldn't be the case. If you aren't getting enough nutrients, that will stunt your growth."

He shrugged, "So what, I'm short. There doesn't have to be some reason for it. It probably just came down to genetics. Maybe my parents were really short."

Dumbledore shook his head, "I knew your parents very well Harry, and both Lily and James were above average height. Genetically speaking, you should be around the same height as the youngest Mr. Weasley."

Harry didn't respond to that, so Molly continued, "The other point you made, was that they clothed you. I would hardly call the rags that you were wearing when we found your clothes. They were way too big on you."

"They were Dudley's hand-me-downs." He answered quickly. "There's nothing wrong with that. Ron says you all hand down clothes all the time!"

"Yeah, but we throw the clothes out and get new ones once they've been torn or get too dirty," Ron replied. Harry didn't answer.

"And on to the matter of your 'bed'." Mr. Weasley continued, "The cupboard under the stairs isn't fit for a child to use as their room."

Harry scoffed, "I don't know why all of you are making such a big deal about this now. I mean, you've known about the cupboard for years." He turned to Dumbledore.

His eyes went wide, "I don't know what you are talking about. I had no idea that that's where they had been making you stay."

"But my letter." Harry prompted. "When I got my Hogwarts letter it was addressed to the cupboard under the stairs. For several weeks the Dursleys were afraid you were going to storm in any day because you knew that's where I was sleeping. They said that you knew what was going on, so that meant that everything they did was ok because you didn't stop it."

Tears started to drip from his old eyes, "My boy... I had no idea how they were treating you. If I had, I would have put a stop to it immediately. I am so sorry for failing you all these years."

"You don't know...?" he sat back down on the couch and began to cry as Mrs. Weasley held him tight.

(A/N - Hey guys! Thanks for reading! I hope you like it so far!)