Changed (Drarry)

Chapter 1

Agony.

White hot agony that seemed to burn every inch of him, itching to get him to rip his own skin off, but he couldn't move, he couldn't even scream, but he could vaguely hear people laughing at his torment and quiet whimpers from beside him.

Harry woke up with a start, gasping for air, he had been having those dreams a lot recently, and they always made him tremble as though the pain still lingered, making him feel like there was something wrong with his body in a way he couldn't exactly describe. Looking in the mirror he saw the same boy he had always been, but there was something wrong, something off.

Harry wasn't sure how much more of the Dursleys he could take, and these dreams weren't helping matters. He wasn't even 13 yet, but he was already counting down the days until he went back to Hogwarts. Last year had been a nightmare with Ginny getting her hands on Tom Riddle's diary and being possessed to open the Chamber of Secrets, but Harry still felt safer at Hogwarts than he did at the Dursleys'. At least this year he wasn't having his letters from Ron and Hermione taken away from him, but something felt off about them in a way Harry couldn't quite trace.

He always felt like there was something missing, but he guessed what he missed was the freedom of Hogwarts. Sure, when he was there he would be the centre of attention and whispers would follow him wherever he went, especially after he revealed he could speak Parseltongue last year, but he was sure even the dungeons were better than being with the Dursleys.

He was covered in bruises, it seemed like they were angrier than normal this year, but he guessed it was because they either knew that he almost died or because of the damage done to the house when the Weasleys rescued him last year. He had been pushed back into the cupboard under the stairs that he had been raised in. He doubted that he would be healed by the time that he was able to go back to Hogwarts, but he could hide it just like he always had.

Thankfully Hedwig was able to spend most of the time with the Weasleys, and he was able to go to Dudley's second bedroom to receive any letters sent to him. They didn't want another instance like last year, and they didn't want to deal with owls either.

Unlike last year, Dumbledore had agreed to let him go to the Weasleys before the end of the summer, so he didn't have to stay here much longer. Dumbledore said that he would come collect Harry himself, all Harry had to do was be able to go outside when it was dark out and they would apparate to the Weasleys'.

"Boy!" Vernon called from the living room as Harry came back inside, sweating and filthy from reworking the garden, Petunia had decided that she didn't like where the herb patch and flowers were, and she wanted them swapped, which was obviously Harry's job even though he couldn't care less about the garden.

"Yes Uncle Vernon?" Harry asked as he tried to get his shoes off without getting any muck onto the kitchen floor that he had cleaned before being told about the garden task, and shaking off what dirt he could from his top outside.

"I don't like that tone of yours, boy!" Vernon boomed from the living room again, making Harry wince, he already knew Vernon's face was going red, if not purple, even though he couldn't see the man. Harry hadn't been being sarcastic, he was just tired and distracted, although he had stiffened, but he guessed he should have thought more before responding to Vernon.

"Sorry." Harry said, pulling his shoes off as quickly as he could and rushing to the living room, his hair falling him into his eyes, he was feeling like it was hard to breathe.

He always felt like that whenever he talked to the Dursleys, but he knew better than to let them know how he felt. He couldn't place why he felt like that either, but then again he hadn't actually spoken to anyone since he started to feel that way, so maybe it was the years of being yelled at for opening his mouth, and Snape's mean comments finally catching up to him.

"As you should be, Boy." Vernon spat at him, looking like he was going to spill out of his suit, a can that was probably some kind of alcohol beside him. "Marge is coming tomorrow, so I want everything to be perfect, including dinner. None of your weirdness."

"Yes Uncle Vernon." Harry said, biting the inside of his cheek to try to keep himself calm and stop himself from explaining that his magic wasn't 'weirdness'.

"Good, now get out of here, Dudders can't stand the sight of you." Vernon yelled, flapping his hands at Harry to get him to leave, which he did, rushing to get out of the room as fast as he could without running, knowing he would get punished for that.

Harry didn't know why Vernon blamed his dismissal on Dudley considering the teen wasn't in the room, and didn't seem to hate Harry as much as he did in previous years, he seemed intimidated, but his eyes were oddly sad when he looked at Harry. It didn't matter though, he would rather Dudley be blamed for dismissing him than Vernon decide he was too cocky and give Harry another punishment.

Harry tried not to think about the fact that Marge was coming, Aunt Marge as he was forced to call her for some reason, she was horrible, and her dogs were worse. She only seemed to actually care about one, and they all seemed to be pregnant all the time, but he never heard any stories about the puppies except for her complaining about someone adopting them. The dogs were violent, towards everyone, but it seemed like they thought Harry was an east target to run after, because they would always chase him around trying to bite him, or rather to eat him.

Harry doubted he had time for one, but he needed a shower or he would get punished for getting muck everywhere, so he needed to have one. He wasn't allowed to use hot water, but it felt extremely cold, as though the water should be ice, and it made his back ache, feeling like it was screaming at him

His shower was fast, the freezing cold water hurting more than normal and he couldn't stand much, but he was almost blind as he stumbled around the bathroom, trying to find his glasses and the hole filled towel that he was allowed to use, not that it was very good at drying him off. As soon as he was dressed his mucky clothes were shoved back in his cupboard and he was starting to make dinner.

The sooner Dumbledore came to save him from the Dursleys the better.