Power, Freedom and a French Flower

The boy from Number 4

NEW AN: Together with my fantastic Beta, SiriusOrionBitch, I'm currently reworking the chapters of this story. I will reupload them in bulks of 10 chapters each, so if you receive notifications on this, just know that its reuploads.

Again, massive thanks to SOB for his help with this and also my current story!

AN: Hey guys and a warm welcome to my very first fanfiction. The following will be a Harry Potter/Fleur Delacour fanfiction. Harry will be a lot more dark/gray than in canon and his Slytherin and Ravenclaw traits, especially his thirst for knowledge and power, will be a lot more dominant.

Since he is an orphan, he will also be a lot less social and outgoing. Instead, he dreams of being free from everybody's influences to finally be able to live life the way he wishes without interference.

He is more powerful than in canon, but slowly gets his knowledge and powers.

Without further ado let's get started:

Chapter 1

September 1st, 1985

The first day of primary school was awful for Harry. Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon had never told him his name, so when the friendly teacher took attendance and asked for "Harry Potter", no one raised their hand. After every other kid was accounted for and Harry was the only child left, the teacher asked Harry for his name, to which he nervously responded:" Freak".

To say the teacher was surprised and shocked would be an understatement. While the class rolled in laughter, the teacher, with the support of the principal, quickly clarified that the last child in the class is indeed one Harry Potter, born on July 31, 1980.

At this realization, anger spread through Harry. Why had no one ever told him his real name? Why had Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon never mentioned that his last name was Potter? Why was he not only treated like a freak at the Dursleys household, but even called one?

As these questions stirred through Harry's mind, a realization came to him. People didn't seem to want to help him. The Dursleys treated him like dirt on their shoes. He never had a friend and even the new kids at school and the teachers chuckled when he mentioned the name "Freak", which Harry thought was his, for the remainder of his life.

Harry vowed to show them. One day he will show them all... He would do everything in his power to make sure that those that treated him horribly would one day get what they deserve. And he would start with the Dursleys.

The first step Harry took was gaining knowledge and learning as much as possible. While Dudley preferred spending time watching TV, playing his video games, or beating up other kids, Harry preferred to spend his afternoons in the library, reading all sorts of literature. The helpful librarian, Mrs. Jensen, quickly took a liking to the polite young boy and was ever so helpful when Harry asked for directions, further references, and more interesting books to devour.

Because Harry isolated himself from his peers, he quickly became a target, not only for Dudley's gang, but for the other kids as well. In order to defend himself, he tried to start reading about self-defense techniques and took an interest in karate. Feeling confident to test his skills after a mere week of reading and training, he confronted Dudley and his gang after school:

"What do you want, freak?" Dudley asked, watching Harry collecting his courage and walking up to the group.

"I am here to let you know that I am no longer scared of you and that next time you try to hurt me, I will fight back!" Harry calmly explained. He was naive to think that after a mere week of reading about karate, he could handle his cousin already.

Dudley and his gang looked at Harry for almost a whole minute before bending over with laughter:

"Now that was a good one, Freak, but I think you need another lesson, and we are quite bored right now, aren't we guys?" Dudley asked his gang and the boys nodded in agreement while smirking.

Next, several things happened quickly after one another. Dudley drew his fist back, fully intending to punch Harry's face with as much force as possible. Harry, remembering his reading, blocked Dudley's punch before it had any force and used his opponent's momentum to throw him over his hip and onto the hard surface of the playground.

Dudley cried out in pain, hitting the ground with his shoulder while Harry fully enjoyed hearing an extremely satisfying "crunchhhh". Before Harry could fully enjoy the spectacular sight of seeing Dudley on the ground, several fists slammed into his belly and head.

As Harry fell to the ground, Dudley's gang surrounded him and started kicking him repeatedly. Dudley slowly got up, while his friends kept kicking Harry. Harry tasted blood in his mouth, felt his ribs cracking under the kicks, and realized that if nothing happened within the next seconds, things looked horribly bad for him.

"You're going to pay for this, Freak" Dudley said, a cruel smile appearing between his fat cheeks. While his gang kept kicking Harry, Dudley slowly approached him. Harry wished with every fiber of his being to get as far away from the situation as possible.

Spotting the top of the school's roof out of the corner of his eye, he willed himself to somehow get up there, out of harm's way and as far away from Dudley and his gang as possible.

With a loud "CRACK", Harry found himself on the top of the school, panting heavily on the roof, whilst spitting blood and holding onto his broken ribs.

Dudley and his gang were shocked: "Where did he go?"

"I don't know, he can't have gone far!"

"Go look for him, I am not done with him yet, get him down here and let's finish what we started!"

Seriously injured, Harry slowly made his way from the school's rooftop to the only person he somewhat trusted.

As Mrs. Jensen watched him approach her in the library, she was furious and wouldn't believe for a second Harry's excuse of "having fallen from the swing".

She immediately took Harry to the nearest hospital to get him checked by a doctor. The nurse slowly helped Harry out of his bloodied oversized shirt. One look at Harry's bruised and scarred torso was enough for the nurse's training to kick in, and within minutes, she was on the phone with a case worker from the Department of Education, Britain's child welfare service.