Harry Potter ~ Year 1 and the Alchemist Stone

Chapter 1 - A Question of Evil

Nearly 10 years have passed since the Dursley family found a scarred baby on their doorstep but a lot of things seemed to have stayed the same. There were still pictures of Dudley Dursley that were taken while the family was on one of their vacations but now he had grown up. There were pictures of Dudley on his first bike, on a carousel at the fair, playing a computer game with his smiling father, or being hugged and kissed by his mother. There were pictures of Vernon Dursley after he got promoted to director of Grunnings nearly 12 years ago. There were pictures of Petunia Dursley's beautiful and carefully tended garden. There were no pictures of anybody else who might have been living in that house.

"Up! Get up! Now!"

Harry Potter woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again.

"Up!" she screeched. Harry heard her walking toward the kitchen and the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. He rolled onto his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one with a flying motorbike in it. He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before.

His aunt was back outside the door.

"Are you up yet?" she demanded.

"Nearly," said Harry.

"Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday."

Harry groaned.

"What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door.

"Nothing, nothing..."

Dudley's birthday. How could he have forgotten this dreaded wonderful day? Harry got out of bed and rummaged around for a pair of socks. He found them with a small spider inside one of them. He carefully eased it out and placed it on the small desk crammed into the corner. He was used to spiders because the cupboard he lived in was full of them. They were calm, careful, and tried to stay out of the way. A bit like him.

The kitchen table groaned under the weight of Dudley's presents. It looks like he got that new computer he wanted, and the second television, and the racing bike. Harry didn't know why Dudley wanted a racing bike since he was a bit on the heavy side and hated exercise. Unless punching smaller kids counted as exercise. Dudley loved punching Harry when he could but Harry was often too fast for him.

Harry knew that living in a small cupboard underneath the stairs along with minimal food had impacted his growth but it wasn't like that was going to change anytime soon. The only clothes he had were the old ones that Dudley didn't want anymore and that made him look much smaller than he already was. Harry had a thin, sharp face that was almost like Aunt Petunia's, knobbly knees, messy black hair, and striking green eyes. He wore round glasses that were held together by tape and prayer from all the times that Dudley had punched him in the nose, making that part of his face slightly crooked. The only thing Harry liked about his appearance was the scar that ran across his face. It started from just underneath his hairline and splintered down his forehead, with some parts arcing around his eyes. Sometimes, when the moon shone just right, it made his scar glow like silver spiderwebs. Another reason why Harry felt a fondness for spiders. The first question he could remember asking was how he had gotten it.

"In the car crash when your parents died," his aunt had snapped. "And don't ask questions."

There were a number of rules that governed Harry's life with the Dursleys including:

1) Don't ask questions.

2) Do as you are told without question or complaint.

3) Stay quiet and stay out of the way.