Chapter One

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~Harry Potter~
I woke up with a groan, pain radiating from my back. Yesterday had been just another day being locked inside the second bedroom at my Aunt and Uncles home in Surrey. I had been supposed to be picked up about a week and a half ago, but no one had come. I hadn't received any mail other than a very short happy birthday missive from Remus, who had slowly been making his way through the European Countries. He had left, after Sirius died at the end of the school year. Dumbledore had been ignoring any and all letters I wrote to him, and none of my friends had written me back either. At least not with anything interesting or even about their summers.
I rolled onto my stomach, the pain in my back abating almost immediately. I reached around for my glasses before shoving them on my face-and nearly stabbing myself in the eye. I pulled my hand back, my mouth dropping open in complete shock. On the tips of my fingers were black tipped claws, scales covering my fingers up to where they met my hand. I pulled my other hand up, comparing the two. They were identical. Something on my back moved, feeling incredibly odd, and I whispered, "What the fuck is going on?"
A rap on the door sounded, and Aunt Petunia's voice sounded, "The door is unlocked for five minutes. Do your business and get back in the room!"
I called back, "Thank you Aunt Petunia!"
I pulled on a pair of jeans and hurried to the door, nearly falling at the new weight in my back. I hurried down the hall to the bathroom and shut the door, paling at Aunt Petunia's shriek as she caught sight of me. I stared at the unfamiliar person staring back at me. The green color of my eyes were the same, but there was a slit pupil instead of a regular human pupil. Over my shoulder I noticed a pair of wings that were covered in the same black scales that my fingers were, and yet were webbed-like a bat. Experimenting, I focused on the wings, watching as they moved under my mental commands. On my chest, shoulders and back, and winding around my hips were black markings-black markings that looked remarkably like tattoos. I looked incredibly dangerous and even though I was incredibly shocked, I was also impressed. The only problem? I lived with muggles in a muggle town. I couldn't go outside looking like this! How was I supposed to leave? How would I get to Hogwarts? More importantly, when and how did this happen and what am I? Why did it occur the night of my birthday? Why had no one warned me? How frequent were these-these changes in the wizarding world? I had never seen anyone who looked even remotely like I do.
Knuckles rapping on fhe bathroom door was the only warning I got before Uncle Vernon stormed inside, took one look at me and shouted, "Freak! What have you done now?!"
I shook my head, "Nothing, Uncle Vernon! I swear! I just woke up like this! I didn't do it!"
"Lies!" A beefy hand shot out, gripping my hair, and a cry slipped out before I could stop it, resulting in an even harder yank to the swath of hair gripped in his hands. He began dragging me back to the bedroom I had been locked in all summer, but instead of just throwing me in and locking the door behind me as he usually did, he followed me in, kicking me harshly in the ribs. I cried out, landing hard on my side, and he yelled, "Fix it! Get rid of your freakishness!"
I curled in a ball and shouted, "I can't! I don't know how it happened! I can't fix it!" Another kick happened, this time in my back-hitting one of the already sensitive wings. A high pitched wail ripped out of me as a sharp snap sounded, followed by agonizing pain from my right wing. The wail broke off suddenly as he kicked me again, this time in the lower back, and hissed, "Shut up freak! You're going to get the child services called! If that happens you'll wish you were dead!"
The final kick was to the back of my head before he stormed out, locking all the deadbolts and other locks behind him.
I don't recall how long I laid there, breathing harshly, before I managed to push myself to my hands and knees, crawling slowly towards the bed. I pulled myself up on the bed post and made my way slowly to the desk, grabbing a quill and parchment and writing a letter to the only person I hadn't tried writing a letter to yet-Professor McGonagall, the Head of House for Gryffindor. I explained what happened, all the way down to the abuse, before waking up Hedwig and sending her out the window with the letter.
I laid down in my bed on my left side, holding my ribs, until I managed to fall into a restless sleep, my dreams filled with nightmares.

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