Memory's Prisoner

Chapter 2: Into the Cubby

"What did you do?!" Umbridge screeched into the pitch blackness that had overtaken the Room of Requirement.

"I don't know! I saw it in a book! It looked like it might hurt him," Pansy yelled back.

"Does anyone know what happened?!"

"I do," Hermione raised her hand even though she couldn't see it through the darkness. "Parkinson used a curse that sends anyone near the target into the targets memories."

"WHAT?!"

That was Harry. He was panicking in the complete darkness and hearing that everybody and their mama was going to see his memories did not help in the slightest.

"The curse broadcasts the memories with the strongest emotions attached to them."

"Is there any way we can not do that? I'd like to keep certain things private," Harry asked in the general direction of Hermione.

"Sorry, Harry. There's no reversing it. We will just have to sit through it," she said apologetically. She knew a little about Harry's childhood and understood that he didn't like talking about it.

"Honestly, stop being so dramatic, Potter," Malfoy sneered into the darkness.

Harry grumbled angrily, but bit back his retort. Slowly the world around them brightened, and they began the first memory.

Petunia Dursley opened her door the morning of November 1st to check the mail and nearly stepped on a baby.

The observers cringed at her shriek as she backed away from the door as quickly as possible.

"Vernon! Vernon! There's a baby at our door!"

A large man that vaguely resembled a walrus trudged to the door and picked up the no longer sleeping child.

"It's got a note with it," Petunia said as she snatched the note from the child's grip. "Oh dear. My sister's died! And she left her baby with us!"

"What do you mean she's left her baby? I will not have this filth around our Dudley!"

"But Vernon, we have to. My sister and her stupid husband have gone and gotten themselves murdered! This Dumblydoor says keeping the little monster will keep us safe."

Vernon huffed angrily. "Fine, but he's not getting Dudley's second room. He'll sleep in the cupboard."

"In. The. Cupboard." Hermione said very slowly, twitching slightly as she turned to Harry who was sitting on the floor in front of a door under the stairs.

"The cupboard under the stairs. It was my bedroom for a long while."

He looked listless and resigned as he watched Vernon yank open the cupboard door and throw in the past version of himself.

"There. Maybe we can forget he's there and he'll die like his good-for-nothing parents."

The DA members roared in outrage as the memory faded and they were left in a light gray haze of fog. The Inquisitorial Squad looked generally confused, but their presence was forgotten by the infuriated children.

"Harry! You live with those monsters?"

He nodded, not quite trusting his voice at the moment.

"Blimey, mate. I knew they were bastards when we first met them, but I wasn't expecting that."

Harry was saved from answering by another memory beginning.

Harry was four years old though he looked about two, with his oversized clothes making his small stature even smaller. He was sitting in the yard, pulling weeds out of the flower beds, occasionally hissing as he scraped his hand on a thorn.

"Harry, what are you doing? You don't look old enough to speak let alone weed," Ginny asked quietly.

"My relatives never bought me my own clothes, so all I had to wear were Dudley's hand-me-downs. I'm actually four in this one. Weeding was one of the first chores Aunt Petunia gave me."

"Four is still too young to be weeding," Fred or George pointed out.

Memory Harry paused his weeding to look across the street. Sitting more still than one normally would was a cat with markings that looked suspiciously like glasses. Harry grinned and walked over, carefully making sure his aunt didn't see him. He reached up to pet the cat and it darted away.

"Hey!" said little Harry, slightly insulted at being avoided.

He crept towards the cat, both staring at each other in a silent challenge, before he jumped forward and grabbed it.

"Ha!" he cheered, as he sat down in the grass and pet the reluctant cat. "You're very soft, Miss Cat."

The children looked confused at why that memory had strong emotions behind and looked to see Harry giggling silently.

"What's so funny, mate?"

"I just realized that cat was McGonagall. I had been trying to catch her for months," he said, falling back slightly from his giggling.

// A.N. //

I've always really wanted him to pet Cat McGonagall, and there's no one to stop me so I did it.