Howling At The Moon

Chapter 5

Harry had been kept in the cupboard for a week, a whole week! He was only allowed out to go to the bathroom and it was ridiculous.

He's been feeling ill and tired, drained and weak. He can hardly keep his eyes open at all and his voice is so little. He has massive bags under his eyes and his tummy hurts.

He's not been eating properly and therefore not sleeping properly. Plus, Dudley makes it his mission to make him as miserable as possible for ruining his birthday by constantly kicking and banging on the cupboard door from the outside. He also jumps on the staircase above him, making all the dust fall onto Harry's head and causing him to wheeze.

When Harry is finally allowed out, he glared daggers at aunt Petunia and heads into the kitchen to get a glass of water. Dudley already made himself some cereal and is scoffing it down in the dining room so she doesn't ask him to make him breakfast, therefore she just walks away and leaves him alone.

He's shaking slightly and his stomach is aching. He knows what that means and he bets anything the wicked woman knows what she was doing. She was deliberately starving him because she's evil, that's all. They all are.

He clutches his stomach and opens the fridge, quickly rummaging through the food before anyone comes back, and finds some strips of bacon. It's not perfect but they're edible and uncooked and raw and smell so good and his mouth salivates. Before he realises what he's doing, he's shoving mouthfuls of it in without a second thought, moaning happily at the pleasant feeling he always gets that runs through his body.

Once he's done, he washes up and arranges the food back into place to make sure it looks like nothing has been taken. If anyone asks, he'll just say Dudley ate it. He already eats so much, they'll probably believe him.

He doesn't feel perfect, not like he usually does, but it's taken some of the edge off. He can lift his head more now and his stomach pains have significantly decreased, so progress.

He decides he's going to spend his first day out of the cupboard out of house completely. He doesn't want to be in this shipwreck any longer. It's giving him bad vibes. He goes to get dressed and aunt Petunia raises an eyebrow at him once he's heading for the door.

"Just where do you think you're going?"

"Out." He says casually and shrugs.

Her eyes bug out her skull. "Out? What do you mean out? You can't, you have chores to do!" She snaps.

"You have a son right there." He points to Dudley who is sitting on the couch watching tv. "Make him do it."

"Dudley has friends coming over." Aunt Petunia says sharply. "You have nothing else to do."

"I'm going for a walk and getting fresh air. I at least deserve that, considering I've been locked up for a week!" He snaps furiously. Here comes the temper, uh oh.

Dudley turns to watch the commotion with interest.

"How dare you! You deserved that, be glad you didn't get worse!" She yells back.

"Be glad?!" Harry yells. "For what? Getting locked in a tiny cramped space? Getting starved? Getting made fun of?" He listed off with his fingers. "Oh, yes aunt Petunia. I'm so grateful!" He snarls.

Dudley's jaw has dropped open yet he has smartly decided to remain quiet, lest he feel Harry's wrath too.

Aunt Petunia's eyes were like fire, burning right into him with hatred. "Trust me, it could have gone a whole lot worse if we wanted it to. And it still can, if you keep up this attitude." She threatens.