An Angelic Fate//Drarry

2- An Escape Laced With Pain

On the other end of the country, Harry Potter was also receiving some news of his own, but much less shocking. He had just been told that he could leave the Dursley's and go stay with the Weasley's. Finally! He had only been there for two weeks and he already felt broken and raw from the surreal beatings he had received from his Uncle Vernon and his overweight cousin, Dudley. They were vile humans and, if you gained a distasteful feature for every act of treason you committed to those who shared your blood, they would be that most hideous beings alive, more distorted than anything you could ever imagine.

As soon as the owl arrived at the window, Harry's heart instantly skipped a beat, hope swelling up in his chest. He raced to the window, hoping to beat the Dursely's. No such luck. Dudley, despite his abnormal size, was actually quite fast. He reached the owl and attempted to snatch the letters, intending to toss them into the flames. He would not lose his punching bag so soon into the holidays.

But before he could get a hold on the letters though, the owl, who was significantly smarter than others Harry had seen, replaced the letters in his claw and bit harshly onto the cousins chubby finger, causing a thin line of blood to trickle down to the floor. As Dudley backed away, pain throbbing through his finger, Harry stepped forward, petting the owl gratefully and giving it a treat. He had learnt long ago to always carry treats in case owls appeared unexpected. They disliked when they were not treated well, and that meant you had to give a treat for every flight, or even the nicest bird would bite.

He safely evaded the Dursley's and found solace in his room, which he tightly locked. If one of these letters was what he suspected, he would be climbing out the window to get there, should he have to. The first letter was from Professor Dumbledore, telling Harry what he would need for his next year, advising him to collect his books on the way to the Weasley home or to go with the family on their trip to Diagon Alley.

Once reading that passage, he was certain he knew what the following letter would say. In a scrabble to reassure his hopes, he tore open the second, less delicate envelope, and raced along the words without really paying attention to the most of them. But the general idea was that Harry was to be collected by Mr Weasley shortly after lunch in a ministry vehicle, accompanied by his best friend Ron so that he wasn't lonely for the hours long drive.

Jumping frantically up from his spot perched on the edge of the bed, Harry immediately began to pack his belongings into his Hogwarts trunk. Robes, check. Books, check. Map, check. Within a few hours, due to taking plenty of time to avoid seeing the Dursley's before his departure, Harry had everything ready to go. All that was left was to get out of the house unharmed. And no matter how many times he joked about using the window, the thorn bush intentionally placed beneath his window would make it pointlessly painful.

So it had to be the stairs.

Unlocking his door, Harry took a note of the time briefly and moved out onto the landing, trailing his trunk behind him. Mr Weasley was expected to arrive at 12:30, and it was currently 12:20. As long as his escort was not late, Harry could leave the house with little to no damage caused.

Having navigated his way to the top of the stairs in almost complete silence, only the shuffling of his feet and the dragging of his trunk to be heard, Harry contemplated how best to descend the stairs. Choosing to carry his luggage and suffer the back pain as a result, he lifted the trunk into his arm and carefully hobbled down the stairs, cautious of falling and creating sound. Disturbing his only blood relatives whilst they were watching the news was a serious offence, punishable by beating. Although, anything Harry did was punishable by beating, this was one of the worst, right after messing up breakfast.

At the bottom, Harry released his trunk onto the floor with as much grace as he could muster whilst panting from the effort he had gone through. Luckily the trunk went unheard, but when Harry moved to tell the family he was leaving, checking the time as 12:24, he hit his toe on the corner of the door frame.

"Bloody door frame!" Harry's yell escaped his lips before he could stop it, causing a disturbance in the 'home'. One by one, the perfectionists lined up before Harry, showing clear signs of amusement that he was to be punished. Harry had always wondered why his relatives hated him so much, but it had never made complete sense until he was 11. When he found out he was a wizard, the missing pieces had all fallen into place. They thought he was an abomination, and that was not perfect, so the perfectionists did not like him.

Now, 5 years later, their hatred had only grown. Petunia would scream at Harry for every mistake he made, ensuring to always pinch him extremely hard in all the places that hurt. Vernon would beat Harry relentlessly for nothing but forgetting to put sugar in his tea, and Dudley, oh, he was another story. Harry's dear old cousin simply used him as a punching back that felt the pain and regularly voiced it. Not only that but all three of the snakes would go out of their way, even if it meant no yelling or punching, to deprive Harry of any meal that wasn't necessary to keep him alive and stable.

Now, as they looked down on Harry's weak, starving figure, they smiled evilly and waited for him to try and defend his honor. Harry was no such fool. He waited patiently for the beating he knew was bound to come, and silently wished they had not seen his trunk yet. If they knew he was leaving, they would be even more ruthless. Too late.

Dudley took the first shot, knocking Harry straight in the gut, causing him to keel over in pain. Lacking food had left Harry physically weaker, therefore pressure to his stomach hurt much more. Vernon went next, hitting even harder in the same spot. Petunia yelled insults at Harry throughout the whole ordeal, even when both males began punching in alternate turns, never letting him rest.

At exactly 12:30, a knock sounded at the door. All of the company looked up in astonishment, but only Harry moved to answer it. He knew who it was and couldn't wait to see their warming smile. He slammed the door open, alarming the gentleman on the other side. Mr Weasley. Harry rapidly grabbed his trunk and bolted through the door, not wanting to spend another moment in that hellish house.

Once he had dragged Mr Weasley to the car, he piled in his belongings, hearing Hedwig above his head as she was just returning from hunting. Harry knew she would head to the Burrow ahead of him, so didn't bother opening her cage for the journey. Still recieving strange glances about his appearance from Mr Weasley, Harry climbed into the car, informing the him he would explain when they were back at the Burrow as he did so.

As soon as he saw the look of his mate, Ron pulled out the potion he had learnt to always bring when picking up Harry. After seeing his state 2nd and 3rd year being almost as bad as each other, maybe even worse, he had asked Harry what was happening. He had been given a straight answer, but had been sworn to secrecy. From that moment on, Ron had always brought pain killers for his best friend.

"Here you go mate, you could definitely use it this time. Mum will fix you up once we're home, and then she'll fuss over your weight."

"Thanks Ron, your brilliant. And please, don't remind me of Mrs Weasley's fussing, it still gives me nightmares."

Both boys burst into laughter, Harry chugging his potion once he had calmed himself down again. This was the way things were supposed to be, all laughs and smiles, not punches and yelling. He was glad he was going back to his family of choice instead of suffering with the demons he called his blood relations for the rest of the summer.

As the pain started to fade away, Harry allowed himself to relax, slouching in his chair to help the pain ease faster. By the time they arrived at the Burrow, all his pain had evaporated, leaving only bruises with no feeling over his body. Just as the car stopped, a piercing pain laced itself through Harry's abdomen. It was as though his insides had suddenly caught fire. This made no sense, the pain was gone, his 'family' hadn't even touched him there.

As the fire spread and grew more and more, Harry felt himself grapple for the car door, desperate for the cool blow of the breeze. He fell out, hunched over in pain. He started to whimper, causing Ron and Mr Weasley to glance over in concern. Seeing Harry's pain, they yelled for the rest of the family to help, racing over to do as such. Just as they arrived, the pain grew to be so much that Harry found himself screaming wildly, confused as to where this pain came from.

As black dots clouded his vision, Harry looked up at the people around him, hoping to find peace in their faces. But instead he saw silhouettes, and beyond them, a beautiful angel. An angel with silken black wings and platinum blonde hair. An angel with a molten silver gaze that could melt even the coldest of hearts. An angel that looked exactly like Draco Malfoy.

Then the pain stopped, and the world went black.