Harry Potter and the Slytherin Truth: Year One

Chapter 4

A/N: We should have done this earlier, but better late than never…

Thoughts: ‘Blah. Blah. Blah.'

Flashback: Blah. Blah. Blah. ( [END]FLASHBACK before/after them)

Hedwig: “Blah. Blah. Blah.”

Parseltongue: {Blah. Blah. Blah.}

Letters/Articles/Writing: Blah. Blah. Blah. 

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Chapter 4

Harry wakes up suddenly the next morning and he quickly and quietly gets ready in the cramped space of his cupboard. He isn’t sure why he woke up exactly, but he has a nagging feeling that something important was going to happen today. 

He squints at the cracked watch on his wrist, it reads 6:00. It’s hard to see in the dim light from the vent on the door. He would turn on the light but he had hit his head and broken it last week. The Dursley’s had no sympathy for the glass in his head or the blood running down his neck. They also refused to replace it, stating they didn't “want to waste money on the freak.” He notices that he had woken up a little earlier than usual, usually waking closer to 7, in preparation for his aunt Petunia waking him for breakfast. 

Harry has experienced first hand his Aunt’s cruelty when it comes to waking up on time. He has no intention of experiencing it again. But he knows that if she can’t get onto him about waking up on time, she’ll eventually find another excuse as the day goes on. Whether it be for an unsatisfactory performance with his chores or his existence in general. It’s almost as if she wants him to apologize for breathing. He can just imagine how that would go. “I’m so sorry that I have to breathe in your presence, your majesty, it’s just that breathing is essential for my continued existence.” Yeah, comments like that would NOT do him any favors. If anything it would just incur her wrath upon him.   

Quick, light footsteps coming toward the stairs clue him into the fact that his aunt is coming downstairs. This may be something others wouldn't notice, but years of abuse has taught him to be aware of his surroundings. 

A quick rap on the door, the sharp click of the lock and the shrill “get up” from his aunt alerts Harry that it is time to cook breakfast. He quickly opens the cupboard door and heads to the kitchen. He has about an hour before the rest of the house wakes. He knows that if his uncle was at the table for longer than a few minutes without breakfast, he would suffer the consequences. 

He starts on a traditional english breakfast consisting of bacon, poached eggs, fried tomatoes, fried mushrooms, buttered toast, and sausages. He’s just going through the motions, having made this meal hundreds of times, letting his thoughts run wild. 

He doesn’t realize how much time has passed until he hears the lumbering steps of his cousin and uncle coming down the stairs. He assumes that they had been woken up by the smell of breakfast because Petunia was standing at the living room window spying on the neighbors and he hadn’t heard her shrill voice calling up the stairs. Luckily he only has to finish the toast and then breakfast is ready. 

He sets the table with a practiced ease, placing the biggest plates where Dudley and Vernon sit. Next he places the coffee at the head of the table, closest to the living room, for Vernon. The tea is placed at the other end of the table for his aunt and the orange juice for Dudley placed in between. Finally, as his family, and he uses that word mildly, comes to the table, he plates breakfast and goes to the corner until they’re finished; As he has been taught to do. 

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Three resounding knocks echo through the house, disturbing the sounds of scraping plates and light chatter over the breakfast table.