"I'm not a freak."
The person speaking was a five-year-old boy, who was currently walking at a good pace (given his age, size and malnourished state) away from his relatives and the only home he could remember.
Having joined school alongside his cousin at the tender age of four, Harry had learned a lot, especially thanks to Mrs Smith, who'd allowed him to stay indoors during the long breaks, reading or painting while the other kids ran around playing. Talking to Mrs Smith, Harry had learned a lot of things, among others the fact that he wasn't a freak, and that he wasn't supposed to live in a cupboard. Mrs Smith had told Harry to stay calm and keep his head down, and she'd make sure he wouldn't have to stay with his relatives for much longer.
Harry, trusting the only person he'd ever really opened up to, had done what she asked of him. However, the day after, Mrs Smith had ignored him. Thinking it was part of her plan, Harry had accepted it, if reluctantly. Same thing the next day. And the day after that. And the day after that.
After a week had gone by and Harry had neither noticed a change in his relatives nor had Mrs Smith mentioned anything again, in fact, she hadn't even let him stay indoors during break like she used to, ignoring him whenever he tried to talk to her outside of class. When he brought it up again, reminding her of his promise, she'd merely told him to stop making such silly things up. When he'd insisted, she'd told him to stop lying or else she would bring it up with his guardians.
Heart crushed and trust broken, Harry had left school. He hadn't headed to his relatives' house though; he had no reason to. Everything of value, he had with him - there was nothing left for him. Thus, he was now running away, except it was tiresome to run, so he settled for walking instead. He'd eaten the sandwich his aunt had let him pack for lunch, and drunk his fill from the tap in the school before leaving.
However, that was several hours ago, and while Harry was used to going hungry and thirsty, he wasn't used to walking long distances, especially not so far from his house, so late in the evening. The sun was already setting and the lights in the park were beginning to shine, throwing long, deep shadows interspersed with small areas of light along the paths through the park.
"I'm not a freak." Harry continued his mantra, reassuring himself despite the ache in his chest and stomach, despite the burning in his eyes and pounding in his ears.
As the little boy settled behind a bush behind a streetlight, he hugged his knees through the baggy clothing and buried his head in his arms.
"'M not a freak..." He mumbled, soft sobs beginning to shake his frame.
"Why?" He asked himself. "Why are they so mean? Why do they hate me? Why did Mrs Smith forget about everything?"
"Why?"
At this moment, however, time froze. For a moment, the scene teetered on the precipice, before shattering into a hundred images. In most, Harry would end up, either found by someone or having woken up on his own, back with the Dursleys, where a round of abuse would break what little remained of his spirit, reducing him to a shadow of his full potential. In some, he would not break, but straighten, standing proud as he weathered the insults and pain. In others, he would break, but go over the edge - he would become a hateful, spiteful child, one who would end up following in the footsteps of a young man, his senior by about fifty years. In a handful, he would escape, continue to run away, continue to make his own way. Where it would lead, who knows?
This wasn't one of those worlds though.
While superficially similar, this timeline was very different. The changes went a long way back, a small twist really - a matter of succession. Where, in most timelines, the Moon Princess and the Earth Prince never had the chance to tie the knot, so to speak, in this timeline they were magically wed before the formal ceremony. While it might seem a small detail, it is worth to notice, because it meant that magically speaking, the Royal Line of Gaia was also the Royal Line of Serenity.
This is important, because while the Moon Kingdom was wiped out, the Earth realm wasn't. And while the Royal Line of Serenity had no cadet branches, no family or relatives, the Royal Line of Gaia was not so small, quite the opposite in fact; it was a teeming clan full of cousins, aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, and all sorts of familial relations one can imagine. As a sheer matter of happenstance, Harry was, through his mother, descended from the main branch, and thus, magically and legally (using a code of law long since forgotten), the Crown Prince and Future King of Earth.
What this meant, was that he was also the Crown Prince of the Moon, the first to ever hold that position. His mother might've held that position as well, but she was lacking in a few key areas, areas which Harry quite incidentally fulfilled through raw magical power, prophecy, a coincidence regarding his birth, his little encounter with the Dark Lord Voldemort, his current situation and the questions he asked. As a result, he triggered the enchantment on the Book, causing it to enter the real world from its place in Libraryspace-
Somewhere, or rather, Elsewhere, a librarian who looked suspiciously like an orangutan was happily munching on a banana when his Librarian-senses began to tingle. A quick check on the magical index soon had him cursing about people not checking books out the normal way anymore - that was the third copy to have simply popped out without as much as a 'hey'! The Librarian expressed his distress in the only way he could.
"Oook!"
- Although, it should be noted, it was intended to arrive in front of its owner, who should have been sitting at a desk or at least standing up with their arms held out to receive The Book. Unfortunately, Harry wasn't sitting at a desk, he wasn't even standin, and so, when the book appeared almost a meter and a half over the ground, Harry only had enough time to raise his head and intercept the invaluable grimoire on its downward path.
Thunk
"Ow! What the..."
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(Posted Sat, 10 Apr 2010 20:26)
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