When Living Ain\'t Easy

See Prologue for warnings, disclaimers, and author\'s notes.

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Chapter One : Within Falsehood Lies Comfort

People believe what they wish to believe, hear only what they choose to hear, and see that which does not push them out of their comfortable little ideals. Harry knew this to be one of those Universal Truths, as he had long been forced to accept the apathy of his childhood neighbors and grammar school classmates. Such mental blindness worked out well for the magical community as a whole, but it also made sure that the occassional unexplained bruise was overlooked without investigation.

Even as he thought the formal-sounding words, Harry snorted at himself. \'Occassional\' was hardly accurate, for starters. And each bruise, scrape, and scar could easily be explained by the heavy hand of Uncle Vernon. Over the course of Harry\'s lifetime, he could only remember brief periods of *not* having to hide various signs of his obese relative\'s abuse. He didn\'t count his time at Hogwarts toward the overall tally -- if he wasn\'t within the same city, his uncle wasn\'t likely to bother finding him to punish Harry for whatever infraction he was supposedly guilty of.

Since his first year at the wizarding school, such episodes were becoming more severe in the first two weeks of summer break. This apparently allowed his body enough time to heal away the worst of the lot, a mixed blessing for sure. With a pattern of the past five years, Harry slid into the back seat of his uncle\'s car, his body prepared to relax into the \'dead man\'s limp\' that kept the hardest blows from connecting with anything vital.

When the car pulled away from King\'s Cross Station without the customary \'welcome home\' beating, Harry became rather puzzled. Of course, there could have been a visit from an Order member to have made his uncle leery of public shows of \'affection\'.

When the car passed into the boundaries of Little Whinging, Surrey, and no heavy-fisted blows were aimed his way, Harry ventured into perplexion. Maybe Uncle Vernon was having a rough day?

When the car parked outside a strange house in a dingy neighborhood, all signs of confusion were replaced by alarm. Harry\'s sense of self-preservation kicked in just as the beefy man unbuckled his seat belt, turning to peer through squinting little eyes at the teen.

\"This is where you get out, boy.\" Vernon Dursley gave his best sneer at his nephew before struggling out of the car to release the boot. While Harry remained stunned in the back seat, the older man took little care dragging out his school trunk and owl cage. \"Well, what are you waiting for, you waste of space? Out with you!\"

Throwing open the back door, Dursley wrenched his nephew\'s arm in an unforgiving grip. He seemed prepared to bodily tow the thin teen, allowing only a moment for Harry to regain his balance.

Of all the actions Harry might have anticipated from his uncle, this casual dismissal was far from the realm of ordinary. Still half frozen in shock, he could do little more than stumble alongside the mountain of overbearing muggle as he was led up toward the front of the run-down house.

Some deep-seated instinct made his subconscious take careful note of every detail, even as his feet fumbled across uneven steps up the unfamiliar walk. A street sign, partially obscurred by overgrown trees, gave him no clues -- he had never been this far from the relative safety of the Dursley\'s home.

It occurred to him that maybe, just maybe, they weren\'t *in* Surrey. Harry felt somewhat ashamed of himself for not having paid attention to the drive from the station. He was so intent on waiting for the first strike that he honestly hadn\'t been watching for any danger outside his uncle\'s car.

An almost hysterical giggle threatened to escape his throat -- Mad-eye Moody would kill him for his lack of Constant Vigilance. For that matter, so would Snape.

Bad idea, thinking about the Potions Master while trying to concentrate. The teen lost a precious few seconds caught in his instant reaction to the irrascible Head of Slytherin\'s name. Even though he now understood the dark wizard\'s reasons for killing the Headmaster, Harry just coulding bring himself to feel sympathy for Severus Snape.

A quick shake of his head brought the Gryffindor back to his current dilemma. Unkept yard in desperate need of a trim. Few scraggly trees lining the boundaries of the property, keeping only the least curious from seeing inside. Shuttered windows locked tight. It was a one-story house, only slightly more stable in appearance than the Burrow.

Once again, Harry cursed himself for letting his attention deviate -- and over the greasy git, at that. He had almost missed dusk settling. No signs of light shown through the windows, nor was the porch lit.

Glancing quickly around, Harry was surprised to see his school trunk and Hedwig\'s cage bobbing behind him. Without aid of his magic! A terrifying thought struck: Had Uncle Vernon been approached by Death Eaters? Was he being left by his relative with the very people who most wanted him dead?

\"You\'d better not pull any of that *funny* stuff here, if you know what\'s good for you!\" Clipping Harry on the back of the head, Vernon rapped on the door three times in quick succession. \"These people have paid good money for you to work here this summer. And unless you want a world of pain, you won\'t be giving them any problems. They\'ve assured me that they can keep you in line, but I don\'t want them coming back asking for a refund, understood?\"

And as he always did in response to *that* tone of voice, Harry ducked his head and meekly replied, \"Yes Uncle Vernon.\"

Had he kept his head up, the teen would have seen grey eyes narrowing from the other side of the door.

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Vernon kept his grip on the young wizard\'s arm, waiting for the door to open. He had no intention of losing the small fortune he\'d been paid for his nephew\'s services. Nor would he want to return home with the troublesome brat in tow. Heaven only knew what Petunia would have to say about that.

When the door finally creaked open, it did so to complete darkness. No matter how hard he tried, the muggle couldn\'t see any details of the interior. Frustrated, he gave Harry a quick shove inside and told him to stay put. Still grumbling, Vernon made his way back to the car and sped off, not noticing the floating luggage or his nephew\'s expression of abject horror.