30 Minutes

Chapter 2: Out of Time to Decide

The boy that called himself Harry Potter continued to watch as the other boy walked away. His eyes dulled more. He had known, somehow, that they weren't as they had claimed. But it didn't seem to make a difference that he didn't care either way. Not much seemed to make a difference any more. There wasn't much he could do to make a difference to anyone.



He had tried. He honestly had. He had thought, maybe, this time, he could learn not to be numb. He had made the effort, tried to get Freak to like the boy, too. He wanted to try, and after a bit Freak had too. But it just hadn't worked.



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In the year that Harry Potter turned ten, his teachers had discovered that the boy would not tell if they hit him, or hurt him. He never told them why, but who would he have told? The adults meant to care for him did not believe him when he told the truth. So yet again, the boy learned a lesson about Trust, and his heart numbed more.



One teacher was particularly cruel, and liked to hold him after class and cut his skin and make him bleed. He didn't like the look in the man's eye when he was cut, but there wasn't much he could do to make it stop. That was not all the man did, though he couldn't often do the other things.



There were times, where the boy was held long after class, and the man would pull his pants down, and put fingers into him. He didn't like this much, but there was nothing he could say or do about it. His family would never have believed him, and it was his word against theirs every time.



So he took it in stride, and figured it was normal. He figured it was just one more thing about being Freak, and that he had better learn to put up with it. Somewhere, deep inside, he wished that he didn't have to deal with this, that there was someplace else to go. But he knew, logically, that there wasn't any other place, and this was his life.

Harry Potter was a clever boy. He knew that maybe what was happening wasn't normal for everyone, but he figured it must be normal for someone like him. After all, everything bad seemed to happen to him and Freak. So he kept quiet.



On the day, halfway through the school year, when the teacher who hurt him and stuck fingers in him got fired, the boy who called himself Harry Potter lost his Innocence. He learned that the things the teacher had been doing should not happen to anyone. He learned that the man had done it to other students too.



It was then his Innocence died. When he learned that everything bad that could happen seemed to happen to him. He would never Innocently assume that something was normal. Or that it wasn't normal. He never did speak up, because he did not Trust the teachers. How could he?



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When Freak turned eleven, before the school year began, letters began to turn up for the boy who was supposed to be named Harry Potter. He was surprised that they were coming, and didn't know why. He wasn't surprised when Vernon and Petunia kept taking the letters away. After all, Freak wasn't allowed to have anything. Having the letters would defeat the point.

He was very surprised by the lengths that Petunia and Vernon went to to make sure he didn't get any of the letters. He wanted to know, and Curiosity was eating at his insides. He could not remember a time he had ever been so Curious. He knew that he wasn't supposed to ask questions, though, so he didn't. He just ducked his head and obeyed.

When the huge man, Hagrid, showed up, Freak was intimidated. Here was someone big enough to Punish him even worse than Vernon or Petunia or Dudley. Freak retreated, and for the first time, Harry Potter was his own person. He was not just a mask for Freak. He had his own mind, and his own thoughts. Harry Potter wasn't afraid of anything, because Harry Potter didn't need to be. Harry Potter could never get hurt.

Harry Potter befriended Hagrid, and finally got to read the letter. He learned that there was a somewhere else, and his Curiosity grew. So did Freak's, though Freak was only vaguely paying attention. Harry Potter decided to go with this huge, strange man. He didn't Trust him, and didn't have Hope that he could make everything better, but he knew that if he didn't go, neither he or Freak would survive the night.

He was out of time to decide whether Freak could handle this or not. He had to choose to go, or they would never choose again. Once he had though, Freak's Curiosity slowly died. Harry Potter claimed it. He decided to hold on to all those feelings for Freak, until maybe he was ready to take care of them again. He hoped, someday, that he could. He hoped that someday, they could both be Harry Potter.



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Freak knew now that he and Harry had been crazy to ever think that Theodore Nott would ever treat them right. He didn't know what they had been thinking. He figured that Gryffindors and Slytherins would never really mesh well.



He curled up in his hiding place more, thinking that this had been even more stupid than their crush on the other boy.... the one that they would never have, because there would never be a way that boy would ever want them.



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A/N: So, another chapter down. Sorry for the delay between updates.



delia cerano: I appreciate your review. I know it's dark, and that it seems bad. But I will do my very best to give Harry AND Freak a happy ending. Hopefully you enjoy this update!



Thanks for reading. Signing out,

RealmTender