In Company of Wolves

The young man was distraught, pacing back and forth in the small foyer. Armand was wrapped firmly around his right leg, although he was getting quite dizzy and was beginning to regret his decision.

Outside more of the Muggle police cars had shown up, one of them containing the missing Dursleys. Harry was beginning to understand what had occurred, as he saw Petunia burst into hysterics and grab hold of Dudley, Vernon a blustering bag of wind as his face heated from the strength of his accusations.

"Armand, what ssssssshould I do? This is very, very bad…" Harry whispered frantically. "I look like a freak! The police are probably going to kill me…"

Hedwig hooted her distain of the Dursley’s behavior in owl talk from her position on the stairwell. She gave them a severe reprimand after calling them several choice names. They didn’t hear her, of course, but that didn’t deter her the slightest.

"I can’t sssssstay here… and I can’t apparate! I can’t be expelled from Hogwartsssss… I can’t! Oh, what am I going to do?" He wrapped his arms around his chest, biting his lower lip in despair.

"Masssster, relax, I’m sssssure everything isssss going to be fine." Armand voiced his support.

"NO. Don’t you ssssee? It can’t! It can never be alright…" Harry sniffled.

"PULL. YOURSELF. TOGETHER!" Armand nearly screamed… at least as much as a snake could scream. His apparent anger served to snap Harry to the present from whatever memories he was reliving. Shock filled the luminescent, green eyes as he stared at the furious serpent.

"You have been acting like thisssss for far too long; yesssss I know you are upset, but there issssss no need to continue blubbering around like a ssssssssimpering little girl! Deal with whatever is troubling you and move on."

Harry turned his attention back to his cloth-covered knees. "You don’t underssssstand."

"Then why don’t you tell me?" Armand curled up until he could look Harry in the eye. Taking several short, hitching breaths, Harry started on his story.

“It was last summer. I had just gotten out of the Hogwarts express, and the Dursley’s were supposed to pick me up, but they had forgotten me… as was usual for them. I was standing, alone on the platform, when this odd man bumped into me. I started to apologize but…”

Harry gulped down another sob.

“I thought at first that it was Voldemort, but at a second glance I caught a glimpse of his immense belly. He turned himself, to apologize I guess, but when he saw me... he… he snarled something at me and…”

::It was like fire, his scar burning at him. Pain laced through his forehead and down his spine, like nothing he had ever experienced before. He gasped as he saw a wand aimed at him and then all was black.::

"Sssssso… that’s why…"

“NO!” Harry’s head jerked up. “That’s not it. I woke up a short time after that. The Dursleys had indeed found me and… that’s when Vernon started hitting me. He hurt me pretty badly, and I… I couldn’t stop him; I was too weak. And he continued day after day, and I wasn’t able to heal fast enough to stop him. And… now I can’t even try to stop him. I can’t…”

Armand looked at Harry in horror. Two years this had been going on? Why hadn’t anyone stopped it?

“Because.” Harry replied hollowly. “Professor Dumbledore said that I would be safer with my family. He won't listen to me. He didn't trust me last year and the most important person in my life perished because of it. He continues to send me back to this hell year after year. He has to know about what goes on in here, he has wards for Merlin's sake! It’s probably why Voldemort didn’t do anything to me for the past year - he knows that this torture is far worse than any he could come up with.”

Armand hissed slightly as he digested this information. How dare they treat his Master that way! "Do not let thissssss continue! You have the power you have inheirited! If you cannot usssssse it now, you have only a year left to finisssssh your ssssschooling, right?"

"Two yearsssss, Armand." Harry hissed brokenly. "I probably won’t lasssssssst to the end of thisssss day; there issssss no way I’m going to sssssurvive for another two yearsssss."

"Haven’t you told your Professsssssssor about any of thissss?"

“It's not like I haven't tried to talk to him.The Headmasterbloody avoided me last year. Him and his damn secrets.” Harry sighed.

Acanister of tear gascrashed through the window, making the occupants of the room jump in fear. Harry gathered his animals away from the windows with a cry. Another sound broke through the tinkling of the broken glass and the wails from the Dursleys about their house and murderers that were inside it. So that was the cocked up story that they fed the police. The gas started to leak out of the can.

His eyes narrowed in anger. No more. Fuck them and fuck their whole screwed up world. Fucking wizards and fucking Dumbledore. His power began to blaze around him, creating a maelstrom as the green flames licked around the walls of the small house. Fucking Hogwarts! Fucking friends... tears of anger welled in his eyes. No more! He turned to his owl and the snake that was looking at him with respect.

"Armand, isss there a place that you know of that we may go, to remain undisssturbed?"

"Massster, there issss sssuch a place. Would you wish me to transssport you there?"

Harry's eyes widened slightly. "I didn't realize that you could do that. Yesssss, bring ussss there."

Armand nodded, before turning around in a circle, taking his tail softly in his mouth. He began to glow with a bright white light, before that light encompassed the three beings present in the house. Harry grabbed his trunk as they vanished, leaving the ratty house behind as it began to burn from the exposure to Harry's powers. The Dursleys could do nothing but scream as their house went up in smoke along with all their earthly possessions. The firefighters would not arrive for several hours, as they were delayed by a much more urgent fire somewhere else in the city.

The world came back into focus again for Harry and his compainions several minutes after Armand finished the transportation. Their surroundings had changed from muggle to wizard; the walls were a heavy stone like Hogwarts dungeons, the cold dampness permeating the air. There were torches in the enclaves on the walls, however they were not lit. Harry could see just fine though, the pitch black of the dungeons seeming to him as bight as the mid-day sun. Hedwig hooted in annoyance before settling on Harry's shoulder, closing her eyes to trust in her master's ability to get them out of there. Armand slithered up Harry's leg to rest around his waist, looking to the world as a sentinent and tasteful belt.

Harry decided that it would be better for him to start moving; anything would be better than standing in the open where he could easily be attacked. His eyes narrowed as he allowed his Slytherin side to come out to play. Analyzing the place as he went along the corridors, he hypothisized at where he could be. Armand said that he took them someplace where they would not be disturbed; the question would be where did the snake think that they would not be bothered?

The young man stopped as he heard footsteps coming around the corner before him. So there were other people there before him. He lowered himself into a defensive crouch, the newly aquired wings held ridgidly at ninety degree angles away from his body. A light shone suddenly from the end of the corridor and Harry braced himself for the worst. Nothing from his worst nightmares prepared himself for what he saw next - the last thing on earth he expected to see, something that he had no desire to come into contact with, that thing was what he faced now.

The bright red eyes of the person seemed to glow in the dim lighting like rich red rubies. Those eyes widened in the torch light that played on his palid features, slightly scaly like a snakes, a contrast to his dark mop of hair. Lord Voldemort's mouth opened and closed like a fish, before he managed to form coherent sylables. Harry was in the same state of shock if not worse, and more to the fact that his scar was not hurting like it had in the past.

"What the fuck are YOU doing here?" The both shouted at the same time, pointing at each other in horror.