Chapter 1

Looking out over the town from his lofty vantage point, the small boy sitting on the roof of his school began to notice one detail that stood out. Everything was the same in every direction. The streets were all pointed North/South or East/West. The houses all had the same roofs, same four layouts, same meticulous yards, same fences, same, same, same. There was no variety, no room for expression, individuality, or creativity. And there was no room for deviation from the status quo. The sign on entering this little slice of beige stated 'Welcome to Little Whinging, a point of peace in this overly chaotic world, ' and almost everyone thought that was a wonderful way to live. The problem was that if everyone was supposed to be the same, then where did a "Freak" like him fit in here?

Harry James Potter had not even known his name until a little under two years ago when he started primary school. He had been taught to clean and cook from the time he could walk, often with the lessons being punctuated with a fist, belt, or on a few occasions, a frying pan. He was blamed for every bad thing that happened to his family, whether or not it was his fault. His Uncle missed out on a promotion at work, and he felt the brunt of his Uncle's anger at home that night. His Aunt didn't get the award for best yard in town, and he had to get stitches for 'falling' on a pair of garden shears. His cousin fell and scraped his knee because he was too fat to catch Harry while playing 'Harry Hunting, ' and Harry could expect a beating worse than if he had just let himself get caught by Dudley and his gang. Yet this was the only life that Harry knew was possible, that is until he learned to read.

Harry knew from very painful experience not to do better in school than Dudley, a good test result meant a severe beating on Friday so that he would have time to heal before school Monday. However, Harry learned early in his first year that there was one safe zone in the school or neighborhood that Dudley would not enter for any reason, that safe place was the Library. It wasn't because Dudley was afraid of books that he wouldn't go there; it was because of the Librarians. Ms. Prudence Ashington-Smythe and her dowager sister Lady Abigail Smythe-Covington ruled the local libraries as their own personal fiefdom. Those two sisters were both widowed during the war and moved back together for comfort and family. They decided after a few years of the social scene, that they would not re-marry but they felt that they wanted to be around children. With that purpose in mind they decided to work in the local libraries. Many a generation of schoolboy ran headlong into the Basilisk like stare of one of the sisters while causing disruption in one of 'their' libraries.

One day Dudley and his gang decided to corner Harry in the back of the school library and have a little fun with him while their class was having study time. Unfortunately for them, but very fortunately for Harry, both sisters were there to talk about a new way of keeping track of books using computers. The disturbance took place right outside a door in the back of the library that happened to be the office of Lady Abigail when she was in the library. Piers Polkiss was holding Harry from behind while Dudley was punching him and the rest of the gang was egging him on. Suddenly, like avenging Angels, The Smythe sisters came barreling out and grabbed Dudley and Piers by their ears and pulled them away from Harry. They proceeded to lecture them about library etiquette while dragging them outside. The whole class followed, not wanting to miss seeing Dudley, the bully, get in trouble. Outside the school library was a willow tree that Ms. Prudence headed toward while Lady Abigail held both squealing boys. Taking a moment, Ms. Prudence selected two nice and springy branches, and then pealed them of all leaves before breaking them off the tree. Each sister took a boy and sat down on a bench, getting ready to teach some manners to the two ruffians. It was at that moment that their teacher decided to speak up.

"You can't do that to those boys, that's Dudley Dursley. He wouldn't be involved with doing anything wrong; it was probably that troublemaker Potter that got them in trouble." Said the Teacher.

Now it should probably be noted that the teacher was not a bad person for saying that, even though he knew it not to be true. It was just that he had been brought in to replace the previous teacher who had asked too many questions and had made allegations of abuse against the boyhood friend of the Headmaster and local councilman. She was summarily dismissed and he was brought in to replace her, all while being told that it was not wise to accuse such an upstanding man of anything, when it was clearly lies spread by his troublemaking nephew who had been taken in out of the goodness of Vernon and Petunia Dursley's heart. And while he may have wanted to say something, he had a wife and a new child at their new home and could not afford to lose this job. So like many others in Harry's life, the teacher turned a blind eye to any abuse that Dudley caused to his 'troublemaker' cousin. The Smythe sisters though, were of an entirely different breed. They were beholden to no one and did not fear the wrath of any mere man.

Lady Abigail looked him in the eye and stated firmly, "What goes on in our Library is our domain. If you do not like that, or want to argue, stand quietly and when we are through with these ruffians, we will proceed to teaching you manners next."

Harry's teacher knew he was not about to let that happen, so he backed up and decided to get the headmaster. After all, it was above his pay grade, and he really did want Dudley to get shown what for. As he walked away though not with any particular hurry to inform the headmaster of what was going on, he smiled to himself as the two boys started squealing at their punishment. He thought to himself, 'Wow; that Dudley kid squeals like the pig he resembles.'

When he arrived back with the Headmaster, the two women were done with Dudley and Piers, making the young hoodlums stand facing the wall while they sat on either side of Harry Potter, deep in a very focused conversation. When Tim looked over at headmaster Douglas's face, and the red mottled color it had become, he decided to remove himself from the confrontation. After all, no matter who won the upcoming battle, it would probably be him that lost in the end.

Headmaster Brian Douglas had been a member of this community all his life. Even when he went away to Smelting's Boarding school, and then University with his friends, he always planned on coming back and being a leader in the community with his friends. He and his cohorts considered Little Whinging to be their town to deal with as they saw fit, no matter what anyone else's opinion was. Now here was his chance to rein in those two old battle axes who believed to that they could order their betters around. It was bad enough that they did not come to his staff meetings, but the fact that they felt that they could boss around men, being that they were women, was just unacceptable. And now they had gone too far. How dare they punish two fun-loving, irascible young bucks like Dudley and Piers for expressing the piss and vinegar of youth. And on top of that, to take the side of the ungrateful, lazy, troublemaking nephew of his best friend Vernon Dursley what something that he would not stand by and allow to happen.

The first inkling of approaching trouble that Harry, Ms. Prudence, and Lady Abigail had was when the rather large and corpulent shadow of the Headmaster seemed to block out the sun. The next sign of danger that the two ladies had, was Harry beginning to tremble like a leaf while trying to almost shrink into himself and make himself invisible. Then a ham sized fist reached between them to grab little Harry, and the yelling began.

"How dare you spread your lies and ungratefulness to those around you Potter! Everyone knows that you are a trouble maker and that you constantly abuse the good nature of your loving Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia by spreading untruths about their son Dudley. Well Boy, this time you have gone too far with your lies and I will be calling Vernon just as soon as you apologize to these ladies for causing them to error as to who the real delinquent in need of punishment is." Headmaster Douglas said all of this in one breath, expecting that his gruff and no nonsense approach would make sure no one would challenge him and his views of what was really going on.

Unfortunately for him, Ms. Prudence and Lady Abigail were not ones who could be so easily cowed. The first clue that things would not go his way was the fact that his hand was shoved away from Harry and across his considerable girth, making him lose his balance and have to stumble to remain upright. It also didn't help his mood and sense of authority when an anonymous voice at the back of the crowd shouted out, "Timber! Watch out for fatty, you will die if he crushes you." This was followed by much laughter, including Dudley and Piers. The second was when he felt an excruciating pain on his ear and he was led away from the crowd by two very irate sisters, both with a very determined set to their jaws.

The Headmaster opened his mouth to protest this treatment when Lady Abigail hissed, "You will be silent Brian Douglas until we have moved into the library to have a word with you. Don't think we don't remember you and your friends from when you were school boys." Anything else was lost to the onlookers as he was led into the library and the doors closed. After waiting for a few moments to see if anything more was going to happen, the crowd began to disperse into the school yard to find other pursuits to occupy their time. Soon only Harry was left, still sitting on the bench where he was placed. It was not that he wanted to stay, but since Dudley and Piers had left the wall and were out there, he knew that there was no chance of him being able to play with anyone anyway.