Narrator's POV

As little Harry grew up, his life became more and more difficult.

At the age of four he was given his first chores list: make breakfast, do the dishes, wash the clothes, and fold the clothes.

If he did not complete all his chores or did not complete them up to Aunt Petunia's standards, he would be securely locked in his small bedroom —the both musty and dusty cupboard under the stairs— without dinner.

His only happiness came when he was asleep: when his soulmate, Tom, would come into his dreams and cheer him up.

Tom was also his only friend, not that he could have had anymore since he wasn't allowed outside.

On his first conversation with Tom back when he was three, he had asked Harry if he knew his own name.

Harry had frowned and said his name was 'Freak' since that it what Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon called him.

Tom had cursed under his breath and kindly said, "Your name is Harry, love."

When he started school at five, Dudley —his cousin who was spoiled by Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon— made sure that all the kids didn't like him and made the teachers think he was a troublemaker, so Tom was still his only friend.

When grades returned and showed that Harry was actually smarter than Dudley, Uncle Vernon beat Harry for the first time.

That night, Tom comforted him in his dreams while Harry cried and promised that he would make them pay one day, when he got his power back —Harry didn't understand that last bit, but nodded in agreement.

From that beating onwards, Harry purposely began to fail his classes, but not to the point where he would have to attend Summer School —not that he would have minded getting away from his relatives, but he would have been beaten again for costing them more money.

That's when the strange things began to happen: his teacher's hair turned pink during class, the lights flickered when he was in the room, he talked to a snake in Aunt Petunia's flower garden, and he somehow ended up on the roof after sneezing.

His relatives tried to beat the abnormality out of him.

Tom had soothed his tears by holding him in his arms and kissing the top of his head while telling him that it was completely normal for this to be happening and that he was special since the snake talked to him.

As the years passed, Harry's chore list did too, by the age of nine he did all of the household chores except make dinner —for Aunt Petunia liked doing that part herself, but Harry did the dishes afterwards.

***

When Harry turned eleven and that strange man named Hagrid came and told him he was a wizard.

Tom told him not to trust Hagrid, so he didn't, but he still let the half-giant take him shopping at Diagon Alley.

While at Diagon Alley, Harry got his school supplies, his wand —which was ebony, Phoenix feather, 11 inches, and semi-flexible— as well as a snowy owl that he named Hedwig, that was apparently a birthday present from Hagrid —if the man thought that the gift would make up for eleven years of abuse he was a bigger fool than Harry originally thought.

On August 31, the day before he would go on the Hogwarts Express, Tom told him not to trust anyone that wasn't a Malfoy, LeStrange, Lovegood, Franqui, or in Slytherin and under no circumstances trust a Weasley or Albus Dumbledore.

Tom also explained the houses to him: he said Gryffindor was for the brave, but that's were Dumbledore's minions were mostly found; Ravenclaw was for the smart but most of them were show-offs; Slytherin was for the powerful and ambitious that he could trust; Hufflepuff was for the loyal but that's where everyone else was.

Tom also said that he had a surprise waiting for him at Hogwarts.

***

On September 1, Uncle Vernon dropped him off at King's Cross Station —mostly to get rid of him— and Harry searched for Platform 9 and 10, for Tom had said he needed to run into the wall between them.

Once on Platform 9 3/4's, he boarded the train and looked for a compartment to sit in.

The first compartment he opened had a boy with red hair, a boy with dirty blond hair, and a black boy.

"Who are you?" The dirty blond boy asked

"Harry. Harry Potter, who are you?" Harry answered

"I'm Ron Weasley," The redhead answered, showing off a lightning bolt shaped scar "I defeated Lord Voldemort as a baby and I'm going to be a Gryffindor."

Harry frowned and Ron spoke again, his voice dripping with disgust, "You're a slimy snake aren't you? A dirty, little Death Eater?"

Harry left the compartment and walked down the train a bit until he felt far enough away, the next one he opened had a blond boy, a blonde girl, a brown haired boy, and a brown haired girl.

"Can I sit here?" Harry asked

"Sure," the blond boy said "I'm Draco Malfoy and you are?"

Harry smiled, "Harry Potter."

The four others locked eyes momentarily before looking back to Harry.

"I'm Hermione Franqui." The brown haired girl said

"I'm Neville LeStrange." The other boy said

"And I'm Luna Lovegood." The other girl said

Harry smiled brightly: Tom said he could trust these people.

"It's nice to meet you." Harry replied

"What house do you want to be in, Harry?" Neville asked

"Slytherin." Harry replied

They chatted about many random topics for the rest of the ride, and Harry couldn't help but notice that most of them were about him and his own likes and hates.

Draco, Luna, Hermione, and Neville had been told by their parents to be on the lookout for and to protect Harry Potter, for their Lord's last order was to keep the child safe...