Once
upon a time there was a little boy. His name was Harry. He lived at ‘number
four of Privet Drive’ with his parents, James and Lily. The boy was small and
skinny for his age. He had a thin face, knobbly knees, black hair, and bright
green eyes. He wore round glasses and looked like a normal kid. But he was not.
To be very frank, he was a bit peculiar. Always lost in his colorful world of
dreams and imagination.
Harry did not like the other
kids. Mainly because he could not mingle with them and the fact, that they
bullied him. You see, he had hard time speaking properly. He would with great
difficulty string together words. Mostly though, he let out low rasps, was a
desperate attempt to talk. So the other kids made fun of him. They called his
raspy voice ‘The Snake Language’. Harry did not like the other kids at all.
So
instead of playing with other kids, he would spend his time looking for ‘hidden
doors and secret passages’ in old walls or chimney. And when he was not busy
being Sherlock Holmes, he would sit by the window of his room observing a
‘tabby cat on the brick wall’. As time flew by, he grew lonelier and lonelier.
Often he used to escape his room and hide ‘under the stairs’. He liked the
compact dark place.
“He is special in his own ways”.
That’s what his parents would
tell everybody. But deep down they were worried about him. And a horrific
episode made things worse.
One
night it was raining and thundering. A thief infiltrated their home. The masked
thief got down to his business straight away. Little did he anticipate that
Harry would see his silhouette on the wall! Out of the fear of monster, Harry
started crying out loud. The masked thief didn't know what to do. And in the
chaos he hit him hard with his torch. But James and Lily had already heard the
cry. They rushed into Harry’s room and witnessed the horror. James did not need
a moment’s hesitation to get on with the masked man to save his family. It was
a gory tussle. Guns got out, there was blood everywhere and then it was
silence. Finally ‘you know who’ was dead.
They
were all safe now but the little boy was not same after that incident. Harry
had a severe head injury and it had left him with ‘a scar on his forehead’. The
trauma of his worst nightmare coming true, leading to all the gun-shots and the
blood, caused him to loose his mind and a memory lapse. Inside his head, he had
killed the ‘nose-less monster’ (masked man) but lost his parents in all the
firing and blood. The last memory of him about that incident was ‘a blinding
flash of green light (torch) and a burning pain on his forehead.’
Although
James and Lily did everything they could, to make him remember back his memory.
But he didn’t remember anything at all.
“Who
are these people?” he would often wonder.
They
loved him with all their heart. They bought him all sorts of toys and games.
But he thought these toys were probably for their other son.
He was
their only child.
He grew
lonelier and stranger day by day. To encounter all the loneliness, his mind
started imagining things which were not there. He was even violent now. He
started throwing things at others. And hurt the neighborhood kids who bullied
him earlier. Harry didn't know this though. He would see these things happening
on their own. Almost like magic.
James
and Lily were sad. Their efforts were failing. First, gently they tried talking
Harry into not doing all these things. But when he wouldn't stop, they had to
ground him and punish him for his misdeeds. They never wanted any of this.
James and Lily were very sad.
But how
could Harry make them understand that he is not the one doing all these things.
No one understood him. He missed his dead parents now more than ever. He hated
living with these distant relatives now. He wanted to run away. He felt
suffocating. And the more he felt suffocating, the more things started to get
out of control.
James and Lily started getting a
lot of complaints now. Almost in every mail letter, issues about Harry were
addressed. James tried to hide all the complaint letters from the Harry.
They didn't want him to get more
upset. But when the letters wouldn't stop coming, they finally thought best to
go out for a vacation. Somewhere far-far away in some ‘blah island’.
But
they knew this wasn't a permanent solution. So they consulted Dr. Albus, a
famous psychiatrist, about his behavior. Dr. Albus, in his wisdom, then advised
them to admit him to the ‘Hogwarts Institute for the Mentally Challenged’, so
that he can be treated.
It was
a very hard decision for them. Lily was devastated. But it had to be done. They
celebrated his 10th birthday. And the next day institute’s Mr. Hagrid came to
pick him up. Hagrid empathized with the poor couple and he was very kind to
Harry.
“Come on Harry, it’s time to go.”
said Hagrid with warmth in his eyes.
Harry was finally going to escape
this place. He was going to a Magic school. That’s what the huge man told him.
He was a wizard. Harry couldn't have been happier.