Times of Trouble

Everything was green.

Green.

Why was the world green?

That was Harry's first thought as he blinked blearily. Even with his glasses on the world was a blur. All he could make out were shades of green waving back and forth in front of his eyes.

After some blinking and shifting around Harry finally figured out why everything was a blur. In fact, it took a sharp something jabbing into his shoulder blade to remind him.

His glasses were all scratched up from the sand that had swirled around him. Sand, that he now realized, was now covering him from head to foot.

Harry sat up carefully, trying not to hit his head on any of the branches surrounding him. He was doing a remarkably good job at it until his overly large robe caught on a branch and jerked him to one side. Instantly there was a sharp pain on Harry's forehead and he felt something warm begin to trickle down his face.

Grimacing in pain he lifted off his glasses and raised his wand, which was still clutched tightly in his hand, "Reparo!" he said quietly.

He wasn't quite sure why he was almost whispering, it just seemed the prudent thing to do. His nerves were still on edge from recent events.

Slipping his now repaired glasses back on his face Harry looked around and finally figured out where he was.

He was in a hedge.

On a sunny day.

And that was about all he knew.

Shifting carefully Harry wiped the blood from his forehead and began moving through the hedge.

It was hard work.

His robes kept catching on things and his body didn't feel right. Almost as if someone had cast a shrinking spell on him.

Harry was almost out of the hedge when he heard an excited boyish voice say, "How'd you do that? Do it again!"

There was a quiet squeak and some mumbled words.

"Don't give us that!" A different boy yelled.

"Liar! Do it again!" Another boy hollered.

More mumbled words and then the harsh sound of skin hitting skin. A girl cried out and began to sob.

"Grab her arms! We'll make her do it!" The first boy ordered.

Harry had heard enough.

He didn't know where he was or what was going on, but this was not right.

He scrambled out of the bushes and found himself in a small field surrounded on three sides by the same hedge he had just been crawling through. This didn't seem very important to him at the moment, he'd worry about where he was later.

Harry's attention focused in on the site of three young boys of about ten standing around a girl of maybe five or six. The girl's blonde hair had fallen out of its pigtails and was hanging down around her terrified, tear filled face. Her dress was mussed and there was a hand-shaped red mark on her cheek.

Two of the boys were holding her up by her arms so that her tiny feet were just brushing the ground. The third boy had a hard grip on the girl's chin, his free hand raised to give another slap.

Instinctively Harry started to raise his wand. He was just about to cast Stupefy when he realized how the boys were dressed.

They weren't in wizarding robes

Frustrated, Harry jammed his wand up his humongous sleeve. He really had no idea why his robes were now so large and at the moment he really didn't care.

"Do it!" The leader screamed at the little girl, spittle flying out of his mouth and onto her face. The girl flinched and tried to look away, the boy's rough hand stopping her.

"Let her go!" Harry shouted, stopping so that he was a few feet away from the children.

The ring of authority in Harry's voice made the three boys freeze. Slowly, as one, they turned to look at him.

The leader was a big, beefy boy that reminded Harry a bit of Dudley. There were a few differences though. The coloring was all off, but the facial expressions were so similar that Harry found himself wondering if this was a long lost Dursley.

Somehow, it wouldn't surprise him.

The Dudley look-alike's jaw dropped as he looked Harry up and down. After a moment he began to laugh, the other two boys joined him in the laughter.

Harry frowned, he didn't quite understand why these boys were laughing at him. Sure, he was no boxer, but he was definitely bigger than a–

Harry froze as he realized that he WASN'T bigger than these boys. In fact, he was quite a bit shorter than them.

The Dudley look-alike finally stopped laughing, "Who are you, runt? Another freak like her?"

Harry opened his mouth, and then closed it again. He wasn't sure how he was going to get out of this. He couldn't use magic, these were muggles. He also couldn't count on his size, he was somehow smaller than these boys. He couldn't even count on his trusty speed, if he ran they might not all pursue him and that wouldn't help the little girl.

Harry's heart began to pound hard in his chest as the Dudley look-alike took a step towards him. He looked around frantically until his eyes caught on something on the ground. It wasn't his first choice, but it was probably his best one.

"I guess I am." Harry said before putting his idea into motion.

In a rush Harry reached down and grabbed the horse dung in his hand then he turned and threw it right in the Dudley boy's face.

The boy let out a rather girlish shriek and then gagged as dung got in his mouth. He bent over and began losing his breakfast.

Harry ran straight at the little girl, knocking over the Dudley look-alike as he went and then ploughing head first into the other two boys.

After a moment the little girl untangled herself and scrambled away as the three boys feel down in a tangle of arms and legs.

Harry looked up long enough to see the little girl staring at them, blue eyes wide and full of a mix of emotions he couldn't even begin to identify.

"Run!" Harry shouted at her.

He wasn't able to see if she listened to him, because just then one of the boys grabbed his hair and swung his head backwards into the ground.

Things got blurry after that.

Harry continued to swing and kick with all of his might as blow upon blow fell on him. He felt the cut on his forehead reopen and he heard the crunch as he glasses broke.

Eventually the blows stopped coming and Harry felt himself growing dizzy. His limbs felt like lead and there wasn't a single part of his body that didn't hurt. He felt his head loll to the side as his eyes slipped close. It was just to much work to keep them open.

His last memory before he lost consciousness entirely was of someone gently picking him up and carrying him.