He felt the pull at his navel and fell to the ground as they landed in gringotts. He scooted as far away from an enraged Vernon as possible as the man took in the room full of goblins, who had all stopped to witness this horrific sight.

"what have you done, boy?!" The man snarled, storming over to Harry and still wielding the bloodied belt. Harry's eyes grew wider than ever and he continued to shuffle back, crying out as the terrible wounds on his back stretched and opened further. Blood was pooling around him and he eventually found himself curling into a ball, exposing his scarred back and shielding his face with his arms, a quivering mess.

"P-please, uncle! It hurts so much, please stop..." his voice tapered to a whisper as tears began to spill freely. He hated being so vulnerable but things were getting desperate. He felt the shadow of his twisted relative loom over him and prepared himself for the worst.

"Muggle, please step away from Mr Potter immediately." A disgusted, nasally voice rang through the halls. The gelatinous man span around to see a small, beady-eyed goblin glaring malevolently at him.

"He's under my care; I am his legal guardian. What're you gonna do about that, squirt?" The room was completely silent spare the trembling boy lying in an alarmingly vast pool of his own blood. The goblin's eyes narrowed.

"He is under your abuse, not your care, and with this little demonstration I can remove him from your care with no qualms from the authorities. As for now-" He snapped his fingers, and heavy chains bound his arms and legs, trussing him like a turkey, "-I think you'd like to get to know one of the resident dragons. Take him away, boys," the goblin sneered. Several other goblins came forward wielding sharp sticks with which they prodded Dursley into one of the carts. The goblin on the left gave the cart a sharp kick and it immediately shot off, plummeting into the depths of Gringotts. They could hear the man's pitiful wails all the way down.

The goblin who had taken charge of the situation then rushed to the broken boy lying on the floor. He magically cleared a patch on the bloodied floor for him to walk on, and he approached Harry.

"Mr Potter?" He spoke gently, not wanting to startle him. Harry lifted his head to reveal his bruised, dishevelled face.

"Mr Potter, did you get a chance to read the letter sent to you?" Harry looked down at the now unintelligible writing on the parchment in his hand. He shook his head.

"N-no, sorry. I just needed to- to escape, the owl came and I left immediately without reading any of it." The goblin nodded in understanding. Judging by his entrance, he had not been in any sort of position to read the letter.

"Well, maybe it is best explained in person, anyway. First, you need to be healed. I'm going to magic a stretcher under you, okay?" The boy nodded and gasped as he was floated on the fabric. The goblin guided them down the maze of hallways.

"I would let the goblin healers tend to you, but they're not very good at healing wizard wounds. More suited to hexes and curses. I do know, however, one particular healer you're familiar with, and I can get a message to her fairly quickly. So, in through here-" and they entered what was essentially a smaller, gaudier copy of hogwarts's hospital wing. Harry dismounted the stretcher and sat awkwardly on one of the small beds, trying not to aggravate the vicious injuries that were still bleeding profusely. The goblin rushed to the small desk in the corner and withdrew a copper lantern. He pressed the tip of his index finger to the wick of the candle within, which immediately glowed red and flickered obnoxiously. He then returned to harry.

"I suggest you lie on your front. No harm will come to you within these walls, Mr Potter." Harry sighed, settling down with his back exposed for the goblin to inspect in greater detail.

"What is your name, sir?" The goblin was surprised at being called sir, but brushed it off.

"my name is Meqik." Harry awkwardly extended a hand. Meqik raised an eyebrow.

"You're lucky it hurts to move or I might give you a hug. You have saved my life, Mr. Meqik." The goblin grimaced at the thought of the boy dying to the hands of that awful man. He took the hand and shook it firmly.

"no one should suffer abuse, Mr. Potter." The boy's eyes were hollow, devoid of emotion.

"I have seen that look in his eye before, when he has caught vermin. He caught a mouse in a live trap once, and then stepped on it to end its life. He smiled as its neck cracked," he spoke in a terrifying monotone. The truth was, if he thought about that event too much he might just cry, for it was one of the most despicable things he'd ever witnessed. Preserving life simply to end it by your own hands. The goblin's face displayed shock and disgust, as did Harry's as his eight-year-old eyes watched the life leave the rodent's eyes.

At that moment, the fireplace sprang to life and out stepped Poppy Pomfrey, the only healer Harry would ever put his full trust in. She let out a shriek as she spotted the mangled boy on the comically undersized bed.

"Mr. Potter?! What on EARTH happened here?" Meqik hushed the woman – they were in a hospital wing, after all – and played several memories to her of the evening's occurrences. The woman was livid. She set her medical bag down, and the clasps flew open and the bag unfolded into a fully stocked shelf. Muttering spells under her breath, she pieced together the strips of skin left on his back, growing new skin and repairing muscle. When his back had stopped bleeding she sat him up and fed him several blood-replenishing potions, followed by a dreamless sleep potion. When the boy was under the influence of the potion, she ran a full diagnostic.

The list was staggering; burns, cuts, broken bones, fractures – his skull had even been fractured at one point. no doubt all of these caused the boy immeasurable pain every day. They'd none healed fully, to her confusion. Even just his magic should have been able to heal it all eventually. But the burns still tingled, the bruises still ached, the fractures felt as bad as they did when they'd occurred. She thrust the list at the goblin and began healing his body properly, ribs breaking to correctly re-mend and burns shrinking down to scars. Just as something made an alarming crack at the back of Harry's head, she heard Meqik mutter, "I knew it," under his breath.

"Knew what?" He scowled at the imposing witch.

"That was a private thought."

"About my patient. Now spill," She snapped. He sighed.