“Boy!”

Harry jumped up off of the pile of rags that were considered his bed. Just before the latch on his cupboard unlocked and the door opened to show a scowling Vernon. ‘Uncle’ Vernon grabbed him by the collar and shoved him towards the kitchen with a grunt to start his morning routine.

Harry prepared a large enough breakfast to feed a family of 7 with some leftovers. Bacon, Sausage, Eggs, Beans, Toast. The works. Far too much food for 3 by normal standards. He managed to snag a bit for himself while the others were busy ignoring him. He then set the table, where he'd have to watch his relatives destroy his hard work, unable to have any for himself. The adults would usually ignore him until they were finished, only afterwards allowing him to eat a bit of toast… or if he was lucky he would get some leftover scraps.

Today however Harry was thrilled during breakfast when his Aunt and Uncle were discussing leaving for vacation. It was one of the few times he was left alone and didn't have to be near his insufferable relatives. He was already planning all of the things he would do before they came back and locked him away again. Harry’s excitement must have shown in his expression.

“Don't get your hopes up boy. We're not bringing you anywhere you can spread your freakishness.”

Aunt Petunia just gave her usual sneer as Vernon laughed at him after Harry put on a defeated expression. Experience taught him that if they found out that he liked the time alone that they'd just find some way to ruin it for him.

After laughing at his misfortune his Uncle started stuffing his face with the food Harry made for them. He didn't even have to fake his frown anymore, just about anyone would frown at the sight of his Uncle eating. The upset expression on his face seemed to please his Aunt because she too went back to eating. The only one to pay Harry any attention anymore was Dudley, who was making faces in between mouthfuls to tease Harry.

His relatives finished up dinner and he was tasked with cleaning up. He was well practiced so it barely took any time. Once done he waited in his cupboard, out of sight.

Harry barely noticed his relatives leaving the house, being so lost in thought. Once he was sure they were gone, he searched the couches for spare money. Dudley and to a lesser extent, Uncle Vernon both had a tendency to misplace their money. He always found a few pounds in the cushions of his Uncle's seat. He also knew a couple of Dudley's hiding spots and knew he wouldn't notice a little missing, honestly where did he get this much anyways? With his preparations done, he made his way out of the house.

The first stop was easily the most annoying. He needed to make sure he wouldn't starve over the week or so that his relatives would be gone. He also had to make sure that what little they allowed him to eat from the house wasn't something he'd be in trouble for eating for himself. His Uncle didn't like it when Harry ate bacon or beef or really any sort of meat. He'd taken a fair few beatings by trying to sneak some for himself. So here he was, the grocery closest to the house. The lady at the register was one of the biggest gossips in town and Harry knew if he went in now that the news of him shopping by himself would spread throughout the neighborhood within the day. Any gossip about Aunt Petunia would certainly make its way back to her, inevitably ending in another beating.

It would be a while before she was off and it wasn't worth waiting at the doorstep. Harry went to the library to alleviate his boredom. He managed to speed through two new books before noticing the time and checking the grocery store again.

Luckily it was late enough that the gossip at the register should be off now. He bought a few groceries and stowed them away before making his way to the local bookshop. He'd only been here a few times. He never really had the money to buy anything for himself and it seemed like every shop somehow knew that. But after Dudley started gaining an allowance and stealing others' pocket money, Harry had more than enough cash just from skimming a little from Dudley's stashes. After scouting the shop countless times after school, Harry knew just what he wanted to buy. He picked out a book on meditation and one of the mind palace. He managed something similar while attempting to keep his mind occupied when locked in the cupboard. And after skimming the mind palace book, he knew that with guidance. The established technique from the book could help him a lot.

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Harry also picked out books on martial arts, psychology, and more advanced mathematics. The clerk behind the counter started giving him odd looks after watching Harry trying to balance the heavy stack of books, so to avoid suspicion he would come back later.

Harry lugged his new purchases behind the bookshop and after making sure nobody could see him, dropped the large stack of books straight into his briefcase. His obviously far too small briefcase.

Glancing around once more, he packed it up again and started back to his hideout. It wasn't too far from the Dursleys. It was a small, abandoned house in the next subdivision over. For some reason nobody other than himself could see it. He found it by chance while running away from Dudley and his goons. As soon as he got close to it, his pursuers seemingly forgot about chasing him and strolled off. Since then he'd made it his hideout and training location. After testing that nobody could see himself once he was close to the house he cleaned up the place so that he could basically move in. In fact He found his briefcase during a thorough cleaning of the attic. His briefcase and a few pieces of furniture were the only things left in the house.

Flashback

While sweeping the floor to the attic, his broom hit … something with a thud, the collision almost enough to knock him off his feet. He couldn't see anything that the broom could have caught on, not even a loose nail. Poking around the area with the broom, it was obviously hitting something. However, he still couldn't see what. It took a few more minutes of jabbing and prodding at empty air for him to fully map out the object. It was an invisible, squishy, rectangle. after a few more minutes of poking made sure that if he touched the rectangle, it wouldn't eat his arm or something.

He finally mustered his courage, ready for anything. quickly poking it with his finger and pulling it back once more. He was actually a little disappointed that nothing happened. With his first poke successful and having all fingers still intact, he felt around the rectangle with his hands this time. The feeling of touching something while seeing nothing was disconcerting but he was excited. Finding something invisible was certainly unexpected. The feeling of leather running along his fingers was broken by a cool metal buckle. Now with nearly no hesitation he fumbled with the buckle and opened it, he had to feel around for another before opening the entire … briefcase? For that's what it was, a leather briefcase. An INVISIBLE leather briefcase. That now opened, was fully visible.

He peered inside and was surprised to see a ladder? Actually … he was sure that there was a floor at the bottom of the ladder, but that couldn't be possible. He then mentally berated himself for thinking something so stupid after just discovering an invisible briefcase. Possible and impossible seemed to have left the building. He kept internally berating himself for the sheer absurdity of it all to keep himself distracted as he descended the ladder.

Inside was a full fledged apartment. There was a fully furnished modern kitchen, bathroom, library of books with absurd titles, a bedroom, living room, office, storeroom, a completely blank all white room, and.. Dungeon? He wasn't actually sure about that last one. It had cages, chains, cauldrons, and jars of all kinds of gross looking objects floating in them. If Harry had been to Hogwarts yet, he'd almost certainly recognize it as a potions lab, as it looked nearly identical to Snape's dungeons.

End flashback

Since that day he'd carried the briefcase everywhere. He lived in it while at the Dursleys and when not, it was used as storage for the few things he acquired and didn't want Dudley stealing and inevitably ruining. It was his home.

He spent all the time he could in its library, where he learned about all sorts of things. Potions, Runes, MAGIC. He absorbed it all like a sponge. There was a whole world out there that he could explore. He didn't know it, but something within him had changed. He had changed from the small frail ‘freak’ who had no hope in life but to avoid the abuse from his relatives, to the … admittedly small and frail child still but now he had ambition, he wanted to explore, to learn. Now he wanted more than to just survive day to day, scared of the actions of his relatives, he wanted to thrive, he stopped caring about their opinions and words.

The only thing he still kept an eye out for his relatives was to anticipate any potential violence. Harry found out that if he wanted to be left alone he just needed to enter the briefcase. It was just like his hideout. This Helped him avoid an inevitable beating more than once now.

Harry had taken to using his hideout for practicing some of the magic that he'd read about. He was afraid of ruining the briefcase somehow if he practiced there. He also didn't have a wand so he couldn't wave it like the books said, but he'd learned that he didn't actually need one. A few of the books mentioned how only powerful casters could cast wandlessly. They said it was nearly impossible. So, being the 7 year old he was and all the pride that came with that, took that as a personal challenge. No matter that these books were mass printed or that most were printed before he was even born.

It was hard but he created his own method. It was actually easier for him to just imagine what he wanted to happen and then it just happened. All of that time spent in the cupboard alone imagining things and building his pseudo mind palace paid off, not that he knew that of course.