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Chapter Text

Hagrid and Harry made for the counter.

"Morning," said Hagrid to a free goblin. "We've come ter take some money outta Mr. Harry Potter's safe."

"You have his key, Sir?"

"Got it here somewhere," said Hagrid, and he started emptying his pockets onto the counter, scattering a handful of moldy dog biscuits over the goblin's book of numbers. The goblin wrinkled his nose. Harry watched the goblin on their right weighing a pile of rubies as big as glowing coals.

"Got it," said Hagrid at last, holding up a tiny golden key.

The goblin looked at it closely.

"That seems to be in order. Though you understand of course that you cannot accompany Mr. Potter to his vault.”

Hagrid drew himself up. “Professor Dumbledore instructed me to acom-accompany him.”

The goblin did not appear to be impressed. “Unless you are Mr. Potter’s guardian then you will have to wait here. Gringott’s policy.”

“Ah, well, uh, I've also got a letter here from Professor Dumbledore," said Hagrid importantly, apparently overcoming his confusion. "It's about the You-Know-What in vault seven hundred and thirteen."

The goblin read the letter carefully. "Very well," he said, handing it back to Hagrid, "I will have someone take you down to vault seven hundred and thirteen. Griphook!"

Hagrid looked toward the goblin who had begun moving towards them. “Wha’ about, Harry?”

“Baknog will escort Mr. Potter. He will need his key.” The goblin announced. “Baknog!”

Harry accepted the key from Hagrid and then watched as his large guide followed the goblin named Griphook through one of the doors.

Harry looked around nervously, there were so many strange looking people.

“Ah, Baknog.” The goblin behind the desk greeted yet another goblin. “This is Mr. Potter.”

The newly arrived goblin looked Harry over. “I presume Mr. Potter has his key?”

“Um, yeah.” Harry replied holding it up for the goblin to see.

“Follow me.” Baknog commanded him and began walking toward one of the doors.

Harry followed the goblin through a different door than Hagrid had gone through and found himself in a hallway.

“This way, Mr. Potter.” Baknog called back at him, moving down the hallway.

Baknog lead him into a small office and settled behind the desk.

Harry looked around in amazement, everything was so little.

“Sit.” Baknog commanded.

Harry rushed to sit in the only human sized chair in the room, directly in front of Baknog’s desk.

“So,” Baknog started. “You’re Mr. Potter, son and heir of Lord and Lady James and Lily Potter?”

“Um, yeah?” Harry scrunched his face up in confusion. “At least, my mum and dad were Lily and James Potter.”

“You’ll understand that we need to run some tests.” Baknog explained. “After all, we can’t be too careful.”

Harry shrugged, his confusion was only growing.

“Good.” Baknog pulled out a pocket watch. “How long do you have this morning?”

“Um, well, I don’t know. Hagrid, uh…”

“And who is Hagrid?”

“Hagrid is, um, the person who brought me here.” Harry told him. “He said he worked at Hogwarts?”

Baknog frowned. “You’re not here with your guardian?”

“No.” Harry shook his head. “I don’t think Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia like magic very much. They didn’t even tell me I was wizard. I only found out this morning; Hagrid told me.”

“I beg your pardon.” Baknog stared at him. “Who exactly are Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia?”

“My guardians.” Harry answered with a shrug.

Baknog’s frown had deepened. “And am I to understand that they are muggles?”

“Yes?” Harry still wasn’t entirely clear about what that meant. “At least that’s what Hagrid called them.”

Harry watched curiously as Baknog began to shift through papers frantically and muttering in a weird harsh language.

After a few minutes Baknog looked up and stared at Harry intensely.

“What do you know of your parents, Mr. Potter?”

“Um,” Harry blinked in surprise at the sudden question. “Their names were Lily and James Potter, they were wizards…though I guess mum was probably a witch.” Harry looked up and saw that Baknog was obviously expecting more information. “Uh, they went to Hogwarts, they were killed by Voldemort, um, I mean You-Know-Who.”

Baknog chuckled darkly. “No need to sensor your language for me, Mr. Potter. What else do you know about your parents?”

Harry searched his brain for more information. “Um, they didn’t die in a car crash?”

Baknog stared at him for a long time, obviously searching for something. “I see.”

Harry didn’t.

Baknog gathered all the papers on his desk into a neat stack and then stood up. “What exactly did you come to Gringotts for, Mr. Potter?”

“Hagrid said my parents left me some, um, money.” Harry answered nervously. “He said I could use it to get supplies for Hogwarts.”

Baknog snarled and began muttering in the weird language again. Harry shrank back into his chair.

“Follow me, Mr. Potter.” Baknog came out from behind the desk and led Harry through the door, back down the hall, through a different door and then down a narrow stone passageway.

Baknog whistled and Harry watched in amazement as a little cart came hurtling towards them. Once the cart had stopped in front of them, they climbed in and the cart began to move again.

It was awesome! Everything Harry had imagined a rollercoaster might be and more. The cart went further and further down into the caves and eventually stopped beside a small door in the wall.

“Woah!” Harry knew he was grinning from ear to ear. “That was brilliant!”

Baknog climbed out of the cart and held out a hand. “You have your key?”

“Uh, yeah,” Harry retrieved the key from his pocket and then placed it on Baknog’s hand.

Baknog unlocked the door. A lot of green smoke came billowing out and, as it cleared, Harry gasped. Inside were mounds of gold coins. Columns of silver. Heaps of little bronze Knuts.

“Is this…” Harry trailed off, surely not. “Is this mine?”

“Yes.” Baknog was looking impatient.

Harry looked at the piles of coins in shock. “What are the silver and gold ones?”

Baknog was frowning again. “The gold ones are Galleons; the silver ones are Sickles. There are seventeen sickles to a galleon and twenty nine Knuts to a sickle. A Galleon is worth four pounds and ninety seven pence.”

“But that means there must be hundreds of pounds here. Thousands even!” Harry looked over at Baknog. “Do you know how much there is in here?”

“There is approximately one hundred and fifty seven thousand, nine hundred and forty Galleons in this vault.” Baknog replied, and then obviously seeing Harry confusion added. “The approximate equivalent of seven hundred and eighty four thousand nine hundred and sixty five pounds, Mr. Potter.”

Harry felt weak. “What? So my parents were rich?”

“Yes.” Baknog answered shortly. “Are you going to take any money with you?”

“Right, yeah.” Harry stared at the piles of money. “How much do you reckon I’ll need?”

“Do you have a bag?” Baknog asked briskly.

“No.” Harry hadn’t even considered needing a bag. “Uh, maybe I could just put it in my pockets?”

Baknog sneered at him. “I think not, Mr. Potter. Here.”

Harry stared at the bag that Baknog had apparently procured by snapping his fingers. “Woah. Will I learn to do that?”

“Unlikely.” Baknog passed Harry the bag. “Wizards are not as proficient at wandless magic as goblins.”

“Oh.” Harry filed that away to consider later. “So how much do you think I’ll need?”

“Twenty of each coin should be adequate.” Baknog replied.

It didn’t take Harry too long to count sixty coins into the bag Baknog had given him and once he was done he stared at the bag in further amazement.

“It’s so light!” He exclaimed.

“Feather-light charm.” Baknog grunted as he closed the vault door behind them. “They’ll teach you that in a few years.”

“Cool.” Harry grinned down at the bag and climbed back into the cart.

“I will return you to your Mr. Hagrid now, Mr. Potter.” Baknog announced as the cart began to move back the way they had come. “But it is imperative that you return to Gringotts before departing for Hogwarts.”

Harry looked at the goblin in confusion. “Huh?”

“There are things I must discuss with you.” Baknog told him.

“About my parents?” Harry asked with interest.

“Among other things.” Baknog confirmed. “And it is private. Don’t tell your Mr. Hagrid.”

Harry looked at the goblin in suspicion. “Why not? Hagrid’s my friend.”

Baknog seemed to sigh. “Because it is Gringotts’ business.” He answered finally.

“Oh, okay.” Harry shrugged and they fell into silence.

After a few minutes Baknog cleared his throat. “Do you read, Mr. Potter?”

“Um, yeah?” Harry thought maybe he did, not that he had read much. The Dursley’s didn’t like it when he sat around doing nothing.

“I imagine you have a lot of questions.” Baknog commented. “I could give you list of books that you might find informative.”

Harry grinned gratefully as the cart came to a halt near a stone passageway. “That would be brilliant!”

Baknog climbed out of the cart and led Harry up the passageway and back to his office. Harry sat back in his chair and watched as the goblin sat behind his desk and began scratching at some paper with a feather. After a few minutes Baknog stood up and handed Harry the piece of paper.

“I think you’ll find those books most informative.”

Harry grinned at him and shoved the paper into his pocket. “That’s brilliant! Thanks!”

“You’re welcome.” Baknog inclined his head regally and then led Harry back into the hallway. When they reached the end of the hallway, Baknog held the door open for Harry to walk through.

“Remember, Mr. Potter,” He intoned. “You must visit us again.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you for all your help.” Harry grinned at the goblin and then ran over to where Hagrid was standing looking worried.

“Hagrid!”

“There yer are!” Hagrid sighed in obvious relief. “What took yer so long? C’mon, we need t’go. Lots of things to do.”

0-0-0

Harry sat on the train in shock. He couldn’t believe the day he’d had! Was it only last night that he had met Hagrid? Now he was a wizard with a wand and money and an owl and, well, everything!

The worst part of the day was that Hagrid was sending him back to the Dursleys. Uncle Vernon was going to be furious! What if Dudley still had a pig’s tail? Harry wasn’t looking forward to the bruises Uncle Vernon would give him. Harry pried open his trunk and pulled out one of the books that Baknog had suggested he buy, it would be at least an hour before the train stopped in Surrey. The book was called, ‘History and Customs of the British Wizarding Community’. Harry opened the book to the first page and began to read.

It was fascinating!

Apparently the Wizarding World used to have a royal family too, just like the muggle world, but they had been overthrown over two hundred years ago. The book didn’t really explain why there wasn’t a monarchy anymore though. Harry decided that he would ask someone later, or look it up in another book.

By the time the train stopped in Surrey, Harry had finished three chapters and was itching to read more. He wanted to know everything! This was his new world.

Harry got off the train, ignoring the strange looks that people were giving his new owl and looked around the platform. How had Hagrid expected him to get back to the Dursleys' from here? Harry exchanged a glance with Hedwig and shrugged with a sigh. It wasn’t too far to walk, only about fifteen minutes, though that was without a heavy trunk and owl to carry.

He picked up one end of his trunk and began to trek towards Privet Drive, Hedwig’s cage in his other hand. On the bright side this meant he had more time before he had to face Uncle Vernon, time he could spend thinking about his new world. He wasn’t sure how he was going to go back to the bank. It wasn’t as though Uncle Vernon would drive him into London so he could visit with some goblins.

Harry chuckled, he almost wanted to ask, just to see his uncle’s expression. He could always run away for a day and train in to London, he could afford to now. Hagrid had helped him convert some of his leftover Galleons into pounds. The problem with running away for a day was that Uncle Vernon would be furious and would probably beat Harry black and blue, but it was the only way Harry could think to get back to Gringotts.

By the time Harry dragged his trunk up the Dursleys' driveway he was exhausted. He felt as though his arm was going to fall off, both arms, and he just wanted to lie down and go to sleep. The Dursleys' lights were on and Harry knocked on the door.

Aunt Petunia answered it with a smile that turned into a frightened scowl when she saw Harry. “What are you doing here?”

Harry lifting a shoulder in a shrug. “I’m supposed to stay here until I go away to school.”

“No!” Aunt Petunia almost screeched the word. “I won’t have you in the house. Not after what that monster did to my Dudleykinds!”

“Pet?” Uncle Vernon called from behind her. “Who’s at the door?”

“The boy is back!” Aunt Petunia snarled.

“What?!”

Harry flinched at the sound of his Uncle’s fury.

Uncle Vernon came to the door and glared at Harry. “What are you doing here, boy?”

Aunt Petunia answered for Harry. “Apparently he’s supposed to stay here until his school starts.”

Uncle Vernon began to turn purple. “You think that you can cause all that trouble; that you can make that monster give Dudley a-a-a tail, and then come back like nothing happened?”

Harry took a step backwards. “Hagrid said…”

“I don’t care what that monster said!” Uncle Vernon exploded.

“Vernon!” Aunt Petunia hissed. “The neighbours!”

Harry looked behind him and winced when he saw that Mrs. Figg had stopped in the street and was watching them.

Uncle Vernon seemed conflicted but he eventually stepped back and let Harry in. His face had an increasingly purple complexion.

“Just you wait, boy!”

Harry ducked his head and yanked his trunk inside as quickly as possible. He really wished that Hagrid hadn’t sent him back.

Chapter Text

The next few weeks were not fun for Harry. Uncle Vernon was still furious with him and Harry had the bruises to prove it. On the bright side though, other than Uncle Vernon’s regular punishments, Harry was pretty much left alone. They didn’t force him to do anything, Harry had even heard Aunt Petunia talking about hiring a cleaner. In fact, if it wasn’t for Harry’s ever growing collection of bruises and welts from Uncle Vernon’s belt, it would have been a great few weeks. He spent his days in his room with his owl, whom he had named Hedwig, reading his books.

His textbooks were pretty interesting, but there was a lot of stuff he still didn’t understand. The Potions textbook only had recipes in it, it didn’t explain why the recipes worked. The books Baknog had recommended were fascinating. There was a book about Hogwarts that explained the school’s history as well as how everything worked. Apparently there was a sorting hat that decided which of the four Houses you ended up in. Harry had been particularly interested in the chapters on the different Houses. Both Hagrid and the boy in Madam Malkin’s had talked about Slytherin and Hufflepuff, but Harry hadn’t understood what they were talking about.

The most fascinating thing that Harry had read was from the book he had started reading on the train. He’d imagined that the Wizarding World would be the same as the normal one, except with magic, but apparently that wasn’t the case. The book had talked about there being a whole different culture, it had even explained some of the things that were different.

Apparently there were different ways of talking, and standing, and sitting, and that was just average people - everything got much more complicated when you were dealing with people from the noble families. Harry supposed it made sense that there was a different culture, it was a whole new world.

 Harry had read through the book on the history and customs of the wizarding world twice and he wanted to know more. He wanted to know all the different ways of walking and talking and sitting, surely it was the polite thing to do. He definitely didn’t want to offend anyone. Perhaps he could buy some more books when he went to visit Baknog?

Harry had decided that that he would go to Diagon Alley the day before he was supposed to catch the train to go to Hogwarts and spend the night there. He was pretty sure that there would be a motel there or something, and if not he could stay in a motel in the normal part of London. That way he could meet with Baknog and get to the train station without making Uncle Vernon any angrier than he already was.

So, on the 31^st of August, Harry piled all his belongings into his trunk and managed to haul it downstairs without denting the wall or anything. He left his trunk by the door and went to find his Aunt.

“Aunt Petunia?”

Aunt Petunia, who had been peeking through the curtains at the neighbours, spun around in fright.

“What is it, boy?”

“I’m going.” Harry replied. “You know, to school.”

Aunt Petunia sneered at him. “And how exactly are you getting there.”

Harry shrugged. “I thought I’d catch the train.”

“I hope you’re not expecting me to give you a ride.” Aunt Petunia snapped.

“No.” Harry shook his head. “I’m going to walk.”

“Good.” Aunt Petunia turned back to the window, and then realising that Harry was still there turned around with a scowl. “What?”

Harry shrugged again, feeling a little let down. “Uh, nothing. Bye.”

Aunt Petunia didn’t reply.

Harry trudged back to his trunk and then pulled it out the door and into the street. He wasn’t sure why he felt so hurt by Aunt Petunia’s lack of response, it wasn’t as though he wasn’t used to it. But still, it did hurt.

The trip to the train station was even more tiring than the walk home had been. Harry wasn’t sure whether it was because of the extra things in his trunk or all his bruises. Probably a bit of both. Eventually though Harry arrived at the station, just in time to get on the ten o’clock train. Harry clambered on and collapsed in a seat, his trunk in front of him and Hedwig’s cage on the seat next to him.

It was eleven thirty by the time, Harry got the Leaky Cauldron. Thankfully, one of Baknog’s books had included a map of where to find it, otherwise Harry would have been terribly lost.

Harry pulled his trunk into the dark pub and looked around. It wasn’t too busy, but Harry didn’t really want to talk to anyone. When he had been here with Hagrid they had all been really weird about meeting him. Harry tugged his trunk through the pub, keeping his head down, and out in the courtyard that lead to the Leaky Cauldron. Harry opened his trunk and dug around for his wand, before tapping the bricks like Hagrid had. He grinned when the wall quivered like it had before and then transformed into an archway. It was brilliant!

Harry returned his wand to his trunk and then headed towards Gringotts. Hopefully the goblins wouldn’t mind that he had his trunk and Hedwig with him.

Once inside the Gringotts building, Harry looked around hoping to see a familiar face. He would rather talk to one of the goblins he had met last time than a stranger. Harry sighed when he couldn’t see either of them. He quickly shoved his hand in his pocket to reassure himself that he had his key and then dragged his trunk towards a counter with a free goblin.

“Uh, hi.” Harry said nervously, fingering his key in his pocket.

The goblin just looked down his nose at Harry.

“Um, I was here a few weeks ago, but Baknog told me I should come back.” Harry tried to explain. “To talk or something.”

“Name?” The goblin asked imperially.

“Oh, uh, Harry Potter.” Harry said quietly.

“I presume you have your key?”

“Yeah, uh, yes.” Harry nodded quickly and pulled his key out of his pocket.

“Mr. Potter, if you’ll follow me.”

Harry spun around and stared at Baknog who had apparently snuck up behind him. “Okay.” He turned back to the goblin behind the counter and smiled. “Thanks.”

The goblin didn’t respond.

Harry picked up his trunk again and followed Baknog through the same door as last time. As Baknog was holding the door open he frowned down at Harry’s trunk, but didn’t say anything.

He led Harry back to the same office as last time and settled behind the desk. “You may put your trunk and owl in the corner.”

Harry smiled gratefully. “Thanks!”

“Where did you get that trunk?” Baknog asked with obviously distaste.

“Hagrid helped me buy it last time.” Harry answered as he sat in the human sized seat. “It’s second hand.”

“So I can see.” Baknog didn’t look impressed. “Perhaps a newer trunk would be more practical? It would certainly be lighter.”

Harry perked up with interest. “Really? Why?”

“All trunks are made with charms that make them lighter,” Baknog explained. “Unfortunately the charm wears off after ten years.”

“Oh.” Harry wished Hagrid had told him that. “Where could I buy one? I’m planning on buying more books, but my trunk is already so heavy. It would be much easier if it was lighter.”

Baknog leaned back in his chair. “More books, Mr. Potter?”

“Yeah.” Harry grinned at him. “Thanks for that list last time. The books were really interesting. I especially liked the History and Customs one. Are there any other books you think I should read?”

Baknog nodded. “You are welcome, Mr. Potter. I will make sure to give you a new list of books before you leave today.”

“Thanks.” Harry looked around the office, there was a really big axe sitting on a bookcase. That was a weird combination. “So, what did you want to talk to me about?”

Baknog leaned forward and clasped him hand together. “If you have read the books I recommended you then you will be aware that, much like the muggle world, the wizarding world has noble houses.”

Harry nodded. “There are Most Ancient Houses and Ancient Houses right?”

“Correct.” Baknog gave an approving nod. “What do you remember about the Most Ancient Houses?”

Harry frowned in concentration. “There are ten Most Ancient Houses and ten Ancient Houses. And they’re all in order, I mean some of them are more important than other ones.”

“A hierarchy.” Baknog agreed. “Did the book mention what the names of the different houses were?”

“No.” Harry shook his head. “I want to get another book that does.”

Baknog stood up and moved to the bookcase and plucked out a book before handing it to Harry. “Page one hundred and sixty four.”

Harry opened the book to the correct page and jumped as the drawing of a massive eagle with four legs moved. “Did you see that?”

Baknog frowned as he returned to his seat. “See what?”

“The eagle thing, it’s moving!” Harry exclaimed as he watched the animal begin to groom its feathers with its beak.

“That speaks to the book’s age.” Baknog explained with obvious pride. “That book was written in 1654, they don’t bother with implanting magic into books these days. And that animal is called a hippogriff.”

“Wow.”

Harry stared at the hippogriff for a little longer and then began to look at the rest of the page. The page was titled ‘The Most Ancient and Noble House of Pottarius’.

Baknog cleared his throat. “The Pottarius family is one of the most powerful and prominent Houses in Wizarding Britian, second only to the Black House.”

“Cool.” Harry put his finger near the hippogriff and then jumped as the hippogriff pounced forward as though to bite it.

“Exactly eighty four years ago Lord Pottarius decided to change the title of his House to try and make it more modern.” Baknog continued. “The House of Pottarius became the House of Potter.”

Harry looked up quickly. “What? Like, my family?”

“Exactly.” Baknog nodded. “The wizard who changed the name of the house was your Grandfather, Lord Charlus Potter.”

Harry hadn’t considered that he might still have grandparents in the wizarding world. “Are they still alive?”

“No.” Baknog replied. “They died in 1978.”

“Oh.” Harry frowned. “So before I was born then. Does that mean that my Dad was a lord?”

“Yes, Lord James Potter.” Baknog confirmed. “You are his heir.”

“So when my Mum married him, she became a lady?” Harry asked.

“Correct.”

“Brilliant!” Harry bet Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia didn’t know that.

Baknog cleared his throat. “As I was saying, Mr. Potter, you are your Father’s heir.”

“So I’m a lord too?”

“No. You must be an adult, so not until you turn fifteen.” Baknog explained.

“I thought you had to be seventeen or something before you became an adult.” Harry asked. He’d read that in one of his books.

“While that would normally be true; you are the last living descendant of a Most Ancient and Noble House.” Baknog told him.

Harry closed the book in his lap and leaned back in his chair, there was a lot of information to consider.

“So it doesn’t affect me at the moment, right? I can just be normal Harry?”

“I am afraid not, Mr. Potter.” Baknog sounded regretful. “While you are not able to take full control of the House of Potter until you are fifteen, you are still the Heir of a Most Ancient and Noble House.”

Harry sighed. “Oh.”

“The first thing that you must do is allow us to test you to ensure that your claim to the House is legitimate.” Baknog announced briskly.”

“But I’m not claiming anything.” Harry pointed out.

Baknog ignored him and stood up briskly. “It shouldn’t take too long, but you will need to accompany me to our Healer’s Office.”

“Healers?” Harry asked as he followed Baknog out the door.

“I believe that the muggle term for them is Doctor.” Baknog told him.

Harry stopped. “But I’m not sick.” What if the healer saw all the bruises? Or worse, the welts? Uncle Vernon would be so mad if anyone found out!

Harry forced himself to take a deep breath. It didn’t matter what Uncle Vernon thought; Harry was going to Hogwarts. Harry bit his lip in worry, unless they sent him back to the Dursleys’ in the holidays?

“Come along, Mr. Potter.” Baknog was looking impatient.

“But I’m not sick.” Harry repeated even as he obediently followed the goblin down the hallway.

Baknog sighed. “While that may be true, Healer Axecure is the one who will run the tests on you.”

Healer Axecure turned out to be female goblin who was even smaller than Baknog, but she was just as gruff. When Baknog and Harry arrived the two goblins immediately began talking in the weird language that Harry had heard Baknog speak last time. It was harsh and raspy, Harry wasn’t even sure he was capable of making some of the noises that they were making.

“You!” Healer Axecure suddenly looked straight at Harry. “Sit on the bed.”

Harry rushed to sit on the bed she had pointed at. It was human sized, except that it was really short.

“According to Manager Baknog you claim to be Harry Potter, Heir to the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter and vanquisher of Voldermort.” Healer Axecure stood in front of Harry with her hands on her hips. “Is that true?”

Harry wanted to point out that he hadn’t claimed to be anything other than Harry, other people were the ones claiming all the extra stuff, but he didn’t think it would do any good.

“Um, yeah?”

“Lie down.” Healer Axecure commanded him.

Harry glanced over at where Baknog was standing, to ensure that the one goblin he sort of knew hadn’t left him, and then did as he was told.

The next few minutes were weird. Healer Axecure took used little cotton bud things to get samples of stuff from Harry’s eyes, ears, nose and mouth, and then she took samples of his blood. All the while the healer and Baknog were talking rapidly in their language.

“Stay.” Healer Axecure commanded him after she had collected all the samples she apparently needed.

Harry watched as Healer Axecure strode out of the room and then glanced towards Baknog. “What’s she doing?”

“Testing your relation to the House of Potter.” Baknog answered, moving to stand closer to Harry.

“Oh.” Harry stared up at the ceiling. “She said you were a manager. What do you manage?”

“The accounts and holdings of the House of Potter.” Baknog said.

Harry turned his head to look at him. “You mean like that vault we went to last time?”

Baknog chuckled. “That vault is simply the small amount of money your parents put away for you when you were born, Mr. Potter. The House of Potter owns many businesses, houses and apartments, and currently uses ten different vaults here at Gringotts.”

Harry stared at him. “You mean I have more money than there is in that vault?”

“You will when you turn fifteen.” Baknog answered.

“Wow.” Harry went back to staring at the ceiling. “Hagrid said that I ought to be careful how much money I spend because I have to be able to pay for seven years of Hogwarts. He said Hogwarts is very expensive.”

Baknog made a snarling noise. “Your Hogwarts tuition was paid by your parents the day after you were born.”

“Oh.” Harry shrugged. “I guess Hagrid didn’t know that. So I didn’t need to buy a second hand trunk after all.”

“Certainly not.” Baknog agreed.

“And I could maybe buy some new clothes.” Harry mused. “I mean, I have a new school uniform, but maybe some other clothes too.”

“That sounds like an excellent idea.” Baknog answered with such feeling that Harry turned to look at him in surprise.

“Should I buy them at Madam Malkin’s?” Harry asked. “Or maybe I could buy them in the muggle world.”

Baknog was silent for a moment. “If you would like, Mr. Potter, I could accompany you to the appropriate shops in Diagon Alley once we are done here.”

Harry stared at the goblin. “Seriously? That would be brilliant, thanks!”

Baknog inclined his head regally. “Of course. How much time do you have today?”

Harry shrugged. “I don’t know. I figured I would find somewhere to stay tonight before going to Hogwarts tomorrow. Is there a motel or something in Diagon Alley?”

Before Baknog could reply, Healer Axecure strode back into the room with a piece of parchment in her hand.

“Congratulations, Mr. Potter, your claim is legitimate. You are the Heir of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter.”

Harry wasn’t sure how he was supposed to respond. “Um, cool?”

Baknog turned to the healer and said something in the goblin language. Healer Axecure turned to stare at Harry and then responded in what sounded like an angry voice.

Harry went back to staring at ceiling. He wondered whether the goblin language was possible for humans to speak. It would be pretty cool to be able to speak to goblins, it would probably be super helpful too. Maybe there was a book on it.

“Mr. Potter.” Healer Axecure switched to English and Harry turned to look at her. “When was the last time you saw a healer?”

Harry put a hand on his stomach that suddenly felt like lead. “Uh, I can’t remember.”

Healer Axecure glared at him. “Do you not remember because you are forgetful? Or because it has been a long time?”

Harry sighed. “I don’t think I’ve seen a healer since I was a baby.”

Healer Axecure made a snarling like noise. “Then you are due for a check -up.”

Harry frowned at the ceiling. “Do I have to?”

“It would be wise, Mr. Potter.” Baknog answered. “We cannot be sure that you received all your vaccines.”

Harry sighed. “What do the muggleborns do?”

“They are required to visit a Healer and receive them before beginning at Hogwarts.” Baknog explained.

“Oh,” Harry sighed again. “Fine. What does it involve?”

Healer Axecure stepped closer to the bed and raised a hand to hover over Harry’s face. “Stay still.”

Harry lay as still as possible as the healer slowly moved her hand, which was hovering an inch above his body, towards his feet.

“You may move now.” Healer Axecure told him after a few minutes. “I will return.”

Harry watched as she strode out of the room again. “Is that it?”

“She took a scan of your body.” Baknog told him. “Now she’s transferring the scan to parchment.”

“She took a scan with her hand?” Harry asked incredulously.

“A human healer would normally use a wand.” Baknog told him. “Goblins do not use wands.”

“Right.” Harry nodded. “Last time I was here you said that most wizards don’t know wandless magic. Does that mean that it’s possible for me to learn to do magic like you do?”

“No.” Baknog shook his head. “You are not a goblin. However, it is possible for you to learn to do some magic without a wand.”

Harry considered that. “Do you think there are books about how?”

Baknog let out a raspy laugh. “I am sure there are.”

“What kind of scan did Healer Axecure do?” Harry asked.

“The scan will show every injury and infection that you currently have, as well as any spells that are affecting you.” Baknog told him.

Harry winced, this wasn’t going to be fun. What if Baknog didn’t like him anymore when he found out about bruises? He still didn’t know where he was going to stay that night.

“Baknog?” Harry asked. “Where would be the best place for me to stay tonight?”

Baknog frowned at him. “Can you not return to your relatives?”

Harry shook his head. “I told them that I was going to stay here until tomorrow.”

At that moment Healer Axecure strode into the room looking furious and began to speak to Baknog is their language again.

Harry looked back up at the ceiling, it had swirly patterns in it.

“Mr. Potter.” Healer Axecure moved to stand next to the bed. “I have looked at your scan. You seem to have an abnormal number of contusions.”

Harry followed the path of one of the swirls with his eyes.

“Would you be willing to remove your shirt and allow me to see the contusions?” Healer Axecure asked.

Harry’s swirl had split into three new swirls and he decided to follow the middle one.

“I have an ointment that could heal them completely.” Healer Axecure added.

Harry glanced at her. He wasn’t sure what a contusion was, but he figured it was either a bruise or a welt and he’d been worried that one of the kids at Howarts might see them and make fun of them.

“I can leave the room if it would make you more comfortable.” Baknog suggested in the softest voice Harry had ever heard him use.

Harry shook his head as he sat up and pulled his t-shirt off. He balled the t-shirt up in his hands and looked down at his knees.

“Are you able to tell me how you received these contusions?” Healer Axecure asked him.

Harry shrugged.

“Mr. Potter?” Baknog questioned.

“My uncle.” Harry answered quietly, looking away. “He gets mad sometimes.”

“I see.” Healer Axecure replied briskly. “I have a jar of ointment that will heal those contusions right up, as well as the welts. You can apply it later if you like, when you’re alone, but it might be easiest if you allow me to apply it to your back now.”

Harry shrugged in agreement.

“Excellent.” Healer Axecure held out a hand and caught the jar that had floated across the room before moving around the bed to stand behind Harry.

Harry jumped as the ointment touched his back, it was cold.

“The scan also showed a few other things to note, Mr. Potter.” Healer Axecure said as she began gently rubbing the ointment on Harry’s back. “You seem to have missed two vaccines, for Scrofungulus and Dragon Pox, and one of your ribs is fractured.”

Harry blinked in surprise. He hadn’t realised that Uncle Vernon had hit him that hard. “Oh.”

“I will fix that in a moment.” Healer Axecure commented. “You also seem to have several spells currently affecting you.”

“What kind of spells?” Harry asked.

“Spells to stop you from growing in one way or another.” Healer Axecure explained as she finished applying the ointment.

“What?” Harry twisted around to look at her and then gasped in pain.

“I told you, your rib is fractured.” Healer Axecure told him.

“Oh,” Harry looked at his knees. “I just thought it was a bad bruise.”

“No.” Healer Axecure said shortly, moving around the bed to stand in front of Harry again. “I will need to touch the skin over the rib to heal it.”

Harry shrugged. “Okay.”

Her hands were cold, and for a moment the pain was so bad that he groaned, but then all the pain was gone.

“Wow.” Harry stared down at her hand as she pulled it back. “That’s amazing!”

“You may put your shirt back on.” Healer Axecure told him. “Now, were you aware about the spells affecting you?”

Harry pulled his shirt over his head, marvelling at the lack of pain, and then shook his head. “What do they do?”

“You have two,” Healer Axecure replied with a frown. “One of them is to dampen your magic. It isn’t an uncommon practise for wizarding families to cast a temporary block of this nature when a baby has particularly strong accidental magic.”

“So if it’s temporary then it will disappear?” Harry asked hopefully.

Healer Axecure shook her head. “It should have disappeared already. I will have to remove it myself.”

“What about the other block?” Harry asked. “Can you remove it too?”

“The second block is related to your ability to learn.” Healer Axecure looked furious. “I have no idea who would have cast this block on you, but I can certainly remove it.”

“My ability to learn?” Harry frowned in confusion. “Why would I need that kind of block?”

“You wouldn’t.” Healer Axecure snapped. “Lie down.”

Harry obeyed quickly and stared at the ceiling again. “Will it hurt?”

“Yes.”

She was right. It hurt a lot! So much that Harry bit through his lip to try and keep from crying out, but then it was over.

“I feel the same.” He commented.

“Well they’re definitely gone.” Healer Axecure commented, before touching a finger to Harry’s bleeding lip. “Silly boy.”

Harry shrugged. “Sorry.”

“Sit up, Mr. Potter.” Healer Axecure instructed.

Harry swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat up.

“Now, Mr. Potter,” Healer Axecure started. “There were three other matters of concern in your scan.”

Harry grimaced.

“Firstly, you are terribly malnourished.” Healer Axecure told him with a frown.

“Huh?” Harry had never heard that word before.

“You’re starved.” Healer Axecure said shortly. “You haven’t been eating enough.”

“Oh.” Harry shrugged nervously.

“I am going to give you a set of potions.” Healer Axecure told him. “You are to take one every day for two weeks. Don’t miss a day.”

“Okay.” Harry nodded. “I can do that.”

“Now the last thing your scan showed was some very concerning readings regarding your scar.” Healer Axecure went on. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Harry’s tugged at his hair to try and ensure that the scar was covered. “What does that mean?”

“Have you ever noticed anything strange about your scar, Mr. Potter?” Healer Axecure asked.

“No.” Harry shook his head.

“Well,” Healer Axecure shared a look with Baknog. “There is nothing I can do now, but I will look into the matter. Finally, your eyeglasses.”

“What about them?” Harry touched them self-consciously.

“I can fix your eyesight.” Healer Axecure said shortly. “If you want.”

“Will it hurt?” Harry asked suspiciously.

“Yes.” Healer Axecure replied. “But you will never need eyeglasses again.”

Harry considered that. “Okay.”

“Drink this.” Healer Axecure shoved a vial with purple liquid towards him.

Harry stared at the liquid unsurely. “Are you sure?”

“It will fix your eyes.” Baknog reassured him.

Harry gulped the liquid down and then waited for the pain to start. It didn’t take long. This time Harry didn’t bother trying to hold his groans in, it felt as though his eyes were on fire. And then, just as quickly as the other times, the pain was gone and everything was blurry.

“You will need to remove your eyeglasses.” Healer Axecure pointed out.

Harry pulled them off and then gaped in amazement. The world looked so different. Everything was clearer, brighter, better.

“Woah! This is amazing!” Harry looked to where a very clear Healer Axecure was standing. “Thanks!”

Healer Axecure just nodded.

“Does this mean that we’re done?” Harry asked, feeling a little guilty about how eager he was to escape from the room.

“Nearly.” Healer Axecure answered. “First you must receive the vaccines you are missing.” She held out both her hands and caught both the small vials that flew towards her.

Healer Axecure set the vial holding purple liquid down and then touched a finger to Harry’s upper arm.

Harry yelped at the sharp pain and then stared in fascination as the purple liquid gradually disappeared from the vial.

“What…?”

“I am transferring the potion directly into your blood stream.” Healer Axecure explained as she set down the now empty vial and picked up the second one. Just as it had before the liquid in the vial disappeared.

When the Healer was done, Harry rubbed his arm where Healer Axecure’s finger had been. “Now are we done?”

“Yes.” Healer Axecure told him. “However, if at any time you notice anything unusual about your scar you need to owl me. You have an owl I presume?”

Harry nodded. “Yeah, her name’s Hedwig.”

“And you will owl me?” Healer Axecure confirmed.

“Okay.” Harry agreed.

“Here are the potions and the ointment.” Healer Axecure handed him a wooden crate. “Remember, one potion every day for two weeks. You should start today. And the bruise ointment is in the green jar. Rub it into your bruises and they will disappear within a few hours.”

“Thanks.” Harry said again. “You’ve been brilliant. I feel better than I have in ages.”

“I’m sure.” Healer Axecure agreed before striding out of the room.

Harry looked at Baknog. “Now what?”

“We will put the crate with your trunk.” Baknog answered, already beginning to walk towards the door.

“I don’t think the crate will fit in my trunk.” Harry pointed out as he followed the goblin into the hallway. “It was pretty full.”

“We will be buying you a new trunk that fits.” Baknog reassured him.

“Oh good.” Harry nodded. “Do I need more money? I still have quite a bit left over, but some of it’s in pounds.”

“I will arrange for you to have a Withdrawal Key.”

“What’s that?” Harry asked curiously.

“It is a key that can be used to buy things.” Baknog told him. “You give the key to the shopkeeper, they press the key onto a special piece of parchment and it records your purchase.”

“Oh, like a credit card.” Harry followed Baknog into his office and set the crate on the floor next to his trunk.

Baknog looked at him blankly.

Harry shrugged awkwardly. Maybe they didn’t know about things like credit cards.

Baknog sat behind his desk and pulled a large key out of a drawer. “Have a seat, Mr. Potter, I will be a few minutes.”

Harry sat grabbed the book that Baknog had given him earlier and opened it back up to the page about his family. It was fascinating!

“Mr. Potter?”

Harry looked up in surprise, he had completely forgotten that Baknog was there. “Yeah?”

“Are you ready to leave?” Baknog was standing by the door.

“Yeah, sorry.” Harry regretfully put the book on the desk and stood up. “Do I need to bring anything?”

“No.” Baknog led Harry back through the tunnel to the door that lead to the big room that had all the counters and then stopped.

Harry looked at him in confusion and then blinked as the goblin suddenly looked like a normal sized human.

“Woah! How did you...? Why did you…?” Harry gaped at the goblin turned human.

Baknog sighed. “It is easier this way, Mr. Potter.”

Harry didn’t know what to say.

Baknog lead Harry through the large room of people and out into Diagon Alley. “Where would you like to go first?”

Harry shrugged. “Should we get a trunk first or last?”

“First, I think.” Baknog handed Harry the large key from before. “You need to prick your finger and then rub the blood onto the key.”

Harry grimaced at the idea. “I don’t have anything to prick my finger with.”

Baknog tapped Harry’s finger and immediately a drop of blood appeared on it. “Now, put it on the key.”

Harry did as he had been told and then put his finger in his mouth. He almost dropped the key in fright when the key glowed red.

Baknog nodded in approval. “This is now an active Withdrawal Key. If you spend more than fifty galleons in one purchase you will need to provide a drop of blood to confirm your identity.”

“Oh.” Harry looked down at the key, it had stopped glowing. “So where should we go for a trunk?”

“Trunci’s.” 

Trunci’s was large store next to Ollivander’s, the trunks in the window looked so fancy in comparison with the trunk Harry had bought with Hagrid.

“Merry meet.” A thin wizard with grey hair welcomed them with a smile. He reached out to clasp wrists with Baknog and then with Harry.

“Merry meet.” Baknog replied with a nod.

“Merry meet.” Harry echoed, he remembered reading something about this in the customs book.

“My name is Mercer Trunci.” The man introduced himself. “How may I help you today?”

“My companion is looking for a new trunk.” Baknog answered plainly.

“I see.” Mercer smiled at Harry. “What kind of trunk are you looking for?”

Harry shrugged. “I dunno. What kind of trunks are there?”

Mercer’s eyes lit up. “Too many to say. What are you planning on using the trunk for?”

“For Hogwarts.” Harry answered. “And, um, to keep my books in.”

“Ah.” Mercer nodded. “An avid reader are you?”

“Yes.” Baknog answered for Harry. “He will need a large book compartment with an efficient cataloguing system.”

“I see.” Mercer led them towards one of the trunks near the counter. “We have named this our Ravenclaw trunk. It has two compartments, one of which is made specifically for books…”

Baknog interrupted him. “He needs at least three compartments, and an advanced security system.”

Mercer made a humming noise. “Hmm, perhaps our Whistlen Trunk?” He led them towards a trunk that was near the far left corner. “Four compartments, including one book compartment, one compartment which will only open if the key has the owner’s blood on it, and one temperature statis compartment.”

Harry looked up at Baknog unsurely. A compartment that needed blood? Wasn’t that a bit weird?

Baknog looked at him. “What do you think, Harry?”

Harry looked closer at the trunk. It was made out of a black coloured wood and had silver keyholes – four of them.

“What does the inside look like?” He asked.

Mercer pulled a ring of keys out of his pocket and slotted a key in the first keyhole. The lid of the trunk opened by itself to show a black velvet like lining.

“Would you like to see the other compartments?” Mercer asked.

Harry shrugged, would the other ones look different?

“Yes.” Baknog answered.

Mercer closed the trunk and then slotted the key into the second keyhole. When the lid rose the trunk looked entirely different. It was a lot shallower to start with.

“You place the book in here, like you would a book case,” Mercer explained, and you can rotate around your collection like this.” He pushed a lever on the side of the trunk and the bottom of the trunk began to move like a conveyer belt.

“Wow!” Harry mouthed.

“There is no cataloguing system?” Baknog asked with a frown.

“No.” Mercer shook his head and returned to lever to its original position. “But the compartment will hold up to two hundred books.”

“That just makes the lack of cataloguing system worse.” Baknog pointed out.

“Would you like to see the final two compartments?” Mercer asked.

Baknog looked down at Harry. “What do you think?”

“Um, how much is it?” Harry asked.

“Ninety five galleons.” Mercer replied.

Harry looked up at Baknog in shock. It was a lot of money.

“If you could give us a minute?” Baknog asked Mercer.

Once Mercer was gone, Harry spoke up. “It’s a lot of money!”

“It’s worth it.” Bakrog assured him.

“So you think I should get it?” Harry asked. “What about the lack of cataloguing system you were worried about?”

Baknog looked at the trunk. “So long as you are careful about where you place the books, it will be fine.”

“Okay cool.” Harry nodded. “So I should get it?”

“If you wish.”

Harry frowned at the goblin disguised as a wizard. “That’s not helpful.”

Baknog looked over at Mercer who quickly moved forward.

“Do you any more questions?” The shopkeeper asked.

“No,” Harry shook his head. “I’ll, um take it.”

“Excellent.” Mercer smiled at him. “Do you wish to take it wish you now?”

“Yes, please.” Harry replied.

Mercer picked the trunk up and walked it over to the counter. “It will just take a moment to set up the secure compartment to recognise you.”

“Right.” Harry grimaced. “The blood.”

Mercer chuckled and placed two keys on the counter. “Exactly. I just need you to prick your finger and then rub the blood onto these keys.”

Harry rolled his eyes. What was it with the wizarding world and blood? He held out his finger for Baknog to prick like the previous time and then rubbed the blood that appeared on the keys.

“Excellent.” Mercer nodded and then glanced at Baknog. “That will be ninety five galleons.”

“Don’t look at me.” Baknog rebuked him.

“Sorry.” Mercer looked down at Harry. “Will you be paying by coins or key?”

“Key.” Harry answered.

Mercer pulled a piece of parchment out of a drawer and placed it in front of Harry. “If you could please press your key here.”

Harry pulled the Withdrawal Key out of his pocket and pressed it on the parchment before squeezing one last drop of blood out of his finger to dab on the key impression. The key impression glowed red and then the blood disappeared.

Mercer put the parchment back in the drawer. “It was a pleasure doing business with you, young man.”

“Yeah.” Harry answered awkwardly picking up one end of his new trunk. “You too.”

“Merry part.” Mercer smiled farewell to them.

“Merry part.” Harry and Baknog both echoed as they left the shop.

“It’s so light.” Harry commented to Baknog. “I think I could pick it up and carry it.”

“It won’t get any heavier.” Baknog told him. “No matter what you put in it.”

“Wow.” Harry grinned down at the trunk. “That’s brilliant. Can we get some new clothes next?”

“Certainly, Mr. Potter.” Baknog nodded. “This way.”

1-1-1

By the time Harry and Baknog returned to the bank it was almost four o’clock. They hadn’t spent long at the clothing store, though Harry had gotten a lot of different clothes – he was going to throw out all of Dudley’s old ones. But they had spent over an hour at the bookstores. Baknog had taken him to two different bookstores. The first was the one Harry had been to with Hagrid where Harry had bought twenty three books, but the second one was in a totally different street called Knockturn Alley. Harry had bought twelve books in the second store and he couldn’t wait to read them. They were about the wizarding customs and traditions, there was even a whole book about the Potter family.

Harry couldn’t believe how much money he had spent. It seemed ridiculous, but Baknog had encouraged him and Harry knew that none of it was wasted. He was going to read every single book. Even the boring looking one about how to use a quill.

As they were climbing the steps into Gringotts, Harry’s stomach growled with hunger.

“Did you not have lunch, Mr. Potter?” Baknog asked.

Harry blushed. “No, I’ve been with you since lunchtime.”

“I am aware.” Baknog commented. “I had presumed that you had an early lunch before coming to see me.”

Harry shrugged in embarrassment. “No.”

“Very well.” Baknog lead Harry back through the hallway to his office. “We will eat soon.”

“Thanks.”

Once in Baknog’s office, Harry transferred everything in his old trunk into his new trunk, and reached through the cage bars to pet Hedwig.

“Sorry, I left you here for so long, girl.”

Hedwig ignored him.

“What should I do with my old trunk?” Harry asked.

“You can leave it here.” Baknog told him. “I will dispose of it.”

Harry grinned at the goblin’s obvious distaste for the trunk.

“You can put your crate of potions in the third compartment.” Baknog suggested.

“They won’t get broken or anything?” Harry asked as he did as he had been told.

“No, the inside of the trunk doesn’t respond to what is happening on the outside.”

“Wow.” Harry stared at the trunk in amazement. It was unbelievable.

“You will spend the night at the Leaky Cauldron.” Baknog told him.

Harry wrinkled his nose. “Okay.”

“But first we will disguise you.” Baknog continued.

“Like you?” Harry asked in interest.

“No,” Baknog shook his head. “We will use Polyjuice Potion. One sip will transform your features for an hour. You should use it every time you step out of your room.”

Harry smiled in relief. “Cool. Last time I was there with Hagrid they all creeped me out. It was like everyone knew me.”

Baknog opened a cupboard that was next to the bookcase and pulled out yet another vial of liquid, and a small box.

“What do you wish to look like?”

Harry shrugged. “I dunno.”

“Very well.” Baknog opened the box and pulled out a small paper bag with a picture on the front. “How about this?”

Harry looked at the picture, it was of a brown haired man. “Uh, sure.”

Baknog opened the bag and removed a hair which he then dropped into the potion vial.

“Do you always keep hair in your cupboard?” Harry asked as he watched the potion turn green.

“It’s is useful to have in case of emergencies.” Baknog handed him the potion vial. “You only need a small mouthful.”

Harry looked at the potion with distaste before taking a sip. Immediately he felt his body changing and growing. It hurt! Once his body had finished changing, Harry looked down and realised that he was now much taller.

“Wow.” Harry stretched his arms. “This is weird. Why does my clothing still fit? Did it grow with me?”

“No, it never fit you in the first place.” Baknog answered dryly. “Your trousers are a bit short.”

Harry looked down in time to see Baknog point a hand towards his trousers and his trousers grow longer.

“Now transfer everything into your new trunk and follow me.” Baknog commanded as he headed for the door.

Harry quickly chucked everything from his old trunk into his new one. By the time he had closed the trunk and lifted it, Baknog was gone. Harry exited the office in a hurry, his trunk in one hand and Hedwig’s cage in the other, and almost bumped into Baknog who was obviously waiting for him.

“Sorry.” Harry mumbled as he walked down the hallway with Baknog. “It’s weird having longer legs.”

“I know.” Baknog replied.

Harry glanced at the goblin and realised that Baknog was still disguised as a human. “Oh, right.”

“Do you know how to get to the Hogwarts train from here?” Baknog asked him.

“No.” Harry admitted. “I didn’t think that far ahead.”

“I will escort you then.” Baknog said, as he and Harry exited Gringotts. “I will meet you at the Leaky Cauldron at ten.”

“Thanks.” Harry grinned gratefully at the goblin. “That would be brilliant!”

Chapter Text

When Harry woke the next morning it was to Hedwig pecking at his ear.

“Hedwig!” Harry opened his eyes grudgingly only to sit up in fright when he saw the sun streaming in. What if he had missed his train?

He looked at the clock beside his bed and sighed in relief when he saw it was only nine o’clock.

“Thanks, Hedwig.” Harry reached out to pet his owl’s feathers. “You’re better than an alarm clock.”

Hedwig preened for a few seconds before flying away and landing on the end of the bed.

Harry stretched and marvelled at the lack of pain. It was amazing. He didn’t even have a bruise left, the bruise cream that he had applied the night before had obviously worked.

Which reminded him, Harry looked at the crate of potions that was sitting on the table in distaste. He’d had his first of the prescribed potions the night before and it had been gross. Really, really gross. And he had to have thirteen more. Yuck!

Harry swung his feet over the side of the bed and stood up, he needed a shower. He was glad that Baknog had arranged for him to have a room that had its own bathroom – it would suck to need to use the polyjuice potion every time he wanted to use the loo. Particularly since the potion hurt.

Once Harry had showered, he changed into his clothes from the day before – they were the only ones with trousers long enough to handle his polyjuiced size – and took a sip of the dreaded potion.

“Good morning, Mr. James.” Tom the bartender greeted him when he arrived downstairs. “Can I get you anything?”

“Merry meet.” Harry greeted him, he’d been reading more about the customs of the wizarding world the night before. It was fascinating. “Could I have some breakfast in my room please?”

“Merry meet indeed.” Tom grinned at him. “Most certainly, Mr. James. I’ll have Gemma bring a tray up in a wee while.”

“Thanks.” Harry went back to his room and opened the book he had been reading the night before. Apparently, it was rude to have lowered sleeves around someone who had a higher societal position than you. You were supposed to roll your sleeves up to your elbows to show that you didn’t have a wand strapped to your forearm.

Also, whenever you met someone of higher position you were supposed to bow. The depth of the bow depended on how much higher the person was, but no matter the depth you had to do something weird with your hands.

Harry stood up and tried it. Hands into fists, with thumbs sticking out, hands upside down so the thumbs were sticking down and the fingers were facing away from the body, fists and thumbs together, and bow over them.

It was awkward! Harry tried again. He hoped that it got easier.

He went to his trunk and pulled out the book that explained who all the current heads of the noble Houses were. Apparently it was self-updating, which was cool. There were multiple pages for every House, but Harry skipped to the end where there was a chart.

Most Ancient and Noble House of Black – Lord Sirius Black. Heir Presumptive: Harry Potter

Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter – Unclaimed. Heir Apparent: Harry Potter.

Most Ancient and Noble House of Malfoy – Lord Lucius Malfoy. Heir Apparent: Draconus Malfoy.

Most Ancient and Noble House of Peverell – Unclaimed.

Most Ancient and Noble House of Prince – Lord Septimius Prince. Heir Presumptive: Severus Snape.

Most Ancient and Noble House of Ravenclaw – Unclaimed.

Most Ancient and Noble House of Slytherin – Unclaimed.

Most Ancient and Noble House of Gryffindor – Unclaimed.

Most Ancient and Noble House of Hufflepuff – Unclaimed.

Most Ancient and Noble House of Odgen – Lord Tiberius Odgen. Heir Apparent: Claudius Odgen.

Harry stared at the chart in shock. Why was he the Heir Presumptive of the House of Black? He’d never even met Lord Black.

Harry shook the question off and looked at the names again. So he had to remember to bow if he ever met a Sirius Black, a Lucius Malfoy, a Septimius Prince or a Tiberius Odgen.

Harry turned to the next page to look at the Ancient and Noble Houses but was interrupted by a knock on the door.

“Come in.”

The door swung open and a woman came in carrying a tray with his breakfast.

“Merry meet.” Harry greeted her.

“Merry meet, Mr. James.” The woman replied, placing the tray on the table beside Harry. “Enjoy.”

“Thanks.” Harry looked back at the book as she left.

Ancient and Noble House of Burke – Lord Castiel Burke. Heir Apparent: Gregory Burke.

Ancient and Noble House of Prewett – Unclaimed.

Ancient and Noble House of MacMillian – Lady Ann MacMillian. Heir Apparent: Margaret MacMillian

Ancient and Noble House of Lestrange – Lord Rodolphus Lestrange. Heir Presumptive: Rabastan Lestrange.

Ancient and Noble House of Longbottom: Lord Algie Longbottom. Heir Presumptive: Neville Longbottom.

Ancient and Noble House of Greengrass: Lord Samuel Greengrass. Heir Apparent: Thomas Greengrass.

Ancient and Noble House of Bones: Lady Amelia Bones. Heir Presumptive: Susan Bones.

Ancient and Noble House of Nott: Lord Julian Nott. Heir Apparent: Bartholomew Nott.

Ancient and Noble House of Diggory: Lord Amos Diggory. Heir Apparent: Cedric Diggory.

Ancient and Noble House of Crouch: Lord Bartemius Crouch. Heir Presumptive: Unclaimed.

Harry sighed – that was a lot of names to remember, it would be easier if there were pictures.

Harry grabbed a potion from the crate and gulped it down as fast as he could, before shoving bacon in his mouth to try and wipe out the taste. It was awful!

Harry fed Hedwig some bacon and then went back to the book on bowing as he absently ate his breakfast. How was he supposed to know how deep to bow? The book said that he should have one bow for the lords of the Most Ancient Houses and one for the lords of the Ancient Houses. There was a whole other bow for Lord Black since Harry was his heir.

Harry looked at the clock and ate faster, Baknog would be there in ten minutes. Looking back at the book, Harry was glad he wasn’t Cedric Diggory. Diggory was supposed to bow for all the lords and all the heirs since they were higher in the hierarchy than he was. But then he guessed that all the people who weren’t on the list were supposed to bow too. It didn’t sound very practical.

Harry looked up in surprise as someone knocked on his door.

“Come in.” He called.

Baknog, or at the least the human version of him, came into the room and frowned disapprovingly at Harry.

“You should always check who it is.” He reproved Harry.

“Oh, okay.” Harry looked at the clock in concern. “Am I running late? I thought I was meeting you at ten.”

“I am early.” Baknog told him. “What are you reading?”

Harry picked up the book to show the goblin the cover. “Can I ask you some questions?”

Baknog inclined his head in agreement and sat in the chair opposite Harry.

“Who is Sirius Black?” Harry asked. “And why am I his heir?”

Baknog seemed to grimace. “Lord Black is your godfather.”

Harry leaned forward in interest. “Why didn’t you say anything about him?”

“I am not the manager of the Black Accounts.” Baknog replied cagily. “I thought we had enough to sort through with the Potter accounts.”

“Okay, but why have I never met him?”

“Because he is in Azkaban.” Baknog replied slowly.

Harry gaped at him; he’d read about Azkaban. “Why? What did he do?”

Baknog was silent for a moment before answering. “Allegedly he was the person who betrayed your parents to Voldermort.”

Harry felt like he’d been punched in the stomach. “What? Wait, you said allegedly. What does that mean?”

“He never received a trial.” Baknog told him. “So while he has been accused of betraying your parents, it has never been proven.”

Harry considered that. “Why not?”

“I don’t know.” Baknog admitted.

“Do you think he did it?” Harry asked.

Baknog didn’t reply immediately. Eventually he said, “I have my doubts.”

“How can they just keep him there?” Harry asked in horror. “What if he’s innocent?”

Baknog didn’t say anything.

“Is there anything I can do?” Harry asked. “I want to know whether he did it or not. There should be a trial.”

Baknog nodded slowly. “I will look into it.”

Harry grinned at the goblin. “Thanks.”

“Do you have other questions?” Baknog asked.

“Yeah.” Harry nodded. “I was reading the book about bowing and I tried it, but I don’t know how deep to bow.”

“Show me.” Baknog commanded him.

Harry stood up and showed Baknog his bowing attempt.

“Your fingers should be flatter.” Baknog critiqued. “Good. That is how deep you would bow to the Head of an Ancient House. Do it again.”

Harry tried for a few more times. “What about a Most Ancient House?”

“About half as deep again.” Baknog told him. “No lower than that, slightly higher. Good. Now try again.”

Harry practised for a few minutes. “What do I do if someone bows to me?”

“You incline your head toward them like this.” Ragnok showed him.

Harry sat down and mimicked the goblin. “Do people do this all the time? Wouldn’t it get annoying, walking down the street and having to bow to people all the time?”

“Many people do not observe these practises.” Ragnok told him. “You will find the majority of your schoolmates will not.”

“Okay, but what about the ones who do?” Harry asked. “Will they have to bow to people every time they see them? I meant what if someone passes me in a corridor?”

“It is likely that on informal occasions they will simply push up their sleeves and nod in your direction.” Baknog explained.

“Right. Is there going to be anyone at Hogwarts that I should bow to?”

“No.” Baknog answered quickly as he glanced at the clock. “You will be the highest ranking wizard there. Are you ready?”

Harry stood up quickly and began to throw things into his trunk. “Sorry, I’ll just be a minute.” He put the crate of potions in the third compartment and the two books he had been reading in the second one. Then he stood up and looked around to make sure he hadn’t forgotten anything.

“I’m ready.”

Baknog stood and moved to the door. “I will wait downstairs for you to pay.”

Harry closed Hedwig in her cage and then picked it up along with his trunk. Once downstairs he set them down at the counter and pulled the Withdrawal Key out of his pocket.

“Leaving already, Mr. James.” Tom grinned at him. “That will be twenty five galleons. If you’ll press your key here.”

Harry did as he was instructed and then returned the key to his pocket. “Merry part, Tom.”

Tom grinned at him. “Merry part, Mr. James.”

2-2-2

Baknog led Harry back into Diagon Alley.

“Where are we going?” Harry asked as he pulled his trunk behind him.

“We will take the Floo system to the train station.” Baknog told him. “But first you need the polyjuice potion to wear off.”

“Oh, right.” Harry hadn’t considered. “You said it lasts for an hour, right?”

“Approximately.” Baknog answered. “When did you last take it?”

Harry thought back. “Um, just before I ordered breakfast, so maybe half an hour ago.”

Baknog sighed. “Very well, we will require an antidote then.” He led Harry into the first potion shop they came across and had him purchase a small, but expensive, vial of orange potion.

“Should I drink it now?” Harry asked once they were out of the store.

“No.” Baknog continued to walk in the direction they had before. “You to need to change into your school robes too. It would be best to do both somewhere private.”

Baknog led Harry to the furthest end of the Alley where there was courtyard surrounded by very large fireplaces. Harry stared in shock as one of the fireplaces glowed green and someone stepped out of it.

“What…?”

“You can change through there?” Baknog pointed Harry towards a yellow door.

Harry went through the door and found himself in a public loo. He was the only one there so he quickly downed the potion and then changed into his school uniform. Baknog was exactly where Harry had left him and nodded approving when he saw Harry appear.

“We will be travelling to the train station by Floo.” Baknog led Harry to one of the fireplaces. “There are three steps. First you throw a handful of Floo Powder into the fire, then you walk into the fireplace and clearly state the Floo address of the fireplace you want to end up at.”

Harry eyes the flames distrustfully. “I have to walk into the fire?”

“The Floo Powder renders the flames harmless.” Baknog told him and held out a small green sack. “Take a handful of the powder. I will take your trunk through.”

Harry set the end of his trunk down and peered into the sack and saw what looked like silver glitter. He took a handful and then looked at Baknog for the next instruction.

“Now you need to throw it into the fire, and then enter the fireplace.” Baknog explained. “Once you’re standing in the flames close your eyes and say ‘Kings Cross Station’.”

Harry grimaced. “Do I have to?”

Baknog frowned at him. “Yes, Mr. Potter.”

Harry sighed. “Fine.” He threw the powder into the fireplace and then stared when the flames turned green and whooshed up. “Cool.”

“Now step into the fire, with your eyes closed, and say ‘Kings Cross Station’.” Baknog instructed.

Harry gripped Hedwig’s cage tightly and stepped into the fire. “Kings Cross Station.”

It felt as though he was being sucked down a giant drain. He seemed to be spinning very fast - the roaring in his ears was deafening – and then suddenly it was over and he had fallen face first onto concrete. Harry winced, Hedwig’s cage had fallen on its side and Hedwig was squawking loudly in protest.

Harry had only just clambered to his feet, and righted Hedwig’s cage, when Baknog stepped through the fire gracefully pulling Harry’s trunk behind him.

“How do you do that?” Harry asked him in frustration. “How do you not fall over?”

Baknog looked at him for a moment. “Practise, Mr. Potter.”

Harry grimaced, he never wanted to do that again. The fireplace glowed green again and a wizard stumbled out of it. Harry backed away from the fireplace and then stopped when he bumped into someone.

“Sorry!” Harry mumbled.

“Come along.” Baknog commanded him. “You need to find a compartment on the train.

Harry looked around. There was a large red train waiting on the tracks.

“Is that how we get to Hogwarts?” Harry asked.

“Yes.” Baknog led Harry towards the train. “The train is named the Hogwarts Express. Here is your trunk.”

“Thanks.” Harry accepted the trunk for Baknog and then looked down awkwardly. “And, uh, thanks for helping me and all that.”

“You’re welcome.” Baknog replied with what Harry thought was possibly a smile. “If you have any questions you may owl me. I am at your service.”

“Uh, thanks.” Harry shrugged uncomfortably.

“Merry part, Mr. Potter.” Baknog said.

“Merry part.” Harry replied and then watched as Baknog walked back the fireplace.

Harry took a deep breath and gripped Hedwig’s cage tightly before walking to the train. He walked beside the train until he found an empty compartment in the second carriage and then climbed on board.

He sat in the far corner from the door and opened his the book compartment of his trunk. What book did he want to read? Harry sighed as, ‘Using a Quill for Muggles’ caught his eye. He supposed he had to read it sometime.

The book was just as boring as Harry had predicted, but he persevered. After a few minutes he even retrieved a piece of parchment from his trunk, along with a quill and ink, to practise with. It was hard! He couldn’t seem to get the quill at the right angle, either too much ink came out or not enough.

“Hey, kid?”

Harry looked up in surprise and saw an older boy with dreadlocks standing at the door holding a box in one hand his trunk in the other.

“Um, yeah?” Harry answered nervously.

“Mind if I join you?” The boy asked.

Harry shrugged nervously. “Sure.”

“Thanks.” The boy grinned at him as he entered the compartment and put his trunk under the opposite seat. “I’m Lee, Lee Jordan.”

“I’m Harry.”

“Nice to meet you.” Lee sat down and leaned against the back of the seat. “What are you doing?”

Harry looked down at the parchment covered in ink spots in embarrassment. “Practising writing with a quill. It’s not really working.”

“Muggleborn?” Lee asked.

Harry shook his head. “Muggle raised.”

“Oh, do you want a hand?” Lee asked.

Harry shrugged awkwardly. “I can’t seem to get the angle right.”

Lee leaned forward. “Show me.”

Flushing in embarrassment, Harry dipped his quill into the ink and tried again.

“You’re pushing down too hard.” Lee commented. “And you need to angle it up a little more. Oops, not that far.”

Harry winced as a large ink spot formed on his parchment.

“Here, like this.” Lee moved to sit next to Harry and took the quill in his hand. “See this angle here? This is the angle you want, that way the ink comes out at the right speed.”

“Oh.” Harry looked at Lee’s handwriting. “You’re really good.”

Lee chuckled. “You should tell my Ma that. She’s always on me for my bad handwriting.”

“Your mum’s a witch?” Harry asked in interest as took the quill back from Lee and tried again.

“A little lower.” Lee commented. “Yeah, and my Dad’s a wizard. I’ve been using a quill since I was a kid.”

Harry frowned in concentration as he tried to get the right angle. “That must have been cool.”

“It certainly made my first year easier.” Lee told him. “That’s perfect. Now try and write with it like that.”

Harry tried to write out the word Hogwarts. “It’s still not really working.”

“That’s because your letters are too jerky.” Lee told him. “They need to be rounder.”

Harry sighed in frustration and tried again. This time he managed to get halfway through the word before creating an ink spot.

“Good job.” Lee grinned as he returned to his seat. “If you practise enough, it will become normal.”

Harry smiled gratefully. “Thanks.”

“No worries.” Lee told him. “You might want to put it away though. The train can be pretty jerky when it’s pulling out. You don’t want your ink to spill everywhere.”

Harry put a cap on the ink and rolled the parchment up before returning everything to his trunk. “Thanks.”

“Do you want to see something cool?” Lee asked, picking up the box he had come in with.

“Uh, sure.” Harry leaned forward and grinned when he saw the box contained a spider. “Wow! That is so cool. It’s huge!”

Lee grinned back. “Yeah, my older brother bought it for it for me a few weeks ago. Ma was horrified. I don’t think she would have let me keep it if I wasn’t taking it to school.”

The train jerked and then began to slowly accelerate.

Harry looked out the window for a few seconds before looking back to the spider. “Can I touch it?”

Lee passed him the box. “Sure you can. It can’t bite you.”

Harry reached out a finger and stroked the top of the spider’s head. “Brilliant!”

“There you are, Lee!” The doors of the compartment opened to show a red headed boy about the same age as Lee. “We’ve been…”

“…looking for you…” Another boy, identical to the first, appeared at the door.

“…everywhere.” The two boys finished the sentence together. Harry thought they were probably twins.

“Hey,” The first twin threw himself into the seat next to Lee. “Who’s this?”

Harry closed the box in his lap as the second twin pushed the first’s trunk out the way and then tugged his own trunk into the compartment, before sitting down next to Harry.

“This is Harry.” Lee answered. “He’s a first year.”

“No kidding.” The second twin grinned down at Harry. “Only first years…”

“Are that tiny.” The first twin finished. “Harry who?”

Harry ducked his head, embarrassed by all the attention. “Uh, Harry Potter.” He admitted.

“No kidding.” Lee looked surprised. “Wow.”

“Wow indeedy.” The twins were both were gawking at him.

Harry could feel his face heating up as he flushed in embarrassment.

“We’re Fred and George Weasley.” The first twin said after a few moments.

Harry looked between them. “Which of you is Fred? And which one is George?”

Lee laughed. “Who knows? I’m not even sure that they know.”

“Hey!” The first twin complained. “We know!”

“I’m Fred.” The second twin claimed.

“Yeah and I’m George.” The first twin agreed.

Lee didn’t look convinced.

“Anyway, Lee.” George, who was sitting next to Lee, elbowed his friend. “We heard you have a spider. C’mon show us!”

Lee grinned. “It’s in the box that Harry’s holding.”

Both the twins turned their attention to Harry. “Can we see it?”

“Sure.” Lee took the box back from Harry and then opened it as the twins gathered around him.

“Woah!” George jumped backwards. “It’s huge!”

“You ’fraidy cat.” Lee mocked him. “When Harry saw it he asked if he could touch it.”

George moved closer again. “It just startled me.” He defended himself.

“Can we touch it?” Fred asked.

“Sure.”

Harry watched as both the twins tentatively touched the spider, George more tentatively than Fred. After a few minutes, Lee put the spider away and he and the twins began discussing their holidays.

Harry looked out the window at the country side that was rushing past and tried to not listen in on their conversation.

“What did you do this summer, Harry?” Fred asked him after a few minutes.

Harry shrugged. “I found out I was a wizard.”

“You didn’t know?” Lee asked in obvious surprise. “But you’re the boy-who-lived!”

Harry looked out the window again. “My relatives’ never told me. I didn’t know until Hagrid came and told me.”

“They sent Hagrid?” George asked in confusion.

Harry bristled in defence of his friend. “What’s wrong with that? He’s brilliant!”

“Nothing.” Fred answered quickly. “It’s just that we’ve never…”

“Heard of Hagrid doing a muggleborn visit before.” George finished.

“Yeah.” Lee agreed. “Normally they send one of the Heads of House, like McGonagall or Flitwick.”

“But you seriously didn’t know?” George asked.

Harry shook his head. “Nope. I’m having to learn everything from scratch. I don’t know what I would have done without Hagrid and Baknog.”

“Who’s Baknog?” Fred asked.

“He’s a goblin.” Harry replied. “He’s the manager of my family’s accounts.”

“Your family’s accounts?” George parroted in confusion.

“He’s a Potter remember.” Lee answered. “They’re Most Ancient Nobility.”

“Oh, right.” Both twins murmured.

“Vaguely rings a bell.” Fred shrugged.

“It’s probably one the reasons Ginny wants to marry him so badly.” George said with a cheeky grin.

Harry looked at him strangely. “What?”

“Ginny’s our little sister.” Fred told him. “She’s…”

“Completely obsessed with you.” George finished.

Harry must have looked worried because Fred tried to reassure him.

“Don’t worry. She won’t be at Hogwarts until next year.”

“Don’t you have a brother coming this year?” Lee asked.

“Yeah.” George groaned. “Ickle Ronniekins has come to Hogwarts.”

Harry hoped that wasn’t their brother’s actual name.

“It actually makes me feel sorry for Charlie and Percy.” Fred looked horrified at the thought. “We must have been way more annoying than Ron when we were first years.”

Lee burst into laughter. “You think? You were little terrors.”

“Were?” George put a hand to his heart in mock offense. “We still are little terrors, thank you very much!”

“You’re right.” Lee nodded, still laughing.

“Speaking of which.” Fred leaned forward in obvious excitement. “Mum gave us the most brilliant idea. We should…”

…blow up a toilet.” George finished the sentence with him.

“Your Mum gave you this idea?” Lee asked.

“Well,” The twins exchanged a look as George answered him. “I don’t…”

“…think she meant to.” Fred finished. “But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it anyway.”

Harry stared at them in amusement. Surely they wouldn’t actually blow up a loo.

“So how exactly are you planning on doing it?” Lee asked them.

George leaned forward intently. “Have you ever heard of muggle fireforks?”

“What are they?” Lee asked.

“They’re an explosive device…” Fred started.

“Which go off and basically make little shooting stars.” George finished.

Harry grinned. “I think you mean a firework.”

All three boys turned their attention to him. “Have you seen them?”

“What are they like?”

“I’ve only seen them once.” Harry told them. “They’re pretty cool.”

“So what do these fire-works have to do with blowing a toilet?” Lee asked.

“We spent the summer inventing one.” George answered with a grin.

“We haven’t quite got it right yet…” Fred said.

“…but it would certainly blow up a toilet.” George pointed out.

“Brilliant.” Lee had a massive grin on his face.

“Now, Harry,” George turned to him. “You have to promise us that you won’t tell anyone.”

Harry shook his head quickly. “I won’t.”

Lee nodded at him approvingly. “Good kid.”

2-2-2

By the time the train stopped, Harry felt as though he knew the three boys pretty well. Fred and George had five siblings, two of which were at Hogwarts. Lee only had one brother, who had finished Hogwarts the year before – apparently he had been in the same year as the twins’ brother Charlie.

Harry followed the three boys off the train and grinned thankfully at them when they pointed him in the direction of Hagrid, apparently all the first years had to go with him.

Hagrid was holding a large lamp and calling: “Firs' years! Firs' years over here.” When he spotted Harry, Hagrid beamed at him. “All right there, Harry?”

"C'mon, follow me -- any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"

Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of them that Harry thought there must be thick trees there. Nobody spoke much.

"Ye' all get yer firs' sight o' Hogwarts in a sec," Hagrid called over his shoulder, "jus' round this bend here."

There was a loud "Oooooh!"

The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black take. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.

"No more'n four to a boat!" Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore.

Harry climbed into the nearest boat and then looked around at the other first years. There was a red headed boy who was climbing into a boat to Harry’s left with a bushy haired girl and another boy who was a bit on the chubby side. On Harry’s right four girls, two of whom seemed to be twins, had claimed another boat.

“Merry meet.” The blond haired boy Harry had met at Madam Malkin’s was standing near the boat. “May I join you?”

Harry looked up at him in surprise. “Merry meet. And yeah, sure.”

The blond boy climbed into the boat and two other boys climbed in after him. Harry stared at them, they were by far the biggest first years he had seen yet.

“You’re Harry Potter right?” The blond boy asked.

Harry looked back at him and nodded. “Yeah.”

The blond boy bowed over his hands while sitting and Harry noticed that his sleeves had been rolled up to his elbows. Obviously this boy followed the traditions. Harry nodded at him, hoping that he was doing it right.

“I’m Draconus Malfoy.” The boy introduced himself. “Heir to the Most Ancient and Noble House of Malfoy.”

“Oh.” Harry remembered reading the name. The Malfoys were the third house, after the Blacks and Potters. He gasped as the boat jerked slightly as it began moving. “How…?”

Malfoy looked at him strangely. “The boats are magical.”

“Right.” Harry nodded. “I should have known that.”

“Yes.” Malfoy stared at him. “Why didn’t you know that?”

 “I grew up with muggles.” Harry admitted. “I didn’t even know magic existed until this summer.”

“You grew up with muggles.” Malfoy repeated with obvious distaste. “Why?”

Harry shrugged. “I dunno. They’re my Aunt and Uncle.”

“Of course.” Malfoy sneered slightly. “You’re a halfblood.”

Harry hadn’t heard that term before but it didn’t sound like it was a compliment. “A what?”

“A halfblood.” Malfoy repeated. “It means your mother was a mu-muggleborn.”

Harry wondered what Malfoy had been going to say before he corrected himself. “So?”

“So you’re not a pureblood.” Malfoy answered as though it was obvious. “You’ve got muggle blood in you.”

Harry considered that. “Yeah, I guess. So what?”

Malfoy stared at him. “What do you mean?”

“What does it matter if I’ve got muggle blood in me?” Harry asked confused by the entire conversation.

Malfoy was silent for a while, obviously thinking.

"Heads down!" yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face.

Eventually Malfoy came up with an answer. “You don’t know how everything works. You don’t understand the way we do things.”

“But that doesn’t have anything to do with my blood.” Harry pointed out. “If someone had stolen you as a baby and made you grow up with muggles you wouldn’t know anything either – even though you’re a pureblood. Besides, just because I don’t know everything yet doesn’t mean I can’t learn it. I want to learn everything.”

Malfoy didn’t reply and Harry spent the rest of the boat trip worrying that he had offended the other boy.

Eventually the boats reached land and the first years all clambered out onto the harbour.

“Potter.” Malfoy said quietly as Harry began to follow Hagrid and other first years up a passageway.

“What?” Harry looked at him.

“If you need any help you can ask me.” Malfoy told him.

“What do you mean?” Harry asked in relief that the other boy was still talking to him.

“You said you wanted to learn everything.” Malfoy answered. “Well, if you have any questions you can ask me.”

Harry grinned at him. “Thanks.”

2-2-2

The Great Hall was amazing and there were so many people. There were four long tables filled with students and another long table that seemed to be where the teachers sat. Harry and the other first years followed Professor McGonagall to the professors’ table and then had to stand in a line, facing the other students. The students were all staring at them and Harry took his time to observe the differences between the tables. Each table seemed to have a colour, the students seated at the right table all had yellow trimming on their uniform, the students at the table next to it had green, the next table was blue and the table on the far left seemed to be red.

Harry looked away from the other students as Professor McGonagall placed a stool in front of the first years, then Professor McGonagall placed an old and dirty wizard’s hat. Harry guessed that it was the Sorting Hat he had read about.

The hall was silent as everyone stared at the hat and then the hat began to sing:

" Oh, you may not think I'm pretty,

But don't judge on what you see,

I'll eat myself if you can find

A smarter hat than me.

You can keep your bowlers black,

Your top hats sleek and tall,

For I'm the Hogwarts Sorting Hat

And I can cap them all.

There's nothing hidden in your head

The Sorting Hat can't see,

So try me on and I will tell you

Where you ought to be.

You might belong in Gryffindor,

Where dwell the brave at heart,

Their daring, nerve, and chivalry

Set Gryffindors apart;

You might belong in Hufflepuff,

Where they are just and loyal,

Those patient Hufflepuffis are true

And unafraid of toil;

Or yet in wise old Ravenclaw,

if you've a ready mind,

Where those of wit and learning,

Will always find their kind;

Or perhaps in Slytherin

You'll make your real friends,

Those cunning folk use any means

To achieve their ends.

So put me on! Don't be afraid!

And don't get in a flap!

You're in safe hands (though I have none)

For I'm a Thinking Cap!"

When the hat had finished its song Professor McGonagall produced a scroll from a pocket in her robes and called the first student to be sorted.

“Abbott, Hannah.”

Hannah Abbott had blond pigtails and she was quickly sorted into Hufflepuff. Once she was sorted she went to sit at the Hufflepuff table who seemed to welcome her warmly.

“Bones, Susan.”

Harry stared at the girl in surprise; he recognised the name. Susan Bones was the Heir Presumptive to one of the Matriarchal Ancient and Noble Houses.

As Bones was sorted into Hufflepuff, Harry looked at the different tables again. He could see Fred, George and Lee sitting together at the Gryffindor table. They had their heads together and were obviously whispering about something. Harry wondered whether they were planning exactly how they would blow up a loo.

“Ravenclaw!” The hat shouted and Harry realised that he had missed two of the first years being sorted. The girl who had just been sorted moved towards the Ravenclaw table and shook hands with a few of her new housemates.

As the sorting went on, Harry was interested to note the different ways the houses celebrated new housemates. When Lavender Brown was sorted into Gryffindor the entire table stood up and cheered loudly, Fred and George even catcalled. The Ravenclaws always clapped politely and then shook hands with their new member. Hufflepuff was more enthusiastic than Ravenclaw, but they actually hugged their newest members. The Slytherins’ applause was even more polite than Ravenclaws and they simply nodded to their first years.

“Greengrass, Daphne.”

Harry looked up in interest as a pretty blond girl stepped gracefully out of the line and towards the hat. Greengrass was one of the Ancient and Noble Houses, he wondered whether she was related to them.

“Slytherin!” The hat declared and Daphne smiled in obvious satisfaction and, having returned the hat to McGonagall, walked towards the Slytherin table. As she walked Harry realised that her sleeves were rolled up to her elbows, he looked around the room to see if anyone else did. There were more people with rolled sleeves than he had expected. Everyone at the Slytherin table had their sleeves rolled up, and about half the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs did. Harry could only see five Gryffindor’s with rolled sleeves.

“Longbottom, Neville.” McGonagall called and a chubby boy stepped out of the line of first years and promptly fell over.

Harry felt sorry for the guy. He recognised the name of the boy, he was the Presumptive Heir to the Ancient and Noble House of Longbottom, but the boy wasn’t anything like he had imagined. He’d been expecting all the heirs to be more like Malfoy and Greengrass. It made him feel better about the fact that he wasn’t graceful. Longbottom’s sorting took ages, but he was eventually sorted into Gryffindor – bringing the number of Gryffindors with rolled sleeves up to six.

That meant that out of the thirteen current heirs, twelve if you took into account that Harry counted as two of them, four of them were in Harry’s year. Weird. Harry resolved to ask Malfoy why that was.

Next a Morag MacDougal was sorted into Ravenclaw and an Ernie MacMillan was sorted into Hufflepuff. Then Malfoy was called.

Malfoy stepped out of the line with as much grace and poise as Daphne Greengrass had done. The Sorting Hat barely touched his head before declaring the boy to be a Slytherin.

“Nott, Theodore.”

Harry watched as a thin boy stepped towards the hat. Nott was another name he recognised, it was one of the Ancient and Noble Houses.

Eventually McGonagall called his name and Harry walked towards the stool nervously as the other students began whispering in surprise.

“As in the Harry Potter?”

“Did you hear that? Harry Potter!”

The hat sank over Harry’s eyes, thankfully blocking his view of the students peering at him in curiosity.

“Hmmm,” Whispered a voice in his ear. “You’re a funny one, aren’t you? It’s unusual to find a first year so well rounded. Tell me, young Potter, where would you like me to sort you?”

Harry shrugged uncomfortably. He had no idea – he was tempted to say Gryffindor if only because he knew the twins and Lee there. He didn’t want to be in Hufflepuff, not if they were going to hug him in welcome. If he was sorted into Slytherin he would be able to ask Malfoy questions whenever he wanted, but at the same time the Slytherins were pretty intimidating.

“Interesting.” The whispering voice commented. “And Ravenclaw?”

Harry brought to mind what he had read about Ravenclaw, they were focussed on learning and knowledge. Harry wondered whether any of them had any good books he could borrow.

“Well then,” The hat’s whispered tone was approving. “Let’s put you in RAVENCLAW!”

Harry jumped slightly when the hat shouted the last word to the entire hall and he pushed off the hat. The hall was silent for a moment before all the students began whispering again.

“Ravenclaw? Did the hat say Ravenclaw?”

“But he’s Harry Potter! He’s supposed to be a Gryffindor!”

“I thought the Potters were always in Gryffindor?”

“Who told you that? His Dad was the first Gryffindor in generations.”

Harry walked to the Ravenclaw table and nervously sat next to the other first years.

“Welcome, Potter!” An older boy sitting across from him held out his hand to shake Harry’s.

“Thanks.” Harry shook the boy’s hand and smiled.

“Yes, welcome!” Another older boy, who looked Japanese, bowed over his hands while sitting like Malfoy had. “My name is Takashi Noda.”

Harry nodded to him. “Merry meet.”

“I’m Jeremy Stretton.” The first boy introduced himself. “Do you know your fellow first years?”

Harry shook his head and turned to smile at the other first years. “Merry meet.” He said yet again.

“Merry meet.” The boy on his right agreed, bowing over his hands. “I’m Terry Boot.”

“I’m Michael Corner.” The boy on Terry Boot’s other side introduced himself with a wave and the guy next to me is Goldstein.”

“Anthony Goldstein.” The aforementioned boy corrected.

“And I’m Rodney Johnson.” The boy across from Anthony gave a wave.

Harry grinned at them before turning to the girl on his left. “Merry meet.”

“Hi.” The girl seemed to be of Chinese descent. “I’m Sue Li.”

“Harry Potter.” Harry introduced himself.

Before Harry could find out the names of the rest of the first years another student was sorted into Ravenclaw and Harry joined his new house in welcoming her.

The newest Ravenclaw’s name was Lisa Turpin and she was a small brunette with a pointy nose. After he had introduced himself to the rest of the first years, Harry turned his attention to the Head Table where the teachers were sitting. He recognised Professor Quirrell from his first trip to Diagon Alley with Hagrid, but none of the other teachers looked familiar.

Finally the last student was sorted and McGonagall took the Sorting Hat away.

The oldest person at the Head Table, a man with a long white beard stood up and gave the oddest welcome speech Harry had ever heard of.

“Who was that?” Lisa Turpin asked an older student next to her.

“That’s Albus Dumbledore.” The student replied in obvious surprise that the answer wasn’t obvious. “He’s the Headmaster.”

Harry’s mouth fell open in surprise as the previously empty dishes in the middle of the table were suddenly overflowing with food.

“Wow!” One of the other first years exclaimed.

“Dig in.” Stretton, the older boy across from Harry, instructed with a smile. “The food is always really good.”

“There’s so much of it!” Harry commented as he began to serve himself some of the roast beef in front of him.

“There are a lot of us too.” Stretton pointed out.

Once Harry was served and had swallowed his first few mouthfuls of food he looked back up at the Head Table curiously.

“Stretton?”

“Yeah?”

“Do you mind telling me the names of the Professors?”

“Well, on the far right is Hagrid, he’s the gameskeeper.” Stretton began. “Beside him is Argus Filch, he’s the caretaker. Then comes Professor Hooch, the flying instructor; Madam Pince, the librarian; and Madam Pomfrey, the infirmary matron.”

“Then there is the Magical Theory Professor, Kilsby.” Takashi Noda took over. “He’s talking to Professor Julien who teaches music and art; Professor Grisham is next, he’s the Muggle Studies Professor and he’s talking to the Care of Magical Creatures Professor Kettleburn. Then there’s Dumbledore, he’s the headmaster and he’s talking to Professor McGonagall who is the Deputy Headmaster and also teaches Transfiguration.” Next comes Professor Trelawney, she’s a complete fake and phony.”

“She teaches Divination.” Stretton put in.

“Right.” Noda agreed. “Nothing against Divination as a subject, but she’s useless.”

“Then there is Professor Sprout.” Stretton told Harry. “She teaches Herbology; Babbling teaches Ancient Runes – she’s brilliant; Professor Vector teaches Arithmancy…”

“She’s also brilliant, but kind of a hard arse.” Noda put in.

“Professor Sinistra teaches Astronomy; Professor Snape teaches Potions who’s talking to Quirrell who takes D.A.D.A.”

“Defence Against the Dark Arts.” Noda interpreted.

“And finally we have Professor Flitwick.” Stretton continued. “He’s our Head of House and he’s really great. He’s actually half goblin. He teaches Charms.”

Harry took a moment to ensure that he had processed all the information and then grinned thankfully at the two older boys.

“Thanks!”

“I’m so lost.” Terry Boot groaned from Harry’s right. “I only got about three of them.”

Noda shrugged. “You’ll figure it out.”

“Who are the Head Professors of the other houses?” Harry asked.

“Professor McGonagall is the Gryffindor Head.” Noda answered. “Sprout is Head of Hufflepuff and Snape is Head of Slytherin.”

“McGonagall and Snape are pretty biased towards their houses.” Stretton told Harry. “Unfortunately for us and Hufflepuff, Flitwick and Sprout aren’t. We haven’t won the House Cup in over ten years.”

“That sucks!” Goldstein grumbled.

Noda shrugged. “I don’t really mind. Once you accept it, it gives you more freedom to really get stuck in and study more. No wasted time trying to impress the teachers with things that don’t matter.”

Harry thought Noda made a lot of sense. He looked back up at the Head Table, Professor Snape was still talking to Professor Quirrell.

Suddenly, just as the two Professors glanced across the hall, Harry’s scar was burning with pain. Harry gritted his teeth and force his hands to stay where they were, he didn’t want to draw attention to himself by making a scene.

The pain disappeared almost immediately, but Harry had to blink tears out of his eyes from the burning intensity of it. It had been similar to the pain of having his eyes corrected the day before. Which reminded him, Healer Axecure had asked him to owl her if his scar did anything weird. He was pretty sure this counted, he would owl her tonight.

Chapter Text

The Ravenclaw Tower was brilliant. It was a huge, with dark blue walls. Not that you could see much of the walls because of all the bookcases. The room seemed to be split in two. On one side there were lots and lots of desks, individual ones and group ones, and on the other side were couches.

Harry wandered over to the nearest bookcase to have a look at the books.

“It’s great, isn’t it?” Noda asked from behind him.

“Yeah.” Harry nodded as he looked at the titles of the books. They all seemed to be related to potion making. “Whose are they?”

“Lots of different peoples’.” Noda answered. “There is a spell that we use to put on a book that adds it to the Ravenclaw library. The book still belongs to you, but it is stored in these bookcases and anyone can read it.”

“That’s great!” Harry grinned. “Is it a complicated spell?”

“Not really.” Noda shrugged. “Probably a bit beyond your level though. I can try and teach it to you later if you want.”

“That sounds brilliant, thanks!”

“Over here first years!” Professor Flitwick had arrived while Harry had been looking at the books and was standing in the middle of the room.

Harry moved to join the other first years in front of him.

“Welcome to Ravenclaw!” Flitwick told them. “We are delighted to have you. I am Professor Flitwick and I am the Head of Ravenclaw House which means you will be seeing a lot of me.”

Harry frowned slightly at the half-goblin in confusion. He was nothing like Bagnok or Healer Axecure, or any other goblin Harry had met before. He was happy, and squeaky, and actually showed emotion.

“As Ravenclaws we pride ourselves on having a thirst for knowledge and a willingness to share what we have learnt.” Flitwick continued. “Because of this there will be tutoring classes available if you would like them. They are not compulsory, but I advise you to take advantage of them. Particularly if you are not from a wizarding family.

“There are six Ravenclaw prefects.” Flitwick looked around. “Prefects!” He called waving at some of the senior students who were quietly chatting.

“Sorry, Professor.” One of the oldest looking students came over.

“No, no, don’t apologise.” Flitwick answered. “First years, this is Archer Shacklebolt. He is one of your seventh year prefects and head boy this year. Your other seventh year prefect is Pauline Fancourt, where is she?”

“Here, Professor.” A short girl who was standing near Shacklebolt answered.

“Excellent.” Flitwick nodded. “Your sixth year prefects are Connor McMillian and Andrea Brady.”

These two students had moved to stand on the Professors other side and waved at the first years.

“And finally the fifth year prefects are Robert Hilliard and Loretta Cornhill.” Flitwick explained. He beamed delightedly as the two fifth years waved.

“Wonderful!” Flitwick exclaimed. “If you have any questions or problems go and see them. I assume you have all read your student handbook?”

“Yes, sir.” Harry answered along with the rest of the first years.

“Excellent!” Flitwick beamed at them. “Then I will bid you good night and leave you to settle in.”

Harry watched as Flitwick left the room and then turned his attention back to the prefects who were still standing in front of them.

“As the Professor said, welcome.” Pauline Fancourt smiled at them. “A little bit of housekeeping before we show you to your dorms.”

“Firstly, you will have noticed the books.” Archer Shacklebolt started. “They are the combined collection of the Ravenclaw students. Not all of our books are there, obviously we have some that are precious to us and some that double up, but all of us have at least a few books contributed to the library. You are welcome to use them, but you should know that the bookcases will record who touches which books and if you damage a book you will be responsible for replacing it.”

“You’re also welcome to contribute books.” Connor McMillian, one of the sixth year prefects added.

“Yes, definitely.” Shacklebolt agreed. “So if you have any books you would like to loan to the library ask one of the older students to help you.”

“You will have noticed that there are two different areas in our common room.” Fancourt told them. “The side with desks is for studying and the side with couches is for hanging out. Each of the desks has a silencing spell around it, so you won’t be disturbed by people talking.”

“Lights out at ten for first years.” Shacklebolt told them. “We don’t care if you have an assignment due the next day, so make sure you don’t leave things to the last minute.”

“Finally,” Fancourt said. “If you have any study questions there will always be someone sitting at that desk over in the corner. Fifth year students and higher take turns to sit there and be available to answer any questions.”

“We will be organising group tutoring sessions in the next few days.” Shacklebolt added. “So keep an eye on the noticeboard so that you don’t miss out.”

“Now, girls come with me.” Fancourt said. “And boys go with Archer.”

Harry followed the head boy through the common room and through a door into a long hallway. He looked behind him and realised that the other two male prefects were coming with them.

Archer stopped at the first door they came to and opened it. “This is your dorm room.” He told them as he led them in.

The room was the same blue as the common room and it had five beds. They weren’t normal beds though, they had a post on each corner and curtains that could obviously be drawn to give the sleeper privacy. Each bed had a desk beside it, and a trunk at the end of it.

“Find your trunk.” Archer instructed them. “That will be your bed.”

Harry’s trunk was the furthest away and as he walked toward it he looked at his desk. It looked wonderful! His own study space. He couldn’t wait to set up all his textbooks there.

“How are you feeling?” McMillian asked them.

Harry noticed that the prefect had his sleeves rolled up and realised that it made sense. McMillian was one of the Ancient Houses.

“Good.” Goldstein answered.

“Brilliant!” Terry grinned.

“Great.” McMillian grinned in reply. “Now, I know you’ve heard a lot of talking, but humour us a bit longer. It can be really intimidating to be sorted into Ravenclaw, there’s a lot more pressure on you to get good marks than in some of the other houses.”

“But don’t worry about it.” Shacklebolt told them.

“Yeah.” McMillian agreed. “You won’t get kicked out for bad marks and we won’t like you any less.”

“Having said that,” Hilliard, the fifth year prefect spoke for the first time. “Work hard and enjoy learning. That’s why you’re here. Not because you’re smart, but because you like learning things. If you have any questions about study ask the people in your year first, and if they don’t know then ask someone older than you.”

“Look around.” Shacklebolt instructed them. “You are stuck with these guys for the next seven years. You will have classes together, you will eat together, you will study together and you will play together. Those seven years will be a lot nicer if you get along with each other.”

“So much easier.” McMillian added with a grin. “We don’t mind friendly rivalry, it can be healthy. But if we see any unreasonable behaviour we will step in.”

“Classes start in the morning.” Shacklebolt told them. “You will get your class schedules at breakfast. We will meet you in the common room at seven thirty, to introduce you to your upperclassmen buddies.”

“Basically, each one of you will be assigned a student fourth year or older.” McMillian explained. “They will show you the ropes and explain things to you.”

“How many of you are muggleborns?” Hilliard asked.

Harry looked around and noticed that none of the other boys put their hand up. “Uh, I was raised by muggles.” He admitted.

They all gave him a weird look.

“But you’re Harry Potter.” Hilliard protested.

Harry shrugged. “I grew up with my Mum’s sister – she’s a muggle.”

“Okay, we’ll chat with you a bit later, alright, Potter?” Shacklebolt asked.

Harry nodded, feeling himself flush at all the attention.

“Right then.” McMillian said briskly. “Any questions?”

The five first years all shook their heads.

“Weird.” Shacklebolt chuckled. “First time in three years there hasn’t been questions. Normally the first years are inquisitive little buggers.”

“Maybe we’re getting better at the welcome speech.” McMillian suggested.

“Maybe.” Shacklebolt agreed. “Now, we’ll leave you to it. Come find me in about half an hour, Potter.”

“Okay.” Harry answered quickly, wondering how he would know when half an hour was up.

“Merry Part.” McMillian said bowing over his hands in Harry’s direction.

Harry blushed and nodded jerkily at him. “Merry Part.”

“Traditionalist.” Shacklebolt mocked the sixth year with a grin.

“And what’s wrong with that?” McMillian asked lightly, elbowing the other boy as they left the room. “Traditions are an important part of culture.”

“True,” Shacklebolt admitted. “But there comes a time when culture moves on.”

Harry strained to hear McMillian’s reply, but it was muffled as Hilliard shut the door behind them.

“Well,” Goldstein began. “I hope you don’t expect us all to treat you like royalty.”

“What?” Harry shook his head quickly. “No way.”

“Good.” Goldstein sat down on his trunk. “Because my family has never gone in for that traditional nonsense.”

“Well, my family does.” Boot told Goldstein with a frown, before turning to Harry and bowing over his hands. “Merry Meet.”

“Merry Meet.” Harry’s nod was much less jerky this time and he wondered that he hadn’t noticed the other boy’s sleeves had been rolled up.

“Mine too, actually.” Corner said, before bowing.

Harry nodded again. “Merry Meet.”

All the boys looked at the fifth boy in the room, Rodney Johnson.

“Don’t look at me.” Johnson shrugged. “My family’s traditionally Gryffindor, they wouldn’t touch this kind of tradition with a twelve inch wand. I’m interested in hearing the different sides of the debate though.”

“Fair enough.” Boot nodded, sitting on his trunk as well. “So are you the first Ravenclaw in your family?”

“Nope.” Johnson shook his head. “My great uncle was a Ravenclaw and I had a second cousin who was a Hufflepuff. What about you guys?”

“My family does a bit of everything.” Goldstein answered. “I have a cousin who’s a Slytherin, my Mum was a Gryffindor and my Dad was a Hufflepuff. But two of my uncles were Ravenclaw.”

“Slytherin?” Boot asked with a grin. “At least some of your family must be relatively traditional. I don’t think an untraditional student would get through seven years in Slytherin with their sanity attached.”

Goldstein grimaced. “Yeah, Gemma’s a bit weird.”

“My family is traditionally Ravenclaw.” Corner said. “I think if I had been sorted anywhere else my Grandpa might have had a stroke. Terry’s is too. Our Dads were roommates when they were at school.”

“And we all know about Potter’s family history.” Goldstein pointed out.

Harry shrugged uncomfortably, the boys probably knew more about his family history than he did.

 “So what subject are you looking forward to the most?” Corner asked.

“Charms.” Boot answered immediately.

“I’m looking forward to History.” Johnson grinned.

“I’m looking forward to Charms too.” Goldstein replied. “What about you, Corner?”

“You should call me Michael.” Michael Corner told them. “Where going to be living together for the next seven years, we might as well be on first name basis.”

The four other boys nodded in agreement.

“Okay, Michael.” Anthony Goldstein said. “What subject are you looking forward to the most?”

“Astronomy.” Michael replied. “I love learning about the stars and stuff.”

“What about you, Harry?” Rodney Johnson asked.

Harry shrugged. “I don’t know. All of them I guess.”

“You don’t have a favourite?” Terry Boot asked.

“Not yet.” Harry didn’t want to admit that he had only known that the different classes existed for a month.

“You guys aren’t morning people are you?” Michael asked after the silence had started to get uncomfortable. “Because I love my sleep.”

“I like my sleep too.” Terry told him. “I just prefer to get my sleep at night and be awake in the morning.”

Anthony pulled a face. “I’m with you, Michael. The morning is for sleeping.”

“Me too.” Rodney agreed.

Harry flushed when they all turned to him. He had never had so many people wanting to hear his opinion on things before.

“Uh, I tend to wake up pretty early.” Harry told them. “Though having said that, I slept in until nine this morning.”

“Nine?” Anthony exclaimed. “That’s nothing. I slept in until lunch last Saturday.”

Terry made a disgusted noise. “All that lost time.”

Sometime later Michael looked and his watch and then turned to Harry. “Uh, Harry. You should probably go if you want to meet with the prefects on time.”

“Thanks!” Harry grinned shyly at the other boy before heading for the door.

“See you later.” Terry told him.

Harry waved at him awkwardly and slipped out of the door. The last thing he heard before closing the door was Anthony’s voice.

“Well, he’s weird!”

Harry looked down and bit his lip in disappointment. For a few minutes he had thought that Hogwarts would be different from his last school. The other boys had seemed so nice and they had actually wanted to talk to him. But they thought he was weird too. He didn’t mean to be weird, he just didn’t know how to talk to people. He hadn’t had much practise.

Harry walked slowly down the hallway and back into the common room and looked around for Shacklebolt. Eventually he saw him sitting on the edge of one of the couches with a group of students his age. Harry made his way over to the couch, making sure to keep his head down and not disturb anyone.

He stood beside the couch for a few minutes before anyone noticed him.

“Oi, great and powerful head boy,” One of the boys in the group said elbowing Shacklebolt. “You’re wanted.”

“No rest for the great and powerful.” Another boy added with a grin.

“Potter.” Shacklebolt stood up from the couch quickly and Harry took a step back. “Uh everyone, this is Harry Potter.”

Two of Shacklebolt’s friends, a boy and a girl, stood up and bowed over their rolled sleeves. “Merry meet.”

“Merry meet.” Harry replied with a nod to each of them, even as he felt his face flushing.

“Stop it.” Shacklebolt scolded them. “You’re embarrassing the poor boy.”

“We’re being polite!” Replied the girl who had bowed. “Just because you’re content to be uncivilised.”

“Ooooh!” The group laughed.

“You got told, Archer, and by your girlfriend too!”

Shacklebolt grinned at them and then put a hand on Harry’s shoulder. “We’re going over there to talk now.”

The group laughed as Shacklebolt led Harry over to a desk that had two seats attached.

“Sorry.” Harry mumbled.

“What are you sorry for?” Shacklebolt asked him as they sat down. “It’s not your fault, besides they’re just teasing.”

Harry shrugged.

“So, Potter, the reason we ask about muggleborn students is so that we can make sure that we assign them an upperclassman who can give them extra tutoring to help them learn the stuff that kids who grow up in wizarding families know before they get here. But I presume that even though you grew up with muggles you know that stuff already.”

Harry shrugged uncomfortably.

“Is that a yes?” Shacklebolt asked.

“Uh, I don’t know.” Harry replied. “What kind of stuff?”

“How to write with a quill, the basics of potions, how to hold a wand.” Shacklebolt answered.

Harry shook his head. “I don’t know that stuff. But I bought some extra books on potions and one on how to use a quill.”

Shacklebolt looked at him strangely. “Why don’t you know?”

Harry looked down. “I didn’t even know that I was a wizard until last month. My Aunt and Uncle never told me.”

“Seriously?” Shacklebolt exclaimed. “That’s wacked.”

Harry shrugged.

“So what do you know?” Shacklebolt asked him.

“Um, I’ve read all my textbooks, and a couple of books on the customs of this world.” Harry started. “And I’ve read Hogwarts: A History.”

“Have you had your shots?” Shacklebolt asked after a moment.

“My vaccines?” Harry asked. “Yeah, the goblin healer gave me them.”

“Goblin healer?” Shacklebolt repeated. “Are you sure?”

Harry flushed and looked down. “Yeah.”

“Sorry, it’s just a bit weird. I’ve never heard of a wizard going to see a goblin healer before.” Shacklbolt told him.

“Oh.” Harry didn’t know what he was supposed to say.

“Right then.” Shacklebolt shook his head slightly as though to refocus. “Do you have any questions?”

“Um,” Harry considered that for a moment. “Where’s the loo and stuff?”

Shacklebolt frowned. “Bugger! Did we forget to tell you lot that? Well, there are some loos through that door there.” He pointed to a door on Harry’s left. “But most of them are through the door at the far end of our hallway. The showers are through there too.”

“Thanks.” Harry told him.

“No worries. If I was you, I’d get up early in the morning. The lines for the showers get really long at about six thirty and stay like that until after eight.” Shacklebolt suggested with a smile. “Listen, can you tell your dorm mates?”

“Sure.” Harry nodded.

“Great.” Shacklebolt stood up and Harry followed suit. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Night.” Harry replied shyly. “Thanks.”

“No worries.” Shacklebolt grinned at him before moving back in the direction of his friends.

Harry watched him for a moment before walking back to his dorm.

The first thing he heard when he opened the door was the sound of laughing. The other four boys had all pulled their chairs up to Goldstein’s desk and were playing a game.

“Hi, Harry.” Terry called to him. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah.” Harry moved to stand near them. “He asked me to tell you that the loos and showers and stuff are through the door at the end of the hallway.”

“Yeah, we found them.” Anthony said, without looking up from the game.

“Oh,” Harry looked down.

“Thanks though!” Michael grinned at him.

“And, um, apparently it’s best to shower before six thirty, otherwise you have to wait in line.”

“Six thirty?” Anthony laughed as he played a card into the middle of the table. “That sounds awful.”

Harry just shrugged and began moving towards his bed.

“You want to play, Harry?” Terry asked him.

“No, thanks.” Harry turned back to them. “I’ve never played before.”

“We could teach you?” Rodney offered.

Anthony made an impatient noise.

“Thanks,” Harry smiled shyly at them. “But maybe another time?”

“Definitely.” Terry grinned at him before turning his attention back to the game in front of him.

Harry grabbed his trunk key from his pocket and opened the first compartment. He searched around for a while before finding his pyjamas, toothbrush and toothpaste and set them on the bed. Then, remembering that he wanted to get up early in the morning, he grabbed everything he would need in the morning too.

Once he had relocked his trunk, Harry grabbed his pyjamas, toothbrush and toothpaste and went to find the loos. The bathroom was the biggest Harry had ever seen – there were seven showers!

There were other students in the room already, a few were showering, and a few were just chatting. One of the students who was chatting pushed himself off the wall when he saw Harry.

“Well, hello, little first year.” He greeted Harry with a smirk.

“Leave the poor guy alone, Roger.” One of the boy’s friends told him.

Harry tried to ignore them as he moved to the sink and put some toothpaste on his toothbrush.

“Wait, are you, Harry Potter?” Another of the boys asked suddenly.

Harry, who already had his toothbrush in his mouth flushed and nodded slightly.

The boys all bowed to him, and Harry, feeling terribly awkward, nodded at them.

“Sorry, for hassling you, Potter.” The first boy, Roger, told him. “I didn’t realise it was you.”

Harry shrugged, suddenly glad for the toothbrush preventing him from having to talk.

The boys all stared at him for a while as he brushed his teeth and eventually decided to leave him to it.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief when they had left and immediately spat out the foam. He hadn’t known how much longer he could keep brushing.

Harry managed to change into his pyjamas without talking to anyone and then walked back to his dorm. Once inside, he put his clothes back in his trunk and then chose a book to read. Eventually he chose one of the books he had bought at the store in Knockturn Alley on wandless magic. Bakrog had told him that it would help with magic with a wand too.

Harry climbed on his bed and begun to shut the curtains around it, leaving one open enough to give him light.

“Night, Harry.” Terry called, looking up from the game.

The other boys all chorused something similar.

“Night.” Harry waved at them and then wiggled his way under the covers. The bed was so soft! He had thought that the bed in Dudley’s room had been comfortable, and it definitely had been compared to the cupboard, but it didn’t compare to this bed. Harry wiggled around a little, enjoying the feel of the bed, before turning over and opening his book.

‘Wandless magic is in some ways as easy as breathing, after all every newborn wizard can float something accidently, but at the same time wandless magic is the most difficult discipline for a wizard to learn.’

The book was pretty intense. There were a lot of big words that Harry didn’t know and he made sure to memorise them so that he could ask someone later. But, it was also interesting. The first couple of chapters seemed to be about the history and theory of wandless magic and Harry finished the first chapter before deciding it was time to sleep.

The boys were still playing their game, but Harry set the book beside his bed and shut the curtain the rest of the way. The noise suddenly stopped. Confused, Harry opened the curtain slightly and could hear the other boys still making noise.

Weird! Harry closed the curtain again and lay down in the silence. He would ask someone about it tomorrow. Before going to sleep, Harry determined to wake up at six. He really hoped he didn’t sleep in, he should have brought an alarm clock. Or at least a watch so he could tell the time.

3-3-3

Harry woke up with a start and sat up. What if he had slept in? He pulled his curtain open slightly and was relieved to realise that it was still dark and that the other boys all seemed to be asleep. He clambered out of bed, grabbed his shower stuff from his desk, and crept across the room in the dark, one hand out to try and feel for the door.

A torch would have been helpful, he decided, as he felt the door and opened it as quietly as possibly. He was relieved to see lamps shining dimly along the walls of the hallway and made his way to the bathroom. The bathroom had lamps as well, and Harry could see that he was the only one there. He wondered what the time was.

Harry chose a shower stall in the corner and looked around for a lever to turn the shower on. There didn’t seem to be one and so he walked under the showerhead to look closer. The shower suddenly turned itself on and Harry, pyjamas and all, was drenched. Jumping out from under the water, Harry quickly shed his clothes and then moved back under the shower. The water was wonderfully hot!

Once he was clean and dressed, Harry wrapped his wet pyjamas in his towel and went to brush his teeth. There was a basket near the sinks that he hadn’t noticed before labelled, ‘dirty clothes’. Harry opened the lid and peered in, it was empty. Deciding to experiment, he dropped his pyjamas in and stared as they disappeared. Hoping that it wasn’t a trick to steal his clothes, he dropped his towel in as well and went to brush his teeth.

Harry crept across the quiet dorm room, to return his showering things and retrieve his book. As he picked up his book he remembered about the disgusting potion he had to take. He didn’t want to take it when anyone was watching, which meant that now was the perfect time. He felt around in the dark for his trunk, and then for the third keyhole. Once he had found it he slotted his key in and turned it. The trunk opened and Harry felt around for a vial of potion.

The stuff seemed to get more disgusting every time he drank it and this time he didn’t have any bacon to distract his mouth. Harry gagged, and then replaced vial and locked his trunk. Then he crept out of his dorm room again, book in hand.

The common room was dark, but as Harry stepped through the door a few lamps turned on. He looked around for a place to read and decided on an armchair near one of the lamps. He noticed a clock on the wall and grinned when he realised that it was only five in the morning, he would have heaps of time to read before other people started to get up.

The second chapter of his book was just as interesting as the first, and it had as many big words as the first one. With a sudden thought Harry, set the book on the chair and went to look at the bookcases, surely there was a dictionary somewhere. It took him a while, but Harry eventually found a bookcase that had a large dictionary, Harry pulled the book out and carried it back to his chair.

Harry decided to go back and look up all the words he hadn’t understood yesterday first. It was slow going, but it was amazing how much more the first chapter made sense when he understood what all the words meant. The last two words that Harry needed to look up from the night before were ‘parselmagic’ and ‘parselmouth’. Apparently parselmagic was a kind of wandless magic that could only be used by a parselmouth.

Harry looked up ‘parselmagic’ first. The dictionary didn’t tell him anything new. Next he looked up ‘parselmouth’. According to the dictionary, parselmouth was an adjective that described a wizard, or witch, who could speak parseltongue. Harry sighed and looked up ‘parseltongue’.

Harry read the definition and then read it again. Apparently, parseltongue was the language of serpents, magical or muggle. But that didn’t make sense, no one could speak to snakes – that was just weird. He laughed at himself, just as weird as him being a wizard. Besides, he realised with a jolt, he had already spoken to a snake. The one at the zoo at Dudley’s birthday, when he had vanished the glass.

Did that make him a parselmouth?

Harry considered that for a minute and then turned back to the book, he still had some words to look up before he could start reading again.

Reading with a dictionary in hand was slow going, though Harry eventually got quicker. It was always very satisfying to read a word that he hadn’t known half an hour beforehand, but now knew. He had just started the third chapter which was on meditation when another student came in. Harry glanced at the clock, it was already quarter past six.

“Morning.” The older student mumbled in his direction before heading towards a couch near Harry and lying down.

Harry stared at him for a moment before going back to his book. Apparently the first step to learning deliberate wandless magic was learning how to meditate.

“Hey, kid,” The older student was half sitting now as he stared at Harry. “Aren’t you a first year?”

Harry looked up from his book in fright and nodded quickly. “Yeah.”

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah.”

“What are you doing up so early?” The older student asked.

Harry shrugged. “Shacklebolt suggested that I get up and shower early, but I don’t have a watch so I accidently got up earlier than I meant to.”

The other boy frowned. “How long have you been awake?”

“An hour and a half, I think.” Harry answered, worried that he was going to get in trouble.

The other student groaned. “Why would you do that to yourself?”

“I don’t mind.” Harry shrugged. “I like getting up early, it means that I can read my book.”

The other boy considered that. “Fair enough. “What are you reading?”

Harry held up the book as he answered. “Wandless Magic for the Novice.”

The other boy got up and sat in the chair next to Harry. “Wow! That sounds great. Can I have a look?”

Harry handed the other boy the book and watched nervously as he flicked through it.

“This is pretty intense, kid.” The older student told him after a minute.

“Yeah.” Harry grinned shyly. “There are a lot of words I don’t know.”

“Thus the dictionary?”

“Yeah.” Harry replied. “It’s great, I love learning new words.”

“What’s your name anyway?” The older student asked.

“Harry Potter.”

“No kidding.” The older student stared at him for a minute. “Oh, right, I see the scar now. I’m Herbert Dippet, you can call me Herb.”

“Merry meet.” Harry greeted him.

“Merry meet.” Herb told him with a grin. “Hey, can I borrow this book when you’re done with it?”

“Sure.” Harry nodded. “I was going to add it to the library thing. Stretton told me that he would teach me how.”

“Really?” Herb asked. “That’s a great idea.”

“Can I ask a question?” Harry asked.

“May you.” Herb corrected.

Harry stared at him in confusion. “What you?”

“If you ask whether you can ask a questions, you’re asking whether or not you’re capable of it.” Herb told him. “If you ask whether you may ask a question, you’re asking whether or not you are allowed to.”

“Oh.” Harry took that in.

“My Grandfather was a professor here.” Herb told him. “My whole family’s pretty mad about proper grammar and stuff.”

“Okay, well, may I ask a question?”

“Definitely.” Herb told him with a grin.

“Do you know how to meditate?” Harry asked.

“Um, sort of.” Herb shrugged. “My mum taught me when I was a kid, but I haven’t done it in years. Why?”

“The book says that I should learn to meditate.” Harry said. “It says that it’s best to be taught by someone who does it. Does anyone in Ravenclaw meditate?”

“Um, I think Noda does.” Herb replied. “He’s a fourth year. You could ask him. Even if he doesn’t, he might know someone who does.”

“Okay, thanks.” Harry grinned. “I’ll do that.”

Other students began entering the common room and Herb soon left to sit with some friends. Harry went back to his book.

It was another ten minutes before he was interrupted again, this time by Stretton and Noda – the older students he had sat with at dinner.

“You’re an early riser, Potter.” Stretton told him, falling into the armchair that Herb had just left. “You’re the only first year up I think. There aren’t even any first years in the shower yet.”

Harry shrugged. “I woke up early.”

“Early is best.” Noda agreed. “I’ve been up for a while too, hanging out in my room.”

“I don’t have a light.” Harry explained. “I can’t see anything in my room.”

“You didn’t bring a light?” Noda asked.

Harry shook his head. “It wasn’t on the list.”

“I think I’ve got one you can borrow.” Stretton offered. “I’ll check later. I just use my wand now anyway.”

“Really?” Harry asked in surprise. “Thanks!”

“No worries.” Stretton smiled. “We’re your upperclassmen buddies.”

“Actually, I’m your buddy.” Noda corrected. “Jeremy is just a tag along.”

“Oh cool.” Harry grinned shyly. “Can I, I mean, may I ask a question?”

“Of course.” Stretton told him. “That’s what we’re here for.”

“Do either of you know how to meditate?” He asked, before holding up his book. “I’m reading this, and it says that the best way to learn to meditate is from someone.”

“What are you reading?” Stretton asked, taking the book from Harry.

“I do.” Noda answered. “I meditate every morning, it’s one of the reasons I prefer to hang out in my room when I wake up. The silencing spells ensure that I’m not disturbed.”

Harry filed the information about silencing spells away for later. “Would you be willing to teach me?”

Noda considered it for a moment before agreeing. “Okay, but no slacking off. We will meditate every morning starting at five.”

“Five?” Stretton asked incredulously. “That’s ridiculous!”

“I was up earlier than that this morning.” Harry told him quietly.

“Insane!” Stretton shook his head. “Hey, Tak, look at his book. It’s intense.”

Noda flicked through the book quickly. “That’s heavy reading, especially for a first year.”

“Yeah.” Harry agreed. “It’s really interesting though and I’ve been using a dictionary for the words that I don’t know.”

Both boys looked impressed. “What’s a word you’ve learnt this morning?”

“Parseltongue.” Harry answered. “And parselmagic and parselmouth.”

Stretton looked shocked. “This book talks about that stuff? Where did you get it?”

“Uh, this little bookstore in Knockturn Alley.” Harry replied. “What’s wrong with parseltongue?”

“Nothing.” Noda said firmly, glaring at his friend. “Some wizards are just a bit sensitive about it. People who speak parseltongue are usually descended from Salazar Slytherin and…”

“They’re dark wizards!” Stretton interrupted.

“That doesn’t make it a bad thing.” Noda argued.

Stretton pulled a face. “You-Know-Who was a parselmouth.”

Harry flinched. “Oh.”

“Good job, Jeremy.” Noda snapped. “That was really sensitive of you.”

“What?” Stretton asked, before understanding crossed his face. “Sorry, Harry, I forgot.”

Harry shrugged. “Don’t worry about it. It’s not like I remember it.”

“Right, you were really young weren’t you?” Stretton asked.

“I think so.” Harry answered vaguely. “I don’t really know much about it.”

“Shacklebolt said you’ve been living with muggles.” Noda said. “And that they didn’t tell you that you were a wizard.”

“Yeah.” Harry looked down. “I don’t think they like magic very much. Uncle Vernon was really mad when my letter came.”

Noda and Stretton shared a look. “Did you get a visit from one of the Professors?”

“Yeah,” Harry grinned. “Well sort of, Hagrid came and took me to Diagon Alley.”

“Hagrid?” The two boys looked as surprised as the Weasley twins and Lee had on the train. “Was he the one who took you to Knockturn Alley?”

“No.” Harry shook his head. “Baknog took me; he’s the goblin in charge of my family accounts at Gringotts. He was brilliant.”

“Cool.” Noda nodded as he elbowed Stretton who looked as though he was going to say something. “Anyway, Harry, you’ve got another half an hour to so until we need to go down to breakfast, do you want to practise writing with a quill?”

“That would be great.” Harry nodded enthusiastically. “I practised a bit yesterday, but I keep getting ink blots everywhere. Lee helped me a bit, but he said I needed to practise.”

“Lee?” Stretton asked as Noda pulled some parchment and a quill out of his bag.

“Lee Jordan.” Harry explained. “I sat with him on the train.”

“Okay,” Noda stood up. “Come over to this desk and we’ll see what you can do.”

Harry was pretty sure that his handwriting was worse than it had been yesterday. But, half an hour later, there was definitely progress. It was readable at least.

“We’ll do this again tonight.” Noda told him. “Handwriting is important. No professor is going to give you good marks if they can’t read your writing.”

“Thanks.” Harry grinned in thanks, before glancing at the clock. “I should go get my bag. We’re supposed to be meeting Shacklebolt here in a few minutes.”

“Okay, we’ll meet you here.” Noda told him.

Harry walked quickly to his dorm and greeted his dorm mates, who were all getting ready to go.

“Morning, Harry!” Terry grinned at him. “You must have been up early.”

“Yeah.” Harry grinned shyly in answer. “I’ve been in the common room reading.”

“Lucky sod.” Terry replied. “I just spent the last forty minutes in line for a shower.”

Harry grabbed his satchel from his trunk and then opened his book compartment and began to fill it with his textbooks, parchment and ink. Baknog had helped him pick it out, it was bigger on the inside than the outside and, like his trunk, was spelled to always be light.

“You coming, Harry?” Terry called from the door.

“Yeah.” Harry grabbed his wand from his desk and put it in his satchel, before catching up with the other boys. Once in the common room he went to stand near Nado and Stretton.

“Stretton?” Harry asked quietly. “Do you still have my book?”

“Yeah, sorry.” Stretton returned it with a smile. “It’s really interesting.”

“You should call us by our first names.” Nado said. “Call me Takashi, and him Jeremy.”

“Thanks.” Harry grinned shyly up at them.

“Okay.” Shacklebolt called for everyone’s attention. “First years, and upperclassmen buddies over here please.”

Harry, Takashi and Jeremy all moved to stand near the older boy.

“Excellent, Potter.” Shacklebolt grinned approvingly at him. “You’ve already found your buddy.”

Harry just nodded.

Shacklebolt and Fancourt, the female seventh year prefect, quickly introduced the first years to their buddies and then sent them off to breakfast.

On their way down the stairs to the Great Hall, Harry couldn’t help but stare at the moving staircases. They were amazing!

“How do you know which way to take?” Harry asked.

“There’s a sort of pattern to them.” Jeremy replied. “You’ll learn it after a while.”

“Is there a map?” Harry asked. “I saw one in ‘Hogwarts: A History’, but a map on its own would be easier to use.”

“There will be a map on the back of your class schedule.” Takashi told him as they entered the Great Hall and found a seat at the Ravenclaw table. “We’ll help you find your first class though.”

“Thanks.” Harry stared at all the food on the table. “This is incredible. Who makes it all?”

“House elves.” Jeremy answered as he placed a spoon of egg on his plate.

“What are house elves?” Harry asked, pouring himself cereal.

“They’re kind of hard to explain. They’re a bit like goblins, in that they’re not human.”

“And in their ability to do wandless magic.” Takashi added.

“Right.” Jeremy nodded. “Their magic is sort of linked to ours. We have a mutualistic relationship with them. They are bonded to us and do all our housework and our magic sort of feeds their magic.”

“So they’re servants.” Harry frowned.

“Sort of.” Takashi replied. “It’s actually really complicated, I can help you find a book that explains it if you like. It really is a mutualistic relationship, which means that both parties benefit, but some wizards abuse them, which is awful.”

“They’re not abused here though.” Jeremy assured Harry. “We can introduce you to one if you like?”

“Not now though.” Takashi said. “This morning will be busy enough as it is. Classes start at eight thirty.”

“Here’s your schedule, Potter.” The female fifth year prefect passed him a piece of parchment. Harry thought her name was Cornhill.

“Thanks.” Harry rolled the parchment open and had a look at it. “I have Charms first.”

“Excellent.” Takashi looked relieved as he looked at the schedule that another prefect had given him. “We’ve got Transfiguration first. That’s pretty close. What do you have second?”

Harry looked back at his schedule. “Transfiguration.”

“Excellent.” Takashi grinned. “We have five classes each day, and they each last an hour and fifteen minutes. And we get fifteen minutes to get from one class to another.”

“Okay.” Harry nodded. “So three classes and then lunch at one?”

“Yeap, for an hour, and then back to class for another three hours.” Jeremy agreed. “What do you have after Transfiguration?”

“Herbology.” Harry answered. “And then I have Potions and Flying after lunch.”

“Cool. Well, we won’t be able to show you to Herbology so we’ll show you on the map.” Takashi told him. “If you turn your parchment over, you’ll see a map.”

Harry did as he was told and then stared at the terribly confusing map.

“Each of these squares represents a floor of the castle.” Jeremy told him. “You can tell what floor by the number in the middle of it.”

“Each classroom has a letter in it.” Takashi pointed out. “And there’s an index here.”

“Look at your schedule again and find out what room your potions classroom is in.” Jeremy instructed.

“Dungeon Classroom Three.” Harry answered after a minute.

“Good.” Jeremy nodded. “Now if you turn back to the map, find that in the index and find out what letter represents it on the map.”

“Two A.” Harry answered.

“Okay, so now you are looking for level two.” Noda explained. “And once you’ve found it, you’re looking for the A.”

Harry found it, and then followed the same process to find his other classrooms.

“Made friends…”

With your fellow bookworms…”

“We see, Harry.”

Harry twisted around and grinned at the sight of the Weasley twins. “Morning.”

“Weasleys.” Jeremy nodded in greeting.

“Stretton.” Replied one twin

“Nado.” The other added.

“You’ve settled in alright, Harry?” The twin on the left asked.

“Yes, thanks!” Harry grinned. “Everything’s brilliant.”

“Glad to hear it.” The twin of the right smiled.

“Catchya later.” They chorused before leaving the great hall.

“You know the Weasley twins?” Stretton asked.

“Yeah,” Harry shrugged. “I sat with them and Lee on the train.”

“Cool.” Nado smiled at him. “Now eat your breakfast, we need to go soon.”

Chapter Text

Harry was the first student to arrive at the Charms classroom and he chose a seat near the front on the left and pulled out his book. It didn’t take long for other students to begin to arrive, apparently they were sharing the class with GryffindorTerry was the next Ravenclaw to arrive and he sat next to Harry.

“Merry meet.” Terry grinned at Harry. “What are you reading?”

“A book on wandless magic.” Harry answered, smiling shyly at the other boy.

“Really?” Terry looked amazed. “That’s awesome. Where did you get it?”

“I bought it a few days ago.” Harry answered. “Do you want to have a look?”

“Sure.” Terry accepted the book from Harry and began to look through it. “You’re reading this? It looks really intense.”

“Yeah, I don’t know all of the words though. So I have to look them up in a dictionary.” Harry answered.

“I’m not surprised.” Terry laughed. “What on earth does coalescing mean?”

“To blend or to come together.” Harry told him. “I looked that one up this morning.”

“Wow,” Terry handed the book back to Harry. “Did you sleep well?”

“Yes, thanks.” Harry grinned and put the book back into his bag. “You?”

“Sort of.” Terry shrugged. “We stayed up pretty late playing cards. I’m surprised we didn’t keep you awake.”

“Takashi and Jeremy told me that the curtains on our beds have silencing spells.” Harry explained. “Once they were closed I couldn’t hear a thing.”

“That makes sense.” Terry nodded. “You got Nado for your buddy, right?”

“Yeah.” Harry grinned. “He’s great. Who did you get?”

“Andrew Beery.” Terry answered. “He’s pretty great too.”

“Cool.” Harry said awkwardly and began searching his mind for something to talk about.

“Hi!” A red headed boy greeted as he stood in front of Harry’s desk. “You’re Harry Potter, right?”

“Uh, yeah.” Harry answered awkwardly. “Hi.”

“It’s him!” The red head called to people behind them and suddenly there was a group of Gryffindors trying to talk to him.

“Harry Potter!”

“I can’t believe we’re in the same class.”

“I didn’t believe my ma when she said that you’d be here this year.”

“This is so cool!”

Harry looked at Terry in desperation. “What do I do?” He whispered.

“Hi, I’m Terry Boot.” Terry stood up and offered his hand to the red head who had first talked to them.

“Ron Weasley.” The redhead replied, shaking his hand absently while staring at Harry.

“You’re the twins’ brother.” Harry said.

“Yeah.” Ron frowned. “Did you really sit with them on the train? I thought they were making that up.”

Harry shrugged. “Yeah, I sat with them and Lee. He had this brilliant spider.”

Weasley shuddered. “I hate spiders!”

“Oh.” Harry looked down.

“Alright, everyone sit down.” Professor Flitwick called from the front of the class.

Harry sighed in relief as the group around him all left to find seats.

“Look at the professor.” Terry whispered. “He’s standing on pile of books.”

Harry grinned at him.

Charms was both fun and frustrating. The first half an hour was purely theory, but during the second half, Flitwick began to teach them a spell called ‘lumos’ that turned your wand into a torch.

Harry tried a few times, with no result and then sat back to consider it for a few minutes.

Everything he had read said that wands and incantations were focusses for the magic that was already within him. Which meant that somewhere inside him the magic to make this spell work existed, he just needed to figure out how to find it.

He took a deep breath and imagined pushing his magic through his wand as he did the hand movement and said the incantation.

Nothing happened.

Harry tried again, only this time he tried to imagine light coming out of his wand like it had Professor Flitwick’s.

He thought he saw a faint glow at the end of his wand and tried again.

“You did it, Harry!” Terry exclaimed loudly, apparently also seeing the faint glow.

Harry tried to shush him, but it was too late.

“Already, Mr. Potter?” Flitwick had moved to stand in front of him. “Show me.”

Harry tried to ignore everyone watching and focussed hard on imagining the light again. “Lumos.”

“Well done, Mr. Potter!” Flitwick beamed at him. “Ten points to Ravenclaw. Keep up the good work.”

The classroom burst into whispers and Harry blushed.

“Good job!” Terry grinned at him. “Can you teach me the secret?”

Harry shrugged. “I just imagine pushing my magic through my wand and creating light.”

Terry considered it. “Worth a try, I guess.”

Harry turned back to his wand and kept on practising.

-

“How did it go?” Jeremy asked Harry as he exited the classroom.

“Okay.” Harry shrugged.

“He made his wand glow!” Terry told the older boy. “No one else even got close.”

“You managed to cast the ‘lumos’ charm?” Jeremy asked in surprise. “And here I had been practising my, ‘it’s okay, no one gets it in their first class’ speech. “

Harry shrugged as he felt his face flush. “It was only a faint glow.”

“Still, that’s impressive.” Jeremy led them down a corridor. “Takashi had a questions for McGonagall, so he asked me if I would show you the way. That’s why he’s not here.”

“Okay.” Harry followed Jeremy around a corner. “What did you guys learn about today?”

“Today was a theory day.” Jeremy grinned. “We were learning about the theory of Switching Spells.”

“What are they?” Terry asked.

“They allow you to swap one object for another.” Jeremy explained. “Let’s say, you left your potions textbook on your desk and you really needed it. You could perform a switching spell on your charms textbook and they would swap places. Your charms textbook would be on your desk, and your potions textbook would be in front of you.”

“That’s awesome!” Harry grinned up at him. “What will we be learning?”

Jeremy thought about it. “I can’t say for sure, but the first think McGonagall taught us in first year was how to turn a match into a needle.”

“Any hints?” Terry asked hopefully.

“Not really.” Jeremy admitted. “Nothing that McGonagall won’t tell you anyway.

-

Jeremy was right, McGonagall did get them to try and turn matches into needles.

It was harder than lumos, because there was so much to concentrate on. Harry struggled to think about his magic as well as his desire for the match to change shape. Most of the time he only managed one or the other. They had the class with the Gryffindor’s again, and out of all the people in the class only Harry and Gryffindor student named Granger had managed to change their match, and even then neither of them had a needle.

“How do you do it?” Terry asked Harry as they were leaving the class.

“I told you,” Harry answered. “I imagine forcing my magic down my wand and then doing what I want it to do.”

“I tried that.” Terry argued. “And it didn’t work.”

Harry shrugged. “I don’t know then, sorry.”

“No worries.” Terry grinned at him. “Do you know where we’re going?”

“Vaguely.” Harry replied, pulling his map out of his bag. “We’re looking for Greenhouse F. Which means we need to be outside, which means we need to find the floor with the great hall on it.”

“Okay, which level are we on at the moment?”

“Four.” Harry answered. “And the great hall is level three, so we need to go down one level.”

“There are some stairs.” Terry pointed out as he began walking towards them.

“Do you guys know where you’re going?” Michael asked, hurrying after them.

“Sort of.” Terry answered.

“Better than us.” Michael laughed as he waved for the other Ravenclaws to come with them.

“So, how’d you do it, Harry?” Anthony asked as they hurried down the stairs.

“Do what?” Harry asked.

“You know,” Anthony said impatiently. “Do the spells.”

Harry shrugged. “I don’t know. I just imagined forcing the magic through my wand and doing what I wanted, but Terry tried that and it didn’t work for him.”

“He’s Harry Potter.” One of the girls, Lisa Turpin laughed. “What do you expect?”

“This way.” Harry told them as he looked at the map. He led them outside and then looked at the map again.

“If we’re here,” He muttered to himself. “And we want to go there, then we want to go left.”

The greenhouse wasn’t as hard to find as Harry had feared and when they got there they realised that they were sharing the glass with the Slytherins.

“Potter.” Malfoy bowed to him as he entered, and all the Slytherins followed suit.

“Malfoy.” Harry nodded at them all.

One they were all in the greenhouse, Terry and Michael, along with two of the girls, bowed to Malfoy who nodded at them regally. Harry decided he would ask the other boy to teach him how to nod like that.

“This is Harry Potter, heir to the Most Ancient and Noble Houses of Black and Potter.” Malfoy said formally to his friends.

“Merry meet.” Harry said to them.

“Potter,” Malfoy stepped forward. “This is Daphne Greengrass, of the Ancient and Noble House of Greengrass.”

Harry recognised the girl who curtsied to him from the Sorting Ceremony.

“And Theodore Nott, of the Ancient and Noble House of Nott.” Malfoy continued.

A tall thin boy bowed to Harry, who nodded back.

“Then there is Crabbe, Goyle, Zabini, Parkinson, Davis, and Bulstrode.” Malfoy introduced the rest of the Slytherins who all bowed, or curtsied in turn.

“Merry meet.” Harry nodded to them and then realised in horror that Malfoy was waiting for him to return the favour. “Uh, this is Terry Boot, Michael Corner, Anthony Goldstein, Rodney Johnson, Lisa Turpin, um, Sue Li, Padma Patil and, uh, Mandy Brocklehurst.” He stammered.

Terry, Michael, Sue and Padma all bowed, and curtsied again, and received one of Malfoy’s regal nods and Harry realised that Greengrass and Nott were nodding too.

“Merry meet.” Malfoy greeted them.

“Good you’re all here.” Professor Sprout arrived at the door. “Find a partner, quickly now.”

“What do you say, Potter?” Malfoy asked moving towards Harry. “Shall we be partners?”

Harry nodded. “Sure.”

“Once you’ve found your partner, find a bench to sit at.” Sprout instructed.

Malfoy led Harry to a bench at the back of the room. “So, how is Ravenclaw treating you?”

“It’s brilliant.” Harry grinned. “Ravenclaw’s great, there are so many books!”

Malfoy smirked. “Spoken like a true Ravenclaw. Have you come up with any questions yet?”

“Huh?” Harry asked before he remembered their conversation the night before. “Yes, actually. Why are there four noble heirs in our year? Isn’t that a pretty high percentage?”

“It is.” Malfoy agreed. “My Dad said that when the war broke out, all the families who didn’t have multiple heirs made sure that they produced some. My parents didn’t have any kids, obviously, neither did yours, Lady Bones wasn’t married so her brother had to provide an heir for her, and it’s the same with Lord Longbottom.”

“Oh,” Harry considered that. “What happened to the families who didn’t?”

“Well, Lord Crouch probably thought he was safe with one heir, but when his son ended up in Azkaban, he ended up heirless. The Prewetts had two sons and a daughter, but both their sons died in the war. Their daughter has heaps of kids,” Malfoy grimaced. “But none of her sons have claimed the title.”

“Why couldn’t their daughter inherit?” Harry asked.

“Because it’s a patriarchal house.” Malfoy explained patiently. “A son couldn’t inherit either in the matriarchal houses. That’s how the Houses of Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff died out.”

“Oh.” Harry fell silent and then realised the Professor had started the lesson and he had missed some of it. He rummaged in his bag and grabbed his parchment, quill and ink to start taking notes.

He and Malfoy didn’t say anything for the rest of the lesson, but when Harry was packing up his parchment Malfoy spoke.

“Your handwriting is terrible!”

Harry flushed. “I know. I’m working on it.”

“It’s an embarrassment to all Most Ancient and Noble Houses.” Malfoy continued. “I will ask Mother to send you a book to help.”

“Thanks.” Harry grinned at the other boy. “I was wondering whether you could, uh, um.”

“Spit it out, Potter.” Malfoy interrupted.

“Uh, teach me how to do the nod thing like you do.” Harry said in a rush.

Malfoy stared at him for a moment. “Yeah okay. Yours is really awkward.”

“I know.” Harry sighed. “I only learnt that I had to do it yesterday morning.”

Malfoy grimaced. “Right, you grew up with muggles.”

“Yeah, is there anything you think I should know?” Harry asked. “I mean, I don’t know what questions to ask yet. So any suggestions?”

Malfoy thought about it. “Not off the top of my head, I’ll let you know.”

“Thanks.” Harry grinned at him. “It’s lunchtime now, right?”

“Yeah.” Malfoy said as they walked out of the class and found all the Slytherins waiting. “You’re welcome to walk with us.”

“Thanks.” Harry nodded. “So what’s Slytherin like?”

“A lot like Ravenclaw, I imagine.” Malfoy said. “Except with less books and more traditional students.”

“And with more appreciation for status.” Greengrass put in. “Ravenclaw had about fifty percent traditionalists right?”

“Yeah, I guess.” Harry agreed.

“Since everyone in Slytherin is a traditionalist, or pretends to be for self- preservation, the whole common room stops when Draco enters and bows. Even Professor Snape when he’s there.” Greengrass explained.

“Isn’t that weird?” Harry asked. “You’re only a first year.”

“He’s used to it.” Nott commented. “There are only twenty two people that Draco has to bow to, and three of them are in Azkaban.”

“Twenty three.” Greengrass corrected.

“What?” Nott looked confused for a moment and then caught on. “Oh yeah, twenty three.”

Harry was confused.

“He forgot to count you.” Malfoy explained to him.

“Oh.” Harry mouthed as they entered the great hall. “Hey, so if Slytherin is so traditional, why don’t they bow whenever Malfoy enters the great hall?”

“Or you for that matter.” Malfoy reminded him.

“Self-preservation.” Greengrass answered. “The Gryffindors would hate it, and since the school is pretty much split on the issue we try not to cause too much of a stir.”

“Speaking of causing a stir.” Malfoy muttered.

Harry looked up and realised that everyone in the great hall was staring at them. “What are they looking at?”

“You.” Greengrass answered with a smirk. “But more correctly, Harry Potter talking to Draco Malfoy. Look at the Gryffindors, they look like they might faint.”

She was right, the Gryffindors did look horrified.

“See you later, Potter.” Malfoy smirked at him before bowing slightly. “Merry part.”

Harry nodded at him. “Merry part.”

Harry walked over the Ravenclaw table and grinned gratefully at Takashi and Jeremy who had saved him a seat.

“Thanks.”

“No worries.” Jeremy answered. “You’ve met the Slytherins then?”

“Yeah.” Harry shrugged. “I met Malfoy last night on the boat over the lake and he introduced me to the rest of them in Herbology. They’re pretty cool.”

Jeremy looked as though he had eaten something sour. “Sure, if you say so.”

Takashi elbowed his friend. “So, how were your first three classes?”

“Brilliant.” Harry beamed at them. “I preferred the first two, but it was nice to hang out with Malfoy in Herbology.”

Takashi elbowed Jeremy again. “Cool, Jeremy told me that you managed to cast lumos in Charms.”

“Yeah, and I made my match silver and pointy in Transfiguration.” Harry told them as he served himself some pasta. “It wasn’t a needle, but it wasn’t a match anymore either.”

“How did you manage that?” Takashi asked interestedly before taking a bite of his lunch.

“At first I couldn’t,” Harry admitted. “But then I remembered what my books had said about my wand and incantations being a focus for my magic. So I realised that I needed to stop concentrating on my wand and start trying to move my magic. I ended up just imagining that I was pushing magic through my wand and making it do things, and stuff would happen.”

Takashi’s eyebrows rose. “I think you’ll enjoy meditation.”

“Is it like that?” Harry asked after swallowing his mouthful.

“Meditation helps you to find your magic and sort of communicate with it.” Takashi explained. “So that you don’t have to imagine forcing your magic through your wand, you can just ask it to go and it will.”

“Theoretically.” Jeremy put in with a frown. “But then I manage to do magic fine and I don’t meditate.”

“That sounds brilliant!” Harry told Takashi, ignoring Jeremy. “I can’t wait until we start tomorrow.”

“Do you have an alarm clock?” Takashi asked. “To wake you up on time?”

Harry shook his head. “I don’t even have a watch. That’s why I was up at four thirty this morning.”

“I’ll see if I can find someone who is willing to lend you theirs.” Takashi told him with a smile.

“Thanks!” Harry beamed at him in delight.

-

Harry’s next class was potions and Takashi showed him how to get there before disappearing for his own class.

Harry was the first person to arrive again, so he found a seat near the front and got out his parchment, ink, quill and book. He hadn’t been reading long when Terry sat down next him with a thump.

“Hi.” Terry grinned at him.

“Hi.” Harry put him book back in his bag. “Did you enjoy Herbology?”

“Yeah, I was paired up with Michael which was fun.” Terry told him, retrieving his parchment from his bag. “How was Malfoy?”

“Fine.” Harry replied with a shrug. “Why?”

Terry looked unsure about something, but eventually he leaned closer. “Listen, I’m not sure whether I should tell you this, it’s just that I figure that having been raised by muggles you might not know.”

“What is it?” Harry whispered.

“Apparently, the Malfoys are dark wizards.” Terry whispered back. “I’m not saying that they are, I’m just telling you what other people say. My mum says that Malfoy’s dad supported You-Know-Who in the war and the only reason he isn’t in Azkaban is because he bribed someone.”

“What?” Harry asked in a voice that was definitely louder than a whisper.

“Shhh,” Terry frowned at him. “Malfoy’s aunt, on his mother’s side, is in Azkaban and so is her husband. As I said, I’m not saying that Malfoy is dark, I just thought you should know what other people think. That’s why everyone stared at you when they saw you come in with them.”

Harry considered his new information for a while, ignoring Terry’s worried glances. Just because Malfoy’s father had followed Voldemort didn’t mean that Malfoy did, right? Besides, maybe it wasn’t true. Harry resolved to ask the other boy about it.

“Merry meet!” Professor Snape swept into class from behind them and when Harry turned around to look at him he realised that they were sharing the class with the Hufflepuffs.

“Merry meet.” Harry chorused in reply with the rest of the class and was surprised to see half the class, stand up and bow to the Professor. Only then did Harry remember that Professor Snape was the Heir to the Most Ancient and Noble House of Prince.

“We will do this once.” Snape said coldly once he had nodded in reply. “And then never again. I will not have half of my class taken up by observing the social necessities.” Then he turned to Harry and, with a sour look on his face bowed. “Mr. Potter.”

Harry was tempted to duck down in his seat, he really didn’t want his Professor to bow to him. Then the half of the class who had bowed to Snape, bowed to Harry too. Harry nodded at the Professor and then them.

Then Terry bowed towards one of the Hufflepuff girls, and the standing students followed suit. “Bones.”

Susan Bones’ nod was much more regal than Harry’s imagined his one to be, but wasn’t nearly as regal as Malfoy’s.

After than everyone sat down and Professor Snape called the roll and then began to talk to them about potions. It was amazing. After a few minutes, Snape instigated a class quiz.

Most of the class did alright, but it was obvious that some of the students hadn’t read the textbook.

“Mr. Potter,” Snape turned to Harry suddenly. “What is the difference between wolfsbane and monkshood?”

Harry tried to remember reading that and frowned when he realised that he couldn’t remember it in his textbook. It only took him a moment to remember have read it in one of his other potions books though.

“They’re the same plant, Professor.” He answered quietly. “There isn’t any difference between them.”

Snape stared at him for a moment. “Very good, Mr. Potter. What is the most poisonous part of a Baneberry plant?”

“Um,” Harry thought about it for a moment. “The berry, Professor.”

“Hmm,” Snape was still staring at him. “Tell me, Mr. Potter, what is special about Standard Potioning Water?”

Harry mentally worked through everything he had learnt from his potion books before admitting defeat. “I don’t know, Professor.”

“Hmph.” Snape strode to the front of the class. “Standard Potioning Water is water that has been purified and then bottled to protect it from contamination. It ensures that your potion will not be affected by unknown elements in the water.

“Today we will be making a basic potion to cure boils.” Snape said. “You will be making it in pairs, so decide whose cauldron you will be using. The recipe is on page one hundred and sixteen in your textbook.”

“We can use my cauldron.” Terry offered.

“Alright.” Harry agreed and opened his textbook to find the recipe. It was a pretty basic recipe, but Harry was glad that he had read the extra potion books. Otherwise he wouldn’t have known how to crush the snake fangs, or how important it was to get the exact weight of the ingredients. An extra ounce could set the entire potion off.

“How did you know that stuff?” Terry asked once they had gathered their ingredients from the cupboard and had begun preparing them.

“What stuff?” Harry asked as he triple checked the scales. There needed to be exactly thirty eight grams of dried nettles.

“You know, about monkshood and the Baneberry plant. That wasn’t in our textbook was it?”

“No,” Harry shook his head. “I have a few other potions books that I read last month.”

Harry watched as Terry set aside the crushed snake fangs and winced. They weren’t crushed correctly and he didn’t know how to tell the other boy.

“What?” Terry asked, having seen Harry’s wince. “Did I crush them wrong?”

“Yeah, sorry.” Harry winced. “You’ve ground them rather than crushed them.”

“So I should start again?”

“I can do it if you like?” Harry offered.

“It’s alright.” Terry sighed as he pull out two more snake fangs and put them in his mortar. “Tell me if I’m doing it wrong.”

“I think it’s supposed be more of a downward motion.” Harry commented as he grabbed the bottles of Standard Potion Water and began to pour three litres into the cauldron.

“Like this?” Terry asked him.

“Yeah, I think so. “ Harry shrugged. “I’ve never actually done this before, so I’m just going by what I’ve read.”

“Tell me when to stop.” Terry instructed him.

Harry lit the fire under their cauldron and looked at Terry’s watch. The cauldron was supposed to heat for ten minutes before they added any extra ingredients, which meant that they needed to add the snake fangs at two forty seven and thirty two seconds.

He looked over at Terry’s snake fangs. “You can stop now, I think.”

“Great.” Terry grinned. “What else do we need to prep?”

By the time they added the crushed snake fangs to the cauldron they had prepared all the other ingredients and Harry had appointed himself timekeeper.

“And now I stir it three times?” Terry asked peering at the pattern.

“Yeah,” Harry replied. “But quickly. Start at the top of the cauldron and stir in an anticlockwise direction.”

Terry did as instructed. “Why does it matter where I start?”

“Because you must start at the same place each time you begin stirring, Mr. Boot.” Snape answered from behind them.

“How did you know that?” Terry asked Harry after Snape had moved away. “It’s not in the textbook.”

“It was in one of my other books.” Harry told him. “You can borrow it if you want.”

“Yes please.” Terry said with feeling.

“Get the nettles ready.” Harry told Terry. “You need to add them in five, four, three, two, one, now! And now stir it six times anticlockwise.”

“Have you memorised the recipe?” Terry asked him incredulously.

Harry shrugged. “You’re going to need to add the chopped knotweed in about ten seconds, and then stir twice clockwise and twice anticlockwise, five, four, three, two, one, now!”

“Wow!” Terry and Harry both watched the potion with open mouths as it suddenly doubled in size and turned blue.

“Is it supposed to do that?” Terry asked Harry.

“Yes.” Snape answered, apparently having snuck up behind them again. “One point to Ravenclaw.”

“We don’t have to do anything for five minutes.” Terry told Harry unnecessarily.

“Or until it turns green.” Harry pointed out. “So we need to watch it closely.”

“Do you have a photographic memory?” Terry asked after they had sat in silence for a few minutes staring at the potion.

“I don’t think so.” Harry replied. “I just remember things well.”

“Do you play quidditch?” Terry asked suddenly a minute later.

“I grew up with muggles, remember?” Harry told him. “I’ve never even been on a broomstick before.”

“Wow.” Terry stared at him. “Really? Are you looking forward to our flying class then?”

Harry shrugged. “I feel really unprepared, I haven’t even read about it.”

Terry laughed at him. “It’s not something you can learn from books. It’ll be fun, you’ll see.”

“We’ll need to put the horned slugs in any minute now.” Harry said looking at his watch.

Terry picked up the slugs and watched the potion closely. “Oh, it’s green!” He exclaimed, throwing the slugs in.

“And now you need to stir in eight times in each direction. First clockwise, and then anticlockwise and then clockwise again.” Harry told him. “I’ll count for you.”

When Terry finished the last stir, Harry looked at the watch quickly to catch the time.

“Okay in about forty five seconds we need to take it off the fire.” He instructed.

“Where do we put it?” Terry asked.

“On the floor, I guess.” Harry answered. “It won’t hurt the stone.”

“Okay,” Terry grabbed the handles of the cauldron. “Tell me when.”

“Five, four, three, two, one, now!” Harry counted for him. “And now we add the porcupine quills, stir anticlockwise twice and we’re done.”

“Do you want to stir?” Terry asked as he threw the porcupine quills in.

“No, you do it.” Harry answered. “It’s important that the stirring stays consistent.”

“One, two.” Terry counted out his last two stirs and grinned when the potion turned blue and pink smoke floated out the cauldron. “Yes!”

“We did it.” Harry grinned at the potion. “Now what?”

“Now you bottle it up.” Snape told them. “Well done, Mr. Potter, Mr. Boot. Ten points to Ravenclaw.”

“Professor?” Harry asked tentatively.

“Yes, Potter?” Snape glared down at him.

“How do we bottle it up?”

Snape sighed. “Retrieve some vials and a pourer from the cupboard and transfer the potion.”

“Thanks.” Harry smiled shyly at him and then went to retrieve the vials and two pourers.

The transferring of the potion wasn’t too complex, but they were both careful to make sure the potion didn’t touch their skin.

Once the vials were corked and sitting on their desk, Snape came to stand in front of them.

“You may leave.” He told them. “I don’t want you in here distracting your classmates.”

“Yes, sir.” Harry nodded.

“Thanks, Professor.” Terry grinned up at him.

They gathered their things quickly and left the room, trying to ignore the jealous looks their classmates were giving them.

“How long do we have?” Harry asked Terry, who had his watch back again.

“Um, twenty five minutes.” Terry replied. “Let’s go put this stuff up our dorm and then head down to the Quidditch pitch. I don’t want to be lugging my cauldron all the way out there.”

“Good idea.” Harry grabbed his map out of his bag and the two boys carefully manoeuvred their way back to their common room.

Terry was puffed by the time they had climbed the spiral staircase up to the entrance of their common room, so Harry was the one who approached the bronze knocker that guarded their common room.

“What gets wetter and wetter the more it dries?” The eagle shaped knocker asked him.

Harry considered it. “Um, a towel?” He guessed.

“Correct.” The eagle told him as the door opened.

“Good one.” Terry told him, still puffing slightly. “Those stairs are going to be the death of me.”

“They’ll be good for you.” Harry told him as they walked through the common room towards their dorm. There were a few older student studying at the desks, but it was mostly empty.

“Why are you so fit?” Terry asked. “You aren’t even slightly out of breath.”

Harry shrugged. “I used to run a lot.” He answered vaguely. There was no way he was going to admit that he had spent a lot of his childhood running away from Dudley.

They stashed their cauldrons in their trunks and Harry retrieved the potions books he had read.

“Here.” He passed them to Terry. “These should help you. They explain a lot.”

“Thanks!” Terry looked them over. “These are really nice.”

Harry shrugged and locked up his trunk. “Someone recommended them to me. Are you ready to go?”

“Almost.” Terry put one of the books in his trunk and the other one in his bag. “Let’s go.”

They left the common room and walked down the spiral stairs before getting out the map and finding their way outside again.

“The Quidditch Pitch is this way.” Terry told him, heading left.

“How do you know?” Harry asked as he followed him.

“My older sister used to be the Ravenclaw Keeper.” Boot explained. “She graduated last year, but we used to come and watch all her games.”

“You have a sister?” Harry asked in surprise.

“And a brother.” Terry said. “Melanie is my sister and Tony is my brother. Tony’s a year older than Melanie.”

“So eight years older than you?” Harry asked.

“Yeah,” Terry nodded. “Your Dad was a quidditch player, right?”

Harry shrugged. “I don’t know.”

Terry looked at him strangely. “My Mum told me that he was. Apparently they used to face each other. My Mum was a Ravenclaw keeper and your Dad was a Gryffindor chaser.”

“Cool!” Harry grinned. “What do those names mean? Keeper, chaser?”

“You really haven’t read up on this stuff, have you?” Terry laughed. “They’re positions. The keeper guards the hoops, see those tall things there.”

Harry looked where he was pointing and saw a set of three tall posts with hoops on the top of them.

“There are three chasers,” Terry continued. “And they work together to get the quaffle, which is a ball about this big,” He gestured with his hands. “Through the hoops. Each time they get the quaffle through the hoop they score ten points.”

“Okay.” Harry grinned. “Doesn’t sound too complicated.”

“I’m not done yet.” Terry told him. “There are also two beaters on each team. The beaters have bats that they use to hit the bludgers. There are two bludgers, little hard balls that have a mind of their own and fly around trying to hit people. The beaters job is to protect their teammates and try and aim the bludgers at their opponents. Then there’s the seeker whose only job is to catch the snitch.”

“What’s a snitch?” Harry asked.

“It’s a little golden ball with wings that flies really fast.” Terry told him. “The game doesn’t finish until the snitch is caught and the team who catches the snitch earns one hundred and fifty points.”

“Wow.” Harry stared up at the hoops, they were really high up. “Complicated.”

“But awesome!” Terry defended. “First years never get to join the House teams, partly because they aren’t good enough and partly because we aren’t allowed to bring a broomstick, but next year I’m going to bring my broom and try out for the team.”

“What position do you play?” Harry asked him as they sat down against one of the hoops.

“Keeper.” Terry answered before looking at his watch. “We have ten minutes until class starts. Do you mind if I start that book?”

“Go for it.” Harry answered opening his bag to pull his own book out.

They didn’t get to read for long, five minutes later the rest of their potions class arrived.

“Lucky sods.” Anthony groused at them as he sat down. “Getting out early.”

“How did you manage to get such a perfect potion?” Sue Li asked as she lay on the grass. “None of our potions were even close.”

“It was all Harry.” Terry claimed. “He was amazing, he knew just what to do. I just did as I was told.”

“Well, don’t think you can get Harry every time.” Michael said. “We should share him around.”

Harry flushed and tried to concentrate on his book.

“He’s lent me the books he read on potions.” Terry said. “I’m sure you can borrow them after me if you want. Right, Harry?”

“Sure.” Harry shrugged. “I was planning on adding them to the Ravenclaw Library anyway.”

“What did you do wrong?” Terry asked the others.

“We don’t know.” Anthony looked frustrated.

“Well, were you exact with timing?” Terry asked. “Harry had us counting down to the second, and apparently you have to always start your stir in the same place. I would have been screwed without Harry. I accidently ground my snake fangs instead on crushing them and didn’t notice until Harry pointed it out. I didn’t even know there was a difference.”

“Neither.” Michael and Anthony agreed.

Harry knew that his face was red and he jumped up in relief when he saw the Professor arriving.

“Over here!” She called. “My name is Madam Hooch and I am your flying instructor. You will see that there are nineteen brooms on the grass over here, one for each of you. Choose one and stand beside it.”

Harry left his bag near the hoop and went to find a broomstick.

“Now put your hand over the broom,” Madam Hooch continued. “Right hand if you’re right handed, left hand if you’re left handed and say ‘up’.”

“Up!” Harry commanded his broom, his right hand held out over it. His broom flew into his hand so fast he almost dropped it in surprise. He looked around and realised that he was one of the only people who had succeeded.

“I know how to fly a broom,” Terry was grumbling at his broom. “Not make it move towards me.”

After a while, she showed everyone how to sit on their brooms and how to hold it properly. Eventually she stood back and held up a whistle.

“When I blow my whistle I want you to push up from the ground.” She instructed them. “Hover your broom a few feet above the ground and then come down again.”

Harry kicked off when the whistle went off and was amazed at how much he enjoyed being in the air. He was actually disappointed when he landed again.

They practised taking off and landing a few times before Madam Hooch taught them how to steer. It was strange, Harry knew that he should be one of the people struggling – after all, he had never done this before – but it seemed as easy as walking.

After a seemingly endless number of exercises Madam Hooch gave them permission to fly freeform for a while.

Harry kicked off the ground and flew up, up and up, before turning around and flying down again, zipping quickly from side to side and experimenting with how fast he could go into a turn. It was even more fun than reading!

Chapter Text

 “Wake-up!”

Harry sat up in fright, the voice had sounded as though it was right next to him.

“Wake-up, sleepyhead!” The voice called again, and Harry sighed in relief when he realised that it was just the alarm clock that Takashi had lent him.

The bathroom was empty again and this time Harry managed not to get his pyjamas wet. After he had showered he dropped his belongings back in his room, took his potion and went to the common room to meet Takashi.

Takashi was already waiting for him and Harry looked anxiously at the clock, worried that he was late.

“Don’t worry.” Takashi reassured him. “I was early. Are you ready?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.” Takashi climbed onto one of the larger desks and sat cross legged on it. “Come up here and join me.”

“Why are we sitting on the desk?” Harry asked once he was comfortable.

“So that we will be protected by the silencing spells if other people wander in.” Takashi explained. “Did you finish the chapter you were reading on meditation?”

Harry nodded. “Yeah, last night.”

“Good.” Takashi said. “Today we will start with breathing. Put your hands on your knees and close your eyes.”

Harry did as he was told.

“Now relax,” Takashi instructed. “Take a few deep breaths and clear your mind of everything that you’re thinking about. There will be times when thoughts come back, you should consider them to be clouds floating in the sky, acknowledge them, and then send them on their way. Now breathe in…and let the breath out. Breathe in, breath out…”

At first it was really hard. There were so many things that Harry wanted to think about. He wanted to ask Malfoy about Voldemort; he wanted to know why the direction you stirred mattered in potions; he wanted to know whether or not he was a parselmouth; and he wanted to remember how amazing it had been to fly the day before.

But after a while, Harry could feel all his thoughts floating away and he felt as though he was floating.

“Now I want you to search inside your mind for your magic.” Takashi said after a while. “Everyone’s magic looks different, but you’ll know it when you find it.”

Harry didn’t know how to search, but he made an attempt at it – nothing happened, and he started thinking about what he would have for breakfast instead. He shifted impatiently.

“It’s alright.” Takashi told him gently. “Start your breathing again, breath in and out, in and out.”

When Takashi eventually called an end to their meditation, Harry hadn’t managed anything more than the floating feeling.

“Don’t worry about it.” Takashi reassured him when Harry told him. “You did great. When I started it took me three lessons to even feel that. You’re retraining your mind, it takes time.”

“Okay, thanks.” Harry felt better. “May I ask you a question?”

“Go for it.” Takashi told him. “But first we should probably get off the desks, other people will be coming in soon.”

Harry followed Takashi to a couch and, once they were sitting down, turned to him. “Yesterday Terry told me that people think Malfoy’s Dad supported Voldemort.”

Takashi flinched. “Call him You-Know-Who.” He instructed.

Harry sighed. “Right, anyway, Terry says that Malfoy’s Dad supported You-Know-Who and that they’re dark wizards. Is that true?”

Takashi ran a hand through his hair. “Firstly, I think we need to define the term ‘dark wizard’. What do you think it means?”

Harry shrugged. “I don’t know, evil maybe?”

“A lot of people would agree with you.” Takashi told him seriously. “Jeremy for example. He believes that dark wizards are evil and light wizards are good.”

“But you don’t?” Harry asked.

“No.” Takashi shook his head. “In Japan there is a lot of dark wizards, it doesn’t mean that they’re all evil, it just means that their magic is different.”

Harry was confused. “Different how?”

“Um,” Takashi thought about it. “Take parselmagic for example, it’s an example of dark magic. If a wizard can speak parseltongue then they are either dark or grey. And there are spells that can only be performed by light and grey wizards.”

“So we’re born one or the other?” Harry asked.

“In Japan we believe that a person is born with a tendency towards something, but that you can change if you want.” Takashi explained. “But if you have a tendency towards dark magic you will never be as strong of a light wizard as you would a dark wizard.”

“And there are grey wizards?” Harry asked.

“Yeah, they’ve got the best of both worlds.” Takashi grinned. “They can perform dark magic and light magic, but it’s not easy to be grey. Partly because your magic will always be tempting you towards either dark or light; and partly because some light wizards will dislike you because you’re too dark and some dark wizards won’t like you because you’re too light.”

“So what are you?” Harry asked.

“I’d rather not answer that.” Takashi told him seriously. “So anyway, about what Terry said: yes, the Malfoys are dark. In fact, traditionally Slytherin House has the most dark wizards and Gryffindor has the most light wizards.”

“Are traditionalists always dark? Or grey?” Harry asked curiously.

“No.” Takashi shook his head. “Take your friend Terry, he’s from a traditional family, but they’re light. But most dark wizards are traditionalists.”

“Okay, but Vol, uh, You-Know-Who was evil, right?” Harry asked. “He killed my parents.”

“Yeah.” Takashi nodded. “You-Know-Who was definitely bad, and if Lord Malfoy followed him then he’s probably bad too. But we don’t know why Lord Malfoy followed him and just because Lord Malfoy did, doesn’t mean that his son is bad.”

“Right.” Harry nodded seriously.

“Listen,” Takashi looked at Harry seriously. “Don’t tell Jeremy we talked about this, alright? My beliefs on this stuff are pretty unusual in England and Jeremy thinks I’m out of my mind.”

“So, I shouldn’t talk to Terry about it either?” Harry asked.

“Probably not.” Takashi agreed. “But you shouldn’t just take my word for it. I’ll lend you a book on the issue if you like? I have one that argues both sides, that way you can make up your own mind.”

“Does anyone at Hogwarts, other than you, believe this stuff?” Harry asked.

“Professor Snape does.” Takashi told him. “And you’ll find that most of the Slytherins do too. There are a few Ravenclaws who do, but not many.”

“Oh,” Harry considered that. “Thanks for telling me.”

“No worries.” Takashi grinned at him. “Do you exercise, Harry?”

“Huh?” Harry was startled by the change of subject. “Not really, why?”

“It’s good for your magic.” Takashi explained. “Well, I think it is at least. Jeremy would disagree.”

“Do you and Jeremy agree on anything?” Harry asked with a grin.

“Lots of things.” Takashi shrugged. “We both like reading, we both like Quidditch, we both like pizza, and we both agree not to talk about the stuff we disagree on. Anyway, your physical fitness affects both your magical stamina and your ability to dodge spells in a duel. I normally go for a run about now, you can come if you want.”

Harry looked at the clock and realised that it was six thirty. “I’ll slow you down though.”

“We’ll run around the Quidditch pitch.” Takashi explained. “That way we can both run at our own pace.”

Harry shrugged. “Yeah, alright. Do I need shorts or something?”

“Yeah.” Takashi nodded. “Go and grab some running clothes, we can get changed in the locker rooms down there.”

5-5-5

Harry was almost late to his first class, History of Magic, and he gratefully slid into the seat Terry had saved for him.

“Thanks.”

“Where were you?” Terry asked. “I didn’t see you at all this morning.”

“Takashi and I went for a run.” Harry explained as he pulled his note taking supplies out of his bag. “By the time we showered afterwards we only had about five minutes to eat, and even then I had to run here.”

“You went running?” Terry asked with horror. “As though those monstrous stairs up to the Tower aren’t bad enough.”

“It was great.” Harry grinned at him.

“Weird.” Terry told him.

“What’s weird?” The Weasley twins’ younger brother, who was sitting in front of them, asked.

“He went running this morning.” Terry answered. “Our common room is at the top of a huge flight of stairs and he decides he needs more exercise.”

“Why?” Weasley grimaced. “I hate running.”

“It’s relaxing.” Harry told them truthfully. At least it was when Dudley wasn’t chasing him.

Weasley shook his head in obvious disagreement and turned back to the front as Professor Binns began to teach.

5-5-5

“Wow.” Terry sighed as the Ravenclaws all left the classroom together. “That was so boring!”

Harry grinned. “It was a bit. Though I was really interested by what he said about the Goblin Rebellion of 1782. The textbook didn’t really cover that.”

Michael looked at him weirdly. “Have you memorised the textbook?”

Harry shrugged. “No, I couldn’t tell you every word it said. I’m just good at remembering things.”

“I’m good at remembering things.” Terry told him. “You’re a genius.”

Harry laughed as he pulled out his map. “Don’t be stupid. Now, we’re looking for classroom six D.”

“We’re on level six at the moment, aren’t we?” Terry asked. “So we shouldn’t have to go very far.”

“Yeah,” Harry looked at the map. “I think we just need to turn left up here and then it’s the second door on the right.”

They found the classroom easily enough and all found seats on the left side of the room.

“Do you know who we’re sharing this class with?” Anthony asked just before the first year Slytherins began arriving.

For a minute or so, everyone’s attention was taken up by bowing and then the Slytherins found their seats and sat down.

“That’s going to get old really fast.” Anthony grumbled.

“Shut up, Anthony.” Michael told him. “It’s not like we’re making you join in.”

“What is that smell?” Greengrass asked in a horrified voice.

“Garlic.” Malfoy answered with a sneer. “Apparently Quirrell’s terrified of a vampire he met in Romania.”

Eventually Professor Quirrell arrived and started the class. “We-we-welc-c-ome t-to D-d-def-defence Ag-g-gainst T-t-the Dark Art-t-t-s.” He stuttered painfully.

Harry shared a glance with Terry, surely Quirrell wasn’t going to stutter throughout the entire class?

Quirrell did stutter throughout the whole class and he said nothing that Harry hadn’t read in the textbook. The class was mind-numbingly boring, even worse than History class, and in the end Harry gave up trying to listen and take notes and instead started to write a list of the things he wanted to do.

• Talk to Malfoy
• Read Takashi’s book
• Learn to meditate
• Run more
• Learn to write better
• Visit Hedwig

Harry frowned as he suddenly remembered that he had been supposed to owl Healer Axecure about his scar and he pulled out another piece of parchment and began the leader.

‘To Healer Axecure,

Thank you for the bruise cream, it worked brilliantly. I am still taking the potions, but they are really gross. You said they would help me grow, but I’m worried that if I grow too fast people will notice. How fast will I grow?

You asked me to write to you if my scar ever did anything weird. Two days ago, at the welcoming feast, my scar really hurt. I don’t think it has every happened before.

Any way I just thought I would let you know. Say hi to Baknog from me,

Harry Potter.’

Harry rolled up the parchment and put it in his bag and tried to pay attention to Quirrell again.

When the class finally ended, Harry was already packed up and ready to go.

“I’ll see you in Charms.” He told Terry, before heading out the door to wait for Malfoy.

The Slytherins all came out together and Harry called Malfoy’s name to get his attention.

“Potter.” Malfoy acknowledged him with a bow.

“Can I talk to you for a minute?” Harry asked.

Malfoy looked surprised. “Alright.” He told his friends to go ahead without him and led Harry around the corner away from the Ravenclaws who were beginning to emerge.

“I need to talk to you.” Harry told him. “I have a question, but it’s kind of complicated, so it might take a while.”

Malfoy leant against the wall. “How about we talk at lunch? We can eat quickly and then meet up somewhere.”

“The Owlery?” Harry suggested. “I need to go up there anyway.”

Malfoy grimaced. “If we must. I’ll meet you there at one twenty.”

“Thanks.” Harry grinned at him. “What do you have now?”

“Transfiguration.” Malfoy told him as they began walking towards the stairs. “You?”

“Charms.”

5-5-5

Charms was much the same as the day before. Flitwick taught theory for the first half, and then they kept trying the Lumos spell for the second half. Harry’s light got brighter and a couple of the other students managed to produce a faint glow.

Harry left Charms quickly and almost ran to the Great Hall for lunch. He had already served himself when Terry joined him.

“What’s the hurry?” Terry asked. “We’ve got an hour.”

“I’m meeting Malfoy in the Owlery.” Harry explained. “I want to ask him about that stuff you told me yesterday.”

“Bloody hell!” Terry exclaimed. “You can’t just ask someone if they support You-Know-Who.”

Harry shrugged. “I don’t see why not.”

“It’s not as though he’s going to admit it.” Terry pointed out. “Their side lost, people don’t go around admitting to having been on the wrong side of the war.”

Harry shrugged. “Maybe not, but I want to hear what he has to say.”

Terry stared at him strangely. “You are nothing like I thought you would be.”

Harry wasn’t sure how to respond to that.

“Everyone thought that you’d be a diehard Gryffindor. The kind of guy who would rather curse Malfoy than speak to him.” Terry told him. “That’s how my Mum describes your Dad anyway. Apparently Professor Snape was in the same year as your dad and your dad and his friends pulled all kinds of pranks on him.”

“Well, I’m not.” Harry shrugged awkwardly. “I don’t even remember my dad.”

Terry didn’t say anything.

Harry swallowed his last mouthful and stood up quickly. “I’ll see you in Transfiguration Class.”

“Merry part.” Terry muttered.

Harry made his way out of the Great Hall and pulled out his map. The Owlery was on level eight, which meant he needed to go up.

“Follow me, Potter.” Malfoy was walking towards him. “I was there last night.”

Harry shoved his map back in his bag and followed the other boy up a flight of stairs.

“How was Transfiguration?”

“Alright.” Malfoy told him. “I managed to turn my match silver this time.”

“Cool.” Harry nodded, deciding not admit that he had done that yesterday. “We’ve got Herbology after lunch, right?”

“Yes,” Malfoy nodded as he led them up their fourth flight of stairs. “And then I’ve got History.”

“I’ve got Potions.” Harry said with a grin. “Which is great. Last class was brilliant!”

“Yeah, Uncle Severus said that you and Terry did well.” Malfoy commented.

“He’s your uncle?”

“My godfather.”

“That’s brilliant.” Harry grinned. “It must be nice to have him as your Head of House.”

“Sort of.” Malfoy shrugged. “How did you do it by the way?”

“Do what?”

“Make a perfect potion.” Malfoy reminded him. “Uncle Severus said that it was as good as mine.”

Harry shrugged. “I don’t know, I just followed the instructions. I read some extra potions books last month which helped. Otherwise I wouldn’t know the difference between grinding and crushing snake fangs like the rest of my class.”

They came to a door and Malfoy opened it. “Welcome to the Hogwarts Owlery.”

Harry grimaced, there was bird poo everywhere!

“How about you send your letter and then we talk outside.” Malfoy suggested. “It smells bad in here.”

Harry agreed and then greeted Hedwig who had flown down and was pecking his ear. “Hi, girl. Can you send a letter for me?”

Hedwig glared at him and pecked his ear before sticking out a leg.

Harry looked at Malfoy in confusion. “I’ve never done this before.”

Malfoy grimaced, as he did every time Harry mentioned being new to magic, and stepped forward. “You need to give her your letter and then tell her where to go.”

“Oh.” Harry pulled his letter to the Healer out of his bag and gave it to Hedwig who grasped in in her claws. “I need it sent to Healer Axecure at Gringotts.”

Hedwig pecked him gently and then flew out the window.

“Bravo, Potter.” Malfoy congratulated condescendingly. “You just sent your first owl. But why were you writing to a goblin healer?”

Harry shrugged. “She was the one who gave my vaccinations and she asked me to keep her updated about something.”

Malfoy headed for the door. “I didn’t even know goblin healers gave vaccines.”

Once they Owlery door was shut behind them, Malfoy turned to Harry.

“So what did you want to talk to me about?”

“Well.” Harry paused, suddenly having second thoughts. “Um,”

“Spit it out, Potter.”

“Alright, well, I was talking to someone yesterday.” Harry began, not looking at Malfoy. “And I think they were worried that I was hanging out with you because…”

Malfoy snorted. “Of course they were.”

Harry looked at him for a moment before continuing. “Anyway, they said that apparently your family are dark wizards.”

“Which of course means that we’re evil and you shouldn’t talk to us.” Malfoy scowled.

“Well, yeah, I think that was what they were trying to say.” Harry admitted. “But then I was talking to Takashi this morning and he was talking about how dark and light didn’t necessarily mean good or bad.”

“Really?” Malfoy was scowling less. “Who is Takashi?”

“Uh, Takashi Nado, he’s the fourth year who was assigned to show me around.” Harry explained. “He’s teaching me to meditate too.”

Malfoy looked surprised.

“Anyway,” Harry continued. “So I wanted to ask what you thought.”

Malfoy didn’t say anything for a while. “Well, Takashi’s right. Just because we’re dark wizards doesn’t mean we’re bad people. It’s just a different kind of magic.”

“Right.” Harry nodded. “That’s what Takashi said.”

“I hate to break it to you, Potter, but you’re probably darker than you are light.” Malfoy told him. “Both the Potter House and the Black House are historically dark and it’s hereditary.”

“Was my dad a dark wizard?” Harry asked in surprise.

 “No, my mother told me that he was the first light wizard to be born into the Potter House in generations. Everyone blamed it on your Dad’s grandmother who was a Longbottom.”

“Oh,” Harry considered that. “How do I tell? Whether my magic is light or dark?”

“Well, according to my father there’s only one easy tell.” Malfoy told him. “If you’re a parselmouth, then you’re definitely dark, but that’s incredibly rare. Otherwise, you can only really tell by meditating and getting to know your magic.”

“Okay,” Harry nodded as calmly as he could. He really wanted to find a snake so he could find out if he really was a parselmouth or whether he had just imagined it.

“Did you have any other questions?” Malfoy asked.

Harry bit his lip nervously. “Sort of, but it’s probably a really insulting one.”

Malfoy looked resigned. “Let me guess, the person you were talking to yesterday told you that my family supported the Dark Lord.”

“Do you mean Voldemort?” Harry asked.

“Don’t just say his name!” Malfoy snapped.

“Sorry.” Harry mumbled. “I’ve just never heard him called the ‘dark lord’ before.”

“The answer is no, by the way.” Malfoy said. “I mean I don’t remember it obviously, but I’m sure my father wouldn’t have supported him. Sure my family agreed with him about some things, but my father wouldn’t kill anyone.”

Harry frowned. “You agree with him?”

“About some things!” Malfoy defended. “We think that our traditions are important and we want to protect them. We don’t really like mu-muggleborns because they try and change our culture. But that doesn’t mean that we want to go around killing lots of people.”

Harry considered that. “That makes sense. Isn’t it their culture too though? The muggleborns, I mean. Maybe they just need to be taught the wizarding culture.”

Malfoy shook his head. “Anyway, I’m not saying that nobody in my family supported the Dark Lord. My Aunt Bellatrix and her husband did, and they’re in Azkaban now. But most people were somehow related to one of the Dark Lord’s supporters. My Aunt Bellatrix was a Black before she got married, so technically she’s related to you too.”

“I’m a Potter.” Harry reminded him.

“And a Black.” Malfoy told him. “Lord Black had to have you adopted into his House to make you his heir. He also supported the Dark Lord, by the way.”

“Allegedly.” Harry defended. “According to Baknog, who manages my family’s vaults at Gringotts, he never got a trial. They just locked him up.”

“Seriously?” Malfoy looked shocked.

“Yeah,” Harry frowned. “I’m hoping that Baknog can convince them to give him a trial. He’s basically my last relative, I want to know whether or not he actually did it.”

“He’s not your last relative.” Malfoy told him. “We’re related you know. My mother is your godfather’s cousin. I would have been his heir if he hadn’t adopted you.”

“Really?” Harry grinned at Malfoy. “Does that make us cousins?”

“Second cousins.” Malfoy agreed.

“That’s brilliant!” Harry beamed at the other boy. “You should call me Harry then.”

Malfoy nodded slowly. “I guess that makes sense. You may call me Draco.”

“Thanks.” Harry felt like jumping for joy. He actually had a living family member who wasn’t in Azkaban or a Dursley, distant though he may be.

“We should head down.” Draco told him. “Classes start in ten minutes and we need to grab our books and stuff.”

“Right.” Harry started down the stairs quickly. “The Ravenclaw tower is pretty close to here actually. Where’s your common room?”

“A level below our Potions classroom.” Draco told him.

5-5-5

Terry had saved Harry a seat in Transfiguration Class and he barely let Harry sit down before asking how his conversation with Draco had been.

“It was brilliant.” Harry grinned at him. “Draco told me that we’re cousins. I didn’t think I had any relatives were weren’t dead or in Azkaban.”

“You’re calling him Draco?” Terry asked. “What about him being a dark wizard?”

Harry shrugged. “He’s not as bad you think he is.”

Terry looked unconvinced.

Transfiguration went much the same as the day, and so did Potions after it. The only difference was that Harry ended up partnered with Michael instead of Terry, but their potion was just as good.

At the end of Potions, Harry waited for the others to leave before approaching Professor Snape shyly.

“Sir?”

Snape, who had been writing at his desk, looked up in surprise. “Mr. Potter.”

“May I ask a question?” Harry ventured.

Snape sighed and leaned back in his chair. “If you must.”

“Why does the direction that we stir affect the potion so much, Professor?” Harry asked.

Snape stared at him for a moment before answering. “The ladle is much like a wand, Mr. Potter. It is a tool you use to mix your magic into the potion. If you stir anticlockwise then your magic reacts differently to the potion than if you stirred clockwise.”

“Oh.” Harry considered that. “But when I stirred the potion today I wasn’t even concentrating on making my magic go into the potion like I have to with my wand.”

“That is because novice potions ladles are created to automatically pull your magic into the potion.” Snape replied. “When you reach your fifth year you will require a new ladle that does not do it automatically.”

Harry nodded and turned to leave. “Thanks, Professor.”

“Mr. Potter.” Snape stopped him. “I heard you claiming to have read some additional potions books.”

“Yes, sir.” Harry replied.

“Which ones?”

“Um, ‘The Basics of Potion Making’ by Gerald Butter.” Harry told him. “And ‘Potion Ingredients: What They Are and How to Prepare Them’ by…”

“Julien Brocklehurst.” Snape finished for him. “Those are good books, Mr. Potter.”

“Yes, sir.” Harry nodded quickly. “They were really helpful. Otherwise I wouldn’t have known the difference between crushing and grinding like Terry.”

“I see.” Snape said. “Merry part, Mr. Potter.”

“Merry part, Professor.” Harry grinned at him before leaving the classroom.

“What were you doing?” Terry asked as he pushed himself off the wall he had been leaning on.

“I wanted to ask him a question.” Harry replied.

“What did you ask?”

“Why the directions we stir make a difference.” Harry replied as they began the long trek up to their tower.

Terry laughed. “You’re an uber-Ravenclaw, aren’t you?”

“What do you mean?” Harry asked.

“Well, I’m a Ravenclaw because I like learning things.” Terry said. “But you want to know everything!”

Harry just shrugged.

5-5-5

The rest of Harry’s first week at Hogwarts was much like the first few days had been. They had Astronomy at midnight on Wednesday, but Harry still managed to pull himself out of bed at five for his and Takashi’s morning meditation and run. Harry visited Hagrid on Friday afternoon, but it was really awkward and they had nothing to talk about. He was sure that Hagrid shared in his relief when he left.

Saturday morning started much the same as any other hour, Harry and Takashi meditated and then went for a run before heading down to breakfast. Hedwig had started making a habit to come and visit Harry at breakfast, but on this morning she brought Harry his first package as well as a letter.

Harry was sitting with Terry, Takashi and Jeremy and they all exclaimed excitedly about the book-shaped package.

“Open it, Harry.” Terry urged him.

Harry carefully opened the package and grinned when he saw the title of the book.

“What is it?” Jeremy asked him.

Harry turned it around so they could see the title.

“Calligraphy: An Introduction.” Terry read in surprise. “Who would send you that?”

Harry picked up the piece of parchment that had been packaged with the book. “Lady Malfoy.”

“Bloody hell.” Jeremy frowned. “Why would she be sending you a book?”

“Draco asked her to.” Harry answered absently as he read the letter. “He said my handwriting was an embarrassment to all Ancient and Noble Houses.”

“He’s not wrong.” Takashi laughed. “What does Lady Malfoy say?”

“Dear Cousin,” Harry read out loud. “I hope this letter finds you well. I was delighted when Draconus informed me that he had become acquainted with you. I hope to meet you myself someday soon. I hope you don’t mind, but Draconus mentioned that your penmanship could use some improvement and so I have sent you this book. It is the same book I used to teach Draconus how to write when he was younger. Your cousin, Lady Narcissa Malfoy.”

“Very nice.” Takashi commented. “And look at her penmanship, not a smudge anywhere.”

Harry grimaced. “I’m getting better!” He defended himself before picking up the other letter that Hedwig had delivered.

“Two in one day.” Jeremy grinned at him. “You lucky thing. Who’s that one from?”

Harry turned it over to look at the seal. “Gringotts, I think.”

“Oh,” Jeremy pulled a face. “Sounds terribly boring.”

Harry shrugged and put the letter in his bag to read later and stood as he saw Draco leaving the Slytherin table. “I’ll see you later.” He said, picking up the calligraphy book and Lady Malfoy’s letter.

He walked quickly towards the door that Draco seemed to be aiming for and reached in just ahead of the other boy.

“Merry meet, Harry.” Draco bowed.

“Merry meet.” Harry nodded the way Malfoy had taught him to the day before.

“Much better.” Draco smiled approvingly. “See what a little tutoring can do?”

“Yeah, it feels much less awkward now.” Harry grinned. “Thanks, and thanks for this.” He held up his new book.

“You’re welcome.” Draco told him. “I hope it helps.”

“It will.” Harry said. “I practise every night, and today I have heaps of assignments to do which will help me practise too.”

Draco scowled. “Yeah, me too. Daphne has organised a group study session, do you want to study with us?”

“Thanks, but our prefects have organised something similar.”

“Your prefects?” Draco asked in surprise. “You lucky sod. More free tutoring.”

“The perks of being a Ravenclaw.” Harry told him. “We take studying seriously.”

“No kidding.” Draco grumbled. “This is your third lot of tutoring this week.”

Harry just laughed at him. “I’ll see you later. I’m heading up to the tower, have fun studying.”

“Merry part.” Draco told him.

“Merry part.” Harry agreed before running up the stairs.

When Harry arrived in his dorm room, he sat at his desk and pulled out the letter from Gringotts.

‘Mr. Potter,

I have received your letter and have been discussing the matter with other healers. There are some more tests that I would like to run as soon as possible. I have arranged to be in Professor Flitwick’s office at seven o’clock in the evening, Saturday the seventh of September.

Healer Axecure’

That was tonight, Harry realised as he read through the letter again and then grimaced as he realised that it would mean missing out on the potions tutoring session.

Next Harry opened the book Lady Malfoy had sent him and looked through it. The letters in it were way more complicated than the ones he usually used, but he could see how they would make writing with a quill easier.

With a sigh, he pulled out some parchment and pen and started to practise.

5-5-5

The day went by very quickly for Harry, who spent it practising his handwriting and completing assignments with his classmates, and before he knew it he found himself knocking on Professor Flitwick’s office door at seven o’clock.

“Come in, Mr. Potter.” Flitwick greeted him with a smile.

Harry followed his Professor and realised that, like Ragnok’s office, most of the furniture was goblin sized.

“Merry meet, Mr. Potter.” Healer Axecure greeted him from a chair near the fire.

“Merry meet.” Harry rubbed his hands on his trousers.

“Sit down, Mr. Potter.” Flitwick suggested, pushing Harry gently towards one of the human sized chairs in the room.

“Thanks.” Harry said as he sat.

“I’ll leave you to it, Axecure.” Flitwick told the goblin with smile before leaving the room through another door.

Harry looked after his professor anxiously.

“Tell me about the circumstance of your scar hurting, Mr. Potter.” Healer Axecure instructed Harry.

Harry told her everything he could remember and then submitted to her tests. The tests took over an hour and by the end of them Harry was feeling tired.

Once Healer Axecure was finished she stood in front of Harry with her hands on her hips. “Have you been taking the potion I gave you?”

“Yeah.” Harry nodded. “It’s really gross, but I’m over halfway. I’ve only got six left.”

“Good.” Healer Axecure nodded. “You needn’t worry about growing too quickly. The potion will not help you grow, instead it will enable your body to make up for your lost growth during your next growing period.”

“Oh cool! Thanks!” Harry said in relief.

“I will let you know what the tests find.” Healer Axecure dismissed Harry suddenly. “You may go.”

“Uh, thanks.” Harry stood up quickly and headed to the door. “Thanks for, you know, coming to do these tests.”

5-5-5

“Hurrah for Sundays!” Terry grinned as he spooned scrambled eggs onto his plate.

“No classes, no study session, and all our homework is done.” Harry agreed cheerily.

“What’re your plans?” Terry asked between bites.

Harry shrugged. “Not much. Takashi and Jeremy promised to introduce me to a house elf.”

“A house elf?” Terry looked confused. “Why?”

“I’ve never seen one before.” Harry answered. “What are you going to do today?”

“Michael and I are going to go flying.” Terry grinned. "Andrew says that Madame Hooch allows students to borrow school brooms between one and four on Sunday afternoons.”

“Brilliant!” Harry grinned. “Can I come?”

“Of course.” Terry replied. “We can go together after lunch.”

“Thanks.” Harry poured himself another goblet of pumpkin juice. “Do you know how brooms work?”

“Uh, magic?” Terry laughed.

Harry rolled his eyes. “Obviously, but I mean other than that. Do the people who make them use spells? Or runes? Or do they rub a potion over the wood?”

“A potion?” Terry looked sceptical. “Could a potion even do that?”

“I don’t know.” Harry frowned. “I should ask Professor Snape. So you don’t know then?”

“No.” Terry shook his head. “It’s not really important, you know. Not unless you want to become a broom designer.”

“But aren’t you curious?” Harry asked him.

“Nope.” Terry laughed. “Not even a little bit. I just like flying.”

“Morning, Harry!”

Harry jumped in surprise as the Weasley twins sat down on either side of him. “Um, good morning.”

“Who’s your friend?” The twin on Harry’s left asked cheerfully.

“Terry Boot.” Harry told them. “Terry, this is Fred and George Weasley.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Terry dear boy!” The right twin grinned.

“Hi.” Terry blurted out.

The twins turned their attention back to Harry. “So, Harry, what’cha doing today?”

“We’re going flying this afternoon.” Harry grinned at them. “Apparently first years are allowed to borrow broomsticks.”

“Indeed they are.” The left twin nodded. “Sounds like smashing fun.”

“What are you doing this morning?” The right twin asked.

“Nothing much.” Harry shrugged. “Takashi and Jeremy promised they’d introduce me to a house elf.”

“Did they now?”

“Just one?”

“We could introduce you to a whole lot more than just one house elf if you like?” The right twin offered.

“Um…” Harry considered their offer. He didn’t want to offend Takashi and Jeremy, but it would be cool to meet more than one house elf. “Do you think Takashi will mind?”

“Nah.” The twins chorused. “He’ll understand.”

“Okay,” Harry nodded before turning to Terry. “Do you want to come?”

“No, thanks.” Terry shook his head. “My family has some house elves, so I already know what they look like.”

“Come on then.” The twins stood in unison and pulled Harry up with them. “No time like the present.”

Harry looked mournfully back at the rest of his eggs, but followed the twins out of the hall anyway.

“Don’t worry about your food.”  One of the twins reassured him.

“There’s plenty of food where we’re going.”

“Really?” Harry trotted to keep up with him. “Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

The twins lead Harry through the corridors, before stopping in front of a large painting of fruit.

“Alright, here we are.” The twins grinned at him.

Harry looked around in confusion.

“Do you see that pear?” A twin asked him.

“Stroke it.” The other twin ordered.

“What?” Harry stared at the pear.

“Come on, Harry!”

Harry stepped forward tentatively and then reached out a finger to touch the pear.

“You need to actually stroke it.”

“Like you would a cat.”

“Or a dog.” The twins told him.

Harry stroked the pear obediently and then watched in surprise as the portrait swung open to reveal a doorway.

“Behold!”

“The entrance to the Hogwarts kitchen!”

Harry followed the twins through the doorway and then stared at the beings he presume were house elves.

“Twin Master Weasleys!” One of the elves came forward and greeted then with a beaming smile. “What is yous wanting from Stompy this day?”

“Hey, Stompy.” The twins grinned as they pulled Harry forward to stand in front of them. “This is Harry Potter. He wanted to meet a house elf.”

“Master Harry Potter?” Stompy’s eyes widened impossibly. “The wizard that is defeating He-Who-Should-Not-Be-Named?”

“The one and only.” The twins agreed.

The other elves, who had been bustling around the kitchen all turned to stare at Harry before rushing forward. Harry backed up until he could feel the twins behind him.

“Master Harry Potter, sir!” One of the elves called out. “My is being Kailey.”

“And I is being Roister.” Another elf added.

Instantly the kitchen was filled with the loud shout of elves who all seemed to be trying to introduce themselves to Harry.

“Uh, nice to meet you.” Harry said awkwardly when they had quieted down

“Master Harry Potter sir is so kind!” One of the elves exclaimed and then they all began talking at once again.

“Wow.” One of the twins murmured. “Never seen them like this before.”

“Probably because we haven’t defeated any dark lords.” The other twin commented mournfully.

“So you all work here?” Harry asked Stormy, who happened to be the closest elf.

“Yes, Master Harry Potter sir!” The elf squeaked excitedly. “Stormy has being working here since he is a little elf.”

Harry frowned. “You worked here as a kid? Didn’t you go to school?”

“House Elves not going to school, Master Harry Potter.” Stormy told him as the other elves slowly started returned to their work. “They is being taught how to be good house elves by their families.”

“So your family worked here too?”

“Oh yes, Master Harry Potter sir!” Stormy beamed. “Stormy’s whole family is being working here. Stormy’s family is being working here for generations.”

“Cool.” Harry answered, the elf’s excitement was contagious. “So how does you working here work? Do you get paid?”

“Paid!” Stormy blanched. “Stormy isn’t being paid, Master Harry Potter sir. Stormy is being a good elf!”

“Sorry.” Harry frowned in confusion. “I didn’t mean to offend you. I don’t know anything about house elves, I was raised by muggles.”

Stormy was beaming again. “Master Harry Potter sir not need to be apologising. Stormy understands.”

“So why is it so bad for an elf to be paid?” Harry asked cautiously.

“House elves is being honoured to serve their families.” Stormy told him seriously. “We is being bonded with a family. To be paid is to be insulting the bond.”

“But you get good stuff out of the bond, right?” Harry asked, remembering what Takashi had told him about it being a mutualistic relationship.”

“Of course, Master Harry Potter sir.” Stormy agreed. “House elves would not be bonding with families if bonds not being good for them.”

“So what do you get out of it?”

“Wizards magics is feeding us.” Stormy answered. “It is making our magic stronger. And we is getting to cook and clean.”

“Cool.” Harry replied, lost for words.

“It is being very cool, Master Harry Potter sir.” Stormy nodded his head in agreement.

Harry’s stomach grumbled out of hunger and Stormy bounced in his place.

“Master Harry Potter is being hungry? Stormy be getting him some food.”

The twins led Harry over to the large table in the middle of the kitchen and then sat down opposite him.

“So, what do you think?”

“They’re brilliant.” Harry grinned. “And that bond thing is really interesting.”

The twins nodded. “Yeah, we didn’t know about the magic part. It’s kind of cool when you think about it.”

“Yeah.” Harry agreed. “I wonder if they library has any books about it.”

The twins laughed. “Typical Ravenclaw.”

5-5-5

Chapter Text

Harry’s second week at Hogwarts flew by as quickly as the first one had. He finished taking the potions that Healer Axecure had given him and as well as his normal classes, and the Ravenclaw tutoring groups, he had handwriting lessons every night with Takashi and etiquette lessons every lunchtime with Draco. He meditated and ran with Takashi every morning, and even managed to finish his book on wandless magic as well as the one Takashi had lent him on dark and light magic.

Takashi’s book had been fascinating and had made him even more determined than ever to find out whether or not he was a parselmouth. If he really had spoken to the snake at the zoo it meant that his magic was dark. He needed to find a snake somewhere, or transfigure one. Which meant that he needed help and Takashi was the obvious choice.

“You want me to what?” Takashi asked him in surprise after their mediation session on Friday morning.

“Transfigure a snake.” Harry answered. “Can you do it?”

“I’d need to do a bit of research first.” Takashi told him. “I don’t know the incantation.”

Harry pulled a book out of his bag and handed it to the older wizard. “Here. It’s on page fifty seven.”

“You’ve really done your research.” Takashi commented as he found the right page. “Are you going to tell me why you want me to do this?”

Harry bit his lip nervously. “I, uh, IthinkImightbeaparselmouth.”

Takashi laughed. “I’m going to need you to repeat that, slower.”

“Sorry.” Harry looked down. “I think I might be a parselmouth, but I’m not sure. I spoke to a snake a few months ago, but it was the only time I’ve ever done it.”

“Wow.” Takashi stared at him. “Really?”

“Yeah.” Harry sighed. “But I want to know for sure.”

“Understandable.” Takashi looked down the book in front of him and then pulled out his wand. “Well, here goes nothing, Serpensortia.”

Nothing happened at first, but then Takashi cast the spell again and a small green snake burst from the tip of his wand.

:What happened! Where am I?:

Harry stared at the snake and then turned to Takashi. “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?” Takashi asked.

“Someone talking.”

“No,” Takashi denied. “The only people I’ve heard talking are you and me.”

“Oh.” Harry turned back to the snake. :How do you suppose I talk in parseltongue?:

:A speaker?!” The snake slithered towards Harry and then lifted its head to study him.

“Uh, Harry, you are definitely a parselmouth.” Takashi told him. “You were just speaking in parseltongue.”

Harry turned to stare at the older boy. “Really?”

“Really.” Takashi nodded. “It sounds like hissing to me.”

:You, speaker!: The snake sounded frustrated. :Where am I?:

Harry turned his attention back to the snake. :You’re at Hogwarts. Sorry, I wanted to find out whether or not I was a parselmouth:

:Send me back!: The snake snapped.

“It wants to go back.” Harry told Takashi. “It sounds pretty angry.”

Takashi looked back down to at his book. “Okay, tell it to stay still.”

:We’re going to send you back: Harry told the snake. :But you need to stay still:

The snake hissed angrily and then disappeared at Takashi cast the spell.

“So,” Takashi said after a minute. “You’re a parselmouth. You know what that means.”

“It means my magic is dark.” Harry answered.

Takashi nodded. “Don’t tell anyone. Not unless you completely trust them not to react the wrong way.”

“You won’t tell anyone will you? Not even Jeremy?” Harry asked quickly, he was pretty sure Takashi’s friend was someone who would definitely react the wrong way.

“No.” Takashi promised.

“Thanks.” Harry grinned gratefully. “This means that I can do parselmagic!”

Takashi nodded slowly. “That’s true, though you’ll probably want to find a book or something to teach you.”

“Where would I find a book about parselmagic?”

“I don’t know.” Takashi admitted. “You won’t find one here, that’s for sure. I could write home if you like, see if my great grandparents have one in their library?”

“Your great grandparents have their own library?” Harry asked in surprise.

“Of course.” Takashi sat up straighter. “My family are the Japanese equivalent to nobility. Both the Potters and the Blacks will each have a library too. It’s possible that those libraries will have some books on Parselmagic, but, since you don’t have access to them, my family’s one is probably your best option.”

“Yes please!” Harry grinned excitedly. “I can’t believe my family has a library!”

6-6-6

As had become his habit, Harry ate his lunch quickly before leaving to meet Draco in an empty classroom for his etiquette lesson.

Draco arrived a few minutes after him and bowed to Harry in greeting, before nodding in approval at Harry’s nod of acknowledgement.

“Takashi says my family will have a library!” Harry told him excitedly.

Draco rolled his eyes. “Of course they do. The Blacks and the Potters have been collecting books for centuries, where did you think they had all gone?”

Harry shrugged. “I hadn’t really considered it.”

“Don’t shrug.” Draco snapped. “It’s unbecoming.”

“Then what am I supposed to do?” Harry sighed. “I don’t want to walk around as stiff as cardboard all the time.”

“Do I look as stiff as cardboard?” Draco asked haughtily.

“No.”

“And I never shrug.” Draco told him. “There are better ways to express yourself than shrugging. A shrug is so uncouth, besides, it admits a lack of knowledge – something that you should only do around people you trust.”

“I’m eleven.” Harry pointed out. “I can’t pretend I know everything, I’d sound like a prat.”

“There is difference between not admitting defeat and being a know-it-all, like that muggleborn Granger.” Draco sneered.

“What’s wrong with Granger?” Harry asked. “Sure she’s a bit annoying, but she’s not as bad as Weasley. He keeps trying to talk to me.”

“She’s a muggleborn.” Draco’s sneer deepened.

“So?” Harry persisted. “I still don’t see what’s wrong about being a muggleborn.”

“She doesn’t know anything about our world.” Draco snapped. “Muggleborns are all the same, they come in thinking that the muggle world is better than our one and try to change it. They don’t respect our traditions!”

“A lot of purebloods don’t respect the traditions either.” Harry argued. “The Weasleys don’t.”

“The Weasleys are blood traitors!”

“What does that mean?” Harry asked curiously.

“It means that they act like muggleborns.” Draco answered him with a scowl. “My Dad says that Mr. Weasley is obsessed with muggles.”

“So are all wizards who don’t follow the traditions blood traitors? Or just the ones who are obsessed with muggles? Is Shacklebolt, the head boy, a blood traitor?”

Draco frowned slightly. “I think so.”

“And, besides, isn’t it possible that we could learn some things from the muggles?” Harry asked tentatively.

“No!” Draco snapped. “They’re primitive creatures compared to us!”

Harry frowned. “Have you actually been to the muggle world?”

“Of course not!” Draco sounded scandalised.

“Then you don’t actually know what they’re like.” Harry reasoned. “They’re actually quite advanced.”

Draco was staring at Harry in obvious horror.

“I’m not saying we should be exactly like them.” Harry tried to reassure him. “But what if they have some cool ideas that we could use? Should we just ignore them because muggles came up with them?”

“Muggles are incapable of coming up with anything useful.” Draco retorted.

Harry sighed, their conversation was going nowhere. “So what are you teaching me today?”

Draco stared at Harry suspiciously for a while before answering Harry’s question. “Mother said I should teach you about wand care.”

6-6-6

Terry frowned disapprovingly as Harry sat down beside him in Charms class. “You weren’t hanging out with Malfoy again were you?”

“I hang out with him every lunch time.” Harry reminded his friend. “He’s my cousin.”

“Your evil cousin.” Terry muttered under his breath.

“Hey!” Harry scowled at his friend. “You don’t even know him.”

“I don’t need to know him.” Terry returned. “He’s a Malfoy!”

“He’s my family.” Harry snapped. “And my friend. You don’t have to like him, but you don’t have to insult him in front of me.”

Terry looked shamefaced. “Sorry.”

“You could hang out with us sometimes.” Harry suggested. “He’s really not as bad as you seem to think he is.”

Terry scowled.

“Or not.” Harry added with a sigh.

“You should spend more time with us.” Terry grumbled. “You never play games with us, the other guys are starting to talk. They think you consider yourself too good to hang out with us.”

Harry stared at him. “What? Why would they think that?”

“Cos you only ever hang out with Nado, Stratton and Malfoy.” Terry answered, practically spitting Malfoy’s name.

“I hang out with the Weasley twins sometimes too.” Harry argued. “And I sit next to you in all my classes. And sometimes I talk to Dippet.”

“So why don’t you hang out with us?” Terry angrily. “We’re your dorm mates.”

Harry looked down in shame. “I don’t know how to play any of the games you play.”

“You would if you’d let us teach you!”

“Anthony always looks angry when you offer to teach me.” Harry told him friend. “And I don’t want to upset him. Besides, I’ve heard them talking about me. They all think I’m weird.”

“Because you never talk to us.” Terry snapped exasperatedly.

“They thought I was weird the first night.” Harry snapped back, his feelings still hurt from the first time he’d heard them call him weird. “It’s not my fault they don’t like me.”

“You are weird, Harry!” Terry said harshly. “That doesn’t mean we don’t want to get to know you.”

Harry could feel tears stinging at his eyes as he grabbed his bag and stood up. He looked around the room for an empty seat and, finding one near the bag of the room, moved to sit there instead. He’d spent his entire life being called a freak and a weirdo, but it still hurt! He’d thought Terry was different from all the muggle kids he’d gone to school with, he’d thought Terry had liked him. It was horrible to realise that he’d been wrong.

“M-merry m-meet.” The boy he’d sat down next to stood up and bowed nervously.

“Merry meet.” Harry said, nodding in acknowledgement before pulling out his writing supplies in preparation for the class to start.

“I’m N-neville.” The boy introduced himself.

“Harry Potter.” Harry replied sadly. What was even the point of introducing himself to people? Neville would probably think he was weird too. Everyone did eventually.

“I know.” Neville said before falling into awkward silence.

“You’re the Longbottom heir, right?” Harry asked after a minute.

“Yes.” Neville nodded awkwardly.

“Cool.” Harry smiled weakly.

“Merry meet!” Professor Flitwick called from the front and Harry sighed in relief as he turned his attention to the teacher. He just wanted the day to be over.

6-6-6

When the bell rang signalling the end of Charms class, Harry was the first one out the door.

“Harry!” Terry called after him, but Harry ignored him as he walked quickly towards the Transfiguration classroom.

“Come on, Harry.” Terry said pleadingly as he ran to catch up with Harry before slowing down. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean anything bad by it. There’s nothing wrong with being weird. My sister reckons everyone’s a bit weird in their own way.”

Harry continued to ignore him as best he could.

“Harry.” Terry’s tone was pleading. “Please, you’re my friend. I didn’t mean to upset you. I just want you to hang out with us more.”

Harry turned his head to look at the other boy who appeared genuinely upset. “Friends don’t call their friends weird.”

“Sure they do.” Terry argued. “My sister and I call each other weird all the time. So do me and Michael. I didn’t mean it in a bad way.”

Harry slowed down. Maybe Terry was right. It wasn’t as though Harry had had any experience with friends before Hogwarts.

“I don’t like being called weird.” Harry said after a while.

“Yeah, I got that.” Terry said with a relieved smile. “I’ll try not to do it again.”

“I don’t like being called freak either.” Harry added, just to make sure they didn’t have a similar incident.

“Nobody likes being called a freak.” Terry told him. “I would never call you that.”

“Okay,” Harry smiled weakly. “So what game do you think I should learn first?”

Terry grinned at him. “Definitely Exploding Snap. It’s brilliant!”

“Maybe I could take a break from my handwriting practise tonight and you could teach me?” Harry suggested nervously. “As long as Anthony doesn’t mind.”

“Who cares about Anthony?” Terry told him. “He doesn’t have to play if he had a problem with it. I like you better than him anyway.”

Harry stared at his friend as they entered the Transfiguration classroom. “Really?”

“Duh!” Terry rolled his eyes. “I sit next to you in every class don’t I?”

Harry grinned happily as he sat down next to the other boy. “Thanks, I like you better than Anthony too.”

“Who wouldn’t?” Terry replied pompously before laughing.

“I think I’ll sit with Neville sometimes though.” Harry commented. “He always seems to be sitting by himself.”

“We could always choose one of groups of three desks.” Terry pointed out.

Harry grinned. “Brilliant! Can we do that now?”

“Sure.” Terry stood up and moved to one of the aforementioned desks as the rest of their classmates flooded into the class. “You walk fast, Harry. We were ages in front of them.”

“It’s probably all my running.” Harry pointed out. “You should come sometimes.”

Terry shuddered. “Never!”

“Neville!” Harry waved at the pudgy boy as he came through the door. “Over here, we saved you a seat.”

Neville looked confused for a moment, before nervously making his way towards them.

“You don’t have to sit with us if you don’t want to.” Harry tried to reassure the other boy. “I just thought that…”

“N-no, I want to.” Neville interrupted quickly. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” Harry grinned at him. “This is Terry Boot. Terry, this Neville Longbottom, Heir to the Ancient and Noble House of Longbottom.”

Terry stood up and bowed to Neville. “Merry meet.”

“M-merry meet.” Neville returned, his nod of acknowledgement just as awkward as Harry’s had ever been.

6-6-6

The rest of September was wonderful for Harry, having friends was a novel experience for him and he was loving every minute of it. He took Terry’s advice and started spending more time with his dorm mates – playing a game with them at least every couple of days. Anthony was definitely a prat, but the other boys were cool and even the girls were sometimes fun to hang out with.

Harry had also started spending time with Neville. The Gryffindor was very shy, but Harry had discovered that he was brilliant at Herbology and was actually pretty cool to talk to. Unfortunately Neville seemed just as opposed to Draco as Terry was, but Harry mostly just ignored the scared glares his new friend kept sending his cousin.

By the end of September, Harry had finished all the books he had bought and had started to read books from the Ravenclaw Library. Harry’s own books had been added to the Ravenclaw Library with the help of Takashi and Harry had heard some of the older students talking about how much they were enjoying some of them.

October went about the same as September, though thankfully the Weasley twins’ younger brother had finally given up trying to talk to him. It wasn’t that Harry had a problem with Weasley, it was just that he didn’t even know the boy and hadn’t seen anything about him that made him want to get to know him better.

Soon Halloween was approaching and Draco started grumbling about it every time Harry saw him. The first time Draco had mentioned it had been on the way back from Herbology and Harry had made the mistake of asking what was so wrong with Halloween.

“It’s Hallows Eve!” Draco scowled. “Halloween is a muggle tradition. Hallows Eve is about communing with our magic. Halloween is about pumpkins and lollies.”

Draco’s rant had lasted all the way to the Great Hall and by the time Harry left them to sit at the Ravenclaw table the rest of the first year Slytherins had been glaring daggers at Harry. Harry hadn’t asked any more questions about Halloween after that.

The Halloween feast was exactly how Draco had predicted it would be, centred on pumpkins and lollies. The most exciting part of the feast Quirrell warning them all about the troll and fainting. After that Harry and his dorm mates spent the rest of the evening playing Exploding Snap in their room.

6-6-6

“Did you hear?” Draco asked Harry excitedly when he met Harry the day after Halloween.

“Hear what?”

“That muggleborn, Granger, got her arm broken last night.” Draco grinned.

Harry frowned. “Why are you so happy about it?”

“She’s a mudblood!” Draco rolled his eyes.

“A what?” Harry stared at his cousin.

“You know a mudblood, a muggleborn.” Draco replied airily.

Harry narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “Why do you call them mudbloods?”

“Because their parents are muggles.” Draco answered as though it was obvious. “They have dirty blood.”

Harry scowled. “Are you saying my mother had dirty blood?”

Draco looked slightly taken aback. “Uh…”

“And what does it matter who Granger’s parents are?” Harry continued growing increasingly angry. “Magic obviously doesn’t care who her parents are, otherwise she wouldn’t be a witch.”

“Her parents are muggles.” Draco said firmly.

“So?” Harry growled. “Just because muggles are different doesn’t make them dirty! Just like you being a dark wizard doesn’t make you evil.”

Draco opened his mouth and then shut it again.

“I can’t believe you’re happy that girl got hurt!” Harry continued. “What if it had been you?”

“It would have never happened to me.” Draco said arrogantly. “I’m a pureblood.”

“So?” Harry threw his hands in the air in frustration. “Draco, Granger is one of the top students in our class! Yesterday she was the first person in our class to manage the Wingardium Leviosa spell. She managed it after practising for five minutes.”

Draco scowled at him. “I wouldn’t have been stupid enough to be caught by a troll!”

“How? Are you a seer now?” Harry asked sarcastically. “Do you get forewarning when a troll is going to attack you in the loo?”

Draco sneered at him. “You wouldn’t understand. You’re just a dirty halfblood!”

Harry bit his tongue to try and keep his eyes from tearing up and he turned around and quickly walked out of room. So what if Draco was a jerk? It wasn’t as though he wasn’t used to his family thinking he was worthless. The Dursleys thought he was freak and Draco thought his blood was dirty. He didn’t need a family anyway.

6-6-6

Harry managed to avoid Draco for two days, but on the third day he had Herbology class. Harry had tried to convince one of his fellow Ravenclaws to swap seats with him so he could continue ignoring his cousin, but none of them were willing to annoy the Malfoy heir.

“Merry meet.” Draco and the other Slytherins bowed to Harry when they entered the greenhouse and Harry gave them an angry nod in return.

Draco sat down beside him and sighed. “You’re not still angry at me, are you?”

Harry scowled at the desk in front of him.

Draco’s face twisted in discomfort and his voice dropped to a whisper. “I’m sorry, alright?”

“Sorry you said it you mean!” Harry spat.

“Well, yeah.” Draco admitted. “But it’s not that I think there’s anything wrong with you. I was just angry.”

“But you think there was something wrong with my mother!” Harry growled.

Draco scowled. “It’s not that I think she was worthless or anything.”

“No you just think she was a mudblood.” Harry whispered furiously. “You just think my grandparents had dirty blood.”

“Well, not dirty as in actually muddy or anything.” Draco told him. “Just, you know, not magical.”

“So?” Harry asked, feeling himself getting angry again.

Draco took a deep breath. “So I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

Harry scowled.

“Listen, Harry.” Draco started earnestly. “I get that you disagree with me, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be friends.”

Harry considered that. “You’re still a prat.”

Draco’s face twisted angrily. “So are you!”

“I wasn’t finished.” Harry said angrily. “You’re still a prat, but you’re not entirely a prat.”

Draco looked slightly relieved.

“So we can still be friends.” Harry told him. “But no more insulting muggleborns in front of me.”

Draco nodded. “Okay, fine.”

“Fine.” Harry agreed. “You know you really should go to the muggle world sometime. I don’t think they’re anything like you think they are.”

“If I’m not allowed to insult muggleborns, you’re not allowed to compliment muggles.” Draco said with a scowl.

Harry sighed. “Alright fine, but this isn’t over.”

Draco didn’t disagree.

6-6-6

Christmas break arrived before Harry knew it and he got a whole two weeks to himself. His friends, all of whom were going home for the holidays, had been horrified at the idea of Harry staying at Hogwarts over Christmas, but Harry had been looking forward to the opportunity spend more time reading, mediating and flying. Madame Hooch had decided that she would let first years borrow a school broom anytime during the holidays as long as they had an older student supervising them. Luckily for Harry, the Weasley twins were staying at Hogwarts and had agreed to take him flying every day. The only downside was that their younger brother always tagged along and spent the time staring at Harry.

There were only five other Ravenclaws staying at Hogwarts, which meant that the common room was always quiet and there were always comfy seats available for him to read in. Harry sat with the Weasley twins during meal times and enjoyed the opportunity to get to know them better. They were brilliant!

He woke up on Christmas morning and stared in shock at the pile of presents on the foot of his bed. There were so many! He forced himself to ignore them while he completed his morning meditation before studying the pile closely. Which would he open first?

Deciding to simply start with the closest one, Harry carefully unwrapped the paper and grinned when he saw a fancy writing set with a quill, inkpot and parchment with the Potter and Black Coats of Arms embossed on it. There was a note.

‘Mr. Potter,

Draconus mentioned that your penmanship is improving, but that you were in need of a writing set. I hope this meets your needs.

Wishing you a merry Christmas,

Your cousin,

Lady Narcissa Malfoy’

Harry knew he was probably grinning like a fool, but it was the first time he had ever gotten a proper Christmas present.

The next five presents Harry opened were books from his Ravenclaw friends, Harry was most interested in the book on dark magic from Takashi. The book looked really interesting, but the most exciting part of it was Takashi’s note. Apparently the older boy had found a book on Parselmagic and would be bringing it back to Hogwarts with him for Harry to read.

Draco had sent him a wrist holder for his wand. In his note he informed Harry that carrying a wand around in your pocket was uncouth.

 The last present was a weird silky silver cloak that came without any indication of who had given it. Harry got off his bed and held the cloak in front of him, he couldn’t imagine wearing it – unless he went to a costume party of something.

Harry put his presents in his trunk and sat down in his pyjamas to write thank you notes on his new parchment.

6-6-6

The Christmas holidays passed quickly and when everyone arrived back Harry was proud to be able to tell them that he had read fourteen books – one for each day. The Ravenclaws had been impressed and jealous; Draco had just laughed at him and called him a bookworm.

It was great to be back in classes and Harry was delight to get his marks back from his latest assignments and to see that, not only had he gotten an O for each of them, but half his professors had commented on how much his handwriting was improving.

A couple of weeks after the Christmas break, Harry received a letter from Healer Axecure instructing him to meet her in Flitwick’s office again that night. Apparently she had made some progress in her research about his scar.

So, at seven o’clock that evening, Harry knocked on the Professor’s door – feeling just as nervous as he had the last time he had done this, four months earlier.

“Merry meet, Mr. Potter.” Flitwick opened the door and let him in before leaving.

“Mr. Potter.” Healer Axecure greeted him from the same chair as she had the last time.

“Healer Axecure.” Harry smiled nervously. “What did you find out?”

“Sit down.” Healer Axecure instructed him, she waited until he had obeyed before continuing. “There seems to be something embedded in your scar.”

“What?” Harry rubbed his scar with his right hand. “Are you sure? What kind of something?”

“I am most definitely sure.” Healer Axecure told him firmly. “But I do not know what exactly.”

“So you need to do more tests?” Harry asked anxiously. “Do you think it’s dangerous?”

Healer Axecure’s eyes seemed to soften slightly. “I do not know whether or not it is dangerous. This is unprecedented. No wizard has ever survived what you did.”

“Right.” Harry nodded slowly. “So what does that mean?”

“It means that you need to be careful.” Healer Axecure told him. “You need to tell me about everything even slightly unusual that happens: pain, weird thoughts, nightmares…”

“Nightmares?” Harry interrupted.

Healer Axecure leaned forward. “Have you been having nightmares, Mr. Potter?”

“Yeah.” Harry shrugged uncomfortably. “For about two weeks now.”

“And what happens in your nightmares?”

“I see my parents dying.” Harry admitted. “At least I think they’re my parents. I see them dying in flash of green light and there’s somebody laughing.”

“I see.” Healer Axecure considered that. “And do you feel anything from your scar when this happens?”

Harry shook his head. “No, nothing.”

“Very well.” Healer Axecure said briskly. “Owl me if the nightmares change, or if anything else happens that is out of the ordinary.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Harry nodded.

“I will be expecting to see you at Gringotts during the Summer Holidays.” Healer Axecure told him, standing. “There are more tests I need to run, but I can’t do them here.”

“The holidays are in six months!” Harry told her in surprise. “That’s ages away!”

“I am well aware, Mr. Potter.” She told him briskly showing him to the door. “Merry part.”

6-6-6

The book on Parselmagic that Takashi had brought back from Christmas break was incredible. Apparently it was actually written in Parselscript, which according to Takashi looked like a bunch of wiggly lines, but to Harry it just looked like English. The book didn’t have much theory in it, which was disappointing, but it had a lot of different spells in it. Harry hadn’t actually managed to cast any of the spells yet, mostly because he hadn’t managed to speak in Parseltongue since Takashi had summoned the snake. No matter how hard Harry tried, his words always came out in English.

Takashi had offered to summon another snake, but Harry felt bad about the idea. The first snake had obviously been very upset to be summoned and it didn’t seem fair to do that to a creature just so he could practise his spells.

Draco was still being a prat about muggleborns, though not as obviously, and Harry had made it his mission to convince his cousin how wrong he was. So, Harry had been reading every book he could find about the muggleborn, pureblood divide. He’d read some pretty good arguments for both sides, though most of the pureblood ones were really stupid, but he still hadn’t found an argument he thought was strong enough to convince Draco that muggleborns were just as good as purebloods.

Chapter Text

A few days later, after Charms, Professor Flitwick asked Harry to stay behind after class.

Harry waited until the other students had left, headed for lunch in the Great Hall, before moving to stand in front of Flitwick’s desk. “Yes, Professor?”

“Professor Dumbledore would like to see you, Mr. Potter.” Flitwick told him with his usual beaming smile. “He asked me to take you to his office.”

“Why?” Harry asked in confusion, he’d never heard of the Headmaster meeting with first years. “What about lunch?”

“He assured me that he would have some lunch sent up for the two of you.” Flitwick told him. “Now, if you’ll follow me, Mr. Potter.”

Harry followed his Head of House through the castle and then into a corridor containing gargoyles.

Flitwick stood in front of the gargoyle statues. “Ice mice.”

The gargoyles moved aside and Flitwick led Harry up the stone staircase. At the top of the staircase was a double oak door, which Flitwick knocked on.

“Come in.”

Flitwick pushed open the door and Harry followed the Professor inside. The office was large and cluttered. There were lots of portraits on the walls and tables with weird devices on them, he could see the sorting hat on a shelf, a huge bookcase, and there was a big mirror in the corner.

“Welcome, Harry.” Professor Dumbledore called from his seat near the fire.

Harry could see a plate of sandwiches sitting on a table near the Headmaster.

“I will see you later, Mr. Potter.” Flitwick told him before leaving the room.

Harry stood where Flitwick had left him feeling awkward.

“Harry, my boy.” Dumbledore smiled at him. “Come and sit down.”

Harry wasn’t sure what he thought of the headmaster calling him Harry. None of his other professors called him Harry, they always called him ‘Mr. Potter’.

Once he was sitting in a chair opposite Dumbledore, the headmaster picked up the plate of sandwiches and offered him one.

“I thought we could have some lunch.” Dumbledore said jovially. “I haven’t had a chance to catch up with you yet.”

Harry selected a sandwich. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome, my boy.” Dumbledore took a sandwich for himself and then leaned back in his chair.

“Do you meet with all the first year students, Professor?” Harry asked curiously.

“No, no.” Dumbledore denied. “But you’re not just any first year, Harry. I knew your parents, you know.”

Harry took a bite of his sandwich. No, he hadn’t known. But then, according to ‘Hogwarts: A History’, Dumbledore had been working at Hogwarts since 1938 and he had been the headmaster since 1956. So wouldn’t he have known most of the students’ parents?

“So, tell me, Harry, how are you enjoying your time here at Hogwarts?” Dumbledore asked him.

Harry grinned. “It’s brilliant.”

“Splendid.” Dumbledore beamed at him. “I see you’ve been making friends.”

“Yes, Professor.” Harry nodded. “The guys in my dorm are great. Especially Terry, Terry Boot, I mean.”

“Yes, Mr. Boot does seem have all the makings of a good friend.” Dumbledore agreed. “I’m not certain that spending so much time with young Mr. Malfoy is wise though.”

Harry frowned and took another bite of his sandwich, if Dumbledore called Terry, Mr. Boot, and Draco, Mr. Malfoy, why did he call Harry by his first name. And who was the headmaster to tell him that he should and shouldn’t spend time with.

“Draco’s brilliant.” He defended. “Besides, we’re pretty much cousins.”

For a moment Harry thought he saw the headmaster frown, but in an instant it was gone and Dumbledore was smiling gently.

“Cousins, Harry? I don’t know who told you that, but any familial relationship you and Mr. Malfoy might share is very distant.” Dumbledore told him in a grandfatherly tone.

Harry shook his head. “No, see, my godfather was Draco’s mum’s cousin, and since I’m his heir, he must have adopted me at least a little. Which makes me and Draco second cousins.”

“Your godfather?” Dumbledore was definitely frowning now. “Who told you about your godfather, Harry?”

Harry shrugged. “I read about it.”

Dumbledore studied him for a while and Harry took the opportunity to eat another sandwich.

Eventually Dumbledore spoke, his voice sad. “I presume you are also aware that your godfather’s actions led to your parents’ death?”

Harry considered the question for a moment, trying to decide whether he should tell Dumbledore that his godfather had never had a trial. There was just something about the headmaster that he didn’t trust.

“Yes, sir.”

“I can’t tell you how upset I was to hear it.” Dumbledore told him, his voice still sad.

Harry wasn’t sure what he was supposed to say.

“Anyway,” Dumbledore seemed to shake himself out of his sadness and he smiled at Harry again. “I wanted to ask you how you liked the cloak I sent you for Christmas.”

“The cloak?” Harry had completely forgotten about the weird cloak he had received at Christmas. “That was you, sir?”

“Yes,” Dumbledore was beaming again. “Your father left it in my care before he died, and I thought you might enjoy having an invisibility cloak here at Hogwarts.”

Harry stared at him. “It’s an invisibility cloak?”

Dumbledore chuckled. “Yes, my dear boy, didn’t you try it on?”

“Not really.” Harry shrugged. “Uh, thanks, for giving it to me, I mean.”

“You’re welcome.” Dumbledore nodded. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to pop out for a few minutes. I’ll be back soon, feel free to look around.”

Harry watched as the headmaster left the office through a small door off to the side and then moved quickly towards the bookcase. All the books in it looked really old.

Harry tilted his head to the side so he could easily read the titles of the books.

A Hop, Skip and Jump: The Magical Theory of Transportation Spells.

Animagus Transfigurations.

Advanced Light Curses.”

Harry pulled the book on light curses out of the bookcase. He knew that light magic could be used for evil, but he had never considered that there might be light curses. He had barely opened the book when he felt a strange need to look at the mirror that was standing in the corner.

The mirror was really tall, it had a gold frame and it stood on two clawed feet. Moving closer to the mirror, Harry could see that it had letters carved around the top: Erised stra ehru oyt ube cafru oyt on wohsi.

Harry stepped in front of the mirror and then jumped when he saw a large group of people standing behind him. The mirror showed two people standing directly behind him, a thin man with hair like Harry’s and a red headed woman whose eyes were the same colour green as his own.

Harry stared at the people in the mirror. Were they his parents? Did that mean that the group of people standing behind them were his family too? He looked at all the other people and grinned when he spotted Draco waving at him from the mirror.

Harry looked back at him parents and reached out a hand to touch before remembering that it was just a mirror.

“I see you’ve found the Mirror of Erised, Harry.” Dumbledore’s voice came from behind Harry.

Harry flinched, he hated it when people snuck up behind him. “Yes, sir.”

“What does it show you?” The headmaster asked him.

Harry looked back and the mirror. “My parents.”

“I see. And have your figured out what the mirror does?”

Harry considered it. “Well, it showed me something I want.”

“Excellent, dear boy.” Dumbledore told him. “The Mirror of Erised shows us the true desire of our heart.”

Harry considered that. “Oh.”

“I see you were looking at some of my books, Harry.” Dumbledore said suddenly moving towards the bookcase.

“Yes, sir.” Harry followed Dumbledore and watched as he picked up the book Harry had been looking at.

“Curses, Harry?” The headmaster sounded disappointed.

“They’re light curses, sir.” Harry pointed out.

Dumbledore looked at him for a moment. “Hmm, perhaps you’d like to borrow a book?”

Harry grinned. “That would be brilliant.”

“I’m afraid I can’t let you borrow this book though.” Dumbledore told him, returning it to the bookcase. “Perhaps, this one would interest you though.”

Harry looked at the book the headmaster had handed him. It was entitled: Alchemy and the Creation of the Philosophers Stone. It didn’t sound as interesting as the other book, but he was curious about alchemy.

“Thanks, Professor.” Harry grinned thankfully. “Can I go now? I need to get my books and stuff for my classes this afternoon.”

Dumbledore smiled at him. “Of course, dear boy. Let me know if you have any questions about that book.”

Harry thanked the headmaster again before heading back down the stairs. Dumbledore was weird.

7-7-7

Herbology was their last class of the day and Harry took the opportunity to tell Draco about his meeting with Dumbledore.

“What did you talk about?” Draco asked as they picked nettle leaves to be dried.

“My parents, you, Ravenclaw.” Harry shrugged.

Draco frowned. “You talked about me?”

“He asked about my friends. I told him that we were cousins.”

Draco smirked. “Bet he hated that!”

“I don’t get why he cares though.” Harry exclaimed. “I haven’t heard of him meeting with any of the other first years.”

“You’re the boy-who-lived.” Draco pointed out. “It makes sense that he would want to talk to you.”

“So?” Harry scowled. “If he really cared he wouldn’t have left me with the Dursleys.”

Now it was Draco’s turn to scowl. “I still can’t believe he made you grow up with muggles!”

Harry shot his cousin a warning look. “Not all muggles are bad.”

“But you’re not denying that your relatives are.” Draco pointed out.

“No.” Harry shrugged. “They’re pretty awful.”

“Don’t shrug.” Draco told him primly. “It’s unbecoming.”

Harry grimaced. “There are so many things that are unbecoming. If I stopped doing them all I’d be like a statue, completely expressionless.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Draco frowned at him.

Harry sighed. “It’s just hard. What am I supposed to do instead of shrugging?”

“Nothing.” Draco told him. “There is no reason for you to show every emotion you feel.”

“I guess.” Harry agreed.

“You shouldn’t say that either.” Draco pointed out. “Be decisive. You’re going to be the Lord of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Potter in four years.”

Harry glared at him.

7-7-7

That night Harry dreamed of his parents. He dreamed that they were still alive and that he had grown up with them. It was a wonderful dream and a nice change from the nightmares he had been having, but it left him with a feeling of dread.

There were only six months left before he had to go back to the Dursleys. He knew he would only have to be there for two months, but he had gotten used to eating regularly and not being punished for every little thing.

His and Takashi’s morning meditation and run helped a little, but he was still upset about it later that day when he and Draco met in an abandoned classroom for Harry’s etiquette lessons.

The lessons had originally started with Draco teaching Harry how to nod gracefully and had simply continued from there. Draco’s mother had even sent them some books to help.

They were only ten minutes into the lesson on how to bow to a noble lady, which was apparently quite different from a noble lord, when Draco stopped with a sigh.

“What’s wrong with you today?”

“Nothing.” Harry frowned as he tried bowed over Draco’s hand again.

“No, you don’t actually kiss the hand.” Draco exclaimed, yanking back his hand wiping it on his robes. “Gross! You just pretend to.”

“Oh, sorry.” Harry sighed.

“What’s wrong?” Draco asked again.  “You’re acting weirdly.”

“I saw my parents yesterday.” Harry answered after a while. “I know it wasn’t actually them, they were in this mirror up in Dumbledore’s office. I didn’t even know what they looked like until then.”

“Oh.” Draco sat down on one of the chairs. “How could you not know what they looked like? Surely your muggles have pictures.”

“They’re not my muggles.” Harry snapped with a sneer. “They hate me and they hate my parents. They told me that my parents died in a car crash.”

“They hate you?” Draco stared at him in horror. “Why?”

Harry sighed. “I don’t know. Probably because they hate magic as much as you hate muggles. Maybe even more. Well, that and the fact that they hated my parents.”

Draco was silent for a while. “So you’re acting strangely because you miss your parents?”

“No, yes, I don’t know.” Harry rubbed a hand through his hair. “I don’t even know them, so it’s not like I can really miss them. But last night I dreamed that they weren’t dead and that I’d actually grown up with them. And then I woke up and realised that I’m going to have to go back to the Dursleys for the summer.”

Draco grimaced. “Yeah, I’d be acting weird if I knew people were going to make me live with muggles too. I mean they’re muggles!”

Harry sighed again. “I’m really hoping that Lord Black will get a trial and be found not guilty. That way I could live with him.”

“That would be cool.” Draco agreed. “Though even if he gets out of Azkaban this year you probably wouldn’t be allowed to live with him this summer. Azkaban turns people crazy. It might take him years to recover.”

Harry considered that. “Oh. That sucks.”

“Harry!” Draco groaned. “You shouldn’t say things like that. It’s so common. You should say, ‘that is unfortunate’.”

Harry rolled his eyes. “I apologise.”

Draco grinned proudly. “You are forgiven.”

“There’s just so much to learn.” Harry complained, quite thankful for the change in topic. “I don’t think I’ll ever get it all.”

“Of course you will.” Draco argued. “You’re a lot better already, besides maybe you can get a proper tutor over the summer.”

Harry considered that. “There is no way the Dursleys would let me.”

“So?” Draco asked. “They’re just muggles. How are they going to stop you? We could ask my mother if she would be willing to tutor you. There’s no way the muggles would dare say no to her.”

Harry grinned. “Do you think your mother would be willing to do it?”

“I don’t know.” Draco admitted. “But I’ll owl her tonight and ask.”

7-7-7

A few days later, Harry received a letter from Draco’s mother agreeing to the boys’ plan and promising to send him some extra books to read in preparation.

The next morning Harry told Takashi the good news, but asked him not to tell anyone else. He didn’t think Jeremy or Terry would like the idea.

The rest of January went by quickly, and February went just as quickly.

During the first week of March, Hagrid’s hut burnt to the ground, but none of the students knew why. There were a lot of rumours, from Hagrid falling asleep while cooking to someone setting the fire on purpose.  But, since no one was hurt and a new hut was built a few days later, people soon lost interest.

Harry’s meditating was definitely getting better and he was already seeing a difference in his wand work.

It had taken him months to be able to see his magic. It only lasted for a second the first time, but as the months went on it became easier to find his magic and he became less and less distracted. But it during the month of April that Harry’s meditating reached a whole new level

He started as he always did, breathing to Takashi’s count, and then focussing inwards towards his magic. Only this time, his magic seemed to be searching for him too. The moment Harry found his magic, it seemed to rush towards him and wrap itself around him. It felt amazing and he understood what Takashi had meant about learning to communicate with his magic. Harry also understood what Draco had meant when he had talked about getting to know his magic. He wanted to know everything about his magic and his magic seemed to feel the same way.

“Hey, weirdos!” Jeremy’s voice, along with the feeling of something jabbing him in the arm, disturbed Harry’s meditative state and he opened his eyes glare at the older boy. The first thing he saw was Jeremy’s face, the second thing was the thirty or so Ravenclaw students who were staring at him.

“Crap.” Harry groaned as stretched out his legs to hope off the table. “I’ll say.” Jeremy told him. “It’s seven o’clock. You two must have been at it for hours.”

Takashi groaned and climbed off the table. “Why didn’t someone disturb us earlier?”

“Because Harry was glowing.” Jeremy told them.

“What?” Harry asked in shock. “Why the hell would I be glowing?”

“That’s good question.” Jeremy said with a scowl. “I was about to get in the shower when one of the second years came in talking about the two students sitting on desks in the common room, one of whom was glowing.”

Harry looked at Jeremy and grinned when he realised that the older boy was still in his pyjamas.

“Thanks, Jeremy.” Takashi told his friend gratefully. “We appreciate it.”

Jeremy just scowled at him. “Meditating weirdoes.” He muttered as he stalked out of the common room.

“So, you were glowing?” Takashi said to Harry with a grin. “That’s pretty advanced stuff, Harry.”

Harry shrugged uncomfortably and then looked up as the all the other students began to disperse.

“Uh, oh.” Takashi muttered. “Someone told Flitwick.”

Harry turned around and winced as he saw their Head of House coming towards them.

“Merry meet, Mr. Nado, Mr. Potter.” Flitwick greeted them. “Let’s go speak somewhere more private shall we?”

Harry and Takashi followed the professor back to his office in silence.

“Now,” Flitwick said kindly once they were all sitting down. “Why don’t you tell me what happened.”

“I’ve been teaching Harry how to meditate.” Takashi started. “He read about it in a book and wanted to learn, and I have meditated every morning since I was five, so I said I’d teach him. We start at five, and we’re normally done by about six.”

“And what happened today?” Flitwick asked.

Takashi shrugged. “I don’t know, Professor. We started at five as usual, but it was different from normal. It felt a bit like when I meditate with my grandfather, I could concentrate so much better. Then the next thing I knew, Jeremy was punching my arm.”

“I see.” Flitwick nodded. “Mr. Potter, what happened for you today?”

Despite Harry’s anxiety, he couldn’t help but grin at the memory. “It was amazing. I’ve been seeing my magic for weeks now, but this morning it actually interacted with me. I don’t really know how to explain it, except to say that I talked to it and it talked back.”

“Well,” Flitwick seemed a bit taken aback. “Perhaps it would be best if you didn’t meditate in the common room anymore. Or if you do, make sure you set an alarm to disturb you.”

“Of course, Professor.” Takashi agreed.

“And if you don’t mind, Mr. Potter, I suspect you would benefit from talking to someone who had more experience meditating?” Flitwick suggested.

Harry looked at Takashi unsurely, he didn’t want to insult the other boy.

“That’s a great idea, Professor.” Takashi answered for him. “I’m completely out of my depth.”

“Is that alright with you, Mr. Potter?” Flitwick asked.

“Yes, sir.” Harry nodded.

“Excellent.” Flitwick looked relieved. “I will try and arrange something for you by the end of the day.”

“Thanks, Professor.” Harry smiled.

“Not at all, Mr. Potter, not at all.” Flitwick stood and showed Harry to the door. “And, Mr. Potter, it would be best if you don’t meditate again until you’ve talked to your new teacher.”

“Yes, Professor.” Harry agreed before following Takashi out the door.

They decided to forgo their morning run and instead went straight down to breakfast.

Harry walked through the door and froze and the entire room turned to look at him and then started whispering.

“Don’t worry about it.” Takashi told him. “They’ll get over it.”

Harry was about to follow Takashi to the Ravenclaw table when he saw Draco walking towards him.

“Glowing, Harry?” Draco asked even as he bowed.

Harry could feel his face flushing and he groaned. “I didn’t even know it was possible.”

Draco laughed at him. “I heard a version where you were levitating as well.”

Harry shook his head. “I wasn’t!”

“I presumed not.” Draco told him with smirk. “I’ve never heard of some levitating while meditating, but then you are Harry Potter – the boy-who-lived – so who can tell.”

Harry scowled at him. “Have you ever glowed when meditating?”

“No way.” Draco denied. “I am nowhere near that good at meditating.”

“Neither am I.” Harry hissed at him. “Well not until this morning at least.”

“Did you figure out what kind of magic you have?” Draco asked quietly.

Harry nodded remembering that he’d never actually told Draco that he was dark. At least now he’d be able to tell his cousin without admitting to being a Parselmouth.

“Yeah, I’ll tell you about it later.”

“Okay.” Draco told him. “We should have breakfast.”

“Right.” Harry nodded. “Merry part.”

7-7-7

“So you’re dark right?” Draco asked Harry when he walked into the abandoned classroom they met in. “Otherwise you would have told me in the hall.”

“Yes.”

Draco grinned at him. “Welcome to the club.”

Harry smiled weakly. “I’m just glad other people can’t tell. Can you imagine how much they would freak out?”

“It would be a beautiful moment.” Draco smirked.

“You won’t tell anyone will you?” Harry asked anxiously.

“Of course not.” Draco looked offended. “I won’t even tell my parents.”

Harry shrugged apologetically. “Sorry, of course you wouldn’t. Thanks!”

“What did it feel like?” Draco asked curiously.

“My magic?” Harry asked. “I can’t explain it. It was beautiful and amazing. I felt as though I was meeting the other half of myself, a half I hadn’t even realised was missing.”

“Wow.” Draco looked jealous. “I should meditate more.”

“I meditate every morning.” Harry told him. “But Professor Flitwick says I’m not allowed to meditate again until I’ve talked to my new teacher.”

“Who is going to be teaching you?”

“I don’t know.” Harry told him. “He didn’t say.”

“How did you get that spell so quickly in Defence?” Draco asked suddenly.

“I don’t know.” Harry shook his head. “When I first started meditating Takashi told me that once you had learnt to communicate your magic you could just ask it to do a spell. Today was like that in all my classes.”

“Wow! I absolutely need to meditate more!”

7-7-7

It turned out that the meditation teacher that Flitwick had talked about was Professor Snape and so at seven thirty Harry made his way down to Snape’s office.

“Merry meet, Potter.” Snape answered the door with a bow.

“Merry meet, Professor.” Harry nodded back.

“Sit down.” Snape instructed before sitting behind his desk.

Harry sat down and waited for the Professor to speak.

“Professor Flitwick tells me that you have been learning to meditate.” Snape said eventually.

“Yes, sir.” Harry nodded. “Takashi Noda has been teaching me.”

“How long have you been learning?” Snape asked.

“All year. We started my third morning at Hogwarts and I haven’t skipped a morning since.” Harry told him.

“Tell me what motivated you to begin mediating.” Snape instructed him.

Harry considered that for a minute, trying to remember. “I was reading a book on wandless magic, sir.” He remembered. “It said that the first step was meditation. I’d completely forgotten. I haven’t even tried it yet.”

“I see. Tell me what happened this morning.”

“Apparently I glowed.” Harry frowned at the memory, people had been staring at him and whispering all day. “At first everything was normal. I was meditating and I could see my magic, but this time instead of just looking at me it was as though my magic wanted to meet me. All of a sudden it was surrounding me and we could communicate.”

“You could communicate with your magic?” Snape was leaning forward.

“Sort of.” Harry frowned in concentration. “It wasn’t like talking to a person. We didn’t talk, but we were communicating.”

“I see.” Snape stared at him. “And then what happened?”

“Jeremy jabbed me in the arm and jolted me out of it.” Harry said. “Apparently we’d been meditating for two hours.”

“And have there been any side effects?” Snape asked.

“Well, it’s been a lot easier to do spells today.” Harry told him.

“Do you know why you glowed, Mr. Potter?” Snape asked him.

“No, sir.”

“You were glowing because, as you said earlier, your magic surrounded you. It is very rare for a wizard to reach this level of intimacy with his magic, let alone a wizard of your age.” Snape glared at Harry.

“Oh.” Harry considered that. “Do you know why it’s happened to me, Professor?”

“It is a sign that you are a very powerful wizard.” Snape didn’t look pleased. “I would hypothesise that your intimacy with your magic is partly due to the fact that it saved your life when you were an infant.”

“Oh, but it’s not a bad thing, is it?” Harry asked.

“No, Potter.” Snape glared. “It is, in fact, a very good thing. Now get into position, I am going to supervise you meditating.”

Harry nodded and moved to sit on the floor with his legs crossed. When the professor gave him a nod he closed his eyes and began his breathing. It took him a few minutes to settle himself in his breathing and find his magic, but the minute he saw it he was enveloped by it again.

There were no words, Harry could use to describe the experience. Except that for the first time in his life he had found someone, or rather something, who truly loved him.

“Potter!” Snape’s voice shook him out of his meditative state.

Harry opened his eyes and looked up at the Professor. “Yes, sir.”

“Sit back on the chair.” Snape commanded before continuing. “The first thing I will teach you is how to prevent yourself from glowing. It draws unnecessary attention to yourself.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“You will meet me here at eight every evening and I will supervise your meditating for an hour.” Snape told him. “You are not to meditate when I am not supervising you.”

“Yes, sir.” Harry nodded. “Do you think it would be okay for me to start trying wandless magic, Professor?”

Snape considered him for a moment. “I would advise against it, Mr. Potter. At least until you have learnt to control your magic enough to prevent the glowing.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You are dismissed.” Snape told him sternly.

“Thank you, sir.” Harry nodded to the Professor. “Merry part.”

“Merry part.”

The next morning Harry woke up at the usual time and used the extra time to read, before joining Takashi on their run at six. Just because he couldn’t meditate with the older boy didn’t mean he couldn’t keep at least some of his old routine.

His lessons with Professor Snape were strange. The Professor had told him that people could get addicted to their magic if they didn’t learn to control it. He was teaching him to show his magic who was boss. It was both hard and exciting. Hard because of the work involved, and because meditating was no longer a restful experience, and exciting because he could already feel his magic changing.

Professor Snape didn’t let him be immersed in his magic again, instead he taught strategies to control it and then jolted him out of meditation every time he started glowing. His magic wasn’t impressed and would act out in class, either refusing to co-operate or overpowering the spell and causing an explosion.

A week after his lessons with Professor Snape had started, Harry was fed up with the whole thing.

“Why do I have to control it?” He asked as he settled on the floor to begin mediating. “It felt amazing to just spend time with it.”

“Because, Mr. Potter, if you don’t learn to control it, it will control you.” Snape told him with a glare. “There are very few wizards with your level of power, and even fewer who don’t end up in Azkaban or St. Mungos.”

“Azkaban?” Harry asked in shock. “Why would they end up there?”

“Because your magic has no sense of empathy. It does not care about anything or anyone except you and it will kill to please you.” Snape explained. “Either that or it will drive you insane.”

“But I don’t want it to kill anyone.”

“Your magic will not care.” Snape told him. “There have been cases of a wizard’s magic putting a woman the wizard liked under imperio to force her to like him return. In one case a witch’s magic not only put the wizard under the imperious curse, but also killed her boyfriend.”

“But my magic wouldn’t do that?” Harry defended.

“Wouldn’t it?” Snape asked him silkily. “Are you so sure?”

Harry considered it. The problem was that he wasn’t sure. His magic always made him feel as though it would do anything for him. A feeling he had liked. He’d never had anyone like that – someone who loved him that much. Except what if the Professor was right and his magic would do bad things for him?

“Our magic is addicting, Mr. Potter.” Snape said gently. “It makes us feel loved, makes us feel special, promises to protect us. But it does not have a conscience and it does not see things in terms of right and wrong.”

“So I need to learn to control it.” Harry said firmly. “Does that mean I can never allow myself to feel immersed in it again?”

“Not unless you want it to control you.” Snape told him. “It is a tool, Mr. Potter, and must be treated as such.”

Harry nodded slowly. “Alright, sir. Should I start now?”

“Yes, Mr. Potter.” Snape intoned

With new motivation to force his magic to submit, Harry made more progress than he had all week.

After the mediation was over, and the Professor had dismissed him, Harry made his way up to his common room. He greeted his friends, but soon excused himself and went to bed early. As he lay beneath his covers Harry tried to reconcile the idea that his magic, his wonderful magic who loved him, might one day kill someone if he didn’t learn to control it.

Harry cried himself to sleep – mourning the fact that he could never again feel the feeling of being loved and accepted by his magic.

Chapter Text

Harry missed breakfast on the second Tuesday of May. It was an accident, he and Takashi had decided to try and change their morning exercise and had underestimated how long it would take them to run around lake. He didn’t mind missing breakfast, though he was more worried about being late to Charms.

Harry ended up only being five minutes late and was relieved when all Flitwick did was take off five points. Harry thought was actually really nice, considering the fact that half the class had stood up to bowed to Harry when he entered, completely interrupting Flitwick’s lecture.

Harry nodded at his classmates and then sat at the desk next to Terry’s and pulled out his quill and parchment. Looking up he realised that Terry was giving him a weird look.

“What?” Harry whispered.

Terry didn’t say anything, he just slid a copy of the Daily Prophet across the desk to Harry.

Lord Sirius Black to Receive a Trial

Harry hid his excited grin. Baknog had done it! Not that the article mentioned the goblin anywhere. Instead there were quotes from Lord Malfoy, Lady Bones and Minister Fudge. Apparently they were all horrified that Lord Black hadn’t received a trial and were eager to remedy it. Lady Bones and Minister Fudge didn’t seem to think that Lord Black was innocent, but Lord Malfoy’s quote seemed to suggest that he did. Apparently Lord Crouch was the man responsible for Lord Black’s imprisonment, but he had refused to comment.

The trial would be in three days and Harry couldn’t wait!

After Charms was finished, Terry turned to Harry with a sympathetic expression. “It’s awful, isn’t it?”

“Yes.” Harry nodded firmly. “I can’t believe they never gave Lord Black a trial.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Terry said with a frown. “I meant that it’s awful that they’re bringing it all up again. It must be really hard for you.”

Harry stared at his friend in confusion. “Why would it be hard for me?”

“He betrayed your parents.” Terry exclaimed in a hushed voice. “It must be awful to have it all brought up again.”

Harry disagreed, but no matter what he said everyone seemed determined that Lord Black was guilty.

Only Draco understood why it was good news, so Harry spent the three days until the trial in his company. The Ravenclaws kept giving him pitying glances – even Takashi.

Draco began teaching Harry the etiquette for interacting with Lord Black. According to him, and the book that Lady Malfoy sent, everything was different because he was Lord Black’s heir. The book Lady Malfoy sent was really helpful, especially since it was written by Arcturus Black II, one of Lord Black’s ancestors, and was particularly relevant to the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black.

The day of the trial was even worse and Harry was tempted to skip all his classes just to avoid all the students pitying looks. Even the Professors seemed to feel sorry for him, the only Professor who didn’t treat him differently was Snape.

By the end of classes, Harry was fed up with it all and stalked his way into the abandoned classroom where he was supposed to meet Draco.

Draco looked impressed. “You should get angry more often. No one would doubt you were the Heir to the Most Ancient and Noble Houses of Black and Potter if you always walked like that.”

Harry raised an eyebrow. “Now is not the time, Draco.”

Draco just grinned. “See, like that. That’s what I’ve been trying to teach you. Who knew all you needed to act like the Black Heir was to get angry.”

Harry sighed with annoyance. He had to admit that it felt pretty good though. Draco had been trying to teach him how to behave properly, but he hadn’t been able to do it until now.

“Come on, Heir Black.” Draco told him. “Mother arranged for us to spend the evening in Uncle Severus’ office. That way she can keep up updated using the floo.”

“And Professor Snape doesn’t mind?” Harry asked. He and the professor had been getting along relatively well during his meditation sessions, but he didn’t seem like the kind of man who would enjoy having two first years in his office for the evening.

“He said it was alright.” Draco told him. “He is my godfather, remember.”

The professor wasn’t in his office when they arrived, but Draco knew the password and so the boys let themselves in and sat on the couch waiting for news.

“How was Transfiguration?” Harry asked. “Wasn’t today a theory day for your class?”

“Yes.” Draco agreed. “It was alright. I didn’t really get it.”

“What didn’t you get?” Harry asked curiously.

Draco grimaced. “All of it. It didn’t make sense.”

“You were doing transforming an objects state, right?” Harry asked. “We did the practical today, changing ice into water.”

“Couldn’t you just cast a fire spell?” Draco asked.

Harry laughed. “Weasley tried. He got really sick of not getting the spell and so tried to whisper the fire spell when McGonagall’s back was turned.”

“What happened?” Draco grinned.

“He overpowered it.” Harry smirked. “Almost set his desk on fire.”

“But if he hadn’t overpowered it, it would have worked.” Draco pointed out.

“For water, yes.” Harry admitted. “But what if you wanted to turn this couch into liquid? A fire spell would just set it on fire.”

“Why would I want to turn the couch into liquid?” Draco asked.

“Okay, bad example.” Harry admitted. “Let’s say you’re duelling over a stone floor. Wouldn’t it be brilliant to be able to make the stone under the other wizard’s feet liquid? You could wait until he had sunk into it and then make it solid again and he wouldn’t be able to move.”

“An apt description, Mr. Potter.” Professor Snape commented from the door.

Harry stood up quickly. “Sorry, Professor, I didn’t see you.”

“Merry meet, Mr. Potter, Draco.” Snape bowed to Harry and then his godson.

“Merry meet, Professor.” Harry nodded in reply.

“Merry meet, Uncle Severus.” Draco greeted the Professor. “How was your day?”

“The best thing that can be said about my day is that nobody died.” Snape scowled. “Potions is not a subject for students easily distracted by Wizengamot trials.”

Harry grimaced remembering the two melted, and one exploded, cauldrons that had resulted from his class alone.

“Did mother mention when she might firecall?” Draco asked his godfather.

“I suggested that she firecall at four thirty.” Snape said, settling himself behind his desk. “Which is five minutes from now.”

Harry really didn’t want to wait another five minutes.

“So, explain this transfiguration thing.” Draco ordered him.

Harry, still feeling a bit grumpy, raised an eyebrow at Draco’s tone as he sat back down.

Draco just smirked. “Sorry, what I meant to say is, ‘please, Heir Black, I would be honoured if you would consider explaining the transfiguration theory’.”

Harry grimaced. “Sorry, I didn’t meant to be a prat.”

“Don’t apologise!” Draco exclaimed. “I’ve been trying to teach you how to act like this for months! I just hope you remember how when this is all over.”

Harry grinned slightly. “It is sort of fun.”

“I know.” Draco grinned in reply. “Come on, explain this stuff.”

“Okay,” Harry searched for an analogy to use. “Imagine that everything is made up of tiny quidditch balls.”

“What kind?” Draco asked curiously.

“Well that depends.” Harry explained. “Solid stuff, like metal, or this couch, is made up of quaffles. But liquid stuff is made up of bludgers.”

“What about snitches?” Draco interrupted.

“That’s what air and stuff is made up of.” Harry answered. “But we won’t be learning about that this year.”

“How do you know about it then?” Draco asked.

“I read a book about it a few months ago.” Harry told him.

“Ravenclaw.” Draco smirked.

“Anyway,” Harry glared at him for the interruption. “The important difference between the balls isn’t their size, it’s how fast they’re going. Solid things have slow moving quaffles, but liquid has fast moving bludgers.”

“So air has really fast moving snitches?” Draco asked.

“Yes.” Harry nodded. “And speed and heat kind of go together. So when you melt ice with fire, what you’re doing is using the heat to turn the quaffles into bludgers.”

“Alright.” Draco nodded. “So when we make ice into water, we’re turning the bludgers into quaffles.”

“Exactly.” Harry agreed. “But heat doesn’t always change the kind of balls, sometimes it just sets them on fire. Like I said, casting a fire spell at the couch wouldn’t make the quaffles into bludgers, it would just set it on fire.”

“So the transfiguration spell does it a different way?” Draco asked.

“Right. The transfiguration spell magically turns the quaffles into bludgers, making it liquid.” Harry explained.

“Did you manage it?” Draco asked.

Harry smirked. “Of course I did.”

“Show me then.” Draco told him.

Harry looked towards Professor Snape for permission.

“Here.” Professor Snape levitated a parchment weight across to him.

Harry looked at the stone weight nervously, he’d only done it with ice.

“Come on.” Draco said excitedly.

Harry placed the weight on the stone floor and pulled out his wand before concentrating on his magic.

“Liquidam.”

“Wow.” Draco was staring at the small puddle of liquid stone. “That’s brilliant.”

“Can you reverse the process?” Professor Snape asked.

“No, sir.” Harry answered apologetically. “Sorry.”

Professor Snape came over to where they were standing and with a flick of his wand changed the puddle back into a parchment weight.

“That was a very succinct explanation, Mr. Potter.” Snape told him. “Ten points to Ravenclaw.”

Harry grinned happily. “Thanks, Professor.”

The fire suddenly flared green and Harry jumped to his feet in surprise – there was a head floating in flames.

“Merry meet, mother.” Draco smiled at her, bowing slightly.

Harry quickly pulled up his sleeves and bowed carefully. “Merry meet, Lady Malfoy.”

“Merry meet, Mr. Potter.” Lady Malfoy nodded to him and then to Professor Snape who had also bowed.

“How is the trial going?” Draco asked excitedly. “Is it finished yet?”

“No, Draconus.” Lady Malfoy shook her head gently. “However, the evidence has been presented the Wizengamot are now deliberating.”

“How long will it take, Lady Malfoy?” Harry asked nervously.

“I don’t know.” Lady Malfoy sighed quietly. “However, I suspect that they will be no longer than three hours.”

Harry grimaced, three hours seemed like a long time to wait.

“What do you think they will decide?” Draco asked.

“I would not wish to speculate.” Lady Malfoy said firmly. “I will firecall you when I have more information. Merry part.”

“Merry part.” Harry returned with another bow and watched as Lady Malfoy’s head vanished from the fire.

“What shall we do while we wait?” Draco asked. “How about chess?”

“I don’t know how to play.” Harry admitted.

Draco looked horrified. “I’ll teach you then. May we use your chess set, Uncle Severus?”

“If you must.” Professor Snape answered with a sigh, returning to his desk. “I ask that you do so quietly, however, as I will be grading essays.”

Draco agreed and moved the furniture around so that he and Harry could sit on opposite sides of the chessboard.

It was a complicated game, and Harry was terrible at it, but by their third game he thought he was starting to get the hang of it.

When dinner time came, Professor Snape arranged to have their dinner sent up – after which Draco and Harry played yet another game of chess. Harry was still losing every game, but he was pretty sure that he was getting better.

It was almost eight, when Lady Malfoy’s head appeared in the fire again.

“They have declared him innocent.” She said immediately, not even giving them time to stand up and bow to her. “They’ve taken him to St. Mungos to be treated.”

Harry didn’t think he had ever felt so relieved in his life. He didn’t know how to react.

“That’s brilliant!” Draco exclaimed loudly.

“Thank you, Lady Malfoy.” Harry said, bowing to her. “I…I…just…thank you!”

“You’re welcome, Mr. Potter.” Lady Malfoy smiled at him. “Though perhaps you ought to call me Cousin Narcissa.”

“I am honoured, Cousin Narcissa.” Harry bowed again. “Please call me Harry.”

“Thank you, Harry, I will.” Cousin Narcissa agreed.

“How is he?” Professor Snape asked, and Harry realised that the professor did not look nearly at pleased by the news as Draco or Cousin Narcissa.

“Better than expected.” Cousin Narcissa answered. “It quite astonishing actually. He will still need to spend some time recovering of course.”

“Of course.”

7-7-7

By the time Harry returned to his common room he had decided not to tell anyone the good news – they probably wouldn’t think it was good news anyway.

He told Takashi the next morning during their run. His older friend was surprised, but not condemning. Takashi seemed to understand that is was good news for Harry.

The rest of the school wasn’t so understanding. When the Daily Prophet at breakfast the hall burst into conversation.

“Innocent? That can’t be right!”

“But he killed all those people!”

“Those bloody nobles get away with murder – here’s the proof.”

“Poor Potter. What if Black decides to finish the job?”

Harry ate his cereal expressionlessly, trying to ignore all the whispers around him.

“Mr. Potter.” Flitwick came to stand behind him. “Come with me please.”

Harry pushed away the rest of his cereal and stood up, before following his Head of House out of the hall.

“The headmaster has asked to see you.” Flitwick explained to him as he led him towards the corridor with the stone gargoyles.

“Did he say why, Professor?” Harry asked nervously, he really didn’t want another meeting with Dumbledore. The last one had been weird enough.

“I believe that it is connected to the headline in the Daily Prophet.” Flitwick said gently before sending Harry up the winding staircase to Dumbledore’s office.

Once at the top of the stairs, Harry knocked quietly on the door.

“Come in, Harry.” Dumbledore called.

Harry pushed the door open and stopped when he realised that Dumbledore wasn’t alone. Cousin Narcissa was there too, Harry recognised her from the fire, as was a tall blond wizard and a stern looking witch.

Harry shoved up his sleeves quickly and stepped into the room.

Dumbledore stepped forward, in front of the other three, and beamed at Harry. “Welcome, my boy. I don’t believe you know my visitors.”

Harry looked up and saw Cousin Narcissa catch his eye and shake her head slightly. “No, sir.”

“Well then.” Dumbledore gestured him forward. “This is Madam Bones, she is the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.”

Harry recognised her job description from one of Draco’s lessons and bowed to her. “Merry meet, Lady Bones.”

Lady Bones looked surprised as she nodded to him. “Merry meet, Mr. Potter.”

Dumbledore was also looking surprised, and a little put out. “And this is Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy.”

Harry looked at the headmaster in surprise at the introduction, but then he hadn’t introduced Lady Bones by her title either.

Harry turned to Draco’s parents and bowed first to Lord Malfoy, thankful for all the times Draco had made him practise it, and then to Cousin Narcissa.

“Merry meet, Lord Malfoy, Lady Malfoy.”

“Merry meet, Mr. Potter.” Lord Malfoy nodded to him.

For an instant Harry thought he saw the headmaster grimace, but when he looked again the older wizard was beaming at him.

“Excellent, excellent.” Dumbledore exclaimed. “Now, I imagine you’re wondering why I called you up here, my boy.”

Harry nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“Well, I’m sure you’ve heard by now that Sirius Black has been released from Azkaban.” Dumbledore started before peering over his glasses at Harry.

“Yes, sir.” Harry nodded. “He’s innocent.”

“Yes,” Dumbledore sighed sadly. “If only I’d known. If they had told me about their plan, well, I might have been able to do something earlier.”

Lady Bones frowned at the headmaster. “Were you aware that Lord Black was your godfather, Mr. Potter?”

“Yes, Lady Bones.” Harry answered.

“Lord Black has asked to see you, Mr. Potter.” Lady Bones told him.

“Now, now, Amelia,” Dumbledore put in. “As I was telling you earlier, I really don’t think it is a good idea for young Harry to leave school grounds. There’s no reason why Sirius can’t wait for the holidays to see Harry. That would give Harry sometime to get used to the idea.”

“I would like to meet him, my lady.” Harry put in quickly.

“I’m afraid, I can’t allow it.” Dumbledore shook his head sadly.

Lord Malfoy stepped forward. “I’m afraid you don’t have a choice, Headmaster Dumbledore. Lord Black has requested to see his heir.”

Harry looked at Draco’s father in awe. Everything about the man was perfect, from his hair, to his robes, to his posture and his tone. He sounded so confident and important. Harry wanted to be like him. He bet nobody told Lord Malfoy what to do, or locked him in a cupboard, or hit him.

“It is a Saturday, Dumbledore.” Lady Bones told the Headmaster. “We will return Mr. Potter before lunch.”

“I’m sure Harry has homework he needs to do.” Dumbledore argued.

“But not much, sir.” Harry put in. “And I can do it this afternoon or tomorrow.”

Dumbledore sighed sadly. “Very well. Though perhaps I should come along. Just to ensure Harry’s safety.”

Lady Bones glared at the headmaster. “Are you suggesting that my Aurors and I am unable to protect him, Dumbledore?”

“No, no, not at all, Amelia.” Dumbledore shook his head. “Certainly not.”

“I should hope not.” Lady Bones snapped.

“Perhaps Mr. Potter should go get ready.” Cousin Narcissa suggested gently.

Harry looked down at his muggle jeans and hoody and winced. “What should I wear, Lady Malfoy.”

“I would suggest some robes. “Cousin Narcissa answered.

Harry nodded, thankful that he had listened to Baknog and bought some robes other than his school uniform.

“Be as quick as you can.” Lady Bones instructed him.

“Yes, my lady.” Harry glanced at Dumbledore and took his resigned expression as permission to leave.

Harry walked quickly out the door and then raced down the stairs and towards the Ravenclaw Tower. He was so excited! He was going to meet his godfather! And his godfather had actually asked to meet him.

There was no one else in the dorms when Harry got there so he opened his trunk and pulled out a dark green robe that he had bought over the summer. The woman in the shop had told him that went with his eyes.

At first the robe was too small for him and Harry couldn’t help but grin at the reminder that he was growing. Fortunately, Bakrog had suggested he ask to have a re-sizing charm place on the robe. It wouldn’t last forever, but for now at least the robe grew until it fit him.

Harry cast a spell Draco had taught him to keep his sleeves rolled up, and his forearms warm, exchanged his sneakers for his school shoes and then, after a failed attempt to squash his hair flat, walked quickly back to Dumbledore’s office.

Cousin Narcissa nodded approvingly when he entered. “Much better.”

Harry bowed to the Malfoys and Lady Bones again before looking at Dumbledore for instruction.

Dumbledore wasn’t smiling anymore, but he nodded to Harry. “Have a good day, my boy.”

“Thank you, sir.” Harry nodded back and then turned his attention to Lady Bones who standing near the fireplace.

“We will be travelling by floo, Mr. Potter.” Cousin Narcissa told him. “Have you ever travelled by floo before?”

“Yes, my lady.” Harry nodded. “But only once and I fell over.”

“That is to be expected.” Lady Bones told him with a small smile. “You will get better with time. The floo address is ‘St. Mungo’s Specialty Five’ understand?”

Harry nodded. “Yes, my lady.”

“I will go first, and Lord and Lady Malfoy will follow you.” Lady Bones told him before grabbing a handful of floo powder from a box near the fire and throwing it in the fire.

Once Lady Bones was gone, Harry grabbed his own handful and threw it into the fire.

“St. Mungo’s Specialty Five.” He said, carefully enunciating every syllable.

There was a flash of green and then there was the sucking and spinning motion again. The main difference, between this trip and his first one, was the arms that caught him when the floo spit him out again.

Harry blushed when he saw that it was Lady Bones who caught him and stepped away from her quickly.

“Thank you, my lady.”

“You’re welcome.” Lady Bones studied him for a minute. “I am most impressed by your manners, Mr. Potter.”

Harry ducked his head. “Thank you, my lady. Draco has been teaching me.”

“Draco Malfoy?” Lady Bones clarified. “Susan did mention that the two of you were getting along well.”

The floo flared green as Cousin Narcissa stepped out gracefully.

“I’m glad to see you made it, Harry.” Cousin Narcissa smiled at him. “Now, come over here. I want to do something about your hair.”

Harry flushed as he obeyed. “I keep trying to push it down, but it just pops up again.”

“Yes, I imagine it would.” Cousin Narcissa smiled. “Your father’s hair was very similar.”

Harry looked up quickly. “You knew my dad?”

“Not well.” Cousin Narcissa admitted as she began playing with Harry’s hair. “But we were at Hogwarts at the same time, though I was a few years older than him.”

The floo flared green again and Lord Malfoy stepped out with a sneer. He moved to stand next to Lady Bones and the talked quietly for a few minutes.

When Cousin Narcissa was finally finished with his hair she transfigured something from her pocket into a mirror and handed it to him. Harry looked in the mirror and couldn’t believe his reflection. His hair looked good. It was different from Draco’s, but it still looked orderly.

“Thank you, Cousin Narcissa!” Harry grinned up at her as he returned the mirror. “It looks brilliant.”

“You’re welcome, dear.” Cousin Narcissa told him as she returned the mirror to its original form and then led him over to where Lord Malfoy and Lady Bones were talking.

Lady Bones nodded when she saw Harry. “Much better.”

“Thank you, Lady Bones.” Harry smiled at her.

“Are you ready, Mr. Potter?” Lady Bones asked.

Harry nodded quickly.

“Come along then.” Lady Bones lead Harry through a door and then down a hall. “You must remember that he has been locked up with Dementors for ten years. He isn’t entirely himself.”

“Yes, my lady.” Harry nodded.

“Would you like one of us to go in with you?” Lady Bones asked as they stopped outside a door.

Harry considered it. Now that he was here, he was feeling pretty scared. What if Lord Black was like Uncle Vernon? What if he yelled at him, or hit him?

“Even if we don’t come in with you, we will still be watching.” Lady Bones told him, gesturing to a big window that Harry realised showed another room.

Harry peered through the window and saw a large bed with a skinny man lying in it. “Is that him?”

“Yes.” Cousin Narcissa answered.

Harry studied the man carefully. Lord Black’s hair was long and messy and he was very pale. He was reading from a piece of parchment.

“I think I want to go in on my own.” Harry decided.

“Very well.” Lady Bones nodded. “Are you ready?”

Harry took a deep breath and then nodded.

Lady Bones opened the door and Harry slowly walked into the room.

Lord Black looked up from the parchment with a flinch and then beamed at Harry.

“Are you Harry?” He asked and Harry noticed that his godfather’s voice was hoarse.

“Yes, my lord.” Harry answered, carefully bowing the way Draco had taught him.

Lord Black stared at him blankly for a moment before shaking his head quickly. “You don’t need to bow. Come sit beside me.”

Harry frowned in confusion, before moving to sit on the seat beside his godfather’s bed.

“I can’t believe it’s really you!” Lord Black exclaimed, staring at Harry. “You’re so grown up. Last time I saw you, you were still crawling.”

Harry wasn’t sure what to say.

“They tell me you’re at Hogwarts now.” Lord Black continued. “What house are you in?”

“Ravenclaw, my lord.” Harry answered.

Lord Black’s face dropped slightly. “Not Gryffindor then? And stop all this ‘my lord’ business. Call me Sirius.”

“Yes, sir.” Harry nodded obediently, his heart dropping. What if his godfather didn’t want a Ravenclaw heir? “And no, I’m not in Gryffindor.”

“Well, I suppose Ravenclaw’s alright.” Sirius admitted. “Your mother could have been a Ravenclaw, you know. Always had her head in a book.”

“Really?” Harry leaned forward in interest. “What was she like?”

“She was fiery.” Sirius answered, his eyes distant. “Very passionate. Never let me and James get away with being idiots.”

Harry smiled. “She sounds great.”

“Yeah.” Sirius seemed to shake himself out of his memories. “She was. So was your Dad. We were all in Gryffindor, us and Remus and the rat.”

Harry flinched at the loathing in godfather’s tone. He wondered who ‘the rat’ was and why Sirius hated him so much.

“We were best friends.” Sirius’ voice broke. “The Marauders. I was your Dad’s best man, you know.”

Harry hadn’t known. He watched his godfather in concern. The wizard seemed quite unstable.

“Have you met Remus, Harry?” Sirius asked suddenly.

“No, sir.” Harry shook his head quickly.

“Call me Sirius.” Sirius reminded him. “I wonder where he is.”

Harry had no idea what he was supposed to say.

“He was a great friend.” Sirius went on. “We thought he was the traitor, but he wasn’t. He wasn’t. It wasn’t him.”

Harry looked towards the door quickly, wondering whether he could leave soon.

“It was that rat!” Sirius spat vehemently. “He betrayed James and Lily! He betrayed us all!”

Harry watched in horror as his godfather burst into tears.

Suddenly the door opened and Lady Bones walked into the room. “Lord Black? I think it’s time for Mr. Potter to leave now.”

Sirius stopped crying and turned towards Harry his expression apologetic. “I’m sorry, Prongslet. I’m not great company at the moment.”

Harry stood up. “It’s okay. It was nice to meet you.”

Sirius beamed at him. “It was great to see you again, kiddo.”

Harry bowed to the wizard before following Lady Bones out of the room.

“Are you okay, Harry?” Cousin Narcissa asked when she saw him. “He’s not very well at the moment.”

Harry nodded quickly. “I’m fine. What’s wrong with him?”

“Dementors.” Lady Bones answered with a frown. “Frankly it’s astonishing that he’s not completely insane.”

“Will he get better?” Harry asked worriedly.

“Certainly.” Lady Bones reassured him. “He has agreed to visit a Mind Healer in Switzerland. He will leave in a few days and will likely stay for a year at minimum.”

Harry ducked his head so they wouldn’t see the disappointed tears that were prickling his eyes. Draco had told him that this would happen, but he’d been hoping that the other boy was wrong. He really didn’t want to have to go back to the Dursleys.

“Are you alright, Harry?” Cousin Narcissa asked softly.

“Yes, ma’am.” Harry nodded, blinking away the tears.

“We have a few hours until you need to be back at Hogwarts.” Cousin Narcissa said. “Is there anything you’d like to do?”

Harry nodded again. “Could we go to a bookshop?”

The three adults all chuckled.

“Certainly.” Lord Malfoy nodded seriously. “Is there any particular bookshop you wish to visit, Mr. Potter?”

“No, my lord.” Harry denied.

“I will leave you to it.” Lady Bones announced. “I really must get back to my office. It was very nice to meet you, Mr. Potter.”

Harry bowed to her. “Thank you, Lady Bones. It was nice to meet you too.”

Lady Bones smiled approvingly at him before bowing to the Malfoys. “Always good to see you, Lucius, Narcissa.”

“And you, Amelia.” Lord Malfoy returned with a nod that Harry noticed was even more graceful than Draco’s and Daphne Greengrass’s.

When Lady Bones was gone, Lord Malfoy led them back to the fireplace they had arrived through.

“The address is Diagon Alley, Mr. Potter.” He said firmly, offering Harry a container filled with floo powder. “Narcissa will go first, and I will follow you.”

Harry took a handful of powder and watched as Cousin Narcissa stepped into the fire and disappeared.

“Now you, Mr. Potter.”

Harry threw his powder on the fire and then stepped into it. “Diagon Alley.”

The travel was just like all the times before, only this time the arms that caught him belonged to Cousin Narcissa.

“Are you alright, dear?” She asked as she brushed soot off his robes.

“Yes thank you.” Harry smiled at her.

“You’re welcome.” Cousin Narcissa smiled as Lord Malfoy stepped out of the floo. “Perhaps we could have some tea before visiting the bookstore.”

“Of course.” Lord Malfoy agreed, offering Cousin Narcissa his arm. “Come along, Mr. Potter.”

Harry allowed Cousin Narcissa to take his hand and walked through the alley with them. After a few minutes, Lord Malfoy led them into a shop named ‘Guilford’s Tea’ and then, once at an empty table, pulled out a chair for his wife.

Harry was very thankful for his lessons with Draco as he sat down after Lord Malfoy. If he hadn’t been receiving lessons for months he wouldn’t have known that he was supposed to wait for the wizard to sit down.

“Draconus tells us that you are at the top of your year, Harry. You must study very hard.” Cousin Narcissa said after Lord Malfoy had ordered for them.

“Yes, ma’am.” Harry smiled shyly. “But I really like reading, so I don’t mind.”

“What is your favourite subject?” Cousin Narcissa asked.

Harry thought about it for a moment. “I don’t know. Maybe potions? I like all my classes.”

“What do you like about potions?”

“It just makes sense.” Harry wasn’t entirely sure how to explain it.

“My favourite subject was Arithmancy.” Cousin Narcissa said. “It’s one of the classes you can choose in your third year. What subject did you like, Lucius?”

“History.” Lord Malfoy answered shortly. “Though Binns certainly left a lot to be desired.”

“Was, was he a ghost when you were teaching, my lord?” Harry stuttered nervously.

“Yes, he has been a ghost for more than a century.”

“He’s very boring.” Harry commented. “All he talks about are the Goblin wars. Though sometimes he includes facts that aren’t in the textbook.”

“I’m impressed.” Cousin Narcissa smiled. “I don’t think there was anyone who paid any attention to his lecturers when I was at Hogwarts.”

“I did.” Lord Malfoy told her.

“Yes, well, you were five years older than me, dear.” Cousin Narcissa smirked.

“Which house do you share the class with?” Lord Malfoy asked.

“Gryffindor.” Harry frowned. “They’re very disruptive.”

“I’m sure.” Lord Malfoy sneered.

7-7-7

After morning tea, Lord Malfoy took Harry to a bookshop he hadn’t seen before and let him look around for an hour.

There were so many books Harry wanted to buy, but decided to limit himself to ten. It was hard to decide which books to buy, but Lord Malfoy’s advice made it easier. Harry was particularly interested in the book on Occlumency – the idea that people might be able to read his mind was horrifying.

Lord Malfoy shrunk the books for Harry and told him to put them in his pocket. “You can have one of the older students enlarge them for you.”

After the bookshop, Harry, who was feeling more and more comfortable around the Malfoys, asked whether they could visit a pet shop before returning to Hogwarts.

The pet shop was incredible and completely chaotic. There were different sections for owls, kneazles, toads, rats and snakes.

“Can I look around for a while?” Harry asked the Malfoys.

“Certainly.” Cousin Narcissa agreed.

“Thanks.” Harry grinned at them. “I won’t take too long.”

Harry’s first stop was the owl section where he chose some owl treats for Hedwig. Then Harry went to the snake tanks. He’d been planning on buying himself a snake over the summer to help him practise Parselmagic, but since he was here there was no reason not to by one now.

:What are you looking at?:

Harry looked around quickly to see if anyone was nearby before turning his attention to the small snake that was coiled up in the tank in front of him. It was the most bizarre looking snake he had ever seen, its yellow scales were spiky looking.

:Did you say that?: He whispered.

The snake’s head rose quickly and he seemed to stare at Harry. :You speak.:

:Yes: Harry looked around again to make sure no one was watching.

Suddenly many voices began shouting.

:A speaker?:

:I never thought I would see the day.:

:He’s mine!:

:Over here, speaker!:

:I thought they were a myth!:

Harry jumped at the sudden noise and looked around again.

:Why are you so nervous?: The spiky snake asked.

:I don’t want anyone to see me talking to you.: Harry whispered. :People don’t like wizards who can speak to snakes.:

:Foolish wizards!: The snake snapped.

:Yeah.: Harry had to agree with that.

:I am Sarko.: The snake told him. :And my nest mate is Sativa.:

:Your nest mate?: Harry scanned the tank with his eyes. :Where is he?:

:She.: Sarko corrected him grumpily. :She is hiding behind the rock.:

:Oh.: Harry looked at the large red rock at the back of the enclosure. :Why?:’

:She does not like strangers.: Sarko answered.

:Merry meet, Sativa.: Harry said anyway.

:Do you have a snake?: Sarko asked.

:No.: Harry shook his head. :Not yet.:

Sarko scoffed. :You are a speaker. All speakers should have a snake.:

:I want one.: Harry told him. :I think I need one to cast Parselmagic. But we’re not allowed snakes at school, so it would have to be a secret.:

:You should take us. We could hide.: Sarko suggested. :No one would see us.:

:Leave the snakelet alone, Sarko.: A voice called from behind the red rock.

:Are you sure you could keep hidden?: Harry asked.

:Certainly.: A snake who looked a lot like Sarko slithered over the rock. :We are magical snakes.:

:Can you turn invisible?: Harry asked curiously.

Both snakes hissed with laughter. :No, snakelet.: Sativa told him. :But we have our ways.:

:Okay.: Harry smiled at them. :I’ll try and buy you then.:

Harry left the snake area cautiously, he didn’t want to see the Malfoys, and made his way to the counter. Thankfully the Malfoys were nowhere to be seen.

The witch behind the counter smiled at Harry. “How can I help you?”

“I would like to buy these owl treats and two snakes please.” Harry answered as politely as he could.

“Snakes?” The witch looked surprised. “Alright. Do you know which ones?”

“Yeah, the yellow spiky ones.” Harry told her.

“Are you sure?” The witch grimaced. “They’re Atheris Hispidas. They’re very venomous and very expensive.”

“How expensive?” Harry asked

“A hundred and eighty galleons for the pair.” The witch looked apologetic.

“Okay.” Harry nodded and pulled his Withdrawal Key out of his pocket.

The witch gave him a funny look. “I imagine you will need a tank?”

Harry grimaced, his dorm mates would definitely notice a tank. “No thanks. I’ve, uh, already got one.”

“Will you need any food for them?” The witch asked.

 “Yeah, I guess. What sort of food would you suggest?”

“Mice or lizards would probably be your best bet.” The witch answered. “You could get a mixed pack.”

“Okay. Do I have to come in here to buy more? Or can I use my owl?” Harry asked.

“You can use your owl.” The witch grinned and pulled a piece of parchment out from under the desk handing it to Harry. “This is our order form. If you wait here I’ll grab you your snakes and food.”

Harry looked at the parchment while he waited. Snake food was expensive, he hoped the snakes could hunt for themselves most of the time. Except where would they hunt? What if someone saw them?

“Here you are.” The witch came out with a small sack and a wooden box. “The snakes are in the box and the snake food and owl treats are both in the sack. I’d keep the food in a status box if I were you, otherwise it’ll go off.”

“Thanks.” Harry grinned at her and pulled out his Withdrawal Key. “How much all up?”

“One hundred and ninety Galleons and four sickles.” The witch told him, placing a piece of parchment on the desk in front of her.

“Right.” Harry placed his key on the parchment and then used the knife the witch handed him to produce a drop of blood.

“Excellent.” The witch beamed at him. “Thank you very much. Be careful with those snakes! We are in no way responsible for any bites that you, or any other being, may receive from them.”

“Right.” Harry said again with a grimace. “Thanks.”

Harry picked up the box and the sack and walked through store again until he was hidden behind some shelves. He knelt down and opened the box.

:Merry meet.: He whispered into the box. :You can come out now.:

:Well done, speaker.: Sarko popped his head out.

:I need you to come out of the box so I can hide you.: Harry told the snake.

:Very well.: Sarko slithered out of the box and onto Harry’s bare forearm.

Harry shivered, it felt so weird. :Can you hide in my pockets for now?:

:If you wish.: Sativa slithered out of the box and allowed Harry to guide her to his pocket.

:Fine.: Sarko sounded sulky.

:Thanks.: Harry waited until Sarko had joined his nest mate in his pocket before standing up and picking up the sack of food.

It look Harry less than a minute to find the Malfoys talking quietly near the toad tanks.

“Are you ready, Harry?” Cousin Narcissa asked.

“Yes, Cousin Narcissa.” Harry nodded lifting up the sack to show her. “I’ve bought Hedwig some treats.”

“Hedwig is your owl?” Cousin Narcissa asked him as they began walking towards the shops exit.

“Yes, ma’am.” Harry made sure the Malfoys were between him and the witch who had sold him the snakes.

“Are you ready to return to Hogwarts, Mr. Potter?” Lord Malfoy asked him.

“Yes, my lord.” Harry walked with the Malfoys down the Alley. “Thank you both for all of this. It’s been wonderful.”

“You are welcome.” Cousin Narcissa smiled at him. “Now, regarding this summer.”

 Harry really didn’t want to have to think about the fact that he would be returning to the Dursleys in two months.

“You will remember that I agreed to tutor you.” Cousin Narcissa continued. “I will be speaking to your relatives next month to arrange it with them.”

 “They’re not very polite, ma’am.” Harry warned her with a grimace. “Maybe I should just sneak out and meet you somewhere.”

“Nonsense.” Cousin Narcissa denied. “I can certainly handle a few impolite muggles, Harry.”

Harry wasn’t worried about them hurting Cousin Narcissa, she was a witch. He just didn’t want anyone to find out how horrible they were.

“Here we are.” Lord Malfoy announced as they entered the floo area. “Would you like us to accompany you, Mr. Potter?”

“Thank you for the offer, my lord.” Harry bowed to him, thankful for all of Draco’s tutoring sessions. “But I will be fine.”

“Very well. Merry part, Mr. Potter.” Lord Malfoy nodded to him.

“Merry part, my lord.” Harry bowed again, first to Lord Malfoy and then to Cousin Narcissa. “Merry part, Cousin Narcissa.”

“Merry part, Harry.” Cousin Narcissa nodded to him with a smile. “Now off you go then. The floo address is ‘Hogwarts: Headmaster’s Office’.”

Harry grabbed a handful of powder and threw it into the fire before stepping into it. “Hogwarts: Headmaster’s Office.”

There were no arms to catch him on the other side and Harry fell face first onto the Headmaster’s rug. He could hear the snakes hissing in protest from his pocket.

“Harry, my boy.” The headmaster pulled him to his feet. “I trust you had a good visit.”

“Yes, thank you, sir.” Harry answered. “Apparently he’s going to go overseas to help him recover.”

“Yes, yes.” Dumbledore nodded. “I’m sure a mind healer will do Sirius plenty of good.”

Harry glanced at his watch, it was almost lunch time. “May I go, sir? I want to freshen up before lunch.”

“Of course, my boy. Off you go.” Dumbledore smiled at him.

Harry left the headmaster’s office and made his way back up to Ravenclaw tower.

“What has hands but cannot clap?” The Ravenclaw knocker asked when Harry reached the top of the stairs.

Harry thought about it for a while. “A clock.”

“Very good.” The knocker told him as the door swung open.

The Common Room was pretty full when Harry entered and he had only made it a few metres before someone noticed him.

“Harry!” Terry called from his place on a couch. “Over here.”

Harry sighed, but walked over to where Terry was sitting with Michael Corner and Rodney Johnson.

“Merry meet.” He greeted them.

“Merry meet.” They returned, as Terry and Michael both bowed.

“Why are you so dressed up?” Terry asked him.

“I went to see Lord Black.” Harry told them sitting on the couch beside Rodney.

“Seriously?”

“Cool!”

“What was he like?” The boys all exclaimed.

Harry couldn’t help but feel frustrated. A week ago they had been convinced that his godfather was a mass murderer and had been sending him pitying looks.

“He’s still recovering.” Harry told them. “He’s going to be going to a Mind Healers overseas for a while.”

“Makes sense.” Rodney commented. “It’s amazing that he’s not completely mad.”

Harry stood up. “I’m going to go get cleaned up before lunch.”

“Okay, see you.” Rodney grinned at him.

“Merry part.” Terry and Michael said.

“Merry part.”

Harry walked quickly to his dorm and sighed in relief when he saw it was empty. He sat on his bed and pulled the curtains around to ensure his privacy before pulling the two snakes out of his pocket.

:Are you alright?: Harry asked worriedly. :I’m really bad at flooing, I always fall over.:

:We’re fine.: Sarko told him. :Is this your school?:

:Yeah.: Harry nodded. :I bought you some food, but I couldn’t buy you a tank. People would notice it.:

Sarko slithered up Harry’s robes until his head was pressed against Harry’s neck. :Thank you, speaker, but we will hunt.:

:Be careful.: Harry tried not to shiver at feel of Sarko’s tongue flicking out and touching his neck. :I’ll get in trouble if anyone sees you. And you probably shouldn’t eat anyone’s pet.:

:We will.: Sativa ensured him. :We are not snakelets.:

Harry looked at his watch and saw that if was lunchtime. :I need to go.:

:Can we come with you?: Sarko asked him.

:Do you want to stay in my pocket again?: Harry asked.

:Yes.: Sarko told him, moving back down Harry’s body.

:Don’t fall over again.: Sativa instructed him.

Harry grinned. :I’ll try not to.:

Chapter Text

The remainder of the school year flew by very quickly. Harry was still receiving meditating lessons with Professor Snape and his control was getting better and better – he wasn’t even glowing anymore. Snape still refused to let Harry try wandless magic, but he had hinted that Harry would allowed to try after the summer holidays.

Harry didn’t understand why everyone didn’t meditate. Not only was it necessary for wandless magic, but according to one of his new books it was the foundation for Occlumency too. The problem was that, according to his book, the only way to learn Occlumency was by having someone use Legilimency on him and Harry didn’t know anyone who could help him with that.

Draco was still tutoring him on etiquette, though Harry could tell that the other boy was running out of things to teach him. Cousin Narcissa had written to a few weeks after their trip to Diagon Alley, informing him that she had met with his relatives and that they had come to an agreement. Harry couldn’t imagine Uncle Vernon willingly coming to an agreement with Cousin Narcissa.

He’d also received a letter from Sirius. His godfather had apologised for getting upset when Harry visited and explained to Harry that he would be in Switzerland for the next few months at the very least. He’d asked Harry if they could correspond using letters, something that Harry had happily agreed to.

He had sent Sirius a long letter telling him about himself, his meditation lessons with Snape, his tutoring lessons with Draco and about Cousin Narcissa’s offer to teach him over the summer. Sirius hadn’t replied for a few weeks, but eventually a letter arrived in which Sirius congratulated Harry for his good study habits. When Harry had mentioned it to Draco, his cousin had explained that Sirius probably didn’t really like Lord Malfoy and Professor Snape very much. The next letter Harry sent his godfather mostly just talked about flying, Neville and his Ravenclaw friends. Sirius replied a lot quicker that time.

10-10-10

The exams were surprisingly easy and Harry finished them all well within the time limit. When the final exam was over Harry celebrated with his roommates by playing explosive snap in their dorm.

“What are your summer plans, Terry?” Anthony asked as Michael carefully added a card to the pile.

“Nothing much.” Terry sighed. “My family only goes away every second summer and we went away last summer. I’m going to fly a lot though – we can try out of the Quidditch team next year.”

Rodney grimaced. “I hate Quidditch. My sister will probably make me help her practise.”

“My family’s going to Venice.” Anthony boasted. “We’re leaving a week after school finishes, and we’ll be gone for a month.”

“Venice is great!” Michael grinned. “The muggle side is pretty gross, the waters all dirty and stuff, but the magical section is beautiful.”

“What are you doing over the summer, Michael?” Rodney asked as they watched Anthony place a card on the pile.

Michael shrugged. “I don’t know yet. We’ll be going away somewhere, but my parents like to keep it a surprise until we get there.”

“What about you, Harry?” Terry asked before putting a card on the pile and then jumping away as the pile exploded. “Oh bollocks.”

Harry laughed at his friend’s expression. “I don’t know. I’ll read a bit.”

The other boys laughed.

“Of course you will.” Anthony scoffed. “That’s all you do.”

Harry levelled a glare at the other boy and felt proud when the other boy flinched, obviously Draco’s lessons were paying off.

“Don’t be ridiculous.” He snapped. “You know that’s not true. Besides, I live with muggles remember. What else can I do? It’s not like I can practise Quidditch.”

“Sorry.” Anthony mumbled.

“Thank you.” Harry nodded stiffly. “We’re Ravenclaws, reading is supposed to encouraged.”

“Yeah, but you do read more than most.” Terry pointed out with a friendly smile.

“More than most?” Michael laughed. “More than anyone I’ve ever known.”

Harry grimaced and stood up. “I’m going for a walk.”

“Come on, Harry.” Terry stood up. “We’re sorry. We didn’t mean it was bad.”

“I know.” Harry tried to smile at them. “I’m just a bit uptight at the moment, I need some air.”

Harry left the Ravenclaw Tower and made his way outside, into the sun.

:What’s the matter?: Sarko asked from his pocket.

Harry looked round to ensure he was alone before answering. :Nothing.:

:Your voice says otherwise.: Sativa argued.

Harry walked over to a rock and sat against it before pulling the snakes out of his pocket and resting them on his lap.

Sativa hissed in pleasure. :Warmth.:

:Have you been cold?: Harry asked worriedly.

:Don’t change the subject.: Sarko told him. :Why are you upset?:

:I have to go back to my relatives in two days.: Harry explained. :I don’t want to.:

:Wizards are coming.: Sativa said suddenly, slithering back into Harry’s pocket.

Harry watched as Sarko followed his nest mate before looking up to see Draco striding towards him. He felt sorry for the poor snakes, they saw so little sun.

“Merry meet.” Draco bowed when he reached Harry before sitting down beside him.

“Merry meet.” Harry nodded in greeting. “How did your last exam go?”

Draco frowned. “I couldn’t remember some of the answers. What about you?”

“Alright.” Harry studied his friend carefully. “Can you keep a secret?”

Draco looked offended. “Of course I can. I’m already keeping some of your secrets, remember?”

“Right.” Harry smiled in apology. “Well you can’t tell anyone about this, alright?”

“Fine.” Draco leaned forward in obvious anticipation.

Harry focussed his thoughts on his snakes. :You can come out now, he won’t hurt you.:

“You, you’re,” Draco stuttered in obvious shock. “You’re a parselmouth?”

“Yeah.” Harry grinned down at the snakes who were slithering out of his pocket. “These are Sarko and Sativa.”

“How long have you had them?” Draco was staring at the snakes.

“Two months.” Harry answered. “I bought them when I was in Diagon Alley with your parents.”

“What did Father say?” Draco asked, his eyes still focussed on the snakes.

“He didn’t know.” Harry answered. “I bought them when your parents weren’t looking. You can’t tell them.”

Draco grimaced. “Alright. Father wouldn’t mind though.”

“I don’t want anyone to know.” Harry told him.

“You told me.” Draco pointed out.

“You’re you.” Harry said. “Besides, I wanted them to be able to enjoy the sun.”

“Wait,” Draco smirked. “This means you bought them around the time Weasley’s stupid rat disappeared. Did they eat him?”

Harry laughed. “No, though I kind of wish they had. I can’t believe he’s still going on about it. He seems to be whinging about it every time I hear him talking.”

“So what kind of snake are they?” Draco asked after a while.

“Atheris Hispida.” Harry answered.

“Are they venomous?”

“Yeah.” Harry grinned as Draco flinched back. “But they won’t hurt you.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course.” Harry nodded. “Snakes who bond to a parselmouth are incapable of disobeying them.”

“And you told them not to hurt me?” Draco asked.

“I told them not to hurt anyone unless they were protecting themselves or me.” Harry said.

“Oh.” Draco stared at the snakes. “Can I touch one?”

Harry grinned. :Sarko, Draco would like to touch you. Is that alright?:

Sarko didn’t reply except to slither across Harry’s legs onto Draco’s.

“That’s Sarko.” Harry explained. “He’s the male.”

Draco was staring at the snake on his legs with a mixture of fear and excitement. “He won’t mind if I touch him?”

“No.” Harry reached out and stroked the top of Sativa’s head to demonstrate.

Draco reached out a hand cautiously and stiffly touched the top of Sarko’s head.

Harry laughed, it was like watching the Weasley twins stroking Lee’s spider at the beginning of the year.

“Hush up!” Draco frowned at him before stroking Sarko’s head again. “He’s so prickly. I thought snakes had smooth scales.”

“I think most of them do.” Harry answered. “But these guys are special.”

“Cool.” Draco ran a finger down Sarko’s body. “Are you looking forward to the holidays?”

“No.” Harry grimaced. “I wish I could just stay here.”

 “Yeah, I guess I would feel the same way if I had to go live with muggles.”

“Come on, Draco.” Harry groaned. “Don’t start.”

Draco frowned. “I don’t know why you defend them. The muggles you live with sound horrible.”

Harry sighed. “They’re horrible, but that doesn’t mean all muggles are. Maybe next year I’ll be able to stay with Sirius.”

“I can’t believe he lets you call him that.” Draco shook his head.

“He ordered me to.” Harry said.

Draco grimaced. “At least Mother will be tutoring you this summer.”

“Yeah.” Harry grinned. “I have no idea how she managed to convince Uncle Vernon.”

Draco snorted. “She probably just threatened to turn him into a spider or something.”

Harry laughed. “I wish I could have seen his face.”

“You should come stay with me for a few days.” Draco said suddenly. “We can fly and stuff. I’ll ask Father when I get home.”

Harry grinned. “I’d love to.”

10-10-10

The next few days were relatively uneventful. Harry read some books, spent time with his friends from Ravenclaw and Slytherin (though not at the same time). The End-of-Year Feast was amazing! There was so much food and everyone was there, well, everyone except Quirrell. Rumour had it that the Defence Against the Dark Arts Teacher had died somehow – there were a lot of different theories about how.

The train ride home was nice. Harry was dreading the Dursleys, but he tried to make the most of the time he had left in the magical world. He sat with the Slytherins and played chess with Draco. He still lost every time he played, but not nearly as badly as he had at first.

The Malfoys were waiting for Draco at the platform and Harry bowed to them, his forearms bare.

“Merry meet, Lord Malfoy, Cousin Narcissa.”

“Merry meet, Harry.” Cousin Narcissa nodded to him. “I will see you in three days.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Harry bowed to them again before picking up Hedwig’s cage and carefully tugging his trunk towards the muggle platform – Sarko and Sativa were in it.

The Dursleys were waiting for him, Uncle Vernon’s face was red with anger and Aunt Petunia and Dudley both looked terrified.

“Come, boy.” Uncle Vernon snapped at him, before striding off towards the car.

Harry followed them and carefully lifted his trunk into the boot of the car.

“Get in.” Uncle Vernon snapped and Harry obeyed as quickly as possible.

The drive home took forty minutes and Harry spent the time looking out the window, trying to ignore the oppressive silence.

The minute the car was stopped in the driveway, Aunt Petunia and Dudley jumped out of the car the sped into the house, leaving Harry alone with Uncle Vernon.

“You’re back.” Uncle Vernon scowled.

“Yes, sir.” Harry looked at his knees.

“For two bloody months!” Uncle Vernon snapped.

Harry didn’t say anything.

“And that bloody cow thinks that she can come here and threaten my family!” Uncle Vernon snarled.

Harry thought he was probably thinking about Cousin Narcissa.

“Those freaks think that since we have to put up with you, they can just waltz into my house and threaten me.” Uncle Vernon was shouting now. “And it’s all your fault!”

Harry flinched back when he saw the hatred in Uncle Vernon’s eyes.

“You will take your trunk and put it upstairs.” Uncle Vernon ordered, his voice quiet again. “Then you will give me your magic stick. If I see you doing anything freaky, I will break it!”

“Yes, sir.” Harry nodded quickly and pulled his wand out of his wand holster. “Here.”

Uncle Vernon glared at the wand in disgust. “Leave it on the seat.”

Harry nodded as he placed the wand beside him.

“Then you’ll make us dinner.” Uncle Vernon continued. “And tonight we’ll talk about your punishment.”

“Yes, sir.” Harry nodded quickly and got out of the car. He lifted his trunk out of the car and carried it up to his room.

Once the door was closed behind him he unlocked his trunk and opened it. :Stay hidden.: He ordered the snakes. :They will kill you if they see you.:

:We will stay hidden, snakelet.: Sativa agreed.

 :I have to go.: Harry told the snakes, before repeating it in English to Hedwig.

He shut his bedroom door behind him and started down the stairs – he hoped they would let him eat tonight. It was going to be hard to get used to missing meals again.

10-10-10