Adult-FanFiction.org : Harry Potter

Harry Potter and the wizarding world	By : zoy_grey Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male Views: 10766 -:- Recommendations : 3 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: Disclaimer: I do not own nor make profit off of JK Rowling's world of Harry Potter, the characters or the timeline. I do own some of the characters that are of my imagination as well as the plot that I came up with.

Chapter List
- 1
- 2
- 3
Notes: A few short fragments from the original story can be found in this chapter - but not much really. And of course, those fragments don't belong to me, but JK Rowling.

CHAPTER 2

Sitting in her office, in Hogwarts, professor McGonagall was sorting the letters she received last week. She took out a long scroll from her desk and started reading it. The parchment was filled with a list of names of potential students. Some of the names were already ticked, indicating that those children already confirmed that they will be attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry starting this September.

The witch looked up from the parchment, when she heard a quiet knock on one of the windows of her office. Seeing an owl waiting outside, with a letter in its beak, she quickly got up and opened the window, allowing the bird to fly inside. The woman took the letter from the owl and the animal immediately flew out of the room. Walking back towards her chair she eagerly opened the letter and read through it with excitement. After a few seconds, however, she put the letter aside, sighing heavily with disappointment. Professor McGonagall searched the list of students once more and ticked the name Roper, Sophie.

The woman was genuinely worried. She received confirmation from almost all the soon to be Hogwarts’ students. Almost. She didn’t receive any answer from the boy, who most of the wizarding world expected to see in Hogwarts this year. At the beginning, professor McGonagall didn’t pay much thought to it. After all, not many families wrote back immediately after receiving the letter, but this time was different. July was coming to an end and the witch was starting to get nervous.

“No, this is getting ridiculous.” She muttered to herself irritated and walked out of the chamber to find the headmaster.

Hagrid walked down the empty corridors of the castle heading towards the headmaster’s office. Earlier that day he received a message from professor Dumbledore to meet him in school. A bit surprised by the sudden message, but still happy, half giant agreed to meet with the other man.

With a bit of difficulty he got passed the statue of a gargoyle and up the stairs. He knocked on the door and hearing Dumbledore’s voice he walked in.

“Ah, Hagrid. Come in, come in.” said the elderly wizard smiling to him brightly from behind his desk.

“Yeh wanted ter see me, professor Dumbledore, sir.” Hagrid straightened up and puffed his chest proudly.

“Yes. I have a very important matter to look after,” he paused and looked at the gamekeeper from above his glasses “However, I can’t leave Hogwarts and take care of it myself. That’s why I wanted to talk with you. Could you help me with that and go to London on special Hogwarts’ case?”

“Of course sir.” Hagrid announced and kept his head high.

“Perfect. I will give you a letter, Hagrid. Take it to Gringotts and tell them I sent you to retrieve what is hidden in vault 713.” The headmaster handed him an envelope and looked sternly at the gamekeeper.

“I’ll do me best professor Dumbledore, sir.” The half giant hid the letter in an inner pocket of his coat.

“The goblins will know what is in that vault, but no one else can know, Hagrid.”

“Professor…yeh don’t mean it’s got somethin’ to do with…” he looked around nervously as if he was expecting someone dangerous to appear “…You-Know-Who?”

Headmaster observed his reaction and was quite fascinated how dramatic Hagrid was about the subject of the Dark Lord. Yet, on the other hand, he couldn’t blame him or anyone else for such behaviour. After all, it has been only ten years of peace and there were many families that remembered those awful times and still tried to cope with life after the war.

“I’m afraid so.”

“…Is he…is he…back?” asked Hagrid almost whispering.

“No.” hearing Dumbledore’s answer the other man visibly relaxed. “But I’m afraid he will try to come back. And the object in vault 713 might help him in his plans. That’s why your task is so important, Hagrid.”

“I won’t fail professor Dumbledore, sir.”

“I know, Hagrid. I know.”

Both men were startled by a knock at the door. Shortly after, the door opened and there stood professor McGonagall with a scroll in her hands.

“Ah, professor McGonagall. How can I help you?” Dumbledore smiled brightly to the witch.

“Professor Dumbledore,” she bowed her head to the headmaster and slightly turned to face the gamekeeper “Hagrid.”

She walked quickly to headmaster’s desk and showed him the list of students she brought with her. Finding the name she was looking for, she pointed to it with her index finger and looked at Dumbledore, who was still smiling.

“I haven’t received any answer from Mr Potter, none.” She explained “And deadline is in less than two days. Surely, you must know something, professor. This is unbelievable! There must be something wrong! Why else would Lily and James’ son not want to attend Hogwarts?”

Before Hagrid could leave the chamber he got interested by professor McGonagall’s revelation. If he understood correctly, young Harry haven’t replied to his Hogwarts’ letter yet. This was very strange. Why would a child from a wizarding family not want to learn magic? And not just any child, but, the one and only, Harry Potter.

“Harry?! Harry’s not gonna come to Hogwarts?!” half giant stepped closer to both professors.

“Calm down Hagrid!” Dumbledore had to almost shout at the man to get his attention. “Calm down. Let us all calm down. I don’t know why young Harry hasn’t replied yet, but I’ll make sure he gives us his decision.”

The headmaster knew they had to act quickly, because the deadline was by the end of July and there were no exceptions, not even for the boy-who-lived. He asked Hagrid to find Harry first and then go to Diagon Alley. Yes, Dumbledore was pretty sure that was the best way to handle this matter. After all, Hagrid couldn’t wait to see young Harry again after saving him from Godric’s Hollow ten years ago. And it would be best for Hagrid to tell the boy all those things about the wizarding world that he might not know.

“I’ll be on me way then professor Dumbledore, professor McGonagall.” Hagrid made a serious face and headed to the door, but inside he couldn’t contain his joy. He really wanted to meet Harry and see how he has grown. Not to mention shopping at Diagon Alley for the first year at Hogwarts. That was definitely going to be a great day. But first things first – now he needed to focus on finding the boy.

“Are you sure it’s a good idea, Albus? Is it wise to give such a task to Hagrid?” the witch asked a bit worried, when the half giant left the room.

“Ah, Hagrid has proven that we can trust him with very important tasks, Minerva. Besides, he has a special attachment to young Harry, since he was the one who went to Godric’s Hollow and took him to safety all those years ago.” Headmaster smiled brightly “I’m sure we’ll be seeing Mr Potter in a month. Maybe even in your House, Minerva.”

“If he inherited at least half of his parents’ talents and traits, the chances of him being sorted into Gryffindor are high.”

Harry opened his eyes and noticed something strange. He was covered in a strange, dark mist or at least something similar and he couldn’t determine where he was. Gently touching the space around him with his hands he noticed he was lying on the ground, but still he had no clue where exactly he was. Even the said mist looked different than a normal one. He, at least, had never seen anything like it. Or did he?

Suddenly the boy had a feeling as if he actually did see that mist before. He even got a feeling he’ll see something familiar when he gets up from the ground.

Harry held up his hand, trying to touch the dark before his face. As soon as he did that something weird happened – the mist occurred to be some tiny little dark pieces of dirt floating in the air and it quickly curled around the boy’s hand. Yes, that was what Harry called it – dirt – but only because the lack of a better word, because in fact, it didn’t seem filthy. Moreover, Harry wanted to somehow catch it and keep it close. When he gave it a closer look he noticed it was shining in the air, as if someone crushed a black gemstone into tiny pieces and let it float.

The dark mist seemed alive, it curled and uncurled around Harry’s hand. Normally Harry would be a bit scared or at least worried by the dark phenomenon, but to his own surprise he felt at ease, happy even. His hand was warm where the mist touched it. Not remembering when was the last time he felt this warm and good, he felt a sudden need to embrace himself in that dark completely.

His thoughts were interrupted by a sound of flapping wings not far from him. For some reason he thought the mist was alive and it was a dark hand that was holding his own hand and all of that gave him the courage to stand up and look for the source of the sound.

Standing up Harry looked around him and saw he was in some kind of a room. It was rather big and well furnished, which was a huge difference after living at 4 Privet Drive for ten years. He walked slowly, admiring everything inside. Even though the mist filled the room he was still able to see well.

The walls were nearly three meters high. The lower part was covered with wooden wainscot, and the upper part with fine beige and brown tapestry. In the centre of the room lied a big, soft beige carpet, which contrasted with the dark wooden floor.

Making a step forward Harry tripped over something on the carpet. He looked closer and saw some really strange toys – there were small figures of lions with flames flickering on their tails, a children’s book with pictures moving in it, a few colourful balls that moved around him without him touching them, some small fluffy balls with wings that suddenly got up in the air and flew around the room in high speed, and a small broomstick. That’s when he took in all of his surroundings and noticed he was actually in a nursery – there was a crib, a few dressers, a changing table and a few sofas. It all looked really strange, yet familiar. Harry had a feeling he was here before, but he couldn’t say when.

A knocking sound could be heard, so Harry looked up and saw an owl outside the window. The bird was holding a black envelope with a red seal in its beak.

An owl delivering letters didn’t surprise him anymore. After all, for the last few days, that was exactly how all those mysterious letters had been delivered to 4 Privet Drive. However, to be completely honest, he had to admit he felt a bit nervous since the owl observed him closely.

Nonetheless, gathering his courage and holding tight onto the dark mist enveloping his hand, the boy walked to the window and struggled to open it. After a while, there was a ‘click’ and the window opened. The bird didn’t budge in its place, though.

Harry’s gaze landed on the envelope, when he saw:

‘Mr H. Potter

2^nd floor nursery

Potter Manor

Old Eyeworth

Hampshire’

written in red ink.

What did that mean? He didn’t understand. He remembered the room he was in, that’s for sure. But the address on the envelope was unknown to him. Maybe there’s been a mistake?

Noticing the owl’s bright red eyes staring at him, he took the letter and opened it. Harry thought that maybe it was one of those letters that made uncle Vernon go crazy lately, but this one seemed different and there was no sender given. The boy opened it, curious to know what was written inside, but to his surprise the folded parchment was blank.

All of a sudden the owl started flapping its wings rapidly, which frightened Harry. There was no way he wanted to face and angry owl, so he took a few steps back, inside the room.

He stopped when the mist started twirling around him and, a difficult to explain, feeling of safety grew inside him. The same moment, the owl flew inside and hovered above his hand in which he held the letter. Unconsciously, Harry protectively drew his hand back, when the bird moved as if to bite it. Strangely enough, the mist twirled around him more. It seemed as if it wanted to tell him not to be afraid and let the bird do what it wanted. After a moment of thought Harry moved his hand forward, close to the owl.

‘After all’ he thought ‘my life is full of strange events and still nothing bad happened to me. Besides, it’s not like that owl is going to bite my hand off.’

As soon as the bird lowered its head and was only millimetres away from Harry’s finger, the room was filled by a loud, desperate scream of a woman.

“Harry!”

Was it just Harry’s imagination or did someone really call him right now? But, who was it? He was the only person in the room.

All of a sudden, a ball of blinding, white light appeared out of nowhere and scared the owl away. The light touched the letter in Harry’s hand and the parchment turned into flames and vanished.

“What’s going on?” Harry fell to his knees and shut his eyes close. He could feel strong wind blowing around him, but was too afraid to open his eyes. At the same time he was worried that the mysterious light was going to burn him just like the letter. The wind got stronger, making it hard to keep his balance.

Next thing he knew was the sudden coldness and silence around him. He opened his eyes slowly, afraid of what he’ll see.

“What happened here?” he gasped shocked.

He could no longer see the room from earlier. To be exact, he saw nothing. Everything was pure white, he couldn’t distinguish between walls and floor. This place was white, sterile and…cold.

“I won’t let you get hurt Harry.” Came a soft, warm voice of a woman. It was strange to hear such a warm and kind voice in these cold surroundings.

Harry closed his eyes again, in hope for that white emptiness to vanish, but just then he heard another voice. This one was louder and less kind. “Wake up, boy! I said, wake up!”

Reluctantly he opened his eyes to meet a very annoyed uncle Vernon seating in the drivers place, inside the car. Harry looked around and noticed they had arrived at some coast.

“It’s your entire fault we had to come here so don’t you dare drift off to the dreamland just like that!” yelled the round man and walked out of the car.

Harry gazed out the window. It started to rain. Great drops beat on the roof of the car. It was pretty obvious a storm was coming. This was definitely not going to be one of his favourite nights.

“It’s Monday,” Dudley told his mother and snivelled. “The Great Humberto’s on tonight. I want to stay somewhere with a television.”

Monday. This reminded Harry of something. If it was Monday – and you could usually count on Dudley to know the days the week, because of television – then tomorrow, Tuesday, was Harry’s eleventh birthday. Of course, his birthdays were never exactly fun. Still, you weren’t eleven every day.

Uncle Vernon was back and he was smiling.

“Found the perfect place!” he said. “Come on! Everyone out!”

It was very cold outside the car. Uncle Vernon was pointing at what looked like a large rock way out at sea. Perched on top of the rock was the most miserable little shack you could imagine.

Oh, how Harry wished, he could be back in that nice, warm room from his dream.

Quirinus Quirrell was having a really bad day. Exactly today he needed to be as “invisible” as possible, but the whole world wanted to interrupt his plans. The moment he entered the Leaky Cauldron he was greeted by at least a dozen witches and wizards. Judging by that, entering Diagon Alley won’t be any better.

“Stop complaining and go! I need to get it as soon as possible. You need to get it.” Quirrell heard an angry hissing voice in his mind.

The man still didn’t know how to communicate with the other wizard while he was in public, so he just mentally nodded.

He wanted to pay for his drink and move on with his task, when Hogwarts’ gamekeeper entered the pub.

After a moment, professor Quirrell noticed a small figure following closely the half giant. He wondered who that person was. He didn’t see the person very well, but even so, Quirrell never heard of a child related to Hagrid. And that much was obvious – it was a child.

He heard something close to a shocked gasp in his head.

“Get closer! Get closer to the boy!” came the mental order

That moment he looked again at the person and realised who it was. Yes, everything made sense now – of course, Hagrid was supposed to find Harry Potter and take him to Diagon Alley. He overheard that the same day he found out about the object hidden at Gringotts.

Quirrell made his way towards Hagrid, trying to look very nervous. One of his eyes was twitching.

“Professor Quirrell!” said Hagrid. “Harry, professor Quirrell will be one of your teachers at Hogwarts.”

“P-P-Potter,” stammered professor Quirrell, grasping Harry’s hand, ”c-can’t t-tell you how p-pleased I am to meet you.”

“What sort of magic do you teach, professor Quirrell?”

“D-Defense Against the D-D-Dark Arts,” muttered professor Quirrell, as though he’d rather not think about it. “N-not that you n-need it, eh, P-P-Potter?” He laughed nervously. “You’ll be g-getting all your equipment, I suppose? I’ve g-got to p-pick up a new b-book on vampires, m-myself.”

The man was not allowed to talk more to the young wizard, because of the overexcited crowd that also wanted to meet the boy who lived.

Quirrell walked away a few steps and sat in the corner of the room, hidden in the shadows. No one was paying attention to him anymore. He knew it was the perfect opportunity to slip out of the pub unnoticed and head straight to Gringotts, but something was stopping him and even his master didn’t rush him by their mental connection.

‘What was that just know? Is it because of Master being with me?’ he mused in his thoughts staring at the hand which just moments ago touched Harry Potter. That hand felt warm, but not in a good way. It stung slightly, but there was no wound or burn visible on it.

“Master, what could that mean? My hand feels odd after touching the boy.” Whispered Quirrell, after making sure no one was paying attention to him.

‘It seems the Light in the boy is repelling every little bit of Dark that is trying to get close to him.’ The voice in his head was dangerously calm and cold. ‘I wonder if the boy is doing it on purpose or unconsciously.’

“What does that mean, master? Should I do something about the boy?” he asked quickly feeling the growing irritation of the other wizard.

‘It means you’d be wise to move on with your task…unless you want to die that is.’ Hissed maliciously the voice in his mind.

Flourish and Blotts was bustling with people. Judging by the number of children accompanied by parents, quite a few Hogwarts’ students decided to go shopping for school supplies. Shop attendances were rushing around, helping customers and organising books on the shelves.

Lucius stood by one of the shelves in the more secluded part of the shop, on the first floor, looking for a book his father asked him to buy. Searching the titles on the books’ spines he sighed, realising he’ll, most likely, need to visit Knocturn Alley to find that particular book.

“Excuse me, sir.” The wizard heard a quiet, but clear voice of a child next to him.

Lucius looked down to his right and saw a black haired girl staring at him with her strangely coloured eyes – were they green or blue? The wizard thought there was something strange yet familiar about those eyes, but he couldn’t remember knowing any magical child, in his son’s age, who could inherit such unusual eyes from its parents.

“Yes?” the man asked still studying the girl. She was pale white, with shoulder length black, curly hair kept tidy by a black and white headband. The child was dressed rather well, but more Muggle style than like a young witch – she had a black and white polka dots dress with a white collar and a white bow tied in the back. In her hands she kept about six books. Lucius read their titles – A guide to Medieval Sorcery, Olde and Forgotten Bewitchments and Charms, Notable Magical names of Our Time, Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century, Nature’s Nobility: A Wizarding Genealogy, Curses and Counter-Curses.

“I would be really grateful if you could help me pick that book over there, sir. It’s a bit too high for me and I can’t reach it.” Said the girl almost expressionless, but still being very polite.

“Which book did you have in mind?” normally Lucius would ignore the child and walk away, because most children simply didn’t know how to behave in his presence. This child, however, had quite good manners.

“Magnificent Book of Shadows” replied the girl.

Mr Malfoy looked surprised, but smirked when he saw determination in the child’s eyes.

“Here you go.” He handed her the book and seeing the enthusiasm she showed, he added “If you’re interested in those subjects, I also recommend Ancient Book of Ancient Houses and Forgotten Umbral Sorcery.”

That moment he felt it. Something warm floated in that girl’s aura, and again, it was something that felt very familiar. It all made her very interesting.

Lucius was already sure she wasn’t a pureblood, because he knew every pure blood witch around Draco’s age and this girl was not one of them. Probably she was a half-blood, but that didn’t make her less interesting in Lucius’ opinion. After all, it’s not her fault that one of her ancestors made a mistake and married a Muggle.

“Thank you, sir. I’ll definitely look for the books you’ve recommended.” She smiled politely, but only a little.

“You’re welcome. After all, it’s my pleasure to help young witches and wizards to broaden their knowledge. However,… I don’t think you’re going to find those titles here.” Seeing growing confusion on her face Lucius added “Let’s just say this bookshop doesn’t…share the same interests as you Ms…”

“Jamie!” a brown haired witch in her thirties rushed up the stairs to the girl’s side, completely ignoring Lucius. “Where have you been?! We’ve been worried so much that something bad has happened to you!”

“I’m sorry aunt Elowen. But I did tell Cadan that I will be staying a bit longer in the bookshop. He was supposed to tell you.” She lowered her head, but it was obvious that she was angry at Cadan - whoever that was - for putting her in such situation. She even sent a few worried glances towards Lucius as if to check if he was still there and acknowledging the embarrassing scene.

Lucius, on the other hand, was rather pleased to witness it, since it gave him the chance to discover who the child’s family was. Unfortunately for him, he didn’t recognize the woman before him. It was obvious she was a witch, judging by the relaxed way she behaved and moved around a shop filled with magical folk. That only confirmed his suspicions that the girl had to be a half-blood.

“Alright, alright.” The woman smiled at the girl, turned around and stopped abruptly when she faced Lucius Malfoy standing there with that arrogant look on his face and listening to their talk. “Oh…Mr Malfoy…How unexpected to see you here.”

“I don’t really understand your surprise.” Lucius said with a snort. True, he preferred some of the books offered in Knocturn Alley, but why on earth, is it so strange to some people that he was also interested in some products offered in Diagon Alley.

Seeing her aunt angry and ready to say something, most likely something impolite, to the man, Jamie said quickly “I asked Mr Malfoy to help me reach a book from the shelf.”

“How many times did we tell you not to talk with strangers? Besides, you already have your first year school books.” The witch walked to the stairs, clearly uncomfortable by the pure-blood’s presence.

“But those are a few books I’d like to buy, because they are interesting and not because I need them.” The girl picked up the books and followed her aunt.

The woman looked at the titles of the books and picked two of them. “Your dad doesn’t like you spending that much money on books. But alright, I’ll buy you those two. The rest of them are out of the question.” She said and walked down the stairs carrying Notable Magical names of Our Time and Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century.

“It wouldn’t hurt him to read a book from time to time…and he can’t be my father…he just can’t be,” mumbled the girl angrily and glared at her aunt’s back.

When she noticed Lucius staring at her she sighed and her expression softened.

“I’m sorry for my aunt’s behaviour and thank you for your help, sir.” She sent him a small smile, but when the man still haven’t said anything, she added quickly “Oh, forgive me…my name is Simmons. Jamie Simmons.”

“Lucius Malfoy” he grasped the smaller hand and smirked once more, feeling the girl’s magic flowing around her.

The wizard watched the girl walk away with her aunt, who already paid for the books. Although he still couldn’t recognize the witch, Elowen, he had a vague feeling that he did see her somewhere, some public institution of the wizarding world perhaps.

‘Simmons,’ he thought ‘can’t seem to remember anyone by that name. But maybe that’s the girl’s Muggle father’s name. Maybe I’d be more familiar with that child’s mother’s name.’

Taking the school books he bought for Draco, he walked out of the shop to meet with his wife and son. He hoped Narcissa and Draco were also done with their shopping, so they could return to the manor.

Harry was rather quiet as he ate the ice cream Hagrid had bought him.

“What’s up?” said Hagrid.

“Nothing,” Harry lied. They stopped to buy parchment and quills. Harry cheered up a bit when he found a bottle of ink that changed colour as you wrote. When they had left the shop, he said, “Hagrid, what’s Quidditch?”

“Blimey, Harry, I keep forgettin’ how little yeh know – not knowin’ about Quidditch!”

“Don’t make me feel worse,” said Harry. He told Hagrid about the pale boy in Madam Malkin’s.

“—and he said people from Muggle families shouldn’t even be allowed in.”

“Yer not from a Muggle family. If he’d known who yeh were – he’s grown up knowin’ yer name if his parents are wizardin’ folk. You saw what everyone in th Leaky Cauldron was like when they saw yeh. Anyway, what does he know about it, some o’ the best I ever saw were the only ones with magic in ‘em in a long like o’ Muggles – look at yer mum! Look what she had fer a sister!”

“So what is Quidditch?”

“It’s our sport. Wizard sport. It’s like – like soccer in the Muggle world – everyone follows Quidditch – played up in the air on broomsticks and there’s four balls – sorta hard ter explain the rules.”

“And what are Slytherin and Hufflepuff?”

“School houses. There’s four. Everyone says Hufflepuff are a lot o’ duffers, but--”

“I bet I’m in Hufflepuff” said Harry gloomily.

“Better Hufflepuff than Slytherin,” said Hagrid darkly. “There’s not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn’t in Slytherin. You-Know-Who was one.”

“Vol-, sorry – You-Know-Who was at Hogwarts?”

“Years an’ years ago,” said Hagrid.

They bought Harry’s school books next. Inside the shop Hagrid almost had to drag Harry away from Curses and Counter-curses (Bewitch Your Friends and Befuddle Your Enemies with the Latest Revenges: Hair Loss, Jelly-Legs, Tongue-Tying and Much, Much More) by Professor Vindictus Viridian.

“I was trying to find out how to curse Dudley,” Harry explained following the half giant outside of the shop.

“I’m not sayin’ that’s not a good idea, but yer not ter use magic in the Muggle world except in very special circumstances,” said Hagrid. “An’ anyway, yeh couldn’ work any of them curses yet, yeh’ll need a lot more study before yeh get ter that level.”

“But that girl over there said she’s going to start Hogwarts this year too and that those curses aren’t that difficult,” Harry continued and pointed to the girl standing by one of the shelves in the shop.

“Codswallop, I tell yeh.” Hagrid recognized the girl, shook his head and thought to himself that ‘Those MacDougals should pay more attention to what their daughter is doin’.’

“Where are we going now, Hagrid?” asked Harry cluching his books in his hands.

“Ah! Apothecary! Yer need ingredients fer potions class,” said Hagrid stopping in front of a building with lots of quite disgusting, yet fascinating objects.

Barrels of slimy stuff stood on the floor; jars of hairs, dried roots, and bright powders lined the walls; bundles of feathers, strings of fangs, and snarled claws hung from the ceiling.

“Hagrid. Do I really need stuff like that?” he asked a bit disgusted. “Will I really have to touch those…things?”

“Well, of course. That’s fer yeh potions, Harry,” answered Hagrid happily. “Wait here, Harry. An’ I’ll buy those ingredients.”

Harry wandered around the shop and watched the many ingredients placed in different jars, bags and bottles. He was just admiring something that looked like a horn of an unknown to him animal and minuscule, glittery-black beetle eyes, when a small, glass ball rolled down on the floor, next to him. The same moment he saw a girl, probably a few years younger than him, running his way, evidently chasing the ball. Harry walked over to where the ball stopped and wanted to pick it up, but another boy was faster than him.

“That’s mine,” said the girl slightly embarrassed, when the boy pick up the ball and noticed what it was. “Give it back.”

“Seems you have problems with your memory,” the boy laughed while the girl’s face flushed bright red.

Harry didn’t understand what they were talking about, but he could see that the girl was embarrassed and uncomfortable by the whole situation.

“Give it back to her,” Harry said firmly, standing up to the other boy.

“Come on, it’s just a joke. I don’t want that, anyway,” he handed the ball to Harry. “It’s just funny that a little arrogant ‘Pure-blood’ needs a Remembrall.”

“And who might you be? You’re so unimportant that people need to ask your name,” a bit taller girl stood by the other’s side and glared at the boy. “Well? Who are you, anyway, that you think yourself good enough to talk to my sister?”

Harry felt even more confused than before. They were talking about things he didn’t understand. Just like the boy at Madam Malkin’s, and that made him very uncomfortable. What was a Remembrall or a Pure-blood? Not only that – he didn’t know what to think of those kids. The boy was making fun of that little girl, yet he didn’t seem to be a real bully. The same went for the older girl – she was insulting that boy, but most likely she did that to defend her little sister.

“I’m Zacharias Smith,” he puffed up his chest and kept his head high. “And you’re not better than me or anyone else.”

“Oh really? You think so?” the girl sneered. “You have problems with your brain, I see.”

“What is going on here?” asked an elegant, dark haired witch. She studied the children before her and froze when her gaze landed on Harry.

‘Could that be?’ she thought shocked. ‘Maybe I’m seeing things, but…he does have something on his forehead. If only I could get a better look of his face…’

“Harry!” out of nowhere, Hagrid appeared, carrying a package of ingredients in his hand. “What yeh doin’ here?”

“Daphne, Astoria. We’re leaving now,” announced calmly the woman and rushed the girls towards exit.

Hagrid sent an odd, forced smile to the witch.

“But mother, they’ve got something belonging to Astoria,” said the older girl, called Daphne.

“Ah, sorry. This is yours,” said Harry and gave the girl her glass ball.

“Thank you,” she smiled, but her cheeks were still bright red.

Few hours later Harry had already all the school supplies he needed for his first year at Hogwarts. He knew every other boy in his place would be happy to find out all of a sudden that they were a wizard, and a very famous wizard at that. Harry, however, felt strange about the whole situation.

For the rest of the day he followed Hagrid back to the Leaky Cauldron and into Paddington station. The giant bought him a hamburger and they ate. Harry kept looking around. Everything looked so strange, somehow, now that he knew magic, witches and wizards were not just fairy tales.

“You all right, Harry? Yer very quiet,” said Hagrid.

Harry wasn’t sure he could explain. He’d just had the best birthday of his life—and yet—he chewed his hamburger, trying to find the words. He felt a bit better knowing he was a wizard – it explained a lot of strange events in his past. It seemed as if he regained some small part of himself after today, but still there was this weird feeling that kept bugging him. As if there was more – more little parts of him that were still missing, and he didn’t have the faintest idea what those parts were or how to get them back. But he couldn’t tell that to Hagrid – not really, not after he gave him the best day of his life. That would be rude to complain and ask for more, right?

“Everyone thinks I’m special,” he said at last, remembering that the half giant was waiting for his answer. “All those people in the Leaky Cauldron, Professor Quirrell, Mr. Ollivander…but I don’t know anything about magic at all. How can they expect great things? I’m famous and I can’t even remember what I’m famous for. I don’t know what happened when Vol-, sorry—I mean, the night my parents died.”

“Don’ you worry, Harry. You’ll learn fast enough. Everyone starts at the beginning at Hogwarts, you’ll be just fine, just be yerself. I know it’s hard. Yeh’ve been singled out, an’ that’s always hard. But yeh’ll have a great time at Hogwarts—I did—still do, ‘smatter of fact.” Hagrid handed him an envelope. “yer ticket fer Hogwarts. First o’ September—King’s Cross—it’s all on yer ticket. Any problems with the Dursleys, sen me a letter with yer owl, she’ll know where to find me…See yeh soon, Harry.”

It was a fine August day – it was sunny and warm, even though summer holidays were coming to an end. On such days even the wizarding folk were taking a day of and enjoying the weather.

Narcissa Malfoy spent the whole day in the Greengrass’ Mansion in Wales. The mansion was not as grand as the Malfoy Manor, but it was still one of the oldest mansions in Great Britain. It had a beautiful view and was quite far from any Muggle towns, which made it perfect if one wanted to spend a quiet and relaxing day.

Even though Narcissa was a few years older than Mrs Greengrass, she knew her from her school years and they were friends. Being Lucius’ wife, Narcissa knew connections were very important and she tried to be acquainted with as many important people as possible. However, she did have a few real friends – Stella Greengrass being one of them.

Nonetheless, visiting Stella today, proved very interesting, not only because Mrs Malfoy was able to relax and catch up on some gossips. She found out about things that could prove to be rather useful. Mostly because of that Narcissa decided to cut her visit short. She wanted to get back to the manor as soon as possible, to inform Lucius about what she found out.

Heading to the main hall of the mansion, both witches stopped abruptly, surprised by a sudden ‘pop’ and a miserably looking house-elf appearing in front of them.

The creature wasn’t old really, but the sadness and resignation in its eyes, made it look that way. Big, bat-like droopy ears were almost touching the elf’s shoulders. There were a few old and a few very recent scars and burns visible on the creature’s ears and hands. It was wearing what looked like a very dirty and old child’s pillowcase.

“Good afternoon, lady Greengrass, lady Malfoy,” the elf bowed so low, his nose was touching the floor “My mistress apologises for not visiting and sends a gift for young lady Daphne, and wishes her a wonderful time at Hogwarts.”

Stella took a nicely wrapped gift from the creature’s hands. She decided to give it to her daughter personally.

“How is your mistress, Tinkle?” asked Narcissa politely, although her face remained expressionless.

The house-elf’s fdace took on an even sadder expression, if that was even possible. Both Narcissa and Stella were confused by such reaction. They knew Tinkle served his family nearly fifteen years and he was still very young for a house-elf, but right now he looked as if he already served for more than thirty years.

“Tinkle?”asked Narcissa again.

“My mistress is…moving forward…gradually,” answered diplomatically Tinkle.

“I understand,” said Narcissa “Will she accept guests?”

The elf nodded.

“Tell your mistress that we’ll be visiting her, as soon as Daphne and Draco leave for Hogwarts,” said Stella.

“I’ll pass that on to my mistress. Good day, lady Greengrass, lady Malfoy,” the creature bowed and vanished with a pop.

“It really is painful to watch them suffer like that,” continued Stella, when the elf disappeared.

“Indeed, but it’s understandable considering how important people she lost during war,” Narcissa shook her head slightly “My sister was sent to Azkaban and that already is painful. I can’t even imagine what I would do if I lost Bella and Lucius.”

Walking into his room, Draco fell onto his enormous, for a eleven year old boy, bed, tired after flying on his broomstick for a few hours. He could hardly move, but yes he was getting better and better every day. Surely, there would be no one who could beat him at flying, in his year in Hogwarts. It was only a pity, that first years never made it into the House Quidditch Team.

“I’ll make it into the Slytherin Team, just you wait,” he said to himself, finally getting up and changing clothes from his Quidditch ones into something better suiting a Malfoy heir.

He was just about to put away his broomstick, when someone appeared behind him.

“Master Draco, sir,” called a house-elf after bowing its head. “Your father wishes to see you, sir. Master Lucius is waiting in his study, young master.”

“Tell father I’ll be there in a moment, Mitzi.”

“Can Mitzi do something else for young master?” she asked with a polite smile on her face.

“No,” he smartened himself in front of a mirror then turned around to face the house-elf “On second thought, you could take my clothes to laundry, Mitzi.”

“As you wish, master Draco,” and with that she vanished.

Draco left his room and hurried downstairs, to his father’s study. He knew he was supposed to go to him immediately after the elf informed him and not make the older Malfoy wait, but there was nothing he could do about it now. There were few rules – which were rather simple if you got used to them, really – though sometimes Draco found it quite difficult to follow them. A Malfoy always had to be eloquent, look presentable and genteel, which meant he had to be dressed properly in front of his father. That’s why he had to take his time to change his clothes to look presentable. But how, for Merlin, was he to transport himself to Lucius’ study in few seconds without running?

“Draco,” a voice called him when he was already at the ground floor. The boy turned around and saw Abraxas Malfoy sitting by one of the windows in the drawing room, sipping Superior Red. “One does not run in this estate, Draco.”

“Yes, grandfather,” answered the boy, lowering his head.

“A Malfoy does not run, rush or even walk briskly. We, Malfoys…”

“We strut proudly. Sorry, grandfather.”

“Precisely,” the man took another sip from his glass and the corners of his lips slightly curled up watching his grandson. “I do believe your father is waiting for you. Don’t make him wait.”

Yes, that happened every single time he tried running. He really thought his parents and grandparents could give it a break sometimes. It’s not like he was running or embarrassing the family in front of outsiders. He was simply being a kid in his own house.

Draco finally reached the door to his father’s study. He stopped in front of it and inhaled the air a few times to calm his breath – it wouldn’t be a good idea to try and talk with his parents breathless. He knocked and only after hearing Lucius’ voice did he enter.

“You wanted to talk with me father?” the boy stopped in front of an old, mahogany desk. He was quite surprised to see that his mother was sitting in an armchair before the desk. “Mother?”

“How is my Dragon today?” the witch stood up, pulled the boy into a gentle embrace and kissed his forehead.

“I’m fine, thank you mother.” Draco looked at Lucius questioningly.

“I wanted to talk with you, because your mother brought us some very interesting news.” The man looked at his wife, no emotions written on his face, except for his eyes, which were warm and gentle. “Harry Potter.”

“…Harry Potter?” the boy didn’t understand. Was it a question? Did his parents expect him to do something particular right now? “I don’t understand. What about him?”

“It seems the boy-who-lived will be attending Hogwarts with you,” answered calmly Lucius.

“So he finally showed himself to the rest of the wizarding world after ten years?” said Draco with a sneer.

“Stella Greengrass told me today that she saw the boy shopping for school supplies at Diagon Alley,” explained Narcissa. “We must have missed him in that entire crowd, when we were there at the end of July.”

“Wait,…you mean he was there the same day we were?” all of a sudden the boy didn’t feel so confident and ready to mock, when he remembered that day at Diagon Alley.

“Sit down, Draco,” ordered Lucius seeing his son’s strange behaviour. “Why are you so surprised? Is there something you forgot to tell us?”

“…” he gulped, realising how irritated his father will be when he finds out what an amateur’s mistake Draco has made. “You see…when you left me at Madame Malkin’s there came a boy. He looked rather odd – short, skinny, massy hair and baggy clothes. He really did look disgraceful.”

Draco could already sense his father’s growing irritation. It was obvious, Lucius had guessed were did that story lead to.

“And?” pressed the older Malfoy.

“Now that you said Harry Potter was at Diagon Alley that day…I think the boy I’ve met at Madame Malkin’s might have been him,” he lowered his head and waited for his father’s outburst of anger.

Seeing the atmosphere in the room getting a bit heavy Narcissa put a hand on the boy’s shoulder and asked “Did you talk with him?”

“Yes, I did.”

“And what did you talk about?” she continued to ask her son.

“Nothing bad really…I guess” he looked at his father and quickly lowered his head again, unable to decide whether the man was furious or only mad at him. “I told him I like flying and Quidditch, and that I want a new, fast broomstick…then we talked about school houses...and then that Hogwarts’ oaf showed up and Potter said he thinks that oaf is brilliant.”

“The last member of the Potter family befriending Hogwarts’ gamekeeper?” Narcissa was shocked. “What would my great grandfather say?”

Draco didn’t quite understand what had Harry Potter befriending that half giant to do with his mother’s family, but he decided to ignore it for the time being.

“But…I don’t think he is looking forward to meeting with me in Hogwarts again,” the boy stumbled.

“And why is that?” asked Lucius.

“He wasn’t very happy talking with me…and he got out of the shop rather fast.”

“Because…?” Lucius pushed farther.

“…I might have boasted a bit…and I might have said what we think about mudbloods…” he stopped abruptly when his father’s opened hand hit loudly the desk.

“Do you have any idea what you have done? You insulted his mudblood mother!” the wizard tried very hard to calm himself down, but this was a perfect chance for their family and Draco’s actions might have ruined it.

“Lucius, please,” Narcissa turned his attention away from their son, who was quite shocked at the moment. “Draco didn’t know it was the boy-who-lived, and I’m sure there is something we can still do to save the situation.”

“Your mother is right. We can still change the situation to work in our favour.” He gave his son a few moments to calm down before he continued – after all it was never his intention to frighten or hurt his first born, his heir. “When you go to Hogwarts I want you to befriend Harry Potter.”

“What?” was all Draco could utter in his surprise. “But…but his parents were on the Light side, he defeated the Dark Lord…”

“Precisely,” interrupted Lucius. “No one knows what exactly happened that night and I dare say it would take a lot of dark magic to defeat the Dark Lord.”

“You think he is…” started Draco, when realisation came upon him.

“He may be,” corrected him the older Malfoy. “Nevertheless, if you gain the friendship of the wizarding world’s saviour you might gain a friend and our family will be put in an even better light.”

“Yes, father. I’ll definitely befriend Harry Potter,” receiving a look full of suspicion from both of his parents he added “I’ll try not to boast…you should be awaiting my letter from Hogwarts, announcing I’m friends with the boy-who–lived.”

Knowing that was the end of their conversation, Draco stood up and left to go to his room.

That was going to be easy. After all, who in their right mind would not want to befriend a Malfoy? Potter could gain from this friendship so much – better clothing, obviously, better connections, better everything. He never considered befriending Potter before, but if his father said it was alright, then why not?
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Harry Potter and the wizarding world