Harry Potter in the Claw of the

Raven
by BakenandEggs

When a more studious Harry Potter entered Gringotts with Hagrid,

the Goblins managed to talk to him privately - Dumbledore never
saw that one coming. A Ravenclaw Harry story. Warning: child
abuse, character bashing, and pureblood society.
Rated: Fiction T - English - Friendship - Harry P., Draco M. -
Chapters: 10 - Words: 56,257 - Reviews: 575 - Favs: 5,339 -
Follows: 2,877 - Updated: 12/26/2015 - Published: 9/8/2015 -
Status: Complete - id: 11496914
URL: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11496914
 Prologue
Disclaimer: I do not anything Harry Potter related. I don't think I
even own a single copy of the books...

A big thank you to Kakariki, but wonderful sister, sounding board,

and beta.

This story is crossposted on AO3 under the same pen-name.

Enjoy :)

0-0-0

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 Dursleys didn't like it when he sat around doing nothing.

"I imagine you have a lot of questions." Baknog commented. "I could
give you a 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 1
Disclaimer: I do not own anything Harry Potter related. I don't think I
even own a single copy of any of the books…

A big thank you to my sister, sounding board and beta – Kakariki.

This story is cross-posted on AO3 under the same pen-name.

Enjoy :)

1-1-1

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 31st 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 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 2
Italics refer to text taking directly from Harry Potter and the
Philosopher's Stone.

This story is finished, and I am currently working on its sequel. I will

post a chapter of Harry Potter in the Claw of the Raven every
Thursday (NZ time).

2-2-2

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 rends 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 Potter's 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 Boots 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 Sinstra 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 3
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 4
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 5
"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 6
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, has 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 7
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. Mongos."

"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 8
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 9
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

Author's Note:

This is the final chapter of 'Harry Potter in the Claw of the Raven'. I
hope you have enjoyed it. Thank you to all of you who have
reviewed and favorited this story – it is very encouraging.

The sequel to this story, 'Harry Potter at the Knees of the

Marauders', can be found on my author page. You should definitely
check it out!
Table of Contents

Table of Contents

1. Prologue

2. Chapter 1

3. Chapter 2

4. Chapter 3

5. Chapter 4

6. Chapter 5

7. Chapter 6

8. Chapter 7

9. Chapter 8

10. Chapter 9