Mal Hargreaves at Hogwarts

by kincubba

A lot took place within the walls of Hogwarts, especially during Potter's years there. Malcolm Hargreaves (known as 'Mal') is a timid boy who walks into Hogwarts and tries to go about it quietly and quickly, but he soon not only finds out that adventure follows him, but that Potter's own adventures downplay his. This is a joint project between Kincubba and Terra Booma.

1. Chapter 1

Hello, my name is Malcolm Hargreaves, but most people call me Mal. It means 'bad' in French, and the name suites me, because of my poor luck. I'm the middle child in a pure-blood family, but you wouldn't know it. Both of my parents are super interested in muggles, and they find them to be the most fascinating people in the world, so much so that they were disappointed the day I displayed magical abilities. They were hoping that my siblings and I would turn out to be squibs so that they could send us away to a muggle school to be taught muggle things.

To tell you the truth, I wasn't sure what to think when I received my letter of acceptance from Hogwarts. First amount of good luck that I had received in months, and it frightened me. It had happened while my parents were having my Uncle Finley for dinner.

It was a perfectly normal, muggle meal and my Uncle Finley hated it. He hated my parent's obsession with muggles and what they did, mostly because it was rather annoying. It was always muggle this or muggle that. In fact, that was the whole topic at the dinner table, until an owl flew in carrying the letter. The Tawny owl landed right in front of me and dropped it right into my salad, ruining the envelope.

Sighing and muttering to myself while Uncle Finley laughed like crazy, I opened it to find the letter inside, which read:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL OF WITCHCRAFT AND WIZADRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)

Dear Mr. Hargreaves,

We are pleased to inform you that you have a place at Hogwarts School of Withcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on 1 September. We await your owl by no later than 31 July.

Yours sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall

Deputy Headmistress

I wasn't sure how to respond. Uncle Finley was laughing at my parents' stunned expressions. My older sister, Kimberly, was congratulating me on making the school. My parents were sitting there, trying their best to hide their disappointment, while my younger brother, Owen, looked around trying to discern what happened.

The dinner ended pretty quickly after that, with Uncle Finley leaving with a huge grin on his face and a chuckle. I could tell that the eyes of my mother were following me around the house, as I got ready for bed.

---

The next day I woke up and went downstairs to find my mother silently staring out the window, cup of tea in hand. She was reading a copy of a muggle newspaper, with the headlines, 'Snake Mysteriously Escapes Zoo. Zoo Director Baffled as Glass Disappears Without so much as a Shard of it Found,' and a copy of the Daily Prophet. I automatically assumed that dad went off to work, and that neither Owen nor Kimberly was awake. I took a seat next to her and she looked over at me.

"You're upset with me, aren't you?" I asked.

"Slightly, but not because it's your fault, but because I got my hopes too high," she replied.

I nodded, knowing exactly what she meant.

"I wanted you to be exactly what I wanted, but that was selfish of me. I now think you need to be able to choose for yourself. I just didn't want to lose you."

I thought it over, right then and there. She wanted me to go to a muggle school, where I would be back at home every once in a while. Somewhere where she could keep an eye on me and make sure I was doing all right. Kimberly always did seem to come home every so often shining brighter than normal though. She seemed to have a really good time at Hogwarts.

Not feeling very sure of myself, I looked her in the eye and said, "Yes, I want to go."

"Alright then, Mal, do us proud," my mother replied, pulling a small letter out from under her newspapers and handing it to the tawny owl that sat next to her. Quietly, she whispered, "Hogwarts," to the owl, and off it went.

After watching it disappear, she leaned in to me and gave me a big hug. "You'll have fun there, I know I did."

"Then, why did you want me to go to a muggle school?" I asked.

"Because, the muggle world is so fascinating!" I sort of tuned out when she began talking about the many 'interesting' things that the muggle world had to offer. I was too busy worrying about the new magical world I was about to step into.