Serpensortia
Harry sighed as his family led the way into the tremendous stadium housing the 1994 Quidditch World Cup. His sister, Lyra, ran up the stairs and straight to their box seats, above everyone else in the stadium. Albus Dumbledore happily waved the family over before beginning to chatter in a feverish manner to Lyra and Lily about a new spell he'd found to transfigure gumdrops into birds.
Harry found the entire subject to be rather drab as he had never quite grasped the concept of transfiguration, or any other form of magic for that matter. His sister though, she was a prodigy, the most gifted student in the school Harry had heard the professors say on multiple occasions, and for one so young! Lyra was only going into her second year at Hogwarts while Harry was going into his fourth. The only thing Harry truly excelled at was flying, it felt so freeing, like all stress and responsibilities just blew past him.
A glance at James Potter proved that he was just as bored as Harry, James was currently staring in mild interest as people milled around the quidditch pitch below. James Potter was not one for talk of the interworking of spells, he was more the type to only care what it did and not focus on the how.
A frigid wind blew through the stands and Harry shivered, regretting his choice of only a light sweater instead of the heavy robes the rest of his family was adorned in. A blanket was suddenly placed atop him in a heap. Glancing up Harry met the glittering silver eyes of a dark haired man. The man gave Harry a shining smile and strode over to Headmaster Dumbledore, pulling him away and down the stairs, the two speaking in muted voices.
Harry lifted the scratchy yet warm blanket the man had given him, it smelled of charcoal and cinnamon. The warmth and comforting scent seemed to soothe the chill right from Harry's bones. Snuggling deeper into the blanket he turned to ask his father who the man was but found James glaring with vehemence Harry had never seen before. His mother wore a stern look and shot a glance to James who returned his gaze back to the quidditch pitch.
The players from Ireland erupted onto the pitch the crowd roared a tremendous cheer and James leapt to his feet whooping and hollering. Lily stood and clapped politely and Lyra rolled her eyes but smiled all the same. Harry rose to cheer with his father Quidditch was the only thing that Harry knew he was better at Lyra in, the thing that was his and his alone. It was an activity Harry could do with James, something they were both passionate about and could enjoy together, even when James was away on business he would firecall Harry to talk about matches and who he thought would win. Personally Harry was more a fan of Bulgaria but he would never tell his father that, James would most likely disown him on the spot.
A sharp whistle signified the break for halftime. Lily and Lyra left with professor Dumbledore, who Harry hadn't even seen return from talking with the mysterious man, James spotted a colleague from work and ran off to greet them.
Stretching Harry left the stadium, eager to explore all of the shops and eateries that surrounded the stadium. It was magnificent, balls of light twinkeled through the night sky, the smells were enchanting and everywhere he turned there would be another vendor selling merchandise for the different teams, one vendor even swore that he had a sweat stained Jersey actually worn by Viktor Krum! Harry highly doubted that as everyone knows that Krum has worn the same jersey since he had started on the Bulgaria team, some symbol of good luck.
One booth in particular caught his attention a sign with bright red letters ringed with gold read "Magical Enhancements, Enhance your Magical Abilities Today!"
Curious, Harry swept aside the gaudy purple and gold flaps and stepped into the tent. Immediately his senses were bombarded by the sweet overpowering smell of elderberries. An old man appeared from behind the counter and gave Harry a toothy grin.
"Now, what's this about enhancing ones magical abilities?" Harry frowned as he strode up to the counter.
"Ah yes! We here at Borgin and Burkes travel sized we have many methods for enhancing ones magical prowess! See here we have a ring that will make you infinitly stronger! No one will be able to match your power!"
"I'm not really looking for strength, just something that will be able to aid me in learning magic."
"Ah yes, something to focus your abilities? Let me see what I've got here" The man ran to a shelf but was halted in his place by a commanding voice.
"I don't think Mr. Potter will be needing any of your services Mr. Burke"
Harry whipped around to find the silver eyed man from earlier standing at the entrance to the tent, moonlight streamed inside, outlining him in a sort of halo. Mr. Burke stood mouth agape as the man led Harry out of the tent, once the flap was closed Harry wheeled around on the man.
"I think I'm quite capable of making my own decisions thank you very much! Who are you anyways?"
"One question at a time if you please."
Harry frowned, "Fine. Who are you?"
The man feigned a look of hurt, "Why Harry, you don't remember me?"
The man did look a tad familiar but Harry couldn't quite place his face.
"I'll just have to introduce myself again than." The man bowed and glanced up at Harry, "My name is Serpens Prince, Head of the United Kingdoms of Magic and Sorcery, and an old friend of your mother."
"She didn't seem very happy to see you"
"Ah, well we had a falling out of sorts in my Hogwarts days."
Harry frowned but nodded, his mom was the type that tended to hold grudges for a long time wait- "You're the leader of the United Kingdoms of Magic?"
"That is what I said is it not? Close your mouth, it's unbecoming. Now you don't need that foul mans help in order to become stronger Harry. Tell me what the problem is and I can see if I may be of assistance."
Harry glanced down, "I'm not really sure myself to be honest. My family all excels at magic, my sisters younger than me but already stronger than me in every subject at school. I've heard my parents talking; they think something's wrong with my magical core, like it's missing a piece. They're surprised I can even ride a broom to be honest. I just, want to be as good as my sister, to make them proud."
Serpens glanced down at Harry and tapped his finger against his chin, "Hmm it seems Harry that the problem may not be in you but the way they are attempting to teach you, this core problem will also have to be investigated of course."
Harry looked down at the ground, "Then it's true, something is wrong with me."
Serpens placed a hand on Harry's shoulder, "Harry I didn't say that. Now here's a thought, why don't you let me teach you magic? A different approach might just be the solution you need to tap into your true potential."
Harry took a step back, "You teach me? I- I'm honored but I'm not sure if my parents would approve."
Serpens nodded and handed Harry a small velvet bag, "Well if you change your mind here's a portkey to my manor, you are welcome anytime just open the bag and touch the item within."
"I know how a portkey works."
"Well then maybe there wont be as much work for me than as I thought." Serpens quirked a smile.
A voice rang out that the match would be continuing soon, Harry turned to tell Serpens that they should be getting back to their seats but the man had already disappeared. Frowning, Harry tucked the small velvet bag into his pocket and returned to his families box seat only to find his father beaming at Lyra and his mother barely holding back tears.
"Harry there you are, you'll never believe what happened!" James spoke in an feverish manner. "My coworker is friends with the owner of the Bulgaria team and after only a few words we were flying with the team on a few practice runs! Lyra even caught the snitch within the first five minutes! Its amazing, she was even better than me! Seems we have a future quidditch star in our midst."
Harry felt his world crashing down around him, he turned his wide eyes to Lyra who shone like the sun,
"It's like everything finally clicked into place I finally understood what I had been doing wrong and suddenly it was like wow, I cant believe I've been missing out on this my entire life! Now I can finally play on the same level as you and dad!"
A buzz signaled that the match was beginning; his family sat down their pride burning Harry. Harry didn't even notice that the game had started; his mind was racing a mile a minute. No matter what he did she would always be better, always stronger, always shine brighter. He wasn't special, he was nothing compared to her. The one thing that made him special, the one thing he was good at and she stole it from him.
A roar went up from the crowd as Ireland scored the winning goal against Bulgaria. James lifted Lyra onto his shoulders as they led the family out of the stadium, Lily beamed at them as Harry trailed behind.
Later that night he lay in his bed awake long after the rest of the Potter family had fallen asleep.
Making up his mind Harry dressed in his favorite robes, grabbed his wand, and took the portkey pouch from off his nightstand. Taking one last look at his room Harry shed a tear and activated the portkey and was whisked off to the manor of one of the most important figures in the entire Wizarding World.
AN: Hey everyone, it's been awhile. I've been busy with adult things and have not been very invested in writing fanfiction but I'm hoping to change that soon as I'm graduating this spring.
ANYWAYS, for my more die hard fans (If I have any) the title of this fanfiction may be familiar as it is the same as a lost fanfiction I posted a couple years ago then took down to fix it and lost it in a computer crash. I wrote this story for an assignment for my Creative Writing minor but kind of liked how it ended up, hopefully you guys will too. If it gets some good reception I might consider expanding it into a full story.
-Kaos