Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter!
Chapter 1
Prologue
"So, what about Harry Potter?" Julie Robinson asked her friend Melanie while holding an old Primary School photograph she'd found the day before buried under stacks and stacks of paper at the very bottom of one of her desk's drawers.
"Who?" replied Mel vaguely, looking up from the list of names she'd just scribbled down on the back of a green-coloured leaflet. The short, fair-haired girl sitting cross-legged on her bed rolled her eyes at her friend in disbelief.
"Harry Potter, Dudley Dursley's cousin, the small, skinny one with black hair and glasses...here, have a look," Julie explained handing the battered old photo to her friend.
Mel eagerly took it from Julie's hand and her eyes moved fast from young face to young face until she spotted him, a small boy in baggy clothes on the far left of the first row.
"Uh, yes. I remember him now...I've never seen him once since we left primary school. What happened to him, anyway?" she asked Julie curiously.
"No idea," Julie answered uncertainly. "I saw him once or twice during summer holidays when I was fourteen or fifteen. That's about it. Mrs. Dursley told my parents they had sent him to this school for criminals or something...pretty weird to tell you the truth."
"School for criminals?" Mel snorted. "He was odd, no need to deny that, but not a criminal. Dudley Dursley ought to have gone to that school instead!"
"Dudley? Yeah, you're right. He was such a bully at the time..." Julie said slowly."I met him a few weeks ago, though, and he's changed A LOT!"
"Really?" asked Mel, a look of clear scepticism etched across her face. "Well, I admit he's in good shape now, all that boxing helped, I reckon."
"No, no, I don't mean just that!" Julie said quickly, sounding oddly embarrassed. "When I talked to him he wasn't as unsufferable as he used to be and he asked me - politely - how I was and what I'm planning to do after I graduate."
"Ha ha someone's got a crush..." Mel said in a sing-song voice while tying her dark brown hair in a neat pony-tail. She was wearing that kind of annoying knowing look that could instantly tell she'd seen through her friend's crumbling façade. Mel had finally understood the real reason behind Julie's eager interest in a Primary School class reunion after so many years of almost non existent contact with her ex classmates.
She and Julie had in fact attended a secondary school in London while most of the Little Whinging people had gone to Stonewall, the town comprehensive, that had effectively cut both of them off of the old gang's gatherings and parties.
However, if there's anything anyone could have given Melanie Lamble credit for is how well she'd always been able to read her best-friend's mind. Julie'd never managed to hide stuff from Mel but that was why she'd always been her closest friend after all.
Melanie didn't press the topic further, though. She knew perfectly well Julie wouldn't have liked that at all. She re-checked the invitation list for the up-coming reunion, instead, and with a deep tired yawn she added one last name.
Harry Potter.
A/N: This is just an idea I've been thinking of for a long time. I know it's been done already but I'll try to give my personal twist to it. Let me know what you think!