This idea came to me at about 2 am a few weeks ago. Hope you like it!
And yes, I DO own Harry Potter... NOT!
"Lily," complains James to his wife, "You know I am not fond of driving a Muggle car. Can we not just apparate to the station?"
"Oh James! I'm just trying to give Harry the full experience of being sent off to school for the first time; looking out the back of the car and seeing the house for the last time, all the trouble of getting his trunk in and out of the car. It's all so special," Lily says to her husband, holding his hand and looking at him with those green eyes that were a drug to him.
"Fine Lily, but I'm not going to be able to drive that car without any magic," he says, getting the last word he always had to have.
"Harry, dear, are you ready to go?" Lily calls up the staircase to her young son's bedroom. Today he would be going to his first year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry,he had been looking forward to this day since he got his letter from the school. Harry had been packing, unpacking and repacking his trunk for weeks, trying to make sure he got everything he needed.
"I'm coming, Mum! " Harry replies as he drags his trunk to the top of the staircase. He is already dressed in his school robes and has his wand in his hands. "Dad, will you fly my trunk down? I love to see you do that!"
James of course obliges, as Harry watches in awe as his trunk hovers over the steps and lands with a soft thud by the front door. He runs down the stairs after it and asks his parents, "When I get back at the end of the year, will I be able to do that?"
"I'm sure of it, Harry!" says James, messing up the hair on his son's head. "But, dear," his mother objects as she fixes the hair her husband just disheveled, "you will be coming back to see us at Christmas, won't you?"
"Of course, Mum!" her son reassures her, "And I will miss you so much until then! But I can't miss you until I am gone, so let's go!" Harry grabs his mum by the hand and runs out the door.
"Before we leave, your father and I have some things to give you," Lily tells him as she leads him back into the house. She then goes into the coat closet and pulls out a cage containing an owl the color of snow. "We thought you could use a friend on your first year at school."
"She's wonderful! Thank you Mum," exclaims Harry as he hugs his mum around the waist. He looks curiously at the bird before him, poking his fingers through the cage and touching her soft feathers. "Does she have a name?"
"Not yet, dear. You may call her whatever you want," his mother tells him.
"Well, what do you think I shall call her?" Harry ponders, as he doesn't really know what you would call an owl.
"Gwendolyn," "Poppy," "Snow," "Arabella," his parents suggest, but none of them seemed to be the proper name for his owl. She will be a strong bird, Harry knows, and she needs a name to fit.
"Hedwig," Harry says surely as he nods his small head, "She will be called Hedwig."
"And a Hedwig she will be," James tells his son, patting him on the back, "And now for my gift to you, son. When I went off to my first year at Hogwarts, my father gave me this, and my grandfather gave it to him before that," he says as he summons a large cloak, "I think you'll like it."
"What is it?" Harry questions as he unfolds the bundle. He holds out the large cloak in front of him wondering what use he could have now of a cloak that was much too big for him. Sure, it would keep him very warm, and it was once his great grandfather's. But why was his father giving it to him now?
His father chuckles and tells him to put it on. Harry does so; still not quite understanding what was going on. He fumbles with the large cloak, struggling to get it all over his head and get his arms through the correct holes, but when he does he holds out his arms, examining himself. "I am invisible! Is the cloak doing that!" Harry exclaims as he looks over all the limbs of his body.
"Yes, Harry! It's my Invisibility Cloak! It's very old, and the best invisibility cloak I have yet to see. But, if you are going to take it with you to school, you have to keep it a secret," James warns his son. He helped Harry take the large cloak off and pack it into his trunk, laughing as he does so and patting his son on the back, "And don't cause trouble with it," he added playfully.
"That's all your father did with it when we were at Hogwarts," Lily says, joking with her husband and son, "Oh, Harry! I just cannot believe you are already going off to Hogwarts! I'm going to miss you so much."
"I will miss you too, Mum. And I promise to write every day and not get into any trouble!" Harry reassures he mother, "Now let's go!"
And with that Harry, Lily and James walk out the front door of their home and load Harry's trunk in the back of the Muggle car they are taking to King's Cross Station. Harry keeps Hedwig in the back seat next to him and looks at her and pets her most of the car ride. He makes up a few spells and waves his wand in ways he has seen his father do in the past. "Dad, what is a spell I can do?" Harry asks his father, eager to do real magic.
"Umm," James replies as he thinks, "Say 'Lumos' and flick your wand." Harry tries what his father told him and is amazed when the end of his wand began to glow like a flashlight!
"Woah. I love magic!" Harry says, awestruck by his own ability. He looks out the window of the car to see a young Muggle girl staring, slightly frightened, at Harry holding a stick that seemed to be glowing or on fire. Lily notices and tells him to say "Nox" and put his wand away!
"Muggles can't see you use magic, dear, or the secret of magic will get out and, well, it won't be as… magical anymore," Lily tells her son. They continue driving for a few minutes, Harry quietly petting Hedwig's feathers in the backseat, then James tells his son to look out the window, "There it is, Harry: King's Cross Station."
REVIEWS PLEASE! The good and the bad, it helps me become a better writer! Check back soon for chapter 2!