A/N: This was my first attempt at a Harry Potter fic. It was published in 2003. It's short and not my best work as I wrote it very quickly and really late at night. I am posting it here because I wanted to have all my Harry Potter fics in the same place and I can't sign into my old account that had this story originally.

This takes place when Harry was pretty young and based off of a quote in the book about Harry coming across strange strangers as he was growing up.

The Strange Stranger

It was a cold Saturday afternoon and all the shops were full of people trying to get their
last minute Christmas shopping done. Harry was carefully walking behind his Aunt and her large
son, Dudley. Harry was much faster than his large cousin and he would have easily been able to
keep up, if it weren't for the large boxes he was carrying. It was almost Christmas and his Aunt
Petunia didn't want her Dudley to be working hard when it was so near this special day. At least,
that's what the excuse was when Harry's Aunt had made him carry all the packages that they had
bought at the stores that day. Harry could barely see over the boxes in his arms and he found that
he kept bumping into things when he tried to move too quickly.

Harry feared that he might lose track of his Aunt and cousin and then he might get lost
and then they would surely not want to wait for him and they would leave for home without him.
Then again, he was carrying half of Dudley's Christmas presents and he doubted his Aunt would
leave without the gifts for her son. So, Harry thought, I won't be left behind as long as I have the
gifts.

Once in a while his Aunt would turn back and snap at Harry to get a move on. At one
particular time he slowed down to look into a shop window that was decorated for Christmas.
His Aunt looked back and yelled at him to follow them inside the store. Harry quickly forced his
legs to move under his heavy load and he followed his Aunt into the shop. It was a very clean
store that at the moment was having a special on Christmas wrapping paper. Dudley had begun
to complain loudly of the long walk that they had had and it was only the sound of his perpetual
whining that allowed Harry to keep track of where his relatives were in the crowded store.

Harry had just gotten close to his Aunt and cousin when his grip on the boxes began to
slip. In an attempt to catch the boxes he swayed quickly to the right and hit a large bin full of
wrapping paper. Before Harry knew it, he was sprawled out on the floor with boxes and
wrapping paper scattered about him. His glasses had been knocked off and he was frantically
looking for them before the Christmas shoppers stepped on them. His Aunt gasped at the sight
and instead of staying and daring to be associated with the scene she briskly told Harry to clean
up the mess he had made and come find them when he was done acting like a fool. Harry found
his glasses and gratefully put them on his face.

"Excuse me," Harry said quietly as he tried to pull wrapping paper out from under a
shopper's foot. The shopper didn't hear him at all and ended up treading on Harry's small
fingers. Harry bit his lower lip and tried not to think about his throbbing fingers as he quickly put
the wrapping paper in the bin. Once the wrapping paper was away he went after the packages
that had been mostly trampled on by the store customers. "Excuse me," Harry pleaded as he
narrowly missed being stepped on again. Harry soon finished gathering the packages, but as soon
as he was, he was knocked over by a new wave of frantic last minute shoppers. The boxes
tumbled out of his arms and his glasses fell off his nose again.

Harry became quite frantic as he searched for his glasses while his cries of 'excuse me'
fell on deaf ears. Harry's eyes filled with tears and he could feel himself beginning to cry as the
people around him ignored him. Suddenly Harry's glasses were being waved in front of his face
and Harry grabbed them thankfully. Harry looked up to see that a tiny man in a violet top hat had
handed him his glasses. Harry quickly wiped his face on his rolled up sweater sleeve. The small
man helped Harry to his feet and then quickly gathered up all of the wayward packages and
handed them to Harry.

"Th-thank you," Harry said uncertainly. He couldn't believe the unusual kindness of this
stranger that he had never met before. However, the man smiled merrily as though he knew
Harry very well.

"Happy Christmas!" The stranger chirped happily at him.

"H-Happy Christmas," Harry answered. It had been a very long time since anyone had
wished him a happy anything. Then without a word the man took off his violet hat and bowed
deeply to Harry. He then quickly turned and went smiling into the crowd. Harry craned his neck
around the boxes to see where the man was going but he couldn't see him anymore. The crowd
was thick and the tiny man had disappeared.

Just then, Harry's Aunt came storming up to him. She had apparently seen the man
bowing to Harry. "What are you doing?" She demanded in a shrill voice. Harry didn't know how
to answer her. "Conversing with him! Do you know that man?!" She asked grabbing Harry by the
arm. Harry quickly shook his head. "Do you know him?! Well, do you?!" His Aunt said
furiously.

"N-n-n-no, I-I don't Aunt P-Petunia," Harry said shaking in fear, not knowing exactly
what he had done wrong.

"We're leaving," his aunt said sharply, "Now. Dudley, come on."

With that his Aunt hurried her son out of the store, dragging Harry by his arm. Harry
dropped a few boxes in the process, but his Aunt either didn't notice or didn't care. Dudley
began complaining that he had wanted something from that store, but his mother didn't hear
him. She rushed them out of the shop without buying anything at all. Harry tried to look back,
but he could not find the tiny man in the crowd of Christmas shoppers. The man had seemingly
vanished.

THE END

A/N: I know it's a bit late now, but Merry Christmas everyone!

"Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know
him. Very strange strangers they were, too. A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once
while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley…The weirdest thing about all these people
was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look."

If you leave a review, remember that this was written several years ago and my writing style has changed (and hopefully improved). I have not updated it. It appears in its original form. Thank you!