Chapter two: Friend

"Sirius! It's happening. Hagrid is taking Harry to Diagon Alley. Well, sort of. They're sleeping right now."

"You're going to Hogwarts with him?" Sirius croaked, inhaling the food I brought him.

I sighed. "Why are you both asking me that? Of course I'm going with him. Who else is going to keep him out of trouble? Honestly."

"But, Dumbledore. He might feel you or something."

I glared, pouting just slightly. "I'm actually offended that you just said that."

"Sorry," he said with almost a smile. He was definitely getting better. "Didn't mean to offend an angel of the Lord."

"Now you're just mocking me."

He went to say something, but was stopped by a violent bout of coughing. I raised his arms above his head for his diaphragm to expand for him to start breathing better. "Hey now. Breathe. You're alright."

"How's Remus?"

I frowned. "I-I haven't been to him in a while."

"Please, could you? Just... please."

I nodded and moved away from him to Remus Lupin's home near Devon. The lights were all out and the house was run down from age. I sighed and tried to fix it as best I could and turned lights on, fixed the old, springy furniture, and cleared the dust. I knew he had had it hard. The Ministry had just passed the werewolf laws making it difficult to find work and even before that they were discriminated against. It didn't help that he destroyed his house every full moon.

"Don't move."

I stiffened and slowly straightened back up, raising my hands in my best nonthreatening way. The full moon was tomorrow night. I didn't want to provoke Moony. I really shouldn't have let myself be seen.

He looked terrible, no longer the young and studious boy I once knew. He had more scars. He was sick, obviously feeling the effects of the next night. He had his wand in his hand and raised to me, not four inches from my face. I could easily leave. Tell Sirius he was as to be expected. It wouldn't be a lie. Except, then there would be the question of how I 'apparated' past the wards that prevented that.

"Hello," I said, moistening my cracked lips.

His jaw tightened, most likely out of exhaustion and needing to sit down and rest. He really shouldn't have been up and around.

"Who are you?" He demanded. "What do you want?"

"Put your wand away, Remus. I'm not here to hurt you."

He went to take a step forward and his knee fell away but I grabbed him, trying to keep him on his feet. I lead him over to the couch, setting him down.

"Are you trying to make it worse?" I asked in a worried tone.

My only answer was a groan.

I stood, moving to the kitchen to get a wet rag, returning and wiping his face- pressing the cool cloth against his warm forehead. "Shh, I didn't mean to frighten you."

"Tell me."

"Sirius asked me to check on you and make sure you're okay."

In a flash, he shoved me away from him in a last snap of strength. I fell back to the floor and looked up with baited breath. He panted, but glared at me.

"Get out. I don't know who you are, but get out and don't ever let me see you again."

I pressed the heel of my hand to his forehead and he was asleep. He wouldn't wake up for a few hours and he would feel a lot better than he normally would. I wished I could heal him of his lycanthropy, but I could not.

The owl was at the window when I returned to Harry. He groaned and looked around, prompted by Hagrid to give the owl five Knuts.

"Knuts?" Harry asked with a confused look.

"The bronze ones," I told him.

His face brightened and he fished out the coins from Hagrid's coat, tentatively holding them out to the bird.

"The pictures," he gasped. "They move!"

I smiled and ruffled his hair. "Wizarding pictures do that, Crash."

That was my name for him. Always had been. He grinned as Hagrid yawned loudly and stretched.

"Best we be off, Harry. Lots to get."

"But Hagrid, I haven't any money. You heard what Uncle Vernon said- he won't pay for anything."

I swung my legs back and forth from where I sat on the desk. "Your parents left you money," I told him. "Lots of Wizarding money. So did a lot of people that aren't related. People who had no living relatives to leave their stuff to and left it all to you for getting rid of Voldemort."

"But I didn't even do anything."

"What?" Hagrid asked.

"Nothing, just thinking out loud."

I smirked at his flushed face and he made a face at me.

I followed Harry and Hagrid into the Leaky Cauldron and my wings shivered with anticipation. Something was wrong. I glanced around at the people in the tavern.

"Your usual, Hagrid?"

"Can't, Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business." Hagrid said, clapping hard on Harry's shoulder and making him stagger where I had to steady him.

"Brace yourself," I told him, watching everyone go completely still and silent.

He looked around cautiously too, like a cornered animal, and widened his eyes when his name was said and chairs were pushed aside as he was crowded- everyone begging to shake his hand.

"Welcome back, Mr. Potter, welcome back."

"Doris Crockford, Mr. Potter, can't believe I'm meeting you at last."

"So proud, Mr. Potter. I'm just so proud."

"Always wanted to shake your hand- I'm all of a flutter."

"Delighted, Mr. Potter, just can't tell you."

A pale young man made his way forward, very nervously. One of his eye was twitching and I felt a nausea like I had never felt before. I breathed out shakily and tightened my grip on Harry's shoulder as he came closer. My whole body began vibrating in an emotion and sensation I had no explanation for. I pulled Harry closer to me, my wings twitching.

"Harry, I don't trust him. Something's bad about him."

He nodded and whispered. "Okay, what do I do?"

"Don't touch him for starters. Just, be coldly polite. Like to Marge. There's something Dark about him."

"Professor Quirrell!" Hagrid boomed. "Harry, Professor Quirrell will be one of your teachers at Hogwarts."

Luckily, Professor Quirrell didn't seem too keen on shaking Harry's hand and kept his distance. "P-P-Potter," he stammered, but it was fake. I glared at him and his lie, which was my gift to see through. "C-can't t-tell you how p-pleased I am to meet you."

"I bet you could," I said spitefully. Harry reached behind him and took my hand.

"What sort of magic do you teach, Professor Quirrell?"

"D-Defense Against the Dark Arts," he muttered. "N-not that you n-need it, eh, P-P-Potter?" He laughed nervously. "You'll be g-getting all your equipment, I suppose? I've g-got to p-pick up a new b-book on vampires, m-myself."

I scoffed, "You think you're cute, don't you? Harry, stay away from him. I told you Voldemort wasn't really dead. I think this man is with him."

He nodded as the line moved along before Hagrid told them they had to leave. Doris Crockford shook Harry's hand one last time and Hagrid led us through the bar and out to a small, walled courtyard, where there was nothing but a trash can and a few weeds. Hagrid grinned back at Harry.

"Told yeh, didn't I? Told yeh you was famous. Even Professor Quirrell was tremblin' ter meet yeh- mind you, he's usually tremblin'."

"Is he always that nervous?"

"Oh, yeah. Poor bloke. Brilliant mind."

I bit the end of my tongue from saying anything while Hagrid tapped the wall to open the entrance. I had told Harry as much as I could about the Wizarding world, but I didn't mention much about Diagon Alley just so I could see his face right now. His jaw dropped and his eyes widened comically.

"Are you okay?" I asked teasingly. He nodded and followed after Hagrid.

Things in Diagon Alley hadn't changed much in the years. The streets were still crowded, the complaints still the same, the shops in the same order. We followed to the bank, Gringott's, where we went down to the vault and Harry grabbed money. I tried to give him a quick low down about the currency as Hagrid told him as well. I was in all honesty confused as to why Dumbledore asked Hagrid to be the one to take Harry. I liked Hagrid, truly, I'm not sure that there were too many souls more pure than his, but this was not a job I would have delegated him with.

"Get extra," I told him, "You never know when it might come in handy."

He nodded and did as I requested, leaving the vault to go down to Hagrid's destination. I paced the air, feeling uncomfortable around that-that-that thing. This was just asking for trouble. I knew this had to be Dumbledore's first test. The Stone. I could curse Nicholas Flamel for the invention of it.

"Are you okay?" Harry whispered.

I smiled. "I'm fine, Crash. Just, stay away from that thing. Okay?"

He frowned, but agreed and I was happy to leave the bank again. On to Madame Malkins. I could remember, though to me it didn't feel like that long ago, watching over Lily as she was fitted for pregnancy robes. I told Harry as much and he gave me a grin as he did whenever I told him about his parents.

"Listen, Harry, would yeh mind if I slipped off fer a pick-me-up in the Leaky Cauldron? I hate them Gringott's carts."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. I love Hagrid, don't get me wrong, but he isn't who I would choose to introduce my Harry to the Wizarding World. And, considering us meeting Quirrell, he should be there at all times to watch over Harry.

"You're supposed to be watching him!" I scolded, though Harry was the only one able to hear as we watched Hagrid head off to the Leaky Cauldron.

"It's fine, Leaf," Harry told me reassuringly. He had called me Leaf when he was little, unable to pronounce my full name. "You'll be right here. Besides, now we can talk and I don't feel silly. And, I feel much safer with you than anyone else anyway."

I smiled and tried in vain to fix his mess of hair. We entered the shop to find the squat, smiling woman that was Madame Malkins. She led us, him, us, to the back of the shop where there was a boy about the same age as my Harry with blonde hair and looking every bit as much as his father. Hopefully, that was the only thing they had in common.

"Hello," he said. I think his parents named him Draco. They had been terrified for the boy when Narcissa's due date was near Lily's and therefore the prophecy. "Hogwarts, too?"

"Yes."

"My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands," he had the same bored, drawling voice that Lucius Malfoy did. "Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow. Have you got your own broom?"

I frowned, pacing and spinning in my way. "Give him a chance, Harry. He doesn't know any better, if you only knew what his parents were like."

Harry looked over at me and then back to Draco. "No, I don't."

"Play Quidditch at all?"

I smiled, having told Harry all about Quidditch. Harry smiled too, happy he knew something. "My dad was a Seeker, and I've been told I could be a good one too. I have the right build."

I nodded at him with an encouraging smile and Draco looked at him more appreciatively. "I want to be a Seeker too," he told him. "I would love to be on the House team, but they don't let first years try out."

"There's always next year," Harry said with a shrug. "You can try then, can't you?"

"Yeah, I guess. Do you know what House you're going to be in yet?"

"Both of my parents were in Gryffindor," Harry told him and I watch with interest as Draco's face fell.

He quickly hid it and sneered. "I'll be in Slytherin for sure. I wouldn't be caught dead in Gryffindor."

Harry glared, but I stopped him from saying anything. "He's just disappointed you might not be in the same House. There's a huge raging war between Gryffindor and Slytherin."

"Maybe we can study together," my Harry said, making me very proud.

Draco smiled too. "Yeah, that could be fun. Or, maybe we could owl each other over the rest of break."

Good, they've both passed the moment where they could have hated each other and maybe Harry made his first friend. "I say!" Draco exclaimed. "Look at that man."

Harry and I looked over to see Hagrid at the window and holding up two large ice cream cones to show he couldn't come in. Harry beamed. "That's Hagrid. He works at Hogwarts."

"I've heard of him. He's a sort of servant, isn't he?"

"He's the gamekeeper,"Harry told him, being patient.

Luckily, Draco seemed to get the hint and didn't say anything more, though it was obvious he wanted to. Instead, he asked, "Why is he with you? Where are your parents?"

"They're dead," Harry told him.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Now, it wasn't a lie, but I could tell the boy seemed very awkward at this point and unsure of what to say. "But, they were our kind, weren't they?"

Oh no. I had told Harry about the prejudice in the Wizarding World. I had told him that that was how things were for now. He hadn't understood. "They were witch and wizard, if that's what you mean. But, I don't think it's a big deal if they're not. I go to a Muggle school and there are loads of students that are better in our studies than I am."

Draco blinked, looking alarmed. He had probably never heard anyone talk about Muggles like this. He'd probably never met one. "But, they have no magic. That makes us better."

"But they find other ways of doing things without magic. Could you do that?"

Now he frowned. "I guess not. My father doesn't think they should be allowed into the school. It is a bit unfair, I suppose, though. They don't know our ways, they don't know anything about our world. It would be best if they stayed where they were comfortable."

"Shouldn't they make that choice for themselves?"

I could watch the wheels in both boys heads spin. Draco was being subjected to a different perspective than what he had grown up being told and it was obvious he wasn't sure how to handle it.

"That's you done, my dear," Madame Malkins told Harry, patting his leg. He stepped down and looked back to Draco.

Draco frowned at him having to leave and stuck his hand out. "Draco Malfoy."

Harry shook it, grinning at perhaps his first friend. "I'm-"

But Harry's hair had moved when he looked up and his scar was on display. "Harry Potter," Draco breathed with a heart broken look. "I-I know."

I sighed, wishing with everything that this could have waited until they had gotten to know each other more, but I stepped forward and laid a hand on Harry's shoulder. He looked over at me and then back to Draco. "He's been brought up to hate you, Harry. But now you're more than a name. Ask about sending him an owl."

"Can I still owl you?" Harry asked, hopeful.

A pained look crossed Draco's face, but he nodded. "We just can't let my father find out. He'd use it to his advantage. He would want me to be your friend," all this he whispered very quickly so as to get it all out without anyone else hearing.

Harry nodded and we left the shop. Next was to buy parchment, quills, and ink, but I kept thinking about the strange encounter my boy had just had. Maybe his first friend. Draco seemed different than his father, or, maybe he was just now experiencing that things were different than what he had always heard. Harry knew I was preoccupied, there wasn't a way he couldn't know, but I tried to nod and smile at the appropriate times.

"Are you excited?" Hagrid asked.

"Yeah, I hope I'm in Gryffindor. But, I feel like I'll end up in Hufflepuff."

"Better Hufflepuff than Slytherin," he replied darkly and I groaned. "Never been a witch or wizard that went bad that wasn't in Slytherin."

Harry frowned and snuck a glance at me that Hagrid followed with a frown of his own. "But, there had to have been good people from Slytherin too. It's not fair to them to assume everyone in that house is evil."

I kissed his head and Hagrid grimaced, realizing what he had implied. Next, was Flourish and Bott's where I was able to convince Harry to pick up a few extra books he should probably read. We were even able to sneak a curse and counter-curse book past Hagrid, though just barely as Harry had to convince me. Then, heaven help me, he wanted to buy a solid gold cauldron.

"The list specifically said pewter," I told him.

"But, I can afford it," he argued.

I gave him my look and he ducked his head bashfully. "You could probably afford to buy the entirety of Private Drive," I told him. "That doesn't mean you should!"

We did pick him out some nice scales, a brass telescope, and basic potion ingredients that he would need. Then Hagrid, sweet, bumbling Hagrid, insisted upon getting Harry a birthday gift. As fate would have it, an owl, and twenty minutes later I walked out of Eeylops Owl Emporium with Harry carrying a large cage holding a sleeping snowy owl.

I was telling him about the teachers of Hogwarts. McGonagall, who was stern, but loyal and very motherly. Professor Flitwick, who was quirky and underestimated. Finally, I finished with Severus Snape- my favorite of them.

"He was friends with my mom?" He asked in a hushed whisper.

"When they were children, but they got into a fight. He's a good man."

We stopped outside of Ollivanders and I shivered, but then followed them both into the shop. There was the tinkling of a bell somewhere we couldn't see. There was some sort of secret magic to this place, with its piles of wands in their slender boxes.

"Good afternoon," a soft voice said. Everyone jumped, even me. An old man stood in front of them with pale, moon-like eyes that ghosted over me and hesitated for a moment before moving on to Harry. "To all of you."

Harry's eyes widened and darted over to where I was. "Hello," he said awkwardly.

"Ah, yes. I thought I'd be seeing you soon, Harry Potter. You have your mother's eyes. It seems only yesterday she was in here herself, buying her first wand. Ten and a quarter inches long, swishy, made of willow. Nice wand for charm work."

The man moved closer to Harry and I possessively pulled Harry closer to me, making him almost trip and Ollivander to look somewhat amused. "I'm not going to harm him," he said quietly and I got the feeling he knew exactly what I was.

"Your father," he spoke louder, "on the other hand, favored a mahogany wand. Eleven inches. Pliable. A little more power and excellent for transfiguration. Well, I say your father favored it- it's really the wand that chooses the wizard, of course."

I looked around, feeling ready to move on. To leave. Unfortunately, Harry was difficult to place with a wand. It took half a dozen until Ollivander gave him a strange look that I didn't like, glancing vaguely to where I was standing. "I wonder."

Then he handed my Harry a wand that the strange man seemed to be extremely careful with as he held it out for him to take. And that was the one. A stream of red and gold sparks shot from the end of it like fireworks, throwing dancing spots of light on to the walls. Harry looked back to me and I smiled at him, ignoring the feeling of dread. It was the look the man had given me before handing the wand to Harry.

"Bravo!" He cried. "Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well... how curious. How very curious."

"Sorry," Harry said. "But, what's curious?"

"I remember every wand I ever sold, Mr. Potter. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in your wand, gave another feather- just one other. It is very curious that you should be destined for this wand when its brother, why, its brother gave you that scar."

I was shaking, squeezing Harry's shoulder hard enough he winced and I felt bad. Harry paid for his wand and I quickly tried to drag him out of the store with me, but not before seeing Ollivander nod to me.

A/N: So, I love this story. I have big plans for it. How did you like Alethea's interaction with Remus? Love always, Skye