Chapter III
Having replied to the letter and requested a meeting with a professor that was comfortable in 'normal society', his uncle's words, they received a visitor two days later. Harry answered the door. Standing there was a fairly normal looking woman. "Hello, might you be Harry Potter?" "Yes, I am." "Well, it is a pleasure to meet you, my name is Aurora Sinistra. I am the professor of Arithmancy at Hogwarts. May I come in?" "Ah, well, yes. Please wait here a moment." He trotted into the kitchen. "Aunt Petunia? A woman is here from that school. Shall I take her into my room or shall I speak to her at the library or somewhere else? I don't want to have her bother you any more that I can help it." "Your room should do. . . . Thank you Harry."
Professor Sinistra explained Hogwarts to Harry. She explained the fundamental classes - Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, Herbology, History and Defence against the Dark Arts; as well as the basics of the school schedule. After she noticed that he seemed to have little knowledge of his own history and the magical world in general. She asked if he would like to have a bit of a tour and gather some addition materials along with his school supplies. After receiving permission, they headed to Diagon Alley. Along the way she quietly explained the fate of his parents and how he had become famous. The disturbing nature of his celebrity that was due to the murder of his parents bothered him deeply. He learned that books were written about him that could have no basis in fact. No one else was in their house that night, as confirmed by the professor and no one had visited him at his current home. That aside, Harry learned many new and wonderful things that day. The Magical world was just that, amazingly magical!
His trip into Gringotts, the wizarding world's primary bank, was also enlightening. He found that his resources were far from limited. He had what looked like quite a bit a money at his disposal. But, not having a wish to stand out he limited his withdraw to just a bit over what was need for his supplies. He'd seen how rich kids at school had people hang around them and be friendly but then talk behind their backs and he didn't want any part of that. While in that train of thought Harry took the opportunity to ask the professor about lawyers. Were they different in the wizarding world and should he have someone look into how those books were made without his knowledge or approval. So, she and Harry consulted with the Goblins and found that they could recommend a choice of a few wizarding litigators, any of which, could look into that for him.
Harry also made his first friend in the wizarding world, kind of since she was also raised in a non-magical household. He met her at the book store, Flourish and Blotts. They began talking about the Welcome to the Wizarding World pamphlets at the store and found a common ground of ignorance of this new world along with a desire to know more it. Though they didn't speak of it, each had a desire to be accepted in this new opportunity. Hermione was very chatty, but Harry could tell that was because she was nervous. Later, Hermione told Harry that she knew that he was being rather quiet for the same reason. They agreed to meet at a library between their homes and go over their new materials with Hermione's parents providing the transport.
Over the next month they grew to know each other fairly well and found that they complimented each other nicely. Hermione helped him dive deeper into his studies and he added some critical thinking to her views. She seemed to think that all the content of books should be treated as Gospel; they were the authority and must be listened to. He pointed out the fallacies of the 'history' books in which he was listed. They printed the 'facts' of his history without any way to verify their information. It was obviously either hearsay or pure fabrication. He also got her to have a bit of fun as well, outside of the library, for which her parents were quite thankful. Just of bit of kicking around a football or playing on the swing-set was more than she was used to doing. They were both glad to already have a friend to share the journey into this strange new world.
After much worry and excitement, September first finally arrived. Harry had a bit of a tearful goodbye with his relatives. "I can't promise that I won't change Aunt Petunia, but I can promise that I won't separate myself any more than I can from you guys and I'll definitely try to stay out of trouble." After promising to write, Harry received a rare hug from his aunt and turned to enter the train station.
During the long train ride Harry met several new kids. He met Neville, Ron, Su and Susan. He and Hermione enjoyed hearing about their very different families and their views on the Hogwarts houses.
Neville, Ron and Susan were all from well established wizarding families. They told Harry and Hermione about some of there traditions and society. Su shared her views coming from a 'mixed', muggle mom and wizard dad, family. Susan shared information about the ministry that she'd learned from her aunt who worked in law enforcement. Ron went on at length about the sport of quiddich while Neville told them about wizarding holidays and how his family celebrated them. When the subject of Halloween was discussed Harry became noticeably more quiet. He heard how it was not only a traditional harvest time holiday but one of celebration of the fall of don't-say-his-name. After a bit he decided that he need to talk about it. Harry shared his views on his story. Much like he explained things to Hermione he pointed out that much of what they know about him was likely wrong. Heck, he didn't know what happened back when he was one year old; how could people who were not there know anything about it. He would enjoy the treats with them, but asked to be left out of the celebrations. Each of them nodded solemnly to him each with their own caring expression.
