Chapter 0/8: A jump back in time/A new Charms professor.
A/N: Thanks to all those who reviewed since I posted Chapter 7. Most were encouraging, but two wanted to know what I was smoking when I wrote it. I have never smoked anything but tobacco, and not even that since my myocardial infarct in 1978. The chapter, admittedly very different from the previous ones, was my attempt to follow the advice I was given. See ADDENDA September 2011 in my profile.
As I expect some of you haven't been hooked on Isaac Asimov's Robot stories, I'll append a short explanation of the term 'zeroth' to my profile, otherwise this A/N might end up longer than the chapter.
[A/N: 100 words; ADDENDA September 2011: 663 words... Zeroth chapter: 330; chapter 8: 424]
I freely admit that I didn't, and couldn't, write "Harry Potter and the Philosophers' Stone", "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets", "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban", "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire", Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix", "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince", "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows", "Quidditch through the Ages", "Magical Creatures and where to find them", nor even "The Tales of Beadle the Bard". However, I have read them many, many times, and enjoyed them so much that when the supply ran out I had to fill the gap by reading Harry Potter fan fiction.
Chapter 0: A step back in time.
One of the disadvantages – or it might be an advantage – of making the story up as you go along without a plan (the twins' kind to plan) is that you might have to put something in place before the story starts. So twirl your time-turners and meet me about 25 months before Miss Martin's world-changing lesson.
On Harry's first day at school, our six-year-old hero-to-be found that life at school was to be not much better than life at 'home'. Dudley palled up with kids as close to his size as he could find, and started telling everyone that Potter was weird: he couldn't comb his hair, he couldn't dress himself properly, he didn't bring his lunch with him, the only things he could do were to runaway, and to cry. As Harry Hunting became the most popular sport, Harry's running away became very proficient. Someone – not one of the big gang, they couldn't devise tactics to get them home – but a clever kid who wanted to get on the Gang's good side, showed how they could cut off all his avenues of escape. So Harry was comprehensively trashed; but his accidental magic only started to set fire to his clothes. The thought of what vernon would do induced terror, and Harry started screaming in his mind, "HELP, HELP, HELP!"
Even though he had not yet heard of Hogwarts, the castle magic answered, "Keep saying, 'When the sun is out and the sky is blue, the world is beautiful'; this will stop your terror and keep your clothes from burning". And so it was. Harry found this a great help to avoid bursts of anger which seemed to trigger the burning. It infuriated Dudley, to say nothing of Vernon, Petunia and Marge, that Harry was able to remain serene whatever insults he was offered. Being able to infuriate them without doing anything they could blame him for was a frequent source of happiness.
Chapter 8: A new Charms professor.
The first time Harry lost his serenity at Hogwarts was when Professor Flitwich asked his first year class for some charms idea to celebrate HARRY POTTER DAY. Harry didn't think of his mantra, but without thinking, grasped his wand. Filius seemed to shrink a bit, and his halo of fuzzy white hair was replaced by sleek black hair. "I'm sorry Professor! I didn't mean to do that to you," he said. But Filius was delighted at the magical strength Harry had shown; and even though he couldn't reverse it, he was prepared to remain that way as a warning to everyone that Hallowe'en was to remain Hallowe'en while Harry was around. He also felt that he was now interested in music. He decided to start a choir, so that the caterwauling Albus inflicted on them after each sorting would be replaced by something really magical.
Of course at lunch time, when the new-look Filius took his place at the staff table, the story spread faster than a bushfire.
Harry had to explain, first to the deputy headmaster, and later to the headmaster, his calming technique which had kept him clothed for the last five years. "But I had no warning that I was going to flare up like that. Professor Flitwick was speaking kindy — he wasn't trying to annoy me; and before I realised it, the magic had burst out of me.
"But why would preparations for Harry Potter Day annoy you?" Albus asked.
"This whole thing of 'THE BOY WHO LIVED' — it's almost like those 'HE WHO MUST NOT BE NAMED' and "YOU KNOW WHO" ways of talking about the greatest evil wizard without naming him. I'm just an ordinary boy, but nearly everyone wants to put a statue of me on a high pedestal".
"Well, I think that should die out soon. Seeing what you did to Professor Flitwick – without even meaning to – should warn anyone with any sense to make sure you can't hear any exaggerated claims about you where you can hear them.
"When I said 'nearly everyone', that was because there is one teacher who not only doesn't want to put me on a pedestal, but seems to want me under his feet. I don't know why; Professor McGonagall told me that his subject was my Mum's best one."
"Yes, but not your Father's. He and your unnamed professor were not the best friends; they were very much like you and Draco."
"I – think I understand, at least a bit. Thank you, Professor.
