Disclaimer: J.K Rowling is our queen.
His Family
Chapter Nine: School
"The school records. That's all it took." Remus heaved a huge sigh, gazing down at the letter Dumbledore had just sent them regarding how the Death Eaters had found their home the first time. "And then the records we had at the house about the trip to the cabin. They found them among the bags we were going to pack that night. And we thought we were safe so we didn't put any damn spells around the cabin." He placed his face down in his hands. "I should have done it. Logically speaking, we had just had our home ravaged and then… to not put spells around where we were staying."
"It's not your fault Moony. We all should have thought of it… we were just so preoccupied with the holidays that we didn't even think about it." Sirius reassured him, clapping his best mate on the back gently. He sighed, watching Harry pull the little red wagon containing his sister around their new back yard on his bicycle. He'd gotten it for his sixth birthday, but it still had it's training wheels on it. The yard was large, with lots of trees and another paving stone path that led all the way from the back porch to the back gate that separated the yard from the rest of the world. There were no old flowerbeds, or treehouses, or swings or fishy ponds in this back yard. When spring came, then they would remedy that, but for now, it was nice to watch Harry go up and down the walkway on his bed, Rozzie cheering him on from the wagon. The ground was frosted with snow except for the path right now, having been cleared away with a heating spells that had melted it all after Harry had expressed a strong desire to play outside but there wasn't much to play in their yard currently. Well… he was fine playing with sticks and rocks and the trees, but it would be much more fun when he had a new tree house and swings and maybe even a new fishy pool. They'd reset up the trampoline when the snow melted. That would help keep the adventure flowing.
However, so far, what Sirius hated most about having to leave their old home, was missing the people. They had been here a week and Harry was already expressing his missing Ron and Ginny, Marny and Bas, all the other kids at the day care and in his class. He had been very upset the night before when told that no, he probably wouldn't be able to finish the fort he and Bas had been constructing over the fall, nor would he probably be able to play with Bas anymore since they couldn't return to Ottery St. Catchpole except to visit the Burrow, which was the only save place for them there. However, Harry had felt a bit better after he learned he could still send his Muggle friends letters through the Muggle post.
"I just… I wish it didn't have to be this way. He had so many friends at that school and daycare. It's not so bad for us or Rozzie, since we can live anywhere and still go to work. Well, except for me, but, that's alright. I'm sure Diane will take very good care of the day care. I wrote her a letter."
"What did you tell her?"
"What we discussed before. That we went away, that there was a medical opportunity for Rozzie's eyes in the United States that was very limited and that's why there was no notice before we left. I told her I was very sorry that I wouldn't be able to be at the daycare anymore, and to give everyone our best. I managed to get through some hoops and sent her the deed with her name on it. So now, the daycare is hers to do with what she wants. And she'll never have to worry about her kids being home alone at night ever again and the families who still need child care will still be able to have it if she chooses to keep it open."
"Which, knowing Diane, she will."
"Yes." Remus sighed, looking sad as he sipped at his tea. "Have you decided what to do about Harry's schooling yet?"
Sirius sighed, gazing over the top of his own mug of tea. It was just the two guys watching the kids today. Lexie was at work, something about an emergency in her department that needed all hands on deck even though she was usually home on Saturdays. "It's a toss up. On one side, we send him to the local school, he makes new friends and is happier, but less safe. On the other side, we home school him and have him be miserable and lonesome missing all of his friends back in Ottery St. Catchpole. He'd be safe, but not nearly as happy as he could be. I mean, if we send him to the local school, there are precautions we can take. Dumbledore suggested a fake address and names if we decide on option one, which would be the best bet of keeping him safer. If the school doesn't have the real address or names, the Death Eaters can't break in and track us down. And while they're dangerous, we caught the ones at the house, so anyone trying to track us down will have a limited resource of help. It's unlikely they would outwardly attack a Muggle school and allow their presence to be known, but you never can tell with those jackasses. But I can't stand the idea of Harry being stuck at home without any kids his own age he can hang out with regularly, even if it is just at school. It's not like he can just see his wizarding friends every single day. Their parents are busy and so are they." Sirius stirred at his tea with a spoon he'd used to pour honey into his cup and then gazed up at the sky. It was cloudy again. They hadn't seen much of the blue beyond the clouds lately actually. But that was part of winter. "So, I was thinking… if we send him off to the public school around here… How would you feel about applying for a teaching job? Just as an extra precaution? You could teach a younger group of kids, reading and writing maybe."
"I'd love that, but I doubt they'd be looking for anyone at the moment. And besides, who would look after Rozzie if I'm working?" Remus frowned, shaking his head and watching his god daughter's pigtails sail out behind her as Harry pedaled his bike faster.
"We'd figure something out about a day care. I'm pretty sure St. Mungo's has one she could go to." Sirius sipped at his tea. "I want you and Harry to both be happy, Remus. This move is hard on you too. It's not like that for me or Rozzie or Lexie. We don't have to leave our jobs and Rozzie's too little to understand much of what's going on. You don't even have to stay with us if you don't want to. I know it can't be easy, centering your life around other people…"
"You guys are my family, the only true family I have left anymore. I would never want to leave." Remus shook his head again. "I have nothing else. What would I do? Go back to a dingy apartment and living day by day trying to find the odd job to do because no one likes to hire a werewolf? If you can find a place for Rozzie to go, and if it benefits Harry, I'll see about applying at the local school. Maybe… maybe they will have something open. Even if it's only temporary."
Sirius smiled now, clapping Remus on the back. "Good man. We'll go down together on Monday."
…...
"Is this it?" Harry asked curiously as he held tightly onto Sirius's hand as they trailed down the front walk of the local primary school. It wasn't as big as Harry's old school, only being a big two story stone thing. It didn't look nearly as welcoming as his old school either, but that could have been due to the lack of flowers currently in the gardens and that there was seemingly no playground here. At Harry's old school, the playground was in front of the building and it was always a happy, bright place. This new school looked quite intimidating from the outside.
"Yes." Sirius nodded, Rozzie on his hip as he frowned, gazing up at the school. He, too, had noticed the differences between this one and the one in Ottery St. Catchpole, but you couldn't judge a book by it's cover after all. It was probably a perfectly nice school once you got inside. And indeed, opening the front doors, he, Harry, Remus, and Rozzie were greeted with a long hallway painted light blue and covered in colorful artwork with the names of children on them. Laughter rang out from somewhere deeper into the building and Sirius heaved a sigh of relief. Children laughing was a good sign.
They entered the main office directly to their left and the lady behind the desk smile brightly, her eyes shining. "Well hello there. I don't believe I've ever seen you around before."
"We're new in town and decided to come down to see the school." Sirius explained. "My names James Blake and this is my son, Harold, but we just call him Harry. My brother, John. And my daughter, Rozilyn." Harry frowned, but he had already had this explained to him. Sirius had said that since the Death Eaters had broken in, it would be safer if they didn't tell people who weren't allowed to know their new address their real names either, to help keep them safe. Harry wasn't sure he understood this very well, but it was okay because his name got to be Harold, so he could still just be Harry for short.
"Well it's very nice to meet you. I'm Mrs. Everly. Are you thinking about enrolling?" Mrs. Everly asked, her gaze going back to Harry who grinned up at her brightly. She seemed nice.
"Oh, yes." Sirius nodded. "I know it's the middle of the school year, but my wife and I were hoping to keep Harry on track. Nothing better than a good education."
"We always have room for more students here, Mr. Blake." Mrs. Everly nodded, rising from her desk and digging some papers out of a filing cabinet. "We do require a previous schooling record if there is one though. And of course, you'll have to talk to our Headmistress as well, but it's all just formality to get him situated in the proper classroom. Would you like to fill out the forms? The Headmistress should actually be returning just after morning meeting in a few minutes now."
"That would be wonderful actually. This is the only school in the area, correct?"
"Yes, for this particular part of the district. It's here or a private school a bit farther into the suburbs, but most people prefer the public school."
"I see." Sirius nodded, reaching out and taking the papers he was offered and sitting down in one of the chairs the office had. He started filling out the forms while Remus dug into Rozzie's diaper bag for Harry's newly edited old school records. The personal information had be edited as a precaution, but the grades and teacher's comments had all been kept the same. He handed it off to Sirius and then stepped forward to the desk.
"Excuse me, Mrs. Everly. I was wondering if there were any positions open, perhaps temping or, just about anything really. Custodian, lunch room…?"
"Actually…" Mrs. Everly smiled, looking a little taken back, but pleased. "Our librarian just gave notice that she will not be returning after her maternity leave after all. How do you feel about books?"
"He loves books!" Harry laughed, clapping his hands together and jumping up and down in pure excitement now.
"Here. Fill this out." Mrs. Everly dug more forms out of her filing cabinet and handed them off to Remus, who, smiling, thanked her and sat down next to Sirius who had Rozzie glued to his leg, half asleep. She hadn't been sleeping well at in the week they'd been at their new home. She hadn't once slept in her own bed and even woke up screaming in her parents' bed. They had tried everything for her but she kept waking up, crying about the bad men and their bad magic wands and masks. They had tried putting her in her own bed , but she wouldn't sleep there and she still woke crying in Remus's bed and Harry's. Lexie was worried and had suggested they take her to a child therapist at the hospital, but Sirius wanted to give it a couple more days to try and help her work it out on their own.
And so, she passed out in random places during the day, usually clinging to one of her three adults. Most of the time it was Remus, since he was the one who was home. He had gotten really good at cooking with one hand.
Harry sat down on the floor beside his sister and between his two favorite men. He reached out a gentle hand, stroking his sister's messy black hair gently, the same way he had seen the adults do all the time to the both of them. It made him feel safe, so maybe it would help Rozzie too. He had been having bad dreams as well involving masked men and jets of light, but he tried to go back to sleep in his own bed like a big boy… after he got some reassurance and a cuddle of course.
Rozzie smiled in her sleep, nuzzling her face against her father's leg and Harry grinned.
A woman wearing a suit came into the room and, upon spotting Harry on the floor, smiled and crouched down by him, her voice kind and gentle as she spoke. "Hello there, and what would you name be?"
"Harry." Harry responded in a whisper, looking up from his petting of his sister's head. He knew this lady must work here at the school by the way she was dressed and it was alright to talk to her since his Pad and Moony were right there with him. He held a finger to his lips and then pointed. "Rozzie's sleeping, so I gotta be quiet."
"Oh, I see. Is this your sister?" The lady whispered back.
"Mhm." Harry nodded. "She's two and needs more sleep than me. My Pad is filling out forms for me to go to this school, but that lady there said we gotta meet the Headmistress first and she should be back soon. D'you know if there's a playground here? I didn't see one."
"Oh yes, there's a nice big playground behind the school. Are you looking forward to going to school here, Harry?"
"Kinda." Harry nodded after a few moments of deliberation. He did feel better about the school now that he knew there was a playground. "I miss my old school, because that's where all my friends are. We had to move though, so I gotta go here now."
"Well, I'm sure you'll make lots of wonderful new friends here. It was nice meeting you, Harry."
"Nice meeting you." Harry nodded as the lady rose back to her feet and smoothed down her skirt.
"I've finished." Sirius moved, reaching down and removing Rozzie from his leg and handing her to Harry. He took her, leaning back and holding her as she rolled over and buried her face against his shirt, cuddling and gripping onto the front of his shirt tightly.
Sirius brought the forms over to the desk and handed them, along with Harry's edited school record, to Mrs. Everly. She took them beaming and looked them over before handing them off to the lady in the suit.
"He's got good grades, Headmistress. His uncle is also filling out a job application, if you've got time."
"I always have time to meet with prospective students and their parents and prospective employees." The Headmistress smiled, taking the forms and looking them over, beaming. "Well then. Mr. Blake, why don't you and I have a little chat in my office while your brother finishes his form?"
"Of course." Sirius nodded, looking a little surprised that this was moving so quickly. He hadn't been expecting to be able to get things done all in one day, but then, maybe it was possible?
While Sirius went into the office, Remus rose with his own forms and offered them over to Mrs. Everly. She took them and looked them over, her eyes widening slightly. "You had a day care?"
"Yes." Remus nodded.
"Well, that's quite unheard of, a man opening a day care center."
"The town was in desperate need of one."
"My friend, Marny's mummy had to work all night and it made Marny sad." Harry explained boldly, remembering when the day care had first been opened. "But then her mummy could work at the daycare instead, so Marny wasn't sad anymore. And Bas's mummies could work more."
"Well, that is quite a wonderful story, Harry." Mrs. Everly beamed down at him as he wriggled out from under Rozzie, but allowed her to keep her head in his lap so she'd still have a pillow.
Moony and Mrs. Everly talked for a few more minutes until Sirius came out of the Headmistress's office looking pleased. Mrs. Everly handed off Remus's forms to the Headmistress, and he was beckoned into the office as well.
"I hope M- Uncle John gets to be the librarian here." Harry remarked when the door had closed. He had faltered slightly but then caught himself. They had been practicing at home most of the weekend on calling one another different names and working on spelling. At this school, Harry wouldn't be able to use his real last name, but instead, he had to put it as Blake. He liked that name because it was the similar to Padfoot's real last name but just different enough to better help keep them under the radar. Thankfully though, he wasn't required to call anyone any weird names at home except for the practice they'd done over the weekend.
"I hope so too, mate." Sirius nodded, knowing it would be an excellent job for Remus to have. Then he'd be nearby in case of trouble at school and he could closely monitor everyone in the school without seeming out of place.
Remus came out of the office ten minutes later, his eyes shining brightly. "So long as I pass the background check, which we know I will, I'll have a job and Rozzie gets that daycare we needed. I asked, and so long as she doesn't go rampaging through the school by herself, she can stay with me in the library. There's even a little office in there where I can put her down for naps."
"Fantastic." Sirius laughed, looking like he was feeling a whole lot better about this whole sending Harry to school thing. He wanted the kid to have friends he could see fairly often and not be lonesome by having to be home schooled.
"Oh! Before you leave, you'll be needing this." Mrs. Everly offered a pamphlet to Sirius and he took it, curious. "It's got all the basic information regarding the school in it. You know, address, phone numbers. For his uniform though, I suggest Morley's on the corner of Oak. It's just a block from here and you can find everything he needs there. They'll know what to give him as far as colors go too."
"Awesome. We'll stop by there on our way home." Sirius grinned, nodding and they all bid Mrs. Everly good bye for now, sure they would see her again in the future.
…...
"All set?" Lexie asked a couple of days later. It was Wednesday and Harry was due to start school this morning. His hair was still rumpled from not being able to sleep much the night before but he nodded, excited and nervous at the same time.
"I'm nervoucited." He stated, downing the last of the milk from his cereal and reaching out to pull on his new green jumper with the school's crest upon the chest. He frowned, looking down at it and feeling a little sad. "I miss my red one though."
"I know, sweetheart. But it'll be fine. I'm sure you'll make some good new friends and learn lots of things. Maybe even some things you already know."
"Okay." Harry nodded and reached down picking up his good old red backpack that he'd had since he'd started going to school. He liked it because it was familiar and large enough to hold everything he needed, even as a second year. He unzipped it, looking inside to double check that all his things were there. He had his old homework folder, his lunchbox, and his pencil case. He zipped it shut again and looked up at Lexie, his tummy in knots.
Sensing his anxiety, she reached out, pulling him into a hug and brushing his hair back from his forehead gently. She bent and kissed him right on his lightening scar. "Moony and Rozzie will be nearby if you need them."
"Right." Harry nodded, feeling a little bit better about that. That helped quite a bit actually, knowing he would at least be able to see familiar faces if he ended up in the library. Still though, he hugged onto his mum tightly, burying his face in her stomach for a moment, letting that mum-ness wash over him like a calming wave.
"Harry! Ready to go, mate?" Remus called from the living room where he and Rozzie were waiting. Sirius had already left for work a few minutes ago and Lexie had to get to work soon. So, Remus would be taking both kids along to the school in their van, which was logical since they were all going the same place anyway.
"Coming."
"Have a good day, love you!" Lexie called as Harry raced from the kitchen for the living room.
"Love you!" Harry called back, swinging his backpack onto his shoulder.
Remus pulled into the parking lot of the school and shut off the engine of the car. He glanced into the rear view mirror at the bouncey two-year-old and nervous seven -year-old. "Alright you two. Time to head in. Harry, we'll help you find your class before we go, alright?"
"Okay." Harry nodded, helping Rozzie get loose of her car seat and climbing out of the car with his backpack. Remus reached out, loosening the straps a bit for him a bit, his winter coat causing them to be a little too tight. Harry smiled and reached out, taking Rozzie's hand, his jaw set. He could do this. He had been to a couple schools now in his life, he could brave another new one.
They entered the building, though there were no other children in here yet. Most of them were out on the playground behind the building until the first bell rang, but Remus had thought it would be better for Harry to start out in his classroom where he could meet his teacher and classmates first before being sent out onto a playground full of strangers. Not that he wouldn't do well on a playground yet. He was pretty good at making friends in general.
"This one." Remus pointed, opening the door to class 2G. Thankfully it was on the first floor where the library was also located, just down the hall. Harry could even see the double doors into it from here. That made him feel a bit better still.
They entered the classroom and Harry smiled. It was similar to his old one. Desks and chairs grouped into tables of four. Hooks for coats and bags were near the back of the room, along with cubbies for lunchboxes and trainers or boots in the winter time since they had to wear their black school shoes when they were inside.
"Hello there! You must be Harold?"
"Hi. Yes." Harry turned, looking up at his new teacher. She was an older lady, probably in her fifties. She wore a large dress and had a nice smile.
"It's so nice to meet you! I'm Mrs. Goffy. The class is very excited that you're joining us. Now let's see… your hook and cubby is going to be right over here, right on the end." Mrs. Goffy pointed, walking to the back of the class.
"Nice to meet you." Harry followed after her after a nod from Remus. He hung up his coat and sat down on the bench underneath, digging into his bag for his school shoes and kicking off his boots. He placed them in the cubby along with his lunch box and tugged on his school shoes. They were the same shoes he'd worn in Ottery St. Catchpole.
"Now then, do you like to be called Harold or Harry?"
"I like Harry." Harry nodded, rising from the bench and picking up his bag. He hung it up under his coat, but left it open so he could dig out his pencil case and homework folder. "I brought these."
"Oh wonderful! You'll be needing them. Your desk is right over here, towards the front." Mrs. Goffy smiled, leading him over to a set of four desks. Three of the desks already had slightly worn out name tags on their corners. Each name tag had some stickers on it along the top or bottom and sides. The fourth desk was completely bare except for a pair of name tags on the top and some tape. One said 'Harold' the other said 'Harry' on it. "Mrs. Everly in the office said you might like being called Harry better, so I made you a second tag just in case."
"Thank you." Harry smiled, feeling glad that she had done that. He didn't like the name Harold so much. It wasn't even really his name. He was also feeling quite glad that his teacher seemed nice so far.
"Well, that was very kind of you." Remus remarked, smiling and walking over to help tape the name tag onto the corner of Harry's desk. "I'm John Blake, Harry's uncle and the new librarian."
"Oh wonderful! It's nice to meet you John. We're very excited that you're here. Our last librarian had a baby and decided not to return, understandable though of course. But we are glad to have the position filled."
"I Wozzie!" Rozzie announced brightly, prodding herself in the chest with both of her thumbs. She had been given a bath the night before and dressed in a tiny version of the school's uniform for girls, a green dress over a white short sleeved shirt. She wasn't required to wear it, but Lexie had been concerned about her feeling left out when she saw all the other kids in their uniforms. "I do 'chool too."
"My niece and library assistant." Remus explained with a laugh, reaching down and patting Rozzie on the head.
"I assis-tent." Rozzie nodded boldly and then bounced her way around the desks, grabbing hold of Harry around his waist and hugging onto him. "I do 'chool, Haw-wy?"
"Yeah. You can do school too, Rozzie." Harry nodded, opening his desk and setting away his folder and pencil case among the school books already in there. "Look! See all the books? You get to be around all the books in the library all day. That's a very important part of school."
"Books." Rozzie nodded, very seriously, her face set.
The bell signaling the beginning of the school day went off and the sounds of children entering the building began to echo through the hallways. Harry frowned. He was about to meet his new class mates.
"Well, we had better be getting to the books now. Rozzie, say bye to your brother."
"Bye Haw-wy!"
"Bye Rozzie." Harry reached down and hugged her before she hopped away, grabbing hold of Remus's hand as he led her out of the classroom.
"Harry, come stand over here with me while everyone gets settled. That way we can introduce you to the class properly."
"Okay." Harry nodded and followed Mrs. Goffy over to stand before the blackboard beside her large teacher's desk. The door to the classroom opened and a stream of boys and girls came flowing into the room, laughing and chattering with one another.
Mrs. Goffy waited while the children of her class put their coats and bags away and changed out of any boots they might be wearing. Once everyone had taken a seat at their desk, she raised her hand in the air. The movement drew the eyes of the children and they quieted down. Harry blinked. He had never seen a teacher able to get the full attention of their class just by moving their arm. Normally it took a few tries. Tapping on the blackboard with a pointer, or speaking, or blinking the lights was what he was used to. However, Mrs. Goffy was a lot older than his previous couple of teachers, so maybe she knew some tricks the others didn't yet.
"Good morning, everyone!" Mrs. Goffy smiled, looking pleased to see her students. They all chimed a good morning back, some half yawning or not that heartfelt as some of the others, but they still did it. "Now, if you remember, yesterday I told you we would be getting a new student in our class today. I would like all of you to treat him with kindness and remember what it was like on your first day of school a new classroom with some new faces at the beginning of the year. Let's all do our best to make him feel welcome, yes?'
"Yes." Chorused the class, most of them eyeing Harry with interest. Harry knew that feeling. It was the same one he had had last year when his class had gotten a brand new student partway through the year. It was excitement and curiosity.
"Go ahead and introduce yourself and tell us a little about you." Mrs. Goffy smiled encouragingly at Harry, ushering him forward a little. He nodded, nervous, but brave. He could do this… after all, this was a class of kids who might become his friends…
"I'm Harry P-… Blake." Harry began, looking down at his feet and then back up. He gazed around the room, anxious. All eyes were on him, but no one was laughing, so that was good. "I'm seven and I like…" He paused, thinking of saying Quidditch, but knowing that wouldn't be allowed. He frowned for a moment. An image of hammering pieces of wood together with Bas filled his mind and he smiled. "…building things. And riding my bike. And lots of other things."
"Like trains?" A voice piped up from the same table of desks Harry was going to be sitting at. He blinked, his green eyes locking on brown, sending his brain moving, though he wasn't sure why.
"Yeah." Harry nodded. "Like trains."
"Do you like sports?" A boy towards the back of the class called out.
"Yeah." Harry grinned. Well, he did like one sport in particular…
"Now now children. Remember to raise your hands." Mrs. Goffy reminded them and several hands shot up into the air, though most of the mouths they belonged to didn't wait to be called on before they were blurting out what they wanted to say.
"Do you have any brothers or sisters?"
"What about games? What kind of games do you like?"
"What school did you used to go to?"
"I think chocolate milk is better than plain milk, do you?"
"Children, children." Mrs. Goffy calmed them again as Harry opened his mouth, ready to answer a question but then getting interrupted by yet another question. "Let's let Harry take his seat. You'll have plenty of time to get to know one another throughout the rest of the school year. By then I'm sure any and all questions you have for him will have been answered."
"Awwww." Some of the kids pouted slightly, but Harry moved forward, sitting down at his desk next to the child who had asked the first question. He glanced over at the name tag on her desk but it was so covered in stickers that he couldn't see the name.
"Now then class, let's start with our morning math." Mrs. Goffy announced. Part of the class let out groaned, but dug into their desks, pulling out math workbooks and pencils. Harry dug about in his desk until he found the right workbook and then opened his pencil case, digging one hand into it until it wrapped around the pencil he wanted. It was a plain yellow one, but the end had a neat eraser shaped like a lion's head on it and a red triangle pencil grip. The grip had come from Bas while the eraser had come from Marny. They had all exchanged erasers and grips at the beginning of the school year like girls exchanged friendship bracelets. Both the grip and eraser were dirty at this point, but they reminded Harry of his friends and that made him feel good. He never used the lion eraser though, preferring to use a regular pink one so the lion didn't wear down.
"Turn to page 39, section 4, please."
Harry flipped through his book, finding the proper page and frowning as he found that he didn't know how to do this math yet. It wasn't adding or subtracting big numbers, but rather, multiplying. He knew what multiplying looked like because they had been just starting it before winter vacation, but only for a few days. He knew how to do ones and twos, but this page involved multiplying by nines.
Harry filled out the ones for nine times one and nine time two, but then he got stuck, frowning at the page.
"Do you need help?"
Harry looked up from his page to find the brown eyed girl looking at him curiously. He frowned and then nodded, feeling slightly embarrassed. "We'd only just finished twos at my other school."
"Nines aren't too bad when you know the trick to them." The girl smiled, reaching out her own pencil and pointing. "For each one, this number goes up one and this number goes down one. So this one will change from a 1 to a 2. And this one will change from an 8 to a 7. So instead of eighteen, you have twenty seven. Then it's the same for the next one. You try."
Harry frowned, looking at his workbook. He wrote down the twenty seven under nine times three and then pondered it. If the two went up, it became a three. And then the seven went down and became a six. "So… thirty six for nine times four?"
"Yes."
"And then…. Fourty-five?"
"Yes! See, you can do it. It's not too difficult."
"What's the rule about talking during math book work?"
"Sorry Mrs. Goffy." The girl apologized quickly, looking down at her desk.
"I haven't done numbers this high yet for multiplying, Mrs. Goffy. She was just teaching me the trick to nines." Harry explained, feeling bad that the girl had gotten in trouble for talking to him when they were supposed to be working quietly by the looks of things. "I can try them now. See?" He wrote 54 for nine times six and Mrs. Goffy smiled.
"She is a very good teacher, however, perhaps you should come sit up front with me and we'll work together on getting you caught up on your times tables?"
"Okay." Harry nodded, picking up his math book and pencil. He followed Mrs. Goffy over to her desk. They sat down and she turned the pages back to the beginning of the times tables section, letting him fill out the ones and twos to see how far he could go before starting in on the threes.
"Mrs. Goffy! I need help." A girl in the back of the room called, her arm in the air. Mrs. Goffy rose from her seat, heading for the back to help the girl. As she made her way back to the front through, another child called for help. Instead of heading straight to the child in question, she crouched down near Harry's desk mate and spoke to her quietly. The girl nodded and picked up her own work book, moving to the front of the room and sitting down next to Harry.
"Mrs. Goffy said I can help you as I've already finished."
"I've got to start with threes." Harry nodded, glad he would still have help while their teacher was busy with the other twenty students in the class. A lot of them were needing help, so they couldn't have been doing nines for very long.
"Threes can be tricky, but the nice thing about them, is that you just add three to your last answer." The girl nodded, understandingly. "See, you've got fifteen there. So if you add three to it…"
"It's… eighteen?"
"Right. And then the next one will be…"
Harry frowned for a moment, working out the math in his head, but having to write it down to figure it out properly. "Twenty-one?"
"Yes!" The girl nodded, happy. They continued on like this up through three times twelve which was as high as the numbers went on this page. Then they started on the fours, but halfway through, instead of asking Harry what 24 plus 4 was, the girl frowned for a few moments and then reached out. She pushed the fringe away from Harry's forehead and nodded to herself.
"Why is your last name Blake now?"
"Er… huh?" Harry frowned, not liking that question. He hadn't been expecting anyone to question why his last name was Blake. That just wasn't something you asked about normally because a last name was a last name. He had never wondered about any of his friends last names. They were what they were.
The girl frowned. "You don't remember me, do you, Harry?"
Harry blinked. Had he met this girl before? He didn't think so. He stared at her now though, hard. She had brown eyes and brown hair pulled back in a long braid. Her cheeks were slightly freckled and her front teeth were a bit larger than average. Her voice was familiar, and so were her eyes… and she had asked if he liked trains…
And then it clicked. The image of a little brown haired girl wearing fairy wings and rain boots on the underground. Reading books, a birthday party, opening presents on Christmas morning, and a trip to the beach and zoo.
"Hermione." Harry said after a moment's thought. "Hermione! You look different."
Hermione's eyes widened and she laughed, face lighting up excitedly as she flung her arms around him, hugging him tightly. "Oh, thank goodness. I thought for sure you must have forgotten me completely. You look quite different as well, though I suppose it's been quite some time."
Harry beamed. He was feeling so much better about this new school now that he had one of his friends here. He hadn't seen her since his fifth birthday or so, but that didn't matter. A friend was a friend. "I didn't know you would be here. So this is your school?"
"Well, for now. My parents are going to send me to another school next year because they're planning on opening up a new dental office in London instead of outside of it, so we'll be moving to be closer to it, but they didn't want me to switch schools in the middle of the year." Hermione explained, frowning. "I liked that idea, but now I'd rather stay here with you. I haven't managed to make many friends here, you see."
"Oh." Harry sighed, not liking that idea either. Now that he knew someone in his class, he hated the idea of her leaving at the end of the school year. "Maybe they'll let you stay instead."
"I'll talk to them about it." Hermione nodded.
"What are you two chattering about up here? It doesn't look like much math is getting done." Mrs. Goffy stated, but she was smiling all the same.
"Mrs. Goffy, Harry and I knew each other when we were little."
"Is that right? How wonderful! It's so nice to have familiar faces in new places, isn't it Harry?"
"Yes." Harry nodded, grinning. "Hermione's one of my best friends. She helped teach me how to read."
"Why am I not surprised? Well, after math we'll be heading along to the library. You can tell your Uncle your lovely news."
When math was over, Harry could do his threes and fours as well as his nines. He didn't have them memorized yet, but that would be part of his homework for the next couple of weeks until he caught up to the rest of the class. Everyone put away their math books and lined up by the door, filing out and down the hallway towards the library. Wednesday mornings was their class's scheduled time to go, though they were also allowed to visit it during rainy recesses or lunch times if they wanted.
They got to the library and Harry grinned at the sight of Remus sitting behind the librarian's desk, sorting returned books into order so they would be easier to put away. He rose, smiling at the class of students.
"Everyone, this is our new librarian, Mr. Blake."
"Hello everyone. It's a pleasure to meet you." Remus smiled, looking over the faces of Harry's classmates curiously, wondering who would be Harry's new close friends.
"Mr. Blake, our class is going to be writing research papers. Could you help us learn about reference books?"
"Oh, but of course. If you'll all follow me this way…" Remus nodded and waved the class to follow after him, heading deeper into the library. It was quite a big library, the school having older children in it as well. As they walked, Harry felt something grab hold of the back of his shirt. He turned his head and found Rozzie trailing after him, her thumb in her mouth, manta ray on her head. She grinned up at him toothily around her thumb, her teeth like tiny little pearls in her mouth. Harry smiled back at her and reached to take her hand, leading her along beside him now instead.
They reached the reference section, a large area of books with tables near by.
"If everyone could take a seat…. That's it. Perfect." Remus smiled as the class listened, sitting down at the tables. "One moment."
"Harry, you seem to have picked up a sea creature on our way through the library. Why don't you introduce her to us?" Mrs. Goffy suggested while Remus grabbed a couple of encyclopedias off of a shelf.
The class laughed, some raising up in their seats to get a better look at Rozzie. Harry grinned, pulling her blanket back off her head a little bit so they could see her face. "This is my little sister. Her name's Rozzie. She's two."
"Aw, she's so cute!" One girl cooed, her friends beside her nodding in their agreement.
"How come your sister is at school if she's so little?"
"Mr. Blake is my uncle. She stays with him while our parents are at work." Harry explained, shrugging.
"Ah, here we are." Remus smiled, returning. "This book is called an encyclopedia. Does anyone here know what that is?"
Only one hand went up.
"Yes…?"
"Hermione. It's a book containing factual information about all sorts of subjects or a specific subject."
Remus paused, staring at her for a moment, but hiding his shock well. How many Hermiones in the world could there be that spoke that well? His eyes flitted to Harry momentarily, and the little boy nodded, grinning. Regaining his composure, Remus smiled. "Very good, thank you, Hermione. An Encyclopedia is one of the best sources for information. There are encyclopedias about animals, or astronomy, or the ocean. Just about anything you can think of, you can find within an encyclopedia. Now, don't worry. This is only one kind of reference book. There are other reference books that deal with a very specific subject. I have here, a reference book about monkeys. How many of you are interested in monkeys?"
At least half the class's hands went up and Remus smiled. "Well, all you could ever want to know about all different types of monkeys is located in this book. Depending on what you want to research, you could find a book about, say… airplanes if you wanted to learn about airplanes, or, if you're more interested in plants, there are different books all about flowers or trees. There's even one about all the different types of grass."
"What about birds? Is there one for birds?"
"Yes, there's one for birds too. If you can think of it, there's going to be a reference book for it so long as it's not something imaginary."
"Oh, so no unicorns then. Too bad for you, Elise."
A little girl with brown pigtails frowned. "Unicorns are too real…" She shot back, though meekly, as though she wasn't sure of it herself anymore.
"I've never seen one!"
"Don't be a bully." Harry remarked loudly, his brow furrowing slightly. "Just 'cause you never saw one doesn't mean they aren't real. I've never seen a whale but they're real."
"Alright everyone, settle down now. Let's give our attention back to Mr. Blake."
…...
"What are you going to do your report on, Harry?" Hermione asked curiously as they browsed through books, looking for things they could write about. Rozzie had attached herself to Harry for the time being, sitting beside him on the floor in front of the shelves, pulling books off and holding them up to show him what they were about before putting them away the way Remus had shown her to do at home. Books were not meant for throwing. They were for reading and you had to treat them respectfully.
""I dunno. I was thinking about doing lions, but maybe I'll do something different. What're you gonna do?" Harry stated, shaking his head at the book of sharks Rozzie had just show him.
"Otters, I think." Hermione paused for a moment and then smiled, tugging out a book on water dwelling mammals. "Or Jack Russell terriers. They're my favorite kind of dog."
"I like big black shaggy dogs best." Harry laughed, looking down at Rozzie as she giggled, knowing what he was talking about.
"Snufflelies Dada!"
"Oh look! Harry, this one is about trains. You still like trains don't you?"
"Yeah!" Harry nodded, taking the book on trains from Hermione and smiling. "I think I will do trains."
"Hello there, Hermione." Remus laughed, coming over and crouching down by the kids. "It's nice to see you here."
"Hello Mr. Blake." Hermione smiled. "Why is your name different now? Wasn't it Mr. L-"
"Oh that. Well you see, since we're all one big family now, we decided we should have the same surname." Remus stated simply, hoping his explanation would sate the girl he knew had a high curiosity about everything.
"I suppose that does make sense." Hermione nodded appreciatively. "But why did you choose the name…"
"Children! We only have five minutes left in our library time. Those of you who have chose your books, place come to the front of the library to check them out. Those of you who aren't quiet sure what you want to research, place come here and I will help you find something you might be interested in." Mrs. Goffy called.
"We had better head up to my desk." Remus laughed. He reached down and scooped Rozzie up onto his hip. "Did you two pick?"
"Mhm. I'm doing trains!"
"I'm going to do Jack Russell terriers I think." Hermione nodded and scanned the books quickly. She grabbed the one about dogs and thumbed through it quickly. "Yes, it's in here. Alright then. I'm ready."
"Fantastic." Remus laughed and they headed for his desk.
…...
Later that day, when the last bell rang and the children were leaving the school, Harry changed back into his snow boots, put on his coat, and went to his desk to get the things he'd need to take home to do his homework. He flipped his desk open and pulled out his math book, the book on trains, and his homework folder that currently held his assignments. He placed these away in his bag and swung it onto his back.
"See you, Harry!" Hermione called from the back of the room where she was pulling on her own boots. He waved and bid her goodbye before leaving the classroom and heading down the hallway for the library. He was supposed to meet up with Remus after school.
When Harry got to the library, Remus was working on putting books away. He smiled as Harry came in. "Hey, mate. I've got some things to finish up here, so why don't you head outside and check out that playground? You can leave your bag here."
"Don't you want help?" Harry asked, frowning and setting his backpack down next to Remus's large library desk.
"Nah. You were stuck inside at recess due to the rain, but it's stopped now. You should get outside. It won't take me long."
"Okay." Harry nodded and zipped up his coat.
"Be safe and I'll see you in a bit then."
Harry nodded and headed back into the hallway. Rozzie must be napping since he hadn't seen her in there. Knowing the playground was behind the school and having seen most of his school mates headed in one direction, Harry turned and made his way down the long corridor away from his classroom and the entrance door.
He reached the end of the hall where a pair of large double doors stood and he peeked out through the windows in them. Ah! There was the playground! Excited now, he pushed through one of the doors and raced outside, glad to be free of the confines of the school.
The playground was pretty busy with children waiting for parents or busses to pick them up. Some of them could have walked home but preferred to stay a while to play with their friends. Though the world was kind of soggy from the rain earlier, the kids still played. There was a great big tarred area for playing games like basketball or four-square or hop-scotch. Some younger girls were giggling as they used wet chalk to color on the bricks of the school building. The teacher nearby either didn't notice or didn't care, however, the older looking half washed out chalk drawings a little ways down from the girls indicated that the teacher didn't care.
Where the tar ended, the grass began. A large space for running about or playing soccer games stood off to the right, a bunch of kids kicking around a black and white ball, their goals marked by backpacks on the wet grass. To the right though, were the play structures, which were what Harry was most interested in.
There were swings and monkey bars and a couple of big metal slides no one was using right now because the bottoms of them had puddles. But the piece de resistance was the great big wooden play structure made for climbing and running. It looked fairly new, the colors on it's metal parts still very bright. It was shaped to look like a castle, with yellow plastic roofs and plastic flags hanging out of them. A drawbridge shaped ramp sat near the one end and a couple of places were enclosed but had see through windows in them shaped like sticking out bubbles.
Harry grinned, heading for the play structure excitedly. There were other children playing on it of course, but not so many that he was worried about getting in the way or something. He had just reached it and was about to climb up the rope net to the second level when a voice from below the structure caught his attention.
"Cut that out! I'll tell! I will!"
Curiously, Harry passed by the rope net and passed his way into the below part of the structure. In one of the higher parts, hidden away from the eyes of the teacher, there were four children. Three of them Harry didn't know, all of them surrounding the fourth who just happened to be Hermione. She was sitting on her backpack, the book on dogs held closely to her chest, as though she were protecting it. Her eyes were squeezed shut as the other children, three girls, laughed and kicked mulch at her. One girl leaned forward and spat her gum right into Hermione's hair and then, to make matters worse, she reached out and slammed her fist down on the gum, making sure it was embedded.
Rage filled Harry's chest and he shot forward, reaching a hand out and grabbing hold of the gum girl's wrist, putting himself between her and Hermione before she could hit her again. "Stop that!"
"Hey! Isn't this that new kid in your class, Bianca?"
"Yeah. But he's friendly with Her-hiney. Is this your boooyfriend Her-hiney? Do you liiiiike him?"
"EW! Cooties!" The third girl shouted and all three of them laughed, backing away from Harry and Hermione.
"Her-hiney has cooties! Her-hiney has cooties!"
"I do not! There's no such thing as…"
"Cooties! Cooties! Ew ew ew! You're gross and diseased!"
"Stop it! She didn't do anything to you. Why're you picking on her?" Harry glowered, reaching out and tugging Hermione to her feet by her wrist. "C'mon." He grabbed up her bag and pulled her along. She followed after him silently, her eyes watering as she continued to hug onto her dog book tightly.
Harry marched away from the play structure and straight over to the playground monitor, knowing what he was supposed to do. Sirius had taught him never to pick on anyone and if he ever saw anyone getting picked on, to do something about it. Well, he sure was going to do something about this!
"Bianca and her friends were picking on Hermione." Harry stated automatically without even bothering to say hi or excuse me. "They put gum in her hair and kicked dirt at her and said she had cooties."
"Oh dear, not again." The monitor sighed, reaching out and pulling at the gum in Hermione's hair gently. "We'll have to take you to the nurse's office."
"Hermione, darling?" Jean Granger came dashing over from the gate that separated the playground from the path that went alongside the building to the front parking lot. She reached them and pulled her daughter to her, crouching down and using her sleeve to rub at the little girl's water eyes and dirt smudged face. "Oh sweetheart, are you alright? Was it Bianca again?"
Hermione nodded, as her mother started picking mulch out of her hair. "Yes. But…"
"Oh for goodness sake. I swear, if there was one child who needed a spanking, and I am not a fan of spanking, it is that one. I'm sorry dear. I promise, next year will be better. You won't have to deal with Bianca and her thoughtless mother anymore."
"It's okay Mum. H-"
"This young man here appears to have stood up for her." The monitor stated, placing a kind hand on Harry's shoulder. "He's a new student here."
"Stood up for…?" Mrs. Granger looked perplexed as she leaned to peek around her daughter to see who had come to her rescue. Normally the other children joined in instead of preventing the teasing. "Thank you, so much. It's very much appreciated. Hermione is… Wait a moment…"
"Hi Mrs. Granger." Harry grinned, reaching out and pulling a large chunk of mulch from the back of Hermione's head.
"Harry! My goodness, I haven't see you in years. You sure have grown! Of course it would be you who… You were such good friends when you were smaller." Mrs. Granger smiled, reaching out a hand to take Harry's in thanks. "I'm so glad to see you. Did you just move here recently?"
"Yeah. It's my first day at school." Harry nodded brightly, helping pluck more bits of wood from his friend's hair.
"Isn't that fantastic Mum?" Hermione laughed. "Harry's come to school here. His desk is even next to mine as no one wanted to sit by me at the beginning of the year, but I suppose that's a good thing now, isn't it?"
"I suppose so. Well darling, we must be off. I've left Mrs. Fredrick's with her mouth quite open wide and your father is dealing with an emergency molar. I think I've still got some peanut butter at the office so we can get that gum out of your hair."
"Alright then. See you tomorrow, Harry!" Hermione smiled, waving as she took her mother's hand and Mrs. Granger picked up her daughter's back pack.
"Bye Hermione!" Harry waved.
"Thanks again, Harry!" Mrs. Granger called, smiling as well and Harry watched as they went through the gate and disappeared around the corner just as Remus and Rozzie came out the back door of the school.
"Ready to go Harry?"
"Yep." Harry nodded, racing to take his bag from Remus and grinning wide from ear to ear.
"I take it you had a nice first day then?"
"Yep!" Harry repeated, spinning around as he swung his bag onto his shoulder. "A very good day. I like this school. My Hermione is here."
Sorry this one took a bit and there's really not much story line to it actually, but it is about 4000 words longer than usual, so that's okay right? I really do like this one and I'm happy that Hermione is back, at least for now. Who knows what the future holds? Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading and as always, I really appreciate it when you give me feedback, good or bad, and any ideas you have that you'd like to see placed in later. :D And my hamster's wheel is insanely loud right now... he is too cute!
Love always alligators,
S.Q.O.
