Chapter 9

Monday morning came by fast for Harry and Ginny. She was off to school when he stopped by the bakery on his skateboard. She introduced him to Luna Lovegood, a friend of hers in her year. He took a liking to Luna very quickly and then headed off to the restaurant to start his first day on the job with his grandmother. "Nana?" he called entering the already busy restaurant.

"Harry, come on to the back and let's get you started," Rosemerta said. Harry grabbed his skateboard and followed his grandmother to the back of the restaurant. "Put that thing in my office and find me in the kitchen."

"Okay," he said and went into his grandmother's office. He placed his skateboard somewhere where she wouldn't trip on it and headed back to find her. "Okay, what am I doing?"

"Your dad says you have an eidetic memory."

"Sort of," Harry answered as she supplied him with an apron and menu.

"Memorize the menu," she said sitting him down at a booth, "and then come find me when you're done."

"Okay," he said and opened up the menu and began to memorize. By the afternoon, Harry had things well in hand and was buzzing around like a veteran employee. A lot of the patrons took to Harry like a duck to water.

Meanwhile at Hogwarts High ...

"Albus, the boy is already graduated," Minerva said. "There is nothing you can do." Albus Dumbledore was holding a meeting with his Deputy Headmistress and Snape in his office.

"Just think about it, Minerva," Albus said. "Harry Potter could lead us to a championship."

"Oh, is this what this is about?" she asked. "A bloody championship? We've already got ten."

"Headmaster, be reasonable," Snape said. "The championship cannot be the only reason to get Harry Potter into this school."

"Severus is right, Albus," Minerva said.

"Fine, then I'll have to take it up with the school board. Perhaps they can find something to get Potter into school." The professor of English scoffed before leaving the room.

"I don't see why it is so important for the Potter boy to attend the school, Headmaster," Severus said. "I have meet the boy and he didn't express any desire to attend the school."

"Nonsense, Severus," Albus said. "Every kid wants to go to school and I'm sure there is something that Mrs. Potter overlooked that we can get her son into Hogwarts."

"He's eighteen and already graduated," Minerva said.

"Actually, Minerva, Harry Potter turned only seventeen this past summer," Severus said.

"There, that settles it," Dumbledore said. "Potter is underage and must attend the school or risk being charged with truancy," he said, "and you know that our truant officer can be rather harsh."

Meanwhile …...

Harry was on his way home from a full shift when a car pulled up alongside him. "Excuse me, young man," a bleached blond haired man said. "What are you doing out of school?"

"I don't go to school," Harry said. "I'm already graduated." The man got out of the car and Harry backed up defensively.

"Already graduated?" he asked.

"My mum home schooled me," Harry said. "We just moved here from London."

"Did you now?"

"Yes, sir. I'm Harry Potter, sir," he said holding out his hand remembering his manners.

"Lucius Malfoy," the man said causing Harry widen his eyes before shaking hands with the older Malfoy. "Sorry to question you, but I'm the truant officer and on the school board here."

"Small town," Harry said. "Your wife, Dr. Narcissa Malfoy is my mother's doctor."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, she's pregnant with twins."

"And you say your mother home schooled you?"

"Yes, she did. My last two years."

"May I ask why?"

"She felt that I wasn't getting the proper education in my school," Harry said repeating the lie he has told over the last few months. "The classes were rather large in my old school."

"I can assure you that the classes are just the right size at Hogwarts," Lucius said.

"I'm sure they are, but as I said, I'm already graduated and set to attend Edinburgh University next fall."

"Well, in case you change your mind about going to Hogwarts, here's my card," he said handing Harry a card. "You might find yourself bored with every day life instead of going to school."

"I actually was a bit disappointed that I couldn't go," Harry said.

"Really?"

"Yeah, my dad kept talking about how great Hogwarts was when he went and that I would've had a blast."

"Oh, well, it was nice to of met you, Harry," Lucius said.

"You too, Mr. Malfoy," Harry said. He got back on his skateboard and headed home.

That night, Harry keep glancing over at the business card that Mr. Malfoy gave him. "Hey, Harry," his cousin said jolting him awake. "You awake over there?" he asked.

"Uh, yeah, sorry, Duds," he said. "Hey, you got an Orc coming up on your three o'clock."

"Oh, thanks," Dudley said before cutting it down as Gimli. "You seem lost in thought," he said.

"Well," he started to say as he and Dudley fought their way through Orcs. "I ran into the truant officer here in Hogsmeade," he said. "Gave me his business card in case I changed my mind about going to school."

"Why would he give you his business card?" he asked.

"There's a possibility that I could get bored with every day life," he quoted. "He's right though. I could get bored not hanging around other kids my age."

"He's right on that," Dudley said, "but how could you bored if the last two years your mum home schooled you and kept you cloistered?"

"I'm not actually cloistered here," Harry said. "I've already made one friend." Harry saw the game was paused and could tell Dudley wanted to talk seriously without battling the minions of Lord Sauron.

"A girl friend or guy friend?" he asked.

"A girl," he answered.

"Redhead?" his cousin asked and he scoffed which gave Dudley his answer. "Ah, she is a redhead!" he exclaimed causing Harry to chuckle. "You know, if you do go to Hogwarts, means you'll see her more often than you already do," he said.

"Yeah, but that can't be the only reason to go back to school," Harry said. "However, going back to school would mean I could socialize."

"Who knows, Harry, maybe you're not really graduated yet," Dudley said. "There could be a year you missed that your mum didn't catch."

"Impossible," Harry said. "My mum did not skip a year of teaching so I could graduate a year early," he said.

Back at Hogwarts …..

Dumbledore's assistant, Ivory, came through for him. She got him the school records of one, Harry James Potter from the London offices. "Hm, this is interesting," he said.

"What is, Sir?" she asked.

"It appears Potter's mother didn't file the right form when she asked for her son to be skipped a grade."

"Which grade did he skip?"

"His last," Albus said with a gleam in his eye. "Which means I just bagged myself another Potter. Make arrangements for me to visit the Potters. I want to tell them myself."

End of Chapter Nine