Chapter 29 Gifts and sorrows for Minerva
Harry was working hard on his gift for Minerva's birthday. He had been thinking for a long time about what he should give her. He hadn't had many ideas. It was the first time that he actually could give someone a gift and he wanted it to be good.
He had taken the advice of Minerva's friend at the apothecary. He would make something himself. Though what to make was the question. Minerva had liked him making pizza very much so he thought something like that would be nice too. But he certainly couldn't cook for her without attracting attention. She always ate lunch and dinner in the great hall. But it was a Sunday and therefore he had decided that he would make breakfast for her. She liked a healthy breakfast, some special bread and such. So he'd bake that and bring it in her rooms. He hoped that she'd like that. Dudley had once done that on a mother's day (because Vernon had bribed him with the newest computer game). Petunia had been near tears, going on and on about how her Diddydumms was the best possible son.
Harry hadn't much experience in such things of course. And sure Petunia and Minerva were as different from each other as possible. But still, maybe she'd like it. He wished he had someone to ask such things. But he doubted anyone would be interested in such a trivial problem, unless….
Well Albus did say that Harry could always ask him if he had a question. And that he'd like him to do so, to tell him about things that were going on. And he still had a problem with the other part of his gift. He could ask Fred and George, he was sure they could tell him how to get some glue. But he'd have to explain to them what he wanted the glue for. And he couldn't buy it in Hogsmeade because the Hogsmeade weekend was after Minerva's birthday.
Just as he had decided to send Dumbledore an owl asking if he'd mind Harry visiting his office sometime and wanting to know if Minerva was around just then there was a knock at the door that made all this unnecessary.
"Yes?" Harry called.
"Hello my boy. How are you?"
"Fine Albus, you?"
"Splendid. I just saw that you were alone for once and thought I'd come and see if you'd fancy a game, or a bit of talk."
They had charmed three papers, so that Harry could only tap his with his wand and Minerva and Albus knew that he had visitors, meaning some of his friends were around. This was now often the case. And that way the teachers didn't give their relationship to Harry away.
"I … well I just thought I'd come to visit you."
"Really, wonderful."
"You know, I just wanted to ask you something. It's not so important of course, it's just..." Harry hesitated.
"Yes?"
"You know, it's Minerva's birthday next week and I…"
Harry proceeded to tell his plan.
"Do you think she'd like that?" He asked unsure.
"I'm certain." Dumbledore said firmly. "I'm sure she will like anything you'd do, but a special breakfast will be a wonderful present."
"You think? Because I really want her to have a nice birthday."
"Yes, I think. Is there anything that you need help with? Not that I'm much use in the kitchen."
"Well you see, I thought because she's Transfiguration teacher and all, I'd transfigure a special plate and mug. But I don't have any glue."
"What do you need glue for?"
"To glue the parts together, you know I made… Shall I just show you?"
That would be best I think." Dumbledore said and went to lock the door.
Harry took out several pieces of porcelain and some pieces of see through material in the same shapes. Then he got out a tray where he had a lot of dried flowers arranged in neat patterns.
Dumbledore was impressed with the amount of work Harry had obviously put in this. He could see what Harry was planning to do and was sure that it would make a wonderful plate, one that Minerva would surely keep for a long time, not just use once.
"Have you put preserving charms on the transfigured objects?"
Harry nodded. "But I didn't manage the strong ones. Just some simple ones, but I used them about ten times, once a day as the book says."
Dumbledore nodded. "Then it will hold quiet a while. Now Harry I don't want to interfere with your present at all, but if you want me to, I could use the strongest preserving charm that I know. Nothing else, it will still be your gift."
Harry nodded. "Thank you that would be really great. Do you also know where I can get glue, to put the pieces together?"
"I think I can teach you a handy spell there. It's a sticking charm, that you can use to put two things togeth…" Albus was stopped by another knock.
"Who's there?" Harry asked while hiding the pieces of porcelain under the covers. Albus was meanwhile shoving the tray with the dried flowers under the bed.
"It's Professor McGonagall" Minerva called, not sure if Harry had some friends visiting or what was the problem.
After a quick look around and an approving nod from Dumbledore who had just undone the locking charm on the door Harry finally called.
"Come in."
Minerva looked at them curiously, something was up. She couldn't put her finger on it, but it just felt strange to see Harry and Albus sitting there so coolly.
"Is something wrong?"
"Not at all Minerva. Harry and I are just having a little chat."
Minerva raised her eyebrows. "So I'm not disturbing a discussion?"
Harry shook his head and tried hard to look completely innocent. Something that obviously didn't work on a woman with 30 years experience as a teacher.
"Well you see, Harry and I had just an interesting discussion." Dumbledore began and when he saw Minerva approaching Harry's bed, probably to sit next to him (where certain things were hidden) he added. "You know, man to man."
Harry worked hard to keep his face more or less neutral, and at least managed to keep his jaw from dropping, while Minerva stopped abruptly.
"Oh."
"Oh indeed." Dumbledore said pleasantly.
"In that case I shall leave the two of you to your devices. But I must say I appreciate you volunteering Albus. Though I think that Harry is a bit young for the talk I will certainly remind you of your offer in a few years. You know as your practising this sort of discussion already. So then have a nice evening." She turned around, after seeing with satisfaction that once she had managed to render Albus speechless.
"What did I just get myself into?" Albus murmured but then shook his head. They had managed what they wanted, to get Minerva out of the room, without her finding out what they were up to. "So then Harry, let's continue."
The gift was finally finished, wrapped up and stowed away, to wait for the 20th of October.
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A few days later:
After a discussion with Professor Flitwick, Minerva decided that she should finally have a talk with Kate. She didn't know how to broach the subject with Harry without getting him upset.
She wrote her a note and Kate visited her in her rooms after the last therapy session with Harry.
"Good evening Minerva."
"Good evening Kate. Thank you for taking time to see me."
"Not a problem. What can I do for you? I assume it's about Harry?"
"Yes. There are some things that are worrying me but I don't know if I should talk with him about it or maybe you, and if I should then how. Maybe I'm overreacting, and he just needs time."
Kate only nodded and waited for her to go on.
"The first thing is that he has very low self-esteem. And I also understand that this is to be expected after what he has been through. But I am still worried that he is always giving in. At least if it concerns him. He's standing up for his friends, but never for himself. I just want to know how I can help him there."
Kate nodded. "That's something that is indeed normal, but also important that it is talked about. I will not go into any details, but I have spoken with Harry about this too. But it is important that you do so too. Maybe it's best if you start with some specific situations. That you tell him it is alright to do what he wants for once, not what someone else wants. Things like that. You certainly can't expect him to stand up for himself just now if he's insulted. He has to learn that yet. But you can help him not to be completely selfless in any situation. In what situations you have observed this?"
"For example with Ron, that's another first-year student. I somehow get the impression that Harry doesn't particularly like to spend time with him. But every time Ron asks Harry to do something, he just does it. It's difficult for him too, because the others of his group of friends don't get along with Ron."
"It's just important that you make it clear, that you aren't criticising him, or his choice of friends. Maybe you should start such a talk more generally, about having friends and such. If you'd like me to, I could also take care of this particular subject. Simply to discuss what he thinks about Ron, if he wants to be friends with him, or if not, why he's doing what this boy wants most of the time."
"I think that is a good idea. I don't know, maybe I am overreacting with the way he's dealing with Ron, I just don't want him to have more bad experiences with his friends. And I think that the demanding way of Mr. Weasley is damaging Harry's other friendships. Harry isn't spending all that much time with him, but I get the feeling that when Ron thinks he wants to do something with Harry, he expects him to let everything fall and do it. And there was also the matter of the quidditch training. I guess Harry told you about him training with the team. Ron got jealous I think and Harry nearly dropped the whole idea, just because of that."
Kate nodded thoughtfully. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention. Maybe it really isn't too important, but it could well be that Harry doesn't know how to act. And because he thinks it's too trivial of a problem he never brought it up. If it's alright with you, I will speak with him about this the next session."
Minerva nodded gratefully. She just had a bad feeling about Ron's motives, and the way he handled the 'friendship' or what ever it was between the two boys.
"Now you said that there was another point you wished to discuss." Kate prompted.
"Yes, actually there is. It's about lessons." Minerva began.
"Harry is a very good student, but there is something that I observed. I also spoke with Professor Flitwick about it and he noticed the same thing in Charms. Harry never answers a question, unless you ask him for an answer and also then he keeps the answer as short as possible."
Kate wanted to say something but Minerva went on.
"This seems quiet normal to us, considering his circumstances. In practical work however he seems to somehow be afraid of being too good. I can't really explain this, but he is never the first to finish his task. I've seen him to deliberately make mistakes to be sure that he's never the first. I don't want to say that I want Harry to be the first to succeed or anything like that. I just don't think that he's happy with this himself. He often seems to be uneasy; always stealing glances around to make sure someone already got it right. When one or two students finally succeed, he seems to be a lot calmer and also seems to enjoy doing the spells then. I don't believe that this is good for him. But I thought I'd speak with you first. I don't want Harry to feel pressured to be the best of the class, even if I believe that he probably could."
Kate listened to her thoughtfully. "The part about not answering questions is certainly normal. The other part is more troubling indeed. I can try to explain some of the reasons there might be for this behaviour. It might be that Harry desperately tries not to stand out. This is already difficult with him being the boy-who-lived and Founder's student. So he doesn't want to stand out in lessons too. I believe this also has to do with the fact that Harry has been neglected. He has been denied positive attention. He still gets embarrassed when someone is praising him, doesn't he?"
Minerva nodded.
"For neglected and abused children, attention is something negative. They often try to be as small as possible to the observer. This could be one of the reasons. I believe it is important for you to speak with Harry, even if I cannot tell you more details about possible reasons. I will not betray Harry's trust."
"Of course not. So you would also talk with him? Not letting this slide?"
"No. It is something that must be discussed. Maybe you can offer him that if he does succeed in lessons, that you won't announce it to the class. Maybe that would also help. But it must be discussed. Also if Harry does something wrong, you should tell him this. He must also learn of his mistakes. And he must learn that him making mistakes doesn't mean that you won't like him anymore. By the way, have you ever had to really criticize him for something yet?"
Minerva shook her head. "No, I wouldn't know what for. He seems to be trying to do everything as good as he can."
Kate nodded gravely. "When you do, please make it very clear to him that you still love him, that you will continue to do so, even with him making mistakes. Making mistakes are important for a child as well."
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(Next day)
Minerva decided that she would speak with Harry on the next day. She would tell Harry that she wanted to speak with him in his lessons in the afternoon. She wanted the two of them to have enough time.
But this day she could take care of another arrangement.
"Misters Weasely a moment please." She called after the lesson with the third year Gryffiondors and Ravenclaws.
Lee waved them goodbye as the twins shared a quick glance and then looked at her as innocently as they could.
"My office." She said curtly, wondering if they would actually confess something she didn't even know about. Their faces clearly told that they had been up to something, the question was only what. This might not be the reason she wanted to talk with them, but one could always try.
"About the next Hogesmead weekend…" McGonagall began.
The twins looked at her shocked. They didn't do anything so grave to be banned from the Hogesmead weekend. Surely dropping a dungbomb in a corridor and then letting it burst just when Mrs. Norris walked by wasn't that grave.
"We didn't do anything bad Professor" Fred began.
"You can't ban us from the Hogesmead weekend."
McGonagall raised her eyebrow.
"Look, can't we just get detention."
"For what exactly?" McGonagall inquired curiously.
"For whatever you are accusing us of."
"We can't just miss…
"Hogesmead. We already made…"
"plans you know."
"We told Harrykinns that we'd take him along."
"Can't have the little tyke go by himself, can we?"
"Certainly not. And he's the only first year to go."
"Yes, Professor. Just think …"
"Poor little Harrykinns…"
"All alone in big Hogesmead."
"You wouldn't do that, would you?"
"Not after he's helping the team so much."
"That would be ever so sad …"
The Weasleys made faces as if they were at a funeral.
McGonagall had to keep back a smile and held up her hand.
"That's enough now." She said clearly amused. "So you did tell Mr. Potter that you would take him to Hogesmead?"
"Yes, ma'am." They chorused.
"And you have such a bad conscience that you think that I'm banning you for the next Hogesmead weekend."
The twins looked at each other, not really knowing how to answer.
"You see, I had thought that as it was your idea to have Mr. Potter train with the Gryffindors, that you should help him get a broom. I wanted to ask you to meet him in Hogesmead to this end, but it seems that this is already cleared. You didn't lie about the part of taking Mr. Potter with you, did you?"
"No Professor." The twins chorused, glad that they didn't seem in trouble for once.
"Though I really want to know what the two of you have done this time, I can hardly punish you for something I don't know about. So I want you to make sure that Mr. Potter gets a reliable second hand broom, at a good price. You should know enough about this to help him. And it's no more than right that you do so."
"Of course Professor"
"You might want to buy an older, cheaper but stable broom and an additional broom care set."
They nodded though a bit confused. Broom care sets weren't that cheep, so why did Harry have to buy an old broom if he had enough money for this?
When they asked McGonagall answered with a little smile.
"This stays between us. But his guardians know about Harry training with you of course and from what I was told Harry will get a broom for Christmas. Therefore it doesn't make much sense to buy an expensive broom now. It's better to get a stable broom though than to use the school brooms for quidditch. So pick out a broom that can later be used for longer travels or things like that, understood?"
"Sure Professor!" The Weasleys grinned. They knew that to get brooms like the ones that they had weren't expensive. And at the same time loads better than any school broom, and safer too."
