Draco looked around nervously as Stephen's Mini pulled up in front of the school. "Do you see Harry anywhere? He said he'd be here when I sat my exams."
Stephen reached over and squeezed Draco's shoulder lightly in a gesture of reassurance. "We're early, Draco, give him a few minutes. When I spoke to his aunt last night, she said he'd be walking here as she has an appointment at the uni to see about some classes for herself come fall."
"Oh… well, I still wish he was here. I know you were raised muggle and all, but you can't tell me what the teachers and classes are like here. I just hope I pass high enough to go into his class."
"You'll do fine, I'm sure. And look, there's Harry!"
Harry waved when he spotted Stephen's car. He trotted over, his backpack bouncing against his shoulders, as Draco and Stephen got out. "Ready for your exams?" he asked Draco.
"As ready as I'm going to be," the blond boy sighed. "Are the teachers here nice? Or is it better not to ask?"
"They're nice enough," Harry said. "At least, my teacher last year was. It was the first time I wasn't in the same class as Dudley, so I'm sure that helped a lot. He'd not do his homework and then tell the teacher I ripped it up or something, and even if the teacher called Aunt Petunia or Uncle Vernon about it, they always took Dudley's side and accused me of being a troublemaker. Also, I got punished for getting better marks than Dudley, so I skived off my work a lot before. But Ms. Beckett, my teacher last year, she seemed like she wanted to see for herself if I behaved or not, and with Uncle Vernon dead I was able to do my best without fear of punishment. I'm supposed to be in Ms. St. Claire's class when school starts again, and Dudley won't be, so I hope she'll be all right as a teacher."
Draco nodded as Stephen walked the two boys into the school. Harry then took the lead, guiding them to the office, where Stephen spoke with the administrative assistant, letting her know that he'd brought his young cousin for placement exams. She nodded and hit the button for the intercom, summoning Mr. Khatri, who would proctor the exams. Stephen headed out to take care of some errands of his own after telling the boys he'd be back in three hours when the testing would be over.
"Hello, Mr. Potter," Mr. Khatri said as he entered the office. "Are you planning to be assigned to me again this year?"
"Not at all, sir," Harry said, laughing. "This is Draco Malfoy, a friend of mine who hopes to test into my class. Draco, this is Mr. Khatri. He's the school's resource teacher."
The teacher smiled. "What that means, Mr. Malfoy, is that I work with those students who might need a little extra one on one time with a teacher to be sure they're understanding their lessons and keeping up with where they're supposed to be. Mr. Potter came under my purview last September, as he got moved to a class that was a bit ahead of his original placement. However, it didn't take him long to catch up and stop seeing me. I understand you've been homeschooled before now?"
"Yes, sir," Draco replied.
"In that case, I look forward to having you as a student when school starts again, regardless of how well you do on your placement exams, simply because you're used to one on one instruction. But as you adjust to the classroom environment, time with me will be reduced or eliminated. I take it you're hoping to join Mr. Potter's class?"
"Yes, sir. My mother just had a baby, and so won't have as much time to spend on my lessons. I could still do homeschooling if I really wanted to, but I thought that going to a regular school would be interesting. However, I admit to being nervous enough that I want to be in the same class as someone I know." Draco ducked his head a little as he said that last bit, his cheeks going pink as he confessed to some discomfort.
Mr. Khatri nodded. "Well, that's more than understandable, and as long as your knowledge is on par with that of your age-mates, we'll place you in the same class as Mr. Potter. Shall we get started? Mr. Potter, you may remain in the room if you wish, as long as you stay quiet."
Harry smiled. "Thank you, sir, and I brought books with me, so I'll have something to do." He held up a battered paperback copy of The Leper of St. Giles and a newer-looking hardcover titled Murder at the War.
Draco grinned. "You borrowed those from Cousin Stephen, didn't you? I know that's one of his Brother Cadfael books," he said, indicating the paperback.
"Yes, I did. You know I like history," Harry said. "And he suggested this one because it's about modern people who pretend to live in historical times. One of his friends at uni does it as a hobby. The friend went to the U.S. last summer to go to something called the Pennsic War and bought the book there for a birthday gift for Stephen since he likes mystery books. The person who wrote it belongs to the hobby group, too." He moved to the back of the room and settled in to read.
Draco nodded as Harry moved away and turned his attention to the exam papers Mr. Khatri handed him. Two and a half hours later, he gave a relieved sigh. "Finished!"
Mr. Khatri collected the papers with a smile. "It shouldn't take more than half an hour for me to mark these," he said. "If you'd like to see more of the school, I'm sure Mr. Potter will be an excellent tour guide. Or you may wait here if you prefer."
"I'd like the tour, if you're willing, Harry," Draco said.
"Sure," Harry agreed, tucking a scrap of paper into Murder at the War to mark his place. He tucked both books into his backpack before leading Draco out of the room.
The two boys roamed around the school, with Harry showing his friend Ms. Beckett's classroom, Ms. St. Claire's classroom where they both hoped to be at the start of term, and other important places such as the gym, the lunchroom, the toilets, and the library. They met Stephen just coming back in as they returned to the office to see if Mr. Khatri had finished marking Draco's exams.
He had. "Well, Mr. Malfoy, you are a little behind in the sciences, but not so much as to prevent you from joining your age-mates come September," he said. "We'll go ahead and put you in Ms. St. Claire's class with Mr. Potter, and you'll be seeing me probably twice a week for at least the first six weeks. As I said before, that's mainly to help you with settling in since you're used to private lessons. But I can also help you get caught up to where you should be in the sciences, so that you'll not be at a disadvantage when you're off to secondary school next year."
Draco relaxed and smiled. "Thank you, Mr. Khatri. I look forward to it."
Stephen smiled as well. "Thank you for giving my cousin his exams today, sir," he said to the teacher before turning back to the boys. "Draco, would you and Harry like to stop for ice creams, or would you rather go straight home and tell your mum the news?"
"Ice creams, please," Draco replied promptly, causing Harry to grin.
"All right, then, out to the car with you," Stephen laughed. "Mr. Khatri, have a good rest of the holidays," he said as he followed the boys out.
They drove to the play park, where a confused Draco asked, "I thought we were going to Fortescue's?"
Stephen shook his head. "No, since you'll be going to a muggle school, I thought you'd like to celebrate with muggle ice cream."
"But this is a play park," Draco said, looking even more confused. "There isn't anywhere to get ice cream here."
As if on cue, the trio heard chimes tinkling out the tune 'Greensleeves'. "There's about to be," Harry said. "That's the Mr. Whippy van!" Sure enough, the distinctive van pulled up at the edge of the park. Harry and Draco joined every other child in the park, queueing up at the van. Harry ordered for them both when it was their turn. "Two cones with chocolate sauce, sprinkles, and a 99 flake, please."
Draco's jaw dropped as he watched the vendor simply pull a lever and soft-looking ice cream swirled into the cones. He took his cone with a smile and a soft, "Thank you," and took a taste. The ice cream was much creamier than what he was used to from Fortescue's, and while the flavour was rather simple, he had to admit it was delicious. After he and Harry finished their cones and went back to where Stephen waited, he had to ask, "How is it possible for muggles to get ice cream out of a machine like that? I mean, I've seen the freezer part of the refrigerator in Stephen's flat, so I know muggles can make things stay cold, but I don't get how a freezer can pour out ice cream like that… or how you could have a freezer in a car in the first place!"
Harry laughed. "I never asked how they worked. I was just glad to finally get to taste some once Stephen started coming around and I started getting pocket money. My relatives never let me have any, and Dudley would always brag to me about how good it was.
Draco nodded. "Well, I guess it doesn't matter. It's different from Fortescue's, but I like it. Can we get it again sometime, do you think?"
"Of course," Stephen answered, the boys having drawn close enough that he heard Draco's last question. "But for now, we need to drop Harry off and get you home, Draco. You know your parents are waiting to hear the results of your exams."
"And I can't wait to tell them I'm going to school with Harry this year," Draco agreed.
Harry hopped out of the car on Privet Drive and waved as Stephen and Draco pulled away again. Petunia's car was still gone, so he retrieved the key from under the mat and let himself inside. He laughed as the budgie greeted him with an enthusiastic, "Hello! Pretty Perky! Pretty Perky!"
"Hello to you, too, Perky," he said to the bird as he headed upstairs. Opening up his snake tank, he put his hand inside. ::It iss warm and sssunny out, Suliss,:: he hissed, slipping into parseltongue. ::Let'sss go outside and enjoy the weather.::
Suliss coiled happily around Harry's wrist and he carried her and his backpack out to the back garden. The boy and the snake settled comfortably into a lounge chair, basking in the warmth. Harry once again pulled Murder at the War out of his backpack, enjoying the sun and the story.
Meanwhile, in London, Sirius hummed happily as he pointed his wand at his motorcycle. A quick "Scourgify!" left the bike spotless and a colour charm brightened up the red, yellow, and orange flame job gleaming against the black base paint. He took another hour or so in renewing the rest of the charms on the big bike: flight capability and invisibility as well as cushioning and other safety features.
Remus poked his head out the window with a laugh. "The bike looks fine, you old dog, but you'd best worry about getting yourself presentable or you'll be late."
"Thanks, Moony," Sirius called up with a grin.
He headed into the house and took a quick shower, dressing in his nicest jeans and a t-shirt emblazoned with the flag of Wales. He found it amusing that the Welsh muggles had a red dragon on their flag, when the actual native dragon to the region was the Welsh Green. Topping the outfit with his leather motorcycle jacket, he picked up two carefully folded wizarding robes, one in black and the other in vivid blue. Styled similarly to quidditch robes, they were meant to be worn over trousers, unlike the more traditional robes. He headed back out to his bike, stowing the robes carefully in the saddlebags along with his spare helmet before mounting up and heading for Kensington Palace.
Princess Diana peered out her window with a smile when she heard the rumble of the Harley approaching. Rather than making Sirius come in to fetch her, she grabbed her purse and hurried out to meet him. "Oh, it's good to see you again!" she called, giving him a hug in greeting. "Am I dressed warmly enough?"
Sirius took in her jeans, Duran Duran t-shirt, and feminine-styled leather jacket. "You look great," he said, the look in his eyes reflecting his sincerity. "And you'll be fine… I have warming charms on the bike as well. Ready for your first taste of the Wizarding world?"
Di nodded. "I'm looking forward to it. I'm just glad Her Majesty allowed me to go through the records of the people in security, so I could find a few wizards born to normal parents to switch into my detail." She gave a little wave in the direction of the omni-present black-suited security man, who responded by lifting his sleeve slightly to give a glimpse of the holstered wand on his forearm.
Sirius recalled the security agents who'd unobtrusively followed them on the three dates they'd had so far, and nodded. Addressing the agent, he said, "I thought we'd go up to Hogsmeade, as the Three Broomsticks is much nicer than the Leaky Cauldron. The bike has flight capability as well as invisibility so we'll not be spotted by muggles along the way. You're welcome to put a tracking spell on it to keep track of our whereabouts, whether you follow along on a broom or meet us up there."
"I'll meet you there since I expect that motorcycle is faster than my old broom, but a tracker is a good idea, just in case you run into any sort of trouble along the way," the agent said. He drew his wand and applied a tracking spell to the motorcycle, then looked at Di thoughtfully. "With your permission, Your Highness, I'd like to apply a tracker to you as well, just in case. Most wizarding folk wouldn't recognise you as anyone of importance, but you have no way of defending yourself from a stunner or a portkey on the off chance of trouble."
"Go ahead," she answered with a nod. "And if you don't mind my asking, what's a portkey?"
"A form of magical transportation," Sirius explained as the security agent applied a tracker to Diana herself. "It's any object enchanted to bring you from one place to another in just a few moments. They can take several people at once, the only real limit being the size of the object, as anyone traveling by one needs to be touching it in some way. Like, a pencil would work for one or two people to travel, but for a dozen people, you'd want to use something like a jump-rope." He took out his spare helmet and set it on Diana's head, using his own wand to shrink it to fit perfectly. "Shall we be off, my lady?"
"Let's go," Di said, smiling eagerly. "I can't wait to see Hogsmeade!" She mounted the bike behind Sirius and wrapped her arms around him as he started the bike up. They circled the lot and headed for the drive out to the road. Halfway there, she felt a slight tingle and noticed their shadow had disappeared. A moment later she gasped as they became airborne.
"Fun, isn't it?" Sirius said as he directed the flying motorcycle northward. "You can talk if you want, the helmets have communications charms so we can hear each other."
"It's amazing, Sirius! I can't believe this is really happening!" Diana peeked down and squealed. "Oooh, look, Kensington Palace looks so small from up here. Where is Hogsmeade? Is it near London?"
"It's in Scotland, near Hogwarts," he replied, turning the flying bike north. "I think you'll like it."
Much sooner than Diana expected, Sirius brought the big motorcycle gently down on a dirt road near what appeared to be the ruins of some old keep on the shore of a lake. He brought the bike to a halt although he didn't shut it down, and turned to smile at her over his shoulder. "I thought you might like a glimpse of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry," he said. "Take my hand so you can see past the ward that makes it look like a ruin to muggles."
She slipped her hand into his and gasped as the ruins seemed to shimmer and became a many-towered castle of weathered granite tinted golden by the late afternoon sunshine. "You attended school here? It's so beautiful! The lake, the forest, all of it!"
"The school train brings the students from London up to Hogsmeade. First year students get ferried across the lake, so their first glimpse of the castle is truly impressive," Sirius told her, his voice husky with remembrance. "The rest of the students go from the station to the school in carriages drawn by creatures called thestrals… I can best describe them as sort of reptilian winged horses that can only be seen by people who've witnessed death. Some say they're bad luck because of that, but Hagrid, the gamekeeper at the school, says that's just superstition. I personally believe Hagrid; he knows just as much about magical creatures as the professor of the Care of Magical Creatures class, even if he does have an undue fondness for the more dangerous beasties."
"I'm not sure I'd want to see a thestral from your description," Diana admitted. "What other sorts of magical creatures are there?"
"Well, there's a centaur herd in the forest, although they're not exactly beasts. Unicorns, of course, and smaller creatures like nifflers and bowtruckles. Nifflers look sort of like large black moles with snouts like duck beaks, and they'll go after anything shiny. Bowtruckles are sort of stick creatures about the size of my hand that eat insects and live in trees that are good as wand wood. They can get fairly aggressive if you try to harvest wood from their tree, but they're easily distracted by giving them wood lice or fairy eggs to eat," Sirius said. "Honestly, there are loads of creatures, more than I can think of, I'm sure, especially since I didn't actually take Care when I was in school. It wasn't helpful towards becoming an auror – that's a wizarding policeman – and anyway, taking Muggle Studies annoyed my mother more. But I could get you a book, if you'd like."
"Would you? It's so fascinating, learning about your world," Di said. "Are dragons real, too?"
Sirius chuckled. "They certainly are. The Welsh Green and the Hebridean Black are both native to Britain, but there are plenty of others as well. We mostly keep them in reserves, well away from muggle areas, for safety's sake."
"I should hope so!"
"Ready to see Hogsmeade?"
"Definitely!"
Sirius put the bike into gear and they rolled gently down the road away from the castle. As the town of Hogsmeade came into sight in the distance, he stopped once more. "Hop off for a moment. I brought robes along so that we'll fit in better amongst the villagers. I don't want to risk any bigots spoiling your first visit to my world, and unfortunately, there are some who would consider you beneath them for being muggle."
Diana dismounted, a slight frown crossing her face. "I suppose it was too much to hope there would be no bigotry amongst wizards."
Sirius sighed as he dismounted and rummaged in the saddlebag. "It's difficult. I mean, I don't want to blame the muggleborn and sound like one of those stupid blood purists, but at the same time, they do have a bit of a point. Our culture is slow to evolve, as I'm sure you've noticed. Your culture is much more accepting of change. Part of the problem is that when the muggleborn first enter the wizarding world, an awful lot of them behave quite rudely by wizarding standards, but since their behaviour is considered tolerable or even polite in muggle culture, they refuse to believe they're being rude."
Diana accepted the blue robe from him and watch him don the black one before following his example. "Right, so what I've heard called 'Ugly American' behaviour. This is how they grew up; therefore, it must be right everywhere. It doesn't occur to them that other cultures have different ideas of what's polite."
"Exactly," Sirius said, re-mounting the bike and holding it steady for Diana to get on. "My cousin Cissy's husband is trying to do something about that, by starting a class on wizarding culture at Hogwarts. He's on the board of governors. Oh, Lucius is a snob of the highest degree, and he'll even admit it if pressed, but Stephen said something to Cissy when they first spoke made him sit up and take notice. Stephen told her that if they disliked the way muggleborns behaved, maybe they ought to teach them proper behaviour instead of just sneering at them for not knowing it."
Di settled herself back on the bike behind Sirius and wrapped her arms around his waist. "That does sound as if it would be productive."
"We'll see what happens," Sirius said. "Anyway, while these robes are of a very modern style by wizarding standards, we won't stand out nearly as much as if we went into any of the shops wearing muggle jeans and t-shirts, and so hopefully won't draw any unwanted attention." He started the bike once more, riding slowly along the rutted road until they came to the quaint little village. "Anyway, welcome to Hogsmeade." He pulled up in front of the Three Broomsticks, letting Diana off before dropping the kickstand and dismounting.
Diana looked around with interest, grinning to herself when her security guard, who had been idly paging through a copy of the Daily Prophet while leaning against the wall of the owl post office, folded the paper and moved to follow them unobtrusively. Her eyes lit up when she saw the bookstore, Tomes and Scrolls. "Oh, can we stop in there before we eat? Or have we a reservation?"
"Whatever my lady desires," Sirius told her with a smile. "I booked one of Rosmerta's private rooms at the Three Broomsticks, so it doesn't matter when we get there."
"Thank you!" Diana further expressed her thanks with a hug and very enthusiastic kiss.
He took her hand as they strolled down the High Street and entered the bookstore. They browsed around for a bit before Sirius picked out a copy of Fantastical Beasts and Where to Find Them as well as Hogwarts: A History. He also grabbed a book about beginning Arithmancy, remembering that Harry had asked about the subject a time or two. After buying the books, they walked back to the Three Broomsticks where they enjoyed Rosmerta's lamb stew, followed by apple pie and buttebeer.
The sun had just set as they left the pub, the darkening sky streaked with crimson and purple. They flew back to London while admiring the emerging stars. When they landed and came to a stop outside Kensington Palace, Diana looked up at Sirius. "I don't want the evening to end. My boys are at Highgrove with their father this week, if you'd care to come in. I'll warn you, though, you'll most probably be photographed leaving if you choose to stay. Someone's bound to notice if you don't just drop me off."
Sirius kissed her softly. "I'd very much like to stay. Especially since I can avoid the photographers," he added with a grin. "Is there a spot that the security cameras can't see?"
"Over between the garage and the hedgerow," she said, gesturing toward the spot. "Why?"
"I'm going to call one of my house elves to collect the bike, then I can apparate directly from your apartment when it's time to leave. The photographers won't have anything to photograph."
"A house elf?" She giggled. "And this apparate thing sounds useful. I wouldn't mind being able to avoid the press now and again." She watched with interest as he wheeled the bike over to the gap between the garage and the hedgerow. A soft pop heralded the arrival of a small creature wearing what appeared to be a pillowcase. Sirius spoke softly to the little being, who nodded vigorously and took hold of the bike, vanishing with another pop.
He walked back over and took her hands in his. "You're sure about this, Diana?" he asked quietly. "I care enough that I don't want to cause any problems for you."
"It's because you care that I'm sure," she replied, tugging him inside and pulling him close.
When Sirius returned to Grimmauld Place, he couldn't stop singing 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love'.
