Unbecoming
Chapter 2 – A Platform Experience
Sept 1, 1980
I had my first glimpse of the Hogwarts Express this morning at Platform 9¾. I guess Dora had heard me saying (not bugging her like she claimed) that I would like to see her head off for Hogwarts because I had missed it the year before. Whatever the reason, Aunt Andie asked and received permission for me to floo to King's Cross with her and her daughter this morning. She would then bring me home before she had to report to St. Mungo's for her turn as one of the Emergency Room Healers.
Dora didn't ask but just grabbed me around the waist as she threw the floo powder in the hearth and yelled out the destination – King's Cross. (Despite having tried determinedly for over a year, my solo attempts at floo travel always ended up with me falling on my face or bum and sometimes taking out innocent bystanders.) I think part of my problem with this form of magical travel is watching all the grates fly by while not looking ahead to the one I want to arrive at.
I almost pulled Dora over as we emerged from the floo, but she just laughed and swung us around once until I found my balance again. She was still laughing as she started greeting her housemates as they went by us. When Aunt Andie emerged from her trip, she gave me a once over to make sure I was clear of ashes and dirt. I had an unfortunate occasion once of having a cinder fall into my right eye once and it took almost a quarter-hour of flushing the eye out before I could see properly again. I'm afraid I then lost touch with everything else by staring at the Hogwarts Express. It was an old, but massive, steam engine in scarlet and black with the Number 5372 proudly mounted on the front of the engine above the cow catcher. I must have muttered that out loud because I was immediately corrected.
"Wait, troll catcher?" I asked Aunt Andie.
"About every five years or so one of those beasts either wanders its way to or sleeps on the tracks. The catcher just kind of pushes them aside without disrupting the trip."
Her little smile didn't give a hint of whether she was taking the mickey out of me or not. Dora turned and gave her mother a combined kiss and hug and messed up my hair a little. "You know, there's no change in your looks, no matter what we do to that mess."
"At least my hair color doesn't change every time a mouse runs by" I answered as I gave her a hug while quietly grabbing her belt. Her hair changed to match mine for two seconds while she stuck out her tongue at me. She smiled and started heading for the express but didn't feel me attached to her. She stumbled as I pulled her off balance and turned towards me with a glare.
"Have a nice time at Hogwarts this year Nymph-a-do-ra and don't forget to owl me" I yelled as I went and hid behind her mother.
"That will cost you two weeks of owls Jaybird!"
We both laughed as she blew me a kiss before climbing into one of the cars. I turned around and looked at the frowning face of my Aunt.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to cause a scene."
"Oh it's okay, you two were fine. It's just a little hard saying goodbye for a while. Each year."
"Yeah, but you know she'll send you an owl either tomorrow or the next day with all the updates and gossip she's heard on the Express or at the Welcoming Feast."
"Yes, and probably some suggestions for paybacks on you for using her proper name in public."
"Oops!" I must have flinched because Aunt Andie just laughed and pull me around in front of her. She waved her hand to taking in all the people milling around on the platform. "I promise I'll let 'Tonks' pay you back herself when she comes home for the holidays. Let's try identifying some of these. I know you read the Prophet every morning so some of those people in the pictures might be here. I'll go first; see that tall bald man over there? He's an Auror named Kinsley Shacklebolt. He was a rookie that your dad and his friends trained years ago. Your turn."
It took a fair bit of looking to identify some of Dora's friends that hadn't boarded the train yet, but I found people that worked in the Ministry of Magic or were family friends. Aunt Andie complimented me on my sharp eyes, and we quit the game as it seemed most of the people left on the platform were either parents or youngsters that might attend Hogwarts next year or soon after.
A lot of windows were down on the cars and the students were exchanging goodbyes when a sudden commotion came from the floo station behind us. A trio of redheads were trying to load up carts with their trunks. While they were doing that, I mentally sorted the other gingers of that family that was escorting the three students. The father was a bit on the taller side although his red hair had started to thin a little. The female that I assumed was the mother was a little shorter than most of the three students and had a darker auburn hair color. She was firmly holding the holding the hand of smaller girl who might be seven or eight if I was any judge of age. The last redhead had stopped in the middle of the platform and you could see his mouth drop open as he tried to take in everything at once.
('I guess that's what I must have looked like when I first got here' I thought.)
I turned to Aunt Andie for an explanation and she just smiled back at me. "That's the Weasley family. We run into them occasionally at functions. Molly and Arthur are the parents. Believe it or not they have had 7 children; the oldest two have graduated Hogwarts already and found jobs overseas. I see only three with trunks so the youngest two will be going to Hogwarts maybe next year or soon after. I wish I could tell you their names, but I can never keep them straight except for the littlest one – her name is Guinevere, I think. Arthur is the head of a small department in the Ministry and I think those twins are the ones that Dora complained about pulling all those pranks on everyone last year."
I smiled as I remembered all the stories Dora had told me about the Weasley pranksters that were in Gryffindor House. I would have to keep an eye out for them next year. "Even with 5 children still in the house, it must be chaos getting everyone fed or do something together" I said with a wondering voice.
"Yes, that's probably the reason they have the reputation of being near late getting to the express every year" Andie replied with a wink at me.
We both giggled a bit at that and moved quickly to the floos as the Hogwarts Express blew a long whistle and started leaving the station.
********DPC****
2nd entry Sept 1, 1980 (10:00 pm)
I've finished my homework assignment, but the excitement of this morning must have affected me enough that even a cup of hot cocoa that Bitty brought me didn't lull me into sleep. So I stay up a little writing.
In case you haven't met her yet, Bitty is Mum's house elf. She has been with Mum for ages and was very patient when I first arrived here to begin my recuperation. While I'm sure I had asked her hundreds of questions, she was very happy to inform a 'young one' about House Elves and other magical creatures. She is unofficially in charge of me when Mum is otherwise occupied and I'm very careful to ask permission for exploring the grounds or the family library. She also has taken me to friend's houses and back before I could successfully(?) use the floo.
I meant to write about my memory tonight. I don't wish to sound like I'm bragging but I think my memory is pretty good for a kid my age. I identified 8 adults this morning that I knew about from reading the Daily Prophet or had seen around some of the birthday parties I've been to over the last two years.
It's complicated. My memory, I mean. Of course anything connected to me must have a reason to not be normal. It was somehow broken up into stages that were explained to me by Aunt Andromeda and the goblin Healer Wingroot when I impossibly violated Gringott's wards on my 'death'. I'll get around to describing that somewhere during these writings.
I thought I had some memories of my life with my first Mum and Dad before I came to the Dursleys. I can fuzzily remember my Mum's red hair and her eyes that were exactly like mine when I take my contacts out. I remember a little about my Dad, but it was connected to animals somehow. A big deer, a wolf, a black dog and an ugly little rat. I remember I didn't like the rat much. (I wonder it the other 3 squished or ate it?)
For the night where my family was murdered, I remember some yelling from both my parents and the door to my room being blasted down. A scary man had entered and threw my mum on the floor and waved his wand at her. I remember crying when she didn't get up and then that man (wizard I found out later) pointer his wand at me. I saw a green flash and didn't remember much else for a while. The next thing I kind of remember was floating along through the clouds while a very big hairy man steered the vehicle (motorcycle) along while talking to me.
The events I just described were replayed in my dreams for a long time, and I suffered the consequences of waking my aunt, uncle and cousin when I cried out in fear and panic. When even I got tired of being punished for such an outlandish dream, I tried explaining what the dream was to my relatives. Uncle Vernon yelled at me for being freakish and I was locked in my cupboard for 3 days with only a bucket to relieve myself in and a few morsels of stale or rotten food that were thrown in for me. (When they were feeling generous.)
School, when I finally got to attend was another matter. Dudley had gone to school for 4 days before a school official had come knocking at the Dursley's door. Aunt Petunia stuck to the feeble excuse of one Harry Potter being too sick to attend school at this time. When the lady saw me standing at the top of the stairs, she told Aunt Petunia that without a valid excuse from a proper doctor or nurse, the school would sent a Bobbie around to escort me to school the next day if I didn't show up in the morning with my cousin for class. My aunt threatened with the embarrassment of a public 'event' reassured the person that I would be in attendance the next day. Needless to say, there was a bit of discussion when both Dudley and Uncle Vernon were informed over supper that night. Dudley protested and asked why he couldn't go to a different school than the 'freak' and Vernon loss his temper at all the extra trouble my living cost them.
I was braced in my cupboard so that when I heard Uncle Vernon's chair scraped across the floor, I was ready(?) when a pudgy hand threw open the door and grabbed me up by the scruff of the neck to inform me how I was to curtail my freakishness at school and not bring any attention to their family. Not our family, their family. I nodded and was then thrown back in the cupboard under the stairs and locked in. Dudley yelled at me as he was passing by toward bed, that I (Harry) would be very sorry I had to go to school with him.
I found out the next day what he meant. Not only did he tell and shove all my new classmates away from me, but I found out that his close friends were totally happy at continuing the verbal and physical assaults on my being. At least that first day, the teacher explained to me what my name was after I couldn't respond to the roll call. That was the only good spot for me – probably for the whole blessed year.
I did very well on my tests for a while but found out there were problems when I did better than Dudley. I was accused of cheating and using my freakiness to surpass him and punished most horridly for that. After that, I kept myself from outperforming my cousin as long as I was in primary.
(Note to anyone reading this, Dudley was the moon and stars to my adult relatives. He could do no wrong and any problems that occurred to him were my fault or the low-quality teachers that Dudley had to deal with. He almost got left back in 2nd year but the teacher had an unfortunate accident and couldn't defend his opinion to the school council.
I gained an appreciation for education and books while I was in primary but had to keep any evidence of that hidden. My aunt and uncle never knew how many hours I spent hiding in the school library hiding from Dudley and his gang and "Harry-hunting".
Meanwhile I was continuing to do all the chores at 4 Privet Drive, cooking the morning and evening meals, working outside at all sorts of jobs I was really too little to do and keeping myself as out of sight of my relatives as possible. It was a position of tiredness and misery and I really couldn't see any escape from there in the immediate future. Or any future.
If I had one.
********DPC********
Dumbledore
Pensieve Memory Summary: 8-72
August 31, 1972
An anniversary of sorts. My sixth year as Headmaster but the crucial sorting that would determine most of the magical family interactions for the next decade.
I had checked the condition of the school wards yesterday and remained satisfied that the ones that I had let lapse from Headmaster Dippet's term had remained inactive. Not anything potentially harmful but some that would interfere with the plan I had for the Greater Good for Magical England. While cooperation and cordialness may have been a good idea for the previous headmaster, I thought that it encouraged sloth and a distinct lack of drive for the individual students.
I have charmed the benches in the Great Hall with two suggestions that will not deter any deep romantic feelings between students in different house but will make that effort something to achieve instead of something that might happen naturally. The two mild, unnoticeable charms are:
(1) Loyalty to your Housemates above almost all else, and
(2) Trust in the Headmaster
In addition to these general helpers, additional charms have been cast into the benches of Gryffindor and Slytherin. This is to heighten the antagonism between the two most volatile of the four houses. This will sort out sides between good and evil and give me a chance to save the lives and souls of those that would fall into the Dark Arts or under the influence of a Dark Leader/Lord. It is imperative that I be recognized for my compassion and understanding for the Greater Good of all Magical England.
The sorting tonight was most important to my plans.
James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew and Lily Evens were sorted into Gryffindor. A Dark Family member addition to that House would probably result in young Sirius being expelled from the Black Family and into a closeness with the young James Potter. Miss Evans and Mr. Lupin would have naturally been sorted into Ravenclaw, but this will accomplish a few additional benefits for the Greater Good as the years progressed.
Miss Evens was separated from her childhood friend Mr. Snape and their rift will eventually push her into the besotted (and potioned) arms of James Potter, the future husband. Mr. Shape will come under the influence of the Slytherins and he may eventually become my eyes and ears in that House.
Mr. Lupin's condition will be supported and protected (if not outwardly) by the scion of a well-established Pureblood Family. His gratitude toward me will extend far into the future for allowing him the opportunity to be educated and finding lifelong friends.
Mr. Pettigrew has a weak sense of self-work and magical ability. Sorting him into Hufflepuff would have given him friends and a rise in his confidence which would not allow me the opportunity to influence his later actions.