Eleven-year-old Harry Black was bouncing in his seat as he sat on the porch swing that overlooked the expansive grounds that surrounded Tonks Cottage. It was the twenty-sixth of July, and it was finally the day his Hogwarts letter would arrive. He had been waiting for this moment his whole life and he was too excited to stay indoors. Even flying on his broom was not interesting enough today.
After waiting impatiently for more than twenty minutes, he spotted something in the sky far away. He squinted his eyes, adjusting his glasses as he tried to identify it. The dot was growing bigger as it neared and he whooped. Not able to contain himself, he began running with excitement as he climbed the front steps of the house two at a time and quickly entered the dining hall as he saw his adopted parents.
"My Hogwarts letter is on its way!" screamed Harry-excitedly. "Mum, Dad, come on! It's here!"
Andromeda Tonks groaned into her cup of tea as her husband chuckled behind the newspaper. She had just taken a sip of her drink when a blur rushed past her and attacked the person behind the newspaper.
"Dad, come on!" said Harry earnestly. "The owl should be here any minute."
"Alright, alright!" said Ted in exasperation. "Harry, the owl isn't going to fly away without delivering the letter. Calm down."
"You don't know that!" Harry said hysterically. "Mum said that if I make the owl wait, I won't be accepted into Hogwarts! Now come on!"
Harry finally gave up on his father and dashed out of the room. Ted glared at his wife who was trying her best not to laugh.
"Anything you would like to say to that, dear?"
Andi chuckled lightly. "I have no idea what you're talking about," she said smoothly.
"Why am I not surprised," replied Ted sardonically.
His wife burst out laughing as she pinched his cheek affectionately. "The best part is that no one suspects me for it, do they?" she asked, her grey eyes twinkling in mirth. "After all, I'm a former Slytherin and we supposedly hate pranks."
Ted snorted at the irony. Their conversation was interrupted when their son again ran into the room, clutching a letter.
"Yes! I got it! I got the letter!" yelled Harry happily. "Can we go to Diagon Alley today, Mum? Please? I really want to finish my school shopping as soon as possible. I can't wait to get my own wand so that I can prank –"
"Rigel!" admonished his father sternly.
"Practice, I said practice!"
"Uh huh."
Andi's lips twitched in amusement. "No but what about 31 on your birthday."
Harry ran up to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks, Mum," he replied excitedly.
Ted chuckled as he put his arm around his wife. "The house is going to be so quiet without him, isn't it?"
And rested her head on his shoulder as she snuggled into his hold. "Yeah," she said quietly. "I can't believe he is old enough to go to Hogwarts. Time sure has flown by."
#=#=#=#=
In a large room on the second floor, an eighteen-year-old young adult was sleeping peacefully without a care in the world, but her peace wasn't about to last for long. The door of the room opened quietly and a boy slowly crept forward towards his sister. Once he was close enough, he leaned forward towards the her ear and shouted –
"WAKE UP TONKS, IT'S MY BIRTHDAY TODAY!"
The girl known as Tonks woke up with a scream and fell down from the bed, making his brother laugh himself sick. The girl on the ground blinked owlishly for a few seconds and glared at her younger brother.
"Why do you always have to do that?" snarled Tonks.
"Because it's fun?" replied Harry with an innocent smile on his face.
Tonks suddenly jumped, pushing his brother to the ground as they wrestled on the floor, occasionally throwing punches at each other. Suddenly, the bedroom door opened again and Andromeda walked in.
"What's going on in here?" she demanded with her hands on her hips.
"Nothing" replied the two siblings at the same time.
"Guys, how many times have I told you not to fight early in the morning?" asked a tired Andromeda. She had quite frankly grown tired of playing referee with the two sibling.
"Two thousand six hundred and eight," said Tonks brightly.
"But it never gets old," said Harry grinning.
Andi shook her head in amusement at their antics. "Come here you two," she said smiling, raising her arms as the eleven-year-old boy and Tonks rushed into the arms of their mother.
"Happy birthday,Harry" she whispered, kissing his forehead.
"Thanks, Mum" said Harry. Tonks suddenly tripped, pushing all three of them to the bed.
#=#=#
Harry yelped as the world shattered and fell away from him and Tonks Leaving them suspended in darkness. Something pressed in around Harryfrom every angle, as though he was being forcibly squeezed through a tight rubber hose, and all warmth fled from his body. The only thing that kept Harryfrom going mad, he thought, was the sensation of Andromeda's warm hand on his, the only remnant of the normal world. The darkness closed in oppressively as time dilated, and Harrysoon became used to the crushing cold and became bored. After what seemed like years…
CRACK!
The darkness shattered just as the world had, and fell away to reveal another place entirely. The sensation of slowed time fled, leaving Harryfeeling sick.
"That was," he said, as calmly as he could (although his voice shook), "very unpleasant."
They bought Harry's school books in a shop called Flourish and Blotts, where the shelves were stacked to the ceiling with books as large as paving stones bound in leather, books the size of postage stamps in covers of silk, books full of peculiar symbols, and a few books with nothing in them at all. Tonkslet him buy Harryaway from Curses and Countercurses (Bewitch Your Friends and Befuddle Your Enemies with the Latest Revenges: Hair Loss, Jelly-Legs, Tongue- Tying and Much, Much More) by Professor Vindictus Viridian.
Andromeda wouldn't let Harry buy a solid gold cauldron("It would react badly with many potions. There's a reason the standard cauldron is pewter."), but they got a nice set of scales for weighing potion ingredients and a collapsible brass telescope, along with a little silver magnifying glass. Then they visited the Apothecary, which was fascinating enough to make up for its weird smells. There were ingredients everywhere: barrels of slimy stuff stood on the floor; jars of herbs, dried roots, and bright powders lined the walls; and bundles of feathers, stings of fangs and snarled claws hung from the ceiling. While Ted asked the man behind the counter for a supply of some basic potion ingredients, Harry examined silver unicorn horns at twenty-one Galleons each and minuscule, glittery-black beetle eyes (five Knuts a scoop
. They decided to buy Harry a Owl, despite Harry pleading for a wolf.
There were a lot of beautiful owls at Eeylops Owl Emporium, and Harry got to select the one he liked best. After a lot of thought he chose a handsome long-eared owl, with dark tufts of feathers sticking up on top of its head like two pointy ears, and stripes of pale feathers in a deep V shape that made it look like it had eyebrows. It looked very mysteriously spooky and wizard-like, he thought. Its soft feathers were vertically streaked with different shades of brown and white, and the ear tufts were dark brown. Its eyes were beautiful disks of golden-orange, with round dark pupils. He chose the largest one, which he was surprised to learn was a female – the females were larger than the males.
# # #
"Welcome dear, First Year uniforms I presume?" Madam Malkin greeted him as soon as he stepped inside, before pointing them to a wooden stool to have his measurements taken.
Harry was already done and waiting for Tonks who was checking out dresses in the corner when the bell above the entrance door rang and a tiny boy walked in. He was there for his First year robes too.
Madam Malkin pointed him to the stool where Harry was standing on a moment earlier and started working on him as well.
Harry silently studied the boy. No way he could be the same age as boy had extremely black hair ( much like his own both the Potter and Blacks were known for their dark hair), His tiny figure seemed to disappear inside baggy Muggle clothes that were no doubt five times his actual size. From his reflection in the mirror, Harry could see that the boy was feeling lost and uncomfortable from the way he was trying to look around himself in the corner of his eyes.
Then the two suddenly met eyes through the mirror. Harry's grey eyes were met with a striking shade of emerald green behind a pair of poorly mended, round glasses The boy quickly looked away.
Harry was the first to break the ice."You're going to Hogwarts too, right?" he asked.
"Yes..." the boy nodded "Are you first years too?"
"Yeah!" Harry smirked and saw the black haired boy visibly relax through his reflection.
"I'm Harry, by the way. Nice to meet you." Harry turned slightly to hold out his hand, The boy stared for a moment at Harry's hand before shaking it and introducing himself to the both of them "I'm Luke, nice to meet you too." he smiled.
"So Luke, what house are you hoping to end up into? I already know I'm gonna get into Slytherin or Gryffindorr. You see, everybody in my family were Slytherins or Gryffindor." Harry smirked, proud of their family tradition.
"So what about you, Luke?" He added.
Luke seemed mildly confused by their question "I'm sorry but I… Er… I have no idea what houses are there…"
"You know, the four Hogwarts houses! Slytherin, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff!" Harry explained "Surely your parents must've told you about them?"
"Oh… I, er, I actually don't have any parents…" Luke lowered his eyes,
"Please, excuse me, I'm sorry.
"It's okay, don't worry. You wouldn't have known about that." Luke smiled "I grew up with some relatives, actually. I believe Hagrid called them Muggles."
"Oh, so you're a Muggle-born?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Er, no. Hagrid told me that both my parents were magical."
"Interesting… Also, where have I heard about this Hagrid?" Harry pondered
"That's you done, dear" Madam Malkin announced after a while once she finished working on Luke, so he hopped off his stool and paid for his robes.
"I better get back to Hagrid now. It was nice meeting you two." Luke smiled on his way out.
"It was the same forme, hopefully we'll see each other again on the Hogwarts Express!" Harry waved.
"Sure, I hope so too!" Luke waved and walked out of the shop.
Harry turned to her sister"Are you done yet? Mother is waiting for us so we can go buy my wand."
"Style requires time, dear brother." Tonks said and Harryrolled his eyes.
# # #
I expect you have both purchased your uniforms just fine?" Narcissa was waiting for them in front of Ollivander's.
"We did, Mom and I also met a fellow first year too" Harry beamed as they made their way inside the shop.
"That's wonderful, dear." Andi smiled before peering down the narrow hallway between the heavily loaded shelves behind the counter "Mr Ollivander?"
The twins jolted slightly, startled, when Ollivander appeared suddenly from behind another shelf. "Twelve inches and three quarters, Black walnut, Dragon Heartstring, reasonably supple. Miss Andromeda Tonks, what a pleasure seeing you again, seems yesterday that you walked through those very doors for the first time."
"It's a pleasure seeing you too, Ollivander. While I fondly remember the day I got my wand, today I brought my son, Harry, for his wand. He is going to start his first year at Hogwarts next month." their mother smiled politely as she stood behind them with her hands on Harry shoulders.
"I see, I see Mr Black. Hold out your wand arm for a moment, please." Ollivander invited Harry to get closer to the counter before beginning to measure Harry's arm in every possible way. He even measured him head to toe.
Then Ollivander disappeared behind the counter and pulled out a couple of wands for Harry to try out.
He was now about to try out his seventh wand and when he grabbed it, he felt a warm sensation wash over her from head to toe. Harry finally smiled when the tip of her wand emitted faint golden sparks.
"Twelve inches and a quarter, Yew, Dragon Heartstring, Supple. That's a powerful wand you have there, Mr Black. Congratulations."
"How much would it be?" Andromeda asked.
Ollivander quickly cleaned up the entire shop once again "Seven Galleons."