Author's Note: This is my very first fanfiction, so I hope you enjoy reading it. I've put in a fair amount of research into this, such as different types of wand woods and their meanings and stuff like that. I accept helpful criticism but please don't write anything mean. Please review, and if you have any ideas for the plot line, do tell because I love new ideas! Also, please don't badger me for updates, this is purely a hobby that I'm trying out and I will update when I have time.
Happy reading~
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter the franchise, or any of it's characters. This is non-profitable and is purely for entertainment purposes.
Harry had always known he was special.
He could felt it when he woke up in the morning to when he fell asleep at night. It thrummed in his bones like a drum beat. It sang in his blood like a war cry. He felt in when he danced, when he sang, when he cried. He felt it when he was scared. When he was angry. When he played with the animals in the forest that just seemed toknowhe was different. They would run away from everyone else, but for him they stayed. For him they chirped and howled and skipped in delight.
It was a wonderful feeling, even though at the time he hadn't known what it actually was.
And despite that wonderful feeling it gave him, it did tend to put him in some bad situations. When he was running away from Dudley, his fat older cousin, and his gang, he had felt an almost unexplainable urge to dosomething.A pull, if you will.
Instinct, is what he would later realise.
He pulled at it, and it felt like he was choking. He couldn't get enough air in. He couldn't breathbreathbreathbrea-
And then suddenly he was on the school rooftop, with Dudley and his gang far below and confused at his sudden disappearance. Another time, his Aunt Petunia was trying to force an absolutelyhorriblelooking orange and brown sweater over his head. Yet the more she tried to put it on him, the smaller it seemed to be, until it would only fit a doll.
His Aunt and Uncle, however, did not appreciate whenever the strange things happened. They would call him a freak, abnormal, unwanted. They would lock him up in his cupboard, keep food from him, hurt him,beat him.
But he could never resent it. Despite how many punishments he got for doing the strange things, intentional or not, he had found one thing he could do which he absolutely loved. It made himspecial.No one else could do it, only him. He was unique.
He could change his appearance.
He didn't know anyone else who could do what he did. He could change the colour of his eyes, he could make his hair longer or shorter, he could disguise himself as a completely different person. He could walk through a crowd and never be recognised.
It was a new way to hide.
Harry had always hated attention, or at least attention for the wrong reasons. Everyone in the neighbourhood was convinced he was a criminal, because that was what his Aunt and Uncle told them. However now he could walk passed his bullies without them knowing who he was. It was his new form of escape from his current life.
One day, when he was old enough, he would leave this life and never look back. And they would never find him.
It was an average day in the Dursley household.
Harry was cooking breakfast on the stove while trying desperately not to burn anything. Aunt Petunia was dusting the furniture of the living room. Uncle Vernon was boasting to her about his possible job promotion, and Dudley was pigging out on ice cream while sitting on a seat that barely held his weight and watching a reality TV show.
All in all, a normal day.
What was not normal, however, was that today was the day that Harry's life would change forever.
"Get the mail, Dudley," said Uncle Vernon.
"Make Harry get it," he complained right back from around a mouthful of chocolate chip ice cream.
"Get the mail, Harry!" Vernon grumbled, noticeably harsher than when he had been speaking to Dudley, his pride and joy of a son.
"Make Dudley get it," Harry said.
"Whack him with your smelting stick Dudley."
Narrowly avoiding a bump to the head from Dudley's stick, Harry begrudgingly went to get the mail. Smeltings was a private school which Dudley was going to this year. It also happened to be the same school which Vernon went to when he was a boy, and he couldn't have been prouder, showing off to everyone. Smeltings was a school which actually encouraged violence, unfortunately for Harry. He suspected that he would be target practice from now on.
He picked up the mail from underneath the door, and was rumaging through them as he walked back to the kitchen, when he stopped dead.
Mr. H. Potter
The Cupboard under the Stairs
4 Private Drive
Little Whinging
Surrey
He had never received a letter addressed to him before, never in his life.
No one had ever written to him before. He had no friends so he had never expected a letter addressed to him anyway. He had no other relatives. Yet here it was, a letter addressed to him. If he hadn't seen it for himself he wouldn't have believed it.
The envelope was thick and heavy, made of yellowish parchment (who even used parchment these days?) and the address was written in bright green ink.
Turning over the envelope in his trembling hand, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing an unusual coat of arms: a lion, an eagle, a badger, and a snake, all surrounding a large letter H in the middle.
"Hurry up, boy!" shouted Uncle Vernon from the kitchen.
Harry, thinking fast, tucked his letter in the waistband of his jeans. He knew that if he read it now, it would be taken away from him, and he'd never know what was inside.
Walking quickly, he entered the kitchen and handed the letters to Uncle Vernon and then went back to cooking the bacon, making sure to keep his face passive. Thankfully, they suspected nothing, and as soon as was acceptable he excused himself and quickly returned to his cupboard. He closed the door, turned on the overhead lamp, and sat on his worn mattress.
Once he took out the envelope, he was once again wondered why parchment was used. It really was peculiar.
He opened the envelope, and promptly began questioning the meaning of his life, and why fate always decided to screw him over.
HOGWARTS SCHOOL of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY
Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock, Supreme Mugwump. International Confed. of Wizards)
Dear Mr. Potter,
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.
Term begins on September 1st. We await your owl by no later than July 31st.
Yours Sincerely,
Minerva McGonagall,
Deputy Headmistress.
Harry just sat there staring. Re-reading the letter over and over again.
It explainedeverything.All the accidents, the things he did that no one could explain. How he could change his appearance at just a thought. It reallywasmagic.
It was like everything just clicked in to place. All his insane questions finally had the possibility of being answered. New opportunities suddenly presented themselves.
Noticing another piece of parchment in the envelope, he quickly removed it and read it's contents, and he was pleasantly surprised to see that it was a list of required books and equipment that he would need should he choose to accept his placement at Hogwarts.
UNIFORM
First-year students will require:
1. Three sets of plain work robes (black)
2. One plain pointed hat (black) for day wear
3. One pair of protective gloves (dragonhide or similar)
4. One winter cloak (black, silver fastenings)
Please note that all pupil's clothes should carry name tags.
COURSE BOOKS
All students should have a copy of each of the following:
The standard book of spells (Grade 1) by Miranda Goshawk
A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot
Magical Theory by Adalbert Waffling
A beginners' Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch
One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore
Magical Draughts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander
The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quinten Trimble
OTHER EQUIPMENT
1 Wand
1 Cauldron (pewter, standard size 2)
1 set glass or crystal phials
1 telescope
1 set brass scales
Students may also bring an owl OR a cat OR a toad
PARENTS ARE REMINDED THAT FIRST YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOM STICKS
Just from reading that, Harry already had so many questions. What did it mean when it said they were awaiting his owl? How did they know where he slept? Was Merlin real, then? And what was the order of Merlin? Was it some sort of secret society of wizards, sworn to defend the world from evil? Okay, that was a little far fetched, Harry had to admit. What was a mugwump? There were so many strange words that Harry had never heard of before and didn't know the meaning of. According to this letter, wizards and witches really did work with cauldrons and make potions. Also, magical folk worerobes?
Suddenly, all of Harry's fantasies came to a screeching halt. The Dursleys would never allow him to attend such a wonderful school. They would deliberately deny him such an opportunity, if only because it would upset him. Also, with all their talk of freaks and abnormalities, it gave him the impression that they were very well aware of him being magical, and extremely disapproving. Not only did they punish him for doing anything other than normal, but they had never actually told him how and why he did such strange things, unintentionally or not.
No, they would never agree. So that meant that Harry would have to ask for someone to explain everything to him, without the Durselys stopping him. He had to speak to this Headmistress McGonagall in person.
And so Harry began to write his letter. Making sure to stay polite and explaining his predicament he had found himself in.
Dear Headmistress McGonagall,
I've received your letter about my acceptance to Hogwarts and it sounds like something i would like to accept. However I cannot, in good concious, accept without knowing anything about where I would be going and what I would be learning. I've never heard of Hogwarts before, let alone about magic, and so I think it would be appropriate for someone to explain it to me. I'm sure there is a system in place for first-year students who have not grown up alongside magic, and i would like to know more about magic and the opportunities it presents for me in the future. I apologise if this is sudden, but if there is anyone who is free to meet with me, I would be very grateful.
Thank you very much for this opportunity,
Yours Sincerely,
Harry Potter.
Harry read it aloud to himself, making sure to stay quiet, and was quite please with his results. He was polite, but firm in his request. He did not sound like a pompous arse, and so all was well.
Opening his cupboard door and ensuring no one would see him, Harry went outside to find an owl to deliver his letter. Outside, resting on the fence, was a scruffy looking brown owl with white and black spots. Nervously, Harry approached it.
"Are you here for my letter?" he asked it, feeling more and more stupid by the minute.
Seeing it nod it's answer, Harry carefully tied his letter to it's outstretched leg with a piece of twine he had nicked from his Aunt. As it flew away over the rooftops of Private Drive, Harry watched it wistfully. Imagining all the wonders of an unknown world which were now open for him to explore.
Harry Potter, wizard extraordinaire, explorer of the unknown.
It certainly had a nice ring to it.
The next chapter will be longer as this was sort of an Introductoin to the fanfiction to get a taste for it to see if you want to continue reading.Please review!