Do You Know Who?
Summary: During their first meeting, Hagrid didn't want to speak of the past and only told Harry that he's famous because of "you know who". But Harry doesn't know who. During his first trip on the Hogwarts Express, he tries to find out more. This turns out to be much more difficult than expected.
Eleven-year-old Harry Potter frowned as he looked out of the compartment window of the Hogwarts Express that was just departing from King's Cross on its way to Hogwarts. He was excited for his first year at the weirdly named magical school, mostly because it meant not staying at Four Privet Drive, but there was something that bothered him greatly.
Wherever he went in the strange magical world, people were staring at him. It had been like that in Diagon Alley, and it had been the same on the platform just now. Seemingly everyone knew something about him that he himself didn't.
Of course, Harry had asked that huge man who had introduced him to the wizarding world – Hagres or Hagget or Haggis or something had been his name – about the reasons for his startling fame. But he hadn't got a useful answer.
'It's because of you know who,' the man had said, only to next insist that he wasn't the best person to ask about this.
Harry had wondered about that weird response. 'You know who'. If he had known, he wouldn't have asked! But with such a dimwitted answer, the guy had probably been right that he wasn't the right person to talk to, so Harry hadn't enquired any further that day.
He hoped that he would find out more on the Express today.
Harry was startled out of his musings by a knock at the compartment door.
"Can I sit here?" a boy his age with ginger-red hair asked shyly as he pushed the door open. "Everywhere else is full..."
"Sure," Harry agreed and motioned towards the empty bench in front of him.
"Thanks," the boy said brightly and pulled his trunk into the compartment before he let himself fall onto the seat opposite of Harry.
"So... Hi," Harry said with a hesitant smile, trying to make conversation.
"Hi," the redhead responded and eyed Harry critically. "Are you-" He paused and gulped nervously. "Are you really Harry Potter?"
Harry frowned slightly at the boy. "Yes, I'm Harry Potter. You seem to know the name."
"Of course!" the ginger exclaimed.
Harry looked at the boy expectantly, but no further explanation was forthcoming.
"Many other people also seem to know me..." he pressed on.
The redhead shrugged. "Course. How could they not? You're famous!"
Harry nodded slowly. "Yes, I gathered as much. But... Can you tell me why I'm famous?"
The boy frowned. "What? Because you're Harry Potter!"
Harry couldn't stop himself from rolling his eyes at that answer. Wow, talk about a circular argument here! 'Hi, I'm Harry Potter. I'm famous for being Harry Potter!' Though, upon further consideration, he reckoned that there were also plenty of people in the Muggle world who were famous for nothing besides simply being famous. However, he most certainly didn't want to be one of those people.
"Yes..." he said slowly. "But what am I famous for?"
"Huh?" the other boy mumbled. "Why'd you ask that?"
"Because I don't know. Could you please just answer me?"
"You really don't know?"
Harry looked at the ginger with annoyance.
"Uhm, right..." The boy gulped and frowned heavily. "Well, uhm, you're famous because you defeated you know who!"
Harry gave the boy an exasperated look. Bloody hell, not this again! At least the part about him having supposedly defeated this unknown fellow was new.
"Who was it?" he asked.
"You know who!"
"Sorry, but I don't," he stated flatly.
"What? Yes, you did!" the ginger protested.
"What?"
"What?"
"Who are you talking about?" Harry demanded.
"You."
"Yes, I got that," he said with annoyance. "But who's the other guy?"
"Other guy?" the dimwit asked.
"The guy I defeated," Harry said slowly.
"You know who!"
Harry groaned. "For the last time: I really don't know who!"
"What?"
"I don't know who!" Harry said loudly. "That's why I'm asking you! Who do you think I defeated?"
"You know who!"
"I DON'T!" Harry yelled, getting angry for clearly being made a fool of. "Who did I defeat? Tell me!"
"You know who!" the redhead yelled back.
With his eyes blazing with anger, Harry drew his wand.
"Stop saying I know who!" he yelled, his wand pointed at the irritating boy. "It's not funny!"
The redhead cowered back in his seat, his eyes bulging in shock. "What?" he squeaked.
"You think you're so funny, huh? Well, you aren't! Now, I will ask once more, and you better give me a straight answer! What is the name of that guy I supposedly defeated?"
"Y- Y- You- you know who."
BAM!
Harry winced when a bright red light left his wand with a loud bang and slammed into the panicked boy, who was knocked back in his seat and then slumped over onto the bench bonelessly.
Once he had got over his initial shock, Harry apprehensively reached out for the boy and turned him to the side. He was relieved to see that the ginger was merely out of it but didn't appear to be harmed otherwise.
Harry allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief. That hadn't been his intention. In fact, he didn't know why he had drawn his wand in the first place. He didn't know any spells, after all. So, how had this happened? It took him a few seconds until he came to the conclusion that this must have been this accidental magic that had been mentioned in one of his schoolbooks.
He nodded. Yes, that made sense. He had wanted the annoying boy to shut up, and his magic had made it happen. Interesting, that. Pretty cool, actually. He wondered if he would be able to do that again.
However, he was also a bit annoyed with himself for losing his temper. Knocking people unconscious, even by accident, wasn't very conductive for gathering information.
Harry gave a long suffering sigh and decided to leave the compartment to try his luck elsewhere.
He opened the door and made his way down the gangway to the next doors. The first compartment he passed was full of much older students, and he went by it quickly. In the second compartment, however, sat two girls his age who seemed friendly enough.
He knocked at the glass door and pushed it open just as the girls looked up at him.
"Hi," he greeted them brightly and stepped into the compartment. "I'm Harry Potter."
Both girls' eyes widened as he introduced himself. The girl with auburn hair who sat closer to him remained slightly more collected, but the blonde girl who sat at the window gave off a loud squeak and started bouncing on her seat with excitement.
"Really!?" she screamed. "It's really you!? I hoped we would meet you!"
"Uhm..."
"Oh my god!" she exclaimed and pointed her finger at his forehead, starting to hyperventilate. "I see the scar! It's really you! Oh my god! Oh my god oh-my-god-oh-my-god-ohmygod-ohmygod-ohmy-"
Suddenly, her eyes rolled back in her head and she slumped sideways as she lost consciousness. Her auburn-haired friend caught her in her arms just in time before she fell to the floor.
The girl worriedly looked over her unconscious friend and then shot Harry an angry glare as if he were to blame for this.
"Uhm... yeah, sorry about that," he said awkwardly, even when he didn't think he had done anything to apologise for.
"Just..." He hesitated. "A short question, and then I'm out of here... Why am I famous?"
The girl frowned at him. "Is this some sort of trick question?" she wondered.
"No," Harry sighed. "No, it's not. Could you please just tell me?"
"You defeated you know who."
Harry pinched his nose with exasperation. Not this again!
"Who?"
"You know who."
"Who?"
"You know who."
Harry tried his best not to lose his temper with the girl, but she really made it difficult. Why did all wizards and witches have to be such immature jokesters?
"I don't know who," he said for the umpteenth time that day. "Please, just tell me. Who did I defeat?"
The girl looked at him with confusion. "You know who!"
"I DON'T KNOW WHO!" he screamed and drew his wand again. "WHO DID I DEFEAT? ANSWER ME NOW!"
...
Susan Bones whimpered as she stared at the wand tip of the irate Harry Potter.
She didn't know what she had done to enrage The Boy Who Lived, but she knew that she was in deep shit now. Even with the special training her aunt had given her, she wouldn't stand a chance against a boy who had battled dragons with his bare hands when he was only six years old!
She felt her blood rush through her veins as her panic rose and her breath quickened. She didn't want to die! She still had so much to live for!
He was moving his lips, she noticed, but in her state of panic, she didn't hear what was probably an advanced incantation to a powerful Light curse. Before she knew what was happening, she felt herself becoming more and more light-headed, and then her vision blurred and the floor was moving towards her.
...
"Hey, are you okay? Hey, what – Oh, for goodness' sake!" Harry groaned as he caught the unconscious girl when she slumped forwards. "What's the matter with these magicals?"
He knew that he shouldn't have pulled his wand again, but he had just got too angry with the girl for making fun of his ignorance. Still, he hadn't wanted to hurt her, and he kind of felt bad for how much he had frightened her. That hadn't been his intention.
With a sigh, he laid the girl across the bench next to her equally unconscious friend and stepped back. He decided that the girls would be fine and that he could leave them be as he searched for someone who was more helpful than them in answering his questions.
He stomped to the next compartment, where a slightly chubby young boy looked up at him with fright when he burst inside without warning.
"You there!" Harry growled. "Hi, I'm Harry Potter."
"You really-" the brown-haired boy began.
"Yes, yes, really." Harry interrupted him. "You see, I have a problem: Everyone here seems to believe that I'm famous because I defeated someone. Could you tell me who that was?"
"How could you not know that?" the boy asked with a small frown.
"Please, just answer me: Who did I supposedly defeat?"
"He who must not be named."
Harry blinked. All right, that was new. It was better than the nonsense he had got before. Not much better, but maybe he was finally getting somewhere with these people...
"He must not be named?" he repeated. "Why mustn't he be named?
"B-Because- it's just-" the boy sputtered. "Because he's you know who?"
... Then again, maybe not.
"I FUCKING DON'T KNOW WHO!" Harry screamed, causing the chubby boy to jump back in fright. The boy hit his head against the back wall of the compartment and–
He slumped over, unconscious.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Harry groaned. He hadn't even pulled his wand this time!
Feeling extremely annoyed with the world in general and Hogwarts' pupils in particular, he rounded into the gangway and right into the next compartment that was occupied by a young girl with bushy brown hair.
"You!" he startled her, forgoing any kind of greeting. "What's the name of the guy that everyone thinks I defeated?"
"Excuse me?" the girl said with annoyance as she looked up from the thick book she had been reading. "Who are you?"
"Oh, sorry, I'm Harry Potter."
The girl squeaked, her widening eyes darting to his scar.
"Yes, yes, I know," Harry said, waving his hand impatiently. "Now, what's the name of the guy that everyone thinks I defeated?"
For a moment, the girl just frowned at him, but then she suddenly became more cheerful.
"Ooohhh, is this a quiz!?" she asked excitedly. "I love quizzes!"
"Uhh-"
But she continued before Harry could reply. "I think his true name is unknown," she said, speaking at a rapid pace. "At least it wasn't mentioned in The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts nor in Notable Wizards of the 20th Century. He called himself Lord Voldemort, but most wizards and witches are afraid to use the name. They call him 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named' or 'You-Know-Who'. You defeated him when-"
"Ooohhhhh!" Harry exclaimed, interrupting her. "They actually call him You-Know-Who?"
"Yes." The girl nodded. "As I said, most people are afraid to use his real name. They use the other names instead. As I'm Muggle-born, I don't really see the point in that. It's probably a cultural thing. Anyway-"
Harry shook his head disbelievingly. "I thought they were all fucking with me!"
"Language!" the girl chided him. "And who's 'they'?
"Uhm, ahhh... they..." Harry trailed off awkwardly. "Hey, what's that book you're reading?"
"It's Hogwarts a Histo-" the girl began enthusiastically before she halted abruptly. "Wait! Don't try to change the subject!"
She gave him a stern look. "Who's 'they'?"
"Uhm, yeah, funny story that, so, you see, I asked around for the name of this Voldemort guy. No one gave me a straight answer, and I kind of thought they were all fu- funning around with me."
"Aaaand?"
"So, uhm, I maybe... kind of... attacked them?" he admitted nervously. He wondered why he was stammering like that. He really shouldn't be frightened of a girl no older than himself. She wasn't scary at all.
"Harry James Potter!" the bushy-haired one screeched.
Okay, maybe she was a little bit scary. Very scary, actually, when she was angry. Pretty, too. He frowned. Where had that thought come from? He was also surprised that this girl apparently knew his middle name, when he himself hadn't know about it before.
She continued to glare at him, and Harry gathered that maybe he should say something in his defence.
"It- well... it was perfectly justified!" he insisted. "Well, it was at the time. In hindsight, maybe not so much..."
The girl harrumphed. "Did you hurt anyone?"
Harry winced slightly as he thought about the four unconscious kids in the other compartments.
"Uhm, well, I- I couldn't possibly say," he said evasively. "They'll be fine. Mostly. Probably. Anyway, why don't you tell me more about that book you've been reading?"
The girl looked at him with annoyance.
He defiantly met her gaze.
After several long seconds, he pointedly looked at the book in her lap, then back at her.
She also glanced down at the book, then back at him. She looked a bit indecisive, chewing on her bottom lip.
He decided to push his luck and gave her a small smile.
She glanced down at the book again.
His smile widened.
She smiled back.
"It's Hogwarts a History, and it's the bestest book ever written! It-starts-with-the-founders-and-goes-all-the-way-to-the-modern-era-and-has-all-these-fascinating-anecdotes-about the school-like-when-Helga-Hufflepuff-charmed-the-Great-Hall-to..."
Harry couldn't help but smile at the enthusiasm with which the girl in front of him continued babbling on about her favourite book, which was her favouritest book ever. He noted that he hadn't even got the girl's name yet, but he was sure that it would be just as pretty as the rest of her.
...
...
...
"... And that, kids," forty-year-old Harry Potter said, sitting in his armchair and facing his three children on the couch in front of him, "is how I met your mother."