At six o'clock, Harry, Ron, and Hermione trotted down to Hagrid's hut to get Harry's present. Aidan had stayed behind to study and write to his parents. Ron kept mumbling about another Hermione as they left the common room. Harry kept picturing a small monster with fangs, a sharp tail and wings, something that was a highly possible gift from Hagrid. Hagrid loved anything that spit fire or sucked blood; those monsters were his idea of cute.
The sky turned a magnificent shade of violet as the trio reached Hagrid's front door. Harry knocked and immediately heard Fang's booming barks and scratching on the door. Hagrid opened up and welcomed the three with a simultaneous one-armed hug. "Hi…Hagrid," Ron choked; Hagrid's grip was very tight.
"How are yeh? I've missed yer, all o' yer. This place has been awful since las' year. At leas' me friends are back." Harry smiled.
"I missed you, too, Hagrid. The Dursleys were worse than ever this summer."
"Well, now yer home, Harry. Yeh know that home is where the heart is."
"Oh, Hagrid, how poetic!" squealed Hermione.
"Yeh mean to tell me, Miss Granger, that yeh haven' heard tha' sayin' before?"
"Guilty," Hermione said sheepishly.
"No culturin'," Hagrid muttered. "So, Harry, I guess you're down here to get yer birthday gift, huh?"
"Yeah, Hagrid. You told me to come down, right?"
"Of course, of course, I have it righ' in the back here. Hold on."
Hagrid walked to the back of his hut and pulled open a drawer. Out he pulled a parcel wrapped in brown paper and terse string. He then paced back toward his Gryffindor friends and handed it to Harry. On it was scrawled: Happy Birthday, Harry! From, Hagrid. The parcel seemed heavy enough to be a book. "Hagrid, you didn't get me another Monster Book did you?"
Hagrid laughed. "No, of course not. I've decided ter no longer send text books as birthday presents." Harry smiled.
"So what is it, then?"
"Open it up." Harry carefully untied the string and tore open the paper to find a handsome, leather book. The front read:
Harry James Potter
Gryffindor Seeker
1982-present
Harry's jaw dropped. "Wow, thanks Hagrid."
"Well, aren't yeh goin' to open it up?" Harry had almost forgotten about that. He opened up the front cover and saw the first page held the picture of his parents at their wedding that he already had. He looked to Hagrid, puzzled. "There's more, go on." Harry continued on. The second page was a picture of his parents and himself as a baby. The third, a picture of the Potters on vacation at a lovely beach; Ron laughed at that one. Harry was wearing a baby sun-bonnet with and anchor emblem on the top. The rest of the pages were of Harry at Hogwarts with his friends or alone. "I got most of these from Colin," Hagrid said. The funniest one, by far was Harry asleep in the library, surrounded by books and Dobby was standing on top of him, prodding and poking. Harry's favourite though was a picture of him out-diving Malfoy during the Quidditch final of his third year. Malfoy was looking scandalized.
"Wow, Hagrid, thanks! This is the best present I've ever gotten! How long did it take you to find all of these?"
"Well, with Colin as president of the Harry Potter Fan Club and Photography Group, it wasn't hard."
"Thanks, this is great!"
~*~*~*~*~*~
Dear Mum and Dad,
How are you? I'm fine and Hogwarts is great. I'm doing really well here, even with the spells I don't know. I was sorted into Gryffindor House, though the Hat told me that I'd do well in Hufflepuff. I guess I must be loyal and brave.
I think I've made friends with Harry Potter, but I seem to be better off with his friend, Hermione Granger. Harry and his other friend, Ron Weasley seem suspicious of me. Is there some reason they should be? Nonetheless, they let me hang out with them.
Right now I'm just studying in the common room. Harry said something about a present from the gamekeeper so he, Hermione and Ron left about an hour ago. I love the silence of the common room, that way I can finish my schoolwork in peace.
Mum, I hope you weren't sad when I left. I'll see you soon!
Love,
Aidan
"See! I knew it, Sam. He thinks he's been here all along," Jennifer said to her husband as she scanned the letter again. "Of course Dumbledore told Harry when he found out, so Harry knows Aidan's a Muggle, but Aidan doesn't. We have to tell him."
"Jenny, dear, he's acting like this because he thinks the same thing about us that you do, that we think he's been here all along. But I agree with you that we have to talk to him."
"When? Certainly we can't pull him out of school now that it's only just started?"
"Well, if we can't bring him to us, then we can bring ourselves to him," Sam said matter-of-factly. "Travel Tonic, anyone?"
"Oh, Sam, I don't think I can use that stuff anymore. It made me sicker than Floo Powder."
"Jen, we can't Apparate inside school grounds, you know that."
"But we can Apparate just outside them, can't we?"
"Let's just suck it up. The faster we can talk to him the better."
"Oh, alright, but it tastes like tar."
"That's the spirit, dear," Sam replied sarcastically. He then poured a cup of the silvery fluid into each of two measuring glasses and handed one to his wife. "Now, just say, 'Headmaster's Office, Hogwarts School' and we should end up in Dumbledore's office."
"We 'should'? How do you what to say?" Jennifer asked with a nervous edge in her voice.
"The Tonic came with a handbook…" Sam said awkwardly. Jennifer let out a strangled sort of laugh but quickly ended it.
"Okay, let's just get this over with." They took their glasses and raised them to their mouths. Jennifer took a whiff and gagged. They then poured the liquid down their throats and shouted "Headmaster's Office, Hogwarts School" in unison. They both experienced the same fizzy, pushing sensation. Jenny did the best she could to keep her mouth closed. Finally, they touched down in Dumbledore's office.
Dumbledore, who was busy examining an odd object on one of his shelves, turned around when heard two pairs of feet on the stone floor. He was pleasantly surprised to see the O'Rielly's standing there. "Ah, I wondered when you'd be dropping in."
"Err, Albus," said Jennifer (who was green again). "Could I use the lavatory?"
"Oh, of course, Jennifer, right this way. Just try to hold it down until then." Dumbledore's eye's were, of course, performing their famous twinkling. Once Jennifer was safely in the bathroom and Dumbledore turned around, he said, "What is it you wanted to see me about, Sam?"
"It's about Aidan, Albus. We think it's getting to weird and we have to tell him everything. He's pretending, we're pretending, everyone's pretending. We have enough trouble with the rest of world lying, we don't need to too."
"Ah, you are quite right, Sam. Everyone is lying. But don't you think that his school mates will turn against him as he is a Muggle?"
"Not if we keep it a secret to everyone else. Of course, we know you have told Harry all about this. If we can get Aidan, Harry and his friends up here and explain everything, our lives will be a lot easier, and a lot less fake."
"I suppose we should have a little meeting. When do you think it would be appropriate?"
"Well, now I hope. I didn't just make my wife chug Travel Tonic to be sent back home again." Then, Jennifer returned, now looking pale and sweaty.
"Oh no, no way. I came here to see Aidan. I'm not going home until I do. I'd go as far as that travel crap to see him so now I will."
"Relax, Jennifer. I'm not sending you home. I will simply call the children out of their respective classes and we will have our meeting, okay?" Dumbledore said. He then strode over to his desk, sifted through his schedules and found what he was looking for. "Yes, fifth year Gryffindors are in their elective classes now. Do you wish for me to call them out now, or shall I call them at break?"
"Let's let them finish their lessons. What class is Aidan in right now?" Jennifer asked.
"Aidan, Harry and Ron are in Divination at the moment. Hermione is in Muggle Studies."
"Divination? Does that old Trelawney bat still teach it?" Sam asked.
"Not that I speak ill of my colleagues, Sam, but yes, Sibyll Trelawney still teaches that class."
"Boy, I remember taking Divination here. Trelawney predicted the death of every student at least twice until we were out of here."
"I believe Harry is also going through that same ordeal, Sam. Although, she's only predicted his death since he took up the subject." Sam frowned.
"Don't you think, Albus, that you should hire a new Divination teacher?"
"No one will take the job. I've told Sibyll though to keep her 'Inner Eye' to herself until we've got the whole Voldemort situation figured out." Sam and Jennifer both flinched.
"Don't say his name!" Jennifer hissed.
"Fear of a name only increases fear for the thing itself," Dumbledore replied calmly. Shortly after, the bell rang.
"Let's get this over with," Sam said.
"Sonorus!" muttered Dumbledore. When he spoke, his voice was magically magnified throughout the school. "Would Aidan O'Reilly, Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger please meet Professor Dumbledore at the statue of Boris the Bewildered? Thank you."