Chapter 2: First Year
I understand in the highly acclaimed seven volume set of my life's story (good lord that seventh novel makes Hogwarts: A History seem like a light read) that there are a lot of bits about Fluffy, going to see Hagrid, and eventually me defeating Voldemort who took up residence in the back of Quirrel's head.
That's all fine, and I have actually read it. A word of advice though, if I may (and I may, after all I am writing more or less random stuff and you have already purchased this book, and are as such stuck reading whatever I write) don't read your own biography. You'll find yourself saying things like "This is an utter load of garbage, I did not!" or "Ok, which one of you bastards told her." It really isn't conducive to friendships.
Allow me to lay some things to rest:
Fact: Severous Snape hates me with every fiber of his being, and you know what? He has a right to. After seeing the things my father did to him, it's understandable. Childish as hell, but understandable. He once told Sirius that he was being a fool thinking I was James. Fact is Severous is a bigger fool. He knew better, and does not have the somewhat dubious benefit of having spent the bulk of his adult life in Azkaban to blame on slipping up.
Fact: There was a great, bloody three-headed dog guarding the traps set up to protect the Philosopher's Stone. Fluffy was real, make no mistake about that, as was the Devil's Snare, Chessboard, room of keys, potions and the Mirror of Erised. Fact: We killed (yes it died) a mountain troll in the girls bathroom. We were there because Ron and I were Class A prats to Hermione and we managed to make her feel like dirt. Fiction: Hagrid never let as much slip as the books seem to think he did. If he was that loose lipped, Dumbledore would never have trusted him with the duties he performed. Fiction: Ron and I do not eat like they claim. That would be disgusting. Fiction: Dumbledore is not addled or crazed. His mind is sharp as a tack, and he has the most giving soul of any I know. To quote Hagrid, "E's a great man Dumbledore."
Well, I decided not to go into a point-counterpoint for each part of the books, but I wanted to say what I thought was the most significant parts of my first year. Meeting Ron was a highlight. He became my guide to what's what in the wizard world. Without him, I honestly don't know what I'd do.
He got over the whole "Boy Who Lived" crap early on. By the end of the third week, I was 'just Harry' to him. I found this out by accident, I was returning from the loo (yes Harry Potter uses the toilet boys and girls) and I heard the boys in my dorm talking about me.
Dean Thomas: "Wesley, so what you are getting in good with Potter then?" He had sounded somewhat accusatory, like Ron was manipulating himself into my fame or something.
Ron: "What are you on about? It's just Harry after all."
We don't get to pick our relations, hell I wouldn't have picked mine no matter what, but we can pick our friends. Ron Weasley will always be the brother I never had. Of course, thinking about him that way is kind of sick, because I love Hermione like a sister and after the things I caught them doing in Ron's and my flat.But that won't happen for several chapters.
So let's follow the tour-witch again. I think I'll call her 'Mandy', as she leads us on the tour of my life.
Mandy: "So, like, here's the reconstruction of the Gryffindor common room, and over there is the chair Harry first snogged his wife in."
Well, ok, that won't happen for quite some time, but I swear she wakes me up from these nightmares at least once a month. I think it's the stress of that thrice damned museum going up in Godric's Hollow.
So anyhow I was asked once by a reporter for the Daily Prophet of a memorable event from my first year. What moment truly defined that I was who I am. That's simple, and I doubt any of you can guess.
It was 3:30pm on Thursday the 11th of September 1991. Madam Hooch gathered us on a clear, slightly windy day to learn to fly. Nothing was as life altering as that. Well, nothing that happened that year. Many things have come close, but flying has always been the one thing that truly defined who and what I was.
The story is fairly well told, but isn't important, what is critical to this is that it was so easy to fly, and being on the broom had made me feel complete and free, and it was the most natural thing in the world.
I do still have my Firebolt, and I do still fly it as often as I can, and Charley Weasley is the SECOND best Seeker ever! (Refute that buddy.)
Ah yes, Quidditch, there is no sport in the world that does not pale in comparison. None at all, and believe me, I've watched quite a few, both muggle and wizard. A steadfast companion, even when things were horrible, I always had that to look forward to, well, excepting the Tri-wizard thing, and that incident with Umbridge.
But that all happened later, now I am focusing on first year now. Where was I, oh yes, Ron and Hermione. The word 'friends' doesn't quite convey the bond between Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley and me. But friends we were, and with a few minor exceptions we were there for each other constantly through our next seven years of school, and well beyond that.
There are many memories, many of which I am sure you have read about from those books that everyone found so delightful. Of course there are topics she did not discuss in the books, some at my insistence and others because they didn't convey the story she wished to tell. Even without painting me out to be a hero, she still did, I look enigmatic and heroic by the end standing up to the ultimate evil.
She never mentioned that the abuse from Vernon was not limited to verbal abuse, though she hinted at it. Oh, don't get me wrong, he never broke anything (other than my glasses or things), and he never scarred me, or burned me, but he would as the American's say 'rough me up a bit'. Particularly when Dudley truly needed it, I was his whipping boy in a way.
Funny that, actually; in the Wizard world I was a prince, and in the muggle world I was whipping boy to some obnoxious son of a middle-class industrialist. It's not that I am trying to shift blame, but honestly, it's over now. Vernon and Petunia are both long passed away, I think Dudley died in an alcohol-related motoring accident, I forget the details, but I know it took a lot of Vernon's wealth, as it were, to hush up the parents of the young lady Dudley had 'been sowing his oats with'. Oh yes, he was a real chip off the old block apparently. He struck her several times, and when he was through with her, cast her out of his auto, and proceeded to leave her to walk several kilometers back to town. I found the police report when I went to clean out their house.
Let's see what else is there to tie up this chapter of my life? The Burrow. I love that house, almost as much as I love the family it houses. I spent many a summer, and honestly most of my first year of adulthood there. It was wonderful then, and it's still wonderful now. I return every Sunday for dinner, because Molly would not have it any other way.
Well, take it away Mandy.
"Thank you Mr. Potter, now if you'll step this way, we'll continue to the reconstruction of the Chamber of Secrets. Watch your step, as it's quite wet in here."
I understand in the highly acclaimed seven volume set of my life's story (good lord that seventh novel makes Hogwarts: A History seem like a light read) that there are a lot of bits about Fluffy, going to see Hagrid, and eventually me defeating Voldemort who took up residence in the back of Quirrel's head.
That's all fine, and I have actually read it. A word of advice though, if I may (and I may, after all I am writing more or less random stuff and you have already purchased this book, and are as such stuck reading whatever I write) don't read your own biography. You'll find yourself saying things like "This is an utter load of garbage, I did not!" or "Ok, which one of you bastards told her." It really isn't conducive to friendships.
Allow me to lay some things to rest:
Fact: Severous Snape hates me with every fiber of his being, and you know what? He has a right to. After seeing the things my father did to him, it's understandable. Childish as hell, but understandable. He once told Sirius that he was being a fool thinking I was James. Fact is Severous is a bigger fool. He knew better, and does not have the somewhat dubious benefit of having spent the bulk of his adult life in Azkaban to blame on slipping up.
Fact: There was a great, bloody three-headed dog guarding the traps set up to protect the Philosopher's Stone. Fluffy was real, make no mistake about that, as was the Devil's Snare, Chessboard, room of keys, potions and the Mirror of Erised. Fact: We killed (yes it died) a mountain troll in the girls bathroom. We were there because Ron and I were Class A prats to Hermione and we managed to make her feel like dirt. Fiction: Hagrid never let as much slip as the books seem to think he did. If he was that loose lipped, Dumbledore would never have trusted him with the duties he performed. Fiction: Ron and I do not eat like they claim. That would be disgusting. Fiction: Dumbledore is not addled or crazed. His mind is sharp as a tack, and he has the most giving soul of any I know. To quote Hagrid, "E's a great man Dumbledore."
Well, I decided not to go into a point-counterpoint for each part of the books, but I wanted to say what I thought was the most significant parts of my first year. Meeting Ron was a highlight. He became my guide to what's what in the wizard world. Without him, I honestly don't know what I'd do.
He got over the whole "Boy Who Lived" crap early on. By the end of the third week, I was 'just Harry' to him. I found this out by accident, I was returning from the loo (yes Harry Potter uses the toilet boys and girls) and I heard the boys in my dorm talking about me.
Dean Thomas: "Wesley, so what you are getting in good with Potter then?" He had sounded somewhat accusatory, like Ron was manipulating himself into my fame or something.
Ron: "What are you on about? It's just Harry after all."
We don't get to pick our relations, hell I wouldn't have picked mine no matter what, but we can pick our friends. Ron Weasley will always be the brother I never had. Of course, thinking about him that way is kind of sick, because I love Hermione like a sister and after the things I caught them doing in Ron's and my flat.But that won't happen for several chapters.
So let's follow the tour-witch again. I think I'll call her 'Mandy', as she leads us on the tour of my life.
Mandy: "So, like, here's the reconstruction of the Gryffindor common room, and over there is the chair Harry first snogged his wife in."
Well, ok, that won't happen for quite some time, but I swear she wakes me up from these nightmares at least once a month. I think it's the stress of that thrice damned museum going up in Godric's Hollow.
So anyhow I was asked once by a reporter for the Daily Prophet of a memorable event from my first year. What moment truly defined that I was who I am. That's simple, and I doubt any of you can guess.
It was 3:30pm on Thursday the 11th of September 1991. Madam Hooch gathered us on a clear, slightly windy day to learn to fly. Nothing was as life altering as that. Well, nothing that happened that year. Many things have come close, but flying has always been the one thing that truly defined who and what I was.
The story is fairly well told, but isn't important, what is critical to this is that it was so easy to fly, and being on the broom had made me feel complete and free, and it was the most natural thing in the world.
I do still have my Firebolt, and I do still fly it as often as I can, and Charley Weasley is the SECOND best Seeker ever! (Refute that buddy.)
Ah yes, Quidditch, there is no sport in the world that does not pale in comparison. None at all, and believe me, I've watched quite a few, both muggle and wizard. A steadfast companion, even when things were horrible, I always had that to look forward to, well, excepting the Tri-wizard thing, and that incident with Umbridge.
But that all happened later, now I am focusing on first year now. Where was I, oh yes, Ron and Hermione. The word 'friends' doesn't quite convey the bond between Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley and me. But friends we were, and with a few minor exceptions we were there for each other constantly through our next seven years of school, and well beyond that.
There are many memories, many of which I am sure you have read about from those books that everyone found so delightful. Of course there are topics she did not discuss in the books, some at my insistence and others because they didn't convey the story she wished to tell. Even without painting me out to be a hero, she still did, I look enigmatic and heroic by the end standing up to the ultimate evil.
She never mentioned that the abuse from Vernon was not limited to verbal abuse, though she hinted at it. Oh, don't get me wrong, he never broke anything (other than my glasses or things), and he never scarred me, or burned me, but he would as the American's say 'rough me up a bit'. Particularly when Dudley truly needed it, I was his whipping boy in a way.
Funny that, actually; in the Wizard world I was a prince, and in the muggle world I was whipping boy to some obnoxious son of a middle-class industrialist. It's not that I am trying to shift blame, but honestly, it's over now. Vernon and Petunia are both long passed away, I think Dudley died in an alcohol-related motoring accident, I forget the details, but I know it took a lot of Vernon's wealth, as it were, to hush up the parents of the young lady Dudley had 'been sowing his oats with'. Oh yes, he was a real chip off the old block apparently. He struck her several times, and when he was through with her, cast her out of his auto, and proceeded to leave her to walk several kilometers back to town. I found the police report when I went to clean out their house.
Let's see what else is there to tie up this chapter of my life? The Burrow. I love that house, almost as much as I love the family it houses. I spent many a summer, and honestly most of my first year of adulthood there. It was wonderful then, and it's still wonderful now. I return every Sunday for dinner, because Molly would not have it any other way.
Well, take it away Mandy.
"Thank you Mr. Potter, now if you'll step this way, we'll continue to the reconstruction of the Chamber of Secrets. Watch your step, as it's quite wet in here."