Disclaimer: I don't own any of Harry Potter characters, they are JK Rowling's, hers and hers alone, I'm only borrowing. The hobbit and elves portrayed in this story are fashioned after those in The Lord of The Rings, The Hobbit and The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien.
HARRY POTTER AND THE LAST OF THE FIRSTBORNS
Chapter 4
A PARCHMENT FOR DUMBLEDORE
The four boys yelled in fright. Even Sirius turned pale. But then, who would not when faced with a head with tousled, scorched hair, hovering in the air.
"Who…what…who are you?" gasped James.
"I'm sorry," said Harry. "I'll just…I'll just…"
He did not know what to say nor where to go.
"What were you doing here?" demanded Sirius. He and James stepped closer.
"He's wearing Invisibility Cloak," said Remus quietly.
"Who are you?" said James again, this time with more suspicion than curiosity.
"I…er…I'm Henry. Henry Pot…Porter," blurted Harry.
"What were you doing here?" asked Sirius suspiciously. "Spying on us? Are you a Slytherin?"
"No, I'm from Gryffindor," said Harry quickly without thinking.
"I know everyone in Gryffindor," said James, "and I don't remember ever seeing you. And you can't be a first year student, because they wouldn't know what house they're going to be in."
"I'm in the fifth year," said Harry slowly, not knowing anything else to say.
"Are you trying to make a fool of me?" said James sharply. "I know everyone in Gryffindor's fifth year, and you're not one of us."
"Perhaps you'd better let him explain, James," said Remus.
"He can explain to Dumbledore later," said James decisively. "Now, I'm just going to drag him up front, all tied so he can't escape. There's something wrong going on here and I don't like it at all."
He took out his wand, no doubt to bind Harry with magical ropes, but Harry rose and stopped him.
"Listen," he said desperately. "If you want to take me to Dumbledore, fine, but let me do something first. Let me write him a note so he will know about me before we arrived in Hogwarts, and if he wants to make any kind of security measure, he'll have plenty of time to do it."
"How can we be sure that you're writing to Dumbledore and not to your accomplice out there?" said Sirius fiercely.
"You can all see me do it," said Harry. "I have some parchment and quills in my bag."
James looked at Sirius's scowling face.
"I think I'm going to let him do it," said James.
"No," said Sirius frowning.
"It wouldn't do any harm, I guess," said James.
"Besides, I think we'd better get the most out of him while we can," said Remus, his eyes twinkling as he glanced at James. "Once he's in Dumbledore's hand, there's nothing we can do to dig anything out of him."
James grinned. "Yeah, you're right, Remus," he said, looking at Sirius. "I for one want to know everything about this Invisibility Cloak."
"I still think we shouldn't trust him," muttered Sirius.
"I agree with Sirius," said Peter, finding his voice at last. "Better take him up front now. Who knows what he'll be doing to us here."
At that time Harry's stomach rumbled again. Harry went red and James smiled.
"A hungry spy like him can do us no harm, Peter," said James confidently. "There're four of us and he's alone. He had to think twice before doing anything foolish. Let him write his note."
"Give him parchment and quill, James," said Sirius. "I don't trust him to open his bag. And you'd better take his wand too."
"Good thinking," said James. "Your wand, Henry."
Harry took out his wand and gave it to James. Remus rummaged in his bag for parchment and quill and handed them to Harry. Harry sat down and started writing, four pairs of eyes following the motions of his quill.
"Dear Professor Dumbledore," he wrote
"Could I see you when I arrived in Hogwarts? With me will be James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. My regards to Fawkes.
Henry Porter."
"He knows our names," whispered Peter in a scared voice.
"Who's Fawkes?" said James.
"I'll tell you later," said Harry. He folded the parchment and tied it to Hedwig's feet. "Can I have something for my owl? She hasn't had anything since last night."
"What does she like? Sirloin steak?" said Sirius acidly. "I don't think you're in any position to order us around."
"Here," said Remus, handing Harry a piece of sausage from a sandwich he had just opened. Sirius glared at him, but Remus simply smiled.
Harry gave the sausage to Hedwig, who ate it hungrily. Harry stroke the owl's silky, snowy neck, and whispered, "Find him, Hedwig. If anyone can help us, it's Dumbledore."
Hedwig nipped Harry's finger gently and flew out of the window. Harry sighed and watched her disappear, then he turned around. Four wary faces stared at him.
"That sandwich looks nice," Harry said, shamefacedly.
James smiled. "You sure look like you need some food. Sit down," he said. He glanced at his watch. "The food trolley lady will pop in any minute."
Harry fished some silver sickles and bronze knuts out of his jeans pocket. "Could you get me something?" he said. "I'll have to hide under the Cloak again when she comes. I can't have anyone see me."
"Why?" asked James. He took a handful of toffees and handed them to Harry. "Here, take this, and tell us why you're here in the first place."
Harry unwrapped the toffees and ate three of them in one go, he was that hungry. For a while he was so busy chewing that he couldn't say anything, but James and his friends waited patiently.
When he had swallowed, Harry smiled embarrassedly, "Thanks. And sorry for the trouble. And fright."
"Cut the chitchat," growled Sirius. "Start talking."
Harry looked at him and understood why the older Sirius that he knew, the Sirius who was Harry's godfather, was so fierce and distrustful. Apparently he was a lot like that from the time he was a boy. Harry took a deep breath and began.
"My parents are aurors, Unspeakables from the Department of Mystery," he said, silently thanking Mr Weasley for his description of the Ministry of Magic before the Quidditch World Cup final. "That is, they were aurors."
"You mean, they're dead?" asked Remus. The others just stared, looking visibly impressed.
"Yeah. The Death Eaters killed them," said Harry shortly. "I saw them do it."
The four boys turned slightly pale.
"The Death Eaters tried to kill me too, but I managed to escape," said Harry, wondering at his ease in making things up. Perhaps, he thought, it wasn't so much of lie when what he was telling were basically the truth. A Death Eater, Voldemort himself even, killed his parents. And Harry did manage to escape. "The Death Eaters have been trying to track me down ever since, because they were afraid I would reveal their identities to the aurors. That's why I have to go into hiding."
"You mean you've lived under that cloak all this time?" said James.
Harry nodded, "Yes. I got my letter from Hogwarts too when I was eleven. I came here under the cloak and got sorted in Dumbledore's office. He knows everything about me."
"We'll see about that," said Sirius, but he sounded less suspicious now.
"Where do you live during the summer?" asked Remus.
"With some distant relatives of my mum," said Harry. "They're Muggles and know nothing about my being a wizard. Dumbledore made sure of that. He said it's the best protection of all, living with Muggles. He said the Death Eaters wouldn't suspect that I'm living among the Muggles."
"He's risking a lot of innocent lives, though," said Remus thoughtfully. "I guess the Death Eaters wouldn't hesitate killing all those Muggles to get you."
And for a second Harry realised what it really cost the Dursleys to have Harry with them. They were also at risk. Harry tried to imagine how he might've felt had the Death Eaters come and killed Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and Dudley. He thought that he wouldn't really care. Perhaps then he could live on his own. With the little money he had, he could live alone quite comfortably. But then he checked himself. Death is anything but pleasant. His own parents had died and he had witnessed Cedric Diggory's death, and it was all horrible. Harry decided he preferred the Dursleys alive than dead, even when he had to spend boring, disgusting summers with them.
"I suppose Dumbledore knows what he's doing," said James. He turned to Harry. "So you're in Gryffindor?"
"Yeah," said Harry. "I've been taking lessons with you, alone, at the back of the class. But I had to take my exams in a separate room."
"Must be very lonely," said Remus sympathetically.
"Do you watch Quidditch?" asked James.
"Always," said Harry, painfully reminded of his Firebolt, left behind in the battle in Platform 9 ¾. "You're a great chaser, James."
James laughed and Sirius groaned. "No need to tell him that, you daft," he said to Harry. "His head is big enough as it is."
They all laughed and the tenseness melted. Peter was sent out to check up on the food trolley lady. Before she came, Harry slipped under the cloak again and only re-emerged after she left. They had plenty of sandwiches, pasties, cakes and sweets, washed down with refreshing pumpkin juice. Then they played Exploding Snap. In the middle of the game, Remus suddenly sat up straight.
"Someone's coming," he whispered to Harry. "Quick, hide!"
Harry looked at James and James nodded. "Trust him. His hearing is as as sharp as a wolf's."
Harry pulled the cloak around himself and Hedwig's cage.
The door slid open and a girl stood there looking at the cards with distaste.
"Lily," said Sirius warmly. "Care to join us?"
Harry looked at the girl with mouth agape. Lily? Lily Evans, his mother? The girl was about their age, with ginger hair and beautiful, bright green eyes. She looked at the boys impatiently.
"James," she said, "Some Slytherin second years played with Stink Cracker up front, they burned the upholstery off the benches. You could've done something."
"Who died and made you the boss?" said James coldly. "I've got more important things to do here."
"Yeah, like playing cards?" said Lily icily. "You didn't get that badge for nothing, James." She pointed at the Prefect badge on James's shirt.
James sighed and stood up. "All right, all right," he said. He walked out, giving Lily venomous look. "You know why they gave me this? It's because they know you'll be needing someone to back you up."
Lily opened her mouth to say something, but at that moment, someone called her name, and she turned.
"Severus," she said, smiling.
A boy with a pale face, an exceptionally large nose and long, greasy hair came up. Sirius and Remus looked at him with dislike and the boy returned their stare with equal contempt.
"Hi, Snape," said Remus rather coldly. The others said nothing. Snape ignored the greeting.
"Don't worry," he said to Lily. "I've taken care of the brats. I reminded them there's no law against using potions out of school and I can easily shrink them small enough for owl food."
Lily laughed. "You didn't!" she said.
"Well, I did," Snape smiled. His smile made Harry shivered. It was a genuine happy smile, and looked very strange to appear in Snape's face. "If you want to continue our discussion on love potions, let's go back."
Lily looked at the Gryffindor boys with an embarrassed smile. "See you at school," she said. Snape said nothing. He simply turned and walked away.
"Love potions!" hissed Sirius. "What a shame! Our star student flirting with a no-good Slytherin."
"Well, maybe Lily's only trying to get into Snape's good side so she could use him in some way," said Peter's doubtfully. "You have to admit he is the best in Potions."
"Lily wouldn't use anyone for anything," said Remus thoughtfully.
"But if she isn't trying to make a fool out of Snape, then the only possible explanation is that she's really flirting with him," said Sirius. "If it's a Ravenclaw or a Hufflepuff, I wouldn't mind so much. But Snape? He's a true Slytherin, inside out, and you can never trust any of them. I can't see why Lily should even bother to talk to him."
"Lily is too sweet to hate anyone," said Remus. "Even a stinking Slytherin like Snape."
Harry smiled a little.
"Don't tell me you're also crazy about her goo-goo green eyes," groaned Sirius. "I've had enough of James' drawing big eyes with green ink all over his books."
Harry gasped and felt a surge of relief.
"You know," said Remus. "Maybe if he let her know he fancies her, she wouldn't have been this friendly with Snape."
"Ah, James's too proud to admit it," said Peter. "He wants to be the best in everything and Lily always beats him in Charms. He doesn't like that."
"Mental," murmured Sirius. "If I were him, I'd say it right out. What does a lesson have to do with it?"
"Good point," said Remus smiling. "You're welcome to try, Sirius. I happen to know Cassie Fawnbridge is in the carriage behind us, along with the other fourth year Ravenclaws."
"Shut up, Remus," said Sirius, his face turning apple red.
"Or better yet," said Peter, half laughing, "ask her to the Yule Ball this Christmas."
"I said shut up," said Sirius uncomfortably.
Harry laughed and the other boys was reminded of his presence.
"Get out of there, Henry," said Sirius.
Harry took off the cloak, still smiling.
"Wipe that silly grin off your face," growled Sirius.
"Cassie Fawnbridge, eh?" Harry smiled.
"I'll kill you for this, Remus," said Sirius. Remus laughed.
Outside, rain was falling and a thick fog crept across the land. Harry looked out, hoping to see Hedwig, and, rather surprised and embarrased, found himself thinking about Cho.