Disclaimer: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, not me.
Chapter 3
Harry woke up but kept his eyes closed, not wanting to get up yet. He shifted his position on his four-poster bed then suddenly realized that he wasn't on his bed at all! His eyes flew open and he stared at an unfamiliar ceiling. Feeling a bit disoriented, he suddenly realized that he was still in Dumbledore's office. The events from the night before came rushing back. He sat up from the sleeping bag and looked around. It was just after dawn, judging from the light coming in through the window; there was no one else in the room. He spotted a trunk beside him and scrambled to his feet.
There was a note on top: "For your use." Harry opened the trunk and found robes and other forms of clothing in his size. There were also several leather bound books inside. Harry picked up one of the books and found that it was The Standard Book of Spells Grade 7. Inside the trunk too was a school bag, a quill, ink bottles, and several rolls of parchment; everything he needed for classes. His class schedule was there as well. Harry put the book back inside the trunk then started getting ready for breakfast.
Harry walked into the Great Hall hesitantly, wondering where he was supposed to go. He looked up at the staff table and caught Dumbledore's eye. Dumbledore beckoned Harry to him and stood up. Harry walked towards the staff table; no one seemed to notice him yet. Dumbledore cleared his throat and the students eating breakfast turned to look at him. Harry finally reached the table and Dumbledore started talking.
"Good morning everyone, I have an announcement to make! We have a new student with us today." Dumbledore gestured in Harry's direction. The students all glanced at Harry. "He arrived late last night and will be joining the Gryffindor seventh years in classes. I hope you will all welcome him here and make him feel at home." Dumbledore ended his speech then said to Harry, "You may go and have breakfast now, Harry."
Harry walked to the Gryffindor table and searched for an empty seat. With a jolt of excitement, he found one right next to Remus Lupin! He hurried to the empty seat and sat down. His father and Sirius were no where to be found. He couldn't see his mother anywhere, too. Remus looked at him and gave him a smile.
"Hi, I'm Remus Lupin." He said, shaking Harry's hand.
"Harry Po… er… Granger. My name's Harry Granger." Harry stuttered, remembering just in time that he was supposed to change his surname.
"If you ever need anyone to show you around, I'd be glad to help." Remus offered, then took a bite out of some toast. Harry, who suddenly felt extremely hungry, dug into some breakfast as well.
"Thanks, I'll consider that offer." Harry told him, while adding some sausages to his plate. At that moment, a blur of red flashed by. Harry's eyes widened slightly when his mother rushed past and seated herself opposite him. She ran a hand through her hair and reached for a plate of eggs. When she looked up, she saw Harry staring at her.
"Who are you?" she asked.
Remus replied before Harry could. "This is Harry Granger, Lily. He's a new student."
"Pleased to meet you," Lily said, reaching across the table to shake Harry's hand, "My name's Lily Evans. I'm the Head Girl here so if you have any problems or questions, you can come to me."
"Thanks." Harry replied. He couldn't believe he was actually talking to his mother!
"You know, you look a lot like a friend of mine." Remus told Harry. "Doesn't he look a lot like James?" Remus turned and asked Lily, while giving Harry a once-over.
"Yes, he does. Hopefully you won't have the same attitude." Lily said to Harry. "How he ever became Head Boy is still a mystery. Is he still asleep?"
"He was when I came down here." Remus replied.
"It figures. That boy is so irresponsible!" Lily said emphatically.
Harry cleared his throat. "So, what subjects are the two of you taking?" He wanted to know as much as he could about them.
"Everything except Divination, Arithmancy, and Ancient Runes." Remus answered.
"We mostly have the same classes." Lily explained. "But I take Ancient Runes while Remus takes Muggle Studies. What about you?"
"I don't take Divination, Ancient Runes, Muggle Studies, and Arithmancy." Harry told them. He wondered what classes his father took. He looked around the Great Hall. Where was his dad? Harry glanced at his watch. Classes were going to start in 15 minutes, Harry wanted to have a chance to talk to James Potter before then.
Harry stood up. "I have to go to the bathroom." He mumbled. Maybe he could bump into his father, if he was even bothering to come down for breakfast, that is. Harry walked to the doors and stepped out into the hall. He turned a corner and something collided with him, hard. Harry staggered back and looked at what had hit him. He gave a slight gasp. James Potter was rubbing his arm and glaring at him; beside him stood Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew. This was not how he wanted to 'bump into' his dad.
"Watch where you're going!" James said, pulling out his wand.
Harry stared at the wand and jumped aside. A split second later, a hex shot out of the wand directly at the spot he had been a moment ago. Reflexively, Harry pulled out his own wand and said "Protego!" at the exact same moment James said "Petrificus Totalus!"
The curse bounced off Harry and hit James, whose whole body immediately stiffened. Sirius caught James before he hit the ground and muttered the counter-curse. James straightened up, his face going red.
"I'm sorry!" Harry exclaimed, panicking slightly. This was not the first impression he wanted to make on his father!
"Potter! How could you do that to a new student?!"
Harry turned around. Lily was marching over to James looking extremely angry. "You should be setting an example! I'm going to report you to Professor McGonagall."
"Evans! Lovely morning isn't it?" James said, as though Lily hadn't said anything, his hand jumping to his hair and a cocky grin appearing on his face.
"I mean it Potter! I saw the whole thing. You deserved your curse rebounding on you like that! It's a good thing Harry here is quick." She said, smiling at Harry.
"I'm really sorry." Harry apologized again.
"You don't have to apologize to this jerk." Lily said to Harry.
Sirius, who had remained quiet throughout this exchange suddenly nudged James. "I think you just found your long lost brother, mate." He said jokingly.
James looked Harry up and down, a smile forming on his lips. "It would appear so."
"I'm Harry Granger." Harry said, holding out his hand.
"James Potter, Head Boy." James said, shaking Harry's hand. Sirius and Pettigrew also introduced themselves.
"Listen, Harry. No hard feelings about that curse thing, alright?" James said graciously.
"None at all."
Lily gave Harry a disbelieving look. Then, she stomped off to class.
"Don't mind her, she's kind of high-strung." Sirius whispered to Harry with a grin on his face. "By the way, that was some excellent dueling." He added. James looked at Harry appraisingly.
"You know, we could have been separated from birth or something." He said, peering at Harry interestedly. "Where did you get that cool-looking scar?"
"Oh… from an accident." Harry replied reverting to his aunt and uncle's old explanation about how he got his scar.
"There's Moony!" Sirius said, as Remus walked toward them, carrying a napkin piled with toast.
"Here." Remus said, handing the napkin to James. "Overslept again?"
"Yep. Thanks for the food, Moony. Have you met Granger here?" James said, taking a piece of toast from the stack and handing the rest to Sirius.
"Yes I have."
"Excellent reflexes. He's as fast as I am." James commented, puffing his chest a bit.
Harry frowned. His father was still acting the same way he did when Harry fell into Snape's memory in his fifth year. Hadn't Sirius and Remus told him that his mother started going out with his dad in their seventh year? Well, if James continued to act like that then the chances of Lily going out with him was practically zero.
"Come on, we'd better get going to class." Remus said, checking his watch. At that moment, the bell rang. The five of them ran all the way to the classroom, James stuffing the last bit of toast into his mouth.
When I get the chance, Harry thought, I'm going to have a talk with my dad about how to deflate his ego a bit. Otherwise, he might not get together with mum. But he shouldn't interfere, right? It's just a little prod. What could go wrong?
A/N: If you read this, please review. I could really use your insights!