Chapter 4

Amongst Society

When Harry woke up the next mourning a wide grin immediately spread across his face. Last night was the best night sleep he had ever gotten. He had no nightmares and was not woken by the unpredictable sounds of the city that he was used to.

He swung his legs out of the bed and sat on the edge of the mattress. When he looked around he noticed that everyone was asleep still and that it was probably very early. Looking at the clock on the wall he saw that it was only a quarter to six. Neville had told him that normally people don't get up till about seven thirty on week days so he decided to try and get some more sleep. With that he climbed back into bed and closed his eyes in an attempt to get some more rest.

Harry lay there thinking about what surprises the day might hold. As anxious as he was he did not have a prayer of getting any more sleep.

After fifteen minutes of tossing and turning, Harry finally gave up and got out of bed. After he had gotten dressed he quietly walked out of the dorm and down to the common room, Mag following closely at his heals.

When he got to the common room he was a bit thankful to see that it was still empty. After all the excitement and life changing events of the previous day, he felt he needed some time alone to think.

He went over to a couch near the fire and sat down with his dog. As he thought over what had happened in the last twenty-four hours his head began to spin once again. It seemed like a month ago that he, Jack, and Mag were roaming the streets of London looking for food. As he thought of the previous day he thought of the fight he had with the malicious gang. 'Why did they have to bother me? Why are they always out to get me...why...why... WHY GOD DAMN IT!' Harry mentally screamed. 'I never wanted any trouble; all I want is for them to leave me alone. WHY THE FUCK IS EVERYONE ALWAYS OUT TO GET ME, ALL I DO IS MIND MY OWN BUSINESS! WHY CAN'T EVERYONE JUST LEAVE ME ALONE DAMN IT!'

Harry never actually liked to fight, regardless of how good he was at it. He had never done anything for which he felt ashamed for, Maggie had taught him right and wrong, but it still made him feel unclean whenever he had to hurt someone, especially if he killed them. The fact that he had probably killed a few of his attackers yesterday was beginning to tear him up inside.

Death was something he had never become accustom to. It still made him sick, even after all of the times he had been in close proximity to it.

After he had calmed down a bit he realized that he could now put all of it in the past. He was in a school now. Everything here was foreign to him, but he seemed to feel almost at home already. He hoped that in his new life he would not be so exposed to incidents like the previous morning. A small smile spread across his face as he thought about becoming 'civilized'. The thought made him a little uneasy but he new that being a student was defiantly a better life than that of a pickpocket. And if he needed to act civilized in order to stay a student, than he would certainly try.

His troublesome thoughts were ceased when he heard a muffled pair of footsteps descending the stairs leading up to the girl's dormitory. He turned around to see who it was and smiled when he saw Hermione approaching.

She had not seen him yet and jumped when she heard a voice from the couch near the fire. "Mornin' Hermione". She quickly spotted Harry near the fire and gave him a warm smile.

"Good Morning Harry, what are you doing hear so early, I'm usually the first one up in the mornings." Harry smiled at her and replied, "Not any more." Hermione laughed a little and took a seat next to him and Mag.

"So wha' do we do firs' today" Harry asked, still egger to start school. Hermione smiled and answered, "We'll, first we go and eat breakfast, but after that we go to charms class with professor Flitwick. That's a really fun class, you'll love it. I have the text book right hear in fact, you can start reading it now if you want to."

Harry all the sudden seemed to get very uncomfortable at her last statement. He was a bit embarrassed by the fact that he could not even read, especially since he was talking to such a smart girl as Hermione. He had learned a little on how to read from Cat when he was younger, but he had forgotten almost all of it.

Hermione must have noticed his uneasiness because she gave him a slightly worried look and asked, "What's wrong Harry, you look a little odd." Harry decided that he would have to tell her sooner or latter, it would be hard to hide his illiteracy in a school. "Well, ya' see da' thing Is... I... I can' read" Harry said, blurting out the last part.

As he said this, he immediately wished he hadn't. Hermione was defiantly not expecting this and looked at him with an expression of shock. Harry looked at her, but he could not tell what her facial expression meant. He was even more confused though, when Hermione's expression changed to one of sorrow. She looked at him with pity, "You mean nobody ever taught you how to read". Harry cautiously shook his head. Hermione then got a slightly cheerful, but mostly excited look on her face and asked, "Well, would you like me to teach you how to read, it is a very important skill to have."

Harry had not been expecting her to say that. He immediately became excited at the offer to get reading lessens. Looking up at Hermione with a grateful smile her replied eagerly, "Really, you'd teach me how ta' read, I'd love dat, t'ank you so much." Hermione returned the smile and said with equal enthusiasm. "No problem, we can start right now if you want." Harry replied, "Okay", with a huge grin.

Hermione then dug in her bag and pulled out some ink, a quill, and some parchment. She then began to teach Harry the alphabet.

By the time people started to come down for breakfast, Harry had already learned the entire alphabet and was starting to actually learn to read a little. "Your a pretty fast learner Harry, it won't take you very long to become literate at this rate" Hermione said with a smile. Harry returned the smile and said, "T'ank you, you're a very goo' teacher, I really appreciate yur help, you don' no what this means to me, I've always wanted to learn how, but no one else could teach me. Actually my friend Cat started teachin' me once when I was abou' seven, but she died affore I could learn much."

Hermione truly did look saddened by this and said in a caring voice, "I'm sorry, that's terrible, how did she die." Without thinking, Harry replied, "She... ah... well, abou' five or so years ago our gang an' dis other gang 'o' called themselves da' dragons got into a big fight an' we had this huge battle. An' during the battle, she got her hit over the head by this big fellow who used ta fight with a big piece 'o' steel pipe, an' when you get hit with that the lights go out." As Harry finished he turned back to Hermione who was sitting still with a horrified look on her face.

"That's horrible!" she said disbelievingly.

Harry now realized that this was not something he should be discussing here. "Uh, yeah, but she didn' feel no pain at least. Much better than gettin' stabbed in da' gut or sumthin', right." He said, trying to get here to calm down.

"I guess so, what were you fighting over anyway, what could be so important that would cause someone to kill for it?" She asked, almost rhetorically. Harry answered all the same and said, "Oh, well you see, we was livin' in dis warehouse at the time an' that other gang was jus' tryin' to get us out, claimin it was their territory. But it wasn't."

Hermione was looking quite shocked at the moment and Harry didn't know what to say. Hermione then looked up as if just remembering something and asked, "You were in a gang?" Harry nodded, "Um, yeah, I have been since my uncle ditched me."

Hermione appeared to be thinking hard, she was trying to decide what to think of Harry. She had heard about the gangs of the city. She had never been in any form of contact with any of them but she had heard of them. Occasionally there was a report on the news about robberies and drug dealings, even murders that were all gang related. She had always thought of them as just a bunch of immoral thugs who liked to cause trouble. But she was beginning to develop a new point of view. Here was Harry who had no education, no home, no family, certainly no chance at making it in the world alone and he was a gang member. And yet he seemed like a perfectly good person. She began to realize that the only way for Harry to survive was to become a gang member. 'I'll need to help him, he doesn't know right from wrong around here and is going to get into a lot trouble if he behaves like a gang member in a school, maybe mom and dad can help some', She thought. Feeling sorry for him her face softened and she said happily, "Well you seem like a nice boy to me, why don't you stick with me until you get used to this place, I can help you get caught up on your studies too as soon as you get your wand and I'm sure I'll have you reading in no time." Harry smiled and was about to express his thanks just as Ginny and Neville showed up.

"What have you two been doing down hear all morning" Ginny yawned. Hermione replied, "I was just helping Harry learn some of the basics," not wanting to embarrass him. Harry did not seem to notice as he had already gone back to trying to read a book Hermione gave him. "Well let's go to breakfast, I'm starving." Neville said. With that the four of them walked out of the common room, with Mag closely following, and headed down to the great hall for breakfast.

On the way Ginny asked Harry if Ron had given him any trouble the night before. Harry just looked at her with an evil grin, but Neville was the first to answer. "Well, he tried, but Harry and Mag took them all out before any of them could get a single curse out." Hermione and Ginny demanded to know what had happened and so Neville told them both exactly what had occurred the night before. By the end of it, Both Ginny and Neville were both laughing hysterically, but Hermione did not seem amused.

"Harry, you should not have done that, you could get in serious trouble for that, not that I'm saying they didn't disserve it, but you could get expelled for pulling a knife on a student." Hermione said with a stern glair. Harry thought for a moment, hung his head and said, "Your right, I probably shouldn't a don dat, I was jus' reactin', not thinkin'." At this Hermione's expression softened. "It's alright, you didn't know" She said kindly.

The four of them continued to make there way to the Great Hall, talking about nothing in particular. The whole time, Harry remained silent, but listened to them fascinated by what they considered ordinary things. He was still shocked by nearly every surprise his new life held, and that was a lot!

When they entered the Great hall they all walked over to the Gryffindor table and sat next to each other. Harry was once again overcome with joy at the site of the food, but did not eat as savagely as the night before.

About five minutes after they entered the Hall, they were approached by Professor McGonagall. "Mr. Potter, the Headmaster has asked that you report to the Hospital wing after you have finished your breakfast. I believe he intends for Madam Pomfrey to give you a check up." Harry nodded and told her thank you.

After she was gone he turned to the other three and asked, "Where's da' hospital wing". Ginny then said, "Oh, I can show you, it's on the way to my first class so it's no trouble." Harry smiled at her, "T'ank you".

So after they had finished eating, Ginny lead Harry up to the Hospital wing and he sat down in a chair near the door to what for Madam Pomfrey. After a few minutes an old which in white robes came out of the door on the far side of the room.

"Ah, Mr. Potter I presume." When Harry nodded she continued, "Well lets get started shall we, follow me please." She then led Harry into a clean white room with a bed in the center and cabinets covering the walls. She told him to sit down on the bed and to take of his shirt. She then went over to the cabinets to search for something. Harry was more than a bit uncomfortable at taking off his shirt but did as he was told anyway.

When Madam Pomfrey turned back around from the cabinets she let out a short scream at the site of Harry. Harry looked up at this and noticed that she was staring at his chest, probably his scars. He did not like this at all and was about to put his shirt back on when the woman composed herself and briskly walked over to him. She took out her wand and began to perform what seemed to Harry like hundreds of magical tests on him. After she had done her tests she returned to the cabinets and retrieved several bottles of various liquids. She then ordered Harry to drink them one at a time in a specific order.

Harry nervously drank the bottles as she gave them to him. After she had given him all the bottles except for one, Harry was hopping that he would soon be out of there. But, as soon as he drank the last bottle he immediately collapsed on to the bead as blackness overtook him.

Madam Pomfrey now began the long process of bringing the boy up to health. 'The headmaster needs to see this; I wonder if he knows exactly how unhealthy this boy is' she thought. She then called her owl from her office and gave her a note to take to the Headmaster.

After the owl was gone she went back to Harry and began to cast spells and give him potions.

A short while latter she heard a knock on the door, signaling the arrival of Dumbledore. "Come in Professor" she said and the door swung open to revile the old wizard.

"Good morning Poppy, I can see by the state of your patient that you wish to speak to me about Harry's health" Dumbledore motioned to the scarred body lying on the bed. Harry had several different parts of his body glowing as the witch's healing spells did there work on him.

Madam Pomfrey ignored his comment, but said to him with a serious stair, "Do you have any idea how terrible this boy's state is, in all my years of healing I have never seen anyone, especially a child, who was as medically and nutritionally deprived as him."

Dumbledore walked over to the bed and gazed down at the boy whom he failed. "What is the extent of his injuries" he asked without raising his head. Madam Pomfrey walked over to the counter and picked up a clip board which she had recorded her diagnosis of Harry's health on. "Harry was suffering from walking pneumonia and extreme malnutrition. He also has a number of open cuts and bruises, most of them were pretty small but a lot of them were infected and will probably leave light scars. In addition to that he has a minor case of frost bight on all his toes as well as his ears and a few of his NINE fingers. I have had to repair most of his teeth as they were almost all rotten. Most of these I was able to heal easily, except for the malnutrition, which will take time. I will inform him of the proper ways for him to maintain good eating habits so that we can get him healthy as soon as possible. The malnutrition has also stunted his growth, so he will probably grow a lot over the next year or so. These however are only the physical wounds; I can only imagine how disturbed he must be after all that he has been through."

"I agree that that will probably be a problem, it all depends on how well he deals with emotions, as of know though, he does not appear to be a threat to himself or others. I will however keep a close eye on him, at least for a little while," Dumbledore said with a sad sigh.

"How long do you plan on keeping him hear," the old man asked. "He will need to rest for know, his body has gone through a lot of forced healing, but he should be awake by this after-noon, I will give him a once over and then he should be on his way" the woman replied.

"That's good, I would hate for him to have to spend his first day at Hogwarts in bed" he said before thanking the witch and leaving, his expression truly reveling his age.

A few hours latter Harry woke with a terrible headache. He sat up in the bed and tried to remember why he was in the bed. After a moment he remembered the last thing he did before he fell asleep. 'Must have been that potion thing' he thought.

He did not have time to ponder this any more though as the door suddenly swung open. "Ah, I see you are awake Mr. Potter, how are you feeling?" Madam Pomfrey asked as she briskly walked over to the cabinets.

"Fine," He replied. Harry paused for a moment before he continued. "Um, why's I still hear, how-cum ya' put me ta' sleep" he asked.

"You were in a very unhealthy state when you came in hear today, I needed to put you to sleep while I fixed you up" she said as she turned away from the cabinets with a small glass filled with some green liquid which she then gave to Harry. As Harry drank the liquid he felt his headache immediately relinquish.

"T'ank you, wha' times it" Harry said as he started to get out of bed.

"It's about eleven thirty. After I check you over once more you can head on down to lunch"

Twenty minutes latter Harry was walking down the hall way feeling better physically than he could ever have imagined. After he got up he really started to notice just how unhealthy he must have been. After looking in the mirror he had to grin especially at the site of his new teeth. He no longer had that helpless look of a diseased kid he always had in the winter and he did not miss it.

He continued to make his way down to lunch and went to sit down with his three new friends to eat. "What took you so long" Ginny asked.

"Da lady up der put me ta sleep fer a little while, so she could fix me up" Harry responded as he began to fill his plate with food.

"Well you look much healthier know," Hermione said, and they all agreed.

"T'ank ya" Harry said, appreciating there kindness more than they could ever know. It made him a bit uncomfortable but deep down it felt nice to be a part of something again.

After a short while they were once again confronted by a professor. "Good after-noon everyone. Harry, the Headmaster has scheduled for me to give you your first tutoring session tonight. Just come to my office after dinner."

A grin began to spread across his face as he responded, "T'ank you professor, dat'd be great." Lupin smiled to them all and walked away leaving an excited Harry to get back to his meal.

After lunch Neville and Hermione invited him to accompany them to there care of magical creature's class. Harry was very excited at the opportunity to see a magical creature, even though Hermione and Neville told him that most of Hagrid's lessons were usually pretty dull lately. This was the result of an incident that had happened earlier in the year that had caused Hagrid to get depressed. After Hermione and Neville told him about the incident caused by some stupid Slytherin boy who was making a big deal over some minor injury and using it to try and get Hagrid sacked, he was feeling sad for Hagrid and was angered by the actions of the boy. This boy Malfoy, was already starting to remind him of Mel, whom he hated with every fiber of his being.

When they had reached the area near the forest were the class was to take place, they were still a little early. So they all sat down in the grass to wait for class to start. After a few minutes a group of three people walked out of the castle and began to make there way over to them. When they got closer to them Harry could tell that they were not the other Gryffindors, so he figured that they must be the notorious Slytherins. As soon as they got there, the smug looking blond boy approached them and said, "Well, I see the mudblood and the wimp are befriending the filthy street rat. How predictable."

After the boy said this Harry knew it was Malfoy. Anger built up inside him, but he was able to keep it under control. He did not know what a mudblood was but it must have been something bad, seeing as how Hermione was now holding an angry Neville at bay.

Not being one to take any crap from a boy so like Mel, Harry slowly stood up and walked over to the three boys. The slight grin on his face could be described in one word, scary.

Malfoy tried to keep the cool look on his face, but was not entirely successful. Harry got right in front of him and looked him deep in the eye, the blond boy looked away at first but recomposed himself immediately to meet Harry's eye again. Harry looked him up and down before saying, "wa's yur name".

"Draco Malfoy", the boy said with a hint of fear.

"Malfoy," Harry spat, "you da' dumb ass dat got his arm slashed by da' Hippa'griff, how dumb can ya' get. Everyone knows de' don' like bein' disrespected, what da' hell's the matter with you."

Malfoy looked outraged at Harry's comments, but his expression was quickly changed to one of shock as Harry grabbed his robes and shoved him down to the ground. "Now sit down and shut yur cocky trap 'affore I put my foot in it", Harry growled with malice.

Malfoy, infuriated at having been throw down to the ground and made a fool of by Potter, scowled murderously at Harry's back as he began to walk away. Not willing to let the filthy beggar get the better of him, he stood up and aimed his wand at the retreating back of Harry.

Luckily, Harry did not expect Malfoy to leave Him be. The only reason he had retreated was because he did not want to be recognized as the one who had started the obviously inevitable fight. There fore, he was ready when he heard a furious voice from behind him yell, FERNUNCULUS! He stepped to the side and felt a white hot ray of light wiz past him. He began to make his way back to the boy a few meters away from him, but was saved the trouble as the door to the cabin swung open to reveal a furious Hagrid.

"YOU PUT THAT DAMN WAND AWAY RIGHT NOW BOY, ya' alright Harry, did da little coward get ya'". Harry looked up at the half furious, half worried face of Hagrid and replied, "Na', didn' even come close."

"Ha! figures, stupid coward, attackin' ya when yur backs turned, an he still missed. Malfoy, detention, and thirty points from Slytherin," Hagrid said. Malfoy muttered something that sounded like, 'my father', but Hagrid just laughed and turned back to the class that had just arrived.

"Right, now, I got a special treat fer you lot today, so common over to the paddock 'n' be seated, I jus got to go find her."

The students all slowly obeyed as Hagrid ran of into the forest with his cross bow slung over his shoulder. Harry saw the cross bow and began to wonder why Hagrid would need one to teach a class. "Why's he got dat cross- bow Hermione," Harry questioned as he sat down next to her and Neville.

Hermione seemed quite excited but also a little fearful of what Hagrid's 'Special treat' was. When she heard Harry's question she replied, "Oh, the forbidden forest is very dangerous I hear, I've never been in there before but Fred and George have and they say that theirs plenty of reasons one would need protection if they went in there. It's forbidden to students though so we can't ever go in. Oh, but I bet there's loads of interesting stuff in there."

Harry, Hermione and Neville continued discussing some of the various creatures they have encountered with Hagrid over the years. Harry could not believe that Hagrid had actually had a dragon a couple years ago. Unfortunately the dragon was illegal and Hagrid had to give him up to Ginny's brother who was a dragon keeper in Romania.

Harry looked over his shoulder as he felt eyes on him. When he did he locked eyes with Draco Malfoy who was sitting twenty feet behind him glaring hatefully at him. Harry shot him his own evil sneer and turned back to Neville and Hermione. "I aint doin' to good here am I, I is only been 'ere one day an' I already wen' an' made enemies with two different groups 'o' kids, I don' recon I'll las' to long at this rate," He finished with a sigh.

"A don't worry about Malfoy and Ron, neither of them is worth their wands and to be honest with you, most people would be glad to see you standing up to them, both of those groups treat almost everyone inferior, especially Malfoy," Neville said. Hermione nodded in agreement and said, "Neville's right Harry, those people just aren't worth thinking about. Believe me, I live alone in a dorm with Parvati and Lavender and until now, Neville was alone with Ron, Seamus, and Dean. The only way I haven't gone crazy by now is by ignoring there taunting."

This made Harry feel a little better and he nodded in understanding. In his old world, people like Malfoy were either outcast, dead, or they just used the reflected glory of others to get what they needed, like Mel. Unfortunately, they were not dealt with here the same way as they would have been on the streets. If someone like Malfoy were on the streets, he would be put in his place the hard way, and if he didn't like it, he'd be dead.

But this was a very different world. Here, ones wrong doings were punished by detentions and the deduction of house points. It was clear that this was not effective. Children might be disciplined in the sense that they would refrain from doing wrong in fear of the punishment, but they never actually learned anything by it.

Harry had learned the ways of his world in an entirely different way. He remembered when he was four or five years old and had been inspired by Ethan's principles. Ethan may only have been twelve at the time, but Harry could tell that he was a man despite his age. He just seemed to posses wisdom far beyond his years. Whenever Harry had a problem, it was always Ethan who gave him a logical solution. Harry quickly learned from him the ways of the gangs and although Harry never considered Ethan a father, He always did looked up to him. Perhaps this was because Ethan, who was more than twice his age at the time, always treated Harry as an equal.

It was true that there were some things one could never learn from books alone, Harry's skills were not likely to be of any use here, but there was sure no way that anyone in this school would ever be as well prepared for hardship as he.

Harry was suddenly drawn out of his thoughts when he saw a few birds fly out of the forest as if something had spooked them. Harry gazed the tree line to see what the disturbance was. A moment latter the humongous form of Hagrid strode out of the thicket.

"Sorry about the wait, took me a bit longer ta' find her than I thought I' would. Everyone, I'd like ya' ta' meet my good friend, Aequitas," He said as he gestured to the creature that had emerged from the woods behind him. When the students saw the beast most of them backed away in fear. It appeared to be a combination of a lion and a human. Harry soon found out exactly what it was as he heard Hermione next to him say disbelievingly, "Oh my god, a sphinx".

Harry to was astonished by the appearance of this creature. At first, the sight of a gigantic lion slash human made him a little apprehensive, but when he noticed that the beast did not have any trace of hostility in its eyes, his fears vanished and were replaced once again with the endless curiosity he had been experiencing these last few days. He noticed the creature, who appeared to be female, was actually looking down on the students with mild amusement at there apprehension.

"You should not fear me my dears, from me you have nothing to fear," The sphinx almost sung in a feminine voice. This did seem to calm the class in general and most of the students who had been scooting away were now returning to there original positions. Though some remained at a distance.

Hagrid looked quite confused by there fearful reactions but shook it off as he started, "Righ', now, o' 'ere can tell me what sort 'o' species Aequitas here is?" Harry turned to see Hermione's hand shoot up before Hagrid had even finished the question.

A few people sniggered at this, but Hermione ignored them. "'Ermione," Hagrid gestured toward her, implicating that she give the answer. "Aequitas is an Egyptian Sphinx," Hermione answered. Hagrid beamed with pride, "Righ' as usual 'Ermione, Five points to Gryffindor." Hermione smiled proudly, despite the derogatory comments of some of her class mates, all of who received a death glare from Harry witch quickly shut them up.

Hagrid then continued, "Okay, now, as 'Ermione said, Aequitas is a sphinx, that bein' said, who can tell me what a sphinx is."

As the class went on, Harry was fascinated by how interesting a sphinx was. Hagrid continued to explain and ask questions, mostly answered by Hermione, all through out the lesson on the different quality's and gifts of a Sphinx while Aequitas provided a perfect model. By the end of the class, Harry was already looking forward to his next class to see what new discoveries it would bring.

"Common, lets go talk to Hagrid" Hermione said, tugging Harry along with here. Harry, Hermione and Neville stayed and talked to Hagrid and Aequitas until Aequitas said she had to leave. When she did, Hagrid invited the three of them to come inside for tea.

Inside the cabin, the four of them sat for awhile to chat over tea. Most of the conversations consisted of Hermione, Neville and Hagrid cheerfully enlightening an excited Harry on anything magical that came to mind.

After an hour or so, the three of them bid Hagrid good buy and marched up to the castle for dinner, still chatting vigorously about Hagrid's lessen.

END OF CHAPTER 4 Hello every one, thanks for waiting for this chapter. I know I said I'd have it up a while ago but my computer lost my files and I had midterms. So I apologize for not being punctual. I do hope to have a new chapter up within about ten days so be patient and while your waiting, why not review?

Godspeednight

Review Replies for Chapter 3

Maguswizard:
Don't you worry, Harry will get his supplies and be caught up in no time.

Jack:
Thanks, that's the plan so far.

Warbl365:
Thanks a lot.

Darcey:
Thank you very much.

Shdurrani:
Yeah, I hate Ron too, thanks for the Review

Crazy-lil-nae-nae: Thanks, I will

Raven Potter Weasley:
Maybe, I really don't have a story line, I just write down whatever my imagination tells me to.

Scott:
Thanks, I do plan on continuing.

Annon:
Thanks, soon

Burke:
Thank you very much.

Drusilla:
Thanks a lot

Kaya1
Thank you