After the Dawn: The Philosopher's Stone
Chapter Fifteen: Discoveries
Harry and Ardeo sat with Hermione in the very last compartment of the train on their way to Kings Cross station. "Looking forward to seeing your parents again?" Harry asked Hermione.
"Yes," Hermione replied fervently. "We haven't been away from each other for this long before. I mean, magic is exciting and all, but boarding school seems so daunting … my family are a very close, so it's a bit of a shock to be away from them."
Harry had no doubt that if Sirius had been with him at Hogwarts, he would be looking forward to going home a hundred times more than he did at the moment.
"What about you?" Hermione asked, after a moment.
"I suppose it's been a lot easier on me, since I've known I'd be going to Hogwarts pretty much all of my life. My family decided it when I was very young. And besides, I had Ardeo with me, and he's been my companion for ages, so I'm happy to hang out anywhere where he is … But yes, I'm looking forward to getting home again."
The pair of them lapsed into silence and watched as the country side sped by.
"I'll see you after the break," Harry said, as they prepared to leave the Hogwarts Express and step onto the crowded platform.
"Yeah, have a good Christmas Nemo," Hermione replied. "There's my parents over there," she added, pointing joyfully through one of the windows.
"Bye," Harry muttered as his friend disappeared into the crowd, heading for her parents. "C'mon Ardeo, let's go home," he added quietly to the dog at his side.
They flooed from a special fireplace on Diagon Alley for those children who could not be met by their parents, yet had to go home. Harry was glad that it was in a private room where no one could hear his destination, or Sirius leaving before him.
Then he was back at Potter Mansion, the home of his family for generations beyond count. They arrived in a small room off the entrance hall, which was there especially for guests who had to Floo in, rather than Aparate or fly.
"Master Harry and Mr. Black have returned!" one of the house elves had been in the room cleaning when they turned up.
"Hello there Kibby," Harry smiled at the elf. "Yes, we've come back."
"Kibby is very pleased, Master Harry. Kibby will go to the kitchens right away and make Master Harry and Mr. Black some food!" the elf disappeared before Harry could say anything about it.
"They live to serve," Sirius remarked with a sigh, and Harry knew that his godfather was thinking of Kreacher, who lived to serve Harry, and the portrait of Sirius's mother.
"At least they're happy," Harry remarked. He knew perfectly well that most wizards thought that house elves were nothing more than slaves, and punished them for just about anything, but he was no such person, and neither was Sirius.
"Unlike some," Sirius unknowingly echoed his godsons thoughts. "Want to go skating?"
"You bet!" Harry said immediately. He loved skating.
After several hours of zipping up and down halls, Harry and Sirius retired, very out of breath, to one of the living rooms, where there was a fire crackling in the hearth and steaming mugs of butterbeer and cupcakes waiting for them.
Both fell upon the food like ravenous wolves, devouring it in record time. A house elf appeared immediately with refills, which were welcomed with cheers from the hungry duo.
Night came fast, and dinner passed quickly. Harry was soon tucked up in his warm bed, with blankets piled on top of him and a fire burning in a hearth in his room to make sure that he was warm through the night.
He drifted to sleep with his face turned towards the portrait of his parents, with his mother singing quietly of Christmas and his father humming soft accompaniment.
He woke before dawn the next morning, but rather than going at jumping on his godfather, he padded through the halls of his home until he reached the portrait gallery.
Eventually he found the portraits of his parents, and went to sit on the floor at his father's feet, looking up at James and Lily, the parents he knew only through the photographs.
"Hello son," James smiled down at him. "How was your first term at Hogwarts?"
"Great," Harry enthused. "Don't worry dad, I played loads of pranks and still got really good marks."
James laughed, "Who did you prank?"
"You'll never guess, but Snape – Snivellus, I mean – is the potions master at Hogwarts now! I played some pranks on him," Harry replied.
"So, the git made it somewhere in life did he?" James mused.
Lily elbowed her husband, "He was the only reason we had any warning of Voldemort's attack," she reminded him.
"What do you mean?" Harry demanded. "From everything that I've heard, he hates you, and hates me because of you, I heard him saying that he was glad that Harry Potter hadn't come to school this year."
"Oh, he hates us, and you too," James said lazily, "But he's on Dumbledore's side, and even Sirius and I would never try to question his dedication to the light. He's a Death Eater, but he spies for Dumbledore …"
"He's a good man, somewhere under his mean coat," Lily added, "He used to help me with Potions, and I used to help him with Charms, back in first year, but then it got out that I was Muggleborn, and he stopped talking to me altogether – bad for his image, I wouldn't imagine."
"You always do stick up for him love," James remarked, "Though I've never seen why."
"You saved his life once," Lily pointed out. "And he is a good man, whatever you might say. You've admitted that he's loyal to the light."
"There's plenty of people loyal to the light who aren't good men," James said, "Look at Barty Crouch, or Cornelius Fudge. Obsessed idiots, the both of them, however popular they might be."
Lily sighed and shook her head. "What's your favourite subject?" she asked her son.
"I don't know, I like most of them," Harry replied. "I think I'd like potions if Snape didn't teach it, but he favours the Slytherins something awful and takes points off Gryffindor at every given opportunity."
"Sounds like him," James muttered.
"I like Charms, a tiny man called Professor Flitwick teaches it," Harry added, and his mother beamed.
"What about Transfiguration? Does Minerva still teach that?" his father asked.
"Yeah," Harry replied, "She's the head of Gryffindor house."
"From what you've said, I take it you were sorted into Gryffindor?" Lily enquired.
"Of course he was," James replied, "Whoever heard of Potter who wasn't a Gryffindor?"
"Yeah, I'm in Gryffindor," Harry agreed with a small smile.
"Have you made any friends?" his mother wanted to know.
"Yes," Harry replied, "A Muggleborn know-it-all who beats me sometimes in class, and a boy who doesn't seem to be very good at magic, but who's nice anyway. Hermione's the girl, and Neville Longbottom is the boy."
"Longbottom, eh? So Alice and Frank's son survived – that's good to know. We knew his parents … and heard about the tragedy that befell them. Look out for Neville, Harry," James ordered his son.
"I will dad," Harry promised. "But I was hoping you could help me out a bit. My friends and I have discovered that there is something hidden in Hogwarts that is probably quite dangerous, and that someone – we thought it was Snape – was trying to steal it."
"This sounds interesting," James remarked.
"The only thing we've found out is that it involved Professor Dumbledore and a man named Nicholas Flamel," Harry added.
"Hmm," James said, "That's a name that sounds familiar."
"It should," Lily sighed. "Harry, I'm not going to make things easy on you, because it won't help you at all, you need to learn to solve these mysteries for yourself … but when you go back to school, look at the Alchemy section of the library. You aren't looking for anyone recent."
Harry blinked. "Alright …" he said slowly. "Why back at school?"
"Because you should get your friends into these things to. It will help the bonds of friendship form, and that's a very important thing to do," James answered for his wife. "You have to make them feel included with some things. Besides, you can't do everything for yourself, you know that. You need people to support you."
Harry nodded. "OK then. Thanks mum, dad."
"You're welcome Harry," replied his mother, smiling gently. "Come and talk again, won't you?"
"Of course," Harry replied.
"And send Padfoot over sometime soon," James added. "I'd like to see him before you two head back to Hogwarts."
"Padfoot will be staying here when I return in a weeks time," Harry replied quietly, "I no longer feel that I need him to be their with me … I have two friends now, so I'll have company."
"Good for you," Lily smiled. "It will be good to see more of Sirius, and to know that you're making friends at school."
Harry smiled, "I'll miss Sirius, but it will be fun to see how much mischief I can make on my own," he remarked.
James laughed heartily, "Atta boy Harry!"
"Don't encourage him," Lily chided her husband.
"As if a Potter boy needed encouragement," James replied. "See you later son."
"Later dad," Harry agreed, "Bye mum," he turned and padded off down the hall, socked feet making hardly any noise on the tiled corridor.
"I wish we were still alive to watch him grow up," Lily murmured sadly.
"It was not to be," her husband replied, stepping from his portrait into hers and placing an arm around her shoulders. "But at least Sirius is here to watch over him."
"That's a good thing?" Lily joked.
"In moderation," James shrugged back.
Lily laughed quietly.
"Why didn't you just tell him Flamel was?" James enquired.
"Because he needs to learn to rely on his own mind," Lily replied, "I gave him enough of a hint to let him find what he needs to, but I'm not going to do the work for him."
"I always said that you should have been Ravenclaw," James told her fondly, "But I'm glad that you were in Gryffindor, and you belonged there as much as anywhere else."
Lily smiled. "I'm glad I was in Gryffindor too," she murmured, leaning into her husbands embrace.
"Where ya been?" Sirius asked Harry as the boy wandered into their dining place.
"Talking to mum and dad," he replied.
"What about?"
"Asking them about Nicholas Flamel."
"What did Lily have to say?"
"She said to look for stuff on alchemy, and to look in the past," Harry replied. "But she said that I should wait until I got back to school and do it with Neville and Hermione."
"Good idea, make them feel part of the group," Sirius agreed. "I'm sure I'll be able to convince Lily to tell me about it once your gone so that I don't have to wait until next holidays to discover who the guy was."
Harry laughed quietly. "I'm sure," he agreed.
"Skiing? Snowball war? Skating? What shall we do today?" Sirius asked.
"War," Harry replied without hesitation.
"Let's go!" Sirius's grey eyes shone with delight, and the pair of them raced outside, pausing for a moment to get used to the sun glinting off the brilliantly white snow.
When the sun began to sink low toward the horizon, the two combatants trudged wearily up the grounds to the entrance of the manor. Behind them the forts from behind which they had battled lay abandoned, but ready to returned to on the morrow.
Harry sighed happily, it was nice to be back to just him and Sirius, with Sirius unafraid to assume a human form and play with him. For the first time in a few weeks, Harry once again missed Dan.
The week passed, full of laughter and fun, with Harry and Sirius spending almost every waking moment together. Christmas day came and went, leaving a brief memory of stuffed bellies, laughter, decorations, games and presents.
All the presents had been bought either by mail order or on illegal trips to Hogsmeade, and all were (in the eyes of the recipients) fantastic.
Harry also received presents by owl from Hermione and Neville. Neville sent an assortment of candy and Hermione sent him a book on Herbology, which was Harry's worst subject and Neville's best.
Then it was time to leave the happy home and the friend who had stayed by Harry's side for all of his remembered life. Time to return to Hogwarts, where he would learn magic properly and make more friends than just Hermione and Neville.
In some respects he was looking forward to going back to Hogwarts, but it would be hard to leave Sirius, who had long been his 'security blanket' behind when he did.
Oh well, he had to get to know the place on his own, make his own friends and begin to make his own life, away from his family.
The last morning dawned, and Harry woke to find all of his bags carefully repacked for the journey back to Hogwarts.
Before they left Potter Mansion to Floo to London Sirius put Harry's illusion back on. Harry cursed himself for forgetting about it so quickly, and mentally promised that he would not do so in the next holidays.
Just before they flooed out, Sirius gathered Harry into his arms and hugged the small boy tightly. Harry hugged him strongly back. "Take care kiddo," Sirius instructed his godson. "Have a good term, and I'll be looking forward to the Easter break and seeing you again!"
Harry smiled, "Of course Sirius. I'll send you loads of mail, don't worry," he assured his godfather, knowing that he was reassuring himself just as much as his godfather.
Together, with Sirius in the form of Ardeo, they flooed to London, and caught a taxi over to Kings Cross station with all of Harry's bags in the boot. He had thoughtfully left his owl behind in Hogwarts, rather than cause a scene here in a Muggle taxi.
Sirius and Harry slipped onto platform nine and three quarters together, but the place was nearly deserted, as few people would be returning to Hogwarts until the holidays were properly over.
Harry was glad that he had brought his homework for the holidays (still undone) with him, as it looked that he was going to be one of only five students on the train, and the only first year. There was an older Gryffindor, but Harry wasn't sure whether he wanted to talk with the girl.
He settled himself in one of the back carriages, and once more bid Sirius goodbye, this time hugging his godfather around the neck. "I'll see you next holidays, and send owls if anything happens."
Sirius woofed in agreement, licked Harry's hand, then bounded off the train and out of the station. Harry knew that his godfather would get home just fine, and turned back to his homework calmly.
"You're Nemo Protectium, right?" A voice enquired from the doorway several minutes later. Harry looked up, a little peeved at being disturbed, and saw a young girl with hair as black as his own real hair, which hung in waves down to her hips with tendrils wandering over his shoulders and across her face, grey eyes and pale skin. She was very thin and willowy, and pretty too. She looked too short to be much older than he was.
"Yes," Harry replied unwillingly to her question.
"Hi, I'm Blaise," she said, padding into the room on silent feet.
Harry frowned slightly, "I've heard that name before," he muttered softly, trying to remember where.
"I'm a first year, in Slytherin," Blaise replied.
Harry nodded, now understanding. He'd seen her a few times in Potions classes, but she usually kept out of the way, much as he himself did.
"Have you done that assignment for Professor Snape?" he asked her politely, deciding that perhaps he shouldn't be mean to her, since she seemed nice.
"I've started," she sighed, "But I haven't got very far. I hate theory, especially for Potions."
"From what I remember, you're good at the practical," Harry remarked.
"Yeah, I can do that stuff," she said, shrugging, "It's like instinct, you know? I know that I have to add this much of this thing to make the potion do this, but I don't know how to write it down and make it make sense!"
"I haven't gotten very far with it," Harry said, "Maybe we could do it together? It's certainly a way of passing the train ride."
Blaise smiled. "That would be fun," she said. "But I'd heard that you didn't like people much…"
"I don't usually," Harry replied, "But Hermione and Neville, from Gryffindor, decided that they wanted to be my friends, and it doesn't seem so bad."
Blaise laughed, "I don't have many friends either," she told him, "I don't like most of the Slytherins in my year. Malfoy seems to have taken control of all of them. I'd rather avoid them if possible."
Harry smiled faintly, "So you're making friends outside of your house?" he enquired.
"That's the basic idea, yeah," Blaise agreed.
"And with a Gryffindor no less. A bit bold, isn't it?"
"I don't think so," she replied. "Gryffindors are fine by me – I'm not one for stupid house rivalries that continue for ages on end, and no one evens remembers why anymore."
"Neither am I," Harry agreed. "It makes no sense to keep away from a group of people simply because they were sorted into one house and you're in another one."
"Slytherin does have a bad reputation," Blaise pointed out.
"Yeah, because when Voldemort rose quite a few of them joined him. But so did Gryffindors and Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, so it's really no big deal," Harry agreed.
Blaise almost laughed, "True. And from my side of things, it makes no sense to ignore the brave people in our society, or the smart ones, simply because they aren't cunning. Cunning is all well and good, but when you make a plan, you need brave and intelligent people to carry it out."
Harry nodded in agreement, "And the brave people need the cunning and intelligent ones to make the plans for them to follow."
He got out several potions books and his assignment sheets, as well as several quills. "So, what have you got so far?"
It seemed that he had made another friend.
Well, I know it's been a hellova long time since I updated this story, and I apologise for that, but those of you who read In Every Darkness will know that I simply decided to concentrate on one story at a time. Now that In Every Darkness is complete, I will be focusing my energies on this story, and updating once a week on Monday's, and at other times if possible.
Thanks: Sword of Darkness, ReflectionsOfReality, goldengirl2, Schnuff, athenakitty, Starlight Dreams, kraeg001, jbfritz, kateydidnt, Wytil, Prongs4, Jeanne2, tortie, torifire126, Empress Sarah-sama, MikiBaby, Jaded Angel8, Songbreeze Swifteye, Cyblade silver, gaul1, magicgirl10, katepotter13, reems, Nerwen Elendil, INSANE, Wynjara, Nphipps, blip-dragon, Samara-Morgan-101, Nasser Himura, Musicstarlover, azntgr01, jack4, Preeto aka Raaven Potter Weasley, Preeto aka Raven Potter Weasley, RiDles girl, Lil Ole Me 9, Devonny Rose, Japonica, Demon's Soul of Baer, Demon's Soul of Baer, mrs. happy, uNoeWho, Kitty, Kanri Koneko (Kitty) Sage, Itty bitty evil kitty of doom, KandiG85, Narishma, aeslynn, wizardmon92, aaf, spectra2, golden wolf 73, Schnuff, I'm not the weakest link, The Angsty Gothic Angel, Brenna8, Geminidragon, grand admiral chelli, Maethoriell Uini Tawar, inu- hp fan, shina-schatten, Severus' Wife, shy3wolf, Mark turnlach, Arlo, Julie Lanister, Demon Donatello.