The Letter

Fate had planned a very different childhood for Harry Potter, but that path had long since passed. Instead of a lonely, downtrodden child, the nearly 11-year-old boy had an abundance of close friends. Not many people living on Privet Drive took note of the fact that every single one of his friends were female. Years ago, when his cousin Dudley had formed a gang of local thugs, Harry had prevented them from bullying the local girls. His efforts made him the head of an all-girl (except for Harry) gang that was many times larger than Dudley's. From that day forth, nearly every girl in the local school – and thus the neighborhood – looked towards Harry for friendship and protection.

Friendship soon led to other things, as every girl in his gang learned to kiss with Harry. He became the target of their emerging feminine wiles, and he had soon learned enough to gently guide his many friends through their new emotions. His ability to accept without judgement earned their absolute trust and devotion.

Chubby or thin, beautiful or plain... he treated them all the same. From Harry, his girls learned to be comfortable with themselves, and that eventually led to their possessing considerable self confidence. What neither Harry nor the girls knew was that Harry's emerging magic was aiding him in helping each of the girls change and grow. His power ensured that they would grow and evolve in ways that would refine their natural beauty, sharpen their young minds, and bring them strength that otherwise may never have become theirs. Eventually, this would lead to their giving birth to magical offspring, despite their non-magical natures. Harry's accidental magic would, in fact, slowly change them all into something never before seen in the wizarding world – muggle born squibs.

But that was the future. In the present, young Harry had several dozen girlfriends whose ages ranged from 8 to 12. They taught him (and one another) everything that they knew about their gender. They also shared any and all skills that they possessed, including the dance, yoga, karate, meditation, and other lessons that the various girls were taking.

The girls shared him as 'communal property', told him every secret, and shared every treat they received from their own parents. Young Harry was the beneficiary of dozens of allowances, birthday parties, and gifts from grandparents. The girls fixed his hand-me-down wardrobe, got him new glasses when needed, and ensured that he was properly fed for a change.

In return for all of that, he was their knight in shining armor. He placed himself between his girls and any of the local bullies, Dudley and his gang being the worst of the bunch. Using their teachings, he slowly developed control over his accidental magic. This, too, was turned to their benefit. With it, he could fix broken possessions, heal injuries, and take them on wonderful childhood adventures.

Despite slander from his aunt and uncle, the parents of Harry's girls all adored their respective daughter's 'boyfriend'. Possibly because he was very respectful, or perhaps because the children were too young to have 'those' types of feelings, they felt comfortable allowing their little girls to associate with the Potter lad. Of course, the fact that the 'herd' of young girls and Harry would move from house to house doing each girl's chores had something to do with it. (You'd be amazed by how fast nearly 40 children could rake and clean a yard.)

Harry's aunt and uncle had learned to let him have his freedom during the summer breaks. If they tried to keep him locked up at home, the horde of girls would soon descend upon Number 4 Privet Drive, demanding the return of their play-mate. They did not like it, but so many girls drew far too much attention to them for the old habits of abusing their nephew to continue. Thus, they now preferred for Harry to spend as much time away from their house as possible.

Luckily for them, Harry and the girls had claimed the local park as their 'territory'. Woe befall any child or teen who disobeyed their rules for said 'turf.' That park was the cleanest, tidiest children's playground in all of London. It was also the safest, due to the magical wards and protections that Harry had places there – both intentionally and by accident. No bullies felt comfortable in that park, and no dangerous animals would go near it. The Dursley's absolutely hated the place. Oddly enough, snakes found it to be a haven, and not a one ever so much as hissed at one of the children who played there.

On a fateful day in July, shortly before Harry's eleventh birthday, he was checking the mail before leaving the Dursley house. There was a post card from Vernon's sister, Marge, and an advertisement for something Harry couldn't be bothered with. The final piece of post caught his attention, however, since it was addressed to him. That was not unheard of, since the girls usually send him birthday and Christmas cards. Seeing as it was a bit early for his birthday, and the fact that the letter was written on heavy parchment, he considered this letter to be unusual. Also, when he touched it he could feel that tingle that he had come to associate with his magics.

Since he shared everything with his herd of girlfriends, it was only natural that he brought the strange letter with him to the park. When he arrived, there were already over 20 girls present, setting up blankets, coolers, and picnic baskets in the shade of several large trees. He spotted a few others cleaning up the night's accumulation of litter, to be deposited in the dust bins. (They maintained a very tidy park, after all.)

"Hello, Harry!" greeted the girls.

"Good morning, my beautiful friends," he greeted back. "I got something strange in the post today. Did any of you send me this letter?" He held it up, showing the green ink on the front, then turned it to show the odd wax seal on the back. The wax was purple, and the seal was in the shape of a lion, snake, badger, and raven surrounding a letter 'H'.

"I've seen one of those before." They all turned to see who had spoken. Though female, the voice was not one that they were familiar with. Coming up behind them were Harry's first friend, Marie, and an older girl who looked enough like her to be family. They both had light brown hair and bright blue eyes. It was the older girl who had spoken. "Marie, is this the boy you wanted me to meet? Your little boyfriend?"

"That would be me," grinned Harry, surprising the older girl by failing to blush.

"Harry, this is my cousin, Ella. Ella, this is our boyfriend, Harry Potter," replied Marie.

"Harry... Potter?" gasped Ella. "You're really Harry Potter? And you have the... the scar?" she squealed in delight. When Harry lifted his bangs to reveal the odd lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead, Ella nearly swooned. "Oh. My. God. I'm talking to Harry Potter!"

"Are you alright, Ella?" asked Harry.

"Hmm? Oh, I'm fine. I just can't believe that when Marie told me she had a friend named Harry, that he would turn out to be THE Harry Potter! I'm going to go to Hogwarts with Harry Potter!"

"Hogwarts?" "What's Hogwarts?" "Did she say Hogwarts?" The girls began to ask each other.

"Oh no! I'm not supposed to mention Hogwarts or magic to muggles!" gasped Ella.

"Muggles?" asked several girls.

"Don't worry, Ella," soothed her cousin. "We all know about Harry's powers. We've been helping him develop his... magic... for years now."

"You can already do magic?" asked Ella. "You're not supposed to do magic outside of school! They'll kick you out of school, and break your wand!"

"Not to worry then!" grinned Harry. "I don't have a wand to break. Besides, I've only learned to do little things, like healing, teleporting and levitating things." Ella looked, if anything, even more shocked. "Ella, try to calm down. Now, what can you tell me about this Hogwarts, my letter, and I believe you said the word muggles?" He took her hand, and she blushed.

"Okay," she said, "let me see... I suppose I should start with my letter. Like you, I received my first letter when I was 11 years old. That letter is from the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. It is a school where young witches and wizards go to learn how to perform magic. We have classes in things like Potions, Charms, Transfiguration, and Defense Against the Dark Arts. Magic folk have a whole world that is kept secret from non-magic folk, whom we call 'muggles'."

"So, do non-magical people have magical children?" asked one of the girls, named Amber. She was a 9-year-old with blonde hair and light brown eyes. "Because we've all met Harry's family, and if they have magic, I'll eat my shoes!"

"Well, there are muggle-born witches and wizards, but Harry's parents were magical!" argued Ella. "Everyone in our world knows about Harry Potter! You're really famous, Harry!"

"I am? Why?" he asked.

"Because you are The-Boy-Who-Lived!" At their blank looks, she added to her story. "Almost 10 years ago, back when you were still a baby, there was an evil wizard. He delved deeply into the Dark Arts, and was recruiting followers. He claimed that muggles and muggleborn folk were beneath the so-called pureblood families, and he started killing off muggleborns. For some reason, he came to your parents house on Halloween, determined to kill them, too. The story goes that he killed your father and mother, but when he tried to kill you, his magic was turned against him. He was destroyed, and you got that scar."

"And I'm famous for that?" wondered Harry.

"You have to understand, those were Dark days, Harry. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was very powerful back then, and he was winning the war. Good witches and wizards were dying every day. Before you, no one lived after he decided they would die. Because of you, he was defeated and the war was won."

"Well, were my parents both... muggleborn?" he asked.

"Your mother was muggleborn, but not your father. The Potters are a very old, pureblood wizarding family. From what I understand, they were a very wealthy family, too. In fact, I bet you have a ton of gold in Gringotts!" At his confused look, she added, "It's the wizards bank. Run buy goblins, it is!"

"Well, thanks for telling me this, Ella. I'm guessing from what you said earlier, that all of this should be kept secret from muggles?" She nodded enthusiastically. "Tell me, are there ever any non-magical children born to magical families? I mean, if it goes one way, it should also go the other."

"Oh yes! When a witch gives birth to a non-magical child, they're called 'squibs'. They can see through magical illusions, and can use magical devices. Usually, they don't have enough magic to do spells and such, though I've heard that they can get jobs as Potions brewers, Herbologists, and working with some magical creatures. The school's caretaker, Mr. Filch, is a squib. Oh, and the groundskeeper doesn't do magic either... but between you and me, I think Hagrid's part ogre or giant or something. He's huge!"

"That's interesting. So, muggles cannot see most magic? Because my girls here couldn't see some of the barriers at first. I managed to 'change' them over time, though, and now they can see some of the wards I created. I think that I made them into squibs instead of muggles."

"If that's the case, then I won't get into trouble for telling you all about our world. Just don't tell anybody else! You realize that if you are all squibs now, that your children will probably be magical?"

"Really?" "Wicked!" muttered the girls.

"Well, now that you've explained a bit, let me read my letter. Don't worry, girls! I'll let you each read it, too!" Harry broke the seal and began to read his letter. Just as Ella had claimed, it was an acceptance letter to Hogwarts. 'Await your owl?' he thought to himself. He hoped that muggleborns got a different letter, since someone who didn't know all about the magical world – like himself – would have a difficult time understanding most of this. After reading the letter, he found a list of required school supplies, but no indication of where to find any of the magical items.

"This school of yours," he asked Ella, "does it give a different letter to muggleborns? Because this doesn't really help me all that much. How can I send an owl – a real, live owl? Also, where would I go to buy all this stuff? It doesn't say where. Oh, and you mentioned gold... does that mean that magic folk have their own money?"

"Let me see that..." Ella read his letter. "Nope, this is the same letter that I received. However, one of the professors hand delivered mine. Professor Sprout was able to explain all of this to me and my family. She even helped me get to Diagon Alley so I could buy my supplies."

"Well, I guess that since my parents were magical, I didn't rate the personal touch. I guess they forgot that I was raised as a muggleborn. So, you mentioned a place called Diagon Alley. How do I get there?"

"Well, magic folk can just apparate there, if they have a license. It's kind of like driving a car... first you have to be old enough and take a test, then you can do it. They also have a system using fireplaces, called the Floo Network, but to use it you need floo powder, and a fireplace hooked into the network. It's sort of like the underground. Then there's the Knight Bus, but you need a wand to summon it, and they charge for passage. Finally, you can get in from muggle London, seeing as how there is an entrance from the Leaky Cauldron. That's how me and my folks get there."

"So, could you take us on a field trip?" asked Harry. "Show us around the Alley?"

"Me? Take Harry Potter back to his rightful world? Sure!" agreed Ella.

"Alright then. Girls, tomorrow we're going on a day trip to London. Everyone, make sure you have plenty of money for the underground. If I really do have a ton of gold in this wizarding bank, then I'll buy everyone presents once I get my hands on some of it. Now, Ella, let me give you a proper thank-you for all the information you have given me today."

"What kind of thank-y..." Harry cut her off by pressing a gentle kiss to her lips. She blushed but kissed him back. "Oh Merlin! I got kissed by Harry Potter!"

Later that day, they formalized their plans. Ella would lead Harry and his thirty-seven girls into London, and from there into the wizarding world. They would meet in the park as usual, and from there head out to the city.