Early Morning Tears and Promises:

Harry Potter was still mostly a closed-off child who disliked and distrusted adults. Some of them were okay, like Ms Singh. Others he did not care about, much.

These were the thoughts that occupied his mind as he got ready for school. He hopped in the shower after forcing himself to eat twice his usual amount and then proceeded to tell himself "I want to be clean and look nice today". After the shower, his skin glowed and his hair settled, and he could style it. Little did he know that his magic had passively assisted in the process. Harry Potter had just tamed his hair, something no Potter before him had ever done.

Harry hated his clothes. They still looked like rags and elephant skin at the same time. The option was there to compel Petunia to purchase new clothes for him. However, he had promised himself that he would purchase his own clothing. He wanted to look good, and he wanted it to be a personal effort. He 'borrowed' some gel from Dudley and ensured his hair was properly brushed and settled. He skipped outside and selected the best flowers he could find, and asked Petunia to assemble them into a bouquet. Meanwhile, he ran upstairs to the attic, packed his schoolbag and came downstairs. Dudley had already walked out the door, as he preferred not to walk to school with Harry.

Petunia while under partial compulsion enjoyed making the flower bouquet. She considered it a wonderful gesture that flowers were being given as a gift to his teacher. Of course, perhaps these softer emotions were only being expressed because her vindictiveness was being suppressed by Harry's commands. The bouquet was now done, and he already had his schoolbag on his back and was ready to leave. He did not want to damage the flowers, so he decided that he would take his time when walking to school. His trusty phoenix suddenly alighted on his shoulder and lightning apparated Harry directly to a secluded part of the school that had been set aside to stack old broken school furniture.

Harry had no idea what was happening as he felt himself being unassembled and reassembled. But after realising where he was and that his trusty bird had chirped with a very proud exclamation, it occurred to Harry that his feathered friend had teleported him to school, accurate to the atom. He was essentially 45 minutes early. The bouquet was immaculate and he could not complain. His phoenix alighted into a tree that was not too far off from his classroom. She then perched on the thickest part of the foliage and contented herself. Harry realised that his phoenix would always protect him. Ms Singh who was already in class and planning work got the surprise of her life when a clean, sharp Harry Potter arrived with a lovely bouquet. Something had changed in the boy's eyes. He looked determined and gone was the scared boy. He looked goofy with his oversized clothes, but he did not seem too concerned.

"Good Morning, Miss these are for you!"

There was so much warmth in his voice. Priya could not help but beam the biggest smile of her life. Her magic responded, and Harry knew that she loved the flowers. While touching students was not advisable for teachers, she considered the gesture so sweet that she automatically opened her arms wide and hugged Harry, after making sure the coast was clear. Harry, who was not accustomed to physical contact suddenly froze up.

Priya whispered into his ears "I am here for you Harry. You are safe Harry. I am going to fix everything, I promise."

Both individuals felt the magic finalize the honesty of the statement as if Lady Hecate approved.

Lady She-who creates could have easily blown through a whole box of napkins with the sobbing and stuffy nose that she was currently nursing, if you could frame her interpretations from a human perspective - she considered Harry's adventures as her favourite soap opera. On the other hand, she was sure that Lord Time-Space was documenting the whole affair with almost clinical precision. What a boring guy. But hey, he was her friend and friendships were unusual sometimes. She looked on and wondered where things would go from here:

Harry began to sob. Soft tears trickled down his face, slowly. He then vocalised his pain.

"I never had a hug before from someone else. This feels nice. You are the nicest person I know." He said in a choked up, small, tiny voice. His magic once again let him know that his teacher could be trusted and he asked the big question, after summoning all the bravery he had:

"Are you a witch? Like my mum?"

Priya laughed and considered that the boy needed an answer to the sacrifice his parents had made for everyone. She mischievously poked his nose with her forefinger and pinched his cheeks in a manner reminiscent of her mother.

"Nothing ever slips you. Yes, I am. Promise not to make much noise okay…..I met your mother once. Her name was Lilly Potter." Harry Potter's face brimmed with excitement and suddenly his world was bright and his pain was temporarily gone.

"Could you tell me about my mum? And my dad? and…magic? I know some things. I figured it out by myself!" he replied rather proudly.

Priya made a finger on her lip gesture and he understood from the class commands that he had learned yesterday, that he needed to listen carefully and stay silent. Eager to find out more, he became quiet, but his face took on a look of hunger. He needed to know. Priya then spoke:

"You live with non-magical guardians if you had to figure it out. Resourceful as ever. Your father was James Potter. Your mother was Lilly Potter. I don't know much about them, but I will find out for you. Your parents were talented magicals. Your mother? She was considered one of the brightest in magical England."

The boy's face took on an expression where he was incredulously surprised and Priya held Harry's face as he nodded and he gulped down his anguish. What the hell was going on? How could he not know? She decided to investigate carefully, the situation a little further. Perhaps his current guardians had not spoken of his parents? But then how did he figure anything out at all? And was he being abused? She gently decided to probe him:

"You have to promise to tell me something." she encouraged in a hushed tone of voice while rubbing his back gently.

"Anything?" Harry whispered hopefully.

"The people who you live with, did they hurt you?" Priya asked, with trepidation woven into every word. Harry's face froze up. But then he seemed to temporarily swallow his fear and he nodded.

"Do they still hurt you?" she continued quite cautiously but gently.

"I made them stop. With….magic and my voice. I can make them stop hitting me. I promise I did nothing bad. I only asked them not to hit me and to ignore me. And they had to move me out of the cupboard….and they gave me the attic. And they have to give me meals and not starve me. And they can't work me too hard with chores." He paused and then continued as he spoke slowly, hoping that the deliberate effort would help with his mispronounced phonetics.

"They don't love me, but they won't give me any trouble anymore."

At this moment, Priya began to cry. While there was no vocalisation of her pain, her brown eyes teared up and tears trickled down her face. She looked around and made sure that nobody else could see the spectacle. She reached out and caressed his face. The boy had to resort to wandless magic to survive. While it was a remarkable achievement – it should have never been like this.

Not like this.

"You did the right thing. Don't be cruel to them. But protect yourself. You had no choice. You do well at school, and I will teach you everything I can. Understand this – there are bad people in the wizarding world who would want to kill you. We have to stay quiet and work silently..." Priya informed the green-eyed boy.

"People in black robes and funny scary white masks. I can remember some of them. I can remember what happened, I saw what he did to my mother. Avada Kedavra…." Harry whispered sadly.

Priya's chest hurt as she realised that the young boy standing in front of her already knew what Death Eaters looked like, and such a burden to be carried by a young boy? And he could remember the Dark Lord killing his mother? Now it made sense – his world was a terrible one where the boogieman existed – why wouldn't he be scared. She as an adult who had barely gotten by in the last war, was still scared. She was also puzzled as to how he could have such a memory, but she decided that now was not the time to address the issue.

"I swear on my magic I wanted to move you immediately from that place once I figured out yesterday that you were mistreated. But that would draw the attention of many powerful people in the world. I asked a friend last night to figure out who is involved" she replied.

Harry became angry and his eyes glowed ever so slightly with energy. He muttered "Albus Dumbledore left me here to suffer. Keep him away from me!" with such vitriol in his voice, that she was convinced that the headmaster would be made to answer for his involvement.

"Yes – all magical people know that name. That is why we will handle you quietly. We don't want him or anybody else to know." She replied as she remembered the conversation that Lorna had with her many years ago. Albus Dumbledore was a good person on the outside, but the Slytherins knew he was a manipulator, and he was willing to get by with collateral damage. Now, it seemed almost prophetic that the boy had mentioned this tidbit of information. Priya took the bracelet out of her bag and handed it to Harry.

"I was training to become a healer in the magical world. But I had to become a teacher when the Dark Lord burnt down my application and the building where it was located. I however continued my research independently and I made this magical device. This will scan all your health problems and help me identify them. Then I can start fixing you bit by bit. Put it on."

Soon after, children started to arrive. So, with an unspoken nod, they agreed to play the part of teacher and student for the rest of the day. The phoenix had watched the entire exchange and felt the magic being forged. The bird decided she liked the dusky-brown-eyed-long-black-haired-princess a lot. She would have to introduce herself to Harry's she-who-teaches-skills-person. She made a mental note to figure out where the woman resided.

The morning assembly began, but not before Priya put her wonderful bouquet on her desk, rather proud of it. They were rather beautiful flowers, in any case.