Reflection
Chapter 1 - Glass of Water
Harry James Potter sat on the white porch of the large manor he called home. The Sky was a beautiful bright blue and the sun shined golden down on the pristine grass of the front lawn. It was a beautiful day fit for prancing around in the grass, but Harry's mood had unfortunately been sullied by the current events. Today, was his birthday, a momentous occasion for a young child. Today he turned eight years old. He should be celebrating and laughing with his family as he ripped open the carefully wrapped gifts he received.
Instead, he sat on the porch basking in his depressed mood. He should have expected it, the loneliness, the dismissals. No one was here for him, they were here for Andrew, the Boy-Who-Lived, his brother. It wasn't fair! He too had "lived", had he not? He also was there that night and had also survived the encounter, so why did no one pay attention to him? Truthfully though, he knew why; it was because he wasn't special. he wasn't the savior. It was all bollocks in his opinion, but it didn't matter, no one would listen to him anyway.
"Hello there, what are you doing all alone?" He looked up to find a frail old woman looking down on him, giving a polite smile.
"Mom and Dad are with Andrew," he said to her quietly. Her eyebrows raised, then she glanced over him one more time and seemed to recognize the telltale Potter male features.
"Oh, oh yes, your brother, Andrew," there was an awkward silence, "well then, I uh, best be going, have a nice day!" She chuckled nervously, he just nodded.
Not even a happy birthday was given. He sighed and watched the party-goers. All laughing and smiling, meanwhile here he was, brooding, being sad. He wondered how many presents he would get today, three? Four maybe? He was sure Andrew would get more than he could count.
"Harry? Harry sweetie, what are you doing sitting here?" He once again looked up to see who was talking to him.
It was his mother. He shrugged.
"Well, why don't you go play?"
"No one to play with," he mumbled.
"You can play with your brother and his friends." He shook his head.
"They'll get mad." There was a tense silence.
"Look, Harry sweetie, I know that you would have liked to do something different, maybe..." she sat in thought for a moment before brightening up somewhat, "maybe I can get Remus to take you somewhere?"
He stayed silent, looking down.
"How about you go Diagon Alley with him, and you can buy some things for yourself, yeah?"
He nodded slowly. Maybe he could even get some books about magic.
His godfather was nervous, that much was obvious from the fidgeting and glancing around. It was always like that around big crowds; the adults, nervous and fidgety, he guessed it had to do with the bad men that didn't like them. They had walked around for a bit, going into different shops and such to look around, he was allowed to get a few books on magic, but nothing about casting spells. It was as if they thought he would steal a wand or something so he could practice.
He had stuck close to Remus, not liking the tightly packed bustling of the alley, he didn't like small spaces, they made him scared. They had continued looking around for about an hour before Remus checked his watch and announced that he needed to get something real quick and that Harry could look around the Pet Shop he left him in. Remus walked out and Harry was once again left alone.
He started walking around, looking at the animals in cages. There were some normal and regular-looking animals. Things like cats, owls, and toads. And then some animals looked like cats but with wings. Or toads, but with two heads. He hurried away from that section, the heads and wings freaking him out.
He continued to walk, looking left and right. It seemed he had reached the back of the shop. The lesser liked animals were put here it seemed. He wondered if maybe he could convince Remus to get him a pet.
"Prey...food..." he jumped at the voice that sounded hissing. He looked around to see who had said that.
"Hello?" He called out hesitantly.
"Human...prey, give prey, give food," the voice once again hissed, he was extremely confused, there was no one around him, so who was talking? He kept looking around until he identified the location of the voice. A small green snake. A snake. A snake was talking to him? No, no he must be going crazy.
"Where is prey?" He stared incredulously at the snake as it looked around, looking for prey he guessed. There was no doubt the voice he was hearing was coming from the snake.
"Are- are you talking to me?" He whispered. The snake raised its head slowly and seemed to be staring at him in confusion.
"Human understand?" The snake asked.
"Er, yes, I um, I understand you," he told it, still very confused. The snake, having acknowledged this development in communication, immediately asked a question.
"Prey? Food?" The snaked hissed.
"Um, no, sorry, I don't have any er, prey," he said to the snake apologetically. The snake paused.
"Human prey? Human Food?" His eyes widened and he quickly shook his head.
"NO! No I- I'm not prey," he told it hurriedly, despite it being relatively small and, in a cage, there was something extremely disconcerting about hearing a snake ask if you were food. The snake titled its head like a confused puppy and he would have laughed if he had not been dumbfounded by the fact that he was not only talking with a snake but also was asked if he was food of all things.
"Then...what human?" The snake asked him. He paused.
"A-," he swallowed with his eyebrows furrowed, "a friend maybe?" He asked. The snake stared at him as if assessing him.
"Friend..." It hissed, testing out the word, then it nodded, "friend. Human is friend."
He smiled slightly, a friend. Having a friend felt nice. But, before he could bask in the happiness he was feeling, a strong hand fell on his shoulder.
"Harry? Harry come on; we have to leave," the voice of his godfather rang out from behind him. Before he could say anything, Remus started steering Harry out of the shop. As they got towards the entrance he got snapped out of his shock at being taken away so quickly and started to protest.
"Wha- what, wait! I- wait!" But his protests fell on deaf ears as the sound of a still busy Diagon Alley drowned them out. He looked over him should as continued to be steered out of Diagon Alley, resting his sad gaze on the shop that held inside his first real friend, trying to hold in his tears at losing his friend as the telltale crack of apparition rang out, taking Remus and Harry away from the green little snake.
It was quiet in the Potter Manor on the night of September 9th, the residents were supposed to be sound asleep with the exception of the adults downstairs. And yet, try as he might, Harry Potter could not sleep, the quiet doing nothing to cure his sudden insomnia. He sighed and sat up, throwing off the blankets that piled on top of his body. He slowly stood up and tip-toed to his door, turning the nob slowly and opening it with a slight creak. He snuck down the stairs, making little to no noise.
He planned to get a glass of water and maybe a midnight snack to satiate his hunger, but he hadn't expected his parents to be up this late. He stopped short of the door, a moment of hesitation and indecision weighing over him before he decided to stay and try and hear what they were saying, but all he could hear were unintelligible whispers through the door. He didn't dare try to open it, in case they noticed. He instead decided to wait until his parents finished talking so he could get a glass of water.
He looked around, trying to find something to occupy himself with. Suddenly, the sound of soft footsteps falling on carpeted floor graced his ears. He turned quickly, afraid it was maybe his Uncle Sirius or his Godfather, but instead it was a balding man that appeared to be in his late fifties. The man spotted him, and for a moment Harry feared that the man would try to hurt him, but instead, he grinned at him and sat down on a nearby antique wooden chair that was more for decoration than actual sitting.
"Hey there kid, you're the brother, right?" The man asked him. Harry felt righteous fury at being referred to as "the brother" and was tempted to yell at the unknown man, but decided against it in case his parents hear. Instead, he stayed silent, not giving any sign of having even heard the question.
The man's grin faltered for a moment.
"Yeah well, I'm sure you shouldn't be up so late, go back to bed would ya? Don't want to hear all this stuff in there," he pointed his thumb towards the kitchen, where his parents were still whispering to each other. He stared at the door confused.
"What stuff?" He asked the man quietly.
"You got some haters these days Potter, real big haters too, they really don't like you guys," the man told him.
"There have always been people who don't like us," he told the man, confused as to what made it any different this time. The man grinned.
"Yeah, 'cept this time them haters might be looking for some blood now. And I've heard that they plan to come for ya," the man said menacingly. He frowned and took a step back, his fear shining clear in his actions."
The man laughed and sat back in his seat, having come forward towards him to scare him more. "I wouldn't worry too much kid, you'll be splittin' up, you and your brother, you'll be going somewhere safe apparently," the man laughed again but Harry couldn't be bothered to notice. Splitting up? As in leaving? But they were his family, where would he go, what would he do?
Before he could think anymore though, the man suddenly sat up, scaring Harry, then, without even sparing him a glance, the man grabbed a little silver trinket from on top of the little cabinet next to the wall and apparated away, the crack ringing out into the quiet manor.
Harry stared at the spot where the trinket had been, now devoid of it. His lip started to tremble and his eyes started to water, he turned around and went back up the flight of stairs, not caring enough to be quiet, opening his door, laying in his bed, pulling the cover over his body, and closing his eyes.
He decided he didn't want that glass of water anymore.
Ok, that's it for now. Thank y'all for reading, and I'll say it once again for any who wants to type up a comment in all caps, the plot/plot idea of this story is Oceanbreeze7's, it's from his work called "Antithesis" an excellent story I highly recommend you check out. Anywho.
Signing off for now,
Aith3r
