A/N: Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling. Not me. If I did Quidditch wouldn't have such asinine rules!
Loyalty, Hard Work and Muggle Fashion
Class 101: Trend Setting
Harry really hated his scar.
Well, that wasn't strictly true. In truth until today he'd been mostly apathetic when it came to the thing. It made him unique, which he supposed was nice. On the other hand it gave the other kids a fairly easy insult to throw at him, the oh so clever "Scarhead".
Dudley had been quite proud of the laughs using that nickname had earned him, even if Harry knew that it had been Piers who had come up with it. Back then Harry had felt a little sorry for Piers, Dudley had basically bullied him into being friends at that time. But then he'd been a mainstay for the Harry Hunting events and Harry's sympathy had evaporated. He wondered if Hagrid could swing back with hum to turn Piers into some sort of weasel.
Still, he hadn't hated his scar for all that. But this… this was beginning to make a compelling argument for it.
"Oh thank you, Harry Potter. The Great Harry Potter." The older woman said in a reverence he'd only heard his Aunt Petunia use when speaking to the local priest. Petunia's voice had been an act though. And not this… enthusiastic. "Told my husband you'd be here today. Saw it in my crystal ball, I did!"
"Um, it's nice to meet you Miss?" He replied, still a little perturbed. Crystal Balls were apparently a real thing, so that was neat.
"Oh! So polite, so kind. A true hero." She continued, making Harry worry about her mental health. "Angela Appleford. I had hoped you might sign this for me." Mrs Appleford continued, digging into her back, far deeper than the small bag should be able to manage, making Harry boggle slightly. Bags like that ship from that show Dudley had liked a few years back. A Teldas?
Finally finding what she was looking for she produced a pristine looking newspaper, a large headline painting the front. "YOU-KNOW-WHO DEFEATED! HARRY POTTER: SAVIOR OF THE WIZARDING WORLD! THE BOY-WHO-LIVED!" Below was a picture of an extremely old looking man in front of a podium, his arms out wide and a reassuring smile on his face. Amazingly the picture was moving, just a little bit, random flashes of other cameras showing most of the animation.
A bitter part of himself that he chose to ignore often spoke up about how they'd abandoned their so-called hero rather quickly. He pushed it down hard.
Giving a shaky smile, he took the pen she'd pulled it and wrote his signature along the white space at the top of the newspaper. Apparently, learning to write their own signature in school had come up useful after all. She gushed even further after that, pinching his cheek and handing him a golden wrapped candy. It reminded him quite a lot of the candy Miss Figg had occasionally given him when he'd been babysat by the woman. Still, Hagrid had warned him not to eat anything people would give him, asking for trouble apparently.
So obviously it went into his back packet to be placed for Dudley to find after he left for Hogwarts. If it was harmless, it would be no harm no foul. If it wasn't… well, he'd have three quarters of a year for them to forget. Worth the risk.
Letting out a sigh as Mrs Appleford shuffled away, his eyes glanced into the shop window beside him, his scar prominent in the gap in his bangs. Scrunching his nose he began to flatten his hair, a relieved sigh escaping him when it seemed to obey him for once. Looking back at his reflection he was happy to see his scar was much harder to see. Good enough for now.
"So… Why are you wearing a headband?" The redhead across from him asked after about ten minutes of awkward silence. Harry was kind of impressed. The ginger had been shuffling like he needed to pee for the past five.
"Muggle fashion." Harry replied, looking out the window to the rolling hills as they traveled.
"So your muggleborn?" The redhead concluded, before suddenly going bright red in the face when Harry looked at him with raised eyebrows. "Not that there's anything wrong with that or anything! My Dad studies muggle tekneliggy for work."
"Technology." Harry corrected absently, a little taken aback by the loudness of the redhead.
"Yeah! That!" 'Red', as Harry had now dubbed him, said victoriously. His good mood started to vanish when Harry didn't reply, still looking at him a little weirdly. Coughing awkwardly into his hand and then offering the same hand to Harry, he gave what looked like a practiced grin. "Ron Weasley, short, sweet, rolls off the tongue, ladies love it!"
Harry's eyes went wide at the introduction. "Do they love it?" He had to ask.
Ron blushed slightly and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. "My brother Bill told me to use that line and I'd get a special prize. Especially if I said it to the older girls." He seemed equally as confused about that as Harry felt.
"Well… if you don't think your brothers are pulling your leg…" Harry reasoned.
"Well the Twins, Fred and George, agreed with him. Even Percy agreed and he doesn't agree with the Twins on anything." Ron explained, making Harry start to boggle at the growing list of people. That must be a lot of cousins.
"Well if your cousins say so-"
"Brothers." Ron corrected with ease, like he'd had to do so before. Harry didn't know why but he suddenly felt a bit sorry for Ron's mother.
"Well if they all agree maybe it's true." Harry reasoned. If it brought out a united front like that. Ron nodded as Harry decided he'd try it himself. Maybe it was code to learn a spell?
"So…?" Ron interrupted the silence as he gestured towards Harry with his hand. It took a few seconds for Harry to realize he was asking for his name.
"James…" He started, damn himself for not coming up with a fake name sooner. Not that he liked lying to the friendly redhead but he really just wanted to be normal for a bit longer. Harry was saved from having to come up with a surname as he saw a forest coming up along the tracks. "Forrest. James Forrest." He finished with a nod.
Luckily the redhead seemed to buy it, giving a grin and shaking Harry's hand. "Nice to meet you." The handshake was a little enthusiastic but otherwise nice. "So… wanna play exploding snap?" Ron asked, causing Harry to grin as they pulled up the fold out table and began to enjoy their ride towards Hogwarts.
"Harry Potter!" The stern looking Professor with the pointy witch hat called out, causing the entire hall to break out into whispers.
Harry clenched and unclenched his fists as he readied himself. Part of him was irritated he'd not gotten a chance to talk to the Professor who'd lad them in, ask if they could keep who he was secret. Alas this was it. Stepping forwards he heard a squawk from Ron and the blonde boy he'd met when buying robes, who now sat at the green table. He gave Ron an awkward smile and a shrug before walking toward the sorting hat.
"That's Harry Potter?"
"Bit short isn't he?"
"What's with the headband? Is it a fashion thing or… Oh god, what did I miss!?"
"I think he's cute. Maybe I can let him snuggle up by the fire with me."
"You're in fourth year, Janet! You can't do that."
"Not with that attitude."
Harry didn't know why the last remark made him blush the most but it did. Suitably embarrassed he took his seat and felt the hat land on his brow. He nearly jumped out of his skin when it began to speak.
It made a decent argument for both Slytherin and Gryffindor. That they would 'lead him to greatness… well, greater greatness anyway'. Considering the attention he was getting now, he definitely didn't like those options at all. "Please, I just want to be Harry. I don't want to be a hero, I just want to be normal."
"Ha! Normal! Overrated in my estimation. But that might just be the Godric in me. Ah! If you're so sure, Mr. Potter? Well… Better be… HUFFLEPUFF!" It was only then he realized that the hat hadn't been talking aloud. Had everyone else heard it in their head like that?
Standing up as the hat was taken off his head he made his way to the table clad in yellow tablecloth. They were cheering loudly, like they'd won the lottery, while the other houses seemed to be in shock. Maybe this had been a bad idea.
His thoughts were broken as he passed the seventh years and he was dragged into a seat. A little dizzy from the experience his head slowly turned to who had dragged him down, his eyes finding a girl with a bright grin and even brighter pink hair. "Wotcher, cousin." She greeted, making his mind spin even more.
"C-Cousin!?" He asked and definitely didn't squeak. You could tell from his red face!
"Yep, nice to finally meet you. You never write. And no Christmas presents either. I'm feeling neglected." She rambled before pouting, her eyes glistening with tears. Harry suddenly started to panic.
"Oh leave him alone, Nym. You're a bit much, especially this early in the morning." A girl across from them chastised the pink haired girl with a roll of her eyes.
"It's like half eight, Selene!" 'Nym' protested.
"Exactly. Much too early." 'Selene' replied with a grin before turning to Harry with a much nicer smile. At least Harry thought. "Nice to meet you Harry, I like your headband."
Harry smiled shyly at the compliment. "And I won't hold being related to this one against you." She finished with a thumb towards Nym. Said girl replied with a gesture that Harry had seen Dudley get spanked for using.
"Erm…" He wasn't sure of what to say about the kindness he was given. It was then he remembered something and he gave a smile towards the girl as he held out his hand. "Harry Potter. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue, ladies love it!" He introduced himself.
Selene's eyes went wide as her face coloured, a few whistles coming from down the table. Thinking he'd done something wrong, Harry glanced at Tonks only to see her looking at him like a cat looking at a mouse. Full of mischief and delight.
"Bagsy!* I'm stealing your cousin, Nym." Selene finally spoke as she looked towards her friend with a grin.
Harry was suddenly wrapped up in a protective hug from his cousin, said girl petting him a little like a dog. If he was being honest he really liked it. "No fair! I saw him first!" She protested.
"If you're quite finished with the theatrics girls." The stern Professor called out. Obviously they'd started to cause a scene. Blushing up a storm the three of them kept quiet until the feast started proper and for the first time ever, Harry really felt like he was home.
It was at the feast the next week he'd noticed it. During the first day he'd been the only student wearing a headband. Now it seemed like a good portion of the Hogwarts body was wearing one. Some had proper headbands, maybe they'd used transfiguration. After all, most of the students had resorted to wrapping their ties around their heads.
"Hey Justin." He addressed his yearmate, one of the few who didn't have a headband on, who gave a hum of interest. "Any idea why everyone's wearing headbands now."
The boy simply glanced up, looking pointedly above Harry's eyes before rolling his eyes. "Apparently someone told a Gryffindor that it's muggle fashion. Those Weasley Twins have been selling them for the past few days. You've only just noticed?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
Harry had the decency to blush. "I've been distracted. Homework, classes…"
"All the older girls using you as a Teddy bear?" Justin asked with a teasing grin.
"It's not my fault!" He protested with a pout, causing a few girls on the Ravenclaw who'd been looking at him to gush. Loudly. Letting out a groan he let his head drop onto the table. "Magical people are weird." He mumbled into the wood.
"On that, I agree." Justin said with a snort before giving Harry a supportive slap on the shoulder.
: Bagsy; British equivalent of "dibs"
Author's Note: Thanks for reading this... little bit of madness that I cooked up. This all started from the idea that it's a little weird that people don't crowd Harry after that scene in the Leaky Cauldron. Granted, Hagrid is probably a pretty decent deterrent but still you'd imagine someone would try it. To explain why he isn't here in this fic... let's just say he took a bit longer getting Harry's stuff. I can see Hagrid getting a bit carried away getting Hedwig with all those animals.
Not gonna make any promises of a schedule with this story, so for the moment this is a one shot. If anyone wants to take a crack at the concept for their own story please send me a message. I'd love to follow what you do with it!
Until next time, MurderousLord.