Chapter 3
Harry woke up the next morning wondering how he got into his bed. The last thing he remember was reading a book with Mac. Harry really liked Mac; he was his first friend. Harry had the best day of his life. He spent the whole day having fun and spending it with a friend.
As Harry sat up in his bed, he looked around and swelled up with happiness. He never even imagined that he would have his own room, but he had so much. He had toys and books, he had a bunch of blankets, he everything. At least that's what he thought about everything. As he jumps off the bed, he sees that the sun come up yet. Harry forgone his clock when he heard voices coming from outside his room. He recognized them both and he was so excited. Mac was here again today! He was looking forward to spending another day with his friend. He had so much to tell Aunt Minnie, Harry asked Mac what he should call Mrs. McGonagall, Mac said that she would love to be called Aunt Minnie, so that's what he will call her.
As Harry crept his way towards the voices, he overheard Mac talking to someone who wasn't Aunt Minnie.
"Yes… Yes, we can come in today… That would be great, Harry will be excited when I tell him… Thank you, we will see you at 1 'o'clock."
Harry was nervous, he didn't know who Mac was talking to and was a little sad that he might not get to spend the day with his friend. After a few moments, Harry walks into the kitchen and greets the two adults.
"Good morning, Mac. Good morning, Aunt Minnie." He tried his best not to show his nervousness but it seemed like Mac noticed. Harry thought that Mac could always tell how he was feeling. He wanted to be that way for Mac, he wanted to be able to help his friend when he was sad.
While Harry was looking at Mac, he missed seeing Minerva's face. She, like a certain Hufflepuff she spoke to yesterday, had her jaw dropped open. She was not expecting Harry to be awake yet, but she was not ready for his greeting. While Minerva was trying to get ahold of her bearings, Mac returned the greeting happily.
"Good morning, Harry, we got a surprise for you today!" He saw Harry tense up, he wanted to keep it a surprise for a bit longer, but he wanted Harry to stop his worrying.
"Today, Harry, we are going to take a visit to your new school. I just finished setting everything up and they're excited to meet you."
Harry immediately perked up, he loved school. When Harry wasn't being hounded by his cousin and his friends, he got to enjoy learning. Harry thought that he was pretty smart. He never raised his hand, because he would get in trouble with Dudley, but he always had the correct answer.
Harry was excited and had many questions, but before he could ask Aunt Minnie finally returned his greeting.
"Good morning, Harry!" Minerva said happily. "I must say, I was not expecting you to call me Aunt Minnie, but I do like it." She was so happy that Malcom… 'Mac' was able to make some headway on Harry. She could not wait until the weekend, she had so much to catch up on.
"Harry what would you like for breakfast? I heard you managed to eat it all." Minerva asked. She saw Harry's eye light up. "Did you find anything that you fancied?"
Harry would just wait until after he ate to ask his questions. He did realize that he was quite hungry.
"Yeah, I did! I realllllly like pancakes. I've never had them before yesterday." Harry said with a smile.
Minerva was looking at Harry fondly but she quickly realized that she had no idea how to make pancakes the muggle way. She quickly thought of how she could get Harry to leave the kitchen for some time.
"That's great Harry, why don't you go on and take a quick bath and I'll have the pancakes made in no time." She was pleased with her quick thinking; she had a lot of adjusting to do if she wanted to be able to go 'full muggle'.
ooooooo
After finishing the pancakes, Minerva had to say her goodbyes. She could not be late two days in a row for it would turn into a much bigger issue. Since Harry was not aware of why Aunt Minnie always left so early, he thought it made sense to ask his first friend about it. Luckily for Malcolm, he was prepared for this and had no problem with telling Harry what his elder sister went to do.
"Well, you see Harry, Minnie is a teacher at a school you will be going to when you are a bit older. She also has other important jobs in the school and really needs to be on time." Malcom wanted Harry to get an explanation that would hopefully not lead to any questions; however, Malcolm became worried at his lack of confidence and tried to get away from talking about his sister.
"Well Harry, what do you say we go and explore the neighborhood, I think there is a nice park around here so that you will have someplace to play when the weather improves. And we may even find something along the way that I know you will especially like." Malcolm saw a bright smile but alongside Harry's emerald-green eyes showed that he wanted to know exactly what this surprise is too. "And I am not giving the secret away this time." Harry gave a slight pout; he was not upset about it but still wanted to know. Mac gave off a light chuckle and told Harry to go on and grab his shoes. Harry ran back to his room, something that still astounded him, to find that his dirty clothes he left out, along with a few toys, were all put away accordingly. He would have to make sure he thanked Aunt Minnie when she got home.
After the duo gathered their shoes and Mac brought a small bag that hung over one shoulder, they stepped out the front door to make their journey. Since Harry arrived here while it was dark, he did not have a chance to see what his new home looked like, it wasn't giant, but it had a nice bed of flowers, and a swing set in the front yard. He then took notice of the distance between the houses, when he was locked away with his nasty relatives, the houses were very close together, almost to where they were touching. The final thing he noticed was a tall fence that covered what must have been the backyard, he also noticed that most of the other houses had the same. Harry thought that he rather liked his new neighborhood, it also helped that none of the neighbors knew the Dursleys, they were always saying how bad he acted to the neighbors, while Dudley received the highest regard of his parents.
After Harry had a good look around, Malcolm decided they should start their trek towards the park. Malcolm knew that either way they went would lead them to park, but he wanted to avoid going to the left so that he could make time for Harry's surprise to get 'set up'. As they were walking, Malcolm was trying to begin light conversations with Harry, but he noticed that Harry was speaking differently than he usually does. Malcolm thought that the voice Harry was making sounded like a mix between fear and longing, stopping Malcolm posed the question that would shortly give him an explanation.
Harry really wished he knew how Mac knew when his mood has changed. Deciding that it would be to just ask his new friend, Harry sheepishly asked the question he had on his mind. "Umm. Well, I was just wondering… You see I have never been able to…" Fed up with his own jabbering, Harry finally rushed out his question, "I wanted to know if I would be allowed to hold your hand while we walked!" His face grew red a bit in his embarrassment. He never got to see the choked-up Malcolm smiling down on him. Harry saw a large hand be put into his line of vision and he eagerly gripped around as many fingers as he could. Malcolm couldn't trust himself to speak just yet, so he decided to start up the trek once again. While it was a much quieter affair, the walk was very pleasant for the both of them. Malcolm was quickly gathering himself with the help of the entertainment of Harry trying to meet his own stride provided.
After a couple handfuls of minutes, the park was in sight. You didn't have to have Malcolm's expertise in reading the young boy to see that he was very excited. Once they reached the entrance of the park, he let Harry run off and told him that he would be there to join him shortly. He stopped to watch the boy quickly trying to figure out what to play on first that he didn't hear anyone coming up to him.
"Such a cute little one, how old is your grandson sir?" Finally, after hearing the question, he took notice of who approached him. It was an older couple who seemed to be out on a stroll through the park, who happened to be looking at Harry rather fondly. He did not think he was old enough to be a grandfather, but he thought that it wouldn't be bad to give them some of the truth.
"No, not my grandson, this is actually only the second day I've known the boy. He grew up with a right nasty bunch that was no good to him, my sister knew the boy's parents and just couldn't stand to see their boy being treated so poorly. So, if were to have a title I suppose uncle would be best." By the end of his explanation, he was able to look at the couple with a kind smile, he could see that the two of them felt bad for the boy so he wanted to have them realize that he is in good hands now. "He is not very good with strangers yet, it took a good while yesterday for him to open up to me fully, but I think he took to my sister and I since she got him out of there. He's such a bright boy, I have taken a great liking to him myself." Malcolm looked back to Harry, who was getting ready to go down one of the slides, with a proud expression. The boy was able to help him with his fears of getting attached to another child again, and in return, he thought he was helping Harry out with his own fears. The couple was able to go back to watching the boy fondly after the explanation from the boy's 'uncle'. They knew he never actually answered their question, but they were able to see that he wanted to go join the boy. After a quick goodbye where both parties agreed that they might see each other again, Malcolm went on to where Harry was. When Harry saw him, he yelled from the playset for Mac to join him. Once a crouched over Malcolm made his way to Harry, they began to play pirates, where the playset became a great pirate ship over a stormy ocean.
A short while later, Malcolm recommended they start making their way back, Harry reached up to grasp Malcolm's hand without asking this time. About halfway back to the house, Malcolm turned into a small business district that was part of the neighborhood. He stopped in front of where Harry would receive his surprise and said to him, "Now don't tell your Aunt Minnie, but you and I are going to get ourselves some dessert before we head off home for lunch." Malcolm was sporting a sly grin because he knew Harry was about to be very excited. He led him into the small ice cream parlor where his grin was awarded with an open-mouthed Harry gaping at where he was. Harry went on to explain that he never had ice cream before, so Malcolm asked the ladies working if he could have a few different samples of the ice cream so that Harry would be able to find one he liked. Once Harry realized his favorite was to be strawberry, they both got a small cone for the walk back to the house. Laughter and ice cream filled the remainder of the walk home and the duo arrived back in very good moods.
ooooooo
Minerva has a much less exciting day than the one before. Two years, two lectures, just a normal day. She was relieved, she wanted all the talk that surrounded her tardiness and her meeting with Ms. Tonks to blow past as fast as it could. She had a bit of time before lunch began so, she decided to get as much grading as she could do so that she could get home to Harry earlier. She smiled at that. She was already downright obsessed with the boy and she has had barely any time with him. She was shocked to be called 'Aunt Minnie' this morning but as soon as she got a hold of herself, she realized she barely wanted to leave. She knew that she could not possibly take another day off, but you can bet she wanted to. She was making some good headway on her assignments when she heard a knock at the door. She supposed that it was probably Ms. Tonks after the discussion from yesterday. So, when the door opened and she did not see a lively Hufflepuff, instead, seeing the man she had lost her faith in, she was grossly disappointed. She saw the exact moment on Albus Dumbledore's face when he noticed that his entrance dropped Minerva's mood. Minerva never took the time to really look at Albus' eyes, behind the twinkle, you could see another side of him. She decided to stay on guard, she didn't want to give anything away from what had happened yesterday at this very time. She waited as the headmaster slowly made his way towards her desk. He chose to stay standing once he reached her, Minerva thought this action was rather patronizing so she joined him in standing.
"Hello Minerva, good to see you again. We could not find the time to meet each other yesterday, so I thought we could make our way to my office for a nice lunch," Minerva made sure not to show her annoyance at the headmaster's request. She imagined that the young Ms. Tonks would show up today if her eagerness that she showed yesterday was anything to say for it. Minerva thought this would be a good excuse to dismiss the headmaster so she could put off the conversation that was to come.
"Sorry Albus, there is a chance that one of my students will come in to speak with me today, I would like to make sure that I would be here if they were to show up." Minerva knew hiding the identity of the student was rather pointless, she knew that he was aware of who that student was. His response only worsened her mood when he circumvented her excuse.
"Oh, would that happen to be young Ms. Tonks? We found each other both heading in your direction, it now makes sense why she headed back towards the Great Hall when I mentioned my plans of speaking with you. I am sure that you two will find the time to reschedule your meeting." Albus' knowing smile was really starting to aggravate her, but she knew voicing this would just make things more difficult. She wanted to get this over with as fast as she could, so she got right to it.
"In that case Albus I will join you in your office." Her displeasure was showing, she hoped it was showing well enough so that she could avoid meaningless conversation with the man, but that was not to be. Albus continued to mention pointless things that she had heard a thousand times as they made their way. Minerva doesn't understand why he is mentioning different landmarks they pass in the halls. It's not like she hasn't heard this all before. She knew the information before she even joined on as a teacher. Hogwarts: A History, had provided different explanations of all the different artifacts the school had on display. After her first year, she took no mind to all the artifacts she learned about the year before.
When they eventually came to face the gargoyle that led the way up to the headmaster's office, Albus muttered the password 'red vines', then made their ascent to the office proper.
Minerva saw that she had received no choice in what she was going to have for lunch as they made their way to the headmaster's desk. The desk was shrunken and bare, besides for their meals and cutlery. She was not amused with the knowledge that Albus did this before he even made his way to her classroom. She thought that it probably wasn't a coincidence that he met Ms. Tonks on the way, the old goat had this all planned out with the young metamorphmagus in mind. Minerva sat down with no need of prompting and she tucked into her meal without saying a word. She needn't worry about any potions in her food, her head of house ring would have let her know.
Albus joined her in taking a seat, but he would not let Minerva eat her way out of here before he got to speak with her. His plans relied on having the time to make slight of her lack of time spent in the muggle world, to put pressure on the younger teacher. He wanted her to worry about Harry while she was here at the school.
"Surely there is no reason to rush Minerva, I only wanted to speak about young Harry's first day being away from his relatives. I am sure the boy is quite scared about being in a new environment, I was wondering who watches over him while you are away? It wouldn't be good for him to spend so much time alone." Each participant in this tête-à-tête was doing their best to hide a smirk, they have different reasons for why but neither participant wanted to give the other an edge. Albus is confident he is putting the pressure on Minerva by taking knocks at a bunch of information, his twinkle very prominent because he can already imagine who was looking after the boy. Albus had no idea that Minerva wanted to smirk, he would never think that she would be one up on him. She knew exactly what Albus was doing, she knew that Albus thought he played his hand perfectly, she knew that he expected Harry's departure from his relatives to be hard on him, and why question her memory of two days ago when she FLOO'd to her brothers from his own office. While she is a bit annoyed with herself for taking this long, it felt damn good to see through the headmaster's games.
Minerva took a large sip from her goblet, toy with the headmaster a little bit. This gave her the time to think about her response. Minerva made the transfer of magical guardianship as hushed as it could possibly be. She went through the unspeakable office; she had a year mate who worked in there. The friend has always been great at keeping a secret, even before his start at the ministry.
Minerva decided that the best thing for Harry was to keep him away from all the headmaster's games until he arrives at Hogwarts. She gave probably the sternest expression since Harry's father and his friends were at school here. She icily told Albus how it was going to go.
"Harry is great Albus and had a wonderful time, he is really such a wonderful child, even after all the abuse from his relatives." She paused and just stared at the shaken man. Minerva's tone was something out of nightmares for the students, but adults weren't exactly immune. "Since I have already claimed his magical guardianship, you can look forward to meeting him shortly after his 11th birthday."
Once again, the two of them were in the same headspace. They were both shocked, Albus at losing his last bit of control over the Chosen One, and Minerva with how she had spoken to her former friend. She wasn't blind to where her attitude came from, it came from all the years that Harry should have received love. Every time Harry gets scared and stiffens up, she loses respect for her old friend.
Neither of them was speaking, they had too much going on inside their heads for time to speak. Minerva decided to take her leave, she was not looking forward to interacting with Albus in times to come, at least the discussion was over with.
ooooooo
After Harry and Malcolm finished their lunch, it was time to get going to the school. Harry was both nervous and excited, he knew that nobody would know who he was but he didn't put it past the Dursleys to tell other schools about him. He wanted everyone to know him as just Harry, he really didn't want to be called a freak at his new school. Once Malcolm grabbed the folder with Harry's information. They made their way into the garage where Harry became confused.
"How does Aunt Minnie get to school if her car is left here?" Harry turned to Malcolm with his eyebrow quirked. Malcolm was not prepared like he was earlier. After only a slight pause, he came up with an appropriate answer that placated Harry for the time being.
It wasn't a long drive to Harry's new school, but it was about double the length to the park, and Malcolm really didn't feel like taking another walk. Harry was getting another look about the neighborhood; he spotted the park they were at earlier and committed the simple path to memory. They passed many more houses, little shops, other cars until they eventually came to a stop. Harry knew they were at the school because he saw a group of kids out on a break, kicking a football and climbing about a jungle gym. He got nervous, Harry was still staring out the window at the children when Malcolm came over to open his door, he didn't even hear him get out. Malcolm saw that Harry drew back into himself and that he lost his excitement he had just a moment ago. Malcolm tried to calm his nerves but it didn't seem to work because Harry would only nod or shake his head in response.
Harry listened as Mac talked to some lady and then followed him into a somewhat large office. After sitting down, Malcolm started speaking to another lady, that Harry overheard was the headteacher, while Harry was staring a hole into the ground in front of him. Harry would respond to questions politely but it was obvious that he was very anxious. He eventually found out that he was going to sit in with his new class while Mac was finishing all the paperwork. The headteacher led them through the school, she made sure to point out every bathroom they crossed, the nurse's office, and a few drinking fountains. Once they entered the classroom the headteacher explained that Harry would be joining the class after the upcoming break and that he would be sitting in with them for the remainder of the day. The class greeted Harry and he tried hard to not seem so nervous. He made his way to the seat the teacher pointed out and tried to concentrate on what was being taught.
The class was going over maths and Harry was surprised when more people didn't raise their hands. Since his desk was off to the side of the room, he was able to see the whole class. He could see the people who didn't know the answer, the people who did know the answer but wouldn't raise their hand, and the people that would raise their hand when they knew the answer to the question. Harry was part of that second group and to his surprise, he eventually was called on to answer. The question was on adding fractions and he was quickly able to answer in a quiet voice. The teacher gave him praise, which made him feel good, and she told him that if he knew the answer, he should raise his hand. He gave a silent nod but wasn't so sure he would raise his hand even when he knew the answer. Every time the teacher asked a question, Harry would put up his hand just a tiny bit, he didn't want to be called on but he did want to do what the teacher said.
Maths was coming to an end so the teacher decided to finish off with a more advanced question. The question was over multiplying fractions and only one other hand besides Harry's was raised. Harry noticed it was the girl who always raised her hand first. She sat at the very front and had puffy brown hair. When the teacher noticed the small, raised hand from Harry she decided to let the both of them answer. The question that was on the board was 1/2 x 2/5. The puffy-haired girl, whose name was Hermione, answered first.
"The answer is 1/5!" Harry paled a little bit when he didn't hear his own answer. When the teacher asked for his answer, his tone showed that he thought he was wrong. "Well… I don't think I'm right, but I got 2/10." Harry's downtrodden demeanor quickly changed when the teacher told him that he was correct.
"Actually Harry, your answer is correct as well, you and Hermione's answer equal the same thing. She just simplified your answer. Here," she said directing Harry to the board and going on to draw out why they both equaled the same thing. Harry ended up smiling bashfully down at his desk, he was too busy thinking about how happy he was to notice the reactions around the room.
His teacher was smiling amusedly at him, she was excited to teach the shy boy, who may be able to keep up with Hermione. Hermione herself was beaming across the room at the boy. She was excited that someone might not judge her for always having the answers. She wished the boy would look up at her, she wanted to see if he would want to be her friend. While there were two people who were already happy with the new addition, the rest of the class did not shame the same feelings. They started whispering in hushed tones when the teacher said he got the answer right. They talked about how they were going to get another bookworm in the class, about how he would be another teacher's pet, and how 'Herminny' might finally get a friend.
Eventually, the teacher gathered up the class's attention once again. They finished up with maths and moved on to reading a book as a class. Harry didn't have his book yet and the teacher was content with him just listening. The rest of the school day went on rather uneventfully and towards the end, the headteacher along with Malcolm came to collect Harry. Harry made a small goodbye and nice to meet you to the class and made his way out. Hermione was quite disappointed at not being able to talk with him. She supposed that he might be in the directory, if not she could ask her parents if they knew about any new neighbors.
ooooooo
It was Hermione's mums' day to pick her up from school. Her and her dad alternated days to take off early from their practice in order to pick up Hermione. Laurie was a tall, slender woman, who provided Hermione with most of her looks. She was born into a French family, but she herself has never lived in France. She is fluent in French and speaks it often during family get-togethers, she is the middle child between two brothers. She loves to make French cuisine at home and the rest of the house loves to eat it. She planned on making a baked ratatouille today, it was one of Hermione's favorites. When she finally spotted her daughter, she was sporting a beaming smile, one in which usually only makes an appearance after a test, she knew that Hermione didn't have any tests today, so was excited to see what made her daughter so happy.
"Hey there kiddo, did something good happen at school today?" Laurie asked as Hermione was rushing into the back seat. She had to ask Hermione to slow down when she began to spurt off so many things in a rush. After taking a deep breath, Hermione answered her mother and got on with the rest of what she wanted to talk about.
"Yes, something great happened! A new boy is going to join our class after Christmas and he was the only other person who could answer a fractions question that we haven't even learned yet. He thought he got it wrong first because he forgot to simplify, he looked so sad, but he did really get the answer right. He looked so happy when Ms. Baker told him he got it right. I was smiling at him, but he was so embarrassed and shy to look up after that. We started reading one of the stories from our books and just before school was going to let out, his uncle and the headteacher came to get him. I really wanted to talk to him, I think he will be different from the rest of the kids, I think we could be great friends." While it was certainly slowed down, it was still a lot of information to get in. She wasn't done, however; she went on to ask her mother if she knew if any Potter's have moved in nearby.
"Hmm, I know that a house was bought a day before last, but I don't think it was by a Potter. I am sure your father would know; we can ask him once he gets home from the practice."
Hermione was pacified for the moment but she was still buzzing in her seat the whole way home. She was excited for the ratatouille tonight; it really was one of her favorites. She and her mother spent the rest of the time discussing each other's days and eventually found themselves pulling in to drive. Hermione rushed to the door, she had to wait for her mother to unlock it; once that was done, she rushed upstairs to her to drop her backpack and shoes off, before she rushed back downstairs into the kitchen. She grabbed the directory out of a drawer and started flipping her way to the letter 'P', she was just arriving there when her mother had to burst her bubble.
"I'm sorry sweetie but if they just moved in a day ago, they wouldn't be in there just yet. I'm sure your father will know so while we wait for him to get home, why don't you bring a book in here to read while I cook." Hermione was put down by this, but she didn't let that stop her from grabbing a book from her room. Once she got settled in, Laurie turned on small telly that was in the kitchen and started getting the ingredients out that she needed. An hour or so later, Hermione heard her father's car pull in and she was right back to a ball of excited energy. She opened the door for him and asked the question she previously asked her mother to no avail.
"No honey I haven't heard of any Potter's moving in nearby, but a McGonagall moved into the Richardson's old house. We could probably stop over to introduce ourselves some time, but it may be too soon since they just bought it on Tuesday." Hermione was sad that the boy she thought could be her friend didn't move in anywhere nearby. She knew that most of the kids from school lived in the neighborhood, so she just expected that he would to. She was just going to have to accept that she might not be able to make a friend until after Christmas.
End Chapter 3
AN: I decided that since this is my first story, I'm not going to overthink my grammar structure. I think simple is fine while writing like this. There are some points through this chapter that I would like some responses about. I wanted to know what you thought about the Minerva/Dumbledore discussion. It just felt iffy to me, so any insight would be appreciated. I am greatly interested in linguistics, but my small town didn't teach anything besides Spanish. So, if I mess something up when I am talking about Laurie or her family, please let me know. I think that I am going to try and post every weekend, but if I get motivated, I am just going to post as it comes. Feedback is greatly appreciated so please reach out. Thank you.
L