Hi!

Okay, so I know that it's been a long time since I last updated, but this year has been… complicated, as we all know very well. And there has been other issues apart from the COVID and then I had too many ideas about how to continue this, and I had to rewrite part of this chapter a million times, and well… You know, it's taken some time to get everything in order.

I hope the wait was worth it, but I like how the chapter has turned out. I hope you like it too!

Disclaimer: all the text in bold and the characters belong to J. K. Rowling. This is just a story written by a fan who doesn't get any kind of compensation for it except for a few reviews from time to time.

Time to take a chance

Diagon Alley

"Marvellous," Dumbledore grinned happily. "Then I think it's time to continue the reading."

"I can do the spell again," Flitwick offered, pulling out his wand and flicking it towards the book. It rose into the air again and opened, presumably on the first page of the following chapter.

"Everyone ready?" Albus asked. It was always on the most inconvenient times that someone suddenly had to go to the bathroom or had forgotten to do something important. "Then let's begin."

Diagon Alley

"Your first visit to Diagon Alley?" Hannah smiled. She looked at Harry when she didn't receive an answer, but she got a bit of a shock. "Oh, he's asleep again."

Indeed, Harry was slouched on the couch with his body slightly tilted towards Ron since the other boy was heavier and the cushions sunk under him. His hands, which had been stroking Nightling in his lap, were limp now.

"The spell again?" Lisa grimaced.

"I guess so. It makes sense, though, since the previous chapter ended when they were going to sleep," Hermione said. She leant forward to take a look at Harry around Ron. They were both checking on him like mother-hens, but they couldn't help it. She had the urge to stand up and sit on Harry's other side so that he was covered from all sides, but she knew that Harry would be more embarrassed than appreciative with the gesture.

"Harry-hatchling?" Nightling called, raising her head to look at him. She didn't understand why he had stopped petting her.

"Oh, no," Charlie said wide-eyed.

"Harry-hatchling?!" Nightling repeated more alarmed when he didn't react. "Wake up, Harry-hatchling! You said that you were reading the book to know how to defeat the bad people!"

"Shit. We're about to have a very angry and overprotective black mamba in our hands," George cursed.

"Didn't anyone warned her about what happened to Harry when we were reading?" Fred wondered, not taking his eyes off the increasingly agitated snake.

"Harry did. I think she didn't really understand it, much like we didn't see it coming either," Ron gulped. He was staying very still, not wanting to startle Nightling and cause her to bite him.

"What's wrong with Harry-hatchling?!" The black mamba demanded furiously. "Did the bad people do this?! Or was it that Moody?! I'm going to pump the culprit full of venom for hurting Harry-hatchling!"

"Maybe we should just continue reading and hope that Harry wakes up soon in the story?" Hannah suggested, a little pale.

"How do you know that won't piss her off even more? Harry told us that she understands us, so she may think that we don't want to help him," Ernie shook his head.

"Uh… If she can understand us, shouldn't… uh, shouldn't someone try to calm her down?" Terry gulped.

"Do you want to be the one to try to reason with her?" Padma snapped at him. "Be my guest. C'mon."

"Um, no… I think…" Terry shook his head quickly. He had no intention of getting close to the black mamba.

"Whom do I have to bite?!" Nightling hissed, glaring at everybody as she coiled around Harry's wrists. She could feel his heartbeat against her body and it wasn't fast like it often was when the venom entered her victims. Maybe he had been given another kind of venom? Maybe it was another kind of trap? How did she fix this?

"Nightling?" Hermione called hesitantly. Her breath hitched when the snake immediately swivelled around to glare at her while her tongue flicked out quickly, like she was looking for threats.

"What? Do you know what's wrong with Harry-hatchling, Hermione-book? Who did this to him? How can we fix it?! Why aren't you helping him?! You're one of his best nest-siblings! You should be helping him!" She demanded.

Hermione bit her lip. "Merlin, this would be so much easier if I could understand what you're saying," she mumbled.

"Don't make excuses!"

"Hermione, stop pissing her off while I'm between the two of you," Ron hissed at her. He could feel a drop of sweat trickling down the back of his neck, even though Harry had said that Nightling had promised not to hurt them.

"Would you like to explain everything to her?" Hermione snapped at him.

"You do it. I'm already being a shield in this conversation," Ron grumbled.

Hermione rolled her eyes and returned her attention to the black mamba. "Remember that Harry told you that he felt what was happening to him in the books?"

Nightling narrowed her eyes. "Are you saying that the books did this to him? I'll eat them," she decided. As soon as Harry-hatchling was okay, she was going to eat them so that he wouldn't be harmed again.

"Well, Harry's asleep in the books right now, but as soon as we read that he wakes up, he'll wake up here too. He's perfectly fine otherwise. We won't allow him to get hurt," Hermione continued her explanation.

Nightling relaxed slightly. "Asleep? Harry-hatchling is just asleep? And the books did this? Does that mean that he's tired and he needs to rest? Why aren't you letting him rest as much as he needs then?"

"All good now?" Ron asked, watching as Nightling stopped coiling so tightly around Harry's arms.

"Not until Harry-hatchling wakes up," she snapped.

"I'm going to guess that's a no," Bill grimaced.

"We better continue reading anyway. At least now Nightling knows what's happening and she probably won't bite anyone," Tonks said.

"Did you really have to add that 'probably' there?" Charlie sighed exasperated.

Harry woke … eyes shut tight.

Harry began to wake up as soon as they read that sentence. The boy blinked sleepily, but when he went to rub an eye with his hand, he found that he couldn't move his arms.

"What…?" He asked disorientated.

"Harry-hatchling!" Nightling cried out in relief. She slithered up to his shoulder and flicked her tongue against his cheek. "You fell asleep."

"What? I fell asleep?" Harry replied. He hadn't even noticed that he wasn't answering in parseltongue.

"It was the spell again. Don't worry. You didn't miss anything other than Nightling panicking because you weren't answering," Ron told him.

"I did not panic!" She protested, glaring at him. She turned back to Harry. "I'm going to eat the books," she informed him.

Harry's eyes widened. "What? You're not going to eat the books!" He replied. Goddammit, he wasn't awake enough for this.

"They hurt you, so I'm going to eat them before they can do it again," she insisted.

"They didn't hurt me," Harry rolled his eyes. Not this time at least. He would deal with the fallout of the books actually hurting him when they got there. "I just fell asleep. That's not bad."

Nightling narrowed her eyes. She wasn't convinced. "They leave you vulnerable, like prey."

"Which is why I'm reading it with my nest-siblings and everyone else. And now you. You won't let anyone hurt me when I'm vulnerable like prey," Harry smiled at her.

The black mamba nodded. She could understand that. "I'll bite anyone who tries," she declared.

"What? No! You can just… scare them a little. But no biting or hurting anyone in any way," Harry told her sternly.

She flicked her tongue in displeasure but gave in. "Fine," she grumbled, sliding back down into Harry's lap. Soon, she was a mostly relaxed pile of snake as Harry stroked her.

Harry sighed in relief and looked up. Everyone was staring at him in silence. "Sorry," he said.

"Everything okay?" Remus asked him softly.

"Yeah, Nightling just wanted to eat the books so they couldn't hurt me and I had to convince her that it wasn't a good idea," Harry sighed.

"It's a wonderful idea, Harry-hatchling," she mumbled.

"It has merit," Sirius argued.

Harry rolled his eyes. Of course, Sirius would agree with Nightling about the fact that they had to destroy the books. Thank Merlin that Sirius couldn't understand her.

"What did I miss? Is this the chapter about my first visit to Diagon Alley?" He asked, changing the subject.

"We think so. We only read about you waking up," Katie shrugged.

"I'm kind of looking forward to see how you reacted when you first entered the wizarding world," Angelina grinned.

"I loved it," Harry replied with a bright grin.

"Everyone loves Diagon Alley, even when we've been visiting it since we were little," Susan grinned. She never got tired of that place. You could see so many odd people that one day was never the same as the next one.

"Hagrid took you, right?" Dean asked.

"Yeah. Why?" Harry asked.

"Just thinking. I went with my mum after Professor McGonagall told us how to enter through the Leaky Cauldron," Dean shrugged. He grinned and shoved his best friend. "That was the day I met this goofus."

"Oi! Who are you calling goofus, you git?" Seamus protested. "I knew I should've run in the opposite direction instead of helping you find the apothecary."

Dean laughed. "You think you would've survived without me?"

"I would've thrived without you," Seamus huffed.

Harry watched them pensively. He hadn't met his best friends in Diagon Alley, that had come later. But he had met someone from their year. He sent the blond a look, wondering if he had realized it and, if he had, what he was thinking.

Draco Malfoy, in the meantime, had suddenly had a very big shock. Unless he was very much mistaken, he had met Potter that day, during his first visit to Diagon Alley. Which meant that he was going to be the first wizard —other than Hagrid, but he didn't count— to appear in the story. They were going to read the first impression Potter had had of him.

How had the meeting gone exactly? He didn't remember all the details. He did remember thinking that the other boy was kind of quiet, a bit slow on the uptake and very odd. Not all of it fit with the Potter he knew, but, then again, many things they had read didn't fit with the Potter he knew. He wasn't sure if he liked reading these books as much as he had thought that he would.

"It was a … told himself firmly.

"What?" Terry asked, bursting out laughing. "You thought it was a dream?"

"I thought I had dreamt the whole thing too when I woke up the morning after Professor McGonagall explained everything," Hermione replied, raising an eyebrow.

"Me too," Justin admitted.

"It seemed a little too good to be true," Dean shrugged. "Suddenly there was a valid explanation for all those weird things that had happened. I thought I had dreamt it or I had hallucinated it."

"I didn't. I was too excited to sleep that night at all," Colin grinned.

"And then we found out that I had magic too and neither of us slept that night either," Dennis grinned, giving a high-five to his brother.

"Harry-hatchling, that was you! I heard you, but you weren't talking!" Nightling exclaimed startled.

"It was just the book. Flitwick, the tiny professor sitting in the front, made a spell so we just have to listen. We can hear the voices of whoever's talking in the story," Harry explained to her.

She frowned. "Is that why you sounded different?"

"That's because I was younger. We're reading about what happened more than three winters ago," Harry smiled. He found it funny that he explained time in winters and moons, but it was easy to adapt.

"You sounded… more hatchling, Harry-hatchling," Nightling decided, making Harry chuckle.

"Harry?" Ron inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"She was surprised by how I sounded," he explained with a smile.

"You mean, that she was surprised because you sounded like the tiny thing that you were. All chipper and innocent," the redhead joked.

Harry punched him in the shoulder. "Prat."

"I dreamed a giant … home in my cupboard."

"You thought that you had enough imagination to dream up Hagrid?" Parvati asked baffled.

"What kind of dreams do you have, Harry?" Ernie asked, weirded out.

"You've read about my dreams about flying motorcycles, green lights and creepy laughs. Hagrid didn't seem so farfetched," Harry shrugged.

"But why the cupboard instead of the room they gave you?" Lisa asked. "You spent several days there."

"I thought I had dreamt the whole thing with the letters too, I suppose," Harry guessed.

"Harry, you spent a week received dozens of letters," Katie told him in disbelief.

"Well, what do you want me to tell you? I was half asleep. I didn't want to wake up," Harry replied exasperated. Dear Merlin, were they going to question every inner thought he had ever had? Because they were going to be there for a while then.

There was … tapping noise.

"That's an owl," Susan realized. She had been hearing that noise every morning for years.

"It can't be an owl. Who would write to Harry?" Anthony shook his head.

"Could you be any more tactless?" Lisa said exasperated.

The Ravenclaw boy realized what he had said. It had sounded like he was wondering who would bother to write to Harry. "I didn't mean it like that," he blushed.

"Think next time," Padma huffed. "The owl may not even be for Harry. In fact, I bet that it's for Hagrid."

"Oh. That makes more sense," Anthony nodded sheepishly.

And there's Aunt … such a good dream.

Remus smiled fondly. "That's just like James," he said.

Harry's head whipped around to look at him. "It is?" He asked immediately.

"He hated waking up. He always stayed in bed for as long as he could," Sirius smiled sadly.

Harry opened his mouth to tell him that he wasn't always like that, but then he changed his mind. He could just imagine the awkwardness if he suddenly burst their bubble and he told them that he wasn't usually like that. That morning had been a special case, but he was used to waking up very early to begin to do his chores.

"You're one to talk," Remus told Sirius. "It was even more difficult to get you out of bed in the mornings."

"You were just so cruel, Moony," Sirius moaned as he remembered it. "You threw freezing water on us, or you flipped our mattress! You even hung us from our ankles once!"

"Oh, right. I had forgotten about that one," Remus smiled as he replayed that morning in his head. "You two were an absolute nightmare that morning. There were only ten minutes left before our first class and you two were still in pyjamas."

"What about my mum?" Harry asked softly, interrupting their memories.

Remus smiled at him. "Lily wasn't as bad. She woke up much earlier than these two."

"It was better to leave her alone until she had her tea, though. She had quite a temper before she had had it," Sirius scrunched up his nose. On one rare morning when he had woken up early, he had made the mistake of teasing her on their way to the Great Hall and she had left him stuck to the wall upside down until she had had her tea and she had gone back to the tower. He had never made that mistake again.

Harry smiled. He liked knowing these things. He liked even more that he wasn't like any of them in that regard. It made him feel a little more like himself, like just Harry. He loved them and he would have loved to meet them, but with everyone reminding him how much he looked like his dad with his mum's eyes, it was nice to have something that was just his. Even if it was just the attitude in the morning.

"Who are they, Harry-hatchling? Why did they know your nest-parents while you didn't?" Nightling asked him, nudging his hand to get his attention.

"My nest-parents were killed when I was very little, so I don't remember them. But Sirius and Remus," Harry nodded towards the two men. "They were best friends with my nest-dad. They were like his nest-brothers, I suppose, so they knew him and my nest-mum."

Nightling watched the two men, who were completely oblivious to the fact that they were being talked about. "Are they part of your nest then?" She asked finally.

Harry froze for a moment. "I… I don't know. I want to," he admitted.

Before Nightling could ask anything else, the reading continued. However, she wasn't going to forget about this. She needed to know which humans were part of Harry-hatchling's nest.

Tap. Tap. … mumbled, "I'm getting up."

Remus snickered. "Maybe you're not so much like James then. He would've thrown a shoe at whoever was making that noise."

Harry smiled and shrugged. "I don't like to waste the day once I've woken up."

Sirius blinked and stared at him. He hadn't expected that. It was silly of him, of course, because there was absolutely nothing wrong with Harry waking up early if he wanted to. Why would there be? He was happy that his godson didn't hate mornings like he and James had done.

…Then, why did it feel weird? Why was he surprised that Harry didn't hate mornings?

He sat up … asleep on the collapsed sofa,

"Wait," Sirius interrupted, snapping out of his earlier musings. "If Hagrid slept on the sofa, does that mean that you slept on the floor?"

Harry blinked in surprise. "I guess. Why?"

The animagus ignored his question. "You made him sleep on the floor?!" He glowered at Hagrid.

"Sirius, stop shouting," Remus pleaded with him.

"Stop… Are you kidding me, Remus? We were all angry with the Dursleys earlier because they made him sleep on the floor, and now that Hagrid's done the same, you want me to calm down?!" Sirius snapped at him angrily.

"He has a point," Arthur mumbled.

"I… But the coat…" Hagrid tried to justify himself.

"To hell with the coat, Hagrid!" Sirius cut him off.

"Sirius!" Harry called him, raising his voice. "It was okay. I was fine with Hagrid's coat."

"You shouldn't have slept on the floor while he slept on the sofa," the animagus insisted.

"Hagrid didn't want me to, but I convinced him to take the sofa. He wrapped me up in his coat and I was fine," Harry argued firmly. "I was a small and Hagrid could wrap the coat around me several times. It was like a sleeping bag and it was comfortable."

There was a moment where everyone's gazes when from the half-giant to the black-haired boy, comparing the size of Hagrid's coat to Harry, who had been much smaller. They could imagine him using the coat like a sleeping bag perfectly. It was a wonder he hadn't gotten lost in it.

"You're still small. I bet Hagrid could still wrap his coat around you several times," Ron said pensively.

Harry rolled his eyes and elbowed him. "He could do it to you too," he grumbled. "The point is that I was comfortable."

Reluctantly, Sirius backed off after one last warning glare at Hagrid.

and there was an owl … newspaper held in its beak.

"The Daily Prophet," Susan smiled. "Delivered every morning."

"That means that it couldn't have been so early anymore," Lisa observed.

"We went to sleep way past midnight," Harry shrugged.

"At least that owl was proof enough that the night before had really happened," Justin smiled.

"You mean, like Hagrid sleeping on the sofa wasn't proof enough?" Alicia asked him sarcastically.

Justin blushed. "Yeah. Exactly," he mumbled embarrassed.

Harry scrambled to … balloon was swelling inside him.

"A balloon?" George repeated mischievously.

"Were you gassy, Harry?" Fred smirked.

Harry gaped at them for a moment while the others burst out laughing. "Y-You… I didn't… I wasn't…" He spluttered. He could feel his face on fire.

"Oh, don't worry, Harrikins," Fred said mockingly.

"You just need to go to the bathroom," George nodded.

"Or somewhere private, preferably in the open."

"And away from people. You don't want to intoxicate anyone accidentally."

Harry bowed his head to hide his reddened face from everyone as the chuckles and snickers continued. "I'm going to kill them," he muttered embarrassedly.

Nightling looked up curiously when she felt his temperature rise. "Whom are you killing, Harry-hatchling? Who's your prey?" She asked.

She glanced at the twins, knowing that their words, even if they hadn't made much sense to her, were the reason Harry-hatchling's face was all red and he smelt like embarrassment. What had they done to him? What had they told him? Why were all the other humans laughing?

"Are you killing the red demons, Harry-hatchling?" She guessed. "Do you want me to bite them?"

Harry sighed and shook his head as his blush slowly receded. "No. They're just teasing me. They aren't doing anything bad."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, it's fine. You don't have to bite anyone."

He went straight … "Don't do that."

"It wants you to pay. It's not going to leave without money," Charlie chuckled amused.

"I couldn't exactly know that," Harry muttered, flushing slightly.

"The newspaper didn't come for free," Lisa reasoned.

"I didn't know that either. I didn't even think about it. I didn't know how things worked in the wizarding world. I didn't imagine that newspapers could be delivered by owls of all things," Harry huffed.

Harry tried to wave … grunted into the sofa.

"I don't believe 'Pay him' is a proper explanation for someone who's never seen an owl deliver a newspaper," Anthony said, beyond amused.

"It wasn't," Harry agreed disgruntled.

"You'll figure it out, mate," Ron said, clapping him on the shoulder. "If you couldn't, you wouldn't have survived in the wizarding world for a week."

"You mean, like how you wouldn't survive in the muggle world for a week?" Hermione teased him.

"I would!" Ron retorted with the tips of his ears red.

"You wouldn't," she snorted.

"I would!"

"Ron, you really wouldn't," Harry agreed with Hermione.

"And we'll prove it to you this summer, when we visit the muggle London," the girl grinned.

"What? ... Look in the pockets."

"Hagrid, you have like a thousand pockets," Charlie groaned. "It's going to take him forever to find the money to pay the owl with."

"If he finds it. Harry had never seen wizarding money. He doesn't know what galleons, sickles and knuts are," Bill pointed out.

"You guys are clearly not giving Harry enough credit," Tonks huffed. "Coins are coins in any world."

"But it's true that muggles don't use the same currency. Theirs is so confusing. It's fantastic," Mr. Weasley hurried to assure them. "But it's confusing."

"It's not confusing," Justin huffed under his breath. "Wizarding currency is confusing."

Hagrid's coat seemed … strange-looking coins.

"Okay, the keys I can understand. Even the peppermint humbugs make sense," Dean said, looking confused. "But why do you have… everything else in your pockets? I mean, slug pellets?"

"I had forgotten those were there," Hagrid said pensively.

"Does that mean that you still have them in your pockets? Along with the teabags and the balls of string?" Lisa asked amused.

"No, o' course not. I used the balls o' string a lon' time ago," Hagrid said dismissively.

"I… I don't even know how to answer that," Lisa shook her head.

"What about everything else?" Michael asked curiously, and more than a little amused.

"I think they're still there," Hagrid said, patting his pockets to try to find them. He didn't even notice the stares he was getting from everyone.

"I don't even know if he's joking or not," Michael said, now definitely amused.

"I don't think he is," Susan grinned. "He's searching his pockets for real."

"Give him five … Hagrid sleepily.

"He doesn't know what knuts are, Hagrid," Charlie reminded him.

"I know now," Harry said.

"An' he had to learn sooner or later," Hagrid decided.

"Plus, you were too lazy to actually go look for them yourself," Charlie teased him.

Hagrid blushed to the roots of his hair. "Tha' wasn' the reason," he mumbled sheepishly.

"You're a horrible liar, Hagrid," Bill grinned amused.

"Knuts? … through the open window.

"And the owl just sat there quietly? Even after you tried to shoo him away without paying?" Percy asked surprised.

Harry shrugged. "I petted him a little bit when he seemed to be getting impatient, and I talked to him. But other than that, yeah, he just waited."

"That's weird. The owls that bring The Daily Prophet aren't usually very patient since they have a lot of deliveries to make," Ernie said confused.

Harry shrugged again. "I think he saw that I was clearly looking for the money, and he was amused with the trouble I was having with the pockets," he admitted sheepishly.

"How long did it take you to find the money?" Hannah asked curiously.

"It didn't take me an hour or something like that, if that's what you're thinking. But it took me a while," Harry replied.

Hagrid yawned … and stretched.

"Long enough that Hagrid decided that it was time to wake up, apparently," Hannah said amused.

"You could've helped him if you were going to get up anyway," Minerva rolled her eyes. "In fact, I don't understand why you didn't get up. Period."

"It had been a long trip the nigh' before. An' I didn' sleep too much then," Hagrid admitted. He didn't have to explain that everything he had learnt about Harry that night had shaken him enough that he had had trouble falling asleep.

"Yes, I guess you wouldn't have," Pomona said sadly. She had had trouble falling asleep the night before too, and she knew that she wouldn't have it easier that day.

"Best be off, … him had got a puncture.

"Why would you be disappointed? Don't you want to go?" Colin asked confused. He had been so excited about going to get his things that he had been up for hours before they finally went.

"Of course, he wanted. The book said before that he was excited. It's something about the money that upset him," Lavender said.

"What?" The younger boy insisted.

"Maybe he was worried that he didn't know how to use those coins," Justin shrugged. "The system's a bit weird at first."

"That wasn't it," Harry intervened.

"Then what were you thinking about that literally burst your bubble?" Ron asked, nudging his shoulder.

"I… Well, I didn't know that I had money to pay for everything," Harry said sheepishly.

Ron's face lit up in understanding. "You thought you wouldn't be allowed to go if you couldn't buy your things."

Harry nodded. "It was a valid concern."

"But unnecessary, since you have more than enough to pay for everything you need," Hermione smiled at him.

"Um — … won't pay for me to go and learn magic."

"That's true. If you had had to depend on your relatives to go to Hogwarts, you wouldn't have been able to go at all," Angelina grimaced.

"That's not exactly true," McGonagall intervened.

"It isn't?" Harry asked surprised.

"There's a fund that the school has for children whose families can't pay for everything," she explained.

"So, I could've gone even if my parents hadn't left me anything?" Harry asked, torn between feeling stupid and relieved. At least he now knew that if, for some reason, he somehow lost the money his parents had left him, he wouldn't be kicked out of Hogwarts. Not that he planned on going on a shopping spree or anything. In fact, he was always careful about how much he spent and how many luxuries he allowed himself.

McGonagall's face softened a little bit. "Yes, Mr. Potter. You could've attended Hogwarts even without your parents' inheritance."

"But this is moot point because Harry's inheritance is big enough to pay for his and half of the students' things and tuitions without making a dent in it," Sirius rolled his eyes.

Harry looked at him startled. "What? It is?"

"The Potters' fortune is huge. They're one of the richest families in England, like the Black or the Malfoy, for example," Sirius explained.

Harry was feeling overwhelmed. "I… I had no idea," he stammered. Not that that would change how he spent his money since he still wasn't planning on throwing galleons left and right, but it was nice to know.

"You're a very rich young man," Remus smiled at him.

"Don't worry … house was destroyed —"

"Why would they keep the money in the house instead of in the bank?" Padma asked confused.

"I didn't even know that wizards had banks," Harry huffed.

"Really?" Katie asked surprised.

"I didn't know that Hagrid would take me to a place that muggles couldn't even find, that there's a whole world separated from the muggle one with basically everything you could ever want. I thought they'd use the same things as muggles, which included shops and banks. But I couldn't imagine banks keeping money like knuts, so I could only imagine that wizards kept their money at home," Harry said defensively.

"I didn't think of that," Hermione said pensively. "But I don't think it could be possible to sell magical things in muggle shops without the muggles noticing that there's something weird."

"I didn't know that they could hide entire buildings and streets from muggles either, so the only other option was that they sold magical things in secret," Harry huffed. He hadn't been able to imagine how weird the wizarding world really was until he had seen it.

"They didn' keep … bit of sausage he was holding.

More than one chuckled in amusement.

"What? I was surprised to hear about goblins," Harry blushed slightly.

"I was surprised when I heard about them too," Hermione said, nudging his shoulder.

"I think all of us were," Justin said sheepishly. "I stared at the goblins so much that I think that I annoyed more than one the first time I went to Gringotts."

"They threatened to destroy my camera when I tried to take a picture of them," Colin said disgruntled.

Bill snorted. "You tried to take a picture of the goblins guarding Gringotts?"

"What? It's not like I'm ever going to find goblins somewhere else," Colin said defensively. "And they're so cool and scary."

Bill chuckled. "You got it right with the scary part, kid. You're lucky they didn't do more than threaten to destroy your camera for trying to take pictures of them like they're animals in a zoo."

Colin's eyes widened. "It wasn't like that! I didn't want to take pictures of just the goblins! I took pictures of quidditch, and Hagrid, and Ollivander, and Hogwarts, and the train, and Harry…"

"You wanted to take pictures of Harry?" Charlie interrupted. He had to bite the inside of his cheek to stifle a laugh when he saw Harry blush and glare at him.

"Can we just keep reading?" Harry asked embarrassed.

"Of course, little Harrikins," Fred smirked.

"We wouldn't want to wear out this oh so interesting topic before we read about it in the books, would we?" George asked mockingly.

"What book would it be?" Fred asked with mock curiosity.

"It'd be the second one, wouldn't it?" George replied. "I think it'd be that one."

Harry buried his face in his hands. "I'm going to kill them," he murmured.

Nightling rose from her half doze in Harry's lap. "Kill, Harry-hatchling? Are you killing someone for real now? Do you want my help?"

Harry smiled and stroked her body. "No, I'm not killing anybody. It's just an expression because they're annoying me. Killing isn't always good."

"Isn't it?"

"No. Killing is… an extreme solution. If you can solve a problem without killing, you should always pick that over taking a life."

Nigthtling flicked her tongue pensively. "I kill a lot."

"Yes. To eat. That's different. You don't kill because others annoy you. You kill to survive."

"Have you killed to survive, Harry-hatchling?"

Harry's smiled dropped. Quirrell flashed through his mind, followed by Voldemort. Did it count as if he had killed Voldemort twice, or had he actually never killed the man?

"Yes, I have, Nightling," he replied subdued.

The black mamba raised her body to look at him. "You're sad. Why are you sad? Do you regret your kills?"

Harry struggled to find an answer to that. He didn't regret what he had had to do to survive and to save Ginny, but he didn't like it either. He would have preferred not to be forced into that situation. "I don't like killing," he answered finally.

Nightling tilted her head. "Is that why you don't want me to kill the humans that annoy you?"

Harry nodded. "That, and because you'll be forced to leave if you hurt anyone. I don't want you to have to leave if you don't want to."

"I don't want to leave you, Harry-hatchling. You need someone to look after you."

"Then you can't hurt anyone."

"What if they're trying to hurt you?"

"Then… Then I guess it'd be okay," Harry accepted reluctantly. "But you'd have super, super sure that they're really trying to hurt me because situations can often be misunderstood and I don't want you to hurt someone innocent. And nobody who's here right now would ever hurt me."

"Nobody?"

"Nobody," Harry confirmed. Even those he didn't get along with wouldn't try to kill him, so Nightling shouldn't try to hurt them.

The black mamba thought about it before nodding. "I promise I won't hurt anyone here. And I won't hurt anyone who's not here unless I'm very, very sure that they're going to hurt you."

Harry beamed at her. "Thank you, Nightling."

The snake squirmed embarrassedly at the naked affection she could see in the hatchling's eyes. She shyly bumped her head against his hand as she lay back down in his lap, hissing in pleasure as his hands began to pet her again.

"Everything okay?" Ron asked Harry in a murmur. He already knew the answer, though. The look in Harry's eyes and the smile on his face told him everything he needed to know.

Harry smiled at his best friend. "Perfect."

"Goblins? … Never mess with goblins, Harry.

"Which is why my impossible challenge will never be completed," Bill smirked smugly.

"Your what?" Harry asked confused.

"Don't worry about it," Bill waved a hand dismissively. "It's just something we talked about earlier, after you went to find Ron and Hermione."

"We were just passing the time," Tonks added.

"You… thought of challenges?" Harry tried to understand, even more confused.

"Not exactly," Charlie shook his head.

"It was completely ridiculous," Percy huffed.

"You say that because you don't like yours," Fred rolled his eyes.

"Because it'll never happen," Percy glared at him.

"Then it fits exactly the requirements of the challenge," George smirked.

"What requirements?" Ron asked bewildered.

"It's stupid. Seriously, don't worry about it," Bill insisted. "Just… Harry," he called, waiting until he was sure that he had the younger boy's attention. "Don't ever think about robbing Gringotts."

Harry blinked, not understanding a thing. "Okay?"

"Good kid," Bill grinned.

Gringotts is the safest … 'cept maybe Hogwarts.

Bill frowned. "I don't know. To say that Hogwarts is safer than Gringotts…"

"Why not?" Dennis asked.

"You haven't seen goblins angry. And there's nothing that angers them more than someone trying to rob them. They're… vicious, to put it lightly," Bill grimaced. "They're worse than a mama dragon protecting her eggs."

Charlie twitched in his seat as his mind immediately went to the first task and the dragons that had been selected for the champions. "I have to disagree with you there, brother," he said lightly. "You clearly haven't seen a mama dragon protecting her eggs."

"And I wish you haven't seen either of them," Molly cut in, glaring at her sons. She had a hard enough time knowing what their jobs were without hearing every single detail. If they kept this up, she was going to lock them up in the Burrow where she would know that they were safe.

Bill and Charlie smiled at her sheepishly. They recognized the protectiveness in their mother's eyes.

"We're joking, mum," Bill told her, only twisting the truth a little bit. "Besides, nobody's stupid enough to try to rob the goblins, so they never get that angry."

"Yeah. And nobody's stupid enough to try to get close to any dragon egg, especially when the mother's close, so it's not that bad," Charlie said with a forced smile.

Molly inwardly rolled her eyes. She wasn't stupid. She knew when her sons were playing down the danger that they put themselves in for her sake. Still, she preferred to pretend that she didn't know about it. It helped her sleep a little better at night.

As a matter o' fact, … he can trust me, see.

"Are you… showing off for Harry?" Susan asked amused.

Hagrid blushed. "I wasn' showin' off," he mumbled. "I was tellin' Harry tha' Dumbledore gave me a job ter do."

Dumbledore's lips curled into a tiny amused smile. "Just so you know, Hagrid, of course, I trust you."

Hagrid blushed even more, but he sat up straighter proudly. "Thank you, Professor."

"I think it's cute that he was showing off like that," Hannah smiled. "He wanted Harry to know that he was important too, even though he wasn't a teacher and he isn't allowed to do magic."

"Hagrid was already important to me before I knew that," Harry shrugged. The gamekeeper had been the first person to defend him from the Dursleys, had told him the truth about his parents and about magic, and had opened a door to the wizarding world to him. Any of those things would have placed Hagrid directly in Harry's list of important people.

Hagrid didn't swell with pride this time. Instead, he stared at the small teenager with so much affection that it was clear that he wanted nothing more than to sweep Harry into a rib-breaking hug.

"Got everythin'? … water in the bottom after the storm.

"At least the storm has passed," Anthony said relieved.

"And it wasn't nearly as cold," Harry smiled. He wasn't shivering now, even though it had still been a cool morning.

"Thank Merlin," Ron mumbled under his breath.

"Wait, but shouldn't there be another boat?" Terry asked confused. "For Hagrid, I mean. He had to have arrived some way."

"Maybe he apparated!" Colin exclaimed.

"You can't apparate without a wand, and Hagrid's is broken," Alicia shook her head.

"But he did magic earlier," Colin pointed out.

"And it didn't work as it should have," McGonagall said, giving Hagrid a warning glare. She hadn't forgotten that butchered job of transfiguration that he had performed.

"The pieces he keeps in his pink umbrella wouldn't have been enough to allow him to apparate," Cho told Colin. "At the very least, he would've splinched himself."

"Then, how did he get there?" Ernie asked confused.

"A portkey is always an option," Remus said hesitantly.

"That's impossible," Percy denied immediately. "He would've had to know where the Dursleys were and fill a request for a portkey before it was granted to him. He hasn't had time to do that."

Angelina rolled her eyes. No one had said that the portkey had to be legal, but she let it go. "If he didn't use a portkey and he didn't apparate, how did he get to the hut on the island in the middle of the ocean?"

"I asked Hagrid about it," Harry intervened before they could keep trying to guess.

"You did? Of course, you did," Ron rolled his eyes. He wasn't even surprised.

"How did you get … "Flew," said Hagrid.

"Excuse me?" Tonks asked incredulously.

She wasn't the only one surprised. Everyone was staring at the giant with confused frowns as they tried to figure out how it was possible.

"Did you… use a broom?" Neville asked Hagrid tentatively.

"A broom? No. Brooms can't hol' my weight. Same as threstals," Hagrid dismissed.

"Threstals?" Padma repeated surprised. She had read about those, but, fortunately, she couldn't see them. She was immensely curious about them, but she didn't want to pay the price needed to be able to see them.

"Then how did you do it, Hagrid?" Seamus asked confused.

"Did you fly with your umbrella like Mary Poppins?" Dennis exclaimed excitedly.

"Again with that Mary Poppins? Wait, she flew with an umbrella?" Blaise asked flabbergasted. "That's impossible!"

"It's a book. Or several. Of course, it's possible," Hermione rolled her eyes. "It's just that Hagrid couldn't have done it like that, if not for other reason than because his wand is in pieces."

"I didn' use my umbrella," Hagrid said confused. "Fawkes helped me."

"Fawkes? What's a fawkes?" Ernie asked confused.

"Fawkes is a phoenix," Harry grinned. Hagrid's flying abilities had been a mystery that he had never solved until now. "Dumbledore's phoenix."

"And phoenixes can carry huge weights," Hermione's eyes lit up in understanding.

"And I'm sure Fawkes would've had no problem helping one of Dumbledore's friends," Luna smiled softly.

"I guess that makes sense," Tonks said pensively.

"Flew? … Not s'pposed ter use magic now I've got yeh."

"Having Fawkes help you isn't exactly the same as using magic, though," Katie pointed out. "You wouldn't be the one doing magic."

"Still, I don't think Harry would've appreciated having to reach shore dangling from Fawkes' claws," Charlie said amused.

Harry and Ron very carefully avoided looking at each other. If they made eye-contact, they were going to burst into a fit of giggles that would get everyone's attention and they didn't want to have to explain that Fawkes had ended up carrying Harry in the future after all.

"Besides, Fawkes had clearly gone back to Dumbledore if he wasn't waiting around," Lisa said.

They settled … not mentionin' it at Hogwarts?"

"Right. Ask the eleven-year-old who's just found out that he has magic if he wants to see more. I'm sure he'll say no," Tonks rolled her eyes.

"While I agree that there's nothing wrong with wanting to show Mr. Potter more magic," McGonagall intervened exasperated as she glared at Hagrid. "You shouldn't have made an eleven-year-old an accomplice of a misdemeanour. Mr. Potter could've gotten into trouble if you had been caught and it had been found out that he had been present!"

Hagrid blushed. "Sorry, Professor."

"Technically, he's been caught," Fudge grumbled, incensed with the lack of respect for the law that was being shown.

"And technically, you don't have any proof," Harry intervened, glaring at him warningly. "All of you learnt it from the books, so you can do nothing."

"I could demand him to hand over the memories of how he went to pick you up from your relatives," the Minister tried again.

Harry's eyes narrowed. "No, you couldn't. I don't think it's legal to demand anyone's memories just because."

"Of course, it's not," Hermione snorted. "Just like there has to be a huge justification to administer Veritaserum. He can't force either of you to confess to anything."

Harry grinned at her before turning back to Fudge. "Sorry, Minister. I'm afraid that you're stuck on this matter too."

Fudge glared at him, not happy at all with the fact that he had his hands tied. He was the Minister of Magic and he wasn't being given the respect he was due. How had things gone so wrong when he had believed that his relationship with the boy-who-lived was on good terms the year prior?

"Are you going to keep challenging the Minister like that?" Tonks asked Harry amused.

"I'm not challenging him," Harry scoffed. "He's just… He's a moron, and he keeps coming after Hagrid, so I'm not going to stay quiet and let him do it."

"He's still the Minister, Harry," Arthur pointed out gently. "He could make life very difficult for you."

The black-haired boy gritted his teeth. "Then I'll deal with it if he tries anything, but I'm not going to let him do anything to Hagrid."

Ron huffed and looked at Hermione. "Tell me that you have some idea about laws?" He pleaded. They were going to need it if Harry kept pushing the Minister's buttons. Not that Ron disagreed with what his best friend was doing.

Hermione smirked sharply. "Of course, I do. And I'll keep looking. Harry protects Hagrid, and we'll protect Harry."

Ron relaxed and smirked back at her in return. Harry and he were so, so lucky that they had pulled their heads out of their arses in first year and they had befriended Hermione.

"Of course not … mad to try and rob Gringotts?" Harry asked.

"Why would you be asking about robbing Gringotts?" Parvati asked, scrunching up her nose.

"I didn't ask about robbing Gringotts. I asked why you'd have to be mad to try," Harry corrected her. "And I was curious. Goblins didn't sound very dangerous."

"Now you know better," Bill smirked. He hesitated. "You know better, right?"

Harry looked at him oddly. "Of course. I know better than to mess with the goblins. Why?"

"No reason," the redhead replied nonchalantly.

Harry narrowed his eyes. "Is this about that challenge you spoke about earlier?"

"It doesn't matter, because you know better than to mess with goblins," Bill insisted.

"A little worried, brother?" Charlie teased him in a murmur.

Bill shoved him away. "Shut up," he grumbled, ignoring his brother's laughter.

"Spells — … manage ter get yer hands on summat."

"I don't think it'd be hunger that would kill him," Michael mumbled. "It'd be one of the dozens of spells guarding the vaults."

"Or the blood-thirsty goblins that would be waiting for him when he reached the entrance of the bank," Anthony agreed.

"Why are you even discussing this?" Terry hissed at them. "It's not like anyone's actually planning to rob Gringotts."

"Well, it is one of the challenges," Michael argued.

"One of the impossible challenges. As in, we don't believe they can actually happen," Terry reminded him.

"You know," Ron said, oblivious to what the Ravenclaws were talking about. "It kind of reminds me a little bit of what we did in first year when we went after the Philosopher's Stone."

"Which we all agreed was one crazy and dangerous adventure that we'd never repeat," Hermione told him, raising her eyebrows expectantly.

Ron smiled sheepishly. "I know. It's just that challenge that Bill spoke about that got me thinking."

"We're not going to try to complete whatever challenges they were talking about," Hermione said firmly.

"Please, let's not," Harry huffed. "I think we're going to get into enough trouble without doing whatever mad ideas they came up with."

Harry sat and … had so many questions in his life.

Hagrid's face fell when he heard this. He didn't like that he had reminded Harry of his uncle, even if it was just about something as simple as reading the paper. It felt like a punch to the gut to think that Harry had been afraid of asking him something because of his uncle's reaction when he was interrupted.

"Harry…" Hagrid began to say, not knowing how he was going to finish the sentence. He only knew that he needed to erase any doubt that Harry could have about being able to come to Hagrid with any problem. "Yeh can… If yeh have questions… I don' mind…"

"I know, Hagrid," Harry cut him off embarrassed. He knew that, rationally. It just wasn't so simple to get rid of the instincts that had been pushed into him by ten years of living with the Dursleys.

"Any time," Hagrid insisted.

Harry smiled at him. "I know," he repeated, more sincerely this time.

"Harry," Hermione called in a murmur hesitantly. "Do you… I mean, when I'm reading, do you… You know that I don't mind if you interrupt me, right?" She asked uncomfortably.

She knew that she often snapped at whoever interrupted her when she was working, but she liked to help her friends. To even think that Harry had hesitated to come to her for help, that she had made him revert back to what he had learnt with his relatives… It made her sick.

Harry almost panicked when he saw the tears in Hermione's eyes. He could see Ron, who was sitting between them, beginning to panic too. They never reacted well when Hermione cried.

"I know, Hermione," he hurried to reassure her. "I know you don't mind. But if I can let you finish and then ask you for help…"

"You don't have to wait," Hermione insisted, finding it more difficult to fight back tears. "You can ask me any time you want. I'm serious. You can even wake me up if I'm sleeping, or anything."

Harry smiled at her softly. "I don't think that's really necessary. Most of the time, you already know that I need help before I can even ask you and you're already offering it."

Hermione wasn't convinced. "But if I don't notice…"

"Then I do," Ron intervened, nudging her shoulder. "And I'll drag him to you so you can help him if I can't do it myself."

Hermione relaxed. Between Ron and her, they were a good team dedicated to taking care of Harry.

"What's wrong? Why is Hermione-book sad?" Nightling asked confused, staring at the girl with almost concern.

Harry bit his lip, trying to decide how he was going to explain this. "You know that my mum's nest-sister, her mate and their hatchling don't really take care of me."

Nightling hissed in displeasure, curling around Harry's wrist. "Yes. They made Hermione-book sad?"

"They… taught me some things that are wrong. They lied and… they made me think things about me that aren't right," Harry struggled to explain. He hated talking about this.

Nightling turned to stare at him in concern. "Things like what? Why are you sad too?"

"Things like… Things like saying that I shouldn't ask for help because I'm useless and not worth it," the green-eyed boy managed to say.

The black mamba hissed in outrage. "You're not useless or worthless! You're my hatchling! And you should always be able to ask your nest-siblings for help."

Harry smiled and petted her to calm her down. "I know that now, but I didn't for a long time. And Hermione… She's sad because she doesn't like that I believed that for so long. She wanted to make sure that I know that I can always go to her and Ron for help."

"Of course, you can," Nightling hissed. She flicked her tongue against Harry's hand before turning to look at Hermione. "She's a good nest-sister."

Harry's smile widened. "The best. Just like Ron is the best nest-brother."

Nightling hissed satisfied and settled back down. "Good. That's very good."

"Harry?" Hermione inquired when the hissing stopped.

"She was just asking why you were sad," Harry explained quietly. "She… She's not pleased with the Dursleys, but she likes you two."

Hermione beamed at the snake while Ron flushed in pleased embarrassment. It was a bit ridiculous to feel so happy about getting a snake's approval, but it also felt good. Really good.

"Ministry o' Magic … Dumbledore fer Minister, o' course,

Fudge frowned and gritted his teeth as he forced himself not to squirm in embarrassment. It felt awful to know that he was second best, that he was only Minister because Dumbledore hadn't wanted the job. It felt like Dumbledore would one day change his mind and Fudge would be kicked out of his office without a second thought.

And that terrified Fudge. Because he knew that it was Dumbledore who had the support of the people.

"I don't think that would be a good idea," Daphne snorted.

"Why not? Dumbledore would be a good Minister!" Ernie exclaimed.

Daphne rolled her eyes. "There's a reason there are different posts of authority, you know? It's so that not one person has all the power. Dumbledore already holds the position of Headmaster of Hogwarts, the Supreme Mugwump of the International Confederation of Wizards and the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot. Those are three posts that are meant to be held by different people to ensure some kind of balance, but it hasn't been like that for years now."

"Well, Dumbledore does a good job," Terry pointed out uncomfortably. He couldn't deny the truth in the girl's words.

"That's not the point," Daphne scoffed. "The point is that he holds too much power as it is. Each of those positions is demanding and requires a lot of work."

"Then that just shows how capable Dumbledore is, since he's doing a great job at managing all of them, doesn't it?" Justin asked hesitantly.

Daphne sent him a deadpanned look, clearly wondering if he was really that stupid. "Or maybe he isn't paying enough attention to any of them. Maybe things aren't bad now, but maybe they could be better if they worked how they're meant to and there were different people for each position."

There was an uncomfortable silence that followed her words. Nobody could deny the truth in what she was saying, but… it was Dumbledore. He had been holding those positions for so long that it was almost taboo to even suggest that there could be other people who would do a great job at them too.

Dumbledore was one of the most uncomfortable ones. He couldn't reply. He couldn't argue with the girl's words because they were true, and they hadn't even been a slight against him. She had just pointed out that the positions were meant to be held by different people and that they were all too much time-consuming to be held by the same person.

And the worst thing? That she was right. Dumbledore was always working, never stopping. And he couldn't help but remember with a pang of guilt that Minerva did most of the work that actually should fall upon the Headmaster of the school, not the Deputy.

If he argued, they would all think that he didn't want to relinquish the power he had, but that wasn't it… was it? He had just accepted so many positions because… because he knew that he would be good at them. And yes, maybe his schedule was a little too packed and he might rely on others to be able to perform all of his duties, but that didn't mean that he should let other people have the positions.

Did it?

but he'd never leave Hogwarts … owls every morning, askin' fer advice."

Fudge went beet red. He hadn't known that it was so common knowledge that he frequently wrote Dumbledore asking for advice. Who else knew? Did they all think that he was incompetent for it? Did they all believe him to be a… bungler, as Hagrid had put it?

One look at all the faces in the Great Hall revealed that there was no one surprised by the gamekeeper's words. In fact, more than one seemed to be stifling a laugh.

How had he fallen so low?

And to allow the boy-who-lived to have that as his first impression of the Minister? It was no wonder that the child now had so little respect for him. If the first person he had met from the wizarding world had that opinion of the Minister, why should have Potter thought any better of him?

He had to change that. Now, more than ever, it was imperative that Potter became a ward of the Ministry. He needed to control whom Potter came in contact with, what he learnt, what kind of influences he had… Having the boy-who-lived siding with the Ministry and agreeing with all of his decisions would be a huge bolster to him in the eyes of the public.

And why wouldn't Potter agree with anything Fudge said if he managed to take him away from his relatives? It was a win-win for everyone. Yes, he just had to talk to Potter about it and present him his proposal in a way that would make it impossible for the child to resist.

"But what does a Ministry … wizards up an' down the country."

"It's not just keeping the muggles from finding out about the wizarding world," Percy scoffed. "The Ministry maintains order and takes care of any problem that could come up."

"They haven't been doing a good job of taking care of any of the problems that have come this way the last couple of years," Michael pointed out with a raised eyebrow.

Percy gritted his teeth. He knew that. He just didn't understand it. "As many people have pointed out, the Ministry has no say in Hogwarts' business," he replied.

"Black wasn't just Hogwarts' business last year," Susan said. She knew that her aunt was always saying that the aurors were understaffed and not as trained as they should be. The end of the wat had made everyone feel safe and they had gotten complacent. No matter how many times her aunt pestered Fudge about improving the program, he kept dismissing her concerns. Well, now with the warning about the war, the aurors were going to be needed more than ever.

"Black was coming after Harry! And the Ministry placed dementors around Hogwarts to protect him!" Percy argued.

"Because they protected him so much," Alicia snarled acidly. She still couldn't forget the image of the tiniest member of their team falling through the air, followed by a hoard of dementors. She didn't think she was ever going to forget it.

Percy winced. True, he hadn't enjoyed seeing how affected Harry had been by them, but he believed that it had been for the best. The dementors had at least made it more difficult for Black to enter the castle, even if they hadn't stopped him.

"Let's just say it as it is. The Ministry doesn't do half as much as it should," Seamus snorted.

"Why? … we're best left alone."

"Maybe the muggle world isn't ready to accept magic, dragons and all that, but that doesn't mean that the wizarding world should be as isolated as it is," Hermione said pensively. "The muggle world has some great things that would be really useful in the wizarding world."

"Like notebooks and pens, like we said earlier," Harry grinned.

"Notebooks and pens? What are those?" Arthur asked curiously.

"They're the equivalent of parchment and quills that the wizarding world uses," Hermione explained enthusiastically. "Notebooks have many sheets of paper tied together so they're always organized and kept together, but you can always rip off a sheet of paper if you need it. And pens are like quills, except that they're cleaner and faster because you don't have to be constantly dipping them in ink."

"Fascinating," Arthur said wide-eyed.

"I hate quills," Justin admitted sheepishly. "I still make a mess with them more often than not."

"And I'm always losing pieces of parchment, or mixing them up," Dean said disgruntled.

At this moment the boat … steps onto the street.

"What about your relatives?" Neville asked confused. He blushed. "Not that I'm worried about them or how they got back…"

"They could've stayed stranded in that rock for all I care," Sirius spat. "It'd be the least they deserve."

"I'm… I was just curious," Neville said downtrodden.

"Ignore my cousin, Neville," Tonks rolled her eyes. "It's a perfectly valid question."

"But I don't actually have an answer for it. Sorry, Neville," Harry admitted sheepishly.

"They probably called someone for help, if they had a phone on them," Hermione guessed, looking at Harry questioningly.

"My uncle had one. If it didn't get too wet when we were on the boat during the storm, they would've had no problem calling for help," Harry nodded.

"And what? They said that the boat had magically appeared back on shore?" Katie asked sceptically.

"Well, they wouldn't say 'magically', but…" Harry teased her.

Katie rolled her eyes and threw a cushion at him, making him chuckle as he easily caught it one-handed without disturbing the dozing snake in his lap. "You have way too much fun with your relatives' weirdness," she snorted, trying not to bring the mood down.

Harry snorted. "Anyway, I don't know how they got back, but they were back in Privet Drive when I returned that afternoon."

Passersby stared … these Muggles dream up, eh?"

"Oh, Merlin, he's worse than dad," Charlie snorted.

"That's how the Statute of Secrecy is broken," Percy glared at Hagrid disapprovingly.

"I didn't mean… They're just so… They invent so many things," Hagrid said embarrassed.

"I think everyone was too worried trying to figure out what Hagrid had been fed as a child to have grown up so much to even stop to actually listen to what he was saying," Harry snickered.

"And those who listened probably thought that he was a foreigner and that he was insulting us British people," Dean agreed.

"Hagrid," said … dragons at Gringotts?"

"And now you're talking about dragons in front of everyone?" Percy asked scandalized.

"It doesn't matter. Lots of muggles talk about dragons," Harry reassured him.

"But they shouldn't know that they exist!" Percy exclaimed panicked.

"They don't. Not really. But they play videogames where there are dragons. Lots of kids at school talked about them and how they had defeated them," Harry explained.

"Vide-what?" Ron asked confused. Only the muggle-borns and some half-bloods knew what Harry was talking about.

"They're games. I'll show you what they are this summer," Hermione decided, knowing that it would take too much time to try to explain it right then. Besides, Ron would probably twist her words and come up with something that wasn't really a videogame, so why bother when she could show him later?

"Well, so they say … I'd like a dragon."

"No kidding," Ron grumbled, discreetly rubbing the hand that Norbert had bitten in first year.

Harry snorted and Hermione began to giggle, unable to help themselves. It hadn't been funny back then, but now they couldn't help but look back at it with fondness. The three of them looked at Hagrid, who was staring back at them with a blush covering his face and a sheepish smile.

Charlie couldn't help but snort too. He remembered perfectly what his little brother and his two friends had helped Hagrid smuggle out of the castle in their first year.

"Charlie?" Tonks murmured questioningly.

"It's nothing."

"It doesn't look like nothing. I want to know what's so funny," Bill said, elbowing him in the ribs.

"I'm not telling you. I want to see your faces when you find out in the books," Charlie said smugly.

"It's going to appear, whatever you're thinking about?" Bill asked.

"If it doesn't, I'll tell you, but I hope it does," Charlie grinned. "It was epic."

"You aren't even in Hogwarts anymore, Charlie. And you only just met Harry last summer," Bill said confused. "How could you appear in the books?"

"I don't appear. At least, I don't believe so," Charlie shrugged. "But I still know why those three are snickering like little kids," he said, nodding his head towards Ron, Harry and Hermione.

Tonks looked at them. An infectious smile spread across her face. "Damn, now I want to know even more what's making all of you laugh like that."

"You'd like … since I was a kid — here we go."

"It doesn't surprise me that he wanted a dragon as a kid," Anthony snorted.

"He does like dangerous beasts, doesn't he?" Dean winced ass he remembered how the Blast-Ended Skrewts had burnt him when they had exploded as he tried to feed them. And that had been when they had been small, but they were growing alarmingly quickly, much to Hagrid's glee and the students' dismay. He didn't want to know how big they were going to be at the end of the school year.

"Yeah, but a dragon? That's a bit much even for Hagrid, isn't it?" Parvati asked hesitantly.

"Even if it isn't, it's illegal to own one and it's not like Hagrid would be able to hide one here," Terry shrugged. "We're safe on that front."

"Thank Merlin for small miracles," Hannah mumbled under her breath.

They had reached … canary-yellow circus tent.

"It wasn' a tent," Hagrid huffed.

"Sorry, Hagrid. It just looked like one," Harry said sheepishly.

"It was a blanke'. Fer Fang," Hagrid explained. "He gets cold in winter, so he loves to curl up in a blanket in front of the fire."

"Oh. It… It was huge," Harry said confused. Why did Fang need a blanket that big?

Hagrid nodded. "Tha' way, he has more than enough. He won' be cold."

"I think it's really sweet, Hagrid," Hermione smiled at him.

"Still got yer letter … counted stitches.

"What? You thought he had lost it after how much trouble it had been to get it?" Zacharias snorted.

"I had gotten many more revelations that night that simply finding out that I was a wizard. I could've misplaced it," Harry defended his friend.

"But it would've been a bit sad if you had lost it so quickly," Ernie pointed out.

"I don't think we would've survived the disappointment," Fred said dramatically.

"It would've been something we would've never recovered from," George agreed.

"Maybe his relatives could've taken it from him again," Cho pointed out.

"With Hagrid there? Not a chance," Tonks snorted.

"They were too scared to even consider it," Harry agreed with the metamorphmagus. "They didn't come out of the bedroom at all the whole night."

"And you would've heard them if they tried," Ron pointed out. Harry was a notorious light sleeper, which was why Fred and George found it so difficult to catch him unaware.

Harry took the parchment … NOT ALLOWED THEIR OWN BROOMSTICKS

"First-years aren't usually allowed their own broom, but there are exceptions," Angelina smirked.

"I would've been jealous if I hadn't been so happy that we had an awesome seeker that year," Alicia smiled, leaning back in her seat.

"I think that Wood would've begged McGonagall to let him play if she hadn't already given Harry the position," Katie said.

"Yeah, but not everyone was happy, remember?" Angelina winced.

They weren't sure if Harry knew this, but there had been a lot of people who had gone to complain to Wood and McGonagall herself about giving someone a place in the team without even having to go to the trials. It had only gotten worse when someone had found out that it was a first-year who was allowed to have his own broom and had leaked that information to everyone else. There had been others who had wanted the position of seeker and they had been incensed by the injustice of it.

Katie grimaced as she remembered the trials where she had gotten the position of chaser. "I know. Trials were a nightmare when Wood told everyone that there wouldn't be a trial for the position of seeker because he had already chosen someone."

"I think that Wood would've kicked out whoever got the position if McGonagall had come to him with Harry after the trials had taken place. Harry's really good," Alicia said.

"That wouldn't have helped Harry at all," Katie grimaced again.

"People only calmed down after the first match, when they saw how good Harry really is. And even then, some still tried to argue with Wood that they should be allowed a chance to challenge Harry for the position," Angelina said. She shook her head. "Although, I don't know how they honestly thought that they had a chance of besting him. That kid looks like he was born to fly on a broom."

"Do you think that Harry knows what Wood did for him by arguing with everyone about Harry's right to be on the team? Or what we did with Fred and George when we… uh, discouraged everyone who tried to go after him to try to make him resign?" Alicia asked curiously.

Angelina frowned. "I have no idea. I'd say he doesn't, but Harry always knows more than it looks like."

"Maybe the books will tell us if he knows or not," Katie shrugged.

"And if he does because some got past us… We can always tell Fred and George that there's someone else in need of being pranked," Angelina smirked.

"Can we buy all … bustling road lined with shops.

"Escalator?" Arthur repeated, perking up immediately.

"They're stairs that move up or down on their own," Hermione explained simply.

"And they use eclectricity to function? Do they have plugs?" Arthur asked.

"They're connected to the power grid, of course, but they aren't plugged in. It's… It's a bit different," she tried to simplify it.

Arthur looked like Christmas had come early. "Different? Different how? There are other kinds of plugs?"

"No, it's not… I mean, yes, there are different kinds of plugs, but that's not what I mean," Hermione said frustratedly. She shook her head. "Maybe I can explain this to you later, Mr. Weasley?" She suggested.

"Of course, of course. I'll write it down so I don't forget it," Arthur nodded, patting his pockets to look for a piece of parchment and a quill.

Bill snorted quietly. "I don't think dad would be able to forget that there are different kinds of plugs if he tried."

Hagrid was so huge … ordinary street full of ordinary people.

"You really believed that they would sell magical things in muggle shops," Blaise snorted.

"What? It's not like anyone told me any differently," Harry said defensively.

"Hey, I'm not saying that you were wrong to think that. It's just… so messed up," Blaise shook his head.

Potter should have grown up knowing all of that, but it had been robbed of him and it was like he didn't even notice the injustice that had been done to him. He had been left completely ignorant and manipulable for the first person that got to him. Like Blaise had thought earlier, a lot of who Potter was now had been shaped because of the first people he had met when he had arrived to the wizarding world, but if he had met different people, he might have been completely different.

"It's what it is. It's not like we can change it now," Harry shrugged uncomfortably.

Could there really be piles … joke that the Dursleys had cooked up?

"The Dursleys? You think they'd be capable of organizing something so elaborated?" George asked horrified.

"I feel like we should be offended," Fred huffed.

"This is the kind of huge prank that someone like us would be able to prepare and actually deliver without a hitch," George agreed.

"Someone who makes jokes like the one about letter bombs does not have the ability to do something like this," Fred nodded.

"I know. Merlin, it was just a comment," Harry mumbled defensively. "It wasn't even a comment. It was a thought."

If Harry hadn't known … couldn't help trusting him.

"You shouldn't have trusted him like that, Potter!" Moody roared.

"It's Hagrid. How could I not trust him?" Harry replied defensively. He refused to feel intimidated by this man. He hadn't done anything wrong by trusting Hagrid.

"You didn't know who he was! He could've been leading you to a trap!" The ex-auror insisted furiously.

"Are you saying that I should've stayed with the Dursleys?" Harry demanded.

That actually got Mad-Eye to shut up and glare at him with both eyes. It was unnerving, but Harry returned his glare unflinchingly. If this man told him that he should have stayed with the Dursleys, he was going to do his best to hex him. He would probably fail and end up in the infirmary for daring to try, but he would still do it.

Tonks broke the silence with a disbelieving giggle. "You actually shut him up," she said awed. "You won an argument with him about trusting people."

"He did not," Moody glared at her. "He should've questioned Hagrid more. He should've demanded more explanations and more proof. He should've question Hagrid's reasons more!"

"Couldn't I question that after I got to know the wizarding world? You know, when I could make my own opinion and not one based on simply someone else's beliefs?" Harry demanded.

He agreed with many of the things that Hagrid had told him that day, but there were other things that he had slowly begun to question because they didn't match everything he had seen and lived through. Hagrid may have influenced his opinion and his approach to the wizarding world, but Harry himself had made his own opinions about whom he trusted and what he believed. All in all, he didn't think he was doing so badly.

"That's a very mature approach," Pomona approved quietly.

"It is," Minerva couldn't hide the proud smile on her face if she tried, and she wasn't trying.

"What if you're only shown some parts of the wizarding world? What if you're manipulated into believing things and behaving a certain way?" Moody demanded.

"Then I'll use common sense, because there are things that are wrong no matter how you look at them. And for the rest of them, I'll trust my friends to help me see if I'm being manipulated," Harry said stubbornly.

"Again with depending on trusting your friends? What if your so-called friends are the ones doing the manipulation?" The ex-auror pressed on.

"They aren't," Harry snapped through gritted teeth. "I trust my friends, and I don't have to agree with them on everything to do that."

To be fair, he had been afraid of disagreeing with them in the beginning because he had thought that he would lose them, but that had slowly lessened over time during their first year. It had been inevitable after seeing how much Ron and Hermione disagreed on everything without losing each other's friendship or hesitating to help each other. So, if they could disagree, argue and fight so much, how could he be afraid of expressing his own opinion?

It had flared up again during the summer holidays between their first and their second year, when Harry had stayed with the Weasleys for the first time. After spending another month with the Dursleys, where he had been belittled, hit and treated like dirt, plus the insecurities that had sprang to life with the lack of letters from his best friends (even though that mess had been cleared up), he had been afraid again. However, that had also passed when he had seen that Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were nothing like the Dursleys, that they didn't deny their children food even when they were grounded, that they hugged them instead of hitting them, that explained patiently instead of insulting when they asked questions. In a place so different from Privet Drive, he had been completely unable to stick to his fears.

And that had happened again and again. Every time his insecurities began to flare up and tell him that he wasn't enough, Ron or Hermione or any of the Weasleys was there with a joke or a kind smile or a hug or anything that made him feel so warm and fuzzy inside that he wanted to smile forever and cry for a week at the same time. It was terrifying and wonderful and he loved it.

He loved them, and they deserved better than to have him doubt them.

"This is it," said … only he and Hagrid could see it.

"You noticed that so quickly?" Justin asked surprised. "I only noticed it when I entered the Leaky Cauldron and my parents were left outside looking for me panicked. I had to go back outside to drag them inside."

"Because muggles can't see it until a wizard or a witch leads them inside. The wards even prevent them from getting close to it or noticing it," McGonagall explained. "The parents of muggle-borns can only enter when their children literally drag them inside, like Mr. Finch-Fletchley has said."

"Does that spell affect wizards?" Hermione asked curiously.

"No. I don't think so," Flitwick shook his head.

"Then muggle-borns who have yet to find out about magic must get inside from time to time, right? I mean, kids get lost sometimes," Hermione reasoned.

"It would be an enormous coincidence for a muggle-born to get lost in the vicinity of the Leaky Cauldron and wander inside without their guardians noticing a thing," Flitwick pointed out.

"But it's not just in the Leaky Cauldron, Professor," she argued. "It could also be in King's Cross or any of the other entrances to the wizarding world."

"Maybe," the tiny professor accepted. "But I've never heard of a case like that. And even if it happened, it would be easily solved by returning the child to their parents and either explaining the situation or modifying their memories, depending on the circumstances."

Before he could mention … very dark and shabby.

"Don't criticize the Leaky Cauldron until you've tried Tom's food and you've spent a night in that place," Tonks warned him.

"It wasn't exactly a criticism," Harry shrugged. His room in Privet Drive was far worse, and his cupboard had been even worse than that. "I wouldn't criticize the Leaky Cauldron after spending weeks there."

Tonks stared at him in surprise. "You've stayed there?"

Harry nodded. "The summer before last. I spent the last three weeks of August there, and Tom was great. So was Mr. Fortescue."

"Wait, but wasn't the summer before when you…?" Tonks trailed off, staring at her cousin with a frown.

"Escaped from Azkaban?" Sirius finished for her. "Yes, it was."

"Then what were you doing staying on your own in the Leaky Cauldron?" Tonks demanded, glaring at Harry. Her cousin might be innocent, but they hadn't known that back then. In fact, the aurors had been frenetic as they tried to capture him and think of ways to protect Harry. And, in the meantime, Harry had been on his own in the Leaky Cauldron. Unbelievable.

"Hm… Can you wait until the explanation appears in the books?" Harry asked sheepishly.

Tonks's eyes narrowed. "Is it a good explanation?"

"A very good one," Harry nodded.

"Are you sure it'll appear in the books?"

"No, but I'll explain it to you if it doesn't," Harry compromised.

Tonks nodded. "I'm not forgetting about this. I'm questioning you if we start reading about your third year and I don't have my explanation."

Harry grinned at her. He rather liked the metamorphmagus. "Deal."

A few old women … seemed to know Hagrid;

"That's it, Potter! Pay attention to the details, to everyone, so nobody can't catch you off guard!" Moody yelled approvingly.

"Merlin, Alastor, it's not like he's going to find enemies in the Leaky Cauldron!" McGonagall yelled at her colleague.

Harry was very careful to keep his face blank and not look at Ron or Hermione. They were the only ones that knew that he had met Quirrell that day, so, technically, he had found an enemy in the Leaky Cauldron. Merlin, he really was going to have to be as paranoid as Mad-Eye.

"You don't know that! Everyone's suspicious! They all have hidden agendas and could try to hurt him!" Moody argued.

"He's with Hagrid, who's perfectly capable of protecting him," Pomona intervened calmly. She could see that Minerva was going to blow up if Moody kept insisting that Harry had enemies everywhere. And maybe he had a point, but that attitude really wasn't healthy.

"That he has protection doesn't mean that he should let his guard down!" Moody insisted, getting worked up.

"He was eleven! He didn't have to doubt every person he met! He doesn't have to do that now!" Minerva snapped at him.

"Tell that to the professor he had for the last two months! Shouldn't he have doubted him either?!" Moody replied angrily.

Harry inwardly winced. "What does it say about me that I agree with Mad-Eye a little bit?" He asked his best friends in a whisper.

"It says that we all need a holiday because I agree with you," Ron said tiredly.

"This summer. We're going to enjoy a long, relaxing holiday this summer," Hermione said determinedly.

they waved and smiled … making Harry's knees buckle.

Harry was barely able to hide a wince when he felt the clap on his shoulder, making him slouch slightly with the force behind it. Thankfully, Nightling was mostly asleep by this point, so she didn't notice anything. But Ron did since they were next to each other, and that got Hermione's attention.

Ron sent him a sympathetic look, immediately guessing the problem. "Hagrid's friendly taps are always a challenge, huh?" He joked.

"They are," Harry snickered, discreetly rolling his shoulder.

"Are you okay?" Hermione asked in a whisper.

Harry grinned at her. "We all know that Hagrid's hugs are always worse than his friendly taps and we've all received his hugs. I'm just fine."

"Good Lord," said … completely still and silent.

"Oh, Merlin, he's just been introduced to the wizarding world without any warning," Pomona winced.

"Well, Hagrid did tell him the night before that he was famous," Flitwick said hesitantly.

"I don't think that counts as a warning. Harry didn't ask a single question about his fame," Minerva said, sending a pointed look to Snape. "He's going to be totally blindsided when he realizes how famous he really is."

Pomona and Filius winced again in sync. The picture they were imagining wasn't pretty.

"The poor boy's going to hate it," the Head of Hufflepuff fretted. "You heard what he said earlier, about being thrown into the spotlight after being ignored for so long. He's not going to know how to manage it."

That made Severus falter. He couldn't forget Harry's earlier speech and how sincere it had been. He knew that Potter hadn't been lying then, but he couldn't understand it. How did any of that match with what he had seen of Potter and what Draco had told him about their encounters? It didn't. Well, he guessed that he was only going to understand by listening to the books.

"And Hagrid isn't going to be much help," Minerva said, glaring at the gamekeeper.

"Me?" Hagrid asked wide-eyed.

"Honestly, Hagrid, you could've been a bit more discreet and simply help Harry buy his things," Minerva chided him.

The gamekeeper blushed. "I jus'… I thought he'd like ter see tha' not everyone was like the Dursleys. People like him. He'd be happy tha' he was treate' well, unlike how the Dursleys treate' him."

Minerva softened. "They like the boy-who-lived, but very few people actually know Harry because he doesn't let many people in, Hagrid."

"He's used to being hidden. He's going to be… petrified to be suddenly known by everyone," Filius said sadly.

"He didn'… He didn' do so badly," Hagrid said hesitantly, full of regret. He had only wanted to make Harry feel better.

Severus scoffed, suddenly having all of his suspicions confirmed. Of course, Potter had taken his fame like a duck to the water. He knew that he hadn't imagined the blasted child's arrogance.

"Before you begin to judge him again, why don't you wait until we've read Harry's reaction, hm?" Pomona told her colleague, staring at him with a piercing stare that would have made him squirm in his seat if he had been anyone else.

"Bless my soul … was looking at him.

Harry did his best not to squirm in embarrassment to avoid disturbing Nightling, but he hated remembering that introduction to the wizarding world. He had been terrified.

It had been the first time that so many people had stared at him at the same time (presentations in class didn't really count, but those had been horrible too) and they had all looked so… so happy and awed and grateful. And nobody had ever looked at Harry like that.

He hadn't known how to react. He had just wanted to hide. He had felt like all those people had a lot of expectations about him and… and he was just going to disappoint them. They were going to find out that he was a disappointment and a freak, like his relatives had been telling him his whole life, and they would kick him out and make him go back to the Dursleys.

It had been beyond terrifying.

"Hey," Ron whispered, nudging his shoulder discreetly to get his attention. "What's that face for?"

Harry shook his head. "Nothing. Just… Nothing."

Ron inwardly winced. Hermione was much better suited for this kind of conversation. Ron wasn't good with feelings like she was, but she wasn't sitting next to Harry now and Harry still had that half stricken and half terrified expression on his face that made Ron want to shield him from the world. So, he had to help and make it go away. If only because he knew that Harry would hate it if anyone else noticed it.

"Your fame, huh?" He guessed awkwardly.

Harry shrugged and gave a half-hearted grin. "I hated it that day as much as I hate it now. More even. They were… scary."

"Really?" Ron asked curiously.

"Like bloody vultures, all wanting to shake my hand when all I wanted was to hide behind Hagrid," Harry shook his head.

Ron grimaced in sympathy. He knew that Harry didn't always do well with crowds, that his best friend spent the first few weeks of the year hiding from the new students until they stopped ogling him so much. Ron was often jealous of the attention, but then he saw that how much Harry hated it, or even feared it, and the jealousy vanished as protectiveness pushed it aside.

"Well, nobody's looking at you now," Ron tried to comfort him. "And Nightling will probably bite anyone who tries to shake your hand right now."

The black mamba roused when she heard her name. "Whom am I biting?" She asked sleepily. She loved how warm Harry-hatchling was.

Harry chuckled. "Nobody, remember? No biting."

"Mm, okay," she agreed, closing her eyes again.

"See?" Ron grinned. He didn't to understand that short exchange to know that Nightling had offered to bite someone. "And if you want to hide, just say the word and Hermione and I will be right next to you."

"I'll be next to what?" Hermione asked in a whisper.

"You ready to make a break for it?" Ron joked.

Hermione looked at him curiously, not really understanding what he was talking about. However, one look at Harry was enough to convince her to go along with Ron's nonsense.

"Sure," she agreed. "I'll distract them and you go get the cloak."

Harry chuckled, wondering what he had done to deserve his best friends. "Thank you, guys."

The old woman … Crockford kept coming back for more.

"Really?" Terry asked, a bit surprised. He hadn't expected this kind of reaction to meeting the boy-who-lived, but maybe that was because he was used to having Harry as a classmate now.

"It was… uncomfortable," Harry grimaced, avoiding everyone's gazes.

"I didn't know people did that," Susan said bewildered. "I mean, I know that you're famous, but I don't think I've seen anyone trying to shake your hand here at Hogwarts."

"They tried, in the beginning," Harry shrugged, looking down at Nightling. "There are a few that try every year."

"That's a bit awkward, isn't it?" Justin scrunched up his nose. By the time he had properly understood how famous Harry Potter was and how much he had done for the wizarding world, he had already gotten to know the boy a little bit in the classes they shared. So, yeah, he admired him, but it wasn't the hero-worship that they were reading about.

"That's putting it mildly," Harry muttered under his breath.

"Does that seem to you like a boy who enjoys his fame, Severus?" Pomona asked sadly. "He looks like he'd rather have the earth swallowing him whole."

Severus pursed his lips. He couldn't deny Sprout's words. He could see the embarrassed flush on Potter's cheeks and how he was hunched into himself and was avoiding everyone's gazes. That was the attitude of someone who hated the attention. For an instant, he wanted to argue that Potter was faking it, but he didn't even believe it himself. Potter wasn't an actor. He always wore his heart on his sleeve and his embarrassment was so clearly seen now that he might as well have a sign above him.

"Maybe he got to appreciate by the time he arrived to Hogwarts and it got to his head," he argued, determined not to change his mind so easily.

"Seriously, Severus?" Minerva asked exasperatedly.

"Very," he said stubbornly. He couldn't forget everything his godson had told him. Potter might have hated the attention that day, but that didn't mean that fame hadn't changed him.

Minerva rolled her eyes. "You'll see."

A pale young man … teachers at Hogwarts."

Harry, Ron and Hermione immediately tensed in their seats when Quirrell was mentioned. It wasn't on purpose. It was just an instinctive reaction to having Harry so close to someone who would try to kill him.

They had hated how scared they had been when Harry had almost been killed in his first quidditch match. They had despised him when they had realized that it was his fault that Hermione (and Harry and Ron afterwards) had almost been killed by the troll. They had loathed that Ron had ended up with a concussion and Harry had spent three days unconscious in the infirmary.

On top of that, Harry was berating himself. Moody had been right when he had said that he should be more suspicious and that he could meet enemies anywhere. He had been so naive.

Nightling raised her head to stare at Harry concerned as she flickered her tongue to try to understand what she was sensing. "Harry-hatchling, why are you tense? Why do you smell like anger?"

Harry looked down at her. "It's nothing, Nightling. It's just that man that has just appeared in the book. He wasn't a good man."

"Did he hurt you?" She hissed furiously.

"He wanted to," Harry replied evasively. He wasn't sure if what had happened in the end counted as Quirrell hurting him or him hurting Quirrell.

His answer didn't calm down the black mamba. "I'll kill him."

Harry shook his head. "No. You promised not to bite anyone, remember? Besides, he's dead now anyway."

Nightling hissed softly, not sure if she was satisfied with his explanation. Nobody hurt her Harry-hatchling and got away with it.

In the meantime, the teachers were having their own revelations.

"He had to meet Quirrell there, didn't he? After I told Alastor that he wouldn't meet enemies in the Leaky Cauldron," Minerva grumbled, glaring at the book like it was all its fault.

"I still can't believe that we were so blind that we didn't see that he wanted the Philosopher's Stone so badly that he would try to harm a student to get it," Pomona shook her head sadly, and a bit disgusted with her former colleague.

"I still would've liked a more detailed explanation about what happened that night exactly," Filius said pensively. "I never really understood what happened to Quirrell to have ended up dead and what he did to Mr. Potter to leave him three days unconscious in the infirmary with magical exhaustion. That he was suffering from magical exhaustion shows that he fought back, but I don't understand what he could've done to defeat Quirrell."

"Yes, I'd like the answers to those questions myself, but Albus always changed the subject when I brought it up," Minerva said, glaring at the headmaster briefly. When one of her lions ended up in the infirmary, she wanted answers. She looked at Snape. "Severus, do you know something else?"

The man pursed his lips and shook his head. "Not really. I know that Albus suspected for months that Quirrell might try something and that he asked me to keep an eye on the man, but I don't know the details of what happened that night."

"Well, at least now we'll find out everything," Filius said, trying to stay positive.

"P-P-Potter," stammered … looked terrified at the very thought.

"What kind of teacher is that?" Remus asked, trying to hide a grimace. He hadn't asked many questions about the previous teachers, but he was beginning to think that he should have.

"He has a bit of a problem with his stuttering, doesn't he? Was it…? I mean, was he always like that?" Ludo asked, trying to get his question across delicately.

"It was difficult to understand him. I don't know how many times we asked him to repeat himself because we hadn't understood his instructions," Anthony huffed indignantly. "But that wasn't the real problem."

"Wasn't it?" Remus asked perplexed.

"No! The problem was that the man didn't teach us anything!" Anthony exclaimed as his indignation grew.

"What do you mean he didn't teach you anything?" Arthur frowned.

"We mean that he was so damn scared of his own damn subject that he only told us to read the book and not much else," Alicia scoffed. "He didn't help us practice the spells or duelling, nor did he show us creatures. Nothing."

"That's… disappointing," Remus grimaced.

"He was an excellent target for pranks, though," George shrugged.

"That was basically the only thing he was useful for," Fred agreed with a smirk.

"You shouldn't prank your teachers!" Molly scolded fiercely.

"He was barely a teacher, mum," Fred complained.

"If you don't teach your students, can you call yourself a teacher?" George argued.

"Does anyone know what happened to him and why he left at the end of the year?" Hannah asked pensively.

"I assumed they fired him," Parvati shrugged. "Why else would they hire a new teacher?"

"Yeah, well, but there were rumours that he had some kind of confrontation with Harry," Dean pointed out. He shared a dorm with Ron and Harry, after all. He heard some things, even though they were rarely enough to put the complete story together.

They turned towards the black-haired boy, who raised one hand defensively while keeping the other one around Nightling.

"I'm not telling you anything," he said determinedly. If not for other reason than because they couldn't tell anyone if they learnt if from the books instead of learning it from him.

"Killjoy, Harry," Tonks pouted, but she didn't press him for more.

But the others wouldn't … ter buy. Come on, Harry."

"Finally," Katie said relieved. "Harry shies away from attention even during the quidditch celebrations, and they were all shaking his hand now. It must have been a nightmare for him."

"Do you keep enduring that when you go to Diagon Alley?" Tonks asked the green-eyed boy. He had mentioned that there were students at Hogwarts who wanted to shake his hand every year, but they were children. Surely adults had learnt how to act better?

"Sometimes," Harry shrugged uncomfortably. "Most times I go to Diagon Alley with Ron and the rest of the Weasleys so I just… hide between them, I guess."

"We're your heroes!" George exclaimed dramatically.

"You're so short that it's no hardship at all," Fred teased him.

Harry glared at him. "I'm not that short."

"Mate, you just said that you hide between us. There's no way you'd be able to hide that mop of black hair among us redheads if you weren't short," Ron pointed out in amusement. It felt good to know that Harry came to them for protection, even if they hadn't really noticed it and it was something as simple as hiding from the masses. It was so rare of Harry to seek help that it made Ron feel ten feet tall to know that he trusted them enough to come to them.

"You're all too freaking tall," Harry grumbled under his breath.

Doris Crockford shook … always that nervous?"

Harry inwardly grimaced and berated himself. No, Quirrell wasn't nervous at all. It had all been an act. He remembered how cold and cruel Quirrell had sounded that last night he had talked to him. He remembered it as clearly as if it had happened the night before.

"We were so fooled by him," he mumbled without thinking.

"Uh?" Ron replied quietly, turning to look at his best friend.

Harry shook his head. "Just thinking about Quirrell. He fooled all of us. I can't believe he faked that stutter the whole year without slipping even once."

Ron scrunched up his nose. "He was good, I'll give you that."

"But now we know better," Hermione intervened. "We know not everyone is as harmless as they seem."

Harry grinned at her. "Careful there, Hermione. You almost reminded me of Mad-Eye with that comment."

Hermione huffed and rolled her eyes, but her lips twitched into a smile when she heard her best friends' quiet snickers.

"Oh, yeah. Poor bloke … where's me umbrella?"

"You tell Harry about how one of his teachers was traumatized by vampires and hags, and then you ask for your umbrella in the same breath?" Padma spluttered. "That's… That's… That's completely tactless!"

"Why should I have had more tact when I told Harry abou' Quirrell?" Hagrid frowned confused.

"The man was going to be his teacher! Harry could have been scared that the same thing could happen to him!" Padma argued.

Hagrid's frown became more pronounced and he looked at the black-haired boy. "Harry's fine," he dismissed. "He's tougher than tha'."

There was an explosion of chuckles and snickers at the dismissive attitude that Hagrid had shown. It wasn't that they didn't agree, but there was something about the faith Hagrid had shown Harry that made it funnier than it really was.

"Well, he's not wrong," Bill grinned. "From what dad told me, Harry handled himself pretty well in the disaster of the Quidditch Cup, saving Ron and Hermione from receiving a dozen stunners at the same time."

"If that didn't face him, I doubt the mention of vampires and hags would," Charlie agreed in amusement.

Vampires? Hags? … Alley." He grinned at Harry's amazement.

"The entrance to Diagon Alley is pretty amazing, isn't it?" Ernie smirked.

"I never get tired of seeing it," Ginny smiled. It was one of the more magical things about Diagon Alley, and that was saying something.

"I've always wondered what kind of spells make that entrance," Michael wondered. "I mean, are they just spells to open the doorway because Diagon Alley is behind the wall? Because if that was the case, it'd be as easy as climbing the wall."

"And how they've made sure that Diagon Alley can't be seen from the air," Justin added. "Or, you know, using satellites and things like that."

"Satelights?" Arthur repeated interested.

"Satellites," Hermione corrected. "They're machines that muggles place in space and that they use to see the Earth from above. They have cameras with high definition that allow them to see… well, everything."

"There are spells to ensure that cameras can't see anything," Daphne huffed. "It's the same spell that some people use to take care of reporters when they're especially annoying."

"Really?" Hermione perked up with interest.

"You can interrogate her later," Ron rolled his eyes.

"So, between that spell, glamours, Notice-me-Nots and several dozens more of wards, they've managed to hide a whole street in the middle of London for centuries," Anthony grinned. "I have to admit it. I'm impressed."

"It was the work of the Unspeakables, probably. Nobody knows as much magic as them," Susan said.

"Who are the Unspeakables?" Harry asked Ron in a whisper.

"They're wizards that work in the Department of Mysteries of the Ministry. Nobody really knows what they do, but they work with all kinds of mysterious and cool magic," the redhead shrugged.

"Oh," Harry said pensively.

They stepped through … get yer money first."

"Gringotts is everyone's first stop," Alicia grinned. "You can't buy anything without money."

"It doesn't have to be your first stop if you've come prepared and you already have money," Blaise said dryly. "And before you say anything, you don't always have to go to Gringotts to get it."

"You don't?" Harry asked surprised.

"Of course not," Blaise scoffed. "Gringotts can give you a pouch that allows you to access the money in your vault directly, and only you'd be able to access it since it recognizes magical signatures. They only give those pouches to their richest clients, and for a fee, but if you're half as rich as people implied earlier, they'd probably give it to you if you asked."

Harry scrunched up his nose. "I don't know if I'd trust that pouch. Besides, I enjoy riding the cart in the tunnels," he admitted sheepishly.

Blaise rolled his eyes so hard that it was a mystery he hadn't hurt himself. "Childish," he murmured.

"You enjoy riding the cart down the tunnels?" Sirius asked Harry with a tiny smile that only grew when Harry nodded. "James and I loved it too. Remus hated it, though. He got nauseous."

Harry was almost leaning forward in his seat, taking in every word. "And my mum?"

Remus smiled at him. "She didn't mind it, but she didn't enjoy it like your father and this lunatic," he said, shoving Sirius' shoulder not too gently. "She was more interested in the goblins and their culture, to be honest."

"Really?" Harry asked wide-eyed.

"If it hadn't been because of the war, she probably would've become a curse breaker or something like that," Remus nodded. "She was incredible with spells and charms, and she was very good with runes too. And she had the patience to deal with goblins. She even managed to get a few to respect her, if only because she respected them in return and showed interest in respecting their customs."

"She sounds awesome," Harry grinned so widely that he felt like his face was going to split in two. It was such an infectious grin that many people smiled in return.

"Huh," Bill said quietly.

"What?" Charlie asked.

"Nothing. I've just realized… I probably would've worked with Harry's mum if she had still been alive. At the very least, I would've gotten to know her since there aren't many British curse breakers that work for Gringotts."

Charlie nudged his shoulder. "Maybe you can tell Harry about your work if he wants," he suggested. "It'll give him an idea of what his mum would've loved to spend her life doing."

Bill grinned. "I can do that. Maybe I'll even convince him to become a curse breaker like me."

"I don't think he's studying Runes. He didn't have any homework about it this summer," Charlie reminded him.

Bill waved him off. "He's just starting his fourth year. If I help him, he has time to change electives and get his OWL in Runes with the rest of his year."

"You know that you can't actually force him to become a curse breaker, right?" Tonks asked him amused. "Besides, everyone knows that James Potter wanted to become an auror. Maybe I'll convince him to become one too and work with me."

Bill narrowed his eyes at her playfully. "Is that a challenge?"

Tonks smirked. "It is now."

"I'm determined to win it," the redhead warned her.

"Me too," she replied. "May the one with the best career win."

Harry wished he had … new Nimbus Two Thousand — fastest ever —"

"Not anymore," Ron grinned enthusiastically.

"It's still pretty fast," Dean argued. "In some aspects, it's better than the newest models of the Nimbus series."

"It isn't better than the Firebolt," Alicia denied vehemently.

"Well, of course," Dean rolled his eyes. "The Firebolt's the best broom that's ever been made. But the Nimbus Two Thousand has an incredible manoeuvrability too."

"The braking charms of the Nimbus Two Thousand and One are better," Michael argued.

"Who wants brakes when you can have manoeuvrability and speed instead?" Seamus asked him, staring at him like he was crazy.

Lavender rolled her eyes. "Obviously someone who doesn't want to crash, you moron."

Seamus glared at her. "That's why you have manoeuvrability for. You don't need to brake when you can avoid the obstacles and change directions."

"Sometimes you need to brake to change directions," Hermione huffed.

"Hermione, you know practically nothing about brooms. You're not interested in them," Ron rolled his eyes.

Hermione glared at him. "I don't need to be interested in brooms to know basic physics, Ron. And sometimes you need to lose speed to be able to change directions quickly."

"Children, can we please leave the discussion about which is the best broom until later?" Molly intervened.

"It's not about which is the best broom. We all agree that the best one's the Firebolt," Ron huffed. He received murmurs of agreement. "It's about which one's the second best."

Molly rolled her eyes. "Then can you please leave that discussion until later?"

There were shops … walked up the white stone steps toward him.

Harry blushed when people snickered.

"You stared at the goblins too," Justin said gleefully, happy to know that he hadn't been the only one.

Harry nodded. "Hagrid stopped me before it could be a real problem, though."

"Well, you're lucky then," Justin said.

"It's not like they'd stop you from entering Gringotts because you stared at them," Bill rolled his eyes. "You'd have to be incredibly disrespectful or do something incredibly stupid for them to forbid you entrance to the bank."

"Something stupid like, for example, trying to rob Gringotts?" Tonks teased him quietly.

Bill glared at her, wishing that Charlie wasn't sitting between them so that he could shove her off the couch. Chivalry be damned.

The goblin was … finding more than treasure there.

"That rhyme is so creepy," Lavender cringed.

"I like it," Lisa smiled. "I think it's a great way of giving a warning without outright threatening everyone."

"I think it's plenty of threatening. It's basically telling you that you'll die if you try to steal," Lee scrunched up his nose.

"If you're stupid enough to try, I won't argue when your fate's left in the goblins' hands," Bill shook his head.

"In the goblins' hands?" Colin repeated curiously.

"It's an old law, so old and rarely used that not many people remember it anymore. Gringotts and the tunnels underneath are land of the goblins, so their laws and justice are the ones that apply. Anyone that commits a crime there is judged by their laws," Bill explained. "Since nobody's stupid to try to mess with the goblins, it's a law that's frequently forgotten."

Charlie elbowed him in the ribs. "And you still came up with that challenge?" He hissed incensed.

Bill glared at him. "It's an impossible challenge. It's not meant to be completed. And what are you bitching to me about? Your challenge was that they had to fly on a dragon. How's that any better?"

"And I seem to remember that you two were the ones to remind me that the challenges were a stupid thing we did to pass the time. It doesn't matter what we said," Tonks intervened with a harsh whisper.

The two redheads looked at her sheepishly. They knew that. The challenges weren't real. They had simply been joking about robbing Gringotts so much in this chapter that they… forgot.

"Like I said, yeh'd be mad … biscuits over the goblin's book of numbers.

"Hagrid," Bill growled.

"What?" He asked startled.

"Are you purposefully trying to annoy the goblins?" The redhead demanded.

"Why woul' I do tha'?" Hagrid asked confused.

"You did just spill mouldy dog biscuits all over the goblin's book of numbers," Angelina grinned.

"I was lookin' fer the key ter Harry's safe," Hagrid justified himself. "An' I have a lotta pockets. It isn' easy ter find things in them sometimes. I have ter search an' empty some of them."

"You're going to insult the goblins!" Bill hissed exasperatedly. "And you don't want to insult the goblins! They take care of your money and they're vicious!"

"They were jus' dog biscuits," Hagrid said dismissively.

"Mouldy dog biscuits," Alicia pointed out amused.

"I'd had them in my pockets fer some time," the gamekeeper shrugged.

"Why did Hagrid have the key of Potter's vault?" Blaise interrupted the nonsense.

"Why wouldn't he?" Harry replied confused.

"Because it's your vault," Blaise said, staring at the other boy as if he were stupid.

"Yes, but I didn't even know that I had it. How could I have had the key?" Harry insisted.

"Your magical guardian should've been the one to have the key, and I doubt Hagrid's your magical guardian," Blaise said impatiently.

"Magical guardian?" Harry repeated wide-eyed. "I have one of those?"

"Every muggle-born has one because they need a connection and representation in the wizarding world in case of an emergency," Daphne explained. "You might not be a muggle-born, but since your… guardians," she said with an expression of distaste. She didn't like the Dursleys either. "Are muggles, you need a magical guardian too."

"But… I… I have no idea whom it could be," Harry said overwhelmed.

"Usually, it's your Head of House, but you needed a magical guardian before that. And someone had to have kept the key of your vault," Blaise said, feeling a tiny bit of sympathy for Potter. The boy was receiving one blow after another without pause, not to mention all the information being piled upon him. He had to admit that he was impressed by how well Potter was managing all of it.

"But the only person who could've given Hagrid the key to my vault would be…" Harry said, his eyes being drawn towards the headmaster. "Dumbledore."

The old man inwardly sighed. He didn't want to talk about his guardianship over Harry again. "Yes, I'm your magical guardian, Mr. Potter."

"Why did I never know this?" Harry asked, feeling lost and a bit annoyed.

"I didn't see the need for you to know since it wouldn't change much," Dumbledore justified himself. He hurried to continue when he saw Harry's face twist in annoyance and his mouth open to speak. "But we can speak about this at another time if you want."

Harry narrowed his eyes, but he didn't try to press the issue. He didn't want to talk about it in front of everyone. "Of course, Headmaster," he agreed curtly.

"Do you have the key to your vault now, Potter?" Blaise asked quietly.

Harry nodded firmly. "Hagrid gave it to me that day."

"Good. Are there any copies of it?" Blaise asked.

Harry blanched. "I… I have no idea."

"The goblins can tell you, but you have to the bank in person for that," Daphne grimaced. What kind of mess had been done with Potter's life?

"Oh, I intend to go," Harry growled. He had no idea how, but he would find a way.

"What's wrong, Harry-hatchling?" Nightling asked, sensing his agitation.

Harry shook his head. There were so many things that were wrong. "It's just… My mum's nest-sibling and her mate weren't the only ones who should've taken care of me. Dumbledore, the headmaster of the school, is my magical guardian and I didn't even know it."

"Magical guardian? Does that mean that he should've taken care of you?" She asked, narrowing her eyes. "Who is he?"

"The old man with white hair."

"He didn't do a very good job of taking care of you," Nightling criticized him. "You're too skinny and small for a human."

Harry didn't know whether to laugh or shout. He wasn't even worried about his probable malnutrition at the moment. He was worried about everything else that he should know and didn't. He wanted to demand an explanation from Dumbledore. He wanted to ask why the headmaster had told him that, since they were his guardians, Harry had to go back to the Dursleys.

Nightling sensed his distress and she butted her head against his hand. "I know you don't want me to bite anyone, but I can make an exception with Dumble-old if you want."

A soft chuckle that was in danger of becoming hysterical or a mess of tears or both burst out of Harry's throat. It was horrible and he felt horrible and he didn't like learning so many things in such a short time. There were too many things happening and they kept piling up and up.

"Hey," Ron said quietly. He nudged his shoulder, staring at his best friend in concern. "What's wrong? What's Nightling saying?"

Harry shook his head and fought back tears with practiced ease. He didn't even know why he had the urge to cry. He had no reason for it. "She's just saying that Dumbledore didn't do a very good job at being my magical guardian."

"Of course, she'd say that. She's smart," the redhead said.

"Of course, I am," Nightling preened.

Harry chuckled softly again. He felt like he was only keeping it together because of Ron, Hermione and a handful of others. He hoped he could get through the reading without breaking down.

The goblin wrinkled … vault seven hundred and thirteen."

"Seriously? You're showing off in front of Harry again?" Susan smiled amused.

Hagrid blushed. "It isn' showin' off. I… It was jus' an importan' job."

"Which is why you shouldn't have mentioned it in front of Mr. Potter, Hagrid," McGonagall told him sternly.

"But I… Dumbledore told me to do it," he justified himself.

The Head of Gryffindor raised an eyebrow. "He told you to mention that assignment in front of Harry?" She asked sceptically.

"Well, no, but he told ter pick up tha' package. What was I suppose' ter do? I couldn' leave Harry alone," he said defensively.

"You could've picked it up after returning Harry home, Hagrid," Pomona told him gently.

Hagrid froze in his tracks. It was even worse because he knew what Harry had done with what he had learnt that day. He had helped Harry put himself in danger, even more than he had already known that he had.

"I didn' think of tha'," he said quietly.

McGonagall sighed. "It's okay, Hagrid. Just try to be more careful next time, alright?"

"Children are curious about everything, especially things that they hear are important," Filius agreed.

"O' course," Hagrid agreed immediately.

The goblin read … hundred and thirteen?" Harry asked.

"See?" Flitwick sighed. "Curious."

"It doesn't matter now," Pomona said firmly. "It's in the past."

"As long as it's not something dangerous. Then maybe it'll matter," Snape said dryly. He glared at Hagrid. He knew that Potter was insanely curious about everything and had the bad habit of butting his nose in other people's business, and this was the kind of thing that would tempt the child.

The worst thing was that Snape could understand why Potter wanted to know everything. Abuse tended to make children wary and hyper observant, always on the look out for things that could harm them or that they could use to their advantage. And Potter had been abused in the most horrible ways, and he had just been introduced to a world of magic. It was no wonder that he wanted to know everything, especially something that was dangled in front of him with the promise that it was special.

"Careful there, Severus," Flitwick teased him. "It almost sounded like you're worried about Harry."

Snape's glare could have made the tiny professor burst into flames. "I'm not," he spat. "I just think that the blasted child causes enough trouble without helping him along."

The other teachers knew better than to push him any further, but they knew what they had heard. Or more like, what they hadn't heard. There hadn't been half as much hatred in Severus' voice when he spoke of Harry as it used to be in the past.

"Can't tell yeh … job's worth ter tell yeh that."

"Hagrid," Remus sighed tiredly, rubbing his eyes. "Do you know the best way to peak a child's curiosity about something? It's to tell them that it's super important and super secret."

"I… I'm sorry," Hagrid said chagrined.

"I don't know what Dumbledore asked you to pick up, but I don't think this was the best to do it," the werewolf said.

"Oh, we've already told him," McGonagall said, glaring at the gamekeeper again. "Seriously, Hagrid? You even told Harry that it was something secret and important enough to you'd lose your job if you told him about it."

"I couldn' tell him," Hagrid cringed.

"But you showed it to him!" She snapped.

"Minerva," Flitwick intervened softly.

The Head of Gryffindor took a deep breath to calm down. "What exactly was so important, Hagrid?" She demanded.

"I… You know. What we hid in the school tha' year," Hagrid explained sheepishly.

The four teachers stared at him speechless. They hadn't expected that.

"You… You…" McGonagall stammered, so angry that she had trouble finding the words. She eventually managed. "Of all the irresponsible things, Hagrid! How could you go pick it up with Harry?! It's no wonder he was curious about it that year and that he learnt about it!"

"Whoa," Seamus mumbled wide-eyed as the woman kept berating the gamekeeper. "I haven't seen McGonagall so angry since I had to tell her that I had burnt the curtains in my bed for the fifth time this year."

"What in Merlin's name did Hagrid have to pick up?" Parvati frowned. She looked at Harry. "Did you find out?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah. We found out that year. I think that's why McGonagall is so angry. We weren't supposed to know."

"What was it?" Anthony asked, burning with curiosity.

Harry grinned at them. He wasn't going to tell them. "You'll have to wait for the books to tell you," he said. His grin only widened at the protests that reached his ears.

Griphook held the door … right, left, but it was impossible.

"You… You tried to remember the turns that the cart took?" Lee asked confused. "Why would you want to do that?"

"I don't know," Harry shrugged. "I guess that it was just in case we were lost and we had to go back on our own."

It wouldn't have been the first time that he had had to find his own way back home after the Dursleys had 'forgotten' him somewhere, like the park or the mall. Not that they took him anywhere often, but he knew that every time they did, there was the risk that they would try to leave him behind.

As much as he had wanted to never see the Dursleys again, he had had no other place to stay in for years. They had been his only option, as horrible as it was, so he had had to go back to Privet Drive every time he was lost, even though there was no love lost between them. So, he had gotten used to always knowing where he was and how to get back to where he had been, to always having an exit.

"It's not like the goblins are going to leave you lost in the maze of tunnels. If only because I doubt that they like to have strangers wandering without supervision in their precious bank," Michael pointed out, bringing him back to the present.

"I know," Harry said uncomfortably. He didn't want to have to explain himself and have to bring up the Dursleys again in the first chapter that they hadn't made an appearance yet.

"You can tell us the truth, little Harrikins," George said, coming to his rescue when he saw how uncomfortable the black-haired boy looked. It was the same look he had worn during the first three chapters they had read or every time the Dursleys had been mentioned in all the years they had known Harry.

"We know it's about Bill's challenge," Fred continued, seeing the same thing as his twin. They may not know what had caused that look to appear on Harry's face this time, but it could always be tracked back to the same culprits.

"I still don't understand what challenges you're talking about," Harry said, but he had relaxed and he was smiling slightly.

"That's okay," Fred waved off his worries.

"You're already working towards completing it by learning the layout of the tunnels," George grinned.

"For Merlin's sake, I should've chosen another challenge," Bill cursed under his breath.

The rattling cart … them, but he kept them wide open.

Harry cursed his past self's eagerness to see every detail of the wizarding world. His eyes were stinging so much now that it was becoming a problem not to give in to the urge to blink quickly and rub his eyes.

"Everything okay, mate?" Ron whispered, a little concerned.

"My eleven-year-old self was a moron," Harry cursed, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment. Of course, that didn't help because his moron of a past self still had his eyes wide open even with the cold air rushing past him.

Ron bit his lip to stifle an amused snort. "I already knew that. Your fourteen-year-old self hasn't improved much."

Harry elbowed him in the ribs. "Shut up."

Once, he thought he saw a burst of fire … dragon, but too late

"There… There are dragons down there?!" Charlie shrieked horrified. "I thought those were just rumours!"

"Oh, Merlin, he's going to go bonkers now," Ron facepalmed.

Charlie turned to glare at his older brother. "Did you know about this?!" He demanded.

"I work breaking curses in the pyramids of Egypt, remember? I've never gone very deep down in the tunnels of Gringotts," Bill raised his hands defensively. "I don't know if there are really dragons down there, Charlie."

"It's not a question of 'if', Bill! Harry saw one!" Charlie accused him.

"He didn't see one," Tonks intervened, laying a hand on his shoulder to get his attention. It seemed to be enough to get the redhead to calm down slightly, even though he was still seething. "He saw a burst of fire, and we all know that there's a ton of creatures that breathe fire, or have fire coming out of their bodies. Not to mention all the fire-related spells and curses. It could've been anything."

Charlie slowly calmed down as Tonks kept talking and her words sank in. He wasn't totally ready to let it go, though. It was his duty as dragon handler to make sure that they were okay.

"Dragons aren't meant to be underground. At least, not most of them. They need open spaces and the sky and…" Charlie rambled.

"Charlie, even if there are dragons down there, I'm sure that the goblins would treat them well," Bill tried to comfort him brother.

Charlie pursed his lips and let go of the matter for the moment, but he swore to himself not to forget about it. He could investigate later to make sure that there was no dragon kept in conditions that wouldn't be healthy for it. And if there was… If there was, he might have to do something stupid.

they plunged even deeper… between a stalagmite and a stalactite?"

"You don't know the difference between a stalagmite and a stalactite?" Padma blinked in surprise.

"Of course, he knows now, Padma. He asked Hagrid, so he obviously already got an answer," Parvati huffed.

"Stalagmite's got an 'm' … gonna be sick."

"Or maybe he doesn't," Parvati frowned.

"What kind of answer is that? That's not the difference between stalagmites and stalactites!" Padma protested.

"To be fair, it is a difference between them," Hannah said amused. "Stalactites don't have an 'm' in their name."

"But that's not the real difference," Hermione huffed, rolling her eyes. "Stalactites grow from the ceiling as minerals accumulate when the drops of water evaporate. If the drop of water falls to the ground and evaporate, the minerals accumulate on the ground, creating stalagmites."

"So, stalactites on the ceiling and stalagmites on the ground. I don't really see that much of a difference," Ron murmured under his breath.

"I like Hagrid's difference better," Dennis grinned at the gamekeeper.

He did look very green … of little bronze knuts.

"That sounds like a lot of money," Anthony whistled impressed.

"You really don't need to worry about money, do you?" Terry grinned at Harry.

The black-haired boy shrugged. "It's one less thing to worry about, but it's not like I'm planning on emptying my vault on a shopping spree or anything."

"Even if you emptied it, it'd probably be replenished with money from the main vault," Daphne rolled her eyes. Did Potter know nothing about how things worked?

"Main vault?" Harry repeated wide-eyed.

"That one is your trust vault, Harry. It's the one that only you can access," Remus explained with a frown. He had believed that Harry knew these things already. "But the Potter vault is much bigger than that and it has many more things other than money in it."

"What?" Harry squeaked. He had more money? He didn't need any more money! And what other things were there in it?

"The main vault that all old families have, including yours, Potter," Blaise frowned. How ignorant was Potter of his family history? "At least, I think your family is old enough to have one."

"It is," Sirius intervened. "My family has one and the Potter family is even older than the Black family."

"How did I never know that my family had another vault?" Harry exclaimed. He turned towards Dumbledore for an explanation since the headmaster was apparently his magical guardian.

"As a security measure, the main vaults of the old families can only be accessed once the Head of the family is of age, and only by members of the family," the headmaster explained. "Since you couldn't access it yet, I saw no reason to burden you with that knowledge for a few years yet."

"But… But…" Harry spluttered. He should have known. This was his family history. He should have known that it was waiting for him. "What else is in there?" He asked.

Sirius shrugged. "Lots of things, if it's anything like the main Black family vault. Portraits, books, magical artifacts… Who knows what the Potters have kept in there over the centuries?"

Harry's mind was racing. He couldn't wait to turn seventeen. He was itching to see what his family had put in that vault, to try to get to know them through their things. Were there things that had belonged to his parents?

"And I have to wait until I turn seventeen…" He murmured dismayed.

"You can access your trust vault, so you'll have more than enough money. And technically, you can access the main Black family vault too if you're more curious about objects. Except that most objects in the Black family vault are probably cursed or something," Sirius said pensively.

"What?!" Harry squeaked again. "I thought you said that only family members could access the main vaults of old family! Why would I be able to access the main Black family vault?"

"Yes, and I'm the Head of the Black family," Sirius pointed out. He frowned when that didn't clear the confusion from Harry's face. "I told you that you're my Heir, didn't I?"

"I'm what?" Harry exclaimed wide-eyed.

"I thought that I had told you," Sirius murmured with a frown. Since Azkaban, he had trouble focusing sometimes or distinguishing dreams from reality, but it was getting better every day that he spent away from the dementors.

"No, you didn't!" Harry exclaimed. He was going to start hyperventilating. Did this mean that Sirius really considered him family? What was he supposed to do with this information?!

"Well, you are. I named you my Heir the day after you were born," the animagus shrugged. "It's all perfectly legal since your grandmother was a Black."

"My grandmother was a Black?" Harry repeated. His head was swimming with everything he was learning.

"Dorea Black," Sirius nodded. "Since she was a Black, I could name you my Heir."

"But… But shouldn't someone else be the Heir if I'm already going to be the Head of the Potter family?" Harry asked. This was way too much pressure on him.

"Well, the Head of the House of Black can only be a man so…" Sirius started.

"What? Why?" Hermione demanded.

"It's just how it works," the animagus said dismissively.

"But that's… that's so unfair!"

"I think it's literally the least unfair thing about my family," Sirius said. "Anyway, since it can only be a man, the next one in line would be my cousin Narcissa's son."

"Wait, Narcissa?" Harry repeated wide-eyed. He turned to look at the blond sitting on the other side of the room.

Malfoy narrowed his eyes. "Yes, Potter. My mother," he said dryly. His mother had been hoping to find a way to make him the Heir of the House of Black, and eventually the Head, but she hadn't managed to do it in the thirteen years that she had been trying. Sirius had done a marvellous job at making the naming of the Heir of the House of Black fool-proof.

"Oh, no. Hell, no," Ron shook his head. He grabbed Harry's shoulder and shook him gently. "Mate, you're the Heir of the House of Black. I don't think I'd be able to cope with Malfoy's attitude if he became the Heir of two major families."

Harry rolled his eyes at his best friend. "Great," he muttered.

"Don't worry. You'll have time to learn what means to be the Head of the family and what responsibilities you'll have," Sirius reassured him.

'Responsibilities?' Harry thought alarmed. Oh, Merlin, this kept getting better and better.

"Harry-hatchling, you're alarmed again," Nightling said concerned.

Harry snorted. Of course, he was alarmed again. "I just found out things about my family that I had no idea about. It's… I should've known about them, but nobody told me."

"Who should've told you? Was it your magical guardian, Dumble-old?"

Harry almost grinned at the name the snake gave the headmaster, but there were too many thoughts spinning in his head for that. "I think so? I mean, Sirius and Remus could've told me too, but they probably thought that I knew."

Nightling stared at him worried. She could sense how tense and angry and overwhelmed her hatchling was. She didn't understand much of what they were reading because humans were weird, but it was obviously bothering Harry-hatchling as much as what the other humans were talking about when the book shut up, and that wasn't okay. She didn't know how to help Harry-hatchling.

"Don't worry, Nightling," Harry smiled at her, touched by how concerned she was about him. "I'll get the answers I want one way or another."

"I can help you get them," she offered.

Harry's smile widened. "Thank you. No biting, though."

"All yours," smiled … him, buried deep under London.

"The Dursleys complained about how much money they spent on you?!" Sirius snarled. All the calmness and happiness he had been feeling about finally having a decent conversation with his godson and sharing something with him disappeared with this revelation. "They didn't spend a fraction of what they should have!"

Harry inwardly sighed. There they went again with the murderous urges as soon as the Dursleys were brought up.

"What does it matter that you have that money in Gringotts? It's not like they'd be able to access it," Tonks asked.

"They could've tried to force Harry to pay them or give them the money," Angelina grimaced.

"That's why they've never found out that I have it," Harry intervened. "As far as they know, I have absolutely nothing and completely depend on them financially."

"But… Your school things…" Hannah pointed out confused.

"I'm pretty sure they believe that whatever I need is paid by the school," Harry shrugged. "They've never opened my trunk, so they don't see how many things I actually have. They've never even seen me wearing my school robes."

"That's why you haven't bought new clothes for yourself and why you keep wearing your cousin's hand-me-downs," Lavender realized. She blushed slightly. "I had wondered about it when we heard how much money you have."

Harry grimaced slightly. "I can't exactly buy new clothes without explaining to them where they came from, and I'm used to wearing Dudley's old clothes."

"That was almost Slytherin of you, Potter," Daphne raised an eyebrow impressed.

"I call it common sense," Harry shrugged.

Hagrid helped Harry … only," said Griphook.

"That's not actually true," Bill said amused. He looked at Hagrid. "I told you that you shouldn't have left the mouldy dog biscuits on the goblin's book of numbers. Now they're going faster to annoy you."

"They did tha' on purpose?" The gamekeeper asked incensed.

"You annoyed them," Bill shrugged.

"But… They were jus' dog biscuits!" Hagrid protested.

"I'm sure Griphook would've gone even faster if they had been anything worse," Bill snickered. "Or maybe he didn't want you to be sick in the cart."

"It was fun," Harry said with a half grin.

"You love going fast, Harry," Hermione rolled her eyes. She could remember some of the stunts that Harry pulled with his broom, stunts that either gave her a heart attack or made her feel sick just by watching them.

"True," Harry nodded unrepentantly.

They were going … gathering speed.

"See?" Bill laughed. "You annoyed them."

"Blaste' goblins," Hagrid cursed under his breath.

The air became colder … by the scruff of his neck.

"Thank Merlin," Remus sighed in relief. He glared at Harry. "What were you thinking, leaning over the side of the cart? Especially when you're going over a ravine!"

"The cart seemed safe enough," Harry defended himself.

"Safe enough? That thing doesn't have seatbelts. You can't just lean over the edge!" The werewolf scolded him.

"Griphook didn't say that I couldn't do it. He didn't warn about any danger," Harry insisted stubbornly.

"He also didn't tell you that he'd try to help if you fell off the cart," Katie pointed out with a tiny amused smirk.

Harry glared at her. "Not helping," he said. "Besides, I was careful. I wasn't going to fall off the cart."

"If there had been a sudden turn, you could have fallen off," Molly frowned in concern.

"If there had been a sudden turn, I probably would've fallen off regardless of where I was sitting, Mrs. Weasley," Harry told her. He had been sent all over the cart by the tumbling and turns of the cart until he had pressed himself against its side to grab onto the edge.

Ron nudged him sharply. "Are you trying to make her go all mother-hen on you? Because you're on the right path for that."

Harry frowned at his best friend. "Ron, I think leaning over the edge of the cart is literally the least dangerous thing we're going to read about. Your mum's going to go all mother-hen on us or she's going to kill us."

"Or both," Ron groaned, but he couldn't be really annoyed when he had heard his best friend include himself in the family for the first time… ever. It was about time. He was still going to talk to his parents about adding a hand with Harry's name to the clock, though.

Vault seven hundred … Griphook with a rather nasty grin.

"You had to ask how often they check for people trapped inside, didn't you?" Michael groaned.

"But… If they spend a decade without checking, anyone trapped inside would probably be dead by then!" Dennis exclaimed wide-eyed.

"I think that's exactly the point," Justin told the younger boy.

"But if the thieves are dead, how can the goblins ask them how they managed to get so far?" Dennis insisted.

Everyone turned to look at the small boy in surprise.

"That's… a very good point, actually," Terry said pensively.

"Maybe they just don't care," Lisa suggested. "I mean, there has to be a reason they told Harry so easily about their security measures. They wanted to scare him."

"And if they do that with everyone and everyone is scared, nobody will try," Hannah grinned.

"That's an awesome security system," Seamus grinned goofily. "Scare everyone so badly that no one will even try."

"It's not awesome if they can actually back up their threats," Parvati pointed out.

Something really extraordinary … was, but knew better than to ask.

"There wasn't any harm in trying to ask one more time. I bet Hagrid would've told you," Colin said, disappointed that they weren't going to find out what was in that little brown package yet.

Harry shook his head. "He wouldn't have told me. I had already asked him about it, remember?"

"Yeah, but if you insist a bit, he would've given in. Most people do," Colin shrugged innocently.

Harry only replied with an awkward shrug. He had never really understood how people could insist and pester others for answers tirelessly. Sure, he was curious and he often investigated things that weren't his business, but he didn't pester for answers. Asking the same thing more than once never really ended well for him since the person questioned usually got annoyed and angry and paid their frustrations on him. So, he had learnt that he usually had to get his answers another way.

He knew that Hagrid wasn't the Dursleys, that his relatives were a special case and he shouldn't assume that everyone would react the same way. However, it was difficult to get rid of old habits and lessons. Of all the habits he had gotten from growing up with the Dursleys, he didn't think that not asking the same thing more than once (as a general rule) was the most harmful one. In fact, he didn't see any harm in it since he was still learning what he wanted.

"I don't believe Hagrid would've told Harry even if he had spent the rest of the day pestering him for answers," Alicia said pensively. "Hagrid may not be the best at keeping secrets, but that changes when it's Dumbledore the one who asks him."

"True," Angelina nodded.

"Besides, we've already heard that Harry eventually learns what was inside that package. It's why McGonagall was so angry with Hagrid. So, he found out even if he didn't ask then," Padma agreed. "I must admit that I'm curious too."

"At the rate we're going through the book, we'll find out today," Ernie said.

"Come on, back in … Malkin's shop alone, feeling nervous.

"Great going, Hagrid," Fred cheered with fake enthusiasm.

"Leave Harrikins, who absolutely never finds trouble, on his own the first time he visits Diagon Alley," George said sarcastically.

"I don't get into trouble every time I'm on my own," Harry grumbled.

"Mate, do we need to remind you where you ended up going the second time you went to Diagon Alley?" Ron asked with a raised eyebrow.

Harry opened his mouth to reply, and then closed it with a snap. He didn't need a reminder of that visit. He knew that they were never going to let him live down that he had butchered up his first attempt with the floo so badly.

"I didn't get into trouble the third time I went to Diagon Alley," he argued.

"No, you got into trouble before you arrived to Diagon Alley. In fact, you ended up being there because you got into trouble," Ron pointed out amused.

Harry huffed, unable to argue with that. Everyone was probably going to find out that Ron was right.

"I didn't get into trouble the first time I was in Diagon Alley, then," he argued firmly. "Especially not because Hagrid left me alone for five minutes."

"So, nothing happened in Madame Malkin's shop?" Hermione asked, eyeing with sharply. In other words, did they have to worry about the spell harming Harry now?

"No," Harry said happily. "The only thing that happened was…" He trailed off as he remembered that something had happened.

"Oh, bugger, something happened, didn't it?" Ron groaned.

"Nothing bad," Harry reassured him. "It's just… You weren't the first wizard of my age that I spoke to, remember?"

"He wasn't?" Seamus asked surprised. He had assumed that Ron and Harry were so close because Ron had been the first wizard that Harry had made friends with. "But Ron…"

"Oh, Ron made a much better first impression," Harry grinned, patting Ron's arm teasingly.

The redhead rolled his eyes. "Shut up, Harry."

"But you were okay?" Hermione insisted.

"Not a scratch on me," Harry promised.

Madam Malkin was a … young man being fitted up just now, in fact."

Malfoy grimaced, immediately knowing that he was that other young man. He hadn't known that he had been the first wizard that Potter had talked to. But that…

Why hadn't Potter become his friend then? Why had he defended Weasley instead of him when they had talked in the train?

He tried to remember how their first conversation had gone, but he could only remember thinking that the other boy was quiet and a bit slow. He hadn't been impressed with him, which is why he hadn't been bothered by the fact that he hadn't learnt his name. He had assumed that it wasn't worth it since the boy hadn't seemed important. He had just been another boy, probably a half-blood or something like that, not someone influential.

Maybe now that they were going to read about the conversation again, he could learn why things had gone so badly between him and Potter.

In the back of the shop … boy, "Hogwarts, too?"

People immediately turned towards Malfoy, recognizing his voice even though he sounded much younger in the book. The blond teenager returned the stares with glares of his own as he fought back a blush.

"Malfoy?" Michael said stunned. "Malfoy was the first wizard you met? Not counting Hagrid, of course."

"Yes," Harry grinned.

"What did that idiot do to end up being Potter's enemy in just a couple of meetings?" Daphne frowned. "Potter knew nothing. He would've latched to anyone who was willing to show him around and was kind to him."

"Maybe that was exactly the problem," Blaise replied quietly. "We all know that Malfoy isn't known for his kindness."

"Yes, but he had to have been stupid to have alienated Potter. Everyone knows how difficult it is to anger him for real. He rarely snaps at Creevey, even though the kid keeps following him around and asking him for pictures and autographs. He doesn't even seek revenge when someone hexes him when the school turns against him for whatever reason," she argued.

"But there are things that can anger Potter," Blaise pointed out. "I guess Malfoy must have pushed all the wrong buttons."

Daphne frowned. "We'll see now, I guess."

In the meantime, the teachers were also talking about this encounter.

"I don't think I've ever heard Mr. Malfoy talk to Mr. Potter so… politely," Flitiwick said pensively. "I guess it was because they didn't know each other yet."

"My godson told me that he was perfectly polite the whole time," Snape said defensively. "Potter was the one who decided that he didn't want to accept Draco's friendship the next time they talked."

"I think you might be a little biased, Severus," Pomona said gently.

The Head of Slytherin glared at her. "You're going to see now how Potter really is."

"And how Mr. Malfoy really is too, right, Severus?" Minerva asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I already know what happened. Draco told me," he scoffed.

"And Mr. Malfoy would never exaggerate or twist the truth, would he?" Pomona said slyly.

Snape pursed his lips, unable to reply to that. He knew that Draco had a flare for the dramatics and tended to twist the stories to get out of punishments or look better, but his godson wouldn't lie to him.

"Yes," said … had a bored, drawling voice.

"He does sound bored, doesn't he?" Hannah said curiously. "Well, not exactly bored. It's like he's trying to sound indifferent."

"He's trying to copy the way his father speaks," Susan snorted. "He's not doing a good job, though."

Malfoy had to fight back another blush. He hadn't known that he sounded like that. He had indeed tried to speak like his father, and he had thought that he had been imitating him perfectly, but he sounded like a little kid. It was… so embarrassing.

Part of him wanted to blame Potter for this, but this was just showing him how he had sounded three years earlier, just like they had heard how Potter had sounded three years earlier, and that had been quieter and more withdrawn and wary. Trying to accuse Potter of anything now would only cause him to appear petty and childish, which wouldn't be helped at all by the voice coming out of the book. Merlin, he really hoped that he didn't sound like that anymore.

"And why was his mother looking at wands? Whoever the wand is for is the one who has to try it, right?" Dean asked confused.

"Yeah. Looking at wands beforehand is a waste of time, but I guess my cousin didn't want his mother to be with him while he tried his robes," Tonks shrugged.

"Your cousin? Malfoy's your cousin?" Harry asked surprised. He had heard Tonks refer to Sirius as her cousin, and Sirius had said that Malfoy was his cousin, but he hadn't made the connection.

The metamophmagus nodded. "My mum, Andromeda Tonks née Black, is his mother's sister."

"So, Sirius is your… first cousin once removed?" Harry asked confused.

"Yep," she said happily. "Well, it actually depends on how you look at it. But yes, the closest relation he has to me would make him my first cousin once removed."

"Wouldn't that make him your uncle?" Harry frowned, even more confused. He didn't want to ask what the metamorphmagus meant by the relation depending on how one looked at it.

"Well, technically," Tonks shrugged. "I prefer to call him my cousin, though. He's only thirteen years older than me."

"This family tree keeps getting more and more complicated," Harry muttered under his breath. He didn't even know where his grandmother fit in there and he wasn't sure that he was ready to find out. He didn't know how he would react if he found out that Malfoy was his cousin too or something.

"Then I'm going to drag … smuggle it in somehow."

"And then what? He'd never be able to use the broom without getting caught," Angelina shook her head.

"I think that bragging about having one and having been able to smuggle it in Hogwarts would've been enough for him," Anthony scrunched up his nose.

"Not that I would've let him brag for long," Snape muttered under his breath. The punishment that his godson would have received if he had broken the rules like that and had disobeyed him and his parents would have been… biblical.

"You're speaking like you believe Malfoy would've been capable of smuggling a broom in Hogwarts as a first year," Charlie said amused. "Many students have tried before and none has succeeded."

"We tried," George raised his hand.

"Mum caught us, though," Fred nodded.

"And let's face it, brother. McGonagall would've caught us too," George pointed out.

"True. We didn't know her half as well as we do now," Fred agreed.

"As if they'd be able to smuggle a broom past me now," McGonagall muttered quietly, rolling her eyes. She had been catching students trying to smuggle brooms into the school for decades now. She knew all the tricks.

Harry … reminded of Dudley.

There was a moment of stillness when no one even dared to breathe. All the eyes were on Malfoy or on Potter, waiting for a reaction.

"You take that back, Potter," Malfoy hissed, beyond furious and embarrassed.

Harry raised one hand defensively. "In my defence, you seemed as spoiled and used to being able to do whatever you wanted as my cousin," he argued.

"He doesn't seem like it. He is just as spoiled and used to doing whatever he wants," Michael muttered under his breath, unable to stifle an amused grin.

"I'm nothing like that pig of a cousin of yours!" Malfoy growled.

"You've just heard yourself speaking about bullying your father into getting you a broom," Harry argued, waving a hand towards the book. "You sounded exactly like what Dudley did when he didn't receive enough presents for his birthday."

"I did not!"

"And now you sound exactly like he did when he threw a temper tantrum because he couldn't have his second bedroom back," Harry rolled his eyes. He doubted that Malfoy would try to hex him in front of everyone, but he was still gripping his wand tightly just in case.

Malfoy gritted his teeth. He couldn't argue with confirming Potter's point exactly. They had all heard Dudley throwing a temper tantrum, and he knew that his protests would sound exactly like that, even though they were not.

Maybe if he waited, if they read a bit more and they read how he had been perfectly polite to Potter… Maybe this… this nightmare would change. Because he refused to be compared to that muggle child who abused others. He wasn't an abuser.

Nightling had been alerted by all the agitation and it didn't take her long to see the blond boy glaring at her Harry-hatchling. She didn't like it. "Who's that, Harry-hatchling?" She asked warily.

"He's just Malfoy."

"Is he threatening you?" She hissed angrily.

Harry shook his head. "No, he's just annoying. And he's extra annoying when he's embarrassed, which he is right now."

"Have you got … what on earth Quidditch could be.

"Oh, thank Merlin that Oliver isn't here listening to all of this," George laughed.

"He'd have an apoplectic fit if he heard that his star seeker didn't know what quidditch was," Fred agreed.

"He had to teach me the rules, though. He already knew that I didn't know what quidditch was before I came to Hogwarts," Harry pointed out.

"And he almost had a breakdown about it, Harry," Angelina chuckled.

"He did?" Harry asked surprised. "He seemed to take it in stride."

"Yeah, well, in front of you," Angelina agreed.

"He ranted at us for hours, though. He kept repeating over and over again that it was a crime that someone with so much talent for the position of seeker didn't even know what the seeker was supposed to do," Alicia laughed, remembering Wood rating in their common room.

"But then he was so proud when you picked it up quickly," Katie grinned.

"He was like a proud dad bragging about you," George laughed even harder.

"I thought he was going to float away if he kept puffing his chest so much every time you caught the snitch in the training practices," Fred snickered helplessly.

Harry blushed. "I don't remember it like that. He was always insisting that I had to do better."

"Yeah, he tended to do that," Angelina agreed, remembering that awful match with the rogue bludger the year before last. "But he was honestly so proud of you."

Harry blushed even more, but he had to bite his lip to hide a pleased smile.

"I do — Father says … and I must say, I agree.

"Malfoy's not that good," Anthony shook his head.

"Didn't he get his position in the team because his father bought new Nimbus Two Thousand and One for the whole Slytherin team?" Lavender frowned.

"Exactly. He bought his position in the team," Ron scoffed.

"Besides, we all know our seeker's the best one in the school," George smirked.

"He has never failed to catch the snitch a single time," Fred nodded.

"Actually…" Harry began to say.

"That time doesn't count," the twins cut him off at the same time.

"As much as it pains me to admit it, I really don't think it counts," Susan agreed with them before Harry could protest.

The black-haired boy stared at her surprised. "But it was your house…"

"That's why it pains me to admit it," she grimaced. "But you were closer to the snitch. If it had been a normal match without interruptions, you would've won."

"True," Cedric accepted with a shrug. Fair was fair, after all. He may have seen the snitch before Harry, but the younger boy had been closer, had had a faster broom, was lighter so he could go faster and he was a better flier. As soon as Harry had begun to go after the snitch, Cedric had known that he had lost, but he had still focused on making a desperate grab for it. He had actually been so focused on it that he hadn't noticed that Harry had been attacked by the dementors until he had found himself with the snitch in his hand and he had wondered how that was possible.

Know what House … Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?"

"As if you'd ever be able to be a Hufflepuff," Ernie scoffed. "You don't have it in you."

"Oh, yeah?" Malfoy snapped defensively. "And what exactly do you have that I don't?"

"The willingness to do hard work, you whiny brat," Susan snapped at him.

"Oh, burn," Fred cheered.

"Well said!" George congratulated her.

"What? Aren't you going to tell your students to behave themselves now?" Snape asked Sprout sarcastically.

"They've just said the truth," Pomona said smugly. "Mr. Malfoy isn't much of a hard worker. He's always been reluctant to get his hands dirty in my class."

"And he is whining a little bit now," Filius pointed out in amusement.

Snape rolled his eyes, unable to deny either statement. His godson had never liked to work with plants, or with anything that could get him dirty, and he had the tendency of whining when things didn't go his way. Not that it meant that he wouldn't try to turn things around so they worked for him, but he liked to complain. A lot.

"Mmm," said Harry … a bit more interesting.

"It's not your fault you had no clue what he was talking about," Tonks told him.

"I know. It was still uncomfortable to feel stupid," Harry shrugged awkwardly, avoiding everyone's gazes.

"It's what every muggle-born goes through when they discover the wizarding world. I asked a ton of stupid questions," Justin admitted.

"And we know that those born in wizarding families ask a lot of questions about the muggle world," Hermione grinned at Harry.

"I say, look at that … creams to show he couldn't come in.

"Weren't you going to the Leaky Cauldron?" Bill asked Hagrid with a raised eyebrow.

"A walk worke' jus' fine," Hagrid shrugged. "An' I saw the ice creams an' thought tha' Harry would like one."

"I did. Thanks, Hagrid," Harry smiled at him.

"That was very sweet of you, Hagrid," Mrs. Weasley told the half-giant.

"I can't say that I disagree with the decision to buy him the ice cream, even though it wasn't the healthiest option for a child with malnutrition," Madam Pomfrey sighed, smiling softly.

"A bit ice cream isn't going to kill him," Flitwick dismissed any concerns. Harry had been given so very few treats as he grew up that the tiny professor was ecstatic to hear him getting one.

"That's Hagrid," said … sort of servant, isn't he?"

"Hey!" Terry protested. "He's not a servant!"

"And we all know now how much he actually works," Dean defended the gamekeeper. He couldn't forget the long list of chores that Anthony and Hermione had told everyone about. Hagrid worked hard and he wasn't going to forget it.

"Hagrid would've made a great Hufflepuff, unlike you, Malfoy," Hannah glared at the boy. "He works hard and he's very loyal."

"I was in Gryffindor," Hagrid mumbled, blushing with all the protests on his behalf that he was hearing.

"Yes, but I agree that you would've done very well in my house, Hagrid," Pomona smiled at him.

"It was about time that people realized how important Hagrid is to Hogwarts," Hermione said, very pleased with what she was hearing.

"He deserves it," Harry nodded.

"Damn right, he does," Ron grinned. He was also enjoying how Malfoy was squirming under all the glares he was getting.

"He's the gamekeeper … less and less every second.

"Yeah, I don't blame you for not liking Malfoy," Tonks scoffed. "He's not being very polite, is he?"

"I think I can understand now how far Malfoy put his foot in his mouth in that conversation with Potter," Daphne groaned.

"He's really pushing all the wrong buttons by bragging and reminding Potter of his cousin," Blaise shook his head. "Still, I kind of expected Potter to at least give him a chance and try to be friends with him. I mean, Potter was abused and he had just been shown a world of magic. He should've done anything possible to make friends, even if it included things he didn't agree with, like Malfoy's opinion of Hagrid."

"But apparently ten years of abuse wasn't enough to make Potter desperate enough to have any friends and he was willing to lose his first chance at having one because he had morals," Daphne huffed. She was reluctantly impressed with Harry. She wasn't sure if he had integrity or stubbornness. "How in Merlin's name did he develop morals with those muggles?"

"Beats me," Blaise shook his head.

"Yes, exactly. I heard … setting fire to his bed."

"Hey! Don't criticize the ability it takes to set things on fire!" Seamus protested.

"Oh, shut up, Seamus," Dean half groaned and half chuckled. He shoved his best friend's shoulder. "You should stand up for Hagrid, not the ability to set things on fire. Which, I remind you, is not a good thing."

"Says you," Seamus huffed.

"Besides, Hagrid has quite some talent when it comes to doing magic, especially since he does it with a broken wand and a magical education that only reaches his third year," Hermione defended her friend coldly. "I'd like to see Malfoy do better in those conditions."

"And I like Hagrid's hut. It's cosy and homey," Harry smiled at the half-giant.

It had been the first place that had felt like a home to him, not counting Hogwarts. Although, Hagrid's hut was part of Hogwarts. But the castle had felt like home too, just for different reasons. It had felt like the magic from the castle had been welcoming him, but Hagrid's hut was different because it may not have magic but it looked lived in and cared for. Every time he went to Hagrid's hut, he was welcomed with a smile, Fang's enthusiasm, a cup of tea and something to eat. Every single time. How could he not love Hagrid's hut then? Both Hagrid's hut and Hogwarts were the complete opposite from Privet Drive, which was why Harry loved them both so much.

"And there's nothing wrong with getting drunk," George grinned.

"Some would say that it's a rite of passage," Fred said.

"And what would you know about getting drunk? You're not of age," Arthur asked them with a raised eyebrow. He wasn't naive enough to believe that the twins had never gotten drunk. They were teenagers who spent months every year away from home. However, he wasn't above trying to make them squirm from time to time.

"We'd never!" The twins cried out dramatically.

"It's just a rite of passage for those lucky enough to be seventeen," George said.

"Which we're unfortunately not," Fred lamented. Just the day before they had tried to get a few months older to enter the tournament without success.

"I think Mr. Malfoy wasn't as polite in that conversation as he made you think, Severus," Pomona told him quietly.

"I can see that," Snape said through gritted teeth. Draco was insulting the first person who had been kind to Potter, so, of course, Potter wasn't going to like him. He rubbed his eyes. "In his opinion, though, he was polite to Potter because he didn't insult him. He only insulted Hagrid."

"That's not any better," McGonagall scoffed.

"I know," Snape snapped. He knew that, but he also knew that his godson was a brat who had been told all his life that he was better than anyone. In his eyes, Hagrid was just a waste of space.

"I think he's brilliant … you? Where are your parents?"

Everyone stilled again when they heard Malfoy's question. They weren't sure how Harry was going to react at the mention of his parents just hours after being told that they had been murdered.

"Oh, I'm going to hex that little prick," Sirius glared at the blond. He didn't want to hear him talk about James and Lily.

"He's just a teenager, Sirius," Remus sighed, but he was slightly tense too.

"They're dead," said … were our kind, weren't they?"

"You… You… You tactless prick!" Hermione snarled at Malfoy. "He tells you that his parents are dead and you ask him if they were our kind?! I though Ron was the insensitive one!"

"Hey!" The redhead protested. He wasn't sure if he should take that as a compliment or as an insult, but he didn't like it.

"It's not like we haven't heard him say worse things about my parents, or yours, or Ron's, Hermione," Harry tried to placate her.

"That doesn't make this right! You had just heard the truth about your parents!" She insisted angrily.

"He didn't know that," Harry reasoned. It wasn't like he wanted to stand up for Malfoy, but he couldn't just blame him for things that weren't his fault.

"Like he would've cared," Ron snorted, glaring at the blond. He knew that the comment had hurt his best friend, even if Harry wasn't showing it.

"It was totally uncalled for," Parvati agreed, glaring at the blond furiously too.

"It wasn't just uncalled for. It was rude," McGonagall said, her lips pursed so much that they were just a thin line on her face.

"You can't tell me that you knew about anything Mr. Malfoy is saying and you agree with it," Flitiwick told the Head of Slytherin.

"I don't," Snape snapped angrily. He glared at his godson, knowing that the version he had gotten from Draco was very different from what they were hearing now. He was going to have a very serious talk with him about what it meant to be polite to someone, because Draco clearly didn't understand it.

"They were a witch … let the other sort in, do you?

"Oh, Merlin, Malfoy just doesn't shut up," Charlie groaned.

"He's spouting the same nonsense his father says," Bill shook his head. "I'd pity him if he wasn't hurting Harry."

"Besides, there are no real purebloods nowadays," Sirius snapped. "There's a muggle somewhere in every family tree, even yours, Malfoy."

"What would you know?" The blond spat.

"What would I know?" The animagus repeated with a scoff. "My mother made me memorize the family tree of every Ancient or Noble House, including yours. And she took great delight in pointing out where muggle blood had entered the tree in other families that wasn't hers."

"You're lying," Malfoy snapped furiously. His ears and cheeks were pink with anger.

"Am I?" Sirius smirked gleefully. "You just have to check your family tree carefully. If I remember right, five or six generations before you, your great-great-great-great-grandfather had a couple of children with a muggle girl. I think he didn't have a happy marriage with the witch his parents had chosen for him."

"You're lying," Malfoy repeated, shaking his head and refusing to believe it.

"I'm not," Sirius was enjoying seeing the little prick that had hurt his godson with his careless remarks have his carefully built world crumble around him. "That great-great-great-great grandfather of yours couldn't have any children with his wife, so one of the children he had with his mistress had to inherit the title of Head of House of Malfoy. Of course, they tried to cover it up and pretend that the child had been his wife's, and a couple of memory charms helped with that. The mistress forgot she had even had that child, and she never found out about magic because the second child never showed signs of magic."

"Oh, Merlin," George said wide-eyed. "This is better than a soap opera."

"He's destroying Malfoy," Fred said gleefully.

"I guess your family was lucky that the second child was a squib, or there would've been many questions when they went to Hogwarts," Sirius smirked.

"It's all lies," Malfoy said stubbornly.

"I really don't need to lie. Telling you the truth is much more fun, especially when you begin to investigate your family tree and you find out the discrepancies that prove that I'm right," the animagus said. He had never been so happy about having studied the family trees of so many houses. Malfoy's face was priceless. "Admit it, cousin. You have muggle blood running through your veins."

"No," Malfoy shook his head, gritting his teeth. He wanted to yell at that man that it wasn't possible, that he was lying. But Black seemed so sure of what he was saying and he seemed to be so… happy when he said that it was all true. But it couldn't be, could it? It wasn't true.

"See? Now I'm the one tempted to pity him, but I'm having fun watching him have a breakdown over the fact that he has muggle blood," Tonks smirked, enjoying the show.

They're just not … brought up to know our ways.

"What ways? It's not like you tell us!" Hermione protested.

"You could also ask," Daphne pointed out.

"I didn't even know there was something to ask about!" Hermione said, inwardly berating herself. She should have guessed, though. Of course, a hidden world would have different customs.

"It's just common sense," Daphne huffed.

"Well then, this is me asking. What are those ways? Where can I learn about them?" Hermione asked with a glint of determination in her eyes.

Daphne was taken aback. "You want to learn now? It takes years to learn everything."

"It takes years to learn magic and we're all doing it," Hermione insisted stubbornly. "Being in the wizarding world includes knowing its customs and how it works. I can't believe I haven't done more research about this. I should've started ages ago, when we were in first year."

"It's not so easy," Daphne insisted.

"Try me," Hermione challenged her.

"Oh, Merlin," Ron groaned. "Hermione, now's not the time to start a new topic of research. We're already reading books to figure out how to kill You-Know-Who and we have to find out how to avoid being hexed or poisoned by a paranoid ex-auror."

Hermione gritted her teeth. "I'll make time."

"But maybe it could be when we're not literally in the middle of the reading?" Harry suggested tentatively. "During a break or something?"

"Fine," Hermione said after a few long seconds in silence.

Some of them have never … your surname, anyway?"

"I don't think he could've said worse things if he tried," Blaise groaned. "He really mocked those who haven't heard of Hogwarts until they received their letter the morning after Potter found out that he had magic himself. It's like he was purposefully trying to alienate Potter."

"We've always known that he had a big mouth," Daphne scoffed.

"Severus…" Minerva began.

"I know," he cut her off.

He was beyond angry at his godson. Draco was making a fool of himself by repeating everything Lucius said, especially with none of the subtlety that his father showed. Draco should have known that many people disagreed with that point of view and he could create more enemies than friends if he said those things.

He rubbed his temples tiredly. "I'll have a talk with him."

"He shouldn't make any student unwelcome or unworthy of attending Hogwarts," Sprout said upset. She had had a couple of children from her house coming to her in tears because they had been told that they didn't deserve to be there, and it made her blood boil every time it happened. And she wasn't saying that Malfoy was the sole culprit, but he certainly didn't help.

"I know," Snape snapped angrily. He knew that perfectly well, thank you very much. It wasn't his fault that Lucius had filled Draco's head with stupid ideas.

But before Harry could … hopped down from the footstool.

"Thank Merlin for Madam Malkin," Remus sighed in relief. "She probably recognized you as soon as you entered and knew how badly Malfoy was putting his foot in his mouth."

"Yeah, I wasn't sure if I wanted Malfoy to learn who you were. He wouldn't have left you alone the whole day," Sirius frowned.

"I don't know. I think his face when he learnt who Harry was would've been priceless," Tonks mused pensively. She shook her head. "Although, it would've probably made Harry uncomfortable since he doesn't like the attention."

"Yeah, but it would've been so funny," Charlie grinned. "He would've regretted everything he had said."

"If he only regretted it because of who I am, it doesn't really count, does it?" Harry frowned. "I mean, he should regret it because they aren't nice things to say to anyone, not because of whom he offended."

He didn't like this. It reminded him of his earlier thoughts about how nobody would care about him or how he had been abused if he wasn't the boy-who-lived. He was the boy-who-lived, so they tried so hard to get him to go to Hogwarts and get on well with him and make a good first impression with him and…

And he didn't want any of that. He didn't want people to be someone they weren't in front of him just because of who he was. It made him angry and sad and paranoid, and he didn't want to doubt everyone around him.

"Well, I'll see you … drawling boy.

"Oh, yeah, you'll see him at Hogwarts. Where you'll realize how much you messed up," Anthony said happily.

"It's no wonder that they fight so much," Hannah sighed. "Malfoy was insensitive and he basically told Harry that he didn't deserve to go to Hogwarts because he hadn't grown up knowing that magic existed."

"Hopefully, Hagrid will cheer Harry up," Lisa said.

Harry was rather quiet … raspberry with chopped nuts).

"You listened to that prick?" Fred cried out in dismay.

"But, Harrikins, you should know better!" George said dramatically.

"Malfoy doesn't know what he's talking about," Percy scoffed.

"Please, tell me that you didn't think about what he said for long," Hermione pleaded. She reached around Ron to grab Harry's arm, careful not to disturb Nightling. "You're the one always telling me not to listen to Malfoy."

"I tell you that too," Ron huffed.

Hermione rolled her eyes, but she was smiling. "Yes, but you're also offering to go hex Malfoy at the same time. Or most of the time, to be honest."

"What? It's a good idea and it's not like he doesn't deserve it," the redhead said defensively. He looked at Harry. "The offer still stands if you want to accept it, mate. I'll hex him good for you if you want."

Harry grinned at his best friend. "Thanks, Ron."

"Is that a yes?" Ron asked happily.

"No," Harry laughed. "It's a thank you for standing up for me."

"You're no fun," Ron rolled his eyes.

"Why does Ron-broom want to hex Malfoy-blond?" Nightling asked curiously. "Did he hurt you?"

"He's just a stupid prick. Ron likes to have any excuse to get into a fight with him," Harry explained to her.

She wasn't distracted. "But he has an excuse. That means that Malfoy-blond hurt you," she said unhappily. "I'll bite him for you."

Harry huffed a laugh. "No biting. You promised."

"What is she saying?" Ron asked curiously.

"She's as happy with Malfoy as you. She offered to bite him," Harry rolled his eyes.

"I told you that she was smart," Ron beamed at the snake. He leant down to be closer to the black mamba. "Tell you what, Nigthtling. Between you and I, I bet we can convince Harry to let us go after Malfoy. You'll bite him to distract him and I'll hex him. Deal?" He asked, holding out his hand.

Nightling rose her head and flicked her tongue against Ron's hand. "Deal, Ron-broom."

"I'm taking that as a yes," Ron said satisfied.

"What's up? … changed colour as you wrote.

"You know? Your mum loved that colour-changing ink," Remus smiled longingly. He missed his friend.

Harry immediately perked up. "She did?"

"She was crazy about it," Remus nodded.

"James bought her a whole case of bottles of it in our… sixth year?" Sirius asked, trying to remember correctly.

"Yeah. It was when they were beginning to get along," Remus nodded.

"But they weren't really on good terms yet. It was more of a tentative truce," Sirius remembered. "That's why Lily told him that she didn't want them. She said that she was going to return them and it wasn't until months later that she confessed that she had kept them in her trunk and had used them when he wasn't around."

"James was ecstatic that she had liked them," Remus smiled amused.

"He wasn't just ecstatic. He offered to buy her three more cases if she wanted, but she stopped him before he could run to go order them," Sirius chuckled.

Harry beamed as he heard this story. This was the kind of details that he wanted to know about his parents, silly things like his mother loving ink that changed colours. He didn't mind that it seemed like his parents hadn't even been friends in the beginning. He was just happy that they had gotten together, and not just because he wouldn't exist otherwise.

When they had left … not knowin' about Quidditch!"

"Hagrid," McGonagall sighed. "You're going to make him feel self-conscious about asking questions."

"I was jus' surprised," Hagrid mumbled sheepishly.

"Do you think that's another reason that prevents him from asking questions?" Flitwick frowned. "If everyone expects him to know everything, it's no wonder that the boy doesn't ask anything."

"We didn't realize that he didn't know the same as children brought up in the wizarding world and would have the same questions as them," Pomona said guiltily.

"Oh," Minerva exclaimed wide-eyed.

"What?" Sprout asked alarmed.

"It's just… It's like you said. We should've treated him like a muggle-born, but we didn't. One of us should've gone with him on that shopping trip since his… relatives," she spat. "Weren't going to help him."

"But I went with him," Hagrid said defensively.

"I know, and you did a wonderful job showing him around, Hagrid," McGonagall assured him. "But when we go talk to muggle-borns, we usually recommend a couple of extra books that will help them understand the wizarding world and their magic better."

"But Hagrid didn't know that," Filius realized. He cursed under his breath. "Mr. Potter was at a disadvantage compared to children brought up by wizards and by muggles."

"It wouldn't have affected his performance in class, though," Pomona fretted. "It wouldn't have, right?"

"No, not really. But there were probably things that he simply had to go along with what others did. Like he said earlier, he had to pretend that he knew what he was doing until he learnt," McGonagall said sadly. She sighed. "We really messed up with that boy, didn't we?"

Snape stayed silent through this whole exchange. He didn't want to admit that there had been things that he had observed about Potter that he had thought were done because of arrogance and that he now realized were simply the product of ignorance because nobody had stopped to explain things to him.

Still, he wasn't going to change his mind about Potter so quickly. The first conversation he had had with Draco might not have gone like his godson had said it had, but he knew that they had had another conversation in the train. And Draco had said that Potter had attacked them then.

"Don't make me feel … what she had fer a sister!"

"Well said, Hagrid," Filius congratulated him.

"I think it was the best example you could've used to make Harry feel better and get those stupid ideas out of his head," Remus smiled at the half-giant. "Being told that Lily was brilliant in spite of sharing blood with that harpy she had as a sister will erase any doubt he could have about whether or not muggle-borns should be allowed to go to Hogwarts."

"I jus' wante' ter make him feel better," Hagrid shrugged, blushing a little bit.

"And you did," Harry smiled at him.

"Besides, now we know that all pureblood families actually have some muggle blood somewhere," Tonks said, nodding towards her cousin. "If those with muggle blood shouldn't be allowed to attend Hogwarts, the castle would've been empty for centuries now."

"I'm still not sure I believe that," Ernie said pensively. "Not that I care whether or not I have muggle relatives!" He hurried to add when he began to receive glares. "I'm just curious. As far as I know, I don't think any of my predecessors was a muggle."

"What Sirius says makes sense. It's all about genetics," Hermione huffed impatiently.

"Gen-what?" Ron asked confused.

"It's… you're redheaded because your parents are redheaded. You've gotten it from them. That's genetics. You got the genes that make you redheaded," she tried to explain.

"What does that have to do with everything else?" He asked even more confused.

"It's inbreeding," she said impatiently.

"Hermione, maybe you could explain this later? During a break?" Harry interrupted her. He was sure that it was all very interesting, but he also knew that it would be a long discussion and they didn't have time for that. Well, they did, but that wasn't the point.

Hermione frowned, but agreed easily enough. She was going to be very busy during the breaks.

"So what is … hard ter explain the rules."

"Rules of quidditch aren't that hard to explain, Hagrid," Angelina rolled her eyes.

"It's more complicated than football," Harry pointed out. "In football, you just have to put the ball in the other team's goal without touching it with your hands."

"That's… Football's more complicated than that!" Dean exclaimed outraged. "It has a lot more of rules!"

"Now you've done it," Seamus rolled his eyes at Harry. "He's going to lecture us about football for months now."

"Maybe I should if you have so little idea about football!" Dean glared at him. "I learnt the rules of quidditch, didn't I?"

"Oh, please, don't compare quidditch with football. Quidditch is a million times better," Ron snorted. "In football, you only have one ball and you're not flying."

"That just tells you how much better football is in spite of not having flying brooms! It requires skill!" Dean argued.

"Nonsense. Football is stupid and boring," Ron said stubbornly.

Dean's jaw dropped open in outrage. "How dare you?! Football is awesome!"

"Not again," Neville muttered under his breath. The last time Ron and Dean had argued like this, Harry, Seamus and he had had to take refuge in the common room until they had calmed down.

"Mr. Thomas, Mr. Weasley," McGonagall intervened when she saw that they were about to reach for their wands. "That's enough. You can continue this discussion in your free time later."

"Sorry, Professor," they replied at the same time.

"Like you're any better when it involves quidditch, Minerva," Pomona teased her.

"Shush. That's not the point," McGonagall replied quietly.

"And what are Slytherin … Hufflepuff are a lot o' duffers, but —"

"Hey!" All the Hufflepuffs exclaimed indignantly.

"What do you mean 'duffers'?" Hannah demanded angrily.

"I hope you meant awesome," Ernie glared at Hagrid.

"I was jus' repeatin' what I heard," Hagrid said embarrassed.

"Well, what's said is utter bullshit," Susan snapped.

"Ms. Bones!" Professor Sprout exclaimed wide-eyed.

"No, I won't apologize for standing up for our house, Professor," she said stubbornly. "We're not duffers and it's about time that people know it."

Sprout sighed. "While I agree with the sentiment, perhaps you could look after your language a bit more."

Susan blushed a little. "Of course, Professor."

"I bet I'm … Harry gloomily.

"And you would've been damn lucky if you had been in Hufflepuff," Susan glared at Harry.

The green-eyed boy raised one hand defensively. "I meant no disrespect. You just heard the only thing I knew about Hufflepuffs," he assured her wide-eyed.

"And now?" Justin demanded.

"Now I know better than to mess with the badgers," Harry promised.

"Good," Susan smirked.

"Is it just me or are the Hufflepuffs suddenly scarier?" Ron muttered quietly.

"We've always been scary," Tonks smirked at him. Her smirk only widened when he startled, not having expected anyone to have heard him, and he gulped nervously. "We're just better at hiding it than most of you."

"I've always known better than to mess with you," Charlie grinned at her.

"Damn right, you have. I would've kicked your arse if you had tried," she nodded proudly.

"Better Hufflepuff than … Slytherin. You-Know-Who was one."

"That's… That's not true. Not every bad wizard has been a Slytherin," Hermione shook her head. Anyone could practically see the indignation rising inside her.

"Everyone knows that Sirius Black wasn't in Slytherin," Anthony nodded. "Except that the rest of his family was in Slytherin, so I'm not sure if that counts."

"Of course, it doesn't, but only because Sirius is innocent," Harry snapped at him warningly.

Anthony smiled sheepishly. "Right. Forgot about that for a moment."

"And anyway, the person who actually committed the crimes that Sirius was condemned for was a Gryffindor too," Harry revealed with a shrug.

"They were?" Several people exclaimed surprised.

"And Barty Crouch Jr., whom we all saw yesterday and was a known Death Eater, was a Ravenclaw," Hermione added.

"How do you know that?" Ron asked surprised.

"I investigated a little last night after all of you went to sleep," she shrugged. She blushed under all the surprised stares. "What? I just wanted to be prepared and maybe find out why he was here."

"And did you?" Remus asked curiously.

Hermione frowned in disappointment. "No."

"We will. That's why we have these books," Harry told her.

"Vol-, sorry — You … ago," said Hagrid.

Harry frowned as a thought appeared in his mind suddenly. "Do you think…?" He trailed off quietly.

"What?" Ron replied in a whisper.

"I was just thinking," Harry shook his head. "Do you think Hagrid knows that Tom Riddle is Voldemort? I mean, does he know that Voldemort is the one that caused him to be expelled?"

"How could he not know?" Ron asked confused.

"Well, they don't look remotely similar," Harry replied.

"You don't how what appearance You-Know-Who had before he was on the back of Quirrell's head, Harry," Hermione pointed out.

"True," Harry accepted. "But still. If he was so easily recognized, more people would know Voldemort's real name and that he's not a pureblood."

"Stop it with that name," Ron elbowed his best friend, glaring at him.

Hermione frowned. "Even if Hagrid doesn't know, he'll find out by the time we finish the second book. Everyone will find out."

"I can't wait to see the faces of all those who adore You-Know-Who when they realize that their leader isn't a pureblood," Ron muttered gleefully.

They bought Harry's school books … More) by Professor Vindictus Viridian.

"Such a mouthful of a title for a book so wonderful," George sighed dramatically.

"But kind of unneeded when you have us to teach you instead if you need it," Fred grinned at Harry.

"True. If you wanted to prank anyone, you only had to tell us," George told the black-haired boy.

"You would've made us so proud," Fred nodded.

"Please, if Harry needed help to prank anyone, there's no one better than us," Sirius scoffed.

"Nope," Fred shook his head.

"No way," George denied.

So, what if there was a chance that these were the Padfoot and Moony, their idols? If there was anyone who was going to teach Harry how to prank people, it was going to be them and not two men that they still hadn't met properly. Padfoot and Moony or not, they had been upsetting Harry quite a bit since the previous night, and Harry came before any supposed idol.

"Excuse me?!" Sirius squeaked indignantly. Nobody was going to teach his godson how to prank people but him.

"You're excused," Fred told him.

"It was an obvious lapse of judgement," George agreed.

Sirius spluttered indignantly. He couldn't believe the nerve of these two. "I don't know who you think you are, but I'm going to be the one teaching Harry."

"Little Harrikins deserves the best teachers," George argued.

"And that's obviously us," Fred finished.

"You think you're better than Moony and me? Please," Sirius scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"Oh, Merlin," Remus sighed quietly, rubbing his face.

"Of course, we're better," Fred huffed offended.

"We're way ahead of you," George agreed.

Remus inwardly groaned. "Please, don't say it. Please, don't say it."

"Prove it, then," Sirius challenged them with narrowed eyes.

"You've said it," Remus lamented.

The twins immediately perked up.

"Are you suggesting what we think you're suggesting?" George asked gleefully.

"That sounded an awful lot like a declaration of war," Fred smirked.

"Damn right, it was a declaration of war. You two against Moony and me. Whoever wins teaches Harry how to prank people," Sirius grinned.

"And now you've pulled me into this," Remus groaned, burying his face in his hands. He had been a teacher. He had left his pranking life behind.

"You're on!" George accepted quickly.

"Oh, you're so going to lose!" Fred cackled happily.

"No! No! No! There's not going to be any prank war!" Molly intervened, beyond alarmed.

"Of course not. It's going to be so one-sided that it won't deserve the name of war," Fred mumbled, sharing a grin with his twin.

"We're going to crush them," George agreed.

"Oh, Merlin, and I thought that the worst thing that could happen was if those four teamed up to prank everyone," McGonagall groaned. This was a nightmare. Hogwarts was going to become a warzone and everyone was in danger. Trying to forbid them to have a prank war would be completely futile.

"I'm rethinking my idea of not introducing Sirius and Remus as Padfoot and Moony to Fred and George," Harry said alarmed.

"Sirius has already mentioned that Remus is Moony," Hermione pointed out.

"I don't think they care at this point," Ron shook his head, staring at the four pranksters warily. "They've just been challenged to a prank war. They're not going to back down now."

"And why in Merlin's name have they decided that I want anyone to teach me how to prank people?" Harry asked perplexed. He didn't want to prank anyone.

"I think that's just an excuse to have the prank war," Ron shrugged.

"Why do I feel like this was a bad idea?" Tonks mumbled.

"I don't know about Black and Lupin, but it's never a good idea to challenge Fred and George to a prank war," Bill grimaced. "The best thing to do is…"

"Get out of the splash zone. Run like hell and get to safety," Charlie said, looking a bit scared.

"We can't go anywhere. We're all trapped in Hogwarts until we finish the books, remember?" Tonks hissed at them.

"Then we're doomed," Charlie said bluntly.

"We better finish the books quickly," Bill agreed.

"I was trying … curse Dudley."

"Maybe Harry doesn't need anyone to teach him how to prank people. I believe he's perfectly capable of learning by himself," Seamus grinned.

"Using that book to hex your cousin would've been a very noble cause," Michael smirked.

"And since you haven't even started Hogwarts and you haven't been told that you shouldn't do magic outside of school until you're seventeen, you can't be charged with anything," Tonks chuckled. "Anything you did would count as accidental magic."

"Even accidental magic can get you in trouble," Harry grumbled under his breath.

"But it's true that since you hadn't been told that you couldn't do magic, you could've done anything you wanted," Hermione said. "That's why I was able to practice some spells before I arrived to Hogwarts."

"You knowingly broke the rules?!" George screeched.

"And here I thought that nothing could surprise me today anymore," Fred said dramatically.

"I didn't break the rules," Hermione huffed, blushing to the roots of her hair. "I… made use of a loophole."

"And it was a very good use," George nodded.

"We're so very proud," Fred sniffed.

"You know they're going to find out that you've broken worse rules than that one, right?" Harry mumbled so only Hermione and Ron could hear him.

"You were the one that wanted to brew Polyjuice Potion and steal from Snape in second year," Ron reminded her. He blanched. "He's going to murder us, isn't he?"

"Probably," Harry gulped.

"Maybe that part won't appear," Ron tried to be optimistic.

"I think we'll worry about that later. After we've survived the scolding for setting Snape on fire and helping Hagrid smuggle a freaking dragon out of the school," Harry hissed. He was going to panic if he thought about this too much.

Ron paled dramatically. "Oh. That."

"Yeah. That," Hermione said quietly. She was a little paler than usual too.

"We're so dead," Ron groaned.

"I'm not sayin' … before yeh get ter that level."

"I think you could've done it," Luna said pensively.

"You think?" Harry replied.

"You didn't lack motivation, and that would've helped you a lot," Luna explained.

"That's a good point," Harry grinned.

"Oh, so now it's okay to hex your relatives?" Fred asked eagerly.

"Because we already have some good ideas," George nodded.

"No," Harry said firmly. "I don't think I would've really hexed Dudley. Not when he was so terrified of me the rest of the summer."

"It's not like he wouldn't have deserved it," Sirius grumbled. He was still determined to go make them pay.

"It would've made me a bully," Harry said stubbornly.

"And they weren't bullies?" Sirius demanded.

"Of course, they were! They are! That doesn't mean I have to be one too!" Harry snapped.

"That's the most mature argument I've heard in this discussion as of yet," Arthur said. "And it's a very good point."

"They shouldn't get away with what they did," Sirius argued.

"You shouldn't stoop down to their level when you won't gain anything from it," Harry argued back.

"Maybe we can continue this later," Remus intervened before they could begin to argue again. The Dursleys were obviously a delicate topic between Sirius and Harry because they didn't seem capable of talking about them without arguing and they weren't reaching a compromise any time soon.

Hagrid wouldn't let Harry … bad eggs and rotted cabbages.

"You found the apothecary fascinating?" Lavender asked, scrunching up her nose. She hated that shop.

"It is fascinating, especially when you've just found out that wizards and witches make real potions with real and disgusting ingredients," Harry defended himself.

"Especially disgusting," Parvati mumbled under her breath.

"You liked Potions?" Blaise asked surprised. From what he had seen in class, Potter despised the subject.

"I did. It was the subject I was most interested in before I came to Hogwarts," Harry explained sheepishly. "Then we had that first class and I met the teacher and… Well, you know. I figured out that I wasn't going to enjoy the subject half as much as I thought I would."

"I'd offer to help with Potions, but that subject was never my forte," Remus said apologetically. He had never liked that class, mostly because of the smell. "I was always better at Arithmancy and Herbology."

"Wait, but you taught us DADA," Harry pointed out confused.

"I was good at DADA too, but James was the one who was great at it while I was better at the other two. It was just that the post that was free last year was the one for teaching DADA," Remus explained.

"I was better at Runes and Astronomy. I never liked Potions much," Sirius grimaced. "Lily was the genius at Potions. And Charms too."

"I've always been too… uh, uncoordinated to be good at Potions," Tonks said sheepishly.

"You can just say that you're clumsy, Tonks," Charlie teased her.

She smacked his arm. "It's not like you were any better at Potions!"

"I wasn't very good either," Bill accepted with a shrug. "I always preferred Runes and Charms."

"We, on the other hand, are great at Potions!" George exclaimed, waving a hand between his twin and him.

"It's quite simple once you're able to ignore the overgrown bat looming over your shoulder," Fred smirked.

Harry snorted. "I'll try to do that."

In the meantime, the teachers were having their own conversation, which was a good thing because it meant that Snape didn't hear Fred's comment.

"What first class is he talking about?" Minerva asked suspiciously.

"The first time I proved that he was as arrogant as his father and he had been hoping to pass my class because of his fame alone," Snape replied sharply. "I, of course, discouraged such thoughts."

"What did you do, Severus? Because Mr. Potter didn't sound to me like a student who had been hoping to pass any class because of his fame. He sounded interested in Potions," Flitwick argued firmly. He knew an interested student when he heard one, and Harry had just sounded like many of his Ravenclaws did when they loved a subject and would happily spend extra hours investigating about it.

"Nothing wrong," Snape insisted stubbornly.

"Then how did Mr. Potter go from having Potions as his favourite subject to hating it in just a few weeks? Because even I know that he hates your class, Severus, and I don't remember a time when he didn't," Pomona told him sternly.

Snape refused to back down. "I told you. He expected a deferential treatment and he didn't like it when he didn't get it."

"He's never expected deferential treatment in any of our classes," Pomona replied.

"Maybe when we start reading about him at Hogwarts, you can try to say that again," Snape snapped.

"And maybe you'll find out that you're wrong about him. Remember what we talked about, Severus," Filius warned him. "We're all going to listen with open minds and we'll see who's right about Mr. Potter. If you're right, we'll apologize to you and keep a much closer eye on him to make sure he doesn't cause trouble. But if you're wrong…"

"Yes, yes, I'll apologize to you and stop treating him like that," Snape barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes.

"No. You'll apologize to him," McGonagall snapped. "I hope we hear exactly what you mean about 'treating him like that', because it sounded like you don't treat him like you treat the rest of your students."

Snape glared at her furiously. "I haven't done anything wrong."

"We'll read who's in the wrong here, and then we'll decide who is owed an apology," Pomona cut in firmly. "Until then, open minds."

Barrels of slimy … haven't got yeh a birthday present."

"Oh, Hagrid, that's really so sweet of you," Mrs. Weasley smiled at him.

Hagrid blushed. "It was nothin'. Jus' a little present," he mumbled embarrassed. He couldn't have done anything other than buying Harry a birthday present after meeting the Dursleys. He had immediately known that they certainly weren't going to give Harry anything.

"It was the best, Hagrid," Harry told him sincerely.

Not only it had been the first proper birthday present he had ever received, but it had been a companion and a friend that was always there for him. He would have been completely alone in Privet Drive if it hadn't been for Hedwig, and he could keep in contact with Ron and Hermione because of her too. It really had been the perfect birthday present.

"What was it?" Ginny asked curiously.

"You'll see now," Harry smiled. He couldn't stop smiling if he tried.

Harry felt himself … fashion years ago, yeh'd be laughed at

"Hey," Neville complained, turning beet red in embarrassment. "There's nothing wrong with toads."

"Of course not," Remus smiled at him. "Your father had one too, and it was because of that toad that he began to talk to your mother."

"Really?" Neville asked wide-eyed. "I didn't know that."

"His toad was always escaping away from him," Remus smiled.

"Sounds like another toad we know," Dean laughed good-naturedly. They had lost count of the number of times that Trevor had disappeared, but it always came back or reappeared in unexpected places.

"Yeah, well, your father's toad ended up in a girl's lap. Your mother," Remus explained.

"Frank had been trying for ages to gather up the courage to talk to her, but he always chickened out at the last minute. He got all red and tongue-tied," Sirius snorted.

"And his toad gave him the perfect opportunity to finally do it. A couple of months later, they began to date, and the rest is history," Remus smiled. "I always thought that his toad was smarter than it looked like."

"That's quite a story," Hermione smiled softly.

"It'd be romantic if it wasn't for the toad," Lavender grimaced.

an' I don' … me sneeze.

"Do you have a problem with cats, Hagrid?" McGonagall asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Um… I, uh, I don' like sneezin'," Hagrid stammered, looking at a deer caught in the headlights.

"But do you like cats?" She pressed, biting the inside of her cheek to hide her amusement.

"If they don' make me sneeze?" Hagrid replied desperately.

"I'd try to help him, but I'm having too much fun watching the spectacle," Charlie muttered under his breath with a wide grin.

"Plus, it'd be your funeral," Tonks added. She shook her head. "Poor Hagrid's getting into a lot of trouble with what we're reading in this book."

"Which shows how many secrets Harry is keeping for Hagrid," Bill pointed out.

"Oh, you have no idea," Charlie snorted.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tonks frowned.

"You'll see."

I'll get yer an … carry yer mail an' everythin'."

"He bought you Hedwig," Ginny realized.

"And it was the perfect present," Harry grinned at the gamekeeper. "Hedwig was a lifesaver. I would've gone mad in Privet Drive if it hadn't been for her."

"Not to mention how much harder it'd be to keep contact between us," Ron snorted.

"True," Harry nodded.

Twenty minutes … head under her wing.

Harry smiled softly as he remembered that day. Nobody but Hagrid knew it, but he hadn't been the one who had chosen Hedwig. She had chosen him. Or more like, it hadn't felt like a choice at all.

She had been hidden in a dark corner on top of a cupboard in the back of the shop, but she had caught Harry's attention from the very first moment he had stepped into the shop. He had looked into her amber eyes and he had just known that she was going to be his owl. And she had obviously agreed, because she had immediately spread her wings and flown towards him to land on his shoulder and preen his hair.

The owner of the shop had almost had a heart attack when he had seen the snowy owl head towards a child, because she was quite aggressive and she never trusted anyone. So, he had been understandably shocked when she had treated that child so affectionally. He had been so shocked, in fact, that he hadn't even realized who exactly was that child.

Harry's smile widened as he remembered how awed he had been that the owl had liked him so much, that she had allowed him to pet her soft feathers and that she had been so determined to go with him. It had felt incredible.

Harry suddenly froze and looked down at the dozing Nightling in his lap. He realized with dawning horror that he hadn't introduced either animal to the other, that they didn't know that the other existed. He wondered how they were going to react. They were both ridiculously protective over him, so it was going to go really well or really badly.

If they hated each other, it was going to be a nightmare.

If they teamed up to look after him… That was going to be a nightmare too.

Hopefully, they would just… ignore each other. That would work.

Or maybe, even better, they would be friends because they bonded over something other than him, like how much they both liked mice. That would be perfect.

Still, he hoped that they didn't meet each other yet. He would just keep them away from each other until he came up with a plan.

He couldn't stop stammering … presents from them Dursleys.

"Oh. That's true," Hannah gasped. She wasn't the only one. People were just realizing what Harry had known all along. "But that means that Hedwig was your first birthday present."

"We read earlier that he got presents," Terry said hesitantly.

"A coat hanger and a sock don't count as presents. Especially not when his cousin received thirty-nine presents," Padma snapped upset.

"But that first birthday present was worth the wait," Harry cut in. "Hedwig was great. She is great."

Nobody dared to argue. There was no denying that Hedwig was great, but it was still sad and upsetting that Harry hadn't received a birthday present (that he remembered) until he had been eleven.

Just Ollivanders left … really looking forward to.

"Oh, crap," Harry cursed under his breath. He hadn't remembered until now what had happened when he had gone to Ollivanders.

"What?" Ron asked alarmed.

Hermione immediately turned towards him, trying not to draw anyone's attention. "What is it? Is it the connection to the books?" She demanded in a whisper. She inwardly cursed the fact that she wasn't sitting next to Harry. She decided that Harry was going to sit between her and Ron from now on because this situation was too stressing without being able to make sure that her best friend was okay.

"No, it's just that something happened when I went to buy my wand," Harry grimaced. Ron and Hermione deserved to know before it appeared in the book instead of finding out at the same time as everyone else.

"Did you get hurt?" Hermione demanded.

"No, no, nothing like that," Harry assured them. He softened when they relaxed in relief.

"Merlin, mate, don't scare us like that," Ron sighed. "What is it then?"

"My wand… Ollivander said that the phoenix that gave the feather in my wand only gave one other feather, and it's inside Voldemort's wand. And that meant that my wand's brother was Voldemort's wand or something like that. I don't really get it. He was just so… curious about it. He creeped me out," Harry cringed.

"Ollivander creeps everyone out," Ron clapped his shoulder. "And that's when he's not speaking about wands being brothers. I didn't even know that wands could have brothers."

"Me neither," Hermione said pensively. "I wonder what it means and if it could have some sort of effect."

"On me?" Harry gulped.

"What?" Hermione snapped to attention. "No, of course not on you, Harry. Just on the reaction wands could have towards each other. It's the only thing that I can think of that would interest Ollivander. I'm going to have to do some research about this," she mumbled to herself.

"Hermione, you can't keep adding topics of research to your list before you finish with any of them. Especially when you're not going to have a lot of time to spend in the library when we're reading," Ron said exasperatedly.

"I'll make time," Hermione said stubbornly.

"You have to sleep, remember?" Ron rolled his eyes. He looked at Harry. "Back me up here, mate."

"I don't think any research on this is really necessary," Harry shrugged. "I mean, the letter said that Voldemort's going to return soon, and we know that he's going to come after me sooner or later. We're going to read about it, so we'll read if our wands react to each other. See? No research necessary."

"Right, because it's going to be so much better to read about you facing You-Know-Who than it is to try to force Hermione to take a break," Ron said sarcastically. "Great. Just great. I have a pair of morons who don't know how to take care of themselves as best friends."

"I think I prefer to worry about everyone else's reaction to finding out that my wand shares a connection with Voldemort's," Harry said dryly. "They're not going to be happy. They hate anything that has to do with Voldemort."

"It's not like they can do anything about it. It's your wand. It chose you, you paid for it and you have every right to keep it unless you break the law in some unforgivable way," Hermione argued.

"We've broken some pretty serious rules and laws," Ron pointed out. He quickly backtracked when Hermione glared at him. "But nothing serious enough to warrant taking your wand."

"They don't exactly have to do it the legal way," Harry said, getting more nervous by the second. "Someone could just 'accidentally' break my wand and say that I'd just have to buy a new one."

"They wouldn't dare," Hermione hissed quietly but furiously. She would have sounded more convincing if she had been more certain of what she was saying.

Ron sighed and clapped Harry's shoulder. "Guess we have another reason for you to learn how to defend yourself. Not only do we have to fend off a crazy ex-auror's attempts to curse us, but we also have to fend off the crazy buggers that could try to break your wand. That's great. Because we didn't have enough things to do. Who thought that it was a good idea to read these books?"

"Someone from the future," Harry replied, a reluctant grin spreading across his face.

"Yeah, well, apparently everyone in the future is a moron," Ron huffed.

The last shop was … tingle with some secret magic.

"Secret magic?" Michael repeated confused. "I doubt Ollivander has some secret magic in his shop. And even if he did, why would you feel it?"

"I don't know, but I still feel it," Harry said. The back of his neck was prickling in the exact same way the book was describing and it felt as weird as it felt awesome.

"You what?" Sirius tensed. Was something hurting his godson now?

"It doesn't hurt," Harry told him, immediately guessing where his godfather's thoughts were going. "It's just a feeling that there's something there."

"Or someone. His name's Ollivander, he works in that shop and he seems to like to be as creepy as possible," Terry said sarcastically.

"It's not the feeling of having someone watching you," Harry scoffed irritated. "It's different."

"Of course, it's different. Magic always feels different," Luna said calmly.

"Magic? You really think there's some secret magic in Ollivander's shop?" Ernie asked sceptically.

"I don't think it's secret, but wands have magic and there are many, many wands in that shop. Of course, there would be something to be felt," she said lightly.

"I didn't feel anything when I entered Ollivander's shop," Justin said curiously.

"Some people are more sensitive to magic," Luna shrugged. "Maybe Harry is one of them."

"That's true. Some people I work with sense wards before we can look for them. It's a damn useful ability, especially when they've trained to develop it," Bill intervened. He turned towards Tonks with a smug smirk. "This just shows that Harry would make a great curse breaker. I'm so going to convince him to become one."

"Please," she scoffed, rolling her eyes. "He'll prefer to be an auror and he'll be a great one."

"Good afternoon," said … the gloom of the shop.

"See? Creepy," Terry pointed out. "If the wide pale eyes weren't enough, he has to startle everyone who enters his shop."

"Don't be a baby," Padma rolled her eyes. "He's only said 'Good afternoon'."

"He spies from the shadows!" Terry protested.

"He doesn't spy," Padma snorted. "He's simply in his shop and he can stand wherever he wants."

"Hello," said … wand for charm work."

"See? Told you that your mother was awesome with charms," Sirius grinned at Harry.

"And Sirius would know it. Especially because Lily usually practiced charms on Sirius and James because they pissed her off," Remus said teasingly.

"She hexed them?" Harry asked with a wide grin.

"And she made sure that they had no option other than to wait for the spells to wear off," Remus smiled.

"She was cruel that way," Sirius pouted, but the effect was broken by the nostalgic smile on his face.

"To be fair, you always deserved it. You purposefully tried to piss her off," the werewolf pointed out.

"I blame James," Sirius said firmly.

Mr. Ollivander moved … chooses the wizard, of course."

"Transfigurations was always James' best subject," Remus nodded.

"I thought you said that his best subject was DADA," Harry said.

"He was great at DADA, the best one out of all of us at it, but he was brilliant with transfigurations of any kind," Remus explained.

"I think it's the only reason McGonagall didn't kick him out of her class," Sirius snorted.

"Then why didn't she kick you out of her class?" Remus replied with a raised eyebrow. "You were good at it too, but not as good as James."

"I asked myself the same question until the day they graduated," McGonagall muttered, fighting the urge to facepalm. Those two had given her a lot of headaches in her class, but they always got the work done before anyone else.

Mr. Ollivander had … forehead with a long, white finger.

"Seriously? Doesn't he know what personal space means?" Tonks exclaimed, indignant on Harry's behalf.

"That's not a very polite thing to do," Molly frowned disapprovingly. "He shouldn't go around poking at other people's scars like that."

"It's not like he hurt Harry," Michael shrugged.

"Oh, so it's okay if I suddenly start to poke you on your forehead?" Susan huffed.

"No! It's just… I mean, I understand Ollivander's curiosity. It's not like there's another scar like Harry's. It's unique. Everyone's curious about it," Michael tried to explain.

"Yeah, I got that," Harry scoffed quietly as he unconsciously plastered his hair against his forehead to hide the lightning scar.

"I'm actually surprised that people haven't tried to study it sooner," Michael finished. He shrunk when he found himself pinned in place by several murderous glares. "What?"

"You're forgetting that that scar is on someone's forehead. On a fourteen-year-old's forehead," Bill snapped at him. "Someone your age. You wouldn't like to become an experiment, would you?"

"Oh, I don't know, Bill," George said coldly. "Maybe he does."

"We're always in need of guinea-pigs to try our new products on," Fred said, the threat clear as he glared at Michael.

"I didn't… I wasn't suggesting that Harry should become an experiment!" Michael exclaimed, pale and scared.

"Then don't even think about something like that, you idiot," Angelina snapped at him. "Do you want to give the Minister any ideas to use against Harry?"

Michael gulped and glanced at Fudge. Fortunately, the man seemed to be distracted as he tried to get Kingsley's attention, while the auror had a bored expression on his face.

Michael looked at Harry guiltily. "Sorry, Harry."

The black-haired boy shook his head. "Don't worry," he said, but he sounded weird to his own ears. Would the Ministry ever try to turn him into a lab rat to study his scar? He already knew that there was something weird about it and everyone was going to find out about it when they read that it hurt him when Voldemort was close and that he had had a vision about the man.

"Hey," Ron nudged him. "Don't start worrying about that. Nobody's going to try to lock you up."

"They could try. I've pissed off Fudge enough today," Harry pointed out.

"He can't. The public would revolt against him," Hermione said confidently.

"I don't want to have to depend on the public's opinion about me to be safe," Harry shook his head. Everyone's opinion of him changed so often that it was unreliable.

"Then depend on us," Hermione told him seriously, looking at him in the eye. "We're not going to let anyone lock you up."

"What if the Ministry decides to do it? You can't fight the Ministry," Harry said.

"Says who?" Ron scoffed. "I'll fight the bloody Ministry if I have to. We've got your back, mate."

"If the legal way doesn't work, we'll go on the run and seek help from other governments. Or we'll hide in the muggle world or something," Hermione decided.

"Go on the run?" Harry repeated incredulously. "You can't go on the run for me!"

"You don't make decisions for us," Hermione snapped at him. "If someone tries to come after you, we can decide for ourselves if we want to run with you or not."

"But…"

"Mate, seriously, don't argue with Hermione," Ron told him. "And stop worrying about this. We don't need to discuss the possibility of going on the run right now because it probably won't be necessary. And if it ever does, we'll talk about it when we have to."

Harry swallowed the lump of emotion clogging his throat. He had to blink several times to fight back tears. The public's opinion was unreliable, but Ron and Hermione were always as steady as a rock by his side.

"I'm sorry to say … umbrella very tightly as he spoke.

"Oh, Hagrid, you're as subtle as a dragon," Charlie snickered. "Could you have made it more obvious that you keep the pieces of your wand in your pink umbrella?"

"Ollivander didn' notice," Hagrid blushed.

"I don't know how," Parvati shook her head.

"He probably thought that it was impossible for Hagrid to use them," Dean said. "I mean, we all remember the disaster that was Ron with a broken wand in second year."

Ron turned beet red. "It's not like it's easy to get spells right with a wand that backfires any spell you make."

"My point exactly," Dean said amused. "It's a good thing that we didn't have exams that year."

"Ollivander would've had a fit if he had known that Hagrid was using the pieces of his wand," Susan snorted.

"He would've lectured him for hours about the dangers it could have for him and anyone around him," Ernie snickered.

"Hmmm," said … armpit and round his head.

"Does anyone know why Ollivander takes all those measures?" Colin asked, looking around. "If you still have to try the wands until one chooses you, I don't understand why he needs to know the distance from your knee to your armpit."

"I've never seen him look at the results either," Tonks said pensively.

"I have no clue. I only wanted to get out of that shop as quickly as possible," Terry shook his head.

"I asked him," Hermione replied.

"Of course, you did," Ron said with fond exasperation.

Hermione glared at him briefly. "He told me that he was trying to find out some correlation between the kinds of wands and the customers that bought them. Whether it was the customers' appearance or their anthropometric measures."

"Their what?" Ron blinked confused.

"Their anthropometric measures. The measures he's taking of his customers," she explained impatiently. "It's all basically just a personal project of his and his customers are where he takes his data from."

"Well, that's uncomfortable to know," Anthony squirmed. "He could warn his customers."

"It's not like he's hiding it. It's just that not many people bother to ask or even stop him," Hermione said, rolling her eyes.

As he measured, … with another wizard's wand."

"What about wands inherited from family members?" Neville asked hesitantly. "Can you get good results with them?"

"It can work very well, or it can be an awful match," Remus explained.

"Charlie's old wand worked well for me, but the one I have now works a million times better," Ron grinned.

"It used to be a common practice in old families decades ago, but few people actually do that now," Sirius added. "My mother wanted me to have some predecessor's wand, but Uncle Alphard bought me a new one because he said that it'd work better for me. My mother was furious with him," he said gleefully.

Neville pulled out his wand from his pocket. "This was my dad's wand," he said quietly.

"Your grandmother believes in that old practice," Remus realized with a sigh.

Neville blushed. "She says that I should try to be more like him and that I should be proud of using his wand because he did very well in school with it."

"Of course, he did very well," Remus huffed lightly. "The wand chose him, but it may not be a good match for you."

Neville's blush deepened in embarrassment. "It… It feels weird sometimes."

"So, definitely not a good match," Tonks shook her head. "Your wand should never feel weird to you."

"Don't worry, Mr. Longbottom. I'll talk with Augusta about getting you your own wand. She needs to stop trying to turn you into your father," McGonagall scoffed angrily. She knew the pressure Augusta put on her grandson while trying to make the teenager be exactly like the son she had lost and it wasn't right. It was about time that McGonagall intervened and made Augusta realize that she may have lost her son, but she had a grandson that was a good young man she should be proud of.

"And if she doesn't agree, you can always go buy your own wand to Ollivander's shop like Uncle Alphard did for me," Sirius shrugged. "Do you have enough money for that?"

Neville perked up. "Yeah, I think I do."

Harry suddenly realized … and (feeling foolish)

"Everyone feels foolish when they try wands for the first time," Tonks snorted. "No one knows what he's looking for until a wand suddenly feels right in your hand."

"It's not like anyone would feel less foolish if he tried to explain," Justin said. "I tried to explain to my parents why we bought one wand and not any of the previous ones, and they stared at me like I had spoken in another language because they had never experienced it."

"Yeah, well, I would've appreciated an explanation beforehand either way," Anthony grumbled.

"He tried to give one to me when I asked, but I didn't really understand him until I found my wand," Hermione said.

waved it around … happier he seemed to become.

"How many did you try?" Alicia chuckled.

"I lost count when I had tried twenty or so," Harry shrugged with a sheepish smile. "I think it was at some point between accidentally making a flower vase explode and making half of the boxes fly out of the shelves they were on."

"You destroyed his shop?" Hannah asked incredulously.

"I didn't destroy it. I… may have broken a few things on accident," Harry blushed. "But it's not like a Reparo wouldn't be able to fix anything I broke."

"A Reparo wouldn't put the boxes back in their places," Charlie said amused.

Harry blushed even more. "Maybe there's another spell for that? Hopefully, there is, because between the boxes that went flying and the ones that he pulled out for me to try, there were lots of them."

"At least, Ollivander seemed to like having so much trouble to find a suitable wand for you," Tonks grinned. "I think it might get boring to sell wands all day, so you spiced up his day and gave him a challenge."

"Tricky customer, … inches, nice and supple."

Harry tensed almost imperceptibly.

"That's your wand, isn't it?" Ron murmured.

"Yeah, that's it," Harry nodded.

"Nothing's going to happen, Harry," Hermione told him firmly. "They're not going to make you buy a new wand."

Harry took the … how very curious…"

"Curious?" Sirius repeated. "What's so curious about my godson finding his wand? It's a very fine wand, shooting red and gold sparks when it chose him."

"Maybe it's curious that it took so long for him to find a wand. Just like it took him forever to get his letter," Dennis exclaimed.

He put Harry's wand … its brother gave you that scar."

There was a moment of stillness when everyone processed that information.

"Well, that was unexpected," Sirius said with a grimace.

"There's nothing wrong with my wand," Harry said defensively.

Sirius stared at his godson surprised. "I know that. I wasn't suggesting that there was."

Harry relaxed. "Really?"

"Yeah, I just thought that he was going to mention something about what your wand would be better suited for, like transfigurations or charms or something like that," the animagus explained.

Harry sighed in relief. "Good. That's good."

"Black may not say that there's anything wrong with your wand, but I do," Fudge intervened. "Nothing that has a connection to You-Know-Who can be good news."

"It's my wand!" Harry snapped, furious and afraid. "I'd know if there was anything wrong with it, and there isn't!"

"It has a connection to You-Know-Who!" Fudge argued.

"And we don't know what that means! It might be a good thing!" Harry argued back.

"It can't be anything good!"

"I think it is," Flitwick intervened. "A wand won't work properly against its brother."

"Does that mean that You-Know-Who can't hurt Harry?" Tonks asked.

"I don't know," Flitwick shook his head. "It may offer him some protection."

"But You-Know-Who has that same protection. If he's going to come back and Potter has to kill him, how is he going to do that with a wand that can't hurt You-Know-Who?" Zacharias sneered.

"Exactly!" Fudge exclaimed. "Potter's wand must be destroyed and he'll have to get a new one!"

"During the break you kept insisting that You-Know-Who is gone for good! Make up your mind about it already!" Sirius snapped at him. "And either way, you're not breaking my godson's wand! If Voldemort's gone for good, there's no reason for my godson to get a new wand. And if he's coming back, you're not taking away from Harry something that could save him!"

"You don't have a say in this!" Fudge argued.

"Like hell I don't! You're the one who doesn't have a say in this!"

"I'm the Minister of Magic!"

"That doesn't mean that you can butt your nose in everyone's business! You have no right to dictate which wand anyone should have!" Sirius exclaimed.

"That's a good point," Kingsley intervened calmly.

Fudge turned towards him, fury and betrayal etched across his face. "You…"

"I don't like to make rushed decisions. Maybe it'd be better to finish reading the books before making a decision about this. They may offer some insight about that connection between the wands," the auror explained, calmly but firmly in a way that made it impossible for the Minister to argue.

Fudge huffed. "We'll decide at the end of the books."

Harry scoffed quietly. "If he thinks I'm going to let him destroy my wand, he's crazy."

"We already knew that, mate," Ron comforted him.

"He won't be able to do anything. If the public finds out that he's trying to control which wand anyone should have, they'll revolt against him. They don't like to be controlled," Hermione said determinedly.

"That we can trust about the public," Ron pointed out.

"What's happening, Harry-hatchling?" Nightling asked confused. "Who has angered you?"

"It's just that… that useless of a Minister that we have, Fudge," Harry said frustratedly. "He wants to destroy my wand because it has a connection with the wand of the man who wants to kill me."

"Connection? What connection?"

"It's… They have the same thing inside, a feather from the same phoenix," Harry tried to explain, but he didn't understand the significance of what he was saying himself, so it was difficult.

"So, it's… the same venom?" Nightling asked confused.

"Uh, not exactly? But yeah, something like that," Harry shrugged.

"And that Fudge-useless wants to destroy it?" Nightling asked outraged. "You need your wand to defend yourself, don't you? You can't be a hunter without it just like I can't be a hunter without my venom. Well, I can, but I'm not a hatchling like you."

Harry decided to ignore that last comment. He wasn't going to get into an argument with Nightling about that. "I could, technically. I'd have to buy another wand."

"But the one you have is yours! It'd be like giving me someone else's venom! It's stupid!" Nightling hissed furiously. "Don't worry, Harry-hatchling. I'll bite Fudge-useless."

"No biting," Harry said firmly. He hesitated. "But if it's necessary, maybe you could hide my wand somewhere? If they try to take it from me?"

Nightling butted her head against his hand. "Of course, Harry-hatchling."

"Thank you, Nightling."

Harry … things — terrible, yes, but great."

"I don't think what You-Know-Who did had much to do with his wand. I think he would've done the same things no matter what wand chose him," Hannah frowned.

"Maybe it had something to do with the wand," Fudge jumped on that theory. "Maybe Potter will do terrible things too because his wand is the brother of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's wand."

"That's ridiculous," Sirius scoffed.

"They share a core! They have a connection!" The Minister insisted.

"Good Merlin, he's stubborn," Tonks muttered under her breath irritated.

"They have a phoenix feather as a core! Are you really saying that a phoenix feather made Voldemort do those things? A phoenix feather?!" Sirius snapped incredulously. "Everyone knows that phoenixes are good and that Voldemort is as far away from good as someone can be!"

Fudge flushed in embarrassment, but he lifted his chin stubbornly. "That connection means something."

"And we agreed that we were going to wait until the end of the books to figure out what it is," Kingsley intervened again.

Harry shivered. He … yer train leaves," he said.

"His train?" Katie repeated alarmed. "You sent him right back to the Dursleys?"

Hagrid blushed. "It was the only option," he said sheepishly.

"You could've brought him to Hogwarts," McGonagall pointed out. She wished they had found out about this sooner, so they had been able to get Harry out of that house earlier.

"Dumbledore said tha' Harry had ter go back ter his relatives after I took him ter buy his things," Hagrid explained.

"He did, didn't he?" Severus muttered under his breath.

"His relatives won't dare to do anything now, will they? I mean, after the scare Hagrid gave them, they wouldn't dare to touch Harry," Angelina said, hoping with all her heart that her words were true.

"They left me alone," Harry told them. 'At least, for the rest of that summer,' he added to himself. He would deal with the fallout if they read about the following summers later.

"That's something, I guess," Molly said unconvinced. "I wish it hadn't taken that scare to make them rethink their behaviour."

Harry wisely chose not to answer that statement. The Dursleys hadn't really rethought anything. They had just been scared for a while, but it hadn't lasted forever.

He bought Harry … night my parents died."

"You don't have to prove yourself to anyone," Sirius scoffed. He knew a lot about expectations and he had learnt to kick them all where it hurt and do whatever made him happy.

"Your parents would've been so proud of you, Harry," Remus smiled at him. "You can't even imagine it. You were already their whole world before you were even born."

"James couldn't shut the hell up about you," Sirius snorted. "He had a goofy smile on his face from the very instant that Lily told him that she was pregnant, and it never vanished, even when Lily threatened to castrate him when she was giving birth."

Harry blushed a little, but he was smiling from ear to ear. He had heard more about his parents that day than he had in all of his life.

"They would've just wanted you to be happy," Remus told Harry. "They wouldn't have cared at all about anyone else."

Harry cleared his throat to get rid of the lump of emotion. "That's… That's good."

Hagrid leaned across … still do, 'smatter of fact."

"That was so kind of you, Hagrid," Molly told him with a bright smile.

Hagrid shrugged. "It was all true. Harry's doin' great even with all the extra trouble."

"And I'm having fun," Harry smiled at the gamekeeper.

"Everyone has fun at Hogwarts," Charlie sighed. "Nobody really wants to leave when the time comes."

"It's a bit sad, isn't it?" Tonks said nostalgically. "I still miss it."

Hagrid helped Harry … blinked and Hagrid had gone.

"You were gone just like that?" Seamus asked surprised.

"I had a portkey," the gamekeeper explained with a shrug. "I was in a hurry ter give Dumbledore the package."

"Ah. The mysterious brown package," Seamus grinned.

"I still can't believe that Harry went back to the Dursleys," Katie grumbled under her breath. "Does that mean that we're going to read about them again now?"

"We'll have to see in the next chapter, because we've finished this one," Flitwick said, nodding towards the book that was glowing yellow. "Should we continue?"

"Hell, yes!" The twins exclaimed.

"Boys!" Their mother scolded them.

"But don't you see mum?" George grinned at her. "We're probably going to read about Harry boarding the train next."

"And he met some devilishly handsome redheads then," Fred smirked.

"Oh, no," Harry said wide-eyed. What had he thought of the Weasleys, and Hermione, and Neville, and everyone, the first time he had seen them?

"Oh, yes!" Fred corrected him.

"It's going to be epic!" George cheered.