Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
The Journey From Platform Nine And Three-Quarters
The Great Hall was deathly silent as students and the professors studied the new arrivals sitting in front of them. The biggest reactions were from Harry's friends. Surprisingly, Harry didn't display any emotions and only stared at the three muggles coolly. But on the inside, he was panicking. How did they get here? was the first question that popped in his head, and Gods hate me was the second.
Another flash of light, and a note appeared in the middle of the air and started falling down. Ron caught it, and read it aloud for other people.
To Hogwarts
Fear not, everyone. These people are Harry's relatives and they are to join you for reading. Do try not to kill them as I'm sure some of you are tempted. Have fun reading!
"It's not signed." Ron declared, glaring at the trio that just arrived. Harry groaned, seriously considering the option of banging his head so hard he would be knocked unconscious. Sure, it would hurt but he had experienced worse pain and he would be saved from this utter chaos. Ugh, it was only the first day of reading and he already felt like his head will explode. Gods really hated him.
"You are Potter's relatives?" Alastor Moody, ever the cautious one, gruffly asked, pointing his wand at Harry's relatives. Petunia Dursley shrieked as she saw his mismatched eyes and hugged her son tightly in protective manner. Sadly enough, her son was much bigger than the size she was capable of covering so it ended up looking like she was trying to melt into her son. Vernon Dursley stepped in front of his wife and his son, his face turned into an interesting shade of reddish-purple.
"Put that thing down, sir! I will not allow people like you-" It was clear he was trying to look as big and intimidating as possible which might have worked for some but the wizards and witches remained unimpressed, their wands still aimed directly at them. As he realized it wasn't going to work, he tried to come up with different tactic but was obviously failing. When his beady eyes trailed over Moody and spotted his nephew, he was now spitting with anger. "You!" He roared, pointing an accusing finger towards Harry. "How dare you bring my family into this! Didn't I mention that you are not to do any freakish things? You will pay for this, boy! You-"
Remus stood up next to Moody. His amber eyes were flashing, indicating he was struggling to control the wolf inside him. "I think, sir, that immediately blaming your nephew isn't the best thing to do." He said softly, but there was dangerous edge in his voice that instantly shut Vernon up. "And I assure you Harry had nothing to do with your appearance here."
"And since we are finally granted with the pleasure of meeting you in person-" Fred drawled, his voice deadly soft. George continued, his eyes glinting dangerously.
"We would be able to talk to you-"
"If you don't mind gracing us with your precious presence, of course-"
"But even if you do mind, we are going to talk anyways-"
"And I'm sure we'll have absolutely wonderful time together-"
"As we talk about some little things."
They finished in perfect sync, giving them shark-like predatory grin which did not calm the Dursleys at all. In fact, Vernon looked like he would give anything to run back to the safety of his home and Petunia was close to bursting into tears of fright, frantically looking around for anyone to help them. Dudley was the only one who didn't look like he'll faint any moment and while he did look a bit scared, he was looking around the Great Hall in undisguised awe.
"If he didn't do it, then how did we get here?" Petunia asked fearfully, still pushing Dudley behind her. It seemed she would just ignore what the twins had said as if that would magically solve the problem. The said boy was watching everything with wide eyes, including Harry. It shocked him that eyes of his cousin held mere curiousity rather than usual cruelty and hatred in them.
How odd, Harry mused, but he snapped back to reality when black grim growled menancingly at his relatives. The emerald eyed teen firmly gripped the dog's fur and pulled him towards him. He stroked the black furs reassuringly as he handed the calming potion to everyone around him and had to suppress a sigh. Now since Dursleys were here, he would have to be more careful to not to let Sirius go anywhere by himself. The last thing he needed was his godfather getting captured while he was dealing with the Dursleys.
"We are not very sure of that ourselves," The Headmaster replied, but his eyes lacked twinkles and they were cold and hard. "but it seems that you are going to join us in reading this interesting book containing information about your nephew's life. Will you please sit at the High Table?" He conjured three chairs and gestured at the end of the High Table, which happened to be next to Hagrid.
The half-giant glared at them darkly, and Harry couldn't help but smirk. Dumbledore was clever, placing them next to a wizard who didn't only look intimidating, but who also gave Dudley a pig tail. As predicted, Harry's relatives looked alarmed at the idea of being in the same room with Hagrid, let alone sitting right next to him. They scooted as far as they could away from the half-giant, every now and then shooting him wary looks.
"Now that's taken care of, let's focus on the book, shall we?" Katie asked in false cheerful voice to decrease some tension. It might have worked if not for the furious glares she was sending at the Dursleys. In fact, it seemed that the majority of the students were glaring daggers at the only muggles in the Hall, which was causing Vernon to glare back and straighten his posture, Petunia to shrink away in fear, and Dudley to stare at everyone dumbly.
[Page 94 - His school books were very interesting. He lay on his bed reading late into the night...]
Hermione beamed at Harry while Ron stared at him in horror as if he had grown an extra head.
"How can you like the school books?" He asked incredulously, clearly believing no one in their right mind would find the school books interesting. Hermione rolled her eyes at him.
"Honestly, Ron, just because you don't like reading books doesn't mean everyone else don't. Really, you need to grow up more. The O.W.L is coming up and if you keep lazing out like this you'll fail it!" Mrs. Weasley nodded, agreeing with Hermione. "And not all books are boring. You just have to try it! You always conclude every books are boring and don't even attempt to read them. The only thing you do to your best ability is Quidditch-"
"Quidditch is also important, Hermione! And I do try to read books, and I do study! From what you are saying, it sounds like the only thing I do is Quidditch-"
"Well, it is true!"
"It is not!"
"It is!"
"It's not!"
"Guys?"
"What?" Hermione and Ron turned to glare at Harry, who was regretting his choice to speak. Oh well, it was too late now. "You do realize everyone are waiting for you two to stop so we can listen properly, right?" Sure enough, every pair of eyes were trained on them, who flushed in deep red.
"Now look what you did, Ronald! You made me embarrass myself!"
"Oh, so I'm embarrassing you?"
"Guys!" Harry raised his voice, effectively cutting off their argument. "Thank you."
[Page 95 - "Er - Uncle Vernon?" Uncle Vernon grunted to show he was listening...]
"You can understand your uncle's grunting?" Susan gasped in mock surprise. "I think you know how to talk to the trolls, Harry!"
"Harry, if you knew how to talk to them, why didn't you use that skill during our first year?" Hermione asked in fake anger, all the while biting inside of her cheeks to stop herself from laughing.
"Yeah, mate. That would have saved us from one of our 'adventures'" Ron agreed. Suppressing snort of amusement, Harry retorted. "Well, we wouldn't have been friends now, would we?"
They couldn't take it anymore. They burst out laughing, ignoring weird looks from students. Professors who knew about that particular incident scowled darkly (Snape), stared at them sternly (McGonagall) or merely sighed exasperatedly. People who had no idea about what they were talking about, however, were looking around frantically to try understand why the three Gryffindors were laughing. People like Remus, Sirius and Mrs. Weasley were going crazy with worry. Why on Merlin's name were they talking about trolls of all things? And what was this about them being friends by facing a troll? Did they really have an encounter with a troll in their first year?
[Page 96 - He got up and pulled on his jeans because he didn't want to walk into the station in his wizard's robes - he'd change on the train.]
"Clever boy." Tonks grinned. "I don't even know what I was thinking when I went there dressed in robes. I managed to freak out every muggle I met!" Hermione flushed next to her, causing all of them turned to stare at her. "You also wore it to King's Cross?"
"What? I forgot to ask Professor McGonagall about it!" She said defensively, but Harry focused in another matter. "Professor McGonagall visited you?"
"Yes. As a muggleborn she came to explain it in person so it will be more believable and also to answer questions we might have." She explained, taking joy on saying her knowledge as always. Ron snickered quietly behind his hand. "No doubt you asked millions of questions to professor."
"I heard that Ronald! If you were the one to go to a muggle school, won't you have many questions about it?" She shot back, and before another argument could take place Harry cut in. "So! A robe?"
Hermione blushed as their conversation got on to track. "Well, I thought we had to wear it to there. Really, I know it was silly of me to not think of muggles but I was too excited to think properly. Can you blame me? I was going to a school to learn magic!"
"Don't worry, kiddo, you aren't the only one. By the looks of it you and I aren't the only ones who did that." Her grin widened when few muggleborns blushed at her last statement. Harry frowned and held her hand up in stop gesture. "Hold on, but your mother is a witch. How come you didn't ask your mother about it?"
"Ah, yes. You see, my mother is rather mischievous sometimes and I might have pranked her." She said, and if it was even possible, Sirius barked proudly at that. Neville snorted in amusement. "So your mother purpously didn't tell you so you'll embarrass yourself in front of the muggles?"
"Well, yeah. But it was really great experience. You should've seen their faces when I walked in my wizard's robe. It was hilarious!"
"Thanks for the idea, Tonks!" Chorused the Weasley twins, beaming brightly at her, no doubt thinking of amount of chaos they would cause if they were to walk with their robes on in the muggle world. On the other hand, Mrs. Weasley looked frantic desperately trying to come up with a plan to stop them from doing so.
[Page 97 - There was a big plastic number nine over one platform and a big plastic number ten over the one next to it, and in the middle, nothing at all.]
"Hagrid, you didn't tell him how to get to the platform." Remus groaned,covering his face with his hands. As much as he loved his honorary godson, he had the worst luck from everyone he knew. That was saying something since that included the werewolves.
"I'm sorry, Harry. I should have told yeh." Hagrid apologized furiously, looking like he would burst into tears at any moment if Harry went into trouble because of his action. The Gryffindor was quick to reassure the half-giant, smiling as he did so.
"Nah, it's not your fault, Hagrid. Besides, if you did, I wouldn't have met one of the most best family in he world." Harry grinned at the Weasleys who smiled back in return. He was a honorary Weasley after all.
"Wait! But your aunt should know where it is. I mean, she would have saw her sister going there." Cho pointed out, and Harry stared at her blankly. "Yeah, she might have known how. So?"
"She could have told you."
"Yes, she could have. But she hates me." Harry said nonchalantly, not at all bothered about it. After all, he had fifteen years to accept the fact. But others didn't. As soon as he finished speaking, students sent their most vicious glare to the direction of the Dursleys, and some clutched their wands tightly as if they were itching to hex them.
[Page 98 - "-packed with Muggles, of course-"]
"Molly, you went there enough time to memorize the platform number." Mr. Weasley said, bemused. "You really should watch what you are saying, dear."
"Well, it's very distracting when you lead an army of over energetic boys." Mrs. Weasley said defensively, her face slightly red.
"Hey, what about me?" Ginny exclaimed, waving her arms widely as emphasis. Harry snorted at her antics. "What?"
"Other than that you just categorized yourself into an army of over energetic children? Nothing." Harry snickered at how Ginny's face turned redder than a tomato.
[Page 99 - He was tall, thin and gangling, with freckles, big hands and feet and a long nose.]
"Harry!" Ron shouted, offended at his description. "I do not have big hands and feet and a long nose!"
"Hate to burst your bubble, mate, but you actually do." Harry replied and dodged the smack from Ron using his seeker reflex. "Hey, don't take out your anger on me. Her fact still remains that your hands, feet and nose are bigger and longer than average people." Harry quipped, grinning cheekily as Ron missed again.
"Don't you worry Ronnykins-" Fred slung his arm around his younger brother, grinning.
"-I'm sure your look will get better later on-"
"-though of course it won't be as dashing as ours."
"Oh, bugger off, you two." Ron scowled, swatting at them.
"Was that really George or Fred?" Terry asked, and devilish smirks appeared on the twins' faces. "Not telling!" They chorused, irritating the Ravenclaw. However, their smiles faltered when Luna calmly spoke up.
"It was George."
"What? How did you know that?" The twins all but whined, clearly not liking that someone else other than them could tell them apart. Luna only smiled mysteriously. "Are you a seer or something?"
"You don't have to be a seer to tell you apart." Luna tilted her face to side, looking faintly amused. "You just have to use your observational skill. Fred is slightly taller than George and George's voice is a bit higher than Fred."
"Thanks, Luna! Finally I have some chance at naming them correctly. It annoys me to no end when they start confusing me with their identity." Ginny exclaimed, grinning triumphantly at her brothers. She couldn't wait to be able to recognize them correctly.
"That's not fair!" The twins whined, pouting like a three years old. "How could you just tell people about our secret just like that?"
"Shut it, you two. It's not Luna's fault she's observant."
[Page101 - Harry sat down next to the window where, half-hidden, he could watch the red-haired family on the platform and hear what they were saying.]
"Eavesdropping, Harry?" Hermione frowned at her, but before Harry could say anything in his defense, the twins joined the conversation.
"We are so proud of you, Harry! You have more potential of prankster than we've previously thought!" They started congratuating Harry on his 'success', obvilious to a death glare the teen was sending to them. "Eavesdropping on us without either of us realizing is rather hard if we do say so ourselves."
"How modest of you." Harry deadpanned dryly. The twins either didn't notice the sarcasm or decided to ignore it.
"I know right?"
"We are probably the most modest people on Earth!"
"Quiet, will you? I'll rather finish this book sooner than later." Angelina said, casually waving her wand towards the twins. Instantly, they behaved themselves, and Harry sent a grateful look at her.
[Page 104 - "Anyone sitting here?" he asked, pointing at the seat opposite Harry. "Everywhere else is full."]
"'Everywhere else is full'? Ron, you just came there to see the famous Boy-Who-Lived, didn't you?" Hermione deadpanned. This time, Ron turned bright red and apologized to Harry. The emerald eyed teen waved the apology aside but he couldn't help but feel hurt that his best friend had come because he was famous.
"Really, Harry, I'm so sor-"
"Ron, I told you, it's fine. I am rather used to it right now, anyways. But I still hate people gawking at my scar. In fact, I dearly wish the bloody scar-"
"Language, Harry." Hermione scolded lightly.
"-will disappear." Harry continued and Tonks assured him in her usual cheerful voice. "Don't worry, Harry! You can learn some glamour charms to change your appearance and there's also a possibility that you are a metamorphmagus."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Your hair grew in one night and there is a chance that that might be your metamorphmagus skill rather than an accidental magic."
"Sweet! So I can turn into whoever I want to be?"
"Pretty much." Tonks agreed, winking at him. The twins, however, were focused more on their favorite topic: prank.
"Just imagine how we could use that ability." Fred moaned in wonder. "The possibilities are endless!"
"I know. It's just not fair only Harry gets that ability." George agreed, sniffing. Harry couldn't help but roll his eyes at their antics. "Oi, it's not certain I am a metamorphmagus, you know."
"We know but knowing your luck, you probably are. Although most of the time you are awfully unlucky, there are few times when your good luck acts up and when that happens, you have the Lady Luck's full attention."
"For example?" Harry pressed, skeptical.
"Well, you managed to survive this long, haven't you?" Harry blinked as he suddenly realized, yes, he was really lucky to be alive after all those life threatening situations he got himself into.
[Page 106 - "I'm the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I've got a lot to live up to."]
"Ron, do you really feel that overshadowed by us?" Charlie asked, genuinely concerned for his youngest brother. True, since their parents were so busy with the number of children running around in the house, he didn't think Ron would feel so pressured. He knew as a fact that if Ron did any one of their accomplishments, his mother would work herself sick trying to throw the most grand party for him and even if he didn't do anything particularly special, they would love him regardless. That was what a family was for. They didn't judge because of some stupid grades.
"I, uh-" Ron stammered, his face turning pink like his ears.
Mrs. Weasley was overwhelmed by guillotines she felt. To be honest, she had favored her older children and subconsciously expected others to do as well as them. She also almost never bought anything new for younger kids these days and while it was because of their lack of money, it still didn't excuse the fact that she bought Percy an owl while Ron had to get his old rat. She swore to herself that she would never fail her children like this ever again.
"We are still going to talk about this." Mr. Weasley said, not leaving a room for argument. The Weasley siblings nodded in understanding.
Even after that, the entire Weasley family including the twins were solemn as they gazed at Ron, who was steadily turning red. Deciding to rescue Ron from the awkwardness, Harry grinned, clapping his best friend's shoulder. "Well, I don't know about you but I think you're not giving yourself much credit. I mean, who defeated a fully-grown troll in his first year? And faced the army of giant man-eating spiders? Hmm?"
"You also met the spiders." Ron pointed out, but Harry shook his head. "Nah. As many would agree, I'm a walking trouble-magnet and Harry bloody Potter. So I don't count."
The ginger-headed teen rolled his eyes at this but couldn't help but feel better. He made a mental note to thank Harry later.
[Page 106 - ...he told Ron all about having to wear Dudley's old clothes and never getting proper birthday presents. This seemed to cheer Ron up.]
"Ron! How can you get cheered up because Harry didn't have a good home life?" Hermione shrieked indignantly. Harry tried to interfere to stop the upcoming argument, but he was unsuccessful.
"Hermione, it's fine-."
"No! It's not fine, as you put it. He's taking pleasure in knowing your unhappiness, and he's no better than the Death Eaters who torture people for their entertainment!"
"Hey! I get it that it was wrong of me to be cheered up by that, but that's ridiculous! I was just glad that he wasn't going to tease me because my family wasn't rich, but I'm nothing like the Death Eaters! Besides, Harry sugar-coated the details so I didn't know he was really abused! If I knew, of course I would have told someone to stop it."
"Hermione, Ron's right. I did leave out the details, so it isn't his fault. Drop it, okay?" Harry set his jaw stubbornly and Hermione knew it was just useless argument. Besides, she was rather harsh. She turned slightly pink and they apologized to each other.
[Page 108 - "What are these?" Harry asked Ron, holding up a pack of Chocolate Frogs. "They're not really frogs, are they?"]
"You eat frogs?" Dudley asked incredulously, and everyone were surprised that he was listening. Vernon looked furious that his son took interest in freakish stuff and asked the freaks about it. Petunia only looked frightened that someone will curse them any moment and clutched his son's arm tightly. Harry recovered first and replied to his question.
"No, Chocolate Frogs are just chocolates enchanted to move like its alive. I can give one if you like." Harry offered and Dudley was about to accept it when Vernon interrupted.
"No! I will not let my son eat something from you, boy! Do you think I forgot what happened when Dudders ate your freakish treats? If you ever even get near my son I'll-"
"You'll what, Mr. Dursley?" Susan asked, dangerously. Her usual cheerful-self was replaced by deadly aura and she raised her wand to point at the Dursley, ready to hex them. Hannah, who was also angry at Harry's relatives, shook her head.
"Susan, as much as I'd love to let you curse them to next century, I don't think it's a good idea. You'll definitely get into trouble if you do it!" She hissed, gripping Susan's arm to lower it. "Besides, you know the twins are planning a big prank on them so just wait for a little more while will you?" When it was obvious that she was not going to calm down, Hannah forced her to drink the calming potion.
Harry was also struggling to keep his friends in control. By one hand he was grabbing Snuffles and Ron, and with his other hand he held Remus and Ginny. Thankfully for him, Neville had better control of his anger and he was trying to make the twins drink the calming potion. Luna was also holding Hermione next to him, who was very eager to pounce at the Dursleys.
"Will you calm down? It's just an empty threat!"
However, even after yelling and pleading, they didn't calm down. The Dursleys had already been targeted by several stinging hexes from others who didn't get restrained. Some of the students swore that few professors even hexed them and it was believable since they had smiled smugly. It seemed like getting hexed after being forcefully brought to magic school was final straw for Vernon as he snapped and completely lost his temper. He stood up, roaring in anger as he began advancing towards Harry menacingly. The teen jerked back in reflex, his eyes wide with shock, and Sirius immediately jumped up to growl in front of Harry while Remus pushed him behind his back. His friends also whipped out their wands, but the Dursley didn't even see it, blinded by his fury.
"Boy! How dare you bring us here against our will and curse us! You will pay for this dearly, you ungrateful freak-"
Several things happened at once: dozens of curses flew towards the enormously fat man, hitting him squarely on his chest. Some took advantage of this chaos and hexed Petunia Dursley as well, but fortunately for him, Dudley was spared since it seemed he was finally opening up to the idea of magic and he was also getting affected negatively from how his parents were treating him. If the Dursleys kept turning a blind eye for every wrong choices he made, it would only catch up with him in the future.
After curses weren't flying around in the air, Harry blinked as he looked at his relatives: or what used to be his relatives. Due to the sheer number of hexes they were hit by, the result was rather...peculiar, to say the least, and a bit intriguing as well.
"Well, that was...satisfying." George commented as he looked at the hippopotamus covered in boils and terrified yet angry chihuahua besides Dudley. Fred laughed, his eyes glinting mischievously. "Yeah, it really was. But I still think they'll look better with sparkles and some pink paint." He said suggestively, eyeing his wand.
"...!" Apparently, one of the effect was being silenced but Vernon wasn't giving up. He continued screeching silently, no doubt insulting them and demanding to cancel the spells on both of them. Dudley kept looking back and forth between his parents, looking torn between being horrified and fascinated at magic, so he settled for just sitting still, waiting for someone to do something.
As it was clear nobody was going to step up anytime soon, Harry sighed, looking at no one in particular. "Can someone turn them back, please?" Of course, people opened their mouths to object but Harry swiftly cut them off.
"Yes, I know, they mistreated, me they deserve this and so on. But really, how are you planning to explain their disappearance? And the fact that somehow, a dog and hippo appeared magically right after they were gone? Muggles aren't stupid and won't just blindly believe it's just a coincidence and besides, someone's got to take care of them as I doubt Dudley knows how. And I am not washing them."
He stated firmly, shuddering at the thought. The twins gagged, screaming, "mental images!" and "my poor, poor mind!" and the entire student body expressed their displeasure as well. Ginny wrinkled her nose in distaste but logically pointed out.
"Well, we can just turn them back when it's time for them to go back. Besides, it's not like keeping them like this for few hours will risk us getting discovered."
Thus, the reason why there was a chihuahua, hippopotamus and very confused Dudley listening to the book at the High Table.
[Page 111 - ...he wailed, "I've lost him! He keeps getting away from me!"]
Neville complained along with his book-self. "I always lose him. He keeps trying to get away from me!"
"He just needs some freedom and time to be by himself. He likes you but he's kind of an explorer." Luna commented, causing Neville to blink owlishly at her. "How do you know that?"
"Well, although he tries to go to somewhere else, he always comes back, doesn't he? So he obviously is happy being with you but likes to find some new places. If he really wanted to escape, he would have by now."
"Wow, Luna, I didn't know you knew that much about animals!" Ginny exclaimed, a bit awed by the Ravenclaw's deduction.
"You just have to observe carefully. It's nothing much." She shrugged, staring intently at her goblet.
[Page 112 - She had a bossy sort of voice, lots of bushy brown hair, and rather large front teeth.]
"Harry!"
"Sorry, okay? How was I suppose to know my thoughts would be written as a book and would be read to the entire population of Hogwarts?" Harry protested, dodging a swat aimed at his head. "Hey, no violence!"
"I'm not being violent. I'm just having a friendly squabble with you." Hermione justified her actions. She chased him around, trying to get him but he was too quick for her. Still, she displayed good speed, quick reflexes and surprising amount of flexibility. Finally, she managed to corner him, slightly panting from all the running she had to do.
"Alright, alright! You don't have a bossy sort of voice and large front teeth. But you have to admit, your hair is rather bushy." Harry added, once again skillfully dodging a playful punch.
"Shut it, you." Hermione rolled her eyes good-naturedly. It was rather refreshing exercising like this. Maybe Harry would be interested in doing again? After all, if they had to go into a war soon, it would probably be a good idea to be in good shape.
"Hey, not fair! Why do you apologize to her and not to me?" Ron cried out indignantly, scowling.
"That, my friend, is because while the description about you stand true, Hermione's wasn't." Harry chirped, laughing as he hid behind Remus. Meanwhile, Dudley was staring at the emerald-eyed teen curiously. This was not the Harry Potter he was used to. The one he knew was quiet, freakish and always had his guard up. But this Harry was different. Of course he was still weird but he never saw him so...carefree and cheerful.
[Page 112 - "Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, Turn this stupid, fat rat yellow."]
The twins sniggered loudly, easily dodging Ron's swats aimed at their heads.
"I can't believe you really believed that spell." Fred said, ducking his head to avoid his younger brother's arm.
"Yeah. I thought you knew us better than that." George said, grinning as if he wasn't trying to avoid smacks that would be very painful if he got hit.
"I also can't believe I believed you." Ron replied, smirking when he finally hit both twins. "But really, couldn't you have messed the spell up more so it might have caused the rat pain or something?"
"Hey, you shouldn't deliberately try to hurt your pet or any animals for that matter. It's animal abuse!" Ernie shouted disapprovingly, clearly not pleased at what the Gryffindor said. Harry shook his head, explaining instead of his friend who was occupied in a sibling wrestling - though it seemed rather heated to Harry but then again he didn't have any sibling to compare to.
"It'll be explained in my third year." And Sirius's innocence will be proved as well.
[Page 113 - "...I've learnt all our set books off by heart, of course, I just hope it will be enough..."]
All students except for some Ravenclaws looked stunned at the fact that Hermione memorized the entire content of the textbooks. Harry wondered why. After all, she had proved time and time again what she was capable of and she did memorize the useless DADA textbook of Umbridge recently.
"Do we need to memorize them?" A first year asked fearfully, but was relieved when she got 'no' as her answer.
"How are you not in Ravenclaw?" Terry asked, and shuddered. "If she was qualified as more Gryffindor than Ravenclaw, then I don't want to know what kind of 'brave' things she'll do. She might even help Harry rob the Gringotts!"
"For the last time, I am not going to rob Gringotts! Merlin, why are you guys so into this idea, anyways? I am not crazy nor am I suicidal!"
"I beg to differ." Dozens of people coughed out, smiling innocently when Harry turned to glare at them.
[Page 116 - "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sorts."]
"You need to learn how to make friends." Harry told Draco absentmindedly. "It's no good if you start insulting someone's new friend." Draco sneered and held his head high, but inside his head he was pondering on what he just heard. So if he didn't insult the Weasel, Potter would have accepted his friendship? Wow, that book must be really messing with his head if he's thinking about these kind of things.
[Page 116 - Crabbe and Goyle were a lot bigger than him or Ron.]
"You were really short when you were first year, Harry." Ron informed him. "You looked even more shorter when you stood near Crabbe and Goyle."
"Thanks a lot, Ron. It really helped my self-esteem." Harry said sarcastically.
"You are very welcome, Harry." Ron grinned cheekily as he dodged a punch aimed at him. Well, apparently having twin brothers who were ready to throw various kinds of pranks at him was good for his dodging skills.
[Page 119 - And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass.]
"The river is really cold. You should never go in there without warming charm." The twins shivered, and Harry looked at them strangely. "What? How did you end up going into there?"
"Well, you see, when we were just tiny little first years and was riding the boat, George here thought it was a great idea to try to see what's in the lake."
"I did say I was sorry!"
"Anyways, while he was observing, his weight caused the boat to rock and naturally we got dumped in the lake."
"How did you get out?" Dennis asked eagerly, as the story was similar to his own.
"A giant squid helped us! Come to think of it, we never got a chance to thank it." George mused, then snapped out of it when Remus chuckled to himself. "What?"
"It appears that the squid like helping the unfortunate first years who ended up in water." He explained. "When I was a first year James and my...other friends got too excited and caused the boat to flip over. We gave Hagrid a mild heart attack before we resurfaced. But when he saw the giant squid, well, he looked ready to abandon us dive into the river in order to befriend it if it wasn't his responsibility to get him to the school."
Harry grinned, amused. That was so like Hagrid, the animal lover, that he could picture it in his head without a problem.
"That's the end of the chapter." Dumbledore announced, as the book closed itself shut. "Now that will be enough reading for today. Eat your dinner and go to your dormitories. You should be here until seven o'clock tomorrow and the guests will be escorted to spare rooms. Hagrid, if you will?"
The Dursleys - after Dumbledore reverted them back to their normal-selves, much to the disappointment of the students - looked terrified at the idea of being lead by Hagrid and more than several students could've sworn they saw their Headmaster chuckling to himself. Umbridge and the Minister only looked disappointed they couldn't get any dirt on Dumbledore and Harry today.
The Great Hall instantly erupted into chatter, all of them discussing what they've read so far and what were their opinions. Harry, who was busy filling his hungry stomach, didn't see the twin's maniac grins. Tonight, the Dursleys were going to pay for what they did and no one could stop them.