Harry dreamed that he was flying. It was a dream that he often had, sometimes motorcycles were involved. He landed and saw a woman waiting for him. She wore an odd dress with a cloak. She wore a glowing purple gem around her neck.

"Harry, you fly so well."

Harry smiled and the woman disappeared. Voldemort grunted in displeasure as his gem stopped glowing, the boy's dream faded away. He returned to his own dark world in the boy's cramped room. He'd had a productive night. The gem granted knowledge of its use as soon as it was touched, and so far all of it had proven correct. With it he could access the boy's memories and dreams. He could also use it to manifest himself to the boy as the woman had done the night before and just now in the boy's dream. The weakness however, was that the gem would go dead; it seemed that he could only use the gem when the woman used her own. He did not have enough information yet, and so he waited and watched.

The woman appeared again. She sat on the edge of Harry's bed, and began to rub the boy's back.

"Good morning Harry. Wake up."

The boy did not move much.

"Come on Harry, wake up."

Sleepily the boy stirred, and then slowly blinked his eyes open. "What?.."

"Harry, My name is Sophia. I am a friend." Voldemort, observing, thought, that seems rather pretentious.

The boy was very much awake now and staring at the woman in his closet. "What are you doing here?"

She smiled and answered, "I really just wanted to introduce myself. I will be around a lot, and, well, we had to meet eventually."

"I don't understand. Why are you here? Did the Dursley's let you in? Why?"

"No Harry, the Dursley's did not let me in. I am not really here. Let me show you." Sophia placed her hand on Harry's shoulder, and then disappeared. Voldemort could see by his shocked reaction, that not only had the woman disappeared, from his sight, but that as he reached for his shoulder, he had felt her touch and it had disappeared as well.

Not for long. The woman reappeared sitting on a plain wooden stool. "Harry. I am not really here. I am really only a dream." Indeed added Voldemort to himself.

The boy leaned out of his bed and touched the woman's robe covered knee. "I can touch you, and you can touch me."

"I am a dream. When you are asleep you are able to touch your dreams. I am a dream that you can touch while you are awake. Please do not be frightened. No one else can see or hear me."

Voldemort smiled slightly.

"Harry, you are special. You are a wizard. You will be able to learn magic." The boy just stared at her, his emerald eyes still slightly clouded by the vestiges of sleep. "Go ahead and get ready for the day Harry. I will be back later." She ruffled his head, "Nice hair"

The woman disappeared, and Voldemort's gem grew dark. The boy reached up in wonder, his hair was as long as it had been the previous morning.

--

Harry was in the backyard again. This time he was busy filling in the pit he and Dudley had dug together. Dudley had been sent to a friend's house for the morning. His aunt was supervising him. Well, she was sitting on a chair in the backyard while reading one of her magazines.

While Harry worked on filling the hole, he reflected upon his experience as had a woken up this morning. He was not entirely sure that it was not just a dream. The woman had herself stated that in fact, she was just a dream. Yet is was different, but so fleeting that it did not seem any more real than a night's dream fading and forgotten as the morning starts. And yet… Harry paused from his labor for a moment, and looked towards his Aunt Petunia.

"Aunt Petunia, what do you know about magic?"

His aunt jerked the magazine away with a start. Her eyes were wide for a moment before narrowing and her mouth becoming small. "Harry, there is no such thing as magic. Finish cleaning up this mess quickly then clean yourself. You are dirtier than yesterday." Petunia stood up and went inside.

After a moment Sophia appeared again. The boy had returned to his work and was not looking in the direction she had appeared, yet as soon as she was there he seemed to sense her. He turned and looked up.

"Harry, your Aunt and Uncle know that you are a wizard. They know about magic, but pretend it does not exist. They hope that they can raise you not to be a wizard."

"But I am a wizard?"

"Yes Harry. Being a wizard is not something that you learn to be, but something you are. Even if your family was able to successfully keep you from learning to control your magic, it would still seep through. Just as it did last night, when your hair regrew." The boy considered this.

"Can you teach me magic?"

"No Harry, not really, you are still too young."

Voldemort tensed, he had not learned everything had hoped to learn about this woman's identity, power, and purpose, but through his life he had learned not only patience, but also the need to take advantage of opportunities as they appeared. This was exactly one of the opportunities he hoped would present itself. Making sure his appearance was correct; he activated the violet gem he wore around his neck.

Both Sophia and Harry jumped at the sudden appearance of a handsome young man dressed in green robes. He wore a gem identical to Sophia's around his neck.

"Sophia is correct Harry. It is illegal for an under aged wizard to cast spells. The ministry of magic would catch you and punish you. But there is more to magic than casting spells, we would be happy to teach you everything that we can."

"You!" the woman spate out, a wand had appeared in hand and it was now directed at the young man. This worried him slightly, but he suspected that her condition was must like his own. If so, the wand was merely an illusion and powerless. He kept a pleasant smile on his face.

"It is good to meet you. Harry, my name is Tom." Ah, yes, the woman definitely responded to his name.

"You can teach me about magic?" Harry asked the young man.

"Oh yes Harry. I am like Sophia, a dream and a companion. I would love to teach you about magic." The woman did not respond with surprise at his statements or even he had to admit, his presence. She responded with anger. She knows more, she who I am. What I am.

Suddenly his gem stopped glowing and the woman had disappeared. The boy blinked a couple of times and looked around in confusion. "Sophia? Tom?" But he received no answer. After a moment he returned to his work, but more slowly and clearly distracted.

--

Hermione shook her wand several times going through motions of half a dozen different curses. Sparks would appear, but they only mocked her. She felt no welling of power or release of magic. They were merely illusions and figments, created from her own mind.

She was scared. She'd been gratefully relieved when she had deactivated the gem and Voldemort had disappeared as well, but he had been a very dangerous wizard and she feared what he was capable of. Mostly she was concerned that Voldemort would interfere with her mission.

--

Harry finished dressing to discover that his Uncle had returned home early. "What mischief is this boy? What did you do to your hair?" His uncle's face was becoming dangerously red. "What is this meaning of this? Your aunt called me at work, in tears over your antics. We are going to settle this at once. "His uncle then grabbed him and dragged him towards a chair in the kitchen. He received the same treatment with the scissors that he had received the night before, only this time his uncle seemed determined to remove every last hair. He was then banished to his room ven though it was early afternoon.

--

Tom watched as a repeat of the earlier night. The boy in his bed had his hand exploring the rough stubble left by his uncle's ministrations. They really are very loathsome muggles. Overall he was pleased.
Whoever this Sophia was, he was confident that his presence did not fit into her plans. He really delighted in spoiling other people's plans. And yet… He suspected that she knew who he was, maybe even what he was, and it made him feel vulnerable. He really needed to find out what she knew.

His gem flared, and he rushed to activate it. He wanted to make sure that she understood that she would need to accommodate him, and he had his terms.

--

Harry was exploring his wounded hair when he suddenly felt that he was not alone. He turned and saw that he had been joined by Sophia and Tom. Sophia was standing while Tom sat on a wooden stool. Sophia looked angry while Tom wore a large friendly grin.

"Harry, I am sorry."

"Yeah, he really did a number on you. No wonder he flunked out of Barber College." The look on Sophia's face only became angrier when he spoke.

"My uncle attended barber college", Harry asked incredulously.

"No, sorry Harry. I was just joking. I wouldn't know. Sophia and I are not all knowing." He winked and inclined his head slightly towards the woman.

The woman spoke up, "Harry please be careful. Tom really isn't a person that you can trust."

"Sure, I like to joke around a little. But the kid has a sense of humor. Overall, I am a pretty nice guy." Sophia harrumphed, but Tom continued, "Honestly! Go ahead Harry, I am sure you have been stewing long enough today, you must have some questions."

Harry looked at both them, and then asked, "Why am I a wizard?"

Tom began to answer slyly, "Well Harry, when a wizard loves a witch very much…" But Sophia cut him off with a simple, "Your parents were magical, a witch and a wizard."

"My Aunt and Uncle never told me this. I was told they were vagabonds."

Sophia answered, "They wish that magic did not exist, that there were no such thing as witches or wizards. To them such people are worse than vagabonds and thieves. They are deathly afraid that any one would ever associate them with such people."

Tom interjected, "I think the real question Harry needs to ask is why he is living with them. His parents were not without witch and wizard friends. And an orphan with Harry's ability would eagerly be taken care of by a wizarding family. So why is he living here, where the only thing his gifts bring is abuse?" Tom was very pleased with himself. His question had definitely brought Sophia's face into a scowl. Quite frankly he was interested in the answer.

"You mean that I don't have to live with the Dursley's?"

A stool appeared and Sophia sat down. She reached out and took one of Harry's hands. "No Harry. There is a very good reason you live here." She paused and glanced at Tom who responded by arching one of his eyebrows. "This home has a very powerful charm cast on it. As long as you live here, as long as this is your home, you are completely protected from both magic and muscle."

Ah, so the boy is still in danger. Somebody, Dumbledore?, fears for his safety. I may have failed once, but not completely.

"A charm?"

Tom broke in, "Yes, a charm. Tell me Harry, do you know how your parents died?"

"They were killed in a car crash."

"A car crash? Do not joke. Something as mundane as a car crash is incapable of killing a truly powerful witch or wizard. Let me assure you that your parents were powerful." Sophia was glaring again. "Your parents were powerful. It took something even more powerful to kill them. A dark wizard named Voldemort killed your parents. You are here to be protected from him." Tom paused, daring the witch to say something, but she remained silent. If she is not going to say anything, then I am not.

Harry's hand went to the scar on his forehead. Tom continued to speak, "You received that scar in the attack. Voldemort tried to kill you too. He failed." Come on ask the question. Everyone remained quiet, and Harry carefully traced the lightning shaped scar on his forehead.

"I really am a wizard?"

Sophia answered, "You really are a wizard."

Harry considered this then said, "Okay, what are you going to teach me first?"

"Harry…" Sophia began, but Tom cut in, "I mentioned before that without a wand there are very few things that you will be able to do. I have given it some thought. You could try Legilimency, it is a technique to read other people's thoughts, but it will take a lot of work. We could teach you about magical animals, but in this neighborhood you not run into any. Magical plants might be helpful; we might even be able to track some down. You could definitely brew potions without getting into the trouble, but I don't think we will be able to acquire the ingredients."

Sophia again spoke up. "You might want to try becoming an animagus. It is a wizard that is able to transform himself into an animal. But right now Harry, maybe it is best if you learned about the wizarding world. Would like to hear some stories? You may have learned some history in school, let me tell about the parts that were left out."