Beta: FlyingLovegood123


"You are joking, right?"

The question that escaped Harry's lips sounded more like a plead, for he'd just heard one of the most absurd, most ridiculous sentences ever spoken.

"Sorry Harry, but it's been decided. You'll jus' have to put up with it." Hagrid told the boy with an apologetic look on his face.

"You're asking me to put up with it?" Harry was on his feet without realizing it, his arm waving frantically in Edward direction, his voice rising slightly "You should be asking him! You've no idea what those people are like!"

Edward was currently watching the heated exchange with a puzzled expression. Although he was the subject of the argument, he had absolutely no idea what the problem was and so far had been unable to take part in the conversation. The two sitting with him were discussing where he would stay until the term began. Despite Hagrid's statement that the solution to the matter was already fixed and that he was telling them just for the sake of it, Harry was obviously having serious issue with Edward's new lodging.

It was Harry's place.

"Relax, it'll only be fer a short while." Hagrid placed his hand on Harry's shoulder in a reassuring manner.

"You don't know what you're talking about." Harry grumbled, though he sat back in his chair.

"Hello?" Edward waved his hand in front of him to make sure the others were still aware of his existence at the table "Anyone minds telling me what's going on?"

At Harry's first lines of protests, Edward had thought that the problem lied at him, but clearly he was wrong, judging by the way the conversation was going. Harry didn't seem like he was annoyed that someone would be intruding his house, rather, the exact interpretation of his expression at the moment would be horrified. And, from what Edward gathered, wherever Harry was staying, he had a really bad feeling about it. The other boy turned to stare at him with a bemused look before opening his mouth.

"I'm living with my aunt and uncle and they…uh… don't exactly have a sense of hospitality."

"They're Muggles. Non-magical people, see." Hagrid said

"And they fear magic, too." Harry added

"Is having magic a bad thing?" Edward couldn't help but asked.

"No, it's got nothing to do with that." Harry shook his head "It's just the way my aunt and uncle are. They're terrified of anything that's different from their idea of being normal."

"Why do I have to go there?" Edward inquired the gamekeeper. Harry also regarded Hagrid with an expectant face, awaiting an answer. Hagrid stroke his beard thoughtfully.

"The Headmaster is workin' on it, but we're still unable to find any information related to yeh. For now, the most important thing is for yeh to adapt as quickly as possible. That's why Dumbledore thought it would be better if you could stay with someone yer age, someone with magic."

Now it was Harry's turn to be puzzled. He turned to Edward.

"What does he mean?"

Edward swallowed. It was still an uncomfortable topic for him to talk about.

"I…can't remember anything from before."

And he explained how he woke up on that rainy day without even a single memory to recall. Even now, he was still unable to remember anything. Diagon Alley was about all he knew.

"I see…" Harry said in a small voice. There was a long silence that followed, broken by Hagrid standing up and gathered the packages.

"Well, we have to go boys. There're still some arrangements to make."

"Let's hope the Dursleys don't traumatize him further." Harry mumbled before following Hagrid. Then suddenly he stopped in his track, having remembered something important.

"But Hagrid, how are we going to persuade them?"

At his words, Hagrid cracked a smile.

"I think they would prefer to cooperate to their son having a pig snout. It would go so well with the tail, though." He winked at Harry, who was picturing the image in his mind eye. It wouldn't be that much of a change, but still a tempting and amusing sight to see.


The Dursleys' reaction was more or less what Harry had already expected. They had returned to the house that was still full of letters. The brown envelopes were actually spilling out onto the doorsteps the moment they open the door. Aunt Petunia, who was standing right behind it, let out a tiny squeak as she caught sight of them and made for the living room, screaming for Uncle Vernon as she went. Said man came running, a hammer in one hand and a bunch of nails in the other. It looked like he was in the middle of removing the barricade he had set up the days before. His eyes widened comically when he saw them and he backed away several steps, his skin gone milky white in a few seconds and he held his hammer out protectively in front of him, the tip pointing at Hagrid's figure. Clearly he hadn't quite recovered from the shock from last night. Harry doubted that his uncle would forget that experience any time soon. It seemed he hadn't expected Harry to be accompanied by the giant on his return. Unable to let out any coherent sentence, he just stuttered.

"You…you…"

"Ah, there yeh are Dursley. I believe we have somethin' to discuss." Hagrid said with a cheerful voice. He turned around and pushed Edward, who was standing behind the two of them and hidden by Hagrid's enormous body, to the front.

"This boy here'll be staying with Harry until their school starts."

Harry watched as his uncle face changed from white to pale green as he comprehended Hagrid's words and a shade of red when he finally understood them. Then, with a courage fueled by anger, he thrown the hammer aside and faced Hagrid with his full height, his face held high in an attempt to be intimidating. But naturally, when the one facing him is twice as tall as he was, this didn't count for much. Then, he pointed his finger at Edward and nearly shouted.

"WHY must I let HIM into MY HOUSE?"

Hagrid still remained calm.

"The school will cover the expense of his stay. All yeh have to do is to put him up for a few weeks until Hogwarts starts."

"I will NOT tolerate ANY more of this NONSENSE under this ROOF!" roared Vernon.

Hagrid looked down at the two boys and told them to wait for a moment before turning his eyes back to the other man. He grabbed his umbrella, pointing it at Vernon and drove him into the living room. Finally, after about ten minutes of commotion that consisted of shouting, screaming and what sounded like something exploding, Hagrid triumphed and Vernon came out shaking from head to toes and barked at Harry and Edward to go to Harry's room. Grinning widely, Harry led Edward up the stair and looked back over his shoulder to see Hagrid giving him the thumb-up. He had been dreading coming back to this place since morning, but now it looked like it would not be so bad after all.