Harry and Millie and the Philosopher's Stone

by sovinnai

In his elementary school in Surrey, Harry is saved from Dudley by a new friend. This friend is named Millicent Bulstrode, and she soon is introducing him to a whole new world, a world of magic.

4. A Year Passes

Here's the next installment. The next one is only started, and I'm going on vacation, so it may or may not be a while before I can post it.

Thanks for the support and the reviews I appreciate. To answer some specific questions in the reviews:

To Penseln: To your first question, I'm going to try to follow the books to a certain extent. What that means is that the broad outline will be the same, at least up to the fourth book. It will be Philosopher's Stone first year, Chamber of Secrets second, so on and so forth. However, Harry's friendship with Millie will have some affects, major and minor. I'm going to try very hard to not just have a rehash of the books. The second year, especially, will have changes. I actually have most of that plotted out already, and it's a lot different. I'm actually having more trouble thinking of ways the first year will be different. Any suggestions would be welcome. I guess it's just a bit more of the butterfly effect, anyway, that the later parts will have more changes.

To your second question, yeah, Draco will be himself. I have some sympathy for the character, but no liking. Same with Snape. And yes, Harry and Millie will both be Slytherin. I actually think that their personalities so far are more Hufflepuff than anything, at least as far as the loyalty goes, but I've always felt that it's not personalities but prejudices that actually sort the students. I mean, honestly, has Draco ever been cunning or sly? Or ambitious, for that matter, other than following his father's footsteps? I'd think the whole fake duel thing in first year is probably the most cunning he is in the whole series until third year with the Hippogriff scene, and neither is really impressive, are they? So, yeah, sorry for the rant, but due to Millie's parents, the pair will be Slytherin.

To Reader1Writer1: It seems that you pretty much anticipated this chapter. So, read on.

To Goldenfightergirl: Yes and no. They do have a lot of contempt for the Muggles, but they will not directly interfere too much. As far as the school goes, I think that Millie's mother wants her to learn discipline and how to pay attention in school, so actually the whole Mr. Reilly thing could be taken almost as beneficial. Obviously that's twisted logic, but I kind of need that kind of reasoning to have Millie be in Muggle school in the first place, so yeah. As far as the Dursleys, the Bulstrodes will run some interference between Harry and the Muggles. However, the Bulstrodes do not in any way, shape, or mean want to tangle with the guardians of the Boy-Who-Lived. They're not sure exactly how much influence the Dursleys wield, and as such will stay out of it as much as possible. Besides, I don't think Millie will reveal too much of either situation to her parents, seeing as, at least as far as Harry's situation goes, she doesn't trust them at all.

I think that at parts of this Harry and Millie are too mature for their age, so sorry about that. I guess I could come up with a whole psychological reason for that, being bullied and all, but I'm really just having trouble writing realistic seven/eight year old's in their situation. I guess you should just remember that for most of the time they're playing on the swings and stuff like that together. It's just the scenes where they have need to be more mature that I'm writing, as they're the important ones.

And about Millie not trusting her parents, even though she's only eight (I guess I'll put her birthday sometime during the school year), she has this instinct thing going on. It's not that she doesn't love them anymore, even though they are plotting a bit and are kind of cold to her, it's just that she wants Harry to be careful. I think of the Bulstrodes as basically trying to emulate the Malfoys and other Pureblood families like them, and not succeeding particularly well.

Anyway, that took up a lot of space, didn't it? Anyway, on with the story. Please read and review, especially if you find something that you dislike, or a question about the story. I'd rather hear about things that I'm doing wrong than things I'm doing right, however gratifying the latter may be.

Disclaimer: I'm sorry to disappoint, but I'm not J.K. Rowling. Better luck next time.

The rest of the school year passed rather quickly, days turning into months as the pair of friends carried out their daily routine. They became inseparable, spending every moment they could together. When at school, they sat next to each other and played together. On the weekends, they snuck out from their houses to play in the deserted playground near Harry's house. This development caused some amount of satisfaction to the Bulstrodes, though neither Harry nor Millie could come up with a reason for it. At the same time, Harry's new friend caused ill-concealed fury in his Aunt and Uncle, his Aunt especially, though he would have thought they'd be happy to have him out of the house.

Their respective houses were pretty far away, so they got plenty of exercise journeying to their meeting spot each day. When there, they spent some time playing on the swings and doing imaginary games, but more spreading magical books on the ground and reading them together. Millie had sneaked the books out of the house, hiding them in her backpack when she went to school. Harry had wanted to read some books on Hogwarts, the Wizarding School that Millie had said they would go to, but Millie brought a book full of spells and jinxes instead. His disappointment quickly vanished as they delved into the book, though.

Harry was enthralled by all the spells he could find in the book. His imagination sparked as he discussed interesting ones with his best friend. Still, he could tell that she, even though she had chosen the book, was not as interested by it as he. Of course, she did enjoy looking at the pictures and the effects of the curses with him, but it just didn't seem to catch her interest as much as it did his.

He had asked Millie why one day in the fall, while they sat on the top of the slide together with the book in between them. She had responded, "I used to love thinking about those awful girls cursed like that. I would think about them with horns or tree trunks as legs, or something." Harry laughed at that, thinking of Dudley stomping around with wooden legs. Millie had laughed with him, but then continued more seriously. "But now I have you as a friend and I think of you being hit by one of the spells instead."

Harry could kind of understand what Millie was saying. He did have a weird and bad feeling sometimes when he thought of her being jinxed by one of the spells in the book. Still, he thought, the spells would be really good to use on Dudley or someone like that.

He said as much to Millie, and then added, "Anyway, not reading them wouldn't keep either of us from being cursed. Now we can get revenge if someone tries." Harry thought of Dudley as he said this, remembering that Friday when the bully had tripped Millie and shoved her into the ground.

Millie reluctantly agreed with his reasoning, but also decided to find out if there was a way to block spells or something.

Harry was sometimes a bit frightened of his newfound anger and desire on revenge on Dudley. Before, he had hated being chased by his cousin, and had often dreamed of getting away, but he had never thought of actually causing him pain. Now, though, when he saw Dudley mistreat Millie as well as himself, new thoughts of revenge found themselves making their way through Harry's head.

These thoughts had cause to come often that year, for Dudley tortured the pair more and more often as the year went on. Whenever the bully found either of the pair alone, he would set upon them, pushing them to the ground and kicking them. When they were together, then Dudley would just gather his gang together before chasing them.

Harry and Millie ran when they could, and fought back when they could not. They found themselves going to Miss Capon's cafeteria nearly every day, washing pots and scrubbing tables. The teachers, especially Mr. Reilly, were so taken by the Dursleys that they really couldn't care less if Harry and Millie were fighting back or not.

Still, it wasn't all bad. For one thing, with Harry's help, Millie had managed to get her grades up. Harry didn't dare pay attention in class, in case the teacher would notice and realize that Harry was not as stupid as she always thought. Instead, Harry and Millie would take the class books off somewhere alone after school, preferably somewhere that Dudley wouldn't find them.

Then, Harry would help Millie go through the books, and would try to explain stuff that they read in it. It wasn't that Millie was stupid or anything, it was just that she was missing all sorts of little bits and pieces of knowledge to let her understand the classes. For example, when the teacher told the class that diversion is the inverse of multiplication, Millie didn't understand because she had never learned what multiplication actually meant. She had memorized tables, or tried to, but she had no idea that multiplication is just adding over and over again. It was the same in all their classes. She just didn't know stuff that most people would think was simple or common knowledge.

Millie explained it by the fact that she hadn't done any school until she was six. In fact, she hadn't had any contact at all with the Muggle world until then. Apparently, her mother and father had tried to teach her by thrusting textbooks and histories at her, under the impression that was how real wizards, Purebloods, taught their children. Whether that was true or not, Millie didn't know, but she did think that Purebloods were probably smarter than her. Harry argued that it wasn't true, but she didn't really believe her.

After that one-sided argument, she had gone on to explain that when she had shown no real inclination to read the books, her mother had finally decided to send her to a Muggle school. Over the two years before Millie had gone to school with Harry, she had been spectacularly unsuccessful at Muggle school. Not only had she been unable to understand the teachers' lectures, but she had also been constantly bullied by the girls who made fun of her for her heavier build and her seeming stupidity.

Now, though, although she was still teased, she had a true friend. Now, too, she was beginning to understand some of the classes, and getting better grades. Millie still didn't understand why it was so important to learn about Muggles, considering that she and Harry would leave in only a few years to go to Hogwarts and never have to live in the Muggle world again, except in the summers. Still, she would do whatever she had to in order to stay in school with Harry.

At the same time, though, Harry had been having more trouble with Dudley and the Dursleys. One time, after he had spent fifteen minutes explaining a history lesson to Millie, he had accidentally gotten 10 points better than Dudley on a quiz. That day, when they both had come home, Uncle Vernon was so mad that Harry had been sure he'd hit him. However, Harry's Uncle had restrained himself, and instead sent him to his cupboard with no dinner. In fact, when he'd woken up the next morning, Harry hadn't been given breakfast either, on account of his being a cheater. He hadn't bothered to complain or explain that he hadn't actually cheated. Instead, he had quietly consented and sworn when he was alone in his cupboard to not forget himself like that again.

When Millie had heard about what had happened, she had been horrified, offering to stop asking for help. "If you don't help me, then you won't have to pay attention, and then you won't be able to do better than Dursley, and then you won't be punished," she had said.

Harry had gotten uncharacteristically angry at that, snarling, though quietly, back at her. "No! I won't take the chance that you're gonna get pulled out, just so I can save myself a couple of meals. I'm going to help you whether you like it or not."

Millie had consented to him, though she had decided to learn with Harry how the teachers graded to make sure that he kept his grade below Dudley's. This ended up working very well, and the two of them had worked out a system that made sure Harry's grades were low enough without going so low as to make a teacher phone Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia.

Apart from a few hiccups such as that, the year passed more or less pleasantly. In fact, on balance it was the best year they had had in all their still short lives. To the utter surprise of the two friends, their sessions working with Miss Capon had created a great deal of that pleasantness.

At the beginning, she had snarled at them every time they came in the cafeteria, which ended up being nearly every day either at recess, lunch, or after school during the entire year. She seemed very suspicious of the pair, always checking to make sure that they hadn't broken anything or missed a spot. After nearly three months, though, she had decided to leave them alone, having seen that they were willing enough, and quick learners.

The grudging acceptance they had won from the old lady was replaced by some pity and admiration when she found the boy explaining how to wash a difficult grate on the stove. "Look," he had told his friend, "you have to use this," he held up a thin and bristly cleaning utensil, "like this. You have to get around under the grate." Miss Capon had watched in admiration as he deftly slid the cleaner through and around the grate, cleaning the accumulated dust off its inside.

Miss Capon had begun to walk away, satisfied by their skill at cleaning, when she heard the girl speak. "Harry, where did you learn to do that?" Miss Capon stopped, curious as well. She was also surprised by the faint note of suspicion in the girl's voice. She had thought the two were thick as thieves.

The boy had not responded, and the girl spoke again. "It's those Dursleys again, isn't it?" Miss Capon wondered who the Dursleys were to cause such hatred in the seven-year-old's voice. Another pause, and then the girl spoke angrily. "They expect you to clean, too?" With no answer, she continued. "I wish I could go and hex those stinking pigs until they bleed out their ears." The old cafeteria lady blinked at that. Hex? Maybe she was one of those odd Wiccan types?

The girl wasn't done, though. "They expect you to cook for them, every day, and then only let you have the scraps! And then they expect you to clean the stove, too!"

The kitchen lady listened more carefully, shocked by those allegations. Then the boy responded with anger in his voice. "It's not just my family, though, is it? Your dad said you were as good as a Squib! And you're mum said she didn't think you'd have a friend! Don't think I don't remember that." There was a heavy silence, and then the boy said softly, "I'm sorry, Millie, I wasn't thinking. At least you have your parents, and they do love you. I didn't mean it like that."

Miss Capon heard a sniffle from their place in the kitchens, and she turned away to give them some privacy. She did not mention the conversation she had overheard to either of them. However, she did watch them more carefully afterwards. She noticed that the boy was too thin for his age and the girl had some indications of low self-esteem. For that matter, the boy did too. After the bout of eavesdropping, the old lady was sure to always give the pair an extra helping of her best food. Slowly, it seemed like the boy was filling out a bit, growing slightly taller and getting some fat on his bones, though he was still scrawny.

The two friends did not know what caused the change, but they did see that they were getting no more snarls when they arrived to serve out a punishment. Instead, it seemed that they would occasionally even get approving nods and gestures of encouragement. The pair weren't sure what to make of the cafeteria lady's newfound attitude, but they took it in stride. Neither did notice the extra food on their plates or the covert glances the old lady sent their way, but they still found their time in the cafeteria to be some of the most pleasant times they spent in school.

There was only one other event of that time that was really worth noting, and that was Harry finally meeting Millie's parents. Harry had often wondered why Millie always walked home instead of driving with her parents like most of the kids at school. When he had thought to ask, Millie responded that they didn't have a car as they could get most places magically. Harry hadn't thought of that before, but he supposed it made sense that wizards could get places with magic.

However, Harry was surprised one day in late April to see two adults greet Millie after school. He glanced at her, and she nodded to him, showing him that they were indeed her parents. He quickly thought through what Millie had told him about them, and decided that formality was the best course of action.

He strode to them and offered his hand calmly, although his insides were churning badly. He felt Millie's reassuring hand on his shoulder as he spoke. "Hello, Mr. Bulstrode, Mrs. Bulstrode. It's very nice to meet you."

Millie's parents looked at him, and he felt Millie's hand squeeze his shoulder in warning. He couldn't see anything untoward in their glances himself, but he had learned to trust Millie's instincts. If she wasn't willing to completely trust her own parents, then neither was he.

As he shook their hands, he thought over what Millie had said about her discussion with her parents about him.

"It think they assumed you already knew about magic for some reason. They were really interested in your scar, too," she had said.

"But why?" he had asked her. "Why would my scar interest your parents? I just got in some dumb car crash. And how would they know I'm a wizard, or think I know?"

"I dunno," she had replied, "but you should watch out. I'm not sure why, but they think you'll help them somehow."

They had spent several fruitless hours over the year trying to come up with explanations for the Bulstrodes' odd fixation with him, but they finally gave it up as a bad job.

Harry shook himself out of his musings, as Mrs. Bulstrode responded to his greeting. "It's nice to meet you , Harry. I've heard a lot about you from my darling Millicent."

The young boy didn't need Millie's slightly tightened grip on his shoulder or her tales of how much her mother ignored her to know something was wrong with her words. Millie hated her full name something awful, and if her mother was truly as caring as she pretended to be, she would have known that. No, even though Millie's parents seemed perfectly nice and trustworthy, Harry would still be careful around them. He didn't know what they wanted, but if Millie thought he should watch out, he would.

Mr. Bulstrode also gripped Harry's hand, more tightly than his wife had. In many ways, Millie's father reminded Harry of Uncle Vernon, but at the same time he was completely different. Even though the Bulstrodes were wearing perfectly normal clothing and spoke normally, there was still something…off about them. After a moment, Harry realized what it was. They both looked like they were uncomfortable in their current clothing, like they'd rather be wearing one of those robes Millie had shown him in a chocolate frog card she had brought him once.

Millie's father spoke, in a low rumbling voice that vaguely reminded Harry of a bear growling. "Yes, Harry. I've heard that you're an extraordinary young man."

Even if he knew that the adults were up to something, he still enjoyed being complemented by an adult for nearly the first time in his life. Of course, occasionally random strangers who Harry had since learned were wizards had occasionally popped in and bowed to him, of all things, but this was different. At the same time, Harry was happy that Millie's parents were interested enough in him to ask about him. They had, after all, told Millie to tell them all about him. Even if the Bulstrodes had some goal in using him, it was hard to not feel flattered about that.

The Bulstrodes chuckled quietly as Harry blushed, but they quickly got down to business. Mr. Bulstrode, who squatted down to eye level with Harry, asked a question. "So, Harry, you didn't know anything about the wizarding world before you met our Millicent? Nothing at all?" At Harry's agreement to the statement, the man stood up and muttered "peculiar" under his breath.

Mrs. Bulstrode had then cut in. "So you don't have robes, or a cloak, or anything?"

Harry replied respectfully, though it was hard to be nice to someone who had mistreated Millie. "No ma'am. I don't have any wizard stuff."

The witch shook her head in disbelief. "Well, Harry, we'll need to get you fitted out soon. When you get to Hogwarts with Millicent, you'll need to make a good impression. Maybe this summer you'll come with us to Diagon Alley?"

Harry's eyes bulged at that. Millie had told him some about the fabled wizarding shopping center, and it sounded incredible. She had only been there once, she had told him, but when she had been there she could not get enough of the sights. Quidditch shops, Olivander's wand store, Fortescue's Ice Cream parlor; neither could think of anyplace more amazing than Diagon Alley, save perhaps Hogwarts itself.

But then his spirits fell. "Uh, I'm sorry, but I don't think my aunt and uncle will let me. And I don't have any money either."

"Don't worry about that, Harry," she replied. "I'm sure I can convince your aunt and uncle to let you come with us. And as for money, nonsense! We'll be happy to pay for you."

Harry answered sadly, certain his relatives wouldn't let him go. "Well, if you can convince Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia to let me come, then I'd love to." He then added, in a muted tone none but Millie heard, "Fat chance of that."

"Well that's settled then," Mr. Bulstrode said gruffly. "Now come along, Millicent, don't make Harry's relatives have to wait."

Harry and Millie exchanged shrugs as her parents brought her away. When they got together in the cafeteria the next day, while scrubbing tables, they couldn't understand why Millie's parents had offered that. As Millie had said, "I don't get it. They're always complaining about how we don't have enough money to reset the Expansion Charms on our house. My father's only an Assistant Beater's Coach for the Cannons. Why would they offer to pay for you? It's gotta be expensive."

Of course their conversation quickly devolved into an explanation of Quidditch and a promise to bring a book on it to school the next day, but the question still lingered to be brought up in conversations occasionally during the year. As the year drew to its end, Harry could not help but tense as he thought of the possibility of a trip to Diagon Alley and whatever Millie's parents wanted from him. He had long since learned that whenever an adult was nice to him, they wanted something from him. What the Bulstrodes wanted he did not know, but with Millie and him together they would figure it out eventually.