Okay, sorry it's been a while, but I feel like I've been run over by a herd of Hippogriffs, blasted by several Skrewts, and then burned to a crisp by Norberta the Norwegian Ridgeback. School is awful.
On another note, I've moved the author's notes to the end of the story on a request by Mitremlap, who noted that it made it harder to read when I had so much stuff at the beginning.
It's sort of funny that all of my chapters are getting longer, even without the authors notes. This is actually something like twice the size of my first chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own J.K. Rowling or any of her work. I do own Antoine, Eugenia and Barker Bulstrode, but they're nothing to J.K. Rowling's characters.
And without further ado, onto the story. Please read and especially review. Please, please tell me if there's anything I can do to improve my writing, or anything you think I should change or include in my story. I love feedback and constructive criticism. Thanks.
Antoine and Eugenia Bulstrode looked around Diagon Alley carefully. They had seen their charges, Harry Potter and their daughter Millicent, vanish into Flourish and Blott's once more, and they did not know why. The pair had been incredibly excited to go to Quality Quidditch Supplies. Eugenia had been watching them carefully as they left Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor, and they had certainly been headed that way. But then her view had been cut off by a large family, one which seemed to all have bright red hair, and when they had moved out of her view, Millie had been leading Harry back to the bookstore.
"What happened to make them want to go back to Flourish and Blott's?" asked Antoine curiously as they walked back up the street.
"I do not know. They were certainly headed for Quality Quidditch when they left the ice cream parlor."
"Well, perhaps they decided to return and get another book." There was some pride in Antoine's voice, and though it perhaps would not be noticeable to another, Eugenia could recognize it for what it was, despite Antoine's control of his emotions.
Eugenia responded, "You do not know it will be another Quidditch book. They might be looking for more books on curses and hexes and the like." Eugenia spoke levelly, but her husband heard the suppressed amusement in it.
The pair certainly looked unemotional to any who saw them, but really they had just long since learned to suppress any outward show of emotions. Proper Purebloods never showed their emotions, after all, and they both knew that only Purebloods could ever hope to hold any positions of real power. The Bulstrode may not have been Pureblood themselves, but they could try to act like them.
Antoine looked curiously at his wife. "More books?" he asked. "They've already looked through such books?"
"Yes. Millicent has snuck several Defense books out of both libraries, as well as a few on Quidditch as well." Eugenia could wish that they had shown some interest in Transfiguration as well, but she could only be happy that Millicent had finally begun to read something other than Quidditch books. "I'm glad she is not shaping up to be the disappointment I had thought."
"And she's hooked Harry Potter himself, as well," said her husband.
Eugenia, precise as always, replied, "Well, not hooked so much as befriended. Unfortunately, I doubt that she is the right quality to be his wife, but perhaps a trusted friend. Either way, she has made a very good alliance."
The pair drew abreast of Flourish and Blott's bookstores, and walked inside. "Where would they be?" asked Antoine. "Would they be in the jinxes section?"
"Perhaps. Let's look around a bit and find them."
Meanwhile, Harry and Millie were sitting in the children section, browsing in awe through the books they had just discovered.
Harry was utterly gobsmacked by the books he found. They were about him! Even in his wildest dreams, the daydreams he'd had while sitting in his cupboard or doing his chores, he'd never once imagined that he would be famous. And famous for something he couldn't remember!
Millie stared at Harry, just as surprised. She had never even thought that her friend could be famous. He didn't look famous, or anything. He just looked like a normal kid. She didn't understand how he could be famous.
Their thoughts were interrupted by Millie's parents showing up.
"Millicent, Harry. What are you doing here?"
Millie looked at them in sudden surmise. "Why didn't you tell us Harry was famous?" She demanded. "Were you just trying to use his fame to make yourself better?"
Harry looked at them in horror as well. He was not surprised, everyone he met eventually ended up using him for their own benefit. He had thought they were different though, as they had treated him kindly, unlike most other adults he had ever met.
Antoine Bulstrode looked at them in surprise. He had not realized that Harry did not know of his own fame. It just never occurred to him to think that the Boy-Who-Lived would not know anything about his own story. He began to try to explain, but Millicent cut him off before he could.
"I don't want to hear it. Just take us home."
Eugenia began to tell Millicent off for being impertinent, but Antoine, taken aback by these new developments, merely took Millicent's hand and Apparated home. Eugenia, her intended target having disappeared, swallowed her irritation and brought Harry back to his Aunt's house.
When they Apparated home from the bookstore, both Harry and Millie were uncharacteristically subdued, as both felt very betrayed. They both felt betrayed by the Bulstrodes of course, for trying to use Harry's fame and for not telling him anything of it. However, as Harry thought of what had he had read, he began to feel anger at his Aunt and Uncle as well, for telling him that his parents were drunkards who had died in a car crash.
Harry had not had time to read much about the particulars of the incident that had killed his parents, given him his scar, and given him his fame. The book had not had too much detail, in any case, and very little about the elder Potters. But Harry had found enough to show that his parents were always spoken of in glowing terms. This fact just fueled Harry's anger, as he had been told all his life that they had been no good lay-a-bouts who had never worked a day in their lives.
Harry was forced to remain at Privet Drive for lunch, but he quickly wolfed down the scraps that were his due, and rushed out to find Millie and discuss these new developments. He soon was out the door, ignoring his Aunt's shouts, and running for his and Millie's playground. He was sure to pay for that later, but at the moment, sitting in his cupboard and doing extra chores did not seem much of a punishment. He simply did not care, as it paled beside the revelations he had just found out that morning.
In no time at all, he had run into the playground and found Millie sitting on a swing, waiting impatiently for him. As soon as she saw him, she jumped up.
"Come on," she ordered, "we've got to find out what's going on."
"What—"
"I'll tell you as we go." Millie said, pulling him by his arm as they set off for her house. Harry had never gone this far from Privet Drive before other than going to school, and he gazed around with an interested eye.
Millie pulled his attention back to her. "We're gonna talk to Auntie Barker," she said, "she'll tell us all about why you're famous and why my parents didn't tell us about it , and why and how they're using you."
Harry stopped suddenly. "You're going to talk to your Aunt," he cried, appalled.
His friend stopped as well, staring at him in surprise for a second. Then she slapped her hand to her head. "Oh. Don't worry Harry, my Auntie's a lot nicer than your Aunt. Yours is a Muggle, anyway, so what would you expect?"
Harry still looked reluctant, so Millie took him by the hand and bodily dragged him through the streets. "Auntie Barker's awesome, Harry. She's really nice and she'll be sure to tell us what's going on."
Harry was still not entirely convinced, but he trusted Millie, so he let her drag him along. As they walked, his friend regaled him with tales of all the awesome stories her Auntie had told her, and all the cool magical stuff in her apartment.
Slowly, Harry' foreboding relaxed. Still, Harry felt somewhat afraid, for Millie if not for himself. Both of his own Aunts, Aunt Petunia and Aunt Marge, had always been awful to him. He might know in his head that Millie and he could trust her Aunt, but he didn't know it in his subconscious.
Finally, they reached the end of a block, and Millie pulled him with her down a side street. Harry caught a glance of a street sign that read Wilfram Road before Millie broke into a run, and he was forced to let go of her hand and follow lest he fall over onto the street, pulled down by her grip on his hand.
Harry was faster than Millie, so he quickly caught up with her and was soon running besides her. "Why are we running?" he asked between breaths. They weren't running awfully fast, but he couldn't see a reason why.
"Cuz I wanta get there fast." Millie replied, panting more heavily than Harry. "Auntie Barker leaves to do something or other at one every afternoon. I wanta get there before she leaves."
Millie suddenly stopped. Harry continued running for a second before he realized she wasn't beside him anymore. He turned around to see Millie beckoning him to a house on the side of the street. He could see a silver number 23 on the top of the door knocker. The house did not look at all like what he had imagined a wizard's house to be. In fact, it looked perfectly ordinary.
"Come on." Millie opened the door and darted inside quickly.
Harry followed his friend inside to find before his eyes a sight that was purely magical. He gaped at the moving portraits, which winked and waved merrily at him. It took him a few moments to notice the surprising size of the hall and its surrounding rooms, but when he did his astonishment only increased.
However, before he could do much more than gape, Millie took his arm and dragged him further into the house. Still staring at his incredible surroundings, Harry's brain faintly registered the fact that they were in a room with a flickering fire that seemed to giving off no heat. In fact, to his surprise, the room seemed to only contain the fireplace, as well as a forlorn looking coat stand in the far corner, and a small, seemingly empty pot on the mantelpiece.
Harry looked at Millie questioningly. "What is this room?" He was slightly confused. "I thought that we were going to see your Aunt."
Millie turned to him, her hand halfway to the pot. "What do you—Oh. I forgot you haven't Flooed before."
Floo?" Harry asked, a slight frown on his face. "Sounds like a kind of drink or something."
"No, Harry, you dunderhead," Millie exclaimed "Of course we aren't going to visit my Aunt by drinking something."
Harry, still not following, asked, "So this Floo thing is how we're going to get to your Aunt? How?"
Millie picked up a pinch of an odd looking powder out of the pot on the mantelpiece. "This is how, Harry. You take a pinch of this, put it in the flames, and say where you want to go. Follow me."
She threw the powder into the flames. Harry jumped a little when the fire suddenly flared up and turned a bright green. Millie cheerily said "Barker Bulstrode's," and to Harry's shock, stepped into the fire.
Harry gaped at the fire, now returned to its natural red color, into which his friend had disappeared. What if it didn't work? He didn't have any desire to burn himself. But, then again, Millie had done it easily, like she did it every day. She wouldn't have done so if it could hurt her, would she?
Steeling his nerves, he stepped up to the pot and extended his hand. Harry carefully placed his fingertips to the strange powder inside. It felt slightly soft and springy, even as its small grains slipped across his fingers. He cautiously took a pinch and stared at it curiously.
A voice stopped him from his examination of the powder. "Harry, what are you doing?"
Harry turned in fright, and got the shock of his life to see Millie's head, sitting in the midst of the fireplace and talking to him calmly. He stumbled backwards and tripped over his own feet to land on his backside facing the fire.
Millie burst out laughing. "Oh! Your face, Harry! That was hilarious." Harry glared at Millie's disembodied head until it stopped laughing. "Oh, all right. I'm sorry Harry," she said, not looking very sorry at all. "Now come on! Remember, it's Barker Bulstrode's."
Her face suddenly disappeared from the fire, to leave it looking just as normal as it had before. Harry quickly made up his mind and, before he could lose his nerve, threw some Floo powder into the fire. He said, as clearly as he could, "Barker Bulstrode's," and stepped into the now green flames.
Despite trusting Millie and magic, Harry expected to feel the heat of flames on his feet and body, only to be surprised by the lack of unpleasant burning sensations. Instead of the withering heat Harry more than half expected, he merely felt a fairly comfortable warmness in the pit of his stomach.
However, before he could experience this odd sensation for more than a few moments, his stomach gave a sudden lurch and he felt like he was flying upwards and falling straight down at eh same time. After spinning around himself for what seemed like hours, Harry finally found himself falling forward, landing on his face in a red carpet.
He heard Millie's laughter once again, and saw Millie leaning against a wall above him and grinning for all she could bear. "Harry, that was awful," she said with a grin. She extended her hand to help him up.
Harry glared at her again as he accepted her help, but it was a half-hearted glare at best. It had been pretty funny, after all.
When Harry regained his feet, Millie led him out of the room. They were currently in a room very similar to the one they had just exited at Millie's house. They left through a door on the far wall, and emerged into a sitting room, filled with ratty furniture and old pictures.
Harry looked around the room in bemusement. This was a room that Aunt Petunia, never would have tolerated in her oppressively clean house. For that matter, from what Harry knew of the Bulstrodes they wouldn't have allowed such a mess either. With that thought, Harry allowed himself to relax slightly, accepting that Millie's Aunt Barker was a different sort of person than his own Aunt.
Those thoughts were suddenly and utterly confirmed when the person who was presumably Millie's Aunt herself walked through the door into the room. She was fairly short, and very plump, with a kindly smiling face that did not look at all like the stern visage of the Bulstrodes. Harry could see the familial resemblance with Millie's father, but the smile lines on this Aunt's face where diametrically opposed to the stress lines on the face of Mr. Bulstrode.
She spoke with a voice that sounded just as kindly as she looked. "Hello, Millie dear. What brings you here now? And who might you be?" She looked at Harry questioningly.
Millie responded for Harry. "This is Harry Potter, my best friend."
Millie was watching her Aunt carefully as she told her Harry's last name. She was not disappointed, as Auntie Barker, just as everyone who had heard the name, widened her eyes and looked quickly to his forehead. Unlike the others, however, Auntie Barker got over it immediately.
"Well, hello, Harry Potter. It's very nice to meet you. Millie's told me plenty of stories about the trouble you two get into. Would you like some chocolate?" Auntie Barker turned to a cabinet in the sitting room and took out a bar of chocolate.
Millie and Harry both eagerly took a piece, and began eating it.
"Now, what brings you two here on this fine day?" She asked. "Shouldn't you be outside in the nice weather of summer, dearies?"
Millie responded, "Auntie, I'd like to ask about what we saw in Flourish and Blott's about Harry. Is it true some Dark Wizard tried to kill him when he was a baby?"
Auntie Barker's eyes widened again, and she sounded slightly shocked as she responded directly to Harry. "Harry, sweetie, you didn't know about it?"
Harry shook his head, and Millie took the opportunity to start telling her Aunt all about what had happened that morning at Diagon Alley, as well as the suspicions she had earlier had about her parents' regard of Harry.
Auntie Barker listened attentively the whole time, and when Millie had finished, she sighed and sat down in one of the couches. "Well, dearies, I guess I should start at the beginning."
Harry and Millie leaned forward, and Harry spoke up for the first time. "The beginning? Is that what happened to my parents and me?"
"Well…yes. Though not directly." Auntie Barker sighed. "There was a very dark wizard who lived ten years ago. It was not a pleasant time. I remember every day's paper had news of more of the finest witches and wizards dead, murdered by You-Know-Who. There were the Bones, the Catlans, the McKinnons, the Gaines…"
Millie interrupted. "Who?"
Auntie Barker shook her head slightly to clear her thoughts. "What, dearie?"
"You said You-Know-Who killed them. I don't know who."
"Oh, of course dearie. You-Know-Who is the, well I suppose you'd call it the accepted name for the Dark Wizard who terrified the wizarding world. It is bad luck to say his real name, so we say You-Know-Who instead."
"But what is the name?" Harry asked, desperate to learn more about how his parents had died.
"Oh I shouldn't…oh well. Don't ask me to say it again dearies, but I daresay a little bad luck won't hurt too much. His name was…Voldemort." Despite herself, Auntie Barker shivered with the name.
Harry and Millie looked at each other and shrugged. It didn't seem such a bad thing to say the name. It just was like any other name, maybe a bit strange but that was it.
Auntie Barker continued with her story, "You-Know-Who killed dozens of witches and wizards, anyone who stood against him. Only a few of the bravest stood against him. I was never one of those," she shivered again, "and I'm glad of it. Most of those who tried to fight him are dead now. Among those were your parents."
Harry listened even more carefully. This was the first real stories that he'd gotten about his parents, and he wanted to hear all about them.
"James and Lily Potter. They were a few years below me in school, but they were very noticeable indeed. Your father was Gryffindor's star Chaser for years, and he and his friends were always in the middle of everything. And your mother…she was one of the brightest witches to ever go to Hogwarts, even though she was Muggleborn. Well, dearie, I didn't know them well, but I knew they were some of the bravest of the brave. It's said that they faced You-Know-Who himself more than once, and survived." Auntie Barker said that last with an incredible tone of awe.
Millie also listened carefully. She couldn't believe that Harry was famous, and that his parents were heroes who had died fighting a Dark Wizard. This was far more than any daydream she had ever had could have given her. As she listened, she had a nagging feeling that she wanted to ask her Aunt something, but that feeling disappeared, and she eagerly awaited the rest of the story.
Auntie Barker went on, that awe still in her voice. "You-Know-Who went after your parents in person. There were very few he did that for. When You-Know-Who decided a wizard would die by his own wand, they died. And when he arrived at your house on one Halloween night eight years ago, he succeeded in his goal. He killed your parents, though they certainly put up a good fight. Their house was ruins when he was finished, and the battle could be heard by Muggles several miles away. And then You-Know-Who decided to kill you…"
Millie gasped despite herself. Even though she knew Harry was alive, was sitting right next to her, she still heard the horror that her Auntie obviously still felt about You-Know-Who.
"And that's why you're famous, Harry. You-Know-Who had never failed to kill anyone. It was said that the only wizard he ever feared was Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts. But you survived, dearie. You, a one year old baby survived."
Harry sat back, stunned. He had read some of that in the books he and Millie had found, but hearing the entire story in full was a shocking feeling.
"And not only did you survive…" Auntie Barker said solemnly, staring at Harry, "You-Know-Who was never seen again. No one truly knows what happened then, but it was the end of an era of horror."
"So what happened to You-Know-Who?" Millie asked, eagerly.
"No one truly knows. You have to understand, dearie, that people believe what they want to believe. Most want to believe he's dead. I dare say, though, that You-Know-Who was no ordinary man, if he was ever a man at all."
"So he's still alive?" Harry asked, paling.
"Perhaps, Harry. I do not know."
Millie, more practical than Harry, asked the other question that had been bothering her. "So what about my parents? Why are they using Harry's fame? And to do what?"
Auntie Barker straightened up in her chair, and her expression lightened noticeably. "Well, dearie, the truth is that Harry's famous. Anyone you meet will be using him to some extent." She looked at Millie sternly. "Even you, Millie."
Millie protested, "I would never use Harry like that, Auntie!"
"Perhaps not purposely, dearie, but you use him all the same. When you go to a store with him, or walk the streets of Diagon Alley with him, people will notice you. You'll get preferential treatment just for being known as the friend of the Boy-Who-Lived. The only difference in this between you and your parents is that they know exactly what they're doing with it."
Harry looked at Millie for a second, and then back to her Auntie. "So people will help my friends just because I'm me? That doesn't sound too bad, even if it's weird that people will do that for me."
Auntie Barker responded, "Well, Harry dear, that's true to some extent. And with Millie, and even her parents, it's basically innocent like that. Well, my brother and his wife are using you purposely to help you careers, but that's basically it. But there are some who would use you to reach ends which you would not want."
Millie asked, "What does that mean, Auntie?"
"Some people would use Harry to support policies in the Ministry, ones which Harry may or may not support. Your parents are merely using Harry to make themselves look better, but if Minister Fudge, for example, was seen with Harry, the Daily Prophet would see it as Harry supporting whatever law that Fudge is trying to pass at the moment."
Harry looked somewhat angry. "So anyone who is pretending to help me is actually just trying to use me for their own ends?"
Auntie Barker asked kindly, "Do you think that Millie is doing so, Harry?"
Harry looked sheepish and smiled at Millie. "No, I'm sorry, Millie. I'm just a bit overwhelmed, I guess."
Auntie Barker chuckled a bit at their interaction. "Don't worry, Harry dear. Not everyone is trying to use you. There really are four ways people will react to you. The first is the one you really have to worry about, and that is the people who will hate you for who you are. That's mainly former Death Eaters and their ilk."
"Death Eaters?" Millie asked.
"The former supporters of You-Know-Who. And there are those who would have been Death Eaters, but were too afraid too, of course. The second way a wizard may react to you, Harry, is too be blinded by your fame. This could mean either thinking you're incredible because of what you did, or hating you because they think that you get special treatment. In general, those types will either stay away from you or harass you. Most of the people in the wizarding world will be like this, and most of those will do no more than gape at you."
She continued, "The third type of person in their reactions to you would be those who want to use you. That can range from people like my brother and sister-in-law, who just use you to help their career, to political types who want to use you to push through certain laws. They'll try to befriend you, and the better ones will give you help in response to your own."
"So everyone's going to react badly to me in some way, then?" Asked Harry, bitterly.
"Well, no, there's the fourth group, the rarest of people. They're the ones that won't really care about your fame. There aren't many of them, and you're fortunate to have found my dear Millie," she smiled warmly at her niece. "If you find ones such as those, hold onto them because they are very precious."
Harry grinned at his best friend. "You don't have to worry about that one."
Millie grinned back, but the smile faded after a moment and she looked at Auntie Barker suspiciously. "So, which category are you in, Auntie Barker."
"Good, dearie. You should think that question with anyone you meet. And…well, I suppose I'm using Harry too." She smiled kindly at the glare Millie shot her. "But not in the way you think, dearie. I'm using Harry for you. I was a Slytherin, you know, when I was at Hogwarts. They're known for many things, but the real qualities that make a Snake like me are ambitiousness and cunning." She smiled again, "I was never much for ambition, I dare say, as I left school in sixth year. But, I do have no small amount of cunning, I'd like to think."
Millie was still glaring, "So what? Why are you using Harry?"
Auntie Barker continued smiling, but turned to Harry personally. "I love my brother, and his wife as well, but they do have the fault of being overambitious. I'm sure they don't mean to hurt you or anything, and they certainly love Millie, but they can't really help themselves. However, I think they may be more ambitious about their Millicent's future than their own. Anyway, I am much the same as them, at least as far as Millie is concerned, dearie. You are good friends, I can see, and anything that I do to help you and Millie, I will, as long as you promise to always be there for Mille yourself."
Millie still looked suspiciously at her Aunt, but Harry nodded. "Of course I'll help Millie. She's my best friend." Harry grinned at Millie, who turned to him and smiled back.
Auntie Barker smiled again. "Good to hear, Harry dear, though I never doubted it from all of the stories Millie has told me about you." Millie blushed a little when Harry looked at her, and he nearly laughed at the sight. Auntie Barker continued, "Well, dear, the only thing you have to do about this right now is think about what someone has to gain whenever they help you. For example, when my brother brought you two to Diagon Alley this morning, it meant that people saw him in the company of the Boy-Who-Lived. That helps his career, and may even get him a pay raise of some sort."
Millie was angry at the thought of her parents using her friend like that, but Harry was a bit more thoughtful about the affair. "Well, that's not so bad, is it?" He said slowly. "They are helping me, after all, and they're not hurting me in that, either. Besides, helping them is helping you, Millie."
Auntie Barker smiled at him. "Very good, Harry. That is the thing you should ask yourself before ever doing something that may be thought of as giving your support to a person or organization. First, does it hurt you, and second, is the thing that the organization is gaining something that you would not like. If the answer to both is no, then there is no reason not to allow that person or organization to help you."
Millie wasn't so convinced. "But it's not right." She said. "Harry shouldn't have to care who he hangs out with or who he accepts help from just because he's famous."
Auntie Barker smiled at her niece again. "Millie dear, you have to understand. There is no right and wrong in the world, really. Oh," she said, "there is evil, such as You-Know-Who, and there is good, such as family and love. But there certainly is no guarantee of fairness, ever. If you want to be a Slytherin like your father and I, you have to understand that and use it."
Millie looked like she wanted to protest, but Harry cut her off. "C'mon Millie, it doesn't matter if it's right. It isn't right that Dudley picks on you just 'cuz you're my friend either, is it?"
"I don't care about that. But you're right, it's not right that Dudley picks on you."
Auntie Barker smiled again. "Ah, you understand." She frowned a bit, then. "It's not right that you realize that at such a young age of course. But it is good that you realize that fairness is not a guiding force in the world. When you go to Hogwarts, you'll see many people, especially Gryffindors, who feel that it is their personal duty to fix every wrong in the world. You should understand that the best you can do is to give yourself the best life possible, and if you get the chance make some small difference."
"And of course," she continued, "when you're given an advantage like Harry has, even if it is at such a terrible cost, you should use it. Dearies, you, unlike me, have the opportunity to help people, if you so choose. Of course, you should always remember that it is your choice, in the end. And whatever you do, no matter how you decide to live your life, always remember to be a Slytherin about it. It's cunning and ambition that really gets you places, not nobility, hard-work or intelligence."
After those words of warning, Auntie Barker settled down and offered Harry and Millie some food to eat for lunch, which Harry gladly accepted. They spent the rest of the day, nearly, talking about inconsequential things, and Harry was very happy to find a supporter in that way. When Harry finally returned to Privet Drive to face the wrath of his Aunt and Uncle, he was in a better mood than he'd been since the summer started, and didn't mind the punishments he received for skipping out on chores that day. He could only hope that he would see Millie more often the rest of the summer, and it would be the best of his life.
And on that day, Harry made a choice that would affect the future immensely. Perhaps in another reality, one where Harry had never met Millicent Bulstrode, he could have grown up believing in the black and white of evil and good, and felt that any form of manipulation was a horrible crime. But in this reality, Harry learned at an early age, that the only way to get places in life was to use people and be used by them. The consequences of this belief in the future rippled out throughout wizarding Britain, and perhaps the rest of the wizarding world, for the future.
But Harry had no knowledge of this. All he knew that day was that he had had a very fun day, in which he had learned about his parents, found out he was famous, and had fun with his best friend in Diagon Alley. What more could a seven year old boy ask for?
Thanks for reading.
To knightwolf20x: I'm glad you liked the argument scene. It really wasn't planned. In fact, my plan for the chapter was completely overturned as I wrote it, and it just came out. I thought it might have been a little overdone, but I'm glad you disagree. As for the duo/trio question…well, I think that it'll just be Harry and Millie mainly. Hermione will still be a Gryffindor, of course, as will most of the main characters of canon. There will be a surprise Slytherin, but he (or she) won't be in a trio with Harry and Millie. However, I think that there might be a Gryffindor trio of Longbottom, Granger and Weasley. In addition, Harry, Millie and two other characters will be really close, though they probably won't be who you expect.
To Penseln: Thank you very much for your review. I really appreciate you taking the time to write some thoughts down. As for Tonks, I completely agree. She isn't my complete favorite character, but definitely in the top five.
Personally I like Ron, but I completely agree with you on the Slytherin thing. In fact, I think that Ron, and to a lesser extent the twins, will be distant from Harry for the first three years, particularly second, for that very fact. I think that of the Weasleys, Percy and Ginny will be the closest to Harry and Millie. In fact, I have an interesting and as far as I know fairly unique roll for both of them. For the Ron question as well, I think that it will change him not having Harry as a friend. He won't be as jealous, and perhaps, depending on how I have him relating to Hermione, he may be a better student as well.
Dumbledore is a big question, really. In this fic, I think I'll settle, at least for the beginning, with him being more grandfatherly. I like manipulative Dumbledore fics a lot, but I don't think I could do one justice. Besides, it seems that besides Rowling's first book, Dumbledore wasn't too manipulative, unless you think he's far more powerful, and possibly evil, than seems likely. Anyway, I have a fairly good explanation for some of the more manipulative parts of the story. I also have an interesting Dumbledore dynamic in my other, new fic, These Grim Bones, though it hasn't shown overly much yet. And yes, that was a shameless plug for it, by the way.
For Sirius, I agree with that thought. But that kind of brings up another question, and that is how would the Order interact with Harry? And, how would the Bulstrodes interact with the Order and vice-versa, considering it's likely they'd have to go under protection as well?
As for Snape, I like his character a lot, and I plan to use Harry's resemblance to both his father and his mother to torture the Potions Master a lot. It seems that in canon, Snape had the opportunity to judge Harry, and it was easier to see James in him than it was to see Lily. In my fic, I think he'll see both of them to some extreme at different times, and that will affect his reactions with Harry greatly. I plan to use Snape's Legilimency for this even more for that as well. It is interesting that as far as Snape is concerned, Harry has formed his own Marauders with himself as Prongs, Ron as Padfoot, Hermione as Moony, and Neville as Wormtail to a certain extent.
To RRW and Goldenfightergirl: The royalties question probably won't come up for now, but I suppose in the future that Harry and Millie could try to get money for it. In fact, there might be some interesting interactions with the Goblins from that.
To Neutral-Chaotic: I agree, and that's why I like Millie. I have read, though I'm not sure where, that Millicent Bulstrode's name itself actually suggests independence to some extent, and that's interesting to me. As for her being a loner, it's not just her instincts but also that her body type, which is fairly large in my fic now, and actually fat by the time of canon, leads people to dislike her on sight. I'm pretty sure her father's not a Death Eater, if only because she's a half-blood. I do think there was a Bulstrode on the Black family tree, though. Luna…well I like her a lot, but I'm not sure how well I could do her justice. She may make appearances, though. As for Dark Harry, I don't really know. I think to some extent, yes, but not to the extent that he could use the Unforgiveables, or even really nasty Dark curses. Darker than canon, though…for sure.
As for Sirius seeing Regulus in Harry, that's brilliant. I hadn't thought of that at all, and it's a really good idea. The problem is that because of Sirius' imbalance from Azkaban, he may end up overdoing it by just maligning Slytherin a lot, or by trying too hard to make Harry prank people like his father. Interesting dynamic, to be sure. The Patronus…Well, I personally think that Harry's should have been the doe for Lily, not the stag for James, so I don't know. Could be interesting seeing Harry and Snape have the same Patronus. Or Harry might have a Patronus that represents Millie, just because she is his first friend, and is closer than any of Harry's friends from canon.
I'm glad you like the story, and I thank you a lot for reviewing. I dunno about my writing though, it seems stilted to me sometimes. Anyway, thanks.
Finally, to Prie: I realize that my author notes are long, and I apologize. However, I think writing stuff down like this helps me crystallize my thoughts and help get new ideas at the same time, and as such is very useful. Besides, I write my author notes in fifteen minutes flat, while I spend probably thirty times as long on my story itself.