Chapter 3 – St. Croix Academy
Harry made sure that the fifty pounds from his uncle was securely stored in his trunk, along with the letters signed by his Aunt approving the change of guardianship. He was neatly dressed in the trousers and white shirt of his Hogwarts uniform, but left the robe in his trunk since it carried the Gryffindor crest. He sat on the closed trunk and held Hedwig's cage on his lap. After taking a deep breath and trying to calm his racing heart, he said clearly "Portus St. Croix Academy".
He felt a jerking sensation starting behind his navel and the world suddenly twisted and rolled. He barely kept his seat on his trunk as everything stopped turning. He took several deep breaths and opened his eyes. "Are you OK, Hedwig?" he asked in concern. A noisy irritated clack of her beak confirmed that she had survived the transportation.
Harry looked around the bland cream colored room he found himself in. It was small and windowless, but brightly lit from an unseen source. A single wooden door was on the left wall, while a sign on the wall in front of him stated "St. Croix Apparation Point". Below that, another sign read "Students please wait for a guide before exiting". He heard a faint hum as he simultaneously felt a slight tickle across his skin, and then all was quiet. Unknown to him, in an office far away in Scotland, several machines gave off an alarm to an empty office.
As he waited, his racing heart began to slow down a little. What a day! He remembered his announcement to his relatives.
His Aunt woke him with a sharp rap on the door as usual. He dressed hurriedly and walked quietly down the stairs, being careful not to disturb Dudley. He pulled out the pans and began to fry a pound of bacon in one pan. Then he peeled and sliced several potatoes and started frying them in another pan. He had just finished eggs and toast as his Aunt and Uncle entered the kitchen, followed shortly by Dudley's thunderous footsteps down the stairs.
Harry carried the food to the table and placed it carefully, avoiding the foot his cousin had stuck out to trip him. Once his relatives had filled their plates, he said "I have good news. I was accepted at an overseas school that offers year-round boarding. I can leave today if that's OK."
Vernon stopped chewing and stared at the dark-haired boy before a wide smile split his face. He swallowed and then said "Excellent news, boy, excellent! You go ahead and pack up your things. What time are you leaving?"
Harry shoved the lingering sadness at his relatives' callousness to the back corner of his mind and locked it away. "This afternoon, Uncle Vernon. I will probably be gone before you get home tonight." He paused and then added in an innocent tone, "Unless you need me to stay so that you can go to the bank today for the fifty pounds?"
His Uncle's eyes narrowed, but then he shook his head. "Well worth it," he muttered to himself. He drew out his wallet and counted out fifty pounds. "Take it and be gone before I get home today, boy."
Dudley's eyes widened at the bills and he tried to grab them, but Vernon slid them over to Harry. "Dad," he whined, "I want fifty pounds too! I need spending money for movies, and sodas and games and spending time with Piers and the guys! Give me sixty pounds, Dad! I deserve more than the freak!"
Vernon smiled fondly at his son. "And so you do, Dudley. I'll stop at the bank over lunch and get you sixty pounds for your summer spending money."
Dudley began scowling so Petunia said hastily, "I'll go, Vernon. No need for Diddums to wait, until you get home tonight."
Vernon smiled jovially, "Quite right, Pet." He turned to Dudley and said, "There you go, son. Your mother will go this morning for your spending money."
Not another word was said to Harry. There were no goodbyes.
His musing was interrupted as the door opened on the wall to the left of him revealing a tall lean man with auburn hair and green eyes that framed a thin face accentuated by high cheekbones. Harry could see that his hair was tied with a band at the base of his neck. He was dressed in a light brown sport coat, pale yellow shirt and dark brown trousers.
"Good morning, you must be Harry Potter", he said in a warm voice. "I'm Michael Talbot, the Vice Principal of St. Croix Academy. Welcome." He held out his hand for Harry to shake.
Harry smiled back at the man and quickly put down Hedwig's cage to shake hands. "Yes sir, I'm Harry."
Talbot leaned over to look at Hedwig. "And who is this charming owl?"
Hedwig puffed up and looked pleased as Harry grinned. "This is Hedwig. She's my best friend."
"Well, she's a lovely young lady," Talbot smiled. "This is our apparition point, just outside of the school wards, but it is also charmed to register your magical signature as an international visitor. We'll have you sign a form indicating that you're a student once you pass your entrance exams." He flicked his wand at Harry's trunk and levitated it. "Let's go up to the school and we can talk on the way."
As they exited the building, Harry had the impression of deep green grass, wildflowers and meadows. A few yards away, the image faded and an attractive landscaped campus with multiple buildings came into view. "As you likely read, St. Croix Academy was founded in 1899 and resides on 80 acres that the non-magical population perceives as a dairy farm. The closest community is the town of Stillwater, but we're also just 20 miles from St. Paul. We have the advantage of being near both a large metropolitan area with the peacefulness of a small town experience. Weekend visits to Stillwater are permitted, but you must maintain a non-magical wardrobe and must not go alone until you are in the tenth grade. There is one block there dedicated to magical shops that are warded to be ignored by non-magical residents."
"I notice that you say non-magical rather than Muggle, sir," said Harry as he carried Hedwig's cage.
"Ah yes, you're from the Old World culture. I had almost forgotten. You'll see quite a difference between what you're used to and how we operate. Firstly, Muggle isn't a politically correct term, meaning some people find it offensive. We use 'non-magical' and 'magical', although there is a movement to make it 'normal' and 'magical' from some of our non-magical families. You'll also find that we blend technology with magic."
"I didn't think that was possible, sir" exclaimed Harry. "Electronic devices don't work at Hogwarts."
Talbot smiled at the youth. "Normal devices do fail in a heavy magical environment, but special shielding for some items or even total redesigns make them work. For example, personal computers and the Internet are becoming quite popular and we want our students ready for the future, so we've set up a computer lab in one of the specially shielded buildings on campus. All of our students are required to take an "Introduction to Computing" class. We also accept homework assignments written on the computer, a typewriter as well as hand-written."
Harry was ecstatic, "You don't require quills and parchment? That's brilliant! I really struggled at Hogwarts trying to learn to write with a quill."
Talbot smiled warmly at the boy's enthusiasm. "No quills here," he confirmed. "You may use pens and pencils as appropriate. We also use normal notebooks. The central magical bookstore in Stillwater maintains a branch store on campus where you can purchase textbooks and basic supplies."
They followed a trail made of earth tone colored pavers and Talbot pointed out a gymnasium as they passed. "Phys Ed Classes are from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM, but the building opens at 6:00 AM. There is an indoor track, a swimming pool and a weight room that many students like to use during off-hours. PE classes are mandatory for all grades; and each year, time is spent on volleyball, basketball, track, gymnastics, weight training, self-defense, swimming and diving and soccer. We don't have a football program, although you're not from the U.S. so probably wouldn't be interested. We do offer Quidditch, but only during Fall and Spring. Winters in Minnesota are much too cold for flying. Our Sports teams are divided by age and skill and play against themselves and other schools, depending on interest and participation." Harry noticed that the students entering the building weren't wearing robes and wondered again about the school dress code, which hadn't been mentioned in the book he had read.
Talbot pointed to a large brick building to their left, framed by students sitting on the grass around the building enjoying the warm sunshine. "That is the library. We're proud of the fact that it is one of the largest combined magical and non-magical libraries in a six state area. There is plenty of room to do your homework there, as well as areas set aside specifically for study groups."
They approached a large white two-story structure that looked like a southern colonial mansion. A porch wrapped around the front of the home on both floors, supported by graceful white columns. "This was the original site of the school, built in the 1890's," explained the Vice Principal. "We call it Blair House after Augustus Blair, the first Principal of the school. Today it houses our seventh, eighth and ninth graders. Tenth, eleventh and twelfth graders share another building. Students who are studying for Masters that reside on campus have another building."
He opened the double doors and led Harry into a large foyer warmed with hardwood floors and light moss green walls. "The main floor includes a large common room, a small library with basic study materials, a warded practice room for spell-casting, the dining room, a staff member office and two bathrooms. The kitchen is downstairs along with the house elf rooms and storage. There is also an underground tunnel to the library and the main magical training building." At Harry's surprised look, he added "Minnesota winters come with a number of snowstorms, so the tunnels are primarily used then." He grinned and added, "We don't want to lose anyone in a snow bank and only find them come the spring thaw!"
He led Harry up the stairs continuing, "Upstairs are the bedrooms. Each student shares a room and a bathroom with one other student. Each student residence has at least one adult Residence supervisor, although we currently have married couples in two of the three residences. Your Residence supervisor is our Healing instructor, Ms. Sadler." He pointed out the name plate on the first door with "Ms. Christine Sadler".
Mid way down the hall, he stopped at a door that listed Elias Guerrera and Harry Potter as the residents. "Place your hand on the door please and I'll imprint your magical signature. Only those imprinted can enter the room if the door is locked, besides staff." Harry laid his hand on the door and Talbot cast a spell to add him to the door's security. Once that was done, he nodded and Harry opened the door.
Like the rest of the building, the floors were hardwood. Two single beds were on opposing walls with large wardrobes across from their respective beds. A nightstand was on one side of each bed, while a desk with three drawers flanked the other side of the bed. A window was on the wall between the two beds and a door was on the side wall nearest to the far bed.
The far bed was obviously already claimed by a student as it was covered in a brightly colored bedspread of deep yellow with red and bright blue. A large blue rug with accents in orange, lime green and buttery yellow covered most of his roommate's space. A poster on the wall above the bed was looking down at a city of brightly colored buildings. The desk was filled with books as were the shelves above it. All said, it looked like his roommate definitely enjoyed bold colors.
"Your roommate is Elias Guerrera, who has been with us since he started seventh grade. He's on a camping trip with his family this week, but will be back soon." He levitated Harry's trunk to the unoccupied side of the room.
"You each have your own wardrobe but have to share the bath. You may transfigure your bedspread and rug however you want, and you may put up artwork on your side of the room as long as it's not offensive. Why don't you get unpacked and changed, and I'll be back to bring you down to lunch. Ms. Sadler will be back by then as well , so you'll be able to meet her and she'll introduce you to the others staying over the summer. Then we'll schedule your entrance exams. Oh, your health check is also scheduled for this afternoon."
Harry turned around from the desk where he had moved to place Hedwig's cage. "Health check, sir?"
"Every student is given a mandatory health exam. It only takes about twenty minutes and gives the Healer a baseline if you need his services in the future."
He paused at the threshold of the room and smiled kindly at the boy. "I'll be back in an hour to take you to lunch. And Harry, welcome to St. Croix Academy." He closed the door behind him and silence reigned in the room.
Harry sat down heavily on the bed and shook his head. "Merlin's moldy beard, Hedwig! My head is whirling and I still have so many questions! What about uniforms and robes? What type of entrance exam will I have to take? Do I need to study first? What if I fail my exams?" Hedwig ruffled her feathers and clicked her beak at him as if to tell him to calm down. "Should I even unpack my things? I only have Dudley's hand-me-downs and my school uniform." He thought about it and decided to only unpack his grooming kit and broom.
He brought the kit into the bathroom and grinned in pleasure. "Wicked!" The room contained a double vanity, so that he and his roommate wouldn't have to fight over the sink. Across from the sink, was a combined shower and tub. One set of drawers was already filled, so he unpacked his kit in the drawers by the other sink.
Back in his room, he transfigured his bedspread into gold with red accents and his rug into red with gold accents. The Gryffindor colors coordinated with his roommates colorful choices and made him feel a little more at home.
He unpacked food for Hedwig and then filled her water cup from a faucet in the bathroom. "I'll have to find out if there's an owlery, girl. In the meantime, I'll leave the window open so that you can come and go as you please." She jumped to his shoulder and nuzzled his cheek before hopping to the window and soaring outside.
Harry lay down on the bed to test it out and was surprised at how open it felt without the curtains the four poster beds had a Hogwarts. The mattress was extremely comfortable…
He had almost dozed off when Harry heard a knock at the door. He quickly got up, made a brief attempt to smooth his hair and opened the door.
"Hello again, Harry. How are you settling in?" Michael Talbot smiled at the colored bedspread and rug. "Nice transfiguration work, and I'm sure Elias will approve of the colors." He gestured down the hall and added, "Shall we head to lunch? Are you hungry?"
"Yes sir, "Harry said obediently. He wondered what the meals would be like at St. Croix, plus it had been a long time since he had breakfast, so he would welcome anything.
The Vice Principal led him down to the dining room, where there were over a dozen round tables with eight chairs around each table. Wainscoting lined the bottom of the walls, while the upper portions of the walls were a yellow cream. A wall of floor to ceiling windows showed the manicured lawns and shrubs outside. Harry noticed that only three of the tables were populated with students around his age, all dressed in casual clothes without a robe in sight. Talbot led him to a table with a woman in her late thirties or early forties and two other students.
He laid a hand on Harry's shoulder and said, "Please welcome Harry Potter to St. Croix Academy. Harry just arrived today and is transferring from England. Harry, this is Ms. Sadler. She teaches Healing and is your House supervisor." He pulled out two chairs and gestured for Harry to take one as he seated himself.
"I'm pleased to meet you, Ms. Sadler," Harry said politely before taking his seat. He wondered if the teachers here didn't use titles like "Professor". He was surprised to notice that the table setting only had cloth napkins with flatware rolled into them and no plates.
Ms. Sadler gave him a warm smile. "Welcome to St. Croix Academy, Harry. We're pleased that you could join us." She gestured to the two other boys at the table. "This is Hugh Porter and Richard Lovell. They're both going into ninth grade this year as well."
The first boy, Hugh, was heavy with light brown skin and a round, bland face. He had long wavy light brown hair and warm hazel eyes that looked at the new student with interest. "Hi Harry. Nice to meet you."
The second boy stood to shake hands, revealing that he was taller than Harry. He was pale-skinned with a square-jawed face, straight brown hair and blue-grey eyes. He gripped Harry's hand and pumped twice before releasing it. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance. I go by Rich rather than Richard," he said rather officiously.
As Harry and the Vice Principal sat down, cards appeared in front of them. Harry picked it up and noticed that it was divided into sandwiches, meals, salads, soups, vegetables, fruits and drinks. Talbot leaned over to say "You tap your wand on the selections you want and then lay it back down. Your meal will appear. If you have special dietary needs, we'll fill out a form to let the kitchen know and only choices from those requirements will be offered."
Harry decided that he was hungry enough for a full meal and tapped the grilled chicken, mashed potatoes, salad and ice water. He laid the card down and a salad immediately appeared with small bottles of oil and vinegar.
After he had eaten a couple of bites, Ms. Sadler asked, "Are you finding this different than your previous school?"
He touched his napkin to his mouth and said, "Yes, Ma'am. Hogwarts is a castle in Scotland. All of the classes are inside it except for Care of Magical Creatures and Herbology, and all of the students stay in the castle. We were divided into four Houses though, named after the four Founders."
"What was the purpose of the Houses, then" asked Rich.
"The House was supposed to be your family for the seven years of schooling. You won or lost points for your House and the one with the most points at the end of the year won a House Cup."
He took another bite of salad as Hugh asked curiously "How would you win or lose points?"
"If you answered questions correctly in class, or was the first one to master a spell, the professor awarded points to your House. If you broke a rule or the Professor didn't like you, you lost points for the House."
Ms. Sadler raised an eyebrow. "If your Professor didn't like you, you lost points?"
"Well, there was really only one like that," Harry admitted. "He took points not only for rules violations, but also if you got a question wrong, or didn't prevent someone nearby from causing an accident, for breathing too loudly…" He shook his head and pushed the salad plate away, which was then replaced with a plate containing a grilled boneless chicken breast and mashed potatoes.
"It would appear to me that a system of that type would cause a rivalry between the Houses and discourage cooperation" said Rich pompously.
Harry took a bite of his chicken and swallowed before saying shortly, "It did." He turned to the Vice Principal and said, "I read that violating the rules here is met with detention, and that three detentions in the same term could result in a suspension." At Talbot's nod he asked, "How are the detentions served?"
The Vice Principal took a sip of his tea and set the cup down before answering. "Detentions are served in a quiet room with no interaction with other students. Depending on the infraction, you might be assigned additional homework that will not count towards your grade, or you might be sent to stand in a corner with no talking or other interaction."
"Stand in a corner? For students our age?" Harry shuddered and thought he would prefer to wash out Snape's cauldrons than stand in a corner like a baby.
Ms. Sadler chuckled at Harry's exclamation while the other two boys nodded in agreement. "The purpose of the detention is to make sure you don't repeat the behavior. Standing in the corner seems to do that. I usually request an essay on why the rule exists, why violating it was wrong, and how they would act differently in the future. I start them at one-thousand words, but add a thousand words for every additional time the same rule is broken"
Harry shuddered at the idea of a several thousand word essay and was glad the rules at St. Croix Academy were pretty reasonable.
Once lunch was finished, Mr. Talbot led him to another building. This housed the Healing classes, Ms. Sadler's office, and the Clinic. As they entered the Clinic the Vice-Principal explained, "Outside of the summer, student healers staff the reception area. They get the information of what's wrong, and led you to an examining room. Depending on how far in their training they are, they will be approved to treat minor injuries, sunburns, colds on their own and assist Healer Masuto for more significant injuries."
He stopped and knocked on an open office door. Harry had the impression of a wall of books with other walls covered in various charts of the human body. A chair was turned away from the door, towards the bookshelves. At the sound of the knock, the chair spun around to reveal an Asian man with round wire-rimmed glasses wearing a white coat over a light blue shirt and black trousers.
"Good afternoon Taguchi, this is Harry Potter, our transfer student from England. Harry, this is Healer Masuto who runs our Clinic. He works closely with Ms. Sadler who you met at lunch."
The middle-aged Healer inclined his head towards Harry and smiled gently. "Good afternoon, Harry. Thank you for making the time for the health check. Let's go to one of the examining rooms."
He led the boy to another room and closed the door. The room was the size of a small bedroom and held an adjustable bed, a chair and a stool on wheels, besides a counter, small sink, and several cupboards.
"Just take a seat wherever you're comfortable, Harry." He waited until Harry sat on the edge of the chair. "Now I just need to run a quick diagnostic scan. This will automatically fill out a form with any injuries you've had, such as broken bones or major illnesses so that we have a good record. Once that's done if I don't need to follow up on anything, you can be on your way."
Harry relaxed at that, and smiled hesitantly. "OK sir."
Healer Masuto withdrew his wand and uttered a Latin incantation. Harry felt a tingle begin at his scalp and gradually moved down his body. When it reached his toes, the Healer tapped his wand on a stack of papers. They glowed briefly and stretching his neck, Harry could see boxes being checked and words being written.
"Hmm, I see that you had a mail interdiction that was recently removed and that you currently have two different tracking charms on you. Are those at your guardian's request?"
Harry's eyes narrowed slightly. "No sir. My guardian is non-magical and would never have approved such a thing. Can you remove them?"
"I expect so, and if I can't, your Charms teacher Mr. Middleton will be able to." He cast two Latin incantations, each causing a mildly unpleasant sensation as if an adhesive bandage had been ripped off. The Healer made a note on one of the pieces of paper. "There, that's removed them. Now, you're a bit malnourished Harry, and it's affected your growth and bones. I'll put you on a nutrient potion that you will take with every meal for one month, then twice a day for a month. By the third month, you'll take it once a day. After that, depending on whether it's needed, we may want to stimulate your growth with a mild potion to reach where you should be for your age." Harry grinned broadly at the thought of not being the smallest boy in his class.
Masuto glanced up from the paper he was reviewing and looked over his glasses at Harry curiously. "I see you had to regrow all the bones in one arm."
"Quidditch accident and a professor that didn't wait for the mediwitch. He banished all of the bones by accident instead of mending the broken one. The mediwitch gave me Skele-gro to regrow them overnight."
The Healer frowned sympathetically. "That wasn't pleasant, I'm sure." He looked further down the page. "What about this injury on your arm? The spell said it was from a bite."
Harry squirmed uncomfortably. "Well sir, there was this basilisk…"
"Basilisk!" The man visibly composed himself. "My apologies, Harry, please continue."
"Um, there was this basilisk and it bit me. I know it's usually fatal, but a phoenix cried on the bite wound and healed me."
The Healer frowned slightly as he made another notation. "Would you mind if I take a sample of your blood for testing? I want to make sure there isn't a long-term effect or interaction with the venom and tears."
Harry flinched but said, "I guess that's OK, sir." The Healer opened a cupboard and withdrew a glass vial. Holding it over a vein in Harry's arm he said, "You'll like this. It's a way of banishing a few cc's of blood right into the vial, so there's no puncture to heal. Expello vegrandis vis cruor!" The vial filled with the thick deep red substance and the Healer quickly filled out a label and attached it to the vial.
"Now, about the scar on your forehead, what can you tell me about it?"
Harry automatically tugged his bangs over the scar. "Well, I don't remember it, but there was this dark wizard. He killed my parents, but when he cast the Avada Kedrava at me, it bounced back and destroyed his body leaving him a spirit and me with the scar. I think my Mum must have given me a special protection when she died."
The Healer lifted Harry's bangs and looked closely at the scar. "I can tell that you don't like people looking at it, but there are indications of Dark Magic around the scar and I'm not comfortable ignoring it. I would like to bring in one or two specialists in curses to look at it and see if we can't remove it."
Harry's eyes widened. "Remove it? Really?" He rubbed his forehead without thinking about it. He hated being defined by the scar and having everyone look at it before him. "That would be wicked! Do you think you could?"
"I think there's a good chance that we can remove the Dark Magic at the very least. It's not healthy for anyone to have that type of sustained Dark Magic in them, but especially not a growing boy."
Harry grinned at the Healer, "Anything to remove or lessen it would be brilliant, sir!"
Healer Matuso chuckled at the boy's enthusiasm and made another note on the final paper. "OK, then, I'll let you know when to come see me again. I'll also let the house elves know to send the nutrient potion with your meals."
The Healer led him back to the reception area, where Vice Principal Talbot was working on papers that were spread across the small table in front of him. Upon seeing Harry, he put them into a briefcase which he then shrank and put in a pocket of his sport coat.
"All set then Harry," he asked pleasantly.
"Yes sir, thank you." Harry turned to the Healer. "Thank you for your time, Healer Matuso."
"My pleasure, Harry. I'll see you soon."
As they exited the building, Talbot looked at him appraisingly. "It must be almost 9:00 PM your time. Shall we go through the rest of the campus another time and head back to your room?"
Harry shrugged uncomfortably, "Whatever you want, sir." He wasn't used to being asked what he wanted.
"Then let's head back. We planned to give you tomorrow to recover from the trip and time zone change and then have the appropriate instructors test you on the classes that you took at Hogwarts. Once those are graded, we'll plan out your schedule and arrange a time to get any supplies that aren't carried on campus. How does that sound?"
Harry nodded at the man. "That sounds good, sir. Thinking of supplies, what do the students wear? We had a uniform at Hogwarts and robes were required as well."
"Ah yes, many boarding schools do have uniforms, but we permit nice casual clothing. The dress code isn't too restrictive. For male students, you may wear slacks, collared shirts, sweaters, as well as turtleneck shirts and sweaters. Shoes or boots are acceptable as long as they aren't sneakers as they don't offer enough protection. For the shirts, nothing with words unless it's "St. Croix Academy". Outside of class you may wear jeans and denim shirts. Protective robes and gloves are needed for Potions and occasionally you'll need gloves in Herbology and Magic Creatures. You have the option to wear day robes over your casual clothes, but they are not required. For formal events, you have the choice of either magical or non-magical formal attire."
Harry realized he could get by with his Hogwarts uniform slacks and shirts for a while. "Excuse me sir, but what are sneakers?"
Talbot chuckled at the question. "Casual shoes that are made of a canvas like material."
"Oh, trainers." His old trainers were too big as they were from Dudley and were torn as well. He would have to buy another pair for the weekends if he wanted anything other than his old uniform shoes.
"Would you tell me where to find a bank, sir? I have a vault at Gringotts in London. They said they had branches around the world."
"There is a Gringotts branch in St. Paul on Eastern Avenue, which is part of a block of shops and businesses with wards to make it unnoticeable to non-magical residents. There are clothing shops there as well."
Harry nodded, storing the information away for future use. "What about Hedwig, sir? Is it OK for her to stay in my room or is there an Owlery?"
"There is an Owlery by the Magical Creatures barn, but she may also stay in your room on a perch when she doesn't want to be in the Owlery."
They reached Blair House again and Talbot stopped in the foyer. "If that's all Harry, I'll leave you for the day, then. Feel free to explore tomorrow. Breakfast is served between 7:00 and 8:45, Lunch from 11:30 and 1:30 PM, and dinner between 5:30 and 7:30. The laundry hamper in your wardrobe will send your clothes automatically to the laundry for cleaning, but you are responsible for keeping your room and bathroom clean. If you miss a meal, you may head to the kitchen for a snack, but try not to make a habit of it."
"Thank you sir, for everything. Oh and sir? How should I address you? Vice Principal Talbot? Professor Talbot? Mr. Talbot?"
The man chuckled before answering, "Vice Principal Talbot is quite a mouthful except for an introduction or perhaps a very formal occasion. Mr. Talbot will be fine."
"Yes sir, thank you again sir," Harry replied, then blushed for not saying "Mr. Talbot".
"You're very welcome, Harry. I'm looking forward to seeing how you do in your entrance exams. Have a good night."
Upstairs, Harry saw that Hedwig had not returned yet. He decided he it was time to send out some letters, and sat down at his desk. As nervous as he was, this was something that needed to be done.
The first letter he decided to send to Professor McGonagall rather than to the Headmaster as she was the one who always sent the communication from the school. He decided on something short and to the point.
Deputy Headmaster McGonagall
Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
Dear Professor McGonagall,
This letter is to inform you that I will not be returning to Hogwarts. With my guardian's permission, I transferred to another school where I will complete my education.
Thank you for your help and assistance over the past two years.
Sincerely,
Harry James Potter
He considered removing the "thank you", since his Head of House had disregarded Ron, Hermione and him when they came to her with concerns about Quirrell attempting to steal the Philosopher's Stone in his first year and did nothing to stop the "Heir of Slytherin" comments in his second year, but finally decided it was better not to burn any bridges as the Muggle saying went.
Now for the more difficult letters to his two friends.
Dear Ron and Hermione,
This is a really hard letter to write, but I need to tell you that I'm not going to be returning to Hogwarts this year. It was a hard decision to make, but I hope you'll understand and support me. In fact, Hermione, you should be proud of me. I remembered your advice about making lists before making a major decision and did just that.
When you list out every time I was almost killed in my first and second years, it's right scary. I'm not talking about Potions accidents or jinxes in the hall, but deliberate murder attempts. There have been five attempts on my life in only two years at Hogwarts. When you add Snape's abuse, Binn's incompetence, Filch's threats and the antagonism between the Houses, I simply couldn't justify continuing to pay for a second-rate education in a dangerous environment.
Harry stopped and looked at the last sentence, then crossed out "a second-rate education" and substituted "another year". Since they were still attending Hogwarts, there was no reason to criticize the quality of their education. Ron would be insulted while Hermione would be horrified. Satisfied that the insult was gone, Harry continued writing.
With my relatives' approval, I researched alternate magical schools and found quite a few of them, including those that offer more classes than Hogwarts does. I kept quiet about it until I was accepted at a new school because I found some odd things going on in my life; more than I knew about before.
Thanks for being the best friends a guy could have. I hope we can be pen pals from now on!
Harry
P.S. Ron, please thank your brothers for joining you in rescuing me last year and your parents for letting me stay at the Burrow last summer. You have an amazing family!
He duplicated the letter, and addressed one to Hermione and the second to Ron. Opening his trunk, he withdrew his two-way mailbox and put the letters in the outgoing side of the box. They disappeared with a brief flash of light.
Harry undressed and climbed into bed. So much had happened; he wondered how he would ever trust an adult again. The Dursleys treated him like a slave, called him names and kept him in a cupboard. His primary school teachers ignored the fact that one cousin was obese, well dressed and spoiled, while the other was half-starved and in rags. At Hogwarts, he had enough to eat, but an abusive teacher, multiple murder attempts and a Headmaster with questionable motives. "Mr. Talbot seemed nice though," he thought tiredly. "But then so did Dumbledore. I'll just keep my head down, my eyes and options open and see what happens next."