Author's Note: Last one for today as I'm off to class. Enjoy!
Little Gem
It was nearly dinner time when Harry was finally ready to have Milly take him to Potter Manor. Harry had stopped into the Leaky Cauldron briefly and told Tom the barkeep that he had finished his shopping early and wouldn't be staying. Then he had stepped into a muggle alley and called Milly. Travelling by elf was monumentally better than travelling by Apparition, Harry found. Not only was there no nausea but it was easier to keep his balance, which let Harry immediately take in his surroundings when they arrived.
Harry was once again shocked. Potter Manor was huge. The foyer with marble floors was tastefully decorated, it lead to two curved staircases – one on each side of the room – and between them led into a living room with a fireplace so large even the Dursley's could have fit inside it. Harry smiled at the fire inside it before Milly spoke.
"Welcome home Master, Milly be missin' you." The elf wiped away a tear and took Harry's free hand. "Milly be showing Master to his room to change for dinner."
Harry followed the elf up the left staircase and tried to remember where she led him and which rooms she pointed out but Harry could hardly keep up. The paintings on the walls moved – they waved hello and greeted him enthusiastically – and there were statues that shifted into different positions. Harry was blown away as he followed Milly, trying to remember the important rooms like the Library and the Hall of Portraits so that he could explore them after dinner.
After a few minutes Harry was guided to huge double doors and Milly pushed them open to reveal an enormous bedroom that Harry was sure could fit most of the Dursley house inside. "This is bein Master's room." Milly said proudly. "Potter head gets biggest room."
Harry was in love with the room. There were large windows to the left that showed the grounds and a large barn. To the left of the windows were smaller glass double doors that opened up to a balcony. The bed was huge and made of dark wood; the bedding was blue and the pillows were gray. Next to the fireplace were two large bookshelves – his books already on the shelves to the right – and two large chairs to sit in though Harry much preferred the look of the soft rug on the floor.
Milly guided Harry to a large wardrobe and Harry carefully placed the egg on the bed before stripping down and – with the help of Milly – dressing in black and green robes. Dinner was an ordeal in itself, Milly and Jordey had taken the liberty of making Harry everything they could think of and had him try bites of everything to find out his favorites and which Harry discarded all together. Porridge, oatmeal, dragon liver, tomatoes were all chucked out while treacle tart, Caesar salad, honeydew melon, lasagna, and dragon berries were all added to the list of food that Harry would never object to.
Harry felt very, very fat when he was finally allowed to leave the table and he curled up with Hogwarts, A History in front of the fire in his room with his egg on the rug next to him. Idly his fingers twirled the egg slowly as his eyes flew over the pages absorbing the information about Hogwarts, its houses, its founders, and some of the more famous legacies.
For hours Harry laid there and read by the light of the fire, feeling more content than he had ever felt. For the first time Harry felt at home and he couldn't wipe the smile from his lips. Finally, when Harry felt less like he was about to explode and he finished over half of Hogwarts, A History, he set the book down and took his egg exploring.
The first few rooms were bedrooms and while big they were nowhere near the size of Harry's which he figured to be the suite. Then Harry came upon another set of double doors and pushed them open. Inside was an incredibly large room with large portraits covering every inch of space he could see.
With wide eyes Harry stepped in and found himself being studied critically by a man with a mustache and hair that was as messy as Harry's was before he had grown it out. "Who are you?" The portrait asked with suspicious eyes.
Before Harry could answer a woman who had a beautiful smile and grey eyes entered the portrait – much to Harry's surprise – and scolded the man teasingly. "Oh Charlus don't frighten the poor boy he might never come back."
The woman turned to Harry and eyed him, "What's your name child? Where are your parents? Usually at least one parent is with the children the first time they enter the Hall."
"I'm Harry Potter," Harry answered, his throat suddenly wanting to close. "My parents died when I was one. I was raised by Muggles."
The woman gasped quietly and the man, Charlus, wrapped an arm around her. "Are you James and Lily's boy?"
Harry nodded and Charlus fully embraced the woman who was crying into his chest. "Shh, I know Dorea, I know. At least the boy is alive."
It was a very practical statement and Harry pondered on it, Charlus obviously cared a great deal about both the woman, Dorea, and the continuation of the Potter line. "How old is the Potter line?"
Dorea turned to Harry with a weepy smile, "Oh Charlus he's just like you, do you think he'll be a Ravenclaw?"
This caused Harry to grin, he rather liked what he read about Ravenclaw and he was almost positive that he'd enjoy it if he was sorted there. "The Potter line can be physically traced back all the way to 1100, where we started out as Peverells. We are the decedents of Ignotus Peverell and around 1500 we became the Potters."
Harry was dumbfounded for a moment as he grappled with such an extensive family tree. No wonder Charlus cared so much about it. "How are you two related to me?"
Dorea answered this time with a proud smile, "We are your grandparents. My name is Dorea Ursula Potter nee Black and this is Charlus Augustus Potter, were your father's parents."
With that Harry was whisked around the room by Dorea and Charlus gliding between frames and introducing Harry to his family. It was absolutely magical and Harry loved it. Harry was introduced to Wilfred III – had been on the Wimborne Wasps quidditch team and had died attempting a Wronski Feint, Mary and Simon – a Herbologist and a Potions Master, Gerald, Katarina – who had won an Order of Merlin First Class for her work on the addictive properties of Dreamless Sleep Potion, Gretchen and Hester – who were celebrated Alchemists, Harold and Griselda – who had been famous Philanthropists, Grayson and Catherine – both of whom had been proud supporters of muggle hunting and had actively participated in flooding the Wizengamot so as to halt all progress on banning the sport, and many more.
Every portrait in the hall seemed to come alive as Harry passed by and they told him brief snippets of their history and which family they had either married into or had come from before they were Potters. Harry now understood what Longfang had meant when he had said that wizarding families were interconnected. Names like Abbott, Black, Carrow, Fawley, Malfoy, and Prewitt came up repeatedly and there others like Rosier and Weasley that crept in once or twice. All of whom Harry learned where part of what was called the Sacred Twenty-Eight. These families were the last of the truly pureblooded families by 1930.
Harry also learned that whilst some families had long histories within one house at Hogwarts – Blacks were traditionally Slytherin while Abbotts tended to go toward Hufflepuff – the Potter house had always been a mixed family. Charlus had been a Ravenclaw while Dorea had been in Slytherin, Wilfred III had been in Hufflepuff, and James – Harry's father – had been in Gryffindor, while Grayson, Catherine, and Hester had been Slytherins.
Harry stayed in the Hall of Portraits learning stories of his ancestors who shared his knobby knees, bad eye sight, and untamable hair until he could hardly keep his eyes open. "Harry, have Milly take you bed dear. We aren't going anywhere." Dorea ordered, so Milly had ushered Harry to bed and he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow – his egg lying on the sheets a few feet away.
The next morning Harry explored the large bathtub big enough to swim in and with bubbles that never seemed to dissappear, ate his first hearty breakfast, and then spent the rest of the morning in the Portrait Hall. Charlus taught him more about what being the Potter heir meant and Dorea with the help of Catherine taught him a few hexes should house rivalry be a problem at Hogwarts. The portraits were priceless to Harry; they were his family, his library, and his teachers.
Everyday Harry spent the morning with someone new, learning whatever they thought he should know, and asking every question he could think of. Afternoons were spent next to his egg in the massive Potter library reading his school books. Evenings were spent in Charlus' old study where he had a portrait frame he could travel to in order to teach Harry how to a pureblood heir and what it would mean when he turned seventeen and took up lordship. Harry also used this room to practice writing with a quill until his scrawl looked less like chicken scratch and more like pretty cursive letters.
Before Harry knew it two weeks had passed by and he felt completely at home amongst his family portraits and his house elves. But a Saturday brought forth a new surprise, Harry's Skye Dragon. Harry had been exploring the manor's attic – looking at a foe glass that curiously showed a man in purple robes and a turban reading a book called Maleficent Transformations – when his pocket started to move. Harry had been so surprised that he had jumped nearly a foot in the air.
Quickly Harry forgot about the foe glass and had raced to his bedroom. By the time Harry had sat down on the carpet in front of the fire and filled the water dish, one claw the size of his thumb broke through the shell. It only took a few minutes for the lizard to crack through the shell completely.
Harry had Milly bring several rabbits a few days before so that the Skye Dragon would have something to eat.
The lizard was beautiful, her skin was a dark green and her body was slender which gave her movements agility that Harry knew she'd lose when she grew. She let out a loud hiss as her tongue darted out, Hungry, she said in heavily accented parseltongue and then she moved – fast as lightning – and sank her huge teeth into a rabbit. Harry grinned widely as the beautiful lizard began to eat the rabbit. She had spoken and Harry had understood it!
Charlus had been awfully shocked to learn that Harry could speak to snakes; Parseltongue Harry had learned it was called, and had adamantly told Harry that no one in the Potter family had ever had the gift. He also stated in no uncertain terms that Harry was not to tell anyone of his gift because it was considered very dark. Harry was curious as to how he had gotten such a powerful ability but he couldn't even begin to theorize how it had happened so Harry decided to let it simmer on the back burner while he became accustomed to the magical world and got a grasp on the basics.
Harry was brought back to the present as the lizard's tongue flicked close to his face. Hello, he tried and successfully said in parseltongue, I'm Harry.
They hadn't been sure if lizards or dragons would be able to understand the snake language but Charlus and Harry both agreed that there was a good possibility since they were all distantly related to serpents.
Harry, her powerful legs pulled her closer and instead of letting those massive claws crawl on him, Harry shifted on to his stomach so that he was eye level with her. Her tongue flicked out several times, tasting the air around Harry and his breath. Then her mouth bumped Harry's cheek affectionately.
I've decided to name you Lorelei, do you like it?
Lorelei's tongue tasted the air in rapid succession before her head nodded.
Over the next several days Harry never went anywhere without Lorelei. He found that she was just as eager and inquisitive about the world as he was. So during the afternoons when Harry wasn't studying his books he was exploring the grounds with his new friend.
Lorelei was fast and loved to run and climb trees. Harry, who was enjoying being outside and just playing for the first time, was absolutely enthralled as Lorelei both learned and showed him how to climb and even taught him how to swim in the pond. Together they spent many hours swimming and diving for fish; when they were both sore and out of breath they'd lay in the warm grass and had Milly bring them lunch. Often times Harry would have the elf bring him a book as well and the two would lie in the grass and Harry would read while they sunbathed.
It was these adventures that led to Harry's discovery of a large game pitch with huge hoops on each end. Though what kind of game was played there he didn't know. They also found the stables to be empty but found odd looking saddles and brushes that looked like they were meant for horses. The last discovery was the most fun however, in a small shed not far from the game field Harry found brooms – and they flew! For hours Harry took to the skies, eager to both feel the wind in his hair and check out the landscape from the air. Harry flew in a giant circle for ages and all he could see for miles around were Potter grounds though far off in the distance to the East Harry could make out the outline of another large house.
Before Harry knew it, it was August 31st and the manor seemed more alive than ever. Harry had spent two hours searching the manor for every book he'd left lying around as Milly laundered his clothes and Jordey had disappeared hours ago to do who knew what. After several hours Harry's trunk was packed and his clothes for the next day were left out but Harry was wide awake. Milly had sealed the doors to his room at eleven when Harry had tried to sneak out to the Portrait Hall and now Harry was left with Lorelei who was curled up lazily on his bed.
You keep jostling the bed human, Lorelei complained as Harry rolled over once again.
I can't sleep. Harry whispered as he turned over once again to face his familiar.
Lorelei's tongue tasted the air several times before she spoke, You don't taste like fear.
I'm not scared, Harry scowled, I'm excited – and nervous. The manor's become my home and now I have to leave. What if I don't like my house?
Then I'll eat them. Harry rolled his eyes fondly, that was always her answer.
It wasn't until several hours later that Harry finally fell into a restless sleep. The next morning was even more hectic as Harry was eating breakfast. Every Portrait seemed to have some last bit of advice for Harry and they had taken to trying to cram into the single portrait frame in the dining hall. 'Don't forget to say hello to Helena – Try not to upset Peeves – If you ever need an empty classroom the dungeons are full of them – Don't be afraid to ask questions, Professors love a student body they can interact with - The kitchens are near the Hufflepuffs, just follow one until you see a portrait of a bowl of fruit, tickle the pear – Harry eventually had to tune them out in order to finish his breakfast on time.
"Milly be missing Master," the house elf sniffed with large tears. From beside her Jordey nodded, his large ears flopping.
"Jordey made Master snacks for his trip," Jordey handed Harry a heavy basket and Harry couldn't help but smile fondly as the elf told him how the basket had a preservation charm on it.
With goodbyes said, Lorelei wrapped around his shoulders, and his trunk ready Milly disapparated. Platform 9 ¾ was nothing short of chaos. There were students of all years milling about and pets of all kinds darting frantically through the crowd. Mothers, fathers, and siblings were gathered round, some crying and some nearly green with envy. Harry smiled and turned back to Milly. "Thank you, I have it from here." With what looked like great reluctance Milly nodded and vanished.
Harry heaved a great sigh and his stomach erupted in butterflies. This was it; this giant gleaming train was taking him to Hogwarts! With a large grin Harry grabbed one side of his large trunk and began the painful process of trying to drag it over to the train.
"Oh hear dearie let me help you," Harry turned around and found an elderly woman with large dark eyes pulling her wand. She flicked it once and Harry's trunk began to hover before it zoomed to the train and joined the others.
"Thanks," the old woman merely waved him away and pointed her wand at the blonde girl's – who was standing next to her – trunk.
The train let loose a loud whistle and suddenly there was shouting and cries of 'Hurry now – I love you'. The last part sliced through his happy mood because despite the family portraits at the manor they were only portraits of those who were actually dead. Harry would never have someone to send him off with love.
Shaking his head, Harry made his way quickly to the train. Inside students pushed and shoved past each other noisily. Much to Lorelei's displeasure Harry didn't immediately grab the first compartment. Instead he took his time as he observed older students in Hufflepuff colors grouping together. Eventually Hufflepuff colors gave way to the bright red and gold of Gryffindor students.
They were monstrously loud and one of them even had an impossibly large tarantula which made Harry feel better about having Lorelei. He was most definitely not the only one who had disregarded the pets rule. Some Hufflepuffs had Puffskeins, a first year with red hair had a rat, a girl in pigtails had a guinea pig, and then Harry found an older student with long blonde hair and Slytherin robes pinned with a Head Girl badge who had a snake lounging languidly on her wrist, its head resting near a very large diamond ring on her finger. No one seemed to give Harry's lizard a second glance.
"Gemma? Oi Farley! Over here!" The blonde Head Girl, Gemma Farley, shoved by Harry and went off towards a group of Slytherins that were just boarding the train.
Harry had just passed a compartment full of students in Ravenclaw robes when the compartment door slid open and the girl from Madam Malkin's appeared. "Nice to see you again, would you like to sit with us?"
"Sure," Harry said happily and slid into the somewhat cramped and noisy compartment. "I never did catch your name."
The girl smiled brightly, "I'm sorry that's terribly rude of me, I'm Mandy Brocklehurst. Who are you?"
"Harry Potter," he replied and almost instantly the other conversations in the compartment died.
Mandy seemed as stunned as the rest of the compartment but she managed to say, "Are you really?"
"Yeah, scar and all." Harry joked as he moved his hair aside and flashed his scar with a teasing grin.
"What house do you want to be in?" A very pretty girl with crimson hair and grey eyes asked.
"I'd like to try for Ravenclaw; it sounds like the best house for me." This garnered several large smiles and the girl held out her hand for Harry to shake.
"I'm Nanette Desford and these two," she pointed to the two girls on either side of her, "are Sophie Fawcett and Maria Glossop. Those two hooligans are Robert Hilliard and Jeremy Stretton," Nanette pointed to two boys who looked up from their game of tossing a magic spark back and forth to wave at Harry.
"It's nice to meet you all," Harry replied, before turning to Mandy. "Do you want to be a Ravenclaw as well?"
Mandy nodded, "Grandfather is a Ravenclaw and he's ever so clever, I'd like to take after him."
Just then the train lurched and Harry looked out the windows to find they were leaving the station. He couldn't stop smiling; he was on his way to Hogwarts! The students in the compartment melted into an easy and relaxed silence. Occasionally Robert and Jeremy would guffaw loudly or someone would have to dodge the spark the two boys were playing catch with but other than that Nanette and her friends seemed content to read.
Harry leaned toward Mandy, "So what's your grandfather do?"
Mandy looked hesitant to say which Harry found odd because she'd been so enthusiastic about her grandfather in Diagon Alley. "Oh, he's an entrepreneur."
Harry gave Mandy a look that said 'I clearly know you're leaving things out' but at that moment the compartment door slid open and a girl in muggle clothes came bouncing in and fell into the lap of Jeremy Stretton. Harry nearly blushed when Jeremy kissed the girl full on the mouth.
"You will never believe what I just saw," the girl said to Nanette and her friends. "Gemma Farley and Grant Montague are engaged!"
"No," Nanette exclaimed loudly in disbelief. Harry watched in amusement as everyone except Mandy and himself leaned forward.
"There's no way," Sophie said with a disbelieving look. "Grant's always been head over heels for Imogen."
Jeremy who had previously been occupied with the girl in his lap looked up, "My sister would never consider him, Montague isn't intellectually stimulating enough. Imogen has her eyes on Cassius Warrington."
"Yeah," Robert agreed as he tossed the spark to Jeremy who caught it one handed. "But it is odd, how did Grant go from besotted to betrothed?"
"It's true," the girl insisted, "I saw them together and Grant even confirmed it."
The Ravenclaw students still seemed rather skeptical. "I saw her when I boarded the train," Harry chipped in, "the Slytherin Head Girl? She had a diamond ring."
"Who are you?" the girl asked as she turned in Jeremy's lap and leant back against the window. Harry wondered if Jeremy weren't really uncomfortable, he kept looking around as if he wished he were anywhere but in the compartment.
"Harry Potter."
The girl didn't seem to have much of a response other than to give him a thorough once over with her nose scrunched. "Ursula Penkridge."
"That doesn't make any sense!" Sophie cried in annoyance.
Ursula nodded in agreement, "I smell foul play."
Nanette seemed to think whatever Ursula meant was offensive because her cheeks went red and her eyes narrowed, "Gemma would never be so stupid. Love potions are easily detectable; they're only good for pranks and Muggles."
"You would think your first argument would be that they're morally wrong and basically rape." Robert shot back with a glower.
Nanette only flipped up her middle finger and rolled her eyes. "What if she didn't buy a love potion," Sophie pondered out loud, pointedly ignoring Robert and Nanette. "What if she made it?"
"Er- sorry," Harry broke in, "but what would be the difference?"
Sophie pushed her hair back and looked to Harry. "Some shops sell cheap little bottles of love potions that are used for pranks. They generally make you do stupid things like sing sonnets to the person the potion is keyed to or you'll find yourself thinking of the person when your mind drifts. But those love potions work like a charm, as in if you go to say something to the person when you open your mouth you don't say what you mean to say."
"They are not just pranks," Robert shot Sophie a scathing look and Harry felt as if he might have been dosed at one point. "but the ones you can only get by making are illegal. They infect you, make you lose all inhibitions. They only thing you see is that person; they become your reason for breathing."
"Which is why Gemma couldn't possibly have dosed Grant, it would way to conspicuous." Nanette announced proudly as she crossed her arms.
"That's only some love potions," Maria chided Nanette softly, "There are others that have subtler symptoms. What if she used Amortentia?"
"I say we have look then," Nanette said, "See for ourselves if we can observe any symptoms of a love potion."
The group agreed and Harry watched in amusement as the upper year students left the compartment. Mandy looked at him and laughed, "So where've you been for the last ten years Harry? Were you really with muggles? What are they like?"
Harry bit his lip as he pondered on what to tell Mandy. He could tell Mandy all about the Dursley's, but it seemed so – wrong, as if admitting it made it made him even more pathetic. Mandy wouldn't even tell him about her Grandfather. "Yeah, I grew up with my mum's sister's family." Harry replied hoping he succeeded in sounding happy.
Mandy's nose scrunched as she peered at Harry, looking for what he didn't know. Instead of allowing her to scrutinize him Harry shifted the conversation back to her, "So you Grandfather owns a shop right? You said in Diagon Alley that you wanted to take over it?"
"Yes," she replied looking distinctly uncomfortable, "Grandfather co-owns a shop that deals in magical books and artifacts."
"Well what kind of books and artifacts?" Harry pressed on taking a certain glee in the girl's pained look.
Harry very much wanted to know why she all of the sudden seemed so tight lipped. "Well all kinds really."
"What's the name of the shop maybe I've heard of it?"
Mandy suddenly stood up and said, "I have to go to the lavatory." With that she too left the compartment and Harry raised an eyebrow at the door that closed behind her.
What is wrong with her?
I have no idea, Harry replied. Are you hungry I'm going to read a bit but Jordey packed deer meat for you.
Lorelei hissed in glee and Harry smiled fondly. Once she was on the seat next to him he pulled the bag of raw meat out of the basket and opened it for her. Picking up a piece of Drooble's Best Blowing Gum for himself, Harry happily smacked away as he started chapter four of The Darkest Wizard in History. The group of older Ravenclaws never made it back to the compartment and neither did Mandy. By the time the sun set the only visitor Harry had was a bushy haired girl named Hermione Granger who was looking for Neville Longbottom's toad. She had been particularly upset when Harry had told her it was probably better for Neville to lose the toad and she hadn't come back.