Harry and 'Snuffles' met Hagrid in the Leaky Cauldron. The whole bar went silent as he entered and Harry edged closer to Snuffles, nervous at the sudden attention. Hagrid didn't seem to notice the awkwardness as he strode towards them, "Harry!" he said, "blimey, las' time I saw you, you was jus' a baby. Yeh look a lot like yer dad, but yeh've got yer mum's eyes." Harry remained silent. Hagrid glanced down and chuckled, "Professor Dumbledore said yeh'd have a dog with yeh. I think I migh' have a treat for him somewhere," and with that he plunged his hand into his cavernous pockets until he eventually pulled out some dog biscuits and gave them to Snuffles, who sniffed them apprehensively,
"His name's Snuffles," Harry told Hagrid with a grin, Snuffles gave a low growl and they left the still slightly shell shocked crowd in the Leaky Cauldron. Unnoticed by everyone else in the Leaky Cauldron a man in a turban fidgeted nervously, "Harry Potter. That can't be good," he muttered.
Diagon Alley, Harry decided, was amazing, he wished he had a thousand more eyes, and perhaps a few more ears, so he could take it all in. First, they got some of Harry's money from the frankly terrifying Gringotts and Snuffles was oddly silent. Harry knew that, had he been human, Sirius would have been insisting that he pay for Harry's things. Then, whilst Hagrid got a drink to recover from the Gringotts carts, Harry went with Snuffles to get his uniform. There was another boy in the shop who had an air of casual arrogance and surveyed his surroundings like a lord, "Hullo," the boy said in a bored voice, "Hogwarts too?"
"Yes," said Harry,
"Oh," drawled the boy, then, like Hagrid, he glanced down to Harry's side. Unlike Hagrid he did not smile, "I say, is that your dog?" the boy sneered, "I wouldn't let a mutt like that in the house," Snuffles growled and the boy flinched,
"I wouldn't insult him if I were you," Harry said coldly, "he does have such a bad temper," the boy was silent for moment then, obviously choosing to ignore Snuffles, he said,
"What house do you think you'll be in?"
"Gryffindor," Harry replied "like my mum and dad," And Sirius and Remus, he added silently,
"Gryffindor," the boy sneered, "I should've known. What's your surname?"
"What does my surname matter?" Harry snapped, growing angrier by the second. This boy was obviously from one of those old pure blood families that Sirius had told him about. Well, if the boy was proud of his name then Harry would see what the boy made of his, "It's Potter anyway. Harry Potter," the boy's eyes flickered up to Harry's forehead, to his scar, and the boy's face showed the tiniest hint of fear. Harry smirked,
"Malfoy," the boy replied, "Draco Malfoy." It was lucky, if disappointing, that Madam Malkin came bustling over at that moment or Harry was sure they'd have ended up fighting.
"Malfoy?" Harry mouthed at Snuffles and Snuffles snorted. Harry straightened up. That was all he needed to know. "Malfoy," he muttered to himself, "well Harry, you're doing well. One enemy already and no friends." Snuffles snorted again. He knew that Harry would have no trouble in finding himself friends.
They went to Flourish and Blotts to buy Harry's school books next. Harry only wished that Remus was there with them to point Harry to all the really interesting books, but Hagrid still had to pull Harry away from a book of curses, "But they look really interesting," Harry protested,
"Yeh'll only get in trouble for using them," Hagrid said, "besides, they're far beyond beginner level, yeh need a lot more work before yeh could do any o' those. Not that I doubt yeh'll try, if yer anything like yer dad," If Snuffles could have, he would have grinned. Harry was definitely a lot like James.
They bought cauldron, scales and a collapsible brass telescope. Then they got, from Harry's perspective, a very strange array of ingredients for Potions. Hagrid also had to drag Harry past Quality Quidditch Supplieswhen Harry stood staring, "Firs' years aren't allowed brooms," he reminded Harry gruffly,
"But Hagrid," protested Harry, who had only ever flown on Sirius' old broom at the dead of night when he was sure nobody would see, "they've got a Nimbus 2000." Snuffles nudged Harry and gave him a look that was clearly meant to remind Harry that he had promised Harry a broom for his twelfth birthday. "Oh all right," Harry muttered mutinously and he reluctantly walked away.
They bought Harry an owl next, Hagrid insisting on buying it himself as a birthday present, waving aside Harry's stammered objections, "Course I know I don' have to," he had said, "tha's what makes it a present." He had also insisted on helping Harry choosing as, he had told Harry, if there was one thing he did know, it was creatures. Harry eventually decided on a beautiful snowy owl that he had immediately taken a liking to and had felt some sort of bond to. He wondered if it was magic. Hagrid had declared the owl, "Somethin' special alrigh'," and so the snowy owl had been bought.
Eventually they got to the thing that Harry had been looking forward to most, a wand. The shop was narrow, shabby, and was clearly held together by magic as Harry was sure it would fall down if it wasn't. As he entered the back of his neck prickled and he had a strange feeling that the dust and silence was alive. Harry wondered if he was sensing magic like Remus said some wizards could, after all, a shop that sold wands certainly seemed the sort of place where you might sense magic, or was he just nervous? Harry looked around the tiny shop with its deep shadows, so unlike the hustle and bustle outside, I'm just nervous, he decided. Relax. Harry was just getting used to the strange shop when a soft voice spoke from gloom, making him jump. Perhaps not.
Ollivander had been contemplating the interesting combination of yew and unicorn hair when he heard the shop door open. He put his experiments down with a smile, the only thing that interested him more than creating wands was matching wands and wizards. He rounded the corner and there, to his great delight, stood Harry Potter. Ollivander practically quivered with excitement as the challenge of finding Harry Potter a wand grew steadily harder until, Ollivander took down one particular box, trembling. Would the brother of the His wand work for Harry? It was a fascinating thought, a hypothesis that Ollivander could not resist testing, no matter how blatantly absurd the idea was. Absurd, that was, until he was proved undoubtedly correct. Ollivander's mind scurried for theories and ideas, but this was something no one had ever seen before. Wands had always had brothers of course, but the connection between the two wizards who carried them made it extraordinary. Ollivander was interrupted by the boy asking just exactly what was so curious about the wand that had chosen him. Ollivander smiled. Harry Potter would certainly be one to watch.
Harry had talked non stop all the way back, ignoring the strange looks they had got. Hagrid eventually managed to get him to stop talking long enough to give him his train ticket, "Platform Nine and Three Quarters," he read reverently and Hagrid's beetle black eyes crinkled with fondness,
"I'll see yeh at Hogwarts Harry," he said. Then he was gone and Harry and Snuffles made their way back to Grimmauld Place. Harry looked at the snowy owl, thinking of his History of Magic book,
"Hedwig," he said suddenly, "I think I'll call her Hedwig," Hedwig hooted her approval of the name.
Sirius watched Harry trying spells out half happy, half sad. Of course he was happy that Harry was growing up, that he would be going to Hogwarts and introducing a new generation of Marauders to Hogwarts but he knew he was going to miss Harry. Knew he was going to miss Harry so much it would be like a constant physical pain. Ever since he had rescued Harry from the Dursley's they had rarely spent any time apart and now they would have to. Remus appeared by his side also watching Harry, "I'll miss him as well," he said quietly,
"I know,"
"It won't be as fun without him,"
"I know,"
"It's going to be OK," Remus assured himself as much as Sirius, "he'll write and you did give the mirror didn't you?"
"Yeah, yeah I did," a vase exploded and Remus rushed forward,
"You're flourishing your wand too much," he told Harry, "here, like this," Remus demonstrated whilst Harry watched him closely, not even blinking so he wouldn't miss anything. Sirius watched as Harry successfully levitated one of few remaining unbroken objects and smiled.
"You're a good teacher," he told Remus later,
"Am I?" Remus asked, surprised,
"You're patient and encouraging. Simplifying things so he can understand and you make it so that he tries his hardest to get something right to please you. Not that he wouldn't want to learn on his own, but you stop him getting frustrated and giving up," Remus smiled softly,
"I like teaching him,"
"You make a good parent as well," Remus stared at Sirius like he was crazy,
"Me? I just teach him the odd thing, I mean, it was you that found him, that's looked after him, I -"
"I'm not the best parent," countered Sirius, "I'm better than the Dursleys yes but," an extremely ugly look passed over his face, "that's not exactly hard, but I'm more like a mischievous older brother than a parent. You though? You make a great parent, I've seen you and him together, its ..." Sirius struggled to find the right words, then gave up and just said, "he needs you." Remus was silent for a long time, a look of quiet delight on his face until he said,
"You make a good parent too Sirius,"
"I know," he said seriously, then the grin returned to his face, "you know what this means,"
"What?"
"It's you he'll go to for homework advice," Remus laughed,
"I'd like that," he admitted.
The fateful day came and Hagrid, accompanied by Snuffles, took Harry to the station. Remus had wanted to join them but they had decided it was better that he didn't, for the sake of secrecy. Sirius had, despite being human, growled when they decided it and Remus had told him calmly, "I don't like it either Sirius, but it's for the best." he then turned and hugged Harry fiercely, "You make sure you write, and you can ask for help with schoolwork. Just because I won't be there doesn't mean I can't teach you," he paused, "except for Potions. I'm really bad at Potions," Harry hugged back and nodded. When they got to the Platform Harry bent down and buried his face in Snuffles hair, "I'll write," he promised, "every week, and you better write back, d'you here?" Snuffles nodded, "And Remus better write as well," Harry stood up, "See you at Christmas," he said quietly and walked onto the train.
Sirius arrived back at Grimmauld Place looking like he had just run a marathon. Remus silently handed him one of the glasses of Firewhiskey he was carrying. They clinked their glasses against each other, "To Harry," said Remus,
"To Harry," agreed Sirius.
Harry sat in an empty compartment, watching houses flash by and feeling his excitement mount. He was finally going to Hogwarts. The door slid open and a red headed boy with freckles came in, "Anyone sitting here?" he asked, pointing at the seat opposite Harry, "everywhere else is full." Harry shook his head and the boy sat down, "I'm Ron, by the way," said the boy, "Ron Weasley,"
"I'm Harry," Harry replied, "Harry Potter." They started to talk and very quickly became firm friends once Ron had gotten over his amazement that he was talking to the Harry Potter. Ron told Harry about life with five older brothers and one younger sister and Harry told Ron about life with the Dursleys until he had run away. There was an awkward silence after Harry told Ron that he couldn't tell him who he lived with and where he lived that was broken by Malfoy and two other boys coming into the compartment. They managed to scare them away and stop them stealing their sweets when Scabbers, Ron's rat, bit one of the boys and Harry managed to actually levitate Malfoy.
"That was amazing," Ron told Harry later. Harry shrugged,
"I'm quite surprised it worked. I've only managed to levitate small things a few times before,"
"But you're not allowed to do magic outside school," protested Ron, with a grin on his face,
"Si – Canis doesn't really tend to follow rules, besides, they're pretty unenforceable since the Ministry can't actually who's doing the magic, only that magic is being done and Moony wanted to give me a head start."
And so Harry arrived at Hogwarts having broken dozen school rules and at least one law, made one very good friend and one enemy. Life, thought Harry, is going to be good.