As before:
:Parseltongue:
/Thoughts/
Harry eats breakfast slowly, contemplating all that had happened during the night. He had been 'tucked in,' a process involving silencing spells and minor binding charms. Harry had easily disabled them of course, but the very familiarity with which Jeff handled them had been disturbing. He had waited in his bed, fingering the green and silver velvet bed clothes as he listened to the deepening breaths of the other children around him. Once he was sure that they were all asleep he crept out of the bed and tip toed into the bathroom. There he was shocked at the sight of himself in the mirror.
Harry barely looked like he had passed his seventh birthday, much less his eleventh. Even taking into account that he had always been undersized due to near starvation in his younger years one could not place his age much over nine. Shaking, Harry looked deep into his face, unnerved by the subtle differences he sees but cannot exactly place. His hair is slightly less unruly than he is used to, his face slightly longer, the nose a bit pointier. The real difference he note with horror. Leaning close to the mirror he sees that his eyes are now flecked with brilliant crimson. Gasping and choking back a cry he backs away hastily from the mirror. He stares at the mirror. From this far away his eyes appear brown, it is only on close inspection that it can be seen that his eyes are an unmistakable mix of his own emerald and Voldemort's crimson.
"Harry, you need to eat something." Jeff cuts into Harry's musing. With a sigh he starts picking over the breakfast tart without much appetite. Jeff gives Harry a concerned look before returning to his own tart.
"Here you go, Harry, Jeff." Harry accepts a sheet of parchment and looks up to see Snape smiling down at him. "Have a good sleep, Harry?" he asks. Harry looks back at his paper quickly, not knowing what to do in response. Apparently looking away is a typical response as he gets an affectionate chuckle and a hand squeezing his shoulder. "Make sure Harry gets to his special classes before you go to yours, alright, Jeff? The teachers have been told that you might be late."
"Alright, Severus." Jeff says around a bite of breakfast. He turns to contemplate his schedule.
Harry looks down at his own, wondering which house the Slytherins will be paired up with most often. To his surprise the schedule looks completely alien to what he is used to. Some of the classes are the same, here Potions, there Herbology and Care of Magical Creatures… but some of the classes are very odd: 'Wizards and Muggles' is new, as is 'Curses, Hexes and Jinxes' and 'Household Charms.' There are more classes in all, each seeming to be held only once or twice a week. The exceptions to that are Care of Magical Creatures which is every day including Saturday and Sunday and Household Charms which has a note on it saying 'rot. sched.' Whatever that means. Some of the classes have multiple professors and only Household Charms is separated by house. The others have notes on them like 'class: 11.' Harry looks at his paper in bewilderment. Well, if I thought I would be bored it appears that I was wrong.
"Come on Harry, we need to get going for our first class." The first class was in a huge room filled with cushions to sit on. Harry and Jeff picked a pair close to the front and waited while all the other first years filed in. Shortly after the last student has taken a cushion Dumbledore sweeps into the room, beaming indiscriminately at everyone.
"Hello my friends and welcome to Hogwarts. I trust your Heads of House gave you all a speech last night on the spirit of the House into which you have been sorted?" There is an affirmative murmur from the surrounding children. "Excellent. I am here today to tell you all about what will be expected of you at Hogwarts. I will periodically be teaching your Wizards and Muggles class, like I am today.
"Now, I know that some of you know nothing about Hogwarts beyond your letters, and some of you have been told horror stories about the school by older siblings and some of you have read Hogwarts: A History cover to cover." He chuckles and runs a hand through his beard. "I am here to tell you the truth, or at least confound you appropriately." Harry stares at Dumbledore. He hadn't believed it seeing him sitting in the Great Hall right where he always had, but seeing the old wizard up close brings home the vitality of the 'dead' wizard with renewed vigor. He really is alive… Harry's mind races at the implications. Dumbledore alive, my parents, McGonagall, everyone younger than they should be, in some cases younger than I remember being… His brain does a bit of a hiccup, but cannot help but acknowledge the truth. Somehow- I'm in the past, and it's a past that is very different than my own. Harry refocuses his attention on Dumbledore.
"… Tom Riddle is the Head of House for Slytherin. Feel free to go to any Head, not only your own. Your house is the base for which we administer awards and punishments. Whatever you do will be reflected on your entire house, remember that. In classes you can earn points for answering correctly, for example, and loose them for disrupting the teacher. In addition there are two sporting events held each year that go toward your House points. As first years, you are unlikely to be in either, but fan support can also earn you points if you have a creative cheer or mascot!" There are whispers amongst the students. "The first event is actually a tournament that continues all year and that is the Quidditch Cup. Every House has a team that you can try out for. The game itself will be taught in Flying lessons and everyone will get to play against classmates in that class. The other is the Wizard Tournament.
"Every year all students are entered into the Tournament but only one from each House is picked. They become the House Champion. The Champion is selected by the Goblet of Fire." Harry starts at that. They have the TriWizard Tournament every year? And first years are entered? "Every third year instead of the regular Wizard Tournament there is a TriWizard Tournament where the three main east European Schools: Hogwarts, Durmstang and Belle Batons come together and compete. This is considerably harder and Champions for each school are picked from those who were previous Champions for their school. Next year will be a TriWizard year, I hope that you will cheer on your House Champion this year and the School Champion next year." Harry's head is spinning. Every year a tournament? Dumbledore winks at the assembled enraptured first years. "Of course, the best part of becoming a Champion is that you do not have to take the exams for that year. For years that the student has to take certification tests, that would be fifth and seventh years with the OWLs and NEWTs respectively, the student is privately tutored to take the test before winter break between the first and second tasks so that they are not distracted for the last two and more dangerous tasks."
Dumbledore goes over to the chalk board and taps on it. A yearly schedule appears on the board and he explains it. Basically the schedule is the same as Harry is familiar with. The breaks are all in the same places, the Quidditch schedule is roughly the same. The only major difference is where the tournament is held. The first task is coming soon, only half-way through the first semester. The picking for the tournament occurs in only two weeks. The second task is right before the Quidditch cup and the third right after final exams. "This class is designed to get everyone on the same page in regards to Muggles, that is, non-magical folk, and wizards. That is why it is your first class. After this year it is an optional class split into two days, one to discuss and analyze Muggles, one for wizards." Harry muses over that. A class to actually explain all the thousands of things taken for granted by wizards… and Muggles seems like a very good idea.
"Well that's all for today. I will show you to the Hogwarts Common Room where you can try out all the neat games and gizmos in there. The Hogwarts Common Room is the only place in the entire castle where Muggle devices will work. There is a Super Nintendo system in there hooked up to a television as well as a radio for the Muggles. In addition there are supplies of wizard entertainment like Exploding Snap and Wizards Chess. Follow me." Harry follows with the other first years to a room just across from the Great Hall. Like Dumbledore promised there is indeed a telly and a VCR and Atari system new this year. The room seemed equipped with anything you might want to play with as well as areas for studying and relaxing with friends. It seems like a very good idea to promote inter-House relations. Being so close to the Dining Hall is very convenient.
Jeff enthusiastically attacks the Atari along with some of the Muggle born, drawing a huge amount of attention to the telly from the wizarding children. Soon everyone is playing some game or the other with a white block bouncing back and forth on the screen. Harry stares off into space, thinking fiercely. It seems that somehow Tom Riddle had never become Voldemort. Would Harry's time have been so peaceful as this without the maniac reigning over everything? Children from all the Houses, interacting peaceably over a Muggle video game… it seems unreal.
"I can't believe they have and Atari here! My mom wouldn't let me get one when they came out. She said that they were too expensive." One boy says from in front of the machine.
"I know!" replies Jeff. "Tom didn't want to buy one. He said that he would work on getting them to work with the wizard viewers but that it was really a waste of money and time. I can't believe they got it working here!"
"Maybe we could figure out a way to get it to work on a wizard device from what the Headmaster already knows." A girl says from beside them.
"That would be very neat. Then maybe Tom will buy one for us." Jeff smiles.
Harry's attention is arrested for a moment when he realizes something. They are talking about the Atari like it just came out. But, it came out in the eighties, didn't it? Or was it the seventies? Well, that would explain why everyone is so much younger, Harry thinks dizzily. The clock on the wall chimes and Harry looks up at it. The hand is pointed at 'Time for your next class!' in cheery letters. The entire group of first years make their way out the school entrance down toward Hagrid's hut.
Harry rubs his eyes as he looks at the massive kennels surrounding the gamekeeper's house. From where he is he swears he sees a manticore, and that is definitely a herd of hippogriffs. Hagrid is standing on the lawn waiting for all of them.
"Firs' years, good to see yer. I'm Hagrid, yer Care 'o Magical Critters teacher. Now for today ye all will be in one group, but we'll split ye up fer the rest of the classes." Hagrid pulls a box from behind him with a grunt. "Now, these 'ere are magical rats." He lifts one out of the box. Harry's eyebrows shoot up at the size of the thing. "Ye will be responsible fer keeping 'er alive fer yer entire stay at Hogwarts. If yer rat dies through neglect or mistreatment, ye will fail Care of Magical Creatures." Hagrid looks over to one of the girls who has started crying. "Now, now, it's not bad. These fellas are real easy ter care fer. I'll be tellin' yer how to do it teday. In addition te the rats, yer will be assigned ter a group ter care fer another magical critter. There are six fer this semester. Ye will care fer one fer two weeks with yer four partners. Ye'll have to care fer all of them eventually. Once yer in a group based on critter we'll work out a time fer you ter be taught within this three hour period. The two an' a half hours yer not in class, on will be fer lunch and the other hour an' a half is fer caring fer yer critter. Remember! Yer critter always ets afore you do. If'n I catch anyone down here after they et lunch I'll be takin' points. Some of the critters need night feedin' too, so ye'd better be down here afore dinner as well. Now ev'ry one get in a group, don't matter who yer with, it'll change when we change critters."
Harry allows Jeff to pull him into a group comprised mostly of boys. There is one Ravenclaw girl, two Slytherin boys a Griffindor boy, and themselves. Harry marvels at the set-up for Hagrid's class. It seems that they will actually learn something from this class. Harry has never actually had to care for a rat, nor even really interacted with one except for Wormtail.
"A'right. Evr'n come up 'n' get a rat." There is a scramble for the box. Rats of all colors imaginable are pulled from the box: white, black, brown, orange, some are spotted, some have stripes or polka-dots. Harry is the last one at the box and looks down into it. Huddled in the corner hissing is a particularly scraggly looking brindle rat. "There ye are, Harry. Just talk to 'im. E's a particular one." Harry looks up at Hagrid dubiously.
"Professor, Harry can't talk." Jeff says from beside Harry. "Here Harry, you can have mine." Jeff holds out a somewhat timid looking light grey rat. "I'll take that one." He peers into the box timidly.
Harry shakes his head. He reaches down into the box, holding his hand in front of the brindle's suspicious red eyes. He looks at it, trying to give off soothing vibes. Nothing. Harry takes his wand out from his pocket with his other hand. The rat gives a squeak of terror and tries to press itself up against the wall as hard as it can. "Accio cookie." Harry croaks. He pictures in his head the sugar cookies that seem omnipresent at Hogwarts meals. He re-sheathes his wand and waits patiently, hand in front of terrified rat, until the cookie comes soaring from the entrance to Hogwarts. He deftly catches it with his wand hand. He reaches down to offer the cookie to the rat. The suspicious creature darts forward and snatches the cookie.
"While yeh two are getting' acquainted I'll tell how ter care fer 'em." Hagrid says. Basically all you have to do is take the rat with you everywhere for the first month to get it to bond to you. They can eat anything and appreciate all manner of left-overs from the dinning hall. They must have a supply of water at all times. In the dorm room there will be set up self-refreshing water bowls for the rats and all other pets brought to school. If the rat becomes sick, it must be brought to Hagrid or a Head of House immediately. "The most important thing is ter remember: give the rats their supp'ments ev'ry day! They have vitamins and other things in them that we'll go over teday fer why their important. Next week the'll be a quiz on all the in'gredents." The rest of class was a detailed analysis of the different components of the supplements. Hagrid held up the different parts in native form (either a plant, rock, whatever) and told them what pages to read in their text about the different supplements. The major part of it is a birth-control herb to both keep the rats from wandering off looking for each other and to keep the population under control. "Now ev'ry year someb'dy fergets and we get a litter. If yer rat is pregnant, bring 'er teh me. Ye'll get points off fer fergettin, but it's better than failing if I catch yeh with a litter or yer rat dies." At the very end Hagrid tells which groups to come when. There are about thirty-five small groups of four to six. Six groups get assigned to each animal. Harry's group has the animal for the fourth half-hour which means that they have the first hour and a half free as they don't know what their animal is yet. The rest of the class leaves for lunch, but Jeff and Harry stay.
"Yer rat still givin' yeh trouble then Harry?" Hagrid asks. "Once yeh get 'er teh come teh yeh, she'll be right loyal."
"Isn't there another rat Harry could have? You know he has problems." Jeff says worriedly.
"Nah, Harry should have this 'un. She's got problems too."
Harry looks down at the brindle rat, now sleepy after devouring her entire cookie. Harry slowly moves his hand closer. The rat gives him an ambivalent look. He scoops her up gently, bringing her to cradle against his chest. He strokes her nose right between the eyes and she sighs and snuggles into Harry's robe. "There, yeh see? They'll get on just fine."
"Come on, Harry, we're going to miss lunch." Jeff says, pulling Harry along with him back up the hill.
After lunch they have a class called Inanimate Transfiguration. Harry assumes that it is simply regular Transfiguration, but titled differently. He feels justified when they walk into the room to see McGonagall sitting at the desk in the front. As a cat, of course. Harry smirks but sits down with Jeff. They are somewhat early and thus are able to secure themselves a seat. The classroom is only half as big as it should be for a class this size. With all the first years it seems quite crowded. The last three students rush in and take a seat on a table by the door right before a huge black dog saunters in and shuts the door behind him. Sirius! Harry gasps, heart wrenching. Though Padfoot is barely out of his puppyhood, he is still very recognizable. Sirius barks loudly and charges to the front of the room, drawing all attention to him. McGonagall leaps over him, changing mid air. Gasps come from all corners of the room. Sirius transforms behind the professor, smirking.
"Welcome first years, to Inanimate Transfiguration. Working with inanimate objects is the first step to realizing your Animagus form. It is our goal here at Hogwarts that everyone who goes on through their NEWT level transfiguration is able to establish an Animagus transformation. Mr. Black here is my apprentice and will be assisting in teaching you all. We will be separating you into two groups, the less advanced group taught by myself and the more advanced group by Mr. Black. You might think this backwards, but it is easier to teach more advanced students. I will need to help those who are struggling more extensively. That is not to say that anyone from either class is not able to come to me for help. Both Mr. Black and I are available at any time to aid you in your studies. Now then, if the left side of the room will form a queue in front of me and those on the right form one in front of Mr. Black we will be giving you a short quiz to test your natural abilities." Harry was on the left side and stood in line in front of McGonagall. He couldn't help staring at Sirius though. The young man was laughing and joking with the kids, teasing them into answering with a smile on their faces.
Finally it is Harry's turn. McGonagall looks at him with a frown. "I think we'll put you in the slower group Mr. O'Donnell." Harry shakes his head, taking out his wand. She frowns deeper. "Very well then. Have you done Transfiguration before?" Harry nods. McGonagall's eyebrows rise. "Have you ever transfigured a thimble into a thorn?" Again Harry nods. "Very well then, we shall give you the harder task. Transform this thimble into a thorn, then the thorn into a hard black ball of wood and back again through the steps. Try to go as slowly as possible so that I can observe your technique." Harry points his wand at the thimble and starts to transfigure. The process itself is very simple, but he finds that slowing it down is amazingly tricky. He has to think about every step in stead of intuitively shifting the shape. By the end of the exercise he feels like he's learned more about how he thinks about Transfiguring than he ever had before. McGonagall is making a valiant effort to look both put out and astonished at the same time and failing miserably. "I suppose I should put you in the advanced section, you're friend Jeff is in there as well. I was just wary of having you somewhere I can't keep an eye on you." She harrumps and notes down on her sheet. "Advanced section, go sit back on the right side of the room."
Harry goes back and sits with Jeff who is grinning broadly. "Oh, I was so scared! I thought that you would be in the less advanced group. I tried to do the task she described as slowly as possible, but she still put me in the higher group! I never thought that transfiguration would be so easy." Harry rolls his eyes internally. Jeff, by trying not to be in the advanced group, had probably inadvertently put himself there.
Finally everyone was sorted. The groups are about even, with more Muggleborn in the less advanced group, which is to be expected. However a good third of the advanced class are at least half-bloods, if not fully Muggleborn, a fact that somewhat surprises Harry.
"Alright you lot, we're in another room. Follow me." Sirius leads the way out of the classroom to the classroom next door. "Just about all of you said that you had done or at least read about Transfiguration before, but I'm still going to go over the basics. There is never a problem repeating things, but there most certainly can be with skipping things." For the rest of the afternoon Sirius went over the basics behind Transfiguration theory, most of which Harry knew, but there were a couple things that were new to him either because he failed to pay attention during his fist time through or because they were discoveries not made in his time due to Voldemort. Inanimate Transfiguration took up the rest of the afternoon but they got let out early. "We may or may not get out early, it really depends on the day. Toady I'm letting you brats off easy. It's the first week after all. Now, your homework is to read the first chapter and write me a foot about the different analogies that the author uses to describe the essence of Transfiguration. Focus on one that really helps you and one that is completely incomprehensible. Tell me why they help or don't. Mention the others also, but you don't need to go into detail. Alright, scoot! You have an hour free before dinner."
No one left.
"What?" Sirius asks, hands on hips and cocky grin on face.
"Can you show us your dog form again Mr. Black?" A girl from Hufflepuff asks timidly.
Sirius lets out a barking laugh. "Why certainly!" He transforms swiftly into Padfoot and leaps around the classroom barking. He jumps up on the Hufflepuff girl and gives her a sloppy dog kiss on the cheek.
"Eww!" She squeals. Everyone laughs; even Harry lets out a croak of happiness. He slips away however while Jeff is distracted. It is time to figure out some more about the past.
Harry manages to get into the Library without incident. Madam Pince gives him a cursory look before going back to the fifth year asking her a question. Harry makes a beeline back to the stacks of periodicals and pulls a box down from the most recent side of the bookshelf. The latest Daily Prophet is dated August 30th, 1979. Harry gasps. It is a year before he is even born! Harry sits back against the bookshelves, thoughts whirring. How long had he been here? How did he go so far back in time? What in the world happened? First things first, he must find out why Tom did not become Lord Voldemort.
He takes out his wand and points it at the impressive array of Prophets. "Revelo Mentiun Tom Riddle." Another handy spell he learned from Hermione, this makes all relevant passages glow a darker green for more relevant to transparent for not at all relevant. Harry's eyebrows raise as he looks at the impressive saturation of green in the magazine collection. Harry starts at the first one and pulls out a magazine dated June 1945. It is merely a list of graduates of Hogwarts. Tom is second in the class after one Myrtle O'Donnell. Harry is about to dismiss this fact before he does a double take. Miss O'Donnell is Moaning Myrtle! Suddenly it clicks in his head. His last name that they gave him is 'O'Donnell' … Tom must have married Moaning Myrtle. It is almost too ridiculous to contemplate. He takes out his wand and taps again the magazines, this time looking for mentions of Myrtle O'Donnell and Tom Riddle together. Again the glow is quite prevalent, but definitely diminished. Some books glow blue, indicating first search term only, and some yellow, indicating second. All the glow together seems to cover almost every Daily Prophet. Harry picks out the second magazine that mentions both of them, this one significantly after the first. It is dated in 1952. It is a wedding pronouncement. Harry closes the magazine and thinks hard before opening it again.
This past Friday a controversial couple has bound themselves in a traditionally Muggle manner. Thomas Marvolo Riddle and Myrtle Anne O'Donnell were united through the exchanging of golden rings. Mrs. Riddle's parents and grandparents weepingly gave their daughter over to the dashing Mr. Riddle but the Gaunts were conspicuously absent. No wonder after the denouncing Mr. Riddle gave in his sixth year at Hogwarts. Readers will recall that he changed his name and refused to go back to the family home. Riddle's mother is deceased but his Muggle father was present as was his Muggle grand-father. Time will only tell what these two anti-Pureblood activists will do once they return from their honeymoon in Muggle Greece.
Harry stops there, jaw dropping. Tom is anti-PUREBLOOD? What a complete turn around from his world. He cancels the search on Tom Riddle and looks up Tom Gaunt. Sure enough there are a few green highlights before the first from previous searches. Harry pulls out the first of these and reads.
Today allegations were brought against Marvolo Gaunt by his grandson Thomas Gaunt. Young Thomas, a seventeen year old sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry wasted no time in charging his grandfather with abuse and neglect as well as the use of Unforgivables. Tom said he waited to reach his wizarding majority and obtain his OWLs before saying anything due to fear of reprisal from his family. "I didn't feel that I would be safe until I was completely free of them." Tom says of his family. "This past summer really was the last straw. I was tired of being cursed for no more reason than my father is a Muggle." Reportedly Tom went to a professor of his at school with the information.
Albus Dumbledore knew the laws of the Wizarding World and advised Tom to wait until his majority to testify. "I knew that there are some more ancient laws allowing this kind of abuse of children by their relatives. Though the chance was slim that Mr. Gaunt would bring these laws to light there are many on the Council at this time that may have used it to further Pureblood propaganda." Dumbledore said. Tom was incised to learn of these laws. "I couldn't believe it. Professor Dumbledore told me that even if they used the Killing Curse on me it would be legal!" Tom vows to not only get himself freed from the oppressive reign of his grandparents, but to avenge his mother's wrongful death and his own maltreatment by working to change the laws as soon as he graduates. Tom hopes to one day be able to rescue others in circumstances similar to his own and punish the Pureblood fanatics who would so abuse and neglect their children. "It's just sick." Tom said as he entered the courthouse this afternoon for the final descision of the Wizengammot.
Harry sets the magazine down. So, Tom is still a zealot, but this time for the Muggleborn not against them and working for Dumbledore. All this because his mother had somehow ended up back at her father's and not on the streets with Tom in an orphage. Harry shakes his head. It seems unreal that so small a change could create such a difference. He picks up the next highlighted article. It is a short blurb about Tom with a lengthier article about the Gaunts.
Today the Wzengammot found the Gaunts to be at fault for their treatment of their grandson. "I'm glad we won this small battle, but I'm not done the war. Many others are in the same position as I was." Prof. Dumbledore is similarly ecstatic. Both parties are hoping this will set an example for the future that such behavior won't be tolerated. Tom, with the help of Prof. Dumbledore and his mother's diaries seized in the Auror investigation reveal that Tom's father is one Thomas Riddle. "I'm changing my name to Riddle." Tom says. "And I'm going to meet my dad. I don't want anything from him, I'm independent now, but I do want to meet him."
The Gaunts were taken into custody and their assets seized. Sentencing is expected to be time in Azkaban of up to ten years. Tom and Prof. Dumbledore were disappointed but the law as it stands barely allows for that much punishment. In 1204 the law was…
Harry stops there, not very interested in the laws of the time. He cancels the search and leans back, contemplating. Obviously this is an alternate universe to the one where he grew up. Tom did not go insane and start a Reign of Terror because of his treatment when he was younger but instead became a zealot in changing the laws within the Ministry. Why Harry was sent back to this time in particular is beyond him. It seems that nothing particularly important is happening this year. And to be honest, he doesn't know when he was found either. Could it just be a total coincidence? Harry sets up another search, this time for Harry and Tom Riddle. He gets hits closer to the present day. He pulls out an article dated in 1976, three years ago.
Boy found! Tom Riddle, founder of the O'Donnell Orphanage in Surrey today found a young boy while out on picnic with his wife, Myrtle. They say they were flying low on brooms over a grassy field when they spotted the poor urchin. He was covered in blood and was victim of several as yet unidentified curses. Not much is known at this time, but Riddle is furious over the possible torment of another innocent. Ever since his first rescue of a neglected child, one Severus Snape some seven years ago, Riddle has raided the mansions of almost all the prominent Dark Pureblood families. Incidence of child abuse and death in these families has drastically dropped in recent years, but the discovery of the young boy in such a state leaves Riddle weary. "I had hoped to end this sort of thing before any more were born into abuse, but it appears that my efforts are not enough as of yet." Riddle refers to the fact that the child is obviously less than seven years of age, indicating that he was born after the strict penalties for abuse were instituted and the barbaric old laws abolished.
Harry looks at the accompanying picture of a small body wrapped almost head to toe in bandages. The small figure hardly ever moves except for pitiful twitches every so often. At his bedside are two individuals, Myrtle and Tom. Harry looks uncomfortably at the image before putting it back and reaching for the next.
Young 'Harry' today was released into the hands of Mr. and Mrs. Riddle. They offered no comment, instead focusing on getting the bewildered boy away from the Press before we could question him. Nurses from St. Mungos filled in the details. Harry was treated for multiple dark magiks, including but not limited to the flaying curse, the disemboweling curse and all three Unforgivables. Some of the curses were so horrible that they could not be positively identified. The work of dark witches or wizards unknown, poor young Harry unfortunately cannot tell us any more. The only thing that he can say are his own name and the incantations for several spells, one of which this reporter felt for herself and later had to be treated at the very hospital young Harry was just released from.
This reporter took the injury in stride and used the extra time in St. Mungos to get the full story, such as it is. Apparently above being cursed and hexed the boy was also starved and physically beaten. Reportedly the nurses were afraid to go into the room when Mr. Riddle was presiding over the boy in the first days. "He was really terrifying, so mad you could feel the magic pulling at you." One nurse confessed with a shudder. One thing is for sure, if the person or persons who did this to young Harry are found, it will not be pretty.
Harry smirks. How amusing would it be to see Tom try to take on himself. He might not even recognize that they were the same person. Harry sighs and puts all the magazines back. He has the story now, no need to dig further. He does feel a tinge of curiosity about Snape's story, however and reaches for his wand to perform another search. He gets a sharp nip on his wrist for his troubles. Harry jumps in the air, holding his arm away from his body, heart thumping. A brindle head pokes out from his sleeve, one red eye glaring at him. Harry lets out a breath of relief. He had completely forgotten about the rat. They eye each other warily. What in the world could she want? Enlightenment dawns as Harry's stomach lets out a protest for being too long without food. With a silent laugh Harry ducks back out of the library and dashes down to the Great Hall.
"Harry! Where have you been? I was looking all over for you. You've almost missed dinner." Harry sighs and sits down next to his eleven year old bodyguard. Harry's rat scurries out of his sleeve and goes to hang out with Jeff's light grey. They help each other devour a cantaloupe rind. "Don't run off without me, what if you had gotten lost?"
Harry ignores Jeff and digs into the mashed potatoes. He is hungrier than he would have thought. He pokes at a carrot just as someone larger sits down at his other side. Harry looks over at Snape and groans internally. "Harry, are you all right?" Harry goes back to eating his food, stabbing savagely at the carrot and sticking it in his mouth. A concerned Snape is apparently quite annoying. If he puts as much effort into keeping track of Harry that he used to put into harassing him Harry might be in trouble.
"Well, if you're rat is so unconcerned then there must have been no problems. Don't get lost again, alright?" Snape gives him a brief hug and leaves the table. Harry wonders about the cryptic statement about the rat. Are they not really to test the student's abilities in Care of Magical Creatures and instead some form of monitoring? If so, it's a brilliant idea.
After dinner they have a Study Hall, which for the first day is basically a lecture on how to use the library. Harry ignores the entire speech as he knows it all and is relieved when they are all led back to their dorms for bed. Harry falls right to sleep tonight, despite the many thoughts running through his head and the rat who keeps nipping him on the nose when he tries to actually use his pillow himself.