re-edited 2015. see first chapter for notes
Chapter 9: Harry Unknown
Harry may have been in the orphanage where Tom Riddle used to live, but in fact, he was unexpectedly happy. He didn't have to worry. There were no Dursleys, no Voldemort (at least until the annual June fight-between-good-and-evil) and nobody knew who he was, or cared. To everyone here, he was Harry. Just Harry. Not Harry Potter, The Boy Who Lived, Savior of the Wizarding World, The Chosen One—none of that. He was just Harry.
Of course, Harry thought, there was the little problem of getting to Hogwarts—his friends would be sure to try to meet up there—but on the whole, it really didn't matter. There were a few months left before he had to go, anyhow. He'd think of something when the time came.
He had even made some friends—Alex, a boy his (physical) age, and a girl, Katie, who was only six. Alex treated Katie like a sister, though as far as Harry could tell, they weren't siblings.
Even the other kids liked him well enough—if they even knew of him. It was a kind of anonymity Harry had never known. Before he had gone to Hogwarts, everyone had known him as 'the freak', and in the Wizarding world, of course, the attention was of a different nature altogether. But now, he felt almost as though he were someone other than himself. In fact, Harry was feeling—what was it—not happy, but carefree. He was feeling carefree.
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