1 November 1981
Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much. They were the last people you'd expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just didn't hold with such nonsense.
They were one of the last Christians in England.
Christianity was persecuted in England even before the Vatican burned down.
Well, not persecuted, but after the cult burned a member of one of royal houses, the king ordered the Vatican to resolve it; as the leader of the cult was a prominent member of Vatican.
Let's just say, it ended with the royal family left the Church and demanded repayment of the destroyed private property.
And when the Vatican burned down after a few years, the remaining priests were still paying off the debt.
In the England, the remains of the Church still pay high taxes.
Which is more out of spite, than anything else.
Despite all of that, the Dursleys had everything they wanted.
But they also had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it.
They didn't think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters. Mrs. Potter was Mrs. Dursley's sister, but they hadn't met for several years; in fact, Mrs. Dursley pretended she didn't have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be.
The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbours would say if the Potters arrived in the street.
Unfortunately, one morning, when Mrs. Dursley opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, they learned that they have little saying in it.
22 April 1989
Snakes had a habit of showing up wherever Harry Potter went. He'd wondered on it for as long as he could remember, but accepted their presence without much thought. They were never aggressive towards him.
As the years went, Harry could understand more of their whispers. It was a hissing, complicated language, and yet he understood it as easily as if it were English.
They didn't want to watch him suffer anymore. They wanted him to do something about it.
How could he, Harry asked them. He was a child, not even a teenager, stunted from never eating enough, staying in that terribly cramped space under the stairs, and being beaten regularly. His body barely had the energy to heal itself, forgot the growth.
"There may be a way," said one of the snakes. It was a grass snake, one of the first that had come to Harry as a child.
"We have been… searching,"said the snake."For years, we have watched you suffer under these… brutes. Powerless to help. Too weak to intervene. But we could not allow it. Something had to be done. So we whispered to others of our race, asking, pleading, searching for an answer. And we think we have found one."
"What is it?" asked Harry. He was a little wary. They were snakes, after all. He knew they mean well, but what is good for snakes doesn't mean it is good for human.
"There is a story. About the King of Serpents." The snake started.
"Monstrous gigantic serpent, whose stare can cause death upon any living victim which dare to look into his eyes. With venom so powerful that it can kill a brute of your uncle within minutes." A new snake flicked its tongue as it addressed Harry.
That terrified Harry. He knew that they just wanted to help but...
Is there really snake like that?
23 June 1991
They were in the Reptile House, checking out the various species of lizards and snakes, as well as the various amphibians kept in the building. Harry was trailing behind Dudley and his Aunt, (Vernon had gone to grab something to eat) looking at the snakes behind the glass. He didn't speak to them here—if any of the Dursleys caught him speaking to snakes, Vernon would almost certainly break some of his bones.
But still, he couldn't help but wince at the way Dudley beat against the glass, demanding that one of the larger snakes—a Boa Constrictor—move from its lazy coils. When the boy sneered at the snake and stalked off to antagonize another poor reptile, Harry walked over to the glass and looked at the boa. It certainly looked rather irritated, but it was hard to tell sometimes.
"I'm sorry,"Harry muttered lowly. "He's not a nice person. None of my relatives are."
The boa's eyes, although unblinking, sparkled in recognition of its language and slowly raised its head to look at Harry more closely. "You speak my language?"
"Just enough to get by,"Harry cracked a slight smile.
"You're a rare human then,"the boa's tongue flicked out curiously. "Even amongst the strange ones who come sometimes with magic at their call, I have never met one who can speak with me."
"I don't know about them,"Harry admitted, although he was desperately curious to know if there were really other people who could use magic—if that was, indeed, what he could do. "Everyone I know just thinks I'm a freak. Well, everyone except snakes like you."
"Mum, look!"
Harry was suddenly thrown to the floor as Dudley smacked into him, eyeing the boa constrictor with barely restrained excitement. "The stupid slug moved! That's right, keep moving you great ugly—hey!"
Annoyed by the interruption, the boa lowered its head and ceased mobility once more.
Dudley glared at the reptile, then snapped his eyes towards Harry. "You!"
He grabbed Harry before the stunned boy could react and yanked him to his feet, then pinned him against the glass. "Make it move again! It moved when you were here!"
"It's not like I can talk to it!" Harry snapped.
Dudley growled. "I don't care, make it move!"
As Dudley pulled Harry forward and then attempted to shove him back against the glass, both boys found a surprise—there was no glass to hit.
They went tumbling into the pool of water within the enclosure and came up sputtering, eyes wide in surprise. Dudley locked onto Harry with terrified rage.
"YOU DID THIS, FREAK!"
Harry couldn't even get a word out when Dudley's hands locked around his throat and shoved him back under the water. Although he scrabbled to get loose from the bigger boy's hands, Harry was too weak to overpower Dudley.
Dudley's weight suddenly vanished from him and Harry pushed himself up out of the pool with a gasp.
The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits.
The boa Harry had spoken to, leapt itself forward and bite its fangs in Dudley's leg and was trying to coil around him. Dudley was shrieking, beating at the snake with his fists while a horrified Petunia tried to yank it off.
The keeper of the reptile house was in shock.
He managed to remove the snake out of Dudley, but the boa in the end escaped.
5 July 1991
Harry was in garden, weeding a flower bed when a big and very familiar snake appeared from the rose shrub.
24 – 31 July 1991
The first letter arrived a week before Harry birthday.
The snakes were smug.
The Dursley's not so much.
After receiving new room, hiding the snakes became easer and harder at the same time but he managed to keep them a secret.
Soon the letters flooded the house and enraged Uncle Vernon decides to take everyone away from the house, but at the hotel where they stay, a hundred letters are delivered for Harry. After some heated arguments with other hotel residents, Uncle Vernon decides on even greater isolation. On a dark, stormy night, he takes the family out to an island with only one shack on it.
Despite all of that, someone still managed to found them.
1 August 1991
Once all of affairs with Gringotts were sorted, Hagrid left to the Leaky Cauldron and Harry went to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions because he figured that it'd be best to finish with the robes first since he didn't know how long they would take to make. Harry was measured quickly by the flying tape measures and the severe Madam Malkin herself. When he was ushered to sit on a chair, he met another boy his age who seemed to also be getting his school robes.
The pale boy with bone white hair talked about smuggling his broom into Hogwarts, although the Hogwarts letter specifically told them not to bring one.
"I'm sure there is a reason first years can't have a broom." Started Harry. "I mean, there are a lot of students already making problems for teachers. They surely don't need some first years with broken bones if it's unnecessary."
"I suppose you'd be quite right with that one. Father and mother would not be pleased with me if I would get hurt." The boy agreed.
He rambled on about Quidditch, and Harry listened politely, though he admittedly knew little about the sport. When he started talking about the Hogwarts houses, though, and something about knowing he'll probably be in Slytherin, Harry gained interest.
When Harry's snake friends tell him a story about the King of Serpents and about way how to hatch him, he learned about the magic. It was hard to believe them even when the letters started coming. With the arrival of Hagrid he can't ignore the truth anymore.
Some of the snakes were telling him stories about magic school and about children clad in different animals.
Now that he knew they were right, he tried comparing what they tell him with what this boy was saying.
So far, he guessed the Slytherin was the snake house. You know, 'slither' and all. But for the Hufflepuff, he did not know which one from the houses it could be.
From snakes, he knew, that the houses allotted different social purposes.
Slytherin was a suitable house for those who wanted to climb high in society and have the network to get there. The lion house seemed to be the homing beacon for light wizards. The badger house created strong and loyal allies and friends, although it was the house that took in the ones that didn't fit in to any of the houses more than any other, still predominantly light families. Lastly, the raven house was rather neutral as the house based its social structure on wits and personal merits rather than family and bloodlines and wealth. All of them had redeemable qualities, which is exactly what he told the other boy when he asked which house Harry wanted to be sorted into.
"That's . . . actually pretty smart. Even if I have to disagree with you on Gryffindor being a suitable choice. I've seen more bigots come out of that house than Slytherin, that's for sure!" The boy exclaimed with a sneer and Harry couldn't help but laugh at the fuming little blonde next to him.
Ah, so Gryffindor is apparently the lion house. Though, he wondered why their animal was a lion.
"I suppose you'd be quite right with that one." The boy's sneer transformed into a mischievous smile when he saw the sparkle of mirth in Harry's eyes.
Speaking of Gryffindor now, Harry thought about his supposed fame in this world and wondered how many people expected him to follow in the footsteps of his parents. Problem was, Harry didn't even remember his parents, why would he continue their legacy at the expense of his academic life for the next seven years?
"Did you hear? It's been ten years since You-know-who was defeated. So Harry Potter might come to Hogwarts this year!" The blonde leaned forward and hissed in a loud whisper, his eyes alight with gossip.
Speak about the devil, Harry thought to himself.
"You don't say? What do you think he'll be like?" Harry asked casually, deciding to play along.
"My Godfather, Severus Snape, said that he went to school with Potter's parents and apparently his dad had been a right Gryffindor prick! Don't get me wrong, having the defeater of the Dark Lord as a friend would be a huge public image boost, but if he's going to be some reckless and righteous Gryffindor like his father, then is there really a point?" The boy scowled.
Harry frowned. It doesn't fit with Hagrid tell him about his parents. Then again, he assured that Hagrid was a bit older than his parents, so he most likely didn't know them as their schoolmates did as.
That brought up a question about how exactly did he know them. Why would students be friends with a groundkeeper? He honestly can't imagine students in his old school do that to their school care-taker.
Speaking of Hagrid...
"Look at that man!" said the boy suddenly, nodding toward the front window. Hagrid was standing there, grinning at Harry and pointing at two large ice creams to show he couldn't come in.
"That's Hagrid," said Harry, pleased to know something the boy didn't. "He works at Hogwarts."
"Oh," said the boy, "I've heard of him. He's a sort of servant, isn't he?"
"He's the gamekeeper," said Harry.
"Yes, exactly. I heard he's a sort of savage - lives in a hut on the school grounds and now and then he gets drunk, tries to do magic, and ends up setting fire to his bed."
"I think he's brilliant," said Harry coldly.
"Do you?" said the boy with a slight sneer. "Why is he with you? Where are your parents?"
"They're dead," said Harry shortly. He felt a little like going into the matter. "A lot of children are orphans after...you know."
"Oh, yeah, sorry," said the other, sounding sorry just a little. "But they were our kind, weren't they?"
" They were a witch and wizard, if that's what you mean."
" I really don't think they should let the other sort in, do you? They're just not the same, they've never been brought up to know our ways. Some of them have never even heard of Hogwarts until they get the letter, imagine. I think they should keep it in the old wizarding families."
"I don't think so exactly. Where else would they go? I mean, they must learn how to control their magic, don't they? Otherwise, muggles would learn about us." said Harry in response.
Before the boy could answer, Madam Malkin said, "That's you done, my dear," and Harry hopped down from the footstool.
"Well, I'll see you at Hogwarts, I suppose," he said to the drawling boy.
August 1991
Harry's last month with the Dursleys wasn't fun. True, Dudley was now so scared of Harry he wouldn't stay in the same room, while Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon didn't shut Harry in his cupboard, force him to do anything, or shout at him — in fact, they didn't speak to him at all. Half terrified, half furious, they acted as though any chair with Harry in it was empty. Although this was an improvement, it became depressing after a while.
Harry kept to his room, with snakes and his new owl for company. The snakes were not very pleased with a predator so close. The Boa – now named Burmese, as he demanded name the moment he found the owl received one - tried to eat her more than once.
His school books were very interesting. He lay on his bed reading late into the night, Hedwig swooping in and out of the open window as she pleased. It was lucky that Aunt Petunia didn't come in to vacuum anymore, because Hedwig kept bringing back dead mouses, which won her acceptance among snakes.
1 September 1991
The day before he is due to leave, Harry asks Uncle Vernon to take him to the train station.
After a while he overhears some people mention Hogwarts; it is a family of red-haired children who seem to be bound for the academy. He asks the mother for help, and she tells him to walk through the barrier between tracks nine and ten. Harry does so, and he is astonished to find the train to Hogwarts on the other side.
On the train, Harry is introduced to Fred and George Weasley, twins who are returning to school, and to their brother Ron, another student who will start at Hogwarts.
When the twins slid the compartment door shut behind them, Ron blurted out. "Are you really Harry Potter?"
Harry nodded.
"Oh — well, I thought it might be one of Fred and George's jokes," said Ron. "And have you really got — you know..."
He pointed at Harry's forehead.
Harry frowned and say little coldly. "You know, your mother was right. I'm not something you goggle at in a zoo."
Ron blushed, muttered an apology, and stared at the floor of the compartment.
After a few awkward minutes, Harry broke the silence.
"Are all your family wizards?" asked Harry, who put aside the ogling and submitted to his curiosity because he found Ron just as interesting as Ron found him.
"Er — Yes, I think so," said Ron, uncertain but glad. "I think Mom's got a second cousin who's an accountant, but we never talk about him."
"So you must know loads of magic already."
The Weasleys were clearly one of those old wizarding families the pale boy in Diagon Alley had talked about.
"I heard you went to live with Muggles," said Ron. "What are they like?"
"Horrible — well, not all of them. My aunt and uncle and cousin are, though. Wish I'd had three wizard brothers."
"Five," said Ron. He was looking gloomy, for some reason. "I'm the sixth in our family to go to Hogwarts. You could say I've got a lot to live up to. Bill and Charlie have already left — Bill was head boy and Charlie was captain of Quidditch. Now Percy's a prefect. Fred and George mess around a lot, but they still get significant marks and everyone thinks they're hilarious. Everyone expects me to do as well as the others, but if I do, it's no big deal, because they did it first. You get nothing new, either, with five brothers. I've got Bill's old robes, Charlie's old wand, and Percy's old rat."
Ron reached inside his jacket and pulled out a fat gray rat, which was asleep.
"His name's Scabbers and he's useless. He hardly ever wakes up. Percy got an owl from my dad for being made a prefect, but they couldn't aff — I mean, I got Scabbers instead."
Ron's ears went pink. He seemed to think he'd said too much, because he looked quickly out of the window.
Harry didn't think there was anything wrong with not being able to afford an owl. After all, he'd had no money in his life until a month ago.
Before he could tell Ron so, all about having to wear Dudley's old clothes and never getting proper birthday presents, his trunk shook.
Both boys stared at the trunk. It shook a few more times and then it burst open with a furious hiss.
After a lot of panic, few attempts to Scabbers life, did Harry contained Burmese who somehow sneaked into his clothes without him noticing. How he did that despite his size is beyond Harry.
Then he moved to calming Ron, which was way more difficult.
In the time the Trolley lady come, he coaxed Ron to talk about classes in Hogwarts.
Later, during testing various sweets, Harry asked Ron about his brothers, and repeated his opinion on school houses to him.
After that, he shifted the conversation to Ron's oldest brothers.
He learned that Charlie is studying chimeras and Bill is working for Gringotts. Which leaded to revelation about the robbery.
Harry turned this news over in his mind. He was getting a prickle of suspicion about Hagrid's not-so-subtle picking.
Then he let Ron talking about Quidditch.
That lasted until about two hours, when the door to their compartment was flung open and a familiar blonde walked in.
He looked around for a moment before his eyes settled on Harry.
"Is it true?" he said. "They're saying all down the train that Harry Potter's in this compartment. So it's you, is it?"
"Yes," said Harry. He was looking at the other boys. Both of them were thickset and looked extremely mean. Standing on either side of the pale boy, they looked like bodyguards.
A smile pulled at the corners of his mouth and he stood up a little straighter.
"Oh, this is Crabbe and this is Goyle," said the pale boy carelessly, noticing where Harry was looking. "And my name's Malfoy, Draco Malfoy."
Ron gave a slight cough, which might have been hiding a snigger. Draco Malfoy looked at him.
"Think my name's funny, do you? No need to ask who you are. My father told me all the Weasleys have red hair, freckles, and more children than they can afford."
He turned back to Harry.
"I was looking for you, actually. You left me with a lot of things to think about at Madam Malkin's last time. I was hoping I'd be able to catch you on the train and clear the air before we start our first year. And about what I said about you..." Draco glanced away and Harry watched with idle amusement as twin splotches of pink appeared on Draco's cheeks.
"That I would be, oh what was it again... 'a reckless and righteous Gryffindor prick?'" Draco turned a darker shade of pink and Harry couldn't help but laugh at his kicked-puppy face. "Well... Seeing as how the only information people have about me is the traits of my parents—whom I've never really met—that might somehow be passed down through my genes and some great deed I supposedly did as an infant, it seems like everyone already has a fully developed opinion of my character. The funny thing about this situation is that so many people are ready to open their arms to me and trust me even though I've been gone for 10 years and am essentially a stranger. I mean, I could be anybody!" Harry tutted in mock disapproval.
Ron sputted. Both boys ignored him.
There was a long beat of silence before the compartment filled with laughter as Draco's composure cracked. The tension in the small compartment snapped and Harry settled back against the seat and crossed his legs with his hands in his lap. Draco soon settled down and his laughter tittered out and faded, leaving behind a wide smile and a hint of moisture at the corners of his eyes.
"You're not at all what I expected!" Draco looked at Harry like he found everything the other boy did fascinating. And perhaps he does, wizards are strange, Harry thought as he glanced once again at the silent presence of the two boys beside Draco. Instead of Ron, they seemed perfectly content with just being ignored.
"Well, I certainly hope so! What a dull person I'd have to be in order to be so predictable with so little information." Harry mused.
They settled into a friendly conversation that sounded pretty close to bragging, but Harry had heard enough of Dudley's gloating over the years to spot the difference. Draco wasn't just bragging to show off how much better he was, most of his stories centered around his father and a bit of his godfather. It was a classic case of hero worship and the shine in the boy's eyes totally endeared Harry as he rattled off many stories about the 'Great Lucius Malfoy.'
In summary, it was enjoyable.
Until Malfoy decided to point out how are some families better than others.
2 September 1991
Harry finds life at Hogwarts unfamiliar and strange. Everyone talks about him, and an adult always seems to be around when he is doing something wrong. Harry finds all the classes interesting, except for the History of Magic. In the first Transfiguration class, only Hermione can make any progress at turning a match into a needle. It relieved Harry to see that others are just as lost as he is.
Later, in Potions class, Harry discovers that Professor Snape really does not like him, mocking Harry as "our new celebrity" and then try humiliating him. Fortunately, Harry remembered something from his summer reading of his schoolbooks.
After this interesting day, exhausted and ready for bed, Harry found out that surprises don't end yet.
At the foot of his bed laid a wrapped parcel.
Harry picked it up and felt it. It was very light. He unwrapped it.
Something fluid and silvery gray went slithering to the floor, where it lay in gleaming folds.
Harry picked the shining, silvery cloth off the floor. It was strange to the touch, like water woven into material.
As he did so, a note fell out of it.
Written in narrow, loopy writing he had never seen before were the following words:
𝒴ℴ𝓊𝓇 𝒻𝒶𝓉𝒽ℯ𝓇 𝓁ℯ𝒻𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝒾𝓃 𝓂𝓎 𝓅ℴ𝓈𝓈ℯ𝓈𝓈𝒾ℴ𝓃 𝒷ℯ𝒻ℴ𝓇ℯ 𝒽ℯ 𝒹𝒾ℯ𝒹.
ℐ𝓉 𝒾𝓈 𝓉𝒾𝓂ℯ ℐ 𝓇ℯ𝓉𝓊𝓇𝓃ℯ𝒹 𝒾𝓉 𝓉ℴ 𝓎ℴ𝓊.
𝒰𝓈ℯ 𝒾𝓉 𝓌ℯ𝓁𝓁.
𝒲ℯ𝓁𝒸ℴ𝓂ℯ 𝓉ℴ 𝓉𝒽ℯ 𝒲𝒾𝓏𝒶𝓇𝒹𝒾𝓃ℊ 𝒲ℴ𝓇𝓁𝒹.
23 October – 10 November 1991
As Christmas approaches, Hagrid comes upon them studying in the library. They bombard him with questions about the Sorcerer's Stone. He invites them to come and talk to him later but says he does not promise that he will reveal anything. They visit Hagrid's hut later, and Hagrid tells them he does not know what else is guarding the stone besides the three-headed dog. He tells them which teachers cast spells to guard the stone. He adds, he will never give out any information on how to bypass the dog.
Hagrid shows the students a chimera egg he won in a poker game the previous night. Chimeras are illegal, but Hagrid wishes to raise one, anyway. Later, Harry gets a note saying the egg is hatching. Excitedly, he and his friends rush over to Hagrid's to watch the birth. The children realize that Hagrid must get rid of this chimera, which Hagrid names Norbert, before he grows too big. They decide to write to Charlie, Ron's older brother, who is studying chimeras in Romania. Charlie agrees to help them and arranges for them to meet some of his friends to take the chimera away. They set the plan to meet Charlie's friends at midnight one Saturday atop the tallest tower of the castle. They take the invisibility cloak and sneak up carrying Norbert. Charlie's friends come and take the chimera away. As they descend from the tower, they forget to wear the invisibility cloak, and Filch catches them.