Now we get to do some fun stuff. Setting up at the preserve, learning how to fly, and some additional twists when it comes to Harry's pre-Hogwarts education.
So let's get going, shall we?
—0—
"Come on kiddo, wakey wakey!"
Harry's eyes fluttered open to see Scortwit, bags under his eyes, holding his wand and gathering supplies from the truck. "We're here, I gotta help Charlie boy get Fleya back to her nest."
Harry yawned and gave a stretch. It seemed to be mid morning, if the daylight filtering through the truck's windshield was anything to go by.
"Come on then! Get up!"
Harry nodded and slipped out of the cot, stretching again as they stood. Scortwit slipped past them and hopped out of the truck, landing upon the ground outside with a soft thump.
Making sure to grab the things entrusted to them by the goblins, Harry made their way to the door of the truck and climbed out to look around.
From the top step of the ladder up into the carriage, Harry could see out across a large field. Several sheep grazed on beautiful verdant green grass, and a few parts of the area seemed to be growing different plants and harvestable crops.
Beyond the field's edge lay a thicket of woods, which rolled down a hill into a massive land basin. Harry could pick out several shapes circling the lofty pine trees. From a distance, they seemed rather small, but as one let out a jet of pale blue fire, Harry could tell that they would be much bigger up close.
They were dragons.
"Come on then! Get yer scaly arse up and moving!"
Harry turned to see Scortwit prodding a large black dragon along, with Charlie at its side as it slithered out from the back of the truck. The beast let out a low trilling groan and Scortwit sighed in response.
"I know, you get carsick and I'm sorry. The best way to counteract that is by going for a good fly, you know."
The dragon gave off a few chitters and a snort, blasting Scortwits hair with hot air. The man huffed. "You know you're much too big to sleep in the lodge now, you've got to go for a fly and get back to your cave!"
The dragon huffed before unfurling its magnificent wings. Harry marveled at the wine red membrane that lined the appendages as the dragon began to wave them up and down slowly. Scortwit and Charlie slowly backed away as Scortwit grinned.
"Tha's right! Get 'em yeh marvelous girl! Take to the sky!"
Harry was surprised at the Scottish brogue that slipped into the excited man's voice, but decided that it was most likely because he originated from that area. His thoughts were drawn away as the dragon began moving its head slowly, up and down, before leaping into the air. With several tremendous flaps from the dragon's wings, she took to the sky, flying high into the air.
Harry watched the Norwegian ridgeback gain altitude, and closed their eyes as a delightful trumpet sounded from the dragon as she let out a glorious tongue of flame from her mouth. A chorus of calls responded from the basin as she approached, each voice welcoming the dragon home."
"Well? Are you gonna sit there all day or are you gonna come and join us?"
Harry looked down at Scortwit and Charlie, who were grinning ear to ear. With a grin of their own, the child descended the ladder on the side of the truck and touched down on the ground.
"Where to?"
Scortwit laughed. "This!" The wizard spread his arms wide. "This is it! This is the dragon preserve!"
Harry looked around. Charlie chuckled and tapped them on the shoulder, pointing to a space in the field that held a flat stony circle. It was rather odd and definitely not naturally occurring.
"Take that wand that the goblins gave you and repeat after me. Revelio."
Harry nodded and took out the wand, before waving it just like Charlie instructed. "Revelio."
It started from the edge of the stones. Harry gasped as wooden beams melted into existence, before the spaces between were filled with stones. Glass windows fluttered into being, shingles swirled out of thin air, until Harry was looking at a great circular house with several layers. It was big enough to fit many more than the three before it, and yet, it looked stunningly empty.
"Built this big boy when I started! Always hoped that I'd have ten or twelve extra sets of hands, only recently got around to Charlie boy… but now we've got another one to join! Welcome kiddo, to the dragon lodge!"
As they entered the building, Harry was hit by the scent of pine trees. It appeared that the house had been crafted around the trunk of one, which held a few tiny branches with new growth.
"It's a breed I discovered myself." Scortwit winked as he led Harry closer. "It's still alive, drinks alcohol. It can move about on it's own too, go on! Shake it's branch!"
Harry's eyes bugged out as the new growth shifted and moved towards them. With a bit of nervous shaking, Harry held out their hand and shook the branch.
"There ya go! It's related to a species called the Whomping Willow! I call it the Cock eyed Conifer." The man chuckled. "Lives off of alcohol, don't need much sunlight because of it. Used to get by off of the wine festivals they had up here, but that was before the dragons came."
Scortwit gently patted the tree trunk before turning to Harry. "But all that for another time. We got more gifts for you, you know! Come on over to the lounge."
The child followed Scortwit though several doorways, eventually coming to a stop in a large living area.
It was a wonderful room, with a sofa and a coffee table situated before a large fireplace. The northeastern wall of the room opened up into what Harry assumed was a kitchen, where several pots were scrubbing themselves over a sink of soapy water.
"Come on over kiddo!" Scortwit smiled, gesturing to a mountain of parcels nearly as tall as Harry.
"That's… too much."
"Have you ever had a birthday before, Harry?" Scortwit pondered.
"No. Well, I have. I just never received any gifts or anything. The Dursleys tended to treat it as Dudley's second birthday."
"Well then, consider this all of the gifts you've missed." Scortwit smiled.
"But… it's too much! It must've cost a fortune!"
"How much it cost me is out of the question." Scortwit waved the child off. "Harry, these aren't even really gifts, they are just everyday necessities. Clothes, books, everything you need to live in the magical world!"
Harry sighed and nodded, taking the first parcel and unwrapping it. Although the child felt bad about Scortwit using his money on them, they found a part of themselves growing warm with happiness as they understood how far the man had gone for them.
"Clothes…"
"Robes. The absolute finest, tailored by my friend Maldy."
Harry ran their fingers across the material.
"Acromantula silk, taken from a colony in greece. It's her main material for robes, especially ones as fine as these." Scortwit smiled.
"They are certainly nice… too nice for someone like me…" Harry frowned.
"You deserve far more Harry, go on, would you like to try it on or move to the next gift?" Scortwit asked.
"There's more clothes, right?" Harry blinked. Scortwit nodded in response. "Can I try on all of the clothes when they're all opened? Then we don't have to start and stop and start and stop."
"Okay." Scortwit nodded. "Charlie, do you want to pick out a gift for Harry to open?"
"Sure!" The young man smiled. Waggling his fingers, Charlie reached into the pile and pulled out a parcel wrapped in dark blue tissue paper.
"Thank you." Harry nodded, accepting the gift. The child delicately removed the wrapping to find a pair of black gloves.
"They're thick…" Harry blinked, feeling the weight of the gloves.
"Dragonhide, lined with unicorn fur. Perfect for making potions." Scortwit nodded. "We'll teach you a few tools of the trade when it comes to such things of course."
Harry nodded. Several hours passed, with Harry opening gifts and both Scortwit and Charlie delighting in watching the child's reactions with each one. Clothing, books, tools and potion ingredients. Each gift seemed to brighten the child's eyes just a tad more.
"Now finally, we have the big one. You won't be able to have it at school with you until your second year, but that doesn't mean that you can't take it out for a spin while you're at home!"
The man hefted up a large case with a silver design upon it's top. Charlie drew in a breath as Harry nervously undid the locks of the case.
Nestled within the case, in black velvet, sat a beautiful broomstick. The handle was perfectly straight, with a twisted braid at the end that led into a silver tip, shaped like an arrowhead. The tail of the broom was beautifully splayed, looking like the fletching on an arrow. A few centimeters from the base of the fletchings was a length of forged silver that arched down into foot rests.
In a smaller compartment next to the handle of the broomstick sat several glass bottles, as well as a black oiling cloth, a pair of silver tweezers, and a brush.
"A broomstick… by the looks of it, that could compete with Nimbus!" Charlie breathed, looking at the broomstick in awe.
"So what… it's a broom, for cleaning, right?" Harry shrugged.
"No! Not cleaning!" Scortwit jabbed a finger at the child. "Flying. How about you go with Charlie and give it a test run?"
Harry looked at the broom. "Flying?"
Charlie chuckled and tousled Harry's hair. "Here, go change into one of your new outfits while I get my broom, and we'll do a few lessons outside."
Harry nodded and closed the case. Charlie headed into a different room as Scortwit handed the child a robe, a pair of boots, and a pair of goggles.
"Go on, you'd better get out there before he leaves you behind!" Scortwit grinned.
"But what about all of the tissue paper?"
"What tissue paper?" Scortwit waved his wand, causing the discarded wrappings to vanish.
Harry shook their head. "Magic…"
"Indeed. Now go learn how to fly."
Harry nodded and quickly walked through the dragon lodge, finding their way to the front door. At the open room with the pine trunk, Harry quickly changed and set their discarded clothes neatly upon an empty table.
The new robes were comfortable. Harry recalled that this set wasn't made of silk, but rather wool from a creature that Scortwit called a fluffy tibetan yak. They were warm, and made Harry think of when Spearmint embraced them.
"You coming?"
Harry turned to see Charlie standing at the door with a grin.
"I've already set up my broom out there, I can help with yours."
Harry followed Charlie out to the field, where a broomstick was already laying on the ground.
"Are you left handed or right handed?" Charlie asked, taking Harry's broom case.
"Er… I don't rightly know."
Charlie shrugged. "That's all right, we'll try left. It's what works for me."
Charlie undid the latches on the broom case and delicately withdrew Harry's broom from within. The young man placed the broomstick next to his own, roughly three feet to the right.
"Now, I was taught by a brilliant flying coach at Hogwarts, and while I do not wish to brag, I was considered a star seeker on the quidditch team."
"Seeker?" Harry blinked.
"Yeah, it's a position in quidditch. A game played in the air, there's goals on each end of the field, two teams. The seekers job is to find a tiny little ball called a snitch. It's darn fast and pretty hard to spot when you're flying around. But today, we're just going to worry about getting off the ground."
Harry nodded and Charlie stepped up to the right side of his own broom. "So, a broomstick has an enchantment on it that responds to emotion. There's a test that can be done to make sure that you're in the right headspace for flying. Basically, you take your hand, hold it over your broom, and do like so. Up!"
The broomstick shot up into Charlie's outstretched hand. He turned and looked at Harry with a grin. "If you aren't completely firm in your demand, the broom won't respond. Go on, give it a try."
Harry nodded and stepped up beside their broom. The child extended their left hand out over their broom and immediately felt a brilliant tingle in their fingers. The jolt was so lively, so wonderful, that Harry forgot all of their worries about flying disappear.
"Up!"
The broom zipped up into Harry's hand, shocking Charlie. "Woah! Nice one. On your first try too. You're going to be a natural."
Harry stared at the broom. The magical tingle had spread down their arms. It felt wonderful. With a genuine smile, Harry turned to Charlie. "What's next?"
"Eager are we?" Charlie grinned. "Next we mount the broom. You see how you have footrests, don't use those yet. Position the broom between your legs, position your hands, like so. Right in front, left behind that. Now, that's a basic grip, and we'll try it out first, okay?"
Harry nodded and positioned the broom like Charlie showed him.
"Alright, now you'll just kick off the ground, and once you get to the air, just hover." Charlie demonstrated, kicking off of the ground and flying up roughly fifteen feet, before slowing to a stop. "Go on, give it a try!"
Harry felt the tingle in their arms, and where it was spreading from the tips of their toes. Their body was longing to go skyward, it was begging to fly. With a mighty leap, the child soared upwards. Charlie grinned as they slowed down right next to him.
"Good control! How does it feel?"
Harry grinned, their eyes glimmering with joy. "So natural, except… my grip."
Charlie quirked an eyebrow as Harry adjusted their hands, twisting their right to grip the underside of the broom handle, and moving their left hand in front of it.
"That's better."
"Okay. Then let's try flying a few laps around the field." Charlie nodded. "Get you comfortable with the movements. Lean left to turn left, right to turn right. Go forward to speed up, push your hands down to dive, and-"
"Pull back to slow down." Harry finished.
"Yeah… how did you-"
"I just had a feeling."
Charlie blinked as he saw the look in Harry's eyes. There was more than excitement in them. There was a hunger to fly, and an intoxicating feeling of joy that stemmed from somewhere unknown.
"Alright. Want to give it a go?"
Harry nodded. "Let's go."
Charlie leaned forward to start the first lap at a manageable pace, roughly a quarter of his Comet 260's maximum speed. Harry followed behind easily, so upon the completion of the first lap, Charlie doubled their pace.
Harry continued to keep up with Charlie, and so as they banked around the field a second time, Charlie pushed his speed up a tad more and began to do a few tricks he had learned in his free time.
Harry was still keeping up easily, which made Charlie's competitive side heat up a bit. As they rounded the field once again, he flew up and began to do a series of movements that he had used at Hogwarts to shake off bludgers.
A dive, followed by a quick brake and a swerve to the left, and ascending corkscrew, followed by a stop and a full flip around the side of his broom, underneath, and back to the top. When he finished, he looked behind him to see that Harry was gone.
'Oh no… I shouldn't have-'
Charlie was cut from his inner monologue by a loud whoop as a jet of black blitzed down past him. Charlie watched wide eyed as Harry dove down, before righting themselves just before they would hit the ground. The child's toes skimmed the grass right before they pulled up and shot skyward once more, gaining speed and surpassing Charlie's own rising speed of one hundred and sixty kilometers per hour.
Harry shot up and did a sideways corkscrew, looping and flipping over themselves as they few sideways, before looping around Charlie and coming to a stop, hanging from their broom upside down with a wild grin upon their face.
"This is AWESOME!"
Charlie shook himself from his stupor. "You're a natural! How fast do you think you were going?"
Harry flipped back over to sit on their broom and hovered down a bit. "I felt like the broom was holding back when we were doing the third loop, so I dunno, I kinda reached for its magic? I guess I asked it to compete with you. I was willing to use it if it was going to let me."
Charlie shook his head. "That's nuts… Alright, how about this. A race to the edge of the woods and back."
Harry looked at the woods a decent distance away and grinned. "You're on!"
Charlie grinned and adjusted his grip. "Alright then. Three, two, one, GO!"
The two shot off towards the tree line, neck and neck as they dove, corkscrewed, and shifted, using whatever they could to throw the other off of their game. Charlie noticed Harry's expression of joy as they raced, the child's grin challenging him to go faster.
The two straightened out and blitzed the remaining distance to the woods. Charlie quickly pulled up to brake and turn, but Harry wasn't slowing.
"Harry!"
The child didn't slow, but instead, flipped their leg over the side of their broom and shifted, so they looked like they were standing on air, holding their broom behind their back.
The broom slowed as it sharply banked left, leaving Harry facing the dragon lodge. With a grin, the child turned and flipped back onto their broom, blasting off towards the building with hardly a decrease in speed from their turn.
If Charlie didn't have the eyes of a seeker, he would've missed it.
The redheaded young mad flew back to Harry's side with a beaten look on his face. "That was some turn."
Harry nodded while panting. "It was exhilarating…"
"We've been out here for a good hour and a half now, how about we call it a day and go into the lodge. Maybe we can learn some magic?"
Harry nodded. "Okay!"
"Now, to land, simply drift down until your feet hit the ground." Charlie nodded.
"Alright."
Harry slowly drifted down to the ground and landed softly on the grass. Charlie landed next to them, while watching the child inspect the tail of their broom.
"It's a beauty." Charlie nodded. "But you're also one hell of a flier."
"Thanks." Harry nodded. "It just felt… so natural. I think that this is the best thing I've ever done in my life."
Charlie patted Harry on the shoulder. "The quidditch teams will be itching to have you. COme on, let's go in."
Harry placed the broom back in its case before locking the clasps and carrying it back inside.
"Enjoy your flying?" Scortwit grinned.
"We had a race."
"You did, did you?" The man chuckled. "Don't worry if Charlie beat you, he was a star seeker at Hogwarts."
"Sir. Harry beat me easily. They're natural."
"Oh no, I was just excited. Charlie was very good. I don't think I'm that good."
"It took me years to get to this level, Harry. You beat me on your first flight!"
"Well I'll be, I bet the quidditch teams will be itching to have you on their roster." Scortwit spoke.
"I have little doubt that they will." Charlie nodded. "Now, we were going to see if Harry wanted to try some magic. Where did you put their books?"
Scortwit gestured to a shelf in the lounge. "All there, sorted in alphabetical order."
"Why do you keep referring to me as they?" Harry asked.
"Hm?" Charlie and Scortwit turned.
"A they. I'm a girl now, aren't I?"
"Well… you were a boy before. We just wanted to be-"
"It's okay." Harry nodded. "I mean, it isn't like I can go back to being a boy. Besides… every time Petunia did the makeup on me and I saw my reflection, I sometimes wished that I could be naturally pretty…"
"You're much too young to be worrying about such things, you know." Scortwit blinked.
"Well, I don't really have much of a choice, as here I am, a girl."
"Would you prefer that we call you a she?" Charlie asked.
"Yes… can we try it?" Harry asked.
"Of course. As long as you are comfortable." Scortwit nodded. "Now… you wanted to do some magic?"
"I want to try." Harry nodded.
"Okay. How about…" Scortwit walked over to the bookshelf and ran his hand over the titles. "Simple Charms for Everyday Life."
"That's a good place to start." Charlie nodded. "Here Harry, we can start with the levitating charm, wingardium leviosa."
Harry looked at the page that Charlie had flipped to. She cocked her head to the side, and looked closer. Squinting her eyes, Harry leaned closer to the book, before taking a step back. "I think I might have found a problem."
Scortwit raised an eyebrow. "You haven't even tried the spell! What's the problem?"
"I can't read."
—0—
Plot twist! Harry cannot read.
I know, they are intelligent and well spoken, especially for a child, but there is a problem that arises from that. Harry was raised to be a polite servant, and understands a lot mainly because she overheard people discussing such things. Harry wasn't read to or given books, so while she might understand concepts, simple math, and how to speak long and elegant sentences, she has never learned how to read books, notes, and so on.
Anyways, we'll cover that in the next chapter. For now, I hope you enjoyed the flying part. I have ideas for the quidditch part of this story, and they deviate from the normal quidditch parts of other stories. Personally, I have always liked Quidditch, and I always go back in the books to read the chapters with the games in them over and over again. I want to keep the excitement for the sport and have it as a part of Harry's life, so you can expect quidditch matches in the first year.
However, this doesn't mean I will repeat the remembrall scene. There is a prophecy in play, and that includes the children of three years gray. Once you understand that part (Which will make itself known in roughly five to seven chapters because I am not writing twenty bloody chapters about life at the dragon lodge) You will understand that some characters won't be as rude to others, and on top of this, I have some special twists prepared for Neville.
Anyways, until next chapter.
Adios.