The Great Hall was still quite empty when Harry and Daphne arrived a little after seven o'clock. The two took seats next to each other at the end closest to the Head Table, which had every teacher in attendance. Professor McGonagall gave him a secretive smile from behind her cup of tea when she noticed him, but otherwise, the staff was engrossed in their own conversations and intake of breakfast.
Together, they buttered rounds of toast and sat talking quietly amongst themselves for the next twenty minutes until eventually, the hall began to fill out, and the rest of their year mates arrived, led by Draco Malfoy.
Malfoy, upon noticing the two of them, took great pains to seat himself as far away from them as possible, the rest of the Slytherin year mates taking his lead and clustering around him.
That was just fine in Harry's book.
Once the rest had been seated, the dark-haired man sitting next to Professor McGonagall rose from his seat, removing a stack of parchment from his robes. "Professor Snape," Daphne reminded him in a whisper as he approached them.
"Your timetables." Snape ground out, dropping two pieces of parchment on the table beside them and stalking off down the table without another word to the pair. Harry raised an eyebrow at Daphne, who merely shrugged in response and plucked one of the timetables up.
Harry followed suit, reading through it and trying to commit it to memory. Each subject had three hours allotted to it each week, a double period and one singular class on another day, though Astronomy had only one class a week, held at midnight, which Harry saw would be on Wednesday nights for them. Luckily, Wednesday morning left them the two first periods free to make up for the loss of sleep. On Thursdays, Harry saw that they would take Flying lessons during the last period with a Madam Hooch (and the Gryffindors), and a note that they would begin the following week
Today, their timetable informed them they would have:
08:00-09:00 - Free Period
09:15-10:15 - Transfiguration (Professor McGonagall) - Ravenclaw
10:30-11:30 - Transfiguration (Professor McGonagall) - Ravenclaw
11:30-13:00 - Lunch
13:00-14:00 - Free Period
14:15-15:15 - Potions (Professor Snape) - Gryffindor
15:30-16:30 - Potions (Professor Snape) - Gryffindor
Harry smiled, happy that his first lessons at Hogwarts would be conducted by the witch who had introduced him to the world, and he glanced up at her at the Head Table, where she gave him a small smile.
"I wonder why we have so many free periods?" Harry wondered aloud.
"They'll be taken up by electives which we'll start in our third year. Until then, it just gives us more time to do our homework." Daphne answered, perusing the timetable further.
"And exploring," Harry suggested with a smile, to which Daphne merely nodded her head. "Naturally" She replied absently.
"At least we know that we won't have to get here for breakfast so early on Mondays now," Harry said, pointing out the free period they both had first. "We'll have to find the library too." He added firmly.
Daphne tucked her timetable into her robes. "We should both be pretty happy today, you get the practical class you want and I get my Potions." She said with a happy smile. "But yes, I agree, we need to find the library as soon as possible."
"It'll have to wait, I doubt Farley or Warrington would be willing to show us any more than necessary," Harry said, shooting a look down the table at the pair of prefects.
"Or Professor Snape," Daphne murmured, not wanting the man to hear her as he returned to his seat. "Mum and Dad both told me that our Head of House would welcome us in the commons rooms and explain things to us. Evidently not." She said with a shake of her head. Their own Head of House hadn't seen the need, apparently.
"I could ask Professor McGonagall?" Harry offered, knowing the woman would be happy to tell him where they needed to go.
Daphne shook her head, an unreadable look on her face, but whatever she was about to say was cut off when Warrington walked over to them.
"I have a free period now, but Gemma has one next so if you want me to show you the way to Transfiguration now, come along, but if not you can go back to the common room and wait for Gemma to show you next period." He told them shortly.
The two shared a glance, and Daphne answered for them. "We'll wait."
Warrington loped away without another word, and Harry looked at Daphne. "Farley seems the nicer out of the two, she might point more things out on the way than him." She told him.
Harry nodded, seeing the logic as the two rose from the table to make their way back to the common room. Unseen by the pair, they were followed by Malfoy and his two constant shadows.
When they entered the common room, he made himself known to the pair by stalking past them, bumping Harry's shoulder, and flopping dramatically on an armchair by the fire.
"What a shame for a house with such a noble history as ours to be saddled with the pair of you." He drawled, eyeing them both with a look of faint disgust.
"That's not a nice thing to say to Crabbe and Goyle." Daphne shot back instantly. The two insulted boys looked blankly back at her. It had clearly gone right over their heads.
"I was talking about you. Scarhead and the blood traitor." Malfoy said nastily, cheeks reddening.
"Did you spend all night thinking of that one, Malfoy?" Harry asked, unimpressed. He was well used to name-calling and had heard "scarhead" plenty of times before from the children at his primary school.
Malfoy shook his head, growing visibly angry. "You're not welcome here, either of you. Look around you," He spat, gesturing to the room around them. The students present for the encounter were looking with clear dislike at Harry and Daphne. "I'd warn you both to respect your betters if you want to survive here." He sneered with a satisfied smile.
"And if I meet my betters I'll be sure to do that," Harry said flatly, looking around the room and meeting the glares of any with one of his own. He was tired of taking abuse from people, especially when he knew he had the power to stand up for himself.
He wasn't at the Dursleys anymore.
Malfoy glared at him further before he turned to Daphne. "He must be as dumb as he looks if he's spending time in your company," A malicious grin spread across his face. "Perhaps he doesn't know?" He asked with mocking curiosity.
Daphne said nothing, her insides turning to ice as Harry turned his head to look at her, but before either party could say any more, the door to the common room appeared and their fellow first-years trundled through, quickly taking note of the tense atmosphere.
"What's going on? Draco?" Parkinson asked in confusion as she and the rest of them made their way over to the other boy.
"Just making our house's stance clear, Pansy," Malfoy told her, nodding his head at the two on the other side of the room. "They know they're not wanted."
"Oh, good. I don't know why you're wasting your time with them anyway Draco." The girl said, her face scrunched up like she'd smelt something foul.
"As entertaining as this must be," A voice rang out from behind Harry and Daphne, who both turned quickly. "You first-years have somewhere to be, and you'd best come along now because I will not be late to my own lesson because of you," Farley spoke. None of them had noticed her entry back into the common room.
Obediently, the first-years all scampered up to follow the girl, leaving Harry and Daphne at the back of the pack again as they left the common room.
Harry looked at the silent girl walking beside him, thinking.
What was it he didn't know?
The Transfigurations classroom was on the first floor, but the moving staircase made the journey longer than it should have been, but they arrived on time for their first lesson after Farley deposited them outside the classroom and rushed away.
Inside, they found the Ravenclaw students had already arrived and taken up the desks closest to the front, sitting in pairs. Harry saw that on the largest desk at the front, which must have been the Professor's desk, sat a perfectly still tabby cat.
He paused slightly in the doorway, baffled, before following Daphne and taking his seat next to her at a free desk in the back corner of the room. Harry turned to look at Daphne, wanting to see what she thought of the cat, but she was staring blankly ahead and would not look at him.
Confused, and a little hurt, Harry returned his attention to the cat on the desk as the last students found their seats. Did the Professor have a pet? Or had someone let the cat into the classroom?
His questions were answered when the cat suddenly leaped from the desk and, in mid-flight, transformed into Professor McGonagall.
"Animagus," Harry breathed, impressed. He so wanted to learn how to do that!
"Transfiguration is some of the most complex and dangerous magic you will learn at Hogwarts," she started immediately. "Anyone messing around in my class will leave and not come back. You have been warned." And warned they were, Harry had absolutely no intention of putting her words to the test.
What followed was a long and complicated explanation of Transfiguration and what the subject entailed. The Professor was stern, clever, and a very engaging instructor. Taking copious amounts of notes, no student dared risk talking to their neighbours for fear of inciting the Professor's wrath at the interruption. Once the first hour had passed, the Professor handed them each a box of matches, with the aim of turning one into a needle, warning them that it would be difficult but they must all try their best.
Harry stared at the match sitting innocently on his desk. That's it? Turn it into a needle?
He watched as Daphne pointed her wand at her own match, reciting the incantation and performing the wand movements perfectly. The match became silver, but was still made of wood and undoubtedly still a match.
Perhaps it was more difficult than it looked.
Well, he may as well get to it. Harry pulled out his wand, reveling for a moment in the warm rush of magic he felt as grasped it in his hand, and attempted his very first spell.
His match turned into a needle instantly. It hadn't even felt like he was doing anything.
Daphne was stunned at what she'd just witnessed out of the corner of her eye. He'd just done a perfect transfiguration on his first try!
Had he been lying to her? Had he really grown up in the muggle world? Because right now it looked like he'd been using magic all his life with the ease with which he'd done what she'd struggled to do herself.
Furiously, she grabbed another match from her box and tried again. The edges became a bit pointy but remained a match.
Harry watched her attempt, a sinking feeling in his stomach. Looking around the room, he saw the other students all attempting the same thing. Most managed to do nothing to their matches, though some of the Ravenclaws had made small changes to theirs.
None of them had managed to do it perfectly. Only him.
Why?
Professor McGonagall walked over to their desk on her rounds, looking down at Harry's needle and Daphne's two attempts. "Those are some good first attempts, Miss Greengrass. Be clearer in your intent and your magic will follow." She instructed, and Daphne tried again, managing to replicate her first attempt, though this time one end was pointy. Almost.
"5 Points to Slytherin, Miss Greengrass. Keep practicing." She said in a pleased voice before turning to Harry, looking down at his needle. "10 points to Slytherin, Mr. Potter. Let me see you do it again."
Harry complied, feeling like he was on autopilot as his thoughts raced, and with a wave of his wand, the match became a needle.
Both the Professor and Daphne noticed what he had not, the latter openly gaping at the boy next to her. Harry just sat staring at the needle blankly.
"Take another 10 points, Mr. Potter." The Professor said kindly before moving on.
"H-how...how?" Daphne stammered, causing Harry to turn to her, and she jerked back slightly at the look in his eyes.
He'd just done two perfect pieces of magic, in the very first class of his very first day at Hogwarts, one of them silently, and he looked devastated.
"Harry?" She questioned, concern etched into her voice.
"I don't know how." He stated in a flat voice.
Daphne swallowed, not knowing what to say to cheer him up because she didn't know what was wrong. If she'd done what he just did she'd have happily gone up and kissed McGonagall smack on the lips in celebration.
But doing so had clearly upset the boy.
She watched him as he slowly reached out, plucking another match from the matchbox, and placing it on the desk in front of him. He pointed his wand at the match, and another needle appeared. No words, no wand movements.
No sense of achievement or happiness at a feat of magic she couldn't even imagine being able to do herself.
The sad look in his eyes became more pronounced.
The bell rang, Professor McGonagall called out that they were to take their matchboxes with them and practice, and they both silently packed up their things. As she left the classroom with Harry trudging sullenly behind her, Daphne could only think one thing
What was going on?
With lunch and then a free period next on their timetables, they should have been taking the time to explore the castle a bit, try and find the library or go out onto the grounds.
Instead, the pair of them sat silently, eating mechanically in the Great Hall. Neither had said a word since they had arrived. Harry's eyes were glazed, paying only the barest of attention to the world around him, and Daphne was certain that if he hadn't been following her he'd have wandered over the edge of a banister or something.
For her part, Daphne was staring at her plate, the ham sandwich she had made for herself forgotten.
Harry was a phenom.
Harry was able to use magic effortlessly, he made it look like it was the easiest thing in the world and Daphne knew for a fact that what they had been doing was difficult.
Harry was...Harry. He was the boy who she had first met all those weeks ago, had told her how he knew nothing of their world, had joked with her on the train about how he'd be scrambling to catch up, had never left her side (other than when they were asleep) since they had first been together.
Harry was her maybe-friend.
Harry was hurting.
She could see that as clear as day as she looked from her plate to his face, could see the sadness in his eyes on his otherwise blank face.
She had to help him.
She rose to her feet quickly, grabbed her book bag, and tapped him on the shoulder. He jumped a little at the contact, eyes turning to her, and she jerked her head, indicating for him to follow her. Without complaint, he picked up his own bag, swinging it over his shoulder, and followed her out of the Great Hall.
Daphne led him quickly back to the common room, hoping it was quiet inside, but to her consternation, it was full of students. Of course it would be, their year-mates had a free period too.
So instead, she led him to the corridor where their rooms were held and walked along it until she reached her own door. Turning the handle, she grabbed hold of his arm and dragged him inside her room.
Harry blinked in surprise and tried to dig in his heels, but Daphne was an older sibling to an insatiable ball of energy and had more than enough experience using physical force so he stood little chance of denying her. She let go of him only to shut the door behind him, quickly clutching his arm again and dragging him over to the desk.
"Sit down, Harry." She told him, looking him in the eyes and seeing the hurt still present, though there was confusion in the green depths now too.
Slowly, he consented to her demand and sat on the chair, his bag dropping to sit at his feet.
"What's wrong, Harry?" She asked gently, leaning against the desk.
For a few moments, it looked like he wouldn't respond to her at all, but hesitantly he reached down, opening up his bag and pulling out the matchbox held within.
Taking out four of the matches, he placed them on the desk next to her and drew his wand, and performed four perfect transfigurations.
First, he did what he was supposed to do - he used the incantation and the wand movement.
The next he did it silently.
The next, silently and without the wand movement.
Then...he did it without his wand.
Daphne gasped and reached out with a shaking hand to pick up the last needle. She poked it lightly into the tip of a finger, feeling the sharp edge as it punctured her skin ever so slightly.
"This...this is incredible." She said, awed.
"Harry, you can do wandless magic! You can...wait." She paused, remembering something from the previous day. "Yesterday, on the train, when you lifted up our trunks - you didn't have your wand out then, did you?" She asked, and he shook his head.
She'd completely missed it, too caught up in her shock that he was there. He'd done it wandlessly. That he'd done it at all as a first-year who hadn't even arrived at Hogwarts would have been amazing in and of itself, but she hadn't even noticed.
"McGonagall knows, doesn't she? She didn't look surprised at all in class. Merlin, Harry, you can ask her for more advanced work-" She cut off quickly when Harry spoke in a low, quiet voice.
"I don't want that."
What?
"But, why not, Harry?" She demanded, not understanding.
"I don't want advanced work, I don't want to be different." He whispered, closing his eyes. "I just want to be normal."
Daphne felt her heart constrict painfully.
What did that mean?
"Is this about the Boy-Who-Lived stuff?"
Harry huffed out a little bit of air, nodding. "A little but...it's nothing."
Daphne knelt down in front of him and held his hands, trying to get him to look at her. "Harry, please, tell me what's wrong." She begged, wanting desperately to know, wanting to help him.
He said nothing for almost a minute, his eyes staring at their conjoined hands. Slowly, he lifted his gaze to stare into her eyes, at the concern he could see on her face.
He swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat and began to talk. Slowly, almost speaking in a whisper, he opened up to the girl, desperately hoping he could trust her.
Hoping that she would understand.
"I grew up in the muggle world as I told you. It was...awful. I was sent to live with my Mum's sister, Petunia, her husband Vernon, and their son Dudley. They hated me. Hated magic. I never even knew my parents' names until Professor McGonagall told me." Daphne drew a sharp breath through her nose at his words. "As soon as I could walk, I had to do everything. The cooking, the cleaning, the gardening, whatever they told me to do I had to do it. If not, I was punished."
Daphne stilled, eyes wide. What?
"I didn't have a bedroom, I lived and slept in the cupboard under the stairs. It's a little bigger than that wardrobe." He continued, nodding to the piece of furniture. "So whenever they felt I did something wrong, I was locked in there. Without food, and a glass of water a day."
Daphne felt her heart skip a beat, horrified. They...starved him?
"They hated me, and I had no idea why. I found out when the Professor came that it was because of my magic, that they'd always known I had it, but for ten years I had to wonder just what it was I'd done wrong." He shook his head, remembering the childhood he'd had at Privet Drive. "School was just as bad. Dudley and his friends would beat me up whenever they felt like it, and nobody did anything. They all hated me too, or thought I was too weird to be friends with." He swallowed, closing his eyes. "I've never had a friend." He admitted, ashamed.
'Oh, Harry' She thought sadly, 'I know how that feels'
"I was an outcast, shunned, treated like I was a freak. And then...I discovered my magic. It was the most amazing feeling you can imagine." He told her, his eyes opening and a smile breaking onto his face. "None of it mattered then, really. So what if I wasn't like everyone else? This is why, because I'm better than them, none of them could do what I could do. I thought I was special."
Daphne smiled along with him, imagining what it must feel like to find out that you could do what they could. She'd always grown up knowing she was a witch, but for Harry? That must have been a surprise.
"I began to use it all the time. I learned how to change my body temperature, because I was always cold at night. I learned how to turn things invisible. I learned how to apparate, but I didn't know what it was at the time." Daphne's mouth dropped open at this, though Harry didn't notice. "I even fixed my eyesight. I wore glasses until then, but I don't need them anymore."
"And then, the Hogwarts letter arrived. I was so happy, so happy to find out that I wasn't alone, that there were others like me." His smile turned bright. "I imagined that I'd finally found where I belonged, where I could fit in." His smile disappeared, and with it so did Daphne's.
"I was wrong." He hissed, startling her. "How could I be like everyone else, when I was apparently famous for something I did when I was a baby? When people who I'd never even met knew my name, knew what I looked like? 'The-Boy-Who-Lived'" He spat, scowling. "I don't want any of that, I just want to be like everyone else. But I'm not, am I?" He asked rhetorically.
"I'm not normal, and I wish I was." He finished hollowly, eyes shutting and unhappiness evident across his face.
Daphne stared at him, everything he'd just said running through her mind.
He didn't see it, did he?
"Harry, look at me." She said firmly, and when he didn't she repeated "Harry, look at me." When he finally opened his eyes to look at her, she spoke.
"Remember what you said on the train yesterday? You told me 'I'm nothing special, I'm just Harry'" She reminded him, and he nodded, brows scrunching together.
"You're a liar, Harry. You are special."
Harry blinked.
"You're scared that what you can do, the amazing things you can do, will mean you'll never fit in? Good. Don't. Because you're special, Harry, and you shouldn't try to be like them." She said firmly, willing him to listen to her words. "If people don't like it, then they don't deserve to know you." She said passionately.
"I've seen what you can do, and I think you're brilliant." And with that, she stood, pulling him to his feet, and hugged him, heart beating rapidly in her chest as she did so.
Harry stood there, feeling her arms wrapped around him, his mind struggling to comprehend what was happening.
Slowly, he raised his arms and brought them around her tentatively.
Nobody had ever hugged him before.
It felt...magical.
The bell for the start of the next period rang, and Harry and Daphne emerged from her room smiling happily to themselves as they joined their year-mates, ignoring their looks and jeers as they followed Warrington through the dungeons and to the Potions classroom.
Daphne thought back on the conversation they had had in her room and was delighted at how well it had gone. Who knew that just winging it could go so well?
'And the hug was nice too'
She really needed to get rid of that stupid voice.
They waited with their fellow Slytherins on one side of the corridor, waiting for the classroom door to open. Malfoy and his group were whispering among themselves, occasionally breaking into laughter and obviously looking at Harry and Daphne.
Neither of them cared very much.
Eventually, the Gryffindors arrived, led by a pompous-looking ginger boy which a stark resemblance to the Weasley in their year who was talking loudly to his companions. After the Gryffindor prefect had left them, the two sides of the corridor stared at each other, sizing each other up.
'Ridiculous' Thought Daphne, a sentiment Harry shared as he rolled his eyes at the few glares he was receiving from the students in the opposing house Not all, he noticed, as Longbottom and Granger were looking at him speculatively.
Malfoy, never one to miss an opportunity to be a prat, began to insult Weasley, whose ears turned bright red and furiously took the offered bait and began insulting the other boy in kind. And, of course, his fellow Gryffindors joined in, backing their own.
Raised voices echoed throughout the corridor as the other Slytherins jumped in, making disparaging comments on the state of the Gryffindor student's appearances, parentage and lack of worth as human beings.
Harry looked at Daphne, baffled. "Is it going to be like this every time?" He asked, unbelieving what he was seeing.
Daphne sighed "Probably. We could keep score?" She suggested lightly, making Harry chuckle.
The classroom door suddenly opened with a loud bang as it smashed against the wall, and the lank-haired, scowling visage of Professor Snape appeared. He eyed the students before him momentarily, then with a sharp jerk of his head "In."
Harry and Daphne made sure to grab themselves the desk furthest back from the desk. Harry still hadn't forgotten the weird scar-burning of the night before.
Professor Snape took roll call to begin the lesson, barking out each name until he reached one in particular.
"Ah, yes." He said softly. "Harry Potter, our new...celebrity."
The rest of the Slytherins sniggered behind their hands as the man finished the list, before he launched into a long, rambling speech on the beauty and delicacy of potions, all the while calling them a bunch of morons. Not in as many words, but that was the sentiment.
"Potter!" Snape said suddenly. "What would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?"
Granger's hand shot into the air as Harry answered. "The Draught of Living Death, sir." Granger's hand dropped down limply.
Snape narrowed his eyes at him. "Where would you look if I asked you to find me a bezoar?"
Granger's hand was in the air instantly, and the girl practically bounced in her seat, but again Harry answered. "The stomach of a goat, sir."
Snape was outright scowling at him now. "What is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?" He demanded.
Granger was practically out of her seat for this one. Harry glanced over at her for a moment, before "They are the same plant, sir, which is also called aconite."
Snape's lip curled into a sneer. "Correct. 10 points to Slytherin." He intoned as if it pained him.
Harry wondered if he'd been a tyrant in a previous life with the number of people that hated him for no reason he could think of.
Snape span on the spot, stalking towards the blackboard and rapping it with his wand. "In pairs, you will brew a simple potion designed to cure boils. The instructions are on the board. Begin." He ordered sharply.
Sharing a glance with Daphne, they quickly got to work. Daphne's teachings from her mother had clearly paid off, as she cut and crushed their ingredients to perfection, whereas Harry's harsher but no less useful 'lessons' from Aunt Petunia on how to cook served him handily. Snape billowed around the room, criticizing the Gryffindors, and poor Neville Longbottom in particular harshly. When he arrived at their cauldron, he peered inside for a moment before his dark eyes swept up to meet Harry's.
Harry felt a strange pressure in his head, which vanished as soon as the man's eyes left him and focused on Daphne.
"Doubtlessly this was all your doing, Greengrass." Snape said softly, "Unfortunately, despite the sense you have shown in limiting Potter's involvement, you were instructed to work in pairs, otherwise, I would deem this potion acceptable. As it is..." He said, and with a wave of his wand the contents of their cauldron vanished and the man swept away, stalking over to Longbottom and Finnigan as their potion began emitting clouds of acid green smoke and hissing loudly.
The cauldron soon melted, and Snape exploded with rage, derisive insults flying along with his spittle toward the two boys.
Harry and Daphne just stared at their empty cauldron.
"Think you could vanish him?" Daphne muttered, still staring.
"Don't tempt me."
At Dinner, their mood improved as they enjoyed the fine food on offer.
Daphne had loaded her plate with a lovely roast dinner, with beef, crushed carrots, pigs in blankets, Yorkshire puddings, and both roast and mashed potatoes with lashings of gravy...and then immediately swapped the plate with Harry's empty one.
She smiled innocently at him as she went about making another plate for herself.
Harry felt fit to burst by the time he was finished and smiled in thanks at the girl, who just smirked at him and pointed out that dessert had now arrived.
Harry suddenly found that he had a little bit of room left for ice cream.
It was as he was scooping up the last of the delicious treat that Daphne nudged him with her elbow. He turned to look at her and saw that she seemed nervous.
"Harry, can we go back to my room? There's something I really need to talk to you about." She said, worrying her bottom lip.
Harry cocked his head to one side but nodded. "Sure, do you want to go now or...?" She smiled, but as they got to their feet they were approached by Professor McGonagall.
"The Headmaster would like to see you in his office, Mr. Potter." She told him, and his eyes widened. "You aren't in any trouble, he just wants to discuss something with you." She calmed him.
Harry turned to look at Daphne, who smiled reassuringly. "I'll wait up, just knock." Daphne walked off, leaving Harry to follow along behind Professor McGonagall as she led him through the castle until they arrived on the seventh floor and stood before a stone gargoyle.
'White Mice' She spoke to the guardian, and it jumped to the side, revealing a wide, spiraling staircase. After a short journey, in which Harry was impressed that the stairs functioned more like a muggle escalator, they arrived in front of the doors and Professor McGonagall knocked upon it with three short raps.
"Come in" The occupant of the office bade, and in they went.
Harry looked around at the eclectic room, his eyes darting all over as something new quickly took his attention. Behind the Headmaster in his high, plump armchair was a huge bookcase full to the brim with ancient-looking tomes and strange devices. Harry didn't even want to attempt to guess what function they might serve. He looked around further until-
"Is that a phoenix?" He blurted, and Professor McGonagall coughed lightly behind him. "Sir" He added quickly.
Dumbledore smiled, getting up from behind his desk and strolling over to the bird and its perch, beckoning Harry over to join him. "He certainly is, Harry. This here is Fawkes, and he has been my companion for many decades." He told the boy fondly, reaching out with a wrinkled hand to stroke the phoenix's, Fawkes', plumage.
"He's beautiful, sir." Harry said, and Fawkes preened, letting out a short trill of agreement that created a warm, happy feeling in Harry's chest.
Dumbledore chuckled. "I believe you may have just made an ally for life, Harry. Fawkes loves nothing more than being told how wonderful he is."
Harry reached out tentatively, and when the Headmaster nodded encouragingly, began to stroke the bird.
Dumbledore watched their interaction with a soft smile. "It so happens Harry that you and Fawkes already share a rather special connection."
"Sir?" Harry asked with a quizzical expression.
"Your wand, Harry." Dumbledore smiled at him, and Harry pulled out his wand from his robes.
"This is your feather?" Harry asked Fawkes, who trilled in response.
"Thank you, Fawkes," Harry said sincerely, looking the phoenix in his dark eyes. The phoenix sang in response, and the happy feeling in his chest soared.
"Now, Harry, perhaps you would like to take a seat so we may discuss what I called you here for?" The headmaster prompted, and with a final stroke of the bird's chest, Harry went to go and sit in the chair opposite the man, Professor McGonagall conjuring a chair of her own and sitting beside him.
Dumbledore smiled warmly at the boy. "How has your first day been, Harry?"
"Great in some ways, not so great in others. Especially Potions" Harry said, wrinkling his nose with distaste.
Dumbledore raised his bushy eyebrows. "How so, Harry?"
Harry scowled. "Snape seems to despise my very existence, sir. As soon as we'd sat down, he insulted me for being famous, then asked me, and only me, three difficult questions that I only knew because I'd read ahead, and then he vanished mine and Daphne's potion despite it being well-made because he refused to believe that I'd had anything to do with making it." He ranted, anger visible to the two professors. "That wasn't fair at all, sir, especially not to Daphne, she worked hard on that potion!" He finished vehemently.
Dumbledore sighed, shaking his head wearily. "I will speak to Professor Snape, Harry, and what happened today shan't happen again, I assure you," Dumbledore promised, inwardly furious with the Potions Master. Would it kill him to treat the boy, if not with kindness at the very least with professionalism?
Dumbledore moved on after a moment. "Professor McGonagall reported that you seemed displeased with your efforts during Transfiguration." Harry nodded, and Dumbledore hummed. "May I ask why? You performed the spell perfectly, did you not?"
Harry sighed. "Yes, sir, I did, and that was the problem. It wasn't difficult, at all, so then I tried it silently, without wand movements, and it was just as easy. Then, without a wand. My wand makes it easier, but it still wasn't a challenge."
Dumbledore leaned forward, steepling his fingers under his chin. "I see. And you feel the work provided isn't challenging enough for you?" He asked kindly.
"No, sir," Harry responded, shaking his head. "I just don't understand why I can do these things, why it was so easy."
Dumbledore shared a look with Professor McGonagall. "I have a theory as to why, Harry, but it is just that, a theory." He leaned back in his chair, stroking his beard. "I knew your parents well, Harry, and I had the pleasure of spending time with you when you were just a baby." He told him, eyes distant as he thought back.
"Already, you showed signs that you would be a formidable wizard when you grew older. Many times, your father would recount that you were already using your magic, summoning toys and bottles to yourself with ease. They were so very proud of you, Harry." Harry smiled softly to himself. "Your parents themselves were powerful, amongst the best if not the best of their generation. Naturally, it stands to order that their union would result in a child equally powerful if not more so than themselves."
"Then, during your time with your relatives," A guilty look flashed across the man's face, making him look much older. "You were forced into a situation where, without your magic, you could have died." Harry stared at him. "You told us how you were starved, sometimes for as long as five days at a time, with only a small glass of water each day. Those would be difficult circumstances to survive, but I believe that your magic kept you alive, that you were healing yourself of injuries and malnutrition, trying to protect yourself as much as you could. You have been using your magic constantly from a very young age, Harry, even if you never knew it."
Harry stared past the man at the bookcase behind him, thinking. "Dudley used to beat me up all the time, and his friends too." He said slowly. "But I was never hurt too badly, by the next day I had no bruises or broken bones." He realised, stunned.
Dumbledore nodded. "You were already an incredibly powerful baby, Harry, and using your magic so often honed your control of it. Thus, when you discovered that you had magic, you were able to use it readily. And now, with your wand acting as a conduit for your power, it is almost effortless for you."
"So, I'm really powerful and the control of my magic is second nature to me? That's the gist of what you're saying, right?" Harry asked, summing up everything he'd heard as simply as he could.
"Yes, Harry. I myself, if you'll forgive my lack of modesty, am a powerful wizard. Yet you can do things with your magic that I would struggle to replicate by the time I had left Hogwarts. I can think of only one other who had a gift similar to your own." Dumbledore told him, eyes darkening at the last.
Harry noticed. "Voldemort?"
Dumbledore nodded, mouth twisted unhappily. "Yes, Tom Riddle was an exceptional boy. He could use his magic before he arrived at Hogwarts, too. Though he used it to hurt and control others, where you have only ever wanted to protect yourself." He finished softly, eyes distant as he remembered his former student.
Professor McGonagall spoke in the silence that followed. "Harry if you find the other classes as unchallenging as my own, which I imagine will be the case, we can offer more advanced work for you." She offered with an encouraging smile.
Harry thought about her offer, about what it would mean. "Daphne told me something during the feast." He said slowly, thinking as he spoke. "She said that our house had people whose parents followed Voldemort." He recounted, looking at both Professors.
Dumbledore nodded. "That is, unfortunately, the case, Harry, but I implore you not to judge them for the actions of their families. Everyone deserves the chance to be their own person." He warned needlessly.
Harry shook his head. "That's not my point, sir. You said he was alive, that he's somewhere out there still." Harry reminded him, and Dumbledore nodded. "Then he could come back one day, and what would happen then?" Harry asked leadingly.
"Doubtlessly, his former followers would rejoin their master." Dumbledore answered, seeing Harry's point. "You wish to hide your abilities?"
'The power he knows not' Rang through the old headmaster's mind.
Harry nodded firmly. "I do. I can still do the spells with everyone else, I'll just be the best at them." He said with a smile. "But I'll still say the words, do the wand movements, be like everyone else. Because if he came back, he'd come after me, wouldn't he sir?"
Dumbledore nodded sadly. "I dare say he would, Harry. You were the cause of his downfall and would become a beacon of hope for the nation if he were ever to return. He would want to eliminate you as soon as possible to show that he is the superior wizard."
"Then I'll need a few tricks up my sleeve, won't I?" Harry said with a smirk, before his countenance darkened.
"Because if he comes back, I'll kill him."
Professor McGonagall gasped, and the headmaster's eyes flashed. "Harry-" He started, but Harry cut him off harshly.
"It's his fault, more than anyone else's why I've had the life I've had. He killed my parents, he tried to kill me, and he'd try again. You said it yourself." Harry snarled, his magic flaring as he spoke. "As long as he's still out there, I'm in danger. I want to grow up, learn as much magic as I can, and become the best wizard I can be, make my parents proud. I want a family one day. I want a life." He said passionately. "Voldemort is a threat to that, so I have to remove that threat."
Neither Dumbledore nor Professor McGonagall could respond to his statement of intent. Harry was right, but it pained them that an eleven-year-old boy believed it was up to him to stop a madman.
Dumbledore thought of the prophecy, 'and either must die at the hands of the other'. He would do all he could to ensure that it would not be Harry who fell to his fated enemy.
With that resolve, the man stood quickly from his desk, sweeping over to the corner of the room. He plucked a light, shimmering, almost see-through cloak from a stand and returned to his desk with the item held reverently in his hands.
"Then allow me to make your task a little easier, Harry." He told the boy who was watching him inquisitively. "This is a very special cloak that belonged to your father, who left it in my possession before he died. This belongs to you now, Harry." He said, passing the cloak over the desk to Harry.
Harry clutched the robe, noting how it seemed to weigh nothing and felt like silk.
"Why don't you try it on." Dumbledore prompted, eyes twinkling.
Shrugging, Harry stood and wrapped the cloak around himself, and looked down. "Is something supposed to happen, sir?"
"Pull up your hood, Harry," Dumbledore advised, outright grinning now.
Harry did so, and as soon as the hood was over the top of his head he saw his arms disappear as he was bringing them back down to his sides. Harry gasped, looking down at his body. It was gone.
"Err..." He said wisely.
Dumbledore chuckled. "That, Harry, is a very special Invisibility Cloak. It has been in your family for generations, and just as it was once your father's it is now yours." He stood, walking around the desk and pulling out a thin, black wand.
"You will find that it has many properties not normally found in other cloaks of its nature. For example...Homenum Revelio' He intoned with a swish of his wand. A marker appeared in the air above Professor McGonagall's head, but when he looked up he saw that no marker had identified him.
"Very useful, I think you'd agree." Dumbledore continued with a knowing smile. "You will also find that your cloak can bypass protections and enchantments that would otherwise be dangerous without issue." He said lightly, raising a hand to placate Professor McGonagall who had made a noise of outrage.
"I trust you, Harry, and I know you will use it well." He said firmly, and Harry removed the hood, becoming visible once more.
"Now," He said with a clap of his hand. "It is time for us to part ways, I wouldn't want to keep you from Miss Greengrass' company any longer." He said with a smile and a wink. "And remember, Harry, my office will always be open to you."
Harry nodded at the man, and with a final goodbye was escorted back to the common room by Professor McGonagall.
It had been a very informative meeting for him.
Daphne sat at her desk, placing the letter she had written to her parents into an envelope when a knock on her door sounded.
Harry.
She jumped up, rushing to the door, and found nobody in sight.
"Hello?" She asked uncertainly. Was someone playing a joke on her?
"It's me," Harry's voice whispered, startling her. "Reach out with your arm." He instructed, and when she did so he held onto it. Pulling him inside, she rounded on where she felt he was.
"Since when did you have an invisibility cloak?" She demanded, crossing her arms.
"From about fifteen minutes ago" He laughed, removing the hood and becoming visible to the girl.
"...right, tell me everything."
And he did. He told her what he had discussed with the two Professors, about his powers, about how he was determined to be the one to kill Voldemort, and about his cloak.
Daphne listened, head pounding. The news that You-Know-Who was still around was horrifying.
She didn't know if that made what she had to tell him harder or easier.
When he fell silent, she sighed, knowing it was her turn.
She couldn't look at him as she started to speak. "Okay, remember what Malfoy said earlier? That you shouldn't want to be in my company, that there was something I hadn't told you?" She said quietly.
Harry nodded, frowning slightly.
"Well, he was right. There's something I need to tell you, something important, and I'd rather you heard the truth from me." She said, swallowing nervously.
"You don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to, Daphne," Harry said quickly, worried about how she was acting.
Daphne met his eyes. "I want to tell you...you're my friend." She said, cheeks heating up immediately.
Harry gave her a blinding smile, eyes bright. "You're my friend too"
She smiled widely at him, butterflies fluttering wildly in her stomach.
Nodding, she began.
"Okay, so remember when we spoke about the war..."
I love cliffhangers.
This was really fun to write, and I can start to move away from canon events a bit more. As the story progresses, the divergence from canon will become greater as things change to reflect a different Harry and Daphne's presence.
Harry and Daphne get closer this chapter, finally affirming their friendship and letting each other know their secrets and their pasts. Well, Harry at least, you'll have to wait until next chapter for Daphne's because ha.
And yeah, Harry is powerful. Really powerful. I am taking "the dark lord's equal" and running with it, but that doesn't mean everything will be plain sailing for him, because where's the fun in that? This story is rated M for a reason, so be warned.
Let's talk about the invisibility cloak. This is one thing from canon I'm straight up changing because it was first written without JKR having a clue about the Deathly Hallows and was then retconned as being one, so for me, the cloak should have been what I've made it now - meaning no, Moody's eye cannot see through it, it's a cloak that's supposed to hide its user from Death - and it also will let Harry hide from something else down the line...
I also tried to make it more functional. To go invisible, wear the hood. Now you don't have to worry about growing higher than 5ft 4 and your feet poking out.
So yeah, next chapter will be Daphne telling her and her families story to Harry.
What do you think it is? Leave a review and let me know.
And thank you to everyone that has followed, favourited and reviewed this story, it really means a lot to me and makes me want to continue writing this.
Enjoy.