Harry James Potter always knew he was different from others, he wasn't like his cousin Dudley nor like his aunt and uncle. He could do things no one else could. He could turn his teacher's hair blue when she shouted at him, he could bring himself on the school's rooftop when Dudley and friends chased him in school. He was also very sharp in studies unlike Dudley who barely passed. But what made him curious about the dream he always had.
"I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It was flying." Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front.
He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beet with a moustache: "MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!"
Harry nodded solemnly. Dudley and Piers sniggered, which he ignored. "I know they don't," said Harry. "It was only a dream." Harry sighed, he regretted that no one was there to watch over him today. Someone was going to pay for it.
If there was one thing the Dursleys hated even more than his asking questions, it was his talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon — they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas. Well that was too close to the truth, he would not admit that he had some funny ideas. Though he ignored it.
It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursleys bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice pop. It wasn't bad, either, Harry thought, licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching its head who looked remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blond. Harry had the best morning he'd had in a long time. He was careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn't fall back on their favourite hobby of hitting him. They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first.
The only good thing living in the Dursley's house was that he didn't live in the cupboard except for when he was punished. He had a decent bedroom and all necessities, he had a few pictures of his parents and he knew that they died in a car crash, his scar was evident of it. But still Harry knew something was wrong, like the Dursley's were hiding something from him, though he didn't mind it unless they lie to him and when Marge's dog bite Vernon or when Aunt Petunia suddenly blew herself, they knew it was better to not say anything than to tell a blatant lie about him.
After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in there, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons. Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon's car and crushed it into a trash can — but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep. Shame.
Harry frowned as he heard a very annoying voice, his eyes darted at the source and his mood became foul when he saw a bushy haired girl talking continuously like a living encyclopaedia. Harry's concentration again went to the snake as he heard his cousin behaving like a spoilt brat.
"Make it move," Dudley whined at his father.
"Do it again," Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.
Harry smiled and just thought if the glass could be removed. What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened — one second, Vernon was knocking and Dudley was leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror, the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished. The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor, like he wanted to slither along with him. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits. Harry gasped, it was mesmerizing, the fear filled in the room was making him feel giddy, he was inhaling the smell of fear and he licked his lips looking forward to the mayhem.
As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Thanksss, amigo." Harry's eyes widened. A talking snake. Animals couldn't talk... that only happened in silly children's stories... but he had found one. His eyes darkened with greed, hands twitching at his side, itching to grab the snake and shove it in Aunt Petunia's purse and take it home. Instead, he just kept staring at the snake — too many witnesses. The keeper of the reptile house was in shock. "But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?" The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized over and over again. Vernon and Dudley could only gibber.
When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened; the Dursleys were his only family. Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know him. Very strange strangers they were, too. A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley. After asking Harry furiously if he knew the man, Aunt Petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying anything. A wild-looking old woman dressed all in green had waved merrily at him once on a bus. A bald man in a very long purple coat had actually shaken his hand in the street the other day and then walked away without a word. The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look.
Now? Now Harry doesn't need anyone. He had himself with him and one day everyone will bow to him.
Harry is looking forward to the new school term because he's headed for a different secondary school from Dudley and now he could create a powerbase for himself.
It was July 29, Harry was looking at his "collection", he had his trophies which were kept 'safely' in a box. This small cardboard box was used to store his collection of objects "taken" from other children at school and of course in this very house, which included a doll, a set of ribbons, a harmonica, Dudley 's stuff toy, Aunt Petunia's garden shovel and a red yo-yo. He kept the box hidden in the wardrobe of his room. When he heard a post coming, he shut the box and went when Aunt Petunia called him.
"Harry, I need to talk with you." Aunty Petunia looked at her husband and then at Harry. It was time for Harry to know the truth of his origins.
"Oh this ain good, no no, ain good at all..." Hagrid muttered nervously as he departed from the doorstep of '4 Privet Drive'. Dumbledore told Minerva McGonagall to go and tell Harry, the truth of his parents, of who he is, of how the wizarding world is eager to receive their saviour, Hagrid tagged along with her. Minerva McGonagall, the stern lady who could make the great Albus Dumbledore's mouth shut was currently looking like, she wanted to be sick.
The similarity between him and the boy about whom Albus told them years ago couldn't be ignored.
"Oh, Albus where you have gotten yourself." Minerva McGonagall shook her head. "Let's go Hagrid, we both have to call it a day."
.
.
.
.
"Mr. Potter?"
The boy was seated watching McGonagall's face tilting his head and the woman fought the urge to gasp at the brilliant green eyes that gazed back at her.
"Yes?"
It was the voice of an angel, delightfully charming and light, with a care free tone that warmed the soul. A voice she had heard plenty of times when she was at school, herself.
"I..." discreetly biting her tongue the woman "My name is Minerva McGonagall and I am a teacher at Hogwarts. Due to your age I am here to inform you of your admission to our school."
The boy cocked his head to the side, "I don't remember applying to your school and Aunt Petunia said that it was Dudley who was going to a new school."
"Oh, well that is because you were chosen at birth." Harry looked at the woman like she had grown two horns in her head." "Your parents paid to ensure your admittance when you were born." Harry raised his brow, was she mental?
"What were they like? Did you know them? Are they still alive?" This was what the Minerva had planned for before making her decision to come here. What orphan doesn't want to know about those who had abandoned them?
"They were very noble, I knew them, they were my students too. Unfortunately they passed away close to a decade ago."
"Oh... so what kind of school is this?" Harry replied, aunt Petunia was right then.
The woman's smile brightened, this was always her favorite part. "Tell me Harry... have you ever noticed anything... unusual happen around you? Maybe something that you can't explain?"
A flush of excitement was rising up his neck into his hollow cheeks; he looked fevered, this was all true, he was really a wizard like aunt Petunia explained him. "I can move things without even touching them. I disappeared from the grounds and appeared up on the roof of our school," he paused and glanced at the woman. "I can make animals do what I want without training," Harry continued breathlessly. "I can make bad things happen to people who annoy us. People who try to hurt me. I can make them hurt if I want to."
Harry's hands were shaking now and he bowed his head, looking down at them for a moment before clasping them in his lap. "I knew I was different," he whispered to his own quivering fingers. "I knew I was special. Always, I knew there was something." Harry continued ignoring McGonagall's and Hagrid's fear filled face.
"Are you a wizard too?" Harry asked.
"Yes, I am. But only males are called as wizard, I'm a witch." McGonagall explained. "If, as I take it, you are accepting your place at Hogwarts—"
"Of course I am!" Harry shot back, how could she even think otherwise.
"Then you will address me as 'Professor', like other students." Harry nodded.
McGonagall drew her wand from an inside pocket, pointed it at the table infront of them and gave the wand a casual flick. The table flew and started moving towards the ceiling.
Harry stared at the table and then at the wooden stick, his expression turning greedy, he pointed at the wand. "Where can I get one of them?"
"All in good time," said McGonagall, "At Hogwarts, we teach you not only to use magic, but to control it. You have — inadvertently, I am sure — been using your powers in a way that is neither taught nor tolerated at our school. You are not the first, nor will you be the last, to allow your magic to run away with you. But you should know that Hogwarts can expel students, and the Ministry of Magic — yes, there is a Ministry — will punish lawbreakers still more severely. All new wizards must accept that, in entering our world, they abide by our laws."
Harry nodded his face betraying nothing.
"In Diagon Alley," said McGonagall. "I have your lists of books and school equipment with me. I can help you find everything —"
"You're coming with me?" asked Harry, looking up.
"Certainly, if you —"
"I don't need you," said Harry at once. "I am used to doing things with my guardians. We go round London on our own all the time. How do you get to this Diagon Alley — Professor?" he added.
McGonagall asked about the envelopes containing their lists of equipment, and after telling Harry exactly how to get to the Leaky Cauldron from Surrey, she said, "You will be able to see it, although Muggles around you — non-magical people, that is — will not. Ask for Tom the barman —" "So — when we've got all our stuff— when do we come to this Hogwarts?" Harry asked, irritated at the Professors ranting. "All the details are on the second piece of parchment in your envelope," said McGonagall. "You will leave from King's Cross Station on the first of September. There is a train ticket in there too."
Minerva stood up to leave dreading something, Hagrid following the professor.
"I can speak to snakes. I found out when we've been to the country on trips — they find me, they whisper to me. Is that normal for a wizard?"
"It is unusual," said McGonagall, after a moment's hesitation, "but not unheard of." Harry either ignored or didn't notice the professor and the Giant's face which went white as a sheet.
Albus Dumbledore prided himself in judging people's character, knowing that who shall be watched for their movements. Harry Potter was supposed to be a leader of muggle-born and light wizards but this was like he was watching his memories with Tom himself. Looks like he now understood what it meant by the dark lord's equal.
Shopping in Diagon Alley was awfully painful, it's like he didn't even need to say something, his scar was enough to tell everyone who he was. It was annoying that people celebrated that day when he lost his parents. He will correct it.
Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, yes first he needed some clothes for himself.
In the back of the shop, a boy with a pale, pointed face was standing on a footstool while a second witch pinned up his long black robes. Madam Malkin stood Harry on a stool next to him, slipped a long robe over his head and began to pin it to the right length.
"Hello," said the boy, "Hogwarts too?"
"Yes," said Harry.
"My father's next door buying my books and mother's up the street looking at wands," said the boy. He had a bored, drawling voice. "Then I'm going to drag them off to look at racing brooms. I don't see why first-years can't have their own. I think I'll bully father into getting me one and I'll smuggle it in somehow."
Harry was strongly reminded of Dudley.
"Have you got your own broom?" the boy went on.
"No," said Harry.
"Play Quidditch at all?"
"No," Harry said again, wondering what on earth Quidditch could be. "Like to keep my feet in ground."
'I do – Father says it's a crime if I'm not picked to play for my house, and I must say, I agree. Know what house you'll be in yet?'
"No," said Harry, feeling more stupid by the minute. He should have picked books first.
'Well, no one really knows until they get there, do they, but I know I'll be in Slytherin, all our family have been – imagine being in Hufflepuff, I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?'
"Mmm,"said Harry, wishing he could say something a bit more interesting.
"Where are your parents?"
'They're dead,' said Harry shortly. He didn't feel much like going into the matter with this boy.
"Oh, sorry," said the other, not sounding sorry at all. "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. What's your surname, anyway?"
"Potter. Harry Potter." The boy blinked in shop as well the shop owner and her assistant.
"Blimey. I'm Malfoy. Draco Malfoy." Draco said smiling. "You'll soon find out some wizarding families are much better than others, Potter. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there." Potter was an old and respected pureblood family and one his parents will encourage to ally with.
Harry nodded and shook his hand, a perfect servant.
The boys bid farewell and Harry went to buy a pet after making sure he had everything he wanted. As soon as he went into the shop. He heard a voice, hissing at everyone. A black diamond cross snake with yellow eyes looked at him.
"Hello there", Harry hissed.
"Speaker." The snake looked at him with wide eyes.
"Your new master, snake."
"Hera". Harry blinked.
"My name's Hera." Harry nodded wondering if other animals also can speak or have names.
"You are not allowed to leave me," Harry muttered as Hera hesitated and replied catching Harry's eyes. "As you wish."
It was now Harry's turn to blink at Hera, "You will not leave to find a mate," he hissed, but it sounded like a question.
The snake wiggled its head out of a different fold. "I will do whatever you wish," it said, before pulling its head back in.
"You'll be my most favoured, no matter how many snakes come to aid me. No one could take your place."
Harry dropped his arms from where it was holding the pouch of galleons, he was holding. A weight in his chest disappeared; in fact, he'd never felt so light. He had a talking snake, and it would bend to his every command. Power coursed through him in a way it never could when he was alone at Dursley's being a victim of Dudley's 'Harry Hunting' game.
Harry smuggled him hiding from the shop owner's eyes. He, then, went to see owls after all he needed a official pet for himself.
A rather loud 'hoot' from nearby made the woman jump, as he suddenly noticed the beautiful snow-white owl standing on the perch.
It was staring at him with amber eyes.
Judging him.
"What a pretty owl you have..."
"Thank you, her name is Hedwig."
"I would like to buy her." Harry smiled as he opened the pouch showing galleons, the shopkeeper showing him the counter.
Harry looked at his wand and remember what Ollivander stated "Curious... very curious..."
"Sorry, but what's curious?" Harry tried not to show his annoyance.
"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Potter. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather resides in your wand gave another feather... just one other. It is curious that you should be destined for this wand when it's brother gave you that scar." Harry looked interested.
"And who owned that wand?" Someone special of course.
"We do not speak his name! The wand chooses the wizard, Mr. Potter. It's not always clear why. But I think it is clear that we can expect great things from you. After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things. Terrible! Yes. But great." Though, truthfully told he was jealous of the man, he maybe a dark lord but still died a decade ago and everyone still feared his name. It was his greatest ambition, to surpass him and for that he had to gather information.