I guess you're getting a new chapter sooner than I expected? Just finished churning this out, so enjoy!
September 4th, 1988
"Harry, you've double-checked everything four times," Mr Wright pointed out as he put his pencil case back into his brand-new backpack. It was a dark blue colour that reminded him of his bed curtains or the sky at night and he told Mr Wright he could just carry his books but he insisted so he had to make sure everything was in it for his first day at the new school. "You've quadruple-checked, I'm pretty sure they won't mind if anything's missing on the first day."
Every teacher he'd had so far would disagree, but he didn't say that to Mr Wright. He knew Hermione would let him borrow anything he forgot, she told him so, but he didn't want to forget anything!
"Fine," Harry huffed but put the backpack on top of the trunk at the foot of his bed.
"Come on, we can read a book or watch something until bedtime," Mr Wright offered and he followed the man to the television room, "want me to grab the recording of today's Puddle Lane episode?"
"No!" he winced when it came out louder than he meant to but still shook his head in denial. At Mr Wright's questioning look, he looked down at the floor, "Hermione says it's for babies, 'm not a baby."
There was a sound of movement but he didn't look up until having to hold back a flinch at Mr Wright reaching for his hands to hold them in his larger ones, not at the contact but because he could see a bit of blood where he'd pulled at the skin around his nails.
"We'll get you something to fidget with later," he heard Mr Wright say before meeting his eyes, "did you get to watch it when you were smaller?"
"No," He looked back down at their hands, not sure if he'd said something wrong or- "please don't be mad at Hermione!"
"I'm not mad at all," Mr Wright assured but Harry just had to look at the adult crouched in front of him to be sure. Mr Wright mostly seemed sad, even if he was smiling a bit. "But Hermione probably got to watch all the shows for babies when she was one, and you didn't. There's nothing wrong with liking something that's supposedly for younger kids, just like there's nothing wrong with Hermione being a precocious little thing and reading my law books. People can enjoy different things at different times, and watching Puddle Lane or Rainbow doesn't make you a baby, okay?"
"I like the law books too! You know all those things and help people with them," Harry had to add because it sounded like Mr Wright was saying could like little kids' things just fine if he wanted, but what about what Hermione liked? Could he like those too? "What's pre-con-tious?"
"Pre-co-cious," Mr Wright chuckled, "it's when kids do things they're usually meant to do when they're a little older. You can like things meant for younger kids just as much as what's meant for older ones, there's no tutorial for growing up, Harry."
"Then it's a pretty bad game," Harry quipped, eyes immediately widening and trying to bring his hands up to cover his mouth, he hadn't meant to say that out loud! He's not supposed to talk back to adults.
Mr Wright's laugh cut through his panic enough to hear his response, "You're not wrong, kid."
September 5th, 1988
"You do all that?" Harry had eyes like saucers as Hermione dragged him into Sandwood by their joined arms, light blue backpack bouncing against his back at every quick step.
She'd been waiting for him at the entrance when Mr Wright led him to it and told him to go with Hermione while he went to talk to the Headmistress. His friend took it as a sign to tell him all about the things they got to study and the optional subjects, and she did four of the six optional classes! He'd told Mr Wright he wanted to do Latin since Hermione did it and he was learning that most spells were cast in it according to his new books, and maybe a sport now that Dudley wouldn't be there to run him off during Phys Ed, but not everything.
"Of course!" Hermione's grin was just a bit scary and Harry wondered if all girls were a little crazy or if it was just his friend. "Come on, let's get good seats! Miss Fernsby makes the seating map on the first day."
They ended up in the front row, close to the teacher's desk, where Hermione could ask all the questions she wanted without yelling from half a room away. Harry didn't like being so close to the teachers but started relaxing by the last period when not a single one of them looked at him like they wanted to throw him out the window and lock it behind him. They mostly did introductions and, while it seemed like most of the class knew each other already, he wasn't the only new student. A loud red-headed girl called Zoe was also new, along with a shy blond boy named Daniel that didn't talk with anyone in class but got dragged to lunch by a smaller brown-haired girl that Hermione said was called Emma and was in the year below them.
Harry didn't know school could actually be fun, not when he was used to keeping his head down and running away from Dudley and his friends whenever he saw them. The teachers were all so nice and none of them said he was cheating even when he got things right. He made sure to get some things wrong when he saw Hermione do it, they had only been friends for a bit and he didn't know if she would get mad at him or not for getting right a question she got wrong like Dudley would have. He didn't really want to find out either, so he didn't bring it up, not even when he was telling Mr Wright all about his first day while they drove to the office for the afternoon.
"So I take it you like the school," Mr Wright opened the office door and Harry trailed behind him after waving hello at Sarah, who was on the phone. She was on the phone a lot, but he figured that was her job as a secretary.
"I do!" He skipped the rest of the way to the couch, leaving his backpack on the floor and dropping down to it on his back, staring at the ceiling, "Hermione wants to join the book club, but there's lots of big kids on it."
"You could go once and see if you like it before joining, you don't have to do everything Hermione does just like she doesn't have to do everything you do," Mr Wright pointed out and Harry nodded to himself. "I have a meeting at a different firm by five, and you can come with me or I can drop you off with Marie."
"What's it for?" Harry rolled to his side on the couch to look at Mr Wright, who was already sitting down at his desk. He didn't really like staying alone at home, even with Marie there. She could be a bit much sometimes.
"Remember what I talked about with Mr Malfoy during dinner?" Mr Wright asks and he just shakes his head in denial.
He hadn't really paid attention to the adults during dinner, not when Draco was talking a mile a minute about dragons and magical creatures and quidditch, everything sounded so fun and magical and he couldn't wait to see some of it! Draco said his dad could get them to a dragon reserve to see actual real-life dragons and Harry really wanted to talk to Mr Wright about it but didn't know how to bring it up. Mr Wright did say he could keep sending letters to Draco, so maybe the other boy would know how to bring it up? Or he could ask his dad to talk to Mr Wright and then Harry wouldn't have to ask and find out the answer. Asking for a book had been so much easier, especially with Hermione by his side and outside with other adults, but this was different and he didn't really know how to deal with it on his own.
"Well, turns out there are five law firms that have a magic department, and I have an appointment at Slaughter and May to see about magical guardianships, those pesky books using your name, and maybe try to get an apprenticeship out of it," Mr Wright explained, but Harry already perked up at the magic part.
"There's magical lawyers?" He sat up, draping himself forward over the arm of the couch.
"Apparently," Mr Wright nodded, "If you want to go with me, we can borrow some of Sarah's makeup."
"Please?" Harry asks, not about to turn away any chance to see more magic or lawyer work.
"I'll talk to her in a bit," Mr Wright said after noticing her on the phone and twirled on his chair twice, making Harry chuckle, before stopping, "alright, you can do your homework if there's any or grab a book, I'll let you know when we're getting ready to go."
Harry nodded and dragged his backpack up to the couch, settling in to read ahead on some of the school subjects. He had to know the right answers to figure out how to get them wrong.
"Mr Wright, what a surprise," The female voice that rang behind him made Michael hold back a sigh. Of course.
They had been led to a small meeting room by one of the paralegals at Slaughter and May and told that someone would be talking to them shortly, but Michael should have known it would be just his luck that Lei Chang would be the one to greet them.
"Ms Chang, always a pleasure," he greeted as he turned around, Harry practically hiding behind his legs due to the new environment.
"At least outside the courts," the older woman conceded with a small uptick of her lips before noticing their additional guest, "and who are you, little one?"
"Harry," his ward offered and he could practically see the gears in the woman's head turning as she took in the sight of them.
"It's nice to meet you, Harry," she offered the boy a rare smile before turning around, "if you'll follow me," she called as she walked out of the room and they hurried to catch up.
They were led to the same lift they came in through, but Chang made sure they were the only three inside before pressing the button for the doors to close. She then took out a golden coin from her pocket - Michael quickly identified it as a galleon - and pressed it to a spot under the buttons which seemed to melt into the shape of the coin perfectly and hold it in place. The circle around the coin lit up slightly in gold and Chang pressed it before turning to them, taking hold of the handrail on the side of the lift.
"You might want to hold on," she warned.
Michael hurried to grab onto the handrail and hold Harry close in front of himself, the boy also grabbing on to be safe. There was a small ding as if they had arrived at their destination, and then the floor went out from under them. At least that's what it felt like as the lift started dropping down at an alarming speed, the floor numbers rushing past like a roulette until a sudden stop at negative five. Michael took a deep breath and looked down to check on Harry, meeting his wide eyes and an excited grin.
Children, Michael thought in amusement.
"Welcome," Chang announced as the doors of the lift opened to a room with white flooring and brown marble walls, a large wooden front desk occupied by a busy-looking brunette greeting them, "to Slaughter and May's Magical Law division. Follow me."
The older woman led them past the dividing wall behind the receptionist's desk, leaving them to the sight of the back of her white suit and in a rush to catch up once again. They walked past cubicles that looked familiar enough to Michael except for the presence of typewriters in place of computers and a constant stream of flying paper planes coming and going around the ceiling. Finally, they are led to an office, not unlike Michael's own but much more old-fashioned looking. He can't help but stare at the floor-length window, figuring they were in the underground, so how-?
"Illusion, rune-based," Chang stated as if reading his mind, and Harry took half a step towards it before retreating back to standing behind him, "You can look if you want, I'm sure the adult talk will be quite boring."
Harry looked up at him for confirmation and, after a nod and reassuring smile, the boy ran over to inspect the window.
"Right, please sit," Chang invited as she sunk into her own chair behind the wooden desk and Michael grabbed one of the seats facing it. "Now, would you care to tell me how you came to have custody of Harry Potter?"
I threw two very random references in this chapter that I doubt anyone will catch but blame my lack of creativity with names for their presence.
Also, Ms Chang is a Queen and I'm looking forward to writing more of her next chapter.
Thoughts?