Into the Unknown
“We’re going to be late!” Fiona groaned as her head thudded against the steering wheel, accidentally knocking into the horn and making all four passengers in the car jump at the sudden sound. Hedwig hooted indignantly, ruffling her feathers a bit before she went back to gently biting the sleeves of Harry’s flannel.
“Mum, we’re going to be fine.” Harry chuckled a bit. “It’s only 9:30.”
“But if this traffic doesn’t let up, then we’re going to get there at 10:15! What if we can’t find the platform?” She stressed, causing Gid to lean over and rest a hand on her shoulder.
“Darling. That’s still 45 minutes before the train leaves.”
“If we aren’t at least an hour early then we’re late, Gideon!”
Harry sighed affectionately, adjusting himself in his seat as he looked out at the cars around them. It was packed, he would admit that, but he didn’t always understand his mum’s need to be early. He would never say anything about it, because more often than not, they did actually benefit from being an hour early, but he didn’t want her to stress herself out so badly.
“What if we take a back road?” He offered. “Mum, you know all the side streets better than anyone else, you can probably get us there in ten minutes if you try!”
From where he was sitting in the back, he could see Fiona’s eyes light up, and Gid’s face go almost grey, before she grabbed the gear shift firmly and looked at him in the rear view mirror.
“Hold onto your arse, Haz.”
“On it, Mum.”
“Oh no.” Gid said softly, reaching up and grabbing the ceiling handle as his wife jerked the gear shift, turned the wheel sharply to the left, and partially drove up onto the median to get the car into the turning lane, before she shot off down a side street. She whipped around corners, almost drifting the back of the car the entire time, and Harry couldn’t stop laughing, a wild cackle that he couldn’t keep in even if he tried.
His dad, however, looked like he was about to puke, right up until they skidded into a parking spot at King’s Cross Station. As soon as the car was parked, he popped the door open and almost rolled out of the car, just crouching on the ground as he heaved.
“Why… Did I let you… Drive the car..?” He rasped, looking up at Fiona and Harry as they climbed out after him, the latter clutching his owl’s cage close to his chest.
“Because I drive faster than you do?” She offered, walking over and slicking Gid’s hair back affectionately, before she started to walk away. “You can drive back, okay? Harry, stay with dad for a minute while I go get one of the trollies for your stuff.”
“Yes, mum!” He called back, setting Hedwig’s cage on the sidewalk before he sat next to his dad, rubbing his back soothingly as the color slowly returned to the man’s face. He offered Harry a small smile.
“Sorry, love. Mum’s driving always makes me nauseous.”
“You get used to it.”
Gid snorted, wrapping an arm around Harry’s shoulders. “I’ve been married to your mum for eleven years now. I never got used to it.”
The two of them sat in comfortable silence for a moment, neither one of them really wanting to talk about what was happening in a little over an hour. Harry was almost never away from at least one of his parents, something he did entirely by choice, and now he was going away for a majority of the year. Gid squeezed his son a little bit, drawing the boy’s attention up to him.
“I… Uh…” He mumbled, running his free hand through his hair. “You know I’ve never been the most… Emotional man in the world, Haz.”
That was a lie, but Harry let it slide. Gid was always emotional, he just didn’t know how to verbalize his feelings the way Fiona and Harry did.
“But… I dunno, the idea of you not being at the house grosses me out really bad. I know all your stuff is gonna be there, and we’ll be able to write to you whenever we want, but… It’s not going to be the same.” Gid sighed. “Ever since that day you first came to live with us, almost six years ago now… You’ve always been ours, y’know? The moment I laid eyes on you, I just knew you were gonna be my kid.”
“And, I don’t want you to feel lonely while you’re at school, and I don’t want you not to feel safe. I know you’re always gonna be safe, because you are quite possibly the strongest bloody kid in the world, even without your magic, but, I wouldn’t be doing my job as your dad if I didn’t… Well, y’know…”
Gid sighed, carefully pulling a necklace up off of his neck, grabbing the large object hanging off the end of it and flicking it open. Harry stared, wide eyed, at his dad’s pocket knife.
“I want you to take this with you, and always wear it. I don’t care how you have to sneak it in, but you keep this knife with you at all times, yeah?” He said firmly, looking at his son with misty eyes. “That way, even when your mum and I aren’t there, we can still keep you safe if you’re in danger.”
“Dad, I…” Harry mumbled, before he threw his arms around Gid’s neck, hugging him tightly and fighting back his own tears. His dad wrapped his arms around him so tightly that it felt like he was being crushed, but he honestly didn’t care.
He never went anywhere without that knife. It was one of his dad’s most valuable possessions, and he was giving it to Harry.
After a moment, they pulled away, and Harry wiped his eyes on his sleeve, before he let Gid slip the cool, metal chain around his neck, dropping the knife down his shirt. The weight was a bit unusual at first, but very quickly became comforting.
It would keep him safe.
“Thank you.” He whispered softly, smiling when Gid pulled him into another hug and kissed the top of his head.
“No need, Haz. I love you.”
“I love you too.”
The soft moment between the two of them was suddenly interrupted by the sound of the trunk clicking open, and Harry looked up with a laugh as he saw his mum with a deer in the headlights expression.
“...I didn’t want to interrupt.” She giggled a bit. “You and your dad were having a moment.”
“It’s fine, Fi.” Gid snorted, standing up carefully and pulling Harry up as well, grabbing Hedwig’s cage and walking over to his wife to help her grab Harry’s trunk and set it on the trolley. He took a step back when she grabbed it by herself and lifted it onto the cart, before flashing a smile at him.
“It has those featherweight charms on it.”
“Oh, right.”
“Speaking of featherweight- Haz, got your bag?” She asked, looking back over at Harry while Gid carefully positioned the birdcage on the trunk.
“Yep!”
“Books for the train ride, a couple drinks, snacks, and your coin pouch are inside?”
“And my wand, along with all those nice pens you got me.”
“Good. I’m sorry, I’m all for wizarding stuff, but it’s so much easier to write with pens. If they have a problem with it, they can shove off.” Fiona huffed, but smiled at Harry as he stepped up and grabbed his trolley, starting to push it towards the station with his parents right behind, pointedly ignoring the anxiety that was gnawing at his stomach.
Everything would be fine. He just needed to keep repeating that.
Everything would be fine.
—
Juliana Zabini was not one for train stations, especially busy muggle ones. As a young girl, she had been fascinated by them and the muggles within, but now that she was a grown woman, she found them… Unpleasant.
Unfortunately, she had to bear King’s Cross Station so she could get her son, Blaise, safely on the Hogwarts Train for his first year of school.
She absently squeezed Blaise’s shoulder as the two of them stood by the column for platforms nine and ten, waiting for the gate to open at 9:45. She could feel his anxiety coming off of him as well, and just wanted to let him know that he was perfectly fine.
They were existing in a level of relative peace despite the chaos of the station around them, the only sound either of them were focusing on being the soft rumble of the nearby trains.
That peace, however, was broken by the approach of a family of three.
“Excuse me?” The man, presumably the father, asked, drawing Juliana’s attention. He was a rather handsome man, with dark eyes and tanned skin, and he was dressed in a fashion that some of the muggleborn wixen that she worked with referred to as ‘punk’. “This is how we get to 9 and 3/4ths, right?”
“Yes, it is.” She nodded in response.
“Okay, thank you.” The man sighed in relief, smiling at his wife and son. Her gaze flicked over to the wife next, a woman with wild black curls and grey eyes that dressed like she had just come from a funeral. She smiled softly at Juliana, before she turned to her son, who was dressed much like his parents were.
However, something about the boy was… Oddly familiar. Like she had seen him before.
Before she could open her mouth to speak, the boy looked at her, his emerald green eyes piercing into hers, and she would have had to be a fool to not notice the rush of magic that shot through her when they made eye contact.
This boy was powerful.
Incredibly so.
He seemed to study her face for a moment, before a look of recognition crossed his face, and he bowed his head to her.
“Contessa Zabini. A pleasure to meet you. My name is Harry, Harry Hartford.”
Juliana let out a surprised chuckle, standing up a bit. “You know who I am, Mr. Hartford? I must say that I am surprised.”
Harry looked up at her, a bright smile on his face. “You were in a book I read, Signora.” He said softly. “Notable Witches of the Western World. Your work on the decriminalization of dark healing in Italy was amazing to read about!”
Blaise seemed to puff up at that, and she couldn’t stop the smile that spread across her face. Most of the time, when people met her, the first thing they mentioned or asked about was her husbands and their unfortunate fates. This boy, Harry, didn’t seem to care about that at all, though.
“Thank you, Mr. Hartford. I am… Surprised you picked up that book. Most first year students do not get anything off the supply list.” She smiled, before his mother spoke.
“That’s Harry for you.” She sighed good naturedly. “He reads books like they’re the air he needs to live. We’ve had to go back to Flourish and Blotts six times since we got his school supplies, because he just keeps reading through the books we buy him.”
“Oh! I’m, Fiona by the way. Fiona Hartford.” She smiled, holding out her hand to Juliana. “And this is my husband, Gideon Hartford.”
“I am Contessa Juliana Zabini, and this is my son, Blaise Zabini. It is a pleasure to make the acquaintance of such… Accepting muggles.” She chuckled a bit, shaking Fiona’s hand and then Gideon’s, allowing her son to do the same.
“It’s really no big deal.” Gideon shrugged a bit, ruffling Harry’s hair. “He’s our kid. We would have accepted him if he suddenly grew a second head. Probably would have named it Gideon Junior.”
His son swatted at his hand, laughing a bit as he tried to fight off his father’s affections. In the end, it didn’t seem to help, as Harry was pulled into a headlock and Gideon kept ruffling up his hair. Fiona sighed, shaking her head like this was a regular occurrence, before she turned back to Juliana and Blaise.
“Harry’s adopted.” She explained softly. “We’ve been his parents since he was seven years old, and we always knew he was special. He always tried to help us cook by levitating ingredients around the kitchen so we didn’t have to search them out.”
“Interesting.” Blaise nodded a bit, looking at Harry appraisingly. “Is he still able to do that?”
“Yeah, I honestly wonder if his birth parents could do it, with how easily the magic comes to him…”
“If you do not mind me asking, Mrs. Hartford-” Juliana began.
“Oh, please, just call me Fiona.”
“Alright, Fiona.” She hummed. “Who are Harry’s birth parents? If his control is as you have said, it is very likely that at least one of his parents had an affinity with the magic you described.”
Fiona hesitated a bit, biting her lip in a gesture that was obviously uncommon on her face. “You can’t tell anyone. Harry doesn’t… He doesn’t want people to have a preconceived notion of him just from his birth family and the things that happened when he was a baby, but we can’t find any information about his birth parents that isn’t lauding them for being heroes…”
Juliana paused at that, a knowing look crossing her face. “He was Harry Potter.”
She felt Blaise jump a bit at that, looking between her and Harry with wide eyes for a moment.
“He was, yeah.”
“Well… I am unaware of any wandless affinities within the Potter family, but his birth mother, Lily, had some talent for it.” She explained softly. “At least, that is what I have heard in the past.”
Fiona hummed in acknowledgement. “Well, that’s good to know…”
“And do not fret, Fiona. Blaise and I will keep his secret.” Juliana nodded firmly. “Harry is famous in our world, and fame is not something that can be kind to children. We will keep his secrets.”
She watched as Fiona visibly relaxed at that, looking at her with genuine thanks in her eyes. She had never experienced anyone so… Open with their emotions before.
Granted, she worked with politicians, and they were never open with anything.
Harry looked up suddenly, his laughs going completely silent as the slight tingling of magic filled the air from behind her. Blaise looked up at the large station clock and nodded.
“Mamma. It’s 9:45.” He said softly, pulling away from her and grabbing his trolley, looking at Harry for a moment. “The doorway to our platform opened.”
It took a moment for the other boy to come back into himself, it seemed, before he suddenly turned around and hugged Gideon tightly, burying his face in his father’s chest. The two of them squeezed each other for a few moments, before he pulled away.
“Write to us as soon as you can, Harry. I love you.” Gideon said softly, tears in his eyes as his son walked over to Fiona, pulling her into a hug just as tight.
“Everything will be alright, baby.” She whispered, kissing the top of his head. “You be good. We love you so much.”
“I love you too.” Harry said softly, pulling away and grabbing his own trolley, wiping his eyes on his sleeve. Juliana felt her chest tighten a bit, and she looked at Fiona and Gideon with a determined expression.
“I will help him onto the train, Fiona.” She said softly. “And I will come back and let you know when the train departs safely.”
“Thank you.” Fiona whispered, obviously fighting back her own tears. “Uhm. Harry’s sensitive to magic. He gets, overloaded when he’s hit with a large rush of it. I just don’t want you to panic if he seems like he’s about to faint.”
“I understand.” She smiled reassuringly, before turning back to the two boys. “Blaise, will you show Harry how to go through the doorway?”
“Of course, Mamma.” Blaise nodded, before looking back at Fiona and Gideon. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Mr and Mrs. Hartford!”
Then, he nodded at Harry, before he ran headfirst at the column, his trolley passing through with ease and swallowing him up a moment after. Once she was sure her son was safely through, she gently rested a hand on her temporary charge’s shoulder.
“Alright, Harry… Now it is your turn.” She smiled at him.
“Okay.” He whispered, taking a few deep breaths and looking back at his parents. Whatever expressions they had on their faces seemed to bolster his confidence, and he rushed forward, passing through the doorway without any hesitation.
Juliana smiled softly, before she too rushed through the doorway, passing onto the platform like she had done dozens of times before.
She looked up, and couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped her at the wide eyed, excited expressions that Blaise and Harry were sharing with each other at the sight of the train.
There was a friendship blooming there, and she was more than happy to welcome it into their lives.
—
The Hogwarts Express was massive, and loud, and Harry felt overwhelmed by the sheer amount of people who had been clamoring to get into the damn thing, feeling extra grateful that his parents had been so insistent on getting them to the station early to miss the rush.
When the train finally left at eleven, he felt like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulders, and he sank back into his seat, letting his eyes drift closed.
His new friend, Blaise, was sitting next to him in a compartment at the back of the train. The boy had sharp, angular features that were an exact match for his mother’s, something which he thought was interesting. He knew of dominant and recessive traits from one of the books he had read on the subject of genetics earlier in the year, but he’d never seen such a stark example of it.
“So… Hartford-” Blaise began to speak, looking at him curiously.
“Uh, please call me Harry.” He asked quickly, opening his eyes. “I don’t do the whole… Surname thing.”
“Alright, Harry. Call me Blaise, then. Anyways… Can you really do wandless magic?” He asked, sounding a bit excited.
“Uh… Yeah, I can.” Harry nodded hesitantly. “Mum told you?”
“She did. Can I, uh… Can I see?”
He bit the inside of his cheek, remembering Professor Snape’s warning to not share his… Unique abilities with others.
But he felt like he could trust Blaise.
He didn’t know exactly why, maybe it was something about the other boy’s magic, but Harry just… Knew that his secret would be safe with his friend.
“Yeah, uh… Here, let’s do this.” He sat up a bit, cupping his hands together like he was going to scoop up water. He looked at his palms, a single thought drifting through his mind.
Light. I need light.
And, like it always did, a soft blue light swirled into existence in his hands, prompting Blaise’s eyes to almost bulge out of his head. Harry nodded at him, his eyes flicking down to his friend’s hands, then to his. Catching the hint, Blaise cupped his hands the same way that he did, and he very gently allowed the ball of light to roll into his cupped palms.
“It’s… Cold.” Blaise murmured.
“Yeah.” Harry nodded. “It's modeled after muggle light bulbs. I wanted to have a portable light that I could carry around with me, but they kept getting hot and burning me, so I started wanting it to be colder. Mum calls them Ice Lights, and they can last for a while once I form them.”
“That’s incredible, Harry! How many of these can you make at once?”
“Six or seven, although I made eight a couple weeks ago when the power got shut off to the house after that freak storm we had. Completely knocked out the electricity.”
Blaise nodded, still looking at the light in awe. Gently, Harry waved his hand, and the light began to float out of his hands and to the middle of the table, spinning slowly and glowing in multiple different colors before it shrank out of existence.
“...I’ve never seen someone who could do that before.” His friend admitted in an amazed whisper. “I think you might just be the most talented wizard I’ve ever met.”
Harry couldn’t stop the bright flush from rising onto his cheeks, and he looked away. “I don’t think it’s that amazing…”
“But it is, Harry. It’s normal to you because this is how you’ve always done magic, but… You did that without your wand, and without verbally casting. Even Dumbledore still needs his wand for anything intricate like that.”
“...Thank you, Blaise.” Harry whispered, smiling at his friend.
“You don’t need to thank me. I’m just stating the obvious.”
“Still. Thank you.” Then, after a moment. “Hey, uh… Do you want some biscuits?”
“...I would love some biscuits, actually.”
“Sweet, my Mum packed me plenty to share-”
—
The rest of the train ride was, thankfully, quiet. Harry and Blaise had been able to simply enjoy each other’s company, and indulge in a few of the treats that Fiona had packed in case her son made any friends on the train.
Granted, there were a few times that their peace was interrupted, like when one of Blaise’s other friends, Theo, slipped into the compartment and sat across from them. He didn’t say a word to either of them, just gave two curt nods, and Harry responded by sliding a napkin full of biscuits over to him as a peace offering. Theo had accepted, which was a relief to him.
Then, there was the bushy haired girl who Harry thought he recognized, but he couldn’t quite figure out from where if he was being entirely honest. Maybe he knew her from before he lived with his parents? She had been followed around by a worried looking boy with sandy blonde hair and tears in his eyes, the two of them looking for the boy’s, who was apparently named Neville, toad.
“Why don’t you just summon your toad?” Harry had asked in confusion.
“Because a summoning spell is fourth year work!” The girl had protested, looking at him pointedly.
He blinked at her a few times, and he could feel Blaise’s eyes on his back as he pulled out his wand, looking at Neville again. “What’s your toad’s name?”
“Uhm… T-trevor.”
“Okay.” He smiled reassuringly, giving his wand a quick flick in the air. “Accio Trevor the toad.”
After a moment, Harry held out his hand, and they could hear surprised gasps going up the train as… Some sort of object came flying through the aisles. Then, with a loud croak, a toad that he could only assume was Trevor landed in his hand. Carefully grasping the escaped pet with both hands, he presented Neville with him.
“Here you go.” He smiled.
“Trevor!” Neville gasped, gently taking the toad from Harry and looking up at him with wide, grateful eyes. “Thank you so much, I-i was so worried-”
“It was nothing, really.” Harry chuckled a bit, his face heating up. He didn’t really think it was that impressive. He’d been summoning stuff to him for years, he just… Now knew what the spell was actually called.
After a few goodbye’s, the two of them walked off. Neville with a wide smile on his face, and the girl looking… Honestly rather miffed about something.
Harry sat back in his seat, quietly grateful that neither Blaise or Theo had mentioned anything about what he had just done, though he did see them shoot glances at one another, and then back at him.
They hadn’t been interrupted again after that, though, which finally let him relax a bit.
When they got close enough to Hogwarts, the three boys all changed into their uniforms, and Harry shifted uncomfortably in his dress shirt. He never had to wear a uniform before, and it was honestly miserable, he already missed his soft t-shirts and jeans.
Eventually, the train slowed to a stop, a booming voice telling them to leave all of their luggage on the train, as it would be taken up to the castle for them. Feeling a bit nervous, Harry let Blaise lead the way out of the train, absently grabbing hold of the back of his robes to avoid losing him, like he did with his mum in crowded places.
In that same instinct, he reached out behind him to grab Theo’s hand, which landed in his after a moment’s hesitation, and the three boys made their way off the train and onto a dark platform, where another booming voice called out to them.
“Firs’ years! Firs’ years over here!”
An absolutely massive man’s big hairy face beamed over the sea of heads.
“C’mon, follow me – any more firs’ years? Mind yer step, now! Firs’ years follow me! The name’s Hagrid, ‘m the keeper of keys and grounds here at Hogwarts, and I’ll be taken yeh up to the castle!”
Slipping and stumbling, they followed Hagrid down what seemed to be a steep, narrow path. It was so dark on either side of them that Harry thought there must be thick trees there.
“Yeh’ll get yer firs’ sight o’ Hogwarts in a sec,” Hagrid called over his shoulder, “jus’ round this bend here.”
There was a loud “Oooooh!”
The narrow path had opened suddenly onto the edge of a great black lake. Perched atop a high mountain on the other side, its windows sparkling in the starry sky, was a vast castle with many turrets and towers.
“No more’n four to a boat!” Hagrid called, pointing to a fleet of little boats sitting in the water by the shore. Harry gripped Blaise’s robe a little bit tighter as he stared at the rickety little boat, and flinched a bit when he felt Theo pull away, climbing into it without worry, and holding out a hand to help the two of them in. Blaise got in first, taking his friend’s hand to balance himself, but Harry could see the slightly ashen look on his face that he got when the boat rocked.
“Alright, Harry.” He said, holding his own hand out and trying to give him a reassuring smile. “It’s not that bad.”
“I hate boats.” Harry admitted quietly, grabbing both Blaise and Theo’s hands and carefully stepping into what he could only describe as a small death trap. He grabbed hold of the side the second he was sitting down, only half noticing that his friends had helped a fourth boy into their boat.
“Draco. Have a good summer?” He heard Blaise ask the new boy.
“It was wonderful.” The new boy, Draco, replied. “Who’s this?”
“Harry Hartford. A new friend of ours.” Theo suddenly spoke up, the first time Harry had ever actually heard him speak. “His mother makes excellent biscuits.”
That made him let out a small, startled laugh, which in turn caused Blaise to snort.
“Everyone in?” Hagrid shouted, startling all four boys, and they looked up to see that the man had a boat to himself. “Right then – FORWARD!”
And the fleet of little boats moved off all at once, gliding across the lake, which was as smooth as glass. Everyone was silent, staring up at the great castle overhead. It towered over them as they sailed nearer and nearer to the cliff on which it stood.
“Heads down!” yelled Hagrid as the first boats reached the cliff; they all bent their heads and the little boats carried them through a curtain of ivy that hid a wide opening in the cliff face. They were carried along a dark tunnel, which seemed to be taking them right underneath the castle. Harry could barely breathe as he felt the magic of the castle wash over them, his eyes going wide at the warm, almost excited energy it gave off.
It was like Hogwarts itself was speaking, but it was too muffled to hear.
Blaise reached out and grabbed Harry’s hand again, giving it a reassuring squeeze like he knew that his friend was desiring that little bit of familiar comfort.
As they made their way up the winding, rocky path, guided only by Hagrid’s lantern, Harry could hear the excited chatter from all of his fellow first years, all of them wondering where they would be sorted, how the sorting happened, and what, exactly, it would be like to learn magic.
He felt Theo brush up against his other side, the other boy’s presence already becoming a comfort to him, and he glanced over at Draco, the boy’s near white hair glowing in the moonlight.
He offered him a nervous smile, getting one right back, before Hagrid reached up to the large, wooden door that they had made their way to, and knocked three times.