Making Friends
I know Lee is a half-blood, or pureblood, it’s not clear which, but for the sake of this story he’s muggleborn.
This was inspired by a review that I can’t find to give credit to.
I don’t expect this to have many followers. It’s kind of creepy, in that it’s based around spiders. However, I’m in a weird mood.
Hphphp
Harry Potter was sitting alone on the train. He was new to the magical world, on his way to his first year at a magical school, and he was hoping to make friends. His only friends growing up were the few spiders that shared his cupboard under the stairs. They didn’t last long, for spiders had a shorter life span than him, but he made friends with the ones that were there for as long as they were. Each one was precious to him.
He couldn’t talk to them, per se, but they seem to listen when he complained, and they hid when he told them to. They even made a game sort of like hide-and-seek, which they would play when he was grounded to the cupboard, when freaky things happened around him. They would hide and he would try to find them. It was fun and got his mind off the fact that he was so very hungry. He had to do it quietly of course. If the Dursleys knew he was having fun, they would kill his friends.
And he did consider them friends. They must have too, because they liked to crawl on him at night, and he took comfort in that.
When he had told them that he was going to move to the room upstairs, a few tried to join him there. Unfortunately, Hedwig, his owl, liked to eat spiders, so he had to tell them that it was not a good idea. He couldn’t deny his new friend a food source when she got to hunt so rarely. His Uncle Vernon was an arsehole. He demanded that his owl stay in the room all the time. Harry snuck her out now and then but was punished when he was caught so he didn’t do it often.
Even though he was now in the room upstairs, he still snuck down at night and spent some time with his little eight-legged friends. He would tell them all about Hogwarts and magic. He would express his hopes and his fears and what he was expecting at the school. Harry had had to tell his little friends that he was leaving for quite a while. He hoped they understood when he said goodbye that it wasn’t forever.
He had had Hedwig fly ahead, and now he was sitting listening to the families in the station say goodbye. Soon it would be time for the train to leave, and he was anxious to get started on his new life. He only hoped that he could make new friends.
Harry was a small specky kid. His dark hair was perpetually messy, and his glasses were thick and clunky and held together with tape on the nosepiece. He wore clothes that were far too big for his scrawny frame with patches in various places. His emerald-green eyes were his only redeeming feature. Though he had thought his scar, that was shaped like a lightning bolt, was pretty wicked. He was told he got it when his parents were killed. His aunt told him they died in a car accident, but Hagrid said they were murdered by a madman. Now his scar wasn’t quite as wicked as it had been.
“Can I sit here? Everywhere else is full,” a redheaded boy said from the doorway. He was a gangly kid that was all elbows and knees. There was a smudge on his freckled nose. Harry remembered him from when the lady showed him how to get onto the platform. He was the one who came through with Harry, but he stayed with his mum while Harry went on the train. Ron was his name, if Harry remembered correctly.
“Sure,” Harry said, waving to the seat across the way from him. He wasn’t going to turn down someone who might turn out to be friend material. So what if the kid looked like a bit of a slob. That didn’t mean he was a bad guy. Harry was pretty sure he looked like a street urchin to others, with his hand-me-down clothes. He wasn’t going to judge someone by how they looked.
“Thanks,” the boy said, lugging his trunk to the bench and shoving it under. “I was going to sit with my brothers, but their friend has a tarantula,” the kid said with a full body shudder.
“Really?” Harry said, excitedly. “Where?” he asked, getting up and heading for the door. If there was a large spider to be seen, he was so there. This kid could wait. There were spiders to be found.
“You like spiders?” the kid asked with a look of horror. Harry got the impression that the redhead didn’t like arachnids. Oh well, you can’t have everything. That didn’t make him a bad kid in Harry’s eyes, just someone that wasn’t quite as interesting.
“You bet,” Harry said, looking at the boy. “Where are they?” he asked again, looking up and down the hall like he could find them.
“Two cars down, that way,” the redhead said, pointing to the right. “You can’t miss them, my brothers are twins,” he added, still shuddering at the fact that Harry seemed to be excited over seeing a huge hairy spider. His skin crawled at the thought of it.
Harry grabbed his trunk and headed the way the boy pointed. He almost shoved people out of the way, he was in such a hurry. He couldn’t wait to see this arachnid. He had heard of tarantulas before, but he’d never seen one. Only in pictures, which he was sure didn’t do them justice.
There had been a spider house at the zoo, but the Dursleys wouldn’t go in there. So, he hadn’t gotten to see them. He was surprised they went into the reptile house. They hated all things creepy crawly, or slithering, as the case may be.
“Come on, Lee, let’s see it again,” he heard someone say as he opened the correct second car door. Now, he knew he was going in the right direction. At least he hoped so.
“Shove off, you two. He’ll escape if I keep opening the box,” someone else said, sounding exasperated. Harry just hoped the boy would let him see the spider. However, he didn’t want it to escape. It might get hurt if it did. That was the last thing he wanted to happen.
“Hey,” Harry said when he got to where the voices were coming from. “I hear you have a tarantula,” he said, looking at the box with a lot of excitement. “Can I sit with you?” he asked, still staring at the box.
“Sure, kid, grab a seat,” one of the twins said, waving to the empty bench.
“You like spiders?” the kid of African descent asked, looking at the boy funny. Not that he had room to talk, since he owned the tarantula in question, but the boy just barged in and asked to join them based on it. He had never seen someone so excited at the prospect of seeing his pet. Sure, it was interesting and all, but not that interesting. Well, the twins were acting like it was something spectacular, but they were strange blokes.
“You bet,” Harry said again, shoving his trunk under the bench and sitting. “I like snakes too, but you have to keep them away from each other. Like my owl, who is flying to the school. She ate a few of my friends,” he added, a bit regrettably, his face getting a sad look.
“Why? I mean, why do you like spiders?” one of the redhead twins asked, looking at his brother. “Not that it’s weird or anything. But I’ve never seen anyone so excited about one,” he added, with a shrug. He was just as interested in the tarantula, but the kid was so young.
“Well, you guys seem to be just as excited,” Harry pointed out, reminding them that they were bugging the Lee person. “Besides spiders were my only friends growing up. I would play with them in my… room,” he said softly, making all three boys look at each other.
There was something up there, and they were going to find out what. And it didn’t sound pleasant. Who had spiders as friends? Pets, sure, but friends? And his only friends? That was just wrong.
“Yeah, but we were thinking of the pranks we can pull on our ickle brother,” the other twin said, pointing between him and his brother. They decided to drop the tough subject for now. They’d get it out of the boy later, maybe trick it out of him a bit at a time.
“I just like spiders,” Harry said with a shrug. “Can I see him?” he asked the boy holding the box, who he figured was Lee.
“Sure,” the older boy said, waving him over. He opened the box and put his hand in. The tarantula crawled out and on to the hand. Harry held his hand next to Lee’s and the spider crawled on to his without prompting. The legs tickled his hand, and he relished the feeling. He did let out a small giggle at the sensation.
“So, you like snakes too?” the still unnamed twin on the right asked, watching the kid hold the tarantula like a pro. It showed the kid was telling the truth, he knew his way around arachnids.
“Yeah, I set one free from the zoo a few weeks ago,” Harry said, admiring the hairy legs of the spider in his hand. “I got punished really bad for that one,” he said, distractedly. He was too caught up looking at the tarantula.
“Be careful,” Lee said, watching the preteen with his spider. “He’s venomous.” He wasn’t supposed to have the spider at all. It wasn’t on the approved list. If Percy caught him, he’d probably try to kill his pet. Then again, Percy had a rat forever, so he had no room to talk. “You’ll get sick,” he added, knowing that it was only mildly venomous.
“I know,” Harry said, moving his hand slowly so he could bring the spider to his face. “I’ve read all about them,” he added, peering at the face of the spider. It had the most fascinating eyes.
“How did you set a snake free?” the twin on the left asked, watching the kid play with the tarantula as if it were a safe pet.
“How did you get punished?” the other twin asked in a casual tone. If they didn’t make a big deal out of it, maybe the kid would talk.
“I’m not sure. I got angry and the glass disappeared,” Harry said, then lowered his hand and moved it to the box, so the spider could get back in it. He knew they didn’t like to be handled for very long. “I was put in my… room and didn’t get to eat for days,” he said, not paying any attention to what he was talking about. He was too concerned about putting the spider away carefully. Though he did pause enough not to say cupboard. That was a secret he wasn’t going to share.
The three of them looked at each other and exchanged worried expressions. The kid was casually throwing out punishments like it was a normal thing to be locked up and starved. They knew that was not normal. Sure, missing a meal was common, but for days, that was not.
“Why did you get angry?” the right-sided twin asked, putting the lid back on the box. They had seen enough of it for now. He didn’t want his older brother to see the pet. Who knows what that do-gooder might do. At best he might turn them in, at worst… he didn’t want to think about it.
“My cousin pushed me when I was talking to the snake,” Harry said, with a shrug. “I just got mad, and it vanished. I just wanted the snake to be free. He told me he’d never been out of his display. So, I let him go,” he added as if it was a given. “It was funny at the time.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Lee said, holding up his hands in a ‘hold on’ gesture. “You were talking to the snake?” he asked, exasperated, like the story was going in places he couldn’t keep up with.
“Yeah, can’t you guys? Isn’t it a wizard thing?” the boy asked, looking at their astonished faces. He had been sure it was something every wizard could do. Now, he wasn’t so sure. Maybe the Dursleys were right, and he was a freak.
The twin on the left got up and put a spell on the door. He sat back down, and all three boys got serious looks on their faces. “Don’t ever tell anyone that, ever,” they said together.
“Why?” the perplexed child asked, getting worried that maybe he was in trouble.
“Most people will think you’re evil,” Lee said, folding his arms showing what he thought of that.
“You don’t?” Harry asked, seeing that they thought it was stupid.
“Of course not,” they all said, the twins leaning back in their seats.
“Maybe if I told people and they saw that I was good, they would change their minds,” Harry said, hoping that would be true. He hated lying to people, even if it was just withholding the truth.
“No,” the twin on the left said, looking at his brother.
“You have to understand, people are stupid,” the brother said, turning to Lee.
“And stubborn,” Lee said, turning to the original twin.
“They won’t change unless they want to, and most don’t want to,” he said sadly.
“That’s just dumb,” Harry said with a pout. “I really don’t want to lie,” he added, voicing his thoughts.
“You will be ridiculed, and ostracized,” one twin said, poking his finger at the preteen.
“What is ostracized?” the boy asked, not liking the sound of that.
“Everyone will hate you,” the other twin said, nodding sagely.
“Oh,” was all he could say to that. It wasn’t like it would be something new. So, he changed the subject. “What are your names? So, I can quit calling you twin one and two in my head,” Harry finally asked, looking at the two redheads.
“Oi, I like that,” twin one said, then jerked his thumb to his brother and said, “That’s Fred.”
“And that’s George,” Fred said, doing the same motion with his thumb.
“That’s if they aren’t lying,” Lee said with a smirk. He knew they weren’t. He could tell them apart, unlike their own mother. Fred had more freckles over his right eye. George had a mole on his left cheek. It was a small one, but it was there. Those were only a couple of things different, if you looked long enough, you’d find more. Like Fred was a tad bit taller than George, but they had to be standing back-to-back to see it.
“Why would they do that?” Harry asked, vaguely remembering them doing that to their mum earlier. He had thought it was funny at the time, and rather sad that their mum couldn’t tell them apart. She was their mother. If they could do that trick, she didn’t pay very close attention to them.
“They’re pranksters,” the older boy said, looking at his friends fondly.
“Oh, I like to play pranks too,” the younger boy said, with a sly grin. He had played a few on Dudley, but the boy was too dumb to realize that he had been pranked by Harry half the time, he had just brushed it off as accidents. Though it had been painful the few times he got caught. Vernon was an arsehole.
“Wonderful,” the three other boys said, rubbing their hands together. They could use a younger year to help them with the smaller stuff. Like a lookout, gathering of supplies, or such.
“Back to snakes and spiders,” Fred said, looking at the box and then out the window, like a snake would be there.
“What about them?” Harry said, peering at the window to see what he was looking at. There was nothing but darkness to see. He shrugged and looked at the boys again.
“There’s rumored to be giant spiders in the Forbidden Forest,” George said with a decisive nod. “Hagrid let it slip a time or two,” he added, like it was a secret.
“We go in there now and again, but Hagrid chases us out before we get too far. We think he’s hiding them, even if he was the one to tell us,” Fred said, folding his arms in a poutful manner. Acromantula silk can be used in many potions that they wanted to try, but Hagrid wouldn’t let them close enough to gather any.
“Wow, really?” Harry said with a dreamy face. “I’d like to meet a Acromantula,” he said with an airy voice. He had read about them, and they were awesome. They grew to the size of a house. He could just imagine that. If he could make friends with one of them, he’d never have to worry about bullies again.
“Even if it eats you?” Lee asked, bringing the boy back down to earth. He was getting concerned about the kid. He was like a scrawny Hagrid. No sense of self-preservation. At least the half-giant could handle the creatures. Maybe. Lee didn’t think Harry could handle a kitten, let alone an Acromantula. Heck, he wasn’t sure Hagrid could handle those giant things. Even if the man said he was friends with the leader.
“I’m sure it’s just misunderstood,” Harry said primly, unknowingly sounding just like the gentle giant.
“Now you sound like Hagrid,” Fred laughed, making the others laugh.
“Yeah, I bet if there was a basilisk in the castle he’d adopt it,” George said, laughing with his brother.
“What’s a basilisk?” Harry asked, ready to stand up for the giant.
“A large snake,” Lee answered, holding his hands out as far as they could go. Then tried to hold them out further. “As large as the train,” he finally settled on. “It can kill you with a look,” he cautioned.
“Blimey,” Harry said, his eyes wide. “Oh yeah, I read about them in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. That’s a great book. Will we be learning more about creatures in first year?” he asked, his eyes blown wide with wonder. A real live basilisk, now there was something to dream about.
“No, I don’t know why they put that book on the first year’s book list. You don’t take Care of Magical Creatures until third year,” Lee said, his face thoughtful. It was mean to get the kids’ hope up like that. He remembered thinking the same thing when he started. Only to be disappointed when he found out the truth.
“I think they put in on the list for Potions,” Fred chimed in.
“Yeah, so we know ingredients and such,” George agreed, nodding knowingly.
“You could be right. I’m pants at Potions,” Lee said, thinking hard on his first years and using the book for that purpose.
“I’d like to see a basilisk,” Harry said, bringing the topic back to the snake, his eyes going unfocused for a minute. His mind wandering to imagine what he could do with such a large serpent. Though, he wasn’t sure if he wanted one so deadly.
“Why?” George said, snapping his fingers in front of Harry’s face to get the boy to focus on the here and now.
“To teach those that picked on me a lesson,” the boy said, his tone a bit meek. What he wouldn’t give to get back at his uncle for all the times the man had hurt him. A snake the size of the train would do just that. The snake wouldn’t even have to do anything, just sit there and the fat man would die of a heart attack. Not that Harry wished death on anyone, mostly. But if nature saw fit to deal out karma, who was he to interfere?
“Yeah, that would work. I’ll bet if Hagrid found one, he’d call it lovable, and give it a name like Slinky,” Fred said, chuckling. He hoped that the kid wasn’t homicidal. Though, given the looks of the kid, he might have reason to be. He was scrawny, with broken glasses, and in clothes that were far too big for him. His hair looked like it had never seen a comb, and his all over attitude screamed abuse.
“Be nice, I like Hagrid. He took me to get my stuff,” Harry said, waving to his trunk. He wasn’t going to let anyone cut down his only friend. Sure, Hagrid was old enough to be his grandfather, but the man acted like a big kid. He was just so naïve about many things. Harry wondered if the man had a learning disability. Not that it mattered, but…
“Wait,” Lee said, exchanging looks with his friends, “Hagrid did? Not a teacher?” he asked, not sure why that was.
“Yeah?” was the questioning reply.
“That’s not right,” Lee said, knowingly. “It’s supposed to be a teacher. Hagrid is a nice enough bloke, but he’s not a teacher,” he added, holding out his hand to stop any angry tirade.
“How do you know?” Harry asked, ready to stand up for his friend. Even though in his mind he knew the other boy spoke the truth. Hagrid hadn’t even told him how to get on the train.
“I’m a muggleborn, ain’t I?” Lee said with a shrug. “Did he give you all the pamphlets that muggleborns are supposed to get?” he asked, with a small smirk. Knowing the man probably hadn’t, since he was sure Hagrid hadn’t been trained in how to introduce the muggleborn to the wizarding world.
“No,” Harry answered in a small voice. He didn’t want to get his friend in trouble, but he wasn’t going to lie.
Lee got up and rummaged through his trunk and pulled out some really beat up pamphlets. “Their almost trash, they’ve been at the bottom of my trunk for years, but they should still be readable,” he said, holding them out to Harry.
“It’s a good thing Lee’s lazy,” Fred said, shoving his friend good-naturedly. “He never gets rid of anything,” he added, ribbing the other boy.
“That and his mum doesn’t go through his stuff,” George agreed, nudging his brother. “Unlike our mum,” he added, morosely.
“Yeah,” his brother said just a sadly. She had thrown away all their joke products that they had worked so hard on. It was a good thing Lee had most of their notes, or they would have to start over. That was one of the reasons they took the mickey out on their mum so much, she didn’t respect them or their things, at all.
“Thanks, Lee,” Harry said, taking the pamphlets, and thumbing through them. He had to be careful, they were falling apart. He was worried that he had missed some things that were important. “Can you tell me anything I need to know before I get to school?” he asked the three older boys.
“If someone offers to shake your hand, take it. Even if you don’t like them,” Lee said, not wanting the boy to make an enemy straight off.
“You don’t have to be friends, but you don’t have to be enemies. So, even if some git like Malfoy Jr. comes and offers you his hand, shake it but tell him that you have to evaluate your surroundings before you decide anything, or some such drivel,” George said, knowing a bit more about pureblood decorum than Lee. Not that his family subscribed to it, but he knew enough not to make enemies. It was bad enough they were called blood traitors; he didn’t need to make social faux pas as well.
“Or if a girl curtsies to you and offers you her hand, then you buss the knuckles,” Fred said, picking up Harry’s hand and demonstrating, making everyone laugh. “It doesn’t make you a couple, or anything, just nice manners.”
“Got it,” Harry said, “Those are the same upper crust manners in the muggle world too,” he added, nodding to Lee for confirmation. “I just have to act cool as a cucumber,” he stated.
“Yeah, but they are stricter about it here in the wizarding world,” Lee said, giving Harry a pointed stare.
“Will do,” Harry said, going over all the airs that the Dursleys tried to hammer into Dudley’s head over the years. They thought themselves higher class than they were, even though they were middle class at best. They were always putting on appearances, which did not endear them to the neighbors. Still, it was coming in handy now.
He picked up the pamphlets and started reading through them, as the three older boys started talking about the pranks they were going to play.
“So, kid, tell us about your spider friends growing up,” Fred said after a few minutes of planning, looking at the boy who was still perusing the pamphlets.
“They were great. When I was grounded in my… room, we’d play hide-and-seek, sort of. They would hide and I’d try to find them,” Harry said, his eyes still glued to the things he needed to know. Like how to prep potions ingredients. Stuff that wasn’t in the books, but useful information.
“How did they know you were playing? I mean, they’re bugs,” George asked, not sure how that could have happened.
“Well, I’m not sure myself,” Harry said, peeking over the pamphlet, then back down. “One day we just clicked, and they understood me,” he said, with a shrug. “It had been a really bad day for me. I had gotten in trouble with my uncle over my grades, and he punished me. I was crying and the spiders were trying to cheer me up, I think. I said, maybe they should hide, and they did. It started from there,” he explained as best he could.
“Were your grades that bad?” Lee wanted to know. He knew his mum blew a gasket when he brought home bad grades.
“No, they were that good. See, I couldn’t get better grades than my dumb cousin,” Harry said, still reading the pamphlets. “What does it mean that muggleborns can’t do magic outside of school? Does that mean just muggleborns?” he asked, hoping to get the topic off him.
“I think so,” Fred said, letting the subject change. “I know my mum doesn’t let us do any magic, but I know other purebloods that do,” he added at Harry’s inquiring look. He really didn’t listen to his mother on that rule. They just made sure she couldn’t see them use their wands. Bill and Charlie had taught them many charms over the years. They even taught Ginny things to protect herself against them. So, if their mum thought they were behaving on that rule, all the better.
“That’s not fair,” Harry said, reading the passage again, hoping it would change. It didn’t. Maybe if he was in an area that was heavy with magic, like Diagon Alley, or the Leaky Cauldron, he could use magic there. It was something he was going to have to research. He didn’t want to go the full summer without being able to practice his spells. He might get rusty.
“Welcome to the wizarding world, where muggleborn are second class citizens,” Lee said with derision. “I was like you when I read that. I learned that no matter how much or to whom you complain to, it’s just the way it is. If I were you, I’d keep up on my regular studies. That way you can straddle both worlds,” he advised.
He made sure to keep his studies up, and he was sure that he could pass his A levels right now or in the near future. Studying at his own pace was good like that. He might not be able to get into a good college, but he could get into a good trade school. He wasn’t without options.
“We’re doing that,” George said, pointing to him and his twin. “And we’re purebloods. We know that there’s money to be made there as well as here,” he added, puffing up a bit. It had been hard to catch up with Lee, but their friend had helped a lot and they were on par with him now.
“We’re planning on taking some Business Management classes out of Hogwarts,” Fred said a bit smugly. “We’re going to open our own business.”
“I don’t have any books for that,” Harry said morosely. He thought it was a really good idea. He did note that Hogwarts didn’t offer muggle classes. He thought that was rather rude of them. If they were going to take someone from one world to the next, the least they could do is educate them fully. Especially if what these guys said was true and muggleborn were treated badly.
“You can use my old ones,” Lee said, rummaging through his trunk again. He pulled out five old used textbooks that had seen better days. “They’re old, but they’ll keep you up to date,” he said, handing them over.
“How big is your trunk?” Harry asked, seeing that the boy never seemed to throw anything away.
“It’s like the TARDIS,” Lee said proudly. “I got the deluxe version,” he said, patting the wooden trunk.
“Blimey, Hagrid made me get the cheapest. I wish I had spent more. I could barely get what I needed this year in there,” Harry said, glaring at his less than adequate trunk, wondering how he was going to put these books in it. He moved over to it and opened it and shoved things around and made some room. It was a tight squeeze, but he got them in there.
“You’d better get your robe on,” Fred said, looking down the hall for the trolly lady.
“Why?” Harry asked, sure they weren’t there yet.
“So you’re ready when we get there,” George said, pulling his robe out of his trunk and throwing it on over his clothes.
Harry just shrugged and did the same.
“Here comes Jean,” Fred said, digging in his pocket for some coins.
“Who’s Jean?” Harry asked, watching all the boys grab some money. He shrugged and did the same.
“The trolly lady,” Lee answered him, getting up and going to the door. The three boys were crowding the doorway when she came into sight.
“No pushing now,” she said as she stopped, very used to hungry teenagers.
“Chocolate frogs,” Fred said, holding out some copper coins. Knuts, Harry remembered.
“Liquorish wands,” George stated, doing the same.
“Cauldron Cakes,” was Lee’s choice.
“And for you, dearie?” Jean asked when the older boys got their treats and sat down.
“I’ll take one of everything,” Harry said, so he didn’t have to choose.
“I get that at least once a year,” she said, holding out a prepared bag that had one of everything.
“Oh, why?” the boy asked as he exchanged a few silver sickles for the bag.
“Muggleborn want to try them all before they pick what they like,” she explained as she deposited his money and then she moved to the next compartment.
“Have a good day,” Harry called after her. She just waved over her shoulder at him and saw to her next customers. He ducked back into the compartment with his bag of candy.
“Ah, you got the deluxe bag,” Lee said, looking at the sack in his hands. “I did the same thing my first year,” he said, nodding his head knowingly.
“That’s what Jean said,” Harry said, sitting back on the bench and reaching into the bag and grabbing the first thing he could reach. It was a Sugar Quill. He popped it into his mouth and started sucking on it. It was just as advertised, sugar dressed up like a quill.
They spent a few minutes just enjoying their treats, until Fred brought up Quidditch. “Have you heard of it, kid?” he asked, after talking about it a few moments with his friend and brother.
“A bit,” Harry confessed, though he had a confused look on his face. “I don’t know much,” he said, looking at Fred to explain more.
So they did and Harry got a full education on the game that was played on brooms. It was the main form of entertainment in the wizarding world. Harry wondered if he would be any good at flying. He could feel the wind in his hair already. He couldn’t wait until the first flying class.
Suddenly someone opened the door. “Excuse me, have any of you seen a toad?” a bushy-haired girl asked as she entered their compartment.
“No,” they all said, looking at each other, like they might answer differently.
“Oh, a boy named Neville has lost one,” she said, disappointed that she had to continue looking.
“You might want to look in the loos,” Harry suggested, thinking the toad would look for the moistest place to hide.
“Why?” she asked, tilting her head to the side.
“They like wet places,” he said with a shrug like it was an obvious answer.
“Oh, I didn’t think of that,” she said and hurried away, intent on searching anew.
“I hope she finds it before it gets hurt,” Harry said, thinking of the poor thing being underfoot. It could get smooshed.
“You really do have a soft heart for creatures,” Lee observed, his face softened at the realization that the poor boy was really that concerned over a toad. He knew it was because the boy had been mistreated.
“Yeah,” was all Harry said, knowing that it was his abusive past that made him so kind-hearted towards the less fortunate, like animals that were misunderstood. If he had not been so punished, he never would have made friends with the spiders and would have seen them as pest like everyone else. Now, he had a special place in his heart for creatures. If he had it his way, he’d see they were all well taken care of.
“I’ll bet you’d give anything to have a suitcase like Newt Scamander,” Fred teased, trying to lighten the mood.
“You bet I would,” Harry said enthusiastically. He was all but bouncing in his seat.
“You should talk to Kettleburn, he might be able to get you started on your Magizoology path sooner than third year,” George suggested, hoping to give the boy a leg up on his dream. That did seem the path the boy was likely to follow.
“Yeah, we can get you hooked up with our brother Charlie too. He’s a dragon handler. He knows as much about creatures as Hagrid,” Fred said, giving the boy a winning smile.
“We’ll make sure you have all that you need to get what you’re shooting for,” Lee said with a winning smile. He wanted to make sure the kid had something good in his life. Merlin knows his home life looked to be bad.
“I’d kill to be a Magizoologist after Hogwarts,” Harry agreed, his eyes going out of focus again. It was his dream since he picked up Fantastic Beast and Where to Find Them. Newt Scamander was his hero, and he strived to be just like him when he grew up. And if these guys were going to back him, he might just make it.
It was the start of a beautiful friendship. They were going to do everything in their power to make his dreams come true.