Rule #13

This is the best day of Harry Dursley’s life. 

In all his crazy dreams (and Harry has many of those), he never imagined a place so…oh, uhm, what’s the right word? Maybeeee— 

Magical? 

Yea. Magical. 

Camp Hogwarts is magic. 

It all started back in Hogsmeade, Harry’s hometown. His mom and brother were still sleeping when he left. And his dad? Passed out on the couch. WhatEver. None of it mattered, because, for the first time in his life, Harry got to walk through Hogsmeade. A l o n e! He found a pet shop (with snakes!) and a candy store and even a stand dedicated to pretty pens. 

By the time Harry found the other soon-to-be campers lining up, his cheeks were achy from smiling. Everyone else said goodbye to their parents while he gawked at the camp bus painted in rainbows. There were two floors inside, and confetti sprinkled all over the chairs. The nice counselor dressed in red, Gilderoy, claimed that all the decorations were ‘eco-friendly’. Harry’s seatmate (Hermione Granger, poofy hair, brown skin, super smart) told him that meant ‘environmentally friendly’. 

Harry has since decided to become a friend of the environment as well. 

As the bus drove them through the woods, Gilderoy conducted the campers in songs and chants and even choreography. Harry’s homeschooled, so he’d always dreamed of riding the bus to school. 

This was so much better. 

Eventually, the winding road uncoiled like a yo-yo, and the dark green trees and dense shrubs parted. The Hogwarts Camp sign had letters of different shapes and sizes, and a zip line dangling just over the entrance. Harry had pressed his nose into the window, counting all the smiling counselors’ faces below. 

Harry’s not a kid anymore, alright? He’s eleven. Soon to be twelve. But, you know, in that moment? It was kinda…scary. He’d never even gone camping before. And there were like a billion strangers there. His mom’s pretty big on stranger danger and all that, so, well—

He sorta wanted to cry? 

But then this beautiful lady, like crazy pretty with red hair and green eyes and freckles and a really cool robot thing stuck to her arm, came up to Harry and gave him the biggest HELLO ever. She said her name was Lily (like the flower). 

And just like that, all of Harry’s worries poofed. Lily seemed nice. Trustworthy. 

Besides, his mom’s named after a flower too. Petunia.  

Things just kept getting better and better and better after that. Harry got a free Hogwarts t-shirt with a really cool cartoon of campers in a canoe, and he made another friend (Ron, ginger, super long arms and legs, very small torso), and best of all, Harry was the first camper to find a snitch. 

A red hacky-sack which means that Harry’s in Gryffindor. Cool!

Harry has never been first in anything in his life before. Dudley, his brother, always takes the lead. He’s got everything Harry doesn’t—a runner’s body, pale skin, brains, oh, and their father’s pride. 

Harry, on the other hand, is chubby, unusually tan, and according to their father, stupid. 

Usually, the thought of Vernon Dursley makes Harry sad, but at Hogwarts, with a snitch in his hand, he can’t be anything but happy. 

“Hey! You.” A blonde boy across the campfire circle is pointing at Harry. His face is all scrunched up like he’s just had a warhead or something. 

Harry walks forward, skipping over the wood chips around the fire pit. “Hi! I’m Harry.” 

The boy’s expression does not change. He’s got on a green collared shirt, with a drawing of a dude riding a horse with…a sword? 

“That’s a great shirt,” Harry says. 

“It’s a polo, not a shirt. Ralph Lauren in fact.”

Harry nods. “Cool!”

“What will it take for you to lie and say that I found a snitch first?” The boy’s voice is all low and raspy like he has to cough or something.  

Harry’s eyes move from the sword-fighting-horse-man to two icy grey eyes. The boy kinda looks like a doll. So clean and brushed.

“Well?” The boy sighs. 

“Um, I guess I don’t understand the question?” Harry would really like to make another friend. He’s got a grand total of zero back home, thanks to Petunia’s obsession with staying home forever. Dudley doesn’t count, of course, cause he’s Harry’s brother. 

“You want money? A PlayStation? A pony—”

“What’s your name?” Harry interrupts. Oops, he’s not supposed to do that, his mom says it’s r u d e. 

“Draco.” The boy pauses. “Malfoy.”

Draco, Harry tries out the name in his head. It sounds like something in that Thrones show his dad likes to watch. Harry often sneaks out of his room and listens from the hallway. He likes the sounds of sword-fighting but especially the dragon's fireeeeeeee. 

Draco steps closer to Harry, looking around the campfire. There’s only one counselor (short black curls, black clothing, pale skin) nearby, and he’s not even looking at them. 

“Please,” Draco whispers. “I need you to lie so that they tell my mom that I won a snitch first.”

Harry finally processes Draco’s words, but he still doesn’t understand why he should lie. It doesn’t matter though. “Sure!”

“Really?” Draco’s eyes widen. 

“Yeah.” Harry shrugs. “They won’t be writing my mom anyway.” 

Draco looks at his hands folded in front of him. “Why’s that?”

This time, it’s Harry who whispers. “Can I trust you, Draco…” He pauses dramatically, just like the boy’s original introduction. “Malfoy?”

“No.”

Harry snorts. “What?”

“You asked me a question, and I answered it honestly.”

“Ohhhkkkk.” Harry breaks into giggles. 

Other campers are jogging up to the circle with snitches, and Harry knows he only has a few seconds to decide. 

“I think I can trust you, Draco (dramatic pause) Malfoy.” 

Before the blonde-grey eyes-dollface boy can interrupt, Harry leans forward and whispers, “My parents don’t know I’m here.”

Draco pulls back with a jerk. “You ran away!” 

“Shhh,” Harry says. “I won a scholarship, faked some signatures. It’s just a little…vacation.”

“Vacation?” Draco repeats. 

“Yep,” Harry pops the p with a smile. 

“Hm.” Draco tilts his head to the side with a sly smile. “If you lie for me about the snitch, I’ll keep your secret.”

“Deal.” Harry jumps forward to give Draco a hug. 

After a couple of seconds, Draco returns it. 

******

To Harry’s great disappointment, Draco (dramatic pause) Malfoy found a green snitch, not a red. Which means that even though he and Harry are the same age, they’re not in the same cabin. 

Luckily, Ron and Hermione are, with the addition of two others (Luna, blue/blonde/pink hair, big eyes, funny doodles on her hands) (Neville, seriously short, birthmark on his neck, and scared of heights). 

The five of them talk as they carry their luggage to their Cabin (#3!) in Gryffindor. Apparently, Ron, Luna, and Neville are all from Hogsmeade and go to the same school together. AND they’d been to Hogwarts the year before. So Hermione, who’s from Maine, and Harry, who never leaves his boring house, are the newbies. 

The wooden cabin is just behind the Gryffindor bathrooms. It’s like a cottage with slits in the bit just between the roof and the walls, a slide sloping off the top to the ground.  

Luna steps up first, pushing their front door (a red curtain) to the side. 

“CABIN THREEEEEEEEE!” A man with long black hair jumps out. At least Harry thinks he’s a man, he’s got a lot of womanly features too, and a really nice tie-dye dress. 

“Yes!” Ron exclaims next to Harry. “I can’t believe we got Sirius!”

“Nice to know I’ve a fan,” the counselor, Sirius, says with a smile that screams mischief, or as Harry’s mom would say, devilry.

Harry finds himself inching back into Hermione’s shoulder. 

They all file into the cabin, Ron calling dibs on the top bunk in the center, and Neville the one just under. Harry had hoped to sleep near Hermione, but Luna quickly grabs the bed by the door. Hermione gives Harry a smile, then claims the bed on the right, leaving Harry with no option but the one on the left. The one next to Sirius. 

Oh boy. 

“Alright, wild lions, just set your stuff down, there will be time to unpack later.” Sirius flops onto his bright pink bed. 

Harry’s only got a backpack and a sleeping bag, while the others brought entire duffels and even sheets. He sets his stuff down, biting his lip. He couldn’t take too much stuff without his family noticing. But would this be enough for an e n t i r e summer?

“And if you forgot to pack anything, or need to get something,” Sirius continues, “don’t you worry about it. We got you.”

Harry doesn’t meet Sirius’ gaze. 

“SO! Let’s start with some names and pronouns and favorite ice cream flavors, cubs. I’m Sirius. I use all the pronouns. And on the even days, I like strawberry and on the odd, licorice.”

“Licorice?!” Neville makes a face, hugging his sleeping bag. 

Hermione, sitting on her bed with her ankles crossed, raises her hand. 

Sirius laughs. “Just shout it out!”

“Uhm,” Hermione clears her throat. “What do you mean by all pronouns?”

Luna, who has been carefully patting down the edges of her mattress in a steady rhythm, answers, “It means that Sirius uses he she and they and any other neo-pronoun ze or ey or xe.”

Harry looks up to find Ron just as lost as him. What the heck does that mean? 

Sirius stretches his? their? her? arms. “It can mean different things to different people, but for me, I see myself as something beyond gender. I’m a blob floating through space.” Sirius does a little shimmy, which makes all of them, except for Harry, laugh. 

“You can do that?” Harry whispers. “Just decide not to be a man or a woman?”

Sirius smiles. “Yeah. And you know camp is a place to try new things if you want, even pronouns.”

They go around then, and Harry concentrates reallllyyyy hard in case someone has unexpected pronouns, but no one besides Sirius says anything out of the ordinary. And though Sirius seems kinda strange, Harry doesn’t find him or them or her scary anymore. 

Weird is nice, actually. 

******

They have two tests to pass before the ‘fun really starts’ according to Sirius. 

First is the lice check. 

The nurse (Remus, way too tall, curly hair, warm hands) combs through all of their hair and declares them b u g f r e e. Thank goodness. 

The whole process takes much longer than it should because Sirius keeps distracting Remus. Harry does the same when his mom tries to teach him. 

It’s not his fault. It’s hard to focus!

Sirius starts by asking about Remus’ morning (demanding a list of what he had for breakfast?), then dances with Luna and Neville (the tango?), and then starts talking about everyone’s auras (Luna — blue polka dots, Neville — yellow with a dancing sun, Ron — kittens cuddling in burgundy, Hermione — purple cursive over cream).

Harry has lightning in his golden aura, supposedly. He knows that’s because of the scar that looks like a lightning bolt on his forehead, which he thought he’d hidden with his hair. The scar might look cool, but the story of how he got it isn’t. 

Remus’ aura is the funniest of all — wolves howling in forest green. 

Eventually, they leave the nurse’s station and walk alllttttheewayyyy through camp, past Gryffindor, the campfire circle, the Lodge, the chickens and the gardens, down past the road, and into the small pier around the Black Lake. 

Harry nearly chokes on his own tongue when he sees what comes next. 

Swim test. 

OH NO. 

It’s not until they’ve all changed into their swimsuits and are padding down the pier that Harry starts to freak(!) out(!). He, uhm, well, maybe…The Dursleys don’t go swimming. Ever. 

So he doesn’t exactly know how to swim. 

Harry finally fesses up when it’s his turn to jump into the lake. The nice counselor beside him (Marlene, short blonde hair, dolphin necklace, toothy smile) isn’t mad or anything. She just asks if Harry would like to learn this summer. 

He does want to learn!

So Harry sits with Marlene as the others swim around, showing off their ‘strokes’. Marlene walks Hary through the arm movements of said ‘strokes’, and by the time his cabin-mates are washing off the lake water in the showers, he’s a pro. At least on land.

Another counselor (Dorcas, pretty voice, dark brown skin, button nose) comes up to Harry and gives him a high-five. And he didn’t even do anything!

Everyone’s just so nice. 

Needless to say, Harry’s cheeks are once again aching when he and his cabin hike up the hill to the North Lawn and sit in the bright green grass. All the cabins come up, each sitting in small circles, while their counselors talk about ‘Cabin Adventures.’

“Think about the craziest things you’ve ever wanted to do, and we’ll make them happen. Swimming with mermaids. Swinging off trees like monkeys. Fireworks in the middle of the night…” Sirius keeps going and Harry feels himself getting dizzy. 

They’re just supposed to say…their biggest dream? Ever? But dreams are impossible, that’s what makes them dreams. Duh. 

Luna goes first. She’s brave like that. “I want to have a tea party in the sky.”

Sirius grins. “Ab-so-lute-ley.”

Ron and Harry look at each other with puzzled frowns. How are they supposed to do that? 

“We’ll climb up one of the trees, strap ourselves in with harnesses, then pull out some teacups and have a marvelous tea party!” Sirius leans his/her/their elbows on the grass. 

“Well,” Hermione begins. “I’ve always dreamed of seeing the Great Library of Alexandria.”

Sirius hums with a thoughtful face. “Dumbledore, our Camp Director who you’ll meet at campfire tonight, has a huge library. I bet we can make our own version of Alexandria in the Wayward Woods Treehouse. Or perhaps in Pandora’s craft house.”

Hermione nods like a billion times. 

“How about you, Harry?” Sirius prompts. 

The entire cabin turns to Harry and his mind freezes. It’s as if he’s never had a dream once in his life. Which just isn’t true, he not only has the coolest dreams at night, he daydreams all the time during his boring classes with his mom. 

“It doesn’t have to be crazy, it can be as simple as riding a whale.” 

“That sounds crazy,” Neville giggles.

Sirius winks. 

Harry takes the distraction and combs through his mess of a brain, searching for something fun, something that will impress his new friends and show Sirius that he’s a cool camper. 

“I—” Harry hesitates. Is it fun enough? Crazy enough? Oh, but he wants to do it so badly.

“I want to fly,” he says, then pauses dramatically, just like Draco. Malfoy. “On a broom.”

Sirius smirks. “Your wish is my command.”

******

The first campfire of the summer is, surprise surprise, I N C R E D I B L E. At dusk, the entire camp gathers around the fire circle, the campers smooshed shoulder to shoulder on the logs encircling the pit. They make smores and Chef Molly sings songs and they dance and they hear about all the camp games and activities to come. 

Harry is signed up for candle making, canoeing, banjo, and coolest of all, ancient weaponry. And that’s just for tomorrow! They get to pick new things every day. 

He’s sandwiched between Ron and Hermione, and his eyes blur from the dark blue sky glittering with stars, and the orange fire burning higher and higher. His voice is hoarse from singing and screaming. 

He’s so happy.

As the night continues, Harry starts to realize that Sirius is pop-u-lar. The counselor from Cabin #4 in Gryffindor (messy hair, bronze skin, big glasses) hugs Sirius at least ten times, and Harry’s pretty sure they’re both crying at some point. The pretty flower lady, Lily, and Draco’s counselor, Regulus, both come up to Sirius too. Then there’s the nurse who stares at Sirius. Like really stares.  

Though Harry’s not actually certain if Remus is staring or glaring at Sirius, his gaze is all…crazy. 

Dumbledore (white beard, smile lines, monk clothes) gives a nice speech at the end of the night. He says that this place is magic, just like Harry thought. The Camp Director seems like a fun dude—though, in Harry’s opinion, everyone at Hogwarts seems to be a fun dude. 

Harry’s still crackling with energy and joy when it’s time to go to bed. Sirius passes out quickly, so does Neville and Ron, while Luna doodles on the cabin wall and Hermione reads. 

“I’m gonna pee,” Harry whispers to Hermione as he quietly shuffles out of the cabin. 

She nods, and he takes off for the long building that is the Gryffindor bathrooms. He doesn’t really have to pee, but he often hides in the bathroom when he needs to calm down. When his dad’s drunk or his mom’s angry or Dudley’s being mean. 

Sometimes Harry will look in the mirror and practice faces. Monster-scary, angry, zombie, sleepy, his mom’s disappointed frown, anything really to entertain him. But when Harry opens the door, the bright lights are already on, mosquitos fluttering over the mirrors. 

“Draco! Malfoy!” Harry beams. 

He does not get a smile in return. No, Draco’s practicing expressions too, it seems. He’s even got tears running down his cheeks. 

“Go away,” Draco whispers. 

Oh. So not pretend, then. He’s sad for reals. 

Harry creeps forward slowly. Draco’s in his pajamas too, a green-silk set. 

“You know this is the Gryffindor bathroom, yeah?” 

Draco scrubs his eyes. “I’m aware. I didn’t want any of my friends to see me.”

“So you’re from Hogsmeade.” Harry can’t help but be disappointed. He thought Draco (dramatic pause) Malfoy was a newbie like him. 

“Yeah,” Draco confirms. “But this is my first year at camp.”

“Mine too!” Harry comes even closer so that they’re both visible in the mirror above the sink. 

Draco turns on the water and splashes his face. When he pulls up, water runs down his cheekbones and drips off his chin. “I don’t wanna be here.”

“Why?” 

“I miss my—” Draco hesitates.

“Your mom? Dad? Sister? Brother? Cousin? Friend?” Harry lists off, trying to be helpful. 

Draco blows out a long breath. “My mom. She’s my best friend.”

“That’s nice. My mom’s not. I mean, like, obviously I love her, she’s my mom, but we’re not best friends or anything. Though we do spend a lot of time together. And it’s not like I have a best friend so maybe she is my best friend? Oh god, is my mom my best friend? That’s kinda—” 

Harry cuts himself off, realizing what he almost said. “I mean that would be fine. Great, even.”

Draco is looking at Harry’s reflection in the mirror, brows pinched together like a caterpillar. “You’re weird.”

“Uhm…” Harry can’t tell if Draco’s being mean or not. Sometimes it’s hard to tell. 

“You really ran away from home and didn’t tell your parents you came here?” Draco asks. 

Harry nods once. 

“Won’t they worry?”

“I left my mom a note,” Harry explains. “And my dad won’t notice. My brother might be upset, but only because I didn’t take him with me.”

Draco shakes his head. “And you’re not upset? You abandoned them.”

Harry closes his eyes, and racks through all of his feelings. That warm, fuzzy energy is still flickering in the inside of his stomach and he feels invincible. “This has been the best day of my life.”

When Harry opens his eyes, Draco is crying. “This has been the worst day of mine,” he whispers. 

Harry’s not sure what to say to that. How to help. How to make Draco smile. He really wants to though. He’s sure Draco (dramatic pause) Malfoy has a brilliant smile. 

“Bye,” Draco says, shoving past Harry towards the exit. Just as he opens the door, he turns back and gives Harry a look. The sort of look reserved for your worst enemy E V E R.  

“You tell anyone about this, and I’ll ruin you.”

Harry smiles. “Alright.”