Chapter 4
Apparating was the weirdest thing ever, Harry had decided.
The feeling of a tug on your navel, the way the ground seemed to move extremely fast at your feet and the nausea the distorted images had given him was nothing he had expected or felt eager to experience once again.
“You alright, Harry?” Rory asked him, still holding his hand.
The little black haired boy was crouching and breathing out of his mouth with his other hand on his knee.
“I’m alright! Just nauseous.”
“That’s normal, but we can do something about it.” she said, taking out of her jacket a small vial. “Take a sip, it’ll make the nausea stop.”
Harry didn’t even question her, taking the glass vial and taking a sip, feeling the nausea almost instantly disappear as he composed himself and his cheeks regained color once more.
“All better?”
“Yes, thank you.” he said, straightening his posture and opening his eyes and mouth in surprise. The sight of a big, beautiful castle left him speechless. “Is that…?”
“Hogwarts? Yes.”
“It’s beautiful,” he said, still in awe at the beautiful view before his eyes.
Aurora smiled at his words.
She had decided, in order to avoid the people inside the stores at Hogsmeade, to simply apparate on the limit of the little town and Hogwarts for their afternoon tea with Hagrid.
“Wait ‘till you see it up close.”
“Can we?” he asked excitedly at the prospect of seeing that magnificent castle up close.
“Of course, we’re heading there to see Hagrid. Remember I told you he lives within the castle grounds?”
“Oh, right.” he said blushing. The sight had made him forget why he was there for a second. “Why didn’t we just appear there, then?”
“Oh, umm, we can’t.” she answered hearing Hermione’s voice inside of her head quoting ‘Hogwarts: a History’ once again reminding them of curious facts about the school. “There are some protection spells that forbid witches and wizards to apparate on the castle or its grounds, so we apparate in Hogsmeade.”
Harry looked around, realizing they were on the other side of a bridge from a little village. The sight of the place caught his attention, wondering if he had been there before and if he liked the village. He did like the looks of it if he was honest with himself, it looked rather cozy and the scenery of the Scottish Highlands and the big beautiful castle only made it more amusing.
“Are you ready for the walk?” Aurora asked him, taking him out of his head.
“Yes!”
“Alright then.”
Harry started to walk, still not letting go of Aurora’s hand but, in some way, leading the way. And she just let him, watching how the boy looked around at everything hiding behind a big coat, a burgundy scarf and a matching hat. He liked what he saw, not even caring about the little face he could feel biting his nose, or the fact that he was wrapped up in clothes to help him with the cold and to not be recognized.
There was something about the path he was following that felt familiar, he knew he had been there before thanks to Rory telling him about it. So the familiar feeling was coming from knowing he had loved that place before, knowing that had been the place he had met his friends. Harry decided then to look at Aurora, who looked similar to himself in that moment: a fluffy jacket, a yellow and black patterned scarf and a black hat. She had a smile on her face.
“Hey Harry, wanna race me?” she asked, taking him by surprise.
“What? Why?”
“Sounds fun.”
“I’m actually pretty fast.” he said “Learned to be fast thanks to my cousin Dudley and his friends.”
“Oh, I know you are. I’ve seen you run and I have never been able to catch you.” she said, remembering a similar occurrence during his sixth year. “So… Last person to get to the gate is a troll!”
Harry looked surprised as she just let go of his hand and started to run towards the gate of the castle, having him follow closely behind.
“Hey! That’s not fair!” he laughed.
Aurora let out a laugh, remembering a sixteen-year-old Harry saying the same thing before almost effortlessly catching up to her. And Merlin, was she surprised as she saw the ten-year-old boy sprint faster than she had expected and pass her as he let out a little laugh and the burgundy scarf flew off his neck.
“Alright alright!” she said, catching up to him almost out of breath, watching his satisfied smile as he stood at the gate with a bright cocky smile she had seen many times before.
“So you’re a troll now?”
“Oh, hush.” she laughed, wrapping the scarf around his neck once again. “You weren’t lying when you said you were fast, huh?”
“I don’t lie.” he said simply, shrugging his shoulders.
“Oh, I know that.” she said, suddenly remembering a certain scar on older Harry’s hand ‘I must not tell lies’ it read. “That old hag.” she muttered.
“What old hag?” Harry asked, looking around.
“Oh, nothing. Don’t worry about it.”
“Alright… So which way then?”
“See that hut over there?” she said, pointing to it. “There’s where we are going.”
Harry nodded, walking silently next to Aurora, who had started to voice her excitement about seeing their friend Hagrid, who according to the woman’s words she hadn't been able to go see in quite some time because of her work. She kept rambling about how she wondered what creatures Hagrid was up to in classes, for she had forgotten to tell Harry the man was also a professor at Hogwarts.
“Was he my professor?”
“Yes, but he was your friend first.”
“How did we become friends?”
“Why don’t you ask him yourself, love? We’re here after all.” she said.
Harry noticed she was right, for they were now standing at the end of the three steps to the door. Rory walked to the door, knocking with a smile on her face.
Suddenly his nervousness started to arise as the two of them waited for the man to open the door, Aurora in front of the door and Harry a couple of steps behind her.
He trusted Aurora’s word about the man being fond of him and being more than happy to see him again, but he couldn’t help himself to feel less anxious about his ‘good friend Hagrid’ not liking him. What if Hagrid only liked Harry when he was older? What if he wasn’t as fond of a younger version of Harry as he was of the older one? He didn’t want to disappoint the friend who had so kindly found and made a photo album of his family.
The person he now owed the knowledge of his parents image.
“Aurora!” a happy voice exclaimed as soon as the door opened and Harry could almost feel his jaw drop to the floor when he saw the biggest man ever.
Harry had always thought his uncle Vernon was a big man, but compared to the one who stood in front of him Vernon Dursley was no match. Rubeus Hagrid was outstandingly big, at least double as tall as normal people and at least five times as wide. His face showed a big smile on his almost noticeable mouth, which happened to be surrounded by a bushy long beard of dark brown hair that melted perfectly in a wild way with his mane of hair.
“Hagrid! I’ve missed you.” she said back, being hugged by the man.
“Where is he?” he asked, looking behind her. “Merlin’s beard… Harry!”
The emerald eyed boy felt a shiver down his spine, feeling uneasy for a second, when the man approached him in a single step and happily hugged him.
“Yer a small one, ain’t yeh? Come on in! i made summat fer yeh.” he said, letting go and starting to walk inside as he cleaned his eyes who had suddenly started to tear up. “Bin waiting all day fer this! missed class even, yeh know how big o' a mouth i have an' i didn’t wan' ter spoil it.”
“It’s alright Hagrid, I appreciate it.” Aurora said, walking inside the hut. “Harry, you coming?”
“Coming,” he said, coming out of his state of shock.
Harry reprimanded himself for feeling uneasy at the man’s hug as he walked into the cabin behind Rory, this was his good friend Hagrid. The biggest man he had ever seen. The same man Aurora had been giggling about and holding tightly seconds ago. The man who had made him a photo album of his family and gifted him an owl. An owl that, for the date Aurora had told him he had gotten, was what he thought the first ever birthday present older Harry had ever gotten from someone -a real gift, not the broken socks or trash bin toys from Dudley-.
“Come on in please.” he said, urging the boy to come closer. “I reckon the las time yeh couldn’t have any o' it. Tha' cousin o' yours ate it all before yeh could.”
Harry looked around curiously, noticing how everything inside the hut was significantly bigger than any other piece of furniture he had seen in his entire life. Only once he came close to the table, as Hagrid left a plate on top of it he noticed what the man talked about.
A chocolate cake with pink frosting and green letters reading ‘Hapee birthdae Harry’.
“This time it isn’t squashed.” Hagrid said, smiling through his bushy beard.
“But it isn’t my birthday.” he said innocently, blushing instantly thinking he could possibly have offended Hagrid who only let out a loud laugh.
“A bit nostalgic, am i? I made a cake like this one fer your birthday when I brought yeh your Hogwarts letter… a little boy yeh were back then, huh?”
Harry couldn’t help himself but to let out a shy smile.
He had never had a birthday cake, not a proper one at least. And here was Hagrid, looking at him with teary eyes after recreating his first cake.
“Can I have a slice?” he asked shyly.
“Of course you can! Let me get you both some tea.”
Hagrid moved away from the table, to collect the biggest tea cups Harry had ever seen as Aurora helped him cut the cake with a smile on her face. He could only think about how, once again, Aurora was right.
Hagrid was a lovable person, very friendly and softhearted for what he could see, and a trustworthy one at that too.
He tried the cake, and even though the bread seemed slightly stale compared to the eclairs Kreacher had recently baked, he enjoyed it more than he had ever enjoyed anything before. It was his birthday cake. His recreated birthday-not-birthday cake. For him.
“Thank you Hagrid! I love it.” he said after trying his first spoonful of it, taking another bite and feeling Rory’s hand caressing his hair at the same time she gave him a bright smile.
“I would like a piece too, if you don’t mind, it truly does look good.”
“Not at all, help yourself.” Harry answered politely, continuing to eat his cake.
Hagrid smiled at them, sitting down after leaving the tea in front of them.
“Rory here told me yeh have no memory o' anything before yeh turned eleven.” Hagrid said towards Harry.
“It’s complicated, I think,” he said simply. “I wanted to thank you for the photo album, it was a very nice thing to do. Thank you Hagrid.”
“No need ter thank me, James an' Lily would've liked fer their son ter have memories o' 'em... I went ter pick yeh up tha' night, yeh know? When i could carry yeh in the palm o' me hand. Oh, little thing were yeh, falling asleep on me as we flew through Bristol.”
“So you’ve known me since I was a baby?” he asked curiously.
“Yeh! an' then Dumbledore himself trusted me ter personally deliver your Hogwarts admission letter.”
Harry saw the man take a sip of his teacup, at the same time Rory silently ate the cake.
“Rory told me you like magical creatures.” he spoke awkwardly. “Have you ever seen a dragon?”
“I have! dragons are some o' me favorite creatures. I had one once an' yeh were here when the egg hatched with Ron an' Hermione. Little good Norbert.” he answered excitedly.
“Really?! That’s awesome, I’ve always liked dinosaurs and dragons a lot, but until recently I didn’t know dragons were real.” Harry said in a voice full of excitement that Rory merely didn’t recognized when it came to Harry and magical creatures. “Wish I could see one.”
Hagrid’s eyes got a new spark inside of them as he excitedly told Harry all about the day Norbert had came out of the egg and how Harry himself had made sure, helped by Ron and his brother Charlie who worked with dragons in Romania, had made up a plan to send the dragon to a reserve for him to be safe and grow with his own kind.
Rory couldn’t help herself but to giggle at them, earning a funny look from Harry.
“Oh Hagrid, you should definitely tell Harry about that time he got to fight a dragon then.” she pointed out.
“I did- What?! Really?!”
It was Hagrid’s turn to let out a laugh and start to tell Harry every single detail about the Hungarian Horntail and Harry started to bombard the man with questions on how he had done it, how dangerous it had been and why he was doing that. The black haired boy was absolutely delighted with the narration of the story coming out of Hagrid’s mouth.
His favorite part wasn’t knowing he had done something that amazing, but the way Hagrid conveyed him the story and seemed so lost in his words as he graciously related the story even making some sound effects as he followed along with it, making him laugh. It was definitely the closest thing Harry had ever had to having someone telling him a bedtime story, and he liked to imagine that perhaps that was the way fathers were supposed to read their kids every night. And he would’ve liked having that every night.
But he had settled a long time ago, since he had been able to read, to read himself stories and make the voices and sound effects in his head. But he didn’t particularly love that, especially since it had always been a little bit difficult for him to read, struggling with some moving letters. But he liked stories, especially those that contained knights, magic, and dragons.
The kind of stories the Dursley’s hated the most and he had been punished a week without a proper dinner for sneaking a children’s book of the King Arthur and Merlin tales home with him from school.
That’s when he had focused his attention on dinosaurs, being the closest thing to a dragon that his uncle could not feel upset about him reading about since it was scientifically proven. Nothing magical, in the extent his relatives hated, about dinosaurs.
Hagrid had sent them back home with the promise of finding Harry some good books on dragons, mostly ones full of pictures so he could appreciate the beauty of such magnificent beasts and half of the cake that had remained on the table. The boy, who had initially felt intimidated by the size of Hagrid, ended their lovely evening hugging the men tightly with a big smile on his face.
“I had a great time with you, Hagrid. I’ll come see you again soon!” he had promised as Hagrid waved them goodbye as they walked back to Hogwarts gate.
Aurora had hugged the man tightly too, promising to try and come back as soon as she could so they could discuss some creatures she had been working with after they had been retrieved from poachers. And that was when Harry had noticed the dark sky above them and looked back into the castle.
Hogwarts looked stunning at night, with tall walls, towers and more illuminated windows he could count. It was breathtaking, he thought, storing inside his memory the way the outline of the castle looked as it stood tall in the night sky.
He had studied there, lived there as well, and he didn’t know if his past-future older self had ever got tired of the place, but he surely couldn’t think about ever getting tired of that view. Of a castle standing beautiful and tall on the Scottish highlands, surrounded by a fine coat of white snow and feeling as magical as it looked.
Harry smiled brightly, holding his cake on a hand a Rory’s arm with the other as they walked to a safe distance from which they could apparate once again in Grimmauld Place, feeling his navel being tug from the inside but this time being able to control his nausea with a proud smile and walking towards the kitchen to ask Kreacher if they had any books on dragons -or magical creatures for that matter- inside the house.
The house elf had almost run to the library to start looking for what his young master had requested, taking a little more time than usual to come back and allowing Rory to sit down beside Harry.
“So, how are we feeling?” Rory asked, turning her face back to Harry.
“He’s amazing! I liked him a lot, and the cake was really good.” the boy responded excitedly. “I would’ve liked going into the castle though.”
“We can always go back to visit, you know? Maybe we can even sneak into the castle and I’ll show you some cool stuff.”
“Really?”
“Sure!” she said with a smile. “Harry, what do you normally do on Christmas?”
“Well… Aunt Petunia and Uncle Vernon normally have aunt Marge home, in the morning Dudley sits by the fire and opens his gifts.”
“And you? What would you like to do on Christmas day?” she asked, not wanting to ask how he had spent them so far.
“I… Well, I guess I would like to sit by the fire and drink hot chocolate.”
Rory nodded her head, thinking about how she could make Harry’s Christmas a memorable one. One good memory for the ones he had lost, and she knew exactly how to start it.
“That sounds nice, maybe we can ask Kreacher to teach us how to make some Christmas cookies, don’t you think?”
“That would be lovely.” Harry said, letting a yawn escape his mouth.
“You should go to bed, love. It was a long day and I know apparating can really take a toll on your body the first time.”
“I think I will…” he informed, stretching his arms and looking directly at her eyes. “Thank you, Rory. I had plenty of fun with Hagrid and hearing all those stories.”
“No need to thank, Harry. I enjoyed it too.”
“You think we could do this again? Perhaps we could invite Hagrid for Christmas, so he doesn’t have to be alone with Fang. Fang could come too.”
“I think he would like that a lot.”
“You think your brothers would like to come for Christmas too?” he asked innocently.
Rory felt her smile tighten a little bit and caressed his cheek while staring into his emerald eyes.
“My brothers ain’t here anymore, love. But I’m sure they would have loved it.” she said delicately, thinking about those two faces she missed the most.
Harry felt guilty to have asked that, not wanting to upset her.
“Well, I’m sure that if there is such a thing as an afterlife they can celebrate Christmas with my parents. They’ll take care of them like you’re taking care of me.” he said, smiling at her. “We can keep each other company in the meantime.”
Rory felt her eyes water and wrapped her arms around Harry, sinking in the innocence of the comment the boy had just made, the way he was trying to comfort her as best as a ten year old boy could.
“Then they will surely have an amazing Christmas day.” she mumbled, still holding him tightly and feeling his small arms surround her.