1
Harry hadn’t really been expecting the letter that he received from Hermione. In all honesty, he hadn’t been expecting any letters from his friends simply because he had gotten used to no letters from the year before.
So, yeah, her letter definitely caught him off guard.
Dear Harry,
I hope that this letter finds you both well and that it actually finds you. I’ve decided to use a generic owl to send this letter and I didn’t add my full name just in case. I’m sure you can recognize my handwriting, though.
My family and I are going on vacation soon, and I’m not entirely sure if I’ll be back in time for your birthday or even before school starts. Of course, I do expect I’ll be back with enough time to get school supplies and I do hope you’ll choose to join me in getting supplies when the time comes.
Having said that, my parents have agreed to take me to Diagon Alley before we head out, so I was hoping you would join us? I’d love to get you a birthday present whilst you’re there, it would be extremely helpful to know what all you’re actually interested in. Granted, I’m sure you’d enjoy the present I’m planning on getting you if you decide not to join us anyways. Plus, I heard that there’s a new store in the main alley, a shop completely focused on helping wixens find their familiars and I would love to check it out with you!
Write back soon! I already miss you and Ron greatly, although don’t tell him that, he might stop responding to my letters or, worse, start teasing me.
Your friend,
H.J.G.
Harry reread it a few times before grabbing a spare piece of parchment, probably unused because he didn't really ever take notes in certain classes, and a quill.
He didn’t have any pens in his room and he was not going to go ask for one when he had a perfectly good quill and ink set that he had been writing with for two straight years now.
Dear ‘Mi,
I recieved it! Yay! I’m not sure if your letter only found me because of all the precautions, but I’ll take some of those myself. Of course, I’ll still have to use Hedwig, but seeing as I’m sure I’m not the only person with an owl like Hedwig and I’ve let plenty of people use her in the past, I doubt somebody would try to intercept her just because they think it’s a letter from me.
Where are you going on vacation? Wasn’t it just last year you went on vacation to France? Are you returning there or going somewhere else? I’ll go school shopping with you, of course I will, just send me an owl when you guys plan to go!
And yes! I’d love to go with you guys to Diagon Alley! You don’t have to get me anything, ‘Mi, just being able to hang out without the need for school supplies is already the perfect birthday gift. Although I am curious as to what you planned to get me originally. And…why do I feel like you were trying to convince me to go by adding that bit about the familiar shop? It’s made me want to go more, though, so I guess it worked. I can’t wait to check that out with you. I wonder what your familiar will be, maybe an owl just because they’re supposed to be wise?
I miss you and Ron too, and don’t worry, I won’t tell Ron you miss him if you don’t tell Ron I miss him either.
Your Friend,
H.J.P.
P.S. I never realized how similar our names are, did you? Our middle names are almost the same too.
Harry folded the letter up so that it would hold itself shut and then sealed with just a little bit of wax, writing on the front of it a simple ‘H.J.G.’ before tying it to Hedwig’s leg and sending her off.
He sighed and sat back onto his bed with a little glare at his half-full trunk.
He still had homework to do so he might as well do it…especially as he was planning to go to Diagon Alley soon, so he could get some books that interested him. Maybe he could even get some potion ingredients to practice potion making.
He might not like potion making, but potions were useful and most of them are magicless, they just use magic ingredients, so he might as well try and learn how to actually make them properly without the worry of Snape and without Ron’s nonstop talking.
So, he rolled off his bed, grabbed his transfiguration homework, and got to work, mind split between his work and Hermione’s inevitable response.
Hermione’s response came later at night, after Harry had finished both his DADA and transfiguration homework. He was even pretty confident that he’d get a good grade on all of it.
Anyways, Hermione’s response was sent back with Hedwig, as Harry had expected, and it had been folded the same way that Harry had folded his own letter.
Dear Harry,
Harry, my dear friend, Hedwig is so very recognizable. Anyone from our world would recognize her as your owl. She is one of a kind. Although, I am glad that you decided to take some of my own techniques, as useless as some of them were.
Yes, last year we went to France but this year we’ve decided to go to Italy, all expenses paid for by my Aunt, who lives in Italy. I haven’t seen her since my seventh birthday, and that had ended in screaming, so I’m not too excited to see her, but apparently she might’ve been a squib? I’m not too sure, but maybe I’m not a muggleborn? Maybe just a half-blood from a long line of squibs? Gosh, Harry it’s all so confusing. I’m glad that you’ve decided to go school shopping with us, though.
It’s also my job, as your friend, to make sure that you have a good birthday, and that means that I want to get you a birthday present, even if it is early. I’m glad that bringing up the familiar shop (Daenota, I think?) made you want to go more. I almost want to ignore the owl thing, but I won’t ONLY to point out that Athena’s, the Greek goddess of Wisdom, sacred animal was an owl, so.
Does this weekend work for you? If so, just send your response to this letter and I won’t bother replying depending on if you can go this weekend or not.
Thank you for not telling Ron. I swear I won’t tell him that you miss him. And yes, Harry, I did notice how similar our names were.
Sincerely,
H.J.G.
Harry yawned but grabbed a piece of parchment and scribbled out his response.
Dear ‘Mi,
I’m keeping this pretty short because I’m exhausted, but, yeah, maybe Hedwig is pretty recognizable. I won’t completely ignore that fact, though I definitely want to.
If you do end up being a halfblood from a squib line then we can bond over being halfbloods raised muggle. Thank you guys for inviting me to go school shopping with you guys.
All I’ve managed to learn from this is that you’re familiar is more likely then not an owl.
This weekend works perfectly for me, another reason why I’ve decided to just keep this short.
Yours,
H.J.P.
Harry folded and sealed the letter, tying it to Hedwig again and then sending her off.
He let himself fall onto his bed, not even bothering to cover himself up properly before falling asleep.
That Friday night had Harry sneaking out and then calling the Knight Bus before getting a room at the Leaky Cauldron before passing out for the night.
Saturday morning Harry decided to head to Gringotts in order to get more money that would, hopefully, last the rest of summer.
He decided to take a quick detour before he went to Gringotts, though, heading to a smaller shop that seemed to have smaller bags for sale.
Harry looked around the shop for a few minutes, eyes glancing over all sorts of different bags, before he headed over to the messenger bags. He looked over a couple, all of them looking pretty generic, there was one that caught his eyes though.
It was just a plain brown and black cloth messenger bag with an expanding charm on the inside and a lightweight charm on it. It was only a couple galleons which was worth it in Harry’s opinion. He could put anything he buys in there and Petunia or Vernon wouldn’t question what was in a supposedly really light messenger bag.
So, he grabbed it and bought it, thankful that the employee didn’t make a big deal out of him being there, before heading to Gringotts and taking out a decent amount of money from his vault. It didn’t make a dent in his vault, but it still seemed like a decent amount.
After that he managed to catch sight of Hermione and her parents outside of Gringotts.
Hermione smiled when she caught sight of him, waving him over.
As soon as he was in range, Hermione wrapped him up in a hug that he readily returned.
“Harry! How’ve you been?”
He pulled back with a warm smile, “I’ve been pretty good, ‘Mi, how’ve you been?”
She sighed, “Homework’s been awful, but besides that, it’s been great.”
Harry raised an eyebrow, “Are you really Hermione? Are you feeling well?”
She titled her head with a small confused expression, “What?”
“I never thought you of all people would admit that homework isn’t fun.”
Hermione rolled her eyes with a smile before grabbing his arm and dragging him towards a shop closer to the middle of the alley.
“I managed to find Daenota while my parents were exchanging muggle money for galleons and all that, so we’re going there first.”
Harry huffed out a short laugh but let her drag him to the shop.
It was a simple looking shop, almost like any of the other pet shops that Harry had visited, only with more magical looking animals inside.
Hermione dragged him to the shop counter before he could really look around too much.
The person behind the counter was older, although with how differently wizards age Harry didn’t want to make a guess at how old he was.
He smiled at both Hermione and Harry, completely at ease.
“Hello, there. How are you two today? Here to find out your familiars, I take it?”
Hermione hummed and Harry nodded, “We’re doing pretty good, you?”
“I’m doing well myself, thank you. Now, all I need you to do is place your hand flat, palm down, on one of theses sheets each.”
They both moved to do so. It didn’t feel weird or different, but Harry assumed something was probably supposed to be happening.
“Sir? What is this meant to do?”
He smiled at Hermione and then responded, “Ah, well these papers are enchanted, they take your magical signature. From there, I can match you with a familiar or point you in the right direction. If you want to buy your familiar, then you can. If not, you’re more than welcome to check out the other animals and familiars we have here.”
Hermione nodded and before long they both had a piece of parchment in their hands.
Harry’s was, funnily enough, just simply a snake, no further details.
Hermione’s seemed just as vague when she showed him that hers simply said Crow.
The man nodded at them, “Well, there you go. Both of yours is decently vague, so if you want to go look at the selection of snakes and crows that we have, you’re more than welcome to.” They both nodded and headed further into the store.
Harry raised an eyebrow at Hermione, “A crow?”
She sighed and Harry noted the flush that appeared on her ears, “They’re some of the smartest animals out there. I rather like them.” She raised an eyebrow at Harry in turn, “And a snake? Mr. Almost Slytherin’s familiar is a snake?”
Harry shrugged noncommittally, “Well, I am a parseltongue.”
Hermione rolled her eyes and dragged him over to the few snakes that they had.
Most of the snakes were small or venomous, which Harry…didn’t like too much. Simply because he had no idea how to save himself from a venomous bite, and he also didn’t want to risk losing the snake because it was too small.
If he were to get one, of course.
That really only left the large, East Indigo snake, that’s informational bit said was magical and still pretty young.
“Hello?”
The snake perked up, staring at Harry for a moment before hissing back, “You’re a speaker?”
Harry nodded and hissed back, “Yes, do you have a name?”
“No, what is your name, Speaker?”
“Harry.”
The snake seemed to stare at him for a moment before hissing back, “I shall still call you Speaker, Speaker.”
Harry smiled and rolled his eyes. Typical snake behaivor, really.
He jumped a bit when he felt someone tap his shoulder.
He whilrled around and blinked at Hermione, who looked rather amused.
She shoved a bag into his hands.
He tilted his head, “What…?”
She shrugged, “You were talking to the snake so I got the snake for you, along with the things that the store owner suggested.”
Harry blinked at Hermione, “You…”
She hummed and smiled at him, “Happy birthday, Harry.”
He smiled at her and gave her a quick hug, “Thank you, Hermione.”
He turned back around, “Would you like to come with me?”
The snake hissed out a confirmation and so Harry slid the lid off and scooped the snake up, letting her wrap around him as she pleased.
He smiled at Hermione and she rolled her eyes at him.
Harry grabbed her arm and dragged her to the crows, watching her eyes flick around, eventually settling on one.
He hummed and passed her enough galleons to buy the crow and anything that she might need for the crow.
She rolled her eyes at him but before she could try to hand the money back, he shoved her towards the counter where the owner was watching them with an amused glint in his eyes.
Mr. and Mrs. Granger seemed more amused then anything when they managed to find Hermione and Harry almost an hour later, knee deep in a debate over which class was better, charms or transfiguration, a snake draped over Harry’s shoulders and a crow nestled in Hermione’s hair. (Yes, Harry has already referred to her hair as a bird’s nest, yes he will continue bringing that up.)
Hermione smiled at them, only a bit sheepishly.
“Hi, mum, dad. Meet our new familiars. I got Harry a snake and then he decided to get me a crow, so…”
Mrs. Granger smiled a bit, “It’s fine. You’re responsible enough that I think you’ll be able to take care of the bird.”
“Plus,” Mr. Granger piped up, “It was a gift, can’t return it, Mione.”
She rolled her eyes fondly, “I wan’t planning on it, Dad.”
“Well, we need to get going, because somebody,” Mrs. Granger sent a pointed, halfhearted glare at Mr. Granger, “still needs to pack.”
Hermione sighed a bit and sent Harry an apologetic smile.
“Well, we’ll have to continue our debate via letter this summer. Talk to you later, Harry?”
Harry stood up and smiled at her, “Course, ‘Mi.”
She nodded and gave him a careful hug, making sure not to disturb his snake.
He did the same, although he really didn’t need to be too careful of her crow seeing as he was still curled up in her hair.
“Bye, Harry.”
“Bye, Mione.”
She gave him a small smile and that was that.
Harry decided to head to get potion ingredients, seeing as he and Hermione had already visited a bookshop earlier in the day, so he had already gotten all the books he had needed.
What he hadn’t been expecting was to run into someone that he recognized as a Slytherin in his year, Theodore Nott.
And by run into, Harry means that quite literally.
Nott huffed and sent a glare at Harry, scooping up the few things that he had been carrying before pausing when he actually looked at Harry properly.
“You have a…snake, Potter?”
Harry blinked, “Er…yeah? I got her today.”
Nott hummed and tilted his head, “Have you named her?”
Harry shook his head slowly, “No. Any recommendations?”
Nott stared at Harry for a moment.
“Nott’s name their animals and familiars after norse gods and goddesses, so I would be inclined to recommend the name Hel or Hela, simply because of her dark color.”
Harry blinked and then gave a small smile, “Hela it is, then.”
Nott stared at Harry a bit more before humming and brushing past Harry to continue doing whatever he was doing.
Harry was almost tempted to follow and find out, but instead he decided to just continue on his journey to get the ingredients he needed.