Silver Trinkets

“Hogwarts too?” the platinum blonde boy asked as Madam Malkin pulled a long cloak over Harry’s head and began pinning it to the right size.

“Yes,” said Harry. This boy was the first person his age that he’d met in the wizarding world, and it wasn’t until then that he’d realized how desperately he wanted to make friends. He paused for just a moment before deciding to introduce himself, speaking just as the boy opened his mouth to say something else. “I’m Harry Potter.”

“Really?” The boy stared at him in disbelief for a moment. Harry nodded, but his only response was more gaping. After a moment he glanced up to Harry’s forehead before stammering, “Do… you really… have the- the…” he gestured to his own forehead and Harry couldn’t help but smile at the flabbergasted boy. He lifted his hair out of the way and the other boy gasped in shock.

“I’ve read all about you!” An excited voice cut in from behind them.

The blonde boy was so surprised by the sudden appearance of the voice that he jumped sharply and yelped, toppling off the stool and tearing his robes as he hit the ground.

“I’m so sorry!” the voice shouted as its owner—a girl about the same age as the boys—revealed herself. She rushed over to help the boy up. He was red in the face and clearly embarrassed, but he stood up proudly and tried to remain dignified. “I didn’t mean to scare you! I just got so excited.”

The witch who’d been attending his robes clucked her tongue at him in exasperation. “Mr. Malfoy,” she sighed, waving the piece of torn fabric in her hand at him. “We were almost done. Now we’ll need to start over.”

“Sorry,” the girl apologized again, this time to the tailor. Another tailor, this one a wizard, approached the girl and set another stool near the boys, guiding her to stand on it while he fitted her robes. “I have read all about you, though,” she continued, smiling wide up at Harry.

“They’ve written books about me?” he asked curiously.

“Oh yes! Quite a few, though a I haven’t read all of them of course. I did read about you in ‘Modern Magical History’ and ‘The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts’ and ‘Great Wizarding Events of the Twentieth Century.’ Those were just a couple of the books I picked up a few weeks ago for a bit of background reading. That’s why I had to come back today. I spent so much time picking out books that I didn’t have time for much of anything else.”

She said all this very fast, and both Harry and the blonde boy—Malfoy—bore identical dazed expressions just from trying to keep up with her.

“I’m Hermione Granger, by the way,” she added on as an afterthought.

“I’m really in all of those books?” Harry asked. Despite his experience in the Leaky Cauldron, he could still barely believe all of this fame business. The idea of him being written about in books was incredible.

“Didn’t you know? It-”

“That’s right!” Malfoy cut in before Hermione got too carried away. “They said you were raised by muggles,” he frowned pensively at the thought. “What must that have been like?”

Harry frowned back at him. “Terrible,” he answered shortly, not particularly wanting to talk about the abuse he suffered at the hands of his relatives.

“I’m not surprised,” Malfoy offered him a pitying smile, but Hermione looked a bit put out by the comments.

“Well, they’re not all bad,” Harry quickly amended. “It’s just my family. They’re… the worst.” That was the best he could think of without getting into any details.

“Muggles are all just so different from our kind,” Malfoy began, scrunching his nose in distaste. Before he could continue, this time Hermione cut him off.

“They’re not actually that different,” she explained.

“Of course they are,” Malfoy argued. “They don’t have magic, we do.” He said it as if it were obvious, just barely avoiding rolling his eyes at her.

“Actually, that’s not quite true. Some muggles do have a bit of magic in them.”

“And how do you figure that, young lady?” Another voice added to the fray as a tall man with long platinum blonde hair and a regal air about him approached their group. Judging by the similar appearance and the way Malfoy looked up at him, it seemed clear that it was the boy’s father. He had a bit of a condescending smirk on his face as he looked upon Hermione as if he pitied the poor, confused child.

“Well,” she began, standing up straight and speaking directly to the man. “I read about it in a few books I got the other day. You see, I was thinking that it doesn’t make any sense at all for a person to have magic, if neither of their parents did. It just seems impossible for it to come about naturally-”

“Indeed,” the man replied quietly, before allowing her to continue.

“So I bought some books on magical genetics to see how it works, and it turns out that it’s really not that simple. In fact, most people—even muggles—have at least a little bit of magic in them. But just having a little bit doesn’t make you a witch or a wizard. You have to have a certain amount of it in order to be able to use your magic.

“Each person gets genes from each of their parents, and it’s possible to inherit all of your parents’ magical genes, or some, or even none of them. So depending on how much each parent has, and how much they pass on, it’s possible for two people with only a little bit of magic to have a child that has a lot. That’s how you get muggleborns.

“I don’t recall the numbers exactly, I’d have to read the books over again, but for example: Say it takes 50 percent of magical genes in order be a witch or wizard. That means if you have one person with 48 percent magical genes and one person with 35 percent magical genes, then you’ll have 2 muggles. But if they have a child, they can pass on any number of those magical genes. So if the first parent passes on 40 of their 50 percent, and the second one passes on 30 of theirs, then their child will have 70 percent magical genes. And there you have a muggleborn witch. Or wizard.

“It also works the other way. You can have 2 parents who both have 70 percent magical genes, but if each parent only passes on 20 percent, then their child will only have 40 percent, and not be able to use their magic, making them a muggle. Or a squib, I suppose.”

“Interesting…” The elder Malfoy muttered, looking just this side of utterly gobsmacked.

“It is, isn’t it?” Hermione rambled on, continuing her lecture. “Really, it doesn’t actually make much sense otherwise, but apparently, most wizards and witches don’t know this. They think it’s as simple as pureblood, halfblood, and muggleborn. But it’s all so very much more complicated and interesting. It’s a shame more focus isn’t put into magical genetics. It’s not even a subject to be learned at Hogwarts-”

“What did you say your name was?” the man interrupted her.

“Oh! I’m Hermione Granger,” she introduced herself again, reaching a hand out to shake.

“Lucius Malfoy,” he shook her hand delicately before gesturing to his son. “I see you’ve met my son Draco, and this is…?” He looked over to Harry, but Draco spoke up before he did.

“This is Harry Potter!” He said excitedly. Mr. Malfoy looked slightly taken aback, but recovered quickly, reaching a hand to shake Harry’s.

“My my, Mr. Potter. Quite the surprise. Pleasure to meet you.” he asked.

“You as well,” Harry mumbled, giving the man a firm shake.

Madam Malkin pulled the robe over Harry’s head, declaring him all done. “Thanks,” he smiled at her gratefully, then followed her to pay and give his information for delivery.

As he stepped away, he could hear Mr. Malfoy ask Hermione where she had learned all the information she’d told them and the girl began to happily rattle off a list of books she’d purchased, as well as their authors.

Not long after he finished, Harry was joined by the Malfoys to pay, then Hermione a few moments after that.

“Where are you all off to, next?” Draco asked the other 2 children as they gathered outside the front door.

“Not sure,” Harry answered, looking at his list. “This was my first stop, so I guess I still need everything else.”

“My parents just told me to meet them at the bookstore when I’m all finished, since they know I’ll wind up there eventually,” Hermione explained. It made sense. She was already proving to be quite the bookworm.

“Mr. Potter,” Mr. Malfoy asked, “If I may, who brought you to Diagon Alley today?”

“Oh, Hagrid did,” he answered happily. “He’s gone off to the Leaky Cauldron for a bit.” He peered into the crowd of people rushing by, not spotting the large man anywhere. Given his size, there was no way he would have missed him thundering over the crowd, so he figured he must still be inside.

“The Hogwarts gamekeeper?” Mr. Malfoy asked, a look of distaste on his face. Harry nodded and he frowned. “I should be insulted on your behalf. An important person such as yourself shouldn’t have been left to such a simpleton as that.”

“I think he’s brilliant,” Harry defended, a little offended that Mr. Malfoy thought so low of someone he was beginning to think of as his friend.

“Yes, I’m sure he’s nice enough,” Mr. Malfoy blew it off. “But you’re a very important person, Mr. Potter. If the headmaster cared enough, he should have sent someone a bit more capable. There are plenty of members of the staff that are qualified enough, yet he chose the person who’d been expelled from school as a third year for harboring a monster that killed another student. Hardly a responsible choice.”

Both Harry and Hermione gasped in horror at the statement.

“Surely, he didn’t,” Hermione asked.

“I’m afraid he did. I’m on Hogwarts’ Board of Governors. So while I wasn’t there at the time, I’ve been told all about it.”

“But, why would Dumbledore keep someone like that around the students?” Harry asked, not wanting to believe such a thing about Hagrid.

“Yes, well, he’s always had a bit of a soft spot for… misfits of sorts. A bit unwise, if I may say so myself, but he hasn’t always been the best decision maker.”

“Lots of people think Dumbledore is really powerful,” Draco added, “but these days he’s just a barmy old man. Anyways, you should come with us to Ollivander’s. Mother is there picking me out a wand right now.”

“I’ve got mine,” Hermione added merrily, whipping it out of her pocket. “I’ve been practicing with it already.”

Harry looked at it almost jealously. That’s definitely what he wanted to get next. “I’d love to. I can’t wait to get mine!”

Mr. Malfoy led the group down the road to Ollivander’s where they met a very beautiful woman with fair blonde hair and silver eyes that matched Draco’s exactly. She smiled at her husband, son and his friends politely before introducing herself as Narcissa, then Mr. Ollivander.

The wandmaker recognized Hermione right away. “Ten and three quarters of an inch, vine with a dragon heartstring core,” he greeted her.

“Yes,” she answered gleefully. “I was here just a few weeks ago. I’m here with my new friends this time.”

“Very good. Well now,” he turned to Draco. “Your mother picked a few out for you Mr. Malfoy, let’s see if she’s got as good an eye as she hopes.” He reached behind him to grab one of the 4 wands on the counter there, and handed it to Draco handle first. “Give it a whirl,” he suggested.

Draco did so, with no reaction. The wandmaker scrunched his nose disapprovingly and snatched it out of his hand, quickly replacing it with another from the counter. This one sparked a bit at the end, making Draco smile hopefully, but Ollivander didn’t seem impressed. He swapped it for another, but Narcissa stopped him and gestured to the last one on the counter. He reluctantly switched them, then handed it off to Draco.

As soon as he wrapped his hand around it, Draco broke out into a satisfied smile. He waved the wand in the air and a burst of silver and green sparks shot out and soared toward the roof before crackling as they dimmed out like fireworks.

“That’ll be the one,” Ollivander stated, mildly impressed. “Ten-inch hawthorn with a unicorn hair core.”

Narcissa sported a rather smug smile. She clearly knew a bit more about wands than the average person. Certainly more than the wandmaker had been anticipating.

Draco made sure that his parents waited for Harry to get his wand as well. It took far longer than it did for Draco, or even Hermione. She was sure to inform him after Ollivander had set aside the tenth wand.

“Hmm,” the old man mumbled to himself as he pondered his next choice. “There’s a chance… Hmm, perhaps… It’ll be a long shot, but maybe not that long after all.” He looked along his shelves, searching for a specific box, clucking his tongue until he found it. When he did, he gave the Malfoy’s a quick glance before heading straight to Harry, holding the box out for him.

Harry reached to take this wand, somehow sensing that it must be special. It warmed in his hand as his magic reacted to it positively.

“Go on,” Ollivander encouraged, a pleased twinkle in his eyes.

Harry raised the wand above his head and pulled it down in a long sweeping motion. A flurry of multi-colored sparks shot from the end, casting a show of rainbow lights reflecting on the walls.

“Very good!” Narcissa cheered for him politely, while Draco and Hermione clapped.

“Curious…” Ollivander mumbled. “Very curious.” His eyes were darting between Harry and Lucius, and Harry felt like he was missing something.

“What’s curious,” he asked.

“It just that this wand,” he gestured to the wand Harry hadn’t realized he was already clutching possessively. “Eleven inches, holly and phoenix feather, nice and supple… It has a brother.”

“A brother?” Harry lowered his eyebrows in confusion. “How does a wand have a brother?”

“You see,” Ollivander explained, “the phoenix that provided a feather for your wand provided another, but just the one. I fear, I must admit that I made the other wand as well.” He hesitated for a moment before gesturing toward Harry’s forehead. “The one that gave you that scar…”

Harry looked down at the wand curiously, knowing what that meant. His wand was related to Voldemort’s.

“I suppose that means we ought to expect great things from that wand, Mr. Potter,” Ollivander continued. “For its brother did great things as well. Terrible, terrible things, but great nonetheless.”

When Harry looked back up at Ollivander, it was to see him looking at Mr. Malfoy. Though Mr. Malfoy appeared to be pointedly ignoring him.

Harry was definitely missing something.

Narcissa herded their group to the till so they could take turns paying, then led them out the door and towards the apothecary. Harry allowed Narcissa to gather his and Draco’s potions ingredients while he trailed Hermione and Draco around the store. They pointed out and named all of the interesting things he saw and took turns explaining what they could be used for—or what they thought they could be used for in a few cases.

Seeing how much the others knew, Harry couldn’t help but feel rather underprepared for the school year to come.

“You both know so much already,” he mumbled as the other 2 marveled at a basket of silver unicorn horns for 21 galleons each. “I don’t know anything. I bet I’ll be the worst one in our class.”

“Don’t worry, Harry,” Hermione soothed. “There’ll be loads of other muggleborns in school with us that didn’t know about the magical world before. They’ll all do just fine. You’ll just have to study up. You can learn anything from the right books.” Draco nodded in agreement, but the expression on his face looked skeptical at best.

“It isn’t very fair though,” he complained. “I mean, he spent his whole life not knowing about magic. Then they’re going to put him in Hogwarts with us purebloods who have been raised in it? How can he possibly be expected to keep up when he doesn’t know anything about it?”

Hermione frowned at Draco a bit. “Well, it is unfair, but it’s not like it’s his fault. He didn’t choose to be raised by muggles.”

“Still though,” Draco waved a unicorn horn through the air as he spoke. “Even if all that stuff you said earlier is true, it doesn’t change the fact that wizards have their own culture and history that he knows nothing about. How is he supposed to be a proper wizard if he doesn’t understand any of that?”

Hermione huffed at Draco in frustration. “He’s got magic, just like you and me or anybody else. All he has to do is learn to use it at Hogwarts, and he’ll already be a proper wizard. That’s all that’s important. He’ll have plenty of time to study up on all the rest.”

“I dunno…”

“Besides! He’s already defeated You Know Who as a baby! I think that there is proof enough of how good a wizard he’ll be. You heard Ollivander. He’s destined for great things.”

“Alright, alright. Fair enough.” Draco raised his hands up in surrender before dropping the horn back into the basket with the others.

“Hey guys,” Harry interrupted. He’d been pretending to ignore their argument, but really he’d heard every word. Now, he just wanted them to drop it, so he changed the subject. “What’s an acro-man-tula?” he asked. He lifted a ladle out of a barrel labeled “Acromantula Leg Fur,” and watched as the tiny hairs fell while he emptied it out slowly.

“Giant, man eating spiders,” Hermione supplied helpfully as she approached, examining the hairs as well.

Harry put the ladle back, frowning as he contemplated exactly how big a spider would have to be in order to be able to eat a man.

Draco started in on a story he’d been told as a child about a man who fought a whole army of acromantulas. In minutes, he had all three of them laughing at the visual of a man attempting to tickle a spider as a distraction when the elder Malfoys beckoned them over.

Harry gratefully excepted the ingredients Narcissa picked out for him, then they headed to the next shop for parchment and quills, then one a few doors down for more equipment.

Hermione laughed at Harry when he suggested she get a solid gold cauldron, and Draco thought a solid silver one would be perfect to match his eyes. They all three wound up with pewter.

After debating cost vs effectiveness of glass phials vs crystal, they’d all decided crystal would be best. But when Draco accidentally dropped a crystal one and it shattered, they all three rushed over to get glass ones. They were much sturdier, and cost efficient after all. They were also far enough away from the scene of the crime that if they acted innocent enough no one would be suspicious.

They ended up with a nice set of scales each, and 3 different types of telescopes. Draco’s was the most expensive, but Hermione’s was the largest, and Harry’s had the most extra features. Overall, they were each satisfied with their individual hauls.

The last place for Harry to go was to the bookstore, Flourish and Blotts, but Draco knew Hermione would have to leave after that, so he prolonged the inevitable by dragging their whole group into Magical Menagerie to look at the pets.

Hermione cooed at a basket of puffskeins while Draco examined a raven as it attempted to pick the lock on its cage. Harry moved to another corner of the shop where there were rows and rows of tanks with all manner of reptiles and amphibians in them.

In a tank about shoulder height, Harry saw a long black snake warming itself under a lamp. Are you very warm under there? He asked it.

Yes… The snake replied. What are you?

I’m a person. I’m Harry.

You are a strange snake, Person Harry. None of the other person snakes can talk to me.

Really? I thought all kinds of wizards would be able to speak to animals.

No. I have been here for at least 2 hibernations. You are the only person snake I have been able to speak to. Only other snakes can talk to me.

Do you have a name?

The wrinkly person snake calls me Black Adder. The snake lifted its head and gestured to the old woman behind the counter who was telling Hermione about one of the cats in a cage behind her. Or sometimes, it calls me Her.

So, you’re a girl?

I suppose.

Do you lay eggs?

I have not, but I could. Do you lay eggs, Person Harry?

No. People don’t lay eggs. But if they did, I wouldn’t because I’m not a girl.

“Harry?” Harry jumped at the sound of his name. He hadn’t heard Mr. Malfoy come up behind him. “Are you speaking to that snake?”

“Oh! Yeah, I suppose I am.”

“And you can understand it?”

Harry nodded as Draco approached the pair of them, wide eyed. “Wow!” he whispered.

“Is that strange?” Harry asked. “Black Adder said she’s never met another person who could speak to snakes, but I thought all kinds of wizards would be able to do it.”

“No, Harry,” Mr. Malfoy shook his head, eyebrows raised in a more muted version of the wondrous expression his son wore. “Not many wizards are capable of that at all.”

“Oh…” Harry frowned at himself. Great, he was even weirder than he thought.

“It is a rather impressive skill,” Mr. Malfoy encouraged, seeing the strange look on his face. “Only some of the most powerful wizards in our time have been Parselmouths.”

“Parselmouth?” Harry didn’t recognize the word. Hermione answered him before Mr. Malfoy could, having just joined them and hearing the tail end of the conversation. Narcissa was right behind her.

“That’s a person who speaks Parseltongue,” she revealed. “Snake language.”

“It’s an inherited trait,” Mr. Malfoy continued. “It’s been thought that only members of the House of Gaunt are capable of.”

“Do you think he could be related to the Gaunts?” Draco asked his father, curiously. Harry had no idea who they were.

“Not likely,” Narcissa answered. “The Potters weren’t very near to the Gaunts on the family tree. They weren’t Sacred 28 regardless, so even if they were, it seems a bit strange that the gene hadn’t been diluted enough by the time it got to young Harry, here.”

Parseltongue? House of Gaunt? Sacred 28? Harry kept hearing new words and he had no idea what they were talking about. He was starting to see what Draco had meant earlier. He was completely in over his head with all this wizard stuff. He was beginning to feel overwhelmed.

“I have an idea!” Draco piped up. “Father, you should buy Harry that snake!”

“No!” Harry disagreed immediately. “You don’t need to do that.”

“Nonsense!” Draco insisted. “You said your muggle family was terrible anyways. I bet this snake would be better company than they would. And you can take him to school with us.”

“She’s a girl,” Harry corrected absently. “But really, I can’t accept. I don’t know what the Dursleys would do if I came home with a snake. They’d probably try to kill her. I wouldn’t want that.”

Draco frowned, but gave up. He wouldn’t want them to kill Harry’s pet either. “They’re horrible people,” he muttered in distaste.

“You’re telling me…” Harry agreed. “Come on, let’s get to the book store.” Reluctantly, their group filed out of the pet store and headed further down the road toward Flourish and Blotts, where Hermione immediately took over.

She led them expertly through the shelves and to all of the books they needed for class, stopping once or twice by some other books that she found rather interesting. The trio stopped at a large tome titled “Hogwarts: A History” and they flipped through it excitedly, skimming pages and picking up little tidbits about the school they’d be attending.

It didn’t take long before Hermione decided that it would be her new favorite book. However, when she looked at the cost, she saw she didn’t have enough for it, having spent just a bit over her limit when she splurged on her telescope and scales.

“Oh, well,” she lamented. “Next time, then. I’ve got everything I need anyways. I suppose I should find my parents now.”

“Before you go, Ms. Granger,” Mr. Malfoy stopped her. “I’d love it if you could show me those books you were telling me about earlier.”

“Absolutely!” she exclaimed merrily. As she led him to the section on magical genetics, she started in on another speech about how interesting the whole topic was, and how she was thinking she should petition the school to have it as a class, at least for the upper years.

While she was otherwise occupied, Draco was able to convince his mother to buy “Hogwarts: A History” for her, as a surprise. He felt it only seemed fair that they buy both of his new friends something. Even though Harry couldn't exactly accept the snake Draco had offered.

Hermione really did seem smart and full of interesting facts and details. Though she talked a lot, neither boy found it particularly annoying as many others would. Both Harry and Draco could see themselves having a meaningful friendship with her.

They brought all of their things to the till and soon, were laden down with bags. Narcissa saw Harry struggling with carrying all of his things, so she placed a lightening charm on his bags.

“Thanks, so much,” he sighed in relief.

Hermione returned with Mr. Malfoy, who was carrying a rather large stack of books. A quick glance showed them all to be on magical genetics, although Harry caught the word “Potions” on one of them as he set them on the counter. Harry wasn’t too sure how potions could be related to genetics, but he figured the purebloods would know far more than he did. So it probably made perfect sense to them.

Hermione was thrilled about the book and even gave Draco a hug for it. She was still holding the book as she did so, nearly crushing him with it from how hard she squeezed. Fortunately, it only served to make Harry and Draco laugh.

After exchanging addresses and promises to write before the summer was over, Hermione took her leave and headed off to the other side of the book shop to track down her parents.

The Malfoys accompanied Harry outside, in search of Hagrid. He was spotted easily, towering over the crowd as he made his way over.

At first, it appeared as if he didn’t see Harry. He was glaring in the direction of the Malfoys, but continued walking as if he intended to go past them. Finally, he spotted Harry standing with them, then his glare turned into a shock, then quickly shifted into suspicion as he changed course to approach them.

“And wha’ ar’ you folk doin’ ‘ere wiv Mr. Potter?” Hagrid asked loudly, drawing the attention of passerby.

“We were simply helping him collect his things,” Mr. Malfoy answered calmly. “Since he’d been left completely alone in a new place he’d never been before. We figured he could use some help from a responsible adult.” The way he put emphasis on the word responsible made it clear that he didn’t think Hagrid fit the bill.

Hagrid definitely caught on. “Why you-” he started, but cut himself off. “Cadswallop!” he crowed, turning red in the face. “He was doin’ jus’ fine, I’m sure! You lot are up to sumfin! I know it!”

Remembering what Mr. Malfoy had said about Hagrid being expelled, Harry couldn’t help but feel a bit cautious around the giant man. He hadn’t seemed threatening at all, but if a creature he’d been caring for had killed a student, he clearly didn’t have the best of judgement either.

“Something such as what?” Mr. Malfoy rolled his eyes in exasperation. “Helping him buy his school supplies? How very diabolical.” Draco snickered at his father’s sarcasm.

This only made Hagrid even angrier and Harry could see a crowd gathering. Honestly, he wasn’t even sure what it was that the Malfoys had done to elicit such anger. Hagrid had been the one who approached them as if looking to start a fight.

“Let’s just go, Hagrid,” Harry stepped between the enormous man and the blonde family, trying to diffuse the situation. “There’s no point fighting. I’ve got everything I need now, anyways. Let’s just get out of here.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Hagrid didn’t look the least bit happy about it, but for Harry’s sake, he backed off.

“Bye.” Harry bid a somber farewell to the Malfoys before turning to lead Hagrid away.

“Be sure to write, like you promised!” Draco called out to him before he got too far away.

“He will do no such thing!” Hagrid roared back. He sounded so ferocious that many of the people nearby shouted and ducked out of his way in fear. Harry himself, was certain that he could feel the echo of his words vibrating in his ribs. Hagrid seemed terrifying in that moment and, for the first time in his company, Harry was actually a bit afraid of the man.

Harry didn’t know too much about Hagrid, but he definitely knew about adults being angry. Even if he wasn’t angry with Harry in particular, Harry knew from experience that his best bet was to shut his mouth and to keep it that way. So he remained in silence for the rest of his journey home.

He couldn’t even muster up the courage to ask him why it was he hated the Malfoys so much. They seemed like perfectly nice people to him.

The next morning at the Dursleys’ house, Harry was awakened bright and early by an insistent tapping on his bedroom window.

At first he thought he was in his cupboard again, and the tapping was his Aunt Petunia rousing him to prepare their breakfast as usual. But once he opened his eyes and recognized his surroundings, he was happy to note that there was a snowy white owl holding an envelope on his windowsill, asking to be let in.

Happily reminded that the day before had not in fact been a dream, he scampered over to the window in excitement and let the owl inside. She dropped the envelope on his bed, then landed on his headboard, examining the room curiously.

Harry rushed to open the letter, seeing right away that it was from Hagrid. He frowned a bit, having hoped it was from Draco or Hermione, but really he was just glad enough to have received owl post in the first place.

Dear Harry,

Sorry about getting so mad yesterday. I think I might have scared you. Them Malfoys just get me so riled up. They’re bad people, they are. I don’t want you having anything to do with them. Dumbledore had me bring you to the Dursleys to keep you safe from people like them. So just forget about them.

Anyways, I forgot to get you your birthday present yesterday, so here it is now. It’s the owl. You can take her with you to Hogwarts, and she’ll be right useful for sending your mail. I hope you like her.

Can’t wait for you start school. I also put your train ticket with this letter. Train leaves at 11am, September 1^st from King’s Cross Station, Platform 9 ¾.

See you soon,

Rubeus Hagrid

Harry was grateful for the owl. She looked real pretty, and when he went over to pet her, she nipped his finger playfully.

Despite his appreciation for the new pet, Harry couldn’t help but get stuck on a few of the things that Hagrid said in his letter. For one, Hagrid insisted that the Malfoys were bad people, but gave no reason as to why. Harry couldn’t understand this. They’d been perfectly nice to him as soon as they met him. Narcissa even seemed to know a little bit about the Potters. Who knows what else they knew about his family.

From the way Harry saw it, Hagrid was being rather unfair toward them. He was the one who approached looking for a fight, and even then, the Malfoys hadn’t risen to the occasion. Narcissa and Draco were quiet, and Mr. Malfoy had maintained a perfectly level head while Hagrid was screaming at them for no reason. Hagrid had been the one in the wrong.

Draco had just wanted to be his friend, but Hagrid was the one being rude for no reason. The only thing Hagrid had to say on the matter was that Dumbledore wanted to protect Harry from people like them.

That brought Harry to another thing the letter had said. It said that Dumbledore was the one who sent Harry to live with the Dursleys. He couldn’t help but be a little indignant about that. He was certain he’d heard Hagrid mention that when he was ranting and raving at the cabin, but with the opportunity to think on it a little more, Harry realized the implications.

Dumbledore had known where he was this whole time. He’d been the one to send him there. He’d been checking up on him as well. He knew he was sleeping in the cupboard under the stairs. He knew the moment he’d been put into a different room. He’d been paying enough attention to be able to send Hagrid after him on the island out at sea. He’d even warned him of the difficulty he might have with the Dursleys.

That means that Dumbledore has known how he was living this whole time. He knew how the Dursleys had been mistreating him, and he left him there. He knew he was living in a cupboard, knew the Dursleys were keeping his identity from him, and he did nothing to stop it.

Hagrid said Dumbledore sent him there to protect him from people like the Malfoys. Well, the Malfoys had been perfectly kind to him. Far kinder in a few hours than the Dursleys had ever been in his entire 11 years of life. Why wasn’t Dumbledore concerned with protecting Harry from them?

Harry could feel himself shaking in frustration. This Dumbledore man was the reason for all of his problems, it seemed. Certainly there had to be hundreds of different places in the wizarding world he could have gone. How on earth could it have been fair for him to be stuck living through the abuse of the Dursleys?

In the back of his mind, he remembered Draco offhandedly calling Dumbledore a barmy old man. He also remembered Mr. Malfoy saying that he hadn’t always been the best decision maker. Just then, Harry couldn’t help but agree.

His fingers trembled in rage, bending the page of the letter until both his hands were clenched into fists and the parchment was nearly torn in two. He tossed it aside haphazardly and turned toward his school books to take his mind off his anger. Sitting around being upset wasn’t going to fix anything.

The next few weeks with the Dursleys were boring to say the least. They’d taken to completely ignoring him, going so far as to pretend like he wasn’t there, even if he was speaking directly to them. It was rather lonely, but thanks to his new owl—whom he named Hedwig—he was at least able to exchange letters with Draco and Hermione.

With the help of his school books and the purebloods, Harry was beginning to feel less overwhelmed with what was going on in the wizarding world. Draco had even taken to sending him clippings from “the Daily Prophet” so he could at least know the bare minimum of what was going on around him.

He also learned that Draco’s own Godfather was going to be their potions master at Hogwarts. Draco warned them that it didn’t mean he’d get any special treatment. He was a very stern man, and could be scary when he wanted to be.

The final weekend before it was time to leave for school, Draco invited Harry and Hermione to his home for a party. He cautioned them that it was going to be full of adults, so it wasn’t likely to be a very fun party, but Harry was excited to be able to spend some time with friends. Thanks to Dudley and his cohorts, Harry never had any friends before. So he was eager to have his first sleep over, despite being a little nervous being around so many witches and wizards. He was plenty excited to be able to spend a few extra nights away from Privet Drive regardless.

The Malfoys arranged to meet him at a park in Surrey that Friday afternoon, and they would return the following Monday. It was a good thing they’d picked that location. It was a park that Harry had walked to numerous times, so getting there required no work from the Dursleys. He wasn’t entirely sure they would have allowed him to go otherwise.

Technically they hadn’t allowed him to go at all, since they were still adamantly pretending he didn’t exist. However, with no response from asking, and after warning them multiple times before he left, no one had attempted to stop him. So, he figured that was the best he’d get.