Categories > Books > Harry Potter > Inheritance and Fate
Hagrid Redeems Himself
Thank you Elronn. If you had not pointed out that the rest of my chapter was missing, I would not have checked them all.
?Blocked
-6- Hagrid redeems himself.
Harry came to Diagon Alley ½ hour before he was supposed to meet Hagrid. He wanted to make sure he was as low key as possible. No more ‘thanks Mr. Potter’ mobs for him. He had decided there were two ways to go about his fame that would be fun for him and keep the public feeling good: the Dread Pirate Roberts route or the Jack Burton express. Either persona would be a caricature of him and what he stood for, but it would separate who he was from who the public expected him to be.
The way he saw it, he spent 10 years trying to get the Dursleys to respect and love him. What had he gotten from being just Harry with relatives who already formed an opinion about him based on whose child he was? He received grief, strife, and as much abuse as the Dursleys could dish out. He could not change their opinions no matter how much he did for him. Everyone isn’t the same, but the amount of effort it took to perform for each Dursley required too much sweat and far too many tears.
He had thought about it a great deal. With his new television set, he had seen a lot of the television shows the Dursleys watched but he had never seen. Harry had formed the opinion that sometimes playing pretend was easier on everyone. If people came to the conversation fresh with limited expectations, he would do the same. Otherwise, Wizarding World, please meet the Princess Bride’s Dread Pirate Roberts or Big Trouble in Little China’s Jack Burton.
Hagrid walked into the Leaky Cauldron. Harry greeted him at the brick wall.
“Hello, sir. I hope you feel much better today.”
“Call me, Hagrid, Harry. I am going to treat you to the best tour of Diagon Alley anyone can get. You are going to see the sights most wizards ignore. Follow me.”
Hagrid took him to Eyelet’s Emporium. “Go ahead and pick out your familiar, Harry. Feel your way through the store. The animal meant for you will strike your fancy as soon as you see them.”
A beautiful snowy owl presented herself to Harry. She barked at Harry and landed on his arm. He decided this was her, his familiar, Hedwig. He turned around to leave the store. He was only able to take two steps before Hedwig barked again. Another owl flew down to greet Hedwig. He did not land on Harry. He circled Hedwig whose wings clattered as he barked at her. Hedwig turned and looked at Harry. He realized he had a bonded pair of owls to care for. “Okay, girl, I will accept him too.”
Harry made it to the counter with Hedwig and her mate, Adonae. Hedwig barked at Harry again. Several owlets descended from the ceiling. “So you want me to purchase your whole family.” Hedwig clacked her beak at Harry. “You know if I take in this direction, I will have my own owl service.” She just turned her head and moved around his arm.
The shop owner laughed at Harry. “You have chosen the fussiest owl I have ever had the pleasure to sell. She is implacable, contentious and imposing. You don’t have to train her or her owls. She has managed them just fine from their very first day. She will tell you what she can and cannot do.
It has been a pleasure to serve you, my queen. Come back to visit any time.”
Hedwig hopped on the counter, spread her wings, and barked at the shop owner. She settled down long enough to blink at him a few times and clack her beak. Each owl descended to give the shop owner the same demonstration.
“How many galleons for the whole fleet?”
Hagrid greeted him as Harry left the shop with a bird gaggle. “So you are a bird whisperer, hey? His boisterous laugh greeted Hedwig’s parliament of owls. They descended and landed on his extended arms.. They clacked at him with a few wing flutters to boot.
With this display, Hagrid knew Harry was alright. “This is not your typical familiar, Harry. This is a royal line. For Hedwig to invite her whole family along, she shows an innate trust. She expects you to protect and take care of them.” Hedwig turned and leaped to Harry’s arm and used her beak to arrange his hair.
“Message received. I am at your service, Hedwig. Can you find my house?”
Hedwig bit his ear, brushed her wing across his face, ascended in the air and took her family with her. Harry gently smiled as she rapidly flew away.
“The shop owner told me I didn’t need a cage because she would refuse to get in one. He said with this many owls I didn’t need a perch either. Can you recommend a place to house them?”
“Harry, they will establish their own dwelling wherever you are. With a family, the owls see to their own needs. Based on what I’ve seen, Hedwig will come when you need her.”
“How will she know?”
“The same way she knows where you live.”
Hagrid took him to Ollivander next. “Hi Ollivander. Harry and I need new wands.”
Ollivander answered from behind them. He told Harry about his parents’ wands and told them which subjects they showed the most promise in mastering.
“Hagrid, I thought you could no longer practice magic.”
Hagrid presented a certificate pardoning him from the suspicious arrest which splashed across the newspapers 50 years ago. “Times change.”
“Why did you wait so long to get a replacement wand.”
“I discovered that the Ministry of Magic did not want me or my kind practicing magic. The illness I developed kept me from seeking out a replacement.”
“If I was not a wand maker, I doubt the ministry would have much use for me and my kind either.”
After Hagrid and Harry tried every wand in the shop, they found a wand of their own. Olliver tried to tell Harry about Tom Riddle’s wand but Hagrid intervened. Hagrid paid for both their wands and two wand holsters, and pulled Harry from the shop.
“The wand and its holster are my gift for a belated birthday.
Just remember, we make our own fate, Harry. Tom Riddle is Voldermort. We went to school at Hogwarts at the same time. Riddle is the reason I was arrested and the Ministry took my wand. Whatever anyone of us tells you about your parents, Riddle, or your destiny; this is your life to make and choose. Enjoy what brings you happiness when you can.”
Harry wondered what brought this on. He thought Voldermort only had one name. Why would Ollivander tell him about Tom Riddle’s wand after explaining so much about his parents? Surely, his parent’s murderer didn’t belong in the same conversation.
Hagrid next led Harry to a commodities trader in Blues Alley. “Sarte, I’d like to find some breeding animals this year.”
“What did you have in mind? Do you want to renew your old orders or start fresh?”
Harry followed this conversation intently. Godric’s Hollow offered a forest and cleared fields to roam. He had elves to manage too. Ian told him how much work his request generated at Hogwarts. He sent his entire staff of elves to Hogwarts to help prepare the school. He knew they needed to have demanding work to be happy.
Harry asked questions of Sarte about Hagrid’s request. Hagrid asked him whether he wanted to develop an animal husbandry.
“I have elves who are idle at Godric’s Hollow. They need something to do.”
“I need someone to help me care for these critters this year. I plan to complete my education. If you allow your elves to help me this year, I will train them in animal husbandry.”
Harry called Argile, the head elf, to ask if he had any qualms about going into animal husbandry. Once their deal was made, Hagrid helped Harry and Argile select the range of animals he could keep at the Hollow. Sarte tried to sell Harry more than he needed, but Hagrid and Argile stepped in each time.
When they left the shop, Argile popped away. Hagrid explained the use of each animal Harry purchased in potion ingredients, meat, and crop growth. Hagrid told Harry in great detail that the Hollow already had a range of animals because James let them freely roam across the property. Harry asked Hagrid whether he could train to take care of the animals too. Hagrid agreed.
Hagrid brought him to a butcher who killed domesticated animals for feathers, meat, potions ingredients, hides, and feed. Hagrid wanted the butcher to come to Hogwarts after he had rounded up a group of wild hogs and wolves in the Forbidden Forest. The butcher agreed to a price per head.
Hagrid explained to Harry that once magicals could not manage the domesticated and wild animals they purchased, they brought and dumped them into the Forbidden Forest. These animals were starting to overtake different native animals. Now that most of the acromantulas were leaving, the two remaining would fail to reduce the boars and wolves’ numbers.
Hagrid brought Harry back to Diagon Alley so he could get his robes, his presorted potion ingredients, and the grocers. At Madam Malkins, Hagrid informed her that Harry needed the basic robes, uniform, and undergarments. Harry asked her if she could explain what she offered that was different than the muggle world and if these charms could be added to what he already owned. Hagrid also asked her to make Harry durable, work robes for tasks in collecting potions, nursing fighting plants, and tending animals.
Next at the apothecary, Hagrid asked the shop owner what was the going rate for moon beam azaleas and other plants he would be clearing away for the animal pens he would erect for the school year. The apothecary shop owner produced a pricing guide for various plants he sold. Harry took a copy so he had some idea what he and his elves should be looking for at Godric’s Hollow. When he thought of his daily battle with that Potter legacy box, he knew it was possible that he might never be able to resolve it sufficient to receive a full inheritance from Asgard Potter. His father, James, had left a sufficient amount of land at the Hollow to make a sufficient living for himself.
His attention returned to Hagrid because he was demanding the ‘real potion making list’ for Harry. The shop owner had laid out a heap of ingredients on the counter. Hagrid was angered by the lack of charts and comparison guide for potion interactions. It seems that the standard tool kit had changed from Hagrid’s time as a student and now. Hagrid told the shop owner that the students could permanently injure themselves if they didn’t have the charts and guides. Harry learned that the current potion master had made the changes when he took over at Hogwarts.
Hagrid’s parting words were, “We’ll see about that.”
At the grocers, Hagrid bought provisions for the coming school year. Harry asked him how that was even possible when muggles bought perishable items which had to be consumed within a week or two. Hagrid took Harry through each section of the market and explained how the wiarding world had been collecting, preserving, and storing food for centuries. Hagrid told him “Wizards don’t suffer from food shortages, Harry. We will always have a dwelling and nourishment.”
Harry just wished that had always been true for him.
By the end of the day, Hagrid had become his friend. He forgave Hagrid for their rocky first Diagon Alley trip and looked forward to a year learning what Hagrid could teach him.
When Harry returned to 4 Privet Drive, he found a letter waiting for him in his post box. He opened the letter.
-0-
Dearest Harry,
I know you won’t believe us, but we think we’ve been poisoned.
Once we left Privet Drive, we began to feel better. Vernon and Dudley have stopped overeating. I’ve regained a healthy appetite. We’ve read through the books your ritual produced.
We are not the only ones at fault for your treatment. We can’t make up for our behavior towards you, but we can become better people.
Forever in your debt.
Petunia Dursley
-0-
Hedwig arrived as he completed the letter.
“How did you know, girl?”
Hedwig just gave Harry a blank stare, blinked and turned her head.
Harry wrote a letter requesting that Ian take his aunt to St. Mungos and confirm her poisoning story. Once Harry had completed that last ritual, he decided a lot about his last 10 years was strange.
Harry had awoken from that ritual disoriented and confused. The goblins departed immediately after they had told him they would contact him as soon as Gringotts could confirm the source of the damage to his accounts. The goblins pledged to rectify any discrepancy they found.
The dwarves had remained with him. Grimholde told him they would have to rethink the basement caverns he had planned to build into the heart of Godric’s Hollow. Grimholde was able to complete 4 Privet Drive. The justice ritual had uncovered a lot more land than the Griphook had initially estimated. Plus the Potter ghosts had explained there were underground caves no one had previously explored. Harry paid Grimholde for the part of the job he had completed. He gave Grimholde permission to come back and explore the existing foundation.
Harry thought he was handling all these changes. He was free from the prison of his relatives. He had a means to take care of himself. He had a school to go to in just 2 short weeks. He still yearned for a loving family but he didn’t see how he would receive that before he was an adult.
Harry came to Diagon Alley ½ hour before he was supposed to meet Hagrid. He wanted to make sure he was as low key as possible. No more ‘thanks Mr. Potter’ mobs for him. He had decided there were two ways to go about his fame that would be fun for him and keep the public feeling good: the Dread Pirate Roberts route or the Jack Burton express. Either persona would be a caricature of him and what he stood for, but it would separate who he was from who the public expected him to be.
The way he saw it, he spent 10 years trying to get the Dursleys to respect and love him. What had he gotten from being just Harry with relatives who already formed an opinion about him based on whose child he was? He received grief, strife, and as much abuse as the Dursleys could dish out. He could not change their opinions no matter how much he did for him. Everyone isn’t the same, but the amount of effort it took to perform for each Dursley required too much sweat and far too many tears.
He had thought about it a great deal. With his new television set, he had seen a lot of the television shows the Dursleys watched but he had never seen. Harry had formed the opinion that sometimes playing pretend was easier on everyone. If people came to the conversation fresh with limited expectations, he would do the same. Otherwise, Wizarding World, please meet the Princess Bride’s Dread Pirate Roberts or Big Trouble in Little China’s Jack Burton.
Hagrid walked into the Leaky Cauldron. Harry greeted him at the brick wall.
“Hello, sir. I hope you feel much better today.”
“Call me, Hagrid, Harry. I am going to treat you to the best tour of Diagon Alley anyone can get. You are going to see the sights most wizards ignore. Follow me.”
Hagrid took him to Eyelet’s Emporium. “Go ahead and pick out your familiar, Harry. Feel your way through the store. The animal meant for you will strike your fancy as soon as you see them.”
A beautiful snowy owl presented herself to Harry. She barked at Harry and landed on his arm. He decided this was her, his familiar, Hedwig. He turned around to leave the store. He was only able to take two steps before Hedwig barked again. Another owl flew down to greet Hedwig. He did not land on Harry. He circled Hedwig whose wings clattered as he barked at her. Hedwig turned and looked at Harry. He realized he had a bonded pair of owls to care for. “Okay, girl, I will accept him too.”
Harry made it to the counter with Hedwig and her mate, Adonae. Hedwig barked at Harry again. Several owlets descended from the ceiling. “So you want me to purchase your whole family.” Hedwig clacked her beak at Harry. “You know if I take in this direction, I will have my own owl service.” She just turned her head and moved around his arm.
The shop owner laughed at Harry. “You have chosen the fussiest owl I have ever had the pleasure to sell. She is implacable, contentious and imposing. You don’t have to train her or her owls. She has managed them just fine from their very first day. She will tell you what she can and cannot do.
It has been a pleasure to serve you, my queen. Come back to visit any time.”
Hedwig hopped on the counter, spread her wings, and barked at the shop owner. She settled down long enough to blink at him a few times and clack her beak. Each owl descended to give the shop owner the same demonstration.
“How many galleons for the whole fleet?”
Hagrid greeted him as Harry left the shop with a bird gaggle. “So you are a bird whisperer, hey? His boisterous laugh greeted Hedwig’s parliament of owls. They descended and landed on his extended arms.. They clacked at him with a few wing flutters to boot.
With this display, Hagrid knew Harry was alright. “This is not your typical familiar, Harry. This is a royal line. For Hedwig to invite her whole family along, she shows an innate trust. She expects you to protect and take care of them.” Hedwig turned and leaped to Harry’s arm and used her beak to arrange his hair.
“Message received. I am at your service, Hedwig. Can you find my house?”
Hedwig bit his ear, brushed her wing across his face, ascended in the air and took her family with her. Harry gently smiled as she rapidly flew away.
“The shop owner told me I didn’t need a cage because she would refuse to get in one. He said with this many owls I didn’t need a perch either. Can you recommend a place to house them?”
“Harry, they will establish their own dwelling wherever you are. With a family, the owls see to their own needs. Based on what I’ve seen, Hedwig will come when you need her.”
“How will she know?”
“The same way she knows where you live.”
Hagrid took him to Ollivander next. “Hi Ollivander. Harry and I need new wands.”
Ollivander answered from behind them. He told Harry about his parents’ wands and told them which subjects they showed the most promise in mastering.
“Hagrid, I thought you could no longer practice magic.”
Hagrid presented a certificate pardoning him from the suspicious arrest which splashed across the newspapers 50 years ago. “Times change.”
“Why did you wait so long to get a replacement wand.”
“I discovered that the Ministry of Magic did not want me or my kind practicing magic. The illness I developed kept me from seeking out a replacement.”
“If I was not a wand maker, I doubt the ministry would have much use for me and my kind either.”
After Hagrid and Harry tried every wand in the shop, they found a wand of their own. Olliver tried to tell Harry about Tom Riddle’s wand but Hagrid intervened. Hagrid paid for both their wands and two wand holsters, and pulled Harry from the shop.
“The wand and its holster are my gift for a belated birthday.
Just remember, we make our own fate, Harry. Tom Riddle is Voldermort. We went to school at Hogwarts at the same time. Riddle is the reason I was arrested and the Ministry took my wand. Whatever anyone of us tells you about your parents, Riddle, or your destiny; this is your life to make and choose. Enjoy what brings you happiness when you can.”
Harry wondered what brought this on. He thought Voldermort only had one name. Why would Ollivander tell him about Tom Riddle’s wand after explaining so much about his parents? Surely, his parent’s murderer didn’t belong in the same conversation.
Hagrid next led Harry to a commodities trader in Blues Alley. “Sarte, I’d like to find some breeding animals this year.”
“What did you have in mind? Do you want to renew your old orders or start fresh?”
Harry followed this conversation intently. Godric’s Hollow offered a forest and cleared fields to roam. He had elves to manage too. Ian told him how much work his request generated at Hogwarts. He sent his entire staff of elves to Hogwarts to help prepare the school. He knew they needed to have demanding work to be happy.
Harry asked questions of Sarte about Hagrid’s request. Hagrid asked him whether he wanted to develop an animal husbandry.
“I have elves who are idle at Godric’s Hollow. They need something to do.”
“I need someone to help me care for these critters this year. I plan to complete my education. If you allow your elves to help me this year, I will train them in animal husbandry.”
Harry called Argile, the head elf, to ask if he had any qualms about going into animal husbandry. Once their deal was made, Hagrid helped Harry and Argile select the range of animals he could keep at the Hollow. Sarte tried to sell Harry more than he needed, but Hagrid and Argile stepped in each time.
When they left the shop, Argile popped away. Hagrid explained the use of each animal Harry purchased in potion ingredients, meat, and crop growth. Hagrid told Harry in great detail that the Hollow already had a range of animals because James let them freely roam across the property. Harry asked Hagrid whether he could train to take care of the animals too. Hagrid agreed.
Hagrid brought him to a butcher who killed domesticated animals for feathers, meat, potions ingredients, hides, and feed. Hagrid wanted the butcher to come to Hogwarts after he had rounded up a group of wild hogs and wolves in the Forbidden Forest. The butcher agreed to a price per head.
Hagrid explained to Harry that once magicals could not manage the domesticated and wild animals they purchased, they brought and dumped them into the Forbidden Forest. These animals were starting to overtake different native animals. Now that most of the acromantulas were leaving, the two remaining would fail to reduce the boars and wolves’ numbers.
Hagrid brought Harry back to Diagon Alley so he could get his robes, his presorted potion ingredients, and the grocers. At Madam Malkins, Hagrid informed her that Harry needed the basic robes, uniform, and undergarments. Harry asked her if she could explain what she offered that was different than the muggle world and if these charms could be added to what he already owned. Hagrid also asked her to make Harry durable, work robes for tasks in collecting potions, nursing fighting plants, and tending animals.
Next at the apothecary, Hagrid asked the shop owner what was the going rate for moon beam azaleas and other plants he would be clearing away for the animal pens he would erect for the school year. The apothecary shop owner produced a pricing guide for various plants he sold. Harry took a copy so he had some idea what he and his elves should be looking for at Godric’s Hollow. When he thought of his daily battle with that Potter legacy box, he knew it was possible that he might never be able to resolve it sufficient to receive a full inheritance from Asgard Potter. His father, James, had left a sufficient amount of land at the Hollow to make a sufficient living for himself.
His attention returned to Hagrid because he was demanding the ‘real potion making list’ for Harry. The shop owner had laid out a heap of ingredients on the counter. Hagrid was angered by the lack of charts and comparison guide for potion interactions. It seems that the standard tool kit had changed from Hagrid’s time as a student and now. Hagrid told the shop owner that the students could permanently injure themselves if they didn’t have the charts and guides. Harry learned that the current potion master had made the changes when he took over at Hogwarts.
Hagrid’s parting words were, “We’ll see about that.”
At the grocers, Hagrid bought provisions for the coming school year. Harry asked him how that was even possible when muggles bought perishable items which had to be consumed within a week or two. Hagrid took Harry through each section of the market and explained how the wiarding world had been collecting, preserving, and storing food for centuries. Hagrid told him “Wizards don’t suffer from food shortages, Harry. We will always have a dwelling and nourishment.”
Harry just wished that had always been true for him.
By the end of the day, Hagrid had become his friend. He forgave Hagrid for their rocky first Diagon Alley trip and looked forward to a year learning what Hagrid could teach him.
When Harry returned to 4 Privet Drive, he found a letter waiting for him in his post box. He opened the letter.
-0-
Dearest Harry,
I know you won’t believe us, but we think we’ve been poisoned.
Once we left Privet Drive, we began to feel better. Vernon and Dudley have stopped overeating. I’ve regained a healthy appetite. We’ve read through the books your ritual produced.
We are not the only ones at fault for your treatment. We can’t make up for our behavior towards you, but we can become better people.
Forever in your debt.
Petunia Dursley
-0-
Hedwig arrived as he completed the letter.
“How did you know, girl?”
Hedwig just gave Harry a blank stare, blinked and turned her head.
Harry wrote a letter requesting that Ian take his aunt to St. Mungos and confirm her poisoning story. Once Harry had completed that last ritual, he decided a lot about his last 10 years was strange.
Harry had awoken from that ritual disoriented and confused. The goblins departed immediately after they had told him they would contact him as soon as Gringotts could confirm the source of the damage to his accounts. The goblins pledged to rectify any discrepancy they found.
The dwarves had remained with him. Grimholde told him they would have to rethink the basement caverns he had planned to build into the heart of Godric’s Hollow. Grimholde was able to complete 4 Privet Drive. The justice ritual had uncovered a lot more land than the Griphook had initially estimated. Plus the Potter ghosts had explained there were underground caves no one had previously explored. Harry paid Grimholde for the part of the job he had completed. He gave Grimholde permission to come back and explore the existing foundation.
Harry thought he was handling all these changes. He was free from the prison of his relatives. He had a means to take care of himself. He had a school to go to in just 2 short weeks. He still yearned for a loving family but he didn’t see how he would receive that before he was an adult.
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