Categories > Books > Harry Potter > Harry Potter and the Runa Futhark
The Boy Who 'Lived'
4 reviews"One man can turn the tide of a war, Mr. Potter, but that man cannot win the war alone, no matter how powerful he may be" Snape said, "If you want to win, you need your friends beside you. Friendsh...
5Original
Chapter 2: The Boy Who 'Lived' Chapter 1: The Boy Who 'Lived'
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Disclaimer: The novel Harry Potter, nor any of the characters or ideas pertaining to it belong to me, they are the sole property of the one and only J.K. Rowling.
Authors Note: Hello all look another chapter! Wahoo!
Anyway probably should let you know that this fic is AU to a certain extent, especially where books five and six are concerned... well obviously because it's a Harry/Hermione fic, but I will in fact use very little from those two books, you have been warned!
Sorry I didn't actually get Harry to Hogwarts this chapter, but he will next chapter... I am one-hundred percent sure that it will probably happen... 95% sure (I love Monk so much! - those of you who watch it might get my little quote dropping... hmm I watch too many TV shows)
If everything with my story goes according to plan, then all the little hints I dropped in the Prologue about where this story is going should come together... at least I hope - some of them are brought up in this chapter as well. Speaking of which... has anyone worked out from the title what this story is about?
PS... sorry my Authors notes are always so long... it seems I like telling my life story or something
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"Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it."
--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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"Dumbledore, you were right about him, that boy is going to change our world" the tawny (1) haired young woman said to the aging headmaster of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
"Would you like a lemon drop?" said Dumbledore, his barmy characteristics seeming to come out at the oddest moments.
"No thank you" said the woman, refusing as politely as possible while giving the Headmaster an odd look. "The things I saw him do, even in the short time I was there were simply astronomical, to use exactly the right word (2). I am quite sure he must have read half the library, and at his age! He's only four Albus! It's just amazing!" She paused for a moment, before she was able to continue however, she was interrupted by Dumbledore.
"Julia, slow down, breathe" which was a wise suggestion indeed as in her zeal to explain she had forgotten to breathe "I knew this boy would be intelligent, with his parents being Lily and James Potter, what else could he be? But is he really what you say he is?"
"Albus I have no doubt about it, Harry Potter is every thing we ever hoped for, he is going to turn our world upside down"
"Then I have nothing more to wish for, we can only hope that it will be some years yet before Voldemort's return , Harry can not face Voledmort's combined forces at such a young age again nor can we afford to lose him" Dumbledore sighed in sadness, his age showing considerably at that moment.
"I presume that you were unnoticed when you were observing Harry?"
"Yes Albus, I am not an Auror for nothing, I do know how to be stealthy after all. Besides who is going to notice another little robin flying around? Though I did have a bit of a close call, another robin decided to attack me, apparently I had invaded his territory and that wasn't pleasant I can tell you!" Said Julia in a very rapid pace
"And Harry noticed nothing odd about his guardians abandoning him for three weeks, nor the food you left for him?" Dumbledore asked with a slight bit of shock evident in his tone, though he tried to hide it.
"Surprisingly no, it didn't, he kept himself awfully busy, I only ended up leaving some fruit in a bowl, and I constantly replenished anything he used. What /was /odd though was the fact that he seemed happier that they were away, I don't think there is much love for him in that house Albus, they don't seem like very nice people..."
Again she was cut of by Dumbledore "Nonsense! They are his family, of course they love him! He will be quite happy where he is until he arrives at Hogwarts; besides that is the safest place for him to ensure both his welfare and the safety of the Wizarding World.
Just think Julia, if he was in our world now he would be hounded by the populace and he would never be safe, no, no he must grow up away from all of that, he is in the best possible place for him. Besides which he has your mother to look out for him, she would never let harm befall him." Dumbledore smiled, as if trying to appease her
Julia was not convinced. She attempted one last time to alter his opinion by saying "Yes Albus I know my mother would never knowingly let harm befall him, but I fear she is rather limited in her capabilities regarding him, after all she only sees him every so often, that's hardly enough time to develop an informed opinion about his welfare!"
"Julia, he is fine! Let this be the end of our discussion!" Dumbledore said attempting to pacify her yet again.
Though she was still in disagreement with him she did not continue, it was impossible to alter Albus Dumbledore's opinion when he felt he was right; no doubt she would have fought a lot harder if she knew the entire truth. "Yes Albus" she said while mentally groaning "I must now return to my post, I have been away far too long and although you have quite a bit of sway over the head Aurors, they /do /need me back. Besides I love my job too much to be away from it" she smiled what she hoped was an agreeable smile, and not the scowl she wanted to send his way; Dumbledore smiled at her so she assumed it was the former though she would have much preferred the latter.
"Julia" he said "when am I going to get you to give up your job and work for me?" (3)
Julia laughed, a real laugh this time "Albus, you have been trying to get me to teach ever since I graduated! It's not going to happen any time soon, you know that right? Besides my temper always gets the best of me, I would probably bite some student's head off!" Dumbledore only laughed and shook his head
"Good bye Albus" she said, to which Dumbledore answered with a smile.
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Many months after the above event occurred, Harry awoke suddenly; the dream was haunting him again. The dream was always the same, a bright flash of green light, screaming and then it ended. It was not perhaps so much the dream itself that haunted him, it was more the feeling he was left with as he awoke, a feeling of all encompassing loneliness and desolation.
Every single time he had this dream he would wake up in a cold sweat, shaking, it felt as if his insides turned to ice and it was then that Harry Potter would cry. This was the only time Harry would allow himself to show any weakness, and he made sure it was never around his relatives, but he could not seem to stop, it was at those moments that his wish for a real family would become most fervent, and it was also in this time that he would acknowledge the complete impossibility of his wish and this is why he cried.
He would not cry when his uncle beat him to a pulp for any perceived wrongdoing, he would not cry when the sharp barbs of his relative's cruel words hit home. It was only when he was alone that he would let the tears fall.
His body ached with every sob, the pain of his uncle's punishments wreaking havoc on his small body, but still he cried, unable to will himself to stop.
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Hours later he lay still awake, dreading the oncoming torture that his relative's awakening would bring. Adonia comforted him somewhat, but she could not entirely replace what he was lacking, a real family.
He heard his Uncle thump down the stairs while yelling "boy, get up and cook me breakfast, NOW!"
Seconds later Harry scrambled from his room, attempting not to incur the wrath of his Uncle, though it was all in vain, it would happen anyway, it was inevitable.
As he was cooking a rather unhealthy breakfast that he would no doubt not even get a taste of, his Aunt emerged. She looked at him with a scowl and said in an officious tone, her face scrunching up as if she had just consumed something nasty, "Boy, why aren't you dressed and can't you do something with that hair, it's disgusting"
Harry was quite unaware of what his Aunt was talking about he didn't think he was going anywhere, though they generally did not think to inform him about the goings-on in the house. Daring to ask, and risk her displeasure he said in a small voice "Why, where am I going?"
For once, he was actually answered, something indeed which was very rare. "You are going to school you nitwit, maybe it will do you good and beat some manners into you!" Petunia replied, her nostrils flaring.
Unable to quite contain his excitement he murmured "I am?"
"Yes! It's not like we had any choice, we would get fined if we didn't send you!" Petunia screamed "Now get back to work, and don't burn it! Then go make yourself look as decent as possible, not that that gets you very far" she growled.
Harry couldn't quite believe it; he was actually going to school! He had of course read about it in various books, but didn't know whether he would ever get the chance to go. He got out of the kitchen as quickly as he could, afraid that his exuberance would show and that the Dursleys would change their minds, or worse.
He was ready in five minutes and he thought he had everything he could need at school, stuffed away in one of Dudley's old bags. As he was walking out the door of his cupboard a large pile of rags was thrown at him with an accompanying comment of "wear this boy!"
On second observation, Harry discovered that the rags he was holding were not in fact rags, but an old baggy school uniform that looked like it had been warn about a thousand times before he laid his hands on it, but he supposed it was better than nothing.
He quickly changed, grabbed his school stuff and ran out the door to sit on the garden wall just next to the car so he wouldn't be forgotten.
He could hear Dudley screaming and wailing, most of them crocodile tears mind you, "I don't want to go!" he kept yelling, "Mummy don't make me go!" Harry merely rolled his eyes at his cousin's idiocy.
Nevertheless, despite all of Dudley's complaining they both ended up in the car within half-an-hour, which was quite a feat on the part of Mrs. Dursley.
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Roughly ten minutes later, they arrived at their Primary School; it was rather large with many students running around the outside. It was September 1st, 1984 (4) and Harry and Dudley would be attending infant school, as both would be turning five within that school year (5).
Harry had high hopes for his schooling life; he would actually be able to learn! On the contrary Dudley was merely there because he had to be.
Not even Dudley's hard punch to Harry's stomach, where he already had a myriad of bruises could dampen Harry's spirit. He followed his Aunt carefully, but still managed to look around in rapture, after signing them in, they were led to the building which would be theirs for the school year. Dudley and Harry were in the same year, but as they had rather a large number of students enrolling that year, they were placed in separate classrooms [AN: more due to the fact that it was more convenient to my storyline lol.] Harry waltzed through the door, without even a backward glance, while his future peers around him held on to their parent's legs, begging them not to leave. The teacher found this somewhat peculiar, but it did happen occasionally, by the end of the day the kids with the initial cavalier attitudes were usually in a very similar state to the other children she was currently observing, begging for their parents to return.
Harry proved her wrong though, he would have been quite happy to stay at school for the rest of his life, and was extremely disappointed when the parents did re-emerge. School was not of course what he was expecting, it was very simple, much too easy, but he assumed that it was just because it was the first day, and that the pace would pick up soon. Nevertheless he had a wonderful time, and was eager to return, though he would bring his current novel he was reading until the lessons became a little more challenging.
Harry rapidly caught the attention of the teacher, after all, how could he not? He finished every task within moments of receiving it, no matter what subject. What's more he didn't even make a big deal about it, he was such a quiet boy, he would walk up to her, hand her his work and return to his desk only to get out his Math's book and do extra work. Nor when it came time to play did he join the other children, he sat in a corner away from everyone and read one of the large, simple books on the shelf, though he appeared to be having trouble with it as he always got the same book and never seemed to turn the pages. After weeks of observing these strange little rituals of his, she finally approached him, intent on helping him read the book that was giving him so much trouble, or at the very least inquiring why he did not play with the other children.
What she saw, however, as she approached Harry surprised her no end, she discovered the reason he was having trouble reading the book, it was because he was not in fact reading it. Hidden behind the large cover of the book she had assumed he was trying to read was another, it was very thick with small writing, though at that distance she could not determine what it in fact the book actually was.
Harry did not notice; he was much too absorbed in his book at the time, so he did not see his teacher, Mrs. Lynn observing him intensely. She did catch his notice however, when he heard a soft, inquisitive "What are you reading?" coming from right beside him.
Harry quickly pulled his 'cover' book over his actual book, adopting a nonchalant attitude "nothing really" he replied.
Raising her eyebrow she said "oh really, then I don't suppose you will mind me taking a look?" and with that she took both books in her hands. What she saw surprised her immensely in her hands lay "The Count of Monte Cristo" which was most definitely a near impossible task for many children three times his age. Surprising as this may be, this was not what shocked her the most, the title in fact read "Le Comte de Monte Cristo"
Dumbfounded, she finally managed to speak to the downcast form of Harry "You're reading The Count of Monte Cristo?" she asked, to which Harry merely nodded. "IN FRENCH!" she said almost yelling in surprise; unfortunately Harry took the rise in her voice to mean that he had done something wrong. He was always doing the wrong thing it seemed and he would always be punished severely for it. Knowing from the experience of Mr. Dursley that she probably required an apology he whispered "yes ma'am I'm sorry I shouldn't have done it I apologise" before bending his head down, waiting for the verbal, and most likely physical onslaught. To his surprise it didn't come.
Mrs. Lynn was momentarily stumped by his strange reaction and sudden change in posture, though she merely assumed in the end that she must have frightened him by raising her voice, she guessed that being such a quiet, well mannered boy he must not have been used to such. Lowering her voice, she said in a much gentler tone "dear boy, I am not angry with you, quite the contrary I assure you" quite forgetting with her discovery of his reading ability that he was in fact four years old, and most unlikely to understand her formal tone.
She knelt down beside him, trying to assuage his fears, she asked again quietly "Were you really reading this book?" to which Harry nodded mutely. "Is French your first language?" she asked, while Harry gave her a baffled look.
Moments later Harry asked in a whisper "What do you mean?"
Realising he did not quite understand what she was asking she altered her question "Why were you reading it in French, and don't be afraid I won't get angry with you"
"I was led to believe, by a conversation I overheard in the Library that the book was a better read in French than in English, so I was putting that hypothesis to the test" Harry replied softly with a shrug of his shoulders.
"And what is your verdict?" she enquired
"I am not quite sure as of yet" he replied succinctly.
"Fair enough, but how is it that you came to learn French, did your father or mother teach you?" she asked and was rather surprised at the response, though it was not so much what he said, but the expression on his face as he said it. He suddenly had a great look of loss, loneliness and sadness apparent in his face, but he quickly tore his eyes away from her inquisitive gaze and murmured a rapid "no" with his eyes downcast.
Exactly what this meant she was not entirely sure, but did not want to pry, he already seemed sad enough. "Then how did you come to learn it?" she continued unwilling to let the matter rest.
"I read some books on it in the library, and one of the librarians helped me a little.
"Okay..." she said, shocked to silence again, unsure what to say to this, she instead changed the subject "although I am sure you find great enjoyment in your book, why do you not play with the other children?"
"I don't know how" he said so softly she was not entirely sure whether the words left his mouth or if she was imagining it. He quickly spoke again to try to cover up what he had unconsciously let slip "They don't like me, they tease me. They make fun of my hair, my clothes and my glasses, besides I don't understand them, they talk in such simplistic terms, they confuse me." He said, his brow furrowing up.
Mrs. Lynn was started out of her stupor by the sharp metallic sound of the end-of-school bell; she couldn't quite believe that she had managed to ignore the rest of her class for almost an hour. Noticing that Harry had scampered off, she quickly made the resolution to talk to his guardian, no doubt one of his parents would pick him up from school, and she could accost them then. Ushering all her students out the door, she rushed out and scanned the playground, quickly finding the boy that she found so intriguing. She wandered over to find him doubled over next to a very large boy whom she knew to be in the other reception class and who had apparently just punched Harry. Before she could give this boy detention, however, her gaze caught the form of a very tall, thin woman who had come to greet the two young boys, well that was not the entire truth, Mrs. Lynn realised as she was now within hearing distance. The woman definitely greeted the large boy with a sickeningly sweet "Diddums how was your day at school, I am so proud of you, you have been doing so well, I think we should go get you some ice-cream, how does that sound?" to which the obese boy, who really was not in need of anything of the sort, replied in the affirmative. To Harry she merely said "boy get in the car now!"
Rushing to catch up with the long strides of the tall woman Mrs. Lynn yelled out "excuse me ma'am could I talk to you for a moment?" the woman replied with a short sneer before walking back.
"What!" Mrs. Dursley asked sharply.
"I just wanted to talk to you about your son, he is simply amazing!" Mrs. Lynn said, despite her immediate dislike of the woman before her.
"Oh Diddums" Petunia Dursley cooed, pinching the cheek of her son who had followed closely behind her "I am so proud of you, we will definitely get you an extra scoop, what would you like?"
Dudley's reply was however cut off as Mrs. Lynn said quickly "I apologise, though I am sure your son here is exceedingly intelligent in his own right" at which point she coughed something that sounded suspiciously like "I doubt it" before continuing "but I was in fact referring to your other son, Harry, he is astonishing!"
At this point Petunia scowled and muttered "He is NOT my son!" wondering what oddness the boy had shown this interfering woman she asked "what has the boy done now!" she said menacingly while glaring at Harry "I assure you whatever he has done he will be punished accordingly, is that all?" she mocked.
"Could you please inform Harry's parents that I wish to speak to them?" Mrs. Lynn replied, biting her tongue so as to not let loose a tirade on how arrogant this woman was.
"You can't. They're dead. It's not important anyway" her face had such a sour expression, as if she had just eaten about a thousand lemons "Good day to you" she said and with that she slammed the car door and promptly drove away.
Unable to contain her irritation any longer Mrs. Lynn yelled after the retreating car "I'd like to see things from your point of view but I can't seem to get my head that far up my ass!"
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Over the next few weeks Mrs. Lynn slowly began to test Harry's abilities, and he quite surpassed her expectations, sure she realised that he was intelligent, but in truth he was simply brilliant. She conducted this testing without the knowledge of what she later learned to be his Aunt and Uncle, and in fact without the knowledge of Harry himself, or so she believed. In truth she did not inform anybody as to what she was doing, she wanted to know the full extent of his talents before she proceeded.
Harry was not stupid though, far from it in fact, he did realise that the work he did was much more advanced than the rest of his class, but he wasn't complaining it was much more challenging and exciting.
Although she could get him to do any work handed to him, he refused to speak openly with her, all she would ever hear was "yes, ma'am", "no, ma'am" she just couldn't get him to open up to her (6).
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"Oi!" a loud voice echoed in his ears "get up!" to which Harry merely groaned a muffled "no", only half awake.
"Ssssss" the low hiss that sounded in his ears was rather ominous and suspiciously disapproving. "Get up now, don't make me bite you!"
"Hmph, you wouldn't" Harry replied sleepily
"I will too! I am going to bite you, I am putting my jaws around your ankle, get up now or I /will /bite you" Adonia said provokingly.
"Go away" Harry muttered, though he did quickly concede to Adonia's demand as he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his ankle. "You didn't!" he said loudly, inspecting his foot for damage.
Though he could have sworn Adonia was chuckling "No" she said "I didn't, I just jabbed you with my tail. Though I have to admit biting you was becoming extremely tempting..."
"What have I done now?" Harry asked resignedly
"You have been ignoring me!" Adonia said peevishly.
"Have not!" Harry replied childishly
"Have too!"
"Have not!"
"Have too!"
"Fine! I'm sorry, what was it you wanted to talk about?" Harry said, attempting to placate her merely to end the childish argument.
"Well seeing as you have been ignoring me of late..." her eyes seemed to glare at him, as if daring him to contradict her statement. Seeing Harry was not about to say anything more, she continued "I wanted to show off my latest set of skin, isn't it beautiful?"
"Yes Adonia, stunning" Harry almost rolled his eyes, she really was vain to a fault, but he loved her anyway.
Harry was in fact almost late for school as Adonia proceeded to tell him about her previous few meals that she had obtained from the garden, in great detail and greatly exaggerated Harry was quite sure. (7)
For the first time since he had started school, which had been about eight months now, Harry had forgotten to bring a novel with him; though his forgetfulness was mainly due to Adonia's excessively long rant, which made Harry exceedingly late. He had long since exhausted the school's supply of books and he found that his memory served him a little too well, in that he could never seem to read a book twice as he knew exactly what was coming in the subsequent page. He felt there was little enjoyment in a novel if you knew the exact plot before you started reading it (8), he was therefore in a bit of a quandary - what on earth could he do during the break? He couldn't talk to the other children... Dudley had seen quite well to that as all the kids were scared of the bully Dudley and his gang, so if Dudley didn't like Harry, then /no one /could! Maybe he could just sneak in and do some extra work, yes, he decided, that's what he would do, it was always fun after all.
That is precisely what he did, he went in, got his Math's book out (Mrs. Lynn had slipped him an algebra book, Harry pretended not to notice because he enjoyed it so much). This is where Mrs. Lynn discovered him.
"Mr. Potter what on Earth are you doing inside on such a lovely day? Are you doing /Maths/?" she asked, shaking her head slightly - she had never met any child his age with such dedication.
"I am sorry ma'am" he replied timidly as if he were in a great deal of trouble, which indeed he always seemed to be, so he thought he was yet again "I will leave then." he said with his head hanging low.
"No!" Mrs. Lynn said quickly "Stay if that is what you want to do... did you finish your latest novel already?" she asked
"Yes ma'am" Harry replied contritely
"Why don't you go and borrow another from the school library?" she questioned
He then muttered something that sounded like "I've read them all", but that couldn't be right she reasoned, after all, it was a very big library. "Sorry, what did you say?" she repeated, sure she had misunderstood.
"I've read them all ma'am" he replied a bit louder.
Attempting to contain her amazement so as not to frighten him further she said "okay..." before she changed tact "How is your maths going then?"
"I am on the last page of the book you gave me" he said quietly
"Of the one I gave you last month?"
"No, the one you gave me yesterday"
Shocked, she tried to come up with another subject but she could think of none. She let her eyes wander around the room and they fell on her piano in the corner, now she knew how she could get him to open up to her - music.
"Well then Harry, I have a question for you, have you ever learned music?" she asked and in that instant knew she had hit spot on what he needed. His eyes lit up with the possibility of a new challenge, she could see the excitement evident on his face, well barely, he seemed quite proficient at hiding his emotions, but all he said was "no ma'am"
"Would you like me to teach you?" she questioned, it was at this point she saw the first real smile on Harry's face since she had met him, but he didn't speak, he merely nodded.
From this moment on Harry began to warm to Mrs. Lynn, he would go to her during every break and every lunch and it was thus that Harry found another activity, apart from reading that could take him away from the real world - playing the piano. He began to talk to her though only on trivial matters; they discussed just about every thing he had ever read, which was quite a considerable list, a great number of which she had not read herself. That was as far as the conversations would go, he would never talk about what was bothering him and she was by that time resigned to the fact. Nor did Harry ever mention the strange things that seemed to occur around him, he didn't even tell her how he ended up on the school building, well in fact he didn't even know. Harry also chose to leave out the peculiar feelings he got often, they were very similar to the odd compulsion he had when he first found Adonia though they were seldom as strong; in the end as they occurred so often, he guessed it was just flights of fantasy by his overactive imagination.
Many possibilities as to what the boys problem was crossed her mind, even going so far as to guess abuse, but she never once saw a scar or scratch on him, apart from the one on his head which he assured her was from when he was a baby... so she eventually ruled this possibility out, in fact he never had a scratch on him which she found to be exceedingly peculiar.
She only knew one thing about him for sure, and that was that he liked to keep to himself and that he never liked to be touched, he never wanted anybody to know how intelligent he was, not even his guardians. She acceded to this one wish, as much as it killed her to do it, she didn't want to lose his trust, besides which she had grown exceedingly fond of the boy.
As Harry grew older he allowed his abilities to show less and less, he did what was required of him and no more. Mrs. Lynn kept him occupied, she gave him advanced books in many subjects which he took home and completed in his free time in his cupboard, he also became very proficient at the piano, enjoying playing it above all else, except for maybe reading, well it was a bit of a toss up. Mrs. Lynn always found it moving when he played, he always seemed to bring tears to her eyes as his playing was so emotional and heart-felt.
Mrs. Lynn spirited him away after school on several occasions, telling the Dursley's it was for 'remedial lessons', when in fact she took him to the music conservatorium to complete the different grades of piano. Before long he had quite surpassed her ability to teach him and so she began to take him to lessons once a week after school, paying for them herself, the Dursleys didn't even seem to notice his absence.
..........
2nd of September 1990 (i.e. the year before Harry starts Hogwarts)
"Ah, Severus glad you could make it..." Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eye.
"I apologise Headmaster, for being late. Some little urchin in my class was clumsy enough to make his cauldron blow up, splattering all over the entire class causing boils to erupt on every person it touched. I was not amused." Snape said with a dark scowl, so dark in fact you could see just how /un/-amused he was. "What is it you wished to speak to me about?"
"I was in fact wondering if you could do me a favour..." though by the inflection in Dumbledore's voice it was clear that this 'favour' was more of an order "could you show our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher around, it has been some years since she has been to this school, she also needs to be shown the teacher's lounge and quarters
"Why did you not choose me for DADA Professor Dumbledore? You know that is what I want to teach!" Snape said petulantly.
"You know very well why Severus, now can I count on you to help her?" he said as he raised his eyebrows questioningly.
"Headmaster, respectfully, why on earth would you choose me to do such a task? You know I never get along with anyone!" Snape said grouchily, resigned to the fact that Dumbledore would ignore his wishes.
"Never-the-less, I have chosen you for the task. You have the rest of the afternoon free, am I correct?" to which Snape gave no answer "Good, then I shall introduce you now" despite the lack of response from Snape.
"We are ready for you now!" Dumbledore said into the fireplace as he fire-called his new DADA Professor, moments later the woman emerged.
"Professor Snape I would like to introduce Julia Figg, our new DADA Professor; Julia this is Severus Snape, our Potions Professor, he will be showing you around. I hope you get settled in soon Julia, good day to you both as I have a lot of work to do" After they had both left Dumbledore reclined back in his chair, smirking as if he knew something that everybody else did not, which he often did.
"Come with me" Snape said as cordially as possible, which for him was a sharp snarl; Julia merely raised her eyebrows challengingly when his back was turned, 'this is going to be fun' she thought to herself.
"We do not need to be so formal with each other... Professor Severus Snape" she said the last in a mocking tone "what do they call you around here?"
"Professor Snape" he answered evenly without looking at her.
"Come on, you must have a nickname?" she said with surprise evident in her tone
"I do not." Snape answered while rolling his eyes, already tiring of this person, first she steals his job, and then she asks these annoying questions, well suffice to say that Snape was extremely peeved, to put it in the nicest terms possible.
"Then I will just have to make one up for you, hmmm let me think... 'Snap' seems appropriate because you like to snap a lot..." to which she received a glare "'Nappies'..."
At which point Snape let out a strained "Please stop!"
"'Rus'? No, I know 'Seviee!', yes I like that!" she said smiling, oh how she loved being annoying, especially to those with a permanent stick up their butt.
From Snape's expression it was quite clear that he found his new nickname significantly less than she did. He increased his pace as much as possible; it was in fact unlikely that a tour of Hogwarts had ever been completed in a smaller amount of time before.
His tour ended at her new quarters; as he was about to beat a hasty retreat she tried to strangle him... no, he realised after a couple of minutes she was actually hugging him, he couldn't remember the last time he was hugged, it felt... nice... no definitely not it was dreadful how could he think such a thing! How dare this woman confuse him like that! He felt heat come to his face, 'now I'm blushing? What on earth was wrong with me, I never blush... I better get out of here and quickly' he thought to himself, 'this woman is going to be the death of me', if he could see the future, which unfortunately he cannot, he would have been shocked to learn that it was precisely the opposite. (9)
"Thanks for the tour" she said smiling while he quickly turned and started to walk away, trying to hide his blush. His face rapidly turned to a different kind of red before he reached the end of the hallway, one of anger and irritation as Julia had yelled to him "See you later... Seviee!" before promptly running into her quarters and slamming her door, in giggles by the time she got inside 'that was too easy' she thought 'but oh so much fun!'
After many minutes she finally got control of her giggles and resumed her proper adult persona before she saw the person she lived with saw her acting in such a childish manner, she would never live it down!
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Notes, again... the favourite part of my day ;-P (what a sad life I do lead)
(1) Out of interest tawny is defined as: "of an orange-brown colour tinged with gold"
(2) Any Stargate fans out there? If so did you catch the quote (or am I just a little bit too obsessive?)
(3) You dirty, dirty minded people (or is it just me?)
(4) I am using the JKR timeline to a certain extent (i.e. that Harry was born on 31 July 1980) however some info just doesn't add up (such as the age of Bill and Charlie) so I will be taking some liberties.
(5) For those who are unaware, apparently the schooling system in England goes like this: Primary is divided into - Infants and Juniors.
These are subdivided into Infants - Reception (age 4-5)
- Middles (age 5-6)
- Tops (age 6-7)
Junior school lasts for 4 years, ages 7 to 11 and are known unimaginatively as first year, second year, third year and fourth year!
This is just a random bit of information as I didn't know about it until I researched it... If you want to read any more information there is a very interesting article on schooling in England on the Harry Potter Lexicon by Diana Summers.
(6) Again, dirty! Why is it that I take everything I write to sound dirty, it's unintentional I assure you; Is there anyone else out there that thinks the way I do, or is it just my crazy mind? (Btw I mean 'open up to her' in an emotional sense) lol.
(7) To the reviewer who questioned whether Adonia ever ate... though I should point out that in the first chapter there was a point to it. From what I have read about snakes, they do not tend to eat a lot for starters, snakes apparently also do not feed when they are shedding, and in fact tend to hide away from their owners during this time (as Adonia did)
(8) Just out of interest I do not subscribe to this philosophy, personally, I love reading things over and over again, in fact my favourite book is quite warn through - too much reading... does anybody else get the idea that I just like writing notes, I have just started to ramble... on second thought I have been rambling since I started writing this...
(9) Take from that what you will (hehehe)
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I know this chapter is slow,
But I needed it for the flow
So in reviews don't hit low
... Ow!... I stubbed my toe?
Hmm... don't ever let me rhyme again!
So what did you all think of my two original characters, namely Julia... btw I do realise she sounds rather childish... but meh, so am I!
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Disclaimer: The novel Harry Potter, nor any of the characters or ideas pertaining to it belong to me, they are the sole property of the one and only J.K. Rowling.
Authors Note: Hello all look another chapter! Wahoo!
Anyway probably should let you know that this fic is AU to a certain extent, especially where books five and six are concerned... well obviously because it's a Harry/Hermione fic, but I will in fact use very little from those two books, you have been warned!
Sorry I didn't actually get Harry to Hogwarts this chapter, but he will next chapter... I am one-hundred percent sure that it will probably happen... 95% sure (I love Monk so much! - those of you who watch it might get my little quote dropping... hmm I watch too many TV shows)
If everything with my story goes according to plan, then all the little hints I dropped in the Prologue about where this story is going should come together... at least I hope - some of them are brought up in this chapter as well. Speaking of which... has anyone worked out from the title what this story is about?
PS... sorry my Authors notes are always so long... it seems I like telling my life story or something
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"Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it."
--Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
..........
"Dumbledore, you were right about him, that boy is going to change our world" the tawny (1) haired young woman said to the aging headmaster of Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
"Would you like a lemon drop?" said Dumbledore, his barmy characteristics seeming to come out at the oddest moments.
"No thank you" said the woman, refusing as politely as possible while giving the Headmaster an odd look. "The things I saw him do, even in the short time I was there were simply astronomical, to use exactly the right word (2). I am quite sure he must have read half the library, and at his age! He's only four Albus! It's just amazing!" She paused for a moment, before she was able to continue however, she was interrupted by Dumbledore.
"Julia, slow down, breathe" which was a wise suggestion indeed as in her zeal to explain she had forgotten to breathe "I knew this boy would be intelligent, with his parents being Lily and James Potter, what else could he be? But is he really what you say he is?"
"Albus I have no doubt about it, Harry Potter is every thing we ever hoped for, he is going to turn our world upside down"
"Then I have nothing more to wish for, we can only hope that it will be some years yet before Voldemort's return , Harry can not face Voledmort's combined forces at such a young age again nor can we afford to lose him" Dumbledore sighed in sadness, his age showing considerably at that moment.
"I presume that you were unnoticed when you were observing Harry?"
"Yes Albus, I am not an Auror for nothing, I do know how to be stealthy after all. Besides who is going to notice another little robin flying around? Though I did have a bit of a close call, another robin decided to attack me, apparently I had invaded his territory and that wasn't pleasant I can tell you!" Said Julia in a very rapid pace
"And Harry noticed nothing odd about his guardians abandoning him for three weeks, nor the food you left for him?" Dumbledore asked with a slight bit of shock evident in his tone, though he tried to hide it.
"Surprisingly no, it didn't, he kept himself awfully busy, I only ended up leaving some fruit in a bowl, and I constantly replenished anything he used. What /was /odd though was the fact that he seemed happier that they were away, I don't think there is much love for him in that house Albus, they don't seem like very nice people..."
Again she was cut of by Dumbledore "Nonsense! They are his family, of course they love him! He will be quite happy where he is until he arrives at Hogwarts; besides that is the safest place for him to ensure both his welfare and the safety of the Wizarding World.
Just think Julia, if he was in our world now he would be hounded by the populace and he would never be safe, no, no he must grow up away from all of that, he is in the best possible place for him. Besides which he has your mother to look out for him, she would never let harm befall him." Dumbledore smiled, as if trying to appease her
Julia was not convinced. She attempted one last time to alter his opinion by saying "Yes Albus I know my mother would never knowingly let harm befall him, but I fear she is rather limited in her capabilities regarding him, after all she only sees him every so often, that's hardly enough time to develop an informed opinion about his welfare!"
"Julia, he is fine! Let this be the end of our discussion!" Dumbledore said attempting to pacify her yet again.
Though she was still in disagreement with him she did not continue, it was impossible to alter Albus Dumbledore's opinion when he felt he was right; no doubt she would have fought a lot harder if she knew the entire truth. "Yes Albus" she said while mentally groaning "I must now return to my post, I have been away far too long and although you have quite a bit of sway over the head Aurors, they /do /need me back. Besides I love my job too much to be away from it" she smiled what she hoped was an agreeable smile, and not the scowl she wanted to send his way; Dumbledore smiled at her so she assumed it was the former though she would have much preferred the latter.
"Julia" he said "when am I going to get you to give up your job and work for me?" (3)
Julia laughed, a real laugh this time "Albus, you have been trying to get me to teach ever since I graduated! It's not going to happen any time soon, you know that right? Besides my temper always gets the best of me, I would probably bite some student's head off!" Dumbledore only laughed and shook his head
"Good bye Albus" she said, to which Dumbledore answered with a smile.
..........
Many months after the above event occurred, Harry awoke suddenly; the dream was haunting him again. The dream was always the same, a bright flash of green light, screaming and then it ended. It was not perhaps so much the dream itself that haunted him, it was more the feeling he was left with as he awoke, a feeling of all encompassing loneliness and desolation.
Every single time he had this dream he would wake up in a cold sweat, shaking, it felt as if his insides turned to ice and it was then that Harry Potter would cry. This was the only time Harry would allow himself to show any weakness, and he made sure it was never around his relatives, but he could not seem to stop, it was at those moments that his wish for a real family would become most fervent, and it was also in this time that he would acknowledge the complete impossibility of his wish and this is why he cried.
He would not cry when his uncle beat him to a pulp for any perceived wrongdoing, he would not cry when the sharp barbs of his relative's cruel words hit home. It was only when he was alone that he would let the tears fall.
His body ached with every sob, the pain of his uncle's punishments wreaking havoc on his small body, but still he cried, unable to will himself to stop.
..........
Hours later he lay still awake, dreading the oncoming torture that his relative's awakening would bring. Adonia comforted him somewhat, but she could not entirely replace what he was lacking, a real family.
He heard his Uncle thump down the stairs while yelling "boy, get up and cook me breakfast, NOW!"
Seconds later Harry scrambled from his room, attempting not to incur the wrath of his Uncle, though it was all in vain, it would happen anyway, it was inevitable.
As he was cooking a rather unhealthy breakfast that he would no doubt not even get a taste of, his Aunt emerged. She looked at him with a scowl and said in an officious tone, her face scrunching up as if she had just consumed something nasty, "Boy, why aren't you dressed and can't you do something with that hair, it's disgusting"
Harry was quite unaware of what his Aunt was talking about he didn't think he was going anywhere, though they generally did not think to inform him about the goings-on in the house. Daring to ask, and risk her displeasure he said in a small voice "Why, where am I going?"
For once, he was actually answered, something indeed which was very rare. "You are going to school you nitwit, maybe it will do you good and beat some manners into you!" Petunia replied, her nostrils flaring.
Unable to quite contain his excitement he murmured "I am?"
"Yes! It's not like we had any choice, we would get fined if we didn't send you!" Petunia screamed "Now get back to work, and don't burn it! Then go make yourself look as decent as possible, not that that gets you very far" she growled.
Harry couldn't quite believe it; he was actually going to school! He had of course read about it in various books, but didn't know whether he would ever get the chance to go. He got out of the kitchen as quickly as he could, afraid that his exuberance would show and that the Dursleys would change their minds, or worse.
He was ready in five minutes and he thought he had everything he could need at school, stuffed away in one of Dudley's old bags. As he was walking out the door of his cupboard a large pile of rags was thrown at him with an accompanying comment of "wear this boy!"
On second observation, Harry discovered that the rags he was holding were not in fact rags, but an old baggy school uniform that looked like it had been warn about a thousand times before he laid his hands on it, but he supposed it was better than nothing.
He quickly changed, grabbed his school stuff and ran out the door to sit on the garden wall just next to the car so he wouldn't be forgotten.
He could hear Dudley screaming and wailing, most of them crocodile tears mind you, "I don't want to go!" he kept yelling, "Mummy don't make me go!" Harry merely rolled his eyes at his cousin's idiocy.
Nevertheless, despite all of Dudley's complaining they both ended up in the car within half-an-hour, which was quite a feat on the part of Mrs. Dursley.
..........
Roughly ten minutes later, they arrived at their Primary School; it was rather large with many students running around the outside. It was September 1st, 1984 (4) and Harry and Dudley would be attending infant school, as both would be turning five within that school year (5).
Harry had high hopes for his schooling life; he would actually be able to learn! On the contrary Dudley was merely there because he had to be.
Not even Dudley's hard punch to Harry's stomach, where he already had a myriad of bruises could dampen Harry's spirit. He followed his Aunt carefully, but still managed to look around in rapture, after signing them in, they were led to the building which would be theirs for the school year. Dudley and Harry were in the same year, but as they had rather a large number of students enrolling that year, they were placed in separate classrooms [AN: more due to the fact that it was more convenient to my storyline lol.] Harry waltzed through the door, without even a backward glance, while his future peers around him held on to their parent's legs, begging them not to leave. The teacher found this somewhat peculiar, but it did happen occasionally, by the end of the day the kids with the initial cavalier attitudes were usually in a very similar state to the other children she was currently observing, begging for their parents to return.
Harry proved her wrong though, he would have been quite happy to stay at school for the rest of his life, and was extremely disappointed when the parents did re-emerge. School was not of course what he was expecting, it was very simple, much too easy, but he assumed that it was just because it was the first day, and that the pace would pick up soon. Nevertheless he had a wonderful time, and was eager to return, though he would bring his current novel he was reading until the lessons became a little more challenging.
Harry rapidly caught the attention of the teacher, after all, how could he not? He finished every task within moments of receiving it, no matter what subject. What's more he didn't even make a big deal about it, he was such a quiet boy, he would walk up to her, hand her his work and return to his desk only to get out his Math's book and do extra work. Nor when it came time to play did he join the other children, he sat in a corner away from everyone and read one of the large, simple books on the shelf, though he appeared to be having trouble with it as he always got the same book and never seemed to turn the pages. After weeks of observing these strange little rituals of his, she finally approached him, intent on helping him read the book that was giving him so much trouble, or at the very least inquiring why he did not play with the other children.
What she saw, however, as she approached Harry surprised her no end, she discovered the reason he was having trouble reading the book, it was because he was not in fact reading it. Hidden behind the large cover of the book she had assumed he was trying to read was another, it was very thick with small writing, though at that distance she could not determine what it in fact the book actually was.
Harry did not notice; he was much too absorbed in his book at the time, so he did not see his teacher, Mrs. Lynn observing him intensely. She did catch his notice however, when he heard a soft, inquisitive "What are you reading?" coming from right beside him.
Harry quickly pulled his 'cover' book over his actual book, adopting a nonchalant attitude "nothing really" he replied.
Raising her eyebrow she said "oh really, then I don't suppose you will mind me taking a look?" and with that she took both books in her hands. What she saw surprised her immensely in her hands lay "The Count of Monte Cristo" which was most definitely a near impossible task for many children three times his age. Surprising as this may be, this was not what shocked her the most, the title in fact read "Le Comte de Monte Cristo"
Dumbfounded, she finally managed to speak to the downcast form of Harry "You're reading The Count of Monte Cristo?" she asked, to which Harry merely nodded. "IN FRENCH!" she said almost yelling in surprise; unfortunately Harry took the rise in her voice to mean that he had done something wrong. He was always doing the wrong thing it seemed and he would always be punished severely for it. Knowing from the experience of Mr. Dursley that she probably required an apology he whispered "yes ma'am I'm sorry I shouldn't have done it I apologise" before bending his head down, waiting for the verbal, and most likely physical onslaught. To his surprise it didn't come.
Mrs. Lynn was momentarily stumped by his strange reaction and sudden change in posture, though she merely assumed in the end that she must have frightened him by raising her voice, she guessed that being such a quiet, well mannered boy he must not have been used to such. Lowering her voice, she said in a much gentler tone "dear boy, I am not angry with you, quite the contrary I assure you" quite forgetting with her discovery of his reading ability that he was in fact four years old, and most unlikely to understand her formal tone.
She knelt down beside him, trying to assuage his fears, she asked again quietly "Were you really reading this book?" to which Harry nodded mutely. "Is French your first language?" she asked, while Harry gave her a baffled look.
Moments later Harry asked in a whisper "What do you mean?"
Realising he did not quite understand what she was asking she altered her question "Why were you reading it in French, and don't be afraid I won't get angry with you"
"I was led to believe, by a conversation I overheard in the Library that the book was a better read in French than in English, so I was putting that hypothesis to the test" Harry replied softly with a shrug of his shoulders.
"And what is your verdict?" she enquired
"I am not quite sure as of yet" he replied succinctly.
"Fair enough, but how is it that you came to learn French, did your father or mother teach you?" she asked and was rather surprised at the response, though it was not so much what he said, but the expression on his face as he said it. He suddenly had a great look of loss, loneliness and sadness apparent in his face, but he quickly tore his eyes away from her inquisitive gaze and murmured a rapid "no" with his eyes downcast.
Exactly what this meant she was not entirely sure, but did not want to pry, he already seemed sad enough. "Then how did you come to learn it?" she continued unwilling to let the matter rest.
"I read some books on it in the library, and one of the librarians helped me a little.
"Okay..." she said, shocked to silence again, unsure what to say to this, she instead changed the subject "although I am sure you find great enjoyment in your book, why do you not play with the other children?"
"I don't know how" he said so softly she was not entirely sure whether the words left his mouth or if she was imagining it. He quickly spoke again to try to cover up what he had unconsciously let slip "They don't like me, they tease me. They make fun of my hair, my clothes and my glasses, besides I don't understand them, they talk in such simplistic terms, they confuse me." He said, his brow furrowing up.
Mrs. Lynn was started out of her stupor by the sharp metallic sound of the end-of-school bell; she couldn't quite believe that she had managed to ignore the rest of her class for almost an hour. Noticing that Harry had scampered off, she quickly made the resolution to talk to his guardian, no doubt one of his parents would pick him up from school, and she could accost them then. Ushering all her students out the door, she rushed out and scanned the playground, quickly finding the boy that she found so intriguing. She wandered over to find him doubled over next to a very large boy whom she knew to be in the other reception class and who had apparently just punched Harry. Before she could give this boy detention, however, her gaze caught the form of a very tall, thin woman who had come to greet the two young boys, well that was not the entire truth, Mrs. Lynn realised as she was now within hearing distance. The woman definitely greeted the large boy with a sickeningly sweet "Diddums how was your day at school, I am so proud of you, you have been doing so well, I think we should go get you some ice-cream, how does that sound?" to which the obese boy, who really was not in need of anything of the sort, replied in the affirmative. To Harry she merely said "boy get in the car now!"
Rushing to catch up with the long strides of the tall woman Mrs. Lynn yelled out "excuse me ma'am could I talk to you for a moment?" the woman replied with a short sneer before walking back.
"What!" Mrs. Dursley asked sharply.
"I just wanted to talk to you about your son, he is simply amazing!" Mrs. Lynn said, despite her immediate dislike of the woman before her.
"Oh Diddums" Petunia Dursley cooed, pinching the cheek of her son who had followed closely behind her "I am so proud of you, we will definitely get you an extra scoop, what would you like?"
Dudley's reply was however cut off as Mrs. Lynn said quickly "I apologise, though I am sure your son here is exceedingly intelligent in his own right" at which point she coughed something that sounded suspiciously like "I doubt it" before continuing "but I was in fact referring to your other son, Harry, he is astonishing!"
At this point Petunia scowled and muttered "He is NOT my son!" wondering what oddness the boy had shown this interfering woman she asked "what has the boy done now!" she said menacingly while glaring at Harry "I assure you whatever he has done he will be punished accordingly, is that all?" she mocked.
"Could you please inform Harry's parents that I wish to speak to them?" Mrs. Lynn replied, biting her tongue so as to not let loose a tirade on how arrogant this woman was.
"You can't. They're dead. It's not important anyway" her face had such a sour expression, as if she had just eaten about a thousand lemons "Good day to you" she said and with that she slammed the car door and promptly drove away.
Unable to contain her irritation any longer Mrs. Lynn yelled after the retreating car "I'd like to see things from your point of view but I can't seem to get my head that far up my ass!"
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Over the next few weeks Mrs. Lynn slowly began to test Harry's abilities, and he quite surpassed her expectations, sure she realised that he was intelligent, but in truth he was simply brilliant. She conducted this testing without the knowledge of what she later learned to be his Aunt and Uncle, and in fact without the knowledge of Harry himself, or so she believed. In truth she did not inform anybody as to what she was doing, she wanted to know the full extent of his talents before she proceeded.
Harry was not stupid though, far from it in fact, he did realise that the work he did was much more advanced than the rest of his class, but he wasn't complaining it was much more challenging and exciting.
Although she could get him to do any work handed to him, he refused to speak openly with her, all she would ever hear was "yes, ma'am", "no, ma'am" she just couldn't get him to open up to her (6).
..........
"Oi!" a loud voice echoed in his ears "get up!" to which Harry merely groaned a muffled "no", only half awake.
"Ssssss" the low hiss that sounded in his ears was rather ominous and suspiciously disapproving. "Get up now, don't make me bite you!"
"Hmph, you wouldn't" Harry replied sleepily
"I will too! I am going to bite you, I am putting my jaws around your ankle, get up now or I /will /bite you" Adonia said provokingly.
"Go away" Harry muttered, though he did quickly concede to Adonia's demand as he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his ankle. "You didn't!" he said loudly, inspecting his foot for damage.
Though he could have sworn Adonia was chuckling "No" she said "I didn't, I just jabbed you with my tail. Though I have to admit biting you was becoming extremely tempting..."
"What have I done now?" Harry asked resignedly
"You have been ignoring me!" Adonia said peevishly.
"Have not!" Harry replied childishly
"Have too!"
"Have not!"
"Have too!"
"Fine! I'm sorry, what was it you wanted to talk about?" Harry said, attempting to placate her merely to end the childish argument.
"Well seeing as you have been ignoring me of late..." her eyes seemed to glare at him, as if daring him to contradict her statement. Seeing Harry was not about to say anything more, she continued "I wanted to show off my latest set of skin, isn't it beautiful?"
"Yes Adonia, stunning" Harry almost rolled his eyes, she really was vain to a fault, but he loved her anyway.
Harry was in fact almost late for school as Adonia proceeded to tell him about her previous few meals that she had obtained from the garden, in great detail and greatly exaggerated Harry was quite sure. (7)
For the first time since he had started school, which had been about eight months now, Harry had forgotten to bring a novel with him; though his forgetfulness was mainly due to Adonia's excessively long rant, which made Harry exceedingly late. He had long since exhausted the school's supply of books and he found that his memory served him a little too well, in that he could never seem to read a book twice as he knew exactly what was coming in the subsequent page. He felt there was little enjoyment in a novel if you knew the exact plot before you started reading it (8), he was therefore in a bit of a quandary - what on earth could he do during the break? He couldn't talk to the other children... Dudley had seen quite well to that as all the kids were scared of the bully Dudley and his gang, so if Dudley didn't like Harry, then /no one /could! Maybe he could just sneak in and do some extra work, yes, he decided, that's what he would do, it was always fun after all.
That is precisely what he did, he went in, got his Math's book out (Mrs. Lynn had slipped him an algebra book, Harry pretended not to notice because he enjoyed it so much). This is where Mrs. Lynn discovered him.
"Mr. Potter what on Earth are you doing inside on such a lovely day? Are you doing /Maths/?" she asked, shaking her head slightly - she had never met any child his age with such dedication.
"I am sorry ma'am" he replied timidly as if he were in a great deal of trouble, which indeed he always seemed to be, so he thought he was yet again "I will leave then." he said with his head hanging low.
"No!" Mrs. Lynn said quickly "Stay if that is what you want to do... did you finish your latest novel already?" she asked
"Yes ma'am" Harry replied contritely
"Why don't you go and borrow another from the school library?" she questioned
He then muttered something that sounded like "I've read them all", but that couldn't be right she reasoned, after all, it was a very big library. "Sorry, what did you say?" she repeated, sure she had misunderstood.
"I've read them all ma'am" he replied a bit louder.
Attempting to contain her amazement so as not to frighten him further she said "okay..." before she changed tact "How is your maths going then?"
"I am on the last page of the book you gave me" he said quietly
"Of the one I gave you last month?"
"No, the one you gave me yesterday"
Shocked, she tried to come up with another subject but she could think of none. She let her eyes wander around the room and they fell on her piano in the corner, now she knew how she could get him to open up to her - music.
"Well then Harry, I have a question for you, have you ever learned music?" she asked and in that instant knew she had hit spot on what he needed. His eyes lit up with the possibility of a new challenge, she could see the excitement evident on his face, well barely, he seemed quite proficient at hiding his emotions, but all he said was "no ma'am"
"Would you like me to teach you?" she questioned, it was at this point she saw the first real smile on Harry's face since she had met him, but he didn't speak, he merely nodded.
From this moment on Harry began to warm to Mrs. Lynn, he would go to her during every break and every lunch and it was thus that Harry found another activity, apart from reading that could take him away from the real world - playing the piano. He began to talk to her though only on trivial matters; they discussed just about every thing he had ever read, which was quite a considerable list, a great number of which she had not read herself. That was as far as the conversations would go, he would never talk about what was bothering him and she was by that time resigned to the fact. Nor did Harry ever mention the strange things that seemed to occur around him, he didn't even tell her how he ended up on the school building, well in fact he didn't even know. Harry also chose to leave out the peculiar feelings he got often, they were very similar to the odd compulsion he had when he first found Adonia though they were seldom as strong; in the end as they occurred so often, he guessed it was just flights of fantasy by his overactive imagination.
Many possibilities as to what the boys problem was crossed her mind, even going so far as to guess abuse, but she never once saw a scar or scratch on him, apart from the one on his head which he assured her was from when he was a baby... so she eventually ruled this possibility out, in fact he never had a scratch on him which she found to be exceedingly peculiar.
She only knew one thing about him for sure, and that was that he liked to keep to himself and that he never liked to be touched, he never wanted anybody to know how intelligent he was, not even his guardians. She acceded to this one wish, as much as it killed her to do it, she didn't want to lose his trust, besides which she had grown exceedingly fond of the boy.
As Harry grew older he allowed his abilities to show less and less, he did what was required of him and no more. Mrs. Lynn kept him occupied, she gave him advanced books in many subjects which he took home and completed in his free time in his cupboard, he also became very proficient at the piano, enjoying playing it above all else, except for maybe reading, well it was a bit of a toss up. Mrs. Lynn always found it moving when he played, he always seemed to bring tears to her eyes as his playing was so emotional and heart-felt.
Mrs. Lynn spirited him away after school on several occasions, telling the Dursley's it was for 'remedial lessons', when in fact she took him to the music conservatorium to complete the different grades of piano. Before long he had quite surpassed her ability to teach him and so she began to take him to lessons once a week after school, paying for them herself, the Dursleys didn't even seem to notice his absence.
..........
2nd of September 1990 (i.e. the year before Harry starts Hogwarts)
"Ah, Severus glad you could make it..." Dumbledore said with a twinkle in his eye.
"I apologise Headmaster, for being late. Some little urchin in my class was clumsy enough to make his cauldron blow up, splattering all over the entire class causing boils to erupt on every person it touched. I was not amused." Snape said with a dark scowl, so dark in fact you could see just how /un/-amused he was. "What is it you wished to speak to me about?"
"I was in fact wondering if you could do me a favour..." though by the inflection in Dumbledore's voice it was clear that this 'favour' was more of an order "could you show our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher around, it has been some years since she has been to this school, she also needs to be shown the teacher's lounge and quarters
"Why did you not choose me for DADA Professor Dumbledore? You know that is what I want to teach!" Snape said petulantly.
"You know very well why Severus, now can I count on you to help her?" he said as he raised his eyebrows questioningly.
"Headmaster, respectfully, why on earth would you choose me to do such a task? You know I never get along with anyone!" Snape said grouchily, resigned to the fact that Dumbledore would ignore his wishes.
"Never-the-less, I have chosen you for the task. You have the rest of the afternoon free, am I correct?" to which Snape gave no answer "Good, then I shall introduce you now" despite the lack of response from Snape.
"We are ready for you now!" Dumbledore said into the fireplace as he fire-called his new DADA Professor, moments later the woman emerged.
"Professor Snape I would like to introduce Julia Figg, our new DADA Professor; Julia this is Severus Snape, our Potions Professor, he will be showing you around. I hope you get settled in soon Julia, good day to you both as I have a lot of work to do" After they had both left Dumbledore reclined back in his chair, smirking as if he knew something that everybody else did not, which he often did.
"Come with me" Snape said as cordially as possible, which for him was a sharp snarl; Julia merely raised her eyebrows challengingly when his back was turned, 'this is going to be fun' she thought to herself.
"We do not need to be so formal with each other... Professor Severus Snape" she said the last in a mocking tone "what do they call you around here?"
"Professor Snape" he answered evenly without looking at her.
"Come on, you must have a nickname?" she said with surprise evident in her tone
"I do not." Snape answered while rolling his eyes, already tiring of this person, first she steals his job, and then she asks these annoying questions, well suffice to say that Snape was extremely peeved, to put it in the nicest terms possible.
"Then I will just have to make one up for you, hmmm let me think... 'Snap' seems appropriate because you like to snap a lot..." to which she received a glare "'Nappies'..."
At which point Snape let out a strained "Please stop!"
"'Rus'? No, I know 'Seviee!', yes I like that!" she said smiling, oh how she loved being annoying, especially to those with a permanent stick up their butt.
From Snape's expression it was quite clear that he found his new nickname significantly less than she did. He increased his pace as much as possible; it was in fact unlikely that a tour of Hogwarts had ever been completed in a smaller amount of time before.
His tour ended at her new quarters; as he was about to beat a hasty retreat she tried to strangle him... no, he realised after a couple of minutes she was actually hugging him, he couldn't remember the last time he was hugged, it felt... nice... no definitely not it was dreadful how could he think such a thing! How dare this woman confuse him like that! He felt heat come to his face, 'now I'm blushing? What on earth was wrong with me, I never blush... I better get out of here and quickly' he thought to himself, 'this woman is going to be the death of me', if he could see the future, which unfortunately he cannot, he would have been shocked to learn that it was precisely the opposite. (9)
"Thanks for the tour" she said smiling while he quickly turned and started to walk away, trying to hide his blush. His face rapidly turned to a different kind of red before he reached the end of the hallway, one of anger and irritation as Julia had yelled to him "See you later... Seviee!" before promptly running into her quarters and slamming her door, in giggles by the time she got inside 'that was too easy' she thought 'but oh so much fun!'
After many minutes she finally got control of her giggles and resumed her proper adult persona before she saw the person she lived with saw her acting in such a childish manner, she would never live it down!
..........
Notes, again... the favourite part of my day ;-P (what a sad life I do lead)
(1) Out of interest tawny is defined as: "of an orange-brown colour tinged with gold"
(2) Any Stargate fans out there? If so did you catch the quote (or am I just a little bit too obsessive?)
(3) You dirty, dirty minded people (or is it just me?)
(4) I am using the JKR timeline to a certain extent (i.e. that Harry was born on 31 July 1980) however some info just doesn't add up (such as the age of Bill and Charlie) so I will be taking some liberties.
(5) For those who are unaware, apparently the schooling system in England goes like this: Primary is divided into - Infants and Juniors.
These are subdivided into Infants - Reception (age 4-5)
- Middles (age 5-6)
- Tops (age 6-7)
Junior school lasts for 4 years, ages 7 to 11 and are known unimaginatively as first year, second year, third year and fourth year!
This is just a random bit of information as I didn't know about it until I researched it... If you want to read any more information there is a very interesting article on schooling in England on the Harry Potter Lexicon by Diana Summers.
(6) Again, dirty! Why is it that I take everything I write to sound dirty, it's unintentional I assure you; Is there anyone else out there that thinks the way I do, or is it just my crazy mind? (Btw I mean 'open up to her' in an emotional sense) lol.
(7) To the reviewer who questioned whether Adonia ever ate... though I should point out that in the first chapter there was a point to it. From what I have read about snakes, they do not tend to eat a lot for starters, snakes apparently also do not feed when they are shedding, and in fact tend to hide away from their owners during this time (as Adonia did)
(8) Just out of interest I do not subscribe to this philosophy, personally, I love reading things over and over again, in fact my favourite book is quite warn through - too much reading... does anybody else get the idea that I just like writing notes, I have just started to ramble... on second thought I have been rambling since I started writing this...
(9) Take from that what you will (hehehe)
..........
I know this chapter is slow,
But I needed it for the flow
So in reviews don't hit low
... Ow!... I stubbed my toe?
Hmm... don't ever let me rhyme again!
So what did you all think of my two original characters, namely Julia... btw I do realise she sounds rather childish... but meh, so am I!
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