The hidden side of the Wizarding World

Chapter 14: Expectations, never and ink

"Well, I suppose it is quite logical, but it's just a shock, you know. And the fact that you're just back in England..." Harrison noticed that Sirius' voice sounded softer than it had before.

"I understand, Sirius. But Harrison's already afraid that you won't like him. Please... It was hard for us too when he called us that in the beginning, but now..." Evelyn said softly.

Oh, uncle Moony was right. They were talking about him calling Evelyn mum.

"No, yeah. I, uh, I understand."

The conversation fell silent when the two joined the adults.

"Mum, can we go home now?" Harrison asked once more.

Evelyn tore her eyes from Remus' and with that ended their silent conversation. "Yes, of course, pup."

Grabbing his godmother's hand, Harrison felt at ease for the first time in all those hours he had been in that gigantic room.

"Send us an owl when your mental treatment is done, Sirius. We'll send you a portkey, it'll be much easier. Be well."

After a short nod from each of the adults, they finally left that damned room. Harrison thought it was too big, though with the amount of people in there, a room could never be too big.

Harrison never liked crowds, and most certainly not when everyone recognized him and wanted to shake his hand and what not. It was frustrating. They had to act all nice and friendly, even though Harry wanted to run from that place and never go back. Too many eyes on him... It made him uneasy, nervous, he felt unsafe in there. He kept reminding himself he had aunt Evelyn and uncle Remus with him. They would protect him, right?

No matter, he still had to keep living up to everyone's standards. It's not just one standard, no, there's the boy-who-lived story, the chosen one story, some people believe he has this enormous power no-one else has (load of rubbish if you asked him, though no one ever did ask about his opinion) and then there was the golden Gryffindor story. Oh, how he hated that one.

Being the only one in the whole universe to kill some evil wizard... Okay, he got it, they had to burden someone with that, right? Everyone being amazed by how he survived the killing curse as a mere baby... Well, they could do more research and come to the conclusion that even with lots of magical power, a one-year-old could never do such thing and they had to look at his parents for answers. But hey, it's not something that happens every day, so he could understand their interests (though sometimes it did went too far, Harrison shuddered thinking of the small purple man who nearly jumped at him when he saw Harrison).

But the golden Gryffindor story. Oh, how he loathed it. Setting his destiny in stone, well, he could live with that, but they had to keep their filthy hands of his personality and interests. 'You're supposed to be a Gryffindor because your parents were.' 'You're a Gryffindor, so you've got to do reckless things that could get you killed.' 'You're the saviour of the Light so you've got to be very friendly and love everyone no matter what their status, blood-type or background is.' 'Except for Slytherins! You've got to hate Slytherins! I mean, you're a Gryffindor, so how could you not?'

Ugh! He didn't want to hate Slytherins. He didn't, actually. In fact, he envied them. He wished he'd let the hat sort him into Slytherin. He wished he had talked longer to Draco Malfoy in Madam Malkin's when they had first met. He wished he'd searched for Draco on his first train ride. He wished he'd let Malfoy convince him to get sorted into Slytherin. He wished he'd taken the offer of Draco's friendship. He wished...

He knew it was useless to wish for the past to be different. Because if it wasn't, then he would have his parents standing by his side, alive and well. Then Neville wouldn't have to grow up with parents who don't recognize him nor talk to him. Then uncle Sirius wouldn't have been locked up in Azkaban for years. Then aunt Evelyn would've stayed with him since the day he was born. Then...