House of snakes

Chapter 3

Hadrian handed Harry The Daily Prophet. It had become a daily ritual of there's. Hadrian had subscriptions both to that paper as well as Montrose Daily. In the morning over breakfast Harry would read Montrose Daily while Hadrian read the Prophet and then they'd switch.

Harry was always interested in the sports section of both newspapers. He'd become a huge fan of the Montrose Magpies. Hadrian wondered if he should be surprised. In his old life he'd been a fan of the Cannons, if only because Ron was, and as Hadrian he'd never followed quidditch teams because of how often he and his father travelled. But they lived near Montrose and Hadrian was finding himself impressed by the Magpies as much as Harry was. They were truly a spectacular team.

Hadrian had also subscribed to The Quibbler if only because he wanted Harry to know that not everyone in the wizarding world agreed on things. And because he wanted to support Luna's family. Alas, The Quibbler only came once a month, on the first of the month, and therefore they wouldn't be getting another copy until September 1st. The August edition had been pretty great though, with speculations on some creature called a Borrrrrrrin which caused people to fall asleep randomly and a crossword puzzle that Harry had delighted in trying to solve.

"Can we go to Diagon Alley?" Harry asked as he read through the article on parents and their children flocking to Diagon Alley for school supplies for the new term.

"I told you why we needed to keep your living here a secret."

"I know. I don't want Dumbledore to force me back to the Dursleys."

Hadrian smiled softly. "He won't. I promise. I'll take him to court over it and I'll win."

"'Cause your magical."

"And because the Dursleys were the worst sort of guardians."

Harry looked down. Hadrian let the moment slide. It had taken him years to come to terms with all the Dursleys put him through. He hadn't wanted to admit that his relatives were abusive, only that they were awful. In the end, it had been Poppy Pomfrey's insistence that he get a full medical diagnosis that broke through the realization that he'd been abused—emotionally and physically. She'd be horrified at the state his body was in and disgusted with herself for never having realized it before. Hadrian hadn't blamed her, knowing that she needed guardian approval for a full medical scan for underage wizards.

That was one blessing about being in a new body, Hadrian mused. Hadrian Naga had never dealt with severe starvation, broken bones healing incorrectly, head trauma, and countless other things that had piled up even before he'd gone to Hogwarts and only got worse after. Luckily the healer Hadrian had called for Harry had prescribed nutrient potions enough that Harry would be back to a normal size for his age group by the end of the year.

"We can go in disguise," Harry said finally. "There'll be a lot of people 'cause they have to get all their Hogwarts stuff. No one will notice us."

Hadrian considered the eight-year-old. "True."

Harry glanced at him. "Please."

Hadrian smiled. "Alright. We can't do notice-me-not charms if we want to buy anything, but I can do some glamour charms. We'll need to be careful not to use names, alright?"

"Can we have fake names?"

Hadrian chuckled. "Sure. Why don't you pick them out?"

Harry thought for a moment. "You can be my older brother, Luther. And I'll be Larry!"

"Luther and Larry." Hadrian wanted to laugh outright. "We can work with that. I want to stop by Gringotts while we're there. I have no idea what the state of the Potter estate is in or who's keeping up with it."