The next morning Harry woke up before the rest of his house, he had just barely managed to avoid being questioned by them all yesterday.
"Hey boy" Harry said as his raven, he really should think of a name for him, flew on to his shoulder, Harry took a note out of his pocket, it was written for Delphi. It basically told her that if she wasn't down in ten minutes then he would be going on his own. The raven took the note up the stairs then returned nine minutes and twenty three seconds later on the shoulder of a sleepy Delphi.
"Did we have to wake up so early?" She yawned
"No, you could have chosen to stay and sleep for a little while later. I just gave you the option to accompany me" Harry said just as the raven flew back on to his shoulder "we really should give you a name" He added to the bird "for some reason people think it's weird to just call you Raven. Hmm, let's go with something simple. How about 'Shadow'?" The bird remained silent for a few minutes before nodding his head, showing his approval. "Well, now that the hardest part of my day is over, let's go"
"Why are we up so early?" Delphi asked as they walked out the common room
"You because you enjoy my company, although I can't really work out why, me because there are less idiots up at this time and that decreases the chances of them asking questions." Harry said just as Shadow tapped him on the head with his own head "Also because Shadow was hungry"
"Fine" Delphi sighed as she yawned and stretched "at least we'll get some good breakfast"
"Can't be any worse than your mothers cooking" Harry replied
"True" Delphi let out a soft snort "she told me that the food here is cooked by house elves, apparently Hogwarts has a whole kitchen full of them"
"Good, now I know who to kill if I don't like it"
"There are apparently a lot of them"
"Won't matter if they're dead"
A little while later a lot of students had arrived, they all sat down in their seats, they were all trying, and failing, at subtly looking at the object of everyone's interest. Harry Potter and his face.
Harry was sat at the Ravenclaw table, Delphi opposite him and Shadow was on the table. All three were eating and purposefully ignoring the stares, though Harry was tempted to set the whole hall on fire and see how fond they were of looking at him then.
"Good morning" A voice called and they turned to see a rather small man standing in front of them "I am Professor Flitwick, your charms professor and head of house, I have your time tables here"
"Thank you" Delphi said as she took hers, Shadow flew and grabbed Harry's timetable from the charms master then brought it to Harry
"Good boy" Harry stroked his head
"My, my, such an intelligent bird" Flitwick exclaimed with surprise in his voice "that is very impressive, does he have a name?"
"Shadow" Harry answered
"A pleasure to meet you Shadow" Flitwick greeted and Shadow nodded his head at the man "is he your familiar? He seems too intelligent to be a mere pet" He asked Harry as Shadow puffed his chest out
"Yes" Harry nodded "he is my familiar"
"How marvelous" Flitwick smiled "well, I hope to see more of him. I won't mind if you bring him to my class, as long as he doesn't cause any trouble"
"Thank you" Harry responded
"You are welcome, oh and Mr Potter, I don't know if you are aware but your mother had begun taking a charms mastery with me before her tragic passing. She was truly a brilliant student and woman, if you ever desire to talk about her with someone then my office is always open." He ended with a nod before walking away
"I like him" Delphi smiled
"He's tolerable" Harry shrugged, the pair sat in silence and continued eating. Once they were done, Shadow hopped on to Harry's shoulder as he got up and walked away with Delphi following after him.
"Ah, Harry" The pair stopped when they saw Albus Dumbledore standing in front of them "just the boy I was looking for"
"Can I help you?" Harry asked, his voice soft with hints of annoyance splashed in.
"Yes, you may remember me from the feast. I am the headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. I was hoping you would accompany me to the hospital wing"
"Sir, forgive me but you don't look very injured"
"No my boy" Albus chuckled "I meant you"
"Why?" Harry asked, despite knowing the answer "It sounds like your implying there is something wrong with me"
"Uh no" Dumbledore backpeddalled "I am not saying that, I do however think you would benefit from our nurses attention"
"Should I happen to disagree?" Harry asked, curious about the old man's reaction
"Harry" Dumbledore sighed "your face is burnt and heavily damaged, Madam Pomphrey wil be able to repair it. I assure you that she is quite a brilliant healer"
"Doubt it" Harry said "if St Mungo's couldn't do it then I doubt she could"
"You've already been to see a healer?" Dumbledore asked, surprise evident in his voice
"No I thought it'd be fun to leave it like this" Harry said sarcastically while gesturing to his face "really, it's fun having people gawk at you"
"Harry, if you don't mind me asking, what exactly happened to your face?" Dumbledore asked softly
"Unfortunately I do mind" Harry responded in a cold voice "is there anything else?"
"Yes, just two things, firstly I was wondering what happened to the Dursleys?"
"Who?" Harry asked
"The Durselys" Dumbledore repeated "the muggle family you lived with"
"Oh, you mean tubby and bitchy?" Harry said
"I beg your pardon?" Dumbledore blinked
"'Tubby', the fat arse with the stupid mustache and 'bitchy', that thin woman with the giraffe's neck and horses face" Harry explained "yeah, I used to live with those two and Tubby junior. At least I used to live with them until I was about six...or was it seven?" He asked Delphi, she thought about it before shrugging to indicate that she didn't know "Anyway, as far as I'm aware they are dead now"
"Dead?" Dumbledore's jaw dropped
"Dead" Harry nodded "you see, being dead is this thing where you stop moving and..."
"Mr Potter, I know what death is" Dumbledore cut him off "you said 'as far as you were aware', does that mean you're not sure?"
"I'm ninety-five percent sure that they are dead, even if they're not, it's not like I care"
"Mr Potter! They are your family!" Dumbledore blurted out, shocked at Harry's words
"If they're alive then they can find a very, very steep cliff and jump as far as I'm concerned. I only have three family members, my raven, my friend" Harry gestured to Delphi "and her mother"
Dumbledore paled at that revelation. He knew full well who her mother was. Bellatrix Lestrange, the eldest of the Black sisters. Bellatrix was always an incredibly smart and powerful student when she attended Hogwarts, soon after she was forced into a marriage contract with the Lestrange family. After the last wizarding war, the Lestrange's died, all except Bellatrix who had gone to the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and told everyone how she was forced to commit all her crimes due to a combination of potions, spells and the contract.
She was released and pardoned, though not many people believed it. He had heard many rumours about her other the years. Some said that she still served Voldemort, others said she left the country, some even theorised that she went off hiding in the muggle world and there was a rumour about her having a child with Voldemort. Though the last part seems to be true. Delphi Riddle, in the magical world the child must take the last name of the father unless argued against in court, and with Bellatrix keeping a low profile, it makes sense for the girl to keep her fathers last name.
"If that is all, excuse us" Harry walked off without waiting for an answer, Delphi followed him and the two walked kept walking
"That old man is really irritating" Harry said
"I'm not arguing with you" Delphi put her hands up to show she was surrendering
"Glad to know that I've finally trained you" Harry commented
"Hey!" Delphi smacked his arm
"Note to self, continue with training"
"Hey, wait up" A voice called, the pair stopped to see a red headed boy run up to them
"Can I help you?" Harry asked
"Yeah" The boy nodded "I'm Ron by the way, Ron Weasley" Ron stretched his hand out, Harry shook it after receiving a nudge from Delphi, though he quickly took his hand back "so I was wondering, are you really Harry Potter?"
"Yes" Harry sighed, annoyance evident on his face
"Do you really have the scar?" Ron asked, trying to get a good look under Harry's hair
"I have a bunch of them." Harry gestured to his face "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to be off"
"Wait a sec" Ron said "I was wondering if you wanted to be friends"
"Not really" Harry said immediately
"What?! Why not?" Ron blurted out
"Probably because he has some sense Weaslbee" A voice said, Draco Malfoy walked up to the group with Crabbe and Goyle following behind him "so, Harry Potter huh?" He raised an eyebrow at Harry
"That's what I'm told" Harry responded
"And who are you supposed to be?" Malfoy looked towards Delphi
"Delphi Riddle" She introduced herself
"Pureblood?" Malfoy asked
"No, half-blood, my mother was a pureblood but my father was a half-blood" To be a pureblood, you needed to have at least two sets of magical grandparents.
"Hmm, pity" Malfoy said sympathetically "at least your children should be pure bloods" He turned back to Harry "Allow me to introduce myself, I am Malfoy, Draco Malfoy." Ron snorted "What? Think my name's funny, do you? Don't need to ask yours. Red hair, and a hand me down robe, you must be a Weasley. You'll soon find out, Potter, that some wizarding families are better than others. You don't want to be making friends with the wrong sort, I can help you with that" He extended his hand
"Hmm" Harry hummed before slowly reaching his hand out "I have no interest in getting to know any families, though I am told it'd be rude to refuse a hand shake. I appreciate your offer, but as of the moment it is unneeded. I will, however, contact you should I change my mind"
"Hmm" That wasn't exactly the answer that Draco wanted, but it was better than what he expected "very well, you know where to find me. I must say Potter, I'm glad to see you have some brains, thought that should be expected when you're in Ravenclaw."
"If I have to be in this school then I'm going to take it for everything it has" Harry said
"Hmm" Malfoy smirked "goodbye Potter" Malfoy walked off with Crabbe and Goyle following behind him, leaving Harry and Delphi with a gaping Ron
"Harry, what was that?!" Ron blurted out
"A conversation, at least I think so" Harry answered
"But that's Malfoy! He's a Slytherin!"
"So?" Delphi raised an eyebrow
"So, they're evil death eaters!"
"My mother was in Slytherin" Delphi pointed out in a cold voice, Harry felt like he shouldn't mention the fact that her mother used to be a death eater "come on Harry" She walked off, Harry looked between a red faced Ron and a walking Delphi, he quickly realised which would be the least irritating and walked off after her.
"Your mother was a death eater" Harry pointed out after catching up with her
"Yeah, but he didn't need to know that" She grinned