Harry? It's been a while since you've written. Is everything okay?
Yeah, sorry, Tom. The barrier wouldn't open at King's Cross. We're flying to Hogwarts in Mr. Weasley's Anglia.
We?
Oh, sorry! Me and Ron.
'Ron and I.'
Right. Sorry I didn't write last night; Mrs. Weasley made a huge dinner, and she gets insulted if I don't eat enough. I spent the night holding my stomach because she made me eat too much.
Why wouldn't you eat enough?
No reason.
Harry.
Okay, so sometimes my relatives don't feed me! Happy?
Why would I be happy that your relatives starve you, Harry?
...
Do they abuse you... in other ways?
Do you count me having to do every chore abuse?
Surely they do some of the chores! What about your cousin!
Dearest Duddykins is not allowed to lower himself to servant level. Duddykins must play with his friends and not spend time around the freak.
THEY CALL YOU A FREAK?!
Sometimes, not all the time! Most of the time they call me 'Potter.'
Your hand was shaking a bit there, Harry. What's wrong with the name 'Potter?' The Potters weren't that bad. Henry Potter, your great-grandfather, was in Slytherin, my house, a few years before me.
You're a Slytherin?
Yes. Is that a problem?
No, you've been really nice to me. It's just that most of the other Slytherins have been rude. Probably because I'm the most famous Gryffindor since Albus Dumbledore.
You sound like you don't like Albus Dumbledore....
I told him my relatives hate me, that they starve me and punish me if I do a chore wrong ⎯ and I always do it wrong, apparently ⎯ and he told me I was overreacting and refused to let me stay at Hogwarts over the summer!
Oh, Dumbledore's rather famous for that. I asked him the same thing at the end of every school year, and he said the same thing.
Why wouldn't you want to go home for the summer, Tom?
Because Hogwarts WAS my home -- far more than that orphanage was.
Oh wow. That's way worse than the Dursleys.
I'm not sure about that. Although I suppose they did ONE thing that was worse.
What did they do?...
Tom?...
They assumed I had a devil in me and forced me to go through several trials to get it 'removed.' They did it again after every school year. I even showed Dumbledore PROOF of this, and he refused to let me stay at school.
I seriously hate Dumbledore. He's horrible.
I completely agree.
And I thought I was the only one abused by Muggles.
I'm sure many other Muggleborns and halfbloods are hurt by their parents, Harry.
I'm going to assume 'Muggleborn' means 'a magical child who has two Muggle parents.' I didn't know anything at all until my eleventh birthday.
What! Even I was told on July first! Someone didn't come to tell you about your heritage? That's what the school is supposed to do for Muggleborns, and those raised by Muggles.
Hagrid did. He didn't really explain a lot, though. All he did was tell me how my parents died.
Hagrid? Dumbledore sent RUBEUS HAGRID to tell you that you were a wizard? That man is mad.
You know Hagrid?
Well of course I do. He started Hogwarts when I started my fifth year. He knows very little about anything except dangerous magical creatures and he's FAR too loyal to Dumbledore. He also hates Sly...
Tom? What is it?
Harry... tell me everything that happened before you got sorted into Gryffindor.
Um, well... the Dursleys treated me like a house-elf for eleven years.....
The Dursleys treated you like-! ...How do you know what a house-elf is?
Well, one showed up during this summer and told me I shouldn't go to Hogwarts.
...You can tell me about that after you explain what happened between your birthday and when you got sorted.
Okay... So the day after Hagrid told me about how my parents died -- I'll tell you about that later -- he took me to Diagon Alley....
Did you give him permission to take you there?
No, but the Dursleys wouldn't have taken me and I'm not allowed to go anywhere alone.
...Go on....
Um.... while we were shopping, I ran into Draco Malfoy. He was okay up to the point when Hagrid showed up, and then he probably assumed, like you did, that I was a Muggleborn. He's... I think they call it a Pureblood supremacist? I didn't tell him my name. I asked Hagrid about Slytherin afterwards -- Draco said that all his family had been there -- and he told me that there wasn't a witch or wizard that went into Slytherin that didn't come out a Dark wizard. I don't know why everyone believes that; they're eleven-year-old kids.
After that I got a wand from Ollivander: Phoenix feather, holly, eleven inches. He told me it was curious because the Phoenix who gave my wand one of his feathers also gave another feather, and it was in Voldemort's wand. He said Voldemort had done terrible but great things, so I would go on to do great things, too.
...Voldemort?
Yeah. Is he alive then, too?
Yes... what happened after you got your wand?
Well, nothing really happened until Uncle Vernon took me to King's Cross. All the ticket said was 'Platform 9 ¾,' and Hagrid didn't tell me how to get on it. I tried to find out how to get on by asking people and by asking conductors, but they thought I was being funny. Then I heard Mrs. Weasley shouting about Muggles.
In a crowd full of Muggles?
Yeah, but I don't think she knew she was that loud. I didn't realize that it was a bad thing to shout about Muggles anywhere but the wizarding world, so I just asked her how to get on to the platform. That's how I met Ron and his family: Percy, the prefect, who reminds me of Hermione; Fred and George, the pranksters; Ron; and Ginny, the screechy banshee who has a crush on me, apparently, even if she's only eleven now.
Fred and George helped me get my trunk into the last compartment on the train -- it was empty, I don't really like loud noises -- and Ron demanded that he sit with me, because, quote, "Everywhere else [was] full." When I'd checked there were about five half-empty compartments. I assumed they'd filled up since I'd looked, so I let him sit with me. He was loud and annoying. I wanted to read my school books because the Muggles locked up all my things in my old cupboard, but he insisted on talking about Quidditch.
What do you mean, 'your old cupboard'?
Um. Nothing.
Harry.
TheMugglesmademesleepinabroomcupboardokay?
...No. That's not okay. At least I had a bedroom at the orphanage!... Right, I'll rant later, continue.
About halfway through the train ride, Hermione burst into our compartment and demanded to know if we'd seen a toad, because Neville Longbottom had lost his. I thought it was rude that she'd burst in, I almost had a panic attack. Ron told her we hadn't, but she insisted on staying because he was going to do 'magic.' He tried to turn his rat yellow, but the spell wasn't actually a spell, it was more like a poem. She said ' Are you sure that's a spell? Well, it's not very good, is it?' and then she said every spell she tried she succeeded at -- I don't know how, we weren't allowed to use magic outside of school -- and then she used the Repair Charm on my glasses.
She used magic on you without your permission?
Yes, but the Dursleys weren't going to fix my glasses, were they? I thanked her, because I'm an idiot, and then she introduced herself as Hermione Granger. When I told them I was Harry Potter, Neville gasped and Hermione instantly named all the books I'm apparently in.
Why would you be in books?
Well, apparently, when I was a baby, Voldemort tried to kill me -- I don't know why -- and it didn't work. I lived, and he became something... less than human, I think that's what Hagrid said. I'm a bit confused as to how a one-year-old baby could have defeated 'the most powerful Dark Lord that ever lived,' or why Voldemort would want to kill a baby. It made me famous, especially since Voldemort had killed my parents before he tried to kill me.
I'm so sorry, Harry. No one should have to go through with that!
Why are you apologizing? You didn't do anything.
...I'm just... sympathizing. I lost my parents at a young age, too. How did you get rid of Hermione?
She said we should change into our school robes because she suspected we'd be at school soon. Then she left. About ten minutes after that, Draco showed up.
I bet that was disastrous.
Duh. If Ron hadn't been there, I probably would have made friends with Draco. When he introduced himself, Ron laughed. I don't know why the name 'Draco' is funny, it's a cool name, and it means 'dragon' in Latin. Draco got mad, insulted Ron's family, and then told me 'Some wizarding families are better than others. You don't want to go making friends with the wrong sort. I can help you there.' I told him that I could figure out the wrong sort for myself, and I was going to tell him that we could still be friends, and that I knew Ron was not the sort of friend I wanted, but he was somehow insulted by what I said, and threatened me. Then Ron's rat, Scabbers, attacked him and his two cronies, Crabbe and Goyle, and they left, screaming.
A rat attacked them? That's hilarious. Afraid of a rat. I'm pretty sure Crabbe and Goyle are descended from Rectus Goyle and Wilford Crabbe. They were both idiots.
It probably runs in the family, Crabbe and Goyle didn't say anything and grunted a couple of times!
Nothing really happened after that. We got to Hogwarts without anyone else coming into our compartment, anyway.
What did the Sorting Hat say to you?
It said I would do well in Slytherin. After all I'd heard about Slytherins and Draco being annoying, I decided I didn't want to be in Slytherin, just to stay away from him. I would have been fine with any other House, as long as they were quiet, kind, and polite.
That would be Hufflepuff or Slytherin.
Yeah, I figured that out after I was sorted into the rudest and loudest House. I tried to make it clear to Ron that I didn't want to be his friend, but he either didn't listen or didn't understand.
I'm seriously hating Ron now.
Crap! I gotta go, Ron's asking why I'm so quiet! I'll write later.
Bye, Harry.