Prologue
Surrey, England, 2000
Uncle Vernon Dursley gave his son, Dudley, his birthday presents. 'There you go, son. Forty for your fourteenth celebration'. Dudley, a fat teenager, went to Smeltings Academy, with his bully friends. Harry Potter watched the kitchen. 'I'm hungry'. Petunia Dursley, a short, irate woman, hated her sister, Lily Potter for being a witch; she hated Harry, too.
'Get some meat from the fridge'.
'Meat!', he sighed.
He grabbed his luggage, and sighed.
'I'm going to Hogwarts. I can't stand this place'. He remembered the Knight Bus; he was sure Stan Shunpike, and Ernie Prang, the driver, would take him back to Diagon Alley, or the Leaky Cauldron, or Hogsmeade, and other places of magic like The Three Broomsticks.
He grabbed Hedwig's cage, and yelled: 'Lumos!'. It was dark in Surrey. The Knight Bus arrived. 'Take me to London, please. The Leaky Cauldron'. Stan smiled. 'Ten sickles, Harry'.
He paid, and slept in the comfortable bus with other sleepy witches, and wizards. The memories of the Dursleys was all but forgotten.
***
'The Leaky Cauldron', Stan said.
Harry grabbed his luggage, and got off the Knight Bus. He made sure Hedwig was safe, she didn't like cold, dark, places. 'It's going to be alright. Besides, once we have a meal, we can get onto the Hogwarts Express by 11:00 AM, at Charing Cross Station; we can see Ron and Hermoine'. The snowy owl was happy with the news, and Harry saw the silhouette of a witch with a hat on her head, flying a broom in her right hand; her eyes focused on the gravelly cobbled steps of London.
And he went inside with the owl.
***
The voices of the wizards, and witches, stopped talking.
'Harry Potter. A pleasure to see you again'.
'Hello, dear. What do you like?', Daisy Dodderidge asked him.
'Hello. I'd like some wizard's stew, and owl feed for Hedwig. I'll pay for extra', Harry answered.
'A pretty owl, Harry'.
'Yes, she is. Rubeus Hagrid brought her for me on my first year at Hogwarts, when I got my letter from Professor McGonagall, and Albus Dumbledore'. He gave her five sickles, and sat down by the warm fireplace. The entrance led to Diagon Alley, and if any wizard went the wrong way, it led to Knockturn Alley, which was full of dark wizards from Slytherin House, and where Tom Marvolo Riddle went to back in the nineteen fifties, and changed his name to Lord Voldemort, the greatest dark wizard of all time. But Harry Potter had survived the Dark Lord's attack, and gave him a lightning scar on his forehead, then he disappeared. Harry Potter had had survived the vicious attack in his house; Lily and James Potter didn't survive. Yet, Harry was famous; he was living, not dying, and that was all that mattered.
***
Chapter One
London, England, 2000
Harry reached Diagon Alley.
Witches, and wizards, grinned at him.
'Help you, boy? What's a wizard doing here in Knockturn Alley?', a witch asked him. 'It is a mistake. Wrong turn coming from the Leaky Cauldron. I am shopping for books, and other magical items for school at Hogwarts', he answered. Before he could answer, Cornelius Fudge, the Minister for Magic, appeared.
'Come with me, Harry. It's dangerous around here'.
'You're the Minister of Magic'.
'Yeah, Harry. Bad business these days. Please, come with me'.
Harry carried Hedwig in her cage.
'Have I done anything wrong?', Harry asked.
'You left your Muggle home, and everyone knows that in the human World; the Muggles are telling people in the human newspapers, not the Daily Prophet wizard paper. By the end of the school year, you'll be with the Dursleys again', Cornelius Fudge stated.
'But they're horrible'.
'That is true. Not many wizards dare live with Muggles. You lived, Harry because you're a wizard; you are a seeker for Gryffindor house, not Slytherin house. There's a lot of problems with house elves, Harry. You gave Dobby your socks; you are its Master, not Lucius Malfoy, at Malfoy Manor. The Malfoys are a prominent dark wizard family. Some say, He Who Must Not Be Named trusts him, and after the incident with Sirius Black at Azkaban Prison, he is your Godfather. You're safe from attack by him; you're going to Hogwarts knowing that fear won't concern you'.
'It's 10:00 AM, Minister', Harry said.
'Goodness! Let's hurry to Platform 9 3/4', Cornelius Fudge declared.
And they used magic to get to the Hogwarts Express, as shadows hovered above the city of London.
*
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