Chapter Text
Mr. and Mrs. Granger, whose names Harri learned were Josephine and Nick, were given the rest of the day to read the first book after Dumbledore explained everything. The rest of them had enjoyed a rather normal afternoon in the mystery room before dinner and then bed. They had woken up this morning and had just finished breakfast when the Voice from the sky appeared.
“Now that our new guests are caught up, I will be taking the first book back,” the Voice said.
Sure enough, the book next to Dumbledore vanished.
“I will be giving you the second book momentarily along with one more guest. In this book, you shall find the first wrong you may choose to correct.”
With that, the Voice was gone, and so were the tables they had eaten at. Once more couches filled the room. Harri once again was stuck between Charlie Weasley and Cedric Diggory. On the seat next to Cedric sat a question mark. For the mystery guess, Harri assumed. Sirius and Remus once more shared their own couch. Across from Harri sat the twins, Ron and Hermione. The Grangers sat next to Molly and Arthur. Once everyone had found their seats, a loud crack announced the arrival of their final guest. In the center of the room stood Dobby the house-elf dressed in an assortment of clothes with a book in his hands.
“Dobby,” Harri exclaimed, getting out of her seat to go greet her friend.
“It is Dobby! Dobby has been wanting to see Harriet Potter miss. When Dobby was asked to deliver this book to Harriet Potter miss, Dobby was excited.”
“My friends call me Harri, Dobby,” Harri said beaming. “ How have you been?”
Before Dobby could answer, Malfoy interrupted, “What is that bloody elf doing here.”
When Dobby saw Narcissa and Draco, Harri could visibly see the elf shrink into himself. She placed herself in front of Dobby without thought, so he was shielded by her body.
“Dobby is my friend. He can be where he pleases. Dobby is a free elf,” Harri made sure to hold Narcissa's eye as she said this. She would not allow any harm to come to her friend.
Cedric couldn’t help but look at Harri in awe. Never had he met a wizard or witch willing to stand up for a house-elf like that. She had called the house-elf her friend. No one else has ever done that before. The act alone spoke more about her kindness than anything they had read so far. Cedric could see why Fred Weasley fancied the girl. It was hard not to like someone as kind as she was. He wondered what else the books would reveal about the girl.
“That’s enough. Why don’t we all get back to our seats so we can read the book Dobby has been so kind to bring us,” Dumbledore injected, stopping any further arguments.
Harri made her way back to her seat, noticing that the question mark next to Cedric now read Dobby.
“Come on, Dobby. You get to sit with us,” she said cheerfully.
“Dobby get to sit,” Dobby asked in a wobbly voice.
“Of course you do,” Harri said quickly, not wanting Dobby to cry again. “Now come on, so we get to reading.”
Dobby hesitantly made his way to the seat next to Cedric, looking unsure. Cedric offered him a kind smile as he sat next to the Hufflepuff.
“Dobby, since you have the book, why don’t you start us off. Only if you’d like, of course,” Dumbledore suggested.
This, of course, caused Dobby to start wailing. “You wish to include Dobby. Nobody has ever asked Dobby to join them.”
Harri had to reach around Cedric so she could awkwardly pat Dobby’s head as she spoke, “Only if you’re up to it, Dobby. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”
Dobby blew his nose on his shirt before speaking, “Dobby shall read for Harriet Potter miss. Dobby wants to do anything that will help Harriet Potter miss.”
Dobby opened the book and began to read.
Mr Vernon Dursley had been woken in the early hours of the morning by a loud, hooting noise from his niece Harri’s room.
“That doesn’t sound like Hedwig at all,” Molly said, frowning.
“ Blasted bird,” Vernon spat.
"Third time this week!" he roared across the table. "If you can't control that owl, it'll have to go!"
“He wanted to get rid of Hedwig,” Hermione gasped. Harri loved that owl. It would kill her if anything happened to her.
“He better not have hurt her.”
She's bored," she said. "She's used to flying around outside. If I could just let her out at night--"
“She wasn’t allowed out?” Charlie asked in concern.
Harri shook her head sadly. “He put a lock on her cage as soon as we got back to the house.”
“That’s animal abuse,” Mrs. Granger said, frowning at Vernon. “You could go to jail for that.”
Vernon sneered at the woman. He couldn’t see how she was perfectly okay with her child being a freak.
"Do I look stupid?" snarled Uncle Vernon,
“Yes,” chorused the twins. It took Dumbledore to get everyone to stop laughing so Dobby could continue.
a bit of fried egg dangling from his bushy moustache. "I know what'll happen if that owl's let out."
“She’ll hunt and get the exercise she needs,” Charlie said slowly as if explaining to a child. Harri couldn’t stop herself from laughing despite the looks her uncle was throwing her.
"I want more bacon."
“I want you to not exist,” Ginny spat, “but we all can’t get what we want.”
“Ginny!”
Dudley, who was so large his bottom drooped over either side of the kitchen chair,
Pomfrey looked over at Dudley in shock. “That isn’t healthy,” she exclaimed.
“Who would even let their child get that large,” Mr. Granger said, shaking his head. He could all but imagine the state of the child's teeth.
"Pass the frying pan."
“Get it yourself, you pig,” Cedric spat. The more he learned about Harri’s family, the more he genuinely began to hate them.
"You've forgotten the magic word," said Hari irritably.
“Oh, Harri, why?” Hermione groaned. Why couldn’t she just hold her tongue around those awful people?
“Harri,” George moaned in pain, “Please, oh please let this side out.”
Dudley gasped and fell off his chair with a crash that shook the whole kitchen;
“I’m surprised he didn’t break the floor,” Cedric said just low enough for Harri to hear, causing her to laugh.
Mrs Dursley gave a small scream and clapped her hands to her mouth; Mr Dursley jumped to his feet, veins throbbing in his temples.
“That’s a bit dramatic,” Sirius commented dryly.
“And I thought you were dramatic,” Ron snorted.
"ABOUT SAYING THE M-WORD IN OUR HOUSE?"
“Now, don’t you think that’s a tad bit ridiculous?” Cho asked. “They're treating the word magic like a swear word. Who does that?”
"HOW DARE YOU THREATEN DUDLEY!" roared Uncle Vernon, pounding the table with his fist.
“Threat?”
“If you want to see a threat.”
“We can show you a threat.”
"I WARNED YOU! I WILL NOT TOLERATE MENTION OF YOUR ABNORMALITY UNDER THIS ROOF!"
“The only thing abnormal here is you,” Bill hissed.
“You shouldn’t scream at children like that,” Mrs Granger chided gently. “It doesn’t teach them anything.”
“I’ll speak to the girl however I please as long as she lives under my roof,” Vernon spat.
Because Harriet Potter wasn't a normal girl . As a matter of fact, she was as not normal as it is possible to be.
“Dramatic much,” Sirius snorted.
“Sorry to break it to you, sweetheart, but you're as normal as they come,” Remus chuckled.
She missed Hogwarts so much it was like having a constant stomachache. She missed the castle, with its secret passageways and ghosts, her classes (though perhaps not Snape, the Potions master),
“Who would miss him,” Fred snorted.
“Malfoy,” Harri supplied cheekily.
All Harri’s spellbooks, her wand, robes, cauldron, and top-of-the-line Nimbus Two Thousand broomstick had been locked in a cupboard under the stairs by Uncle Vernon the instant Harri had come home.
“What?” Cho gasped. “How were you supposed to do your summer homework?”
“Forget the homework,” Oliver cried, “How could you treat a broom like that.”
“I was just glad it wasn’t me,” Harri said, shrugging.
Remus and Sirius growled at the reminder of her cupboard.
Charlie had thrown his arm over her shoulders once more, and Cedric had claimed one of her hands in his.
What did the Dursleys care if Harri lost her place on the House Quidditch team because she hadn't practiced all summer?
“You thought I’d kick you off the team,” Oliver asked, offended, “Merlin Harri, you’re the best Seeker Hogwarts has ever seen. If anyone has a guaranteed spot all seven years their at Hogwarts, it's you.”
Harri flushed and stammered out, “I’m really not that good.”
The whole school snorted at this. If there was anything abnormal about the girl, it was her ability on a broom.
What was it to the Dursleys if Harri went back to school without any of her homework done?
“You should have come to me,” McGonagall said frowning, “I would have talked to your other teachers, and we could have worked something out.”
Uncle Vernon had even padlocked Harri’s owl, Hedwig, inside her cage to stop her from carrying messages to anyone in the wizarding world.
“That's just so wrong,” Luna cried. How could anyone treat an animal like that?
Charlie glared at the Dursleys as if they had just committed an unspeakable crime.
Harri looked nothing like the rest of the family.
“Thank Merlin,” Fred said fervently, eyeing the Dursleys with distaste, “Who would want to look like that?”
“I WON’T BE SPOKEN ABOUT LIKE THAT BY A FREAK,” Vernon bellowed.
“Don’t call him a freak,” Harri spat back angrily. She was getting tired of her uncle insulting her friends.
Charlie had shot a silencing charm at Vernon before leaning to whisper in Harri’s ear, “Just say the word, and I’ll turn his mouth into a zipper.”
Cedric took this chance to whisper in Harri's other ear, “You’re far too pretty to look anything like that lot.”
He was delighted to see her turn a brilliant shade of red. He wasn't sure what he felt for the young witch, but he wanted to find out. He wanted to get to know the girl, not just from these books but from Harri herself. When he had gone to apologize for that dreadful quidditch match, he had left with nothing more than the idea of friendship. He had never expected to even think about possibly liking the girl.
This scar was the only hint of Harri’s very mysterious past, of the reason she had been left on the Dursleys'doorstep eleven years before.
“Why is it going over this again?” Lavender asked.
“Maybe in case someone missed the first book,” Harri suggested, just as confused. But then again, who was she to question these books. None of this made any sense to begin with.
and she was back with the Dursleys for the summer, back to being treated like a dog that had rolled in something smelly.
“I’m positive they’d treat the dog better,” Harri muttered darkly.
“Come on, Remus, just one little hex,” Sirius pleaded.
“No,” Remus denied weakly, though he was struggling not to give in. The more he learned about the Dursleys, the more he just wanted to let Sirius have his way. Cedric gave Harri’s hand a reassuring squeeze. He didn’t care what he had to do; she wasn’t ever stepping foot in that house again.
The Dursleys hadn't even remembered that today happened to be Harri’s twelfth birthday. Of course, her hopes hadn't been high; they'd never given her a real present, let alone a cake - but to ignore it completely...
“That's so sad,” Mrs. Granger cried.
“You’ll be having a party for your 14th,” Sirius promised.
“It’s really okay. You don’t have to do that.”
“We want to,” Molly interjected in a firm tone.
“Make sure to let us know when it's happening so Hermione can attend,” Mr. Granger added.
At that moment, Uncle Vernon cleared his throat importantly and said, "Now, as we all know, today is a very important day." Harri looked up, hardly daring to believe it.
“Us too,” the twins chorused, stunned.
“It really was too good to be true,” Harri snipped.
"This could well be the day I make the biggest deal of my career," said Uncle Vernon.
“Oh, who cares,” Bill said, rolling his eyes.
“How is that more important than your own niece's birthday?” Mrs. Granger asked, annoyed.
"In the lounge," said Aunt Petunia promptly, "waiting to welcome them graciously to our home."
“Wait? They plan their dinner parties out,” Fred asked in between laughs.
“And you thought you were the abnormal one,” George added, leaning on his twin for support.
“What would happen if things didn’t go as planned,” Cedric asked, clearly amused.
“Vernon would probably blow a gasket, Petunia would probably have a mental breakdown, and they would find a way to make it my fault. They usually didn’t have any guess over because they were always too worried about people finding out about me,” Harri said, shrugging.
At Harri's words, the good mood vanished, and Cedric regretted asking.
"They'll love him!" cried Aunt Petunia rapturously.
“More like run away in disgust,” Katie corrected, earning herself a high-five from Angelina and Alicia.
Dudley looked around the room, noticing all the looks of disgust aimed at him. It was the first time in his life people looked at him as he and his family looked at Harri. Their stares made him feel like scum at the bottom of a shoe. Is this what his cousin constantly felt like living with them?
These books were the first time anyone had ever disagreed with the way Harri had been treated. Was it really that wrong?
"I'll be in my bedroom, making no noise and pretending I'm not there," said Harri tonelessly.
“How many times did you repeat that?” Cho asked. It seemed to be practiced.
“He had me repeating it all week.”
“That’s no way to spend a birthday,” Luna said, frowning.
“You shouldn’t have to hide in your own home,” Josephine Granger said kindly, “That’s not a healthy environment at all, sweetie.”
"My perfect little gentleman!" sniffed Aunt Petunia.
“Gentlemen don’t hit women,” Cedric commented darkly, shooting Dudley a glare.
Dudley flinched, hiding behind his father at the glare. Harri was a freak, so she didn’t count as a girl, right? It didn’t matter what you did to a freak. They weren’t real people, his father had always said.
"I'll be in my room, making no noise and pretending I'm not there," said Harri dully.
“She got it the first time,” Charlie growled, pulling Harri into a tighter one-arm hug.
"Precisely. Now, we should aim to get in a few good compliments at dinner. Petunia, any ideas?"
“They have to plan their compliments,” Parvarti Patil asked in disgust. She looked over at her roommate, shocked at how well adjusted she was despite living with what Parvarti could only call a pile of hippogriff shit. No wonder Harri seemed so uncomfortable at the very idea anyone could like her. Parvarti vowed to be a better roommate to the girl. There would be makeovers and boy talk and gossip!
"How about - 'We had to write an essay about our hero at school, Mr Mason, and I wrote about you .'"
Who would fall for that?” Neville asked, bewildered. It all sounded so fake to him.
Aunt Petunia burst into tears and hugged her son, while Harri ducked under the table so they wouldn't see her laughing.
“I’m surprised you lasted as long as you did,” Blaise Zabini commented. “I wouldn’t have.”
“It was pretty difficult,” Harri replied, shooting the Slytherin boy a small smile. She had never personally talked to him, but she hoped these books would help with the massive dived between houses.
Harri couldn't feel too excited about this. She didn't think the Dursleys would like her any better in Majorca than they did on Privet Drive.
“We wouldn’t have taken you, girl,” Vernon had snapped. It seemed Charlie’s spell had worn off.
“Who would want to vacation with you anyway,” Ginny had snapped.
"Happy birthday to me... happy birthday to me..."
Harri pointedly ignored all the pitying looks she received.
Cedric tightened his grip on her hand as he shot the Dursleys another glare. Who treated anyone this way?
Sirius cursed himself. If he hadn’t gone after Peter, this would have never happened. Harri never would have had to sing herself happy birthday. He would make this up. He’d make it right if it was the last thing he did.
No cards, no presents, and she would be spending the evening pretending not to exist.
“You guys didn’t send her anything,” Remus asked, confused.
“Of course we did,” Hermione snapped.
“We would never forget her birthday,” Ron agreed.
“This was Dobby's fault,” Dobby said, “Dobby is very sorry, Harriet Potter, miss.”
“It’s okay, Dobby.”
Several people thought, how did a house-elf have anything to do with Harri not getting anything?
They, however, didn't seem to be missing her at all. Neither of them had written to her all summer, even though Ron had said he was going to ask Harri to come and stay.
“Of course, we missed you,” Hermione said, looking at her friend reassuringly.
“Hermione was rather upset not to hear from you over the summer,” Mrs. Granger added. “She wrote to you over and over again, hoping you’d reply.”
“Fred was a downright nightmare when you didn’t reply to any of his letters,” George chuckled, earning him an elbow to the ribs.
She knew it was only their terror that she might turn them all into dung beetles that stopped them from locking her in the cupboard under the stairs with her wand and broomstick.
“I wish you had,” Collin muttered. How could anyone treat Harri like that? She was amazing!
“I’m going to burn that cupboard to the ground,” Charlie hissed.
She’d almost be glad of a sight of her archenemy, Draco Malfoy, just to be sure it hadn't all been a dream...
“Who would want that?” gasped Ron.
“ I said almost!”
Harri kept waking in the night, drenched in cold sweat, wondering where Voldemort was now, remembering his livid face, his wide, mad eyes--
“It’s rather normal to have nightmares after something traumatic happened,” Nick Granger said softly. “Did you ever talk about what happened with someone?”
“Hermione and Ron,” Harri answered.
“No, sweetie,” Mr. Granger corrected gently, “Did you ever talk to an adult about what happened? Someone who could help walk you through it?”
Harri shook her head no.
Pomfrey looked over at Dumbledore as if to say, I told you so . She would be getting her Mind healer.
She had been staring absent-mindedly into the hedge - and the hedge was staring back.
“Hedges don’t stare back,” Fred pointed out.
“These ones did,” Harri said, shrugging, knowing it had been Dobby.
"I know what day it is," sang Dudley, waddling toward her .
“I didn’t know pigs could tell the day of the week,” George jeered.
"Well done," said Harri . "So you've finally learned the days of the week."
“Great minds, mate.”
"Today's your birthday," sneered Dudley. "How come you haven't got any cards? Haven't you even got friends at that freak place?"
“Of course she does,” Hermione and Ron chorused angrily.
Dudley earned several glares for calling Hogwarts a freak place.
"I'm trying to decide what would be the best spell to set it on fire," said Harri .
“No, you’re just pushing your luck,” Hermione groaned.
"Jiggery pokery!" said Harri in a fierce voice. " Hocus pocus - squiggly wiggly - "
This set the room into a roar of laughter.
“Really, Miss Potter, that's the best you could come up with?” Flitwick asked between laughs.
Aunt Petunia knew she hadn't really done magic, but she still had to duck as she aimed a heavy blow at her head with the soapy frying pan.
“She what?” Sirius hissed, jumping from his seat before Remus could grab him. Both Tonks and Remus reluctantly dragged him back down.
Arthur was having a hell of a time getting Molly to calm down. It seems he had hit her with a silencing charm.
Cedric and Charlie had gone deadly still next to Harri.
“That’s abuse,” Hermione exclaimed. “This is what I was talking about, Harri.”
“I ducked. It never actually hit me, so it can’t be abuse,” Harri denied, her gut, churning unpleasantly at Hermione's word, even if they were untrue.
Mrs. Granger had gotten out of her seat to kneel down next to Harri as she spoke calmly, “Harri sweetie, I need you to listen to me, okay?”
Harri nodded, eyeing her skeptically.
“The act of swinging the frying pan at you itself is child abuse. Even if it never hit you, Petunia could get in a lot of trouble for it. I know you’re used to how you’re relatives treat you, and it may not seem like abuse to you, but if you went to the authorities, the Dursleys would be looking at some serious jail time. Just remember, sweetie, just because it seems normal, or you're used to it, it doesn't make it any less a form of abuse.”
Harri gave a nod in reply. She knew the Dursleys never treated her as well as they treated Dudley or even his friends, but she never put much thought into what the Dursleys did was legal or not.
Petunia paled. She had heard them say they were muggles like them. They would know the muggle's laws.
Harri cleaned the windows, washed the car, mowed the lawn, trimmed the flowerbeds, pruned and watered the roses, and repainted the garden bench.
“That’s too much work for her,” Pomfrey protested. “Especially during summer.”
Wish they could see famous Harriet Potter now , she thought savagely as she spread manure on the flower beds, her back aching, sweat running down her face.
“So exactly what you look like after quidditch practice,” Katie joked weakly. She and Harri had never been close, but it disturbed her to realize what their Star Seeker suffered through at home. On top of the fridge stood tonight's pudding: a huge mound of whipped cream and sugared violets.
“Stupid pudding,” Harri muttered darkly.
Aunt Petunia, pointing to two slices of bread and a lump of cheese on the kitchen table.
“That’s not even a snack,” Molly hissed angrily. The Weasley might struggle financially, but she and Arthur always made sure her children were well fed.
“That is not enough after working all day. It wouldn’t be enough even if she hadn’t worked all day,” Pomfrey seethed.
“No wonder you’re so small,” Sirius said sadly. “I just chalked it up to your father's genes, but I can see I was wrong.”
Fred sent a glare at the Dursleys. He had known it was bad but not this bad. He had gone out of his way since that summer to make sure Harri ate even when she didn’t feel like it.
The trouble was, there was already someone sitting on it.
“What?”
“Who?”
“Why was someone in your room?”
“You’ll see next chapter.”