He untied the letter which read:
"
Harry,
I'm sorry I couldn't be there when you opened your letter. I am busy taking care of some things that need to be dealt with quickly. Anyways, I bought the owl today from Eeylops, thought I could at least send you a letter. Her name is Aurora. I will not be able to be there for a while after this. Sorry and thank you again for freeing me.
Your debtor,
Diablo
"
As Harry looked up at the snowy owl, it stared back. After having lost hope of Harry giving her any treats, she flew back. Harry kept staring at it for a while. After a while, his neighbor Mrs. Figg appeared from the other side of the small alleyway, breaking his trance.
Harry pocketed the letter and started heading back. 'How did he write the letter?' He thought as he walked out of the alley.
-
Two whole weeks passed and no other news from Hogwarts came and then:
Ring Ring
When Harry opened the door, he found a tall, severe-looking old lady whose dark hair were tied up in a bun under her black velvet hat which was adorned with pheasant feather plumes extending from a feathered side button.
"Hello, you must be Mr. Potter! My name is Minerva McGonagall, deputy headmistress at Hogwarts. Will you let me in now, Potter?"
Harry was shocked. He was told loads of cool stuff about her by Diablo. "Can you turn into a cat?" He blurted out before realizing that he was supposed to keep it a secret.
"Who are you chatting w-" Petunia was left gaping wide at McGonagall who looked at her with her stern gaze.
-
Petunia knew about her, the blasted woman who took Lily with her and turned her into a witch. This could simply not be, she would not let her take Harry away and turn him into one of them. She offered the old witch a cup of tea as she sat down in front of her chair with Vernon and Dudley left and right.
"I assume, Petunia, that by now you would have matured into a nice lady who knows better than to hate magic." McGonagall took a small sip.
Looking at Harry's new clothes -that he'd gotten from Diablo's money- she said: "I see you are at least not taking it out on the boy." Harry hid the scar on his neck nervously. The Dursleys seemed oblivious of Harry's new clothes even though they were right in front of their eyes.
"Tell us why you're here." Petunia gulped.
"Well, the boy's magical... and eleven." McGonagall looked at Harry with a warm smile: "He deserves to get quality education."
"No one is going to that cursed place again." Petunia now seemed horrified: "Not after Lily got herself blasted with that hoodlum Potter."
"I'd like to see you stop me, then." The deputy headmistress had taken out her 14 inch long wand now which made the family terrified. She then looked at the boy: "Why are you so awfully quite, Mr. Potter?"
"Nothing. It's just... I don't know what you are talking about. Me, magical?" Harry pretended not to know.
The witch gasped and looked at his aunt in fury: "What is this, Petunia? Why did you not tell him?"
Petunia looked the other way as McGonagall stood up and said: "Well let's go then, Mr. Potter. I'll tell you as we go."
None of the Dursleys dared to move until the soft pop sound of disapparating proved they were gone.
-
Both of them apparated back onto the Diagon Alley as Harry pretended that he was about to puke. Soon after he recovered himself and faked a gasp: "Woah! That's magic." He pointed to a moving picture on a newspaper.
"Yes, Potter. That's the most simple-" She stopped as she looked at the picture. It was a large photograph of a sunken-faced man with long, matted hair blinking slowly.
She quickly unfurled the paper, its headline read:
MASS MURDERER BLACK NOW AT LARGE
With the subheading:
Sirius Black, managed to escape Azkaban, still eluding recapture.
"It can't be." She breathed as she took Harry's arm and asked him: "Mr. Potter, the Headmaster ordered to ask if you have, by any chance, had any encounter with anyone from the wizarding world in the past month?"
Harry froze. After a while, he mustered up a feeble: "No."
'When Dumbledore said that he had to change all his plans because Harry managed to read the acceptance letter, I thought he was just overreacting. He ordered me to got take Harry when he had already asked Hagrid in advance earlier. With this news, I can see that something big is in the making. I need to take Harry somewhere safe first.'
Pop
Both of them appeared in The Leaky Cauldron where they ran into a quirky man wearing a purple turban. "H...h...Harry P...Potter!" He discovered him early on.
Beep Beep
The altered sneakoscope rang in Harry's head and he started looking here and there. Thankfully, no one else could hear it.
"A pleasure to m...meet you!" The man quivered and reached out his hand for Harry to shake. "Not now, Professor Quirrell! Potter is in imminent danger here."
Quirrell looked at her morbidly. "Black has escaped from Azkaban, Quirinus. We need to keep Harry safe."
Immediately afterwards, a room was booked in the inn and Professor McGonagall wanted to leave after saying: "Your school supplies will be brought to you right here, Potter. Don't wander around like your father."
"Wait, Professor!" She stopped. "You were supposed to tell me how I'm magical... and my father. What kind of a person was he?"
McGonagall's gaze faltered as she noticed the sadness in the boy's voice. She sat down on the sofa placed near the bookshelf.
"Alright, Harry. Sit next to me."
Slowly, she told him all about Harry's parents, how they died and he survived. Harry had feigned ignorance before but hearing from her, he could not help but feel tears dropping down his face.
-
In the evening, a horsy man named Stan delivered his books to him. There was also a barn owl from Dumbledore as a gift.
Harry started skimming through his books as a pastime. After 20 minutes of which, he named the owl Hedwig, after Saint Hedwig whom he had read about in History of Magic.
The owl seemed to like the name. She remained close to Harry throughout the night as he kept reading through his textbooks, wanting to live up to Diablo's expectations, the end of which he did not know.
-
A whole week went by as Harry had completely forgotten about the world. He had kept his focus on the Potions and History of Magic as he thought that messing with Charms and Transfiguration might be messy since it required wandwork, the tool he did not have.
Slither
*Happy Birthday, Harry.*
Diablo hissed out as Harry had just opened his eyes on the bed.
*Hey! How did you know it's my birthday?* Harry asked.
*I have my ways.* Diablo shrugged. *Well, what are you doing here? Let's go get your birthday present. How about a wand?*
Harry nodded happily but then stopped: *But Professor McGonagall said that it's dangerous for me out there.* Diablo rolled his eyes: *Trust me, it's alright. You are just as much in danger as I am.* He said as he gave out a chuckle and hid under Harry's sleeve. He got out of his room and down the stairs.
*Don't respond, Harry. Just listen. Leave from the door on your left.*
Harry obeyed but there was a dead end.
The snake got slightly out and said: *Tap where I do.*
The pair completed the coded tapping as a pathway to the world of fantasy opened up for a bewildered Harry. He'd never came this way.
*Well, come on. Let's go.*
"Oh! Potter, thank God you are here. Hurry up, we still need to get your wand." It was McGonagall: "Wait, how did you know which bricks to touch?"
"I saw someone do it earlier yesterday." Harry lied.
"So you came out from your room even when I told you not to." She asserted.
'Oh hell!' Harry thought as the pair walked over to Ollivander's.
The old man slided along with his ladder towards the reception desk. "Ah! Harry Potter."
"It feels only yesterday when young Miss Evans first got her wand. The same eyes, you have, Mr. Potter." Mr. Ollivander smiled.
"Apart from that, Mr. Harry Potter, you are a spitting image of James, the troublemaker. The wands he broke have never been fixed to this day."
Cough Cough
McGonagall coughed to assert her presence. "Sorry, Minerva. Didn't see you there."
-
When they got out, Harry asked her: "Do you take him seriously? Am I also going to be evil but great like Voldemort?"
Professor McGonagall lowered herself down to his level and said: "Harry Potter, you must remember one thing. The goodness lies in the heart. Not in the wand. Not in the house, but the heart."
Harry felt reassured. 'There's no harm in being a little ambitious then, is it?' He told himself.
...
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Hi! I'm the author,
Sorry for the late chapter. I had some stuff going on.
Btw, 1500 words as promised. Enjoy, love.