Hermits At Hogwarts: Book One

Chapter Two

 "C'mon kiddies, keep up!" Dedalus Void (X's uncle) called as he walked into the Leaky Cauldron. "I'm getting meself a drink, anyone need water?"

"No." Everyone chimed, sitting at a table. A large man (accompanied by a small, thin raven-haired boy their age) said this very loudly:

"Can't, Tom, I'm on Hogwarts business."

Scar gasped.

The man behind the counter, who seemed to be named Tom, stared at the young boy with the giant of a man. "Good lord... Is this- can it be-?"

The Leaky Cauldron was silent. Dedalus walked up to Harry.

"Bless my soul... It is. Harry Potter."

"Harry Potter... what an honour."

Tom the barman rushed to Harry from behind the bar. " Welcome back, Mr Potter, welcome back."

Scar continued to stare at Harry Potter in awe and shock.

"Harry Potter... He's our age..."

X was the only other Hermit who knew who Harry was.

All the adults in the bar rushed to shake Harry's hand.

"Who is he?" Tango asked. X answered, his voice cracking slightly.

"Harry Potter... He's the Boy Who Lived. I... I'll explain later."

Scar shyly walked up to Harry.

"Hi. My name is Scar." He waved. Harry waved back, a nervous smile on his face, before another person shook his hand. Scar ran back, fan-boying internally. He'd just waved at the person who defeated You-Know-Who, and he waved back!!

After Uncle Dedalus (who'd met a certain Mr. Diggle, who annoyed the heck out of him) led all the kids outside to a dead end alleyway, he walked up to the brick wall.

"Um...oh, right. Three up from the dustbin... and two across." With his wand, he tapped the wall three times and stepped back.

"Wow..." All the young Hermits watched in awe as the bricks on the wall reconfigured themselves to make an opening.

"Oh! You go first Hagrid." Dedalus stepped back for the giant man and Harry, who walked through. Harry looked at the bricks in shock.

"Welcome to Diagon Alley." Hagrid told the small boy, grinning at his awe. Harry turned around to look at the group Scar was with and waved. Scar waved back nervously.

"OhmyMerlinohmyMerlin." He silently squealed in happiness. Did he just become friends with Harry Potter?!

"Calm down, my dude. You're hyperventilating." Ren joked and followed Mr. Void through the brick archway.

"X, I need you and your friends to stay in Florean Fortescue's while I get some money for your stuff. Here, twenty galleons should be more than enough for eleven ice creams."

Xisuma nodded proudly. He knew he could follow the rules (or break them if they were unreasonable), and his rule-following attitude had its perks.

Florean smiled as he gave the kids their ice creams. They sat inside to stay out of the crowd. The parlour owner also gave them a discount (because they're kids, and he's him), so they had a decent amount of money left.

"Hang on, explain the four houses again?"

"Slytherin is the green and silver one. People say their evil, but that's not true. They'd say the same thing if dark wizards came from any of the other houses." Scar explained to Grian again. X looked up from a book his uncle gave him: Hogwarts, A History.

"Merlin himself was a Slytherin, did you know?" He asked Scar, who smiled and shook his head.

"See! Merlin is the most powerful wizard of all time, although some say it's Dumbledore."

"Who?" Iskall asked.

"I need to get back on track, I'll tell you in a minute. Anyway, Slytherins are ambitious and clever. Ravenclaw is the blue and bronze one, they're all about intelligence and wit. Gryffindor is the lion one, with the gold and red. They're brave and chivalrous! Hufflepuff is the one with the badger, with yellow and black. They're loyal and hardworking!"

"You're a Hufflepuff."

"You'd be a Slytherin, Grian. You're very clever, when you want to be."

Grian smiled as he finished his ice cream. "Mumbo's either a Hufflepuff or a Ravenclaw. Huffleclaw!"

Everyone who was listening laughed. Bdubs made his prediction on Doc.

"Doc, you'll be a Ravenclaw, mark my words."

"I'll be a Slytherin."

"You're just saying that to disagree with me!"

"Probably." Doc snickered as he said that.

After five more minutes, a dark question was asked.

"So, what's special about Potter boy?" Doc asked Scar. Scar gained a slightly frightened look. Everyone looked at him curiously, all except for X, who flinched.

Scar took a deep breath and talked in an unusually serious voice (his hand also began tapping on his knee rapidly again). "Twenty years ago, a dark wizard came into power. He drove the Ministry into chaos, and everyone was afraid of him. It was like that for ten years, until he tried to kill two people, named Lily and James Potter. They... he killed them, and he tried to kill their son, Harry, too. But... he couldn't. Nobody had survived that type of curse before... But Harry did. He defeated You-Know-Who in the process. He was only a year old."

Everyone stared at him. Iskall got the courage to speak up.

"Why did you call him 'You-Know-Who'? Does he not have a name?"

Scar bit his lip. Did he dare..?

"People were, and still are, too afraid of him to say his name. His name was... was Vol-V... Voldemort."

The group felt a pang of fear hit them. Xisuma hid his face behind his book. Mumbo remembered when X said he'd never met his parents, and felt the colour leave his face.

"X? Did... Is he the reason...?"

Xisuma answered with a gravelly voice. "Yes."

"You told them 'bout You-Know-Who, didn't you?" Uncle Dedalus asked softly, walking up from behind. X nodded and looked at his friends, lowering his book.

"My mum and dad died a few days before the Potters. They knew Lily personally, and You-Know-Who was merciless." Xisuma let a tear slip down his face while Dedalus rubbed his back.

"I-I'm sorry, I shouldn't've asked." Doc apologized, feeling guilty. X shook his head.

"Should've told you guys earlier."

After everyone calmed down, Mr. Void led them to Ollivander's shop. He sat down on the spindly bench and waited for Mr. Ollivander's usual dramatic entrance.

"Ah, Mr. Void." A voice rang out from behind the shelves. 

    Well, second chapter's done. Yay! 

        - CaptainMarra

PS: Hi, EditingMarra here. Would you like a hug? Well, if you said no, then TOO BAD *chucks self-esteem and good health at you* HYDRATE OR DIE-DRATE MUGGLEFORKER-