1,623Dumbledore looked up from his paperwork as an owl from Ollivander's arrived. Considering the time of year it was either a message about the wand he was having Garrick keep an eye on or he had discovered a student that had slipped through the net, by having lived under heavy wards or by being a foreigner who was new to their shores.
Unrolling the missive he was surprised to find it was both and as he'd suspected Harry Potter had ended up wielding 'it.' He was a bit distracted as he read the rest, writing the new student's name down and sending back paperwork for his enrollment and a form for an exception being made to bring a spider as a familiar.
Lost in memories of the past and all the events surrounding a time so very long ago, the old man puffed on his pipe and mourned for a young man named Tom and all those he had hurt in his quest for power. "Stupid little shit," he muttered sadly.
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A burst of fire heralded the arrival of Dumbledore's familiar, the phoenix Fawkes.
"And here we go," Ollivander said, opening the scroll and taking out the two pieces of parchment. "Here is the receipt for William, just take this to the goblins and pay the entry fees, they'll give you your ticket to the Hogwarts Express, the list of school supplies needed is on the bottom of the parchment."
"Billy accepted the parchment and read through it, smiling when he saw he'd been given a last name. He'd been planning on using Door as his last name, but Hagrid sounded much better. "This isn't too much money, is it?" he asked Harry.
"It's fine," Harry assured him, surprised they'd discovered Billy's actual last name and wondering if he was related to the Hagrid he'd met, both of them being half-giant made it hard to believe they weren't.
""And… I was wondering how he'd manage to register you, considering spider-kin are listed as XXX Class Creatures, "Ollivander said. "We have an exception form for the registry of a familiar. As a familiar you can go anywhere your master does, including classes and take any OWLs and NEWTs you can physically perform."
"Let me see," Seline said, reading the parchment or rather trying to and having to have Ollivander help her, not because she couldn't read, but because the form contained a fair amount of legal terminology in addition to words far above her reading level.
"I can't believe I'm going to Hogwarts," Billy said. "I mean, my ma died when I was born and as I grew older it became obvious my Da wasn't my Da. He didn't seem to care, but then he got sick and my aunt and uncle sent me away. I was told the best I could hope was to be put out to stud on a ranch. Still not sure what they meant by that."
"That's not important," Ollivander said quickly. "The important thing is you can go to school with your friends."
"Yeah," Billy said happily.
As they stepped outside the shop a worried Rubeus Hagrid found them. "Harry! Where were ya? I've been lookin' everywhere." He shook his head. "You wouldn't believe some of the rumors going around neither, so I thought I'd check on ya, but Tom didn't have a clue where ya'd wandered off ta."
"Sorry about that," Harry apologized, "I was looking around the alley and wandered off the main, but let me introduce you to my familiar Seline and my friend Billy… Billy Hagrid."
"Billy Hagrid?" Hagrid asked in wonder as he looked closer at Billy and saw he was younger than he'd thought and was definitely of giant stock, though smaller than Hagrid had been at his age.
"Yeah," Billy said holding up the letter from Dumbledore. "Don't know who my Dad is, but according to Dumbledore my last name is Hagrid."
Hagrid racked his brain for what he'd been doing twelve years ago and how he could have fathered a child and forgotten him. He didn't see many of his features in Billy save possibly the chin and hair, but if Dumbledore said he was his son, then he must be his son! "I was part of a secret group during the war," Hagrid said slowly. "To keep people safe I had the Headmaster obliviate me at time, 'cause what I didn't know I couldn't spill."
"Oh," Harry said, wide-eyed as he thought about Hagrid's hidden wand and how he'd first thought it was something out of James Bond.
"What?" Billy asked, not knowing why Hagrid was talking about the war or why Harry had reacted that way.
"My name is Rubeus Hagrid… and I'm yer Father," Hagrid said solemnly, placing a hand on Billy's shoulder.
"What's obliviate mean?" Seline asked, hiding behind Harry.
"It's a spell that removes memories," Hagrid explained.
"You were like James Bond," Harry explained.
"Who?" Hagrid asked.
"A spy who saves the world," Harry explained. "He doesn't have magic, he's a muggle, so he uses a lot of tools and blows stuff up. Part of his job involves meeting lots of women and keeping secrets."
Billy had heard enough of James Bond from the muggle-born and half-bloods as they told each other stories to pass the time, to recognize the reference. He'd even fantasized that someone like that was his Da and would come and save him from the pens, but never in his life did he imagine it was true! "Da!"
"Son!" Hagrid said, snapping him up in his arms.
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"Mr. Delacour?" one of the aurors spoke up. "Ward readings are negative for polyjuice or glamour. It looks like that was his actual appearance."
"I find it very hard to believe that Harry Potter, an eleven year-old boy, found and recovered my youngest daughter when the entirety of France's aurors could not," he replied dryly. "I saw his hand fill with fire that he wandlessly summoned and dismissed effortlessly. That is not the action of a child. I would guess metamorph or human transfiguration are much more likely."
"Rare and dangerous, but much more likely," the auror admitted, "however we have no evidence for either."
"So how are you going to handle it?" Delacour asked calmly. While he would like to make the scum who kidnapped his daughter pay, he was far too happy having her home unharmed to care about it at the moment.
"We will continue to investigate of course," the auror assured him. "Just because your daughter is safe at home now does not negate the fact that she was kidnapped."
"I'm glad to hear it," Delacour said. "Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to spend some time with my family. Keep me informed."
"I'll be sure to do so, sir. However, unless we see Harry Potter wandlessly throwing fireballs this lead will likely be a dead end."
Delacour chuckled. "Just do your best, that is all I ask."
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"What is a father?" Seline asked Harry as they followed Hagrid and Billy as they two bonded, talking about everything under the sun.
"The male parent," Harry replied.
"I thought that might be it, but I wasn't sure," Seline said. "No one would talk to me until you came, but I'd hear a lot."
Harry found himself being hugged tightly be all four arms of the young spider-kin girl once more and grinned, hugging her back just as tightly. It looked like he'd found someone who's life sucked just as much as his had. "Is it different for spider-kin?" he asked as she let go.
"Probably," Seline said thoughtfully. "The woman eats the man after coupling and then lays a bunch of eggs. The eggs hatch and the hatchlings fight for food. Most of them get eaten by the adults I think."
"He should bring her a cow to eat," Harry said, thinking of the nature specials he'd watched in class.
Seine considered that. "Or a dozen goats," she decided. "So… how does it work for humans?"
"A man and a woman fall in love, get married… couple, no one gets eaten. I think they order food in advance." Harry thought about it. "Pizza is popular. Anyway the baby, usually one but sometimes more, grows inside the mother for most of a year before she gives birth. The pair care for the child and it grows up and leaves home and… it all sort of repeats."
"What's love? What's pizza? What does getting married mean?" Seline asked eagerly, she'd heard of some of the things Harry talked about but wasn't sure she had the meanings right.
"Love is… when you really like being around someone and want to be with them all the time. Marriage is when you agree to share a house with them and spend the rest of your lives together," Harry explained in the simplest terms he knew.
"Oh," Seline said wide-eyed.
"Pizza is a type of food you get on special occasions," Harry said, recalling pizza day in the school cafeteria. "Maybe we could get some today."
"Not sure she can eat pizza," Hagrid offered. "I think spider-kin diet is mostly live prey if I remember right."
"I also like berries," Seline offered.
"Never heard of that before," Hagrid said cheerfully.
"Do giants really grind bones to make bread?" Seline asked.
Billy groaned and Harry winced, but before either could speak up to tell her that was just a fairy tale Hagrid said, "That's full-blooded giants from the Hill clans, most giants and those with giant blood, just grind up small stones and bake the powder into little cakes. It's good for digestion. Matter of fact I think I got some on me." Hagrid started digging in the pockets of his great coat and pulling out a pouch that was filled with what looked like oatmeal raisin cookies.
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"Rock cakes are a warrior's food," Thor said with a grin.
"A test of courage and intestinal fortitude in one," Loki said rolling his eyes.
"It's just mortal food," Eros said, "hardly any sort of test."
Hermes tossed a small bag on the table where it landed with a thud, causing the table to shake. He shot Eros a challenging grin, daring him to eat one.
"I was being sarcastic, but how you have me curious," Loki admitted, reaching for the bag and pulling out one of the cakes. He'd never eaten them before, making a point of shunning his giant roots to fit in.
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"They'd probably be better with milk," Harry said as he gnawed at a rock cake.
"Yeah," Saline agrees as she bit a chunk off her own. "And what are those little black things?"
"Garnets," Hagrid said proudly. "They didn't taste half as good until I added them to the recipe."
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Eros pulled his hand back while Loki determinedly worked his way through a second cookie, with a slight smile on his face. "Those are just jewel-encrusted cement disks, aren't they?" he asked.
Hermes simply grinned.
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"I've never heard anything good about this place and it's in Knockturn Alley," Hagrid complained as Lisa opened the door to the Emporium.
"Yeah, but I bought it," Harry told him, "All the people who wanted to go home I sent home, everyone else is getting taught what they need to be an adult."
"Really?" Hagrid asked curiously, just before a wave of excited children swept over them, making talking impossible.
Once the tide of children had receded, Stanley Price made his way to the group and said, "Harry, the contract you slipped me made me general manager of this place, but unless you want me consulting with you daily I'll need the authority to hire and fire people in your stead."
"The tutors," Harry said, remembering what they'd planned on doing before all of the excitement.
"Shank-Ko already brought me a dozen people for interviews today and there are several I would hire on the spot, but my contract doesn't allow me to without your authorization," he complained.
"You have my permission to hire and fire as you see fit, just remember to run it by Shank-Ko," Harry replied figuring since she was in charge of the money she would need to know who to pay or stop paying.
The young goblin blushed heavily as she heard Harry's decision. Not only was she being trusted with the family's finances but she was also allowed a say in who worked there! The goblins told tales about how forward humans were, but she'd always thought they were exaggerating.
"Do you want me to prepare the former owner's room for you?" Lisa asked.
"He's sleeping with me!" Seline said eagerly, not willing to let Harry go.
"I believe I get the first night," Shank-Ko said fiercely, not sure about human customs but knowing that by her people's customs she got first refusal if Harry didn't voice a preference.
"Is the owner's room big enough for all three of us?" Harry asked with a big smile, as he'd always wanted to have a sleepover. Dudley used to tease him about all the fun he had on his.
"Easily," Lisa assured him.
"We'll sleep there," Harry said.
Shank-Ko gave a slight bow to Harry. "As you wish, my Lord."
"Billy grinned and pulled at Hagrid's hand. "Come on dad, I'll show you where I sleep. See you guys later."
"It'll be fun!" Harry exclaimed. "We'll play games, eat smores, and tell stories."
Shank-Ko nodded. She would prove her superiority over the spider-kin who dared challenge her spot as first wife!
Typing by: Jarreas