29 Golden Trio

Everyone in the Leaky Cauldron froze at Oz's comment. Hagrid especially had a cold look on his face as he knew what the Dursleys were like, however he didn't know they were bad to this extent only thinking they name called and neglected Harry not abused him.

A bunch of other Witches and Wizards in the Leaky Cauldron crowd took out their own Health Specs if they had them and looked at harry also, all of them gasping when they saw the state the boy was in.

"Take a look for yourself Hagrid"

Oz passed Hagrid his own Health Specs which Hagrid fumbled to take with his large hands, After a bit of difficulty he was able to put them over his eyes and he immediately fell into rage.

"Tha' bloody Vernon! I' should ave' cursed that bastard! And that' Petunia, ow' could she do this to er' nephew!... Mcgonagall was right' all those years ago... we should never ave' left arry' with them lot!".

Everyone in the Leaky Cauldron started to get riled up after Hagrid got angry as well. Many were yelling out how they should prosecute the family and get Harry saved. After all, though he may be a boy, he did save most of the wizard public by killing Voldemort. Knowing that their saviour was being left in a house with muggles that mistreated him really pissed all of them off. It didnt take long until a very dangerous comment appeared in the crowd.

"Haven't muggles always been like this?! Why do we even give them the time of day!".

Oz immediately snapped around at that comment. Raising his voice he spoke.

"You fools, don't go blaming all muggles. If you don't know Lily Potter, Harry's mum, was a muggle turned witch. If it wasn't for her existing then Harry would never have been able to initially stop the dark lord. Its clearly obvious that the crux of the issue is the two guardians Harry's with! This Vernon and Petunia..."

The audience opinion started to reel back after Oz comment as they realised they were getting far too riled up. Oz noted that during this uproar, Quirrell slipped away out of the Leaky Cauldron through the muggle way. During all this Harry looked up at Oz about to burst into tears. The boy never would have thought all his years of pain could be diagnosed in mere seconds by wizards, changing his opinion on the wizarding world from 'mystical' to 'gratitude'.

Oz turned down to look at Harry.

"Harry, I apologise for saying this out loud to everyone, but you are a very important wizard! Such treatment is blasphemy to a wizard such as yourself".

Although it was all a massive shock, Harry understood what Oz was getting at and nodded, acknowledging his reason why he spoke up.

"I-I understand Oz, t-thank you for saying something for me. I've always been scared to speak up..."

Oz looked down at the broken harry with sympathy filling his eyes, no kid of 11 deserved to have to go through years of abuse like this.

"Its no worries Harry. If you ever need help in Hogwarts, come to me! Ill always be willing to lend a hand whether it be studies or anything!"

Harrys eyes gained a bit of light after Oz's comment, instantly accepting Oz's kindness. With that Oz then turned to Hagrid who was still seething with anger.

"Hagrid, you'll have to pass this message onto Dumbledore. If he vehemently sticks by Harry having to stay in that house at least get someone to monitor it! Or better yet, get someone to prosecute Vernon! If Vernon is taken away for abuse, that would shut that petunia up, scaring them from doing anything more".

Although Hagrid was a big intimidating man at times, he was easy to sway. After hearing Oz's sound argument he agreed and immediately took off with Harry to go and get his school supplies.

Oz went back to his seat in the Leaky Cauldron, sitting down he smiled to himself.

'Now Harry's situation should get fixed... Dumbledore will certainly be getting a shock this year with all the howlers and press he will receive about Harrys upbringing hahaha'.

Oz had nothing against Dumbledore, in fact he held quite a bit of respect for the guy. Although there were many fan-fictions in his past life that painted him as a dark lord and manipulator, Oz saw him instead as a flawed character burdened by his past. The power Dumbledore held was worthy of respect to Oz and Oz personally felt that Dumbledore just needed a large wakeup call to realise his decision making is wrong. This may not push him over the edge but it will get him thinking, especially when the wizard public get a hold of this story.

.

It was finally time for the yearly train ride to Hogwarts, this would be Oz's second time onboard the Hogwarts Express.

He got there early so he could find his own seat in the train and rest himself. This year would certainly be a long one for him and nothing like the previous year considering the events that would occur. Oz had already made a personal agreement with himself to take it a bit easier this year as last year was constant training and reading every night.

After finding a nice spot on the train, Oz sat down and rested his head against the glass, attempting to sleep. As he fell asleep he went over his main personal plan for this year at Hogwarts.

'This year I need to focus on potion-making when possible... Last year in classes I was able to keep up fairly well but the more advanced potions are the ones I truly want to use and my skill level is not there yet. If I use the RoR when possible, I can always practice. On the off chance I can go into the duelling RoR room also to brush up on my high speed duelling...'

With that last thought Oz looked down at his two wands in their holsters on his sleeves.

'The book I have from Merlin... He mentioned wand synthesis... I wonder if there's a material this year I can find thats a good catalyst to fuse the two wands together...'.

As Oz was pondering that thought, His compartment door swung open with Craig standing at the foot of the door.

"Ozzy! its been a while man! thanks for sending all those letters over the summer! Although admittingly they weren't that interesting to read as you didn't do much besides read in your room..."

Oz chuckled at Craig's comment as Craig took a seat opposite Oz.

"Now we are face to face, wanna tell me what Spain was like? I gather you visited the magical community there also?"

At Oz's comment Craig's face lit up, excited to tell Oz about all he had seen over the summer. The boy had grown quite a bit, but he still had that childlike excitement on his face. After talking for a while about various things, a knock was presented at the door.

"Uh... Oz? is it okay if I join you?".

The person knocking was Harry, obviously now finished with his shopping trip with Hagrid. He must have been searching for Oz as he was the only person he really knew at least a bit at the moment.

"Its no problem Harry, come on in! This is my friend Craig. Craig this is Harry".

Craig looked at Harry deeply until muttering in disbelief.

"No way, you're that Harry... Harry Potter right?"

It seemed Harry had gotten used to the comments about his name and his story at this point as he nodded to Craig replying back to him with a "It's a pleasure to meet you Craig" before sitting down with both Oz and Craig.

Oz and Craig then continued their conversations about summer break while including Harry within their talks.

Harry started to really warm up to the duo as they all talked.

Another knock presented itself at the door eventually but this time it was a knock from a ginger boy who also peaked his head in.

"Do you guys mind? everywhere else is full...".

Oz stared at Ron thinking about him as a person in the story.

'A lot of people bash this boy due to his bias thoughts and leech-like nature. I'll give him a chance but if he crosses any lines then I don't care whether or not he's a part of the 'Golden Trio' Ill chastise him for it brutally'.

Oz was the first to respond to Ron, allowing him in. Ron looked relieved as he sat down next to Craig.

Compared to his last train ride, this one was already a lot more bustling in comparison. Craig was a person who was a natural born social butterfly, being able to come up with all sorts of conversations and things to talk about. Mid-way through the journey, Craig started talking about recent events that were in the Daily Prophet most of which included Oz.

"I know Harry wouldn't have heard as he's new to this Wizarding World but Ron and Oz, did you hear the recent news about Merlin's descendant being discovered? Apparently he was discovered at Gringotts near the beginning of summer! The goblins there have kept a tight lip on who the descendant is though... However I imagine its only a matter of time the sell the information off or someone pieces it together".

Oz looked at Craig and smiled. While part of him wanted to tell Craig it was him, He decided against doing so and felt it would be more amusing for the news to slowly come out. Ron snorted however at the comment Craig made.

"Who cares about Merlin's descendant? that man was in Slytherin! I've heard from my family that all those in Slytherin are slimy gits, I bet Merlin wasn't as impressive as they say!".

Oz looked coldly at Ron, Insulting Merlin was something that angered Oz for some reason even though he didn't personally know the man. Maybe it was because it was his only connection in this world that he knew of. Before Oz could speak up however, Craig cut in.

"Thats a shallow way of thinking Ron. If you hadn't noticed Oz whose been talking and laughing with us the whole train ride is a Slytherin! My whole last year I had the same mindset as you before I realised that not all Slytherins are instantly bad people. Also, talking about Merlin that way? Don't be so foolish, he's seen as a legend within in wizarding community. You'd be chewed out if you said such a thing in public.".

Ron turned his head to Oz looking at him in shock, Oz found his reaction amusing as it looked like a mix of guilt but also anger. Like he was fraternizing with the enemy but he secretly enjoyed it.

After that comment was made, Ron noticeably didn't talk to Oz as much which made Oz realise that his views on Slytherin ran deep, almost as if it was imprinted in his blood.

Craig took it upon himself to relight to conversation between the four as they talked about more topics. Oz looked at Craig in gratitude realising that having a friend who was a social butterfly in these situations was certainly a boon.

As the train journey reached its final legs, the compartment Oz and the rest were staying in was again swung open this time by a young girl.

Oz looked at the girl, then looking at Harry and Ron.

'Looks like the Golden Trio has assembled'.