Freedom

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- Guided by the testimony of Rubeus Hagrid, as well as the provided memory of the defendant, Harry James Potter is found not guilty of manslaughter. The manifestation of magic that led to the death of a muggle is qualified as a magical outburst. Dennis Kunt's parents are ordered to pay the cost of the wand their son broke while attacking the defendant. Proceedings will be instituted against Petunia and Vernon Dursle to revoke custody of Harry Potter,' Amelia Bones said in an official tone.

Harry took a breath. He had feared until the last moment that he would be imprisoned.

When Dennis had caught fire, Harry had been terrified he couldn't even move, let alone run away or help. However, when Dennis, covered in flames and screaming in pain, moved towards him, Harry's ability to move abruptly returned to him, and he ran away in a panic. The last thing he remembered was the smell of burning meat.

Waking up, Harry decided that what had happened yesterday had just been a dream, and he thought of nothing better to do than head towards the Dursleys' house. But as he approached the house, he was greeted by a flash of red.

This time Harry woke up in a cell of some sort. Before he could panic, an investigator came up to him almost immediately and started taking statements. Potter was so frightened that he told everything he knew: about elemental magic, about torture, about Hagrid.

Soon Hagrid himself came to him and told him the whole picture of events.

Dennis was dead, and Harry would be tried for murder. Muggle murder cases don't usually get much attention, but considering that the hero of Magical Britain was on trial, his case was assigned to the head of magical law enforcement, Amelia Bones. There was even thought of bringing in Dumbledore or Minister of Magic Fudge as a judge. Hagrid said that Amelia Bones was the worst option, as the other two would definitely acquit him: Dumbledore, in the half-giant's opinion, is the fairest, and he would realise that Harry didn't set Dennis on fire on purpose, and Fudge respects Dumbledore and wouldn't let the Boy Who Survived be sentenced. Amelia Bones, on the other hand, is very harsh and would quietly be able to sentence anyone to even a Dementor's Kiss if she was sure of their guilt and intent to commit a crime. Harry didn't know what a 'Dementor' was, but since his kiss was a sentence, it was definitely something horrible and disgusting.

Potter from such news finally closed in on himself. And it wasn't even because of the murder. Harry didn't feel any remorse about Dennis. Maybe Pierce had knocked all the feelings out of him, or maybe he just didn't see Dennis as a person, or maybe he just didn't think he was responsible for his death. Harry didn't know exactly why, but either way, the fact that he had killed a man didn't bother him at all.

He was much more concerned about the upcoming trial. Harry was very afraid. Afraid of everything. He was afraid of being imprisoned; he was afraid of being sentenced to death; he was afraid of being burned at the stake, as witches were burned in ancient times; he was afraid of the trial itself, of the huge number of people who would look at him judgementally; he was afraid of Amelia Bones, who would judge him; he was even afraid of the moment of testimony from Dennis's parents.

In the end, all who attended the trial saw not the Boy Who Survived, but the Boy Who Fears.

It got off to a terrible start. Harry was brought into the courtroom, he looked around, found a hundred stares directed at himself, and made the most original decision.... He simply ran away. He wasn't guarded, as no one expected resistance from an eleven year old boy. Hagrid asked Amelia Bones to reduce the number of people in the hall, but she ignored his request.

The second time the defendant was guarded very carefully and given no opportunity to escape. Harry, however, every time he was asked a question, stuttered, stammered, and changed and amended his answer a great many times.

Especially memorable to the witnesses at the meeting was the answer to the question:

'Did you intend to harm Dennis Kunt?'

Harry, as soon as he heard this, immediately closed his eyes and answered in a slurred tongue:

- No, I certainly didn't want anything to happen to him, though no, I mean yes I did, but only this time, because he was going to burn me, but only that time, no more, I mean other times I did too, but generally no, I mean yes, I mean I did, well... it's complicated.

Although Harry's speech was not understood even by himself, but everyone was ready to agree with the last statement. It is, indeed, complicated.

Anyway, it was decided, with Potter's permission, to take his memories.

No one, except Harry of course, knew what Amelia Bones saw in those memories, but when she pulled her head out of the pool of memory, all pale, many realised that there was nothing good in Harry Potter's memories.

Most of the judges were in favour of finding Harry James Potter guilty, but Amelia Bones exercised her veto power and handed down an acquittal.

* * *

It was two minutes after the verdict had been announced, almost everyone had already left the courtroom, and Harry was still trying to comprehend what had been said. Innocent? The cost of the wand? The Dursleys' custody? What did that mean? Did it mean he wouldn't be living with his aunt and uncle anymore? Harry plucked up the courage to thank Amelia Bones, whom he was wildly afraid of, but she was already gone. He was met by Hagrid on his way out of the courtroom.

- Well, Harry?

- Justified, Hagrid, I... I won't be living with the Dursleys anymore,' he said in a low voice.

That's it. I said it out loud. So it's true.

- No way! Oh, I mean, congratulations, Harry,' the half-giant corrected himself. - But they can't take away the Dursleys' guardianship so quickly; that would require a separate process and new guardians.

Guardians? He'll have a new mum and dad? No way. It doesn't work like that. Even if someone did take him into their care, they'd be just as bad as the Dursleys, if not worse. There are too few good people in the world... Harry only knows one. Or maybe...

- Hagrid,' the boy stammered, 'and you, that is... Would you like to be my guardian?

Hagrid looked at him dumbfounded. Potter sighed.

- 'Harry,' the half-giant addressed him gently, 'I can't be your guardian. I live in a hut, it's small, there's barely enough room for me, and I'm barely paid. And the Dursleys aren't quite settled yet. Why don't you talk to Albus Dumbledore about it, here. Whatever he says, that's what will happen.

Harry nodded and didn't show how upset he was.

- Let's go and see Amelia Bones and find out about the Dursleys,' Hagrid suggested.

- That's a great idea! Let's go,' the boy nodded in agreement.

Hagrid managed to distract Harry from his sad thoughts.

They found Amelia Bones in her office. She was sitting quietly drinking tea, but the pallor on her face could still be seen.

- Hello, Madam Bones, Harry and I are here to inquire about the Dursley custody situation,' the half-giant asked immediately.

- Hello, Hagrid, Harry, have a seat,' Amelia Bones pointed to two chairs next to the table. - The thing is, what I saw in Harry Potter's memory is as horrible as the definition of the word 'horrible' could ever be. I know that Dumbledore insisted that the Dursleys be the boy's guardians, but what Harry is experiencing there is more important than Dumbledore's wishes.

- What if Harry doesn't want to leave them? - Hagrid asked.

- Well, I can't do anything without Harry's wishes, but I don't think there would be a problem with that. Do you, Harry? - Amelia Bones turned to the boy.

- Of course! - He responded cheerfully.

- There you go,' Amelia smiled. - I thought so. I'll try to sort out the custody issue before the Christmas holidays.

- What if... What if no one wants to be my guardians? - Harry asked the question he was most concerned about.

Amelia Bones smiled again.

- 'Harry, do you know that you destroyed He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named when you were still a baby? - Amelia asked.

Potter nodded.

- 'Well then, you'd be surprised how many people will want to be your guardians.

- That's it, we'll be off. Goodbye, Madame Bones. I'll talk to Headmaster Dumbledore about it,' Hagrid said.

He beckoned to Harry and led him towards the exit.

As he left the office, he turned round:

- You're not going to let me stay with the Dursleys, are you?

- I'll do my best, Harry,' Amelia replied.

* * *

For the rest of August, Harry lived in a room at The Leaky Cauldron, which Tom, the owner of the place, had kindly given him. It was the happiest time of Potter's life.

Harry had more freedom in those two and a half weeks than he had had in his entire life. All he did all day long was read books on magic. He didn't clean, do laundry, or go outside as there were plenty of people walking down the street. Of course, after a week of living like that, the room had turned into a big rubbish dump, but Harry was still happy. He learnt what it was like to not be called every two minutes to do any work and be able to do your own thing all day long.

Harry had been spending a lot of time with his Elemental owl. Hagrid had told him that owls could be given their food in case they couldn't go hunting, or if they were unsuccessful. Harry used his owl as a substitute for a real friend to whom he would tell a story or ask about something. He could often be heard saying things like:

- Elemental, why do you think goblins don't get wands? How are goblins worse than wizards?

Or this one, for example:

- Element, do you happen to know how a potion of luck works? It's not like any drink can give a person good luck, right? Otherwise, every wizard would drink this potion and go to the casino to win millions.

Of course, the Element was silent on all these questions, and sometimes she wooed in agreement, but Harry took her as a reasonable interlocutor.

But the bulk of Harry's time was spent reading the textbooks he had bought in Diagon Ally with Hagrid. During the first two days of uninterrupted reading, he finished the books on elemental magic and started on Gig Myshiakoff's Magical Potions and Potions, Bathilda Bagshot's History of Magic, and Adalbert Woffling's Theory of Magic, since the subjects for which these books were needed did not require the use of a wand. After he finished those as well, he moved on to the textbook 'Fantastic Beasts: habitats' by Newt Salamander.

It was while he was reading that book that Hagrid barged in on him. Piled in literally, as the door was barricaded with a huge number of books. To say he was surprised at the state of the room was an understatement. Such a humble intimidating boy, and such a pigsty set up. Hagrid made Harry clean up, and together they went to get a new wand.

At first Harry wanted to try to put the shards of his old wand in the pink umbrella like Hagrid had done, but Hagrid persuaded him not to do that. The half-giant said that the fact that he had a shard from his wand in the pink umbrella was actually a secret and he didn't want to draw attention to it.

On the way to Ollivander's shop, Harry tried again to persuade the giant to buy him books outside of the school curriculum. Hagrid was still adamant, but Harry had memorised the location of the shop and decided that he would go there himself when Hagrid left. They bought a wand and returned to The Leaky Cauldron room.

Thirteen inches, acacia, hair from a unicorn's tail, good for using spells. Harry was pleased with his acquisition. At first Potter was chosen by another wand. A dragon's heart vein, ten inches, very stiff. However, Harry hornswoggled and didn't want to take it. He wanted to get himself some other one, as he remembered the fate of the 'very flexible' wand. Finally Ollivander relented and let Harry choose some more. More specifically, he let the other wand choose the boy.

Harry definitely wanted to try out his new acquisition, but Hagrid brought him a birthday present and Harry's plans slipped his mind.

Hagrid had given him a cake. A large cake with the words written on it:

'Happy Birthday, Harry.'

He started to thank Hagrid haphazardly again, but he left immediately, citing some important business.

Even though Harry wasn't particularly hungry, the cake was so delicious that the boy managed to eat it in just one day. In the ranking of the most delicious things Harry Potter had ever tasted, this cake had moved up from the top spot to the cupcake given by the Dursleys for his eighth birthday.

For the next couple of days, Harry spent the next couple of days reading and building up his courage before going to Diagon Ally. When he had finished the book Fantastic Beasts: Habitats, as well as Philly-da Spore's A Thousand Magical Plants and Mushrooms, he made his first attempt to go into Diagon Ally.

This attempt failed miserably. When Potter wanted to enter the bookshop, he saw a large, noisy ginger family there. They were all yammering, joking, arguing, and doing it all very loudly.

Harry turned around quickly in horror and ran back to The Leaky Cauldron, five minutes later he was in his room. For a while he held back the fear tearing through him. If strangers who were in their own thoughts were a little scary, a large gathering of them, discussing something loudly amongst themselves, gave Harry an animal terror.

Once he had recovered, he made a second attempt that evening. There were hardly any people on the streets, and thanks to that Harry walked to the bookshop without any trouble. The only people in the shop at this time were a boy, probably choosing textbooks, and a woman between thirty-five and forty years old, apparently his mother.

Harry stepped silently into the shop and walked over to a stand where there were books on fire defence and stealth. He quickly picked up two books and was about to carry them to the counter when he ran nose to nose with the very same boy. He was about his age, brown-eyed, brown-haired, with a happy expression on his face.

- Hi!' the boy smiled.

Harry started to panic, but quickly pulled himself together. The main thing was to keep his head down so the stranger wouldn't see his scar under his hair. Now he needed to answer something.

- Hi,' he tried to smile. - Who are you?

Shit. Why did he ask that? Potter looked back: the woman was still arguing with the salesman about something.

- I'm Justin,' the boy introduced himself. - Justin Finch-Fletchley. Are you going to Hogwarts? I saw you with Hagrid a couple of days ago.

- Uh, well, something like that,' Harry mumbled.

- You know, there's going to be flying lessons at Hogwarts, and they didn't tell us first year students anything about it, there wasn't a single item on the book list about it. So I came here to buy a book on flying,' Justin told him.

Apparently, he was eager to share the news with as many people as possible.

- Flying? - Harry was interested.

It was possible to learn more about the subject. Justin keeps his distance, doesn't ask his name. He doesn't shake his hand.

- What's with the flying? Hagrid didn't tell me anything,' Potter asked.

- I only found out today, too, and went straight to buy a book on them. A lot of people say that you can't learn sports by studying only theory without practice, but I think you can learn almost anything from books,' Finch-Fletchley said, and then looked hopefully at his companion. - Do you agree?

Harry didn't know how to answer, he couldn't imagine learning to fly from a book. But Justin's parents are probably wizards, and they've been teaching him since childhood how to understand the magical world. So he would know better.

- Yeah, I agree,' Harry said uncertainly, but Justin was thrilled.

- Will you be picking up a book on flying? - He asked.

- I guess so,' Potter replied after thinking for a moment.

If he was right, then the subject of flying really needed to be familiarised.

- There they are,' Finch-Fletchley pointed to a stand of huge purple and pink leather-bound books.

Harry took the book, pulled out some money and began to calculate the cost of the purchase, 'Okay, one Sickle is twenty-nine Knuts. Thirteen... plus eleven... plus... Shit. Not enough.'

- I can't take this book, I'm three Knuts short,' Harry said sadly.

Apparently, he would have to learn the finer points of flying with practice.

- Here,' Justin handed him three tiny coins.

Harry stared at the money in horror. A trap?

- Don't worry, you'll get it back when you're at school,' the new acquaintance explained, interpreting his look in his own way.

Harry took the coins carefully, trying not to touch his outstretched hand.

- What department do you want to go to? - Potter asked, surprised at himself.

- Er, well, I don't know what there are,' Justin stammered.

- Really? I thought you were well versed in the magical world.

- No, my parents are Muggles, I only have a general idea about school. You don't have anything against muggleborns?

- Of course not,' Harry didn't even know that such a term existed. He felt a strange craving for companionship. - I'll explain it all to you in a moment. There are four faculties: Gryffindor for the brave and honest, Hufflepuff for the friendly and hard-working, Ravenclaw for the clever and resourceful, and Slytherin for the cunning and ambitious.

- I guess Gryffindor then,' Justin said after a moment's thought. - What about you?

After that answer, Harry somehow decided that Gryffindor was a really good option.

- Probably not either. Certainly not Hufflepuff, anyway.

- Justin, let's go, I've already discussed everything with the shop assistant,' the woman who was in the shop with the boy called out.

- Yes, mum,' he sullenly walked towards the exit.

Being at the exit, Justin suddenly turned around:

- See you at school! You never told me your name, by the way.

He didn't ask for a last name, did he?

- Harry, my name is Harry.

Harry Potter bought three books and dragged them to his room. As he placed the books on the table, he suddenly realised that today was the first time he had enjoyed himself for the first time.