Chapter 9

The day they were to take the Hogwarts Express to return began cold and cloudy, almost as if it wanted to accompany the young Hufflepuff's mood at the imminent reunion with his 'beloved' family. He still doubted if he had made the right choice and did not know what the reaction they would have upon his return, the owl he sent them had not yet brought him a response, so it could certainly correspond to his mood.

The rest of his friends, like his classmates, seemed happy to be able to return home and see their families, everywhere he looked there was laughter and jokes, expressions of excitement for the return... anyone who saw him might think that he actually liked them. They were forced to stay in school, although their parents might have tried to do so.

"Come on Harry, the train will leave in forty minutes. We have to go to the entrance." Athenea said smiling. "Come on, brighten up that face! We come back home!"

"Yes, we're going home," he answered with a somewhat forced laugh.

His friend noticed how forced his expression was, but she didn't say anything and began to drag him to the lobby so she could go to the station. Everywhere I looked there were people eager to get home. Some people even complained that they couldn't use a portkey to get home. Harry was barely able to participate, he just hoped his parents and brother would decide not to give him a hard time while he was there, although he sincerely doubted it.

The trip, although full of laughter for the vast majority, was quite uncomfortable for Harry. He didn't even know if there would be anyone waiting for him, would they forget that he was coming back for Christmas? And if they didn't forget, would their father come or would he send someone else? The answer became clear to him when he left platform nine and three-quarters with his friends. There at the station was his godfather Sirius, looking annoyed. His father had not forgotten that he was returning today, but he had not wanted to come and had sent Sirius, who had come only for his father... Things were already starting badly.

"Have a good holiday, Harry," Hermione told him.

"Yes, Merry Christmas, Harry," Neville added.

"We'll see each other on the train," Malfoy stated. "This way we'll return to Hogwarts together."

"See you after vacation." Harry said goodbye.

After the usual goodbyes, Harry approached his godfather who had an impatient expression. He only gave him a nod in greeting, before starting to walk towards the exit, forcing Harry to follow him. If it hadn't been because he was already used to it, he would have felt very hurt by his godfather's lack of welcome, but according to his previous experience, he ignored it. What difference did it make if his godfather didn't say anything to him? As far as he could remember, he had paid very little attention to him in his entire life, and if he really noticed his presence, he didn't know how to behave with him either.

"Hold on tight, I'm going to apparate at your house, so grab your things, lest you leave them here."

"Yes, Uncle Sirius," Harry murmured, grabbing both his godfather's arm and his trunk.

After the sensation of falling apart in one place to rebuild in another, Harry found himself at the door of his house. If it had been another child, he probably wouldn't have stayed at the door for even two seconds before entering his house, but Harry was not a normal child and for that reason, he waited with Sirius for their parents to open it.

It was his mother who opened them smiling. That made his heart skip a beat. Had she missed him? The answer came to him immediately, she was not smiling at him, but at Sirius, in fact, she didn't even notice that he was there. He saw how his mother took his godfather by the arm and took him to the living room, so after a sad sigh, he began to carry his trunk to his room, It was best that he remain there until one of his parents became aware of his presence.

"So you've come."

The boy was startled by his brother's unexpected voice. He didn't think he was waiting for him, much less for him to speak to him, and that worried him, it meant that he would mess with him or try to hurt himself.

"I hoped you would realize that it was best for you to stay at school... but obviously not. Don't you realize you're not welcome?"

"I'll be clear, Brian, I would have stayed at Hogwarts, but I wanted to see Uncle Remus." He said calmly before continuing on his way.

Harry knew that was what Brian had intended, he had wanted to hurt him, hurt him as much as possible... and by Merlin, he wasn't going to let him see how much his words had really hurt him. So without paying attention to the hateful look he was giving him, he re-entered his room, which looked exactly the same as when he left. His protective spells had definitely managed to save his belongings from Brian.

He began to unpack his luggage slowly, careful with the different potions he had been studying and experimenting with, and then he put his books on his shelf with the help of his control over the wind, so he was much faster and also careful. He was about to start laying out his clothes when he noticed his father approaching his room at a fast pace. With a sigh, he stopped using his elemental magic and went back to doing it by hand. He didn't even knock, he entered as if nothing had happened. To him, that Harry would require intimacy was practically inconceivable.

"I see that you have already unpacked your luggage." He said by way of greeting. "Good, this way it will take less time. As soon as you finish I want to talk to you in the living room."

The living room? That was unexpected, he had thought he would want to talk to him in his office. Well, it wasn't his problem, that just meant he wanted everyone to hear him, and he supposed it was to make him uncomfortable… not that he would achieve it.

As he had expected, his parents, his brother, and Sirius were in the living room. Well, if they wanted to be there, he wasn't going to stop them... He sat on one of the sofas and waited for his father to start the conversation.

"Well... I suppose that this course would have gone well for you, but if I'm not mistaken you have something to teach me."

"Yes, of course," Harry said rather timidly.

"You've had a bad time, isn't that it?" His father said smiling. "I already knew it wasn't a good idea to try to teach you all the material of a course in such a short time, if it had been Brian, okay, but you…"

"James, please..." His mother cut off.

"Lily, I'm not saying anything bad. Okay, he's not a squib as we had thought and okay, he's a little better at magic than the rest of his classmates... but trying to advance him one grade? Lily, for Merlin's sake, Harry is a normal child, there is nothing special about him."

"I didn't know that the Professors wanted to advance him a year..." Sirius said surprised.

"Yes, they wanted to, but to do it he first had to learn the first-year material, and I don't think he passed his exams. Well, can you give me your grades?"

Harry gave him the parchment with his grades and waited for his father's response. It had hurt him so much that his father didn't believe in him… for him only Brian was perfect. It had always hurt to see how they were differentiated, but how could he fight against a prophecy? It was useless.

"What the hell…? You have Outstanding in everything?" His father asked, dumbfounded.

"What is that?" The others exclaimed.

"Everything is passed and with good grades. Transfiguration, Outstanding, Charms, Outstanding, Herbology, Outstanding, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Outstanding, Astronomy, Outstanding, History of 

Magic, Outstanding, Potions, Outstanding and Flight, Outstanding"

[T/N, The hell man the original Author didn't use the Canon grading system so I had to fix that.]

Harry didn't say anything, after all, it wasn't like he could justify anything. He had done what he had to do and he knew that Remus would be proud of him, which was what really mattered to him. He had learned from the others that it was better to ignore them, they would never see beyond the prophecy. Without saying a word, he gave them the parchment with the material he would need for the second course and after that, he got up and went to his room.

During the next few days, his parents did not try to approach him, although it was impossible to say because they did not know how to react or because they were upset. They only saw each other during meals, which were always tense and complicated... for the rest of the day Harry was locked in his own room, researching how the wolfbane potion could be improved... it had to be achieved somehow. In fact, there was no real interaction between the boy and his family until they were preparing for Christmas Eve dinner... or rather, until Remus arrived to spend both Christmas Eve and Christmas with his friends and families.

"Can I come in?" The werewolf asked after knocking on the closed door.

"Sure, Uncle Remus... go ahead."

"I see you're busy."

And so it was, Harry was currently bent over his desk, writing furiously on his parchment. The werewolf was unable to understand what he could be writing, since obviously, his Professors had not given him any homework, they all considered that he had already done a lot by learning the syllabus of a course in just three months. What he did not know was that the boy was carrying out calculations, hypotheses, and analyses to see if he could begin his study and improvement of the Wolfbane.

"You've made quite a mess in your parents' mental structure." Remus said happily. "Your father is absolutely lost, and so is your mother."

"What do you mean?"

"Not much, just that they never expected you to turn out to be such a powerful or intelligent wizard." The adult explained. "When I arrived, I had your parents asking me for at least twenty minutes if I knew about your abilities and why I didn't say anything."

"And what was your answer?" He asked curiously.

"Ahhh... that their duty as parents was to have realized it themselves, not for the rest of us to tell them. I don't think it was the answer they were expecting."

That made Harry laugh. He had always liked his Uncle Moony, as he used to call him as a child. He was the calmest of the marauders, and for that reason, most like him. The fact that his condition had made him vulnerable and the systematic rejection of society, psychologically fragile, had brought them closer together, as the way Harry's parents treated him was quite similar as a result. The other's need for their person had given them strength, which was just what they needed.

"Come on, let's go downstairs. There is a Christmas Eve dinner that awaits us... and we must admit that your mother has a very good hand in the kitchen... She makes a delicious roast beef!"

Harry laughed again, although this time less intensely. Yes, his mother's food was good, but his presence was still unwanted or forgotten, and he didn't like that so much. Sigh. He liked Uncle Remus, a lot, but really, he considered it best that he had stayed at Hogwarts.

Dinner was as he had already imagined, uncomfortable. His parents had decided to ignore him and his brother gave him looks full of resentment, for their part, his godfather and his wife Odrey looked at him as if he were a laboratory specimen to study, luckily their son Mark was too young to notice. It was also quite notable how uncomfortable it was for Harry at the end of dinner when he literally ran to lock himself in his room, so as not to go out for the rest of the evening, although he could clearly hear them having fun without him. The best thing was that the next day he didn't even show up, although he knew that Remus would come looking for him.

The next morning, Harry was awakened by Brian and Mark's enthusiastic shouts at the sight of the different gifts. He was about to roll over and go back to sleep when Remus stood in front of his door and knocked... Harry sighed, he knew Remus would come looking for him.

"Yeah? What do you want Uncle Remus?" He asked without even getting out of bed.

"Harry, we're waiting for you downstairs," Remus responded, still without entering the room.

"You know that's not true." The boy stated. "They don't even miss me. We have this talk every year."

"And every year you end up going down... Do it for me."

"Alright."

Five minutes later, Harry left his room and began making his way downstairs with Remus at his side. The sight that greeted them was not unexpected, Brian and Mark were opening their presents as if there was no tomorrow, not paying attention to anything else, while the adults looked at them with amused expressions. Harry sighed before approaching where Remus's gift used to be, a little corner almost forgotten by everyone, and he stopped dead, There was more than one gift there... several more.

With a happier expression than he'd had on any other Christmas, he sat down on the floor and picked up the first one, it was Draco's.

"Hey! Don't touch my gifts!" Brian's voice brought him out of his reverie. His brother looked at him furiously.

"It's not yours... it's for me."

"Give your brother his gift back," his father said angrily.

"But it's not yours! It's mine! Look!" Harry exclaimed while showing the etiquette to his father. "See? For Harry. It's mine!"

"Who is going to give you a gift?" Brian said annoyed. "They have never given you anything… Obviously, it is a mistake." After that, he snatched the package and was going to unwrap it, when Remus took it away from him.

"Uncle Moony! It's my treat!"

"I would say not."

"Moony, what are you doing? Why are you taking the gift from him?" James asked angrily. "The fact that it is addressed to Harry is a mistake, you should return it to Brian."

"Unless Brian has made new friends, without anyone's knowledge, it's not a mistake."

"What nonsense are you talking about, Remus?" Was Lily's response.

"In this card, it clearly says, 'For Harry, from Draco.' Does Brian know any Draco?" He was answered by silence. "That's what I thought. Open your presents, Harry."

"Harry, he doesn't know any Draco either!" Brian exclaimed angrily.

"Yes, I know him. Draco, Athenea, Jonathan, Hermione, Terry, Neville, Fred, and George, they are friends of mine... my friends at Hogwarts."

Brian could complain, get angry, throw a tantrum, but his parents couldn't give him Harry's gifts. Those gifts were from Harry's friends, not his, and they couldn't do anything.

Harry, for his part, laughed happily at his uncle, as he picked up Draco's gift and opened it carefully. He hadn't realized it, but the attention of everyone present was focused on him, to discover what his gifts consisted of. Once the wrapping paper was out, the little boy found a box that was not very large, almost like a shoe box, but a little more square. He lifted the lid and let out a scream of pure delight, inside was a black kitten looking at him with innocent blue eyes.

[T/N,?!?!!?! Who sends an animal in a present box outside of movies! The thing could have suffocated or starved...Oh yeah, magic]

He picked him up and hugged him tightly while smiling as he remembered how Draco knew about his passion for cats... he had found him practically cooing over Athenea's kitten, which had been lost and he had found it... It had been the first and only time He had told someone how much he liked those animals and Draco had remembered.

Placing the kitten on his lap, he went for the next one which turned out to be Terry's, there wasn't much to think about, it was a book on advanced transfiguration, Hermione's was also a book on advanced potions, Neville had sent him a small assortment of potion ingredients, From Fred and George he received a package full of jokes and from Athenea and Jonathan, he received a joint gift, a silver necklace in the shape of a phoenix, which reminded the boy a lot of his tattoo... Surely Jonathan had visited several stores until he found it. He only had Remus's gift left, which he opened with enthusiasm, it was a book. When he saw it he started to laugh, it was a book about curses such as butter hands, jelly legs or cursing bats. He was going to have fun learning how to make them.

After that, after thanking Remus for his gift, he took his different gifts and returned to his room. He was in a very good mood, his friends had been right with the gifts (well except Fred and George, but they would have uses too) and he hoped his own gifts had been just as right. But first things first, he had to put a protection spell on his new pet, or else, Brian would make sure that he no longer had it in a short time.

[T/N, M*ther F*cking Brian C*nt boy! Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter as much as I did, if you did drop me a few stones, leave a comment, if you had a problem then tell me as well.]

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