Chapter 018

"You also need to understand that, at the time, I had no idea it was Dumbledore or Madam Pomfrey that were apparating in after Vernon went too far and beat me too much. All I knew was that an old man called 'Albus' with long white hair and beard, who wore what looked to me like a gaudy dressing gown, would arrive out of thin air with a sound like a gun shot. Sometimes he would bring a lady a little older than my aunt and uncle who dressed in what appeared to be an old style nurse's uniform, and sometimes not. I also quickly realised the lady in the nurse's uniform - 'Poppy', as the old man called her - wouldn't recognise me from one visit to the next. She also acted as if she was meeting me for the first time.

"I knew from when I asked a teacher at school, that's muggle primary school, what the word 'Obliviate' meant. The closest I could find in the dictionary was that it meant to erase from existence, to wipe clean. And that told me the old man, 'Albus', was wiping Pomfrey's, my aunt's, uncle's and cousin's memory clean; and trying to do the same thing to me.

"If he was wiping everyone's memories away, I quickly realised that it would be a bad idea to let the old man know that I could remember both of them from their previous visits. The old man would wave that stick of his at us, firmly call out 'Obliviate!', a light-blue light would shoot out of it and hit us, I'd feel all wooly-headed for about the next one or two minutes, then everything would come flooding back."

Again, Memory-Harry smirked towards the VIP stands. "And, by then, I had already become a good enough actor to fool the old man. It was something I never stopped doing. As you will see a little later."

Memory-Harry gave a snort of amusement before he changed the subject. "About a week before my eleventh birthday I received my first acceptance letter to Hogwarts. But, I couldn't accept; because, as soon as the letters began to arrive, Vernon was collecting them and burning them.

"And, yes; I said 'them', meaning 'plural'. I received one on the first day, one on the second day, three the day after that, the next day I received twelve, on the fifth day I received twenty four, on the sixth day - the Sunday - about thirty to forty arrived, and on the seventh day well over one hundred arrived. At one minute past midnight the next morning, Rubeus Hagrid turns up to hand-deliver my invitation letter.

"Now, think about that; wizarding mail is delivered by owl. Think about how many owls had to have been flying into the muggle world to deliver mail to me; especially on the sixth and seventh day. Think about how many owls that would have to have meant were waiting just outside - perched on branches, fences and the like - to deliver that mail; each with a letter in its beak or tied to its leg. Would that not be a breach of the Statute of Secrecy? And this was forced, knowingly, to occur under the direction of Albus Dumbledore.

"That's yet another crime willingly committed by the so-called Leader of the Light. And this time it was breaching the law set in place centuries ago to protect the wizarding world.

"Anyways," he sighed, "Hagrid collects me on the evening of the tenth day, we head for Diagon Alley the next morning, my eleventh birthday. I learn about having a trust vault at Gringotts, get some galleons out to buy my school supplies and shop.

"As soon as we're finished, Hagrid hustles me off to the Underground and sends me back to the Dursleys.

"For the entire month of August the Dursleys - all three of them - pretend I don't even exist." Memory-Harry gave a long, drawn out sigh of bliss and added, "It was won-der-ful!

"And, why did they leave me alone?" he asked. "It's because, this time they had kept their memories of just how close the wizarding world was watching me." He sighed. "I was then left to wonder just how much of that abuse I suffered I wouldn't have suffered if Dumbledore hadn't kept Obliviating the Dursleys."

Coming back to himself he continued, "However, during that time I was not idle. Hagrid had told me a little bit about the truth surrounding my parents and their deaths, a fair bit about Hogwarts, and very little about anything else. But one of the nuggets of information he did share with me had to do with the Houses of Hogwarts. And I made sure to grab a book on Hogwarts and another on recent wizarding history from Flourish and Blotts while I was there.

"So, during the month of August, while the Dursleys were ignoring me, I read. I read about the four Houses and of how the students are sorted into each. I read how the method by which students are sorted was based on that young witch's or wizard's character - and grew quite concerned. I knew I was destined for Slytherin if I didn't figure out a way to change it.

"Oh, yes," he suddenly said. "Based on what Hagrid had told me, and after meeting Draco Malfoy in Madam Malkin's that day Hagrid took me to Diagon Alley, I had already reached the decision I did not want to end up in Slytherin.

"And why did I decide I didn't want to end up in Slytherin?" he rhetorically asked. "Not just because of what Hagrid had told me about my parents; and not just because of the behaviour of Draco Malfoy, either. No. It's because of the ideals each of the Houses are supposed to prize the most."

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―==(oIo)==―

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Up in the Slytherin section of the stands around the arena, Draco Malfoy scowled back. Because of his own focus, glaring in hate back at Harry, he was unaware many of his housemates took their own moments to glare at him.

While he didn't think Potter was worthy of being a Slytherin, there were many more of Slytherin House who would have been quite proud to have him in their House. And they all now knew Malfoy was partly responsible for him not being there.

Well, that's what they thought - for now.

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―==(oIo)==―

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"And, why did I believe I was going to end up in Slytherin, you may ask? It's because of my upbringing. Anyone who understands child psychology - that is how a child grows to think based on their home life - will already know that a child that is raised in the sort of home environment in which I was raised would make perfect little Slytherins.

"A child raised in a similar environment to the one in which I was raised would grow up cunning, sly, secretive, would employ guile, almost instinctively negotiate for a better position in life, plan moves in advance, consider risks in advance. In other words, as I said, a perfect little Slytherin. Without their knowing they did it, the Dursleys raised me as a perfect little Slytherin - a true Slytherin.

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