Before Harry could think of his friend anymore, he was suddenly hugged by his sisters and mother.
Harry gasped.
"Mum! I need… to breathe!"
She gasped.
"Oh Harry, I'm so sorry," his mother cooed.
Little Lily was yanking his sweater telling him to hold her.
Harry smiled and picked her up.
"Hey Lily, have you been a good girl for mommy and your brother and sisters?" Harry said looking in her eyes.
She giggled and replied equally serious, "Yeah!"
"That's my little girl," Harry said smiling at his younger sister.
They looked at each other for a few more seconds until Shelia cleared her throat.
Harry looked around at his assembled family there to greet him. He felt incredibly lucky to be spending Christmas with a real family for the first time in his life.
...
December 27th, Hogwarts Castle, Teacher's Conference Room, afternoon
"Thank you for coming," Headmaster Dumbledore said to the assembled teachers. "I'll try to keep this meeting brief so we can all get back to enjoying our holiday. Thank you for the Therestal-hair socks, Hagrid. I'll let you know how comfortable they are once I find them again. For some reason they up and disappeared on me. I'll have to talk to the house-elves about that. But I digress. Are there any concerns with regards to our students that needs to be shared at this time?"
Most of the staff looked at Severus for his usual complaints. The potions master kept his mouth shut, his lips firm and looked away from the rest of the staff. There was only one thing on his mind and they all know it: Potter. How had a first year… and so on he wanted to rant. But couldn't. Or wouldn't.
The meeting continued with teachers giving a quick evaluation of some of their promising students, and those that needed additional tutelage, along with those that simply needed more detentions to keep them out of any further trouble (Fred and George Weasley were prominently mentioned more than once they would have been pleased to know had they been there).
As the discussion went from teacher to teacher, Professor Bark waited until his turn to speak. "Bartholomew?" Albus directed. "How about you? Anything you want to add?"
"I know that everyone here who has apprentice Potter in their classroom with the exception of Severus find him a wonderful helper. I have to admit, he's surprised me as well. I never expected someone coming from a pureblood background like he does to be so knowledgeable at such a young age on muggle customs and vernacular. I've read several assignments from other students and have recognized Mr. Potter's handiwork in there."
"Is this going anywhere?" Severus Snape ground out through gritted teeth. They were fawning all over that… that brat again! It was all a ploy! He's as arrogant as his father, if only I could just prove it.
"Well, I was reading his end-of-year term paper last night. I usually am lucky to get anywhere from three-to-six feet of parchment for this subject from my students, yet he wrote out 28 feet. Being an apprentice, I should have expected no less. But after reading it, I wanted to ask if any of the rest of you have noticed Mr. Potter's affinity to muggles or muggle terminology?"
"Well, he certainly has a hands-on approach to his work in the greenhouses," said Professor Sprout. "He's not afraid of getting his hands dirty like most pureblood students I've had over the past few decades. Why are you asking, Bartholomew?"
"Well, as good as he is in my class, I didn't expect much from his story: I mean, he's only 11 years old for Merlin's sake. So perhaps he knows a few things here and there about the muggle world, but could he write a consistent story using muggles as the focal point? But as soon as I started reading it, I was drawn in. Not only for the story and characters, which are strikingly familiar, but with all the little things hew threw in there when no one was looking. He may only be 11-years old, but he is an amazingly insightful young man well beyond his 11 years."
"Do you think he is getting outside help?" Albus asked with a serious tone. "His mother is after all muggle-born."
Professor Bark shook his head. "I thought of that and wrote her but she assures me she has not given him any help. He hasn't even asked for any which is why it is so remarkable. I had thought that I might be reading another rendition of Mad Marvin Muggle and his Hoover that Flew, which is a story that young Mr. Fosterings presented three years ago and sold to some younger students later on, but Mr. Potter's story had nothing to do with that one. I mean, it didn't even have any mention of muggles using various trapped mini-demons called micro-wavies to cook food and roast gremlins like I've seen over the years either. To me that says he is not getting his knowledge from the upper years. He's getting it from an outside source, possibly from the outside world in general."
"M-m-maybe he sh-sh-should b-b-be immersed in a t-t-tank of h-h-holy w-w-water to ensure he isn't a v-v-v-vampire?" suggested a nervous Quirrell.
"I'm sure Mr. Potter isn't a vampire," snorted Professor McGonagall.
Albus thought about Professor Bark's comments more as the meeting continued on. No, no one thought any more of Harry's antics in class than they did outside of class. He worked hard and had his friends. He didn't cause trouble; in fact he routinely put a stop to it. Unless that trouble was Neville Longbottom.
Still, something nagged at the back of Albus's head. Just how knowledgeable was Harry Potter about the muggle world? And more importantly, how did he become so knowledgeable?
Nearly 40 minutes later, as the meeting was coming to an end: "Bartholomew, do you mind if I review Mr. Potter's story? I'm curious about Mr. Potter's take on the muggle world. It sounds very interesting if you are that excited about it," Headmaster Dumbledore asked.
"Not at all, Albus. You might even enjoy it since you're in it."
"Indeed?"
"He lampooned a few teachers in there. It was all in fun, so no harm intended."
"I'm sure," Professor Snape groused.
....
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