"Why? What would make him that way?"
"I don't know. I know that Petunia has no love for magic or things that are magical. I know that Harry was not physically abused, I've checked Poppy's records to verify that. But I very much doubt he was raised with much love or acceptance. He's a very hard worker. I suspect he has always had to earn his way as it were. Some of what was in the paper last summer makes me sure of it. I know from his interactions with other students when threatened the boy can fight. He fights very well, if he knows or suspects he is outclassed magically he takes the fight physical and he is formidable, largely because there is a ruthlessness to him when he fights. Mad-eye Moody would like his fighting style. Also there is a… part of him… "
"Yes?"
"Tell me Remus, were you ever on the receiving end of one of Lily's pranks?"
Remus remembered the one time he had provoked Lily into pranking him. Her retaliatory prank had left him quite certain he never ever wanted to arouse her ire ever, ever again. Her prank had been borderline cruel but it also had the effect of making him think. James and Sirius had never been introspective enough to get the lesson but that hadn't stopped Remus from getting it. "Yes," he said hoarsely.
"Now imagine such a prank pulled on all of Hogwarts."
Remus winced.
"Exactly. There was no proof he was behind it. He's merely the most likely candidate. At the closing feast last year, everyone's biggest fear about themselves was put on display for the whole world to read.
"He is a suspect because last year he was being pranked unmercifully by the Weasley twins. Two, sometimes even three times a day they were getting him. In retrospect I suppose we teachers should have stepped in, but we didn't. I suppose… we all ignored his needs because he didn't… he wasn't what we expected. Stupid of us to think we would know him, that he would be precisely what we all imagined he would be, stupid of us to believe the fiction created about him and sold to a hungry public.
"It was harmless stuff, the pranks, embarrassing but harmless. Stuff that Harry seemingly ignored until he got sick of it. Then one day the Weasley twins found themselves singing "Ten Green Bottles" every waking moment that they weren't eating for three days straight. We couldn't figure out how to dispel it and silencing spells on them didn't work. He sent them a note signed Son of Prongs. If it weren't for that, no one would have known who it was that got the twins. They have left him alone since then, something about having been threatened with something even worse. It was impressive, let me tell you.
"Albus has always had plans for Harry Potter ever since… but with Harry, this Harry not the one he hoped to create, he is going to have to change his ways or he'll get nowhere. Sometimes I think the old man has lost his edge, old age is succeeding where Dark Lords and political maneuvering hasn't. Last year he brought what we all thought was a philosopher's stone here. He claimed Nicholas Flamel wanted him to protect it for him. He confided in me that he thought the Dark Lord was after it. Anyway he had us create protections for the stone. He actually had each of us come up with several for him to choose from. Imagine our surprise when he didn't pick the strongest we came up with. Harry accused the Headmaster of designing it as a test for him. On reflection he was probably correct. Anyway he figured it out and despite Quirrell's substandard teaching, he successfully retrieved the stone when Quirrell forced him to by threatening Longbottom. What Harry somehow knew that the rest of us didn't, was the stone wasn't genuine. He used it to maneuver Quirrell, who apparently was being possessed by the Dark Lord, into freeing himself and Longbottom. They escaped and reported to us teachers. We reacted… poorly. Instead of commending the boys for their cleverness and resourcefulness we took points, two hundred of them each, for their risking themselves and their plain speaking about the whole misbegotten situation.
"Not one of my finer moments I assure you. It doesn't help that I have a hard time looking at him and not seeing James. Harry carries himself with an assurance that can easily be mistaken for James' arrogance, I sometimes forget and react to Harry as I would to James. It was only through a summer's reflection that I came to realize my… error. I've tried to do better, but this Harry is neither naïve nor trusting and I have yet to figure out what coin will buy his forgiveness. I would hope that Albus would also understand this, but he's so set in his ways, so sure he's the only one who can guide the wizarding world. He seems to see people Harry's age and he forgets that they have minds of their own and just because he sees things a certain way doesn't mean that they will see it the same way. I think my biggest fear right now is that he won't give up his manipulations and by continuing to try he'll turn Harry dark.
"Harry's not you know. He has the capacity for darkness, but he's not there yet. His relationships with the other students, especially Longbottom, is what allows me to hope. He will never be the shining hero Albus was hoping and manipulating for, but I believe he still could be the hero the wizarding world requires. I just hope Albus sees that before it's too late."
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