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Midway through, Mippy sat his breakfast in front of him. The food was delicious, and Harry ate greedily as he soaked up the knowledge James was giving him. Eventually, the explanation ended, and they lapsed into silence. James turned back to his paper.
Uncle Vernon liked to read the paper with his breakfast too, but unlike Uncle Vernon's paper, with its neat little boxes and mundane headlines, James' was the strangest thing Harry had seen yet. The Daily Prophet was stamped across the top in a curling script. Articles swirled across the page at odd angles, wrapping around others. The people in the black and white pictures even moved like a silent film stuck on a loop. The headlines were just as bizarre as the paper itself. Muggle-Baiting On the Rise was scrawled about the top of one page, and halfway down, another article read, Knockturn Raid Turns Up Jinxed Broomsticks.
Just as he was squinting trying to read more of the articles and make sense of it, James set the paper aside.
"I never asked, how did you sleep?"
"Fine," Harry told him. What else could he say? The bed was too soft, the room too large and silent. He'd thrown dinner up because he was unused to eating.
"That's good."
For twenty excruciating minutes, they went back and forth with inane small talk. With the new day, the man seemed to realise that he'd messed up in how he'd handled things. He'd stolen Harry from the only life he'd ever known, only to dump him into a world he knew nothing about with the bare minimum of an explanation. Of course, he probably shouldn't have abandoned Harry in the first place.
James peppered Harry with questions about his life and the muggle world. He avoided the Dursley's as much as possible, and kept his answers short. When he couldn't, he substituted things he'd learned from other kids at school. He'd been a house elf for as long as he could remember, so there had never been time for things like hobbies, or interests. He read because it was the only thing that alleviated the hours of boredom locked in his cupboard. He liked learning, because it was a means to getting away one day. Other than his snakes, which he definitely didn't mention, he'd never had friends.
Even though everything James learned about him was a half truth or outright lie, he learned a lot about James. He was one of the youngest people to ever become the Deputy Head Auror, which was some type of high-ranking wizard police officer. In addition to that, James mentioned that he held a hereditary seat on the Wizengamot. He'd read a little about the government in the Muggleborn book, and it seemed that the Wizengamot was something like a combination of Parliament and the High Court.
As James was finishing up, a bedraggled Alex stumbled to the table, still wearing his pyjamas. He snapped his fingers at the elves and demanded food from them. Harry internally winced at his tone. Alex sounded remarkably like Dudley.
James just let him. Instead, James just said, "Nice of you to join us."
Alex mumbled something unintelligible.
"He's not a morning person," James told Harry. Then to the both of them, he said, "The tailor will be here at ten."
Alex groaned.
"He's fitting you both for dress robes." Then, just to Harry, he said, "Harry, he'll also be fitting you for some everyday clothes. Just enough until we can make it to Diagon."
"Thank you," Harry said quietly. He didn't know what Diagon was, but getting clothes of his own for the first time was exciting. Even more so, since they would actually fit.
James waved it off, saying it was his job to provide for Harry.
Several thoughts went through Harry's head, none of them nice. He kept his mouth shut though. He'd learned the hard way to keep his thoughts to himself.
Alex's place was placed in front of him by Mippy. He turned his attention fully towards his food.
A moment later, Hames said, "Right then, I'm off."
He gathered the paper up, and stood to leave the room, then paused. "I hate to do this, Harry, but it's unavoidable. I'll be gone until Monday morning. I truly am sorry. I wanted to spend your first weekend back with you, help you adjust."
Harry wondered what was so important, but didn't ask. Instead, he said, "I'll be fine."
Turning to Alex, James said, "I expect you to behave. Make Harry feel welcome. No venturing off to your friends, no friends coming over."
"For the whole weekend?" Alex asked, shocked.
"Yes, the whole weekend."
"Ernie and I had plans," he whined.
"Cancel them."
"Ugh, fine," he snapped and stabbed at a sausage viciously.
"And no taking Harry out flying. I wont be here to help if someone gets hurt."
"Whatever," Alex said.
James sighed. "Harry, stay inside for the weekend, would you. The garden can be a bit much, I don't want you to get hurt or lost."
Harry had no problems agreeing to stay inside. He was already planning to explore the library some.
"Right. I'll see you boys at breakfast Monday," he said, then left.
Harry sipped on his tea, which was somehow staying at the perfect temperature, and wondered what to say to his brother. Alex seemed to have more in common with Dudley than him, from the little bit Harry had seen of him. He even ate as messily as Dudley.
Harry was eying James' paper, contemplating reading it, when Alex finally spoke.
"I'm going flying after before the tailor gets here," he said around a mouthful of food.
Harry grimaced. It took everything for him to not snap at the other boy to chew with his mouth closed.
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