Tale of The Past and The Future (Adopted)

Chapter 3

Morgana leads Harry to the third floor of the building, room 109. The woman watched Harry silently humming a happy melody the entire way there. The woman got so fond of the boy that she silently vowed to herself to always keep him safe. 

"Here we are, darling." The nurse said while opening Harry's room and showing him inside. "Dinner's in a few hours so you can go to the library or the toy room to explore if you want. Just ask the kids around where the places are. Every day I'll bring you pills to take that will strengthen your body and the bones that have been broken." The woman turned around to leave but glanced back at the boy and added. "Welcome to Graythorn's Orphanage, Hadrian." And she left the room.

Harry sighed and looked around. The room wasn't as depressing as the hallways or the nurse's office, it was way better In his opinion. It had the same grey walls, but the windows were giant, letting the sun freely shine inside the small room. There were a small dark wood table and a chair by the right side of the room and a double cupboard beside it. On the left side of the room, there was a basic bed, with soft sand-colored sheets and a white pillow. There was a small black chest at the end of the bed - a place to keep your toys and personal stuff in - that had little pictures of birds and humans drawn on with colorful paint. Near the door, there was a slightly dusty body-length mirror with little doodles of flowers with black stuff all across it. The room was dusty and unkept but Harry quickly fell in love with it. The boy let a small smile form on his lips. Finally, a room he can call his own. Not the cupboard under the stairs, not Dudley's second bedroom, not the Gryffindor dorm's - that he had to share with other four people - not the Weasley guest room - Harry's heart ached slightly when thinking of the Weasley's - finally, a room he can call his own. 

Harry sat down on the light sheets and was slightly surprised when the bed didn't let out any noise. It was probably not as old as the one in the infirmary room. He remembered the rules paper that was supposed to be on the door and quickly stood up to read it. He didn't want to get into trouble, after all. 

Graythorn orphanage rules:

1. No being late for Breakfast, Lunch, or Dinner. Otherwise, you won't be let in to eat.

(Breakfast: 8am, Lunch: 1pm, Dinner: 6pm)

2. No stealing food from the kitchens, or you will be severely punished. If you want something from the staff there, knock on the door and they will answer you.

3. No wandering the halls after 11 pm.

4. No going to the town without an adult's aid or permission. (14+ can go to town without aid.)

5. No dismissing chores or orders from the staff.

6.No stealing from adults, or you will be severely punished. (Especially money)

You can:

1. Decorate your room however you want.

2. Go to others' rooms with their permission at any time of the day. (11 pm-6 am prohibited)

3. Buy toys, clothes, books, etc with the money you get from doing additional chores and tasks (ask Mrs.Gillerstone about them)

4. Play in the playground from 10 am-5 pm after that period it's prohibited to go there.

5. Go to the library, it's always available to enter.

6. Play in the toy room from 9 am-7 pm after that period it's prohibited to go there.

Harry finished reading and ran over the text with his eyes once more. The rules weren't too strict, and he was glad. Harry looked around the little room and looked directly into the mirror. He hasn't looked at himself ever since he woke up in this..timeline. His hair was pitch-black in a high ponytail reaching his hips - how the heck didn't he feel his hair heavier or longer he had no idea - his skin was so pale he could be considered a porcelain doll. His eyes, oh his eyes popped out so much without his dull round glasses. The color was such a bright crystal green, putting any gem to shame. He looked so delicate, so small, his body looked so perfect, like the highest quality dolls. 

§"Narcissistic much"§ Death snorted.

'Oh shut up' Harry answered playfully, mentally hitting Death on the back of his head.

The boy looked at himself a little longer, noticing such little things as the height difference in this body and the other one with when he was eleven. It slightly saddened Harry to know that here, as a seven-year-old he was somehow bigger than himself when he was older. But he pushed away his emotions behind a few layers of Occlumency.

Harry liked his room a lot but it was almost empty and so far boring so he decided to go take a walk and get to know the place. He passed the empty corridors, occasionally filled with laughter coming from one room or another. A few toys laid on the ground, some without legs, some without heads. Upon reaching the first floor he immediately spotted toddlers playing in the playground and a few older kids reading in the library. He walked down the first-floor corridors, looking for an adult to ask some questions. Harry noticed that there were no rooms that the kids resided in on the first floor, they were only on the second, third, fourth, and fifth floors. 

Harry soon found an office with the last name he clearly recalled. 'Mrs. Gillerstone' it read. He stepped inside and saw a woman in her late sixties, with her grey hair in a loose bun. She had laughing wrinkles under her eyes and silently hummed some sort of melody while organizing black and blue folders full of slightly sticking out papers. 

"Erm, Hello?" Harry said weakly.

Mrs. Gillerstone turned her head in Harry's direction with such speed, he thought the head would fall off or something. "Ah, darling! You're finally awake! I was so worried, everyone was - except Susan of course - we were worried you'd never wake up! Take a seat, take a seat." She ran towards her table and motioned with her hands to a chair in front of her. "My name is Carol. Eh, Carol Gillerstone. Is there any particular reason you visited me, honey?" 

"Oh, yes. The nurse mentioned going to buy clothes but she didn't say to who I should be going to for that matter..," Harry started "And then I saw your name on the rules board and it said that you manage money or something so I thought that it would be wise to come to you." He finished with an honestly unsure tone.

"Well, it's your luck that's shining today!" Harry almost snorted." I'm actually the one in charge of all the money here. Including the allowances to give to new children for clothing, toys, and all that.." Carol trailed off talking about more and more stuff at that point, Harry just shut her out. "Oh, how rude of me! I didn't ask your name but kept rambling about unimportant stuff. Anyways, what's your name?" The woman smiled embarrassingly. Honestly, she was one of those types of people he couldn't quite understand.

"I'm Hadrian." Harry quickly answered.

"Yes, yes. Can I call you that?" Harry didn't have time to respond before she continued. "Good, good. Since you have a few hours before dinner we might as well ask Susan to go out to get you some clothes and if there's any money left, some toys or books or whatever you want!" The woman shot up from her desk and excitedly urged Harry to follow her to some woman's office. 

Harry didn't like the woman named Carol at all. Well, he did like her just a little bit, but he mainly didn't like her because she was over the top. She was too bubbly and acted like a total child and despite being in her sixties she had a lot of energy and positivity. Though you could sometimes hear a little seriousness in Carol's bubbly, high-pitched voice. Mrs.Gillerstone reminded him so much of a certain orange-haired woman he knew and it slightly made the hole in his chest ache.

If Harry didn't have his natural Occlumency shields - that he got from death - up, he probably neither would be thinking properly and neither would be talking or acting like a sane person. Occlumency helped him push away the memories, emotions, and experiences he didn't want to feel nor remember. And he hoped that it stayed that way. In this life, he won't show weakness to anyone. 

Ever. 

And he silently vowed that to himself.