The Big Three

Chapter 6

               Harry's POV

Peter and I decided to take the kids to the park today to let Percy rest, as we walked I began to notice strange people staring at me. They were wearing colorful robes, some of them were wearing hats as well, one man came up and bowed to me, odd. I didn't think much of it and continued to walk.

Tomorrow is my eleventh birthday, I'm not a big fan of my birthday I've never gotten a present, but that's okay I don't like a lot of attention. Attention in my house never amounts to anything good.

Peter and I were gathering up the kids to leave when a huge man came waddling up to us. He looks scary: his eyes are dark, I can barely see his face due to the length of his matted hair and the large beard on his face.

" 'Arry! I haven' seen yah since you was a lil' one!" The stranger exclaimed.

"Do I know you?"

"Eh 'ow rude of me," The Giant observed. "I'm Rubeus Hagrid I was frens with yer mum and dad." This man knew my parents? This caught my curiosity, the only people I've met who have known my parents are my aunt and uncle and they loathed them.

"How did you know them?" I inquired.

"I'll tell yeh that later, I came teh deliver you this letter," he handed me a beautiful letter with a red seal on the back.

"Why didn't you just send it through the mail?" I'm very happy that he didn't, the houseparents hate it when we get mail, I have no idea why.

" I wanded teh see yeh," he grinned "how's life been treatin' yeh Harry?"

I've learned how to hide my troubles, so I put on my best 'I'm perfectly happy' grin.

"Great! I couldn't ask for a better home, I've got the best family in the world!" He eyed me suspiciously but didn't continue to question me.

"I got one more thing to tell yeh Harry, but I have somewhere to be," stated Hagrid, "I need to talk to yeh alone. I'm not supposed to tell yeh 'till yer eleven. meet me after school at teh café by yer orphanage. Don't open the letter 'till then!" With this warning, he walked away leaving me and my siblings very confused.

"You're not going to meet with him alone are you Harry?" Peter asked.

"Of course I am, he knew my parents! I can finally see what kind of people they were," I exclaimed, Peter should understand my need to learn more about my parents.

"Okay, but be careful he seemed kind of odd." He said.

Duh.

"You're gonna go have lunch with a giant cool" exclaimed little Joseph, his blue eyes alive with excitement.

"Jospeh, that's not nice he's just tall. Giants aren't real." Peter said probably crushing the kid's dreams.

As we reached the house, I began to get a little nervous for Percy, we left him alone all day. We hid him pretty well in the back of the closet, but it still worries me that he could have been found.

Peter walked in first everything went smoothly; we made it upstairs with no complications, got Percy out of the closet, did our homework, and got all the kids to bed.

Well, it went smoothly until I heard a crash downstairs; I jumped out of bed worried that one of the kids left the room. I did a quick scan of the room to see if any of the boys were missing. Jospeh, he should know better than to leave the room at night.

Joseph's only been here for three months, his mom died of untreated sepsis and his dad had a stroke a week later, yet after all that he's still the happiest kid I've ever seen.

I quickly but softly tread down the steps in search of the five-year-old.

It doesn't take me long to find him downstairs, covered in flour, and chasing a mouse under the table.

"Joseph," I stage whispered, "come on you're gonna wake them."

I cleaned the mess the best I could and led Joseph up the stairs, back to bed.

I woke up with uncommonly high hopes; I might get to learn more about my parents today! I've always wondered what they looked like; Where did I get my green eyes? Or my black hair?

I stumbled out of bed and checked the clock on Percy's desk, it's seven forty-five. SEVEN FORTY-FIVE!?! We're supposed to leave in five minutes!

I jumped on top of Percy, screaming, "Percy get up! We have to go now!"

I threw a pillow across the room at Peter, then ran around the house and got everybody else up.

By the time we got downstairs, it was eight o'clock, we don't have time for breakfast Percy, Peter, and I usher the kids out the door, I almost made it out, but not before I got caught.

I felt her crummy hand grab my shirt and pull me back.

"You brats were supposed to leave five minutes ago, what are you doing here? We give you so much, and this is how you repay us?" She questioned, staring into my eyes. She pulled me to her, punched my jaw hard, and threw me out the door. "Go!"

I didn't need to be told twice, I picked my books off from the ground and scrambled after the others.

"Oh, Harry you already have a bruise," Percy stated with a frown.

Happy birthday to me.

We continued our walk towards the school, dropping off the younger kids on the way.
I borrowed Percy's hoodie to cover my bruise and walked into the school with my head down.  

The whole day went fine until it was time for gym. How am I supposed to hide my face in shorts and a T-shirt? I changed and waited in the locker room for Percy.

I stared in the mirror, the bruise is now black and blue. I can say I tripped, or I was roughhousing with the other boys in the orphanage. Yeah, that'll work I was playing with one of the other boys and tripped.

Percy walked out of the stalls, "got a plan?" He asked.

"Yeah," I mumbled. I walked into the gym with my hand covering half my face.

"Listen up! Tomorrow we have an extra half hour!" Coach Ramirez yelled. Great more gym. "So I decided we're going to hit the pool tomorrow instead of regular gym! You are going to need your legal guardian to sign a permission slip! On that note let's get moving!"

I was walking towards the center of the gym when the couch stopped me, "Hey, are you okay?" He inquired staring at my bruise.

"Yeah, I'm fine I was just p..p-laying a little too rough and I tripped." I lied. He nodded and didn't give me a second look.

As the day progressed, people continued to question me, but I had them all convinced that I was fine.

No one remembered my birthday, that's okay I never liked the limelight.

The school was over, so I left my siblings, and started my passage towards the café.

"Ay Harry!" Rubeus Hagrid exclaimed with a bright smile, but that smile soon dropped when he saw my bruise. "Harry! Who did this? Wha' happened?"

"No one did it, I was roughhousing and I tripped," I said, trying my hardest to keep a straight face. This seemed to satisfy him because his frown soon turned back into a smile.

"Okay 'Arry I ave lots to tell yeh, what do yeh know 'bout wizards?"