Key Connection

Hermione hesitantly nodded.

He grinned. "Well, why waste time verifying that we already memorized it? I figure we use our free time to find new ideas, spells, and stuff. Come up with practical uses for the knowledge." She could see his eyes lighting up... were they actually glowing? "I want to find things out about magic that no one has ever known before. Wouldn't that be amazing?"

They were slightly startled by Professor McGonagall's chuckle. Somehow the children had forgotten the adults were in the room. "Well said, Harry. Though I will miss not having someone like you with my lions." Harry grinned as he realized Hermione hadn't connected "Professor McGonagall" to "Gryffindor Head of House". He winked at the girl's expression. "Well there is a strong chance I may have to visit if Hermione is in your tower, Professor." His grin turned a bit sneaky. "I did hear however, that Ravenclaw tower had a private library?"

Minerva inwardly sighed. She had seen the girls eyes sparkle. Another one lost to the literary side. She couldn't risk having a library in the Lion Tower due to pranks, first from those Marauders and now from the Weasley twins.

As everyone separated to begin traveling home, Hermione and Harry exchanged information. He knew Aunt Petunia would love contact with other families who had experience with the magic thing, and Harry was honestly happy to have a friend who knew about his magical side. Friends in school had to be held at arms length or someone may discover something.

It helped that she was into books too.

The quiet street of Privet Drive was suddenly less quiet as a harried looking woman, a worn but still excited boy, and a seriously freaking out owl appeared in front of house number 4.

Minerva had quite enough, thank you, never again. Well... at least, not for a year. The boy may look like James, but his energy was FAR too high.

Hedwig hated everything right now. Apparition sucked for birds. It was like flying backwards, underwater, while someone is flashing bright lights everywhere.

Harry wanted to do it again.

Despite this, the trio had managed to get back into the safety of the house. Petunia was trying not to be a bother, but she had been slightly nervous the entire time. If anything had happened, she wouldn't even be contacted, much less be able to help.

Harry gave her a hug when she opened the door. "Auntie, it was amazing! I made a new friend, I now have a goblin family account manager, and I got lots of cool stuff for school!" He pulled her into the living room while she followed, amused.

Minerva collapsed into a chair and tried to catch her breath.

Harry was in the middle of showing his new trunk to Petunia when Professor McGonagall finally stood. "Mr. Potter, it was quite an experience. I look forward to seeing you this year, and even if you don't feel like Gryffindor will be your house, I would love to see you for tea some time. I may even be able to get some pictures of your parents to go with the many stories I have from their infamous days." Harry's eyes lit up as he nodded, before he paused. "Professor, I do have an odd question for you before you go."

She held back a sigh. If he had an ODD question, who knew what it could be. "Go ahead, Mr. Potter."

He steeped his fingers together. "How tall is the average 11 year male at Hogwarts?"

Well. He had said odd, after all. "I suppose around here or so?" She held her hand her hand around four and a half feet off the ground. "Some taller or shorter of course."

Harry nodded, "Of course. And if we need to contact you again, we can send Hedwig?" The owl hooted, nodding.

Minerva stared at the owl a bit. "Y.. Yes, Mr. Potter." Harry grinned, "Well, thank you for all your help today! Especially with the goblins. Seemed a bit touch and go there for a bit."

The professor coughed and quickly started moving for the door. "Well, have a great evening the both of you." She had vanished before the front door had even closed, leaving Aunt Petunia with her mouth open before she turned and glared.

She tapped a foot. "Harry."

He innocently smiled up. "Yes?"

"Goblins?"

Harry began moving his stuff around. "And I decided that we may get some additional trunks, since they can be used by anyone."

Petunia held his hand from moving. "Back to the goblins, please." He shrugged. "Turns out that unbinding my magic really freaked out their security in the bank."

She rubbed her eyes. "Were you ok? Nothing bad happened?"

He nodded. "They put their axes away quickly. We are friends now."

She took a deep breath. Just go with it. "Well good. Good. Now, get your stuff in your room and organized. Don't want your cousin hurting himself messing with it."

He rolled his eyes. "Yes Aunt Petunia." He waved a hand, all his books, parchments, trunks, and so forth moving into his room under the stairs. He left it in a pile near his desk, since he didn't want to mess with sorting stuff till later.

He paused on his way to the kitchen. "Aunt Petunia, do we still have that leftover steak? I need to be about 9 inches taller for school." "Use the raw ground beef, I want the steak leftovers for Dudleykins when he gets home from his friends. Will you need one of the gallons of milk?"

Harry stared in the fridge. "Yeah, I think so. Probably the chicken too, since it has the skin on. Should have fat there."

"Well, brown the meat first. I hate the idea of you eating raw meat, no matter how you do it."

He nodded, even though she couldn't see him. He preferred seasoning it all anyway, just to stay in practice. He absently reached toward the fridge, which had various items move around as the ground beef and chicken floated out. The stove turned on and an onion began cutting itself using his threads as he got a large serving platter and put the milk jug on the table.

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