Harry and his friends were quickly ushered back to their dorm. The other Gryffindors in there immediately rushed in and demanded the story from each of them. It was fairly busy in the common room now with classes being over.

The crowd demanded the story again and Harry told it as well as he could. Just like the last eight times. His friends had been swept away into a different portion of the crowd as they were mobbed with questions. Finally, after what felt like forever Harry saw Professor McGonagall enter the room. It must have been hours now, and he hadn’t been able to start any of his laborious homework with so many people around him. The room fell silent.

“Harry Potter. It is time to go.”

Harry followed her outside as the eyes of the common room followed him. They started walking back to the headmaster’s office.

“Where are we going, Professor?”

“To the Headmaster's office. The Minister of Magic himself wants to meet with you, get your take on the situation, and do an interview. But don’t worry, the minister seemed sympathetic to you when we last spoke with him. Just tell the truth and there will be no reason to worry.”

“What about the board of Governors? I thought they were the important ones?”

“That is a separate matter. You know that snapping a wand is a crime. The ministry will handle that aspect. The board of Governors will decide if you are to be expelled after the ministry is done with you.”

“What’s the worst the Ministry could do to me?”

“Don’t you worry about that. You’re underage, they can’t possibly justify doing much even if they wanted to. This is mostly a formality, but be on your best behavior anyway.”

“Of course, Professor.”

They walked into the headmaster’s office. Headmaster Dumbledore and three other unfamiliar men were there waiting. A short pudgy man flanked by two deeply frowning men in blue. Wizard Police, Aurors was what Ron had called them, wasn’t it? The pudgy man stepped forward, and Harry recognized him as Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic.

“Harry! My boy, quite the mess you’ve gotten into yourself here. Quite a mess, Quite a mess… But I have been assured by the Headmaster that it all was a big misunderstanding. A burst of accidental magic he says. Quite a powerful one if it was able to snap a wand. You must be the talent of a generation to do such a thing! Nonetheless, can’t be too careful.”

He gestured to the two Aurors behind him and one stepped forward and extended his hand. “Wand please.”

Harry pulled his black wand from his pocket and easily handed it over. The Auror held his own wand over it and muttered his spells for a few moments. Everyone waited in anticipation.

“It’s clean. Nothing but basic transfiguration and some levitation charms. Nothing that could snap a wand.”

He handed it back and Harry casually put it back in his pocket. He wasn’t sure why other wizards felt such deep connections with their wands. Did the deep bond just come with time? That made sense to Harry. He had only had the thing for two weeks, of course, he wouldn’t be incredibly attached to it yet.

Minister Fudge clapped. “Good, Good. Now, Harry. Just start at the beginning, and tell us what happened.”

Harry cocked his head. “Where specifically, Minister? I have a perfect memory so I can recite my exact actions of my day if you wish for detail or only the ten or so minutes around when I snapped Draco Malfoy’s wand.”

“A perfect memory? What do you mean by that, my boy?”

The minister looked confused as he glanced between Dumbledore and Harry. Professor McGonagall and the Aurors also looked equally confused.

“Sorry, Minister. I can perfectly recall anything I have experienced since my first memories in my aunt and uncle's home." Harry said, "It just takes more or less time to recall depending on how important the memory is to me.”

The minister widened his eyes along with the other adults besides Dumbledore.

“Extraordinary. I haven’t been to Hogwarts in quite a long time. Could do with the perspective of a brilliant student such as yourself. You must be one with an ability like that! Even Occlumency can only take your memory so far from what I hear... How about you start from the beginning of your day up to the incident. Tell me how you're settling into Hogwarts.”

Harry began to narrate his day and the minister seemed impressed as he spoke of his accomplishment in potions. Harry debated on saying the next portion, but Professor McGonagall had told him to tell the minister the truth. She probably knew better than him how to handle this. He continued to speak as Professor Snape held him after class and then… the Headmaster shifted in his seat and spoke up.

“Now Harry, as fascinating as this all is. Why don’t we skip forward to the incident? I’m sure the minister is a very busy man.”

The minister turned and his eyes narrowed at Dumbledore’s interruption. There was a moment of silence as the two men stared at each other as Harry fell silent.

“Should I skip ahead, Minister?”

A moment more of silence before the Minister replied.

“Yes, why don’t you skip ahead to the incident. No need to cover the whole day.”

Harry did and stated what had happened. He ended when he was sent back to the Gryffindor dorms. The minister glanced at the two Aurors, and they nodded to him. He clapped his hands suddenly.

“Well, this case seems clear cut to me. A boy goes a little too far in defending his friends. That curse that Draco Malfoy used is not something a first year student should have known. Hardly your fault you didn’t recognize that it was mostly harmless. These two…”

He gestured to the two Aurors.

“... Will interview everyone else that was there. Just to tidy things up you know. But I must return to my duties.”

The minister stepped forward and extended his hand, which Harry shook.

“I hoped to meet you under better circumstances. But I see a bright future for you in the future once you get past this, young man.”

“Thank you, Minister.”

They shook hands for a moment longer before Minister Fudge released Harry's hand. “Ah, but I really must get back to it. Best of luck, Harry.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

And then he walked over to the fireplace and burst into a pillar of green flames. Harry’s eyes widened slightly.

“Did the minister just kill himself? He seemed so happy about it too…”

One of the Aurors barked a laugh before the other one elbowed him.

“Ah, good one boy. I’ll have to remember that one for later. No, that’s the flu network. He’s back in the Ministry right about now. Transported safe and sound.”

“Oh. That’s good, he seemed nice.”

The Headmaster cleared his throat. “Minerva? I’m sure Harry has some homework to do before bed. Our guests from the ministry will be conducting the interviews tomorrow. No need to keep young Harry here any longer.”

She nodded. “Come along Potter. The headmaster is right, you have homework to do.”

Harry followed her and remembered how much he had to do. He would be staying up late tonight if he wanted to get it done now. That was unfortunate. But at least Professor Snape would be looking for a solution to his problem with the headmaster and McGonagall. Hopefully, Harry wouldn't have to deal with it much longer.

— — —

It was the next day after classes. Harry was tired from staying up late to finish writing out all of his assignments. Ron was still in the hospital wing, so Harry was telling Neville and Hermoine what had happened in the headmaster’s office as they left their last class of the day.

“... And then the minister disappeared in a burst of green flame. I thought he had died, but apparently you can teleport to the ministry that way. I wonder how they managed to convince the first person to try using it? I imagine the first few versions were very painful.”

“That’s crazy, Harry. I can’t believe you spoke with the Minister of Magic. He’s the head of the wizarding government of all of Britain!” Neville said.

Harry nodded. “He was nice to me though. I was surprised, I thought he would be stern and scold me. But he said I had a bright future. That was a nice thing for him to say.”

They glanced at each other and looked skeptical back at him.

“Harry, you can remember everything. All the textbooks. What I wouldn’t give for something like that. Of course you’re going to be amazing in school, of course you’ll have a bright future!” Hermoine said.

Harry turned away. He had told them about his perfect memory after they noticed he wasn't taking real notes and just 'doodling' instead. He still hadn’t told them about his illiteracy and the curse. He had tried several times, but the words never ended up coming out. What would they think when the first set of grades came in and his were so low despite all his advantages? What would they do?

“Yeah. That’s right,” Harry mumbled. He raised his voice.

“Anyways, want to go to visit Hagrid? We were distracted yesterday, but we can go and test why magical animals don’t like me.”

“Er, Harry. Are you even allowed to do that? Given everything?” Neville said.

“I don’t see why not,” Harry said.

Harry scanned his memory. “Yes. No one told me I couldn’t go see him. I think it would be interesting. Let’s go.”

“It’s fine, Neville." Hermoine said, "Hagrid works for Hogwarts, it’s not like we’re just running off somewhere unsupervised.”

“Alright. Do either of you know where he lives?” Neville said.

Harry nodded. “Yes, there’s a wooden hut near the pens for the magical creatures. I’m pretty sure he lives there.”

— — —

Hermione walked forward and knocked on the door. There was a thumping inside and the door opened a few seconds later and Hagrid's large frame filled the space inside the hut. Hermione jerked back as a large dog squeezed by Hagrid’s legs and darted straight towards Neville who was standing in front of Harry. Harry stepped to the side to get a better view, and in instant the creature yelped and backpedaled to hide behind Hagrid again. Hagrid turned and peered down at the quivering dog behind him.

“Wha’ are ye doin’ ya big lump? Scarin’ the students like tha’ and runnin’ away. Get inside you. Go, get.”

Hagrid nudged the dog with his leg and the thing fled inside as Hagrid stepped out and shut the door behind him.

“Not sure wha’ got over him there. Sorry if he rushed at ya, he was just tryna’ be friendly.”

Hermoine and Neville were looking up at the giant man in shock. It was quite a different experience to have him looming over you up close. Hermione recovered first.

“Actually, we noticed something odd with Harry. Magical animals run away as soon as they see him. In Herbology, Professor Sprout had to have him leave for a minute so the magical plants could calm down again. And Neville’s toad escaped and hopped away as soon as he saw Harry.”

Hagrid stroked his beard thoughtfully.

“It affects magical plants too ya say? Interestin'…”

They stood there and the students looked around. The dark and imposing Forbidden Forest was a few hundred meters away, and Harry couldn’t help but stare into it.

“Do you have any idea of what it could be?” Hermione said.

“No. I’ve never heard of sumthin’ like this. It’s known that there are odd magical reactions of some magical beasts to certain wizards. The odd part here is it affects tha’ plants too. And multiple types of beasties. Usually something affectin' a toad wouldn't affect magical plants as well.”

Something rustled in the forest, and Harry saw something standing at the edge of the woods. It was a black skeletal horse with a bird's beak and a set of batlike wings flaring to its sides. It let out a cry that resonated with Harry.

“Hagrid, what’s that?”

Harry pointed to the horse and Hagrid and the others turned to follow Harry's finger. Hadn’t they heard its cry, why had none of them reacted to it? The animal was staring at Harry now with its milky white eyes patiently. Waiting for something from him.

“A thestral? What’s it doin’ way out here?” Hagrid said

Hagrid walked forward and Harry followed behind. Neville and Hermione looked confused but followed as well.

“What are you two talking about, I don’t see anything,” Hermione said.

“Me either.” Neville as he scanned the forest's edge in confusion.

Harry pointed directly at it as they drew within twenty meters of it.

“Right there, that black horse creature.”

Hermione peered forward, squinting as best as she could. “Harry, we don’t see anything?”

Hagrid reached into his pocket and took what looked like some jerky and threw it at the thestral. Its beak snapped out and it swallowed the jerky out of mid-air. Harry saw more shadows shifting around deeper in the forest in the shadows. There were more of the thestrals out there, their skeletal black frames blending into the shadows of the forest.

”Whoa!” Neville said

Hermione took a step forward so she could get a better look at the point where the jerky had been eaten. The thestral had shifted a few feet to the side by now, so Hermione was looking in the wrong place.

“Where’d the jerky go?” She said.

Hagrid glanced behind and grunted as he noticed them so close. Especially Hermione.

“Back to the cabin, all of ye. They shouldn’t be this close to tha’ edge of the wood. These creatures can get dangerous when disturbed.”

Harry had an urge to run forward to greet the thestrals. Something about them fascinated him. But Neville’s tugs on his arm snapped him out of it, and Harry let himself be dragged back up to the cabin. Upon seeing Harry retreating, the lead thestral flared its wings for a moment before turning around and walking away deeper into the woods where it was soon swallowed by the deep shadows of the looming trees.

— — —

Hagrid returned. “Here, I’ll escort ya back to tha’ school. Got ter report this to Dumbledore anyways. Don’t want them wandering onto the grounds near students.”

Hermione seemed frustrated. “What are you two talking about?! Are they invisible? Why can Harry see them?”

Hagrid cleared his throat. “Well, only those that have seen death with their own eyes can see thestrals. Invisible to other folk, and mostly keep to themselves. Lots of old superstitions about them, but they're mostly harmless.”

Harry wanted to ask who Hagrid had seen die, but Neville nudged him as he opened his mouth. He looked back and Neville shook his head. Oh, Harry probably shouldn’t have asked that, it was probably very rude. He moved to the next question.

“So I see them because of my parents?”

Hagrid didn’t answer for a moment as they walked back to the castle. The trio had to rush to match Hagrid’s long strides.

Hagrid's voice was tinged with emotion. “Yep. I suppose that would do it.”

Everyone else was quiet as they returned to the castle. Seems that Hagrid didn’t want to talk anymore. That was unfortunate because Harry had so many more questions about the thestrals. Well, he could ask them later when Hagrid wasn't feeling so down. Harry could be patient if he had to be. Actually, wasn't his wand made from thestral hair? What a strange coincidence...