ii. The Vanishing Glass

A ray of sunshine fell on Nico's face, making his dark eyes flutter open. The sight of white hair made him smile slightly as he pushed himself up. His pale fingers ran through the long strands of snow, trying to wake the purple-eyed beauty that was his lover.

"Sage, wake up."

The gods hand shot up, wrapping itself around his torso. Nico was pulled down again, his neck breached by his lover's lips. Gentle kisses were pressed on the sensitive skin, making the noirette giggle slightly.

"Come on, hun. We have to read the next chapter."

Sage groaned slightly, obviously not wanting to get up. But Nico knew how to get them moving.

"If you wake up I'll give you a kiss."

Purple eyes snapped open eagerly as the gods figure escaped from the sheets. He eagerly wrapped his arms around the smaller boy's torso, bringing him in. A small kiss was placed on his lips, making him pout.

"Babe~"

"I'm not dressed yet-"

A great bang filled the hall.

Yet another group had been brought to the magical school, this time led by a ghostly figure adorned in white. Their hair was put back in a braid, enticing violet eyes swirling with madness. Along their side was a figure much like Nico, but more sadder and delicate.

"Hi."

There was only silence, followed by a slow clap. It came from the delicate hands of Sage, an amused smile on their facial features. He seemed to be sad, but still calm.

"Kai, welcome. I see you've died again?"

A heavy uproar was followed. Nobody could believe that some 12-year-old had died more than once. Dumbledore was the most intrigued, surely the teenager didn't have the Deathly Hallows?

"Good to see you too." The child snarked back. "I take it that it's Void's fault we're here?"

A nod from the albino was all the proof the insanity-inducing demigod needed. They sighed, obviously used to these antics.

"Hey, Cora." A kid with dark hair and golden eyes looked up. "Think you can contact Space Cat?" She nodded.

"Good. Take Neoma with you." A dark-skinned girl with long wavy black hair, silver eyes, and freckles like constellations grabbed the girl's hand, and they turned to the corner. Meanwhile, Kai locked eyes with a pair of Underworld gods. Hades and Thanatos shifted under the demigod's maddening gaze.

"Father, Cousin." The deep richness of Kai's voice trapped them in a corner, forcing them both to snap their fingers. Color flooded the demigods figure, until they could actually stand on the hardwood floor.

Cora came running up to Kai, tugging slightly on the soft white fabric. Her childish voice spilled out.

"Space Cat is busy, but they said they'll be here in a bit. Can I hug Snowflake??"

It was a genuine question coming from an innocent face. They had yet to venture to the Mark of Athena (from their universe anyway), so the innocence of the children forced on the journey was yet to be ruined.

Sage smiled, opening his arms. Cora squealed, jumping into his arms. Sage's Nico walked up, looking at his counterpart with sadness in his eyes. An extended hand was all it took to have his counterpart walk out with him.

"So what's with the army of children you have?"

Sage waved a hand at the group of people behind the demigod, about 10 people were huddled together. Kai scoffed.

"Their not my children" -"Yet." Sage countered - "besides, one of them is like 20. You seem to forget I'm, like, 12."

"Not quite."

"You are not pointing out that 4-year difference."

"I am."

"Okay fine, I'm like 16. Happy?"

"Sure. Anyway, we're learning about Harry-"

"Yeah, yeah. Harry James Potter. I get it, it's one of those react situations."

Before Sage could reply, he caught sight of a purple-haired figure, and his face grew cold.

"Oh hell no."

Paris caught sight of the angry god, attempting to run. Kai just sighed at their antics, putting a hand on Sage's shoulder.

"Sage, no."

"But he killed you-"

"Yeah. I know. It was a year ago. Get over it."

As the Great Hall watch the two bicker, they all wondered something.

"What have these kids gone through????"

Sage opened the second section of the packet.

"The Vanishing Glass."

Harry snorted at the reminder of the memory.

Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all. The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the brass number four on the Dursleys' front door; it crept into their living room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night when Mr. Dursley had seen that fateful news report about the owls. Only the photographs on the mantelpiece really showed how much time had passed. Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different-colored bonnets -- but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a carousel at the fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother. The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too.

Yet Harry Potter was still there, asleep at the moment, but not for long. His Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice that made the first noise of the day.

"Up! Get up! Now!"

Sage mimicked a shrill voice, gaining many laughs from both the demigod and magical sides.

Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again.

"Up!" she screeched. Harry heard her walking toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. He rolled onto his back and tried to remember the dream he had been having. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorcycle in it. He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before.

His aunt was back outside the door.

"Are you up yet?" she demanded.

"Nearly," said Harry.

"Sometimes," Kai looked at Willow from their position besides Sage. "I realize that I use British vocabulary. It's fun seeing everyones confusion when I say "I beg your fucking pardon" to some Karen at the store."

"Honesty," Willow agreed. "I do the same, but with American slang."

"It's fun." They both nodded.

"Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday. "

Harry groaned.

"Harry, sometimes things can be taken out of context." Kai started. "Then some people assume that-"

A pale hand clamped itself around their mouth. Both Nico's had came back from their walk, and Kai's Nico was glowering at them

"Let the kid keep his innocence."

Kai licked his palm, successfully getting his hand off.

"No. I learned that stuff in 3rd grade, I'm making it everyone's problem."

"What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door.

"Nothing, nothing. . . "

Dudley's birthday -- how could he have forgotten? Harry got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks. He found a pair under his bed and, after pulling a spider off one of them, put them on. Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept.

Silence.

Then an uproar.

"What the fuck?!" Sage's Nico shouted, eyes prying at Harry.

"EVERYONE, SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Willow shrieked, bringing the now crying emerald-eyed boy in her arms. She then waved for Sage to continue.

When he was dressed he went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's birthday presents. It looked as though Dudley had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike. Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise -- unless of course it involved punching somebody. Dudley's favorite punching bag was Harry, but he couldn't often catch him. Harry didn't look it, but he was very fast.

Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age. He looked even smaller and skinnier than he really was because all he had to wear were old clothes of Dudley's, and Dudley was about four times bigger than he was. Harry had a thin face, knobbly knees, black hair, and bright green eyes. He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tape because of all the times Dudley had punched him on the nose. The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning. He had had it as long as he could remember, and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had gotten it.

"In the car crash when your parents died," she had said. "And don't ask questions. "

"What kind of stupid rule is that?" Kai scoffed. "Stupid parenting, if you could even call it that."

"Like you would know."

"Stop it with the parenting stuff. I'm not even old enough!"

"I'm sorry, what?" Kai's Nico sneered. "You're fucking 12."

"Not quite."

"Sage, shut the fuck up."

Don't ask questions -- that was the first rule for a quiet life with the Dursleys.

Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon.

"Comb your hair!" he barked, by way of a morning greeting.

About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and shouted that Harry needed a haircut. Harry must have had more haircuts than the rest of the boys in his class put together, but it made no difference, his hair simply grew that way -- all over the place.

Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face, not much neck, small, watery blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat head. Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel -- Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig.

"Quite insulting to pigs, Harry."

Harry snickered silently.

Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents. His face fell.

"Thirty-six," he said, looking up at his mother and father. "That's two less than last year. "

"Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here under this big one from Mummy and Daddy. "

"All right, thirty-seven then," said Dudley, going red in the face. Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over.

Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger, too, because she said quickly, "And we'll buy you another two presents while we're out today. How's that, popkin? Two more presents. Is that all right"

Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Finally he said slowly, "So I'll have thirty. . . thirty. . . "

"Thirty-nine, sweetums," said Aunt Petunia.

"Oh. " Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then. "

Uncle Vernon chuckled.

"Little tyke wants his money's worth, just like his father. 'Atta boy, Dudley!" He ruffled Dudley's hair.

"If it makes you feel better Harry," Kai piped up, oblivious to the glares that her brother sent. "Little tyke means little devil."

At that moment the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it while Harry and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing bike, a video camera, a remote control airplane, sixteen new computer games, and a VCR. He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking both angry and worried.

"Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take him. " She jerked her head in Harry's direction.

Dudley's mouth fell open in horror, but Harry's heart gave a leap. Every year on Dudley's birthday, his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger restaurants, or the movies. Every year, Harry was left behind with Mrs. Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. Harry hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs. Figg made him look at photographs of all the cats she'd ever owned.

"Now what?" said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he'd planned this. Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs. Figg had broken her leg, but it wasn't easy when he reminded himself it would be a whole year before he had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr. Paws, and Tufty again.

"We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested.

"Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy. "

The Dursleys often spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn't there -- or rather, as though he was something very nasty that couldn't understand them, like a slug.

"What about what's-her-name, your friend -- Yvonne?"

"On vacation in Majorca," snapped Aunt Petunia.

"Shame it was." Harry said. "She actually was nice. I don't think they liked giving me to her because of that, though."

"Yeah, they were a family of bitches." Willow put in.

"You could just leave me here," Harry put in hopefully (he'd be able to watch what he wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go on Dudley's computer).

Aunt Petunia looked as though she'd just swallowed a lemon.

"And come back and find the house in ruins?" she snarled.

"I won't blow up the house," said Harry, but they weren't listening.

"I suppose we could take him to the zoo," said Aunt Petunia slowly, ". . . and leave him in the car. . . "

"That car's new, he's not sitting in it alone. . . "

"Y'all talk like he a fucking dog." Kai piped up, annoyed at the lack of good parenting.

Dudley began to cry loudly. In fact, he wasn't really crying -- it had been years since he'd really cried -- but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted.

"Dinky Duddydums, don't cry, Mummy won't let him spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him.

"I. . . don't. . . want. . . him. . . t-t-to come!" Dudley yelled between huge, pretend sobs. "He always sp-spoils everything!" He shot Harry a nasty grin through the gap in his mother's arms.

"Bros name really is Dinky Duddydums though." Kai snickered, it had been years since they actually read the books.

Just then, the doorbell rang -- "Oh, good Lord, they're here!" said Aunt Petunia frantically -- and a moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother. Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat. He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hit them. Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once.

Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn't believe his luck, was sitting in the back of the Dursleys' car with Piers and Dudley, on the way to the zoo for the first time in his life. His aunt and uncle hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with him, but before they'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry aside.

"I'm warning you," he had said, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry's, "I'm warning you now, boy -- any funny business, anything at all -- and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas. "

"I'm not going to do anything," said Harry, "honestly. . . "

But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him. No one ever did.

The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry and it was just no good telling the Dursleys he didn't make them happen.

Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Harry coming back from the barbers looking as though he hadn't been at all, had taken a pair of kitchen scissors and cut his hair so short he was almost bald except for his bangs, which she left "to hide that horrible scar. " Dudley had laughed himself silly at Harry, who spent a sleepless night imagining school the next day, where he was already laughed at for his baggy clothes and taped glasses. Next morning, however, he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off. He had been given a week in his cupboard for this, even though he had tried to explain that he couldn't explain how it had grown back so quickly.

"You would've looked funny bald." Willow whispered, snickering at the deadpan look she got from Harry. Both were oblivious to Hermione and Ron looking at them with jealousy. Why had she, some sister that he didn't even know until 3 years ago, get so well with him?

Sure, Harry was naive, but they had to go through some problems to even talk to him. Surely, his sister went through some troubles. They would only have to see. Neither of them saw the piercing gaze of Athena and Apollo.

The wisdom goddess knew what was going on, she knew what was going to happen to the emerald-eyed boy that was The Boy Who Lived. She shook her head, great wisdom and knowledge was yet to come to the pair of children.

Apollo, on the other hand, was quite furious. Some boy had been forced into a prophecy (not that his children and their friends weren't) even though he was mortal. Also, they were disrespecting a seer! Great Heavens, they were infuriating!

Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old sweater of Dudley's (brown with orange puff balls). The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might have fitted a hand puppet, but certainly wouldn't fit Harry. Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, to his great relief, Harry wasn't punished.

On the other hand, he'd gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens. Dudley's gang had been chasing him as usual when, as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's, there he was sitting on the chimney. The Dursleys had received a very angry letter from Harry's headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings. But all he'd tried to do (as he shouted at Uncle Vernon through the locked door of his cupboard) was jump behind the big trash cans outside the kitchen doors. Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid-jump.

But today, nothing was going to go wrong. It was even worth being with Dudley and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school, his cupboard, or Mrs. Figg's cabbage-smelling living room.

While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about things: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank, and Harry were just a few of his favorite subjects. This morning, it was motorcycles.

"Wow, Harry." Willow started. "You must've been a real tough child."

"Yeah, I definitely was." Harry shot back sarcastically. "You were such an angelic child."

"Listen here, you bitch-"

". . . roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a motorcycle overtook them.

"I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It was flying. "

Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beet with a mustache: "MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!"

Dudley and Piers sniggered.

"I know they don't," said Harry. "It was only a dream. "

But he wished he hadn't said anything. If there was one thing the Dursleys hated even more than his asking questions, it was his talking about anything acting in a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon -- they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas.

It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursleys bought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry what he wanted before they could hurry him away, they bought him a cheap lemon ice pop. It wasn't bad, either, Harry thought, licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching its head who looked remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blond.

Harry had the best morning he'd had in a long time. He was careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn't fall back on their favorite hobby of hitting him. They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was allowed to finish the first.

Harry felt, afterward, that he should have known it was all too good to last.

After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in there, with lit windows all along the walls. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons. Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon's car and crushed it into a trash can -- but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep.

Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils.

"Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge.

"Do it again," Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.

"This is boring," Dudley moaned. He shuffled away.

Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself -- no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long. It was worse than having a cupboard as a bedroom, where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up; at least he got to visit the rest of the house.

The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's.

It winked.

Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. He looked back at the snake and winked, too.

"Harry... WHAT IN THE EVERLOVING FUCK?!"

"OW! MY EARS!"

The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quite plainly:

"I get that all the time. "

"I know," Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. "It must be really annoying. "

The snake nodded vigorously.

"Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked.

The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it.

Boa Constrictor, Brazil.

"Was it nice there?"

The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign again and Harry read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo. "Oh, I see -- so you've never been to Brazil?"

As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry made both of them jump. "DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SNAKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"

Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could.

"Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs. Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor. What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened -- one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror.

Harry sat up and gasped; the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished. The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits.

As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come. . . Thanksss, amigo. "

Out of nowhere, a shrill voice shrieked.

"MR.POTTER!"

Kai groaned and rubbed their temples. "Jesus fuck, I forgot she was here. What now?"

Umbridge was practically writhing with glee, pointing a sickly black quill at Harry.

"You are related to Salazar Slytherin, are you not? You must've been behind those attacks two years ago!"

"And your proof?" Kai shot back. "Literally, your only proof for his arrest is a single sentence in a packet, is it not? Does that sound convincing to the authorities?"

Maybe out of instinct, maybe out of anger, but the pupils of their eyes became swirls, like a whirlpool. The tanzanite shade glowed, thousands of madness inflicting themselves on the pink-clothed witch. She had no choice but to keep gazing at the harsh colors that were Kai's eyes.

Tan hands clamped on Kai's shoulder, Cora now trembling with fear. The poor girl was scared, but not at her sister. It was the pink toad that made her feel fear.

"Sis, is that Umbridge? The pink toad, child hitter?"

Many seemed shocked at the question, mainly wizards. Everyone turned to the child, who was unbothered by the stares. She was too busy trying to get an answer.

"Yes, Cora. The term is child abuser, she's the one with the Blood Quill. Remember the 5th book?" Cora nodded, a look of realization coming across. Tears sprung from her eyes when the insanity-eyes faded, and Umbridge looked at her.

She cried, jumping into her older sister's arms. A look of pity crossed Kai's face, before they turned to their Nico.

"Can you put her to sleep? You know the Room of Requirement, right?" He nodded. "Okay, take everyone with you. I don't think they feel very comfortable here."

The sadder Italian nodded once more, gently taking the sobbing demigoddess from Kai's arms. He herded the rest of the demigods out, the younger ones crying in sympathy with Cora. The older ones (specifically a blonde one with a purple stripe through her hair) helped carry the crying ones, rubbing their back soothingly. They all exited the Great Hall, leaving a shocked silence in their wake.

Everyone was shocked at the quick switch of behaviour, from angry to motherly. Maybe Sage wasn't that off with that parenting jab...

The keeper of the reptile house was in shock.

"But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?"

The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweet tea while he apologized over and over again. Piers and Dudley could only gibber. As far as Harry had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed, but by the time they were all back in Uncle Vernon's car, Dudley was telling them how it had nearly bitten off his leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death. But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you, Harry?"

Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry. He was so angry he could hardly speak. He managed to say, "Go -- cupboard -- stay -- no meals," before he collapsed into a chair, and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy.

Harry lay in his dark cupboard much later, wishing he had a watch. He didn't know what time it was and he couldn't be sure the Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food.

He'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, as long as he could remember, ever since he'd been a baby and his parents had died in that car crash. He couldn't remember being in the car when his parents had died. Sometimes, when he strained his memory during long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead. This, he supposed, was the crash, though he couldn't imagine where all the green light came from. He couldn't remember his parents at all. His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house.

When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away, but it had never happened; the Dursleys were his only family. Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know him. Very strange strangers they were, too. A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley. After asking Harry furiously if he knew the man, Aunt Petunia had rushed them out of the shop without buying anything. A wild-looking old woman dressed all in green had waved merrily at him once on a bus. A bald man in a very long purple coat had actually shaken his hand in the street the other day and then walked away without a word. The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look.

At school, Harry had no one. Everybody knew that Dudley's gang hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses, and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley's gang.

"And that's all." Sage smiled. "It's time to start on the books."