What if someone was willing to stand up against Albus Dumbledore
by Teddylonglong

All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes.

Soon-to-be ten-year-old Daphne Greengrass let the book sink into her lap, sighing deeply.

"Daphne, what's the matter?" her mother enquired from her favourite recliner in the elegant living room, giving her oldest daughter a concerned look.

"Do you believe that it's true what's written in this book?" Daphne asked in disbelief, holding out the book 'Harry Potter and the Green Welsh Dragon', which she had just finished reading, to her mother.

Jessica Greengrass skimmed the book, shaking her head in apparent disbelief, before she stated, "I don't believe that this book is much more than fiction, dear."

"It definitely is purely fictional," her husband spoke up, "considering that the boy is only nine years old and that he's growing up with muggles."

"Can we invite him here one day?" Daphne's younger sister Astoria suggested. "Then we can ask him about his life with the muggles. And maybe he has some questions about the magical world."

"That's a good idea," Daphne agreed, pensively.

Their father shook his head. "I'm sorry, dears, but Albus Dumbledore forbade everyone to do as much as contact the boy."

"Do we care?" Daphne challenged, quirking an eyebrow at her parents. "You can't invite him, but we can – maybe even together with all the other children of the Great Alliance. Oh well, those between eight and ten in any case."

"Yeah," Astoria agreed, standing in front of her parents with her fists pressed against her hips, as to emphasize the statement.

Cygnus Greengrass stared at his daughters in what seemed to be a combination of surprise and pride.

"Very well," he finally decided, after exchanging a few glances with his wife, "why don't you invite the children for your birthday, Daphne?"

"I'll do that," Daphne replied in determination. Her birthday, the 25th of May, was on the following Saturday. "Do you think an owl will reach Harry?"

"His relatives' house could be warded, so that owls can't approach it," Cygnus said, pensively.

"That's not a problem," Astoria quipped. "Just send it during the week, so that the owl can find him on his way to or from the muggle primary school. Remember how we saw so many children walk to school with their strange book bags the other day. Muggles seem to all send their children to primary schools."

"Oh right," Daphne nodded in understanding.

"Write one invitation for everyone else first, and I'll copy it for you," her mother suggested. "You should send them out today. Six days of forewarning is quite a short notice anyway. At the same time, I'm going to write to their parents, and we'll send the letters together. Afterwards, you need to write a special letter for Harry. He might not even know what a Portkey is."

"All right," Daphne agreed, happily, and dashed upstairs into her room to engross herself in her letter writing – with her annoying little sister jumping all around her, excited and impatient as ever.

HP

Nine-year-old Harry Potter was on his way back home from school on this bright Monday afternoon in May, when a snowy white owl approached him. Harry had never seen such a beautiful bird and stared at it in amazement.

'Such a pretty bird,' he thought. 'I've never seen such a thing before.'

Suddenly, he realised that the owl was carrying what seemed to be a small, folded paper and that it was holding out her foot towards him.

"Is that for me?" he asked, incredulously, his eyes widening in shock, when the owl nodded.

"Can you understand me?" he asked in disbelief, almost jumping back in fright, when the owl did not only nod again, but also let out what seemed to be an impatient, screeching sound.

"Oh sorry," he apologized and carefully took the small paper from the bird, before he curiously unfolded it.

"A letter," he thought, wide-eyed, "and addressed to me."

'Hello Harry,
next Saturday is my tenth birthday, and I would like to invite you together with my other friends to come to my birthday party.
I don't know how well you know the magical world, but this letter is a Portkey. On Saturday afternoon at two o'clock, you must hold on to the letter, and it will take you to my home. We very much hope to see you then.
Your friend Daphne Greengrass
P.S. Don't show this letter to any muggles (non-magical people). My owl will come back to you tomorrow, so if you have any questions, you can send a reply to me with her tomorrow.'

'I have a friend?' Harry wondered in disbelief. 'This letter was probably for someone else. I don't have friends, and no one would invite me to their birthday party. I should tell the girl that I mistakenly have received her letter. Even if she seemed nice and it would be amazing to have such a friend.'

With that thought in mind, he made his way straight to his room in his relatives' residence, the cupboard under the stairs, where he penned a response.

'Hello Daphne,
I received your letter, but I think that it was not for me. I am only a freak and a burden to all the good people like my uncle tells me all the time. He also told me that there is no such thing as magic. I would love to have a friend like you. You seem very nice.
Harry'

He pocketed his letter at the bottom of his school bag, where he hoped that neither Dudley nor his aunt would be able to find it. He could just imagine how Dudley would have a field day with his friends ridiculing Harry over the idea of having a friend. The original letter he buried under his pillow, where he deemed it safe from his relatives' prying eyes.

To his surprise and utter relief, the owl approached him on his way to school, so that he did not even have to wait for school to end, before he could send his reply. Nevertheless, he felt very disappointed, when he observed the owl take off with his letter securely fastened to its foot. 'I'll never see the owl again. It would be too nice if I were able to think I had a friend,' he thought, sadly, as he slowly continued walking to school.

HP

"What?" Daphne blurted out in anger, thrusting the letter at her mother. "Hero of the magical world? He's abused, at least verbally, by his muggle relatives!"

"Daphne," her mother said in a no-nonsense voice, "please sit down and let us continue our lesson. You can show me the letter and pen a response during lunch break."

Like most pureblood children in the magical world, Daphne and Astoria were home schooled by their mother, who did not tolerate any disturbances during lessons. It had been pure chance that Daphne had gone to use the toilet, when the owl approached her, so that she had been able to read her letter when she did.

"Okay," she grudgingly agreed, "but I will write it during lunch time, because I want him to get my response, before he returns home from school."

"Show me the letter," Astoria begged her, and Daphne slid the letter over to her sister, casting her mother an apologetic look.

"Those stupid muggles!" Astoria blurted out a moment later, balling her hands into fists. "Thank Merlin you invited Harry when you did."

HP

By the time Harry returned from school, the owl was again waiting for him, once again holding out a letter for him. His breathing fastened in excitement, as he carefully took it from the owl's foot only to quickly open it, feeling absolutely thrilled to have another letter.

'Dear Harry,
you're neither a freak nor a burden to anyone! If your name is Harry Potter and your birthday is on the 31st of July, 1980, then the letter was for you. Only joking - if my owl gave you the letter, it was for you. Owls don't make mistakes. Harry, you are a wizard, just like I am a witch. Don't confront your relatives over this though, let me and my family handle this. You will not know me, but my parents were good friends with your parents, and we would like to get to know you. On Saturday afternoon at two o'clock, you must hold on to the original invitation, no matter where you are at that time, and it will take you here.
I look forward to meeting you.
Your friend
Daphne'

'I don't have a birthday,' Harry thought, sadly. 'She doesn't know that I'm a freak. But still, I'm invited to her party. I should go, even if she won't want me there, when she realises who I am. Her parents knew mine? Perhaps they can tell me something about my parents. That would be absolutely terrific.'

During the rest of the week, he could not help looking forward to Saturday afternoon, when he was going to get to know the nice girl.

As soon as he was finished making breakfast for his relatives on Saturday morning, he cleaned himself up as well as possible and put on his best hand-me-down clothes, which were much too big as usual, before he left the house, glad that his relatives had not gotten around to lock his cupboard door yet. He walked in the direction of his school, until he reached the spot, where the owl had approached him to give him his letter.

Sitting down on a small projection from a wall, he picked up his letter and waited for something to happen, not caring that it was only ten o'clock in the morning.

Four hours later, he felt a strange pull behind his navel, and the world turned black in front of his eyes, as the Portkey, which was going to completely change his life, activated.

HP

Daphne and Astoria were impatiently waiting in the entrance hall, knowing that Harry should arrive in about a minute. They had decided for him to come at two o'clock, so that they would be able to get to know Harry in private, before everyone else was supposed to arrive at half past two.

Finally, a lone figure arrived on the floor just in front of them, and the two girls stared at the young boy in surprise.

"Hello Harry," Daphne finally greeted the boy, once he had removed himself from the floor and was standing in front of them. He had brilliant green eyes, which Daphne found very impressive. However, his clothes seemed worn-out and were much too big. "Thanks for coming to my party," she added, casting the seemingly shy boy a broad smile.

"Thank you so much for inviting me," Harry stammered. "Oh and happy birthday I guess," he added, uncertainly looking from Daphne to Astoria.

"Thank you," Daphne replied in a soft voice. "I'm Daphne, by the way, and this is my younger sister, Astoria. She's eight."

"Hello Astoria," Harry greeted the younger witch.

"Hi Harry," Astoria replied, holding out a hand to him, which Harry hesitantly took in apparent surprise. "Come, let's go into the parlour and introduce you to my parents."

Daphne observed in amusement how her much too energetic sister took care of the seemingly frightened boy. 'The poor boy. It seems he's not only at least verbally abused but also neglected by his relatives. At least from the clothes he's wearing it certainly seems so,' she thought, somehow feeling very sorry for Harry.

HP

Glad that the younger of the girls took his hand and pulled him away to remedy the slightly awkward situation of his arrival, Harry allowed her to pull him with her into the room, where the party seemed to be going to take place. Somehow, he felt safe in the girls' presence, even if he had only met them for the first time.

"Mum, Dad, this is Harry," Astoria introduced him, and Harry shyly offered a small, "Hello."

"Hello Harry, we're Cygnus and Jessica Greengrass, Daphne's and Astoria's parents," the girls' mother introduced the adults, before Astoria dragged Harry to the sofa and made him sit beside her.

"Harry," Daphne addressed him, as she took the seat on his other side, "will you please tell us something about yourself? I mean, I was surprised that you wrote in your letter you didn't know about the magical world. You know that you're a wizard, don't you?"

Harry shook his head. "I'm sorry, but my relatives always tell me that there's no such thing as magic."

"Harry," the girls' father spoke up, smiling at him. "Do they tell you about magic not existing, when you happen to do strange things, which they can't do?"

"Yes," Harry admitted in a small voice. He remained pensive for a moment, before turning his eyes to the man. "These strange things as you call it, they are magic, right?" he enquired, suddenly getting very excited.

"Exactly," Cygnus Greengrass replied, smiling. "You're a wizard, Harry, just like myself. My wife and daughters are witches. From what I heard, when you were still a baby, your magic must even be very strong."

"Were…" Harry hesitantly trailed off, having learned not to ask questions.

"What?" Daphne enquired, giving him an encouraging smile.

"Were my parents magical, too?" Harry asked, hesitantly.

"Oh yes, and we were good friends with them," the girls' father informed him.

Harry listened in excitement, when the Greengrasses told him how they had got to know his parents at Hogwarts, a school for magic, which he was going to attend together with Daphne and Astoria from the age of eleven onwards. They also told him about the Great Alliance of many ancient and noble Houses and informed him that House Potter was one of them.

"The Great Alliance is an accumulation of the members of the Light Alliance, which was founded by your grandfather, Charlus Potter, and the smaller Neutral Alliance, which was founded by myself," Cygnus explained, patiently. "The Great Alliance mainly opposes the Dark Alliance consisting of families who supported the Dark Lord in the war…"

"All the children of the Great Alliance are going to come for the party in a few minutes' time," Astoria interrupted her father with apparent eagerness.

"I'm sure they'll all be thrilled to get to know you," Daphne added. "You're famous in the magical world, and everyone knows your name."

"Me?" Harry asked in disbelief. "I'm just only Harry… a good for nothing freak," he added in a barely audible voice.

"Harry, we're going to tell you everything later on," Astoria said in a soothing voice. "The other guests will arrive soon, but we'll have time to speak more about it, when everyone leaves in the early evening."

"Exactly," her sister concurred, giving him a reassuring smile.

"Harry," Jessica suddenly addressed him, when Daphne proceeded to return to the entrance hall to wait for her guests, leaving Harry with her sister and her parents, "would you like me to transfigure your clothes to something more fitting for you?"

Harry looked up, wide-eyed. "Yes please," he whispered. "I always get to wear Dudley's hand-me-downs, and they're too big for me," he added in a barely audible voice.

He stared at Jessica in shock, when she suddenly pulled a wand and pointed it at him, muttering something that he could not understand.

Only when Astoria voiced her consent with her mother's doing, did Harry notice that his clothes had changed. He was now wearing dark blue trousers and a white T-shirt, which was decorated with several cats that were playing with a red ball of wool. Occasionally, one or the other cat let out a small meaow.

"Thank you so much," Harry said, smiling broadly at his new outfit. "This is too funny," he added, feeling very happy at the witch's kindness.

Before Harry knew what happened, Daphne returned with at least a dozen children of about their age in tow. Only upon seeing the other boys and girls did he realise, 'Oh no, I should have brought her a birthday present.'

tbc...?

Please tell me what you think.