Harry had assumed, correctly, that he shared a birthday with his sisters. He also assumed, again correctly, that this would be common knowledge as they were declared as being the same ages.
It wasn't their birthdays. This only drew further confusion as to why anyone, especially with the last name of Riddle, would be sending him a package in the mail. Amy had been incredibly interested, nosey, about the gift and even Harriet had eyed it curiously. The two adults, however, had understood his discomfort concerning the entire situation and distracted the two girls long enough for him to get away and back to the privacy of his room.
There he sat on the bed, three objects lying before him. A journal full of spells, a small package still unopened from the holidays, and the latest, which he would have bet his Firebolt was a book.
Both Flitwick and Dumbledore had assured him that the first item was safe, but he hadn't brought up the other two objects. It was frightening, knowing all three were from a female version of a monster who had tried to kill him multiple times. Now he was considering just opening the damn things to get it over with.
He had never allowed fear to rule his life before, never allowed uncertainty to dictate his actions in the previous world. Why should that change here? If anything, he should be more willing to take risks now that he had more support than ever before.
With that settled, he went with the, arguably safest, object. It was indeed a book on defensive spells, some simple, some far more advanced. Far more curious was the handwritten notes decorating each of the pages.
The scrawl was neat and efficient despite being in places clearly not meant for script. Suggestions, theories, ideas, modifications, and more he discovered through what he could only assume was Riddle's own comments.
It would likely take him a few months to get through, so he set it aside for the time being.
The next was also a known, and in his mind safer, gift. He unwrapped it slowly, methodically, before revealing the contents of what had arrived less than an hour prior. "A Guide to Elemental Magic" He muttered in confusion, jumping a bit when another voice spoke from the doorway.
"That's pretty advanced." Lily Potter, with James behind her, stood at the entrance to the room. "Sorry, we were a bit worried, and your door was open."
He shrugged off her apology, noticed they had remained in place, and suddenly recalled a conversation with James earlier in the summer. "You can come in." It had been the correct thing to say, and the boy noticed both adults seemed comforted by the offer.
They grabbed two nearby chairs and placed them across from where he still rested on the bed before sitting down. It was his turn to ask, and although he initially directed the question towards the redhead, he quickly shifted attention between the two, not wanting to offend anyone. "Do you know anything about it?"
The other man shook his head with a grin, "Sorry, unless you are asking about Transfiguration or Quidditch I'm not going to be of much help."
Lily patted his knee, "It's okay dear you just sit there and be pretty." His response was the most adult pout Harry had ever seen. "Elemental Magic is a subsection of Charms much like Defensive spells are."
"So why did she give me the book?"
"She?" Although it was posed as a question the boy-who-lived could see in both adults' eyes that they knew exactly who he was talking about. Still, if they wanted to play pretend, he could go along.
"Professor Riddle, she gave me a book on defensive spells too, so I figured it was the same person."
Lily nodded, "Makes sense," it was then that her eyes drifted towards the bed, and noticed another object placed onto it. "And that?"
Suddenly Harry Potter felt a bit embarrassed at his Christmas gift being noticed. He shouldn't, after all, but something about jewelry seemed private. "Oh, uh it was a Christmas gift, no name written down."
The mood shifted almost instantly, "We weren't sure what to get you." James almost frantically replied. "I… we had a bunch of ideas, but we weren't sure…" He trailed off, and Harry stared in confusion before realization smacked him in the face.
"Oh, oh no it was fine. I never received a lot for Christmas so what I got was great. This…" he reached out but paused before touching it. "I'm not really sure what it is."
"Have you opened it?" The man continued, earning the shake of the younger's head. "You should, at least you will know."
Seeing the wisdom, or perhaps just overcoming his stubbornness, the time-traveler relented, picked up the box and popped it open. He immediately frowned, before gently lifting a silver necklace with a green stone as part of the chain into view.
"Jewelry?" he questioned, clearly confused as to why Riddle would buy him something like it. Looking up he was even more puzzled by the expressions on the two adult's faces. James looked rather neutral, but Lily?
Lily looked as if she were sucking on a sour candy.
"Is... something wrong?"
The woman looked ready to say something, but was quickly interrupted, "No, nothing is wrong Harry."
____________________
Read 30 Advance Chapters on-
patr*on.com/rary01