For 16 Galleons

Chapter 5

"Hurry up there, Harry," called Mrs. Carter from the other room. "Mr. Bell will be here any minute now. You want to make a good first impression on him."

"Yes, Ma'am," Harry answered as he ran out of his room.

Mrs. Carter looked him over carefully. She licked the palm of her hand and tried to tame a stray lock of hair. It flattened down, then sprung right back up. She sighed and shook her head, smiling a bit.

"Will Mr. Bell be mean to me?"

"No. I don't think so. Master Malfoy says he found the most successful trainer in the country. The man is even hired to work with cases that are considered hopeless. He will be stern and insist that you behave properly and learn quickly. But you're a good boy, Harry. I think he'll be happy with you."

Harry was ushered into a set of rooms that contained a bedroom, bath and small sitting room. There were stacks of linens, clothes and books in various places. Harry stood quietly by the door, waiting for someone to tell him what to do. A few moments later, a very large man entered. He was as tall as Master Malfoy at least, but much bigger. His arms and chest were huge. He had neatly cut sandy blond hair and wore simple robes in shades of tan. They kind of matched his hair.

"So you are the rascal that I am supposed to teach to be a proper slave?" he said in booming voice with a slight smile on his face.

"Um, I think so, Sir," Harry replied as he looked cautiously up at the man.

"My name is Mr. Bell. That, or Sir, is how you will refer to me most of the time. Later we may be playing a bit of pretend where you will call me Master Draco or Master Malfoy. We'll have to see how well you do with your lessons."

"Yes, Mr. Bell."

"Now, how old are you, boy?"

"I've just turned seven, Sir."

Mr. Bell looked a bit surprised. "You're a bit small for your age - not too much, I suppose. I have a daughter two years older than you," he said as he looked Harry up and down. "Can you read and write?"

"I'm just learning, Sir. I really like books."

Mr. Bell smiled at him. "I will make sure the Malfoys know that. They will probably want you to join Master Draco in his classes with Governess."

Harry perked up at that. "I can have classes with Master Draco? I'd like that."

"Well, first we have to teach you quite a few things. We'll start with how to behave properly around your masters."

Four hours later, Harry was serving tea to Mr. Bell, who was pretending to be Master Draco. Mr. Bell had been pleasantly surprised to discover that Harry knew how to fold and store linens, make a bed and generally tidy up. Harry had told him that he had always had to keep his cupboard clean and neat and that he helped Aunt Petunia with the laundry and housework. He wasn't quite big enough to fit the sheets on the bed when they came back from cleaning but he could tidy it up each morning. He was having a little trouble serving tea, though. Aunt Petunia had never allowed him to touch her china or the hot kettle.

"No, Harry, that's too much cream in the tea. Pay attention to what you are doing."

Harry grumbled, "Why doesn't Master Draco just put his own cream in his tea?"

"Harry," Mr. Bell said sharply. "Never speak that way about your master. Master Draco may play with you and give you gifts and call you his friend but he is still your master. Your job is to serve him. You must learn to do what he wants, the way he wants."

"Yes, Sir," Harry said with his head hanging.

"Listen to me, Harry. The Malfoys understand that this is all new to you and are spending a lot of money to have you trained properly. They don't have to. They could just hire someone to beat obedience into you. You owe them for treating you so well."

"I understand, Sir," Harry answered, even though he didn't really.

Mr. Bell sighed. "Harry, don't get discouraged. You are learning very fast. I'm quite pleased with you and I'm sure the Malfoys will be, too. You just have to remember that you belong to them. You are not a guest here. You are a slave."

Harry fingered his collar. It was easy to forget that he was wearing it. It was soft and fit so well it was like part of his skin, only metal. "Yes, Sir."

"Now, try again with the tea."

Mr. Bell was patient. He showed him a few tricks to help him balance things properly so he wasn't afraid he was going to dump scalding tea or biscuit crumbs on Master Draco. When Harry had got things right three times in a row, Mr. Bell allowed Harry to have a cup of tea and a couple of biscuits, too. Afterwards, they sat down and talked over the things they had done all day. Mr. Bell made it into a fun question and answer game. Harry felt like he had done a good job. Mr. Bell had smiled a lot at him and always told him when he had done things right. Mr. Bell said there were still a lot of things to learn but that he was an excellent student. Harry couldn't wait to tell Master Draco and Mrs. Carter.

After supper, Mrs. Carter took Harry back to Draco's play room. Harry bounced through the door and ran up to Draco already babbling about his day. He saw Mrs. Carter go over to the little sitting area. Draco's governess pulled out a pack of cards and the two women began to play.

Draco seemed to find most of Harry's day to be boring but he was quite excited to learn that Harry would be joining him for his classes. Eventually, he pulled Harry over to a closet and pulled out a broom.

"What's that, Master Draco?"

"This," Draco said importantly, "is a Comet Jr. It's the top-of-the-line training broom. I'm going to be a Seeker when I go to Hogwarts."

"What's a Seeker?" For the next several minutes Harry listened to Draco go on and on and on about Quidditch. He wondered if he would get in trouble for shoving a stuffed dragon in the blond's mouth to shut him up. He still had no idea what Quidditch was. He finally understood about brooms, though.

Draco put the broom on the floor and held his hand out over it. "Up," he commanded. The broom jumped up into his hand and he put one leg over it and grinned at Harry. "Now watch," he said and gave a little jump. Harry was amazed. Draco was flying about a metre off the floor. He zoomed around in a circle and landed right in front of Harry. "Do you want to try?"

"Oh, yes!" Harry nodded eagerly.

"Here, hold your hand out over the broom and say 'Up'."

Harry did as he was told and the broom jumped up into his hand just like it had done for Draco. He grinned at the other boy. "Wow!"

"Now put your leg over it. That's right, and give a little jump up into the air."

Harry did and suddenly he was in the air. His glasses slipped forward but he was too afraid of letting go of the broom to push them back up. Draco grabbed hold of the front of the broom and began to guide Harry around and instruct him on how to ride it. Harry started to relax and found he really liked flying, even if it was only just above the ground. He was very disappointed when Draco said it was his turn again. They traded off a few more times. Harry noticed that Draco's turns were longer than his but didn't say anything, remembering what Mr. Bell had told him earlier. Besides, it was more turns than Dudley would have given him.

When Mrs. Carter told him it was time to go back to her rooms, Harry was almost dead on his feet. He said goodnight to Master Draco, who promised to bring a miniature Quidditch set tomorrow to help explain the game.

After Mrs. Carter woke him up in the tub and helped him finish his bath, he stumbled off to bed. He crawled under the covers, hugged his dragon Puff close and drifted off to dream about flying high over the world.

To be continued