I don't own Harry Potter. This was in a reply to Pinocchio's challenge of a scene from the childhood of a future Hogwarts student and then this plot bunny demanded to be written.

Molly Hood was used to seeing parents yell at their children. She was a cashier at a small grocery store and took it almost for granted that there would be some parent yelling at a child who was probably tired of being in the store and hungry so the treats displayed around him or her did nothing to help their dispositions.

Yes, Molly was used to parents yelling and children crying. But she was not used to this at all. She could hardly believe what was going on in front of her.

A fat little boy (definitely spoiled Molly added cynically) was whining to his horse like mother for sweets and the mother told him in a pacifying way that he would get sweets at home and continued to shop. The fat brat began to throw a tantrum and the woman caved in a quickly purchased a large bag of toffees and gave it to the child who began to suck away for awhile before demanding some toy. The woman continued to cave all while a little shadow of a boy followed them quietly, carrying the heaping grocery basket that the woman kept adding to.

They came to Molly's aisle and she mechanically began to check their items while watching the fat boy demand more things all while the other child began to bag the groceries. Then he whispered something that Molly couldn't hear but apparently the woman did.

"How dare you!" she began to hiss at the child, "after all we've given you, you want more?" she continued and Molly looked at the child and felt shocked when she saw the child's eyes. She had never seen such beautiful, sad green eyes. The boy's eyes were quickly filling with tears that he was obviously trying to hold back as the woman let all of her pent up frustration out on him, her every word dripping with venom and hate. He bowed his head and took it all in and Molly wished she could just slap the woman. She took a breath,

"Excuse me ma'am, is this your son?" she asked, trying to make her tone pleasant as she moved from behind the counter to stand partially between the woman and the boy. The woman glared and the word snob immediately came to Molly's mind.

"No, he's my nephew. I took him in when my sister and her husband died." She informed Molly in tones that implied that she was a saint for doing such a deed.

"Well, your nephew has won today's prize, one free candy of his choice." Molly told her, and the thin woman's eyes narrowed and then she looked at the child,

"Well? You heard her! Go and choose your candy." She barked at the child who stared up at Molly in such surprise that Molly felt her heart ache. He carefully looked at the rows of colorfully wrapped candies and then chose a bag of peppermint. Molly's sharp eyes caught the fat boy's look of disgust. Molly smiled at the green eyed boy's obvious intelligence.

"Congratulations little guy, what's your name?" Molly asked, looking down at the small child with messy black hair.

"Harry Potter." He replied softly. Molly felt a sharp pain in her mind as suddenly she saw impossible things dancing before her eyes. She shook her head to clear the images and made a mental note to talk to her aunt Minerva. Then she smiled and, while the horse woman was occupied with placating her brat who had not won a prize, she hugged him and whispered,

"Congratulations Harry and I hope many good things will happen to you. You'll deserve them."

Then she watched as the three left the grocery store, the brat and his foul mother in front with little Harry dragging the bags along behind them.

"Good luck Harry Potter, I think you'll need it." Then Molly calmly turned to her next customer and continued with her day.

If I get bitten again I think I may continue this, I'm not sure

now please press the pretty button at the bottom of the page and tell me what you think