No Curiosity

Disclaimer: Not mine. If it were, my house and car would be a lot nicer.

A/N: This story is a NARRATIVE. That means there is little to no dialogue.

Because the Dursleys had always punished him for asking questions, looking inquisitive, or conducting any type of experimentation, Harry Potter had deeply repressed all forms of curiosity. If a teacher told him to learn something, he obeyed immediately and could even apply that knowledge when necessary, but he never studied anything on his own just for knowledge's sake. He only studied what he was ordered to. If something appeared "odd" to him, Harry filed the occurrence away in his "unexplained folder" and went about his business. After all, curiosity led to questions and questions led to punishment.

And so, one day, just before his eleventh birthday, when Harry was told to get the post, he did so. Without even glancing through the items received, he handled the day's mail to his uncle just as he had since he was old enough to be trusted with this minor chore. Harry Potter never realized the chain of events his lack of curiosity would set in motion. Since the boy in their charge had shown no interest in the post, the adult Dursleys felt confident that disposing of the letter addressed to the freak would be no problem. It mattered not to them that the numbers of letters arriving increased each day since they knew their nephew had no idea that any of them could possibly be for him. Even when the giant of a man who called himself Rubeus Hagrid invaded their home on the boy's eleventh birthday and thrust an envelope into Harry's hand, he promptly handed it to his uncle and excused himself to go about his chores. The flabbergasted giant had to practically kidnap the boy to get him to leave with him.

Upon going through the gateway to Diagon Alley, Harry saw many wondrous sights, but he asked no questions nor did he look around in curiosity. He merely followed his escort. When Hagrid took Harry to Gringott's and, then, promptly removed a small, dirty package from the school's vault, Harry paid it no mind. Any other child would have asked a million questions or at least sent surreptitious glances toward the package in Hagrid's pocket, but not Harry. Later, when he learned that someone had broken into the very vault that Hagrid had visited, Harry vaguely noted the connection, but took the information no further.

Although Harry did encounter a blond student in Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, he never thought to ask Hagrid to explain the things the soon-to-be fellow first year had asked him about. Nor did he inquire about the items being purchased or the wizarding world in general. Any other adult who frequently dealt with children would have been surprised that Harry did not ask a single question during his entire trip to Diagon Alley, but Hagrid never noticed—not until much later when Headmaster Dumbledore asked about the visit.

Since Harry never asked questions, he did not request his uncle take him to London to catch his train. Instead, he went to the tea pot in which Aunt Petunia kept a small amount of cash for minor purchases and withdrew enough money for a ticket to London. Harry had frequently been instructed to use the "tea pot" funds whenever the larder was missing an ingredient needed in meal preparation or if he or Dudley needed school supplies, field trip money, and the like, and so he was sure his family would want him to use it for his train ticket. After leaving a note explaining that he would be gone to school until mid-June, Harry lugged his trunk the ten blocks to the commuter railway station, purchased his ticket, and boarded the train. Fortunately, he had instructed Hedwig, the owl Hagrid had given him for his birthday, to fly to Hogwarts as he felt confining a bird in a small cage for a long trip to be unnecessarily cruel.

When Harry arrived at King's Cross Station just before nine in the morning, he could not find the platform indicated on his ticket. He was a resourceful boy, however, and, since he had arrived well in advance, he sat on a bench conveniently located near Platform 9 and waited for other students to arrive. Around half-past ten, he began to see children about his age accompanied by parents and siblings and carrying trunks and owls moving between Platforms 9 and 10. After careful observation, Harry determined that the platform he needed was hidden rather like the entrance to Diagon Alley had been and confidently walked up to the barrier between the two platforms and pushed his hand against the bricks. When it went through without a problem, Harry knew he had found the right place and carefully passed through the barrier. He was pleased to see a red steam locomotive with a sign saying, "Platform 9¾, Hogwarts, 11 o'clock." Harry carefully boarded the train, found a compartment, and settled down to people watch until the train left.

Once the train was in motion, a gangly red-haired boy asked if he could sit in the compartment with Harry. Harry turned from watching the scenery speed by and welcomed the other boy. The new boy introduced himself as Ron Weasley and announced that he was a first year student. He then launched into a long monologue about his large family (five older brothers, two of whom had already left school, and one younger sister), his belief that Gryffindor was the only school house to be desired, and his favorite quidditch team (Chudley Cannons).

Ron did not stop speaking until a timid-looking boy who introduced himself as Neville Longbottom came in to ask if they'd seen a toad. When both Harry and Ron responded in the negative, Neville thanked them and left. Ron had just begun another narrative, this one about the uselessness of his pet rat, when a bushy-haired girl came in and asked about Neville's toad.

Although Ron rather rudely told her they had not seen the toad, the girl began a rapid explanation of how she was the first person in her family to have magic, how surprised and yet pleased she had been to receive her letter to Hogwarts, how she had already memorized all the first year textbooks, and how Gryffindor was obviously the best Hogwarts house since the headmaster had been in it. She finished her spiel with a breathless introduction as Hermione Granger. Ron introduced himself and both children turned to Harry who reluctantly gave his own name. Ron gasped in shock as the girl told the boys of how she had read all about Harry in several different books she had convinced her parents to purchase for background information.

Unsure of how to respond to the force of nature named Hermione Granger, Harry said, "Mmmm," which had apparently offended the girl in some way causing her to flounce out of the door. When Ron commented that the girl was obviously "mental," Harry once more "mmm'ed" and then turned to look out the window.

Before Ron could begin another monologue, an older woman knocked at the door to inquire if they would like snacks off her cart. Ron's ears turned red and he held up two shrink wrapped sandwiches after saying, "No thanks." Harry, unused to eating sugary snacks, also declined and, once the woman had left, produced from the top compartment of his trunk a lunch bag containing a turkey and provolone sandwich, a nectarine, and a bottle of water he had brought from Privet Drive.

The two boys had just finished eating when they were interrupted by the blond boy Harry had seen in the robe shop. The newcomer was flanked by two thuggish boys. The blond asked if it were true that he was Harry Potter. When Harry confirmed his identity, the blond introduced himself as Draco Malfoy and his companions as Crabbe and Goyle without providing first names or indicating which boy was which. He then offered Harry friendship with "appropriate wizards." Not liking Malfoy's attitude, Harry thanked him for his offer and turned back to the rapidly passing scenery. Offended, Malfoy rudely remarked that Harry would end up like his parents as the three boys left.

Ron began making disparaging comments about Malfoy's father. Harry tuned out the redhead's rant choosing, instead, to focus on the scenery. Both boys were surprised when the Granger girl returned to their compartment to order them to change into robes as they were almost at school. The two boys quickly opened their trunks and pulled the plain black work robes over their clothes. Conversationally, Ron mentioned that some people only wore undergarments under their robes while others wore muggle clothes. Harry vaguely replied, "I see," before once more looking out at the darkening sky.

After arriving at school and being sorted into Gryffindor, Harry listened politely to the warnings given by the headmaster in his after dinner speech, but, other than reminding himself not to break the rules being imposed, ignored them.

After a week at school, Harry's teachers, with the exception of Snape, who had nothing good to say about the boy, agreed that Harry Potter was a quiet, shy, polite child who followed instructions to the letter and turned in essays that were the exact length requested. Professor Sinistra added that the boy must have already studied astronomy in muggle school because he already knew all the constellations she planned to cover that term. Professor Flitwick had noted that once Harry had completed the day's task, he immediately began on the homework assignment. Professors McGonagall and Sprout echoed Flitwick's observations. It never occurred to any of them that Harry had been conditioned to do exactly what he was told as soon as he possibly could.

When, at Professor Dumbledore's urging Hagrid sent Harry an invitation to tea, Harry politely declined the invitation citing a need to do homework and noting that students were not permitted outside the castle. Hurt by what he saw as a snub, Hagrid declined to invite the boy again. Since he never mentioned Harry's misconception about being permitted outside the castle, Harry never learned that it was permissible to be out on the grounds nor did he ever think to question why an alternative date and place were never offered.

In early October, a notice appeared on the house board instructing first years to attend flying lessons. Since no one had ever instructed Harry to read a notice-board, he had never bothered to do so and, as a result, never saw the announcement about flying lessons. Although he overheard his classmates discussing the class, he had no reason to believe he should attend and so, on the day the lessons occurred, was in his house common room where he had been instructed to spend his time unless he was in class, at a meal, or doing research in the library.

Madame Hooch noticed that she seemed to be missing a student as one of the brooms she had carefully put out had no rider, but she assumed she had either miscounted or that the additional student had a valid reason for missing her class. After all, in her many years teaching at Hogwarts, she had NEVER met a student who was not interested in flying! When none of the other students reacted to there being one less in their midst, Madame Hooch carried on as usual.

Since Harry was not present to demand that Malfoy return Neville's dropped remembrall or to fly after the blond and then catch the device, Gryffindor did not acquire a new seeker, Malfoy had no reason to challenge Harry to a duel, and four first year Gryffindors were never out of bed in the middle of the night to discover exactly what was behind the locked door in the forbidden third floor corridor.

After nearly two months of school, the other first year Gryffindors were unsure of how they felt about the celebrity living among them. Although he always politely responded to their own attempts, Harry Potter never initiated a conversation. In spite of being asked multiple times, he never played games in the common room either. In fact, Harry Potter never seemed to do anything except eat, go to class, do homework, and sleep.

Another thing all the first year Gryffindors had noticed about Harry Potter was that he never went anywhere except the Great Hall (where all meals were served), the library (to conduct research for his homework), Gryffindor tower (where the common room and dorms were located), his classes, and, of course, the restroom. The boy had never ventured out onto the school grounds. He had never been in the courtyard where most students spent their breaks. And, most peculiarly to the other first years who were intensely curious about their new environment, he never went exploring to learn shortcuts. Later, the quidditch fanatics among them (Ron, Seamus Finnegan, and, surprisingly, Parvarti Patil) also observed that Harry had never attended a quidditch match.

The Harry Potter they lived with was nothing like the one in the bedtime stories they had grown up listening to. He was not adventurous, brave, or outspoken. In fact, Seamus and Ron openly questioned why someone as standoffish as Harry had been sorted into Gryffindor. Lavender Brown asserted that Harry was just very shy. Parvarti Patil agreed. Dean Thomas and Hermione Granger, who were both muggle-raised and had no true preconceptions about how Harry should behave, still found his behavior strange. Neville Longbottom, himself shy and insecure, had secretly decided to adopt a watch and see attitude toward his roommate. All of them, though, found Harry odd.

Hermione Granger decided to write her parents about Harry. She could not explain why, but something about the boy drew her attention. Her trust in authority figures was absolute and so she was sure that, as medical professionals, her parents would be able to explain the enigma that was Harry Potter. Before she could receive a reply to her letter that meticulously detailed everything she had observed or heard about Harry's behavior, Hallowe'en and its accompanying feast had arrived.

Hallowe'en may have been an important holiday in the magical world of Great Britain, but, at Hogwarts, classes went on as usual. In charms class, Professor Flitwick was teaching the levitation charm. Harry, as was his wont, listened carefully and then did exactly as had been instructed. His feather rose about six inches and floated. Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley, who had been paired for this assignment, were arguing over the correct pronunciation of the incantation. Ron, whose turn it had been to make the attempt, was embarrassed and annoyed when his spell did not work. Hermione, tired of trying to help the clearly unappreciative boy, huffed and then said the incantation. Her feather rose several feet in the air and floated gracefully. Professor Flitwick noticed and awarded her points while praising her ability. This embarrassed Ron even more and he pouted for the rest of the class. Once class was dismissed, Ron insulted Hermione who overheard him and rushed away in tears. The rest of the first years moved on to their next classes.

That night at dinner, Hogwarts held a feast to celebrate the holiday. Everyone had forgotten Hermione and proceeded to enjoy the treats being served. Harry left the feast early as he did not find chocolate candy corn truffles, coconut haystacks, butterscotch caramels, meringue ghosts, and pumpkin pie as appetizing as his schoolmates. He quickly returned to the Gryffindor common room and completed his homework. As he was not present when Professor Quirrell ran in and announced the troll, Harry never knew one was around. At the same time, no one realized that two Gryffindors were missing.

In fact, it was not until the next day when her roommates noticed her bed had not been slept in that anyone realized that Hermione Granger was missing. Parvarti and Lavender quickly notified a prefect of Hermione's disappearance. The prefect notified Professor McGonagall, and a search was made of the castle. Hermione was found sleeping in the storage cupboard in a girls' restroom on the third floor. Apparently, she had been in the bathroom crying when the troll appeared. Miraculously, it had not seen her as she let herself into the cupboard. The troll had destroyed the sinks and broken the stall doors before leaving. Fearful that the troll would return, Hermione had fallen asleep on a makeshift bed of towels and bathroom tissue. She was completely unaware that the teachers had subdued the troll near the trophy room several floors away. The relieved to be found girl was taken to the hospital wing for a calming draught. The nurse decided to keep her overnight for observation.

When Professor McGonagall had come around in late November to inquire if any Gryffindors wished to remain at the castle over the Yule holiday, Harry was the first to indicate he would remain at school. He knew the Dursleys would prefer he not interfere with their holiday celebrations and was secretly thrilled to be able to spend two weeks perfecting his holiday homework. If the other students found his behavior odd, they did not let Harry know.

On Christmas morning, Harry was surprised to see three gifts stacked on the end of his bed. That he normally did not receive gifts at Christmas was one of Harry's accepted facts and so he assumed the presents had been placed on his bed by mistake. He got out of bed, careful not to disturb the gaily wrapped packages and proceeded to get dressed. Once dressed, he went into the bathroom. After his morning routine, Harry picked up the presents and carried them down to the common room. He gently placed the gifts under the small festively decorated tree in one corner and went off to breakfast. Ron Weasley, who, along with his older brothers had also remained at school for the holidays, never stirred.

Once Harry arrived in the Great Hall, he saw the usual five rectangular tables (one per house and one for the faculty and staff) had been replaced by one large round one. The first person to arrive, Harry took a seat near the doors and began quickly eating. By the time the rest of the dinners arrived, Harry had finished his meal and was half-way to the library where he spent the rest of the morning putting the final touches on his holiday homework assignments.

At lunchtime, Madame Pince, the librarian, ushered Harry out of the door and into the Great Hall. The round table was still present and it was bedecked in a holiday tablecloth with matching napkins and dishes. Harry found a place between one of the Weasley twins and a fifth year Hufflepuff who had also remained for the holidays. After everyone was seated, the Christmas feast appeared on the table. Harry quietly ate some goose and vegetables before excusing himself and rising. Everyone looked at him in surprise as Professor Dumbledore asked, "Mr. Potter, don't you want to wait for the Christmas pudding?"

Harry smiled politely and replied, "No, thank you, sir. I am not allowed to eat sweets."

He had begun inching his way away from the table when Professor Flitwick exclaimed, "But surely, you can make an exception on Christmas Day!"

Everyone present was shocked when Harry replied, "No sir, no exceptions, not on Christmas or any other day. No sweets is a firm rule that I must always remember to obey."

Professor McGonagall interjected, "Please stay, Mr. Potter. We still have to pull crackers."

Confused, Harry looked at his head of house and stated, "I'm afraid I don't know what that is."

Shocked, everyone but Ron Weasley stared at the quiet Gryffindor. It was Ron who broke the silence by rudely stating, "Of course he doesn't. It's something fun and Potter never does anything fun."

Harry took advantage of his fellow first year's interruption to quietly let himself out of the room. As he closed the door, Harry heard Professor McGonagall ask, "What do you mean Mr. Potter never does anything fun?"

Lacking any curiosity about what Weasley's reply might have been, Harry went up to his dorm and, since he had finished all of his holiday assignments, undressed and lay down to take a nap as he had done after lunch every Christmas since he could remember.

Later that afternoon, as Harry napped and the other students who had remained at school over the break were outside throwing snowballs, the house elves decided to take advantage of the empty come common room to do some cleaning. One of them came across the three gifts Harry had placed under the tree. Assuming that the presents had been overlooked, Cari used a bit of house elf magic to transport the gifts into Harry's otherwise empty trunk where they lay undisturbed until Harry opened the trunk to begin packing prior to returning to Privet Drive for the summer.

With no invisibility cloak to try out (as far as he knew) or any curiosity or desire to explore the castle and all his homework completed, Harry spent the rest of the holiday break alternating between the library and common room. He had read ahead in all his textbooks and had even taken notes on what he had read. Whenever the Weasleys became too rambunctious, Harry would excuse himself and go to either his dorm or the library. He appeared at meals, ate mostly vegetables, and then departed. He was never out of bed or even out of his dormitory during the night and certainly never entered the restricted section of the library nor did he discover the Mirror of Erised.

Something that Harry was completely unaware of, however, was that, thanks to his behavior at Christmas dinner, the teachers and staff had begun to pay a bit more attention to Harry's extracurricular activities. Professor McGonagall had even started to follow him in her animagus form. On the one hand, she was pleased to have a student who took his education seriously. On the other, she was concerned about Harry's lack of non-academic pursuits. As she commented to the other professors, even Percy Weasley played the occasional game of chess or cards. The teachers, except for Snape who could not conceive that a quiet, studious Potter could exist, decided to keep an eye on the boy.

The other students finally returned to the castle and classes resumed once more. Harry noticed that the teachers seemed to be watching him, but, he was used to being scrutinized by adults and ignored it. Hermione Granger, who had had an informative discussion with her parents about the enigma that she found Harry Potter to be quickly proved Alexander Pope's belief that a little learning is a dangerous thing by telling all of Gryffindor that Harry Potter exhibited all the symptoms of an introverted obsessive compulsive and that his obsession was obviously his education. She firmly advised her fellow Gryffindors to do their best to provide the necessary distractions that the poor boy so obviously needed.

Harry responded to the unexpected and frequent requests by his dorm and roommates to do this activity or to play this game with puzzlement (after all, no one from his previous school had made such overtures after being turned down the first time) and polite refusals. After a month of rebuffs, everyone but Hermione had given up on convincing Harry Potter to be more social.

In the meantime, since he believed Harry had rejected his offer of hospitality and friendship, there was no Harry to suggest sending Hagrid's newly hatched pet dragon to Ron's brother at the Romanian dragon preserve or to get caught out of bed while smuggling said dragon to the astronomy tower and to be assigned detention in the forbidden forest. Therefore, on one frosty night in late winter, Hagrid's house burned to the ground while Norbert the dragon was practicing controlled flame-throwing. Once the teachers put out the fire, the dragon was hauled off by the ministry and Hagrid spent three months in Askaban for illegal dragon breeding.

The rest of the school year dragged on as nothing occurred to distract the students from their work until one night, just after final exams were finishing, Headmaster Dumbledore was called to the ministry of magic. With no knowledge or interest in a philosopher's stone or of a plot to steal said stone, Harry Potter was not there to stop Professor Quirrell's attempted larceny. Instead, once Dumbledore returned to the castle and checked on the stone and its protections, he discovered his defense teacher's body lying in front of the Mirror of Erised, which still housed the desired object. Since Harry had not been present to witness Voldemort's possession of the one-time defense against the dark arts professor, the headmaster had no proof that it had been the dark lord who had killed poor Professor Quirrell. Also, since Harry and his friends had not interfered in Quirrell's botched thievery, no last minute points were awarded to Gryffindor at the leaving feast to give Gryffindor the house cup. Of course, Gryffindor had no need of the points since 150 points had not been taken in one night due to dragon smuggling. Still, neither Gryffindor nor Slytherin received the cup. It went to Hufflepuff mainly due to Cedric Diggory's efforts on the quidditch pitch.

And so, the first year of school for Harry Potter ended. When he opened his trunk to pack his things prior to the leaving feast, he was surprised to find the three Christmas presents. Harry gingerly lifted the items from his trunk and placed them in his school bag. On his way to the feast, he stopped by Mr. Filch's office and put the items in the lost and found box. Harry then went to the feast and ate a scrumptious meal before returning to his dorm and finishing his packing. He promptly forgot about the gifts, which he never saw again.

The next day, Harry Potter returned to Privet Drive having received no detentions and having earned excellent grades. When his cousin curiously asked Harry how his school year had been, the incurious boy replied, "quiet, very quiet."

The End.